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Chapter Text

A girl with fiery hair ran as fast as she could across the sidewalk, holding her phone tightly, and with urgency. As she approached her school, she saw her friends arriving too.

Another girl, with wild rainbow hair held her phone and typed away desperately. She only looked up at the sound of the running girl. "I got your message Rainbow Dash! Has more magic seeped to this world? Did Twilight return?!" The girl, Sunset Shimmer, said with urgency.

A bubbly girl, Pinkie Pie, jumped up behind Sunset. "Or a giant cake monster covered the world in cake!?" She smiled, holding a bowl of cake mix, wildly mixing. Rainbow only looked at them with embarrassment. "Ehh...not really." She turned around and began unpacking her electric guitar.

Sunset was at a loss for words. "Uh... I don't understand." The cowgirl, Applejack, only shook her head in disappointment, "Well Sunset, I was just telling rainbow Dash here that a broken guitar string don't count as no emergency." She glared at Rainbow Dash while twirling a broken guitar string on the lightning bolt shaped guitar.

Rainbow only countered Jackie's response, "It totally does!"

An elegant purple haired girl, Rarity, scoffed while sewing a small piece of cloth. "Really, Rainbow Dash! I was in the middle of sewing a very complex appliqué on my latest frock." To which everyone exchanged questioning glances.

A small sigh came from a shy girl, Fluttershy. "Oh...! And I just finished tucking in everyone at the shelter. Now I have to start stories all over again." She looked up, hoping someone would take the reigns. Sunset was more than slightly annoyed. Granted, she wouldn't miss an opportunity to hang out with her friends, but Rainbow has to learn that people can be busy at times.

"OK, so why would you send us all an emergency text then?" Sunset crossed her arms, facing Rainbow. The latter prepared her guitar, "I just wanted to show our fans my cool new licks and pony-up..." She pointed at three pre-teen girls, who promptly waved at all six of them. "...but I kinda need all six strings to do it." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She then looked at Sunset, hopeful, "So, you got any extra?"

Everyone, exhausted from the back and forth, as well as the running, only groaned. Rainbow only got red in the face while holding out her hand, expecting new strings from Sunset. Sunset obliges, "Yeah, here ya go. But I'm pretty sure all the music rooms are locked."

Rainbow only shook her head, "Meh, don't worry. Acoustics sound better in the commons anyways" She said while adjusting and tuning the new string. Jackie only shook her head while chuckling. Eventually, all but Sunset headed inside the school. Jackie noticed Sunset left behind, "You comin' Sunset?"

Sunset politely declined, "I'll... catch up in a bit."

Jackie nodded in understanding. "Take your time then."

As soon as Jackie headed inside the school, Sunset sat down in the front steps leading to the school. She placed her backpack in front of her, toying with the straps. Eventually, she opened it and pulled out a leather-bound book. In this, she took a pen, opened the book and began writing.

"Dear Princess Twilight, how's life treating you in Equestria? Any cool new magic spells? It's been pretty quiet here at CHS since the Battle of the Bands. We still pony up when we play music, which Rainbow Dash just loves to show off. But I still can't quite grasp what it's all about. I would love to hear what you think about it when you get a sec. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer."

Sunset places the book besides her and curls up on herself, sighing heavy. She really hoped Twilight had some encouraging words for her. Sometimes she wishes she could stay here, but Sunset knew Twilight had other duties to attend to. Even through proving herself after the Battle of the Bands, she still felt guilty about bringing magic to the human world. Sunset sat in solemn thought, all the while, a bus had made its stop at the front of the school.

A girl wearing a hoodie and glasses stepped out of the bus, holding a strange device. She appeared to be scanning around the statue of the Wondercolt, which promptly caused the device to beep at a higher frequency. With that, the girl touched the statue, and it felt like she could fall right through.

Hearing the beeping coming from the statue, Sunset rose from her spot. She walked slightly closer and managed to see someone tempering with the portal.

Wait, someone was tempering with the portal?

Sunset immediately got defensive, "Hey! What are you doing!?" The girl touching the statue looked up and saw a Canterlot student approaching her angrily. She bolted towards the street, which conveniently had a bus coming back towards the bus stop. Sunset tried to catch up, "Wait! Stop!" Before she could reach the mysterious girl, a car drove right in front of Sunset, which gave the girl time to board the bus and head towards the city.

Out of breath, Sunset rested her body weight on her legs. "Who was that?" Defeated, Sunset slowly made her way inside the school. Perhaps she didn't miss most of Rainbow's antics. She giggled at the idea of the girl getting excited about wings and flashing beams.

On the bus, the girl with the hoodie managed to find the seat far back on the bus. She took of the hood covering her face, and revealed hair that was dyed a dark purple color. She leaned her head back and sighed in exhaustion. Though the running she did was nothing compared to that of her school's required physical activity, she still felt tired. After all, sports weren't her thing, but her love for the unknown was.

Chapter Text

Sunset was walking back and forth in the library, desperately trying to explain what happened to the statue. "She was definitely doing something to the statue... or was going to." Applejack leaned back on a bookshelf, Fluttershy sat criss cross on the ground, and Rarity sat on a nearby chair.

Fluttershy twirled some of her bunched up hair and looked up, "She could've come from Equestria...?" Sunset only shook her head, assuring the girls of what she saw. "I definitely would've noticed. I think she was from the city." She stopped pacing and sat down, placing her legs on top of a table.

Jackie puffed out a relieved sigh, "Oh good, we don't need more magical so-and-so's hellbent on world domination." She closed her eyes and began to relax. Rarity crossed her legs and nodded softly, "Absolutely! I have no interest in another magical fight. Oh, keeping up with torn fabrics is stressful..." She rubbed the side of her head as to relieve a headache.

The redhead crossed her arms in frustration, "Still, a person tampering with the portal. Don't you wanna know what she was up to?" Fluttershy could only shudder at the image of more magic fighting, "Ugh... I don't even wanna guess."

The sound of Rainbow's voice broke the unease from the girls, "You don't have to, 'cause I know damn well who it was!" All the girls looked at the book Rainbow placed on the table, Sunset adjusted herself to read the cover.

Everyone jumped when Pinkie jumped out from the bookshelves, holding a handful of books. She shoved all the books in front of Rainbow's face, "Ooh! A nighttime statue cleaner? A magical portal maintenance maintainer? A gardener?!" Rainbow leaned away from Pinkie, and slightly pushed her back. She then sat down on the table which Sunset originally had her legs up on.

"Well, since she got off a bus from the city and got back on a bus to the city... I bet my money she goes to-!" Rainbow, and the rest of the girls, except for Sunset, groaned in unison.

"Crystal Prep."

All the girls started mubling to each other in agreement that the Crystal Prep students are stuck-ups. Sunset could only sit an listen, not quite understanding the rivalry. Rainbow groaned in annoyance, "The damn Tri-Catholon's starting tomorrow, and those rich idiots are for sure gonna prank us by defacing the Wondercolt again!" She threw up her arms in anger.

Sunset interrupted the girl's curses and frustration, "Ok... but why would someone take a bus from the city to here...just to gloat?" Somehow, she managed to get the girls to glare at her.

Jackie huffed and leaned forward on the table, " 'Cause them Crystal Prep kids are our biggest rivals."

Rarity crossed her arms sternly, "Because that's what those Shadowbolts would do."

Rainbow managed to grit out, "They beat us at every single thing. Soccer, tennis, golf. They even have the gull to gloat!"

Sunset knew she had to tread lightly on this Tri-Catholon of her friend's. "Well, it just sound silly." Sunset knew she blew it when all the girls stared at her in disbelief.

"Silly?!"

A temporary quiet came before the six of them, and then Sunset attempted to fix her slip-up, "I mean, at least we aren't fighting the forces of evil magic!"

Fluttershy looked seriously at Sunset, "Not everything has to be magical to be bad, Sunset..." She paused, "We'll be up against kids that play dirty, and get away with it."

Jackie looked at Sunset with a stern face, "They give awards in these competitions. Scholarships, cash prizes, school funding. They get all of it, we got yet to see a penny." She pushed herself away from the table, "Them rich folk needing more money for what? Stuck-up pr-"

Sunset interrupted Jackie's rant, "You're right, I'm sorry! God, I know it's a big deal. I just didn't know it was this important for you guys."

Rainbow got off the table and teasingly told Sunset, "Well, you would've known if you got involved back when you first came here." That managed to get small chuckles from all the girls.

While the small laughter died down, Rarity pointed out the changes made to the games. "Oh dear, I forgot to mention! They're been revamping the playing field. Prevention of cheating or advantages, I suppose." She shrugged. Sunset jumped in, "Well, I guess I can see why the rivalry is floating around."

Jackie began looking through the book Rainbow brought, "Yeah, kinda difficult getting 'long with yer rival." All the girls leaned towards the book, looking through the pictures Jackie flipped through. Rainbow shook her head, "Things are gonna be different, bet you." Sunset looked to face Rainbow, "What do you mean?"

Rainbow pushed herself away from the book, "You'll find out!" She ran out of the library, getting scolded over the noise. The girls only looked at each other and shrugged, looking through the book of all previous Tri-Catholon games. Sunset eagerly listened to the girls recall most of the events, some with joy, others with bitterness.

Sunset could only wonder what Rainbow Dash had planned. That put her on edge the most.

Chapter Text

Canterlot students were all bunched up inside their gym, awaiting the next unmotivated speech from their Principal. The five girls found some seats and couldn't look more annoyed. Well, save for Sunset, who was still wondering where Rainbow was.

"Man, it's so dull, nobody's even trying to look excited!" Pinkie complained while placing her head on her hands.

Fluttershy only rubbed Pinkie's back in consolation. Rarity jumped in, while focused on sketching in her notepad. "Well dear, not much of a surprise if they know we'll get a half-done speech knowing it'll do no good." She shook her head softly.

"Aw, Pinkie... maybe... later on you can make a small party to lift everyone's spirit!" Fluttershy shook Pinkie gently, but to no avail. "Or don't, that's fine too, I guess..." Fluttershy let go of Pinkie and instead took her backpack off, allowing her pet bunny to emerge slightly.

"Meh, maybe. God, they can at least pretend that we have a chance." She looked uneasy. "A small chance, maybe." Jackie groaned in annoyance.

"Doubt it, nobody gon' be jumping fake joy knowing it's not genuine." Sunset could only look at them and feel upset that she can't offer any advice.

If only Twilight was here. She would know how to encourage them.

The sound of a microphone tap dragged everyone to a small quiet. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna stood on the stage.

"Good morning students! I'm very happy to announce that this year we will be hosting the 50th Tri-Catholon." Celestia, with a pained expression, watched as her students were unimpressed with the attempt at uplifting. Groans and curses came from the student body, some yelling that nothing will change this year.

"All of you, quiet down now!" The vice Principal managed to yell out, without the need of a microphone. That had shut everyone up rather quickly.

Celestia collected herself and continued. "Well, I see we aren't quite excited, so I have asked a student to provide some... motivational words." While the principal was speaking, Sunset noticed Rainbow approaching Celestia.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks miss!" Rainbow snached the mic, earing a glare from Vice Principal.

Rarity placed her notepad down and cringed, "Oh dear, I hope this isn't meant to be motivational." The girls nodded slowly.

"Heh. Uh. Well, I know we're all tired of loosing to Crystal Prep. They beat us at everything." Rainbow was met with unimpressed looks.

"Very motivational!" Pinkie exaggerated, with an added eye roll.

Rainbow gripped the mic in her hand in frustration. "Crystal Prep kids might be smart, athletic, and motivated. But you know what they don't have?" She expected an answer, and all she got was some students pulling out their phones and ignoring her.

Still, she persisted. "They don't have school spirit. They aren't like the Wondercolts! We have personality, we have unity, we aren't stuck-up!" That caught the attention of a few kids, and Rainbow knew she was getting her point through better.

"We fought magical creatures, we defended our school bravely, we are all genuine people! We aren't like them! We got true school spirit!" Now this caught the attention of the rest of the student body, who started to comment with agreement.

Rainbow nodded towards the marching band on the side of the stage. They began blasting a motivational beat. Rainbow began signing a song she had managed to rehearse beforehand, and it got the crowd excited and hopeful.

Kids were putting on pony ears and a tail in the notable blue/yellow school colors. They cheered and sang along the school moto.

"Wondercolts united together! Wondercolts united forever!"

The girls were actually smiling! Sunset could feel the joy radiating off of them, and just as she turned to watch Rainbow, she saw her floating up with a blue glow.

Rainbow grew ears, a tail, and wings.

Sunset felt worried about the magic going haywire. But it couldn't possibly get bad. It really couldn't.

Soon, the gym was full of cheering and claps of joy. The mood was higher than ever while people went to talk to their friends about beating the Shadowbolts.

Rainbow came down from her magical high, and Vice Principal signals her to follow behind the stage. The other five girls saw this and immediately went after them. Sunset knew, in the back of her head, that Luna was going to warn them against magic use. She could only brace herself for the lecture. The girls, however, we oblivious and still high off the energetic vibes that surrounded the gym.

"Oh Rainbow Dash... That was amazing!" Fluttershy half hugged Rainbow, while the other girls agreed. "We might have a chance at winning...!" She smiled towards the rainbow-haired girl.

"My school pride had never been higher, thank you Rainbow." Rarity bowed her head in appreciation. Rainbow could only shake off the praise with a large smirk. However, Applejack became concerned.

"Uh, yall find it weird that Rainbow done ponied-up 'front of ev'rbody without playin' her guitar?" Sunset hoped she wasn't going to be the one to bring it up, so she was slightly glad that Jackie took up the question. She knew that somehow it would become her responsibility. It's her fault that magic is in the human world, after all.

"Dude, that doesn't matter! It was totally awesome!" Rainbow jumped with excitement.

Sunset leaned against a wall. "I don't think that's it..." Rainbow glanced at Sunset, confused. "Well, it was awesome, but there's gotta be more to it. It doesn't just happen randomly." Sunset attempted to get the girls to realize that, despite its awesomeness, it was dangerous to just play around with a force humans don't understand.

"Well, it would be nice if you girls got this magic of yours under control. We don't want to be accused of cheating." Luna crossed her arms in a stern manner.

Rarity scoffed and crossed her arms as well. "We don't need magic to beat those uptight children." All the girls, except for Sunset and the Vice Principal agreed. Rarity giggled with pride.

Luna shook her head in frustration. "The TC is a serious competition, and a privilege to participate in. Only top schools in the country get to compete, and every year we barely scrape by with an entry." All the girls look down in shame. "This isn't to scold you, girls, but we don't want to see any surprises, especially those that can cause us to forfeit."

Luna gently held Sunset's shoulder. "Sunset Shimmer, you came from a world of magic. Perhaps you could investigate our recent..." She hesitated, "magical developments. You can handle that, right?" Luna smiled expectantly.

Sunset, with a deep and long breath, nods. "I'll do my best."

Luna nods in appreciation and, waves a goodbye to the girls.

"Well, any ideas on what the TC-Games will look like?" Rainbow looked around, expecting a certain answer. Pinkie jumped with excitement, seeming sure of the answer.

"Pie eating? Cake eating!" She pulled out a pie and a cake she conveniently had on her. She smashed the two pastries together with a gasp.

"Pie-Cake eating!?" Each of the girls looked slightly frightened, but still confused. Fluttershy lightly shook her head, and Pinkie shrugged in acceptance.

Applejack groaned, "They won't even let us see the Decatholon sections. How the hell we s'possed to know what our strong suit is if we can't see it?"

Fluttershy started fiddling with some of her hair, "They could be anything, we just have to guess..." She paused, "assuming that everyone here knows their way through most subjects... I doubt it..."

Rarity could only panic, "Oh, what will I wear?" She looked around desperately while fanning herself, "I just can't go out there looking underprivileged, how embarrassing!"

"So you wanna look like the goddamm rich kids? Should've known, you're rich yourself and barely contribute anything to this school!" Rainbow pointed an accusing finger at Rarity, while the latter gasped at such a declaration.

"I have put just enough for this school to stay afloat! Best if you lot took advantage of my generosity! If I had it my way, I'd be at Crystal-!" Sunset cut her off.

"Stop it! The both of you!" She glared at both girls who looked as if steam was coming out of their heads. Fluttershy and Pinkie both curling into each other while Jackie pushed both Rainbow and Rarity away from each other.

"These f*cking games making yall go against each other this bad, it's best if yall not participate at all." Jackie glared at Rarity, "Nobody gon' care 'bout what you wearing. Telling you for a reason. Don't want more humiliation like during that band crap, huh?"

Rarity huffed, and Rainbow was gonna complain, but that was shut down by both Sunset and Jackie.

After the group began cooling down, Sunset began dismissing herself. "Look, I'd really love to fix up a lover's quarrel, but I gotta find out why Rainbow ponied-up the way she did." She smiled softly at the girls. "Bye, guys!"

"At least she's got everything under control, huh?" Pinkie glanced at Fluttershy with a solemn look on her usually bubbly face. Fluttershy drew her lips in a line, and braced for another argument that was to come.

"You know what, Rarity? It would've been better if you stayed in your damn lane! Oh, look at me with my rich girl privilege!" Rainbow mocked and attempted to push against Applejack, who in turn, pushed right back.

This earned a gasp from Rarity, "Oh, you should be glad I'm even friends with the likes of you in the first place. Maybe I should stop giving you so many new sports equipment as it looks like you don't appreciate it!"

"Both of yall shut your f*cking mouths!" Jackie yelled out in anger.

...

As Sunset walked away, she could hear the distant arguing between all five of the girls. It hurt hearing them not see eye to eye, they've always overcome things together. It nearly reminded her of the Battle of the Bands. How all the girls were loosing their magic because they were arguing just as they were moments ago.

That could be it, no? Maybe they're using up all their magic and that's causing them to become bitter.

Sunset strained herself to find an answer, and while thinking, she had made it to her locker. She stopped and sat down on the floor, leaning her head back in exhaustion. Some students walked past and gave her dirty looks, still seeming angry at the former school bully.

She took off her backpack and pulled out her notebook. Taking a bit to think, she began to write:

"Hey, Twilight. Haven't heard back from you yet. I guess you must be pretty busy with your role as princess. But I could really use your advice right now. You see, I've been given the job of keeping magic under control here at CHS, even though I still haven't quite wrapped my head around it. And now after seeing Rainbow Dash pony up the way she did, it makes me think her magic might be... changing. Everyone is looking to me to figure things out and I really don't wanna let them down. But I'm not sure I have enough experience with friendship magic to solve this."

Her train of thought was interrupted by the bell ringing. She quickly got up as the hallways began flooding with students hurrying to their classes.

Sunset hoped Princess Twilight reads her message.

Chapter Text

The bus made one final stop in front of a maroon and crystal school. It radiated such prestige and richness, and the students were no different in status and wealth. The girl on the bus began walking towards the school, the hallways blurry and uninteresting to her. The students didn't bother speaking to her, but gave her looks of respect, as they knew their Principal held her at a higher status than the rest.

The girl had previously been part of the Tri-Catholon during her freshman year, and competed against Canterlot seniors in the Decathlon. That victory in the Decathlon would carry on towards the final competition: Capture the Flag. Though, during The Relay, she had the most horrifying experience of physical activity. Again, not her strongest suit, but a requirement. That alone discouraged her from ever competing in years to come.

She finally reached a small closet, and opened the door. She felt the comfort of the room radiate to her, her own mini office to study as she pleased.

She noticed her pet dog, Spike, sleeping soundly. She tried to close the door without waking him up, but failed. The little pup woke up with excitement, as his owner had finally returned. She only smiled softly at her pet's wagging tail and barking, but still put a finger to her mouth and told him to hush up. The dog did eventually stop barking. She sat down in her office chair, picked him up while swivling in her rolling chair towards her calender.

Her giggling turned to a chuckle, while her face twisted with arrogant joy. "The Tri-Catholon's just a day away..." She turned to face Spike, "And our school gets to shove it again to those...Canterlot kids. How charming, huh?" She grimaced, while Spike growled at the mention of the opposing school.

She rolled back to her desk and placed the dog on the floor, to which he immediately started rolling around on.

"Not like those kids stand a chance against Crystal Prep, not even a full-ride scholarship motivates them." She solemnly played with a random desk pencil. "It's useless, these games. I fail to understand why these people enjoy such idiocy." She was soon lost in thought, mostly to her dreams of getting in the Everton Independent Study Program.

To get her mind off of the opposing school and the games, she works further on her little creation. A spectrometer, able to collect and measure large samples of energy. Such an invention could further her education, and she knew that. Unlike her brother, she'll actually change the way people will analyze data and preserve their energy. In the midst of her tampering and stress, her door was rudely opened by Crystal Prep's dean: Ms. Cadance. That enough startled both the teen and Spike.

Good that she didn't fall, she supposed, but now she stood at attention, smiling brightly.

"Twilight, good to see you." Candance smiled gently at the girl, while glancing at Spike. Cadance frowned, "Twilight, you know we don't allow pets here." She crossed her arms.

The girl, Twilight, just rolled her eyes as to state the most obvious, "It's fine, besides, Cinch won't ever hear a small yap from him." She sat back down and rolled towards Spike, picking him up and setting him down on her lap. "And, yknow, we could pretend he's part of a human-canine cohabitation project. That'll convince her, won't it Dean?"

Cadance only shook her head in disbelief, but what could she do? At Crystal Prep, you respect Cinch, and you respect her prized student. She didn't hold anything against Twilight, she's just a kid, but she could be arrogant.

...Just a little bit, though she wouldn't dare say that out loud to her, or her brother.

"Listen Twilight, I recommend you at least change uniforms" Cadance scolded Sci-Twi, while picking dog hairs off her uniform.

Twilight placed Spike down, "Why...?" She asked, puzzled look on her face.

Cadance only tilted her head as to state the obvious. "You know Cinch is allergic, not only that, but because she wants to see you." She pats Sci-Twi's back to signal her up, and with that, she left Twilight's office.

Twilight looked slightly irritated that she had to go to that woman's office, but nevertheless, she began to change.

Who knows? Maybe Cinch has seen her potential enough so to endorse her into the EISP. She quickly rushed out of her supply closet-office.

The bell rung around her school and students began piling into the hallways, most just standing by lockers. Again, most faces were a blur, and her destination was much more important than the latter.

"Pardon, excuse me, coming through, move it!" Sci-Twi pushed her way through the crowd of students standing in the middle of the hallways. Some gave her glares, others simply ignored her, a few actually moved.

She won't have to deal with this lot of people anymore after she's earning huge amounts of money with her studies.

...

Sci-Twi opens Cinch's office door, which is tall and looming, looking down at her. It creaks and is quickly shut by Sci-Twi as she walks towards an open seat in front of Cinch's desk.

"Twilight, it's good to see you." Cinch looks up from some papers she was writing on. "I was in the process of finishing your application. Such an impressive student as yourself deserves a recognition this grandiose." She gave Twilight a tight smile, with a glint of pride.

"Thanks ma'am, I expect to be out of this school in the next week." Sci-Twi placed her hands properly on her legs, sitting straight up.

"Well, as you know... The Tri-Catholon is just days away, and our school looks forward to seeing a sweeping victory against the Canterlot High School students." Cinch rose from her chair, walking towards a wall covered in trophies and plaques.

She dusted off one of the trophies, "However, I've noticed that you have yet to sign up for this year's game." She turned to face Sci-Twi, who was nearing a groan of annoyance, but held back out of good behavior.

"The students at CHS have been developing a reputation." She walked towards a bookshelf, picking out a file. "Grades, test scores, athletics, All-City and All-State awards." Cinch read off from the open file. She walked towards her desk, open folder in hand.

"Twilight... all I'm saying is that our school could use a student of your intelligence to give us an advantage." Cinch sat down on the mahogany desk. She pointed at each category in the file. "None of these achievements and grades compare to your intellectual abilities, so I fail to understand why you wouldn't want to bring greatness to our school..." She adjusted her crystal glasses, "and your reputation."

Sci-Twi, not convinced, only rolls her eyes. "I don't need a silly game to prove that I'm superior to, quite literally, everyone in this school! Hell, I have more achievements than anyone in this country, ma'am." She stood up, "If you're trying to blackmail me into joining these games for your own personal gain, I'm out. Forget the damn endorsement, I can do it myself." She was just about to leave Cinch's office.

"Twilight! How dare you?" Cinch couldn't possibly attempt to threaten a void of Sci-Twi's Everton application, that would cause the school to drop in rankings if she lost her best student. "Twilight, my dearest student...how about you act as my surveillance, to find why CHS has had such an advance in academics?"

That brought Sci-Twi to her attention. This was her excuse to find more information about the strange energy recordings she got from the previous visit she had of that school. She couldn't possibly give this opportunity up, so she turned to face Cinch and held out her hand. "That's perfect." She smiled has Cinch shook her hand. "I'll see that I find that school's weakness, ma'am. Goodbye!" Sci-Twi walked out of Cinch's office, a look of glee shining on her face.

All of her dream were about to manifest, and her studies would only begin.

Chapter Text

Sci-Twi had returned to her mini office, slowly packing a backpack filled with replacement electrical parts, some dog treats, and a notepad. She then turned to face her dog, and before he could scurry away, she grabbed him and placed him inside the backpack.

Spike began protesting by growling and biting at her fingers, to which Sci-Twi quickly avoided. "Oh, cmon Spike, even without the Tri-Catholon, I would've still gone." She growls out in frustration.

"Obviously this school needs my help, now that I know that CHS grades and tests are higher than usual." She looks around her office and grabs her spectrometer. "I'm sure Cinch will find the information I collect useful, and if not," She gently hangs it off her neck, zips up her backpack with enough space for Spike to breathe through.

"I'll still get just enough data, and my application will be bursting with documentation of my findings." She began walking out of her office towards the lavish school busses. She saw lines of snobbish kids bragging about how they'll once again defeat Canterlot.

She spotted Dean Cadance, who was reading off a clipboard.

"Pardon, Dean? Which bus do I board?" Cadance only dismissed her as she scrunched up her face at a possible mistake on the roster. Sci-Twi stood waiting for the Dean to fix the issue, when she heard a sour whisper directed towards her.

"You could try the end of the line." A girl with cherry red hair rolled her eyes, and she turned to face her friend with a violet bobcut, who only giggled.

"Excuse me?" Sci-Twi questions with a glare.

The girl, Sour Sweet, turns to Sci-Twi and puts on her kindest face.

"Oh, just that someone as smart as you should definitely go first!" She bunched her hands towards her chest while nodding.

"Aww, you acknowledged my superiority!" Sci-Twi gave her best smile, "Thanks for your spot too," she turned away with an eye roll.

"This is the right bus, Twilight" Cadence nodded gently.

"Oh, but Dean Cadence, I didn't mean to cut in line..." Sci-Twi feigned regret.

Cadence only mouthed a conformation for her to board the bus. The two girls behind Sci-Twi glaring holes into her back as she climbed up the bus stairs. As she was holding onto the guard rails, a girl with a blue mullet got in Sci-Twi's face.

"Are we gonna win!?" She smiled with a competitive glow.

"Yeah, sure..." Sci-Twi dismissed the girl, Indigo Zap, with a wave of her hand. Though, in the back of her mind, she remembers what Cinch had claimed about CHS's advances academically. They would put up a fight better than before, that she's well aware of.

"Wrong answer! Try again." Indigo frowned, the look of competitive nature radiated stronger than before. "Are we gonna win!?" She emphasized each word.

"Ok, we all know our school has always had significant advantages compared to their school. Though, I've heard that Canterlot has started improving, and quickly. Who knows, maybe they'll finally put you all in your place." Sci-Twi knew that last sentence would rile the whole bus up, and good thing too. This school, with Canterlot's new reputation, might end up loosing a category never before lost in Crystal Prep history.

Sure enough, she got more glares and comments directed towards her. Though it didn't matter at all. They all may be smarter when it comes to sports and activities, but Sci-Twi has a great advantage in scholar subjects. They'll need her, and even after that comment she made, they can't afford to get rid of the smartest student at Crystal Prep.

Sci-Twi found a seat at the very back of the bus, next to a light-blue haired girl, who sat straight.

"That was an badly excecuted encouraging speech, it'll rile them up." The girl, Sugarcoat, monotone and quick with her speech, could only leave a brutally honest review that Sci-Twi did not appreciate nor ask for.

What Sci-Twi had failed to realize when she sat down in her seat is that a green haired girl, Lemon Zest, was loud blasting some type of fast and brutal rock music that gave Sci-Twi a headache. Much to her dismay, the girl harshly shook her.

"Dude, you have gotta hear this!" Lemon loudly spoke while she took her headphones and forcefully placed them on Sci-Twi's ears. The music was too intense and loud for her liking, but Lemon was too hyper and happy to know that someone was listening to her favorite music.

...

Pop rock was emitted from the Canterlot High music room, and the Rainbooms were practicing their musical skills. As the song ended, their previously ponied-up bodies were returning to normal human body features.

"I hope the games have a music competition cause we would totally rock it!" Rainbow struck a chord that resonated around the room.

"We're supposed to keep magic out of the Games, remember?" Sunset started packing up her guitar in its case, everyone following suit with their instruments.

"Pff...whatever" Rainbow muttered, her previously electric energy dying down at Sunset's reminder.

"Well it's easier said than done, darling." Rarity started walking towards one of the practice rooms connected to the music room. "I'm sure you can boast and gloat about your magic where you're from, but..." She emphasized her final word.

"This isn't Equestria." Sunset sat on a nearby table.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Jackie sat down at the edge of the table, looking up at Sunset with a reassuring smile that was gladly returned.

Rarity had returned from the nearby practice room with a long wardrobe display, earning unsure glances from the girls.

"And, while Sunset figures out how to keep magic out of the Games, I've been thinking on what to put in!" Rarity excitedly shifted and began to hand out each outfit to each girl. Some were sports outfits that looked simplistic. Others were overly complicated sports equipment.

"Rarity, what'd I tell you 'bout the clothing?"Jackie held up the rugby uniform she was given.

"Oh, come on Jackie! I had some spare time, and since we don't know what the Relay games will be, we must be unique!" She rolled out privacy windows for the girls to dress up behind.

They all did so, hesitantly, just so Rarity can know that they appreciate her effort. As they all came out, Fluttershy having the most difficulty with her hockey gear, Rarity giggled with delight.

"Rarity, dude, you didn't have to..." Rainbow looked at her soccer uniform, which consisted of the CHS colors.

"I know." Rarity smiled politely.

"Girl, you really didn't have to." Jackie lifted her rugby bat.

"I know!" Rarity giggled with joy and oblivious glee.

...

The busses from Crystal Prep reach the front of CHS, and students are orderly flowing out, some carrying sports equipment, uniforms, large bags.

Principal Celestia walks up to Principal Cinch, who's looking around the outside of the school, unimpressed. This school really had the ability to continue improving, with what little they had? How humiliating it was for Cinch to realize that a subpart school is improving this quickly. She believed there had to be foul play at hand, how else would a school like Canterlot form a better reputation?

"Good Morning, Principal Cinch. Vice Principal Luna will help your students get settled. There have been remarkable changes since last year that I hope you find more than impressive." Principal Celestia smiled politely, and with a bit of edge to her voice.

"Oh yes, Principal Celestia. I'm sure that would be fascinating." Cinch, uninterested, followed Celestia.

As they were walking away, Vice Principal Luna and Dean Cadance were hugging, sharing compliments and praises towards each school.

"It's so good to see you Dean Cadance, even if it means another defeat." Luna smiled with sadness.

"Oh, thank you Vice Principal Luna, but I hear it's not going to be so easy this time." Both started walking towards the school, leaving behind all the students.

"Coming through!" Indigo bolts and harshly pushes Sci-Twi in her fast run.

"Moron..." Sci-Twi mutters, taking off her backpack, finding Spike peeking out of the opening.

"Awww, is your little mut OK sweetheart?" Sour Sweet shrills out with mock worry.

"I dunno, let me ask..." Sci-Twi places her backpack down on the grass. "Are you ok sweetheart?" She questioned with a head tilt.

This angered Sour Sweet, who's face contorted into a bitter expression.

"I am watching you." She threatened.

Sci-Twi only shrugged, and the Bobcut girl, Sunny Flare, glared at her.

"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" She got in front of Sour Sweet, who was still bitter about Sci-Twi's remark.

"Oh nothing, don't you have a girlfriend to console?" Sci-Twi smiled.

Both girls huffed offended, and walked away, still making comments. Lemon Zest's music started getting closer, to which Sci-Twi reflexively flinched at, but to her luck, the green haired girl was too busy rocking out to notice the latter.

"Those girls were kinda being doormats." Sugarcoat bluntly stated, staring at both girls from a distance. Sci-Twi subconsciously nodded, and Sugarcoat walked away. As she walked away, the spectrometer started whirring to life, detecting large amounts of energy. Sci-Twi was puzzled, as she didn't see anything that could be emitting such powerful waves of energy. She looked at her device, which was pointed in the direction of the school.

Perfect! Maybe this energy could be the leading cause to CHS's advancements. Sci-Twi grabbed her backpack and began walking towards the school entrance.

"Hi Twilight" a girl exiting the school waved gently towards her. How strange, that girl knew who she was. Her research wasn't even started and people already knew her. Maybe the time she came here, that flaming haired girl was able to get a description, which would cause a search for who she was? No, she was sure her face was covered.

Sci-Twi continued down a hallway in the school, looking around at its worn down walls and beat up lockers. Nothing like her school. Even then, more people said hello. People called her by her name, all seeming happy to see her. She was starting to freak out, but persisted. In the midst of her walking, she accidentally crashed into a tall person, knocking her glasses off. She quickly got down to find them with her limited vision.

"Twilight, is that really you?" A boy with blue hair looked excited to see her. How strange, she didn't know him either, but how did he know her? Still looking for her glasses, the guy looked down at her, and spotted some glasses. He picked them up and glanced at Sci-Twi.

"When did you start wearing glasses?"

"A long time." Sci-Twi was in no mood to amuse a kid from the opposing school. But to her dismay, he kept talking.

"How long are you staying for?" She knew it was fruitless to avoid any conversation.

"Just for the Tri-Catholon, now have you seen my-" Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted, and grabbed by the hand to be lifted up. She stared at the blurry face of the blue haired guy.

"Oh that's right! We'll totally win with you here!" The boy gently placed her glasses back on the bridge of her nose. Whoever this Twilight they knew must be of importance to him. But she isn't his Twilight. She just stared at him dumbfounded, and yanked her hand away from him.

"Your school? Win against Crystal Prep? With my help? Ha! What a funny assumption that I'll help you people." She walked away, still trying to find the source of the energy her device was detecting. The boy was left shocked at what he though his Twilight said.

...

"Rarity these outfits are nice 'n all, but why you puttin' so much effort on clothes we might not even wear? You gon' tire yourself 'fore the games even start." Jackie lifted a softball bat that was also in CHS colors.

Rarity sputtered as if stating the obvious. "Oh, don't be silly darling. Making clothing is what I live for! And spending time on it for my friends fills me with energy!" At the final word, Rarity started glowing a deep bluish-purple, growing ears and a tail. All the girls, except Sunset, were in awe.

"And magic too, I guess..." Sunset looked to the side, leaning against one of the music room walls furthest away from Rarity.

...

Behind the door, Sci-Twi found the source of the energy. This was it! She found a piece of evidence and research material. Now to extract it, and with that, she opened the spectrometer. It started pulling whispy bluish-purple energy into its core, and Sci-Twi could only look in amazement. She needs to find the true source of this energy. Maybe it's a supercomputer? Maybe it's a generator? Whatever it is, she had to know. So she started opening the door.

...

Rarity began looking exhausted, as she felt energy being drained out of her.

"Actually...Applejack...now that you mention it..." She began sinking to the ground, loosing her ears and tail. Jackie quickly got to her side to allow her to kneel softly.

"I suppose I could use a tiny break..." Rarity leaned her head on Jackie's shoulder, who looked at her with a stern face.

"I told you." Jackie shook her head.

Suddenly, the door to the music room slowly opened, and all the girls saw their friend, or who they though was their friend.

"Twilight!?"

Sci-Twi could only continue to wonder how they knew her. But she quickly erased the curiosity and looked around.

"Uh...yes?" This was weird, really weird

Chapter Text

"Well I'll be, you shoulda told us you were comin'!" Jackie began walking towards Sci-Twi, and slapped her on her back, making the girl inch forward from the impact. Rarity had a slightly frightened look on her face as she looked at Sci-Twi up and down.

"Oh dear, why are you wearing those glasses?" She noticed the deep colors of the uniform, "...and that outfit, it's so severe!"

"My uniform?" This statement made Rainbow Dash rise to attention, noticing the recognizable colors of the opposing school. But that couldn't be. Twilight wouldn't be from that school.

"Your uniform...for what?" Fluttershy tilts her head.

"For Crystal Prep? Are you guys this dense?" Sci-Twi made sure to mumble that last part. Though, she took the opportunity to ask a few questions. "How does everyone know who I am?" The group jumped at Rainbow's gasp.

"I knew I've seen that uniform somewhere! Twilight, what are you doing over in the spoiled kids school?" Rainbow pointed an accusing finger at Sci-Twi's face. "You're not thinking of abandoning us?"

Before Sci-Twi had a chance to explain the possible confusion, her backpack was opened by Spike, who barked happily. The girls gasped and both Fluttershy and Rarity got closer to the pup.

"Spike!?"

This is starting to get annoying to Sci-Twi, but also slightly frightening as she glanced at both girls who were keenly interested in her dog.

"How do you guys know my dog's name?" The girls looked at each other, wondering how their friend can't recognize them.

...

"And our music programs have especially taken off." Celestia was showing Cinch around the school, until they opened the music room door to find Sci-Twi and the six girls surrounding her. "Twilight?"

Sci-Twi rolled her eyes in exasperation. "This is getting ridiculous." She turned to face Principal Cinch, and walked towards her.

"I must apologize for the curiosity of my prized student, " Sci-Twi signals for Cinch to have a conversation. Before they could leave, Principal Celestia interrupted.

"Your student?" She turned to face the other six girls, who only shrugged.

Sci-Twi was starting to get desperate, and Cinch was confused at the school's recognition of her protégé. She simply dismissed herself and Sci-Twi.

Celestia was left dumbfounded. "I didn't know Twilight had a twin sister..."

"She doesn't! This Twilight is obviously the Twilight from this world, so it couldn't possibly be the Twilight from the pony world because the Twilight from the pony world doesn't go to Crystal Prep or wear glasses!" Pinkie went on a quick summary, leaving everyone speechless.

"Uh...nevermind." Celestia walked away.

...

Sci-Twi and Cinch were walking towards a safe spot to have a conversation, one that Sci-Twi knows Cinch will find beneficial.

"Principal Cinch, I must tell you this, and I believe you'll find it of good use..." She took off her spectrometer and showed it to Principal Cinch. "I was starting to detect some powerful electric signals coming from this school, and it eventually led me around the school..." She paused.

"Well, what else?" Cinch hurried her student on.

"Actually, while I was walking around trying to find the source of this energy, some of the students here recognized me." At this, Cinch began getting upset.

"Have you blown your cover already Twilight?" Sci-Twi started at Cinch, angry that she could imply such a thing.

"Listen, unlike those sorry excuses you have for a student body, I am your only hope at keeping Crystal Prep afloat, so I recommend you keep good relations with me." She smiled smugly. "Or would you rather me tell this school that we're essentially figuring them out? It is cheating after all, trying to find their secrets." She began to turn, but before she could, Cinch grabbed her by both arms.

"You ever disrespect me like this again and you are expelled." Sci-Twi was going to call her bluff, but bit her tongue down.

"Fine..." She squirmed out of Cinch's hold. "Anyways... the energy I found came from the music door Principal Celestia opened. I have a feeling those girls were the reason for this school's advantage." She looked directly at Cinch.

"Oh, that's perfect dear...but do you know the energy type?" Cinch smiled.

This question caught Sci-Twi off guard, as she couldn't exactly determine what the energy was in the first place. Only that the energy was powerful, enough to even be seen as a physical ray.

"Well, it looked bluish-purple, almost glittery. It nearly looked like magic..." at this statement, Cinch frowned.

"I do not have time for ridiculous stories about magic energy. Either you're honest with me, or..."

"I'm serious!" Sci-Twi started walking backwards and exasperated. "Watch them closely when the games start. There will be a group of six girls that are always sticking together. They are the source of the energy." She pointed in the direction of the music room. With that she walked back outside, leaving Cinch alone to think.

...

"I cannot believe our world's Twilight goes to Crystal Prep!" Rarity starts collecting the outfits she made, walking away with a huff.

"Oh yeah, that's just great! Our Twilight is going to Crystal Prep. Such a fucking traitor..." Rainbow crossed her arms.

"Hey...our Twilight wouldn't be against us...and don't ever think she's a traitor Rainbow..." Fluttershy glared at Rainbow. "You're better than this." Rainbow turned away from Fluttershy.

"Our Twilight is a princess in Equestria and an expert in friendship magic." Sunset raised her voice in desperation. "If she was here, she'd know why random pony-ups appear during pep rallies and costume changes!" She looked at the other girls, who looked concerned.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just frustrated that I haven't heard back from her..." She slid down a wall, pulling her legs close to her chest.

"She's a princess in Equestria. Pro'ly got problems of her own to deal with." Jackie picked up her electric bass case, the other girls taking their respective instruments by hand, save for Pinkie who only carried the sticks.

"We certainly can't bother her whenever. Especially when it comes to random minor pony-ups." Rarity was already walking out of the music room, all the other girls following suit. Sunset groaned and quickly grabbed her guitar case.

"But these aren't minor! Magic came to your world when I stole Twilight's crown." She paused. "It had taken me a while to get everyone to trust me again, and if I just can't get things under control..." She tightened her hold on her case. Fluttershy's tambourine shakes a bit as she switches hands to rub Sunset's back. Admittedly enough, it calmed Sunset.

"Oh Sunset, I'm sure you'll figure something out..."

Jackie smiled brightly, "I mean, you were the one that helped us find out 'bout the sirens!" Sunset waved off the attempt at praise.

"But Twilight was the one who really figured out what we needed to defeat them." She stopped walking and leaned on the closest locker, head facing downwards. The other girls noticed her absence and quickly came to her side. Rarity lifted Sunset's head with one finger.

"Don't you remember, darling? What we needed to defeat them was you." She placed her key-tar case on the ground to fix some stray hairs covering Sunset's face. This finally got a small smile out of Sunset.

"Well, alright..." All the girls, except for Sunset, began cheering and praising her.

Rainbow began to get everyone's attention, "We should check out some of the events and come up with some strategies!" The girls agreed and began walking away from Rainbow and Sunset. "You coming, Sunset?" Rainbow asks just before leaving.

"I'll...catch up with you guys in a bit." She waved Rainbow off, and the girl nodded while running to catch up with the other girls. Sunset goes to find her locker, and when she finally does, she takes the big notebook and begins walking towards the school's entrance. She sits down at the front steps and flips through the pages of messages and replies. When she finally reached the most recent message she sent, she saw nothing written underneath.

"Still no reply..." She placed the book next to her and looked at the Wondercolt statue. She got up and began walking towards it.

Unbeknownst to her, Sci-Twi's spectrometer began detecting weaker amounts of energy, but strong enough to get a signal. She directed her attention to the statue. It made sense, as when she came her last time, the statue radiated strong signals. Now she could collect this energy. She began walking towards the statue, and opened her spectrometer, but it did nothing. She wondered if it was broken due to the insane amount of data she just collected. Maybe the statue wasn't what the spectrometer was detecting.

Sunset began walking towards the statue, "Maybe there's another way I could reach her..." She planned to travel to Equestria, so she reached out to the statue, expecting it to feel like floating in liquid. To her horror, it trapped her hand like a magnet. She tried pulling away, but to no avail. She was starting to feel tired, a type of exhaustion she hasn't felt since the magic she used to become...

Sci-Twi's spectrometer began to pull a fiery red ray of energy. It looked exactly like the energy she collected, sparkly and glittery. In fear that the capacity of her device will be filled, she quickly closed the spectrometer. Upon closing it, she heard a grunt of pain. She looked behind the statue and found the same girl that had chased her to the bus stop.

"What did you do?!" The girl with fiery hair glared at Sci-Twi with despair.

"Twilight. I need to have a word with you, now." Cinch noticed the confrontation Sci-Twi was going to get herself into, so she quickly made her student react. Sci-Twi quickly walked towards Principal Cinch, leaving Sunset bewildered and annoyed. That girl did look familiar, and yes, she looked like Twilight. But this girl specifically, after not getting a good glance at her when she came into the music room...she looked like the girl she had chased.

Sunset didn't worry about it for now, she wanted to see her Twilight and get help. She tried reaching out to the portal, and to her horror, it felt like marble to the touch. She desperately touched the statue, hoping that she was just imagining things.

"Where's the portal?" She started panicking, badly.

"Where's the portal?!" Sunset knew it was useless. The portal was gone, and it's all thanks to this world's Twilight.

Chapter Text

Sci-Twi was dragged along with Cinch to an empty bus. The principal looked extremely frustrated, and Sci-Twi had an idea why, but she didn't dare ask.

"Twilight, you understand we need to tread carefully when it comes to spying on this school, correct?"

"Of course I do, but your students have their ego's so high that they barely register what's going on around them." Sci-Twi crossed her arms. Cinch took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose, both at the hypocrisy of her student's statement, and her ever-growing headache.

"Your classmates will not worry about you if they know you work for me... for the entire school." Cinch opened her arms to emphasize her statement, "But the students at CHS will become suspicious of your actions." She clasps her hands. "Just like that red haired girl... Twilight" Cinch got closer to her face, "You have made an enemy, take care of it."

Sci-Twi stared at Cinch with a hard face, and only got closer to her face. "I promise that she'll be dealt with, Principal Cinch." To drive her point home, she smiled with a rude expression. "I never fail, ma'am." This receives a sharp smile from Cinch, who grasps Sci-Twi's shoulder, "Perfect, just like the student I know and praise... now get ready for the gala, Twilight." Cinch let's her shoulder go and dismisses her.

...

The girls were dressed elegantly for their school's gala, which is done when a school hosts the Tri-Catholon as a form of sportsmanship. They were walking towards the gym and could hear the slow and boring music coming from behind the gym doors. While they were walking, Sunset revealed what had happened at the portal. This made everyone stop short of the gym doors.

"What do ya mean the portal's gone?" Jackie stared at Sunset with disbelief.

Sunset only entered the gym, the other girls following along. They saw a bunch of teens keeping to their schools, and becoming aggressive when the opposing school gets near them.

"I mean it's gone. It's closed. It's not there anymore." Sunset leaned on the gym seats.

"How'd that happen?" Rainbow leaned next to Sunset, who only shrugged.

"I don't know. But it had to have been this world's Twilight who broke the portal."

"What in tarnation is she up to?" Jackie squinted her eyes.

The girls saw Sci-Twi, who was wearing a purple dress with a star on it, walk around holding a glowing item. She had accidentally bumped into the mullet haired girl, Indigo, who growled at her. That Twilight shrugged, said something, and continued walking, while leaving Indigo angry and punching the nearest gym seat.

"Leave this to me." Sunset walked towards Sci-Twi and spoke up. "Twilight, what have you been up to?" Sci-Twi jumped in surprise until she turned to see who the girl was. It was the same girl at the statue. She had to play it calmly or her cover is blown.

"Nothing you should be concerned about girl, just some research for a program your brain wouldn't be able to comprehend." Sci-Twi smiled smugly, which caught Sunset off guard. She immediately collected herself.

"You sure it's just research, cause I saw you-" Before she could finish, a very rough push made her nearly fall flat on the ground. Thanks to Jackie, who immediately followed her, she didn't completely fall. The other girls came to Sunset's aid.

"Saw her doing what?" Indigo immediately got aggressive, which gave Sci-Twi a chance to escape.

"Tampering with our statue!" Rainbow pushed Indigo with even more force, which caused them both to push each other, nearing punching.

"Listen now, yall, no need to get aggressive 'fore the games even start." Jackie was able to pull Rainbow away from Indigo.

"These games aren't aggressive since your school doesn't play aggressive." Sugarcoat pulls Indigo away before she attacks Rainbow again.

"That's not a very nice thing to say..." Fluttershy shook her head gently.

"Sorry dearie, these games aren't about being nice." Sunny Flare crossed her arms and cooed mockingly.

"Well, your school might use a little tact" Rarity pointed with a head tilt.

Sci-Twi had managed to get away from the commotion, but bumped into Pinkie, who was smiling brightly.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" She held out her hand. Sci-Twi hesitantly shook her hand.

"I'm Twilight..." Pinkie immediately began to aggressively shake Sci-Twi's hand, and in the process, knocking off her glasses.

"You look just like my friend, her name is Twilight too!" Sci-Twi stared at the hyper girl, and immediately ducked to get her glasses.

"That's...weird." Sci-Twi put her glasses back on. Her spectrometer started glowing, so she grabbed it, and it was pointing directly at the pink haired girl. Pinkie looked at the device with honest curiosity.

"What's that?" She pointed at the spectrometer. Sci-Twi knew that from the girl's dazed stare that she wasn't much of a threat. So she decided to tell her a half-truth.

"It measures things..." At this, Pinkie jumped up with glee.

"Like the party?!"

Sci-Twi looked around the dull gym with even duller teenagers. She couldn't see this 'party' that Pinkie was referring to, but at the continued sound of her device urging Sci-Twi to extract the energy coming from the girl, she played along.

"Yeah...although it doesn't look like much of a party." She glanced at Pinkie, who was thinking with her hand on her chin.

"I know, something is definitely missing..." Pinkie gasped, "Oh, I know! Cmon!" She grabbed Sci-Twi by the wrist and dragged her out of the gym.

Principal Celestia tapped on the microphone to get everyone's attention. "Good evening students, I'd like to personally welcome the students from Crystal Prep to our gala..."

Pinkie and Sci-Twi entered the gym once again, pushing two large boxes near the entrance of the gym. Sci-Twi, not the strongest girl in Crystal Prep, gasped for air and managed to ask Pinkie what was inside the boxes.

"These are party cannons, silly!" Pinkie smiled even brighter, and that caused Sci-Twi's spectrometer to start whirring louder.

Celestia kept her calm tone. "We are thrilled to be hosting the Tri-Catholon this year, and hope that these games continue to stand as a symbol of skills, excellence, and sportsmanship."

Pinkie had managed to sneak into the DJ booth, and gave the DJ a record player. Once it started playing, everyone began feeling happier. Both schools were conversing with each other, some laughing and smiling. Others dancing and sharing snacks. Pinkie returned to the cannons and Sci-Twi stared in awe. How could one girl manage to get everyone in good spirits.

"Are you sure about this?" Sci-Twi glanced at Pinkie, who grabbed the strings attached to both cannons.

"Oh yes I am!" She pulled the strings and thousands of strips of confetti fell slowly, which caused cheering to erupt from the gym. Pinkie began glowing pink and floating. She grew her ears and tail, while Sci-Twi could only stare shocked.

"Ooooh, floaty!" Pinkie excitedly shook.

"Woah..." Sci-Twi had no chance to say anything because her device opened on its own accord and began extracting the pink glittery rays that came from Pinkie. Sci-Twi immediately tried to close the spectrometer in fear of being caught, but it shot out a small bolt of lightning that hit behind the gym seats. Sci-Twi watched as it opened a wormhole. She was finally able to close the device, while watching Pinkie float down with a fatigued look.

"Oh...I am party pooped." Pinkie leaned against the gym seats. Sci-Twi immediately left the gym before being noticed. Maybe all the students at this school have magic type energy? She didn't have time to wonder, so she started running.

The music stopped abruptly. The tapping of the microphone let out a harsh high-pitched noise, and Principal Cinch got everyone's attention.

"I'd like to thank Principal Celestia for her unconventional welcome." Cinch smiled with a disingenuous hand clap. Celestia glared, but immediately smiled.

"It has been a year since the last Friendship Games, but it feels as though nothing has changed..." Cinch lifts her hands to point out the gym and the students of CHS.

The students began to walk to their school's respective side, glaring at each other.

"Canterlot High continues to pick its competitors in a popularity contest and Crystal Prep continues to field its top twelve students. It is a comfort to know that even after so many years of losses, your school remains committed to its ideals, however misguided they may be. I wish you all the best of luck, regardless of the inevitable outcome." Both Celestia and Luna are shocked, but quickly regained themselves, while Cadance smiled sadly at both of the sisters.

The girls approached an exhausted Pinkie Pie, some rubbing her back, others with looks of pity.

"Aw, I'm sorry Pinkie... I though yer party additions were really swell!" Jackie attempted to console Pinkie, who didn't bother looking up from her tired gaze.

"It really broke the ice..." Fluttershy complimented while rubbing Pinkie's shoulder. Rarity crossed her arms and glared at Cinch, who was still giving a speech.

"If only that...ugh! Lady... hadn't frozen it again." She held herself back from foul mouthing Cinch.

"Yeah, she's awful." Pinkie looked up slowly in Principal Cinch's direction, not having the energy to throw a tantrum. Sunset had been carefully studying Pinkie's actions thus far.

"Well, what happened?"

"Well, I dunno. Everyone started having fun after Twilight and I fired the cannons, and I ponied up." Pinkie smiled slightly.

"Of course you did..." Sunset smiled and shook her head.

"But then the magic just drained right out of me..." Pinkie's smile quickly fell, and Sunset couldn't believe what she just heard.

"Wait, what do you mean 'drained right out of you?'" Sunset crossed her arms, thoughts rushing around her mind ay what Pinkie meant. All of this immediately connected somehow with this world's Twilight, and she didn't like that idea one bit.

"Hey, where is that other Twilight?" Jackue seems to have the same idea, as all the girls couldn't find Twilight anywhere near the gym.

"Oh, uh... well, she was right here..." Pinkie was slightly more alert, and was starting to suspect Twilight, almost angry at her for possibly taking her magic.

Chapter Text

Vice Principal Luna clears her throat before turning on the PA system, ready to announce the beginning of the TC.

"Good morning students! I'm sure you're all thrilled about the Tri-Catholon and its events..." Everyone who was listening to the announcement began to walk out of their classrooms, heading for the center of the school. Principal Celestia was already waiting and lining up CHS's twelve students, the Crystal Prep students having already lined up their twelve students.

"Welcome to the first event, the Academic Decathlon! You'll be scored on chemistry, home-ec and everything in between. This is the only round with eliminations, so really push yourself." Dean Cadance declared the start of the games. The first competition was Chemistry, and the 24 teens were expected to show their skills handling chemicals and reactions. During this, one CHS student was eliminated. The remaining students each have 1 point, there are 11 and 12 students left.

Next up was the Culinary Arts section. Students had to pair up for the continuation of the AD. Principal Celestia, Vice Principal Luna, and Dean Cadance were grading each group's baked good. Two CPA students made an impressive three tier cake, which would've received a high scoring, compared to the previous cakes graded. It wasn't until Pinkie and Fluttershy showed off their cake, which was a recreation of the Mona Lisa, that received a higher grading. Two CHS students and four CPA students were eliminated. Each student now has 2 points, there are 9 and 8 students left.

The Workshop section was next, so each team had to plan out a bird house and work on making a replica with their respective teammate. Luna came across one birdhouse that was crudely done, so she tapped it gently. It completely fell apart, and it led to the elimination of two CHS students. Two CPA students began mocking the eliminated CHS students, so they were disqualified. One CHS student forfeited. All three women were then surprised at the birdhouse made by Sugarcoat and Indigo. This receives a high grading. The remaining students have 3 points, there are 6 and 6 students left.

Nearing the final competition, the remaining students are competing in a Spelling Bee.

"Hippopotamas?" Rainbow still has 3 points.

"Munchousenism?" Lemon still has 3 points.

"Onomatopeia?" Jackie still has 3 points.

"Cymortricous?" Sugarcoat still has 3 points.

"Imigration?" Fluttershy still has 3 points.

"Rhombos?" Sunny still has 3 points.

"Chauffuer?" Indigo still has 3 points.

"Eschuary?" Rarity still has 3 points.

"Isosceles." Sci-Twi now has 4 points.

"Minuscule." Sunset now has 4 points.

The final competition of the AD is solving an equation. Euclidean geometry, with the hardest easy question. The two students up against each other, Sunset and Sci-Twi, will have to solve it in under 5 minutes, and for Sci-Twi, that wasn't a problem. For Sunset, however, her anxiety of proving herself was jumping through the roof. Though, she put on a brave face and persisted. The CHS students were cheering for Sunset as she climbed the stage stairs. The CPA students were quiet, some glaring at Sunset while Sci-Twi was climbing up the opposite stage stairs.

Both girls stared at each other for a moment, and Sci-Twi smirked. Cinch approaches them, holding a tin box. They were told to stand near their chalkboard, and flip it to see the problem. Cinch handed both girls one piece of Hagoromo chalk, and the count down started.

Both girls started furiously writing, Cinch watching both closely, timer in hand. The gym was silent, both schools inching closer to the edge of their seats.

"Who's the winner?" All students watching both girls quietly mumbled.

Sunset started doubting herself at that moment. But she continued writing.

"Who's the reject?" The kept mumbling.

Sunset was sweating with fear, and she glanced sideways to see that Sci-Twi had a stern look on her face, hand seeming to flow with the wind.

"How did she answer?!" The timer in Cinch's hand went off just as both girls circled their answer. Sci-Twi stood proudly with her final answer of x = 20. Sunset still felt hopeful, perhaps this Twilight messed up? Cinch looked through each equation, and from what Sunset could see, she smiled sharply at her.

"Incorrect."

Sunset dropped her chalk, and Sci-Twi smiled brightly. The entire side of CPA clapped and cheered loudly, almost deafening. Luna announced the winner of the first TC game. In the midst of it, she swore she heard a camera click. Without any warning, Rainbow threw herself at Sunset and hugged her tightly.

"Dude! That was awesome!" She let go and shook Sunset, who looked confused.

"Truly amazing" Rarity nodded her head with a smile.

But we didn't win!" Sunset was shocked, how did the girls feel ok with loosing again to what they had described as horrible people?

"That was as close to winnin' Canterlot's ever been." Jackie pats Sunset in comfort.

"After a careful tally of the points, I'd like to present the students moving on to the next round of the Tri-Catholon." Luna brought attention to the two groups of girls that were now glaring at each other.

The CHS team was made up of Sunset, Rainbow, Jackie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie.

The CPA team was made up of Sci-Twi, Indigo, Sugarcoat, Sour, Sunny, and Lemon.

Sci-Twi turned away and began walking towards Cinch, only to be stopped by Indigo, who grabbed her by the wrist.

"And you said they were getting better. What I see is a bunch of fucking losers!" Indigo smiled widely while pointing at the other team.

"I have to say, you played your cards right. You crushed them into the dust." Sunny placed her hands on her hips, smiling tightly.

"I feel like I didn't make myself clear." Sci-Twi shook Indigo's hand off. "They are improving. They put up a fight. Do you guys really think CPA is invincible?" She chuckles.

"They will never be close to winning. If you keep your attitude up, we'll switch you out." Sugarcoat frowned.

"Oh, but why? She'd make a great teammate!" Sour side hugged Sci-Twi, who only cringed away from the unwanted touch. "If she's even up to stay for the next round." Sour side-eyed Sci-Twi, who was looking straight at her with a shocked face.

"You're a moron if you think I plan on leaving. I want to humiliate them more than you know." She pushed Sour away, who only gasped. "I plan on getting this school back on its knees." She finally walks towards Cinch, who watched the entire altercation.

"So, ma'am. You remember what I told you?" Sci-Twi looked up at Cinch expectantly.

"Of course, and it looks like you are on to something, my dear." Cinch eyed the opposing group of girls, who were trying to cheer Sunset up. "I want you to follow them. As best as you can. I'll make sure to place you in an easier section for the next section of the games." Sci-Twi smiles and turns to face the girls.

She notices that the light pink haired girl dismissed herself from the group, so she follows right behind. Cinch watches as her student walked away, a look of pride radiated, and she approached her group of students that moved on to the next round.

"Ladies, you are aware that Twilight is our only hope in defeating Canterlot High, correct?" The girls nodded in unison. "Well, I would like for you all to work for her." That got complaints from the girls.

"There's no way I'm working for her!" Indigo pointed in the direction Sci-Twi had made her exit.

"Seriously? She's an arrogant bitch. I'm not helping her." Sunny squinted with a bitterness comparable to Sour's.

"I see." Cinch took her glasses off and cleaned them. "I did not want to resort to such measures, but unfortunately girls, you left me no choice." She places her glasses back in their place.

"Canterlot High School has been making... advancements." Cinch grimaced. "And I have assigned Twilight to investigate these advantages the students here have gotten."

"Awww... that's adorable! This school's isn't filled with pot-heads..." Sour's voice filled with an irritating high pitch. "Guess it's filled with cheaters..." She immediately frowned.

"So, what you're implying is that this school now has an advantage?" Sugarcoat raised her eyebrow. Cinch nods affirmatively.

"So, ladies, what I am asking is that you find any way to trigger any reactions from those girls." Cinch clenched her fist to emphasize. "Twilight was talking of some strange energy, and I need you girls to assist her in revealing it, then we can force this school to forfeit." She smiled down at the group, we looked at each other with malicious understanding.

"You got it, miss!" Lemon salutes in Cinch's direction, and the girls walk away.

...

Sci-Twi followed Fluttershy from a safe distance. Eventually, both girls ended up outside the school, Fluttershy hiding inside a large bush. Sci-Twi got closer and took a peek inside of the bush. She saw the girl comforting a student who had forfeited. They were seeming to talk about letting the school down, wishing they never did forfeit.

"Pathetic..." Sci-Twi rolled her eyes. Suddenly, her spectrometer opened on its own will again. Sci-Twi made a mental note to fix that issue, but in the meantime, she attempted to close it in fear that all the data she collected would disappear.

"Woah..." the student that forfeited gasped as they watched Fluttershy glow yellow, grow ears, a tail, and wings. Sci-Twi was quick to notice this, and her device began absorbing the energy. This time, something wasn't right. Small bolts of lightning shot out and opened the same wormholes she saw behind the bleachers.

"What the f-" Sci-Twi didn't get to finish her sentence as she saw a...rabbit...with antlers that came out of the wormhole. Unbeknownst to her, Spike had broken free of her backpack and began chasing the animal, barking at it, going through the wormholes to catch it.

The student that was with Fluttershy ran away as they saw these portals open. Fluttershy only looked around confused, until she spotted Sci-Twi. She was left shocked that she was the one taking her magic. Spike then ran directly into the yellow beams that connected both Fluttershy and the spectrometer. It electrocuted him, and Fluttershy grew weak due to it. She managed to hold onto the pup as she floated down to her knees.

"Here..." Fluttershy weakly held Spike out to Sci-Twi, who had finally managed to close her device again. The other girl promptly passed out and Sci-Twi held Spike tightly to her chest.

"Spike, are you ok?" Sci-Twi made the dog face her.

"I...think so?" Spike spoke.

Spike spoke?

Sci-Twi screamed in fear and dropped the dog, running away from him.

"Twilight, wait!" Spike ran after her as fast as he could.

Chapter Text

Sci-Twi ran into the school, making turns at random hallways. Some students watched as she ran, but paid no mind. Spike would make a turn into a hallway she ran into, and she would already be at the end of the hallway.

"Twilight, come on!" Spike kept running. "Wait for me!" Spike had finally cornered Sci-Twi at a dead end of the school. Sci-Twi pressed herself as best as she could to the wall, fear evident in her eyes.

"Why did you run away like that?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the floating girl! Or the holes in space! Or my talking dog!" Sci-Twi kept erratically motioning towards the direction of each subject she named out. She then relaxed and looked at Spike, who had no real difference from the dog she had adopted. Kneeling to his level, she grabbed Spike and placed him on her lap.

"What happened back there? Where did you go? What was that thing?" She tripped over her words and Spike covered her mouth with his paws.

"Hey, one question at a time, this is pretty new to me too."

"Sorry..."

"All I know is that I chased this rabbit around, then I was somewhere else." Spike frowned. "Next thing I knew, I was in that nice girl's arms, and I could talk!"

Before Sci-Twi could respond, she jumped at Cinch's voice. She quickly hid Spike in a nearby locker, thankful it was unlocked.

"Twilight? Who are you talking to?" Cinch glared down at Sci-Twi, who was slowly rising to her full height.

"Nobody ma'am. I was just..." She glanced at the locker, "Talking to myself. Some of our greatest minds did as such due to the overwhelming amount of knowledge they possessed." She looked directly at Cinch, who had a growing smile.

"Of course, your intellectual mind would require such an exercise. All of that information must be a stress to hold in when there's a desire to..." Cinch adjusted her glasses. "Release it." Sci-Twi unconsciously, and harshly, grasped her spectrometer, a light tingling feeling that, for reasons unknown to her, would cause her head to ache.

"Were you looking for me?" Sci-Twi frowned, and Cinch nodded sharply.

"Indeed I was." Cinch backed away from Sci-Twi, begining to pace back and forth. "Quite a coincidence that those same 'nice girls' will be continuing in the Games." She stopped her pacing, "And those girls are the same you claim have control over CHS's advantages?" Sci-Twi nodded. "This is perfect, my dear." She approached Sci-Twi with a malicious glint to her eyes. "I have tasked your teammates to force those girls into a position that will completely reveal the strange energy you have discovered. You, my dearest student, will only have to do one thing."

"And what would that be, ma'am?" Sci-Twi grimaced at the though of her teammates helping her. What could they even be capable of? They only know brute strength and greed.

"I need you to be the victim of your teammates actions." Cinch grinned tightly, which left Sci-Twi in disbelief.

"You want me to be weak? Are you serious?" Sci-Twi rolled her eyes, and Cinch had a knowing look on her face. "I should've never agreed to work with you if I'd known you'd reduce me to a pawn. Let me be clear, and with all due respect ma'am, I'm the one with the smarts and knowledge." Sci-Twi points at herself. "I am the only reason your school has yet to fall in second place."

Cinch harshly grabs both of Sci-Twi's arms, shaking the girl to silence her. "I need you to understand, Twilight, that I..." She pauses, "the whole school needs you. Now, if you'll allow me to explain..." She lets go of the girl. "Those 'nice girls' only react to you if they recognize that you need help. They are weak, and easily exploited. You are their weakness, my dear. Now take advantage of it." Sci-Twi grew a look of realization, and nodded.

"Oh, I will. I know exactly how." She looked at Cinch, "But I need something done for me, place me in the easiest section of the Relay Game." She smiles, "It'll be more pathetic if I can fail at something easy, they'll surely fall into the trap."

"Not a problem, Twilight." Cinch nodded at Sci-Twi, and began walking away. Once she was far enough, Spike was able to come out of the locker.

"So... How do you wanna go about collecting that weird energy stuff?" Spike looked up at Sci-Twi, who was deep in thought.

"Maybe, you could help out Spike?" Sci-Twi paused, scratching her chin. "Perhaps I can hide you and the pendant at a distance so that you can be close enough to collect data, and still remain hidden from the girl's eyes!" She smiled and picked Spike up. "How's that sound?"

"That sounds perfect Twi! Those girl's will never know what hit them." Spike growled, while Sci-Twi giggled darkly.

...

The six girls were walking to check out the playing field for the Relay. All the while, they were conversing about the recent magic mishaps.

"Then I handed that student a bunny, then I ponied up." Fluttershy had her arms crossed, seeming irritated.

"I just don't get it. Rarity ponied up when we met Twilight, Pinkie during the party, now Fluttershy?" Sunset was pacing while holding her head in both hands.

"It felt like someone was pulling magic out of me." Fluttershy huffed, "that's the last time I'm helping anyone."

"Just like me during the party..." Pinkie was brushing her hair with a purple bedazzled brush, seeming straighter than her usual curly hair. "I should never started that stupid party..."

"Or like me before we met Twilight..." She glared at Pinkie, "Oh, stop sulking and hand me my brush back before you ruin it with your unruly hair!" She snatched it from Pinkie's grasp, who seemingly resumed her brushing with her hands.

"I just get the feeling that it was Twilight who took you guy's magic" Sunset looked at the three magic-less girls. They looked upset, and Sunset felt stressed with her inability to help her friends.

"I dunno. This Twilight don't look like the magic stealing type." Jackie shook her head.

"Yeah, but she had something to do with the portal closing. If she could steal magic, then she could close the portal" Sunset tiredly looked at Jackie, who only looked her way in pity.

"How do you think she did it?" Fluttershy spat out quietly. "You're supposed to know this stuff, Sunset. Figure it out."

"Ugh, I don't know, the only person, or pony, that could figure this out is now disconnected from this world and I can't do a fucking thing about it!" Sunset caused the whole group of girls to stop in their tracks, Fluttershy seeming unimpressed with Sunset's outburst. Pinkie having not flinched, while still concerned with her hair. Rarity glared at Sunset, seeming annoyed with her outburst. The other girls looked between the non-magic girls and Sunset.

"Well..." Rainbow broke the uncomfortable silence, "Let's just focus on beating the Shadowbolts" She attempted to lighten the mood, and it only half worked, since the girls began walking to the school field. "I mean, as long as they put me on a playing field, Crystal Prep has no chance at winning!" The girls gasped once they reached the outside plating field.

"It puts you on a playin' field alright..." Jackie looked around the motor track, skating track, and archery section of the field. Pinkie, even in her sulking mood, gasped in surprise, Fluttershy lost her bitter expression and it was replaced with one of shock.

"Am I the only one who thinks this is a bit overkill?" Sunset acknowledges while touching the motocross track with her boot.

"I...don't suppose you made motocross uniforms?" Jackie side-eyed Rarity, who seemed to be vibrating with hidden excitement.

"Oh don't be ridiculous..." Rarity shook her hand, but couldn't contain her glee. "Of course I did!" Rarity lifted two outfits, one with warmer colors and another with colder colors.

Chapter Text

"You will race in pairs. Indigo and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross." Cinch explained to the first group of girls. Indigo pumps her fist in the air after hearing her inclusion in the motocross.

"Lemon and Sunny have requested the Short Track" Both girls high-five each other.

"Since archery is a standard requirement in our curriculum, it should be a breeze. Sour and Twilight will start us off." Cinch smiled and paused. "Now, ladies, I do hope you remember your goal here."

"Duh, we know!" Indigo groaned and threw one arm over Sugarcoat's shoulders. Every girl glared at Indigo's nonchalant attitude.

"Those girls are emotionally weak. They won't pass up the opportunity to help someone in need." Sugarcoat kept a straight face and crossed her arms. "We can tap into that by messing with a person they think is their friend."

"I do have to say, it's perfect that they know another Twilight." Sour shrugged her shoulders and began walking away, the other girls following suit.

Sci-Twi went to grab Spike and placed him under the motocross track. She knelt down to speak to him, which oddly felt comfortable to her now.

"Ok Spike, I want you to stay here, and once I give my signal to Sour, you prepare to open the device." Sci-Twi took off her spectrometer, which caused a slight headache that went ignored by Sci-Twi.

"But, what if I miss the chance to grab the energy? What if I'm too far away?" Spike worried while grabbing the device.

"Oh, don't worry Spike. If the device requires you to get closer, make sure nobody sees you, ok?" Sci-Twi got up and ran off to prepare for her humiliation.

...

"Welcome students to the Relay Race!" Cadence announces from the judge's booth. The crowd of CHS and CPA students began cheering, waving flags and whistling energetically.

"In this event, our qualifying competitors will face off in archery, speed skating, and finally, motocross... So if the competitors are ready..." Cadence blows the airhorn, which causes Cinch to cover her ears in annoyance.

With that, Sour bolted away from her starting point, easily jumping over the hay bale obstacles. Fluttershy, however, seemed to speedwalk to each hay bale, and crawl over it to get across. Sour grabs the rope to get across the mud, manages with ease, and proceeds to grab a bow and some arrows.

"Each competitor must hit a bullseye before their teammates can start the next leg of the race" Cadence explains to a crown of tense teenagers watching Sour grab three arrows, placing them quickly on her bow, and hitting a bullseye. The CPA teens cheer wildly, Sour smirking with glee.

Sci-Twi began running towards the first hay bale, but had to force herself to trip multiple times. Eventually, Fluttershy had managed to hit a bullseye, which cause the CHS teens to cheer even louder. Jackie bolted across the hay bales, Sci-Twi barely having reached across the swinging portion. She grabbed her bow and arrow and positioned herself to get a bullseye. She then made sure to absolutely suck at aiming, which earned groans and glares from both Sour and the rest of the CPA teens.

'Really playing off the annoyance, morons...' Sci-Twi though offhand. Throught this absolute fail Sci-Twi was putting up, Jackie had also managed to hit a bullseye. A buzzer signaling Rarity and Pinkie to begin their section of the race sounded, and both girls took off.

"And Canterlot is off to an early lead!" Cadence announces, while CHS students continue cheering for the skating girls.

Sci-Twi signals to Sour to get the other girl's pity. She quickly understood this, and didn't hesitate to berate Sci-Twi indirectly.

"Well, that's just fantastic!" Sour forms fists with her hands and looks at Sci-Twi angrily. Sci-Twi encourages it with a glance at her direction. In the corner of her eye, she saw Jackie and Fluttershy talking, Jackie with a concerned look. She also saw Spike run as fast as he could, and remain hidden closer to the archery course.

"I'm sure glad I don't go to Crystal Prep..." Fluttershy rolls her eyes, crossing her arms.

"You said it..." Jackie responds, still watching Sci-Twi fail to make a bullseye. Pinkie and Rarity had already made it around the rollerskate course once, Pinkie seeming to have fun with it.

"If CPA can't hit another bullseye soon, they'll be out of this race." Cadence announces with warning, and that got the CPA students angrier. They began hurling insults at Sci-Twi, who actually began to tear up.

"You're really bad at this!" Sugarcoat's voice pierced through the crowd. Sour's glare was intense. Lemon and Sunny looked annoyed while watching Pinkie and Rarity have a one-point lead.

Sci-Twi genuinely felt upset, she began to shake while grabbing another arrow to completely humiliate herself further. She wipes the tears falling from her face, hopping that it doesn't jeopardize the plan set in place.

'Such goddamn idiots, god, screw this.' She nearly decided to give up on the plan and began aiming for a perfect bullseye when Jackie's voice interrupted her swimming thoughts.

"Ugh! I can't take anymore!" Jackie climbed up next to Sci-Twi, who felt relieved that the plan didn't have to be postponed. Spike was already in position, all they needed was one last push.

"Ya have to stop aimin' at the target." Jackie explains to a teary-eyed Sci-Twi who still had an unused arrow perched on her bow.

"Oh, that makes perfect sense! Don't aim at the target! Thanks so much!" Sour sarcastically thumbs up Jackie's idea.

"Ya have to stop aimin' at where the target is an' aim at where the target's gonna be." Jackie ignores Sour's taunting and gets Sci-Twi's attention again. Ironically enough, Sci-Twi knew Jackie was correct about her statement. Moving targets and standing targets require different aim.

"Yeah! Definitely take advice from the person you're competing against!" Sour complains further, and signals to Lemon and Sunny to get ready to race. Both girls get in position, Rarity and Pinkie still trying to get their second point. Sci-Twi pathetically glances at Sour, then to Jackie.

"You wanna hit the bullseye or not?" Jackie raises and eyebrow. Sci-Twi nods her head softly.

"Then trust me. Take a deep breath." Jackie imitates a deep breath, which Sci-Twi actually takes. She raises her bow to aim.

"And let the arrow go..." Sci-Twi pulls the bow string back, keeping perfect aim, all while breathing slowly.

"Riiiiight.... now!" Sci-Twi lets go of the string, the crown of teens watching intently, and the CPA teens erupt with cheering when Sci-Twi hits a bullseye. Lemon and Sunny bolt at their signal, already passing the other two skating girls.

"Yeah! That's my girl!" Spike cheers from his hiding space, accidentally opening the spectrometer unbeknownst to him.

Sci-Twi's tears were gone, and a sharp grin grew on her face. This was perfect, the other girl should promptly begin producing the strange energy her other friends made. She turned to Jackie and hugged her by the neck, while the latter awkwardly hugged her waist.

"See? I was tellin' ya the truth." Jackie chuckled and began glowing orange. At that, Sci-Twi let go and watched the girl grow pony ears and a longer ponytail. She only hoped that Spike was nearby with the spectrometer. She glanced down and saw that Spike was cheering and left the device open.

Open?

It began pulling Jackie's energy, and the girl grimaced away from what was trying to take her magic.

"W-what the hell's... happ-ening to me?" Jackie shuddered, trying to keep her magic with her. Eventually succumbing to her loss of power, she kneels on both knees. Sci-Twi could only stare at her blankly, having succeeded in her proof of real powerful energy. Sour had already backed away from the glowing girl out of disgust.

Sci-Twi was snapped out of her stare by a small bolt of lightning that came out of the unsupervised spectrometer. It opened a large portal with a green plant-like monster coming out of it. A couple more bolts and more portals opened across the motocross track. Spike was already freaking out and Sci-Twi calmly walked towards the device.

"Canterlot only has two laps to go! But it looks like Crystal Prep is making up for lost time!" Cadence announces in the background, and just in time, both teams were now tied 3 to 3. Sunset, Rainbow, Sugarcoat, and Indigo began revving their motorcycles. Now the skating girls were 4 to 4, with the Shadowbolts ahead of Rarity and Pinkie.

"Come on!" Rarity urged a now sluggish Pinkie Pie, who used the last of her energy to finish the race. Both teams managed to cross the finish line at the same time.

"What a finish!" Cadence excitedly exclaims. A shutter of a camera captured the moment, and the signal for the motocross girls to start sounded. The crowd's cheering was deafening, both schools watching CHS's lead, and CPA's redemption.

Sci-Twi, however, didn't attempt to close her spectrometer. She just sat down with the panicking dog and hushed him.

"Listen Spike. This could be our way of outing those girls as cheaters." Sci-Twi smiled down at her dog, who had stopped shaking. "And to boot, maybe one of these girls may transform, giving me more data!" The girl smiled and looked back to the motocross track, watching as both teams attempted to one-up each other.

A jump in the track, which also had one of the terrifying monsters in between it, was easily passed by Rainbow Dash, who was excited from the extra challenge. Sunset, however, was not as thrilled. She looked on in worry, and could only hope nothing wrong could happen in this course.

Sour, Lemon, and Sunny had been stuck in a trance because of the otherworldly plants that surrounded the field. The three girls approached a giddy Sci-Twi, not yet looking away from the scene.

"What in the world is happening?" Sour demands, but it falls on deaf ears.

"Helloooo? We're talking to you!" Sunny snaps her fingers in front of Sci-Twi.

"God, could you two shut it for a second!" Sci-Twi waved the girls off.

"Nah, this isn't right, what's going on?" Lemon watched as a plant tried to snap at the motocross girls, which had caused the entire crowd to cheer at the easy evasion their team made.

"Ugh, you useless idiots! Don't you see? This is the perfect opportunity to out these Canterlot girls as cheaters." Sci-Twi looked up at the three girls, who were less than pleased at the initial comment.

"And you think these projectors will do anything to out them? Are you sure we're the idiots?" Sunny crossed her arms.

"Girl, they look real, I don't think they're projec-" Sour is cut off by one of the monsters grabbing Indigo's motorcycle and chewing it up. The crowd gasped, and the kids all started to yell at the higher ups to stop the race.

Everything starts happening too fast, as that same plant attempted to eat Indigo. Luckily, Rainbow had enough time to pick up the girl and drop her off away from the large hills of the track. Sugarcoat barely avoids a plant, but as a result ends up having to jump away from her bike.

Sunset had started driving up a plant's stem, and was starting to fall to the ground. At this point, the only one smiling was Sci-Twi, as she felt the tingling sensation that something perfect was about to happen. Just as she thought that, Rainbow had begun to glow blue, growing ears and wings.

She jumped off her motorcycle and flew to catch Sunset, who immediately grabbed on. Once they made it to the ground, Rainbow urged her to finish the race. Sugarcoat managed to get her motorcycle back on the track and started driving, Sunset right next to her.

"Hey, close that thing, those things are gonna kill them!" Lemon tried to reach for the spectrometer, but Sci-Twi evaded her reach. Sour and Sunny started pleading to Sci-Twi, who only waved them off.

"Don't you girls want to win?" They nod. "Well, that glowing girl is going to cause CHS to be eliminated, there's your win." The three girls looked on the track and saw that Sugar and Sunset were neck and neck. They also noticed a plant approach both of them, and the entire crowed started yelling louder in fear, but Rainbow body slammed the plant into the ground.

When this happened, both girls crossed the finish line, and only the photo captured by CHS's photographer managed to determine the winner.

"Canterlot wins!"

Loud cheering sounded from the home school, and it was met with confused looks from the opposing school. Eventually, CPA started to complain and say it was cheating. Cinch looked on at the crowd with frustration, and immediately left the principals booth. Cadence looked around and directed both schools to head for the gym.

Down on the field, Sci-Twi secretly closed the spectrometer, which also cause the plants to disappear. Sugarcoat helped Indigo up and made their way to the CPA girls, wearing pissed off looks on their faces. Sci-Twi rolled her eyes as both girls began to complain and blame her for their loss, both metaphorically and almost limb wise.

"Wrong, the both of you. Just watch." Sci-Twi pointed at Cinch and the CHS principals, who were presumably arguing about the validity of the win. "See? I told you girls that the glowing girl was going to cause this school to be considered cheaters." Sci-Twi faced all five girls and pointed at Rainbow Dash. They looked shocked to see that there was a glowing girl.

The CHS girls gathered around Sunset and Rainbow, who were both gasping for breath.

"Is everyone alright?" Jackie asked the girls, who nodded, except for Rainbow who was flying with excitement.

"More than alright! We won!" She shook and half hugged Sunset, but was pushed away by the former.

"Yeah, we won, but someone could've seriously gotten hurt. The magic is growing haywire and I have no fucking idea how to fix it!" Sunset gripped her hair while hyperventilating.

Sunset noticed Sci-Twi and her group watching them, and she began to walk towards them, her friends following in suit.

"What did you do?" Sunset balled her fists, attempting to keep her cool. The smart girl only looked at her with mock confusion.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about" Sci-Twi shook her head and shrugged, grasping her spectrometer, feeling her head start to hurt more, as the glowing girl approached her.

"No, I think you know what we're talking about." Rainbow pushed her way to Sci-Twi, "You made me lose the race. Sunset had to win for me."

"Hey Rainbow, cut it ou-" Jackie didn't get to finish.

"Shut up, just shut the fuck up!" Rainbow yelled. Jackie didn't appreciate that, and she nearly pounced on Rainbow. If it weren't for the girls who held her back with a lot of effort.

She got closer, and Sci-Twi was preparing to open her device. "I swear I'm going to..." She was cut off by a gut wrenching feeling of her magic slowly leaving her body. She felt weak and blurry eyed, but managed to see Sci-Twi and her device draining her.Rainbow finally dropped to the ground with a groan.

"Oh God, I'm really sorry! I don't know how any of this works." Sci-Twi smiled innocently, which began to rile up Sunset. She let go of Jackie, who only looked dead serious. That caused Fluttershy to let go with a grimace, Rarity to walk way, and Pinkie to look more upset.

"What do you mean you don't know how this works?" Sunset demanded. Sci-Twi shrugged and placed her spectrometer back on her neck, feeling her headache grow worse.

"It causes all of these strange rifts to appear, I have no idea how those work either" This riled up the redhead more, and this made the CPA girls plead Sci-Twi to knock it off. She didn't attempt to stop their comments, so they only got louder.

"Ugh, is there anything that you do know? Like, how to give them back their magic, or how to fix the portal to Equestria?" Sunset started to raise her voice, filled with anger, frustration, fear, and sadness. She had no one to blame but herself. She had promised to keep magic away from the games. And she felt like a failure.

"Equestria...?" Sci-Twi questioned, smile leaving her face. The CPA girls stopped talking and listened to Sunset's rambling.

"You're supposed to be smart, but did you ever think that you shouldn't mess with things you don't understand?" Sunset raised her hands in exasperation.

"I'm learning about it! I'm going to understand!" Sci-Twi started to raise her voice, while the CPA girls began backing away from the argument.

"No, you're not. You put the lives of my friends in danger in your selfish pursuit of knowledge!" Sunset harshly pushed Sci-Twi, who managed to regain her composure after the initial shock.

"And you understand more than I, is that right? You are useless. You don't even know how to stop it, do you?" Sci-Twi mocked.

Sunset knew she was right. She didn't understand. She's supposed to, and yet...

Smack!

Sci-Twi stumbled back, holding the right side of her face. She looked at the angry redhead up and down with a shocked look. But this grew into a smirk.

Filled with dread, Sunset realized what she did, and could only turn to face the principals who approached the group of girls. All sound felt like white noise and the CPA girls seemed to overlap their speech, and the Cnaterlot girls seem unlike themselves.

"Do you understand, Sunset?" Vice Principal Luna questioned a dazed Sunset, who nodded. Luna nodded and directed her attention to her teammates.

"Girls, I will be picking you a new teammate for the final competition, alright?" They all nodded and watched their Principals walk away.

"God, Sunset. What were you thinking?" Jackie questioned her. Before she could hear a response, Jackie shook her head, "You're a goddamn idiot, Sunset, plain and simple." Jackie rolled her eyes and walked towards the school.

"She's never called me..." Sunset felt an ache in her heart.

"Sunset, I know you're upset, but you really are selfish." Fluttershy sneered. "You couldve just said you didn't want to compete, instead you humiliate us." She walked away with her arms crossed. Pinkie just ran away. Rarity was long gone by now. Sunset's heartache grew unbearable.

"I recommend you go home, young lady" Sunset looked up to see Cinch fixing her glasses.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm just gonna..." Sunset awkwardly looked at the CPA girls staring her down, especially Sci-Twi, who had a gleeful look to her.

After Sunset left, Cinch turned to face the group again. "Girls, I congratulate you on your excellent show of pity." She tightly smiled, "And Twilight, I applaud your excellent observations. You were right. There is a sort of...magical aspect to this school." This earned a smile from Sci-Twi that screamed superiority.

"I don't know ma'am, it didn't look like they wanted to beat us with the power of wings." Sunny admitted.

"Yeah dude, she fucking saved my life! How's that cheating?" Indigo looked confused. The girls, save for Sci-Twi, began to complain, and Cinch rolled her eyes.

"You girls are replaceable!" That shut them up. "If you do not cooperate with Twilight, then I will choose 5 different students to compete on your behalf." The girls looked down.

"Well...what now?" Sour quietly murmured.

"Now we prepare for the final competition. Girls, you may leave. I need to speak to Twilight, alone." Cinch shooed the girls away, and they walked alongside each other, murmuring.

"Twilight, it seems you were right about the students here. So, our last goal is to render this school powerless. Make them know just how smart you truly are." Cinch bent down to Sci-Twi's height."I'm sure you have a plan in that brilliant head of yours. All of this unknown magic in your hands would surely be beneficial as a final push."

Cinch waited for Sci-Twi to plan something useful to not only win the competition, but to keep Sci-Twi on top.

Sci-Twi felt her head pounding now, from the previous tiny ache to full blow migrane. But she managed to think of her greatest idea.

"You said something about releasing magic..." Sci-Twi thought for a moment, "I believe I can tweak my spectrometer to provide me an advantage over those girls!" She jumped with a gasp, "Perhaps providing myself with the same supernatural abilities as them... that way, I'll have the knowledge I've craved for!" Sci-Twi clapped her hands in blissful joy.

"And my students will recognize your superiority. This is brilliant, Twilight. I congratulate you on your achievements. In fact, your Everton recommendation will be submitted the moment we win this competition." Cinch smiled and stood straight. Sci-Twi couldn't contain herself, no amount of headache would bring her down from her triumphant high.

"Prepare yourself for the final race Twilight. I expect to see a quick win." Cinch dismissed Sci-Twi, and she ran to the school. Spike following just out of view from Cinch.

The spectrometer on Sci-Twi's chest hummed, and the noise filled her with malicious understanding. Her greatest achievement is yet to come.

Chapter Text

It was nearly nighttime, and students were sitting in bleachers set up in front of CHS. Both sides were whispering to each other, and it didn't seem as lively as the other two competitions. Tension was higher, the odds were on either team. Sunset hadn't gone home, she wanted to say to support her friends.

She went to CHS'S side of the bleachers and sat closest to her teammates. Well, ex teammates, as she wasn't going to compete. Unease filled her, as well as regret, that her friends would be together, without her. Why couldn't she had controlled herself? Why couldn't she do more to help? She felt no different as she did when she "transfered" to CHS during her sophomore year.

One thing never changed, and she knew it. Even after being forgiven by the girls, and Princess Twilight; even after defeating The Dazzlings and finally feeling a part of the group. She hugged herself tightly, hoping that it would ease the stinging feeling in her eyes.

That one thing, she knew, was that she doesn’t understand how magic works.

This world's Twilight was right, in her own twisted way. Sunset didn't understand just as much as she didn't. And yet, this Twilight was actively trying to learn, by stealing magic, nonetheless still learning. Sunset was tasked to figure this out, for God's sake! And she couldn't do it, she failed.

Sunset brought her knees to her chest and sobbed softly. All the while, the CPA girls noticed this. Despite their hatred towards CHS, they still could help feeling awful for the redhead. Obviously, they couldn't go comfort her, so they held back.

"Guys, I'll be honest for a second..." Sour let her head fall down, "I think that bitch," she eyed Sci-Twi, who was busy talking to Cinch, "pushed that girl a little too much." She finally looked up, hoping her friends could see the same.

"Yeah, girl..." Sunny nodded and crossed her arms. "God, that Twilight is awful," she rolls her eyes.

All the girls nodded in agreement. Indigo noticed that Sunset's friends didn't even attempt to comfort their friend despite having looked over multiple times.

"You guys seeing this shit?" Indigo points her hand at the CHS girls who turned to look, "They aren't even trying to comfort that girl. And they wanna call themselves friends, psh..." She places her hands on her hips.

"I get the feeling they felt obligated to be her friend, thus causing them to immediately abandon her the moment something didn't go to plan." Sugarcoat adds, "Even so, can't they at least pretend to care?" She fixes her glasses.

"That's really fucked up, yknow?" Lemon takes off her headphones. "But like, that doesn't add up, yknow?" The girls look at her questioning. "Well, think about it! When we came her for the first time, those girls were like glue. Came to each other's aid and shit." She explains, "During the first competition, after she lost, her friend were there to congratulate her on fighting so hard, right?" The girls nodded. "What about the ball? The moment the redhead gets targeted by you," she points her chin at Indigo, "her friends defended her."

They all stay quiet to register Lemon's words. All of them glance at the opposite team, who aren't talking to each other. Facing away from them, they decided to continue their discussion after the last competition. Truth be told, and the girls wouldn't tell each other this, they didn't feel like they wanted to win. They just wanted to finish the games and go home.

In fact, it seemed that every teen in this school wanted to leave, as their unease grew. The CPA girls felt it the most, but neither wanted to open up about it.

Meanwhile, Sci-Twi was showing off the new improvements in her spectrometer. It wouldn't just release lightning bolts to different worlds, but cause the energy to leave it completely.

"Twilight, you are a very impressive student." Cinch observes the device, and smiles, "You are sure your plan will work, correct?"

"Of course it will!" Sci-Twi sneers, "I know what I want, and I know how to get it." She grasps her spectrometer harshly. "This energy caused those girls to crumble, so not only have you received your TC-GAMES win, but I've earned my power." She caresses her device, smiling, and turns away from Cinch, who looks on proudly at her prized student.

Sci-Twi walks towards the group of girls, who were looking at eachother but not saying a word. She immediately frowned, and harshly tapped Sour on the shoulder.

"Why do you all look like that? You're about to win, for goodness sake." Sci-Twi complained. She will never understand these people. First, they want to defeat this subpar school. But now, they don't look too up for the idea? God, who will ever figure out what they want?

"For your information, you little bitch," Sour frowned, "you kinda ruined those girl's friendship." She points to the opposing side.

"You went too far, girly." Sunny shook her head, "You were egging that girl on, and she reacted appropriately." She glared at Sci-Twi.

"God, ride each other more, why don't you?" Sci-Twi rolls her eyes, to which got gasps from the girls.

"Dude, you got no right to say that, you don't fucking know them!" Indigo points aggressively at Sci-Twi, who only looks at her, unimpressed.

"You are heartless, you know that?" Sugarcoat side-eyed Sci-Twi, who just shrugged.

"While you girls get pissy about me being too mean," she mock cries, "I'm planing to release the energy in here." She swings the device in front of the girls, who seemed uncomfortable.

"We know you're smart and everything..." Lemon hesitantly speaks, while Sci-Twi glares at her, "But are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it's a good idea," Sci-Twi confidently brags, "Why wouldn't it be?"

"The fucking redhead told you to not mess with shit you don't understand," Indigo didn't seem too scared of Sci-Twi's glare. But before any retort was made, Candence began speaking through a microphone.

"Since the score is now tied, the final event will determine the winner of the Tri-Catholon." The students stopped whispering and paid attention.

"Somewhere on campus, a pennant from each school has been hidden. The first team to find their school's flag and bring it back wins." Luna explains through her microphone.

"And as soon as our teams are ready, we'll begin." Celestia speaks through her microphone.

The CHS girls huddle together, a tension among them. Fluttershy was the one to break the silence.

"I really don't feel like playing these games anymore" She crosses her arms in defiance. Rainbow looks at her bewildered. Rarity groans and rolls her eyes.

"Rainbow Dash, for goodness sake, you do realize that all of this," Rarity pointed at themselves and the students, "makes these games seem more like a chore? No thanks to you." She places her hands on her hips and raises her eyebrow.

"No, we have to compete!" She utters harshly while raising her hands in exasperation, "this is the last event Fluttershy, can you please stop looking so pissy?" This caused Fluttershy to huff and turn away, and caused Rainbow to groan in annoyance.

"Let's just get through this last event and prove we're not a bunch of cheaters." Jackie rubbed the side of her head as if taming a headache. The girls nonchalantly nod, seemingly uninterested.

Back on CPA'S side, Cinch gathered the girls, who were now looking uncomfortable. Sci-Twi stands next to Cinch, a blank expression on he face.

"I know I'm asking you to beat a team that isn't playing fair, " Cinch started

"As if we're any different..." Sugarcoat mutters.

"...but Canterlot High must be made to understand that even with magic at their disposal, beating Crystal Prep is simply not an option." Cinch glared at Sugarcoat for her unwanted comment.

"So, what do you want us to do now?" Sour crosses her arms.

"A fair question," Cinch takes off her glasses and cleans them, "for our win to be guaranteed, Twilight has come up with a way to beat fire with fire." She placed her glasses back on the bridge of her nose. "I believe that her knowledge on the subject of... magic, can prove to be a useful asset in our pursuit of victory." Cinch motions to Sci-Twi, who steps in front of Cinch.

"As you girls know, the CHS students have some," she pauses to think, "otherworldly abilities that I could use.' She smiles, "This is no longer a normal competition, this is pursuit of knowledge." She emphasized her words, "A discovery of powerful energy that will turn the tide in your favor."

The CPA girls looked at each other, weary looks drawn in their eyes. Cinch began to back away from Sci-Twi, pride radiating off her. She knew that placing Sci-Twi at the helm of this competition would have proven a point. Crystal Prep will forever be the winner, the powerful, everything Canterlot isn't, nor ever will be. All the while, Vice Principal Luna began to direct each team to get ready.

"All I need you girls to do is stay out of my way." Sci-Twi finished her speech, and with that, she pushed the girls away as she walked towards the center of the field.

"Ma'am, you have to listen to us," Sugarcoat started, "You can't let her do this!" The girl insisted. The other girls started talking over each other.

"Yeah, like, we can't let her use that magic-y stuff she took from them!" Sunny pointed to the other side of the field.

"Call it power or magic," Cinch started, "But ladies, our school's loss will bring shame to me. To all of Crystal Prep." She overlaps her hands, matter-of-factly.

"What happens if something goes wrong, huh?" Indigo snapped, "What is your old ass gonna do to stop that shit from happening?" She clenched her fists and grew angrier when Cinch scoffed.

"I assigned Twilight to this assignment because she represents everything this school is, " Cinch pauses and leans down to Indigo's level, "everything you girls are not." That caused the girls to stare in shock.

"You shouldn't talk to us like that," Sour started, "God, why would you say that!" She half yelled. Sunny placed a hand on Sour's back, hoping to calm her down.

Meanwhile, Cadance starts the countdown to start the next round. Sci-Twi took off the spectrometer, and again, a horrible migrane overtook her. She nearly stumbled with how dizzy she got, but nevertheless, she held in outwards. The CPA girls, however, were too busy calling out their principal.

Sunset had begun to wipe her tears away when she noticed Sci-Twi holding the device. A sensation of dread overtook her, and she sat frozen in her seat.

"No..." Sunset mumbled, "She's not thinking of..." She slowly rose from her seat, turned to her friends, hoping they noticed what was going on. But she felt a strange, yet familiar feeling take over as she saw her friends weren't looking at each other.

Darkness.

The feeling that radiated off the girls was pure darkness. Something that Sunset hadn't felt since the dance. Something that caused her to turn into a monster.

Everything was happening too quickly for her. Her friends weren't the same, the girls on CPA'S side looked to be defying Cinch, Sci-Twi looked to be ready to release the magic. She failed at investigating the magic. All the while, Luna and Cadance nearly finished the countdown to start the final game.

Sci-Twi started opening her spectrometer, and she could feel her pulse accelerate with excitement, her headache grow worse, and the growing wind begin to undo her hair from the neat bun she keeps it in.

It felt like slow motion to Sunset, who began to run towards Sci-Twi in hopes of preventing more magic to be let lose.

All the while, as Sunny was comforting Sour, she noticed Sci-Twi opening that device, while the redhead girl from CHS began to run towards her. She motioned to the other CPA girls, Indigo taking action and attempting to run towards Sci-Twi as well. The other girls followed suit, hoping to make it before...

"Now!" Luna and Cadence yelled out

Chapter Text

The giant Shockwave that came from the spectrometer knocked both Sunset and the CPA girls to the ground. The entire field noticed the shockwave, and stared at the center of the field where Sci-Twi was now reaching out to a growing, white orb. Both schools gasped as they watched Sci-Twi float upwards, being pulled in by the orb.

Sci-Twi felt elated, her research, her biggest achievement coming true. But this joy was short-lived as the orb started burning her hands as it consumed her. She attempted to reach out to her teammates, who could only look up helplessly.

"Help...!" Sci-Twi looks at them pleading, "Me...!" Half of her body was now in the orb. She continued struggling, until she felt overwhelmingly tired.

Soon, her entire body was consumed, her tears of pain evaporating, only a silhouette of her body visible through the now bigger orb. Sunset and the CPA girls can only look on in horror. Cinch has a twisted smile on her face, seeming happy that this was happening to her prized student.

Meanwhile, Sci-Twi felt her clothes burn off. But these then replaced with glowing pointe slippers, an intricate design crawling up both her legs.

Her uniform burned away, and in return a dark purple dress with flowing fabric grew. Gloves with glowing, intricate designs appeared. Her back shoulder blades split open, and grew two large, dark purple wings with glowing lines.

All of it to melt away her glasses, and in turn cause two blue flames with seeing holes through them to appear, giving way for pseudo glasses that once rested on her nose.

Her headache disappeared, but in return, a long and pointy unicorn horn grew on her forehead.

At last, everyone saw the orb explode to reveal Sci-Twi, her new appearance caused gasps and shrieks.

Sci-Twi finally opened her eyes, and the flames on her face grew more intense. She looked around the field, then at herself. For a moment, she felt confused, but eventually she felt an immense urge...

She caught Cinch's proud stare, and she smiled sharply at her. With one swoop of her hand, a purple glow lifted Cinch towards her. Cinch quickly lost her smile as she got dragged and lifted up by her student's magic.

"Now that I have what I wanted, " Sci-Twi spoke with aggressive confidence, "I no longer need you." She slowly clenched the hand that had lifted Cinch into a fist.

As Cinch was crying out in anguish, she could feel how Sci-Twi's magic crushed her insides, felt as thought at any moment she would-

Crack!

Shrieks and gasps emanated from the field, some students running away towards the school and the streets, others frozen in place. They watched as Cinch's bottom half of her body fell from the grasp of Sci-Twi's magic. It landed righ next to the CPA girls, who then slowly rose from their spots and carefully made their way to Sunset, who was still in shock.

Sci-Twi let go of the other half of the now deceased Cinch, she turned to look down at Sunset, who was now being shielded by the CPA girls.

"You were right! I didn't understand magic before," She chuckled and flexed her fingers all the while. "But I do now!" She raises her hand and throws a powerful blue lazer beam towards the Wondercolt.

"Equestria!" Sunset turns and watches how the beam caused the other world to be exposed. She turned to see if her friends had reacted, but they still haven't moved. Sci-Twi noticed this and frowned.

"No, no... that just won't do." She shook her head and she created a small blue orb. She smiled maniacally. "They won't recognize you after I'm done!" She threw the orb straight at the main 5 girls, the extra teammate managing to run off before impact.

"No!" Sunset tried getting up, but the CPA girls held her back, genuine fright plastered on their faces.

"Don't, you'll get yourself killed..." Sour holds Sunset's arm, who turns to face her with teary eyes.

The six girls watch as waves of blue magic wrap around the main 5. When the magical waves disappear, the girls were wearing dark purple armor, helmets held on their left arm, and different colored gauntlets on their hands.

Fluttershy and Rainbow stretched out their wings, which were seemingly made of crystal, and flew up to Sci-Twi, taking post at either side of her. They both placed their helmets, blank expressions covered by the dark and jagged helmet.

Sunset could only look up hopelessly,

Rarity was the only one who's gauntlets possessed a blue gem, in contrast to her white gauntlet. Her bank expression eventually covered by the helmet she was holding, she flexed her now free hands, and transperent light blue magic surrounded her body which lifted her up next to Fluttershy.

Jackie and Pinkie raised their hands to their mouths to blow a whistle, and two horse-like creatures that looked to be made of dark, empty, yet sparkling space ran to them both.

"Where'd those things come from?" Sugarcoat mumbled to Sunset, who had realized that the now destroyed Wondercolt was causing more cracks to form on the ground due to Sci-Twi's magic impact.

It wouldve been a beautiful sight to behold is Sunset didnt feel her soul be torn apart as she warched her friends join sides with this world's Twilight.

As the horses were running, both girls placed their helmets on their heads, climing the horses once they had reached them. The horses neigh loudly and both girls direct the animals to take them below Sci-Twi. Sunset, too distracted by her friend's new allegiance, was caught by surprise when she heard Lemon distraught.

"Oh my God, the ground is breaking!" Lemon shrieks while pointing to the growing cracks that were now reaching them.

"Ok, we need to get out of here now!" Indigo rose from the ground and got the other girls to stand.

As quickly as they could while panicking, all of the girls ran a safe distance away. However, Sunset stopped and looked back. Indigo was the only one to notice the girl missing, so she abruptly stopped the other girls' running.

Sunset watched as Sci-Twi threw her magic to open more portals, which made more cracks appear. Some students were barely dodging these attacks, some sliding and managing to grab onto the edges that haven't collapsed yet.

"What are you doing?" Indigo forced Sunset to look at her. "We need to go!" Indigo grabbed Sunset's arm.

"No, I can't. " Sunset shook her head feverishly, "I need to help my friends." She tried shaking off Indigo's grip, but the stronger girl wouldn't budge.

"Dude, they treated you like shit," Lemon starts, "And look at them! I dunno what that Twilight did to them, but I'm pretty sure you're better off not messing with them." She looks up at Sci-Twi, who is laughing maniacally while shooting more lazer beams.

"You have to trust me," Sunset turns to face the CPA girls, "I brought the magic into this world. I have to get rid of it." The girls looked at each other with worried glances. Indigo, hesitated in letting go of the redheads arm. Eventually, Sunny took a breath.

"Yknow what?" She smiled and looked at Sunset, "We'll help out, whatever you need us to do." The other girls started agreeing, which caused Susnet to half smile and nod in affirmation.

"Alright," she began, "You guys try to help the other students run away, I'll take care of Twilight." With that, Indigo let go of Sunset's arm, and the CPA girls ran off to help the other teens. She finally made it to where Sci-Twi was floating.

"Twilight, you can't do this!" Sunset yelled up at the girl, who turned to face her.

"Why not?! There's a whole other world right there, and it's just filled with magic!" Sci-Twi raised her hand, changing up another lazer, and shot it at Sunset who dodged.

"But you're destroying this world to get it!" Susnet pleaded, watching as he previous standing place shattered and revealed more of Equestria.

"So what? There's more magic there," Sci-Twi flew upward even more and began to charge a bigger burst of magic, "And I will be the one to posses it all!" She threw the magical beam towards Sunset, who dodged again.

This time, however, the ground began to crumble fast under Sunsets feet. She tried running but the ground was falling too fast. She was about to give up when she felt two hands grab her arm, preventing her from falling into Equestria.

"Don't let go!" Sunset looked up and saw Sugarcoat attempting to pull her up. She finally managed to climb out of the cracks of the two dimensions.

"Thank you." Susnet smiled, out of breath.

"Yes, yes, now go!" Sugarcoat smiled slightly and shooed her to deal with Sci-Twi.

Meanwhile, Sunny was attempting to lift two students that were trying to hold onto the edges of the dimensions. She struggled with both the teens weight, but eventually slipped and managed to hold onto the edge with one hand. Indigo noticed the struggle, but she was busy helping some other students.

"Hang on!" One of the students Sunny was helping cried out.

"Obviously!" Sunny felt her grip start to slip, "Oh God, no!" She slipped, but before she and the two other teens could fall, Indigo and Lemon managed to grab Sunny's arm.

"We got you!" Indigo grunted out, Lemon straining with the weight of three teens. Both girls managed to get them out of the other world. The CPA girls urged the two other students to run.

Sunset noticed the spectrometer was still open, some energy left in it. She ran to grab it and then ran up to Sci-Twi again, who looked down at her with frustration.

"This isn't the way! I know you feel powerful right now, like you can have everything you want!" Sunset yelled upwards, passion in her voice, hands trembling with the spectrometer in them. Sci-Twi only stared at her in confusion.

"I've been where you are, I've made the same mistake you're making! I put on a crown and, just like you, I was overwhelmed by the magic it contained! I thought it could get me everything I wanted!" Sunset lowered her voice, shame filling her, but desperation behind her words.

"Oh, you're wrong." Sci-Twi frowned and shook her head, "You claim to understand how magic works." She listed off, "How it changed you, how it changed me." She point to herself. "But did you ever think that you never understood how it worked from the beginning?" Sci-Twi smiled smugly downwards.

"No." Sunset paused, "I understand magic, I know how it works," she raises the arm with the spectrometer, "And I'm not going to let you use its power to destroy us all!" She throws the spectrometer on the ground, which released the same blue orb that had transformed Sci-Twi. Sunset let the energy transform her.

Her normal outfit now replaced with a flowing dress, which gave off a golden glow. Her shoes transformed to slippers that glowed orange, sun designs trailing up her legs. Gloves appeared on her hands, the same sun designs appeared. Her face now had a shimmery eye makeup, she grew wings that glowed a golden orange, and grew a horn that was a glowing white color.

When she finally appeared, the CPA girls noticed the change and smiled at each other. Sunset flew to Sci-Twi's height.

"You will never understand Equestrian magic." Sunset glared at Sci-Twi, who's face drew a scowl.

"I've had enough of this..." Sci-Twi changes up a magical beam and threw it at Sunset, who managed to fly away from the impact.

In turn, Sunset charged her own magical beam and threw it at Sci-Twi, who also dodged with ease. All the while, the CPA girls could help but stare in awe of the magical battle occurring right before their eyes. But through the loud noise, Sour heard an animal whimper. She looked around and noticed that Spike was visibly shaking. She hurried to check on the dog, who had backed away from her.

"Oh, come on, " Sour rolls her eyes, "I'm also scared of this magical duel, so take what you can get." Sour tried smiling, and Spike actually got closer to the girl. When he finally allowed her to carry him, she began to smile more genuinely. She then saw some magic strike above her head, and ran towards the her little group.

"You're persistent, aren't you?" Sci-Twi smirked and threw another beam.

"Anything to prevent you from destroying this world." Sunset shot back, both literally and metaphorically.

"Well see about that," Sci-Twi flew upwards, "Ladies, take care of her, I've got more pressing matters to attend to." She glared at the group of CPA girls, who were looking at her defiantly. She then flew towards them.

"Guys, please, listen to me" Sunset pleaded, "This isn't like you, you have to believe me!" The pleas went ignored, and the main 5 began to attack her.

Rarity shot sharpened diamonds at her, and Sunset put up a shield.

Jackie directed her horse towards the school, she tore off a chunk of the bricks, and threw them at Sunset with unmatched force. Sunset barely dodged it, too focused on the sharp diamonds that are now managing to penetrate through her shield.

Unfortunately for Sunset, she did get scratched by sharp parts of the chunk, making her magic falter for a moment. She composed herself and strengthened her shield. Jackie continued her brick throwing, eventually causing some to catch on fire due to the speed they were thrown at.

Pinkie made her horse run upwards, and there she held out one hand and began to replace Sunset's oxygen with carbon dioxide, cause her to get light headed, but still manage to push through.

Rainbow flew at Sunset when she wasn't watching and began to circle her, a stormy trail of wind forming a tornado with lightning strikes engulfed Sunset, who cried out and tried to cover her eyes. She managed to fly out of the tornado with much force, which caused the other girls to grow confused.

Fluttershy noticed where Sunset flew to, and called thousands of African hornets to block off her path. When Sunset tried to swat them away, they stinged her hand, causing her the scream and feel her hand go numb.

The main 5 began their assault again, Sunset taking more effort to block and dodge their attacks. Meanwhile, The CPA girls noticed Sci-Twi flying slowly towards them. They began to back away, until they reached a wall.

They were cornered.

"Oooh, why did we have to listen to that girl...!" Sunny whispered to the other girls.

"She trusted us girl..." Sour looked at Sunny, "We have to trust that she makes it through." Sunny looked unsure.

"What if she doesn't?" Sugarcoat added, voice wavering, "I mean, look at what those supposed friends are doing to her." She nodded her head towards the altercation Sunset and the main 5 are having.

"You better hope she makes it through," Lemon's voices cracks, "Oh God, I hope she does." She closes her eyes tightly.

Sci-Twi finally was at face level with the other girls. She had an award winning smile on her face, laughing at the girls shaking bodies.

"What's the matter girls?" She feigned a coo, "Can't handle a bit of competitiveness?" She points with her hand towards Sunset. "You girls wanted a victory, and now that I've given it to you," Sci-Twi lowers her hand and begins to fly upwards, "You refuse to take it?" She begins to charge another lazer beam.

"Did you forget the objective of capture the flag?" Indigo glares up at Sci-Twi, "You gotta catch the flag," she looked at Sour and grinned apologetically, "So catch!" She grabbed Spike and threw him to the opposite side of the field. Sour stared at the blue haired girl in shock. Sci-Twi's flames disappeared for a moment as she noticed her pup being thrown.

"Spike!" She flew towards Spike and grabbed him before he hit the ground. The CPA girls took advantage of the distraction and started running to hide. Still in Sci-Twi's arms, Spike looked up and saw his owner.

"Twilight, please, don't do this!" Spike pleaded, but to his dismay, his owner's once normal human eyes changed back to the flame covered eyes.

"You're no longer my companion little pup." Sci-Twi looked at Spike, a frown contorts her face as she drops the dog. He braces himself for impact and hits the ground with his front paws, yelping at the now broken bones.

The girls hid behind the CPA bleachers and watched as Spike fell from the height that Sci-Twi still hovered over. They shut their eyes before Spike hit the ground, and huddled closer when they heard Sci-Twi laughing.

When they did finally open their eyes, their sight caught Sunset, who had managed to overpower the main 5 once again. What was once smiling faces of hope soon fell when they noticed Sci-Twi approaching Sunset, charged beam in her hand.

Their yelling overlapped and caught the attention of Sunset, who despite still fending off the main 5 had managed to see Sci-Twi out of the corner of her eye. She garnered a huge blast of energy that pushed the girls away and quickly charged her magic to attack Sci-Twi.

When they both met, their magic caused an ear splitting eruption noise that caused the girls below to cover their ears and wince. Sci-Twi and Sunset back away from each other and both charge a huge amount of power.

Both girls shot a lazer at each other, which collided in the center, both beams trying to overpower each other. Sunset began straining, and Sci-Twi seemed to not break a sweat

Memories of the Decathlon came back to Sunset, who still remembers Sci-Twi's concentration and how easy it was for the smart girl to figure out the answer. She realized that just like Sci-Twi's intelligence at finding the answer to a math problem, she had managed to find the answer to how magic works in this world.

She knew Sci-Twi found the answer when the orange beam began to shrink under the blue beam.

Sci-Twi found how magic worked. Sunset began to shake under the immense power.

She found something she tried finding. Sunset heard Sci-Twi cackling.

She realized that in all accounts:

She is a failure

"NOOOO!" Sunset was shaking so much, tears pouring down her face which was scrunched up in pain. She felt as Sci-Twi's blue magic engulfed her, and stripped her of her powers.

Every last drop of it.

Everything sounded muffled.

What's happening to her? She feels weak.

Weaker and weaker.

In some far away corner, Sunset could hear the CPA girls screaming, she could hear Sci-Twi cackling louder, she could hear her friends laughing with her.

In an instant, she felt herself fall.

Down, down, down, until-

Slam!

Everything slowly goes dark for Sunset. She could feel the wetness of her face, the back of her head hurt, her legs felt numb, her arms lost their feeling completely. Before she could pass out, she ground softly.

"Guys..." She reached out to the CPA girls who had begun to run towards her. "You have to go..." She passes out just as Sugarcoat reached her first.

She hesitated touching the redhead as she saw her mangled body. She carefully brushed some hair away from the girl's neck to check her pulse. All the while, Sour went to grab Spike and checked on his paws. She ran to her group to check on sunset as well.

"Guys, her pulse is barely there," Sugarcoat looks at the other girls with seriousness. Indigo carefully lifted the girl up and motioned them to get to running.

"Well, let's take her with us-" Indigo got cut off when a beam of magic was shot narrowly at them.

Sci-Twi looked down at the girls and smiled. "Think of this as an act of mercy." She crosses her arms.

"Don't have to tell us twice, come on" Lemon signaled the girls to follow her. They made their way to the parking lot, all the cars gone by then, save for the CPA busses. They all rand towards one and tried opening the doors. Sunny and Sour both got frustrated.

"Ugh! How are we supposed to open metal doors?" Sunny kicked the bus.

"Hold on, lemme just..." Lemon took spikes collar off, used the charm on it to make a wedge on the door, and got her hands in between the door. "Guys, help out!" She motioned towards the girls with free hands.

Lemon, Sugarcoat, Sunny, and Sour, who put Spike on the ground softly, began pulling the door until they felt it open completely.

"Oh my God, girl..." Sunny gasped for air and stretched her arms, "You are smart as hell..." She smiled as she and Sour, who had picked Spike back up went into the bus.

"Guys, I'd hate to interrupt this moment of triumph, " Sugarcoat tensed, "But we literally have a dying girl here!" She pointed with her thumb. The rest of the girls rushed into the bus, Lemon managed to hot wire it, and drove to a hospital.

Chapter Text

After having left Sour and Sunny at the veterinarian, Indigo, Sugarcoat, and Lemon immediately burst through the hospital's glass doors and saw it was chaos in there. They recognized students from both schools there, some with minor injuries and others with their arms and legs twisted unnaturally.

"Yo, we need some help here!" Indigo yelled out at some nurses passing by who noticed the devastating state Sunset was in.

Terminology that the girls were unfamiliar with was ordered out by the nurses, some doctors and nurses getting a bed for Sunset to be placed on. The girls stayed back as they watched the redhead be wheeled away. A nurse came by and sat the girls down, who looked shaken up.

"Alright girls, we're aware of what happened at Canterlot High, " the nurse, a brown haired woman, spoke seriously. The girls looked at each other in surprise.

"Wait miss, you know about the magic duel and portals?" Indigo raised a brow. The nurse looked at the girls in confusion.

"Girls, " she began, "All of our current patients were talking about the same thing, " she paused and knelt down. "At first, the students that came by early were talking about this, we ruled them out as hallucinations due to stress-" She got cut off by the girls talking over each other.

"No, miss, you have to believe us!" Lemon raised her voice, bewildered by the nurse's assumption. "There's this girl that transformed into a person with magic and wings!" She raises her hands high to resemble wings.

"Ma'am, it's the truth." Sugarcoat looked at the nurse sternly. "Don't you think it's worth believing if two schools worth of students come to you with the same story?" She crosses her arms. The nurse hesitated, and eventually rose.

"Follow me girls." She motioned, and the three girls followed along. They reached one of the hospital rooms, a TV mounted on the wall. The nurse reached for the remote and turned the TV on, changing it to the national news. The girls were left aghast at the sight. What was once Canterlot High was now engulfed with the strange portals. Now that they got a closer look, it seemed like horses were in these portals. Lemon pointed at the TV.

"There! That girl!" She jumped, "That's her, the girl with the wings!" The four of them say that Sci-Twi was finishing off the last bit of Canterlot, when she noticed that a camera crew was recording her. She charged up her magic and shot at the camera man, and the signal got cut off.

"Holy shit!" Indigo gasped. The three girls turned to the nurse, who had gone pale. Far away in the hospital lobby, people were shrieking and yelling at each other just as the scene passed the news.

"We are aware that this story your classmates and Canterlot High students is real, and quite frankly..." She turned off the TV, "It's nothing like this country had ever seen before."

The girls walked back to the waiting area and sat quietly. All the TVs in the waiting room were playing news stations from different channels and broadcasters. The silence in the room was deafening, save for the occasional nurse yelling out orders.

Lemon's phone ring and she rose from her spot, walking away from Sugarcoat and Indigo. Soon, their phones rang too. Indigo hung up first and waited for the girls to hang up as well.

"So..." Indigo rocks back and forth in her seat, looking to the ground. "You guy's parents call too?"

"Yep." Lemon sat back down.

"Yes." Sugarcoat nods.

They sat in silence for a while...

"Are you guy's parents coming to pick you up too?" Indigo looked up, fidgeting with her uniform shirt.

"Yeah..." Lemon, who's phone vibrated, said as she got up and said goodbye to the two blue haired girls.

"No..." Sugarcoat stared blankly into space. "I told my grandma I'm staying here for a while, just to keep an eye on the girl."

"That's nice of you dude." Indigo pats the girl on the shoulder. Her phone beeps, "Well dude, I guess I'll see ya later...?" Indigo got up and left. Sugarcoat let a couple more minutes pass, some students leaving already.

She wasn't sure how much time had gone by, hut she must've fallen asleep because it was extremely dark outside. He body was covered in a blanket, and she looked around the waiting area and noticed some students still sitting, asleep. A couple were awake and talking to reception. She rose from her spot and walked towards reception.

"Please miss, tell him Wiz was here, tell him that I'm ok." A guy with a brown bowl cut pleaded with the nurse, who nodded sympathetically. Once he walked, Sugarcoat began to speak.

"Excuse me ma'am, but my friends and I can in here with a red haired girl, " the nurse nodded and began to look through her computer, "And I was just wondering if there any way I can see her?"

The nurse frowned at the computer, then turned to face Sugarcoat. "Are you family or a close relative of hers?" Sugarcoat shook her head.

"Do you know anyone who is?" Sugarcoat shook her head again.

"Well miss, the best thing you can do is wait, she came in critical condition. The doctors are still working on her."

Sugarcoat felt frustration build in her, but remained calm.

"Ok, fine, but can yall at least tell me if she has a phone on her? Check her contacts or something!" Sugarcoat tried arguing.

"We'll try to find a phone, but for now, you can wait in the waiting area." The nurse smiled softly, which made Sugarcoat slump slightly as she walked back to her seat.

The sun was rising at this point, and from what little battery she had on her phone, she saw it was 5 in the morning. The news continued playing 5he events that had transpired in CHS, but Sugarcoat's attention heightened when they announced that the president of the United States was giving a statement.

"My fellow Americans, know that your safety is of the utmost importance. We are currently investigating the gravity of this foreign attack, and will take measures to prevent further destruction. Please be advised to stay indoors, and if encountering this irregularity, take all measures to escape."

The screen faded to the presidential seal while playing a patriotic song. Sugarcoat heard someone clear their throat and faced them. It was the nurse from the front desk.

"Miss, we looked through your friend's contacts and called each number, nobody answered." She folds her hands in front of her, "And we found no parental or guardian contact either."

"What do you mean?" Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow, "So she doesn't have parents?" The nurse nodded slowly.

"As it stands, yes. Miss, do you have a parent or guardian?"

"Yeah, my grandma."

"Can you call her? Since this girl has no guardian, we need a stand in for the time being."

"Yeah, I can call her, gimme a sec." Sugarcoat turns and calls her grandmother, explaining the situation. She felt two taps on each shoulder and turned to see Sour and Sunny.

"Is that girl ok?" Sour sat down next to Sugarcoat.

"I don't know, she's still in surgery." Sugarcoat hung up the call.

"Well, she did look pretty rough after that fall." Sunny sat next to Sour.

"Yeah..." Sugarcoat looked down, but then looked at the girls confused, "Wait, how'd you guys get here anyway?" Both girls smiled, but Sunny answered.

"I know the president said to like...avoid going out at all costs because of that Twilight girl, " she shrugged, "but we did kinda want to know what happened to this girl." She signals to the door separating the lobby from the actual rooms.

"Fair is fair, but-" Sugarcoat cut off her sentence when she saw her grandmother, and ran up to her.

"Grandma, cmon, we have to go see her!" Sugarcoat grabbed her arm and pulled her to the front desk, the other two girls following suit.

"Alright, alright sweetheart, calm down." The elderly woman soothes the girl, who along with her friends, also began to yell for a attendant to help them. Once they had set everything up for the woman to be a temporary guardian, they were finally allowed inside.

Before they entered, they were stopped by Lemon and Indigo's voices. They soon made their way to Sunset's room, where she was staring blankly at the TV screen replaying last night's events.

The CPA girls seemed relieved to see the redhead awake and less bloody. But when the girl turned to face them, she couldn't help but burst into tears.

"God, this is all my fault, I-" She hiccups, "I should've know better, I was supposed to know, I..."

"Hey girl, take it easy." Sunny frowned and got closer to Sunset, who wouldn't stop crying.

"You tried your best..." Sour started, "But like, at least all of those kids managed to get out of there." She gently touched Sunset's hand, which was connected with IV bags.

The girls talking overlapped for a while, and they all felt an immense grief for Sunset. In Sunset's mind, she didn't feel capable of trying to stop Twilight anymore. So much so that each time the girls brought it up, she immediately dismissed the idea with aggression. 

"Dude, you're literally the only one here that knows what that Twilight is doing." Indigo points at the TV, which has been replaying more of Sci-Twi's attacks, now no longer contained at CHS.

She had moved on to destroying CPA, and those 5 other girls next to her fended off the police officers at the scene. The portals engulfed the entire school, cracking at the edges, letting the girls see the horse-like creatures inside of them.

"I'll be really honest, ok?" Sunset breathed deeply, "In your world, there is no power strong enough to defeat Twilight's. The military can't stop her, they'll only get themselves killed trying."

"Bullshit!" Sugarcoat hissed, "You were close to beating her, you knew how to use those powers." She pointed at the screen.

"Yeah, which is weird since you said no power on Earth can beat her, so that can only mean one thing..." Lemon leans over Sugarcoat.

"You're not from this world, are you?" Sugarcoat crossed her arms.

Sunset looked down and began to fidget her fingers nervously, "I'm not, that's why I was so close to beating her."

"Alright, that's a good first step, right girls?" Sour looked around the room.

"Sunset, I want you to be honest with me here, " Sugarcoat leaned closer to her, "Are you from that horse world?"

"Pony world, actually..." Sunset smiled painfully, "Filled with ponies that can fly and use magic." 

The 5 girls stared at Sunset for a while, the only sound coming from the TV. 

"So, like, what could you do in that world?" Sunny leaned on the bed railing.

"I'm a unicorn?" Sunset chuckles awkwardly, "I can use magic from my horn? It's why I looked the way I did back at CHS."

"Easy stuff, we just go to that world and get some magic ponies to defeat godzilla over there." Indigo jabs her thumb in the TVs direction.

"It's not that easy. Equestria is probably trying to fix the problem from their side."

"Ok, we're not gonna get anywhere if we keep talking about it." Sugarcoat backs away from the group and faces the TV. "We can't warn the government about not attacking, we can't directly fight her, we can't send you to get help from that other world."

"Yo... are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Indigo wraps her arm around Sugarcoat, who looked at her with a smile of her own.

"Sunset, I think our beat option is to go there ourselves." Sugarcoat turns her head back to the now panicking girl.

"No, you can't!" She begged, "I don't know what will happen to a human being over in that world, it might be completely different going from here to there."

"She's right, Sunset, " Sunny holds the girls shoulder to calm her down, "You're in no condition to fight. But we can go and get help."

"Do you know anyone that might know what to do?" Sour stood opposite of Sunny, rubbing Sunset's other shoulder.

"I..." Sunset hesitates, "I do know someone, but I don't know what she's been up to now. I wrote to her and she never responded."

"Tell us her name, maybe we can ask around?" Lemon jumps excitedly.

"Well, you guys aren't gonna like this but..." Sunset looked at each of the girls, "Her name is Princess Twilight Sparkle."

The girls repeat the name with shock, which then turned to overlapping talking. Meanwhile, Sunset wondered if letting them go find the pony Twilight was a good idea.

"Ok, quick question!" Sour hushed the other girls, "Is that Twilight like this Twilight?" She points at the TV.

"No! Not at all! She's genuinely kind and smart. She'll know what to do."

The girls turned to the chaos on the TV, which was now covered by Sci-Twi's face.

"Hi everyone! Oh, it feels so good to finally be recognized for my greatest achievement. I could speak of my victories so far, but instead I'll provide a little warning for anyone trying to prevent me from what I want."

A pause, then she begins giggling.

"You'll die trying!"

She cackled evilly, the flames on her eyes shone brightly, the camera going static, then completely disconnected, showing a "Technical difficulties" symbol. Even within the closed doors of the hospital room, the girls could hear the panic in the patients and visitors voices, however muffled they were.

Then the ground began rumbling, making the objects in the room shake, and causing the girls to start losing their balance. Sunsets bed started rocking to and fro, the panic in her voice causing general the girls to panic.

The door burst open and in came a group of nurses, all yelling instructions at each other, disconnecting the machines Sunset was connected to. She was wheeled away, the girls followed, having to run to keep up. 

The hallways were chaos; hospital beds raced by, patients still on them, some sicker than others. The patients in surgery still in their rooms opened up, doctors urging the hallways to be cleared, nurses carrying medical supplies like mad.

The girls had reached a wall of nurses who were blocking a crowd of visitors from getting to their loved ones. At any moment, it seemed like a riot would begin. Demands and begging people urging to be let through, the girls voices joining.

"Please! I need to see him, I need to be next to him!" The guy with the bowl cut gasped out, seemingly having been yelling for a long while now.

Then he pushes one of the nurses really hard and caused a domino effect of a scared crowd pushing the nurses. One which the girls did not follow along with.

They pushed their way out of the crowd and back to the entrance of the hospital, blankets and supplies scattered on the seats and floor.

They stopped, watching a laser beam shoot to some offside area of the hospital, still relatively far away.

"Holy shit, she's here!" Lemon points hurriedly at the floating girl.

"This is fine!" Sour smiles uncomfortable, "Just fine! So do you guys have a plan?"

Sugarcoat was looking around, and then she pointed towards the hospital parking lot, where there was a rather large portal to the pony world.

"We have to go in there."

The girls looked at each other, but then nodded confidently. So they ran out of the hospital, careful to avoid any blasts overhead, and the debris falling from the building.

They stood around the portal on the ground, which overlooked what looked like a forest.

"This is it, yall." Sugarcoat looked up at the girls with a nervous glance.

"No backing out..." Indigo began walking backwards, then began running towards the portal, jumping in.

Then Lemon did the same, followed by Sour and Sunny interlocking their arms. Sugarcoat let herself fall over.