Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic. First thing of business, what do we have:
johannvanguard: I was hoping that it would surprise you, makes ya more intrigued on what will happen. Indeed it is. We shall see, of course.
Thanks for the feedback. With that said, let's continue!
Chapter 16: Secrets Revealed
"Miss Twilight Sparkle doesn't want to participate in the Friendship Games?" A stern voice questions her two students as they sat in her office.
The neat and organized interior of the office tells a lot about the principal as it had shelves of academic books filled to the brim, the yearbooks of the years she was in charge of, and even trophies from scholastic events that helps define her school as one of the best. However, she is mainly focused on this little change of her plans right now.
Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet sat in two of the three chairs placed in front of the main desk, the former eventually speaking up to answer her question.
"Yes, but only because of another student stepping in." This caught the principal's attention as she adjusts her red thin-framed glasses.
Her attire is that of a rather strict authority figure as she also wears a light blue buttoned-up blouse with a red jewel pendant under a darker blue buttoned-up blazer, a midnight blue skirt with dark magenta pantyhose underneath, and a pair of black heeled shoes with a blue stripe on each one. Her appearance consists of rather neat hair tied in a bun and her bangs in an equally neat swirly curl as it has dark moderate shades of orchid and fuchsia respectively, grayish fuchsia eyes, light opal gray skin with pale violet eyeshadow and a moderate shade of raspberry lipstick. The figure known as Principal Cinch sits in her spinning chair that looks kinda like a throne in design with a curious expression as she wonders about this outcome.
"Rrrreally? Did you happen to learn their name by chance?"
"No, but it turns out to be one of those transfer students that arrived earlier this year." Sour Sweet answers this time, making sure she stayed neutral since she knows from experience that the principal doesn't find her dual personalities 'funny' as she puts it.
Principal Cinch was rather intrigued by this, "Miss Twilight Sparkle has friends?"
"That's a surprise!" Sour Sweet was rather sarcastic as she spoke out of turn, immediately shutting her mouth as the principal wasn't amused at all.
Sunny Flare was a bit nervous about what she might do, only to be confused as Principal Cinch had a small smirk appear on her face.
"This new development may prove to be quite fruitful. You two, continue to receive our prime candidates for the Friendship Games. Be on your way now." She orders before searching through her drawers.
The two didn't complain since there was no punishment this time, quickly getting up to leave the office. Principal Cinch was now alone as she searches a drawer filled with the students' folders that has various information before pulling out the three she was looking for.
Levin Reed, Shade Scintilla, and Visor Chevalier were the students that recently transferred a couple of months ago due to their rather high grades and athlete records. She was considering making them join the team, but they weren't candidates in the top twelve... at the time. She flips open her school laptop and goes to the automatic listings to see who is currently at the top picks.
The original twelve she remembers were from lowest to highest: Jet Set, Upper Crust, Neon Lights, Suri Polomare, Trenderhoof, Royal Pin, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, and Twilight Sparkle.
The new order after the transfer students had the time to adjust to Crystal Prep is now from lowest to highest: Suri Polomare, Trenderhoof, Royal Pin, Visor Chevalier, Shade Scintilla, Levin Reed, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, and Twilight Sparkle.
Seeing where they are in the ranks and their connection with Twilight Sparkle, she sees a prime opportunity to try and see if she can get all four to join in one swift motion. However, due to what happened earlier with her volunteers, it would be better if she waits it out and get more research on them before doing anything risky.
Moving her laptop to the side and opening their folders to see what lies within them, she thoroughly reads the documents in the order of the ranking numbers.
Visor Chevalier is the son of a single mother named Ataraxy Sky, who was a rather successful photographer to call for to promote various businesses and landmarks in town. He is rather fond of sports and motorcycles, currently delivering pizzas as a part-time job where they are rather lenient in his scheduling due to school. His records were rather clean for the most part, except one time at his old high school where he asked for a week off to 'mourn a loss'.
Shade Scintilla has no immediate parents to even mention, which only leaves him living with his aunt Candid Brace who is also the school's nurse. He is rather skilled with his writing, shown in the writing tests they give from time to time, and currently has no job to speak of. His records were more iffy, having a lot of tardies and even referrals due to arriving quite late to school until his freshman year where he stops that habit altogether.
Levin Reed is the son of a single father named Marvel Rumble, who she has heard about in one or two recent movies that has come out. He has proven to be the smartest of the three, excelling in classes such as physics and mathematics that can possibly rival the top minds that Crystal Prep has had before. He may have no job, but his father is most likely supporting him in terms of money. In terms of his records, the only time it wasn't clean was him missing an entire month of school during his elementary years where the only reason given why he was is 'in denial'.
Principal Cinch was now more curious as to how these three came together, but put that in the back of her mind before closing the folders and puts them back in the drawer. Right as she was about to close it, she sees a rather familiar name and pulls out her folder to see the name of an ex-student.
"Sunset Shimmer..." She mutters in a rather regretful tone in her voice.
As school lets out, students were exiting the building with the boys and Sci-Twi going out the back to the parking lot with Levin being a bit ahead for obvious reasons. After Shade tells him where Sunset is gonna be to meet up, Levin hops on his bicycle and heads off to his destination. Leaving Sci-Twi with his friends, they then realize that they don't really have a proper plan of hanging out.
"Hmm, what would be a good place to go?" Shade wonders as Visor was shivering from the cold.
Sci-Twi sees that the snow was falling a bit faster than before, kinda telling her that any outside activities would be ill-advised. Thinking of any indoor activities, one does come to mind as she hasn't been there in a few days.
"How about the library?" She suggests, which Shade is actually all for with Visor being a bit hesitant.
"I don't know, not really much of a bookworm." The latter mentions before shivering a lot more, "Then again, it's better than being out here."
With an unanimous decision, the three didn't take too long to reach the city library and were quick to enter it to get out of the cold. The library was huge. containing various books of diverse genres that Sci-Twi and Shade were eager to read. While they were busy looking around, Visor was rubbing his arms to warm himself up from the cold air.
"I'll never get tired of this place." Sci-Twi was honest with that statement before turning to the two, "Where do you want to start?"
"Ladies' choice." Shade simply answers with Visor in favor of that as he adds, "I'm curious to see what you read."
She then leads the way for them, going rather deep into the book aisles till they reached the science fiction section. Visor was mainly listening as the two talk about the stories on the shelves.
"Outer space travel, alien life, and advanced technology. Gotta love science." Shade summarizes in his own words as Sci-Twi pulls out one of the books.
She then reads the title of it, "'Starry Walkers'. This started out interesting, but became more drawn out as it went."
Shade sees the title of the book and kinda groaned a bit as she puts it back, "I wasn't really a fan of that series."
"What about this one?" She pulls out another book before reading the title, "'The Year 3000.' This is actually really good."
"Oh yeah, though it does drag a bit during the second act." Shade admits, which Sci-Twi can understand why as she agrees with him there. "True, one or two scenes can be cut out to pace it better."
As she puts that book back in its place, Visor took out one from a lower shelf that reached their chest, reading the title aloud. "'Infinite Mysteries.' Oh, isn't this like space noire with detectives and stuff?"
"Now that is an excellent book." Shade immediately compliments it, which Sci-Twi was a bit confused about what he means.
"I don't think I heard of that book." Upon saying that, Shade straight up snatches the book from Visor and places it in front of her.
"If you like mysteries, I highly recommend this one." He suggests, though it may be more of a demand.
Visor blinks once before casually responding to his rudeness, "Could have just asked, dude."
Shade then realizes what he just did, nervously smiling in response. "Sorry."
Visor rolls his eyes before seeing Sci-Twi take the book and opens it to read the first page, scratching his head a bit as he spoke. "While you guys do that, I'll check out the other stuff."
"OK, we'll be here." Shade briefly said before joining her in the reading.
Figuring that they may be there for a bit, Visor walks off to see what else the library has in store. As he walks down the different aisles, it was surprising that there wasn't much to catch his attention until he reaches the fantasy/adventure section, seeing someone else reading one of the books. The stranger had a pretty good sense of style, the wool pecker fedora being the one that stands out to him.
As he gets closer to him to start a conversation, the stranger was a bit ahead of him. "Looking for something?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm just looking around, seeing if anything catches my eye." Visor tries to act casual from being caught off guard a bit.
The stranger was a bit confused at what he meant, "Well, if you're able to read, then a book will catch your eye."
"If so, I haven't seen one yet." Visor shrugs his comment off as he looks at the various books on a shelf where the stranger was facing, "Any of them you-"
Before he finishes his question, the man pulls one of the books out and shows him what it was. However, Visor's eyes was mainly on his bandaged hand that was holding it.
"Are you all right?" The man sees what he meant, giving him a simple answer in response.
"Don't worry, just messed up my arm a bit on my last trip." He was rather neutral in his tone of voice that still came across as honest.
Visor wasn't one to pry on certain topics, taking his word for it as he then looks at the title of the book he was holding before reading it aloud.
"'Timeless Tales'? What's this about?" He wonders, only for the stranger to move the book a bit closer.
"Read it and you'll see." He wasn't wrong about that.
Figuring why not, Visor accepts the book and opens to the prologue page to then read aloud to himself.
"Most people will tell you that time is a river, flowing swift and sure in a destined direction. But I have seen the eyes of time, and I can assure you, they are wrong. Time is nothing but an ocean, crashing waves under the thunder of a raging storm. I know that you are wondering who I am and why I'm even telling you this. Please sit down, and I will tell you such tales like none you have heard before..."
Just by reading that paragraph, Visor was impressed by the way the author was starting the story like he was talking to the reader.
"You like it?" The stranger sounded rather confident about that.
"Not gonna lie, this ain't half bad." Visor's answer brought a small smirk on the man's face as he then pulls out another book, "Then you'll like this one."
Visor moves the current book he has to his right hand as he took the new one into his left hand, reading the title to it that sounds more familiar to the last one.
"'Daring Do and the Amulet of Time.' Oh yeah, this girl."
He recognizes the character on the cover as she slides down a rather large tree trunk, a strange creature shrouded in darkness looms over her as another character was swinging alongside her on a vine with the said amulet floating right above the two with a golden glow.
"Honestly one of my personal favorites, if I might add." The stranger admits, which Visor can see from the cover alone.
"All right, I'll be sure to read it. Thanks, um..." He then realizes that he never asked his name during their conversation.
The stranger holds out his gloved right hand as he introduces himself, "Aeon Rover, nice to meet you."
Visor puts the two books in his left arm as he shook the hand with his right, "Visor Chevalier. Thanks again, sir."
"Your welcome." With that said, the handshake ended before Aeon walks away around the shelves.
Visor then looks at the two books he was given, sparing a second glance at the Daring Do cover before realizing something. Looking at the second character more closely, he was getting a sense of deja vu from what he was wearing. A rather intriguing cane in his right hand with black attire such as a trenchcoat, gloves, and a familiar fedora- wait a second!
Quickly going around the corner, he sees no one else around and continues to look through the other aisles to try catching Aeon, to no avail.
"How did he..." Visor mutters, stopping himself as he knows he won't get an answer like this.
Once he recovers from the shock, he walks down the aisles towards the other two who he thinks is still reading the book that Shade snatched from him earlier. By the time he reaches them, they actually have looked through the shelves for other books to read. Sci-Twi had two books like him, with Shade having three books in total.
"Found what you wanted?" Shade asks him, seeing the books in Visor's arm.
"Yeah. Got an extra one, I see." The latter responds back, having a hunch on what it could be.
Sci-Twi notices what he meant, now wanting to know why. "Oh. What else did you get?"
"Uh, j-just something that I read from time to time." Shade tries to act cool, trying to cover his little stutter in the beginning.
During this time, he wasn't aware of Visor casually walking over as he was talking to her, catching him off guard by bumping his elbow into his side to make him drop his books onto the ground.
Visor had a smug smirk as one of them was not like the others, quickly picking up the one that stood out before Shade did.
"What's this?" He wonders, having to hold his friend back with his foot as he tries to reach for the book.
"Give that back!" Shade was trying his hardest not to yell since they were still in the library.
Sci-Twi wasn't sure how to process this scene, whether to laugh or intervene.
"Let's see... 'The Solar Eclipse'? I can guess-" Next thing she saw, Shade actually pulls him off his feet and currently has him in an ankle lock.
"Say one more word and you won't be moving properly for awhile." He threatens Visor in a rather low voice, which was much different than how he was earlier.
Visor kept quiet with his smirk still on display as he slid the book out of his own reach. Once he did that, Shade lets go of the hold and went to pick up his books.
"Sheesh, didn't expect that." Visor admits, picking up his own books after dropping them from the pull.
After the little scuffle, the two then realizes that Sci-Twi saw that whole thing. Knowing that she isn't aware of why that happened, Shade tries to explain it to his own embarrassment.
"Sorry about that. L-let's just say that I, um..." Seeing that he is rather hesitant, Visor stood up to take over the explanation.
"You know when people develop a crush on someone, they do odd things?" Sci-Twi simply nods her head in response before he continues, "Well, this guy reads romance novels as his 'odd thing'."
Shade felt heat enter his cheeks, avoiding eye contact with her as she looks at him. He was trying to think of something to make it less awkward, only to be surprised by what she said.
"I think that's rather nice."
The two boys were dumbfounded, mainly since they thought she would laugh or something.
"I haven't read them myself, but a boy that reads romance novels isn't someone you usually meet." She elaborates to clear their confusion.
Shade was the first to respond to that, "O-Oh. Thank you." He lets out a chuckle to mainly ease himself from the uneasiness.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I think we spent enough time here." Visor didn't feel like staying in the library any longer.
"Yeah, I think we're good for now." Shade agrees with him there, "Plus, I'm a little bit hungry."
"Same. I actually have a craving for sweets today, strangely." Visor admits before turning to Sci-Twi, "What about you? Hungry too?"
"A little bit, yeah." She answers honestly, "I'm sure what you pick will be fine."
With the three in agreement, they go to get their books checked out. Visor still kept that Aeon fellow in mind, but didn't bring him up since he doubts they would believe him seeing someone that could disappear into thin air. Right now, he'll just keep it to himself.
After leaving his friends at Crystal Prep, Levin rode his bicycle to the destination Shade told him to go. It didn't take that long to reach CHS since it's only a few blocks down, reaching the courtyard before slowing down and stopping near the statue. Looking around, he sees students exiting the entrance doors while waiting for Sunset to come out.
He got a few looks from the students, but nothing beyond that since he wasn't wearing his Crystal Prep uniform on the outside. Once he saw who he was looking for, he raises his hand up high as a way to tell her he's here.
The Rainbooms saw him and happily waved back in response, walking on over before stopping a few feet away with Sunset speaking first.
"Nice to see you're on time." She points out, already knowing why he's here.
"Of course. I don't like keeping people waiting." Levin looks at the others before continuing, "How are you girls doing today?"
"Great! We've been showing Twilight around our school to let her see how classes here are compared to her school back home!" Pinkie answers first, reminding him of the other Twilight.
"Oh yeah, her twin." He mutters to himself since he kinda forgot that too before Pri-Twi speaks, "It's not entirely different, but it was a nice little tour."
"That's good to hear." Levin smiles at that before turning his attention to Sunset as she spoke, "I already told them about the interview. Shade mentioned that you wanted to talk to me one-on-one?"
"Correct. Since you all pretty much seen the same thing at the same place and time, I'll only be getting the event from slightly different perspectives." He answers, which does make sense in the overall picture. "Do you want to talk somewhere else? The snow seems to be coming down a bit more today."
"Sure. I have a place in mind." She then gestures to the others, "Plus, Twilight wants to catch up with the others, so it lines up pretty well."
"Well, that works out pretty well." Levin is aware of how lucky his group is, rather intrigued how it works things out like that.
After about a minute of who is doing what, Sunset and Levin breaks away from the group to the place of her choosing, which turns out to be her own house. He was a bit surprised at this, which then leads to him being understandably nervous once they reached their destination.
"Do you want me to leave my bike out here?" He asks, mainly since he doesn't want to make a mess no matter how small in someone else's home.
"I don't mind if you bring it in. Especially since it does get worn down from the snow, I bet." She answers, much to his surprise before he gives a small smile.
"Thanks." He was glad he doesn't have to worry about that the entire time.
Unlocking her front door, the two enter the house with Levin bringing in his bicycle, placing it close to the door without being in the way of the doorway right before she closes it. After locking it, she starts to take off her coat as he leans the bike gently on the wall.
"I'd figured that a more private place will help with the interview, so I figured why not. What do you think?" Sunset watches Levin as he looks around.
He was rather impressive, being pretty big for just one person and neatly clean on top of that.
"Nice pad. Is it just you here?" He was obviously curious due to the place being suited for more than one person.
"Mainly yes, but Twilight is staying here during her visit." She answers honestly as she places her coat on one of the hangers in the closet by the stairs.
Levin notices the first part sounded a bit sober before dropping completely, but left it be for now as he continues the conversation.
"How nice of you." He then sees a rather small Christmas tree on the tabletop next to the couch, "Oh yeah, the holidays are coming up."
"Yup. You have a tree yet?" She wonders.
"Not yet." He admits, "Been busy with lots of other stuff like the Dazzlings."
"Good point. How are they?"
That question made Levin think for a moment, coming to a rather simple realization. Sunset and the others have known the girls longer than him, why not ask her about the current situation? Coming to the conclusion, he goes for the honest answer as he turns to her.
"Um, they are kinda getting through a rough patch. I may have overheard them arguing about something."
Sunset was kinda surprised about this, "Really? What was it about?"
This is where he is hesitant. He does know it was about the Rainbooms, but he wasn't sure how she would react. Probably best that he stays vague on that part for now.
"I don't know. All I heard was yelling and a door slamming a little bit later." Levin recalls, much to his own discomfort.
"Wow. That does sound rough." She sees what he means from what he said.
He then looks directly at her, "Is there anything I can do?"
She can see the seriousness in his eyes as he asked that, responding with a bit of advice. "I think it'd be a good idea to give it time, see if they resolve it on their own. If not, then maybe come up with an activity that involves all of you. Remind them of the good times they had."
Levin kept that in mind, looking back at the small Christmas tree she had before getting an idea. "I can get a tree! That way, we can have the four of us decorate it."
"That can work." She simply said, seeing no reason why he shouldn't.
"Then probably go gift shopping, since I have practically triple the friends and family from last year." He adds, realizing that right then and there.
Upon saying that, she realizes that she has to do that eventually too. Before speaking any further, she then had a sudden urge to use the bathroom.
"Excuse me, I gotta use the bathroom." Levin simply nodded in response, letting her go ahead as he spoke. "OK, I'll keep myself busy."
"OK!" She managed to say back before she reaches her destination, closing the door behind her.
He doesn't mind doing a simple house tour by himself, starting with the floor he was already on. He looks back over to where the small Christmas tree was, seeing a rather comfy couch placed in front of a big flat-screen TV, accompanied by various gaming systems and video games that he actually recognizes most of them from the titles, all of which is placed under a shelf that has lots of books for simple reading entertainment.
"Cool, she's the gamer type." He said to himself before teasing his friend a bit under his breath, "I'm sure Shade will like that."
Continuing from there, he sees a small room under the balcony area that holds a shelf on the wall for books as well, held over a dual-screen computer setup that she most likely uses for school work and studying. Walking up the steps to the balcony above, he sees three guitars hung on the wall going up the long set of stairs as he passes them. Reaching the top, he looks around to get a rather nice overview of the first floor.
"As I expected, like the one at my house." He comments, making the comparison between the two mentally as he does.
Looking back at the bedroom, it was a rather simple setup. The large bed was placed close to a window behind it with the curtains open, a bookcase on the other side of it that only has a couple of books, a alarm clock on a small drawer placed near the pillows and a calendar on the wall close by.
"Nice cozy place. Guess they share the bed?" He wonders, seeing the two pillows on the big bed since she's sharing the place with Pri-Twi before shrugging. "Better than one on the couch."
Looking at the one drawer there, his curiosity went up a bit as he walks to it and then slowly opens it. Taking a peek inside, he sees yet another book with a pack of sharpened pencils next to it. The book is rather interesting, the cover of it isn't like other books he sees at the school library. Though, he could have sworn he has seen the design before.
"Wait, isn't this..." He trails off, realizing that the sun design is also on Sunset's winter coat as he saw it when she puts it in her closet.
With those two details, he deduces that this is most likely her personal diary. He then closes the drawer up until it was only halfway, his mind becoming more curious by the second as to what it may contain.
"No, I won't be tempted!" He mutters, yet his hand hasn't moved an inch from where it was.
More questions raised in his head, much to his dismay as his scientific side was starting to surface. Before he does anything else, he then hears the bathroom door open down below. Realizing his position, he quickly closes the drawer without making too much noise and starts to go down the stairs as he sees Sunset enter into the room.
"Sorry for the sudden restroom break." She apologizes, looking around for him before he gets her attention with his response.
"It's all right. Makes it easier for the interview to not be interrupted." He then notices her curious look and was quick to clarify what he was doing, "I just wanted to see the view from up there. I have a balcony back home that is pretty similar as it looks over the living quarters."
"Ah. Well, hope it didn't disappoint." She simply said as she walks over to the couch.
"I enjoyed it, would go up there again." He responds with before following suit.
Once the two took their seats, he's finally at what his original plan was before starting it with a simple question related to the event for discussion.
"As we established before, the six of you saw the rainbow alicorn at the same time?"
"Correct. We saw it just as quick as it disappeared."
"True, it didn't stay for long. But, didn't it fire some sort of beam at something when it appeared?"
"I think so. It was rather bright when it came down, so we couldn't see what it fired at."
Levin was a bit skeptical on that. They saw the alicorn, but not the target? Deciding to leave it for now, he continues on with the conversation.
"Hopefully it wasn't too dangerous." He figured that the blast would be harmful to the area.
"We were pretty lucky to be at a safe distance at the time." She clarifies the confusion he has about that.
"Ah. Do you know where it might have come from, by chance?"
Sunset thought about that one for a moment before giving an answer, "To be honest, I'm not sure myself. I asked the others about that and they said the same thing."
"Hmm, I have a theory on where it may have came from." He then pulls out his paper of drawings, showing it to her as he explains what he means. "And it stems from this instance."
He points to the quadruple rainbow, which she instantly recognizes from the Fall Formal, but was curious to see how he connects the two. "How is it related to the alicorn?"
"Simple. Where that emerged was from Canterlot High. A couple of months later, the alicorn shows up at the amphitheater. The fact that these two share the theme of destructive rainbows, there has to be a link that is at the school itself."
She was impressed on how he connects the dots, "You have a good point."
"The question is where the source could be. Have you seen anything out of the ordinary during your time at CHS?"
To her, everything was out of the ordinary when she arrived here in the human world. After adjusting to living here, the only thing that stood out after all that time was the portal to Equestria when she stole Princess Twilight's crown. Now that the magic is here from the other side, the statue being the gateway, it may manifest when they need it most.
Though, how would they handle the fact that there is a parallel world not run by humans, but various ponies and animal species that can use magic as part of their daily lives? Besides, he probably meant inside the school itself, not where the school is. With that in mind-
Realizing that she was quiet for a bit too long, she answers vaguely instead. "As far as I remember, I never saw anything that stood out to me like that."
Levin was surprised at that before pressing a bit further, "Are you absolutely sure that you never saw a portal or anything like that?"
"I know that school inside and out, never saw a magical portal." She reaffirms, handing him back the paper before he folds it up and puts it in his pocket.
He was visibly disappointed, putting his hand over his mouth with a distant look in his eyes before looking away. "It's gotta be there..." He mutters, clenching his fist a bit as he does.
Sunset feels bad about not telling him, but knows that there is just stuff that won't make sense no matter how you look at it. Still, she doesn't want this to end on a sad note as she places her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, you'll find it. The Dazzlings found you and are now better than before. If they found what they wanted, then you will too."
Levin looks back at her, seeing her reassuring smile which was enough to create a small smile on his face.
"You're right. Got this far, can't give up now." He then stands up on his feet, "All right, I think that's everything I can think of off the top of my head."
"That was kinda short." She had a good point there.
"Well, this wasn't gonna be an interrogation. That school has something, so I figured to ask someone who goes there." He briefly explains before crossing his arms over his chest, "Sadly, it doesn't help move this ball any further."
"It'll move." She said, getting his attention before continuing. "And it's gonna be a strike."
Levin stares at her for a moment before realizing the pun in that, letting out a small laugh in agreement. "Yeah, it'll be a perfect game."
"Which reminds me." She suddenly sat up, pressing the power button on the remote to turn on the TV as she spoke. "There was two reasons why I brought you here. One was the interview, the other is seeing your gaming skills. Shade said you're pretty good."
"I'm not one to brag, but yeah." He had a smirk on his face as he said that.
"Good, then let's see what you got." She had an equally confident smirk as she held two controllers, holding one out for him to take.
"All right, I accept your challenge." Sitting right back down, he takes the controller before the two press start to begin their game.
And done! Wow, the longest chapter for this story yet! I haven't written something this long since my old stories. Anyways, let's go down the list for the new stuff added.
First, Principal Cinch was something that I was hesitant on. I didn't mind her as a villain, but she fell into that one-note catalyst character type for me. After some time doing research on her, I finally decided to give her a shot. However, I'm gonna write her into how I would have thought would have made her interesting in her debut, especially since she was the first antagonist for the EG series that WASN'T from Equestria in any way. Plus, the scene was a good time to introduce some backstory for my OCs without having them doing some sort of exposition dump that'll halt the pacing.
Second, I was never a fan of how they handled the 'Human Sunset' plot point in the series, so I decided to do something with that. I had it on my mind for some time, but wasn't really sure on how to do it. After some digging around, I found pictures of 'what if Sunset went to Crystal Prep' and it just clicked. Not only would it be a nice parallel to the current Sunset, but it can add more to the school in general.
Third, I wanted to have Aeon show up again and meet Visor so that all three would at least know of his existence, so the visit to the library was chosen. It fits his character as well as Sci-Twi's and Shade's since they are fans of literature. However, the introduction of Daring Do was a pretty cool idea that they introduced in this universe, so I also wanted to do something with that too. How the two know each other, that's for me to know and you to find out.
I WILL SAY THIS NOW! These are not the MAIN focus of this story. They are just there to elaborate on for later stories. With that said, let's get into the chapter proper.
Principal Cinch makes her physical appearance, having two of the six Shadowbolts as her volunteers to recruit the top students since she is rather busy to do such stuff. After telling her what happened in the cafeteria, she decides to recruit the four in her own way. Of course, she has to refresh her memory of the students, hence the backstory part.
The library was chosen for the setting of the hangout for Sci-Twi, Shade and Visor for reasons stated before. Since Visor isn't into books as much as the other two, he would go look around for stuff he might like while they are being bookworms. There, we get him meeting Aeon who was enjoying a book as well before sharing a conversation. Once that takes place, Visor meets back up with the other two where it turns out that Shade reads romance novels, which was something I just thought of for some comedy to throw into the mix.
On the other side of the coin, we get to the interview between Levin and Sunset where we go back to her place for the setting. After an exchange of the holidays coming up, they go into what she saw and his deductions on where the magic is. I know that they are being vague for some answers, but it's mainly because I can't see a normal person that doesn't go to CHS actually believe someone else by word of mouth unless they see it for themselves. Once the interview is over, the two then play some video games to see each other's skills.
Man, I didn't really think that the story would have evolved into this from when I started this. This year was when I decided to get serious about writing, so I'm very happy with all the support you guys are giving through your feedback and overall enjoyment of what I write. From brand new ideas to old flames reigniting, I have a bunch on my plate for next year for you to read.
By the time of this being posted, it's on Christmas! So, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays for all those that celebrate this and the other holidays all around the world! Hope you all have a stellar time with all your family and friends, gifts and parties alike! And like I said in the previous chapter, I'm ending this story with the Christmas Special no matter how late it is.
So, with ALL that said, hope you guys enjoyed reading this and I'll see you all next chapter!