Hello, fellow readers! Welcome back to Mysteries of Magic! As usual, before we dive into it, what do we have today?
johannvanguard: Glad you liked them, of course. A man with many mysteries is one that has many stories.
Thanks for the feedback! Now, let's dive in!
Chapter 19: The Other Side
"Let's see, where should I begin?" Aeon narrates his little story to the girls from the earliest memory he recalls, "Ah! It was a couple of days ago that I came to this establishment known as the Sweet Snacks Cafe. I had arrived to enter when you all were just leaving, politely moving to the side as to not be rude. That, was when my cane started to glow. And it stayed that way as I was sitting in the restaurant-"
"Was it because of me!?" Pinkie interrupts the man mid-sentence to finish his thought.
"Correct. So, after my simple meal and returning to the portal, I discover that three other girls were snooping around the statue and shooed them away shortly after."
"Three other girls?" Sunset mutters under her breath, but kept it to herself as he told his story.
Aeon stands in front of the CHS statue, knowing the portal is currently active as he holds up his cane to line it up at the center. Once he got it, he stabs almost the entirety of his cane into the magical energy to absorb at least a sample of it for research-
WHOOSH!
Only for the portal to have generated a strong gust of wind somehow, almost losing grip of his cane as it launches him into the air. He was quick to recover and land on his feet, now on edge as his eyes briefly caught something.
It was blink or miss... but he swore that he saw an orb of dark energy.
"Dark energy? Are you sure?" Pri-Twi was understandably concerned about this, considering that it was the gateway between her world and the parallel one.
Aeon nods with certainty, "Unfortunately yes, princess."
The group was surprised at the formal title he mentions rather straight with no hint of joking, which adds to his knowledge of them as he continued.
"And it was something that I hoped wouldn't be a threat after so long, but I digress. Once I returned to my apartment and stored the magic energy I did get, that was when my observation began the next day. I believe the first two were..."
"What did ya want to show me, Rarity?" AJ asks her friend, who was leading the way to the boutique.
"This!" Turns out, it was specifically the two display windows as she has some new designs to show her friend.
A dress and a suit were paired together in each one, both themed around the winter and Christmas respectively as AJ comments on it.
"Interesting. Though, I'm surprised that you did suits this time around."
"It's something different and I rarely ever have the inspiration to actually make one. After we met the boys, I didn't want to leave them out of the question if they wanted to get something fancy." Rarity gives a brief explanation on that part.
"That's mighty kind of ya. Now uh, what are they based on? I know that one is obvious, but still." AJ wonders out loud.
Rarity points to the obvious one first, "These two are Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. They do have hats, but that is an option since a lot of people tend to have one anyways."
She then points to the less obvious pair, "Now these two are more so on the idea of winter. White sheets of snow combining with the blue reflective ice underneath suits the suit-" She chuckles a bit at her own joke, which AJ smirks at before the former continues.
"As the dress has the clouds at the top, raining down beautiful snowflakes down to the snow below against the blue skies."
"Not gonna lie, that sounds pretty cool." AJ then realizes what she said and lets out a small sigh, "Now ya got me doing it."
"Oh come on, I liked it." Rarity gives a compliment to her, mainly to make her not feel embarrassed about it.
"Yeah, sure ya did." AJ simply said as the two then went off to do their own thing.
Unbeknownst to the two, Aeon was sitting on the roof above as he listened to their entire conversation. Fashion wasn't one of his main hobbies, but the way that Rarity described her work made him curious on the clothes themselves. Seeing that they were far away at this point, he casually hops down to the ground below to see the wardrobe she designed. Admittedly, if the occasion arises, he would wear the suits since they were rather nice.
However, while there wasn't any mention of magic, the boys he does knows from yesterday that were with them at the time. Funny enough, he recalls meeting one of them this morning. He had a nice skateboard.
"Glad you liked them." Rarity was flattered at his compliments of her designs.
"But of course, I even bought one yesterday." Aeon admits before getting back on topic, "Anyways, finding myself not getting much from you two, the next ones were-"
"Hang on, how did you know that Twilight is a princess?" Rainbow interrupts with a legit question.
Aeon looks at her for a moment before smirking, "I'm saving the best ones for last. Though funny enough that you spoke, since the next two I watched were..."
"Thanks for volunteering, Fluttershy!" Rainbow said as she was juggling the soccer ball with her knees, "Everyone else on the team is busy, but I really wanna get some practice in for the Games."
"Oh, no problem. I wasn't really planning anything for today." Fluttershy didn't mind helping out as she stood in front of the goal net.
"All right, ready?" Rainbow double checks for her friend's safety, who gives her a nervous thumbs up in response.
As the practice session went underway, Aeon stood on the corner of the roof that lined up with the goalpost as he watches. Perhaps he can get a glimpse of the magic they have in a physical activity, since words aren't the only way to find out the truth. Watching the two, Rainbow was quite athletic with her form and shots as the kicks made the ball launch and curve in various ways to reach the net with her friend occasionally hitting the ball away. However, it was kinda obvious that she was getting into it as Fluttershy was flinching at the close calls.
"Um Rainbow, can you please be more-" Her words fell on deaf ears as Rainbow launches a kick that harshly curves the ball, right towards her friend as she had that realization...
Only for it to miss. Wait, what?
She wasn't sure how, but the ball just took a sudden ninety degree turn away from the current path, preventing any sort of damage. Fluttershy had her eyes closed in fear of getting hit before opening them back up, seeing that nothing happened.
"Oh, I guess I assumed a bit too much." She admits.
However, Rainbow wasn't ready to dismiss that as just a fluke. "Hey, do you mind moving for a sec?"
Fluttershy did just that, a bit curious as to what her friend was going to do. She passes the ball back to Rainbow, who places it back on the ground in front of her. Taking two steps back, she then delivers a kick that replicated the previous curve shot, which went into the net as it should.
"That's so weird." Rainbow scratches her head at this.
"Is what weird?" Fluttershy asks out of curiosity.
"No joke, the ball took the sharpest curve I have ever seen!" Rainbow emphasizes her point by using her arm to show what she means.
"Really? You sure it wasn't... a secret technique of some sort?" Fluttershy doesn't know sports all that well, only taking a shot in the dark.
"I seriously doubt that." Rainbow dismisses that possibility anyways.
Unbeknownst to them, it was Aeon who moved the ball in such a way. He was holding his cane like a sniper rifle, having fired a simple 'bullet' of energy to ricochet it away from Fluttershy as he lowers his cane a bit. He watches them practice some more, which thankfully didn't need his interference again during it. After some time, the two wrap up their session as they went towards the doors to the school with him watching from above.
"I'm surprised that you didn't think of asking the boys to join you." Fluttershy wonders out loud.
"I kind of did. Turns out, I had none of their numbers." Rainbow admits, "Sucks too, Visor seems like a good opponent to go up against."
"Actually, I don't think we even brought it up."
"Well that's the next thing we should..." Her voice trails off as the doors close behind them when they enter the building.
Once again, Aeon finds himself hearing about these boys again. This time, one of their names was mentioned as he gently rubs his finger against his chin in thought.
"Shade, Levin, and now Visor." He repeats the names in his head before walking off, heading to meet the third one.
"Wait, YOU were the one that made the ball move like that?" Rainbow points her finger at him as she spoke.
"I did mention doing that, so..." Aeon casually answers back.
"Thank you." The others look right at Fluttershy after she said that, "Um, for doing that."
"You are very welcome." He smiles at her kind words before moving on, "Now, I'm sure you're all familiar with the process of elimination."
"Yup. That just leaves Sunset and Twilight." AJ gestures to the two as she mentions them.
Aeon looks at the remaining duo as the former speaks up, "And I can guess how he knows about us."
"Then shall we continue?" He simply said as their part of the story starts.
Aeon casually walks across the sidewalk on one end of the street as Sunset and Pri-Twi were walking to the former's home, listening in with his naturally enhanced hearing as the girls converse about the two worlds.
"I still find it weird that Tirek is this 'video game' character in this world." The latter admits, for obvious reasons.
"I'm surprised that you actually fought him." Sunset was flat out impressed by her friend's accomplishment, "And even had him on the back foot, I mean hoof."
"Only because I had the princesses' magic with me." Pri-Twi clarifies why she could.
"Must have been tough controlling that much power." Sunset imagines the silly stuff that may or may not happened during that time.
Pri-Twi chuckles a bit at one particular moment, "I made the sun and moon look like a game of ping pong..."
The two shared a laugh at the imagery for the moment, Aeon becoming more and more curious by the second. However, the two have reached their destination as they enter the house, leaving him out of the conversation. He isn't gonna stop now though as he tosses his cane to the roof, teleporting safely upon it before quietly moving out of view to avoid suspicion. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he can hear their voices through the windows as the conversation continues.
"How are your friends doing over there, by the way?" Sunset asks out of curiosity.
"Good. They recovered well from our Cutie Map adventure." Pri-Twi answers soon after, "Though, it's been about a week since then. Probably should check on them when I get back."
"Sounds like a good idea." Sunset agrees with that as she was making some hot chocolate, "Do you want marshmallows with yours?"
"Sure." Pri-Twi simply said in response, "Just two is fine."
Sunset then pulls out a bag of marshmallows, "Unlike Pinkie, she usually wants enough to make a face. Which I swear is sentient, cause it would be happy at first before turning into a frown sometimes."
"Oh, you notice that too." Pri-Twi didn't really sound surprised about that.
"...Wait, has that happened before?"
"It's Pinkie Pie."
Sunset realizes that made sense, in the weird sort of way. "Good point."
Aeon gets what they mean, that waitress has a strangeness that isn't magic, but not real at the same time. He lost count of how many things that couldn't be explained. The supernatural, the magical elements, ancient artifacts, the list goes on.
Getting back to the conversation, he then overhears something that got his full attention.
"You know, I don't think I've ever asked you. What did you do to keep the portal open?" Sunset questions.
"Oh, I'm using the journal I write to you with to power a special machine that keeps it activated." Pri-Twi briefly explains to her friend.
"Really? That's pretty clever." Sunset compliments her on before taking a sip of her hot chocolate.
"It's actually not." Aeon denies that comment as the others were starting to be more concerned.
"Then do you mind telling us what this dark energy could be?" Sunset spoke up to demand answers at this point.
The girls agree with her as they waited for the answers, which Aeon didn't mind to answer.
"That dark energy... is a fragment of an entity that was sealed in Limbo a long time ago. It feeds on negativity it finds in whoever it infects and brings them out to make them go berserk. As long as no one is nearby, it should eventually fade away."
"And how long will that take?" Pri-Twi obviously needs to know since she can't stay for too long, having princess duties and all that.
"Sadly, I have no idea." That wasn't what she wanted to hear.
Rainbow then got up to her feet in a fit of frustration, "Can you stop being so vague!?"
"...Sorry, habit." Aeon casually quips back in response, "Anyways, that's not why I came here."
The girls were confused as he starts to explain, "Those boys you recently became friends with, I recommend keeping a close eye on them. Their little 'magic hunt' they're on will bring them to the portal the first chance they get."
Upon saying that last part, he notices the girls come to a realization as Applejack spoke. "Wait, it's a snow day today. Ya'll don't think that-"
"The boys would too! I wonder what they would be doing?" Pinkie nonchalantly exclaims, making the others give her a stern stare.
"I believe they may be going to find the portal!" Rarity shook her friend as she emphasizes what they may be planning.
"Oh!" Pinkie simply said before saying it again in shock, "OH!"
"And if they are as smart as they seem, no doubt they will deduce that your school is the source." Aeon goes on to say, making Sunset have another realization.
"They already did! Levin was asking me about where the portal was yesterday!"
Silence fell upon the room for what felt like hours until Aeon breaks it, "Well... good thing this house is just one straight run from the school."
It was so sudden as the girls instantly ran full speed out of the room and out the house, after getting into their winter coats and stuff, towards the school as Aeon casually finishes his hot chocolate, putting the empty mug back down on the nearby desk.
"And now, the curtain call." He said to himself as he gets up to his feet and heads out towards the school at his own pace.
And done! While this chapter was Aeon's time in the spotlight, it didn't have to be too long.
I didn't really have an idea of how to do the transition scenes in between the flashbacks, which is why they are so short. As for the flashbacks themselves...
The first one is a simple one, being the first time he hears about the girls being friends with the boys. That and to show his interest in fashionable attire, as indicated by his own.
The second one is a bit more interesting as it shows a bit of his skills with his own magic, along with hearing more about the boys that gave him a bad feeling.
The third one is where he learns about the other world and how the portal is still active, leading to the current events.
And with that said, we are nearing the climax of our story! Oh yeah! It's been a long time coming, but we are close to the finish line!
Until next time, thanks for reading and I'll see you later!
