“…And that’s when we got out of there as fast as we could and not make it look like we were running. I still don't know what hit me inside that wall, but it was some of the foulest, most corrupted magic I have ever felt, and it was definitely way older than anyone who goes there.” Sunset resisted the urge to crib on a fingernail as nine pairs of eyes stared at her, each one holding a different reaction.

AJ was frowning, the action setting deep lines in her forehead, while beside her, with one arm threaded casually through the farmer’s to rest a pale hand on her forearm, Rarity looked Sunset up and down, blue eyes calculating. Fluttershy was hugging a bunny, deeply distressed—though given the somewhat graphic description Sunset had given about whatever magic she had ruptured open, that was unsurprising. Pinkie was half heartedly doodling in a notebook, and seemed unable to really meet her gaze…there wasn't a positive spin she could put on this, and Sunset knew that despite Pinkie’s love of frivolity, the party planner knew when jokes were inappropriate. Dash fidgeted in her seat, before hopping up to fiddle with her guitar. Bon-Bon had her arms crossed—like Applejack, she seemed to be mulling over the information and what it meant for them. Flash and Lyra—who both knew exactly who her unnamed friend was—were clearly worried about Twilight, and fighting to hold their tongues. The wild card in this meeting, however, was Trixie Lulamoon; the stage magician was staring at Sunset with surprising intensity and actual worry…something that unsettled Sunset more than anything. Trixie had never dropped the ego before but the whole time she had recounted the magic she’d experienced, the latest addition to their magical defense meetings had grown progressively paler, until her skin tone nearly matched Rarity’s.

It was Applejack who spoke first. “Explains why ya lit outta here like yer tail was on fire. Magic visions and an someone in trouble, all comin’ together like that?” She took off her hat to scratch her head. “What a mess…”

Flash broke before Lyra. “Is your friend okay?” he asked.

“They’re…they’ll be okay, but it's going to take time. The good thing is that their family is on their side and want to get the police involved.” Sunset sighed. “Especially with how much the laptop was worth. It was a brand new, top of the line model. They got it at the beginning of the school year.”

Bon-Bon made a noise in her throat. “Good. Police breathing down the school’s neck means if there is some kind of evil magic user there, they’ll have to be careful or it’ll get found out. That might slow them down if they’ve got any kind of plan going on.”

“Or it'll make ‘em desperate,” Applejack said pensively. “Which could be good…or bad.” The group fell into silence, each of them digesting what they’d been told more than they were the lunches that lay mostly forgotten on the table they sat at in what was becoming known as ‘the Magic Room.’

It was in this quiet that Rarity struck. “…so…Sunset, darling…I have to admit, I am curious. This friend of yours…when did the two of you meet? You never mentioned them before…?”

She was fishing, and Sunset focused as hard as she could on staying relaxed. “Rarity, they go to CPA—with how everyone in this school gets, and how things have been for me for most of the year, I didn't want to paint an even bigger target on myself…or give people here new reasons to despise me. Or worse, turn an innocent person into a target for something that had nothing to do with them.”

“But, darling, that was all months ago—things have been so much better since the Battle of the Bands, and we wouldn't have reacted with such negativity…” The pale skinned girl actually sounded a little hurt and confused, and Sunset felt guilty.

Dash, on the other hand, made a derisive sound. “So Shimmer’s got another friend. Big deal. Can we get back to the important part? The whole ‘Crystal Prep isn't just snobs, it's basically like some kind of…I don't know, Evil Wizard Lair,’ and they’ll be here next month for the Games? Which means monsters and magic fights again!”

A pencil tapped restlessly on Lyra’s open notebook, which had notes taken from the meeting thus far. “Hey, Sunset. You said the magic you found there was older than the students, right?”

The redhead thought back. “Definitely. I’m not an archaeologist, and I wasn't in a position to run some of the diagnostics that let me verify age, but this wasn't new magic. It was…too sunken into everything. And the wards…” she shuddered at the memory of it digging into her, trying to tear her apart. “…it wasn't old by any standard of measurement—maybe a century or two, but…it couldn't have been more than five hundred years old.”

There was a quiet throat clearing from Fluttershy. “A hundred years is pretty old…” she said softly. “And five hundred years is really old…”

She shrugged. “I guess by human standards, it would be…but…” Sunset made a vague gesture. “You have to understand, my bedroom as a filly was something like forty five hundred years old. Most of Canterlot’s Upper Terraces date back to the founding of the city after Princess Celestia ascended and reunified ponykind under one banner. The magics there were layered, and the oldest spells and wards were as old as the palace itself. A few hundred years is…not new, but it's not really old, either.” The former unicorn sighed. “The point I was making is that it's definitely older than any of the students or staff.”

Lyra frowned. “Then…if it's that old…it's not Equestrian Magic, is it? It didn't come from your world, and it didn't happen because of the Fall Formal.” She frowned. “Which means it came from here. From this world.” She tilted her head. “Right?”

“It's…it doesn't feel like Equestrian magic, so the only other option is that it originated here.” Sunset rubbed her temples—her headache had only worsened as the day had gone on. “Unfortunately, I’m still deciphering that weird journal that got left in Pinkie’s locker, and it doesn't have a lot for me to work with. It's all personal anecdotes, references to human superstitions, and transcribed conversations. The most useful part so far has been a bestiary and a botanical guide whose information just bridges the gap between Equestrian alchemy and apothecary practices, and human folk medicine involving so called ‘plant magic.’ There’s very little about how magic works here…no formulas or numbers, no accurate theorems or concrete measurements.”

Help came from a…well, perhaps not entirely unexpected corner…but one she had not expected to be so vocal so soon. “Trixie…might be able to help with that.”

Sunset relaxed a little, but waved at the magician to keep talking. Everyone else watched her curiously, some of them wondering if it would be useful or another dead end. Regardless, Trixie cleared her throat. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is a performer, not a historian, but she is also a descendant of the House of Lulamoon, one of the seven lines that can trace their lineage to the Ancient Line of Madji, the most powerful Sorcerer who ever lived!” The air flashed with bright sparks from the out thrown hands…and a little confetti provided by Pinkie. When no one said anything, Trixie cleared her throat. “Anyways. What Trixie can tell you is what her father told her: once, magic was everywhere, and powerful sorcerers could shape reality to their will…but as time passed, the magic…went out of people. Fewer could grasp its power, and eventually, even members of the seven lines had less and less, until magic was almost gone from everywhere. By the time of Trixie’s grandfather, magic was seen as…parlor tricks and sleight of hand, and many of the teachings of magic have been lost.”

Her voice grew quieter. “…were it not for Sunset Shimmer’s transformation, Trixie…would have given up on her magic even being more than her own wishful thinking.”

That staggered Sunset for a moment. The other girl’s voice held a painful amount of sincerity and a touch of something she might have called ‘melancholy.’ And then her mind reminded her that once upon a time she had told Trixie that she was a charlatan and a hack who would never be a real magician. It had been back when she had exhausted her attempts to determine if there was real magic in the human world and decided all of what was talked about was fake…but that didn't make it right. “I…”

Trixie held up a hand imperiously, her ego covering the brief moment of vulnerability. “The Great and Powerful Trixie does not require apologies at this time. Perhaps later, when there are not true problems with yet more foul magics afoot.” She continued, her expression darkening into a frown. “I was unaware of any places of such unpleasant evil,” she mused, dropping the act in her moment of worry. “My family has kept many records over the centuries of places of great power and great danger. I trust you have such places in your world, Sunset Shimmer? Where there is so much magic that everything is teeming with it?”

“We do,” she confirmed. “In Equestria, we have leylines—think of them as subterranean rivers, but for magic, instead of water. Places where they intersect…it can muddy the flows a bit and cause the magic to become more highly concentrated—again, like the currents in water can be disrupted when two flows meet, creating…whirls and eddies and saturation of the ground. Some of the strongest places in Equestria with the highest naturally occurring SET levels exist at major leyline conjunctions where two, three, or sometimes more lines cross one another. I…can perceive what feels like proto-leylines under the school. It’s something that…well…before the formal, I honestly believed it was nothing more than excess magic leaked into this world by the portal in the statue, but…it's no longer the faint sense of lingering magic. Now it's much larger, very distinct, and it is growing stronger.”

There was a thoughtful nod from Trixie. “Your fights, here and at the amphitheater, plus the two times you Rainbooms have unleashed that Rainbow Wave thing…generated a considerable amount of power—your research concurs with this, yes?”

Sunset agreed readily. “On all counts. The Rainbow of Light—which is what that’s called, by the way—is estimated to have a SET in excess of fifteen or twenty. The one time we were able to measure it supports that estimation.” She thought of a comparison. “If I were to…compare it, the difference between that and the ambient energy levels of the world from what I’ve seen is like the difference between a candle and the sun.”

“…Trixie’s magic has…improved…in recent months. What was prone to failure is now easy, and there is magic that was inaccessible that seems possible. Each…burst of improvement…has followed Trixie coming into contact with your foreign magic.”

Rarity leaned forward. “Are you suggesting what I think, darling? That our magic might…infect others?”

She shook her head. “Not infect, and not anyone. But one of the…tenants of magic that the House of Lulamoon follows is that magic calls to magic. Trixie believes your magics are infusing more magic into places that already have magic. Such as Trixie and her father…” Her eyes met Sunset’s. “…or places with old spells that had been placed and then gone dormant when the magic was no more.”

The former unicorn’s eyes grew wide, “Discord’s laughing madness… which would explain why Crystal Prep’s grounds were powered up enough to catch me in wards.” She twisted and rolled her chair to the computer, where she brought up her spreadsheet with the various SETs she’d been tracking and her other notes. “The ambient SET level of the school has been gradually increasing, and by the measurements I’ve been tracking…but I didn't think…dragonfire and endless ice!”

She grabbed a notepad and furiously began scribbling out a complex formula, her free hand grabbing a heavy tome from the shelf and flipping through it for the theorem she needed. There was shuffling behind her, and a moment later Trixie spoke from her elbow. “Trixie’s theory has backing then?”

“More than you know,” Sunset sighed. “I think…it might be a little more complicated, but accurate.” She started crunching the numbers in what she had written, Equestrian glyphs sprawling across the crisp paper. “I think I can explain several things with it. The first is why the Harmonic energy didn’t purge something dark like CPA…why your magic is stronger, Trixie.” The answer staring back at her confirmed it. “And why the portal is here.”

“Well don't keep us in suspense, girl,” Applejack drawled.

Sunset dropped her pen. “I believe this world used to have magic. More than it does now…possibly a lot more, like Trixie said, and like the book from Pinkie’s locker talks about. It might even be why there’s so much human folklore about magic and monsters that Equestria has but Earth doesn’t now. I don't know why it doesn’t anymore, but…if it did, then we’re sitting on a nexus of what used to be its leylines. In this world, it’s likely that only a nexus would have enough power to anchor a permanent portal to Equestria…which is why it's the statue here and a mirror on the other side. Equestria has enough raw magic and the materials naturally charged enough to act as an anchor if a unicorn or other active caster chose to transfer it to an object…” She ran her hand through her mane. “If that's true, then the energy of the portal has been…maintaining the leyline here, but at a slow trickle rather than a river. It builds up over a natural cycle until it reaches a critical mass…and bam! The portal opens for a few days, magic floods the leyline just enough to stabilize it, but then burns off most of the excess until the portal collapses as unsustainable.”

She found the other formula she needed and began running the numbers. “But what we’ve done…we’ve increased the energy in that leyline remnant. First through a massive infusion that would have flooded it and then carried much farther and with more energy than has probably been seen in a while—like a flash flood in a dry riverbed—and then through several more infusions on top of the fact that I have a history of unstable magic and all of you girls have become a constant source of magic. And that’s not even accounting for the magic that comes through from Equestria every time Princess Twilight uses the quantum entanglement in the journals to force the aperture open from the Equestrian end.”

Pinkie Pie piped up helpfully. “Oh, so it's like trying to fill a pool at a big waterpark with all the cool rivers and slides! Except before it was like doing it with a garden hose while waiting for it to rain and so it took forever, but then we came in with fire hoses!”

Dash groaned. “Pinks, that made no sense. Besides, even I kinda got Sunset’s egghead speech. We’re making magic and it's making CHS more magical. Which, for the record, is awesome!”

“How does that affect Trixie though?” Fluttershy asked. “Or Crystal Prep being an Evil Wizard Lair?”

Grabbing a big sketchpad she used for technical drawings in the research, Sunset pivoted back to the table and began to draw a loose diagram on the page. “I don't know for certain, but my hypothesis is that if our magic is being dumped into the leylines under us first, that would turn it into a much more neutral form—Harmonic energy, according to Princess Twilight’s notes, seeks to heal and repair things that are not the way they were meant to be, whether that's scrubbing a corrupted soul, returning magic to ponies drained by a mad centaur, or, in this case, repairing damaged leylines and charging them. That energy, in turn, seeps naturally into the environment around it…and CPA is not really that far in a straight line: ten to fifteen miles at most.”

“Trixie…is not certain she understands…”

Sunset laughed. “Trixie, you go to school here. You eat school lunches five days a week. You get peanut butter crackers from the vending machine outside the gym every day. You drink from the school water fountains. You are eating food that is soaking in magic all the time, drinking water saturated in it, breathing air charged with it. You may not need thaumic energy to survive like a unicorn does, but you still need magic to do magic. Until now, you've been running on a mostly empty tank, and now there's energy for you to access.”

A throat cleared, and Rarity asked, “And you believe then that the energy we released may have…charged the batteries on some dormant evil magic from this world then?”

That sobered them all very quickly. “It's a possibility—if there’s no conscious active user of dark magic involved, then it's the most probable. It’s happened in Equestria—powerful wards and ancient curses powered by ambient magic outlasting their creators by millennia.” A grimace crossed her features. “Archaeology is a very dangerous field in Equestria, and any intelligent dig team always includes at least two active spellcasters who specialize in spell-breaking. Usually with a minor mastery in abjuration.”

“And what if it's not passive?” Bon-Bon asked. “What if there's a…person…or monster…behind this?”

Taking a deep breath, Sunset squared her shoulders. “If that's the case…then we need to be prepared—all of us.” She included everyone in her sweep of the room, even Trixie. “Because if there is a conscious mind behind it, whether that's someone using dark magic or just someone who has become twisted by it accidentally, then the Games is where they’ll make a move.”

“That means more training,” Dash said. “Think we can get the principals to give us access to the building later than normal? Or maybe on Sundays? We need the band practice.”

Applejack tapped a hand on the table. “If not, we kin practice with our music during free period and lunch, and stay late at the farm ta practice our new powers. Granny’ll understand, and with it bein’ early spring, there's no seasonal folk ta see us. We always do spring pruning and the family patch ourselves. Saves money.”

“Yeah, that’ll work—it gives us a short break after school for homework and an early dinner, or any after school commitments we have…like tutoring. We could probably use Sundays for practice at the farm too, I think,” the redhead said thoughtfully. “If it comes to a fight, the new powers we’ve all gotten are probably going to be useful, and we’ve learned from the Battle of the Bands that it's the friendship and connection between everyone in the group that makes the magic work, not how good we are at performing.”

Then she remembered what Celestia had said, and she turned to Flash, Lyra, and Bon-Bon. “As for you guys, I talked to the principals this morning about all of this. Principal Celestia has stated that as of now, safety of any student on campus is top priority in the event of a magic event. Every student. Whether they attend CHS or not. She’s given the go ahead for the ‘Student Defense Force’ to have leeway to prepare for doing just that. That means drilling people, just like we do for fire and tornados. Make sure everyone not only knows where the safe zones are, but have practiced them enough to do them without thinking. Rapid response time to a magical event will be critical for us to be able to protect the school and the students. Train them on the tools you have. Get them to practice hitting what they throw stuff at.” She hesitated, then forged ahead. “If you need any kind of supplies, bring me a list of what and how much, and I’ll order it. Thanks to Princess Twilight…” And her own accounts, after her call to her finance guy while Twilight was in the shower the night before, but she didn't need anyone to know that… “…we have a budget. A large enough one that it can absorb supply costs. I opened an account for it after I had the Equestrian bits converted.”

“Bits, darling?”

“Converted?”

“Budget?”

Sunset got up and went to the magical cupboard, reaching into the small bag that still held some of the bits from the Princess of Friendship. Retrieving one, she brought it over and placed the coin on the table, heads up so they could see Princess Celestia’s profile. “Equestria’s standard currency is the bit.”

Licking her lips, Rarity asked tentatively, “Is…is that a gold coin, Sunset?”

“Almost pure gold, actually. Magic in the earth and in the minting means the metal isn't as soft as it is here, but that minor enchantment is broken when the gold is melted down. Sold through the right people, every one of those coins is about twelve hundred dollars. I can't offload the gold too fast or I’d crash the market, but…a few dozen at a time every month adds up to a nice budget for our research. I donated most of my portion to the school because of how much my actions at the formal cost them in damages, but the research budget is in the account, and what's left is actually to pay my research team.” She looked around at them. “Which would be the nine of you, at present. It’ll have to wait until probably summer before I can start to pay that part out though, and I need you guys to not go crazy with it. We can’t draw attention to ourselves. The plan is to set it up with the same budget account under a small start-up research company, with all of you listed as part time employees. Then there’s a paper trail, you’ll pay proper taxes, and I can give it out in reasonable amounts either through bank transfers or a ‘company check-book.’”

Applejack’s brows furrowed. “Ah don't really need charity, Sunset.”

The redhead had anticipated that. “It's not charity. You're earning it with all the hours you are putting into practicing magic and protecting people. If this gets…not worse…but stronger…then most of us won't have time for a regular summer job. This will offset that for you girls, and pad things for the rest of you. What you use it for is really up to you….though with the economy, you might want to save it as a college fund. By the time we graduate, it should be enough to mean way less in loans.”

Letting that sink in, she turned to Trixie. “…your help would be appreciated in understanding how native magic works here. Unicorns have a completely different arcanobiology, and it sounds like humans lack the tools or the arcane theory backing enough to take proper measurements.”

Trixie considered that for a long time. “There are many things that are secrets to the House of Lulamoon,” she started, “but The Great and Powerful Trixie is willing to collaborate…provided her father agrees. If magic is returning…” The magician trailed off, then changed thoughts. “In the interest of that, Trixie would ask a question. You spoke of the magic’s shape you encountered, as if it were a design. Can you reproduce it on papers in parts, so that Trixie may bring it to her father’s attention? He may know what it is, allowing us to better know our enemy.”

She nodded. “I can do that. I've got a pad of tracing paper, and I can do it in layers on that. Do you have a light table? Like for art? It makes it easier to see the complete image after.”

“Trixie will acquire one.”

The bell rang, signaling the end of the meeting. “Okay. We have our game plan. If there's any issues, I keep my phone on and charged at all times, and if not me…Rarity, Flash, I’m putting you two in the position of being the next people on the list to contact.” Sunset rubbed her neck. “I’m going to be out of the city tomorrow—I have some things I need to do, but I should be back by late evening. I’ll leave the book with you, Rarity—if an emergency crops up that can't wait for me to get back, do what I showed you to call Princess Twilight for immediate help.” She scanned them all one more time. “Any questions? No? Alright…I’ll see you guys later. Girls, we’ll start the new practice schedule Monday.”

*cackles and rubs paws together*

Cinch is not prepared. Methinks the games will go...poorly...for her. CHS is not playing around this time.

Equestrian bits in canon look pretty thick, so I imagine the coins are pretty heavy gold coins, and pure gold is pretty valuable. (not as valuable as the precious gems, but still valuable.) As long as she's careful, Sunset could make quite a tidy sum without crashing the market...

Plus she's had half a decade learning to fly under the radar of the human government. Which mostly means "Dont do things to draw attention to yourself." Dont commit crimes, dont be loud or make a lot of fuss, pay your damned taxes... Hence why she's worked out ways already to fund all this nonsense in a legit way. A research and tech start up business is a thing that can be done, and starting a business is a very mundane thing, especially when done by way of a professional. As long as all the proper forms and stuff are filed, and all the financial data is honest on the books, and the "employees" pay taxes to the IRS, the feds arent going to come sniffing around wondering why a bunch of teens are making 20K a year on a part time job. Uncle Sam gets his cut, no one breaks any laws, and Sunset and the girls deal with magic quietly.

Despite her preference for hands on over theory, Sunset is still a genius, a chess player, and a long term planner.

Trixie's slow integration as a minor character is fun, btw.

Coming up: The long awaited double date!

Bruhaha!