Evening's mind was a jumble of emotions. Everything happened so fast, it left him wondering just what was going on. One moment he was congratulating Sweetie Belle on getting her cutie mark and the next. . . Well now here he was in a lip lock with the younger unicorn.
Everything around him is a bit of a blur. Questions begin to wrack his brain. What was going on? Why was she doing this? Where did she learn to be such a good kisser? Was that lilacs he was smelling? Was that Dee's jaw that just hit the ground?
Dee! The thought of his mare friend snaps his brain out of its trance and he breaks the kiss with Sweetie, sputtering slightly.
The younger unicorn stumbles back a few feet, her cheeks going a deep red in embarrassment. She doesn't say anything, just looks down at the ground and shuffles her forehooves a bit, a pink orb pulsing as it hovers near her.
Dee stands to the side of them, a look of pure shock and confusion on her face as her gaze shifts from Evening to Sweetie and back to Evening. Her mouth works but no sound comes out.
Evening himself is at a loss for words. Should he apologize, but if so, for what? Not pushing Sweetie away immediately? Probably. It so sudden though, he doesn't know what to say.
The silence doesn't last long as the orb near Sweetie suddenly bursts with activity. Too much for a window to open, but many voices suddenly come from it.
"WHAAAAA?! SWEETIE BELLE! What the hay do you think you're doing?! Kissing your older teacher like that and in front of his marefriend no less? You. Me. We're talking later!"
"Holy heck, Sweetie! Moving a bit fast there, ain't ya filly? Derpy's gonna have a lot to say about that!"
"So, are you three enjoying the awkward silence?"
At least two of the voices sounded familiar, but it was so quick in coming that voices didn't process fully, only the words.
Awkward silence indeed, was Evening's first thought. He makes a move towards Dee, a want to say he was sorry building up in her. She shakes her head, however, and looks towards Sweetie Belle. The younger mare looked close to breaking down, nervously shuffling and looking towards the door.
The stallion sighs softly and takes a step towards Sweetie.
"Songbird?" He calls out softly, worried that he might spook her completely into running, possibly even injuring herself. "Uhm, about what just happened. . ."
"I'M SO SORRY!" the white mare blurts out suddenly, breaking into tears. "I just, I don't know, acted! I don't know why I did that! I mean I do but I don't and with Derpy right there and OH CELESTIA PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!"
The outburst causes Evening to fall back on his rump in surprise. He blinks a few times and gets up, starting to move towards the mare once more. Derpy, however, cuts him off, moving before he can.
The pegasus mare padding over to Sweetie and embracing her in a hug.
"C'mon," she says softly. "Take a few breaths and calm down. Everything's going to be okay. I'm not upset, okay? And neither is Evening. We don't hate you. Just really surprised." She giggles a bit. "Especially Evening. Silly never realized how you felt."
"Hey, what do you mean by that?" The stallion huffs out.
Dee giggles again and looks at him. "I mean that she's been crushing on you for a while now and that you're the only one who hadn't noticed," she states plainly.
She looks at Sweetie Belle and uses a wing to wipe tears from the younger mare's eyes. "I think we have a lot to talk about, don't you?" the pegasus says. "A lot of sorting things out."
Sweetie blinks and looks between Dee and Evening. The stallion nods slowly in agreement with Dee. They did have a lot to talk about. He could still feel the tingling off Sweetie's lips on his own and it, well he wasn't sure what it did to him in honesty. What he did know is that it was going to be a long afternoon.
"What?" Scootaloo says in excitement. "What do you mean 'What'? How'd you do that?! Do that again!"
Sweetie Belle looks at her friends in confusion. Their eyes wide in excitement and their previous complaints fallen to the wayside. She blinks nervously, wondering what they had meant. "I don't understand. . ." she starts, but is cut off as the orb flashes open into a window once more and the trio are greeted by the sight of Viola's Sweetie Belle.
Belle: "Whoa whoa whoa! What was that?! 'Sis'? What did you just DO? I saw that just now.. It looked" She focuses and replays the scene in her mind. "You just gave that thing a boost of power. Come on, try it again and focus on us!"
"That!" Bloom and Scootaloo say in unison, pointing towards the orb's window. "What she said!"
She frowned and then shook her head. "I don't know what I did," is her reply. "I'm sorry." She starts to head out of the clubhouse, but is followed close behind by her friends and by the orb, still in its window form.
"Sweetie Belle!" she hears them call out, causing her to stop and look back. The earth mare and pegasus come up to her, expectant looks on their faces.
"It looked it was mixing with your magic," Bloom states. "Just what were you doing anyways?"
"I was just humming!" Sweetie says in exasperation.
She was trying to tell herself that it was nothing, but doubt had already began to creep into her mind as she scrambles for some kind of explanation. It was true that sometimes she subconsciously used her magic when in deep thought. Rarity had told that she had caught the younger mare levitating pens and pencils, tapping them idly on the floor.
Sweetie shakes her head. Whatever it was that had happened before, it wasn't something she had done in the past.
The unicorn mare looks at her friends and then at her doppelganger in the orb's window. Focus on her, she had said. That was all fine and whatever, but how? Well, to be more exact, focus on what?
She frowns again and taps a forehoof impatiently. Once more she begins to try and think on what to do and starts to hum softly. The sound of her own humming calms her down and clears her head. Ever so slowly, points begin to connect for the mare as she went over what she had been told.
What had she been doing when they said her magic interacted with the orb? Humming and thinking about wanting to talk to Belle. Was there an actual connection there? It seemed so. If she were to follow that line then-
Her eyes snap open and go wide. It was as if a fuse had just been sparked in the back of her mind. She still isn't sure if she was right with her train of thought however. She closes her eyes and lets her whole body relaxed. The lessons she had been taught by both Evening Light and Twilight over the last few months come rushing to the forefront of her thoughts.
Twilight's lessons on the magic field all around them and how unicorns and pegasi manipulated it. Evening's lessons on the concentrated laylines that ran throughout the ground beneath them, like rivers of magic and how they effected earth ponies and how it was hard to manipulate them, but with enough concentration could be seen by any unicorn (he'd joked with her that many just didn't focus on the ground and looked only in the air and cared only for what they could immediately see) if they took the time to learn how.
That had confused Sweetie Belle until now. She focuses her thoughts and instead of purely seeing, tried to feel the magic through her hooves. She's surprised when not only does she feel it, but soon has many golden lines briefly assault her mind's eye. They momentarily burn themselves in her vision and when she opens her eyes, she can make out a thin line seems to come from one 'branch' and connects to Apple Bloom.
An idea forms in the young unicorn's mind and the frown she has been wearing turns to a grin. She looks around and points to a nearby tree with her hoof.
"Apple Bloom, could you buck that tree? I wanna see something." She says.
The young farm mare looks at her friend in confusion before looking at Scootaloo. The pegasus shrugs a bit.
"Ah suppose so, but what are you trying to see?" Bloom replies.
"I'll let you know," is all Sweetie Belle says in reply.
Bloom sighs and rolls her eyes a bit before going over to the tree Sweetie had pointed out. She turns away from it, plants her front hooves firmly in the ground and then gives the tree a hard kick. The only visible result being a few leaves falling from its branches.
Sweetie Belle sees something different though. She focuses on Bloom and closes her eyes, viewing the laylines that ran through near the tree. When Bloom plants her hooves, the thin line that connected her to the magic flared briefly, flowing up in the younger mare. It was like Evening Light had told her: earth ponies channeled the laylines, not the air field, to enhance their strength and help crops grow.
The young unicorn beamed happily and focused all her thoughts on Bloom.
"Do it again!" she says excitedly.
"Again?" Bloom asks in confusion. "All right, but ah don't see what the fuss is all about with a few leaves fallin' to the ground. . ."
Keeping her focus on Bloom, Belle starts to hum once more as the farm mare plants her front hooves. The young unicorn lets her own magic flow along the notes of her humming and then into Bloom as she subconsciously draws from the layline. The pale golden magic that she could see tinge Bloom suddenly took on a light green tint. There is a loud crack as Bloom kicks the tree and it visibly shudders. Branches fall from the tree along with leaves and then the tree itself slowly tilts and then falls over, a clean break at the spot where Bloom had kicked it.
Bloom and Scootaloo stare at the tree stump before slowly looking to Sweetie Belle. The young unicorn grins widely and dances in place with excitement, squeeing loudly.
"I figured it out! I figured it out!" She exclaims.
She turns her attention to the orb and hums again. Her magic flows once more upon the river of her notes and touches the orb. The dull pink glow that surrounded the window shimmered briefly and then took on a pale green tone. Belle's static image shifted and tore briefly before suddenly shifting and turning to, as Bloom comments, a live video feed of the other Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie was ecstatic. She danced in place once more as Bloom and Scootaloo stood on either side of her, looking dumbfounded at the orb's view screen.
Belle steps back, looking half startled and half expecting. "Whoa! Other me! You did it.. wait.." She leans forward and peers at her alt's flank and pumps her hoof. "Yes! Good for you!"
The three mares look at each other and then at Sweetie's flank. The unicorn's eyes grow wide as they fall upon the sight of a pair of eighth notes with the 'tails' looking like a breaking wave against two, light purple six pointed stars.
"I did it," she says softly, not believing her eyes. She looks at Bloom and Scootaloo. "I did it!" She exclaims pulling her friends into a huge hug.
