Sweet Valley Twins: Friendship is Magic (Chapter 13)
Title: Sweet Valley Twins: Friendship is Magic
Summary: All the trouble started right after Lila saw the purple Unicorn in her backyard.
Dedication: For Raven and @buffywatcher23
Timeline: Factory reset, just like almost any book.
Notes: This won’t be as aggressively meta as my last NaNo, so if you were anticipating me leaning so hard on the fourth wall that it falls over, I’m sorry. This still will be a bit sassy, but honestly, I peaked with the Hunger Games crossover. Wait. No, I lied. I couldn’t get past the first page without doing my usual thing.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
26,276 / 50,000 words. 53% done!
Note: This is a very short chapter, but the next one is rather long, so it balances out.
Thirteen
“You had a spell in that book that just separates the Smooze back into its ingredients all along?” Megan asked incredulously as the Smooze began to break down into harmless components like dirt, dust and cobwebs after Rita and Tammy chanted some words.
“Oh yeah. Every spell in here has an undo option,” Rita said. She turned to Tammy and gave her a smile. “I’ve got a great story about the time I made it rain banana ice cream into the Volcano of Gloom for three hours before I realized there was a counter spell on the next page.”
Elizabeth watched Rita and Tammy interact with a terse kind of politeness. Nothing had gone the way she had planned at all. In her head, everything was supposed to go: big reveal of Megan, tearful reunion between mother and daughter, everyone praised Elizabeth for bringing them together.
Instead there had been a lot of anger followed by a near apocalypse. And honestly, Elizabeth was pretty sure she was supposed to save the world. But maybe it had been a warm-up. The apocalypse hadn’t really happened, it had shown up, then Tammy changed her mind. Next time Elizabeth would save everyone.
As the Smooze broke down, it revealed the damage it had done. Once the group walked out of Lila’s backyard, they could see the destruction far better. Some houses were missed, but others were wrecked, with missing walls and broken windows. Elizabeth immediately started imagining all the fund-raisers she could organize, and the special feature she could run in the Sixers, pitying the poor people who had lost their homes.
“Oh, no…” Tammy moaned. “Oh wow, I… I did this.”
Twilight Sparkle moved beside her. “It’s ok. I know a spell or two that will fix this.”
“And believe it or not, there are actually some spells in this book that can create as well as destroy,” Rita added.
“And I have the Rainbow of Light!” Megan said with a smile.
“You have the Rainbow of Light?” Twilight repeated. “The actual Rainbow of Light?”
“Yes, the ponies asked me to keep it,” Megan said. “I don’t think it will do much here, I’ve tried using it in the past, and mostly it just pops out of my locket and back in.” She sighed deeply. “I always hoped someone would come back for it.”
Every few houses on the walk back to school, the group would stop, and Twilight and Rita would step forward. Rita would read some words from her book, Twilight would send a bolt of magic from her horn, and the damage would start to repair itself. Glass would fly into the air and re-form as a single pane before slotting in neatly to the repaired frame. Walls would rebuild themselves, pulling up their broken parts from the garden. It was amazing to watch.
But it got a little repetitive after the first few times.
“You blew your report,” Jessica said, falling in step beside Elizabeth.
“I reunited estranged relatives,” Elizabeth said in a tight voice.
“You put a kid in a room with someone she’s legally separated from, and the kid tried to destroy this world and another.” Jessica’s smile was smug. “You’re getting an F.”
“You didn’t even do yours,” Elizabeth retorted.
“Yeah, but nothing I said took out most of Lila’s street. It’s nice to see you fail at something. Sometimes we all get sick of how perfect you are. I’ve got Ms. Arnette, mom and some kids from school calling me stupid, and now you’ve done something so stupid that nobody will ever forget it!”
With one more smug smile in Elizabeth’s direction, Jessica skipped on ahead.
Usually Jessica’s words didn’t get to Elizabeth—literally everyone on the planet knew she was the best twin—but this time, she had a point. Elizabeth had made a severe misstep when she decided reuniting Tammy and Megan during a school project was the best decision.
Elizabeth brightened. Tammy wasn’t ready yet. She needed more time and the right setting. Then everything would go perfectly, and Elizabeth would regain her crown.
She hurried to catch up with Megan, and as she did, she overheard Rita say to Tammy, “So, Tam, your birthday’s tomorrow, and you still haven’t told me if you want to do anything special. Do you want a party?”
Tammy snorted in response. “Sure. Let’s just ask all the people I nearly Smoozed today. I bet they’d love to hang out with me!”
Elizabeth had a wonderful idea.