Tang Ri Shan

My Little Pony Equestria Girls- Project Tantabus

(This is a sequel to Equestria Girls- Seeing Double)

Ch 3

"What is it you want?" Starlight Glimmer squeezed her eyes shut as a familiar voice echoed in her mind. She shook her head in an effort to clear it, but it still lingered.

"Tell me! Come on Glimmy, tell me!" The voice begged.

"Shut up!" Starlight snapped, gritting her teeth.

"What did you say?" Starlight jumped as another voice, this one icy cold, rang out. She turned to see a girl with pale yellow skin and lavender-colored hair, streaked with white, glaring at her.

For a moment, the two girls stared at each other. Then Starlight smiled and said "Nothing. I didn't say anything"

The girl snorted. "That's what I thought" She said snootily, before walking away, with her nose in the air.

Starlight sighed as the watched the girl go. Unconsciously she reached down to adjust the hem of her plaid skirt. Opening her eyes and setting her mouth in a firm line, she closed her locker door and spun the dial to lock it. After checking twice ensure it was sealed shut, she turned and began walking briskly down the hallways of Crystal Prep Academy, narrowly dodging other students as she did so.

"Hey! Watch it!" A girl with orange hair snapped as Starlight swerved to avoid walking into her. Her companion, a boy with blonde hair, just sneered as they walked away. Starlight glared after them, but made no move to answer. She just shook her head and continued walking in the opposite direction.

From all aspects, Crystal Prep Academy had the appearance of a very successful high school. Despite its 40 year history, the building appeared brand new and was kept so clean that the very walls seemed to glimmer, like they were made of crystal. A popular joke was that the cleanliness of the building had lead to the school name. Others thought that the school's name came from its education program, which was expensive, but considered to be a 'treasure' to those who could afford it.

Starlight glanced through a door as she walked by it and saw twenty students in the classroom beyond. From the looks of it, they were taking a physics examination. The stern-looking teacher was standing at the front of the room, her iron-like eyes sweeping the assembled students. Starlight snorted as she saw the problems on the blackboard. Kid's stuff! She thought. As if hearing her, one of the students, a willowy girl with pale skin and white hair, glanced up at her and glared. Rolling her eyes, Starlight walked on, but the girl's glare, and the sneers of the other students remained in her mind, and to her surprise, she felt uncomfortable.

Sure, Crystal Prep had the look of a high school, but to Starlight, it had always felt more like a prison.

As she walked, her drifting gaze rested upon a trophy case, one of several that lined the hallway. Starlight paused, running her hand across the glass, smiling at all the plaques and golden cups that lined the shelves, then her eyes rested upon one plaque that was larger than the others. It read:

In Honor of the students who have shown excellence in the Academic Arts:

There were a number of names carved below these words, but as Starlight scanned the list, two names seemed to jump out at her.

Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer

Starlight felt her lips curl into a frown. Those two! She thought, narrowing her eyes as if hoping her gaze could burn the names away. Her gaze drifted to the trophy next to it and her frown deepened when she saw Twilight Sparkle's name carved into it. The trophy next to that belonged to Sunset Shimmer, and the one next to that had both their names on it. Starlight's frown deepened as she quickly scanned the entire case, but could not find a single trophy that did not have at least one of the two girl's names on it.

How ironic you both graduated a year ago, and you are still able to torture me! Sunset thought bitterly. She shut her eyes as pictures of the two girls filled her mind, staring down at her with smug smiles on their faces. They were mocking her, laughing at her, making her feel worthless, just like they had before they had graduated. She grit her teeth as he mind flashed back to science fairs and presentations in the past, how despite her best efforts, no matter what she did, it was never good enough to compete with those two.

Oh sure, they acted nice enough, congratulating Starlight whenever she came in behind them, and even when she had failed to place at all, but Starlight was no fool, she could tell that they were really reminding her how she had failed to prove herself each time. We're smarter than you are, their smiles had always seemed to say, and we always will be! Growling angrily, Starlight shook her head vigorously to try to dispel the images from her brain, and the two girls dissolved into colorful streaks of red and purple.

Starlight's eyes opened, and then paused as she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the glass doors of the case. Her eyes were hard as iron and her eyebrows narrowed, just like the girl who had been taking the examination. Her mouth was curled in a sneer, just like the one that boy had given her a few minutes ago. Starlight was used to seeing these looks, she had been getting them ever since Twilight and Sunset had graduated, when she had become Crystal Prep's best student. Normally, she was able to ignore them, but seeing the same look on her own face, it was...troubling. Did I ever give Sunset and Twilight this look? She wondered before she could stop herself. Shivering, she quickly moved away from the glass case and continued walking.

Reaching the main foyer, she paused to observe students that were milling around. Though some were in small groups, many were by themselves, and as Starlight looked around, she noticed one thing in common, almost none of them were smiling. Sure, some were grinning, but they were smug grins, and they were usually accompanied with a boast of some achievement, which caused everyone else around them to scowl and glare.

As Starlight crossed the foyer, two girls, one with orange skin and purple hair and one with blue skin and turquoise hair glanced up at her and both girls glared at her so fiercely that Starlight found herself instinctively taking a step away from them. But rather than comment, she ignored them and started walking up the steps on the other side, but she could feel the gaze of the two girls burn into the back of her neck like laser beams. As she climbed the stairs, she passed a group of boys in athletic uniforms heading down, and one of them, a tall boy with purple hair bumped into her, throwing her against the railing. "Hey!" She cried out, but none of the boys gave any indication that they heard her. They just tromped down the stairs, like soldiers in formation.

Starlight watched them go, glaring daggers at them. That boy had bumped her on purpose! As if to rub salt in the wound, the two girls from before appeared at the bottom of the stairway and one of them spoke to the boy who had bumped her, who nodded and then all three of them glared up at Starlight before the boy dashed over to join his classmates. Starlight snorted and began walking up the stairs, with her nose in the air. I'll show him! She thought angrily as she crested the landing and turned to walk up the next flight. I'll show all of them! I'm the best student at Crystal Prep, now that Twilight and Sunset are gone, I've aced every test, I'm at the top of every class, and once I finish this extra credit project for Dean Sombra, I'll finally get the recognition that I deserve. They'll forget all about Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. The name Starlight Glimmer will be on the lips of everyone at Crystal Prep Academy!

By this time, Starlight had reached the top of the stairs and found herself in a round room with several doors leading off of it. Gathered around the biggest one, which lay on the opposite side of the room were Lemon Zest and Sugarcoat, along with a girl with indigo-colored hair who was tossing a ball up into the air and catching it, a freckle-faced girl with dark red hair who was typing into her phone, and a blue-skinned girl with light purple and pink hair who was primping herself in a pocket mirror.

That's assuming I can make this work, Starlight frowned as she took in the appearance of the members of her research team. Five aces in different fields who had been hand-picked by Dean Sombra to assist with this project. She had been told they were the best, but they didn't look like it. They didn't even wear the same version of the school uniform! Starlight felt her heart sink as she took in their appearance. They were presenting their findings to Principle Cinch today, so she had asked them to look their best, but obviously they had not heard her correctly.

Taking another deep breath to collect herself, Starlight stepped out of the stairway and walked over to them, clearing her throat as she crossed the room. The five girls glanced up. "Starlight, you're here!" The freckle-faced girl sang out, smiling sweetly at her, then her smile suddenly faded into a frown and added "Finally!" in a tone completely the opposite of what she had been using a few seconds ago.

"Keep your skirt on, Sour Sweet" Starlight replied, refusing to allow the girl's dual-identity nature to bug her, even though it secretly did. Sour Sweet could be sweet as pie one minute and sour as a lemon the next. Many people called her the ultimate two-face, but none dared say it to her face. "She said four thirty, it's four twenty-eight right now." Starlight glanced at the black watch on her wrist as she spoke.

"Actually, it's four twenty nine" The blue-skinned girl corrected, smiling smugly.

Starlight glanced at her, then down at her watch. "No, my watch says..."

"Who cares what your watch says?" The girl suddenly snapped, cutting Starlight off. "My watch is guaranteed to keep precise and punctual time. The world runs by my watch, and clearly you don't!" She extended her wrist to show to show off the expensive looking watch that graced it.

"Whatever, Sunny Flare" Starlight shook her head. Sunny Flare was Principle Cinch's niece but only a select few knew that. But it was clear that she had her aunt's high-opinions of view, though they were mainly about herself. Sunny Flare loved to rank everyone below her, especially since her rich parents loved to spoil her with the latest and most expensive accessories. Starlight tried to ignore the smirk on the girl's face as she addressed the group "Does everyone know what they are supposed to do? We need this presentation to go off without any..."

"Without any problems, yeah yeah, we know" The indigo-haired girl droned, rolling her eyes as she spoke. "Don't worry Starlight, we won't ruin your little project...much" She added in a lowered tone, which made Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest chuckle and Starlight grimace. Indigo Zap was an athlete and also one of the most competitive girls in the entire school. Starlight had heard whispered rumors that the girl's competitiveness had lead her to actually hurt those that got in her way. She had also heard that the girl hated taking orders from other people.

"Need I remind you, Indigo Zap, that you're the one who needs the passing grade, not me" Starlight retorted, and was rewarded by the frown that crossed the athletic girl's face. "You all do" Starlight turned to everyone present.

"Starlight does have a point." Sugarcoat spoke up. "If this presentation goes badly, we'll all be affected far worse than she will"

Starlight blinked in surprise at the girl. Sugarcoat was the most honest girl she knew, but she was also the least emotional and conservative, like she didn't care who her words hurt. It was rare that she would actually stand up for anyone though.

As if to prove her point, Sugarcoat suddenly glared at Starlight "Of course, since this is her project, she'll be the one to blame if it fails" She added.

Starlight scowled, there was the sting she was looking for. Sugarcoat gave new meaning to the term 'the truth hurts'. It was like she was trying to be as unlike her name as possible.

"Sugarcoat's right" Starlight said determined not to be put off by Sugarcoat's brutal honesty "So I suggest you give this project your complete attention if you don't want to fail"

Starlight paused for a few moments to allow the seriousness of her words to sink in. The girls grumbled but Indigo Zap tucked her ball into her bag and Sunny Flare slipped her mirror into a pocket. Starlight allowed a small smile to slide onto her face. She had their attention now. Despite their differences, every student at Crystal Prep Academy was bound by one common fact, failure was not an option. "You all know what to do?" She asked again. Each of the girls nodded, their faces becoming serious. "Good" Starlight strode past them to the door and knocked on it. "Let's get this over with" She muttered as the door swung open.

---

The darkened office beyond was draped in shadow. The only light came from two chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, casting pools of light onto a large ebony desk and the space right in front of it, which was occupied by six chairs.

Starlight jumped as Dean Sombra's face suddenly emerged from the shadows next to the door. His dark eyes quickly swept over the assembled girls and narrowed for a second. Starlight felt her heart drip, he must have noticed the difference in uniforms. But to her relief, Dean Sombra didn't say anything, he just motioned the six girls inside.

As they entered, they saw that behind the desk was the back of a large chair. Standing next to it was a person wearing a white lab coat. Starlight's eyes widened as she recognized the tall man with amber-colored skin and reddish-orange hair. A twisted goatee matched his hair color and his cobalt blue eyes peered at them through wire-rimmed glasses.

"Professor Sunburst? What are you doing here?" Starlight asked. The other girls exchanged confused glances.

The teacher smiled in Starlight's direction as Sombra responded. "As someone who has had all six of you in his classes this year, Principle Cinch figured that Professor Sunburst could offer an unbiased view of your presentation."

"Specifically, I'm eager to see how well you six can work together" Professor Sunburst added. Seeing the looks on their faces, she smiled sheepishly. "I know, I know. Teamwork is not a strong suit for any of you"

"You got that right" Indigo Zap muttered under her breath, causing the two girls flanking her to give her cold looks.

"But I really think you six have the potential to work well together." Principle Sunburst added, giving them his trademark smile. "In fact I..."

"Thank you Professor Sunburst. That will do" The man was interrupted by a cold voice that seeped from the chair behind the large desk. As everyone turned to face it, the chair spun around, revealing a tall, thin-faced woman with blue-skin and hair that was a darker shade of purple, and dark eyes. "Students" She addressed the girls in a stern and somewhat commanding voice.

"Principle Cinch" The girls all replied in unison, dipping their heads towards their principle.

"You may proceed" The woman nodded back at them and motioned to a projector and screen that was set up on one side of the room. As the girls set up their presentation, the three adults held a whispered discussion around Principle Cinch's desk. Starlight strained to hear their conversation, but all she caught were the words 'energy' and 'not possible', and her heart sank a little lower, but she banished the thoughts to the back of her mind and focused on the task at hand.

"Okay, who's got the drive?" She asked as she plugged the cord for the projector into her laptop. When no one responded, she glanced up to see all the girls looking back at her. "Well?" She asked again. "Who has it?"

"Putting the final presentation together was supposed to be your job, remember?" Sugarcoat reminded her.

Starlight shook her head. "I told you I had a family emergency last night and that I would be unable to put the final presentation together. Didn't you receive my text?" Sugarcoat shook her head. Starlight turned to the rest of the girls "Did any of you receive it?" She asked. The other foul girls all shook their heads in unison. Starlight groaned in disbelief. "Well, that's just great. We have six individual presentations instead of one group presentation."

"Sounds like you should consider giving this project your full attention" Indigo Zap joked, causing the other girls to smirk.

"Zip it!" Starlight growled back .

"Is there a problem, girls?" Principle Cinch called from her desk. The teachers had finished their conversation and were now seated around the desk, looking their way.

"Uh, no problem" Starlight replied, trying to hide the growing anxiety in her voice. "Just...waiting for the computer to boot up" She gave a nervous laugh and turned back to the girls. "Okay, we're gonna have to wing it. Can you at least transfer your parts to my computer?" Once again, the girls all silently stared back at her and Starlight felt the urge to face-palm again. "Guess not. Okay, we'll just have to rotate computers." She sighed and switched on the projector. "Okay, enough mistakes, let's try to salvage what we can of this."

"Are you going to present or not?" Principle Cinch snapped, and Starlight winced at the woman's tone.

"Sunset and Twilight never kept us waiting this long" Dean Sombra added, just loud enough for the girls to hear.

Starlight bristled. Oh yeah? I'll show them! She thought. I'll make them forget all about Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle!

---

Meanwhile, In Equestria:

"Okay Twilight" Rarity shifted on her throne, looking annoyed as she watched her alicorn friend plop down on hers with a giddy smile on her face. "You've gathered us all here, now what's this big announcement you have to make?"

"Whatever it is, it had better be good" Rainbow Dash grumbled. "I was right in the middle of a much-needed nap"

"And I was right in the middle giving Harry a bath" Fluttershy added. "He's very picky about that"

"Well I was right in the middle of designing a new line!" Rarity whined. "If this takes too long, I may lose my inspiration, and I'll have to start all over again!" She exclaimed dramatically, throwing back her head to let her purple mane flow.

"Celestia help us if that happens" Applejack mumbled, rolling her eyes. "So ya gonna spill the beans or what, Twilight?"

Pinkie gasped at Applejack. "WHAT? Are you CRAZY Applejack? You should never ever spill the beans, they're super hard to clean up!" As everypony stared at her in confusion she thought for a moment, then added "Besides, I don't even think Twilight has any beans"

"Anyway..." Twilight tapped her hoof on the map table to get her friend's attention. "I've gathered you all here because I have learned something very important. As you all know, Sunset Shimmer, one of my friends at Canterlot High, was born in Equestria and used to be one of Princess Celestia's students."

"Yeah, we know all that" Rainbow Dash acknowledged. "So?"

"So..." Twilight continued, smirking at her pegasus friend. "Princess Celestia has just told me that two days from today, it will be Sunset Shimmer's birthday!"

"OOOOhhh! Sweet! I love birthdays!" Pinkie squealed.

"Uh, that's great and all," Rainbow Dash frowned "But what's that got to do with us?"

Twilight smirked. "Well...since I do recall making a Pinkie promise to all of you after my last trip..."

Applejack gasped and her face lit up. "Wait, are you sayin' that...?"

Twilight nodded. "I think such an occasion would the perfect time for me to introduce you all to Canterlot High!" She announced to her friends, who all cheered.

"YES!" Rainbow Dash leapt off her throne and shot through the air like a rocket. "FINALLY! We get to see the human world!"

"Oooohhh! I'm so nervexicted!" Pinkie was literally shaking.

"That's still not a word Pinkie!" Applejack corrected her before turning to Twilight. "But Ah agree with Rainbow Dash, it's about time ya got around to showin' us this other world"

"Ooh, and what a perfect opportunity to do so!" Rarity purred excitedly from her throne. Then her eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my gosh, I feel an idea coming along!"

"I'm glad you said that Rarity" Twilight commented. "Because there's something we need to do before we can go"

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, looking confused.

"Well, I've been writing back and forth with Sunset for a while now." Twilight explained, using her magic to hold up the journal she used to contact Sunset "And from what I've been reading, it sounds like Sunset might be getting a little homesick, like she misses Equestria." Twilight set the book down on the table, " So I think that we should all bring something from Equestria with us, as a gift"

"Oh, Twilight" Rarity's smile grew until it reached her ears. "That is so generous of you"

"It's right nice of ya" Applejack agreed and the rest of her friends nodded.

"Thanks girls" Twilight smiled, then her face took on a serious expression. "Now, I still need to make arrangements, so I'm counting on the rest of you to each have something ready by tomorrow. Can you do it?"

"In my sleep!" Rainbow Dash crowed from above

"Yes indeedily!" Pinkie smirked

"Uh huh" Applejack and Fluttershy nodded

"Oh ph! Say no more!" Rarity scoffed, rising from her throne and trotting towards the door. "I have an idea already!" Then she suddenly paused and turned back, looking a little sheepish. "Um, could I maybe borrow that photograph of Sunset Shimmer please?"

"Sure" Twilight used her magic to float the picture over to Rarity, who caught it in her own.

"Perfect, ta ta!" Rarity sang out as she trotted through the door, closely followed by all the others, who were talking excitedly among themselves, leaving Twilight and Spike alone in the room.

"Uh Twilight, are you sure that taking all of them through the portal is a good idea?" Spike asked, looking somewhat nervous.

"Of course it is Spike" Twilight gave her number one assistant a smile as she rose from her throne. "And anyway, I Pinkie promised that I would, and you know that a Pinkie promise can't be broken"

Spike shuddered. "Well yeah, that's true. But still, I don't like it" He added as he followed Twilight out of the room and down one of the halls. "It was strange enough last time when there were two of you and two of Sunset, I don't even wanna think about what could happen if there are two sets of all our friends in one place"

"Oh Spike, I'm just bringing my friends from here over to meet my friends there" Twilight huffed as they strolled down the corridor to her bedroom. "It's just a harmless little get together, what could possibly go wrong?"

"You really want me to answer that?" Spike replied sarcastically.

Twilight rolled her eyes as she walked into her bedroom, but otherwise made no sign that she had heard Spike. Spotting the magical journal on the mantle, she used her magic to levitate the book over to her as she sat down at her desk. "Are you going to get Sunset a gift, Spike?" She asked, a she levitated a quill out of a nearby jar.

"You think I should?" Spike looked up at her.

"I don't see why not. After all, it's not every human that gets a present from a baby dragon" Twilight replied, using her magic to flip open the journal to an empty page.

"True, but what could I get her? I don't even know what human girls like?" Spike scratched his head.

"Oh I'm sure you'll think of something" Twilight said as she levitated a quill and ink bottle off of her desk. "Maybe you should ask Rarity if she has any ideas. If you remember, she and her human counterpart often think the same way."

"Hey yeah!" Spike brightened. "I'll go ask her right now!"

Twilight giggled as Spike dashed out of the room. That dragon would take any excuse to spend more time with Rarity. Turning back to the journal in front of her, she dipped the quill in the ink and began to write

Dear Sunset Shimmer

---

And Cut!

Sorry for the delay, this took a little longer than expected! But I wanted to flesh out the Shadowbolts a little because they are going to play a big part in the story later on (Spoiler Alert)

I also wanted to touch up on Starlight's history, which points to the price of Crystal Prep's success. In the original film, the Shadowbolts cared only for themselves in the beginning, and didn't get excited about anything they didn't do themselves, and I wanted to mirror that concept, but with a twist. So, how'd I do?

Writing like this is trickier than you might think because emotional thoughts and moods like this can change in an instant (or at least they do for me) and it's hard to hold a feeling long enough to find the right words to describe it. But I'm trying my best!

Read and Review! I enjoy getting comments!

Until Next Time!