Sunset Shimmer closed her eyes and felt the stillness surrounding her. She took a deep breath in, and held it as she felt out towards everything around her. The trees trembled softly as she beheld them, the rocky canyon stalwartly ignored her. She reached upwards, and slowly asked the air for help.

It obeyed without question. Air rose and cooled, coming together into the kind of clouds that would take weeks to build properly. In scant minutes the steadily-thickening clouds were blotting out the sky. Sunset created a bubble from kinetic energy around herself— it wouldn’t block her vision or hearing, but it’d keep out the rain and any debris. She cast strengthening charms on the canyon, did a final check for anyone in the area, and once she was sure she was alone the rain came down.

Sunset shifted her shoulders, calling upon the next phase. Hail was trickier than other kinds of weather, because it formed higher than the rest of the storm and at a different temperature from rain. It would have been easy to just to unload it all at once, but she kept shifting heat back and forth until it fell in a beat of four—

Pat-pat Pat-pat, Pat-pat Pat-pat.

Pat-pat Pat-pat, Pat-pat Pat-pat,

—and after a few minutes she had the hailstones falling perfectly in rhythm.

Now it was time for the simplest part. She reached out a thought around some electrons and shoved them out of their orbits, sending a bolt of lightning booming across the sky. A frown marred Sunset's face. She shifted her hand, and the lightning boomed again. It kept striking a tall tree, coming down a few seconds faster than Sunset wanted. She cheated a little here, using magic to grow a different tree even taller. The lightning straightened out, the thunder rolling over Sunset with every fourth beat of hail—

Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,

Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,

—and it was almost time to begin. Sunset called forth the wind and it howled at its sudden freedom. It tumbled through the canyon Sunset had carved with zeal, rising and falling with Sunset as she asked, creating a sound that blended mystery with glee—

Ooo-whee-ooO,

Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,

Whee--ooo--wheE

Pat-pat Pat-BOOM, Pat-pat Pat-BOOM,

—as the storm came together and the music flowed.

The rain mixed with the hail, creating an urgency to run, to charge onward heedless of what lay in store. The thunder shouted alongside it, telling of strength and true power. They wove together a desire to lose oneself in thoughtless passion. But with it rose the wind, and it sang a wonderful song that rose goosebumps on Sunsets arms. It slipped between the two like water through a net, knowing just how to reach the ones listening. Sunset shifted her shield, and smiled as a small part of the wind carried through. It tugged at her jacket, and she slipped it off to better feel the cool breeze.

The music carried on, requiring less attention now that Sunset had kicked it off, and She let herself be lost in the sound. It was a tribute to life, and it was exhilarating.

And then a hailstone slipped through her shield and broke her nose.

The sudden pain snapped Sunset back to reality, and she fell on her ass with an undignified squawk. The song, lacking direction, began to drift out of control. Sunset threw out a hand to try and call it back to order, but the rhythm was hard to find again. She winced at the damage caused to the forest, willing any fires started by the lightning back down. She couldn’t fix all the destruction done by the hail, and the wind had just disappeared.

Sunset sighed. It wasn’t a disappointed sigh; rather it sounded sardonic. It had a very strong resemblance to her teacher's, though Sunset wasn’t willing to compare herself to the Daymare yet. It also stood in stark contrast to the anger she’d once felt over her failed assignments. It was accepting.

“I’ll get it right next time.”

Author's Notes:

Just because you're the Spirit of Harmony doesn't mean you always get the choreography on the first try. Especially not when one of your constituent elements is Laughter. The Rule of Funny is a harsh mistress.