Sunset's Wonderful Life
by sonicfan05
First published
After the event at the school went wrong due to her past, Sunset wishes that she was never born. A mysterous teenaged girl, who claimed to be her gaurdian angel, showed Sunset what the world and her friends would be like without her.
After some time of turning over a new leaf, Sunset was happy with her life. She gained new friends, slowly winning over the students at CHS and became the protector of the human world alongside her friends against any rouge magic and creatures. She wanted to give back to everyone by becoming the head director of the Christmas party and Toys for Kids Festival at the school on Christmas Eve.
But when the events of the party and festival went wrong due to her past, Sunset was down on her dumps after she was blamed for the disaster and felt like she had ruined her friends lives because of her. Just when she was about to give up on everything, a mysterious teenaged girl, who claimed to be her guardian angel, showed Sunset what the world and her friends would be like without her.
This is an Equestria Girls take of an ever so beloved classic film, It's a Wonderful Life!
1. How It All Began
It was a cold and dark night near Canterlot City. The school grounds and the land beyond was covered with a light blanket of snow as snowflakes gently fell from the sky. The weather was so cold that it would take a dozen layers of clothing to keep yourself warm. Everyone who lived in the area were probably at their homes, keeping themselves warm and preparing to spend the Holidays with their friends and family.
All except for this one sad girl, who was standing on the bridge alone.
This girl have a red and yellow flaming hair with sad teal eyes. Despite that she was wearing a winter outfit, she felt very chilly from the cold. Normally, she would happily be hanging out with her friends and having fun for the holidays, but due to recent events, she is now alone on this very bridge.
And losing her friends in the process.
Sunset leaned over the bridge's railing at stared out over the dark horizon with a depressing sigh.
“Who could ever cared about some former bully girl like me?” Sunset asked herself softly with a sniff. “I ruined the Christmas Festival, the school is going to shut down because of me and now everyone hated me… even my best friends.”
She thought back to all the events that happened to this very moment… and how it all went wrong.
Two Weeks Earlier
It was just an ordinary day at Canter High School and it was currently lunch time. Many students were at their tables chatting excitedly about their upcoming winter break and their plans for the holidays from within the school's cafeteria, including seven of the most popular teenaged girls of the school. Their names were Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle (or Sci-Twi for short) and Sunset Shimmer. Together, they were known as, “the Equestria Girls”, or “the Rainbooms” whenever they performed a music band together.
For you see, these seven girls in particular are very special because they each have magical powers known as Equestrian Magic. It was originally from another dimension, which is a world of ponies and creatures. When Sunset Shimmer, who was a unicorn from another world, fled to the human world, she ended up bringing some Equestrian magic over with her as well. Ever since then, Equestrian magic bring havoc to the human world from time to time. Sometimes creatures invaded their world due to portals, sometimes magical storm clouds mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and attacked the area, but most commonly, the magic was in possession of another person, leaving their minds corrupted due to the many misuses of its magic. Luckily, the girls used Equestrian Magic of their own and the Power of Friendship to save the day many times just to keep loose magic at bay and to protect the people they cared about, including each other.
Luckily for them, there hasn’t been any magic attack for over a month. And considering that it is now close to a holiday season, they all felt that they can all use a break. A girl with rainbow-hair took a sip of her soda before letting out a loud cheer.
“AW YEAH!” the rainbow hair girl, known as Rainbow Dash whooped. “Winter break is almost here! Which means no school, fun activities, and best of all, no school!”
“You said no school twice, Rainbow Dash!” The blonde haired stetson girl, known as Applejack deadpanned.
“And while I’m all for fun, we still have to do homework over the break!” the spectacle girl with purple and light magenta striped hair girl added, known as Twilight.
“Details, details!” Rainbow Dash said nonchalantly as she waved her hand towards her friend. “I can work on that anytime before the break ends.”
The pretty girl with long purple hair, known as Rarity, cocked an eyebrow. “Um, no offense Darling, but didn’t you say that last year, only you end up getting a– ahem… mediocre grade for trying to work on it at the last second?”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “Hey, it was one time! I won’t goof off at the last second like last time!”
The shy girl with long pink hair named Fluttershy, gave her friend her worried frown. “Um… isn’t that what you said last time too Dashie? Maybe you should do it early this year.”
“Yeah Dashie!” The energetic girl with curly pink hair named Pinkie Pie added with a smile. “You should finish your work as soon as you get it so you can have plenty of time to goof off!”
“Oh come on! I’m not gonna goof off!” Rainbow exclaimed before facing the red and yellow haired girl. “Sunset, back me up here!”
“Sorry Rainbow, but I agree with them,” Sunset responded with an apologetic tone. “If you start later instead of early, you’ll only forgot about it again. And I’m pretty sure that Mr. Cranky will not go easy on you this time.”
“...et tu Sunset?” asked Rainbow before she loudly groan in annoyance. “Just exactly what I need to do during the hoildays… write some stupid science paper that I don’t even care about!”
“I can offer you to help out with the paper if you want,” Twilight offered. “Science is my specialty afterall!”
“You will?” Rainbow Dash perked up. “Will you do all the research and references for me too?”
“...don’t push it!” Twilight respond flatly, causing Rainbow Dash to chuckle nervously.
Sunset smiled at her nerdy friend. She remembered that Twilight came a long way after that fateful day at the Friendship Games many months ago. How Twilight was lost and frightened after she became Midnight Sparkle and using her powers for the first time. After saving her, Sunset became Twilight’s first friend and helped her every step of the way to not only get Twilight back on her feet, but also to her feel comfortable about using her magic and hanging out with her friends. Thankfully, Twilight warmed up to her friends after Twilight transferred to CHS and Twilight eventually got over her fear of her own magic.
It was interesting that Sunset was helping out a counterpart of Princess Twilight, who ironically helped her after her own downfall from the Fall Formal last year. By helping out the human version of Twilight, she felt that everything came in a full circle. Even though Sci-Twi (a nickname she and her friends came up with in case of confusion between the two Twilights) was technically the same person, but overtime, Sunset later learned that there are some differences then her pony counterpart as well. Even though Twilight is now happy to be at CHS with her friends then her time at Crystal Prep, but out of all the girls, she felt that she bonded with Sunset the most, even considering her as her best friend. And Sunset was touched by this.
The two of them were often seen together, rarely separate from one another. Many students, their friends included, often joked that the two of them made a cute couple. While Sunset knew that her friends were just kidding, but deep down, there are some truth involving her nerdy friend.
She remembered after the first few months after the Fall Formal, she opened up to her friends that she is Bi. Thankfully, the girls gave her their full support. While Sunset is attractive to both males and females, she wasn't interested in dating anyone for the time being after all she did during her time as the queen bee, even if most of the students had already forgiven her, Flash included. But after Sci-Twi transferred to CHS and been friends with her for a while, Sunset admitted that she felt attracted to her friend. As her feelings grew, she became more and more protective of her so that Twilight wouldn't have to suffer from the aftermath after becoming a Demon, just like she was. And after Twilight admitted to Sunset that she is her best friend and that she trusted her the most, that's was when Sunset fell in love with her friend.
Despite her love to her friend, Twilight already got herself a boyfriend, Timber Spruce, who worked as a camp counselor at Camp Everfree alongside with his sister. While Sunset was sad that Twilight is together with Timber, but Sunset gave her friend her full support and offered her any advice whenever her friend needs it. As long as her friend is happy, than Sunset is happy.
"Attention all students," a voice from the intercom boomed, getting Sunset and the rest of the students attention from the cafeteria. "This is Principal Celestia and I'm making a quick announcement. As you all know, winter break is almost here and I'm sure you're all very excited about it. But let's not forget that we have fun times here at CHS too, which is why I have an exciting announcement! This year, we will be hosting Toys for Kids Festival and the school's Christmas party alongside with Mayor Mare, right here for the entire town and you are all invited to attend!"
Everyone in the cafeteria cheered from their Principal's announcement, already looking forward to the party and having fun with their friends.
"The Festival and party will take place during the early evening on Christmas Eve. So be sure to mark your calendars!" Principal Celestia continued. "Additionally, since the whole point of Toys for the Kids Festival was to help out giving away toys to less fortunate children. If any of you are interested in volunteering to help our during the event and wanted a position as the head director of the festival, please come down by my office to sign up! Now enjoy the rest of your day!"
The students in the school cafeteria returned to their own conversations, but with more positive energy. Many were excited about the upcoming Christmas party where they can all relax and have fun with their friends instead of boring school lectures for once. But none were as excited as our main heros, especially from a certain rainbowed-haired teen.
"Did you hear that? We'll be having a Christmas party right here in the school! This is gonna be awesome!" Rainbow Dash cheered with a fist pump.
"Well, I for one, am interested in the Toys for Kids Festival part of the news!” said Rarity with a smile. “It's great that there is an organization whose dedication to help those poor children who couldn't afford any toys, which I would be happy enough to take part in, including some clothes for me to give away."
"Eh, I doubt that they'll want clothes," Rainbow commented flatly while ignoring Rarity’s annoyed expression. "But I know that they'll love the goods I'll give them, which I totally don't need anymore! ...except my Daring Doo Plushie."
"Well Ah would certainly love to help out!” Applejack added. “Ah'm sure me and my siblings have a bunch of old toys stored around somewhere for us to donate for the youngins."
"Um… maybe I can ask Principal Celestia if I could bring a few animals over from the shelter for any possible adoptions for the children," said Fluttershy with a hopeful expression.
"Maaaaybe I can put together a bake sale so that these kids and have something to shake on during the party-slash-festival! I know I would!~" Pinkie Pie added with a grin as she was eating her cupcake from her hair… somehow.
"Well, I definitely would like to help out as well! I think I may have a few old toy-like gadgets for ne to give out!" Twilight added with pride. She then quickly added, "Don't worry, they're completely safe!"
Sunset smiled as her friends talked more about the event. From her time living in this world, Toys for Kids Festival is a pretty big deal around in Canterlot City, especially around the Holidays. Her friends clearly wanted to be a part of it not just for fun and spreading cheer, but to also help out giving the toys to the children and made their Christmas magical, and she definitely wants to be a part of it. Perhaps if she contribute to the festival, she will finally pay back to them for helping her at her lowest point and becoming their friend.
Not to mention, having to show off her kind and generous side to Twilight was also a plus.
"You know what? Why don't we all volunteer?" Sunset suggested. "How about I'll go talk to Principal Celestia our proposals to contribute for Toys for Kids Festival and see if she'll let us run it? I'll even be the head director of the Festival!"
The girls stared at Sunset in shock. It’s not that Sunset isn’t fit for a job, far from it. But that kind of job is known to be very stressful, especially around the holidays.
"Really? You don't mind Sunset?” Twilight asked in concern. “Being a head director of the festival is a huge responsibility!"
"Of course I don't mind!" Sunset responded with a confident tone. "If I can direct that musical we did months ago, then I should have no problem running the festival. Besides, I definitely wanted to be a part of this event too, especially with you guys!"
Her friends grinned, touched by Sunset's words and her selflessness.
"Whelp, then Ah guess that's settled!" said Applejack. "Ah like speak for everyone here that we appreciate what you're doing Sunset!"
Sunset beamed. "Hey, you all did a lot for me ever since you welcomed me into the group. It's the least I can do for you girls!"
Suddenly, the school bell rang throughout the school.
Twilight stood up and slowly gathered her things. "Looks like lunch over, we better be heading to our classes!"
"Well since this is my free period, I might as well go see Principal Celestia right now," said Sunset as she stood up. "See you girls later!"
With a quick wave goodbye to her friends, Sunset made her way out of the cafeteria and headed to Principal Celestia's office. As she was walking across the hallway, Sunset smiled as she was reminiscing of her life to where she was now.
It’s amazing how far I come. She thought fondly. I went from the most feared and hated person, to the most liked and respected person of the school! And I changed for the better! And it was all thanks to my dear friends. Without their guidance, I could never get as far as I am now.
Now I can focus on setting up the Toys for Kids Festival, have fun with my friends and best of all, no corrupted Equestrian Magic or any vengeful people around to ruin the holidays for us. What can go wrong?
Somewhere on the other side of town, a mysterious figure was sitting in a dark room with a scowl on the person's face. The person stared at the local newspaper with the headlines announcing that Canterlot High School will be hosting this year's Toys for Kids for the holidays along with Mayor Mare. But what really set this person off was the image on the paper, showing off these seven familiar teenaged girls, standing in front of the school with happy smiles on their faces.
"Those brats!" she spat bitterly with contempt as she crumpled up the paper in the process. "They think they are so special! They think that they are so superior and humiliated me? Well, they won't feel so special any longer, because this Christmas… I will single-handedly destroy them… starting with their leader! And once they fall apart, I will be back on top! But this time…"
The mysterious figure smirked as the person turned and eyed three other figures in the room who also had evil smirks on their faces.
"I got "friends" of my own!"
Author's Notes:
Hey everypony! This is my second attempt to create a holiday themed story. And this time, this will take place in Equestria Girls Universe!
Staring my favorite human!
So what is going to happen next? You'll find out... shortly!
All comments and criticism welcomed, but please be polite!
2. The Setback
A few weeks have passed since the announcement and it was early morning on Christmas Eve. Normally, Sunset isn't a morning person and preferred to sleep in, but because of school and that she was required to arrive early due to her duties as the head director, she has no choice. Speaking of which, being the director of the Festival was admittedly… challenging for Sunset. Aside that she had to up earlier in the mornings than usual, the job was very daunting. She had to be involved in everything when it comes to running a Toys for Kids Festival and Christmas party; the planning, the music, the seating, the organization. the decorations, you name it. Sunset almost wished she took Pinkie’s offer to help her out since this was her expertise. Sunset would often get stressed and exhausted with every day's work, but if it means to give back to her friends, help the children and for everyone to have fun time will be worth it to her.
Sunset was walking down her neighborhood towards her school in her winter gear as normal. Halfway there, she spotted her familiar friend with purple hair with a pink stripe and glasses that Sunset knew and loved.
"Good morning Twilight!" Sunset greeted with a warm smile.
Twilight turned to Sunset. "Oh… morning Sunset," she said somberly.
Sunset immediately frowned. Ever since the Friendship Games, she and Twilight started walking to school together in the mornings and sometimes back home together as well. Having a one-on-one conversation with Twilight is always her favorite part of the day. They would talk about everything from Sunset's life in Equestria to about every topic they come up with. She even liked to listen to Twilight's ongoing rant about everything she learned or discovered. She thought the way Twilight talked so much like an excited child always warmed her heart, especially seeing a smile on her friend's face. But this was the first to see Twilight looked so gloomy and quiet. And her friend's behavior alone really concerned the former unicorn.
"Are... you okay?" Sunset asked gently.
"O-oh yeah! I'm fine Sunset," Twilight responded with a forced smile on her face.
Sunset cocked her eyebrow, clearly not buying her friend's answer. "No offense Twilight, but you don't look fine."
"I'm telling you Sunset, I'm fine!" Twilight responded with some aggravation.
Sunset placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You know you can always talk to me if you're--"
Twilight stopped walking, shrugged Sunset's hand off her shoulder and turned towards Sunset with an angry expression.
"I said I'm fine Sunset, okay!?" Twilight shouted.
Sunset flinched. Twilight never yelled at her like that before. She didn't know what was wrong with Twilight, but she feared that she upset her further. After seeing her friend's hurt expression, Twilight immediately felt guilty for acting so aggressive to someone so caring who was worried about her.
"I'm… I'm so sorry Sunset!" Twilight said sadly, not looking directly at Sunset. "I-I didn't mean to--"
Twilight then felt Sunset touched her cheek and gently turned her head towards her, who had a caring and understanding expression.
"No no, I get it Twilight," Sunset said gently. "I shouldn't have been so pushy. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. But I'm here for you if you wanted to talk about it, okay?"
Twilight smiled, glad that she didn't damage her friendship with Sunset. "Thanks Sunset. And I'm sorry again for snapping at you like that."
Sunset smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said as they resumed walking.
As they are heading towards the school, Twilight still felt bad for yelling at Sunset. After a few minutes of silence, Twilight decided to bring up a topic.
“So… how are things as the head director Sunset?”
"Busy!" Sunset responded with a chuckle. "I thought my brain is going to explode after last night. But at least the setup is almost done, just in time for the opening of the festival."
Twilight gave her friend her sympathetic look. "You know, we can help you finish the job much faster if you let us."
"Thanks but I got this," Sunset assured. "Besides, you all helped enough with the toy donations for the kids. Baked goods and animals in Pinkie and Fluttershy's case."
Twilight grinned. "Well with you running it, I have a feeling that it was going to be a great party!"
“Or ‘awesome’ as Rainbow puts it!” Sunset added.
The two laughed at their own joke as they finally made it to the entrance of CHS. They were just entering the hallway to get to their lockers when they run into their Vice Principal Luna. They frowned when they saw a serious look on their Vice Principal’s face.
“Sunset, Twilight. I’ve been waiting for you,” She stated.
The two teens looked at each other with confused expressions before facing their Vice Principal again.
“Um… hello Vice Principal Luna? Did we do something wrong?” Sunset asked.
Vice Principal Luna sighed. “No but… it involves you and your friends. We have a serious situation.”
“What kind of situation?” Twilight asked.
“...I’m afraid this is something my sister could answer,” Luna answered. “Please follow me!” She requested as she turned and heading towards the Principal’s Office.
The two girls are now nervous from their Vice Principal’s statement as they followed her. Sunset was wondering what could that possibly be? Yet another Equestian Magic on the loose? Someone possessed another artifact from Equestria? An evil monster invading their world again? Each possible scenario made Sunset more and more nervous and Luna’s silence didn’t help much.
So much for no trouble around the holidays.
They eventually made it to the Principal's Office door and Luna opened it, gesturing the two teens inside first. When they both entered, they were shocked to discover not only Principal Celestia was waiting for them, but every single one of their friends were waiting for them too. Whatever was going on can’t be any good if the Principals called them all in to their office.
“Sunset? Twilight? Wat is going on here?” Applejack questioned. “Why are we all called in? None of the Principals are tellin us why?”
“How should I know Applejack?” Sunset responded. “Twi and I are just as much in the dark as you are!”
Before they could argue further, Principal Celestia cleared her throat. “I’m very sorry to dragged you all here on such notice, but we have a bit of a situation.”
“That’s what your sister said,” said Sunset in her annoyed tone. “But she never mentioned what that “situation” was!”
“Sunset, you are in charge of setting up the Toys for Kids Festival and the Christmas Party, yes?” Celestia asked calmly.
Sunset blinked, then nodded with a concerned look. “Y-yeah, I am. Why?”
Celestia sighed. “Last night… something happened to the gym where the party had taken place and… well… see for yourself.”
Celestia took out a few photographs from her desk and handed it over to Sunset. Sunset, along with her friends looked over the photograph and they all gasped in shock. In these photographs was the gym with the party decorations. But the one major thing they all have in common was each decoration for the party was destroyed! Each photo was shown that tables were turned over, toys were crushed, streamers were taken down, balloons were popped, chairs were tossed around, the disco ball smashed in the middle of the room and there was even some strange stains that was all over the floor and walls.
“Land snakes!” Applejack exclaimed.
“Wha- what happened to the gym!?” Rainbow cried!
“Everything is destroyed!” Twilight added.
“This is terrible!” Rarity shouted.
“Who would do such a thing!?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“This was worse than the time Sunset, Snips and Snails ruined the decorations for the Fall Formel a year back!” Pinkie shouted, before giving Sunset her sheepish smile. “No offense Sunny!”
“...none taken,” Sunset commented while staring at the picture with widened eyes. “How did this all happen? Everything I worked hard on was ruined!”
“That’s the thing, we don’t know,” said Celestia. “But we believe this all happen due to… unusual event.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked in her confused tone.
Celestia turned towards her sister. “Luna, play the tape!”
Luna nodded as she rolled an old TV with a VCR over to the girls. Before any of them could ask, Celestia beat them to it. “Unlike what happened at the Fall Formal, we actually managed to get a recording of the incident thanks to the security cameras we installed a few months back,” she explained. “Unfortunately, even with the recordings… finding out the culprit was proven more difficult, especially... after what we saw on that tape.”
“After Luna set up the TV, she inserted the tape and pushed the play button. A black and white video clip of the gym appeared on screen. For the first few minutes, everything seemed to be normal, until they saw a glowing lights at different sections of the room. Then, they watched as many various items were violently thrown and smashed everywhere across the room. They they witnessed the balloons mysteriously popped, the disco ball and streamers fall down from the ceiling. And finally, some mysterious substance appeared out of nowhere and left a random trail on the floor and ceiling. But what really disturbed the girls the most, was those same substance was now forming itself into a written message on the stage curtains. When it was finished, the message on the curtains reads:
YOUR PAST IS COMING TO HAUNT YOU SUNSET SHIMMER!
Even after the video had reached the end, Sunset just stared at the screen with her face as pale as a sheet. It was shocking enough that objects had moved on its own and other decorations falling down, but seeing an angry message directly at her, shocked her to the core. Was something or someone trying to come after her?
“Just wat the hay is going on!?” Applejack exclaimed. “Either Ah’m seeing some pre-release B-rated horror film or Ah’m actually seeing objects moving around like it was being controlled by ghosts!”
“Y-you don’t s-s-supposed that the g-gym is being h-h-haunted?!” Fluttershy whimpered in fright.
“Don’t worry Flutter-butter!” Pinkie Pie assured. “If we go over and simply giggle at the ghosties, they’ll go away and never bothered us again!”
“That’s ridiculous!” said Twilight as she adjusted her glasses. “There has to be some sort of scientific explanation! There are no such thing as ghosts!”
“And yet magic from the magical pony land exists?” Rainbow said flatly.
“That’s different!” Twilight huffed. “Ghosts and Magic are two seperate things!”
“AHEM!” Celestia cleared her throat loudly, getting the girls attention. “Actually, they’re not ghosts! Look closely at the beginning of the video!”
The girls watched as Luna played the tape again, but this time they watched at a specific spot where the glowing lights were. After a minute of observation, it was Twilight who spoke up.
“Wait… those lights,” she said with widened eyes. “They’re actually–”
“Equestrian Magic,” Sunset concluded, startling the others. “Someone must've gotten hold of Equestria Magic and used it to destroy the gym.”
“How did you know that it was a person Sunset?” Rarity asked.
Sunset sighed. “Because someone wrote that message on the curtains.... which was meant for me! Whoever did this have some kind of grudge against me… probably because… what I did to them.”
Everyone stood there in silence as Sunset stared at the floor. Even after her bullying days were behind her, she still guilty for all the things she had done. While most of the students have forgiven her, there were some who refused to forgive Sunset for her actions. Even though she got friends on her side now, she sometimes wondered if she really deserved them. It’s one thing if her past comes back to bite her, but if it involves her friends or anyone around her, she could never forgive herself.
“Sunset,” Applejack called quietly, getting her friend’s attention. “Ah know wat yer thinking, but wat happened at that gym wasn’t yer fault!”
“Well who else are the blame then?” Sunset retorted. “Someone trashed the room just to get back at me! And because of that, there won’t be any party!” Sunset growled in frustration. “It’s ruined!”
“You’re wrong buster!”
Sunset looked up in shock. “W-what?”
She saw Pinkie giving Sunset her serious expression as she stood too close to her face.
“No one ruins a party that my best friend put together! Not if I have anything to say about it! We WILL have this party tonight and I will make sure that it’ll be the best Christmas party of the ENTIRE town!”
“...Pinkie,” Sunset said in awe.
“And we’re going to help too!” Twilight added before facing her friends. “Right girls!”
Everyone nodded and hummed in approval, willing to help however they can.
“You girls…” Sunset sniffed, while trying to hold back her tears. “Thank you! I know we got work cut out for us, but I know that we can do it!”
“I’m glad that I can count on you girls to fix this mess and bring our party back on track!” Celestia praised before frowning. “But that mysterious offender is still at large. I’m afraid that whoever this person is, may try to ruin our efforts again.”
“Do you have any idea how this person is using this magic?” Luna asked.
Sunset shook her head. “No. There were many types of Equestian Magic that works differently from each one,” Sunset explained. “I don’t know if it was used naturally, an artifact, potion? If I could find out what type of magic it was, I can asked Twilight to identify it and then we’ll find a way to counter it!”
“I see,” said Luna. “Then we have no choice but to secure the room and keep an eye out if anything was suspicious. Until then, you girls redo the gym and have it all set up by tonight if possible!”
“We won’t let you down!” Sunset promised. “C’mon girls, let’s get to work!”
“On it!” Rainbow cried as she used her super speed to rush out of the room while everyone else followed her.
Once the Equestria Girls left the room, Luna gave Celestia her serious look. “I assumed you already knew the identity of the perpetrator for the destruction of the room?”
Celestia sighed. “I have a hunch, but I don’t have any proof I can use against her!”
Luna raised her brow. “By “her” you mean...
Celestia nodded. “Yes. Like me, she planned things out like she’s some sort of chessmaster. And something tells me… that wrecking the room was only a part of her master plan!” And I just wish I knew what her “master plan” was!
Author's Notes:
Well that's not good!
How are they are going to fix the gym before the party?
Stay tuned for more!
3. Falling Apart (Pt. 1)
It was late in the early evening and it was only two hours until the Christmas Party and Toys for Kids Festival to begin as scheduled. The Equestrian Girls have been working hard on cleaning up all the damages from the gym and then they started to reset everything for the event. Even the CMC's and Twilight's dog, Spike was helping out by recreating the banners for the party to replace the ones that are destroyed. They replaced the tables and chairs, they replaced the decorations, they replaced the toys by placing the back-ups in the school's storage for safe keeping, they pretty much nearly restored everything that was damaged from the mysterious attack. They even managed to keep that mysterious message against Sunset under-wraps so that everyone from school won’t blame her in case if the party gets canceled.
Not unless Pinkie has something to say about that.
Despite this major setback, they were cutting it close. Even with Rainbow's super speed, they still got more things to do before the guests arrived, including the Mayor. While Sunset kept her act together, she had gotten more stressed by the hour in fear that they won't get to finish on time. She wanted to make sure that everything is in order and that they won't be wasting any more time then they did already. She inwardly cursed whoever did such a cruel act and led them in this position in the first place.
"Sunset? Are you alright?"
Sunset nearly jumped from the sudden sound of the person's voice. She turned to see Twilight who was giving her her concerned expression.
"Oh, I'm alright," Sunset answered. "I just… have a lot on my mind right now with everything that happened."
Twilight nodded in sympathy. "Yeah I can understand how stressed you are right now. I would be crazy too if I were in your shoes." She then grinned. "I remember back at Crystal Prep, I would get so crazy over the smallest thing, people over there would say, "Looks like Twilight is Twi-lighting again"!"
Sunset snorted in amusement. "Really? People actually made you into a verb?"
"Yeeeeeeah, I still don't get it myself," Twilight said sheepishly with a blush before clearing her throat. "Anyway, the point is, you shouldn't have to worry. You got us to help you fix this before the party. Even the CMC's are volunteering to help out!"
CRASH!
Sunset and Twilight jumped from the loud sound like something have dropped. They turned to see a paint can, which was turned over and paint was spilled all over the floor. Even poor Spike was partially covered in paint as a result. They then noticed Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo by a huge blank banner that they're working on with apologetic expressions.
"Oops… um… sorry Sunset," said Apple Bloom. "We accidentally knocked over da paint can and now the paint is all ov'a da floor!"
“And Spike!” Sweetie added.
“This paint can come off easily... right?” Spike asked nervously.
“...probably?” Scootaloo answered with an uncertain tone.
While Twilight was trying not to freak out about her pet covered in paint, Sunset felt her right eye twitch repeatedly while trying to put on a stained smile. "That's… fine Apple Bloom… but please... clean that up and… try not to make any more messes… okay?"
Apple Bloom gulped from the site of Sunset's reaction. "Y-yes Sunset!"
“And we’ll get the paint off of Spike too!” Sweetie added.
“Absolutely,” Scootaloo added quickly. “I get us a razor so we can start shaving his fur off right away!”
“Great! Thank you girls so– wait WHAT!?” Spike exclaimed as Sweetie carried him off despite him struggling to get himself free.
As Apple Bloom and her friends were cleaning up the mess and Spike, Sunset let out an uneasy laugh.
"It'll be fine!" Sunset mumbled to herself with a huge crazed grin. "Just a minor setback! No biggie! Is not like the Festival will be on a line over a simple paint spill! Hehehehe!"
Twilight felt uneasily and concerned for her friend as she watched Sunset having a mental episode. As she continued to watched Sunset, Fluttershy and the rest of her friends showed up, just to see what was the commotion involving their friend.
"Um… is Sunset okay?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"I'm… not sure," Twilight answered. "Sunset was trying to keep herself composed after Apple Bloom spilled the paint can as they were making a banner."
"Paint… It's only paint!" Sunset proclaimed loudly before breaking into an insane laughter.
The girls cringed from the site of their friend.
"Yeah… I think Sunny is now coco in a loco!"
Applejack rolled her eyes as she took some punch from the punch bowl with a cup. She then walked right up to Sunset and splashed some punch all over her face, ceasing her laughter.
After finally regaining her senses, Sunset cleared her throat in an awkward manner.
"S-sorry about that girls," said Sunset. "I got it out of my system. I'm fine now! It's only just a small… mishap!"
"What mishap?"
They nearly jumped from the sudden voice. They all turned towards the source, only to have a major shock after seeing who their sudden guest was. It was an older woman in dark blue dress with purple leggings and high heels. She also had half glasses on the bridge of her nose. She had dark purple hair, red ruby lips, a mole on her right cheek and a stern, yet professional expression on her face. But what probably stood her out the most was even wearing a silver cobra medallion with rubies as its eyes. Rarity was probably having a fashion field day after seeing an ugly piece of jewelry like that.
“M-Ms. Cinch?” Twilight cried. Principal Cinch was the former Principal of Crystal Prep. The last time she and the others saw her was after the "incident" from the Friendship Games, which she was eventually forced to step down from her position as the position. Seeing her again was a big shot to everyone, including Twilight.
"We meet again Twilight," Cinch said coolly before she eyed the others. "And your friend, Sunshed and her gang!"
Sunset frowned. "It's Sunset!"
"What brings you here Ms. Cinch?" Twilight asked, trying to prevent a fight between her friend and her former Principal.
Cinch raised her eyebrow as she adjusted her glasses. "Why Twilight Sparkle, I'm shocked that you assumed that I never come here. Surely you realized that anyone is allowed to come here!"
"Hey! Don't get all condescending on her!" Sunset spat. "You were a horrible Principal who threatened Twilight to make her join the Friendship Games for the independent study she wanted and then you forced her to release the magic from her pendant! So no, you don't deserve to come here!"
Cinch's narrowed her eyes. "I would watch what you say, Miss Shimmer!" she spoke in her low tone."Especially to one of the Mayor's Advisers!"
Everyone nearly dropped their jaws from this sudden revelation.
"Y-you... became the Mayor's Adviser?" Twilight meekly asked.
Cinch nodded as she placed her hands behind her. "Yes. After my… departure from Crystal Prep, I decided to have a change of career. So I worked for the town since! And I thought you be grateful after suggesting the Mayor to have that Toys for Kids Festival event at your school!"
"You suggested the Mayor to come here?" Rainbow Dash cried out in disbelief.
"Indeed. I decided to let bygones be bygones and helped out giving a boost to your school's reputation!" Cinch sniffed with an unsatisfied expression. "But from the looks of things… I'm not impressed. You need to be on your A-Game if you ever want the Mayor to approve of this party. But luckily for you, I brought some crew from the town to assist for your preparations for the event!"
Sunset crossed her arms. "Principal Celestia never mentioned that we're getting additional help from the town?"
"I suggested it at the last second," Cinch answered. "I even got her approval along with the town! Go ask her of them if you don't believe me!" She then turned with her back facing them. "Anyway, I best be off and see if there's any other section that needs… improving!"
Without another word, Cinch made her way to the other room, most likely to inspect the room for the sake of the Festival. The girls were staring at Cinch's back with a mixture of shock, annoyance and anger.
"Oooh! That woman is so rude!" Rarity exclaimed.
"And scary too!" Fluttershy added.
"She really needs to lighten up!" said Pinkie before thinking out loud. "I wonder if I should bake her favorite cupcake flavor so that she'll be less of a meanie."
"I doubt that'll work Pinkie," Applejack deadpanned.
Rainbow gave Twilight her a serious, yet curious look. "Hey Twilight? Is Cinch really that ruthless?"
Twilight sighed, as she rubbed her arm in a nervous manner. "Unfortunately... yes Rainbow Dash. From the years I spent at Crystal Prep, I've known Cinch long enough that she is a brilliant, but cold woman. She has the obsession to be the best at everything all for the sake of the school's… reputation!"
Rainbow scoffed. "More like for her reputation!"
"Anyway," Twilight continued. "If someone actually threatened or did something to tarnish her rep, even if it wasn't a big deal to most people… you'll be Cinch's enemy number one!" She then shuddered. "One time, someone spoke up about the way Cinch runs the school and not doing a proper job. When Cinch found out about it, she not only she quietly expelled that student for… not fitting in the system, but also blacklisted that student for ever applying to any schools… for life!"
"Oh my," Rarity gasped "I knew Cinch isn't a nice person, but this… this is beyond cruel!"
Fluttershy whimpered and nodded in agreement.
"Well Ah can't believe that snake got away with it for so long from the way she was running dat school!" said Applejack, disgusted from Cinch's actions. "Sure glad that she was fired after what she did to Twilight during the Games!" She turned to Twilight with a sheepish look. "Err… no offense,"
"None taken," Twilight responded casually.
Rarity huffed. "While Cinch got what she deserved, but it seemed that she works for the town now."
Rainbow Dash frowned. "Yeah well, I don't trust her! She looks like she was up to no good!"
"For once, I agree with Rainbow Dash," said Sunset.
"Hey! What do ya mean, "for once"!?" Rainbow Dash cried out indignantly, but Sunset ignored her.
"Cinch always had a thing against CHS for years, and yet she generously suggested the Mayor to come here!"
Applejack rubbed her chin. "Seems mighty suspicious if ya ask me!"
"Should we do something about her?" Twilight asked.
Sunset hummed. "Well she technically didn't do anything wrong, but we should keep an eye on her just in case." She then picked up her clipboard. "In the meantime, we should get back to work!"
"But should we take a break first?" Applejack asked.
"No time Applejack!" said Sunset with a huff as she walked away. "We need to get this done! Now do your part!"
As Sunset headed to the other side of the gym, the girls were given each other looks.
"Is it just me… or is she becoming more demanding all of the sudden?" Rainbow Dash asked for the whole group.
Meanwhile, Cinch was heading towards the front entrance of the school. She looked around to see if anyone was watching before she opened the door. Then three mysterious figures dressed in a dark blue town staff uniform and work caps, stepped inside of the building. Cinch eyed her crew for a moment as her “workers” were giving her their full attention.
"Alright, you all remember the plan?" Cinch asked in her hushed voice.
The three figures nodded.
"Good!" Cinch said with a grin. "Now go sabotage everything these girls were working on, but do it discreetly!"
The three figures nodded again before heading to the gym so they can start their own dastardly deeds.
At the stage area of the gym, Applejack was tasked to fix the broken areas of the stage so it will be safe for the musicians to play their instruments. Applejack pounded the last of her nail into the wooden board with her hammer. Once it was in place, Applejack wiped the sweat off of her forehead.
"Whew! The stage is almost done!" said Applejack. "Now Ah just need to do some more adjustments and than Ah'm done!"
She was about to move on to the next section of the stage, until she heard someone from behind her.
"Yo! You need some help or what?"
Applejack turned to see one of the town's staff. While this person's face was hard to make out, but Applejack couldn't help but think that this person looked familiar to her, especially after seeing this person's tough demeanor and two pigtails. She mentally shrugged that off, thinking it wasn't important at the moment.
"Thanks, but I got it! Ah can handle it mahself!" Applejack answered.
The town staff person frowned. "Last I checked, that Shimmer girl instructed me to assist you fixing that stage!"
Applejack blinked. "Sunset said dat?" She wondered why Sunset never told her that she's getting additional help, but then she shrugged it off, figuring that Sunset was busy and a lot on her plate to five her updates.
"Well… in dat case, see if you can adjust the center of the stage," Applejack instructed as she pointed towards the center of the stage. "But be careful. Dem boards are looser than da wheel from my family's eighty year old wagon!"
"...riiiiiiight! I'll get right on it!" The staff said in disdain before heading towards the center of the stage. The person waited for the farm girl to leave towards the back of the stage before they pulled out different sort of tools out of their pocket and then started "tinkering" with the stage.
Pinkie Pie was busy in the kitchen, baking up the storm. Her task was to bake a lot of sweet goodies for the guests to snack on during the party. She already gathered all the ingredients she can used to start her baking project.
"Alright then! Time to make us some cupcakes!" Pinkie cheered before she started mixing up her ingredients for her first batch.
"All I have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix!~" Pinkie sang as she added the amount of flour into the mixing bowl. "Now I just take a little something sweet, not sour! A bit of salt, just a PINCH!~"
"Excuse me?"
Pinkie stopped her singing and mixing her ingredients and turned to her visitor. It was one of the town staff who worked for Cinch. While the uniform made the person looked intimidating, but the person seemed friendly enough, especially with child-like eyes and a long ponytail. Pinkie wondered if she ever met this person before.
Probably not, but Pinkie loves to make new friends.
"Oh hi there! What can I do for you?" Pinkie greeted with a smile.
"Actually, what can I do for you?" The staff member replied with a smile. "See, Sunset was thinking that you could use an assistant to make some yummy cupcakes? So… can I help?"
Pinkie let out a gasp. "Are you kidding me? Of course you can help! The more the merrier!~" Pinkie cheered happily. Before the staff person could react, Pinkie immediately moved that person to the counter next to her and even placed a baking apron on the person… somehow. "You can start making a new batch right over there!"
The staff member saluted with a grin. "You got it boss!"
Pinkie giggled. "Just call me Pinkie silly!"
"Sorry, you got it Pinkie!" said the staff member.
Pinkie went back to her mixing bowl and resumed her work.
"Sunny sent me a helper? How thoughtful of her!" Pinkie gushed happily.
Little does Pinkie know, the staff person secretly pulls out a small brown bottle and slowly poured the contents into the mixing bowl with a wicked grin.
Somewhere at the back room of the gym, Rarity was working on some new clothing line so that she can give these away to the children for the festival. She had been working non stop since this morning and she created over dozens of clothing, she felt like she was on top of the world.
"Oooh! The kids are going to love these new outfits!" Rarity said excitedly. "Which type of clothing am I designing next? So many possibilities!~"
Just then, there was a knock on a door. The door opened and revealed to be Twilight with a nervous look.
"Oh hello Twilight!" Rarity greeted. "What can I do for you?"
Twilight shuffled her feet. "Um… Rarity? Can I talk to you for a moment… alone?"
"I would love to Darling," said Rarity with a smile before she frowned. "But I can't just leave these clothes behind! These are all too important to leave them unsupervised!"
"I'll look after them!"
The girls turned to see a sudden new arrival in the room. A town staff member was standing there with full confidence on their face. While the color of the person's poofy hair doesn't go well with the uniform, Rarity could tell that person is very mature.
"You will?" Rarity asked in awe.
The staff member grinned. "Of course! Miss Shimmer said that you needed a much needed break for slaving on these clothes all day. So I suggest you go with your friend and relax for a bit."
Rarity smiled at the thoughtfulness of her friend for her own well-being. "Well in that case, let's head into the storage room!" she stood up and waved at the staff member. "Thanks for looking after my fabrics Darling!"
With that, she and Twilight walked out of the room, failed to see the staff person's nasty smirk on their face.
"Well, there won't be any fabrics left once I finish with them!"
The person then took out a small bottle, which was filled with many moths inside. The person then walked over to rack of many different clothing before the person hovered the bottle over them and pulled out the cork.
"Okay boys," said the person in a menacing voice. "Chow time!"
Sunset had been working in the storage room for quite some time. She dusted and rearranged the objects around the shelves so that she can use them to store toys for later. She was currently cleaning up the last shelf as she carefully organized the area.
"Alright, I'm almost done with this shelf," Sunset mumbled. "Now I just need to store these sport balls in these baskets..."
Sunset carefully placed each ball into its own basket that fits the theme. However, as she picked up the baseball, the ball slipped out if her fingers and bounced towards the back behind piles of boxes.
"Oh shoot!" Sunset cried.
She walked over to the back of the boxes and got on her hands and knees just so she can find that ball. While she was searching for the ball, she heard the storage room door opened, followed by two sets of feet walking into the room. Before she could call out who's there, she heard someone talking.
"I just don't know Rarity," said the voice, which clearly belonged to Twilight. "While it was for the best, I still felt bad about it. Especially after Sunset arranged my date with him at that restaurant from downtown."
Sunset eyes widened. She knew what Twilight was talking about. Twilight mentioned to her a few days back that she wanted to take her boyfriend out somewhere so that the two of them can have a serious talk. Thinking that it was probably about her friend wanted to take her relationship with her boyfriend another level, so she asked a few favors and managed to get Twilight a reserved seating at the most fanciest restaurant in town. Despite her friend's protests, Sunset insisted that her friend deserved to have a good time with someone special. But by the sound of things... the date between Timber and Twilight didn't go well. Sunset hoped that nothing went seriously wrong between the two.
"Don't be so hard on yourself Darling," Rarity soothed, trying to comfort her friend. "You can't help yourself for feeling that way. Besides, he understands."
"I know, but… I can still see the hurt in his eyes when it happened last night. I just wish I've done something different." Twilight said quietly.
"I know Twilight, but what's done is done," Rarity sighed. "I always knew that you and Timber will break up eventually."
Sunset widened her eyes in shock. WHAT!? Twilight and Timber broke up?
A million things ran into her mind. What went wrong between the two of them. Did they have a fight? Did Timber did something mean or anything to make Twilight upset or uncomfortable? The way Twilight acted this morning now makes so much sense because it happened last night. Despite that major bombshell, only one thing came into Sunset's mind.
Why didn't Twilight tell me?
"How would you know that our relationship won't last Rarity?" Twilight questioned.
"A girl has her hunch!" Rarity replied. "But look on the bright side, at least now you can focus on your other goal!"
"Yeah… if that ever happens," Twilight said quietly with a sigh. "Listen Rarity… I already talked to the other girls about this, but could you not tell Sunset about this? You girls are the only ones that I can trust you the most about this!"
"But Darling, why are you not telling Sunset?" Rarity asked.
"You know why Rares!" Twilight replied with a huff. "Besides, now is not really a good time! With her directing the party and that mysterious party wrecker… I don't want to make things worse! This could affect our Friendship!"
"But if you don't tell her, things will get even worse for the both of you!" Rarity pointed out.
"I just can't risk it!" Twilight shouted. "Just… promise me Rarity!"
There were silence so quite sometime before Sunset head Rarity let out a sigh.
"Very well Darling, my lips are sealed. But I still don't like it!"
"Thank you Rarity," said Twilight in her grateful tone. "Now… let's head back to the gym."
The two girls walked towards the storage door and left the room, leaving a hurt Sunset alone.
She couldn't believe it. Twilight and Timber broke up. She told all of her friends about her breakup… but not her! Her best friend! And Twilight considered the others to be more trustworthy with the news if her breakup than her. Was she… afraid that she will spread the info to the school to hurt her like she did back in her bully days. She never felt this hurt since her friends thought that she was the one spreading secrets online as a cyberbully or that one time that they have forgotten her due to Equestrian magic and they don't believe that she is their friend despite her proof. She teared up as her heart was slowly broken into tiny pieces.
Twilight… why? she thought sadly. Why wouldn't you tell me? Am I… not really a trustworthy friend to you?
Author's Notes:
What's this? Cinch is back? Who are her minions? And Twilight and Timber broke up!?
What will happen now? Stay tuned for the next chapter!
4. Falling Apart (Pt. 2)
It was almost time for the party and the festival to begin. The decorations were up and the snacks are set. The stage were still in the process of setting up, but close to ready for the music club. Fluttershy was almost done getting her animal friends ready for the adoptions, and the new toys for the kids were in the process of transferring to a storage until later event. Everything seemed to be okay and no one has any issues.
Except for one.
"What do you mean Trixie's fireworks are not allowed?" Trixie complained as she argued with Rainbow Dash in the middle of the gym. "The Great and Powerful Trixie can not complete her performance without them!"
Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed sigh as she pinched her nose. "Trixie… we were trying to put together a fun and safe party, not a potential fire hazard! Can't you just perform one of your other lame tricks?"
Trixie growled and clenched her fists in rage. "How dare you! Trixie's tricks are not lame! And if you're really concerned with my fireworks, Trixie can take it down a notch!"
"Even after you take it down a notch, it's still enough to potentially light up the stage in flames!" Rainbow argued. "My answer is still 'no'!"
Before they could argue further, Rainbow Dash noticed Sunset walking slowly passed them from the corner of her eye.
"Hey Sunset!" Rainbow Dash called her friend out. "Tell Trixie about the fireworks that she's been pushing to use for her show!"
Sunset looked over to her friend with a hum before responding in her halfhearted tone. "Oh, yeah... sure. Knock yourself out Trixie."
While Rainbow Dash stood there in disbelief Trixie let out a huge cheer!
"HA! The Great and Powerful Trixie triumphs again!" She then started walking away in her upbeat tone. "Now to get Trixie some good fireworks!"
Rainbow Dash watched Trixie walked off for a moment before she walked up to Sunset with a peeved expression.
"What the heck Sunset!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Why did you allowed her to use the fireworks? You know that she--" Rainbow Dash paused when she noticed that not only Sunset wasn't phased with her angry rant, but Sunset also appeared to be… distressed. Rainbow Dash's frustration melted away and replaced with a look of concern. "Hey… you alright, Sunset? You looked pretty upset?"
"You should ask Twilight! After all, she trusts you!" Sunset muttered quietly in her bitter tone.
Rainbow Dash blinked, barely understood Sunset's response. "Huh?"
Sunset sighed and shook her head to calm herself. "Nevermind! Where's Snips and Snails? They're supposed to be here to collect the tickets from our guests!"
"Oh. They just called in sick," Rainbow Dash responded uneasily. "Apparently they both caught a cold after spending too much time outside... without wearing their jackets!"
Sunset sighed and rubbed her temples in frustration. "For crying out loud..."
Even though these two boys were her old minions and they're no longer bad as her old self, they're still not the brightest bulbs in the Christmas tree. Not that she could blame them for getting themselves sick, but because there was a crowd of people currently waiting outside to get into the party, this was not a good time to happen at a time like this.
"Rainbow… can you run the ticket stand in their place?" said Sunset out of desperation.
Rainbow Dash's eyes widened and shook her head. "But Sunset, I can't do that on my own! There's tons of people out there!"
"Then bring the CMC's with you to help you out!" Sunset suggested. "Besides… they keep ruining the set-up in here."
CRASH
The two teens turned to the source of the crash, only to see the two young girls in question, cleaning up their mess, while the third one was busy putting on different sweaters for the now bald pup, Spike instead of working.
"Oops, dropped a plate!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.
"I spilled some drinks!" Scootaloo added.
"I got some more sweaters for Spike!" Sweetie chirped.
"Why me!" Spike moaned in distress.
"...good point," Rainbow conceded. "But what about--"
"Trixie? Don't worry about her!" said Sunset. "Just worry about the tickets! And if anybody needs me, I'm assisting Applejack with those musical instruments!"
Rainbow watched as Sunset quickly rushed towards the stage with that same concerned expression.
"...it wasn't Trixie I was worried about!" Rainbow said quietly to herself.
"Okay everyone, it's feeding time," Fluttershy said softly as she was given each of her animal friends their food.
Fluttershy was tasked to care and prep the animals at the back of the school's grounds before they are ready to be presented for any potential guests to adopt them as pets. She really was glad that Sunset got Principal Celestia's approval to have her shelter partnered up with the school and allowed to bring animals to the event. These sweet and loving creatures deserve to have homes of their own and to be cared for by their new owners.
Unknown to Fluttershy, someone was hiding from the bleachers, watching her with a sinister smile on their face. The person then took out what seemed to be a thin whistle of some kind and lightly blow into it. All of the sudden, the animals jolted and soon they began howling, yapping, hissing, screeching and roaring nonstop and started running around all over the place.
Fluttershy was immediately alerted from the commotion and started to feel panic as she watched animals acting very strangely.
"Wha- what's going on!?" Fluttershy exclaimed as she attempted to help the distressing animals. "Everyone please calm down! Just please calmly tell me what's going on so that I can--"
Unfortunately for Fluttershy, her plea fell on deaf ears as the two biggest animals threw themselves onto the fence with great force and parts of the fence collapsed to the ground. In the process, the animals fled from the area and charged to the back of the school, leading to the gym. Fluttershy watched the fleeing animals with a look of terror on her face.
"...oh dear."
Meanwhile, Twilight was tasked with storing the toys into the school's storage room along with some help from Rarity. They each just brought in the last boxes of toys and placed them on the shelves. Twilight wiped some sweat off of her forehead and turned to her friend with a grateful smile.
"Thanks for helping me storing the rest of the toys to the storage room Rarity! But you didn't have to spend on your break for me."
"Nonsense Darling!" Rarity insisted with a wave of her hand. "I'm always happy to help out a friend!" She then turned and headed out the door. "Now let's see how the preparations are going!"
Rarity and Twilight walked out of the storage room and closed the doors behind them. Some time later, the doors opened again. The three city staff peered into the room, specifically at the shelves where the toys were located. One of the staff person, who stood between the other two, let out their sinister smirk.
"Alright you two… you know what to do!" The person commanded.
The two nodded with smirks of their own and then went over to the shelves to begin taking boxes of toys out of the room. While that was happening, the third staff walked out of the room and headed towards the gym to proceed the final part of their operation.
"Alright be careful now!" Applejack instructed. "These items are very diligent! We don't want the owners of those instruments to be mad at us if anythin' happens!"
The students nodded as they were handling the equipment. Applejack selected a few volunteers to help out moving the musical instruments and equipment to the stage for later event. The few volunteers in question were Flash Sentry, Octavia, Vinyl Scratch (aka DJ Pon3), Lyra, Bon Bon, Bulk Biceps and Derpy. As Applejack continued to supervise the volunteers, Sunset walked up to Applejack with a tired by calm expression.
"How's the musical set-up coming AJ?" Sunset asked.
Applejack grinned. "Everythin' is A-ok Sunset! We're almost done here!"
While Sunset was pleased with the news, but she couldn't help but nervous as she glanced at the center of the stage.
"This stage is fixed, right?"
Applejack nodded. "Sure is! And Ah actually got it done a lot quicker with dat staff member you sent out earlier."
Sunset blinked with a confused expression. "Staff member? What are you talking about?"
While this was going on, the staff person was hiding behind the curtain at the back of the stage, who was eating a banana. As this person was finishing their snack, Derpy appeared around the corner, carrying a huge sound box towards the stage which obscures her vision. The staff member smirked as they hovered a now banana peel over to a certain part of the floor where Derpy might step on it.
And now… a distraction. The person thought mischievously as the banana peel was dropped on the floor.
The person hidden themselves behind the curtain again and watched with anticipation as Derpy reached the area and unknowingly stepped on a peel.
"WHOA!" Derpy shouted as she slipped across the room and headed towards the center stage.
Sunset and the others were suddenly startled from Derpy's shout and gasped as she fumbled towards the center area.
"DERPY! WATCH O--"
Unfortunately for Sunset, she couldn't warned or help her in time as Derpy finally loses her balance and fell onto the floor along with the sound box, which was now cracked into two. To make things worse, Derpy's force caused a domino effect as the boards from the center part of the stage cracked and she fell right into the hole. Then, the hole grew bigger and bigger to the point that other instruments were caught from the growing hole and fell into it as well, crashing towards the bottom and broke into many pieces. The volunteers as well as the guests saw the commotion and let out horrifying gasps.
"MY INSTRUMENT!" Octavia screamed.
"MY STAGE!" Sunset shouted in panic.
"MY GOODNESS!" Applejack gasped.
"My bad…" Derpy moaned from the bottom of the hole.
"This is humiliating!" Spike muttered. "First you all shaved my fur off, then you girls forced me to take a bath, and now you're making me wear this horrible looking holiday sweater!"
To demonstrate his point, he stood on his rear paws and showed off his sweater that Sweetie Belle made him wear. It was a green sweater with a face of a brown reindeer with a huge smile and a white background behind it. There was even a huge red ball in front of a reindeer, which was designed as its nose.
"But it looks so cute on you!" Sweetie Belle cooed.
"I'm not cute!"
The CMC's and Rainbow Dash was currently sitting outside on their tables, handling the tickets for any upcoming guests. Despite that they were overwhelmed by a huge crowd of people, they managed to handle them and let them in with procedure. After they let the last guest entered the building, they've been sitting outside for over twenty minutes as instructed by Sunset in case if the Mayor showed up. Sunset hoped that by giving the Mayor their warm welcome as their best impression, then everything will run smoothly.
However, Rainbow Dash and the CMC's were not pleased that they have to sit outside in the cold a little longer instead of going back inside and join the party. Most of them, except for Sweetie Belle, just leaned on their arms and stared at nothing. Some tapping their fingers on the table, others were randomly blowing into the air just to see their own breath out of boredom. After what it felt like an eternally, Scootaloo let out a loud groan.
"Man, this is sooo boring!" Scootaloo complained loudly. "We could've joined the fun in there!"
Rainbow Dash, while silently agreed with her protege, let out a long tired sigh. "I know Scoots and I don't like sitting here either! But because Snips and Snails got themselves sick, Sunset assigned us here in their place! That… and that you three won't make another mess in the gym."
Scootaloo threw her hands up and huffed. "We said we were sorry!"
Before Rainbow could retort, her cell phone rang.
"Hold that thought Scoots!" said Rainbow Dash as she accepted the call and placed the phone to her ear. "Sup Applejack?"
Rainbow Dash listened as she heard Applejack's distressed and frantic voice from the other line. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash widened her eyes in shock.
"What? Seriously!?" she exclaimed. She listened on her phone a little longer before replying, "Okay, I'll be there in a second!" Rainbow Dash hung up her phone and let out an exasperated sigh. "Of all the times she had to be so clumsy…"
Rainbow Dash then stood and glanced at the CMC's. "Excuse me girls, I'll be right back!" she shouted before she disappeared into the school with her super speed.
The girls and Spike looked at each other in confusion and curiosity.
"What do y'all suppose dat was all about?" Apple Bloom asked.
Everyone (and dog) shrugged in response. Scootaloo once again moaned and leaned onto the table.
"How long do we have to sit here? It's obliviously that no one else is coming!"
Apple Bloom huffed at her friend's attitude. "Ah know yer impatient Scoots, but we have to wait just a little bit long--"
Suddenly, they heard a loud 'clang', coming from the side of the school's building. The girls and Spike looked at each other for a moment before they got up from their seats and peeked around the corner of the building. From there, they spotted the three mysterious figures in uniform sneaked out of the building with big boxes, which was filled with toys for the festival. More specifically, two figures were carrying the boxes while the third was only barking orders in a hushed tone.
Scootaloo leaned into Sweetie Belle's ear. "Hey isn't that… the staff people who works for the town?"
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah, but why are they bringing out the toys? Weren't those supposed to be for the festival?"
“The were!” Spike responded quietly. “But Twilight or Sunset never mentioned that they’re being moved to another location.
As the three city staff were heading to a loading truck, the CMC and Spike crept up further until they reached the bushes so they can continue to spy on them. The one staff member opened up the back of the truck so that the other two can start loading the boxes. As the girls and dog witnessed their deeds, Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes.
"Girls… is it just me, or is there somethin' fishy going on here?"
"Yeah, and the way these "staff" were acting is very... suspicious!" Scootaloo agreed.
"They also looked very familiar too,” Sweetie Belle added with a frown. “But my mind is drawing a... blank for some reason!"
Scootaloo gave Sweetie Belle her confused look. "What do you mean Sweetie Belle?"
Sweetie Belle furrowed her brows. "Well… it's hard to explain, but every time I'm trying to recall who they are as I'm looking at them… I felt there is some kind of force that's… prevented me from remembering them."
The four were quiet for a while before Apple Bloom spoke up. "You know what Sweetie Belle, Ah felt that too!"
"Yeah, me three!" added Scootaloo with a thoughtful frown. "But what does that mean?"
Their silent conversation was interrupted when they heard one of the staff member shouted.
"Hurry up you two!" the first staff barked. "Load the rest of them into this truck at post haste!"
The second staff member huffed. "We could've finished this faster if you helped out!"
"I have to distract these party goers for you two to sneak out!” The first staff argued. “We can't afford to get caught and made that old hag angry!"
"I don't see what the big deal is!" The third staff commented with an upbeat tone. "No one will recognize us thanks to these necklaces she gave us!"
The third staff immediately took off what appeared to be a necklace of some sort off of their neck and stared at it. The necklace themselves is a small rounded golden medallion with three small different colored stones on it; green, blue and pink.
"Pretty…" The third staffed droned while staring at their necklace.
Suddenly, multi-colored aura glowed briefly around the third staff member for a moment before the light evaporated. After that happened, the CMCs almost immediately gasped when the memories of that person finally came back to them almost instantly. The first staff noticed that too and let out furious growl.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? PUT THAT BACK ON YOU IDIOT!" the first staff shouted.
The third staff yelped from that angry tone and immediately put the necklace back on their neck. Once again the multi-colored glow surrounded the person but this time submerged into the person. And just like that, the familiarity of that person disappeared from the girls’ minds as if someone just covered themselves with a blanket. Despite that, they still remember who that was before that necklace was put back on. They watched as the first staff walked over to the third staff and then whacked the third staff at the back of the head.
"Are you mad!?” The first staff scolded. “If anyone saw that as you took it off, our disguise spell would've been broken and then we’ll get caught! You’re lucky that no one was around! If anyone saw you took that off, the spell won’t work the second time! Now do NOT take that off again until we're back to base! Am I clear?"
"...crystal," the third staff squeaked.
The first staff growled again before heading to the front of the truck. "Now finish the job and get in the truck!"
The third staff whimpered as that person did as instructed while the second one rolled their eyes and muttered how much of an idiot their partner was. Meanwhile, the CMCs stared at them with shocked faces, not expecting to see these particular people in their lives again.
“Girls,” Apple Bloom muttered in awe. “Are ya seeing… wat Ah’m seeing?”
Sweetie Belle nodded while in a shocked state. "I...I don't believe it… it's them!"
Scootaloo gulped. "Yeah... it's only was only for a split second, but I recognize them as clear as day!"
Apple Bloom frowned. "But wat are they doing here? We haven't seen them since--"
"Um, excuse me?" Spike spoke up. "But who are ‘they’?"
Scootaloo widened her eyes and turned to Spike. "Oh yeah, that's right! It happens with the other you around! You see, those three were actually--"
"They're on da move girls!" Apple Bloom interrupted.
They turned and watched as the other two staff entered the truck before it came to life. As the truck slowly pulling out from the parking lot, Apple Bloom stared at the truck with determination on her face.
"We should follow 'em y'all!" Apple Bloom spoke up.
The two girls and a dog looked at their farmer friend with stunned expressions.
"But shouldn't we report this to Sunset and the others?" said Spike in his worried tone.
"No time!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "If they get away with the toys… then there ain't gonna be any festival or a party!"
She immediately ran to her bike near the biking lot so she can ride after the truck. "Let's go!" she shouted as she pedaled off.
Sweetie Belle and Scootloo looked at each other, nodded before doing the same to follow their friend. Spike's eyes widened as he watched the girls ran towards their bikes.
"Wait girls!" Spike cried, hoping to stop them in their tracks.
Unfortunately his cries fell to deaf ears as he watched the two girls started pedaling away towards the street. Spike knew that what their doing is both stupid and a dangerous move. He should run back to the school and alert Twilight that the CMCs are chasing after toy thieves right away so they can alert the authorities. On the other paw, he was worried that something is going to happen to these girls during the chase and they may run into trouble with no help at all. For a split second as Sweetie Belle left the parking lot, Spike made his decision.
"I'm so going to regret this," he muttered as he gave chase behind Scootaloo. "Hey, wait for me!"
As soon as the truck, three girls and a dog disappeared out of site, Rainbow Dash finally returned to the table with her super speed and let out a tired sigh.
"Okay, I'm back!" Rainbow Dash announced. "Sorry about that. There was a situation at the stage. Hope I didn’t take too--"
Rainbow Dash paused when she noticed that she was the only one around and that the three girls and a dog were nowhere in sight.
"Uh… Girls? Spike... where did you go?!" Rainbow Dash cried out with dread.
Author's Notes:
Originally, there was only one chapter today, but due to how long this is, I'm spitting it into two!
So the next chapter will come out shortly!
5. Falling Apart (Pt. 3)
Things weren’t so good from the stage area of the party. After that accident caused by Derpy, Sunset, Applejack and a few students helped Derpy out of the hole and was then sent to the nurse’s office by Lyra and Bon Bon. After that, everyone in the area (including Rainbow Dash for a brief moment) helped retrieving one equipment out of a hole at a time. Unfortunately, almost every instrument was wrecked from the accident and the students who owned them was really upset. While this was going on, Sunset was trying to pick a bone with her friend and she was not happy.
"I thought you said that you fixed the stage Applejack!" Sunset snapped.
Applejack’s nose flared. "It's not mah fault! That so-called helper of yours was the one who did this!"
Sunset growled. "What are you talking about!? I didn't send anyone to you!” Her eyes then narrowed. “You’re not making that up are you?"
Applejack clenched her teeth in anger. "Are ya callin’ me a liar?"
"I never said that!” Sunset responded in frustration. “I was trying to get to the bottom of it!”
Applejack’s eyes narrowed. “How do Ah know that yer the one whose lying! It ain’t the first time that yer being a two-faced snake!”
Sunset felt a major sting in her chest and her face changed to a pained expression. Applejack immediately regretted for letting her anger get the best of her and tried to apologize.
“Sunset… Ah’m--”
"SUNNY! WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM!"
Sunset and Applejack immediately spotted Pinkie Pie who ran towards them who had a panicked expression.
“What is it Pinkie Pie?” Sunset asked, putting her problem with Applejack aside for the time being.
"I gave everyone my Pinkie Famous Cupcakes after I baked them with an assistant,” Pinkie explained in a frantic manner. “And the next thing I know, everyone is having a tummy ache!"
Sunset eyes widened in shock. "WHAT!?” She turned towards the snack section at the other side of the room. She watched in horror as most of the party guests were moaning in pain as they were standing, sitting on their chairs or even lying on the floor. Some of their faces turned deep green due to sickness and some even puked either on their plates, trash cans or even on the floor.
Sunset quickly turned back to Pinkie. "Pinkie!? How could you let this happen!?" Sunset demanded. “You didn't used any of the old or spoiled ingredients, did you?"
Pinkie frowned deeply, hurt and insulted from Sunset’s question. "No! I would never do that! I made sure I went over the ingredients and measured them properly before I used them! I Pinkie Promise!" Pinkie then crossed her arms and turned away from Sunset. “I don’t know who you sent to me, but having someone give everyone food poisoning isn’t a very funny prank Sunny!”
Sunset scowled. “What the heck are you talking about Pinkie?”
“I’m talking about some person you sent to assist me in baking Sunset!” Pinkie responded angrily.
“What? You too!?” Sunset exclaimed. “I didn’t send anyone to you Pinkie!”
Applejack opened her mouth.
“And I didn’t send someone to you either Applejack!” Sunset added with angry eyes.
Applejack closed her mouth.
Before Pinkie could argue further, Rarity barreled into Pinkie and stood in front of Sunset with her mascara running down her cheeks due to her tears.
"Sunset!" Rarity sobbed loudly. "My clothes! My beautiful, beautiful clothes were… RU-HO-HO-HO-IIIIIINNNNDDD!"
"Rarity, what happened to your outfits?" said Sunset as she held her friend’s shoulders to calm her down.
Rarity sniffed as she gave Sunset her exasperated stare. "What happened? What HAPPENED!? I’ll tell you ‘what happened’! I returned to the drama department to finish up and make another set of clothes for the kids, only to find both my finished set and my unused fabrics were eaten by... MOTHS!"
Sunset blinked. "Moths? How could there be any moths around this time? It's winter!"
Rarity scoffed and glared at Sunset. "Well obviously, that person who watched my clothes sabotaged them! I can't believe you chose such an untrustworthy person to go anywhere near my outfits Sunset!"
Sunset growled out in frustration. "Okay, what is it with you guys accusing me of sending these people to you!” she shouted, startling her friends and everyone else around her. “Let me make myself clear: I. Did. Not. SEND. ANYONE!"
Rarity stood there with her stunned expression while Sunset simply glared at her, daring her to say anything else. Suddenly, Twilight ran up to Sunset with a frantic look.
“Sunset!”
Sunset let out a tired sigh. “What now?”
Twilight took a moment to catch her breath due to all the running. "Sunset... the gifts are gone!"
"WHAT?” Sunset cried as she turned to Twilight “What do you mean they're gone!?"
Twilight took a few breathing exercises to keep herself calm before speaking. “I decided to check on the toys after Rarity and I placed them in the school’s storage. But when I entered, the boxes are missing!”
“A-are you sure they were placed in the storage?” Sunset asked, silently hoped that maybe Twilight simply overlooked.
Twilight shook her head. “I’m one hundread percent sure that’s where we left them! Right Rarity?”
Rarity nodded, verifying Twilight's story.
Sunset groaned as she kept herself from panicking. This can’t be happening! First the stage accident, then the food poisoning, then ruined clothes and now missing toys! What’s next!?
Suddenly, a rainbow blur zipped right through the gym's doors, across the room and then stopped in front of Sunset, revealing a very frantic Rainbow Dash.
"Sunset! Scoots and her friends are missing!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
"WHAT!?" The girls cried.
Applejack, Rarity and Twilight immediately went up to Rainbow's face, demanding answers.
"Where's mah sister!"
“Where’s Sweetie Belle?”
“And my dog!?”
Rainbow Dash backed away from her frantic friends with both hands raised up in defense. "I-I don't know! I couldn't find them anywhere! I even tried calling Scoots' cell but she didn't pick up!"
“M-maybe they took a walk?” Sunset theorized, silently hoping that was the case.
Applejack shook her head. “There’s no way that Apple Bloom and her friends would ditch us without tellin’ us! They usually let us know!”
"But didn't they go and do a lot of crazy antics many times without telling you before?" Sunset pointed out.
"Yes, but they never usually leave in the middle of an important task without reason!" Applejack argued before baring a worried frown. "What if somethin' bad happened to them!"
"I'm... sure they'll be fine!" Sunset reassured with an uneasy smile. "Right now, we need to get this party back in--"
"Is that all you cared about!?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “This stupid party over finding our sisters? What’s wrong with you dude?”
Sunset growled angrily, upset by Rainbow’s accusation. “Hey! I never said those things! Don’t put words into my mouth! I can’t just drop everything and go look for your sibling, even if it was potentially nothing happened to them!”
“Well maybe if you do a better job at managing this party and not acting like a jerk, then maybe our sisters will still be here!” Rainbow Dash shouted, not noticing her friends shaking their heads ‘no’ at her. “Friends don’t abandon friends Sunset!”
Sunset let out a humorless chuckle. “Oh that’s typical of you Rainbow Dash! Blame it all on me when something goes wrong! Why don’t we blame it all on Sunset Shimmer because she never does anything right or that she is always the bad guy in our eyes!”
Rainbow Dash widened her eyes in horror after realizing just how she sounded when accusing Sunset. Rainbow Dash immediately felt guilty for accusing her friend, especially after knowing how stressful her friend was.
“Sunset, I… I didn’t mean anything of that!” said Rainbow Dash.
“Well you did!” Sunset retorted angrily.
As the girls silently stared at Sunset in uncomfortable silence, Sunset sighed as she placed her head on her right hand.
Well… this can't get any worse.
As if the world was mocking her, the ground suddenly began to shake. At first, the girls feared that it was an earthquake, but then they heard a commotion coming from outside. As soon as they set their eyes at the gym's doors, they suddenly burst open and all of the animals in all different shapes and sizes stampeded into the room. This caused a lot of party guests to scream and flee from the animals.
As the girls stood there in shock, Fluttershy ran into the gym with a worried expression, only to flinched back in fear when Sunset gave her an angry look.
"Fluttershy! Why are these animals running around and out of control!?" Sunset demanded.
"I-I don't know!" Fluttershy answered in a frantic tone. "Something must have spooked them! I can't get them to calm down!"
Sunset growled as she felt her right eye twitching. "Well do something! They're destroying the gymnasium!"
Meanwhile, the animals continued to run amok and destroy everything in their paths. The tables and chairs were knocked over and scattered across the room, the food was eaten or stomped over and they even chased after some party guests. During the commotion, Trixie reentered the gym with piles of fireworks in her arms, unaware of all the chaos surrounding her.
"Trixie's back with the fireworks!" Trixie announced with a proud grin.
Suddenly, a panicked Llama accidentally knocked Trixie over, causing her to tossed her fireworks into the air and landed on the table with a Birthday cake. Unfortunately, that cake was full of lit candles and in the process, the candles light up the fireworks and the fireworks were launched towards the ceiling. Some of them hit at random spots, which ended up causing a fire. The exploding fireworks and fire caused even more of a panic to both the party guests and animals as they all run the area like headless chickens.
The girls tensed at the sight of the disaster happening right in front of them, least likely that their party and fundraiser was salvageable at that point.
"Fluttershy, anyone! Stop those animals!" Sunset cried!
The girls immediately sprung into action. Pinkie distracted the animals by throwing treats at them while Applejack used her lasso to catch as many animals as possible. Rarity used her gem shield to block off the animals escape route and to reach the party guests while Fluttershy gently calmed them down. Rainbow Dash used her super speed to round up as much animals as possible and took them back outside to their fence before rounding up the others her friends caught. And Sunset quickly grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and put out the fires while Twilight assisted her by using her levitation ability to lift up the punch bowls that was filled with punch and used them to put out the flames.
Soon, the fires was put out and the animals returned to their fence, but the party was a disaster. Everything in the area was destroyed and beyond repair. The gym was even worse shape then it was the first time it was destroyed. The guests were scared, upset and angry after going through all of that while the girls were distraught that all of their work was for naught. Sunset however was desperately trying to salvage the party.
"Um, don't worry girls… we can still fix this!" said Sunset. "Quick! Let's clean this all up before--"
"What's going on in here!?"
The girls winced from the sound of an authoritative voice, but it was not from Principal Celestia or Vice Principal Luna. They slowly turned and their eyes widened to see not only Celestia, Luna and Cinch, but also the Mayor of Canterlot City. She wore a dark tan vest over her white dress shirt with collar, long tan pants, teal shoes and teal cravat. She also had long gray hair and half oval glasses on the bridge of her nose. Normally, Mayor Mare is a very kind person who helps out the citizens of her town, tonight however, she had a mixture of anger and displeasure on her face. From the look on her face, she was anything but happy with how the party and festival turned out to be.
Sunset Shimmer gulped. "M-Mayor Mare!" she said nervously. "You… you came in early!"
Mayor Mare grunted. "I would have come here at a normal time, but my adviser recommended that I should come in early!” She then took a brief look around the room. “Although now I'm having second thoughts about coming here!"
Sunset winced at the Mayor’s harsh words. She was afraid that this will happen if things went out of control, and now she is living in an unwakeable nightmare. Principal Celestia stepped forward with a disturbed and anger expression.
"What is going on Sunset?" Celestia demanded. "What happened to this place?"
Sunset tried to open her mouth to explain herself, to tell Celestia everything from what happened, but she couldn’t. It all happened so fast, she was unable to pinpoint what went wrong. From the ruined stage, the food poisoning, the ruined clothes, the toys, the CMCs and Spike are missing and now the gym was destroyed by animals and fireworks. In the end, Sunset Shimmer craned her neck and let out a resigned sigh.
"I… I don't know anymore,” she answered quietly. “There's so much wrong going on that I... can't keep track of everything!"
Cinch hummed as she crossed her arms. "So you trusted that student to run the party?" She sneered. "Didn't you tell me how she made plenty of mistakes in the past? Honestly, if I run this school, I made sure to never assigned this girl again!"
"This isn't your school Cinch!" Luna growled to Sunset’s defence before Celestia could respond. "Yes she made mistakes in the past, but she's a gifted student and made herself better since then!"
"You call this better!?" Mayor Mare interjected with a scowl. "If this was really at her best, then I hate to see her worst!"
Once again, Sunset felt her chest stung from the Mayor’s words as everyone else stood there in silence, feeling bleak and hopeless. After what it felt like an eternity, Cinch stepped over to the Mayor.
"I think it's high time that we put an end to this party and have the town investigate this school to see if there's any foul play. Don’t you agree Mayor?” Cinch suggested, as she lightly grasped her cobra medallion. Sunset could swear for a moment she thought she saw something glowing from the cobra’s eyes, but probably figured that it was because of the light reflected from the jewels. The Mayor’s glanced at her advisor for a moment before she slowly nodded in agreement.
"Yes… I think we all have seen enough!" The Mayor declared as her eyes narrowed at Sunset and the students. "Because of the destruction and ignoring the safety of the kids, I'm afraid I have no choice… but to cancel the festival and shutting down this school until further notice!"
“WHAT!?” Everyone gasped in shock! Never in the history of CHS that their school was forced to shut down. Not even during the Battle of the Bands or even during the Fall Formal incident! While this may sound like a good thing that their school is canceled for a day or two, but not for a long period of time! They won’t be able to eventually graduate if their school is on a standstill. And worse of all, this all happened during the Holidays!
"Mayor… you can't be serious!" Celestia stammered.
"I'm afraid so Celestia,” The Mayor said coldly. “If these kids think they can get away with having a wild party then handling this festival seriously like responsible adults, then they’re clearly mistaken!"
“This was just a major misstep Mayor!” said Celestia with pleading eyes. “These students are the most responsible people I’ve ever known. They would never purposely sabotage such an important event like this!”
“...well it looks like you are wrong Miss Celestia!” The Mayor responded. “And now they need to find another school that will be more their alley, assuming they’ll be able to enroll another one after this incident!”
As she was about to turn and walk away, she was suddenly stopped by Sunset.
"Wait! You can't!" She pleaded. "This was just a mistake! Please… give us another chance! If you need to blame someone from this… then blame me! Banned me from this school or this town if you have to! I don’t care! Please don’t ruin everyone’s Christmas and lives because of me!"
"I'm sorry Miss Shimmer,” said the Mayor with her back towards her. “But my decision is final! Let's go Miss Cinch!"
Cinch gave them a somewhat smug grin before she followed the Mayor out of the gym and closed the doors behind them. Despite the major bombshell from earlier, Principal Celestia tried to assure her students, as well as herself.
“Don’t you worry everyone,” she said soothingly. “The Mayor was having a... stressful time from her earlier meetings. I’m sure we can still convince her to change her mind once she calms down. I’ll go talk to her now.” She gave them her reassuring smile before she headed towards the door, planning to go after the Mayor.
Luna sighed heavily. “You kids don't have to be here. We’ll worry about the mess later. Just go home and… have a Merry Christmas.”
She gave everyone her last look before she turned and followed her sister out the door. Everyone stood there with miserable expressions, but not as much miserable as Sunset. She felt she has all the blame for letting this happen. And now, the students' lives were ruined because of not one, but two botched parties that she failed to produce. She let everyone down, including her friends.
"I can't believe this!” Pinkie said sadly as her lips trembled. “Our party and festival is... canceled!" She then burst into tears as soon as she said the most forbidden word when it comes to parties.
Applejack sighed miserably. "And everythin' we worked hard on was fer nothin'!"
“And worst of all… our school is shut down!” Twilight said quietly. “We can’t come here anymore!”
“Just because the school is shut down, that doesn’t mean it is closed forever!” said Rainbow Dash “It’s only temporary... right?”
Rarity sighed as she sniffed. “I doubt it Darling! We may be forced to apply to a different school that’s available to our majors!”
“W-worse of all,” Fluttershy added with tears in her eyes. “Whether we’re a-able to apply to another s-school or not... WE WON’T BE TOGETHER ANYMORE!”
Pinkie hugged Fluttershy as they continued to sob, while the rest of the girls just stood feeling depressed. The rest of the school body were also depressed, crying, and tried to comfort one another. Sunset, felt her heart aching in guilt after witnessing her friends’ sadness and the students miserably.
This is all my fault! She thought, trying not to break down into tears. Everything that happened to my friends and this school is my fault! How could I let this happen!?
All of the sudden, one of the students walked up to Sunset. “What do you mean?”
Sunset turned with her confused expression. “What?”
“What do you mean when you said, ‘don’t ruin everyone’s Christmas and lives because of me’?” The student repeated before turning to one of the Equestria Girls. “Do any of you girls know something about that?”
Time stood still as everyone watched them expectedly. The Equestria Girls, including Sunset felt very uncomfortable at the moment. Not wanting to make things worse for their friend, they tried to come up with excuses.
“Um… it was nothing to be concerned about!” Rarity lied.
“Y-yeah, Sunset was… having a moment!” Twilight added.
Pinkie nodded with a false smile. “Yeah, it’s not like it was because some person who ruined the first party was possibly the same person who ruined this one because of what Sunset did to them in the past!”
“PINKIE!” The girls shouted!
Pinkie Pie immediately covered her mouth, feeling ashamed for accidentally letting that info slip. “...oops!”
Unfortunately the damage has been done as students angrily muttered after what they learned what was to blame or most specifically who was to blame for the cause of ruining two parties and the school's shut down.
“So it was Sunset’s fault?” one student asked angrily.
“We lost a party all because Sunset did something to that person?” Another student exclaimed.
One by one, each student expressed their anger towards the the amber teen.
“Why am I not surprised?”
“She never changed!”
“I don’t care what happens to her, but we all shouldn’t suffer because of her!”
“You ruined Christmas!”
“It’s better off if you never come here!”
Each angry remarks Sunset heard from other students felt like she was being stabbed in the heart from a dagger. She felt more and more in despair and hurt as she continued to listen to everyone giving her mean comments. She tried to cover her ears and block out the barrage of mean comments while keeping herself from crying, but she could still hear them. Worse of all, her friends were just silently standing there, whether they also blame her or not, Sunset wasn’t certain. Things took a turn for the worse when she heard someone say the cruelest thing about her.
“Typical Sunset Shimmer! Once a She-Demon, always a She-Demon!”
Sunset's mind finally snapped.
“ENOUGH!” she roared.
Everyone ceased their comments and flinched back from Sunset's loud outburst. Even her friends flinched from her sudden rage, but Sunset no longer cared as she berated everyone who were present.
“You all think I was doing this on purpose!?" She screamed. "I tried to set this up, slaved myself all of this... just to give you all this stupid party as my way to give you people back for giving me a chance and finally start fresh! But every single time I’m trying to be good, it wasn’t enough! It was never enough! If all of you were really that ungrateful and judgmental for what I’ve done, even if I’ve done something good or if it was an accident, then… then SCREW ALL OF YOU! YOU ALL DESERVED TO NOT HAVE A PARTY AND LOST YOUR SCHOOL!”
Everyone was at a loss for words after Sunset’s outbursts. Everyone stared at her in silence in fear and hurt from her words. Whether they’re ashamed from their actions or not, Sunset paid no attention to them. Her stress and frustrations had finally reached her boiling point. She glared at all of them as if she challenged anyone to try to bad mouthed her again. She barely noticed one of her friends tried to gently touched her shoulder.
“S-Sunset,” Applejack stammered. “Ah think maybe you should calm down before ya--”
"Don’t you start lecture me AJ!" Sunset snarled, turning around to face a bewildered farmer. “Didn’t you just say to me that I’m a ‘two-time snake’? I admit that I was bad in the past, but I tried to be better and be honest with you! But you seemed to think that I’m nothing but a liar!”
Applejack winced from Sunset’s words. "N-now Sunset, Ah… Ah was just--"
“I seem to recall,” Sunset added angerily. “That last Christmas, you once said I was family to you before you tossed me away, thinking I’m a cyber bully*, even though I’m telling you the truth! Ironically, it was one of you own family member who did this and yet you forgive them easily! So how do I know that you’re actually the big fat liar? HUH?”
Applejack bowed her head. While Sunset’s words hurt her, but she knew it was true. She still felt ashamed from last year after she and her friends accused her for something Sunset did not do. To add salt in the wound, it was from her own kin. And it looks like history almost repeat itself.
"Now wait a minute Sunny!” Pinkie Pie spoke up to Applejack’s defense. “You can’t treat Applejack like--"
"And you Pinkie!” Sunset growled, nearly scaring her pink friend. “If you actually try to take things more seriously instead of acting like this was all just a game and laugh at every stupid joke, then maybe no one would be puking right now! Or maybe you rather wanted to take my smile away like before?"
Pinkie whimpered in sadness as her hair suddenly went straight and flat.
“Rarity!” Sunset snapped before the fashionista could speak up. “You may act like you’re a generous soul, but you can also be selfish at times! So why don’t you help out more instead of crying over some stupid clothes that no kids are ever interested in!”
Rarity gasped and nearly fainted at that.
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash cried. “That’s enough Sun--”
"And you!" Sunset shouted, naring her eyes at the athlete. "You have the nerve and audacity to blame me for your sister’s disappearance, even though that you were supposed to be watching them? That’s sooo like you Dash! Acting so high and mighty like you’re sooo much better than everyone, but really you were being an insensitive jerk and blamed others when something went wrong, especially to me! So maybe instead of being a stupid hothead and pointing fingers at me as always, you should just accept the fact that you are nothing but a major screw up and don’t do anything right! Some loyal friend you are!"
Rainbow looked like she just got slapped in the face and her eyes were nearly pooled in tears.
Sunset slowly turned her head towards a very scared Fluttershy.
"And Fluttershy,” Sunset stated coldly. “...grow a freakin backbone instead of being a scaredy wimp!"
Fluttershy began to cry while Pinkie Pie tried to comfort her.
"Sunset, enough!" Twilight cried, appalled from how her friend was behaving. "Don't take this out on everyone, including our friends! They tried just as hard as you are to make this happen! You don't treat our friends like that!"
Sunset set her angry eyes on Twilight. "Oh, like you're the one to talk Twilight!" she seethed. "Since you're such an expert when it comes to let everyone know your feelings and who you trust the most!"
While still upset with Sunset, Twilight was genuinely confused from Sunset's statement. "Sunset… what are you talking about?"
Sunset growled. "I know Twilight!"
"You know what?" Twilight yelled loudly.
"I KNOW THAT TIMBER BROKE UP WITH YOU!" Sunset shouted.
Everyone gasped while Twilight had the look of shock on her face.
"What!? H-how... how did you know that?" Twilight asked nervously.
Sunset's eyes narrowed. "I overheard you talking to Rarity as I was cleaning the school storage earlier today!" As both Twilight and Rarity winced for not being careful with their secret, Sunset continued. "And that you told everyone else about it and wanted them to not say anything to me! Why didn't you tell me that Timber broke up with you!?"
For a moment, no one said a word. Sunset stood there impatiently for Twilight's answer, while Twilight feeling nervous and uncomfortable under Sunset's gaze. Finally, after what it seemed like minutes have passed, Twilight spoke.
"It wasn't Timber who broke up with me," Twilight said quietly. "I was the one… who broke up with him!"
Sunset raised her eyebrows in surprise, but kept her anger expression. "You broke up with him? Why? Why did you break up with him? Why did you tell everyone else about the break up, but not me?" She then had a hurt expression. "Am I not that important to you? Do you not trust me?"
"NO! It's not like that at all!" Twilight cried out desperately.
"Then why Twilight?" Sunset demanded. "Why are you trying to hide this from me?"
Twilight kept quiet, angering Sunset further.
"ANSWER ME!" she shouted.
"IT WAS YOU SUNSET!" Twilight screamed with tears in her eyes. "ME AND TIMBER BROKE UP BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Twilight gasped and covered her mouth from her sudden outburst, but the damage was done. Sunset anger was immediately wiped away and replaced with a stunned look. Time stood still as everyone watched them anxiously. The whole gym as so tense, you could cut it with a knife. After for what it felt like a minute, Sunset bowed her head and let out a sniff.
"I see…" Sunset said quietly. "So I ruined your relationship with Timber… just like I ruined everything else!"
Twilight gasped and tried to reach out to Sunset. "Wait Sunset, that's not what I--"
"STOP!” Sunset shouted, causing Twilight to flinch back. “Just stop... okay?" Sunset lifted her head, revealing her face which was soaked from tears. "If that's what you and everyone else feels about me than... I'll just leave before I make everything worse!"
While holding back a sob, Sunset quickly turned and ran towards the door.
"Sunset wait!" Twilight cried, but Sunset didn’t listen as she shut the door behind her.
As everyone stared at the door, processing of what just happened, Twilight let her tears fall, feeling sad, hurt and regret.
"Oh Sunset…"
Sometime later, Sunset was hiding in one of the classrooms, crying her eyes out. She felt really guilty for taking her anger out on everyone, especially her friends, hurting them all in the process. She was being unfair to them, even if some of her anger was justified. Worse of all, she was incredibly guilty for not only yelling at her crush, but also the cause of her crush’s breakup.
Sunset didn’t know what she did to ruin the relationship between Twilight and Timber and she spent some time thinking of some possibilities. Perhaps she did something to make Twilight feel uncomfortable after she set up the date for them? Or maybe she somehow made Twilight doubt herself for being a good girlfriend? Whatever the reason, Twilight broke up with Timber and it was all her fault. It was no wonder why Twilight never wanted to tell her.
She wished she could take back what she said to her. She wished she could take back what she said to her friends. To everyone at the party, even if the things they said was uncalled for. But she couldn’t. Once again, she acted like a monster.
No, she acted like a She-Demon. It was the Fall Formal incident all over again, except she has no one by her side. She was now all alone.
And she has no one to blame, but herself.
I ruined it… I ruined everything! Sunset weeped. The party, the festival, my friendship… and Twilight's happiness! I'll could never escape my past! And now my friends hate me!
"Feeling down Miss Shimmer?"
Sunset jerked up from a sudden sound of a voice from an intruder. She quickly wiped her tears and turned around and frowned angrily when she saw Cinch, standing in front of her with that same calming and cold expression.
"You!" Sunset growled with contempt. "W-what do you want?"
"Why I don't want anything from you," Cinch replied casually as she adjusted her glasses. "I'm just seeing if you're alright after that marvelous display you did back there! I may not be a teacher anymore, but it is still my duty to check the wellbeing of young students."
Sunset's eyes narrowed, not buying Cinch's explanation. "Yeah right! If you're that concerned for your students wellbeing, then you would never made Twilight released the magic from her pendant and have her turned into an unstable creature!"
Cinch placed her glasses back on the bridge of her nose and frowned at the teenaged girl. "While I'll admit that it was my fault that I strongly… suggested her to use that magic, but I can assure you that I would never put my former student in that position have I known that it could turned her into that… monster."
"Even so, you should have never messed with something that you have no idea what it can do!" Sunset snapped as she crossed her arms. "That magic is very unstable and it could lead to harm if you don't understand it properly!"
Cinch cocked an eyebrow. "You mean like how you use that magical crown from another world properly back at the Fall Formal last year and becoming a She-Demon?"
Sunset recoiled in shock, shocked that Cinch knew about her past despite Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna's efforts to keep the incident hidden from the public.
"Or how about that camp counselor who properly used those rocks necklace and becoming a plant monster?" Cinch continued as she took each step towards Sunset. "Or that ex-gofer from the film studio who properly used that mirror and turned into a giant woman? Or that meek plant loving girl who properly used some magical rock to erase people's memories? Need I go on?"
Sunset was now panicking. Their worst enemy somehow knew all of their previous incidents that involves Equestrian magic. Her mind was in overdrive as to how that woman knew all of that.
Sunset gulped. "How… how did you know all of that?"
Cinch smirked. "Let's just say… I've been a big fan of yours Sunset Shimmer!"
She took out her phone and showed a collab clips of everything she and her friends have done. From saving someone from turning into creatures, destroying an artifact, or rescuing people from a magical storm. Sunset stared at Cinch's phone with wide eyes.
“Yo- you’ve been keeping tabs on us!?” she exclaimed.
“Indeed!" Cinch replied with a somewhat smug look on her face. "I like to keep tabs on certain people, especially from a few people who ruined my life! It's amazing what kind of leverage you find when meeting the right people!"
"W-what are you planning to do with these videos?" Sunset asked with dread.
“Why I'm planning to share these so that everyone will know what's going on at your school as well as your lives!" She revealed in a pleasing tone. "Once the school board and the town sees this, not even Principal Celestia will help you cover this! This will guarantee ruin everyone including your friends lives once it was out in public." She paused. "Unless…"
"Unless… what?" Sunset asked quietly.
Cinch crossed her arms. "Unless you leave from this school AND this world… and never return! Only then I can convince the Mayor to change her mind about closing the school and everything will be back to normal."
Sunset narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What's the catch?"
"There's no catch," said Cinch as she tapped her chin. "Well… maybe not for you. I will also convince Celestia to let me run her school sixty percent of the school and run it however I see fit!"
Sunset growled in anger. She couldn't believe that formal Principal of Crystal Prep to not only somehow recording everything she and her friends lives with magic so that Cinch can use it to blackmail her to leave this world, but also use it to gain control of Canterlot High. All of this just to get back at her and her friends for calling her out on her misdeeds back from Friendship Games. Sunset have never hated anyone so much in her life.
"You're crazy!" Sunset exclaimed. "There's no way that Celestia or anyone at CHS would ever agree to let you run our school after the way you run your former school! And even if I'm crazy enough to agree to your terms, then how do I know you'll honor your deal, especially after what you did to Twilight?"
Cinch stroked her chin with her finger as if she was having a deep thought, but Sunset could tell that Cinch was just mocking her.
"You made excellent point Miss Shimmer," Cinch responded nonchalantly. "I suppose you have every right to not trust me since we were on opposite sides last time." She placed her hands as well as her phone behind her back. "But then again, how do you know that things will ever be right again? After all, it was your fault for not only for letting everything wrong tonight, but also bringing your… "magic" into our domain and letting some hooligan using magic like it was some toy! You dare preached me about responsibility when you originally come here as an irresponsible, spoiled child who thinks she can make a difference and not understanding the consequences!"
"I'm not that person anymore!" Sunset shouted.
Cinch raised her eyebrow. "Did your friends think you changed, especially after the way you chewed them out earlier?"
Sunset tried to speak out, proving Cinch wrong. But she didn't. Her memories of how she treated her friends and everyone else after her breakdown was still fresh on her mind. She felt deeply ashamed for the way she treated them, especially to Twilight. She was now having doubts about herself. Was she never really changed since the Fall Formal? Is she still friends with them? Are they even friends at all?
"I thought so," Cinch said with a humph. "Anyway, since our discussion is over and that I still have work to do, I'll let you sit on my "offer" for a while. You have until midnight tonight to think about it! If you don't have an answer or refused, well… let's just say... you won't be having a very happy holiday!"
With that, Cinch turned and walked away from Sunset, all while hiding her victorious smirk from a distraught teenager.
Now all alone, Sunset felt more worthless and defeated than she was before. The party and the festival was ruined, the school is now shut down until further notice, she lost her friends including her crush, and now Cinch is blackmailing her to leave this world or else she'll ruined her friends lives. Tears were leaking from her eyes again as she felt more alone and have no one to turn to. She can't go back to her friends for obvious reasons, she can't go back to Equestria without having Princess Twilight barrage her with questions due to her emotional state and she can't go back to her apartment in case if her friends are looking for her; assuming if they want to find her.
No one wanted to have anything to do with her anymore.
With her cheeks still soaked from her tears, she looked up and gazed at the windows. There was only one place where she could go.
And the one place where she will be gone… permanently.
Author's Notes:
*Based from the events from the Equestria Girls' IDW comic: Equestria Girls Holiday Special!
I'm soooo sorry for the long wait! I originally planned to release a new chapter everyday until Christmas Eve, but due to a bad cold, writer's block and plans with my family for the holidays, I delayed them until now.
So... I guess you can consider these two chapters as a late Christmas gift!
Anyway, I'll try to post the rest of these chapters in due time. Hopefully, this story will be finished by the end of January, but I won't promise anything.
The next chapter is coming soon!
