The strategy had served the girls well in the past when facing magical menaces. It was elegant in its simplicity: Come together and let the rainbow sort them out. The resulting prismatic shockwave swept across the schoolyard. In its wake, shambling Shadowbolts stopped and blinked away the dark magic leaking from their eyes and minds. Moondancer returned to a more reasonable state of being in every sense of the word, the slowly spreading cracks in existence she'd opened just by existing sealing up like they'd never been. Sunny Flare staggered to her feet, the concussion from her long drop healed in an instant.
And above most of the students, Mr. Discord's eyes widened as he vanished with one final "Oh dear," leaving Principal Cinch to stare wide-eyed at the harmonious pulse a split second before it overtook her.
Abacus Cinch wasn't sure where she was, only that it was very, very orange. No landmarks broke up the staggeringly sienna surroundings. For a brief moment, she wondered if this were Tartarus, if she would spend an eternity surrounded by nothing against which she could measure herself, denied all ways to test her merit.
Sunset Shimmer's arrival was something of a relief, even if the sheet of rainbow light cascading off of her shoulders came off as rather gaudy. "Do you understand what you very nearly did?"
Cinch quirked an eyebrow. "Win the Friendship Games?"
Sunset sighed and shook her head. "Even now, is that all you can think about?"
"It's what matters," Cinch said while folding her arms. "Maybe not to you, o high and mighty Sunset Shimmer, but to us mere mortals, these sorts of things are important."
Sunset took a deep breath, then gestured like a conductor preparing an orchestra. A screen appeared above her, showing the maddened Moondancer. "Do you see those hairline cracks around her?"
"Yes."
"Those are damage to reality itself, caused by too much magic in too small a space. Moondancer did the most overt damage, but you were causing plenty yourself. At the rate you were going, the universe was just about as damaged as it was before we had to remake it." Sunset glared. "I trust I don't need to spell out the rest for you."
Cinch clamped down on her shock, but she couldn't stop the small gasp or her widened eyes. "You're certain about this?"
"It's my job to certain about it."
The conclusion only after swallowing against a suddenly parched throat. "Then I was sacrificing the universe for the sake of the Games."
Sunset nodded, but said nothing.
After an uncomfortable pause, Cinch crossed her arms. "What?"
"Anything else you'd like to say on the matter?"
"Like what? 'I'm sorry?' 'I'll never do it again?' Empty words. I suppose 'thank you' is the most appropriate. This would have been an immeasurably grievous error." Cinch sighed. "So, what now?"
"Well, if this were Equestria, you'd probably get turned into a crystal statue."
"I take it that that won't be the case?"
"It won't. Statues can't learn or make amends. From what I've heard, they bide their time and think up revenge schemes until the moment they break free." Sunset smiled and offered a hand. "Instead, I'm offering you the same chance I got a few months ago. It's never too late to change, to use your influence for the betterment of yourself and those around you."
Cinch scowled at the hand as though it were soaked in something unspeakable. "I concede that I need to rethink some of my methods, but I can't say I like what you're implying." She still took the hand and shook. "Still, no trophy is worth what I nearly did. If nothing else, there would be nowhere to put it."
Sunset fought back a smile. "Really?"
"I was married to John Discord once. I still haven't completely recovered from the experience. So, what now?"
Sunset smiled. No, beamed. As in light radiating from her face and washing out anything else in Cinch's vision. "Now we can start the cleanup."
To everyone else, only a moment passed. One second, the rainbow shockwave was spreading across the grounds. The next, Sunset Shimmer and Principal Cinch stood in front of the entrance, hand in hand. Cinch looked around, confusion playing across her face and mixing with progressively more irritation.
"Principal Cinch," said Celestia as she strode towards them, "I can think we can all agree that your reaction to this last event was unconscionable."
Luna nodded at her side. "Indeed. We must present ourselves with certain levels of decorum and professionalism if we are to act as examples to our students. What you did disgraced not only yourself but Crystal Prep as a whole."
Angry mutterings sounded as the two student bodies gathered around them, an auditory fog of agreement and profanity. Cinch looked around the gathering crowd, bristling as more and more students followed the Canterlot administrators' example of glaring at her. Finally, she turned to Sunset Shimmer, who simply raised an eyebrow.
In that moment, Cinch went as limp as a puppet with her strings cut. "I... agree."
Every Shadowbolt's jaw dropped as one.
"Indeed, I—" Celestia blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I am to some degree as surprised as you are, Principal Celestia, but I have no choice but to agree with you." Cinch sighed. "What I did this evening was horrendous on multiple levels. I believe I owe each and every person here..." Her expression twisted through a sour pucker and all the way to acute constipation. "An apology, for whatever it is worth. I do deeply regret the actions I took once I allowed my emotions to get the better of me."
"Holy shit," Lemon Zest whispered.
Twilight gave a slow nod. "Holy shit indeed."
Celestia smiled. "Well, in light of your sterling reputation, I think we can agree not to mention this incident to the school board." She turned her gaze to the assembled students, her eyes twinkling. "We here at CHS have some experience with keeping seemingly notable events under wraps."
"I think not," said Cinch. "Actions must have consequences, or we learn nothing from them. I will report this myself. After that, I believe this will call for a prolonged leave of absence at absolute minimum, assuming I will even still have a job. Dean Cadence, will you be able to handle affairs for the fall semester?"
Cadence blinked and looked around to see if any other deans were in the area. "I, uh..."
Twilight dashed to her side. "I can help!"
Sugarcoat just waved a hand. "Likewise."
Several more offers of aid rang out. Cadence risked an uneasy smile.
Cinch nodded. "Good, you seem to have that well in hand. Now, I believe I can at least be trusted with arranging the buses back to Crystal City." She walked off. The crowd parted for her. She made a shooing motion as she passed the Wondercolt statue. "This may take some time. Go talk amongst yourselves. The Games are over; I suppose that means it's time for friendship."
The two student bodies looked at each other as blankly as middle schoolers at a school dance.
"Um... Yay?" hazarded Fluttershy.
Dash wrinkled her brow in confusion. "Yeah, uh, what just happened?"
All eyes turned to Sunset. She cleared her throat. "To put it succinctly, I hit Cinch with a clue-by-four."
"About damn time!" cried Lemon Zest. This got more than a few cheers from the Shadowbolts.
Celestia smiled. "Well, I know these Friendship Games haven't been what any of us expected, but given what we've all just been through, I think it's fair to declare us all winners."
The assembled students stared at her, expressions ranging from awkward smiles to incredulity to barely restrained laughter.
"You heard Principal Cinch, kids," said Luna. "Go mingle."
That got cheers.
Soon enough, many of the groups that had formed during the welcome party—only a day ago, yet it felt so much longer—were reestablished. The Rainbooms and Twilight found their way to an isolated spot near the front doors. "So," said Twilight, "what did you do specifically?"
"Depowered Cinch while I could. Normally, I wouldn't risk that kind of thing, but with you all behind me, there was no danger to making sure she couldn't pull that 'Crystal Heart of Darkness' thing again. She was on the furthest edge of the power curve until now."
"It's good to know that people with that lovely aspect don't all run the risk of becoming so frightful," said Rarity.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Anything else?"
"Gave her a similar dose of perspective to the one I got back during the Fall Formal."
"Oh yeah. We did kinda rainbow her in the face, didn't we?" said Pinkie.
Applejack looked around. No one even seemed to be limping. "I'm guessin' no one bein' hurt after that tussle ain't just good luck neither."
"It's why I had the effect go off as a wave rather than a beam. Harmony magic heals when it isn't directed to any greater purpose." Sunset smiled as she looked to Twilight. "Does this all meet with the ethics committee's approval?"
"It does."
"Hold on," said Dash, "we're seriously just not doing anything else to Cinch after she brainwashed most of her school into mindless slaves?" She blinked and turned to Sunset. "Uh—"
"As long as the next words out of your mouth aren't 'no offense,' none taken."
Dash mimed zipping her lips.
"Besides," said Twilight, "Principal Cinch went through a lot worse than just magic."
Applejack scratched under her hat. "Wanna run that by us again, Twi?"
"Principal Cinch prided herself on her ruthlessness and apparent infallibility. The school she saw as her weakest rival just completely trounced her and offered to spare the reputation she treasures out of mercy that she'd never show if the tables were turned. Canterlot conclusively proved that we're equal to if not better than her in every conceivable way. She's going to spend the entire summer rethinking her life, if not longer." Twilight paused and felt her own wide smile. "Am I a bad person for enjoying this this much?"
"Given how Cinch was?" said Sunset. "Not very."
"Er, excuse me." The girls turned to see a blushing blue boy.
"Oh. It's you." Rarity gave him a flat look. "What is it, Mr. Pin?"
"I was hoping I might apologize for my previous behavior. I wasn't myself."
Rarity put a finger to her lips. "Hmm. I suppose you weren't. Very well, let us discuss matters." She nodded to the others as the two walked off. "Girls."
"Huh." Sunset blinked. "Didn't see that coming."
"E-excuse me." All eyes turned to a blushing brown boy. "I was—"
"Still not interested," said Applejack.
"Oh."
A hand slammed onto the boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, Trend. I'm sure there's someone out there who's into you before it'll be cool." Its owner poked her head out from behind him. "Yo, Sunset!"
Sunset beamed at the approaching Lemon Zest's use of her actual name. "Yes?"
Lemon pointed off into the distance. "You may wanna go tell Sour and Second we're done tryin' to beat the crap out of each other. And, you know, make sure that they're not still endarkened. Dunno what the range is on your deus ex machina."
"Hold still." Pinkie, wearing a magenta lampshade, slipped a lime-green one onto Lemon's head.
Sunset just bit her lip. "That... may be a concern, yes." She squinted off into the distance. "Guys, you all go have fun while I track them down."
The others nodded and dispersed.
"Think you can do it?" said Dash.
Ditzy bit her lip and spread her wingbow. "I can certainly try. You're sure she didn't just slam into the ground or something?"
"There's been no sign of her anywhere. I think she was trying to show us both up at the same time, so that means going fast enough to leave the universe."
"I'll give it my best."
Dash nodded. "I know you will." After a moment, she added, "Just let me get out of the way first."
"No hard feelings?" said Twilight.
Moondancer looked to Sugarcoat, squeezing the blue hand she held in hers. "No hard feelings."
"We could both do a lot worse on the rebound," added Sugarcoat.
Sunset manifested in a warm glow. Her cheeks never seemed to stop even after the rest of her settled down.
"How are they?" said Twilight.
"Let's just say that Sour Sweet managed to purge the dark magic through the power of love," said Sunset, her gaze distant. "Love and all but eating her boyfriend's face."
Sunny Flare sighed. "You were right."
Lemon gave a surprisingly subdued smile. "Normally I'd gloat at this point, but that'd be pretty dickish of me, so I'll just say thanks. Besides, it's not like I ever expected Aunt Abby of all people would be the first one to take a running leap off the handle."
"Still, I shouldn't have disregarded what you said just because I thought you were..."
"An idiot? Imbecile? Buffoon?" Lemon leaned from side to side with each synonym. "Tell me when I'm gettin' close."
"All of the above. Still, if Canterlot taught me anything, it's that buffoonery has its merits."
"Damn straight. High five." Lemon held up a palm well away from Sunny.
"Uh—"
"Boo-yah!" Pinkie skipped by and made sure Lemon wasn't left hanging.
Sunny tilted her head as she tried to process what had just happened. "That was stupid beyond words."
"That's the new world for you, Flare Bear."
The end of the battle hadn't changed much between Neon Lights and Vinyl Scratch. Both still faced each other, leaning over magically created turntables. Both continued to deliver sick beats at precise antiphase to one another, the tracks canceling each other out such that no one heard a peep. They'd gone from artist to artist, going from the major labels through progressively more obscure tracks, each recognizing the other's ploys and matching them without a single note escaping the perfect cancellation.
Octavia looked back and forth between the two, as she had for the past five minutes. Both were sweating buckets, their headgems guttering, but they still held firm, playing sample after sample. Only the faintest hint of synthesized tones reached her finely trained ears. She sighed. "Are you two going to snog or not?"
Twin record scratches announced the end of the duel. Both combatants fell onto their rears and panted for breath. Neon looked to Vinyl. "She wins?"
She gave a wry nod.
"I usually do," added Octavia.
Fluttershy sat against the side of the Wondercolt statue opposite from the portal, frowning. Throughout the closing festivities, Principal Cinch hadn't shifted from her vigil on the sidewalk, arms folded behind her back.
"You don't need to worry about her, Fluttershy. She does that just fine on her own."
Fluttershy didn't even flinch. She'd gotten used to Mr. Discord popping up without announcing himself. "She just seems so sad."
"I must admire your unbounded capacity for compassion."
"Sunset really did do her worst, didn't she?"
"Indeed. It wasn't a fair matchup. Abacus is particularly weak to public humiliation, something Sunset still has a gift for. You don't forget your old skills just because you start playing nice. And the reaction..." Mr. Discord sighed. "I feel I should apologize."
Fluttershy turned to him. "Why?"
"Abacus is a very predictable creature. I suppose that's part of what attracted me to her in the first place; I appreciate reproducible results. And I know her response to certain stimuli very well indeed, especially annoyance. If I had attended this year's Friendship Games, if I had seen how upset she was getting, I might have been able to cut this off before it got so... grandiose."
"She's done something like this before?"
Mr. Discord grinned. "Oh, I could tell you stories." He shook his head. "I can't help but wonder how much of this was force of habit and how much was some subconscious influence that kept me from circumventing some admittedly exquisite chaos."
"Do you think there's anything I can do for her?"
"It's very kind of you to ask, Fluttershy, but it's best that you don't interfere. At best, she'll see it as condescension. At worst, outright mockery. No, I've seen this before as well. By eleven tonight, she'll be in one of our old haunts, trying to find the answer to her problem at the bottom of a shot glass. And then I'll come to distract her from her problems and offer a solution she never considered."
The two sat in silence for a short time. "You still love her, don't you?"
"I never stopped. I'd like to think the same is true for her. It's just that over time, we gave each other more reasons to hate than to love. We're not good for each other in large doses, but as friends?" Mr. Discord gave a sad smile. "As friends, we're just bad enough." He patted Fluttershy on the shoulder. "Come on; your friends are probably wondering why you're not mingling with all the noisy teenagers."
The Wondercolts waved as the buses pulled out back onto the road. Contact information had been exchanged, friendships had been forged, and in a few cases, dates had been arranged.
"He's so dashing when he isn't consumed by dark magic," Rarity sighed.
Twilight adjusted her glasses. "You do know that's not his real name, right?"
"I'm hardly one to complain about putting on airs, darling." Rarity leaned in close and drawled, "Or didja think that's my normal accent there?"
Twilight's mind locked up as she tried to process the Whinnesotan inflection coming out of her most elegant friend. "Please don't ever do that again."
Rarity patted her arm. "I assure you, I don't plan on it."
At that point, Ditzy emerged from beyond, dove to the Rainbooms, and shook her head. "I looked everywhere from the shadow-cracked hypersphere to the cynical butterfly dimension and I couldn't find any sign of her!" After the resulting blank stares lasted for a few moments, she added, "They're on opposite sides of this universe, more or less. Both are far enough away that I can barely see home from either. If Indigo Zap is anywhere in probability space, it'll take someone more experienced than me to find her."
"Well, we'll get in touch with the ETSAB soon enough," said Sunset. "For now, everything seems to be fine."
And high above the surface, far beyond the reach of the harmony spell, countless flecks of crystal drifted. Ground from Cinch's teeth or worn from her clenched fists, the pressure wave that came when she embraced the darkness had blown them into the stratosphere. Each one was saturated with malice and impotent fury. Each one waited for similar emotions once it drifted back to Earth, that it might grow as any seed crystal in a suitable solution.
Each one was the egg of an monster born of angst.
"You'd think she'd know better."
"Did you say something, Pinkie?"
"Nothing!"