“Just be careful, alright?”
“Have some faith, Dash. I’ve done this before.”
“Well, it’s kinda my first time, Sunset...I’m...nervous.”
“Rainbow Dash? Nervous?”
“Yeah, real funny. Come on, my dad’s home. What if he sees?”
“He won’t. Now come on, are we doing this or not? I went through a lot of trouble to get this all set up.”
“...alright, fine, but no promises on what happens.”
“It’s bound to be an enjoyable experience for all parties involved~”
The door to the bedroom opened, Lightning Dust leaning in and looking down at them, face beat red, “W-what are you two-?”
“Do you happen to know...about those glorious days?”
“...I hate you two.”
“It’s not what it looks like!” Dash waved wildly.
“Whatever, c’mon. You two are wanted on set. Time for you to break my nose.” Dust frowned heavily.
“Sweet! C’mon, Sunset! Let’s get this show on the road.” Dash grinned, hopping to her feet.
“Fine, but after we finish the hospital scene, you will play volleyball game with me.” Sunset snickered threateningly, following the two out.
“Dash, what’re ya doin’?” Applejack noticed her friend’s pause, causing the other four to stop as well, “You want a picture too or somethin’?”
Without warning, the girl spun on her feet, charging, and landing a blow to Applejack’s right cheek. The other three jumped back, yelping in surprise as they watched their friend fall flailing to the ground.
“HEY!” Applejack picked herself up, quickly rising to her feet with her fists clenched, “That wasn’t parta the script!” She growled, and the three behind her quickly held her back.
“Oh, it wasn’t?” Dash flashed her an innocent grin, “Whoops, sorry!”
“Skipping out on class again, Dash?” A Canterhorn accent spoke from behind her.
“Maybe a little?” Dash chuckled, glancing back, “Hey Mist.”
“Hi there, cap.” She hopped down from the indoor bleachers where she had been sitting earlier. “I know the field’s tempting, but I can’t imagine these little escapades are helping your studies. ...How’s physics treating you, again?” She teased.
Dash frowned, “Don’t mention that. Last thing I want is to get another long lecture on jiggle physics. Plus, how embarrassing would that be on MyStable?”
Misty’s expression dropped, crossing her arms, “As much as I hate to see all of this spread around; I also hate how much Anon-a-Miss seems to be milking this.”
“Yeah.” She sighed, “I just...it’s frustrating—not having any clues, that is. If we had any more grasp to what’s going on, I’d feel ten times better.”
“So then… you don’t think it’s Sunset Shimmer?” Misty asked, expression staying neutral. “She’s been laden with guilt in the past.”
“No, I don’t. In fact I know she’s innocent.” Dash responded, face mirroring her’s. “Let me get that off my chest from the get go.”
“Hmm?” Misty looked genuinely curious, “How so?”
“Because I trust her. This just isn’t the kind of thing she’d do.” Rainbow knew the lack of evidence wasn’t going to be very convincing, but she stood by it nonetheless.
“You seem pretty hard-set in that belief.” Misty noted.
“I am. Am I going out on a limb assuming that you don’t ?”
“I’m not against believing that the the most ample bully in Canterlot High has changed, but… You know that I can’t say anything. The last thing this team needs is to be publically ground over by the other students again.” Misty sighed, “And, well, not everyone in this school has healed so quickly from what she did before and during the Fall Formal. Some still are firmly grasping their grudges.”
“CUT!” Misty and Dash shared a grin as the director yelped, red in the face, “KNOCK IT OFF YOU TWO!”
“Like you don’t know.” Gilda sneered venomously, digging for her phone and showing them her open screen. Dash and Sunset both froze.
Then, they burst out laughing.
“...huh?” Gilda fell out of character for the moment, violently confused.
“Whooa, Gilda, never knew you were into that.” Dash smirked cheekily, “TMI, dude.” Sunset wheezed alongside her, attempting to laugh into her fist to slow down her giggles.
“Wh-what are you-?!” She looked at her phone in a panic, eyes wide. She quickly looked at what she had shown the two before whirling around toward the gathered group. “Alright, which of you smartasses pulled up 4chan on the prop phone?!”
Lightning Dust beamed brightly as she watched everyone else around her grasp something as they laughed at Gilda’s misery.
“DUST!” Gilda roared.
“Cut…”
“I won’t waste this chance, your highness.” Sunset smiled, feeling oddly proud.
Sunset was passed the shimmering gold crown, “Not your highness, not anymore.”
Her last interaction with a crown miles from the forefront of her mind, Sunset tenderly took it from her, “Thank you...Crescendo.” In a moment in which she swore time had stopped, she set the crown upon her head.
The crowd around them cheered enthusiastically, and Crescendo backed away from Sunset, nodding her last goodbye before passing into it.
“Deep inside of a Parallel Universe~” A Red Hot Chili Peppers song cut through the crowd suddenly, a cell phone’s buzz interrupting the festivities. All eyes set on the siren in the back of the group.
“Cut!”
“Not again, Vibrato!” Another siren groaned.
“Sorry! Sorry!” The green siren quickly silenced his phone with an innocent grin. “It was from my girlfriend.”
“You have a girlfriend?”
“You know people?!”
“Be nice!” Crescendo rubbed her muzzle with her hoof, “Go outside while we finish the scene, Alto…”
“Okay, okay, sorry!”
“Just...let us go, you’ve made your point.”
Gilda found the choice of words amusing, “No, I don’t think I have.” She swiped at Dash, not giving her time to react as the blade caught Rainbow’s shoulder, tearing into her jacket and earning a panicked cry of pain. Dash fell backwards. Gilda was on top of her in an instant, knife still brandished at her. Rainbow was screaming now, doing everything she could to fight her off, but the strength just wasn’t there. Another few cuts caught her along the collarbone, two more near the lower torso. “You had it comin’, You had it comin’, you only had yourself to blaaame.” She burst into song.
The others joined in a melodic chant, “You had it comin’! You had it comin’!”
Dash’s expression of pain melted away into confusion and amusement, “Wh...what are you doing?” Sunset was chortling from where she was.
Gilda stopped, “What do you mean, what are we doing? This is the villain song! Like Dust said!”
“That’s Chicago!” Sunset laughed.
Dash stared back at her deadpanned, “Who told you?”
“Dus- That little shit.” Gilda realized suddenly. “She did it again!”
“No, my dear. It’s not good for you to see this…” Tenderheart grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.
“I saw her with a knife in her stomach. I can take it.” Sunset brushed her off, shoving the curtain aside. Instead of what she expected to see, though, she saw a small blue pegasus covered in all sorts of casts and bandages.
“Wha-?” The rainbow-maned pegasus blinked at her, “You’re not Soarin!”
Stanza blinked in turn, “Wha…”
“Though you’re not bad looking either, for a human.”
“WHAT?”
“Cut!”
With a groan, she pulled herself back to her knees. Her heart sank as she realized where she now was. In front of her stood the girls, led by Princess Twilight, all of them staring defiantly up at something behind her, decked out in dresses.
‘Don’t look. It doesn’t exist in the dream if you don’t look.’
As she turned around, she noticed three figures floating above CHS on a poker table. Demon Marred looked down at her, “Oh great, you brought a fourth?”
“Royal Flush!” The pegasus-ish pony, Evil Pie-hater Dash, grinned widely. “Beat that.”
“What the-WHAT THE HELL?!” Sunset yelped, “What are you idiots doing?!”
“Poker. Uh-duh.” Pie-Hater stuck out her tongue, “Get in line Sunny Bunny.”
“Dash! Tell your Equestrian self to stop being a dick!” Sunset threw a rock. The director had already called cut, rubbing his face.
“Hey! Laser-face! Quit being a dick!” Dash called from backstage.
“Heheheheheheh.” Pie-hater cackled, grinning up at Demonset, “Did I do good?”
“No. Also, you lose.” Demonset showed her hand, taking the chips for herself.
“Damn it!”
“Cut!
The Dazzlings waited for their next scene in their apartment set, crowding around the TV.
“Sonata, go set up for your next scene.” Aria said as she walked in.
“But you’re gonna change the channel if I do thaat.” Sonata whined.
“No, I’ll change the channel.” Adagio smirked. She leaned in to get the remote, but instead came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.
Silence enveloped the room for a moment.
Aria was stock still, “...Sonata, where did you get that...?”
“...”
“...”
“Shoo be doo, motherfucker.” Sonata replied pleasantly with a wide grin still plastered on her face.
They stayed like this for a moment before there was a jingling tone from outside the studio.
Sonata looked up, “ICECREAM!” And with that, she was gone.
Aria and Adagio stared at each other for awhile. “So...who tells the gun-toting siren that the set next door is filming an ice cream scene?”
“Not me, but I also don’t think we should be here when she realizes there is no ice cream.”
“Fleet! Lock up the set for us, alright?” Soarin called back over his shoulder, heading out to lunch with Spitfire and Misty.
Fleetfoot nodded, eyes slowly sliding over to the fresh beer left unattended on the counter. With a cheshire grin, the floofy haired girl lept for it, grabbing it in her hands...only for the condensation covering the outside to make it fire out of her hands like a rocket, bouncing off the ceiling and hitting the floor, breaking open with a loud POP.
“...NOOOOOOOO!”
The halls were near bare, only the janitors wandering the halls in the early morning. Down the hall, they could hear the chaotic, faint squeaks and squawks of the school band warming up for early practice. Dash and Sunset feeling a bit more secure in not being spotted, the group made their way to the Principal’s office, Daring knocking on the door.
Dash, meanwhile, stormed right past the office and into CHS’s hallways.
“Uhhh, Marred?” Sunset called after her, “Where are you going?!”
Just as Applejack closed her locker to start the school day, a fist found its way across her cheek again.
“CONFOUND IT, DASH!” AJ screamed, “AH’M NOT EVEN IN THIS SCENE! WHAT IN THE FLYIN’ ‘ELL?!”
“Ugh, CUT!”
“GIMME DOWN!” Blitz shouted, snapping back to reality. The girl floundered for a moment, falling off the table as a dark blue pair of wings sprouted from her back, buzzing angrily to pause her descent back to the ground, “COURIRER!”
“My name has two ‘R’s, thank you.” She rolled her eyes. “I was Sugarcoat by the way. Thanks for asking.” She did a sarcastic, flourishing bow. Unfortunately, said bow also made her mohawk wig slip right off of her head, leaving only the bald cap on. “...shit. Well, now I miss both of my hairstyles.” Her arms went from folded to hanging, defeated.
“Hah, God, alright, cut, break for 10 everyone!”
Adagio smirked as she handed Sunset her number, “...Report to the ship as soon as possible. We’ll bang, okay?”
A violent blush grew across Sunset’s face as Aria started to break down in manic laughter. “Wh-what the Hell, Dazzle?!”
“Cut! Adagio, stop flirting! This scene doesn’t need 37 takes!”
As they were setting up for the scene in Crystal Prep, Soarin looked over his lines with a few rapid blinks. “Umm, Mr. Dragon Director? How do I portray ‘getting all the mares’? ...And why am I getting female horses? Are we horseback riding in this scene?”
“I-wha? Lemme see that!” The director snatched the script from Soarin, reading it over, “For the love of f-DUST! Soarin is the pure and innocent one, stop messing with his script!”
Soarin looked left and right, grabbing his phone and putting it to his ear, “Spitfire? Apparently I’m supposed to be the pure and innocent one here, so can you get rid of all the BDSM stuff for me?”
“Aw damn it, that’s the scene I was looking forward to.” Spitfire grumbled in his ear.
Sunset looked up, the dizzying brightness of the sudden light feeling less painful now, and gaped. She hadn’t been sure what to expect when they arrived, but anything would have been better than the figure that now floated before them.
A familiar pair of red eyes stared down at her, surrounded by pools of inky blackness, dark magic wisping out from her black sclera. Her skin was a deep blue, far darker than the pale sky color Sunset had grown accustomed to. It made the scars across her mouth all the more prominent. Her hair sparked upwards in a pale pattern of chromatic hues, the pointed tip of the shifting follicles dancing around much like an actual bolt of lightning. A pair of jagged bat-like wings jutted out from her back, unmoving but poised to send the demonic figure hurtling forwards at any moment.
“NYHAHAHAHAHAH!” The figure let out a high-pitched, snorting laugh, “FIIIINALLY!” She then let out a hacking cough, clearing her throat, “Oh shit. This isn’t going to work, guys, seriously. Can I just be intimidating and silent in this scene because, really, my throat is killing me here.” She beat her fist against her chest, “Uhhggghhh, can someone get me some water? Ugh. I wanna talk to my agent! These cords are chafing like shit!”
Sunset facepalmed with Daring.
“CUT! And get Dash some water!”
“You two are free to go in.” He nodded at the two teens, pointing out the door.
The two nodded, scurrying out of the way and through the door in question, “Captain Barrage.” Sunset greeted as Dash shut the door behind them, “Nice to see you again. Sorry about last night. Hope that wasn’t too much of a hassle to deal with.”
While Sunset spoke with Barrage, Dash’s eyes focused on the peculiar nameplace on the captain’s desk, “I’m the fuc-”
“DASH, NO! CUT!” The director cut her off quickly. “We already had Sonata do that earlier today, let’s not have another! You got your PG-13 approved bomb already!”
“Twilight. Spar-” Before Sunset could even finish saying the girl’s name, Aria had chucked her out of the house.
She slammed the door, dusting her hands, “Trash taken out. You’re welcome.” With a satisfied smirk, Aria headed into the kitchen. “Now then, Dusty, help me whip up one of those BLTs!”
“Well...that’s one plot point dealt with.” Sunset admitted as Twilight meekly knocked on the door.
“Going back to cults, are we?” The centaur chuckled, stretching as he cracked his knuckles, “Excellent! Well then, let’s get started. I’m as eager as our master is to wipe out these remaining blemishes.” Giving a final glance around the tundra, he stepped forwards into the rift, Bray following not long after.
Bray walked off the scene, “Alrigh’ then! Where’s th’ ‘Ulu shows I was promised? Oi! You! Get ov’r ‘ere! Bring ‘hose bites into my tra’lah, you ‘ere me?”
“I say, he’s really an uncouth one, isn’t he?” Tirek scoffed as he watched Bray go by, firing off all these demands. “Shameful, really.” He took a delicate sip of his Earl Grey Tea.
“He really is the same off stage as he is on.” Crescendo muttered into her coffee, “How’s the Taur-suit working out for you? Four legs working well?”
Bray shouted something about a ‘T’vo’ in the distance.
The ground bulged suddenly, glowing red as it exploded upwards in flame, two figured shooting up through it. Dust flopped down to the side, landing on her desired spot as practiced, “Dash!”
THUNK
“OW! SHIT!” Dash rasped out angrily as missed the mattress by a country mile, hitting the hard tile of the second floor. “Sour! What the shit, you missed!”
Sour Sweet, poked her head over the edge of the hole, mo-cap suit making her look only slightly ridiculous, “Oh...uh...sorry? Try landing better next time?”
“Try-whAT!?”
“CUT!”
“CUT!” The director shouted a final time, rubbing his face with a scowl, “Rainbow Dash, I know this is amusing to you and all, but if you screw up this scene again just so you get another kiss, the scene gets written out!” The red-haired man shouted through the plastic megaphone.
“Oh no, you’ve seen through my clever ruse!” The prismatic girl snickered, slipping off the stage.
Sunset rolled her eyes, chuckling awkwardly as Dash darted away, “Maybe we should call lunch? Decompress and refresh for some new takes?”
“Very well. Lunch break, be back in an hour.”
As the cast and crew all scattered, two others stepped up behind the chair, looking amused at his annoyance. “Actors being difficult?”
He didn’t respond.
“Lotta takes?” The blond tried again.
“...” Still nothing.
“Not as easy as you’d hoped, little brother?” He added with a shit-eating grin.
“Shut up, Hamon.” He finally conceded, glaring at the other, the third member of the trio just sighing, rolling his eyes at the other two’s squabbles.