It took only a few moments before all five girls and Spike had understood what she meant. As they left the gym towards the school's main entrance, the students parted before them, confused by the sudden shift in tone. As they approached the main entrance only Twilight knew that students and faculty alike were following them, their curiosity and apprehension easily noticeable with her empathy.
As the doors of the main entrance swung open, Sunset opened her eyes and looked up. She had been concentrating on her emotions to summon Twilight and it had worked as she planned. She was leaning on one side of the portal frame with Snips and Snails standing behind her, their arms crossed in a pose the girls assumed was supposed to be intimidating. Needless to say it had no such effect.
"I see you have your crown back, Queen Twilight Sparkle." At Sunset's words, Twilight and her friends narrowed their eyes while the confused glances shared by Snips and Snails went wholly ignored.
"I do indeed, Sunset."
"Good, now hand it over!" At those words Sunset grabbed behind her and pulled out a Hammer half the size of her own body. She raised it up and brought it in position to strike the portal. "Or you will never see Equestria again."
As her new friends and even Spike gasped in horror, Twilight simply raised a confused Eyebrow. Does she not know how portals work? That's a hammer not a bomb, the guard can safely dispatch of it. After a short moment she crossed her arms and raised her voice to answer. "No."
"You'll never see your friends again."
"Yes I will. Hitting the portal with the hammer will just send the hammer to Equestria. And the Yevruun Vruningee can handle a hammer, trust me."
Five voices from behind her and three from before her simultaneously answered. "Who?" Only Spike remained silent, a knowing smirk on his lips.
"The Queens’ Guard, sorry I lapse into vespid at times."
Twilight couldn't help but roll her eyes at the various 'ahhh' noises from behind her and the two loud 'ohh's from before her. She started slowly approaching Sunset, her friends following behind her. "You don't have to do this Sunset, I know you're lonely but what you're trying to do will not make it better. Revenge will not help you."
Sunset looked like she was considering the offer, carefully watching out to keep her emotions in check. She gave a short nod of her head prompting Snips and Snails to walk off to the sides.
Twilight's new friends stood beside her as she stretched out her hand, focused on Sunset as they were they failed to notice the two boys circling around to stand behind them.
As soon as they had reached their positions, Sunset gained a victorious smirk. "Now!"
At her command, Snails, the taller one of the two, grabbed the crown off Twilight's head and before the girls could react threw it over to Snips who was standing a few meters away, ready to receive it. As he caught it, Sunset dropped all pretense and let her emotions flow freely. The tidal wave of hate and anger momentarily dazed Twilight.
Unaffected by that and thanks to the fast reactions of a trained athlete, Rainbow was the first to realize what had happened, she sprinted towards Snips, cutting him off. Reacting quickly he threw the Element off to Snails who barely caught it, before seeing Applejack headed towards him. The rest of the girls, save for Twilight, now reacting and joining in, he quickly tried to pass it back to Snips but Rainbow caught it before it could ever reach him.
Sunset was now joining in, determined to get the crown she saw as her own. As Rainbow saw her coming she quickly threw it towards Fluttershy. The timid girl was no friend of sports, but over the near decade they had been friends Rainbow had roped her into enough of her more athletic ventures that the two had become a well trained team. With practiced ease she caught the crown before panicking, when she saw both Snips and Snails running towards her. She threw the crown away from them and somehow Pinkie was there to catch it, but Sunset was hot on her heels. Despite Sunset's proximity Pinkie managed to pass the crown to Rarity who promptly tried to pass it on to Rainbow. Snips managed to intercept the throw and gave the crown on to Snails, who - in turn - tried to pass it on to Sunset.
"ENOUGH!"
The crown stopped mid-throw, the air around it softly rippling from the psychic power. Twilight, with Spike's help had found back to her feet. Her friends had seen a short display of her power, but marveled at it nonetheless. Sunset, on the other hand, was dumbfounded. She stared at the crown, slack jawed.
What? How? She doesn't have magic. She can't. But it's ... How is this possible?! As panic started to suffocate her other emotions, she saw a soft smile play across Twilight's lips. "How?!"
"Well, to speak in the words of, well I suppose she'd be my grandmother now, 'It's good to be the Queen.'"
As Sunset was still dumbfounded over what she perceived to be magic, Snips and Snails recovered from their shock. Focused on Sunset as they were, Twilight's friends noticed to late, as Snails ran up, jumped and ripped the crown from Twilight's psychic hold. Snapped out of her mental lock-up, Sunset watched him throw the crown to Snips, who then threw it to her. With a victorious smirk, she caught it.
"Be that as it may, it's time to end this game." As the Crown touched Sunset's brow Twilight could sense how the wild magic flooded her opponent. As it amplified her emotions tenfold, all other thoughts were wiped from Sunset's mind by one, not of hate or anger, but of pure, unbridled, panicked fear: This is wrong.
The thought and the emotion behind it were so stark upon her mind that Twilight read it without even trying to. Then it was wiped away as a wave of magic traveled across Sunset's body.
A pillar of bluish-white light, so bright the others had to shield their eyes, rose up around the girl as she was lifted off her feet. A wave of fire, the same color traveled across her body, as her eyes widened in panic, Turning her skin a deep red. Her hands morphed into claws and her boots changed into ones emblazoned with a fire motif, her clothing was replaced by a short red dress. She pressed her eyes closed as tears of panicked fear, ran down her cheeks. Then the wave of fire ran across her face, evaporating them. Her hair raised up on it's own, floating upwards, held back only by the crown that sat firmly on her head. When the wave of fire had washed over her head completely, her ears now long and pointy, standing off to the sides, she opened her eyes, now black with blue irises, and let out a manic cackle spreading the leathery wings she now possessed.
She raised her hands and twin beams of black and blue shot over the girls beneath her. When they turned they saw that the beams had hit Snips and Snails who were now transforming much like Sunset, but taking on the colors of blue and orange instead.
A number of gasps and screams of panic could be heard as students ran back into the school. Unbeknownst to all of them, everyone who had been attending the Fall Formal Dance had now gathered in the school’s entry hall, some even opening the doors and stepping outside to get a better view, but were now quickly retreating inside.
Despite the short distraction all eyes refocused on Sunset who now raised her voice. "I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight just to get my hands on this crown, and it really should have been mine all along." She let out a feral growl as she pointed a clawed finger at the school's front facade. "But let's let bygones be bygones. I am your princess now, and you will be loyal ... to me!" At her last words, she balled her hand into a fist and it began to glow a light teal. The facade of the main entrance suddenly crumbled into a large ball of rubble, before being deposited to the side with a simple flick of Sunset's wrist.
Sunset's eyes glowed a bright blue and rings formed around the heads of students and teachers alike, before closing in on them. As soon as the rings made contact, their eyes grew vacant before glowing a pale teal. Twilight could sense their emotions and personalities falling away, not gone, but sealed behind this mind control.
Sunset turned back towards the five girls and spoke up once more, pointing at Snips and Snails. "Round them up and bring them to the portal."She turned back to Twilight and her friends. "Spoiler alert: I was bluffing when I said I was going to destroy the portal. I don't want to rule this pathetic little high school; I want Equestria! And with my own little teenage army behind me, I am going to get it!"
"No, you're not!" Twilight had recovered from her shock and was standing in front of the portal, her arms crossed in defiance."
"Oh, please! What exactly do you think you're going to do to stop me? I have magic, and you have nothing!"
Well, I could inform her that I have a direct link to Equestria and a brother who can cast a Shimmershield spell powerful enough to protect all of Canterlot for days on end. But it’s painfully obvious that she isn't thinking straight. As Twilight was busy with her musings the other five stepped up behind her and Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"She has us!"
Sunset released another malicious cackle. "Gee, the gang really is all back together again. Now step aside! Twilight has tried to interfere with my plans one too many times already! She needs to be dealt with!" A single beam of cyan light shot from the crown towards them and they hugged each other in shock, while Sunset was coiling up in manic laughter. All of them had their eyes closed so none of them saw how the beam, the moment it hit them, created a field of magenta magic around them before turning magenta itself, a spark of orange dancing across all of it. Sunset looked back at them and recoiled in shock. "What?"
Twilight took only a moment to realize what had happened. "The magic contained in my Element was able to unite with those that helped create it! You tried using an Element of Harmony to destroy true friendship, obviously that wouldn’t work."
Twilight and her friends started floating upwards and they, too, now started to change. Their ears retracted into their heads as new pairs of furred pony ears grew atop their heads to replace them, their hair lengthened immensely bound together at hip height so it resembled tails, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy grew feathery wings on their backs. Twilight's changes however didn't end there, she felt her hands and feet develop holes, a new strange force within them, and she felt her tongue rub across the fangs that had once more returned. As the transformations reached a close, Twilight looked to Sunset, her blood red gossamer wings buzzing threateningly behind her. "Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic. Together with the crown they create a magic more powerful than you can imagine, but it is one that you cannot control alone."
Her eyes narrowed as her friends floated behind her, their eyes closing as they instinctively pointed one finger each at her back. Small points of orange, pink, blue, purple and red forming from them before expanding into beams that converged in the point between her wings.
"The magic of Friendship!"
Mirroring her friends she pointed a single finger at Sunset. A point of pure, white light formed at it's tip before expanding in a brilliant, rainbow colored beam, causing her to smile at the familiar sight. The beam wrapped around Sunset forming a whirlwind of Rainbow Light.
"No! What is happening?!"
As Sunset was sucked into the whirlwind of color Twilight calmly continued speaking. "Here and in Equestria, it is the only magic that can truly unite us all!"
Three more beams suddenly erupted from the storm of magic enclosing Sunset, the first two, large powerful beams struck, Snips and Snails, enclosing them in similar, if smaller, whirlwinds. The third was thinner, more focused, as it struck Flash Sentry's forehead the light disappeared from his eyes, he blinked and after a short moment he seemed fine. from there the beam split into two hitting more students before splitting again. It continued on like that until all the students and faculty had been freed.
When Twilight and her friends, touched the ground again, they stood before a large crater. At the bottom of it covered in bruises and scratches, kneeled Sunset Shimmer.
"You will never rule in Equestria. Any power you may have had in this world is gone. Tonight, you've shown everyone who you really are. You've shown them what is in your heart."
Only now did Twilight notice that the girl before her was shaking from her own sobs. "I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know there was another way."
Twilight kneeled down and reached out a hand. She could feel the girl's sorrow, fear and loneliness. After only a second, Sunset took her hand and Twilight quietly continued, as she helped her out of the crater. "The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere. You can seek it out, or you can forever be alone. The choice is yours."
Twilight could feel Sunset's mounting despair. "But ... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship."
Twilight simply smiled at her before pointing at the five girls behind her with a sweeping motion. "I bet they can teach you."
"Those are my girls! Woo-hoo!" Spike's words of joy finally broke the lingering tension.
"Did that dog just talk? Huh, weird." One of the students said incredulously.
Spike turned to him. "Seriously? The talking dog is the weird thing about all this?"