Canterlot High...in another world...
It was not too long ago since two visitors came from this place to steal Princess Twilight Sparkle's crown, in an attempt to rule over this world and attack Equestria. The one who was responsible for all this was Sunset Shimmer, a former student of Princess Celestia. But since there was no magic in this world, it had to be brought from another one...Equestria, the world where she originally came from.
With the help of her close friend, Radiant Blast, who was a former member of the Royal Guard, Sunset Shimmer came to Equestria to steal the crown of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Having that magical object in her possession would have been more than enough to become the strongest being in this world.
However, two ponies were stepping through the magical mirror in Canterlot that connected the two worlds to get the crown back. Those two ponies were Twilight Sparkle and Star Twinkle. Their mission was to get the crown back until the portal, that connected the two worlds would vanish again.
Despite not knowing much about this world, having their appearance changed, and without any help at first, Star Twinkle and Twilight managed to track down the counterparts of their friends from Equestria and stopped both Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast in time.
In the end, Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast regretted what they had done to everyone and Star Twinkle and Twilight's friends offered to help them to change for the better. With the situation resolved like that, Star Twinkle and Twilight could leave this world again and return to Equestria.
Those events didn't take place too long ago and right now, there was a completely different event that everyone was taking care of and that was the Canterlot High School Musical Showcase, a competition where every band or singer could participate in. For that event, first, some preparations had to be done, like creating some decoration. Many students of Canterlot High met up in the gym to get to work for that. One of those students was Sunset Shimmer who, at this point, still had some problems to fit in. She walked around the gym in an attempt to offer her help but she couldn't shake off the feeling that everyone was keeping a close eye on her.
She started to feel nervous and didn't know what to do. Going up to one group and offering her help would be the best thing to do but her fear of getting rejected was just too big so she only ended up wandering through the gym.
That was until someone called out to her. "Hey! Sunset!" A male voice shouted across the room which caused Sunset Shimmer to turn towards it in surprise.
It was Radiant Blast, Sunset Shimmer's upbeat and carefree friend. "Can you help us out here?" He asked cheerfully, much to the dislike of the three girls he was working already with, in this very moment.
Sunset Shimmer was relieved to hear that she could be of help to someone and walked up to the four. "Need some help?" She asked while she already had one brush ready to draw.
The three girls looked at each other before eventually, the one with the red hair gave an answer. "Uh, no thanks. We're good,"
"Yeah!" The one with the purple hair added. "We were already done after all,"
Radiant Blast looked surprised after he heard that. "Didn't you just say that were barely halfway done?" He asked obliviously.
However, Sunset Shimmer immediately knew what was going on. "Oh. Okay," she said with a frown on her face before she walked away again.
Seeing his friend walk away like that made Radiant Blast feel a little worried so he decided to follow her. She was clearly bothered by how her help was rejected just now so Radiant Blast attempted to cheer her up again. "Hey, I'm sure if I talk to them then they will-"
But Radiant Blast's words were cut short by Sunset Shimmer. "It's okay, I can't really blame them. Not after what I have done to everyone in this school..."
"Come on, Sunset, I thought we agreed to forget all this," Radiant Blast said.
They were both referring to how they both treated everyone in this school not too long ago. They were both aware that just going up to some people and being all friendly with them wouldn't change the image that they were pretty much building up over all this time in this world.
"Give everyone some more time," Radiant Blast advised. "I mean, everyone seemed to have forgiven me already so I'm sure that it will only be a matter of time for you as well," he added confidently with a big grin on his face.
But Sunset Shimmer wasn't really affected by this confidence. "Of course they forgive you, Radiant," she said with a frown on her face. "After all, you were not doing anything bad, and every time when you did, it was me who asked you to that. And everyone knows that. Everyone knows that deep inside you were always nice. So nice that you even helped someone like me..." she said in shame.
Radiant Blast didn't like to hear Sunset Shimmer talking about herself like that and again, attempted to cheer her up. "You are a nice person as well. The things that you did in the past, just makes it a little harder for everyone to see that," he said with a calm voice as he put his hands on Sunset Shimmer's shoulders. "Also, it's not like everyone is still mad at you," he said while he pointed at another group of people who were waving over to the two.
"Sunset Shimmer! Radiant Blast! Over here!" One of the girls of the group shouted across the gym as she waved over to Radiant Blast and Sunset Shimmer.
The group consisted of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. The latter one was the one who wanted the two to join them to help painting some poster. Radiant Blast was happy that the timing was so perfect for them to ask Sunset Shimmer to help them. Sunset Shimmer even smiled as soon as she was called. However, everyone else in the room overheard Pinkie Pie screaming across the hall as well and quickly looked over to Sunset Shimmer with judging eyes and whispering to each other once she walked past them.
Sunset Shimmer could only release a sigh once she was standing next to the girls. "I had no idea the whole school would be here,"
Noticing how, upset Sunset Shimmer was, Rarity decided to quickly change the subject and held the poster up, that she and the girls worked on so far. "Quite the eye-catching advertisement, if I do say so myself." The poster showed a picture of multiple instruments and was supposed to be an advertisement for the band that the girls formed for the music event.
"And it smells like cake!" Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"It does?" Fluttershy asked before she began to sniff the poster.
However, Pinkie Pie helped her and put the poster right into Fluttershy's face, much to her surprise. "I used frosting instead of paste!" Pinkie Pie further pointed out before she removed the poster from Fluttershy's face again, only to reveal that her face now was covered in frosting.
Applejack, while smiling a little, decided to tell her about it. "Uh, Fluttershy, you've got a little somethin', uh..."
Fluttershy quickly understood what Applejack wanted to tell her and swiped some of her cheeks clean but she almost didn't get anything off. "Did I get it?" She asked, completely unaware of it.
Applejack began to smile even more widely. "Heh, not exactly,"
It was then Sunset Shimmer who used a tissue to clean Fluttershy properly. This little conversation seemed to have distracted Sunset Shimmer a little, much to Radiant Blast's relief.
Shortly after, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna both entered the gym to speak to the students for a moment. "Good afternoon, students," Principal Celestia said, causing all the students to stop their work for a moment. "I just wanted to tell you all how pleased I am that so many of you are going to participate in the first ever Canterlot High School Musical Showcase!" Hearing that quickly made the students cheer. That was until Principal Celestia continued. "This is a wonderful opportunity to raise money for all our after-school programs here at CHS. So keep working on those signs and posters. I think it's going to be one of the most exciting events we've had at CHS since the Fall Formal," she said unaware of how all the students reacted to that.
Everyone quickly shifted their eyes to Sunset Shimmer, accompanied by some angry looks. All that Sunset Shimmer could do at this moment was to hide her face in shame. Mentioning the Fall Formal, was certainly not necessary. Luckily, the girls were done with their poster and had to leave the gym only shortly after, keeping Sunset Shimmer away from all the angry expressions that were directed towards her.
"Ugh! I am never gonna live that down," Sunset Shimmer said as she walked through the hallway with the rest of her friends.
Radiant Blast felt how upset Sunset Shimmer was and tried to cheer her up again with some words. "Come on, Sunset, you make it sound a lot worse than it actually was,"
But those words didn't seem to work. "A demon. I turned into a raging she-demon. And I turned you into one as well!" She said with a frustrated tone in her voice.
"And tried to turn everyone here into teenage zombies for your own personal army!" Pinkie Pie added further to make things even more uncomfortable for Sunset Shimmer.
Rarity then decided to finally speak out the words that needed to be said "Oh, darling, you have us, and we've forgiven you for your past... ahem... booboos," she said, making it sound a lot better than it actually was.
Applejack also pointed out something interesting. "To be honest, I'd say the whole experience brought everyone at Canterlot High closer than ever before!"
"Did you hear that, Sunset?" Radiant Blast said with a grin on his face. "Turning into a demon and trying to turn everyone into zombies actually helped out in the end!" He said, trying to see the positive thing about all this.
But like usual, the positive attitude of Radiant Blast didn't really leave an effect on Sunset Shimmer. "Yeah...that is...not really making me feel better..." she simply replied as she was rubbing her arm in discomfort.
"You won't be any longer!" Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "Not after you heard us playing!"
"Yeah! Let's go and practice for the music event!" Rainbow Dash suggested, being highly excited now as well.
"You do that," Radiant Blast said before he stopped walking with the girls. "I have to go somewhere. I'll volunteered to show some new students around in school," he explained.
"Okay, we see you later then," Sunset Shimmer replied as she followed the other girls to the practice room of the Rainbooms while Radiant Blast was on his way as well.
A little later...
Radiant Blast waited patiently near the school entrance for those new students to arrive. It didn't take much longer until three girls were entering the school. All of them looked around as if they wanted to inspect the school. They also seemed kinda lost so Radiant Blast figured that those were the students he was looking for.
Still, he walked up to them and asked them anyway. "Hello there. I guess you are the ones that I'm supposed to show around?" He asked with a friendly smile on his face.
One of the girls stepped forward. "We are," she said with a grin on her face.
The girl who stepped forward had a yellow skin color, a long and wide orange hair with some yellow stripes in it, and raspberry colored eyes. She was wearing a purple top with a pink jacket above it, pink fingerless gloves, short purple trousers with a golden belt around it, pink leggings, and dark purple boots. She was also wearing a black necklace with a red gem on it.
The girl on the right had a pink skin color, long purple hair with aquamarine streaks in it, which was tied into a twin tail haircut, and mulberry-colored eyes. She was wearing a yellow top with a light green jacket above it, which had it sleeves ripped off, three dark purple wristbands around each of her arms, a dark purple belt with a silver star on it, and purple trousers and dark purple boots. She also was wearing the same necklace as her friends.
The last of the girls, had a bluish-white skin color, light blue hair with dark blue streaks, which was tied into a ponytail, and raspberry colored eyes. She was wearing a cherry colored jacket, a pink spiked wristband on each of her wrists, a pink skirt, and long pink and white boots. Like her friends, she was also wearing the same necklace.
"Great!" Radiant Blast replied happily. "My name is Radiant Blast," he introduced himself.
The girl in front of him did the same. "Adagio Dazzle," she introduced herself. "And those are Aria Blaze," she said while she pointed to her right to the girl with the twin tails, who crossed her arms and looked away in disinterest. "And Sonata Dusk," she said while she pointed to her left, to the girl with the ponytail, who waved at Radiant Blast with a bright smile on her face.
"Got it, follow me, I will show you everything here," Radiant Blast said before he led the way. The three girls followed him, without a word and listened to what Radiant Blast was telling them. "Canterlot High is a great school. You're really gonna love it," he explained.
"Oh, yes, we really sense there's something... magical about this place," Adagio Dazzle said once she took a look around herself.
"Yep. There is always something happening here," Radiant Blast said before he came across a poster that was hanging on the wall next to him. "Like this!" He said as he pointed towards the poster. "We're having a big musical showcase this weekend! The whole school is pretty much rallying around it. It's gonna be lots of fun!" He said in his excitement.
Adagio Dazzle took a look at the poster. She seemed like as if she was actually interested in it. "A musical showcase?" She mumbled to herself before she looked over to her two friends, who both seemed to like the sound of it.
Since they all showed some interest in it, Radiant Blast tried to get them to enter this event. "You are new, so I suppose Principal Celestia would let you sign in if you are interested,"
Aria Blaze showed some disinterest but she also seemed to like this idea. "We have been known to sing from time to time," she said, seeming highly confident about all this.
"Hello?" Sonata Dusk then said. "We sing, like, all the time! It's how we get people to do what we want," she added casually, much to Adagio Dazzle's dislike who looked back at her with an angry expression on her face. "What did I say?" She replied, oblivious about her action.
Adagio Dazzle quickly corrected Sonata Dusk's words. "What you meant to say was that being in a musical showcase sounds like a great way to meet other students,"
"Ohhhh, yeah," Sonata Dusk replied in a moment of realization. "What she said I meant to say. That's what I meant. To say," she said with a smile on her face as if she just took care of the whole situation.
Aria Blaze could only shake her head. "And what you would have said if you weren't the worst,"
Sonata Dusk quickly was offended by those words. "You are!" She replied offended.
Adagio Dazzle was getting sick of those two arguing and stood in front of them so that Radiant Blast wouldn't pay attention to them anymore. "You'll have to excuse them. They're idiots," she said while she formed a bothered expression on her face.
There was an awkward silence afterward. Radiant Blast was not sure what this was all about. He didn't seem to mind though and just kept up his cheerful attitude. "Well, it doesn't matter if you are beginners or not, you are more then welcome to participate in the event," he explained.
It didn't take the three girls long until they showed more interest in this music event. "We consider it," Adagio Dazzle said with a rather scheming smile on her face, that Radiant Blast didn't notice. He probably thought she was smiling out of excitement.
Later...
Radiant Blast was done with the tour. He had the feeling that he did a good job. The three girls seemed to be more interested in the music event, however, which made Radiant Blast happy. He went to the mess hall to meet up with the girls again. They seemed to have finished their practice so Radiant Blast joined them.
"So how was the tour?" Applejack asked once Radiant Blast sat down on the table next to Sunset Shimmer.
"All good. They seemed nice. It also looks like as if you get more competition in the music event," Radiant Blast informed casually while he started to eat.
"Oh please," Rainbow Dash replied. "There is no way that anyone will be a decent competition for us. You should have heard us playing a few minutes ago. No one will stand a chance once my band starts playing in front of everyone," she said confidently.
But Applejack thought she didn't hear right. "Your band?" She asked confused.
"Of course!" Rainbow Dash replied. "It was my idea to form the Rainbooms after all, and I am the lead singer and guitarist," she pointed out. Some of the girls didn't seem to like hearing those words but they didn't say anything further.
Radiant Blast didn't notice all of that and asked something else. "So...did you all grow wings and ears again?" He asked out of curiosity.
He was referring to that strange transformation that happened back then when the girls fought against Sunset Shimmer and him. All of them would grow pony-like ears, their hair would get longer, and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy even grow wings on their backs while playing.
"I just wonder why it happens," Applejack questioned. "Princess Twilight took her crown back to Equestria. Shouldn't that mean she took all the magic back with her?" She pointed out.
What Applejack said was true. There is no magic in this world. That is why Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast went to Equestria in the first place, to steal the crown of Princess Twilight so that they could be the only ones with magic.
The group was scratching their heads over this and tried to find an answer. All except, Radiant Blast. "Who knows?" he simply said, much to everyone's confusion. "I mean, as long as it is only us who have some magic, then there shouldn't be a problem right?"
After Radiant Blast pointed that out, the girls started to realize that as well. "I guess you're right," Sunset Shimmer said.
"Yeah," Fluttershy added. "I mean, we are not putting anyone in danger with our magic after all," she figured.
Realizing that, the girls didn't worry about that matter anymore and continued to eat their lunch. It was just like Radiant Blast said. No one of them would even attempt to do anything bad with that. Worrying about that would also distract them all from the music event.
But then in the middle of their lunch, something could be heard from outside the mess hall.
"Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh,"
It was someone singing. This was not unnoticed by some of the students in the mess hall, and everyone who heard it slowly looked at the door that would lead inside the room. Soon, the door opened and three girls entered the hall.
"Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh,"
They sang as they walked inside the hall. They were the one who were singing. As soon as Radiant Blast saw those three, he quickly recognized them as Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. It was the three girls that he showed around a while ago. Their singing was actually pretty nice to listen to. It was almost hypnotizing.
Soon, Adagio Dazzle began to sing as she walked through the hall with her two friends.
"We heard you want to get together
We heard you want to rock this school
We've thought of something that is better
Something that changes all the rules
Why pretend we're all the same
When some of us shine brighter?"
The other two joined Adagio Dazzle shortly after. The song they sang sounded really soothing but what they were singing about worried Radiant Blast a little, no matter how good their singing sounded.
"Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
Are you afraid of failing the audition?"
"You're a star and you should know it
Yeah, you rise above the rest
It doesn't matter who you hurt
If you're just proving you're the best"
Shortly after, their song became more intense and powerful. It was like as if they put more energy into their singing. Somehow that "power" seemed to have affected almost every student in the hall.
"Battle! You wanna win it
Let's have a battle, battle of the bands
Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it
Let's have a battle, battle, battle
Battle of the bands"
After listening a little more closely to the song, Radiant Blast figured that it was soon was affecting every student in the mess hall, except him and his six friends. All the students shouted "battle" over and over again and it began to escalate a little. The students began to look at each other aggressively and with the determination to win the music event.
Looking at how those events unfolded, Radiant Blast began to get more and more worried. "What is going on here?" He wondered while he looked around on the table to the rest of his friends, but all he got was confused looks.
The only one who seemed to have noticed something was Sunset Shimmer. "Radiant...look at their necklaces," she said before she pointed towards the girls. Radiant Blast looked closely at them and soon noticed how their red necklaces were glowing from time to time. After that, he also realized a green mist that was filling the whole hall. It was definitely not normal and he quickly came to one conclusion, the same one that Sunset Shimmer came to. "Yes...magic," she said as she continued to watch the three girls closely.
Later...
After that performance, the group decided to leave the mess hall because all that was left there was a bunch of students arguing with each other about who would win the music event. This was a way to sudden change after the three girls were starting singing and Sunset Shimmer and Radiant Blast were noticing how there was magic inside the mess hall.
"Those three are definitely in possession of some kind of dark magic. How else could you explain what happened back there?" Sunset Shimmer said as she led the way to the office of Principal Celestia.
"It seemed to have come from those necklaces that they were wearing...I could feel it..." Radiant Blast said in concern and in a surprisingly serious tone.
"Don't worry, y'all," Applejack said with a positive attitude. "We'll let Principal Celestia know all about this and those girls will be kicked to the curb in no time. The last thing she needs is another CHS event almost ruined by some power-crazed lunatic." After she said that however, her eyes widened in realization and she looked over to Sunset Shimmer. "Er, no offense," she then apologized, referring to how Sunset Shimmer was the mentioned power-crazy lunatic.
Sunset Shimmer let out a sigh and was clearly bothered by those words but she remained calm. "None taken," she replied.
It didn't take long until the group arrived at Principal Celestia's office and told her and Vice Principal Luna all about what happened in the mess hall.
"Dark magic? I find that very hard to believe," Principal Celestia said, much to the surprise of everyone, especially since she witnessed everything back then at the Fall Formal not too long ago.
"Those girls came into my office earlier and were absolutely delightful,"
But as if that wasn't bad enough, Vice Principal Luna straight out accused Sunset Shimmer of all this. "Perhaps Sunset Shimmer is just eager to make someone else out to be a bad element so that her actions at the Fall Formal will become old news.
Hearing that quickly made Radiant Blast a little angry. "Hey!" He said angrily as he slammed his head on Principal Celestia's desk. "She would never do something like that!" He said offended. There was plenty more what he wanted to say but Sunset Shimmer dragged him away from the desk so that things wouldn't get any worse now.
Rainbow Dash also stepped in and started to defend Sunset Shimmer. "That's not what's happening! We saw all of this go down in the cafeteria too!"
"Yes, but isn't your band supposed to be part of the Musical Showcase?" Principal Celestia replied.
"Perhaps you're all just worried that the Dazzlings will steal your spotlight," Vice Principal Luna added.
"The "Dazzlings"?" Applejack asked.
"It's the name of their musical group," Principal Celestia informed. "That's why they came by my office earlier – to sign up for the Showcase. Even sang a little song to Vice Principal Luna and I. And we think having a Battle of the Bands instead is a marvelous idea," they said in an almost hypothesized tone.
There was no further reason to talk with both of them anymore. It was just like in the mess hall. Apparently, all the Dazzlings had to do was sing to someone and then they were somehow able to control them in some kind of way. No matter what exactly they were doing, Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna couldn't do anything about them anymore so it was up to Radiant Blast and his friends to come up with something.
For that, they decided to meet up in front of the school entrance, where the statue with the mirror to Equestria was. They were sitting in front of it and scratched their heads to come up with a solution for this situation.
"I can't believe they got to Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna too," Fluttershy said in her concern.
"They've gotten to everybody," Rainbow Dash said while she casually played around with a football.
"Not everybody!" Pinkie Pie further pointed out, to see the positive in this situation.
"Pinkie Pie's right," Applejack said. "We were there when the Dazzlings were singin' and we weren't affected. It was like we were protected somehow," she figured.
Rainbow Dash then came to the one and only conclusion that she had in mind now. "So let's take them down! It's not like we haven't tangled with dark magic before and totally whooped its sorry butt!" She said before her eyes widened in realization. "Uh, no offense," she apologized before she looked over to Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset Shimmer, again, sighed "None taken. Again," she said, even though it was obvious that she was bothered by those words.
"But that was when Twilight was here," Fluttershy pointed out. "There may be some kind of magic inside us, but it only comes out when we play music. I sure don't know how to use it to... whoop anybody's butt," she admitted.
Rarity sighed after hearing that while she casually painted her nails without a worry. "If only we could get a message to Twilight. Maybe she could tell us how to break the spell the Dazzlings have cast on our friends," she suggested.
"Well, that's not gonna happen," Rainbow Dash said. "The portal's closed. And I get the feeling they don't exactly have cell phones where she's from," she figured, which Radiant Blast and Sunset Shimmer could quickly confirm.
There was a short silence in the group. Everyone tried to come up with a solution but no one had one ready.
That was until Radiant Blast shared an idea out of the blue. "Then why not write to her?" He casually suggested while looking at Sunset Shimmer, causing everyone to look at him confused.
"Yeah, sure," Rainbow Dash replied sarcastically. "And how do you intend to write to another world? With a letter?" She asked.
Radiant Blast ignored that however and walked inside the school again, to his locker to be precise. Not knowing what this was all about, the girls decided to follow him to see what he came up with.
"It has to be here somewhere," Radiant Blast said as he threw everything out of his locker, in order to find something. "Aha!" He finally said once he found what he was looking for.
He showed the girls what he was looking for. It was a brown book with the same sun symbol on it that was Sunset Shimmer's Cutie Mark, back in Equestria. Sunset Shimmer quickly recognized this book and Radiant Blast gave it to her.
"That is...the book Princess Celestia gave me when I was still her student," she said before she whipped the dust off of it and widened her eyes after seeing it again for a long time. "But...I threw it away, didn't I?" She then asked towards Radiant Blast confused.
"I know, but I still kept it," Radiant Blast said while he rubbed his neck. "I thought that maybe someday, you would have liked to write something back at Princess Celestia,"
"In other words..." Sunset Shimmer started. "You always believed that I would someday...stop being mean?" She said almost in shock to see how Radiant Blast was believing in her all this time.
"Well, looks like my trust wasn't wrong, huh?" He said with a proud smile on his face.
However, this moment between the two had to be interrupted by the others since they didn't really understand how a book would help them out in this situation so Sunset Shimmer explained everything to them.
"It used to be that if I wrote something here, it would appear in the pages of a book back in Princess Celestia's library. I get a message to her, then she can get a message to Princess Twilight,"
Hearing that, actually gave the others some hope now and Rainbow Dash quickly pulled out a pen for Sunset Shimmer to write. "So what are you waiting for? Get to writing!" She said with a grin on her face which was accompanied by some more smiles from the others, who all believed that this was the only option that they had now.
Sunset Shimmer took the pen and let out a nervous sigh. "Dear Princess Celestia...Been a long time since I've written these words," she said nervously before she stopped for a moment.
"Don't worry, we are all here with you," Radiant Blast said before he formed a big grin on his face as well.
Sunset Shimmer was smiling after hearing that and took a deep breath before she started to write something in the latest page of the book to explain everything that would happen and hoped that it would soon reach Princess Twilight so that she would come to this world and help them all with the Dazzlings before it would be too late...
To be continued...