A few weeks passed by, and I slowly grew to enjoy my new life. It was truly carefree, with concerns like work and jobs firmly out of the way. Mind, there were chores, but they weren’t too difficult. As the saying goes, the youngest gets it the easiest!
Not that I was lazy, far from it. In fact, Saturday mornings were when these tasks were typically handed out, so I made sure to clear them with all reasonable speed. That way, I could use the afternoon as I saw fit. Sundays were fun too. Given the Lord took that day off, so did we!
Well, life on the farm is kinda laid back, ain’t much an ol’ country gal like me can’t hack.
Early ta rise, early in the sack. Thank God I’m a country gal!
I will now stop paraphrasing John Denver and get on with the story.
I quickly learned that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, alongside myself, ran a YouTube channel called the ‘Canterlot Movie Club’. Yup. CMC.
This meant that once a week, we’d review a film and record our reactions to them. And that is how we found ourselves, one Wednesday evening, at Sweetie Belle’s house. We hosted a different section each week at each other’s homes. I was up for next week.
“So, what we gonna watch?” I asked.
“We gave this session out to a request,” Sweetie Belle explained. “For some reason they’ve asked for a film called Sir Billi.”
I wanted to throw up.
Scootaloo looked over. “That’s the Scottish one, right?”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “I know it was finished around the same time as Brave, but that’s about it. You should know Scoots, you’re the Scot here!”
Scootaloo went red. “Just because my mom’s maiden name was Macleod doesn’t make me Scottish!”
I chimed in. “Lotsa Americans are descended from Scots. Mah brother’s called Big McIntosh!”
“That’s an apple cultivar,” Sweetie Belle added.
“He was also Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Caledonian Railway.”
I frowned. What was with my family and naming everyone after types of apples? Clearly somebody up there must have had a strange sense of humour.
Sweetie Belle plugged her laptop into the TV, and set the film up. She then switched on the camera.
“Hello, everybody! This is Sweetie Belle!”
“Scootaloo here!”
“And Ah’m Apple Bloom! We are the CMC!”
“The Canterlot Movie Club!” we chorused, and high-fived together.
Sweetie Belle turned the camera around. “As requested by our viewers, today's movie is Sir Billi, a 2012 animated feature that was released under the title of Guardian of the Highlands in the US.”
Scootaloo chimed in. “The film was written and directed by Tessa and Sacha Hartmann, and was apparently produced as” -here Scootaloo made some air quotes- “a movie for Scotland to be proud of.”
“Well, without any further ado, let’s watch!” I said, as we moved the camera back to film us and our reactions. I switched the light off, and Sweetie Belle hit play.
When the film finished 80 minutes later, we had puzzled looks on our faces.
“That was bad,” Scootaloo said. “Incredibly bad.”
“Ah couldn’t understand a word of what they were sayin’ half the time!” I added.
“And what was with all those creepy character models?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I sincerely hope I misheard that line about the blue lever.”
“You mean that one about lowering him onto your-”
“Scootaloo!” I scolded. “There could be kids watchin’!”
She shrugged. “This isn’t a livestream. We can always edit it.”
“The plot made little to no sense either,” Sweetie Belle continued. “It seemed like they were more interested about shoehorning in references to Sean Connery than making a good film.”
“Besides, the animation looked TERRIBLE,” I added. “Ah’ve done better in Microsoft Paint!”
“Yeah, and it was a little inappropriate at times,” Scootaloo noted.
“A little?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Why put a joke about upskirting into a kid’s film?”
“What’s the final verdict?” I asked them.
Scootaloo shrugged. “At least it was better than Son of Aladdin.”
“Never mention that film again!” Sweetie Belle cried. “Well, that concludes this week’s session. What film do you want us to review next? Let us know in the comments!”
With that she switched the camera off.
“Ah need some brain bleach,” I said. “That film sucked.”
There was a knock at the door. “Apple Bloom! Your father’s here to pick you up!”
“OK, Mrs Crumbles!” I replied. I picked up my coat and backpack, before heading over to the door. “See ya tomorrow!”
“See ya!” my friends replied.
A week after that, we were heading from one lesson to another when suddenly we barrelled past a lavender-skinned girl. Scootaloo had to brake in order to avoid knocking her over.
I suddenly realised what was going on. It’s the events of the first film! I thought. I now had to be extra careful, as I couldn’t afford to give away the fact I knew what was coming.
That lunchtime, I sat down with my friends and Pip.
“Have you heard about that new girl?” Pip asked.
“The lavender one?” Scootaloo asked back.
“Yup!” Rumble chimed in.
“Turns out she gave Sunset a real telling off earlier today!” Button Mash exclaimed.
I glanced over to the others. “Say, do ya’ll think that was the girl we nearly ran into at break?”
Sweetie Belle put a hand to her chin, clearly in thought. “It seems plausible. I’ll ask Rarity if she’s seen her anywhere around.”
“I hope she can bring Sunset under control,” Pip concluded. “She was really horrible to me about my accent.”
“Yeah, and she wrecked Thunderlane’s fundraiser for the School Renovation scheme,” Rumble added.
I took a bite out of my sandwich. “Ah sure hope so, or else we may get a lightshow around here.”
Later that day, I suddenly heard Twilight and Sunset having a heated conversation, only for Twilight to start summarising the end of the film! What was going on?
As she walked away from a rather confused Sunset, I decided to confront her. "You ain't from around here, are ya?" I asked.
Twilight, in response, looked confused. "I don't know what you're talking about."
I knew I had her on the ropes. I smirked internally. "Well, you were talkin' like ya knew what Sunset were about ta say. Care ta explain that?"
"Er, um. Lucky guess?"
I certainly had the edge here. "Ah don't think so. Y'all'll be celebratin' soon, but Sunset'll make ya look a right fool online this evenin', and then attempt ta kill ya with a fireball!"
Twilight's reaction confirmed all that I needed to know. "Wait, how do you know that? And I doubt that she'll make me look quite that foolish."
"Ya ain't the only one who knows we're livin' in a movie. So what did he look like?"
"What did who look like? You mean?..."
I resisted the urge to comment on the misplaced question mark and continued with my questioning. "Did ya go ta Bronycon, get sold somethin' by a creepy guy or gal and then turn inta whichever character ya were dressed as?"
Twilight confirmed my suspicions, and more. I also let slip about the stuff down there... Moving swiftly on, I quickly learned that Twilight had originally been a girl called Katrina Miller, whom had ended up here after buying a few replicas of Twilight's things. She was also quite the preacher too! Though it took her a while to get her head around the fact my sexuality had shifted as a result of the displacement.
Shortly before we reached the library, Twilight (probably for the best I keep calling her that) turned to me. "So, you know when Sunset puts on the crown in the movie and gets turned into a terrifying She-Daemon? Do you think you and your friends could help me?"
"What do ya need? Ah'm all ears."
Shortly after, I guided Twilight to the library and met up with my friends. I was tempted to go over and help her with with the computer, despite her assurances that she knew what she was doing, but I remembered that I had agreed to be ignorant of her prescence. Besides, we had decided to check on a video we’d uploaded to see how many views it’d got.
My eardrums were assailed by some of the worst singing I had ever heard. But I had to go along with it. Funny thing was, why on earth had we recorded a song about ponies and Cutie Marks, given they don’t exist here?
Thankfully, it was cut short by Miss Cheerilee shutting off the speakers. “Girls!" She hissed. “What are you doing, especially you Scootaloo?”
Sweetie Belle seemed utterly unperturbed. “We’re just seeing how many views our new music video has got.” With that she turned the speaker back on, bringing us back in at the worst part of the song.
Cheerilee picked it up, and walked away. “Those computers are for research purposes only!”
I had already noticed something odd. The dialogue was different to how it was in the film. Was my presence distorting things somehow?
Scootaloo looked over. “Right, who’s idea was it to use a wireless speaker?”
I sighed. “It’s just as well, ya’ll. Some of the comments about our song were really awful.” I scrolled down through the comments. “Epic fail, funniest thing Ah’ve ever seen!”
A lightbulb went off above Sweetie Belle’s head. “Funniest thing they’ve ever seen, huh?” With which we sped off toward to exit.
I was worried. I didn’t want Twilight to go through absolute humiliation tomorrow. However, if it became apparent I knew what was going to happen, I would blow my cover.
This wasn’t easy, at all. But I had to muddle through somehow.
On the way home, off to the parking lot, I spoke to Applejack.
“Hey, sis, you encounter that new girl?”
Applejack looked at me. “Yeah. She was mighty somethin’. Gave Sunset Shimmer the what-for today!”
I laughed. “That’s always a good thing!”
But my sister’s face shifted to a frown. “Ah still don’t know how she knew mah name though.”
“Ya sure ya didn’t tell her?” Of course, I knew the answer, and too late I realised I had slipped up.
Thankfully, nobody noticed.
“She sure didn’t,” said Big Mac, who was now behind us. “Ah was there the whole time.”
That evening, I was preparing myself for bed when suddenly my phone’s ringtone went off. I picked it up, and saw it was an incoming call from Scootaloo.
“Hello?” I asked.
“You need to see this, Sunset has hit a new low.”
“Over what?”
“She’s posted a video of the new girl. Boy is it ugly.”
I knew exactly what she was referring to, but I stayed in the act. “Ah’ll put ya on speaker. Ah’m bringin’ up YouTube now.”
The video was exactly as I recalled from the film, but witnessing it as one of the characters, without the separation of the TV screen, made it a lot more immediate. I felt so sorry for her, so I opened the comments and began to type.
This is tasteless. How much lower can you go?
“Ah hope the new girl’l be OK,” I said. “See ya tomorrow Scoots, Ah need to get of ta bed now.”
See ya then.” The line shut off and I hopped into bed, switching the light off.
The next lunchtime, something odd happened. The cafeteria was truly packed, filled with many students grouped into social clusters. Flash Sentry was tuning his guitar for some reason, and several students were spinning tumblers.
I suddenly noticed that several students had acquired Wondercolts head boppers, including Applejack, who was seated opposite me and Scootaloo. Sorry, Scootaloo and I. No, the first time was right!
These same students began to stomp out a beat and clap their hands, as music began to flood into the room from hidden speakers. The Mane 5 suddenly jumped up, ran to one end of the room, and began singing and dancing.
The Cafeteria Song from the first film is one of my all-time favourite MLP songs, but here I was, witnessing this incredible display live! Before I knew what was happening, a grin broke out from ear to ear across my face as Wondercolts paraphernalia began to fly through the air, including ears and tails. It took all my energy not to join in before Twilight entered.
Soon the entire cafeteria was on its feet, singing and clapping and dancing. I only hoped we all got caught on camera in the finished product.
After that happy occasion, we headed in the direction of our next classes.
“I can see you enjoyed that!” Rumble laughed.
“That was incredible!” I replied. “Ah wonder how they choreographed and wrote it in such a short space a time?”
Pip nodded. “Some things are just like that.”
Then we suddenly heard a broadcast over the intercom.
“Can Twilight Sparkle please report to Vice-Principal Luna’s Office?”
I gulped. I knew we were moving into the stories’ final act, and I really didn’t fancy being brainwashed.
Luckily, Twilight was exonerated, and the gym was repaired, although we didn’t take part in that. But it was the night of the Fall Formal, and we all turned out in our best.
Myself, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle turned out in our best attire (e.g. dresses. I’d finally got used to wearing those things!), whilst the boys looked adorable in suits. The evening was incredible, with the disco ball swinging and music blaring from the speakers. Naturally we danced together, got our photos taken (and thrown in our faces as there was ‘no style’, according to Photo Finish), and even won an impromptu dance-off against Rainbow Dash and Applejack!
But at last, the real event of the night arrived. Principal Celestia stepped up onto the stage and addressed us all. “I want to say how wonderful everything looks tonight, especially given the damage wreaked a few hours ago. You really pulled together in order to give us a night to remember.”
In more ways than one, I thought.
“And without any further ado, I’d like to announce the winner of this year’s Fall Formal crown.”
Tension mounted, and we looked back and forth at one another in apprehension.
“The Princess of this year’s Fall Formal is...Twilight Sparkle!”
Cheers resounded through the hall as Twilight went up to get her prize. But it was not to last.
“Help!” cried Spike, as Snips and Snails dragged him away. Twilight and the other sped after him.
I raised my hand. “C'mon girls, after them!”
We sprinted as fast as we could, which was not terribly fast as the boots were not the most practical items of footwear. We took a left, then a right, and exited out of a side door.
I looked around the wall, and saw Sunset brandishing a sledgehammer. It was obvious what was happening now. My heart began to beat faster and faster as the confrontation progressed.
“I’ll give you a choice, Twilight,” Sunset laughed. “Either you give me the crown, and you go, or I’ll destroy the portal!”
I gasped. No. If that portal goes, I can never go home.
Thankfully, Sunset didn’t, but it wasn’t long before they were all fighting over the crown, and Sunset placed it on her head.
“What’s going on?” Scootaloo asked me.
“It looks like some sort of energy,” Sweetie Belle observed. “But why? I thought it was a normal crown!”
I pulled back. “Scootaloo, you got yer slingshot?”
As Sunset laughed, brainwashing the students, Scootaloo took aim. “Distance to target?”
“Ah estimate about 500 feet.”
“Elevation?”
“Zero-Five-Zero!” Sweetie Belle chimed in.
Just then, Sunset boomed with laughter, and a fireball appeared in her hands. She was aiming at Applejack and her friends!
“Whatya waitin’ for, Scoots?” I asked. “Take the shot!”
Sunset laughed. “Gee, the gang really is all back together again. Well, step aside.”
She snarled. “Twilight Sparkle has stepped in my plans once to many times already, and she needs to DIE!”
But before the fireball could be launched, a rock pinged off the crown, dislodging it and knocking it onto the floor in front of Twilight.
“WHAT?” Sunset cried.
Applejack looked over, and saw Apple Bloom giving her a thumbs up.
“Those three just saved us,” she said.
We watched the rest of the encounter play out like in the film. Wow, that rainbow laser looked utterly incredible when witnessed right in front of you! The crater that was left over was large, and well...crater shaped. We walked over, to see Sunset Shimmer crawl out of the pit with tears in her eyes, and accept forgiveness from Twilight. Twas such a heart-warming moment.
But back to the dance, which went as normal, apart from some students having wings, ears and tails. Scootaloo even got a flight out of it, which must’ve been fun.
When I got back in that evening, I smiled. I’d been through the events of the first film without causing too much disruption.
Then the thought hit me. There was something approaching. Something I had to avert for the sake of both myself, and the world.