A few weeks have passed since the announcement and it was early morning on Christmas Eve. Normally, Sunset isn't a morning person and preferred to sleep in, but because of school and that she was required to arrive early due to her duties as the head director, she has no choice. Speaking of which, being the director of the Festival was admittedly… challenging for Sunset. Aside that she had to up earlier in the mornings than usual, the job was very daunting. She had to be involved in everything when it comes to running a Toys for Kids Festival and Christmas party; the planning, the music, the seating, the organization. the decorations, you name it. Sunset almost wished she took Pinkie’s offer to help her out since this was her expertise. Sunset would often get stressed and exhausted with every day's work, but if it means to give back to her friends, help the children and for everyone to have fun time will be worth it to her.
Sunset was walking down her neighborhood towards her school in her winter gear as normal. Halfway there, she spotted her familiar friend with purple hair with a pink stripe and glasses that Sunset knew and loved.
"Good morning Twilight!" Sunset greeted with a warm smile.
Twilight turned to Sunset. "Oh… morning Sunset," she said somberly.
Sunset immediately frowned. Ever since the Friendship Games, she and Twilight started walking to school together in the mornings and sometimes back home together as well. Having a one-on-one conversation with Twilight is always her favorite part of the day. They would talk about everything from Sunset's life in Equestria to about every topic they come up with. She even liked to listen to Twilight's ongoing rant about everything she learned or discovered. She thought the way Twilight talked so much like an excited child always warmed her heart, especially seeing a smile on her friend's face. But this was the first to see Twilight looked so gloomy and quiet. And her friend's behavior alone really concerned the former unicorn.
"Are... you okay?" Sunset asked gently.
"O-oh yeah! I'm fine Sunset," Twilight responded with a forced smile on her face.
Sunset cocked her eyebrow, clearly not buying her friend's answer. "No offense Twilight, but you don't look fine."
"I'm telling you Sunset, I'm fine!" Twilight responded with some aggravation.
Sunset placed her hand on her friend's shoulder. "You know you can always talk to me if you're--"
Twilight stopped walking, shrugged Sunset's hand off her shoulder and turned towards Sunset with an angry expression.
"I said I'm fine Sunset, okay!?" Twilight shouted.
Sunset flinched. Twilight never yelled at her like that before. She didn't know what was wrong with Twilight, but she feared that she upset her further. After seeing her friend's hurt expression, Twilight immediately felt guilty for acting so aggressive to someone so caring who was worried about her.
"I'm… I'm so sorry Sunset!" Twilight said sadly, not looking directly at Sunset. "I-I didn't mean to--"
Twilight then felt Sunset touched her cheek and gently turned her head towards her, who had a caring and understanding expression.
"No no, I get it Twilight," Sunset said gently. "I shouldn't have been so pushy. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. But I'm here for you if you wanted to talk about it, okay?"
Twilight smiled, glad that she didn't damage her friendship with Sunset. "Thanks Sunset. And I'm sorry again for snapping at you like that."
Sunset smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said as they resumed walking.
As they are heading towards the school, Twilight still felt bad for yelling at Sunset. After a few minutes of silence, Twilight decided to bring up a topic.
“So… how are things as the head director Sunset?”
"Busy!" Sunset responded with a chuckle. "I thought my brain is going to explode after last night. But at least the setup is almost done, just in time for the opening of the festival."
Twilight gave her friend her sympathetic look. "You know, we can help you finish the job much faster if you let us."
"Thanks but I got this," Sunset assured. "Besides, you all helped enough with the toy donations for the kids. Baked goods and animals in Pinkie and Fluttershy's case."
Twilight grinned. "Well with you running it, I have a feeling that it was going to be a great party!"
“Or ‘awesome’ as Rainbow puts it!” Sunset added.
The two laughed at their own joke as they finally made it to the entrance of CHS. They were just entering the hallway to get to their lockers when they run into their Vice Principal Luna. They frowned when they saw a serious look on their Vice Principal’s face.
“Sunset, Twilight. I’ve been waiting for you,” She stated.
The two teens looked at each other with confused expressions before facing their Vice Principal again.
“Um… hello Vice Principal Luna? Did we do something wrong?” Sunset asked.
Vice Principal Luna sighed. “No but… it involves you and your friends. We have a serious situation.”
“What kind of situation?” Twilight asked.
“...I’m afraid this is something my sister could answer,” Luna answered. “Please follow me!” She requested as she turned and heading towards the Principal’s Office.
The two girls are now nervous from their Vice Principal’s statement as they followed her. Sunset was wondering what could that possibly be? Yet another Equestian Magic on the loose? Someone possessed another artifact from Equestria? An evil monster invading their world again? Each possible scenario made Sunset more and more nervous and Luna’s silence didn’t help much.
So much for no trouble around the holidays.
They eventually made it to the Principal's Office door and Luna opened it, gesturing the two teens inside first. When they both entered, they were shocked to discover not only Principal Celestia was waiting for them, but every single one of their friends were waiting for them too. Whatever was going on can’t be any good if the Principals called them all in to their office.
“Sunset? Twilight? Wat is going on here?” Applejack questioned. “Why are we all called in? None of the Principals are tellin us why?”
“How should I know Applejack?” Sunset responded. “Twi and I are just as much in the dark as you are!”
Before they could argue further, Principal Celestia cleared her throat. “I’m very sorry to dragged you all here on such notice, but we have a bit of a situation.”
“That’s what your sister said,” said Sunset in her annoyed tone. “But she never mentioned what that “situation” was!”
“Sunset, you are in charge of setting up the Toys for Kids Festival and the Christmas Party, yes?” Celestia asked calmly.
Sunset blinked, then nodded with a concerned look. “Y-yeah, I am. Why?”
Celestia sighed. “Last night… something happened to the gym where the party had taken place and… well… see for yourself.”
Celestia took out a few photographs from her desk and handed it over to Sunset. Sunset, along with her friends looked over the photograph and they all gasped in shock. In these photographs was the gym with the party decorations. But the one major thing they all have in common was each decoration for the party was destroyed! Each photo was shown that tables were turned over, toys were crushed, streamers were taken down, balloons were popped, chairs were tossed around, the disco ball smashed in the middle of the room and there was even some strange stains that was all over the floor and walls.
“Land snakes!” Applejack exclaimed.
“Wha- what happened to the gym!?” Rainbow cried!
“Everything is destroyed!” Twilight added.
“This is terrible!” Rarity shouted.
“Who would do such a thing!?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“This was worse than the time Sunset, Snips and Snails ruined the decorations for the Fall Formel back when Sunset was a meanie!” Pinkie shouted, before giving Sunset her sheepish smile. “No offense Sunny!”
“...none taken,” Sunset commented while staring at the picture with widened eyes. “How did this all happen? Everything I worked hard on was ruined!”
“That’s the thing, we don’t know,” said Celestia. “But we believe this all happen due to… unusual event.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked in her confused tone.
Celestia turned towards her sister. “Luna, play the tape!”
Luna nodded as she rolled an old TV with a VCR over to the girls. Before any of them could ask, Celestia beat them to it. “Unlike what happened at the Fall Formal, we actually managed to get a recording of the incident thanks to the security cameras we installed a few months back,” she explained. “Unfortunately, even with the recordings… finding out the culprit was proven more difficult, especially... after what we saw on that tape.”
“After Luna set up the TV, she inserted the tape and pushed the play button. A black and white video clip of the gym appeared on screen. For the first few minutes, everything seemed to be normal, until they saw a glowing lights at different sections of the room. Then, they watched as many various items were violently thrown and smashed everywhere across the room. They witnessed the balloons mysteriously popped, the disco ball and streamers fall down from the ceiling. And finally, some mysterious substance appeared out of nowhere and left a random trail on the floor and ceiling. But what really disturbed the girls the most, was those same substance was now forming itself into a written message on the stage curtains. When it was finished, the message on the curtains reads:
YOUR PAST IS COMING TO HAUNT YOU SUNSET SHIMMER!
Even after the video had reached the end, Sunset just stared at the screen with her face as pale as a sheet. It was shocking enough that objects had moved on its own and other decorations falling down, but seeing an angry message directly at her, shocked her to the core. Was something or someone trying to come after her?
“Just wat the hay is going on!?” Applejack exclaimed. “Either Ah’m seeing some pre-release B-rated horror film or Ah’m actually seeing objects moving around like it was being controlled by ghosts!”
“Y-you don’t s-s-supposed that the g-gym is being h-h-haunted?!” Fluttershy whimpered in fright.
“Don’t worry Flutter-butter!” Pinkie Pie assured. “If we go over and simply giggle at the ghosties, they’ll go away and never bothered us again!”
“That’s ridiculous!” said Twilight as she adjusted her glasses. “There has to be some sort of scientific explanation! There are no such thing as ghosts!”
“And yet magic from the magical pony land exists?” Rainbow said flatly.
“That’s different!” Twilight huffed. “Ghosts and Magic are two seperate things!”
“AHEM!” Celestia cleared her throat loudly, getting the girls attention. “Actually, they’re not ghosts! Look closely at the beginning of the video!”
The girls watched as Luna played the tape again, but this time they watched at a specific spot where the glowing lights were. After a minute of observation, it was Twilight who spoke up.
“Wait… those lights,” she said with widened eyes. “They’re actually–”
“Equestrian Magic,” Sunset concluded, startling the others. “Someone must've gotten hold of Equestria Magic and used it to destroy the gym.”
“How did you know that it was a person Sunset?” Rarity asked.
Sunset sighed. “Because someone wrote that message on the curtains.... which was meant for me! Whoever did this have some kind of grudge against me… probably because… what I did to them.”
Everyone stood there in silence as Sunset stared at the floor. Even after her bullying days were behind her, she still guilty for all the things she had done. While most of the students have forgiven her, there were some who refused to forgive Sunset for her actions. Even though she got friends on her side now, she sometimes wondered if she really deserved them. It’s one thing if her past comes back to bite her, but if it involves her friends or anyone around her, she could never forgive herself.
“Sunset,” Applejack called quietly, getting her friend’s attention. “Ah know wat yer thinking, but wat happened at that gym wasn’t yer fault!”
“Well who else is to blame then?” Sunset retorted. “Someone trashed the room just to get back at me! And because of that, there won’t be any party!” Sunset growled in frustration. “It’s ruined!”
“You’re wrong buster!”
Sunset looked up in shock. “W-what?”
She saw Pinkie giving Sunset her serious expression as she stood too close to her face.
“No one ruins a party that my best friend put together! Not if I have anything to say about it! We WILL have this party tonight and I will make sure that it’ll be the best Christmas party of the ENTIRE town!”
“...Pinkie,” Sunset said in awe.
“And we’re going to help too!” Twilight added before facing her friends. “Right girls!”
Everyone nodded and hummed in approval, willing to help however they can.
“You girls…” Sunset sniffed, while trying to hold back her tears. “Thank you! I know we got work cut out for us, but I know that we can do it!”
“I’m glad that I can count on you girls to fix this mess and bring our party back on track!” Celestia praised before frowning. “But that mysterious offender is still at large. I’m afraid that whoever this person is, may try to ruin our efforts again.”
“Do you have any idea how this person is using this magic?” Luna asked.
Sunset shook her head. “No. There were many types of Equestian Magic that works differently from each one,” Sunset explained. “I don’t know if it was used naturally, an artifact, potion? If I could find out what type of magic it was, I can ask Princess Twilight to identify it and then we’ll find a way to counter it!”
“I see,” said Luna. “Then we have no choice but to secure the room and keep an eye out if anything was suspicious. Until then, you girls redo the gym and have it all set up by tonight if possible!”
“We won’t let you down!” Sunset promised. “C’mon girls, let’s get to work!”
“On it!” Rainbow cried as she used her super speed to rush out of the room while everyone else followed her.
Once the Equestria Girls left the room, Luna gave Celestia her serious look. “I assumed you already knew the identity of the perpetrator for the destruction of the room?”
Celestia sighed. “I have a hunch, but I don’t have any proof I can use against her!”
Luna raised her brow. “By “her” you mean...
Celestia nodded. “Yes. Like me, she planned things out like she’s some sort of chessmaster. And something tells me… that wrecking the room was only a part of her master plan!” And I just wish I knew what her “master plan” was!