Sunset Shimmer stood aghast, facing the trio of girls that had not only ruined her social life, but also were trying to bring up a trio of villains she and her friends gave their all to defeat, and accidentally kill. Yes, it had happened by complete accident.
"Please, tell me you can explain this, girls," Sunset sternly stated, though her tone of voice made it sound like she was pleading instead. "Tell me there's an explanation for this."
"O-Oh yeah, totally, we can explain!" Scootaloo stated. And after a few seconds, she pointed at Sweetie Belle. "She can explain!"
"Huh?! Why me?!"
"Yer ta one dat got ta idea in ta first place, Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom pointed out, folding her arms. "if somebody's gotta explain it t' Sunset, it's ya!"
Having no other choice, Sweetie Belle turned back to Sunset, and though her enraged glare made her flinch, she still gathered enough courage to explain:
"While we were walking back home after the Battle of the Bands, we came across the Dazzlings. The purple and blue one were unconscious, being carried by the orange one before she too collapsed. Before she did, though, she kept calling for help. And when we got close to their bodies... we discovered they had no pulse."
Sunset frowned, and Sweetie Belle continued:
"So, we took the bodies elsewhere so nobody else would find them and freak out. Soon after, we agreed that the best course of action was to try make it seem like nothing ever happened, by reviving the sirens so that nobody would ever know they died. A book fell off the cottage we were hiding the sirens at-"
Sunset instantly grew suspicious, but she didn't do more than throw a confused eyebrow at the girl.
"And it had instructions on how to revive the sirens. Basically, we'd need three gems, lots of negative energy, and a song. The gems we found after searching for weeks, and the song was written on a piece of paper, so that only left the negative energy... and thus came Anon-A-Miss."
Sunset's expression returned to a furious glare.
"Because the book said that we'd need negative energy equal to the energy used to kill the sirens, and you were part of the group who killed them, we thought your negative energy would be enough. But we needed to get the energy fast, so... we created Anon-A-Miss in order to cause enough strife to generate enough energy to power the gems."
Sunset's eye twitched.
"And then, we tried to perform the spell indicated in the book to revive the sirens, but... even though we said the spell right, even though we aimed the gems at the bodies, and even though I'm sure we did every single part of the spell right... they didn't revive... and..."
It was at that moment that Sweetie Belle fell silent, and Sunset found herself having to respond. But what exactly was she supposed to say? Sweetie Belle and her friends ruined her day, and yet from her words and their expressions alone, they were clearly regretful for what they'd done.
So...
"I can't believe it... The Dazzlings' mind control magic must've been stronger than I thought."
"W-What?" Sweetie Belle stuttered.
"Now I get it; Anon-A-Miss, my suffering, it's all the fault of the Dazzlings!" Sunset narrowed her eyes. "They put a second mind spell on you in order to begin a ritual to power them up again, under the guise that they were dead!"
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. "Sunset, you can't honestly believe that!"
"I don't want to believe it! But..." Sunset stammered as she raised her hand. "I-If I have to choose b-between believing that... and believing my friends' sisters... a-and Rainbow Dash's fan.... ruined my social life w-w-willingly..."
Sunset reeled her hand back as a energy sphere materialized. "Then I'll believe this is the Dazzlings fault!"
Sunset shot the sphere at the trio, who quickly dodged that and the ensuing barrage of magical blasts from the redhead. It didn't take long before Sunset began focusing her blasts solely on Sweetie Belle, allowing Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to run up to her and try to stop her.
"Sunset, stop it!"
"Yer gonna fry 'er with those blasts!"
"Don't worry, I know how to hold back!" Sunset stated as she charged her magic. "If any of these hit her, they'll only break her out of the mind control!"
Even though there's no mind control to break out of...
"Why's everything going so wrong?!" Sweetie Belle whined as she kept dodging blasts. "We didn't forget anything! The negative energy, the spell, the song-"
And then, with another explosion, Sweetie Belle got sent right back to the spot of the lifeless sirens, prompting Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to run to her aid. As she stood up and looked at Sunset charging another blast, however, something clicked on her:
The Sirens are from Equestria... Sunset's from Equestria... their magic is Equestrian... so maybe, the only thing we need left, is Equestrian magic!
"What are you waiting for, you murderer!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she stood up. "You want to add me to your kill count, don't you?! Just do it already!"
Sunset flinched.
"Sweetie Belle, what are ya saying'?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Have ya gone nuts for real?!"
"Yeah, Sunset's just trying to hurt you, not kill you!" Scootaloo added.
"Girls, it's okay, I think I found the missing piece of the puzzle," Sweetie Belle whispered, mostly to Scootaloo, since Apple Bloom was busy gesturing Sunset not to kill them. "Both the Sirens and Sunset are from Equestria, and everything magical so far has come from there, so we need to charge the bodies with Equestrian magic in order to revive them! That's the piece we were missing!"
"And what if it isn't?!"
Sweetie Belle winced at the possibility, but she quickly shrugged it off and continued her taunting. "Do you have a preference for your kills or something?! You didn't hesitate to kill the sirens, but now you're hesitating against someone from this world?!"
"That's entirely different, Sweetie Belle!" Sunset growled, her magical spheres intensifying. "You're just trying to do what you think is good, while the sirens were trying to cause chaos and disharmony!"
"And for that reason, you killed them!"
Sunset's eyes began glowing. "I DIDN'T KILL ANYBODY!"
"Yes you did!"
Sunset brought her hands together, fusing the magic spheres into one.
"I!"
She reeled back and closed her palms, causing an intense glow to emanate from them.
"DID!"
Sweetie Belle smiled as she wrapped her arms around Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, ready to jump out of the way.
"NOT!"
Sunset fired a beam of concentrated magic at the trio, who jumped out of the way just in time, causing the beam to hit the motionless bodies of the sirens instead. By the time she stopped firing the beam, the bodies began glowing and levitating upwards.
"Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, now!"
The girls aimed the gems at the bodies and began saying the spell once more, and just to their luck, the gems had enough leftover negative energy to shoot to the bodies.
"Oh no!" was all Sunset could exclaim as red lighting enveloped the bodies.
Then, the gems levitated towards the motionless bodies, and planted themselves in the middle of the sirens' chests. The gems gave one final glow as they assimilated and entered the bodies, somehow leaving no cut behind, and once their very presence had no external proof, the light surrounding the sirens dispersed, sending Sunset and the CMC flying off into the distance.
The sirens promptly dropped to the ground, and barely a second later, they all groaned in unison, "Ow!"
Hearing that, the CMC and Sunset stood up and stared as the sirens stood up and dusted themselves, only to take a look at themselves with puzzled expressions.
"I can't believe it," Sweetie Belle smiled. "It worked."
"It really did," Scootaloo and Apple Bloom said in unison.
"They're... back..." Sunset uttered, her vision growing shaky. "But... no such spell ever existed in Equestria-"
*SNAP!*
Sunset and the CMC hid inside a bush as soon as the sirens turned to look at their general direction. After staring for a while, the trio left under Adagio's orders, and the quartet left their hiding spot.
And as soon as they did, Sunset grabbed the girls and looked at them with a serious tone.
"You three have a lot to explain."