Chapter 6
Best Day Ever
Morning arrived at the campgrounds just outside the Starswirled Music Festival. It was little more than an hour after sunrise, and by this point, Sunset Shimmer was the only one still asleep within the RV that she and her friends were using for their stay at the festival. As Sunset slept in her sleeping bag beside the window, her phone was lying beside her head on the pillow. At the moment the time became 7:00, the phone’s alarm went off by playing a song by PostCrush.
Be the true… true, true original—
Sunset quickly woke up and shut off her phone’s alarm. For the first time since her very first run through this day, she had a genuinely positive smile on her face. After so many loops with selfish desires and frustrating setbacks, she had decided that she was going to spend the entirety of this loop on nothing more than to simply make this the best day she could for her friends — especially Pinkie Pie. As far as she was concerned, there was a good chance this would be that best day ever she had long since been looking forward to.
Sunset jumped out of her sleeping bag, tossed off her pajamas, and slipped on her special outfit for the music festival. She then walked out the door and around the front of the RV to join her friends, who were already gathered outside.
At this moment, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack were seated around the RV’s heating table as they ate breakfast, while Rarity and Spike were seated at a nearby picnic table as Spike demonstrated some of his beatboxing skills.
Rarity rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Ugh, I shall never understand the appeal of beatboxing.”
Spike kept his smile as he shrugged and remarked, “Eh, to each their own.”
As Sunset listened to Rarity and Spike, she also watched as Rainbow Dash quickly ran over and stopped right behind her while carrying a large paddle with the Sonic Rainbooms band symbol printed on it.
“Starswirled day one! Come and get it!” Rainbow excitedly declared as she swung the paddle around.
This time, Sunset reacted quickly by swiping that paddle right out of Rainbow’s hands as it swung close to her.
“Hey!” protested Rainbow.
Sunset decided to show off a little by twirling the paddle around for a few seconds, then swung it around and moved as if she was about to swiftly strike Rainbow right in the head with it.
Rainbow immediately yelped and flinched, but when she felt no impact at all, she opened her eyes and saw that Sunset had stopped the paddle just inches away from her face.
Sunset smirked as she flipped the paddle around and offered it back to Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash chuckled sheepishly and stated, “I’ll, uh… I’ll be more careful next time.” She gently took back her paddle, then turned and walked away.
With the first of many previous nuisances successfully averted, Sunset next turned her attention to the rest of her friends gathered around the heating table. As she heard Applejack speaking, she gently grabbed Fluttershy from behind and carefully turned her around in her seat so that she was now facing towards the right of where she had been previously.
“So Ah says to Big Mac, ‘Get your own chicken coop!’” spoke Applejack.
Fluttershy happened to be in the middle of taking a sip of her orange juice when she heard the end of that joke, so she ended up doing a spit-take out into the open grass before beginning to laugh. She soon calmed down a little and remarked, “Oh, that’s a good one, Applejack, because it has animals in it.”
“Ooh! Ooh! How about this one?!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly as she suddenly bounced over to stand beside where Applejack was seated. “What do you call a PostCrush fan with three eyes?”
From where she stood behind Fluttershy, Sunset cheerfully answered, “You call her Pinkie Pie, because your name is spelled with three ‘I’s!” She and Pinkie then reached forward to hug each other and twirled around as they giggled together.
Fluttershy took a moment to think about the meaning behind that joke, then smiled and remarked, “Oh, I get it. It’s a pun.” She then giggled in amusement.
Sunset released her hug with Pinkie and then walked over to the picnic table where a stack of blueberry pancakes with maple syrup was available. As she gathered her breakfast, she glanced back and asked, “Hey, Twilight? Is it okay if I borrow your pen and a sheet of paper from your notebook?”
“Sure,” replied Twilight as she set aside her plate full of pancakes and pulled out her pen and notebook from her bag. She tore a blank page out of her notebook, then handed that page and the pen over to Sunset.
“What’s that for?” asked Pinkie with a smile.
“Let’s just say it’s a surprise for all of my friends,” replied Sunset cryptically. She was about to start writing when she noticed Pinkie looking over her shoulder. “No peeking, Pinkie,” she playfully scolded. “This is meant only for the others, and that’s only because I’ll be spending the whole day with you. Trust me, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to have fun today.”
“You got it, Sunset!” agreed Pinkie, before she skipped away to hang out with the others and have a friendly chat with them all.
Now that she was sure no one was watching her, Sunset began to write down some quick notes onto the sheet of lined paper.
Twilight: Never check your phone while walking. A lot of dumb accidents happen because of that.
Applejack: Watch where you’re stepping before Dirk Thistleweed is on. Those country music fans sure can get rowdy.
Rarity: When you purchase something at the souvenir tents, stay away from the open ground near the public restrooms. You never know when some reckless children could ruin your day.
Spike: If you really want Fluttershy to have some fun by actually doing something, consider offering to keep the crowds away. She won’t be so self-conscious if she believes no one is watching her.
Fluttershy: When it’s time for lunch, Spike would love to try a lasagna pop. Yes, it sounds weird and gross, but I know he’ll love it.
Rainbow Dash: Before meeting with the festival manager at the secret falafel truck during lunch, make sure you ask permission from all of us if you could collect our band’s instruments from our places. And whatever you do, never hold up that paddle while standing near him.
Once those notes were finished, Sunset tore the paper into six pieces to separate each of those notes, then folded them in half and put them in her pocket. She decided she would wait a little bit before giving those notes to her friends. For now, she still had a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast to eat.
Once everyone had finished with breakfast, the group began to walk towards the entrance to the festival grounds. Rainbow Dash eagerly led the way, followed by Applejack and Rarity having a casual conversation, Pinkie Pie cheerfully skipping along, Fluttershy and Spike walking beside each other, and finally Twilight with Sunset following right behind.
This time, Sunset made sure to watch where she was stepping, and as she approached that all too familiar mud puddle, she passed over it by stomping both of her feet against the dry ground on either side of it, effectively avoiding the squishy mess. She celebrated that moment of triumph by pointing down at that mud puddle as she proudly declared, “Ha! In your face, mud! You won’t be clinging to my foot this time!”
Twilight stopped and glanced back at Sunset. “Did you just trash-talk a mud puddle?” she asked with concern and confusion.
“Sure did!” confirmed Sunset shamelessly as she continued walking ahead after the rest of the group.
Twilight continued to stare at Sunset in confusion for a moment, then shook her head and followed after her.
As the group continued walking, Sunset spoke up, “Oh, that reminds me. Hey, Rarity?”
Rarity stopped and looked back at Sunset.
Sunset pulled out a bottle of body wash and asked, “Is it okay if I borrow this? I have a feeling I might need it today.”
“Oh, uh, sure, darling,” replied Rarity. Despite her confusion over why Sunset would think she’d need that, Rarity was still willing to be generous with her friends. “Just be sure to not completely use it up. I’ll still have need of it, you know.”
“I’ll try my best,” assured Sunset as she placed the bottle of body wash back into her pocket and continued walking with her friends.
“Sunset! Sunset! Look!” Pinkie cried out cheerfully from the front of the group as she wildly gestured at the three entrance lines at the front of the festival grounds. “So many lines to stand in! This day’s already amazing!”
“I know!” agreed Sunset contently as she walked over to Pinkie and placed an arm around her shoulder. “Pick whichever one you want. They’re all slow, but security is an art. It cannot be rushed.”
At the front of the middle security line, that same security guard Sunset had become familiar with over the previous time loops paused his search and glanced out past the line to glance at her. He turned back to the person he was in the middle of inspecting and complained, “See? She gets it. She knows what it takes.” He turned his gaze back out to Sunset and, with a smile on his face, clenched his right hand into a fist, held it up to his chest, then held it out towards Sunset. “Respect, Miss!” he stated proudly.
“Right back at ya!” responded Sunset as she repeated his gesture.
“Wow, Sunset!” remarked Pinkie cheerfully. “You totally just made that guy’s day! Oh! We have got to go with his line!”
“Sure thing, Pinkie,” agreed Sunset. “But first, a little something for the rest of you.” She turned back to the rest of her friends and pulled out the six little notes she had written earlier. As she passed out those notes, she explained, “These are meant to be read only by each of you on your own. Do not share them with anyone else. In fact, I’d recommend not reading them until after you’ve made it through security. I’ll explain everything when we meet back at camp tonight.”
Despite some confusion from many of them, everyone in the group accepted the little messages addressed specifically to each of them.
Pinkie was excited to see her friend offering a special surprise to everyone, but her smile fell when she realized she was the only one who did not receive one. “Hey, where’s my secret message?” she asked in confusion.
“You won’t be needing one,” assured Sunset, “because we’ll be spending the whole day together. Whatever secret messages I have for you, I can just tell you directly.”
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” noted Pinkie as she smiled again. She then giggled and excitedly declared, “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get in line!” She then zipped over to the end of the middle security line and casually asked the person standing ahead of her, “You come to this line often? Any other sweet lines we should hit up?”
The guy standing ahead of Pinkie raised an eyebrow in confusion and replied, “Uh… I’m just waiting in line to get through security.”
“I know!” remarked Pinkie cheerfully. “Isn’t it exciting?”
The guy turned away and muttered under his breath, “Not as exciting as watching paint dry…”
As Sunset got in line behind Pinkie, she shrugged and quipped, “Eh, I personally find it more exciting to watch grass grow.”
Pinkie giggled and cheerfully replied, “Good one, Sunset!”
“What can I say?” remarked Sunset with a shrug and a smile. “Lines fly where you’re having fun.”
It took nearly two hours for the security line to advance enough for Pinkie and Sunset to reach the front. Pinkie was up next, and the security guard went through his usual inspection routine. He started with a thorough and methodical search of Pinkie’s fanny pack — if he was surprised by the absurdly huge amount of random objects somehow stuffed inside that tiny bag, his expression never showed it — then proceeded to wave a metal detecting wand over every part of her body — for which Pinkie’s persistent giggling, which she claimed was entirely by reflex, caused numerous delays — and finished the process by strapping a yellow festival bracelet around Pinkie’s wrist, then scanned it with his phone to permit her entry into the music festival.
Once the security guard gave a nod of approval, Pinkie walked through the gateway as she turned back to her friend and cheerfully called out, “See you in there, Sunset!”
Sunset had a content smile on her face as she stepped forward for her turn to get through security. Since she wasn’t carrying any packs or large bags with her, she only had to hold still while she was searched with a metal detector.
“Hey, I recognize you,” noted the security guard as he grabbed his metal detector wand. “You’re Sunset Shimmer. You used to be number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted.”
“Guilty as charged,” Sunset casually acknowledged as she held out her arms to await being scanned.
“I guess that explains why you respect my line of work,” stated the security guard as he began his slow and steady search. “You know from experience what it takes to overcome security.”
“To be honest, I encountered a lot of pathetic guards back in my days as a criminal mastermind,” remarked Sunset. “But unlike those losers, you’re actually competent and take your job seriously. Whoever made the decision to hire you for this festival certainly made the right call.”
“Flattery won’t grant you any special access,” cautioned the guard. “You’ll have to go through the same search as everyone else.”
“And I would expect nothing less, mister…” responded Sunset, deliberately trailing off.
“The name’s Max Steele,” acknowledged the guard.
“Got it,” confirmed Sunset. Although she already knew his name from numerous encounters on previous time loops, she understood it would be highly suspicious if she had mentioned it prior to at least asking him about it. Besides, she wanted to feel like she could be on friendly terms with this guy rather than just constantly referring to him as that security guard. “By the way, when you’re done here, you might wanna keep an eye out over by the souvenir tents. I heard a couple of dummies were thinking of doing a little robbery today.”
“Not on my watch, they won’t,” warned Max. Only a few seconds later, he finished his scanning process. He put away his metal detector, strapped a green festival bracelet around Sunset’s wrist, and scanned it with his phone. “All right, you’re clear to enter.” He decided to share some respect with her by holding out a fist toward her.
“Thanks, sir,” responded Sunset as she shared a fist bump with Max. “Keep up the good work.” She then passed through gateway and ran over to where the rest of her friends were waiting.
“Welp, y’all have fun seein’ PostCrush,” stated Applejack as she waved at Pinkie and Sunset. “We’ll see ya back at camp tonight.” With that, everyone in the group went their separate ways to enjoy all the different shows and activities at this music festival they were each interested in, leaving behind only Sunset and Pinkie to prepare for the performance of PostCrush later that evening.
After the two of them took a moment to wave goodbye to their friends, Pinkie turned to Sunset and asked, “What do you wanna do first, Sunset? There’s so much we can do!”
“How about we start right over there?” suggested Sunset as she pointed at the nearby giveaway booth with a purple tandem bicycle being displayed to the side.
Pinkie gasped and excitedly exclaimed, “Win a tandem bicycle?!” She immediately rushed over to the booth and read the brief contest rules. As Sunset arrived soon after her, Pinkie pointed at a full jar of jellybeans on the booth’s counter and cheerfully stated, “All I have to do is guess how many candies are in the jar, and my sugar senses say… three hundred and five!”
BZZZZ!
The giveaway booth attendant smacked the buzzer on the counter, indicating Pinkie’s guess was incorrect.
“Awww…” moaned Pinkie in disappointment.
Sunset stepped up to the counter and, with a smug smile on her face, stated, “Five hundred seventy-two and a half, counting the green jellybean you ate part of in the parking lot when you thought no one was watching.”
The both attendant’s jaw dropped. “That’s… that’s impossible,” she muttered in complete shock. “H-How did you…?”
“Let’s just say I have my special ways of figuring out these things, Belle Barker,” Sunset smugly replied. “Yes, I even know your name. Now how about releasing that tandem bicycle I just won so my friend and I can enjoy it?”
Belle sputtered in shock for a few seconds before she finally sighed in defeat and began releasing the clamps that attached the bicycle to the display stand. “So much for taking the prize home with me…” she muttered under her breath.
“Yeah, you thought you could keep that bike for yourself,” quipped Sunset. “Maybe next time, you’ll think twice before trying to outsmart someone like me.” Once the bicycle was completely released, she put on one of the two provided helmets, hopped onto the front seat and cheerfully spoke up, “C’mon, Pinkie! Let’s ride!”
“Woohoo!” cheered Pinkie excitedly as she hopped onto the rear seat and put on the other available helmet. “This day’s already getting even better!” Once both girls were on the bicycle, they began to pedal it forward and rode off further into the festival grounds.
Belle Barker was now left with no choice but to pack up her booth and leave early. As she tried to think of how that girl could so precisely guess the correct answer, not to mention how she could even know her name without a proper introduction, she suddenly froze when the truth finally hit her. “Wait a minute,” she muttered to herself. “That was Sunset Shimmer from the LEGO Team. She’s the one who can read minds!” As she then swiftly resumed packing her things, she quietly mumbled, “I’d better start wearing a tinfoil hat whenever she’s around…”
Sunset and Pinkie laughed and giggled together as they rapidly pedaled their new tandem bicycle across the festival grounds. The day was already off to a great start, and they were enjoying every moment of it.
As they rode through the area near the food trucks and souvenir tents, Sunset recognized the guy with glasses and orange hair and beard tinkering on some contraption. When he accidentally bumped something on the mechanical object that caused it to suddenly fling a coconut high into the air, he immediately cried out, “Whoa! Heads up!”
“Hey, Pinkie!” Sunset called back cheerfully as she steered the bicycle towards that flying coconut. “Catch it like a football!”
Pinkie grinned as she released the handlebars in front of her seat and held out her arms. The coconut quickly plummeted back down, and thanks to Sunset’s remarkable aim, Pinkie was able to actually catch that coconut. “Woohoo!” she cheered excitedly. “Touchdown!”
“Whooooaaa,” a nearby rocker dude with long dark hair and a tie-dyed shirt said slowly in astonishment. “How did you appear outta nowhere like that? Are you, like, ninjas?”
Sunset giggled and playfully replied, “I wish!”
“Here, have a coconut!” remarked Pinkie as she casually tossed that coconut over to the rocker dude. “I’ve already got plenty at home.”
As the two girls began to ride off on their tandem bicycle, Pinkie suddenly asked, “By the way, Sunset, how did you know exactly how many jelly beans were inside that jar? I’ve seen you use your mind reading powers before, and I’m pretty sure it requires actually touching someone, which you clearly didn’t do with that booth lady.”
Sunset couldn’t help but smirk, knowing that it had been only a matter of time before Pinkie would’ve eventually figured out her bluff. She glanced back at her friend and responded, “You wanna know the real truth? Then let me show you something else.” She steered their bicycle towards one specific souvenir tent and stopped a short distance away. She pointed at that particular tent and simply stated, “Keep an eye out for a couple of familiar faces over there.”
Pinkie was curious what kind of surprise her friend had for her, so she watched that tent — the front of which was facing away from where they stood, so she couldn’t see what kind of special items were being sold there. A few seconds later, they saw two familiar guys wearing black and white striped prison shirts — one with a grey jacket partially covering it, and the other with the sleeves torn off — and black beanie hats emerge from within that tent and started hauling away a large chest with each of them grasping the handles on either end of it.
Pinkie gasped and loudly whispered to Sunset, “I know those two! It’s the robbers Rocky and Mugsy! We gotta stop ‘em!”
“Don’t bother,” assured Sunset casually. “Those brick-heads won’t get far. Just watch…”
Pinkie worriedly continued watching as that pair of robbers tried to haul away their chest full of ill-gotten loot. It just didn’t seem right that she and her friend were allowing these bad guys to simply walk away with committing a petty robbery.
Chink. Crash!
Suddenly, the handle on the end being carried by Mugsy detached from the chest, causing the chest to drop to the ground and topple over, allowing the lid to pop open and spill the massive load of cash and coins contained within. “Whoops,” muttered Mugsy.
“HEY!!” furiously shouted a nearby security guard — whom Sunset and Pinkie quickly recognized as Max Steele from the main entrance security lines.
“Scram!” exclaimed Rocky urgently as he dropped his end of the chest and immediately started running towards the nearest section of the boundary wall surrounding the festival grounds, with Mugsy quickly following right behind.
Max swiftly pursued the two pathetic robbers towards that wall, not too far away. Once they reached the wall, they both tried to jump over it, but it proved to be too high for either of them to even grasp the top of that wall. With Max closing in, Rocky decided to climb on top of his partner in crime, using him as enough of a boost to jump and grab onto the top of that wall. Once he hauled himself halfway over that wall, he then reached down and grasped Mugsy’s hands, then hauled him up and over the wall just a split second before Max could touch either of those crooks. Of course, once the two incompetent robbers flung themselves over the top of the wall, they both crashed to the ground on the other side.
“You’d better run!” shouted Max over the wall at the fleeing robbers. “Your kind isn’t welcome here!” Unable to further pursue those crooks, he turned away to check on the dropped chest full of loot.
At the tandem bicycle, Sunset clapped as Max arrived at the chest of spilled loot and contently spoke up, “Nicely done, sir! You sure showed them to not get any bright ideas while you’re around. Though, word of advice, you might wanna secure the dropped loot before chasing the bad guys, otherwise some other bad guy might come along and take it for himself. Better to let the crooks get away empty-handed than to provide a brief opportunity for a different crook.”
Max Steele glanced over at Sunset, then turned his gaze down at the dumped loot. “Yeah, you’re right,” he acknowledged reluctantly. “I’ll make sure not to repeat that mistake anytime soon.” He then overturned the chest back upright and started tossing the spilled loot back into it.
As Sunset began to pedal the tandem bicycle away from the scene of a failed crime, Pinkie asked in astonishment, “How did you know?”
“Let’s just say we’re now faced with yet another incident involving Equestrian Magic,” replied Sunset, maintaining a remarkably pleasant tone. “In this case, there’s this artifact called the Time Twirler that, when activated, can cause a day to repeat itself. I don’t know who’s been using it, but as far as I know, I’m the only one who’s been caught in this time loop.”
“Aren’t you gonna do something to stop it?” asked Pinkie.
“I will… eventually,” admitted Sunset. “The most recent suspect turned out to be a false lead, and after all the other kinds of madness I’ve been through, I’d rather spend this loop just relaxing and having fun. Specifically, I’d like to make this the best day possible for you, Pinkie.”
Pinkie smiled and replied, “Aww, that’s really nice of you.”
“Now let’s go check out the Neon Garden,” said Sunset cheerfully as she continued pedaling the tandem bicycle. “As long as we stick together, my experience means you won’t have to worry about getting lost in that hedge maze.”
Once Sunset and Pinkie arrived at the Neon Garden, they parked their tandem bicycle outside the entrance, then they ran off together into that hedge maze. They explored all of the different paths, admired the numerous strings of neon lights that were hung in intricate patterns, and just simply frolicked around aimlessly. Sunset had even guided Pinkie to a secret photo booth hidden at the end of one path, where they took all kinds of fun and playful photos together.
Once the two girls had their fun inside the Neon Garden, Sunset quickly guided Pinkie along the correct paths to reach the exit out of that hedge maze. As soon as they were out, Sunset led Pinkie past their parked bike over to where a pair of blank easels had been set up, not far from a guy who was handling small balloons filled with paint.
“Hey, Oxford Brush!” called out Sunset playfully, catching the attention of that paint balloon artist. “I heard you were doing an art show!” She then turned to Pinkie and asked, “What do you say, Pinkie? You want in on the fun?”
“Ooh! I do! I do!” replied Pinkie excitedly as she turned to the artist and waved her arms around.
The paint balloon artist, Oxford Brush, smiled in response and tossed the first two balloons at the easels.
Splat!
The balloons burst upon impact, splattering paint all over the easels and the two girls, with yellow paint on Pinkie on the left and blue paint on Sunset on the right. As the two girls giggled in delight, Oxford quickly followed that up with two more balloons, splattering more paint all over the easels and the two girls, with green paint on Pinkie on the left and pink paint on Sunset on the right.
Sunset and Pinkie giggled some more before Sunset cheerfully spoke up, “Hey, Pinkie! Record a video!”
Pinkie continued to smile as she pulled out her phone and started recording a video.
“I’m gonna try and catch one of these balloons!” declared Sunset excitedly before she gestured at Oxford to send another balloon.
Oxford Brush shrugged with a smile as he grabbed another balloon and tossed it right as Sunset.
As that balloon was flung directly towards her, Sunset quickly stepped aside and grasped that balloon while being careful not to grasp it with too much pressure. Astonishingly, she actually succeeded in catching that balloon without it bursting within her grip. “Ha! First try!” stated Sunset excitedly.
“Wow! That was awesome!” cheered Pinkie as she continued recording that video.
Sunset decided to celebrate her accomplishment by simply tossing that balloon up into the air and letting it come back down atop her head, causing it to splatter purple paint all over herself, Pinkie, and the two easels behind them.
Pinkie giggled and remarked, “Nice one, Sunset!”
Sunset giggled alongside Pinkie for a few more seconds, then turned to Oxford and contently stated, “All right, I think that’ll be enough for us. We’ll let you save the rest of those balloons for any other volunteers.”
“Not to worry,” assured Oxford. “I brought along plenty of them.”
“C’mon, Pinkie,” said Sunset contently as she began walking away. “Let’s get ourselves cleaned up. We certainly don’t wanna watch PostCrush looking like this.”
“Right behind ya, Sunset!” agreed Pinkie as she followed her friend over towards the public restrooms. About halfway there, she suddenly gasped and asked, “Is this why you asked Rarity if you could borrow that bottle of body wash from her?”
“Absolutely,” confirmed Sunset. “Previous experiences in a time loop means better foresight.”
“I just hope we don’t have to completely used it all up trying to wash off all this paint,” remarked Pinkie. “I’d hate to see her get upset over not having any left for herself.”
“She brought along, like, a dozen different varieties,” Sunset pointed out. “What are the odds that she’ll want to use this one in particular?”
Pinkie shrugged and acknowledged, “Eh, I guess that’s true.”
The two best friends soon entered the girls restroom. Sunset grabbed a paper towel, pulled out that bottle of body wash, and poured a small amount of it out onto the paper towel. She then handed that paper towel to Pinkie and said, “That should be enough for you. You’ll have to use some more paper towels to wipe yourself with.”
“Consider it done!” declared Pinkie with a smile. She then tore open one of the paper towel dispensers, removed the entire roll of paper towels, brought it with her into one of the toilet stalls, and shut the door.
Sunset giggled before she turned to the sinks, poured out some more of that body wash onto another paper towel, and began cleaning herself off. As she had hoped, the special body wash made very quick and easy effort on wiping away all of those paint splatters, especially off of her clothes. It took only a matter of minutes until nearly all of that paint had been wiped away.
Splash!
That noise from the occupied toilet stall was immediately followed by some hysterical giggling from Pinkie. She partially opened the stall door and peeked her head out as she eagerly said, “Guess what! I spilled some paint on the inside of this door and it looks exactly like…” She threw the door all the way open to reveal the splattered paint on the other side of it. “Rarity with a pirate mustache! Huh? Huh?”
Just like on the previous loops when Sunset went through this part, the supposedly random mess bore a striking resemblance to Rarity’s face with a bushy mustache slapped over the mouth. “Impressive,” remarked Sunset before she removed the paper towel she had been using to wipe her face, exposing a paint mustache on her own upper lip. She then quipped with a pirate accent, “But not as impressive as this here mustache, ye scurvy knave!”
Pinkie immediately burst out laughing at that display. To her, it seemed there was no shortage of immensely fun moments between her and Sunset today, and she absolutely loved it.
Sunset and Pinkie spent the rest of the afternoon checking out some of the various other activities available at the music festival. They once again found themselves riding their tandem bicycle around the area near the food carts and just having a pleasant conversation.
“So about those little notes you gave to the rest of our friends…” Pinkie spoke up.
“Just little bits of advice to help make this day a little better for all of them,” answered Sunset.
“Aww, that’s really nice of you, Sunset,” noted Pinkie. “Using all of your experiences from all the previous loops to make this day the best it could possibly be for all of us.” She then sighed and sadly added, “Too bad this’ll all go away after tonight, seeing as you still haven’t found that Time Twirler thingy.”
“I’ll figure it out eventually,” assured Sunset. “After all, I really do have practically all the time in the world to figure it out.” She then stopped pedaling the bicycle and brought it to a stop so she could turn back to face her friend. “Besides, at least now I know what I can do to make this the best day possible for all of us. In a way, I guess this could be like a dress rehearsal for what I can do once I’m finally able to bring this time loop to an end.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” admitted Pinkie. “In that case, I hope I can get your stamp of approval here so that some future alternate Pinkie Pie really will have the best day ever at this festival.”
Sunset giggled and remarked, “Believe me, Pinkie, after going through this day for four months, this loop has by far been the best one I’ve yet to experience.”
“Then let’s make sure we make it end on a high note!” declared Pinkie excitedly. “Time for the grand finale! PostCrush live!”
“Not quite, just yet,” said Sunset slyly as she resumed pedaling the bicycle forward. “I’ve still got one last surprise for you before we’re ready for PostCrush.”
“Ooh! What is it?!” asked Pinkie excitedly. “I can’t think of anything that could possibly make this day even better!” As they rode their bicycle past some more food carts, she suddenly began to smell a rather sweet and delicious aroma. “What’s that smell?” she asked as she sniffed the air. “Could it be?”
“It sure is,” remarked Sunset as they arrived at one particular cart where the familiar chef Puffed Pastry was selling her special confectionery for the festival.
“Puffed Pastry’s exclusive Starswirl cinnamon-swirled churros!” announced Puffed Pastry to everyone passing by. “Get zem while zey’re marginally fresher zan a little bit!”
As the two girls came to a stop and Sunset lowered the kickstand, Pinkie gasped and exclaimed, “It’s the one thing about this festival I’ve been most excited for after PostCrush! How did you know?!”
Sunset giggled as she and Pinkie got off their bicycle, then turned to Puffed Pastry and spoke up, “We’ll have two boxes, please. And make it quick, before my friend here wrecks your cart.”
Puffed Pastry laughed as she quickly filled two small boxes with about half a dozen churros each and remarked, “At least you were kind enough to ask first.”
The two best friends smiled as they walked over and grabbed their boxes of churros. Pinkie took a big whiff of those delicious baked goods and let out a sigh of bliss.
Sunset removed one of the churros from her box, then turned to Pinkie and confessed, “You know, on many of the earlier loops when I did things my way on my own, I eventually came to realize that having a perfect day was never going to be perfect without… having you there with me.”
Pinkie had grabbed one churro from her box and was about to bite down on it when she heard the end of Sunset’s confession. She paused, then smiled and said, “Awwww…” She then held out that churro in her hand and declared, “Cheers!”
Sunset chuckled and lightly smacked the churro in her hand against the one Pinkie held out. They then bit down on their respective churros at the same time, only to simultaneously flinch at how surprisingly tough they turned out to be. “Ow!” complained Sunset. “Mine’s hard as a rock. This is like eating a crowbar.”
“Yeah, didn’t see that coming,” admitted Pinkie.
Sunset then chuckled and remarked, “Oh, the cruel irony…” When Pinkie gave her a questioning look, she explained, “On many of the previous loops, often the one reason we kept missing PostCrush was because you were so eager for these churros that you ended up destroying that cart, leading to us getting kicked out before the show started. As a result of that and other incidents, I eventually came to regard these silly things as practically the bane of my existence at this festival. But now that I’ve finally decided to actually give these things a try…” She giggled as she pocketed the churro she had failed to even leave a bite mark in. “Turns out, I was never gonna like ‘em, anyway.”
“Aw, that’s a shame,” said Pinkie in disappointment. She then immediately perked up again and remarked, “Oh well! More for me!” She the swiped the box out of Sunset’s hands and held both boxes with her left arm as she began gnawing noisily on the churro she still held in her right hand.
Sunset stared at Pinkie in disbelief and muttered, “Some days, I wonder if you even have dental insurance…”
“Your lousy golf cart broke down on me yet again!”
Sunset and Pinkie turned to see Puffed Pastry being confronted by an angry intern.
“I’ve had enough of this nonsense!” the intern declared furiously. “Find someone else to deliver churros backstage to PostCrush, because I quit!” He then threw his golf cart keys to the ground and began to storm off.
“Get back ‘ere, you mauviette!” Puffed Pastry called out in frustration. “If zat cart won’t work, zen find a different means of transport!”
Sunset and Pinkie glanced at each other, smiled at the same time, then turned to Puffed Pastry. “Hey,” Sunset spoke up, catching Puffed Pastry’s attention. “How about a bicycle?”
“It even comes with a built-in basket on the front!” Pinkie pointed out cheerfully. “Perfect for easy churro transport.”
“Plus, we don’t mind not getting paid,” Sunset pointed out. “We happen to be huge fans of PostCrush, so just getting this opportunity to meet them is good enough for us.”
Puffed Pasty took a moment to look over the tandem bicycle being offered to assist her, glanced back at the intern who had already walked off, then smiled at the two girls and remarked, “You mademoiselles always find new ways of surprising me.” She walked back to her churro cart, filled one more box of fresh churros, then handed it over to Sunset. “Just make sure you do not mix zem up with ze ones I just gave you.”
“No problem!” assured Pinkie. “I’ve got my own special way of carrying stuff.” She swiftly removed her hair piece, tossed her two boxes of churros into the opening on the bottom of it, then stuck it back on her head.
When Puffed Pastry raised an eyebrow in confusion, Sunset just shrugged and said, “I’ve learned to not question Pinkie’s antics ages ago.” She then placed the box of churros intended for PostCrush into the bicycle’s basket and hopped onto the front seat. “By the way, do you mind telling us where we can find PostCrush?”
“Zeir tour bus is behind ze main stage,” replied Puffed Pastry. “You’ll know it when you see it. And if anyone questions seeing you backstage, just tell zem you’re doing some volunteer work for Puffed Pastry.”
“Good enough for me,” noted Sunset as she secured her helmet atop her head. “C’mon, Pinkie! Let’s ride!”
Pinkie whooped with joy as she hopped onto the rear seat of the tandem bicycle and tossed her helmet onto her head. Sunset then raised the kickstand and began to pedal the bicycle forward.
Both girls laughed and giggled excitedly as they sped across the festival grounds to a destination neither of them could have ever anticipated they would ever get to see. “See what happens when you embrace the chaos of our friendship?” remarked Pinkie.
“This couldn’t happen with all the mission planning in the world!” Sunset cheerfully acknowledged.
It took the two girls only a couple minutes to cover the distance to the area behind the main stage, where they saw a large tour bus that was dark purple with the band symbol for PostCrush labeled on the side of it.
The two close friends brought their bicycle to a stop beside that bus and Sunset lowered the kickstand. As they removed their helmets and got out of their seats, Pinkie excitedly remarked, “Ooh, I hope they like us! You must’ve met them on one of the other loops! Tell me what happens!”
Sunset chuckled and admitted, “Believe it or not, this is actually the very first time I’ve gotten a chance to personally meet PostCrush, and I’m glad it’s gonna be with the other half of my dynamic duo.”
Pinkie gasped and cheerfully exclaimed, “Wow! An awesome surprise for both of us! This day just keeps getting better and better!”
“Just try to keep your cool so they won’t call security on us,” cautioned Sunset with a smile. She grabbed the box of churros from the bicycle’s basket and handed it over to Pinkie. “Since I’ve already experienced a lot around here, I think it’s fair I should let you be the one to hand these over to them.”
Pinkie was practically speechless as she accepted those churros with a huge grin on her face.
“You ready?” asked Sunset.
Pinkie responded with a rapid nod of agreement.
Sunset and Pinkie then turned to the bus and walked over to its door. Sunset took a deep breath before she knocked on the door. As they waited, Pinkie slowed her breathing and quietly muttered to herself, “Keep it together, Pinkie. Keep it together…”
Within a few seconds, the bus’s door opened, revealing Kiwi Lollipop, the cool half of the dynamic duo that was PostCrush.
“Special delivery!” announced Sunset.
Pinkie held out the box of churros and stated with barely repressed excitement, “We are huge, huge, ginormous fans!”
K-Lo reacted with little more than a blank stare at the two girls standing before her, as if something didn’t seem quite right to her.
As this led to a rather awkward silence, Sunset and Pinkie continued to smile as they briefly glanced at each other before turning their star-struck stares back at K-Lo.
Suddenly, Supernova Zap — the zany half of the PostCrush dynamic duo — leaned out of the doorway and looked at the two fangirls with narrowed eyes. “That’s weird,” she muttered suspiciously. “The delivery’s much earlier than usual, and the delivery guy looks like two girls today.”
K-Lo swiftly jabbed Su-Z in the torso with her elbow and glared at her.
Su-Z flinched at the impact, then smiled and innocently spoke up, “I mean, today’s the first a-and only time we’ve done this! Yesterday was, um… a different day.”
A visibly annoyed K-Lo sighed and facepalmed.
While Pinkie continued to grin at the opportunity to personally meet PostCrush, Sunset’s expression had turned blank. After all, in her ongoing effort to find the Time Twirler, Sunset had to keep an eye out for anyone who seemed to have any awareness that this day had been repeating numerous times. Su-Z’s remarks about some peculiar specifics regarding the churro delivery definitely raised some red flags in Sunset’s mind. “Today can be a funny thing,” she noted suspiciously as she crossed her arms and frowned.
Pinkie glanced at Sunset in confusion, then turned back to PostCrush with a nervous grin in an effort to keep her cool.
“Word,” acknowledged K-Lo, mildly annoyed as she stepped out of the bus. “Thanks for being fans, but we gotta… you know… get on stage.”
“Of course!” agreed Pinkie uneasily. “We don’t wanna keep you back.” She took a step back towards the bicycle and tried to pull Sunset back with her as she rather loudly whispered, “C’mon, Sunset.”
Sunset stood her ground and watched as the PostCrush duo turned away and began walking off. She couldn’t help but notice that the large golden clip holding the purple bow to the back of K-Lo’s hair piece looked remarkably similar to the illustrations she had seen of the Time Twirler — another huge red flag in Sunset’s mind.
Sunset knew she couldn’t risk any direct confrontation without absolute proof of her suspicions, so she brushed off Pinkie’s grip on her shoulder and stepped forward. With a smile on her face, she calmly asked, “But before you go on, could you at least give me the honor of shaking your hand?”
K-Lo and Su-Z stopped and turned back to look at Sunset.
“As a thank you for all your music and anything else you might’ve done to me — I mean, for me,” added Sunset. She really hoped they didn’t catch that little slip-up at the end of her request. After all, she and her friends had already saved the Lego World numerous times, so her magical powers were not exactly unknown to everyone, and her blatantly asking for direct hand contact was sure to raise suspicions in anyone who was fully aware of her mind-reading powers.
Pinkie Pie and Su-Z stood off to the side and watched in confusion while K-Lo stared at the open hand Sunset was offering to her. K-Lo had been very insistent on getting ready for their upcoming show, and her face still reflected her mild annoyance. In fact, because of her impatience, she believed it would be best to take the extra few seconds to shake Sunset’s hand so that this pointless meeting could end as soon as possible.
K-Lo softened her expression, then stepped forward and held out her hand as she casually stated, “Anything for a fan.”
As soon as Sunset and K-Lo gripped their hands together, Sunset’s body stiffened and her eyes glowed white as she began to look into K-Lo’s memories.
Sunset was already aware that back when PostCrush broke up for their “indefinite hiatus”, K-Lo and Su-Z had spent much of that time traveling around separately, so it didn’t really surprise her that the first memory she witnessed was K-Lo wandering around a bazaar in the desert region of Pharaoh’s Kingdom. She was wearing a white hooded cloak as she browsed the numerous stands that were selling all kinds of items. She was rather fascinated by the aesthetics of this region — pyramids and decorated obelisks, tombs and gilded sarcophaguses, and especially the hieroglyphic symbols — so she was looking for a little something she could take home with her, though she didn’t exactly have anything in particular in mind at the moment.
“Hey! You there!” someone softly spoke up.
K-Lo turned to the source of that hushed voice and saw someone standing behind one of the nearby shop stands. He was wearing a dark robe and headwear that obscured everything except his eyes, so the only part of him she could identify was that he had the standard yellow skin tone of most minifigs.
“Would you like to purchase a forbidden accessory?” offered the cloaked shopkeeper quietly.
K-Lo glanced left and right, then approached the stall and asked, “Depends on what you mean by ‘forbidden’.”
The anonymous shopkeeper lifted a cloth from the counter between them, exposing a small, round, golden object. “This piece is said to have been plundered from the tomb of Somnambula,” he explained.
K-Lo picked up the mystery object and closely inspected it. It was unlike anything she had ever encountered. She couldn’t quite figure out how, but it just didn’t feel like most Lego parts she had handled before. She raised an eyebrow and asked, “Is that all there is to it?”
“According to legend,” continued the mysterious shopkeeper, “this artifact has the power to manipulate time itself. One press of that button on top, and you and everyone else nearby will next awaken back on the previous morning. You will have the opportunity to avoid whatever mistakes you had previously made that day, and if a single repeat doesn’t cut it, just press the button again anywhere at any time on that same day, and you and everyone else affected the first time will repeat that day a third time. There’s no limit to how many more times you can then repeat the day, so long as you keep hitting that button before the end of that day.”
K-Lo took a moment to process that information as she stared at the artifact in her hand. She was hardly a superstitious person and knew better than to trust the words of some stranger who refused to show his face. However, she couldn’t deny that the thought of having such a power like that was rather tempting. After all, the reason she and Su-Z had parted ways was because she had such an immense desire for perfection and Su-Z just couldn’t stand it. For example, their hit song True Original went through a hundred recordings before Su-Z and the studio had to insist on no more attempts, forcing her to settle on one that was merely good enough. To have something that could offer the ability to retry real life sounded almost too good to be true. If this item could really do what this stranger claimed, then perhaps she could even accept Su-Z’s request for them to do a live show, now that she had the assurance that they could simply try it again if anything went wrong.
Then again, K-Lo had to remind herself that it was all just an interesting story to go with this item. The practical side of her was adamant that there was nothing special about this thing at all, aside from its interesting appearance. Ultimately, all she really wanted was an accessory that looked good and beautifully reflected this region, and as far as she could see, this item seemed like an ideal option for those criteria.
With the artifact still in her hands, K-Lo turned to the mysterious shopkeeper and asked, “What’s your asking price?”
“I’ll accept any form of payment,” replied the anonymous vendor, “but if you want the value in dollars, all I’m asking for is twenty.”
Without a word, K-Lo pulled out a green 1x2 tile piece with the number “20” printed on it in white, handed it over to the mysterious vendor, and then began to walk away with her newly purchased item.
As K-Lo left, the unknown vendor soon began to giggle hysterically before he excitedly cried out. “It worked! She took it! It’s no longer mine! The curse has been lifted! I’m free!” He started whooping uncontrollably as he did all kinds of crazy dance moves atop the counter of his stand.
K-Lo glanced back at the shopkeeper’s spontaneous antics, then she shook her head and muttered, “What a weirdo…”
The next memory Sunset witnessed was the live performance of PostCrush on the night of day one of the Starswirled Music Festival — which she had missed seeing the first time around. This concert started out smoothly, but then went terribly wrong when K-Lo accidentally broke one of the strings on her guitar. Although the crowd continued to cheer as they proceeded with their song, K-Lo was absolutely furious about how out of tune the remainder of the show was with the absence of that one string.
After the show was over and practically the moment the two of them were backstage and out of sight from the audience, K-Lo did not hold back her frustration. “Ugh! I can’t believe that just happened!” she cried out furiously. “I mean, seriously?! I just had to break a string right in the middle of our show!”
Su-Z sighed and irritably responded, “Yeah, I get it, K-Lo. Trust me, I’d be upset if that happened to me. We’ll just have to accept it and move on.”
In a fit of anger, K-Lo removed the bow from the back of her hair and threw it to the ground. When she heard a faint metallic noise as it hit the floor, she was suddenly reminded of that item she had purchased back in Pharaoh’s Kingdom, which she had decided to use as a decorative accessory on her bow. She stared at the mysterious artifact for a moment, contemplating its rumored powers. She still had her doubts, but after how disastrous tonight’s show had been in her mind, she was willing to try anything to correct it.
K-Lo reached down and removed the golden artifact from her discarded bow. She continued to stare at it for a moment before she muttered, “Maybe we don’t have to…”
Su-Z raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you talking about?”
K-Lo didn’t give a direct answer and instead began to walk off as she simply stated, “Come with me.”
“Hey! Where are you going?” Su-Z called out as she chased after K-Lo out of the backstage room.
K-Lo led her bandmate away from the stage, away from the crowds and lights of the festival, and out into the forest wilderness surrounding the festival grounds. Eventually, they came to a stop on a small wooden bridge across a creek.
Su-Z took a moment to catch her breath after that chase, then desperately asked, “Could you please explain to me why we’re suddenly out in the middle of nowhere?”
“Because we can’t allow anyone to know about this,” replied K-Lo as she showed the artifact to her bandmate.
Su-Z stared at the artifact for a moment before she asked, “What’s so special about it? I mean, you said it was just a little something you got in Pharaoh’s Kingdom.”
“The guy who sold this to me claimed that it has the power to turn back time itself,” explained K-Lo. “With that kind of ability, we can redo this day and avoid that dumb mistake that happened in the middle of our show.”
Now Su-Z became intrigued. “Does it work?” she asked.
“To be honest, I’ve never tried it before,” confessed K-Lo. “And frankly, I didn’t believe a word of it when I bought it. But after tonight’s disaster, I’m willing to give it a try.”
“Well, with all the otherworldly magic I’ve been hearing about all over the Lego World recently, I guess it’s possible that thing might actually have that power,” noted Su-Z. “So how do we activate it?”
“All I have to do is hit the button on top,” explained K-Lo, “and the next time we wake up will be right back where we were at the start of this day. The first time will affect everyone nearby, but after that, we can keep reusing it no matter where we are.”
“Oh, so I guess that explains why you wanted the two of us all alone out in the middle of nowhere,” acknowledged Su-Z. “Well, might as well go for it.”
With that word of encouragement from her bandmate, K-Lo tapped the button on the artifact.
Whoosh!
A bright flash was suddenly unleashed along with a shockwave of energy that quickly spread out across a rather large distance. Thankfully, the intense effect lasted very briefly before everything had seemingly returned to normal.
“Whoa. I sure hope nobody saw that,” muttered Su-Z, somewhat astonished to have experienced such a weird sensation.
“Even if anyone did, they won’t remember it once we wake up,” assured K-Lo.
“So I guess this means we should just head back to our bus and turn in for night, then we’ll find out if it actually worked,” suggested Su-Z.
“Agreed,” stated K-Lo as she pocketed her magical artifact and led the way back to their tour bus.
When they woke up in the morning, they quickly confirmed that they really were right back at the previous morning on day one of the festival. With that reset, K-Lo made sure to replace that weak guitar string to prevent a repeat of the on-stage disaster. Unfortunately, Su-Z accidentally punctured one of her drums in the middle of their show, forcing K-Lo to hit the reset button a second time.
The two of them went on to reset the day many more times as a result of unforeseen mishaps. The third attempt involved K-Lo accidentally smacking the neck of her guitar against one of the cymbals on Su-Z’s drum set — which Sunset suddenly realized she had remembered seeing on her first successful attempt to watch PostCrush. Further mishaps involved Su-Z breaking a drumstick, K-Lo fumbling and dropping her guitar pick, an ill-timed sneeze from Su-Z throwing off the rhythm, K-Lo managing step on the one loose floorboard on stage that caused her to stumble.
After dozens of attempts, they did manage to learn from experience and consistently made all the subtle adjustments to avoid repeating any of those mishaps. But although their performance eventually improved to the point that a common fan might consider it superb excellence, K-Lo’s obsession with absolute perfection soon got the better of her. On the more recent resets, K-Lo started calling out every single little thing that didn’t feel quite right to her, much to Su-Z’s frustration. Even something as minor as just one off-key note was enough to drive K-Lo to hit that reset button yet again.
Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal as her glimpse into K-Lo’s memories came to an end. She gasped in shock and released her grasp on K-Lo’s hand, then immediately scowled at her and furiously accused, “You found the Time Twirler! You’re the ones who’ve been causing this time loop!”
Pinkie dropped the box of churros in her hands as she gasped in shock and exclaimed, “Holy linguini!”
“Uh, pause,” Su-Z spoke up. “How did you figure that out so quickly?”
K-Lo slapped herself in the forehead and growled in frustration. “I should’ve seen that one coming!” she grumbled as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at Sunset. “I mean, your friend even said your name out loud. You’re Sunset Shimmer, one of the seven Equestria Girls with magical powers. You’re the one who can read minds.”
“Glad to know some people aren’t totally ignorant of all the things my friends and I have done,” muttered Sunset dryly as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “And as much as I really do admire your music, I have to say that by abusing the use of Equestrian Magic, you have now made yourselves our latest opponent.” She then held out her hand and casually suggested, “How about you just hand over the Time Twirler and make this easy for all of us?”
“Forget it!” K-Lo shot back defiantly. “We’re gonna loop our show ‘til it’s perfect! A fangirl like you wouldn’t get it.”
“Unless you’re such a huge fangirl that you do get it,” noted Su-Z.
K-Lo scoffed and dismissively insisted, “You know fans can never get it.”
“But I do,” explained Sunset as she took a step forward. “When I first got here, I also had a desire to have a perfect day, but after all these loops, I’ve learned that no matter how hard you try, things can never be perfect.”
“Then we stop, never,” declared Su-Z.
“Besides,” continued K-Lo smugly, “I had my suspicions that someone else might’ve gotten caught up in our time loop — that big explosion in the campgrounds that one time was kinda hard to ignore, for example. But now that we know you’re the one who’s in on our little secret, we’ll make sure that you’ll never set foot inside this festival ever again.”
“Go ahead,” muttered Sunset dismissively. “Take our pictures and hang them up. They’ll all disappear in the morning.”
K-Lo maintained her smug expression as she asked, “Ever heard of drawings?”
“Everything resets,” insisted Sunset. “Believe me, I know from experience.”
“You don’t, and neither do we,” argued Su-Z as she stepped back into the tour bus. She reemerged after only a few seconds, now holding a pen in one hand and a sheet of paper in the other hand. As K-Lo turned around and leaned slightly forward, Su-Z used her back as an easel and began quickly scribbling on the paper as she continued, “And now that we’ve seen your faces, I’m an art school dropout, and you better believe I can draw your faces so flawlessly, guards will ban you at the gates from now until forevah.” Su-Z finished her drawing and held it up, showing a rather crude sketch of Pinkie and Sunset to the girls depicted on that sketch.
“Forevah-evah!” added K-Lo tauntingly.
“NO!!” Pinkie cried out in horror.
“Yeah, she can,” stated K-Lo confidently.
“Mmm-hmm,” agreed Su-Z with a nod.
“You call that flawless?” retorted Sunset skeptically. “And even if you do manage to convince the guards to keep me out, I’ll always be in the area, not because I won’t leave, but because I can’t. According to a friend of mine who told me about that artifact, it’s got a fail-safe that prevents anyone caught in its effect from ending up too far away from it while it’s in use. I’ve honestly lost count of how many perfectly fine vehicles spontaneously broke down while trying to get me away from here.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her glare at the PostCrush duo as she firmly added, “Besides, do you really think you can intimidate someone with my kind of past that easily? Whenever I’m faced with a threat — especially one that could harm my friends — I will stop at nothing to defeat it. I will do whatever it takes to shut off that Time Twirler and end this time loop, even if I have to demolish half of this festival in the process.”
K-Lo just smirked and smugly declared, “Then let’s see you try.”
Su-Z snapped her hand and called out, “Security! We got a code chartreuse — crazy fan alert!”
Sunset and Pinkie glanced around and soon saw a certain security guard march over to them from behind where they stood. “You again?” muttered Sunset in shock as she recognized him as Max Steele from the entrance security line.
“All right, you girls are coming with me,” Max firmly stated as he grasped Sunset and Pinkie by their arms and began forcefully escorting them away from the scene. “You should know that you’re not allowed back here without a valid backstage pass.”
“But we were just delivering churros to PostCrush!” insisted Pinkie desperately. “Just ask Puffed Pastry! She’s the one who sent us after her regular guy quit on her!”
“I don’t wanna hear any excuses,” argued Max as he forced the two girls around the edge of the festival grounds. “Just let me do my job and there won’t be any further trouble.”
Sunset and Pinkie didn’t put up much resistance as security guard Max shoved them ahead until they finally reached a doorway in the wall that marked the perimeter of the festival grounds.
As she and Pinkie were thrown out through the doorway, Sunset turned back to Max and desperately pleaded, “How are you gonna let anyone in if you keep kicking people out?!”
Max made no response and simply closed the door. He turned away and began to return to his post, but then paused and glanced back at the shut door. He hesitated for a moment, then let out a reluctant sigh and resumed walking away.
Outside the doorway, Sunset was once again faced with the warning message of “EXIT ONLY! Trespassers will be tackled on sight,” on the decal stuck to that door. She glanced up at the sky and saw it was already starting to get dark. PostCrush would be starting their show soon, and if it didn’t go perfectly — which was practically guaranteed to happen — then they would reset the loop yet again and all of Sunset’s efforts today would go to waste.
Despite the confidence she had shown earlier while confronting PostCrush, Sunset was seriously concerned about the consequences she and her friends would be faced with if she failed to somehow stop PostCrush on this particular loop.