The next day at CHS was calm. Only one rumor had been posted in the forum that was immediately solved, thanks to the rumor involving mythical creatures that Sunset knew are harmless spirits. The club was able to finish most of their work with the newspaper, and they were getting ready to publish the newspaper in the coming week. But despite the calmness of the day, Sunset was still uneasy as the day went by. However, she felt a little bit better when she joined her friends at their usual table and was distracted from her thought when she joined the conversation. The rumors and newspaper slowly progressed to the usual gossip about their band.
"You guys are in a band?" Aiko asked as she ate the food from her bento.
"Yeah, the best band Canterlot has ever seen," Rainbow boasted.
"Do you play any instruments, Aiko?" Twilight asked.
"Um… I play the violin," She offered up after some hesitation.
"Really? We could use a violinist," Sunset said.
"We do? But we are a rock band. Why would we need a violin?" Rainbow asked.
"Rock bands do use violins, darling. And what's the harming in having a violinist since I usually play with my keytar?" Rarity asked. "On top of that Rainbow, there are quite of few songs where I use the violin setting on the keytar. Adding Aiko could add another musical layer to our songs that we might not otherwise be aware of or needed before."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. If Aiko joins us, she can play those parts giving Rarity to back us up on strings or punctuate Pinkie's drums," Sunset stated.
"So, what do you say?" Twilight asked.
"Um… if that's okay with you-"
"YAAY!! We have a new member," Pinkie shouted, sprinkling confetti around.
"Pinkie, we are eating," Applejack scolded as she picked confetti out of her apple sauce.
"Hehe… sorry…"
Sunset smiled at the group and was able to forget about the forum, even if it was for just a few minutes, which she would relish.
"Say, Aiko, why don't you join us today for the band practice after school? I know you don't have your violin, but you can take a look at how we play, and Fluttershy or I can lend you our sheet music," Sunset said. 'And you may be ready for another secret, especially after the whole spirit incident.'
"I'd love to," Aiko said as the bell rang.
And as the classes continued for the day, Sunset's uneasiness returned as her mind constantly went to the forum. Fortunately for her, she had a class with Fluttershy, which helped Sunset get her mind off of the forum and the mysterious admin. Before long, the school ended for the day. After leaving her books in her locker and stuffing the books she needed to take home in her bag, Sunset made her way to the music room. She weaved in and out of the student traffic. After nearly crashing into several students, she finally made it to the music room. Once entering, Sunset noticed everyone but Aiko were already there, and they all seemed to be having a small discussion.
"Hey, guys, what are you talking about?" Sunset asked, already having a hunch about what they might be talking about.
"Sunset, are we going to tell Aiko about the rest of the story?" Rarity asked.
"Yeah. She's part of the group now, so there's a pretty good chance that she is going to know about it all sooner or later. So I think it's better to get this over with as soon as possible and that it comes from our mouth, so no misinformation occurs," Sunset said. The rest of the girls nodded, agreeing with Sunset, as secrets could destroy friendships faster than anything.
As the girls practiced rifts on their instruments, Aiko entered and joined the seat beside Twilight. Who didn't play an instrument but was able to harmonize with Rainbow or Sunset. She also had a dynamic voice that allowed her to get up high with her voice and lower for somber pieces of the band's songs. She also worked the mixer, as she had the ability to perfectly blend the girls' music together. Pushing their music to the next level and quickly becoming the best band in Canterlot. Before they began their practice, Sunset approached Aiko.
"Hey Aiko, remember the story I told you? The one about magic?" Sunset asked.
"Mm-hm… what about it?" Aiko asked.
"Well… since you are pretty much a permanent part of the group now, I think it's better that I tell you the rest of the story. Bear in mind that this will sound really weird."
"Um… I've already seen magic, and there's a forum making rumors real. So I don't think anything is too far from the realm of possibilities."
"We'll see about that. But first, you need to see us play. It's a part of the explanation," Sunset said, smiling at the confused face of Aiko.
After that, Sunset joined the rest of the girls and began to play one of their songs. Before long, Aiko was enraptured by the song as she bobbed her head left and right to the rhythm. As she did so, Aiko waved her finger back and forth as she started to memorize the melody of the song. Everything was proceeding like a regular rehearsal, so imagine her surprise when the girls suddenly began to glow.
"Sugoi (whoa)!!" Aiko said in amazement.
As the glow faded, she saw that all the girls had gone through a transformation. Pinkie and Applejack only had a pair of pointed ears. Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Twilight all had a pair of wings on their back, with Rainbow hovering above the rest of the girls and Rarity having a horn on her forehead. Sunset was the only one that had both a pair of wings and a horn. Her wings and horns looked a bit larger and longer compared to others, and her wings had a pattern of red that made it look like her wings were on fire when she moved them. As the girls finished their performance, they turned to the girl watching them from the corner of the room, only to see her looking at them with wide eyes and her mouth hanging open.
"Nani datte (what was that)?" Aiko asked.
"Hehe- told you," Sunset giggled in a smirking manner. "So… remember when I said that I brought some magic here? Did you ever wonder where I brought it from?"
"I… actually, now that you say that… where did you get it from? Are you some kind of angel or elf?"
"Haha, no, but I'm something similar now, I think. Anyway, Aiko, I brought magic from my homeworld. And before you ask, yes, I'm not from this world."
"Nani (what)!?" Aiko said in disbelief.
"Yep, you should take a seat first," Sunset said. After Aiko took a seat as Sunset began to tell her tale. So Sunset began her tale from what her homeworld was like, her time as Celestia's student and her hope for family becoming a lust for power. She briefly mentioned her downfall as she was still uncomfortable talking about it. Sunset even explained her latest adventure that made her a princess.
"So… any questions?"
"Okay, let me get this straight, you are a magical unicorn-"
"Was a unicorn," Pinkie corrected.
"Uh, yea, that, You come from an alternate world with talking ponies, who did some bad things, changed your ways, and now became a hero and a princess?" Aiko asked.
"Pretty much, yeah. I know it's really weird, but I'm telling the truth."
"Well… at least, that explains the pony part."
"I could take you to my homeworld. I mean, my coronation should take place in a few days, and I'm not going to my coronation without my friends."
"Oh… wow…" Aiko said, still processing all this. "So… um… will I turn like that too… if I join you?"
"Well, first you need to connect with the magic of this world, and there's a pretty good chance of that happening if you stick with us, so yeah,"
"Oh… this is all really weird… but cool."
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Twilight said, placing a hand on her shoulder.
That night, Sunset talked with Princess Twilight about the forum. Since Twilight had no idea how a forum works, thus most of the time was spent explaining the basics before explaining the actual problem. They weren't able to come up with anything other than what they already knew, and Sunset was met with another dead end on how to stop the forum. Since asking not to post anything wasn't going to work, she was left with their initial plan of investigating the rumors and stopping them, then writing a post about it. Twilight also told her she had to visit Equestria for a rehearsal of the coronation.
With that, Sunset went to sleep for the day. However, as fate would have it, Sunset wasn't going to get much rest the next day. Despite it being a Saturday, she woke up from her phone going off. Squinting her eyes, Sunset looked at the caller ID and saw it was Fluttershy, and apparently, she had been trying to call for a while since she already had 4 missed calls. Swearing softly, Sunset quickly dialed Fluttershy's number and it was answered on the second ring.
"Uh… Fluttershy… why-"
"SUNSET! Oh, thank goodness you picked up… it, it got me- I got the picture- it's- I'm so scared- I saw it this morning-"
"Whoa whoa, calm down, what are you talking about- take a deep breath first," Sunset imitated with Fluttershy doing the same. "Okay, now tell me what happened."
"It's the forum… it had a new post, and it's targeted me!"
"WHAT!?" Sunset shouted, getting off the bed in an instance.
"Please help me. I'm scared."
"Hey, hey, it's okay, I will be there as soon as possible, and I'm leaving now."
After calming Fluttershy down, Sunset quickly got dressed and asked Celestia to give her a ride telling her it's very urgent. While on the way, Sunset loaded up the forum to see what the latest forum is about.
Anon-a-miss –
I'm posting it here because I got a little scared. Why? There's a rumor going on among my friends. One of them is a jokester, so I'm actually still skeptical. But again, another friend knows the same rumor too.
The rumor is like this: A photo is sent to your phone suddenly one day. The photo has a girl in the distance, staring directly at you. Actually, the photo is sent to you every day, and the girl in the photo gets closer and closer. It is sent every single day no matter if you check it or not. And then her face gets clearer. If your eyes meet, she will appear in front of you, and she'll kill you.
Sunset's hand went to her mouth as she read the post. Fluttershy got the first picture, and now they have no idea how long they had until the last picture. Sunset quickly opened up the chat she made for the club and sent a message to meet up at CHS.