“Come on, y’all! Time to prove we’ve still got the magic of friendship inside us!” Applejack said. “And there’s only one way to do it.” Twilight added.
“We’re getting the band back together?” Pinkie asked. “We’re getting our band back together.” Rainbow corrected her. “Ooh, which version of the counter-spell are we going to play?” Rarity questioned. “I don’t think it matters what song we play, as long as we play it together, as friends!” Twilight answered, with Rainbow cutting in. “I know just the song!” Rainbow nodded her head toward Kai as concerned glances passed through the team. Kai crosses over and places a hand on the girl. “Zane’s showed me that Fluttershy has written some really great ones.” His words made her face morph into a squeaky grin.
“We’re about to save the world here. Personally, I think we should do it in style. Rarity?” Applejack looked towards the girl. “I thought you’d never ask!” Rarity pulled out a rack of dresses. “I’m guessing you didn’t have time to make anything, ninja related…” Cole looked at the dresses. “Oh darling, I always have time.” She said as she pulled out a another rack.
The six garments on the first rack are sleeveless, in assorted bright and vivid colors, and five of them sport patterns based on the cutie marks of all but Twilight. The centerpieces of the last dress are a pair of eight-pointed stars, gold at the neckline and silver at the waist. On the second rack, 6 ninja suits to each color that look like the EVO suits are hanging. They seem to have each ninja’s element symbol on the shoulder. The Dazzlings have began their final attack above stage.
As they dance from side to side, the camera cuts to a slow pan across the front row, every occupant utterly captivated by the unfolding spectacle.
Adagio: Welcome to the show
We’re here to let you know
Our time is now
Dazzlings: Your time is running out
At a hilltop just visible in the fore. A foot clad in a light-blue, lightning-bolt-marked platform shoe and yellow tights plants itself on the grass, and it is one of Rainbow’s. She and the rest of the Rainbooms are standing here, Twilight, Pinkie and Jay holding microphone and drumsticks, respectively; the others have their instruments ready. All have changed into the dresses and ninja suits Rarity provided and donned platforms in various styles and colors, as well as tights in a different color for each leg, and a different color for each arm in the ninja suits. Applejack has traded her usual brown cowboy hat for a red one in a slightly different style. Every last one is greatly daunted by the sonic subterfuge unfolding before them. A wind blows across the hilltop, toying with their hairstyles and doing little to cover the Dazzlings’ singing.
“How are we supposed to play over them from up here?” Rainbow asked. “Jay could probably do it, he’s loud enough!” Kai put an arm around his friend as Jay playfully rolled his eyes.
The sounds of a car horn and approaching tires catch them off guard, and they turn to find DJ P0N-3 rolling up in a light blue convertible with darker trim and the top down. Heart-shaped musical notes adorn the door, bright blue lyres mark the hubcaps, and a rearing-pony hood ornament is front and center. Sunset, Lloyd and Spike are now here as well; the former now wears a top in the shade of shocking pink as her usual shirt, but no longer marked with her trademark yellow/red sun. Lloyd is also wearing his EVO suit, despite not singing. DJ P0N-3 produces and clicks a remote to shut off the engine and headlights, but the device triggers many more effects in the bargain. The front bumper flips up to expose an equalizer panel and a row of lights; lava lamps pop out ahead of the front wheels; speakers swing out from both sides and up from the rear end, the latter accompanied by a bank of multicolored laser emitters to add a light show. The whole car ends up mounted on a framework that has folded out from beneath the undercarriage. Sunset smiles at the radical change-up, and the eleven performers add their own exclamations of delight.
At the stage, waves of red energy radiate from the Dazzlings and wash over the crowd.
Dazzlings: Feel the wave of sound as it crashes down
The enchantment takes hold; a flash from the pendants, and the three begin to rise off the boards.
You can’t turn away, we’ll make you want to stay
The gems burn red, throwing rays in all directions. Now visible only as white-outlined black silhouettes, they each sprout the same pony ears and hair extensions that previously manifested on the Rainbooms.
Dazzlings: We will be adored, tell us that you want us
We won’t be ignored, it’s time for our reward
A flash, and their normal colors are restored, with two changes: sparkles on the outfits, and translucent fin-like wings on each of the three backs.
Dazzlings: Now you need us, come and heed us
Nothing can stop us now
The abrupt style change catches them flat-footed—or at least as much as they can be, given that they are still floating above the stage—and Adagio grimaces mightily once she gets her eyes turned in the direction of Aria’s pointing finger.
Rainbooms: Oh, whoa
Long shot of the group on their hilltop, backed by the mobile sound/light show. Sunset, Lloyd and Spike keep their distance, backed off to one side.
I’ve got the music in me
Oh, whoa
Guitar lick by Rainbow and Kai
Twilight: Don’t need to hear a crowd cheering out my name
The students start to come to their senses and glance toward the band.
I didn’t come here seeking infamy or fame
Rainbooms: The one and only thing that I am here to bring
Smiles spread through the crowd.
Is music, is the music, is the music in my soul
A burst of white light envelops the group, and one by one, a wave of objects matching the cutie mark and elemental symbol of each teen tumbles across the screen to give a close-up of them undergoing their half-pony transformation and her clothes beginning to sparkle. Applejack: red streak appears in hair. Rarity: pink/blue streaks in hair. Fluttershy: streaks of yellow and dark pink as she twirls in place. Rainbow: sliding forward on her knees to strike a chord. Pinkie: two-tone blue streaks in hair. Jay: A yellow lightning mark spreads in his hair. Kai: lights his hand on fire as a red streak goes up his hair. Cole: orange streak in hair. Zane: Ice shard looking streak in hair. Nya: spins around as a light blue and maroon red streak appears in her hair. Kai and Jay have grown wings as well. Last is Twilight, whose six-pointed pink star expands to fill the screen; from here, snap to her as streaks of light blue and pink trace down the full length of her hair and she catches a microphone thrown to her.
Rainbooms: Gonna break out [Out!] and set myself free, yeah
Let it all go [Go!], just let it be, yeah
Find the music in your heart, let the music make you start
To set yourself apart
All but Pinkie and Jay end up floating high above the improvised second stage.
“So the Rainbooms want to turn this into a real Battle of the Bands? Then let’s battle.” Adagio growled.
Dazzlings: What we have in store, all we want and more
The crowd falls under their influence again; close-up of Adagio, eyes burning red.
We will break on through, now it’s time to finish you
A pulse travels from her pendant to those of Aria and Sonata, the eyes of these two going crimson as well, and a blast of red/white magic pours outward from the stage to turn the sky a lurid crimson. One by one, each gem sends up an apparition matching the image of the equine/reptilian Sirens in the book Twilight showed her friends before she made the jump from Ponyville to Canterlot High. One is yellow, one violet, one blue—from Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, respectively—and each has a gem embedded in its chest. The Rainbooms stare wide-eyed at this new turn of events, and the three specters rocket out toward the hilltop.
They circle the Rainbooms, looking for an opportunity to strike and forcing all but Pinkie into a tight defensive circle. DJ P0N-3 adjusts a setting on the turntables built into her car’s dashboard, Pinkie and Jay crank off a high-speed drum riff, and the speakers throw out a sound wave that scatters the Sirens’ avatars.
Rarity and Nya’s fingers race over their keys, sending a blast of water with lozenge-shaped jewels to disrupt the attackers; Fluttershy and Zane add to the offensive with a tambourine shake that unleashes a torrent of iced butterflies.
Twilight: Whoa, whoa
The entire vicinity shakes in response to her amplified voice, and a rush of white six-pointed stars pours forth. Cut to a profile of a furious Adagio, then dissolve to her Siren avatar, which lets go with an even higher note and a wave of red magic that overwhelms Twilight all too quickly. She is slowly pushed back by the counterattack, one platform sole grinding into the dirt, but gets herself stabilized and sends up a glare of the clearest, purest anger.
All three Dazzlings join forces and voices now, uncorking a full-volume vocal battering through their avatars that pushes the Rainbooms off their feet. The microphone goes flying out of Twilight’s hand in slow motion, brushing against one of Pinkie’s cymbals as it tumbles past…
…and arcs gracelessly through the empty space. Normal motion resumes with a cut to a close-up of it rolling to a stop at Sunset’s foot; she picks it up, Spike looking on. She regards the device as if it were a hand grenade with the pin pulled out, then huddles herself slightly over it. As the Dazzlings advance slightly from the stage, mouths set in truly frightening grins of impending triumph, Twilight looks in Sunset’s direction.
“Sunset Shimmer, Lloyd! We need you two!” Twilight yelled out to them.
The red/gold-haired girl’s face broadcasts the titanic struggle that rages through her mind at this request. She looks over to Lloyd, who nods at her. It ends with the brows drawing down over the blue-green eyes in steely determination; Twilight and company still crumpled on the hilltop as the two step to the fore. Sunset has a mic one hand, shucking off and throwing aside her jacket with the other. A studded bracelet encircles each wrist, and her upper-body garment is now fully exposed as a sleeveless top. She lets Lloyd grab the mic with a hand too. As the wind blows through their hair, DJ P0N-3 works her turntable controls and starts a record spinning, bringing the front-end equalizer panel back to life.
Sunset, Lloyd: You’re never gonna bring me down
You’re never gonna break this part of me
My friends are here to bring me ’round
Not singing just for popularity
Sunset helps Twilight up as Lloyd helps up Kai.
Twilight, Sunset, Kai, Lloyd: We’re here to let you know that we won’t let it go
Pinkie sits upright at her kit, the others stand up, and all start to play.
Our music is a bomb and it’s about to blow
The specters rush toward the band.
And you can try to fight, but we have got the light
Rainbooms, Sunset, Lloyd: Of friendship on our side
A ball of white light appears behind Lloyd and Sunset and grows in intensity, with a secondary focus in the free hands that they lift over their heads and touch together. A pastel-rainbow shock wave tears outward from the group, hurling the spectral Sirens away and nailing the real ones dead on. Its passage shakes the students out of their daze and rattles Adagio so badly that the infernal red glow fades from her eyes.
Rainbooms, Sunset, Lloyd: Got the music in our hearts
We’re here to blow this thing apart
And together we will never
Be afraid of the dark
Now Sunset finds herself and Lloyd slowly floating free of the ground, yellow light and sparkles blazing around every inch of her form. Two yellow-orange pony ears emerge from within the wild tumble of hair, and one midair pirouette later, the locks reaching down her back have elongated into a tail secured by a studded band that matches her bracelets. Lloyd has taken on a green streak through his hair, and has achieved the alicorn half pony form that Twilight also has. The energy surrounding her surges out in a wave of red/yellow sunbursts to fully reveal the transformed Sunset—sparkles on her clothing and boots, and a large sunburst on her skirt. Her face displays a smirk, but it is one of confidence rather than malice, and a green burst of energy reveals Lloyd, who’s powers have also returned.
Rainbooms: Here to sing our song out loud
Get you dancing with the crowd
As the music of our friendship
Survives, survives
The other eleven rise up behind Sunset and Lloyd, each wreathed in a glow of her own; Pinkie’s drum kit stays on the ground. A new rainbow flashes upward from them and into the sky, but this one has thirteen colors rather than six once a green, red, orange, blue, white, light blue, and vivid scarlet streak rises in the middle due to Sunset and the ninja’s involvement. The beam pours into a bank of gray clouds swirling overhead, which disintegrate to reveal a gigantic, white-glowing sphere unfurling a pair of translucent blue-white wings.
Rainbooms: Got the music in our hearts
We’re here to blow this thing apart
And together we will never
Be afraid of the dark
Students all over the place start to get down on it.
Rainbooms, Students: Here to sing our song out loud
Get you dancing with the crowd
The Dazzlings glower down at them, the red light gone from all three pairs of eyes, then glance upward with real fear. What the band has unleashed is a colossal winged unicorn whose body seems to consist of a spinjitzu tornado and glitter with stardust from one end to the other. Its streaming mane/tail display all the colors of the rainbow that formed it, and its eyes and the tip of its horn burn purest white. This apparition stands at least three times as tall and broad as those conjured by the Dazzlings.
Rainbooms, Students: As the magic of our friendship
Survives, survives, survives
Here comes the pitch: a wide beam that angles downward to strike both high and low. The ghostly Sirens crack and shatter into fragments, the gems in the Dazzlings’ pendants do the same..
The Dazzlings have fallen hard amid a few last dissipating wisps of green negative energy. The sky has returned to its normal nocturnal hue. Their wings, clothing sparkles, and pony ears/tails gone; the remains of their red jewels lie before them, still glowing feebly—but only for a moment. As the last glimmers of light fade away from the broken baubles, Adagio is first to regard hers with a popeyed stare; she scoops up those shards and hastily gets to her feet. Up come Aria and Sonata as well, all three glaring toward the crowd, and they take a deep breath to sing again—but this time, not a single one of them is in any recognizable key.
The sudden loss of their mesmerizing vocal ability throws a bucketful of sand into their mental machinery. The crowd is not amused.
Dazzlings: We will be adored, tell us that you want us
(losing steam)
We won’t be ignored, it’s time for our reward
The end of their second line is lost under a hearty round of booing, which is in turn followed by a barrage of thrown food items that sends the trio running for the wings. Sunset reaches into view to pick one of the shards up, she stands upright to inspect it. Her pony ears and tail are gone, and she has put her jacket back on.
“Guess that explains why these were so special to them.” Sunset chuckled
Everyone has returned to normal as well.
“Without those pendants, the magic the ninja brought here, and the magic you brought here from Equestria, they’re just three harmless teenage girls.” Twilight smiled.
“Rainbooms Rule!” Flash raced onto the stage and grabbed Twilight into a hug. “That was amazing!”
Caught completely off guard, she glances toward her bandmates with the barest hint of a blush; they just giggle to themselves, and the purple and blue eyes turn toward each other for a long moment. A glance away, a blush on both sets of cheeks—and then Trixie butts in to split the two maybe-lovebirds apart.
“You may have vanquished the Dazzlings, but you will never have the amazing show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” Trixie yelled.
Just as she did backstage during the semifinals, she throws down something that explodes in a screen-filling blast of pale blue smoke. When the view clears, all eight girls,6 boys, and one dog are coughing out the last fumes and Trixie is nowhere in sight.
“She’s gone! Oh, wait.” Pinkie gasps until she hears a scream.
The fleeing upstart, caught in the process of climbing over the wall that runs behind the very back rows of seats, trying to get away while her dress is on fire.
“There she is.”
“Trixie’s okay!” The girl yelled as Kai smirked and blew the smoke off his hand, receiving a grin from AJ and Nya.
“You know, Twilight is going back to Equestria soon, and the ninja will have to go back home. The Rainbooms could really use someone to help Fluttershy on backup vocals.” Rainbow nodded towards Sunset.
A glance to one side discloses a “Flying V” guitar leaning up against an amp; she quickly slings it up, produces a pick, and uncorks a fast riff. Just as quickly, the pick goes back where it came from.
“I also play guitar.” Sunset smiled as she recived wide mouth gasps from her friends.
All pairs of eyes turn toward Twilight and Rainbow; the former smiling calmly, the latter with her mind also blown. It takes a second for her to get her brain and tongue wired back together.
“We’ll see.”
Twilight grins hugely and Sunset—having set the axe down—allows herself a bashful smile, which gives way to complete shock and then a bigger smile as she finds herself at the center of a full-band group hug. Spike gets into the act by hugging one of Rarity’s ankles. They had won.