Back in the human world, Human Sunset had just awoken and began preparing for a new morning within her late mother's home. Although this routine was something she was already familiar with, it was missing one thing that she remembered quite fondly of, even during the times at Crystal Prep Academy she had been bullied mercilessly. Before her father would drive her to school, Solstice had always originally made the best breakfast pancakes, which were unlike anything else she ever had in her life. They were often nicknamed 'Suncakes', and were made with genuine love and care, which allowed Human Sunset to have a clear mind to do well in school, despite what had happened.
Lacking these pancakes, as well as love and support from her mother, Human Sunset just felt empty inside, even after devouring her breakfast, which mostly consisted of scrambled eggs. She wouldn't necessarily be completely broke or homeless, as she still had the leftover cash she had stolen from Indigo Zap all those years ago, combined with the cash she had took from Gilda and her goons. But even though she had this extra money to stay afloat for a while, things would certainly become much more difficult once she ran out, and getting an actual job to make money was simply out of the question. Not even having a high school diploma, any workplace would've just seen this as a major red flag without bothering to read the rest of her resume during job applications.
Dwelling on these thoughts as she finished her breakfast and began to start her new day, Human Sunset didn't really know what she'd plan to do after exacting her revenge on the various people who had ruined her life. But whilst thinking of her mother, she had begun to consider something else entirely, which wouldn't have come up earlier when she was blinded by vengeance. Would Solstice have wanted this for her, or approved of her own daughter committing vandalism, theft, or assault, as a means of making things right?
Deep down, Human Sunset knew in her heart what the obvious answer to that question was, but didn't particularly care. Her heart was currently filled with too much darkness and hatred, that she'd much rather just do all of this to avenge her mother's death, regardless of the consequences. She had already made her decision to team up with the Canterlot Street Gang to sabotage both Canterlot High and Crystal Prep's graduations, and she wasn't simply going to chicken out of it now. Before exiting the house, Human Sunset turned back one final time to speak to her mother, not knowing if her spirit could even hear her.
"Bye, mom..." Human Sunset said to the upstairs bedroom, where both of her parents had originally slept in. "I'm going to make the horrid education system pay for what it did to our family. Even if life's going to go all downhill from here, maybe that means I'll get to see you soon enough out there..."
Although an incredibly depressing statement, it ironically appeared to be completely contrasted by a warm and sunny day. In fact, it was a relatively warmer day than usual, so Human Sunset decided that she'd leave her black jacket behind, primarily going out with her maroon tank top. This in turn, would also allow her sweet new tattoo to become more visible to the public eye, along with giving any strangers a clear idea of what she's truly made of. Going officially by 'Sunny' again, at least to her new friends, served as a reminder of how far she had come in her journey to make sure nobody would think of her as a weak, spineless nerd, as she once was to those awful people at her old school. The idea of giving everyone who had once wronged her exactly what was coming to them, it seemed like the only thing that would make her happy now.
As Human Sunset made her way back to the Canterlot Street Gang's hideout in no time, she entered the old building and knocked on the basement door. Although initially expecting to see Gilda, Lightning Dust had opened the door for her instead. Human Sunset went down the stairs and was now in the same room these girls had assaulted her the night before, and looked around, only to see Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder, sitting around and smoking some cigarettes. Gilda was nowhere in sight, which was definitely unusual and raised several questions.
"Well well, it's the boss, it seems." Rolling Thunder called out, as she threw her cigarette on the floor and stomped on it. "Nice to see that you ditched the jacket so everyone can see that sweet new tattoo I gave you! You've never looked better, Sunny!"
"I take it that you're ready, then?" Lightning Dust asked. "I can't wait to sabotage these dumb graduations, there's just way too many people getting a good education these days!"
"I'd say so, but... where exactly is Gilda?" Human Sunset questioned her allies. "I certainly would've expected her to be here, especially since I've got plans to hit CHS soon."
"Dunno, actually." Lightning Dust replied. "In fact, neither of us have even heard from her since last night, which definitely seems pretty unlike her."
"And for that matter, she wasn't here when we woke up." Rolling Thunder added. "It's even stranger how she didn't tell either of us about why she'd be gone, since she usually fills us in on it before anybody else."
"Well, hopefully she's not thinking of ratting all of us out or betraying us." Human Sunset frowned. "Because if she wants another fight, I'm right here."
"Calm down, kid." Rolling Thunder scoffed. "None of us would even dare try to fight you now, since you've already earned our respect and proven you're stronger than all of us combined. Just like how I'm way too smart for school anyways."
"Yeah, speaking of which, why don't we just focus our energy on those dumb schools?" Lightning Dust suggested. "Whenever Gilda gets back, I guess we could at least ask what she was doing, but I'd be pretty sure that wanting to fight you again would be the last thing she'd do."
"Well, alright then." Human Sunset lowered her hostility. "First thing's first, we're going to go all the way back to the one place where it all started. The school which drove a once educated student completely off the edge thanks to the bullies and corrupt principal. Crystal Prep Academy."
"No real clue about that school." Lighting Dust raised an eyebrow. "I only got expelled from CHS."
"I don't really care which school it is, even if it's the one I didn't flunk out from." Rolling Thunder crossed her arms. "What's the plan?"
"For starters, we're going to need to improvise, since it sounds like none of us currently know a whole lot about that school, nor where we can hit them the hardest. We're going to have to sneak over there to get some dirt."
"That's all?" Lightning Dust sighed. "Ugh, and to think you're our leader now. What kind of a leader doesn't even have a plan?"
"Alright, fine then." Human Sunset rolled her eyes. "You want to humor me? What plans have you devised to get revenge on CHS?"
"I uhh..." Lightning Dust picked her fingers nervously. "I... once kicked dirt on some kid's shoes, and made them dirty?"
"Are you... kidding me?" Human Sunset said, unamused. "You want me to be impressed with THAT?"
"I think her point is, Gilda typically always had solid plans for us, well in advance before we pulled them off." Rolling Thunder said.
"Alright, if that's the way you feel, I guess we'll hit Crystal Prep after we finish up with CHS." Human Sunset grunted. "I've already had a pretty solid plan, thinking about it in my sleep, that involves framing Sunset Shimmer. But of course, if we're heading to CHS first, that means one of you will have to scope out Crystal Prep, mostly to get some intel on just how hard we can hit those rich slimeballs."
"I'll do it then." Lightning Dust volunteered. "At least it sounds like you have a plan now, which makes us feel more confident. Plus, I'll do anything to destroy those snotty rich kids. If there's one thing I hate more than educated school kids, it's rich educated school kids. I REALLY hate them!"
"O...kay then..." Human Sunset said, awkwardly. "You go on ahead and do that, and Thunder and I will head on over to CHS. Just remember that if any of us need to get into a fight, I'll be the muscles of the group."
"Sounds like we all got our assignments then." Rolling Thunder nodded.
The group all exchanged handshakes with one another, before setting off to officially begin sabotaging the school graduations. Internally, Human Sunset felt somewhat unsatisfied that she wasn't able to immediately plan a hit on Crystal Prep Academy first, but realized that she had no choice, at least until Lightning was capable of learning of that school's weak points. However, ruining the graduation at CHS almost felt like child's play. After all, given how this was the school that Sunset Shimmer went to, Human Sunset already knew that presumably, she could simply commit crimes nonchalantly, and if she were to somehow get caught, it would be under Pony Sunset's name.
Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder made their way down the alleyways of Canterlot City, mostly as a means of avoiding attention from any cops that were possibly looking for them, specifically escapees from juvey. Before long, they had managed to eventually stumble onto the campus of Canterlot High, without getting seen by anybody. Classes had begun long ago, meaning that most students and teachers were already inside. Given how there wasn't really anybody nearby who'd potentially believe that these girls were planning something suspicious, Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder went to the side of the school building, looking for anything they could potentially sabotage.
"You see anything yet?" Rolling Thunder questioned. "I thought you said you already had a plan."
"Yeah, a plan to get Lightning to shut up." Human Sunset rolled her eyes. "Look, you can't expect me to come up with a plan from scratch in just one night. Besides, you don't really need a plan in this scenario, since this is the school Sunset Shimmer goes to. Pretty sure that someone with half a brain could figure out what we should do, since I'm here."
"Ah, you mean committing a crime in Sunset Shimmer's name, which would make getting caught completely irrelevant?" Rolling Thunder surmised. "In fact, we'd almost encourage getting caught, since that would simply get Sunset in trouble even faster? You're so diabolical, kid. I like it!"
"Well, at least you proved my point that you don't need a fancy diploma to prove you're smart." Human Sunset said. "It's just sad to know that the real world doesn't seem to think so. Life's just not fair like that."
"At least we'll teach the same thing to these punk school kids." Rolling Thunder replied. "Alright, so you got an idea on what you wanna do?"
"Actually... yes." Human Sunset said, as she began to look through the windows to the music classroom, noticing Pinkie. "That's the girl who kept mistaking me for Sunset Shimmer, and I lashed out at her because of it. Let's learn what's happening with them, I'm assuming these are the rest of her friends."
Within the classroom, the rest of the Rainbooms were the only ones sitting around, as they originally planned to spend some more time together before their big day at graduation. The music teacher had only let them in to gather their instruments, but something seemed to be preventing the girls from doing a task as simple as that. The rest of the girls were looking at Pinkie, who appeared to be incredibly upset and heartbroken about something. Human Sunset leaned her ear on the window, ready to eavesdrop on the conversation between Sunset's human friends.
"That's awful, Pinkie." Fluttershy put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Why would Sunset do something like that?"
"It just... doesn't seem like Sunset, everything you've described, Pinkie." Twilight scratched her head. "I mean, I know she has anger issues, and even snapped at me during the Friendship Games, but she wouldn't just do that for no real reason."
"You didn't by any chance do anythin' to upset her, did ya', Sugarcube?" Applejack questioned.
"No!" Pinkie denied. "All I did was watch her house and take care of her gecko, like she asked of me. She even gave me money to do so, and seemed perfectly okay with everything while she went on vacation for a few days."
"You didn't ask for too much money from her, did you?" Rainbow asked, while the rest of the girls raised an eyebrow at this. "...What, I'm just saying, that's always a possibility."
"From what Pinkie's described, that simply doesn't sound like it at all." Rarity interjected. "Come on, girls. We've all known Sunset for years now, this just seems completely unlike her. Pinkie, there just has to be some kind of logical explanation for why Sunset was acting that way."
"Maybe not logical..." Twilight began to suggest her own theory. "Magical."
"That would make sense." Fluttershy agreed. "Don't you remember when the Dazzlings used their magic to make everybody so competitive and aggressive toward one another? Maybe something happened to Sunset during her little vacation, which caused her to behave this way? She certainly wouldn't just lash out at Pinkie of her own volition."
"I'm in complete agreement there." Applejack nodded. "Besides, we've all already accused Sunset of bein' a lowdown snake in the grass, back when 'Anon-a-Miss' put the school in a heated frenzy. We just all threw her under the bus and ditched her."
"And even after we did that, what did she do for us?" Rarity reminded. "She sacrificed her own safety and memories, just so we wouldn't permanently lose our memories from that Wallflower girl."
"Honestly, I'd more believe Pinkie's story if Sunset was still the tyrannical bully she once was when she first came to CHS, but... she's certainly not anymore." Rainbow added. "We've all gotten to truly know her over time, and we ourselves were certainly at fault for abandoning Sunset, like AJ said. Pinkie, whatever happened that night with Sunset, I'm sure there's got to be an explanation behind it all."
"I'd be willing to bet my college tuition that something to do with magic is involved." Twilight affirmed. "It's admittedly strange though, how we haven't really seen any magic-related occurrences, since we've all locked away our geodes for quite some time."
"Magic comes and goes, it seems." Fluttershy shrugged.
"Well, Pinkie?" Rarity addressed her still mentally damaged friend. "Has this talk at least ameliorated things for you, especially your perception on Sunset?"
"Maybe a little..." Pinkie sniffled. "But what she said that night really hurt my feelings."
"Come on, Pinkie!" Rainbow insisted. "Even so, I'm sure it was either something out of her control, or she didn't mean it! Why can't you just let this go?"
"You're not really helpin', Rainbow." Applejack crossed her arms. "Look, Pinkie. If it makes you feel any better, we'll all head on over to the local coffee shop and get some sweets on us. Could you just promise us that you'll try to forget about the situation with Sunset for a bit, 'til we can try gettin' to the bottom of this?"
"...I guess." Pinkie picked herself up off the ground, as Applejack put an arm around her.
"Wait, what about our instruments?" Twilight reminded.
"We'll just leave them here for now, it'd be pretty cumbersome to carry them all the way to the cafe." Rarity replied. "Besides, this will only take us about an hour, what could possibly happen to them in such a short time?"
"I guess you're right." Twilight agreed. "Alright, girls. Let's all go."
As the Rainbooms were all heading toward the coffee shop downtown to help Pinkie recover from her encounter with 'Sunset' the night before, Human Sunset simply frowned, given how she had just overheard the entire conversation without any of the girls noticing her outside. She kept an eye on the inside of the classroom, making sure that the coast was absolutely clear, before it was time to make a move. Rarity was the last one to exit the classroom, and she made sure to lock the door as a precaution.
"Well, I guess this is gonna be tougher than I thought." Human Sunset sighed. "Sunset Shimmer is such a good friend to those girls, that they're already onto me. Believing that some form of magic or an imposter is the cause of everything. It's no use, if I go in there and wreck their instruments, it sounds like they'll just dismiss the idea that Sunset was the culprit, especially if I get caught."
"And this is why we always come up with a plan, or at least a backup plan." Rolling Thunder crossed her arms. "You might be our gang's leader now, but maybe you shouldn't be so arrogant with how you handle things."
"Oh, you shouldn't be so arrogant..." Human Sunset mocked. "Be quiet! Improvising is just as much a skill as planning an attack for months. I just... need to figure out something we could potentially do to postpone the graduation here. I'll admit, I was so consumed with revenge that I hadn't really thought things through."
"Hey, we've all been there, it's just a matter of knowing when you've done something wrong." Rolling Thunder nodded. "Well, I ain't much of an improviser, I typically just go along with whatever Gilda says, but since you're the boss now, you gotta lead the way."
"I guess we just need to find something else that'll help buy us some more time, since I'm sure graduation day is just around the corner." Human Sunset sighed under her breath.
"Hey, wait a minute." Rolling Thunder noticed a vehicle all too familiar to the Pony Sunset. "What's that van doing here in the parking lot?"
"I have no clue, but it almost looks like it belongs to a band." Human Sunset speculated. "Well, since we have no plan at the moment, I suppose we could check if there's any connection between them and the graduation."
Both girls carefully snuck over to the Dazzlings' van, without any of the three siren sisters inside taking notice of them. Before long, Human Sunset began to hear the distinct sound of singing, as it appeared that a rehearsal was currently taking place. Knowing this, she decided to lay low around the side of the van, mostly as a means of overhearing anything they could potentially use to sabotage the upcoming graduation. A few minutes later, the singing had stopped, and one of the sisters began speaking up regarding their performance.
"I know I've probably said this plenty of times in the past already, but that was barely worth the effort, Adagio." Aria said, rather displeased.
"What's wrong, Aria?" Sonata questioned. "I think we sounded great, even though we started to go out of sync within the third verse of the song."
"Precisely my point." Aria grunted. "Honestly, now. Why did you even bother agreeing to the school principal that we'd come up with a new song from scratch within the one week time-frame? You remember how the song we wrote at that festival took over 18 months to fully produce and rehearse?"
"Well, it's mostly because she offered to give us a bonus for coming up with a more original performance during the graduation event." Adagio replied. "Besides, I figured that we'd all be enthusiastic about the hefty salary we'll be earning soon, given how desperate the school became. And for that matter, have you forgotten that we've become nearly broke, thanks to our new landlord demanding higher rent?"
"Is it really just that?" Aria scoffed. "I figured it was because of Sonata blowing our money on that Taco Hut place. She seriously has the choice to eat anywhere in the world for an affordable price, but no, she chooses that overpriced dump."
"Well for your information, I still spent my cut of our salary only." Sonata defended herself. "Plus, you've got some nerve to say such a thing, considering you spent your own cut on that new tattoo."
"I wouldn't expect someone with grape juice in their brain to understand the true meaning of body art." Aria crossed her arms.
"WELL I WOULDN'T EXPECT-" Sonata began to explode, but was shortly cut off.
"Girls, focus!" Adagio snapped. "We can bicker and act like childish siblings... AFTER we get paid for our performance. The fine print within that contract we signed also stated that our pay will reflect upon our performance quality. So if we do a subpar job at this gig, we might as well kiss our apartment goodbye."
"Whatever, I guess a $60,000 salary might make my headache go away." Aria said. "I'm already getting tired of eating microwave lasagna practically everyday, I need an actual meal of fish to please my diet. When exactly is our big day, anyways?"
"Day after tomorrow, so we certainly still have plenty of time to rehearse." Adagio checked her calendar. "In the meantime, we really need to work on staying in sync. I know it's been years since we've relied on using our special gems to sing like pop divas, but now that they're gone, this is the real world. It's every girl for herself, and your choice on whether or not you want to starve."
"Do we have to, though?" Sonata whined. "We've already been rehearsing for the past four hours straight, and I'm already starving!"
"We literally just picked up some pizza on the way here!" Aria growled. "You didn't even finish your slices, and you want us to go out and get more food when money's already tight as it is!?"
"I'm just getting really tired of pizza." Sonata kicked away an empty pizza box on the van's floor. "I haven't even had a single taco since you started taking over as the one who's getting our food."
"And it's going to stay that way!" Aria huffed. "Because I can't stand staying in the van with you after your endless taco buffets, and having to deal with your smelly onion breath everywhere we drive!"
"Says you!" Sonata rolled her eyes. "You really enjoy working out a lot, but don't even have the courtesy to take a shower after getting all sweaty! The only thing that stinks worse than your attitude sometimes is your armpit!"
"If a little sweat is enough to make you cry, I can give you something else to really cry about." Aria snarled.
"Alright, that does it!" Adagio pounded her fist on the van's counter. "We can't throw a simple rehearsal without you two bickering like a married couple! I guess we have no other choice. It looks like we're going to have to compromise in order for you two to get what you want so we can focus on earning a good salary for our performance. Sonata, we'll head over to a taco place right now to get your lousy tacos. And Aria, we're going to all jog there as our daily exercise. When we're done, I expect you two to truly act like adults, and not make a scene when we perform during the actual graduation!"
"Well, if I'll finally get something remotely close to an enchilada or burrito, I guess I could be cool for a while." Sonata agreed.
"Ugh, fine then." Aria rolled her eyes. "I feel like I need to lose some weight anyways."
"Very well." Adagio rolled up the van's back door and began exiting, before looking back at her sisters. "Wait a minute, Aria. What are you doing with that thing?"
"Oh, this?" Aria looked toward the decorative baseball bat in her hand. "Well, you said we're going to a taco place, I'm guessing that one down on Maple Street. I just want to be prepared, in case that rude cashier girl is working today, if you know what I mean."
"Come on, now." Adagio narrowed her eyes. "Put it back. We're already in debt as it is, we don't need any more lawsuits just because you can't control your temper."
"I'm not the only one, it seems..." Aria muttered under her breath, before reluctantly setting her trusty weapon back down in the van, and locking the door.
"Alright, now we've got no time to lose, let's just get this over with." Adagio ordered her sisters, as the trio began jogging off to the taco joint.
With the coast now clear, Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder now had the context behind why those girls were here. They were performers booked to sing a song at the CHS graduation ceremony, and the school itself was seemingly desperate to hire them. Regardless, the two girls began exchanging words on the side of the van, in response to what they just overheard.
"Yeesh." Rolling Thunder exclaimed upon the Dazzlings leaving. "I'm sure glad I don't have any siblings, or have plans on getting married."
"Well, not everybody's cut out for such a lifestyle." Human Sunset rolled her eyes. "But anyways, I guess this gives us something we can do to ruin the graduation, and if not, at least delay it. We have to figure out a way to make sure they can't perform, or a reason for the school to no longer keep them by contract."
"I noticed that baseball bat the purple girl was holding." Rolling Thunder recalled. "It looked pretty unique, not like any baseball bat I've seen. In fact, I've used a lot of bats in my past life when I was helping Gilda rob gas stations."
"Hmm, what are you getting at?" Human Sunset began brainstorming. "Are you thinking we should vandalize those music instruments, and then leave that bat there on purpose, as a means of framing those girls?"
"I'd say that sounds pretty brilliant." Rolling Thunder nodded. "Plus, I think I recognize those girls. Gilda's told me about them, and how they were once pretty big troublemakers here at CHS, hence why it makes sense why the school would be desperate enough to hire them again. Considering how one of them just hates everything, and the other has an unhealthy obsession with tacos, I'm almost certain that's them."
"Well, it's worth a shot, I suppose." Human Sunset decided to go through with her plan. "But since we're currently unable to come up with something that could frame Sunset Shimmer, we'll need to buy as much time as possible. Unfortunately for us, it looks like those girls locked their van. How are we going to get in to steal that bat?"
"Leave it to me, Sunny!" Rolling Thunder said, confidently, before taking a small metal tool from her pocket, and began picking the van's lock.
"Nice to see drawing tattoos isn't your only specialty." Human Sunset complimented. "Speaking of Gilda, where do you suppose she even is? She should definitely be helping us out right now."
While the two girls at CHS were beginning their plot to destroy the upcoming graduation, the aforementioned former leader of the Canterlot Street Gang was desperately searching out for her meal ticket to ultimate power. In other words, the cave near Camp Everfree where Clover the Clever had claimed to hide the remains of that powerful sorceress. Although lacking a driver's license, Gilda was driving their gang's stolen pickup truck along the road, hoping that her memory in stumbling upon this strange location wasn't simply a figment of her imagination. She had also taken both Clover and Princess Celestia's old journals in case she needed a reference.
The trip itself was unfortunately rather long for Gilda, given how CHS needed to use a whole school bus to transport the students to summer camp. Along the way, she began to encounter heavy traffic, detours, and even plenty of jaywalkers. These only proved to be minor annoyances to Gilda, but she eventually began to find her way onto the route that began leading deep into the heavy forest. As she stopped at a nearby red light, Gilda began contemplating what kind of omnipotent powers this sorceress could give her. But as a result, she failed to take notice of the light suddenly turning green, that she just stood on the road for a solid 10 seconds. The car behind her began honking at this, doing nothing other than provoking the already aggravated girl. Stuck in this thought, the car began to change lanes and go around the truck, while the person driving made a remark.
"Where'd you get a driver's license, at a cat food's convention!?" Feather Bangs scoffed. "Head over to the DMV before you consider getting on the road next time, you moron!"
As Feather Bangs sped off, Gilda just growled at this, before doing the next thing that came to mind, after realizing that these roads along the woods didn't have any surveillance cameras, unlike the streets of Canterlot City. Gilda slammed her boot on the gas pedal, speeding up at alarming speeds, before making a heavy crash onto Feather Bang's car. This prompted him to step out immediately, as he examined the damage. Feather Bangs was certainly displeased to notice a rather large dent on the back of his vehicle, while Gilda's truck seemed nearly undamaged.
"Well, I guess you just proved my point." Feather Bangs frowned, as he saw Gilda beginning to step out of her truck. "You're in a lot of trouble now, you know that?"
"Oh, did I hit you?" Gilda began mocking. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize your car was a big deal!"
"You're going to pay for damages." Feather Bangs crossed his arms. "I'm heading over to the police station to report this incident."
"That would be all fine and good, except..." Gilda calmly walked up to Feather Bangs before pushing him onto the ground.
As Feather Bangs struggled to get back up, he began to notice Gilda was now within his car, and she used her strength to rip the steering wheel right off of it. Gilda then nonchalantly tossed the wheel into her truck, before getting back on.
"Good luck getting to the police without a steering wheel, buddy!" Gilda smirked.
"How dare you, I'll get your license plate number!" Feather Bangs grumbled.
"But I don't have one, or a driver's license, remember?" Gilda mocked his words from before. "Have a good rest of your day, maybe next time you'll learn not to honk and provoke other people!"
Gilda then sped off to reach her destination, as Feather Bangs noticed that the truck really didn't have a license plate number. Now that he had a ruined car on the middle of the road without a steering wheel, the broken driver just sat there on the ground and began lamenting. As for Gilda, she continued to stay true to her mission in finding the sorceress, letting nobody stand in her way, whether it'd be Sunset Shimmer or even Human Sunset.
Back at CHS, Rolling Thunder had already picked the van's lock successfully, to where the duo was able to acquire Aria Blaze's baseball bat. After grabbing it and stepping out of the van, Human Sunset noticed that the markings of the bat seemed to completely match up with the visual graffiti on the van itself, which would perfectly make the Dazzlings the perfect prime suspect. Rolling Thunder had then also managed to pick the lock on the window from the outside, allowing Human Sunset to sneak inside to take notice of the Rainboom's instruments and equipment. Only their instruments had remained, as every other student had already picked theirs up much earlier on. She knew whose instrument was whose, as each one had a piece of tape with the respective girl's name written on it.
Walking around the room, Human Sunset began to use her new baseball bat to vandalize Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash's guitars, Pinkie's drum set, and Fluttershy's tambourine. Every instrument was now ruined and completely in pieces, as the room itself almost looked as if an earthquake had taken place. The only instrument she hadn't vandalized yet was the guitar belonging to Pony Sunset, and this felt like the most satisfying one for her to destroy, given how Human Sunset had it out for her the absolute most. But before she even had the opportunity, she began to hear footsteps approaching the music room, likely as a result of her making all that noise.
"What in the world is going on in here!?" Ms. Harshwhinny approached the music room. "I'm nice enough to let those girls hang around in my classroom, and they think they can just throw a party in there?"
Panicking, Human Sunset knew she had no choice but to flee the scene. She dropped Aria's bat onto the ground, opened the window, then jumped out, believing it wasn't really practical now to get caught. As Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder ran away from the school building, the music teacher used her keys to unlock the classroom door, as her jaw dropped upon seeing the state of her classroom. Her feelings of shock soon turned to anger, as she also knew that there was a deposit on some of those instruments.
"A hooligan, huh!?" Ms. Harshwhinny snapped. "Oh, when I get my hands on whoever did this, I'll..."
But before she could finish, she took notice of Aria's baseball bat, which definitely wasn't in the classroom when she was there this morning. The music teacher grabbed it and examined the logo on top, but she soon realized that something about it definitely seemed familiar.
"Where have I seen this logo before...?" Ms. Harshwhinny said to herself, before it suddenly clicked within her. "Wait, isn't this...!? I... I KNEW those girls were trouble, especially with what happened when they proposed to have a Battle of the Bands years ago! And to think Principal Celestia gave them another chance to start fresh and perform at the upcoming graduation this year! Oh, just wait until I report to her what happened..."
Ms. Harshwhinny marched right off to the principal's office, ready to truly give Principal Celestia a piece of her mind. In the meantime, Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder were now waiting within the bushes right outside of school campus, ready to see the results of their handiwork from afar quite soon.
"So it looks like you destroyed all their instruments before someone came in." Rolling Thunder recalled. "How'd it feel? It must've been pretty satisfying to give those school kids what was coming to them?"
"Well... not really, actually." Human Sunset began to shake off this weird feeling of guilt. "Those girls never really did anything to hurt me, so that's why I'm beginning to feel... bad for what I did. For that matter, I didn't even get the chance to vandalize Sunset Shimmer's guitar, before I was about to get caught."
"Oh, really now?" Rolling Thunder said, rather impressed. "Sounds like you've just set up another trap, although unintentionally. If we somehow aren't able to frame those band girls, perhaps Sunset Shimmer herself will get in trouble. After all, wouldn't it be pretty suspicious for everybody else's instrument to be destroyed, but not hers? I take it back, you might actually be as good at planning as Gilda."
"Thanks, I guess." Human Sunset replied, but couldn't ignore this newly growing guilt within herself.
This act of revenge began to feel different from before. Unlike people who had genuinely wronged her, like Principal Cinch or Indigo Zap, for the first time in her life, Human Sunset began to believe what she was doing was wrong. She had just willingly vandalized instruments that belonged to people who had nothing to do with her at all, combined with attempting to frame somebody else who never wronged her either. This also began to make Human Sunset consider the possibility of whether or not she'd feel the same way after eventually getting revenge on Pony Sunset. She had technically never actually met her, nor understood the full extent of the story regarding why she chose to come into her world.
"Hey, come now." Rolling Thunder began to notice her companion's strange behavior. "I thought you'd at least be more enthusiastic and all. You'd be getting revenge against either Sunset Shimmer or the dumb education system. It's because of these horrid schools that we're living the lives we currently have. It doesn't matter who you hurt, as long as you come out on top in the end."
"Yeah... in that case... yeah, I guess you're right." Human Sunset began to slowly come to terms with why she had planned to do all this before. "We've already begun to do some serious damage, it's too late to back out now. I don't know... why exactly I started to feel guilty, like I still had some kind of conscience. It's almost as if... some outside force of magic is exerting this sudden emotion onto me. Emotions can be really weird like that, sometimes."
"I haven't felt anything like that in ages." Rolling Thunder said, nonchalantly. "Regardless, we wanted to cause some trouble, and it looks like we're getting our wish soon. Let's just sit back and enjoy the show when those band girls come back."
Beyond the outskirts of Camp Everfree, Gilda had finally managed to drive all the way to the strange cave she had vaguely remembered seeing ages ago. The hope of awakening this sorceress to potentially get any power she craved for, it felt like the time would come soon enough. Unfortunately, while this cave in question did in fact exist, the other minor detail Gilda had recalled was true as well, in the fact that the entrance was completely caved in with a pile of large rocks. There was just no way she'd have the strength to destroy all these rocks, even with the pickaxe in the back of her truck.
This in turn, frustrated Gilda beyond belief, as it essentially meant that she had taken the time and energy to drive all the way here, only to be met with a dead end. She had no choice but to think of a realistic way to get in, as it was obvious that going into public places would practically be the equivalent of going back to jail. No chance at getting a jackhammer or supply of dynamite, as she'd get caught way too easily. With no other tools that could remove this giant rock pile, Gilda simply bit her lip in frustration and jumped back into her truck. As she was about to start up the engine to drive back to the city, Gilda then recalled an incident back at CHS, when she was still a student.
"Hmm, come to think of it, I remember the time I destroyed the Fall Formal's ice sculpture, then framed Rainbow Dash for it." Gilda recalled. "I was easily able to do so with a small wrench I stole from the janitor's closet. If I could somehow turn those rocks into ice, getting in would practically be child's play. The thing is, would there even be a way to do that? Ugh, this is probably just wishful thinking on my part."
But despite this feeling, Gilda was desperate to try anything, even if it meant skimming through Clover's old journal again. She started looking around the journal for anything that could potentially come close to the solution she had just came up with, but as expected, wasn't able to have much luck in doing so. However, one of the pages eventually stood out, as Clover had brought up an ancient artifact that was capable of such a thing.
Equestria's Founding, Day 49
I was rather surprised to come across this strange piece of regalia that the excavator team at Canterlot managed to uncover. For a while, I was completely unsure of what its purpose was, or for that matter, who it belonged to. But after some wild experimentation, whilst doing some heavy research, I was able to conclude that this was the Tundra Tiara! This was one of the few artifacts that I was more comfortable with letting go, since most ponies would never be able to know this was an artifact at all. How it works is, it allows the wearer to utilize frost and ice abilities with their hooves, but only if they say, 'Frosty Shivers', the magical words. Given how unlikely it would be for anypony to utter such specific words, I'd be confident that everypony would primarily see this as nothing more than a fashionable crown. That said, my magical studies have pointed me to a theory I realized too late, after I sold the crown at an auction to pay for a sufficient food supply to feed Canterlot's soldiers. I've read that magical artifacts only usable by saying the magic words typically have one disastrous effect, in that if they were ever destroyed, their magic would manifest eternally. In other words, this ice magic might potentially be a permanent manifestation in all unicorns, if they ever said the words, 'Frosty Shivers', over and over. But with the chances of the tiara getting destroyed and unicorns uttering these two specific words being incredibly slim, combined with this all being nothing more than a theory, I'm almost certain nothing will ever come from this.
Upon finishing up the read, Clover also taped a picture of what the Tundra Tiara looked like, which let Gilda know exactly what to look for.
"Well... that was certainly pretty long-winded." Gilda rolled her eyes. "But who cares, now I know for certain that there's this weird tiara thing that would let me use ice magic to destroy those rocks. There's just one problem, I'd most likely need to go to that Equestria place in order to find it. Or... since I have a visual aid with me, perhaps I can somehow convince Sunny to do my dirty work for me."
With her new knowledge in mind, combined with also knowing that the sorceress's cave did in fact exist, Gilda knew what she had to do next. It was time to head back to her gang's hideout, and come up with a potential way to manipulate Human Sunset into going back to Equestria to find that crown for her. If she was able to get in and awaken that sorceress, then gain her ultimate power, she'd be set for life, not even having a care for what would happen to the rest of the world as a result. With this plan in motion, Gilda started the engine on her pickup truck, and started driving all the way back to her hideout.
Meanwhile, as the Dazzlings finally returned from their trip to the taco joint, they casually jogged back to their van, ready to continue rehearsing. Since this was the only thing going on in their minds, it was certainly confusing when they saw Principal Celestia and Ms. Harshwhinny standing by their van, with crossed arms and stern expressions. Unbeknownst to everyone in the faculty lot, Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder were currently watching nearby, ready to finally see their handiwork. Not knowing what was going on, Adagio did the most logical thing and began questioning.
"Uhh, hello?" Adagio said, rather confused. "Is there... some kind of a problem here? Look, if you've got issues with us parking here, I can just move the van over-"
"Save it!" Principal Celestia snapped. "You girls clearly know what you did, it's time to fess up!"
"What's your problem?" Sonata became defensive. "Are you just mad because we didn't save you any soft shell tacos?"
"Enough of this playing dumb!" Ms. Harshwhinny demanded, before taking the baseball bat from behind the van. "Tell me, does this look familiar to you?"
"Hey, that's my baseball bat!" Aria interjected. "What are you doing with that, were you going through our van!?"
"Well then, I'm so happy you admitted that." Ms. Harshwhinny said, sarcastically. "Because guess what? I found this left behind in the music classroom, next to a bunch of now vandalized instruments."
"And furthermore, what's interesting was that those instruments belonged to the Rainbooms." Principal Celestia added. "You know? The same girls who defeated you and showed your true colors back at the Battle of the Bands?"
"Hey, just because we're not really friends with certain people, it doesn't automatically make us guilty!" Adagio defended herself and her sisters. "Besides, we all just went to get tacos, how could we have possibly vandalized instruments here when we were clearly somewhere else!?"
"Then how do you explain your baseball bat being left at the scene of the crime?" Principal Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Ms. Harshwhinny, when exactly were those instruments destroyed?"
"About half an hour ago." Ms. Harshwhinny replied.
"Well that just can't be!" Adagio slammed her foot on the ground. "We were all literally just out getting tacos for lunch around that time, so we couldn't have done anything! Me and my sisters were all together half an hour ago! In fact, I even have a receipt from the taco joint, with the time and date listed on it!"
Adagio handed Principal Celestia the receipt, which clearly showed 11:57 AM on the current day, which was only a few minutes away from when the vandalism took place.
"Well, I guess you're not guilty then, but what about your sisters?" Principal Celestia questioned. "Because this is only one small taco you ordered. If you all ordered lunch, may I please check their receipts as well?"
"Here's mine!" Sonata handed the principal her receipt, which had 17 soft shell tacos, at 11:56 AM.
"Okay then..." Principal Celestia halfway conceded with her accusations. "Rather unusually large order, but... you're clean too. How about you, Aria?"
"Huh, me?" Aria reached into her pockets. "But... I didn't order anything there, I just went with them for the exercise. Never really been fond of tacos myself, so I'm afraid I don't have a receipt."
"Interesting, considering how you already confessed that it was YOUR baseball bat that was left behind in the classroom!" Ms. Harshwhinny spat. "So in other words, you must be guilty, if you didn't go to get tacos with your sisters as you had claimed!"
"Wha-!?" Adagio began with aghast. "That's not fair, just because she doesn't like tacos, it doesn't prove anything! We're a gang who always sticks together, and she was with us the entire time! Why can't you just accept our word!?"
"Well, it's hard to take the word of somebody who had once used magic to brainwash me and my sister to approve of the Battle of the Bands." Principal Celestia crossed her arms. "But regardless, since you confessed that it was your bat at the scene of the crime, and you have no evidence that you were elsewhere, I'm afraid we'll have to take you in."
A male police officer came out from behind the van and began to put Aria in handcuffs.
"This... This isn't fair!" Aria shrieked. "I didn't do anything!"
"You're guilty until proven innocent!" The officer spat, before taking Aria over to the police car. "Anything you say now can be used against you later in court."
"And as for you two, I'm afraid there's still enough evidence here that concludes one of your members committed a serious crime here at CHS." Principal Celestia frowned. "So in other words..."
The principal then took out the contract the Dazzlings had signed with the school earlier that week, and ripped the paper in two, right in front of Adagio and Sonata.
"N-No... YOU CAN'T DO THIS!!!" Adagio screeched.
"I can, and I just did." Principal Celestia huffed. "We're going to have to push the CHS graduation back another day until we can find more trustworthy performers for the concert. And in the worst case-scenario, we just won't have any entertainment at graduation this year. Have a good life, you two."
The Principal and music teacher marched right back to the building, while the police officer drove off with Aria in his car. Adagio and Sonata just stood there, completely speechless at what just happened. They were now completely unsure of how to move forward from this.
"Well, I did always try to convince her that a love for tacos has its benefits from time to time..." Sonata sighed.
"Is THAT really all you have to say after what just happened!?" Adagio began turning berserk. "Our sister just got arrested, we've lost our contract deal to hold us over for the next few years, and the only thing you have to worry about is Aria's preferences in food!?!?!?"
"But what can we do now!?" Sonata hyperventilated. "This wouldn't have happened if she just got a taco with us, right!?"
"THAT'S NOT WHAT'S IMPORTANT NOW!!!" Adagio exploded. "Clearly, somebody broke into our van and took Aria's bat, vandalized those instruments, then planted it there in the classroom to frame her! When I find out who did this, I'm going to give them something to REALLY cry about!"
"Who do you think did this?" Sonata began thinking of a potential culprit. "It couldn't be that rude cashier that Aria has a grudge against, could it?"
"Obviously not, if she was the one who served us our tacos earlier!" Adagio grabbed Sonata by the shoulders. "Snap out of it already and actually use your brain for once! Who could've done this to us, WHO!?!?!?"
As Adagio shook her little sister around in pure rage, Sonata began to take notice of someone out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey, wait a minute, who's THAT!?" Sonata pointed.
Adagio swiftly turned around, getting an immediate glimpse of Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder, hiding in the bushes from a distance away.
"HEY!" Adagio yelled from a distance. "Sunset Shimmer, is that you!? What are you two punks doing spying on us!?"
Both of the aforementioned girls' eyes widened upon realizing they were spotted.
"They found us, let's bolt!" Rolling Thunder shrieked.
Human Sunset and Rolling Thunder began running away frantically, which only seemed to further indicate what must've really happened.
"It... It was Sunset!" Sonata deduced. "She must've been the culprit who framed our sister!"
"Sunset Shimmer...!" Adagio began to flare up in extreme anger. "And to think that for a minute, I actually gained an ounce of respect for her, only for her to do this to us! Sonata, grab your hard taco shells! When we find Sunset Shimmer again, she is going to pay... DEARLY!!!"