Sunset Shimmer tried as hard as she could to hold back her tears. She grinded her teeth together and shot a heated glare up at her tormentor, but it was all an act to make herself look intimidating. And it wasn’t fooling anypony.
“You see now?” a voice asked Sunset Shimmer as it reached out for the golden tiara sitting on her head with two dark, silhouetted hooves. “Friendship was powerless against me, as was your raw power. Nothing in this world or yours can defeat me.”
“I’m not done yet,” Sunset said, though her tone expressed nothing more than utter defeat. “I can still win. I was Princess Celestia’s number one pupil. That alone shows that I am the strongest…”
“You are nothing,” the voice said as it removed the tiara from her head. “You are just a lone wolf that has strayed from its pack. Such a pathetic creature can never posses the power needed to overthrow the darkness.”
Rainbow Dash stretched her arms and yawned loudly as she approached the school’s front entrance. Beside her, Applejack put a hand on her shoulder and grinned her way. “Not sleep well last night?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head as she rubbed her eyes. “Just a dumb dream, that’s all.”
“I had a bad dream too,” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped up to Rainbow Dash’s other side. “I just woke up and sang myself back to sleep, and then I had a sweet dream that I was in a land made of sugar and candy and chocolate and ice-cream and-”
“We all have bad dreams,” Applejack said as Pinkie Pie continued describing her ‘delicious dream’. “Why, ah had one last night mahself, but y’have ta remember it’s jus’ a dream.”
“What are you implying?” Rainbow Dash asked. “That I’m scared? ‘Cause I’m not! I just couldn’t sleep well after seeing Sunset Shimmer being ripped apart by creepy shadows, that’s all.” Rainbow Dash continued walking, whilst Applejack and Pinkie Pie both suddenly stopped. Eventually Rainbow Dash realised this, and turned back to see what was wrong. “What?”
“That dream,” Applejack said, “It didn’t happen ta be of Sunset Shimmer as a pony, now would it?”
Rainbow Dash slowly nodded. “Oh my gosh! I had that same dream, too!” Pinkie Pie shouted. She turned around to Rarity and Fluttershy, who had both been walking close enough behind the three to hear their conversation.
“Why, that’s the same dream that I had,” Rarity said. Fluttershy simply nodded, and all five friends looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces. “W-What does this mean?”
“It means we just happened to have similar nightmares last night, that’s all!” Rainbow Dash said, hoping to dismiss it as merely that.
“Ah don’ think so,” Applejack said. “Two of us havin’ that same dream? Sure. But all five of us?”
“It’s just ‘cause we were worried about her, that’s all!” Rainbow Dash offered.
“Or maybe it’s a sign,” Rarity said. “And don’t you try dismissing that theory, Rainbow Dash! Before we met Twilight, none of us would have ever believed in a magical world filled with ponies instead of humans.”
“I would!” Pinkie Pie shouted with a raised hand.
Rarity cleared her throat. “As I was saying, the vast majority of us would have dismissed that without a second thought.”
“Okay, so maybe the dreams do mean something!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “So what?! It’s not like we can do anything!” In a fit of frustration, Rainbow Dash grabbed the soccer ball attached to her backpack and kicked it as hard as she could. It landed in some nearby bushes, and a cry of pain sounded through a moment later. “Oh shoot!”
A young, scrawny-looking boy popped out of the bushes, rubbing a lump on his head with one hand and holding a camera with the other, and quickly took off in the direction opposite of the group.
A gasp from Rarity drew everyone’s attention. “Idea!” she sang. “That boy Featherweight is an expert of getting into places he shouldn’t be able to get into! We could ask him to help us infiltrate that building where Sunset Shimmer is being kept!”
Applejack rubbed the back of her head with a hand. “I don’t know… Gettin’ into the Principal’s office without bein’ noticed or into an R-rated movie is one thing, but that buildin’ didn’t exactly look easy ta infiltrate.”
“Do you have any better ideas?” Rarity asked. “Or are you saying we forsake our friend who could at this very moment be in great peril?”
The other four looked uneasy for a second, before Pinkie Pie stretched a hand out. “I’m in! I still have to make Sunset smile! I mean, by making her laugh with us instead of at us.”
Fluttershy also stretched her hand out. “I still haven’t found the perfect pet for her yet. She didn’t show it, but I’m sure she was excited about it…”
Applejack was next. “Well, ah guess ah can’t jus’ leave one of our classmates alone in a dangerous situation like that. Even if it is Sunset Shimmer.”
Rainbow Dash eyed the rest of her friends for a second, before smiling and joining in. “Aw, what the heck. ‘Least it gives me a reason to miss the algebra test today!”
“Then if we are all in agreement, I say we round up Featherweight and convince him to cooperate with us so that we can rescue Sunset Shimmer,” Rarity said as she placed her hand with her friends’.
In unison, the five cheered: “YEAH!”
The five girls began to follow after Featherweight, but Rainbow Dash stopped for a moment to address the girl who was just passing by. “Hey Trixie, tell the teachers we’ve miss school for a bit ‘cause of family emergency!”
“What?” Trixie asked with a raised eyebrow.
“‘Kay thanks!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she raced after her friends.
Trixie was left standing in the middle of the pathway leading to the school’s front entrance with a confused look on her face. “Yeah right,” she scoffed as she continued walking, a devilish grin forming on her face. “Oh, I’ll tell the teacher’s you’ll be absent alright. But I think I’ll come up with a more fun excuse than that.”