Cafeteria Control

by Justice3442

Chapter 3: Rainbow Dash’s Song

Still sporting the odd stain here or there from apple and bakery mush, Sunset Shimmer stormed over to her usual table and set her tray down in front of her as she sat down. All her other friends had already arrived and she quickly scanned over them, paying close attention to Fluttershy’s meal. Instead of celery her main course appeared to be an apple with a side of applesauce and an apple juice box.

“Alright,” Sunset said, “well before I force at least one other food group down Fluttershy’s throat—”

Fluttershy gave a little frightened “Meep…”

“—and before I talk about the new danger befalling our school,” Sunset turned and faced Applejack, “I’d like to calmly discuss why the heck I got attacked with apples and apple products this morning!”

Applejack’s eyes went wide and she turned and gave Sunset a somewhat pleading expression. “Ah had to do it! Ah just had to! My poor family would starve if apple sales dropped!”

Sunset sighed and shook her head. “Applejack, your family owns more land than anyone else at the school. Your orchard supplies every apple served in school, probably in the town, and many places both national and international. Your family employs dozens of workers. Your family even had that ridiculous farm-themed house built near town so you could be closer to school!” Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Your family may be the richest in the entire city. You did not need to sing a little ditty encouraging the entire school body to eat apples to keep your business in the black.”

“Wait a minute…” Pinkie said tapping an index finger against her cheek. “If Applejack’s family has so much money, how come her grandma works at the school?”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Because she wanted something to do during the day and cafeteria work was easier than farm work and she makes a killing ordering all the apple stuff from her own farm”—Sunset turned her head towards Applejack— “already!” she stressed. She shook her head. “I mean… How much money do you need, A.J.?”

Applejack folded her arms over her chest and gave Sunset a sullen look. “BMWs don’t jus’ pay fer themselves, you know?”

“Whatever!” Sunset cried. “I don’t know how much wearing pink and sustaining myself on apples and apple-themed pastries is going to keep me going! Not to mention that daily abuses thanks to the latest transfer-from-another-world students!  Someone has to do something!” Sunset paused and added. “… On that note those three new students are evil and from Equestria.”

Sunset’s friends gasped.

“What do we do?” Fluttershy asked.

Sunset shrugged. “We could probably just beat them up! We outnumber them two to one.”

Fluttershy began squeaking out something incomprehensible as she slowly lowered herself in her chair in an attempt to get smaller.  

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Almost two to one…” She turned and scowled at Rarity. “Unless the other girly-girl can’t be bothered to get her hands dirty either!”

Rarity smirked and cracked her knuckles. “Are you kidding? Those three are an eyesore! It looks like they escaped from the 80s after stealing the clothes from glam rock band!”

Sunset chuckled. “Geez! I know, right?! You’d think if they were going to pick a musical theme, they’d settle on something that doesn’t require enough hairspray that the three of them are an environmental hazard!”

Sunset and Rarity giggled to themselves, and even Pinkie, Fluttershy and Applejack joined in the soft laughter.

With a rather distant look on her face, Rainbow Dash sighed and muttered, “If only Twilight was here.”

Sunset turned and gave Rainbow Dash a surprised look. “What?! There’s more of us! We should totally just mop the floor with those three! Purple pony princess probably doesn’t even know we have a problem!”

Pinkie clapped. “Oh! That was five ‘p’ words!” she exclaimed before reaching into her hair. “You get a gold star!” she said as she placed a gold star sticker on Sunset’s chest.

Sunset looked down at the star, then up at Pinkie. “Thank you,” she said with an earnest smile.

“Anytime!” Pinkie said.

“No, not that!” Rainbow Dash said. “Being lead singer is cool and all, but I wanna concentrate on my guitar work…”

Sunset went back to glaring at Rainbow Dash. “What?”

“So I need Twilight,” Rainbow said. “Or at least someone who sounds just like her when she sings!”

“GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“GAHK!”

Sunset suddenly closed her eyes began chanting “Find your center… Find your center…” She opened her eyes and smiled. “Gee, Rarity! Maybe you’re right about meditating at lunchtime! I’ve reached a Zen-like state where I feel my anger and stress just drift away…”

“HHGGGKKK! GGGGCHCHCHC!”

“You’re choking Rainbow Dash, dear,” Rarity replied.

“Just… drift away!” Sunset said through gritted teeth as her lips opened into a mad grin.

Rainbow Dash struggled to get Sunset’s hands off her neck.

“Hey, A.J.~!” Pinkie sang out. “I betcha ten dollars Rainbow Dash escapes!”

“Yer on!” Applejack said.

“For goodness sakes, you two!” Rarity cried. “Sunset might kill her!”

Sunset looked at Pinkie with a mad grin. “I’ll let go for five.”

“Deal!” Pinkie said.

Sunset let go of Rainbow Dash who collapsed to the table and began taking long, deep breaths as she rubbed her neck.

“Ah, shucks…” Applejack said as she reached into her pockets.

Rainbow Dash shot a glare up at Applejack.

“Er… Ah mean… Glad you’re okay, Rainbow…”

Fluttershy looked over at Sunset with a slightly nervous expression. “Erm… Umm… Isn’t fighting exactly what those new girls want us to do?”

“Shoot, you’re right,” Sunset said. “Guess we should at least deal with those three crazy Equestria girls before we tear ourselves apart.”

Pinkie giggled. “Sunset! We’re all Equestria Girls!”

“What?” Sunset said as she cocked an eyebrow. “Pinkie, that doesn’t make sense.”

“Whatever!” Rainbow Dash cried as she pushed herself away from the table. “I’m going to get some air!”

Sunset chuckled to herself. “I thought you got some when I let go.”

Rainbow turned and pointed to her eyes with an index and middle finger, then turned her hand around at Sunset.

Sunset just smirked. A smirk that quickly vanished when she noticed everyone else at the table was glaring at her. “What?”

Applejack sighed and shook her head. “Ah know Rainbow has a bad habit of getting’ under people’s skin, but don’tcha think stanglin’ her was a bit much?”

“WHAT?!” Sunset cried. “You bet against her getting out of my grip!”

Applejack frowned. “Yeah… but still…”

“It did seem a bit extreme…” Fluttershy said.

Sunset turned towards Fluttershy. “As extreme as me taping a funnel to your mouth and forcing you to eat oatmeal?!”

Fluttershy returned to squeaking incomprehensibly.

Everyone continued to glare at Sunset.

“FINE!” Sunset said. “I’ll apologize to Dash when I see her next! But Fluttershy has to start eating meals with some real protein in them!”

Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie smiled.

“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Pinkie said.

Rarity nodded. “That sounds like a splendid compromise… Especially since I don’t have to do anything!”

Applejack nodded. “A good idea if ever there was one!”

Fluttershy turned her head from side to side looking at her friends. “But I didn’t agree to…”

“TOO LATE!” Sunset cried with a smile. “Majority rules!”

Fluttershy puffed out her lower lip and stared out into open space. “Oh… okay then…”

‘SLAM!’ 

The doors to the cafeteria swung open and Rainbow Dash walked in, her guitar slung across her chest and a soccer ball at her feet.

Sunset brought a palm up to her face. “Oh sweet Lord, no…”

Rainbow Dash began to shred on guitar, rapidly plucking her fingers against the strings causing notes to erupt from the instrument in rapid succession.

Sunset Shimmer stared intently at Rainbow Dash. “Hey girls, don’t electric guitars need amps or something to—”

Rainbow suddenly stopped playing her guitar. She juggled the soccer ball with her feet briefly then kicked it straight up a few feet, catching it in a hand. “SPORTS!” Rainbow Dash cried as she lobbed the soccer ball into the cafeteria.

“WHAT?!” Sunset cried. “That wasn’t even a sen—WHA!” Sunset barely had time to cry out in alarm as the soccer ball Rainbow Dash threw collided with her face with a loud ‘SMACK!’ She fell out of her chair and onto the cafeteria floor.

“HEY!” Pinkie protested.

“Rainbow, darling,” Rarity began, “I know Sunset crossed a line earlier, but you shouldn’t follow bad behavior with more bad behavior!”

“That’s right!” Pinkie agreed. “Soccer balls are for kicking, not throwing!”

From the cafeteria floor, Sunset moaned. “Uhhhhhhh… Hate you guys so much…”

“OH, COME ON!” Sunset exclaimed as she found herself in the all too familiar position of having CHS’s huge horse statue behind her and a semi-circle of her schoolmates in front of her. “I’m wearing pink! I’m eating an apple! What more do you want from… Are you all holding sports equipment?!”

Sunset looked over the crowd in front of her. Many were holding balls or something used to hit them with. Most were wearing cleats,and some were even wearing helmets, pads, or other protective gear.

“SHE DOESN’T HAVE ANYTHING SPORTS-RELATED!” Snips cried as he stepped forward from the crowd wearing a football helmet, football pads, and brandishing a cricket bat.  He pointed accusingly at Sunset.

“Snips, what the heck is up with your outfit?!” Sunset cried. “You look like an extra from the Road Warrior!”

“Yeah!” Snails said, he was wearing golf cleats, boxing gloves, a bike helmet, and held a lacrosse stick in one hand. “Let’s teach her a lesson!”

Sunset sighed. “Snails… You just look like you’re trying way too hard…”

“LET’S THROW SPORTS AT HER!” someone from the crowd yelled.

“Okay… just… what?” Sunset said. “That doesn’t make sense! You can’t just throw the concept of sports at me… Now if you said ‘sports balls’ or…”

“LET’S THROW SPORTS BALLS AT HER!”

Sunset frowned. “Speaking of balls, I’ll just huddle up into one now…” True to her word, Sunset got on the ground and hugged her knees as the students started hurling balls of all sorts and sizes at her.

“Ow… ow… ow… FRICKIN’ OW!” Sunset cried. “WHO CARRIES AROUND A MEDICINE BALL?!”

Soon the crowd parted, leaving Sunset huddled on the ground in the fetal position surrounded by a number of balls from all kinds of different sports.

Sunset uncurled and woozily stood to her feet, steadying herself on the statue next to her. “SHE ONLY SAID ONE WORD, YOU… you… YOU FRICKIN’ CONFORMISTS!” Sunset’s lower lip began to quiver as she rubbed her hands over her bruised and battered body. Tears began to stream down her cheeks “Snifff… She only said one word… How was I supposed to know…?”

“Awww… Doesn’t that just break your heart, girls?”

Sunset let out a groan as she heard Adagio’s mocking voice.

“It’s a pretty sorry sight, alright…” Aria said with a smirk on her face.

“For reales, right?” Sonata said with a nod as she gave Sunset a concerned look. “This is like the third day of her being attacked! It’s just so sad!”

Adagio facepalmed. “Sonata… Just… Can’t you just settle for giggling darkly to yourself, or something?”

“What?” Sonata said as she looked back and forth between Adagio and Aria. “I was doing what you two were doing!”

“Your tone was all wrong!” Aria cried. “You didn’t sound sarcastic!”

“Oooooh!” Sonata said. “Is that what we were doing?”

“You are just so dumb!” Aria cried. “Why would we suddenly start being nice to Sunset?!”

“She just looks so huggable!” Sonata replied.

Sunset wiped her jacket sleeve under her nose to wipe away the snot that had begun to trickle down her nose as she whimpered.

Adagio and Aria looked at Sunset, then exchanged a quick smirk.

“Oh, clearly,” Adagio said.

“Shut up!” Sunset cried. “Look! I told my friends about you and the six… five of us are going to clean you girl’s clocks!”

“Oh no!” Sonata cried. “We forgot to dust our clocks!”

Aria pupils dilated and she simply stared off into space as her shoulders slumped.

Adagio glanced at Sonata, then gave Sunset a smug smile. “If you told them, why didn’t you all try to do something yesterday?”

“I er… okay so maybe I forgot to rally them yesterday…” Sunset said sheepishly. “But soon!”

Adagio continued to smile smugly at Sunset. “I’m sure…”

“HEY! I had a soccer ball thrown right into my face that knocked me onto the hard cafeteria floor!” Sunset cried. “Taking out you three dropped in priority once ‘get treated for concussion’ became my number one focus!”

“Wait,” Sonata said, “someone threw a soccer ball at you?! That’s horrible!”

“No kidding!” Sunset cried. “It was just lobbed right in my face!”

“Soccer balls are for kicking!” Sonata said.

Sunset’s jaw unhinged as she her eyes filled with rage.

“You know… Unless it was the goalie…”  Sonata added.

Aria turned with an expression that usually signified she was about to berate Sonata, however it softened as she noticed Sunset’s expression. “You know what? I’m just going to let you have this one…”

“THAT IS IT!” Sunset declared angrily.

The three girls looks surprised for a beat, but quickly returned to smiling at Sunset with smug expressions.

“Awww… Is the little baby going to cry?” Adagio said while mockingly rubbing her eyes.

“You shut your damn whore mouth!” Sunset cried as she leveled an angry index finger and stormed up to Adagio.

The three girls all took a half step back as Sunset shot them all a furious expression.

“Listen you hair metal rejects! I used to rule this school with an iron fist! Everyone here lived in mortal fear over the idea that Sunset Shimmer would destroy their reputations and let out their most closely guarded secrets if they so much as looked at me the wrong way! I turned people into laughing stocks for the pettiest reasons with only a couple of morons to help me! Now I have five semi-sane girls on my side!

“Now, for some stupid reason I’m still trying to be good here, so I’ll give you all one last chance.” Sunset’s expression softened slightly. “Stop with the magic music nonsense or I’ll show you three just how truly awful high school can be! I’ll make you three look so bad you won’t be able to step one foot onto the school without being ridiculed! Not even your stupid songs will save you!”

Adagio slowly lowered her eyelids to match Sunsets scowl and pushed Sunset’s finger out of her face. “What makes you think you can find something to humiliate us with?”

“Because you three are idiots,” Sunset answered. “I bet you can’t even walk away from this conversation without embarrassing yourselves.”

Adagio looked back towards Sonata who shrugged and Aria who merely narrowed her eyes. She turned back to Sunset. “Do your worst! We’re not going to be intimidated by a girl with bacon hair!”

Sunset gritted her teeth. “Oh…

…it …”

…is …”

…ON!”

As the three walked away, Sonata slipped on a ball and reached out for Aria, who in turn reached out for Adagio as the three quickly fell to the ground in a heap of limbs, hair, and gaudy accessories.

Sunset quickly reached into her coat, pulled out her cell phone, and in a flash of fingers, began recording the three girls as the flailed amongst each other and cursed each other loudly.

Sunset smirked. “Let the games begin…”