There was fire. And screaming. Sonata found herself in the middle of it, unharmed. Motorcycle wreckage littered the track, students moaned while teachers tried to keep everyone calm. As far as she was concerned, they were the ones at fault. In hindsight, it was an error on their part to trust her with a gasoline powered two wheeled contraption without any prior training. Hey, a butterfly! Sonata ran off chasing it.
A few feet away, Sunset Shimmer probably had a concussion. Adagio checked her pupils. Yup, Sunny was out of it. Her pupils were dilated. Vice Principal Luna called the hospital while Anon put the enflamed motorcycle wreckage out with an extinguisher. His eyes glazed in horror as her surveyed the scene. They had arrived too late. Adagio’s short legs slowed him down as they chased after the surprisingly quick Sonata. Somehow she had gotten dressed out into a full leather suit, helmet, and on the starting grid before they could catch up. The flaming wreckage was everywhere. This was a terrible idea. Who would trust high-schoolers to a dirt bike race? With jumps?!
---
Twilight scored another near bullseye. As close as was physically possible without clipping the line. Keeping her cover was getting infuriating. It would be child’s play for her to ace it, just like anything else. Would they accept her though? She didn’t know enough about them. Twilight was an Alpha. She wasn’t used to working with groups, she was used to being THE group, with a circle of accomplices to help her achieve her goals. The rest of the rabble didn’t matter, Twilight was the one who ensured stuff got done, and everyone knew it. Everyone but the Rainbooms. It was like Rainbow had called dibbs on the position. She even had the gall to name the group after herself. She had to know more about her other self. She looked over and saw her friend sprinting ahead of the group in her heat. Aria depended on her to find out.
“Oh, so close Twilight!” shouted Dash.
“Yeah, close…” murmured Doc.
Twilight and Fluttershy both qualified for the Friendship Games. There was so much she had to know. She couldn’t risk screwing anything up. Too much rode on it.
“Hey, you guys want to check out my lab after school?”
---
Due to chasing down Sonata the cafe had to open half an hour later. They were trying to run a restaurant here! The only consolation was everybody loved Sonata. It was insane, how people could catch on fire, yet no one would care about the girl the caused it. It was impossible to stay mad at the girl.
“Heeey! Welcome to Café Dazzling!” shouted Sonata. She was standing point at Dagi’s usual spot as hostess.
The evening was uneventful, if enjoyable for all the customers. Something was wrong. Aria couldn’t tell what, but nothing felt right.
“Aria, you ok?” asked Anon.
“Yeah, just getting a weird feeling. Like I’m missing something.”
---
Midnight Sparkle surveyed her territory with her 4 new lieutenants.
“Go forth and spread the message of discord! Collect the energy of the nonbelievers!”
She smiled as her new flock took off into the night. Without Sunset in the way she was able to subvert the entire Rainboom group. Or should she say, the Sparkles? No, that’s awful. She'd have to come up with a better name. The Nightmane Six? That wouldn’t work after she corrupted Sunset Shimmer, and then it would be wrong again when she found the princess. Oh well. Now there was no one to stop her now.
---
Sunset Shimmer awoke in the hospital. It was early morning, the sun just peeking through the curtains. A large orange poof lay on the couch beside her bed.
“Adagio?” asked Sunny. “What are you doing here?”
Dagi yawned. Her hair flopped over her face down to her nose, leaving just a small hand covering a small wide open mouth. Sunny couldn’t help but notice her sharp canines.
“Its not like I was worried or anything. I just wanted to make sure you were OK after Sonata plowed into you.”
Sunny's memory of the crash came back to her.
“Whose bright idea was it to let her on a bike?” asked the pony girl.
“Apparently it was Crystal Prep's vice principal who added her to the roster.”
Adagio grabbed a hair scrunchy from her pocket. Sticking it in her mouth, she reached up and pulled her unruly poof back into a lazy ponytail. The scrunch was twisted into place, then she quickly flipped her bangs with her fingers, and they settled obediently into two wavy bands of orange framing her face. It looked perfect.
“How the heck did you do that?” asked Sunny. She fiddled with her unruly mane.
“Well, you know. Just a trick I picked up over the years. All you need is practice. I’m gonna head home for a quick change then go to school. I’ll let everyone know you’re doing ok.”
“Thanks, Adagio.”
With that, the Siren left bacon hair to her recovery. She hadn’t expected Adagio to be so nice. Why were the rest of her friends so confrontational to the Dazzlings? Sunny let herself fall back onto her pillow. When the heck were they planning on letting her leave the hospital? She had stuff to do!