//------------------------------//
// Power Pony Up! 2: Pony Harder 
// Story: Fast Times at Stinky Sugar 
// by PresentPerfect 
//------------------------------//

Power Pony Up! 2: Pony Harder
by Present Perfect

"This isn't the way!" Sunset Shimmer shouted, her eyes watering in the etheric winds emanating from Midnight Sparkle.  "I've been where you are!  I've made the same mistake you're making!  I was overwhelmed by magic!  I thought it could get me everything I wanted!"

"Oh, you're wrong," said Midnight Sparkle in her evil, sexy voice.  "Unlike you, I can have everything I want!"  She made a few more portals open, because she was evil like that.

Clenching her fists, Sunset stood her ground.  "No you can't.  Even with all that magic and power, you'll still be alone!  True magic..."

Where was she going with this?  She had seen true magic before.  Not the magic that had come from an otherworldly magical artifact, nor the magic that came from riffing sweet licks on her guitar; not even the magic that pooted out of her adorable unicorn horn back in Equestria.  She had been witness to a deeper, purer magic that had always existed in this world: the magic that had caused her friends to pony up.  What had all those moments had in common?

Of course!  It was all so clear now, so simple!  Why hadn't she seen it before?

"True magic comes from archery!"

Applejack grinned and nodded, elbowing Sour Sweet in the side.  "Learned how t' shoot defendin' mah property from timberwolves!"

"Awesomeness!" Sunset shouted.

"Aw yeah!" Rainbow cheered, jumping into the air.  Unfortunately, she fell over the edge of the giant rift in time and space, thus proving that you only transformed when passing through the mirror.  She left a colorful smear on Equestrian soil.

"Parties!"

"Did somehuman say parties?" Pinkie shouted, eyes wide.  She ponied up and immediately started firing party cannons indiscriminately into the crowd, knocking students into the hole.  The pegasi on the other side had wised up and prepared themselves for such an occasion, but tragically discovered too late that they couldn't carry the weight of a teenage human at terminal velocity.  There were no survivors.

"Dresses!"

"Oh, I do love dresses," Rarity said, nonchalantly filing her manicure.

"Talking animals, I guess?"

Fluttershy ponied up.  No one noticed.

"And the most important magic of all..."

Sunset felt a tingle run down her spine.  She lifted into the air, eyes closing.  Something shifted atop her head.  Her hair elongated.  An adorable horn sprouted from the middle of her forehead.  She posed dramatically.

"Getting everything totally wrong!" shouted Flash Sentry from across the courtyard, hands cupped to his mouth.

Sunset's eyes got huge.  She stopped midair, tipped over, and fell through the hole.

"Ohhhhh!" Flash shouted.  "Get dunked on!"

And that's how Midnight Sparkle was able to plunge Equestria and Humania into a thousand-year war.