S4 CH 9. What You Stole
Moondancer slowly walked into the room before picking up the Elements of Harmony with her magic. The light dimmed slightly, but it was still lit up. In fact, three of the stones were now glowing, albeit not as bright as the orange had. She couldn’t understand, though. Why were the Elements reacting to Sunset of all ponies? Was she supposed to be the one to use them?
“Moondancer?” Bon Bon asked. “Do you know what that is?”
“It’s—” Moondancer stopped herself. Could she tell Bon Bon? Would knowing the Elements were here put her in more danger? She wasn’t worthy to wield them, but if Twilight and Sunset were, wasn’t it important that only they knew? “It’s a… it’s…” She nervously shuffled her hooves. She didn’t want to lie to her friend, though. But she could never forgive herself if she put them in danger again.
Her thoughts were shattered when there was a loud thump. Sunset had dropped the book on the desk. “Okay, enough,” Sunset said. “Now is not the time to feel sorry for myself. Moondancer, right? I’ve got a message for Twilight.”
“Ummmm…” Moondancer said, staring at her. “You just broke into her room, you know.”
“She’ll understand,” Sunset said. “At least, she should. Considering how desperate she was to get back here to save all of you from the changelings, she better. She--”
“Wait, WHAT?” Moondancer asked. “Changelings? You knew about that? Wait, no, what do you--”
“Listen, I’m on a real time crunch here,” Sunset said before she pulled out a small purple compact from her saddlebags. She laid it on the book. “Tell her that in a month I’ll be back for this. If I’m not, well… just… assume I didn’t make it. If she can figure it out, great. If she can’t…” She took a slow, deep breath. “If she can’t, tell her to do what she thinks is right. If she’s anything like my Twilight, she’ll make the correct choice. Tell her to break the mirror if she has to.” She tried to leave, but found her way blocked by both Moondancer and Bon Bon.
“There’s no way we’re letting you go like that,” Bon Bon said. “You can’t just break into here and--”
“Listen, I get it,” Sunset said. “I’m probably suspicious as can be right now. I don’t have time to get you all to believe me. They don’t have thirty moons to wait for me to come back. I don’t know if they’ll have even three moons. Just tell Glow--”
“Make time,” Moondancer said. “Give us the short version.”
Sunset gave a soft sigh before reaching up to rub her forehead. “Fine. Moondancer, you’re Celestia’s student, right? Or… were? Glow told me a few good things about you.”
“You said that,” Moondancer said.
“So keep that in mind when I say that’s the ONLY reason I’m not blasting my way out of here. Well, that and the headache,” Sunset said bitterly.
“Not really sorry,” Bon Bon said.
“You want the full truth?” Sunset asked. “Fine. After Glow and I separated, I blasted the rest of the changelings following us and I went and stole a bunch of old magical relics from the castle.”
“WHAT?” Moondancer asked, her eyes going wide.
“Time! Is! Short! Do you want the truth or do you want to interrupt me and I can go with plan A?” Sunset snapped, her eyes narrowing.
“Sorry,” Moondancer said sheepishly.
“Don’t yell at her!” Bon Bon said defensively.
“Okay, right, since apparently Glow didn’t tell you about me. Since I fled Celestia, I went to another dimension,” Sunset said. “Through a magical mirror. Things happened, I was planning to come back, steal some magical thing, use it to take over the people of that world and overthrow Celestia. Don’t interrupt!” Sunset said quickly when both of them opened their mouths. “That was the plan, it was a terrible plan, I was a terrible pony. You can think all of that you want after I’m gone and the people back home aren’t depending for me. That world has no real magic of its own, it actually has humans and--”
“Wait, HUMANS?” Bon Bon and Moondancer said, sharing a look.
“… You two know what humans are?” Sunset asked. “Wow, nerds. Err, no offense.”
“Lyra,” the two said in unison before sighing.
“Right, we have one of her back home too. Anyway. No magic, I was going to take over by bringing Equestria magic there and all of that. Then Glow came and caused a uhhh, she told me about here. I was pretty nasty, but I saw an opportunity. Things were going wild, I’d come in, steal some old magical artifacts, the version of her back home, Twilight Sparkle, was a genius. Like, an obscene genius. She had all this stuff figured out in a way I couldn’t even begin to understand it. Also, gullible as can be,” Sunset said before giving another soft sigh. “So… yeah. I offered to help Glow, got her to the throne room. Left, figured she’d have all of this handled. And with Nightmare Moon out and about I figured, hey, if this world’s messed up… I’ll just take power and my new home. Celestia would probably come back eventually. But umm…”
Moondancer stared at Sunset. If she wasn’t seeing it now, she wouldn’t believe it. The Sunset she’d seen she’d only seen a few times, but she’d always looked so cocky, arrogant and like everypony around her was below her. This Sunset looked more ashamed than she’d ever seen a pony look. More importantly, the orange gem was glimmering again.
“Sparkle was a genius,” Sunset said gently. “Is. Is a genius. She figured it out. Made that thing. Magic from Equestria doesn’t work right, but oh it does something. It entered me and… it was everything I ever wanted and… oh it hurt. Probably the most painful thing I’ve ever felt. It felt like I was burning from the inside out. I became a… demon. A raging she demon. But I got everything I ever wanted. Had so many people bowing to me. Enslaved. I was… almost unstoppable. It was miserable. Twilight saved me,” Sunset said, tears starting to form in her eyes though she quickly wiped them away. “I don’t know how. After that we just kind of… it got harder for us to talk. I guess. I think I scared her a bit. But she managed to save me and put all the magic in that.” She pointed towards the compact.
“Wait, that thing is holding magic?” Moondancer asked before reaching towards it.
“Don’t touch it!” Sunset said, blocking her hoof with her own. “Trust me. Don’t. Touch it. Listen. I’ve done a lot of terrible, awful things in my life. I was a terrible student, an awful friend and just… I wasn’t a good pony. After that? I had to take a good, hard, long look at myself. At who I was. Who I wanted to be. Who I could be. I didn’t like what I saw. I did so much damage. So I tried to cut everything from my past away, tried to fix things I’d broken. But… it looked like I was too late. Your past always catches up to you,” Sunset said with a weak, hollow smile. “No matter what I did, it seemed that it just found me eventually. I told Twilight to keep the magic away from me, I was done with it. I just couldn’t be trusted, not after that. I just… I wanted to move on. To try and find a better way, you know? Be somebody better. I even got some help. But it seems magic wasn’t done with me.”
“Our tampering with magic drew something else to us. They called themselves the ‘Dazzlings’. They claimed to be Equestrian and something known as Sirens, but I’m honestly not sure. I thought I could handle it, I really did. But they were crafty, methodical. Careful. But just in case I sent Glow that book last time the portal opened on my side. About a month ago your time,” Sunset said before glancing at it. “It seems she didn’t even open it, though. Not that I can blame her.”
“Errrrr,” Moondancer said softly. “A month ago? There’s been a… ummm. How did you send it?”
Sunset gave a shrug. “No idea, honestly. It was an old messenger spell Celestia had taught me. I don’t even know if Celestia had the other book anymore, but I knew I could use that magic to ensure she got it. Well, eventually. It may have taken me a few times to uhhh, get the spell right,” Sunset said sheepishly, her cheeks burning. “But I was able to duplicate it. Then I just teleported that one to the local delivery system with her name on it and popped back home. With the mirror all messing up I didn’t want to stay longer than was necessary. I definitely didn’t want to draw too much attention to the portal, either, with the Sirens running around. If I’d realized how badly things could go, I wouldn’t have sent the book at all and would have just asked for help.”
“Err, you might not have found help. The mail system is currently kind of… things have been delayed,” Moondancer said softly. “It likely only just got to her. Things have been… wild here. A month ago you might not have been able to get back at all.”
“Wild? That’s an understatement,” Bon Bon mumbled.
“… Oh,” Sunset said before rolling her eyes. “Well, add great timing to my list of faults then. The Dazzlings figured out Twilight, figured out Sparkle had the magic we’d stored. She fled her school, but well… Crystal Prep fell first. She gave me that thing just in case they got her, too, since we were the only ones who seemed at all… resistant to their magic. Since then she’d been trying to figure out a way to counter whatever it is they were doing, some of my friends were even helping her.” Sunset cringed and took a sharp intake of breath. “New… new friends. Since I… stopped being nasty. Not the ones from when I was… a-anyway. She told me to bring the magic capture device back to her, that she’d finally figured out how we could use the magic without hurting anybody. We could use it to fight the Sirens off. But I was too late. I arrived right in time to see Sparkle and my friends trapped under their spell. I ran and have been hiding ever since. Waiting for the portal to activate so I could see if Glow could figure it out. I’d hoped she’d have read my messages but just not had time to respond.” Sunset gave another glance towards the book. “I’ll figure out another way to fight them. If I don’t… just… tell Glow she was right. About pretty much everything she said about me. Tell her I’m… sorry.”
“If you can just wait a few days, I’m sure we can get Twilight back,” Moondancer said. “She’s--”
“The portal closes once the sun rises,” Sunset said. “Every thirty moons, here, it opens. There’s no telling when it will open again on that side. There was already a bit of a time distortion thing going on with that, even before your sun and moon cycles got all messed up. If I don’t go back now, I can’t go back for thirty moons. That could be anywhere from thirty minutes, thirty hours, thirty days, I don’t know. I don’t have TIME for this. Just tell Glow what I told you. If Sparkle could figure out how to make that thing work without turning someone into a monster, then Glow can. Probably.” Neither of the two budged and she gave another sigh. “Please. I need to go.”
“Do you really think you can stop these Dazzlings on your own?” Moondancer asked.
“I don’t know,” Sunset said. “But I have to try. This is my fault. I’ve… made enough mistakes that I know leaving things like this would be another.”
“And if you can’t win?” Moondancer asked.
“I’ve learned to live with failing,” Sunset said with a shrug. “But I won’t live with abandoning my friends.”
“Huh, you really are a student of Celestia, aren’t you?” Bon Bon asked.
Sunset’s cheeks turned red and she glanced away. “I ummm… was… once. I wasn’t a very good one.”
“I don’t know,” Bon Bon said. “You sound just like Moondancer right now. Whole martyr complex and all.”
“What?” Moondancer asked, turning to her friend. “When do I ever do something like that?”
Bon Bon coughed before motioning to her wing.
“T-that was different!” Moondancer said before giving a soft sigh. “I can’t let you go, Sunset.”
“Because it’s too dangerous?” Sunset asked, cocking an eye. “Trust me, it’ll be a lot more dangerous if you try to stop me. Because you’ll be hurt, and I’ll be tired.” She gave a light snort.
“Yes and no,” Moondancer said before holding up the Elements of Harmony. “Because this.”
“You never did tell me what that is,” Bon Bon said.
Moondancer gulped before motioning Bon Bon inside before picking up the door in her magic and shoving it back into place. She cast a quick spell, repairing the damage as best she could. “They’re the Elements of Harmony.”
“WHAT?” Bon Bon asked, her eyes going wide. “What are the--” Her mouth was closed by Moondancer’s magic a moment later.
“The Elements of Harmony? Those?” Sunset asked. “Aren’t they supposed to be six stones? Not, well… five and a tail ring?”
“We never found the sixth,” Moondancer said before shaking her head. “But that’s not what matters right now.”
“I’d disagree!” Bon Bon said.
“What does matter is they reacted when YOU touched them,” Moondancer said. “Three of the Elements are lit now. If we can find all of them, the sixth should appear. Probably. If you’re one of them, I can’t let you go off and face certain doom.”
“You can’t make me wait here and let my friends down, either,” Sunset said.
“Seriously, why were they in Twilight’s room? HOW?” Bon Bon asked.
“Discord,” Moondancer said.
“… Ah,” Bon Bon said. “That explains everything and nothing at the same time. Carry on.”
“Who’s Discord?” Sunset asked.
“Long story,” Moondancer said. “What’s important is that if the Elements are reacting to you now, I can’t let you run off and get hurt or worse.”
“Well, you aren’t--”
“You had a plan,” Moondancer said before gripping the compact in her magic, pulling it over to herself. “I’m not Twilight, but I might be the next best thing. So, how do we get to this dimension of yours?”
“Y-you can’t mean that,” Sunset said. “I-I already put enough people in dangers. I can’t add another.”
“Two others,” Bon Bon said.
“What?” Moondancer asked, looking at her. “You’re not--”
“If I don’t, Lyra will kill me,” Bon Bon said. “I’d grab her if I could. Besides, no way am I letting you run off alone. Somepony has to keep you out of trouble.”
Sunset gave a sigh and shook her head. “Listen, I appreciate it but--”
“But we’re not the help you wanted,” Moondancer said before holding up the Elements of Harmony. “But the Elements are reacting and, as far as I know, there’s no better help than that.”
Sunset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, starting to definitely get those Glow vibes off you. Fine. But let’s go quick. I’ve already delayed long enough. If you want any chance of getting in and out BEFORE the portal closes, we need to go. Now.”
Moondancer nodded, her horn glowing for a few moments before a small letter appeared on Twilight’s desk. Her horn flickered a few more times and then she nodded to Sunset. “Nightmare Moon may yell at me later if we don’t get back before she sees her letter, but… lives are on the line. Right? Time is of the essence? All that? Here, take this.” She held out the Elements of Harmony to Sunset, but she yelped and took a step back.
“Oh no no no no no. I am not doing that,” Sunset said quickly. “Listen, if you want to bring that thing, you’re welcome to it. But I am not touching it.”
“What? But it’s a powerful artifact of Equestria,” Moondancer said. “It might--”
“The last time I held anything like that I hurt my friends and turned into a demon,” Sunset said before walking forward, shoving past Moondancer and pulling the door open. “If push comes to shove, I can’t guarantee I won’t choose power again. I’d suggest leaving that here.”
Moondancer blinked and looked down at it. The stone was still glowing. But could an Element be useful even if the pony who had it wouldn’t use it?
Maybe. Maybe not. But if she couldn’t let Sunset get hurt, there might be a time where they needed it. Even if she wasn’t worthy of it, hopefully they wouldn’t mind if she wore them. Just this once. She slid it on her tail and followed after Sunset.
“So, what are we facing?” Bon Bon said.
“Err, I’ll explain when we get there,” Sunset said. “For now, let me just explain what you’re going to see when you get there. Trust me. It might be a bit of a shock.”
“Oh, how bad could it be?” Bon Bon asked. “Like a small minotaur, right?”
------
Sunset crossed her arms and sighed, tapping her foot anxiously while she glanced around. She had to give the two credit. They’d managed to not scream. They were freaking out a little bit, but in comparison to her first time coming here, it wasn’t so bad. Moondancer had collapsed on the ground and looked like she might start crying at any moment, her hands pulled up and little fists positioned like hooves. At least her saddlebags had turned into a bag so she could carry the compact and Elements around, though honestly they looked more like a bracelet now. Bon Bon had managed to stay standing, but she was only standing because of her hold on the statue and looked like she might throw up any moment.
Still, way better than she expected. “So, how you two doing?” Sunset asked.
“We are very tall,” Bon Bon said.
“These are very weird clothes,” Moondancer said. “Also, my hooves are all split. Also, I think I may be having a tiny bit of a panic attack.”
“You’re handling it well,” Sunset said, trying to offer encouragement.
“Experience with panic mostly,” Moondancer said. “Remind me to thank Lyra for every talk she ever put us through about anthropology.”
“I think I’m going to throw up,” Bon Bon said.
“Oh, trust me, not a good idea,” Sunset said with a shudder. “You think it’s weird feeling like a human on the outside, feeling things on the inside are like a dozen times worse.”
Bon Bon just gave a little whimper.
“Anyway,” Sunset said. “The Sirens aren’t here. If we’re lucky, we won’t run into any of their goons. But honestly, I’ll feel a lot happier once we get out of here. We--”
“Sunset!” Sparkle’s voice came, making her freeze.
“Twilight?” Moondancer asked before looking towards a small group of humans walking towards them. Three of them, though they seemed oddly familiar.
“Oh no,” Sunset said, turning to face them. “Oh no no no. Moondancer, Bon Bon, get up. We need to go, now. Bad luck, very, very bad luck.”
“Sunset!” Sparkle snapped. “Give back what you stole!”
“I can’t believe you’re back to your old tricks,” Rainbow’s voice came from the girl with rainbow hair.
“I can,” Applejack’s voice came from the other girl.
“Applejack?” Moondancer asked. “Rainbow?”
“Moondancer? Sweetie Drops?” Rainbow asked. “What are you two doing here?”
“Wait, Sweetie Drops?” Moondancer asked, glancing to Bon Bon.
“Long story,” Bon Bon said. “Ummmm, Sunset?”
“Can you two run?” Sunset asked before pulling out a small, strange rectangle and tapping on it wildly. “We need to go, now. Ohhh this is bad.”
“Maybe?” Moondancer said. “Where?”
“Come on!” Sunset yelled before she turned and dashed away. Moondancer and Bon Bon shared a look before they, awkwardly, tried to follow after her.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Rainbow said before rolling her eyes. “Okay. One, two, three, four aaaaand five. Okay, head start is over!”
“Really?” Applejack asked, making her friend stop.
“What?” Rainbow asked.
“A head start?” Applejack asked.
“What? I could outrun them any day of the week.”
“They’re getting away!” Sparkle yelled.
“Huh? Oh! Right!” Rainbow yelled before taking off after them. It took her nearly twenty whole seconds to catch up to them, but she supposed in Sunset’s defense it was mostly because the other two were slowing her down. She skidded to a stop in front of her and crossed her arms. “Okay, Sunset. No more games. Give Twilight back her… whatever that thing was you stole. Seriously, Moondancer, Sweetie Drops, what are you two doing here anyway? After everything Sunset’s pulled I’d figure you’d know better than to go following her around.”
“Uhhhhh…” Moondancer said before glancing towards Sunset. “Stole?”
“I didn’t steal it,” Sunset said bitterly. “Rainbow, you’re not yourself. None of you are. You just need to--”
“Oh, time for another Sunset tall tale?” Applejack asked, her and Twilight lightly jogging up behind the three.
“Sunset, we’re not mad,” Sparkle said.
“Speak for yourself,” Rainbow said with a hmph.
“Fine, I’m not mad,” Sparkle said. “I’m sure you think you’re doing the right thing.”
“Yeah, sure she does,” Applejack said, crossing her arms.
“Just give it back,” Sparkle said. “You can’t control that magic. It’s not going to give you what you want.”
“I don’t have it,” Sunset said. “You’re not going to find it, either. It’s gone.”
“Yeah right,” Applejack said. “That’s a load of rotten apples. The day Sunset Shimmer gives up an ounce of power is the day I eat my hat.”
Sunset gulped and took a small step back before glancing back to Moondancer and Bon Bon. “It’s… in my locker.”
“No, it’s not,” Sparkle said. “We already looked in there.”
“You opened my locker?” Sunset asked.
“The safety of our world is at stake. After you tried to take over the school with your magic schemes, do you think we’ll just let you try again?” Sparkle asked.
Sunset cringed and she pulled her arms in front of herself, crossing them nervously. “I’m not, I don’t… I’m not that person anymore. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow. You know this. It’s the Siren’s spell. They--”
“Yeah, right,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “You’re just as full of it as you always were. You really had us going with that whole ‘I’m trying to be better’ better act. Seriously? Why even pretend to try and make up for all those lies if you were going to just try and do it all over again? What is wrong with you?”
“This isn’t another trick!” Sunset yelled. “It’s the Dazzlings, they--”
“Uh huh,” Applejack said. “You’re the only one set on seeing them as some monsters. Almost as if somebody is trying to turn everyone against them. Kind of your MO, ain’t it?”
“The only monster here is you, Sunset,” Rainbow said. “Now give Twilight back her device.”
“I don’t have it,” Sunset said, taking another step back into the street.
“Then where is it?” Applejack asked.
Sparkle then turned towards Moondancer and Bon Bon. “Moondancer? Sweetie Drops? You have it, don’t you? She’s sucked you into her schemes, hasn’t she?”
“Please,” Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes. “After what she did to them, I doubt it.”
“Did to us?” Bon Bon asked.
“Well, you and Lyra,” Applejack said. She then blinked. “Speaking of, where is Lyra? I thought you two were always together.”
“You two DO have it, don’t you?” Sparkle asked. “Did she give it to you?”
“Uhhhh, no,” Moondancer said, taking a small step back. She really wished she was better at lying.
A moment later Sparkle was in front of her. “Moondancer? Please, tell me the truth. Do you have it?”
Moondancer stared at the human. She was so… strange looking. Weird. Nothing at all like a pony. But… those eyes were Twilight’s. At least one of them were. That hair. That voice. She gulped, trying to bring up the will to lie.
But she couldn’t. Slowly she looked down. She had it. She reached into the little bag at her side.
“Moondancer, don’t! That’s not Twilight anymore!” Sunset yelled, taking a step forward, only to find her way blocked by Applejack and Rainbow.
“Just because she’s not believing any more of your lies doesn’t mean she’s not Twilight,” Applejack said.
“So, what lie did she make up?” Sparkle asked, her voice filled with bitterness. “I bet she tried to get you to open it, right? Get you to unleash the magic she stole?”
Moondancer slowly nodded. “Yeah, she did,” she said, pulling it out. She stared down at the device before glancing up at Sparkle.
“This is specifically why I tried to keep you away from it, Sunset,” Sparkle said bitterly. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you after all you did. Some people just really are beyond help, aren’t they? Please, give it to me. I can keep it safe from her.”
Moondancer froze, staring at it. She then glanced towards Sunset before looking up at Sparkle. “Do you… really think she’s beyond help?”
“She’s lied to us,” Sparkle said. “She used me. Again and again. She’s tore so many friendships apart all so she could win more power. She’s been doing nothing but causing EVERYONE trouble! This is just like every other time! She makes up these stories about the new girls, trying to get us to turn on them. I actually started to believe them! Then she steals my device! All she has ever cared about is power. That’s all she’ll EVER care about!”
Moondancer sighed, staring down at device. “You’re right.”
“Exactly,” Sparkle said, holding her hand out. “Just give me--”
“Sunset’s right,” Moondancer said. “You’re not Twilight. Bon Bon!” she said before she turned and ran.
“Seriously?” Rainbow said before shaking her head. “We literally just did this.” She took off and a few moments later she had them blocked, a smirk on her face. “Seriously. I’m the fastest girl in school. You don’t really think you’re going to outrun me, do you? Especially when you’ve got some more dangerous magic mumbo jumbo. The last thing I want is another angry demon running around.”
“About time,” Sunset said.
“Huh?” Applejack asked before letting out a shriek and diving out of the way. Twilight leaped away as well, though the car never came close to them, instead skidding to a stop in the middle of the road.
Sunset jumped in. “Come on!”
Moondancer turned and ran towards it, her mind already struggling to come up with a dozen answers as to what that thing was. The primary one that came to mind was that it was fast and soon not going to be here. Unfortunately, she felt a hand on her shoulder a moment later.
“Yeah, no,” Rainbow said, glaring at her. “I’m not-- GAHHHH!” She then let go, dropping to her knees. “Ow ow ow OW OW!”
“Oh, sweet, it doesn’t just work on minotaurs,” Bon Bon said. “Fingers are great, though. Um, let’s go!”
Moondancer blinked before running towards the vehicle and leaping in as best she could. The strange person inside was wearing a pair of red glasses and a pair of headphones. Once all three were inside, she took off, leaving the three behind.
Sunset gave a light groan. Which wasn’t surprising, since the vehicle seemed to only be designed for one extra passenger and the two had landed less than gracefully on her. “O-ow. N-not that I don’t appreciate the s-save, DJ Pon-3, but was the convertible really necessary?” The driver just shrugged with a smile. “Ow. Knee, in my ribs. Okay, let’s just, ow, okay, there.” The three managed to, albeit slowly, untangle and reposition so they were tightly packed, but at least not on top of each other. At the very least it was a roomy one seat. “So yeah. That. Was really trying to avoid that. Thanks. Really. For ummm… not giving it to her.”
“I almost did,” Moondancer said before sliding it back in her bag. “But of the two of you, I think I have to trust you now. Because I can’t see that as Twilight.”
“Really? Why?” Sunset asked.
“Two reasons,” Moondancer said. “She said all you want is power, if that was true, well. I saw the way you looked at the Elements. The second, though… I’ve never seen Twilight give up on anypony. Anybody. No matter how much they deserved it.”
“Here’s hoping that applies to my Twilight,” Sunset said with a sigh. “Last time I saw her I did drop a recycle bin on her head.”
The car came to a sudden halt, making the three shriek before crashing together. Sunset groaned and shoved the door open before falling out of the vehicle. “O-ow. Really. Please. Next time. Bigger car.”
DJ Pon-3 just gave a sheepish grin and a shrug.
“Yeah, I probably deserved that. Thanks, by the way. For coming,” Sunset said before slowly getting to her feet and shaking her head.
“So, you never told us before,” Bon Bon said. “How did you get them to tell you they were sirens anyway?”
“They kind of… volunteered it,” Sunset said. “Well… more… rubbed it in my face. After they… kind of…” She gave a sigh before waving to DJ Pon-3, the other girl speeding off. “Who… evil villain thing, I guess? I think they kind of enjoyed it. After taking over Crystal Prep, well. You heard the others. Twilight and I tried to warn everybody, but most weren’t… well...”
“I’m guessing it didn’t go well?” Moondancer asked.
“Yeah. Turns out if you blackmail, trick, and betray pretty much everybody you ever knew, not many of them want to give you a second chance. Then throw in the whole going demon and only even stopping when my only actual friend manages to somehow save me? Yeah…” Sunset muttered, crossing her arms and heading towards the building. “There weren’t many even willing to give me a chance. You just met three of them.”
“Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight?” Moondancer asked.
“Yeah,” Sunset mumbled. “Sort of. Twilight, of course. But Twilight’s… great. That and she was kind of the one who alerted me to it. She’s really smart, you know? Went on about hypnotism in their music and all that. It changes a person. Some people can resist it, I did for a bit, but well… it’s sneaky.”
“Sneaky how?” Bon Bon asked.
Sunset motioned for them to follow her into the house. “Try to keep it down, my ummmm… caretakers… are probably sleeping.”
“Wait, caretakers?” Moondancer asked.
“Let’s not get into that right now,” Sunset said. “Their magic is subtle. It makes you forget things, remember things wrong. You might not even notice a person is under it at first. But then… well… then they start to change. They don’t go too far out of their normal behavior, it seems. But when everyone is already one slight push from hating you…”
“Doesn’t take much?” Moondancer asked.
“Exactly,” Sunset said before quietly leading them through the house and to a large, albeit simple room. She sat on the bed with another sigh. “I thought we had it handled. Sparkle comes to Canterlot High, I send Glow the book, waited for her answer. Nothing came, though. Sparkle kind of… ummmm…” She glanced off to one of the corner’s of the room where a few blankets and pillows had been gathered up into a small nest. Nestled on the nest was a small, purple dog who was sound asleep. “Camped out here for a while. We tried to come up with a solution. Principal Cinch would probably have both our heads if she found out where she was. But with those three looking for her, we didn’t have much choice. Never seen somebody try and do makeup homework while hiding for their lives.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Twilight,” Moondancer said with a snicker.
“Twilight?” the dog asked, his eyes opening before he jumped to his paws, tail wagging. He turned to look at them, only to freeze and then frown. “You’re… not Twilight.”
“Uhhhhhh…” Moondancer said softly. “Spike?”
Spike perked up and then cocked his head to the side.
“I’m sorry, Spike,” Sunset said. “Glow wasn’t there. This is Moondancer and, uhhh… Bon Bon. Err, he talks now. A uhhhh… earlier… magic experiment. Don’t ask. Then again, from Equestria. Probably less odd for you to see a talking dog. Forget I said anything.”
Spike gave a light hmph before turning his back on them and plopping back down.
“He’s ummm… kind of mad at me,” Sunset said softly. “I uhhh… may have promised I’d keep Sparkle safe. But I am going to find a way to save her. Sparkle figured it out. They’re doing some magic through their music and if we can kind of… out music them, we can nullify it. In theory.”
“In theory?” Moondancer asked.
“We hoped,” Sunset said. “Rainbow and the others might not have trusted me very much, but they were willing to give it a shot once they realized I was being sincere. They were working on a song to break it. The biggest problem, though, was that we didn’t really have a way to test it. We were really just throwing magic at the wall to see what stuck, hoping Glow would send me something to help. Then Sparkle called me and told me to come to the music room, in that giddy, excited ‘I just figured out something AMAZING!’ voice of hers. Only to… well…” She stopped for a second, a hand moving over her mouth. She took a few slow, steady breathes before speaking again. “Aria and Sonata stopped me on the way there. I didn’t realize why at the time. They said I couldn’t stop them, that they’d heard all about me. Did this whole annoying gloating as if they’d already won thing. We bantered for a bit, I said I’d stop them, but it wasn’t until they said I was all alone that I realized what they were doing.”
“By the time I got there, Adagio already had them under her spell. I was so STUPID!” Sunset snapped, shaking her head. “I should have KNOWN something was up. I was the only one of us with real actual experience dealing with magic! Ugh!” She rested her head in her palms before sighing. “I’ve been trying to come up with something, anything, since. I must have left Glow like a thousand messages in that stupid book. It seemed to be working, it did the whole glowing thing. I just hoped she was buried in a book trying to figure out an answer. If I just came to see her she might finally have an answer. I don’t know anything about music magic! I’ve always been a more hands on student, you know? Magic I can touch and experiment with! But the only magic I can actually touch here is magic that turned me insane and made me hurt everyone I cared about! Nobody else here even has magic! How can I possibly--” She was cut off when Moondancer suddenly hugged her.
Moondancer just held her for a few moments before, finally, glancing to Bon Bon. “Okay, is that how I sound?”
“A little more panicked, but yeah,” Bon Bon said. “She’s got the whole wildly, anxious exposition rambling thing you got too.”
“S-sorry,” Sunset said once Moondancer let her go and pulled away. She reached up to wipe the tears gathering in her eyes. “Its been a rough couple of days.”
“Days?” Moondancer asked.
“Yeah,” Sunset said.
“So you’ve just been here? Hiding?” Moondancer asked.
“Uh huh,” Sunset said.
“But Twilight knows where you live, doesn’t she? Haven’t the Sirens tried anything?” Moondancer asked. Then her eyes went wide and she flicked her head back. After a moment she sighed. “Right. I can’t summon my books here.”
“You get used to it,” Sunset said before giving a light chuckle. “But yeah. She also knows where the portal to Equestria is. But she hasn’t told them that, either. I think. The magic is subtle, but it’s still them in there. They want magic and to get to Equestria, but they’ve only been able to get Twilight to tell them I have it. Well… no.” Sunset gave a soft sigh before glancing towards the bag. “They probably figured that out. I don’t think Twilight would have put me in danger like that. But once they knew…”
“Send them to find you,” Bon Bon said. “Have a few girls stake out the school, then grab Twilight to come and demand it from you. Can they use that magic?”
“I don’t know, maybe,” Sunset said with a shrug. “Or they at least think they can. I thought I could. But it wasn’t until it was burning me out from the inside that I realized how wrong I was. Twilight said she figured it out, but well… if she still knows while under their control, that could only make things worse.”
“Well, I think you’re in luck,” Bon Bon said. “Moondancer might be even better than Twi-- Glow for this.”
“Oh? Why?” Sunset asked.
“Ohhhhh, I’ve waited a long time to be the one to say this,” Moondancer said, her feet lightly tapping on the ground while she held up the small compact. “I have a major in musical magic theory.”
“… What? Why?” Sunset asked.
“Lyra,” Bon Bon and Moondancer said together before sharing a small giggle.
“Actually, wait,” Bon Bon said. “The girls mentioned you did something to me and Lyra here. What exactly happened?”
Sunset cringed and took a slow, deep breath. “Oh… I ummm… wow… err.” She reached up and rubbed her head nervously. “I ummm, you see. I uhhh. I used to be a real piece of work.”
“It wasn’t me, I won’t be mad,” Bon Bon said.
“I uhhhh…” Sunset said before giving another sigh. “I guess it’s better you hear it from me than anyone else. I made Lyra and Sweetie Drops think that they sabotaged each other during a piano recital in front of the school and uhhh, nearly destroyed their friendship forever. Or tried to. I uhhh… did… that kind of thing a lot.”
Silence reigned in the room for a few moments as the other two just stared at her.
“… There’s a reason I said I deserved that slap Glow gave me,” Sunset said softly.
Bon Bon reached out and gently patted her on the back. “I get it. We’ve all done things we wished we hadn’t in the past. But you’re not that kind of pony anymore, right?”
“I don’t ever want to be like that again,” Sunset said.
“Then good. Everyone deserves a second chance,” Bon Bon said. “Or… however many chances this would be for you.”
“I think I’m going on my fourth now,” Sunset said with a chuckle. “But hey. At least this time I’m actually trying to be better. So, Moondancer, do you think you can figure out what Twilight Sparkle did?”
“Oh, yeah,” Moondancer said. “That’s actually the easy part. You said she was in the music room with the others, right? When she figured it out and told you to bring the magic?”
“Yeah,” Sunset said.
“Then yeah, magical theory is pretty simple on that,” Moondancer said before grinning and glancing out the window. “In fact, I think… hm. How many hours do we have until sunrise?”
“Uhhhhh…” Sunset said before glancing towards a small box on her bedside table. “Five, maybe six hours. Why?”
“I have a plan,” Moondancer said. She then sighed. “But oh, I wish Lyra was here. But the three of us should be more than capable.”
“Already?” Sunset asked. “How?”
“Well, she was Celestia’s prized pupil for a reason,” Bon Bon said. “Even if she doesn’t see it half the time.”
Moondancer’s cheeks turned a brilliant shade of red, but she slowly nodded. “Trust me. I… think I can do this. We can do this. We just need some music equipment and an outdoor stage.”
Sunset gave a soft sigh, but a huge smile now covered her face. “Well, good to know the famous Moondancer truly does live up to the hype. Then let’s go save my friends! And… the people who kind of tolerate me. I know just the place, there’s a park not too far from the school where they do events and stuff. There’s a stage there.”
“Perfect,” Moondancer said. “We’ll need some sound equipment too.”
“Most of it will probably be locked up, but I’ve gotten pretty good at picking locks,” Sunset said. She then cringed, giving a sheepish smile. “Err… b-but only for a good cause. Honest.”
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11516744
Lyra would totally be on that.
11519774
She totally did. XD
11520577
Yeah, she's trying. She may not always succeed, but she is trying. Even if she does suck at showing it sometimes. If Discord is agreeing to aid her, somewhat, she intends to use it... She'll likely regret this decision. Not because it'll go awful or anything. Discord is just a butt.
11520598
Sadly, Nightmare Moon is slowly getting better and Luna is slowly returning... but it's still a while until she achieves anything even close to healthy. But she is getting better and trying to be better.
11520617
Yeah, a lot of those quotes were a blast to write. I loved them. XD Trixie is one of my favorite characters to write at times... such an awful influence. Rainbow isn't much better. XD And I am kind of pacing myself. In the end, this is a fun project. I write it when I can. Half the fun in it is seeing everyone's reaction to it so a part of me wants to post all of it as soon as it's done. XD
11525538
I... don't get it?
11525631
I imagine it shall. Though, I'll admit. In this case the elements may not mean the same thing for these five. After all, the six were originally the pillars facets, then tied into the elements we all know... this is more like a different facet that they can tie into for Harmony. Based on the pillars/elements, of course. Probably safe to share that now. If the pillars were harmony for a nation, the elements were harmony for friends, these elements are representing harmony for something else.
11525683
Hee hee. Right on the nose. Though she doesn't go by that name anymore. :P
11526026
Yeah, things have been a bit... hectic lately. With the shades and sudden partial alicorn-ness and nearly dying and... there has been a lot going on. Not to mention the mail system has been utterly torn apart and just... yeah. Twilight would have responded if she could. Alas, Sunset is not entirely in the best place mentally right now, so that hurts. A lot. Also, Nightmare Moon isn't fully understanding everything yet. But oh, she is trying. Very, very hard. She wants to be the best pony she can be... It's just... not easy. When you've been mad for so long.
I've always wondered: Why didn't all these magical shenanigans going on around EG school get the attention of secret government organizations like "Men in Black"?
Well, if it had already gone this far... isn't siren problem fully resolvable by a few freedom pills dispensed from... special custom freedom pill launchers?
(or a couple axes or machetes at least?)
11526105
In canon? Easy. Prior to the events of the first movie, what special magical stuff is happening? Pinkie Pie. She's pulling balloons off her dress before the magic activates. Other than that? There's an artifact stone, and some stuff in a wooded campground. Nothing major, until a pony artifact hits the human world.
By the time you've had the three TV movies, and the girls are getting ready for college? Of course they're under government watch.
... hmm, gotta use that for an RPG thingie ...
11526548
I doubt that mystical events began to pour in from a cornucopia only after the first film. Given the presence of Sirens (which are supposedly over 1000 years old) and portals between worlds at random points in the world. it can be suggested that paranormal activity may have occurred prior to the first film.
I LOVE Moondancer hugging her mid-rant and being all "I see how I sound now." Self-awareness through empathy is GREAT! The only bit I was confused on was why she had a minor in music magic theory thanks to Lyra - did Lyra talk them into doing it with her?
Without even being introduced, these Dazzlings are already more ruthless than canon, brainwashing Sunset’s best friend into saying the things that cut her the most.