Equestria Girls: Reimagined

by Candle Light

Chapter Ten

Equestria Girls: Reimagined
Chapter Ten
by Candle light
based on a story by Meghan McCarthy

Sunset Shimmer was quite aware that, from the student’s point of view, it looked like she wanted nothing more than to keep the clubs separate. And yes, while it did make them easy to manipulate, it was as if she despised the idea of teamwork. After all, it was the principle upon which Equestria was founded. She refused to count herself among one of those clichéd, over-the-top villains her nation encountered on a regular basis, who only wanted power for the sake of it. She was an Equestrian at heart, and her only wish was seeing it prosper under a worthy ruler.

Princess Celestia was not a worthy ruler.

Neither, as had become abundantly clear, was Twilight Sparkle. Oh, she had a way with words, and she couldn’t deny that she possessed a certain charisma, but her ideals were just as naive as her mentor’s. Her pet protege, given everything on a silver platter, never questioning, always happy just to be in her presence. Twilight probably hadn’t had to deal with a single day of real hardship in her life. The idea of stripping her of her pride, seeing everything she loved fall to pieces before her eyes, gave Sunset shudders of glee.

But it would have to wait. Walking down the corridors this evening, she was forced to admit that, the way things were going, her scare tactics had done little to deter her adversary, and because of Principal Celestia’s foolish little stunt, Twilight was in a far better position than she had originally anticipated.

And that insufferable twerp, Scribble Dee. There were always one or two in every club that didn’t seem to understand the hierarchy around here, but nobody had the ability to get under her skin quite like that girl. But oh, she would get hers in due time.

This wasn’t to say Sunset’s plan wasn’t proceeding, for the most part, as she had imagined. For now, why not let Twilight have her little show? My counterattack will come, just you wait.

Sunset stepped into the crowded classroom, where students were mingling, having their fill of cupcakes, cider and apple pie. Not the entire school, but a decent crowd nonetheless, perhaps somewhere around seventy people. There was a small stage covering a big chunk of the room, and the lamps were on, which meant the technology club had managed to install the solar panels in time. Bah, a few solar panel wouldn’t be enough for continuous use of electricity in the long run, and good luck using them in the winter. That Twilight had managed to sell them on such a temporary solution was, in its own way, quite impressive.

Speaking of her competition, she was nowhere to be found. Nor her friends. She snickered. “This is quite a meet-and-greet,” she told the nearest person. “Can’t even bother to show up themselves.”

“I, uh, think I saw them before,” the poor guy stammered, “and… have you tried the cupcakes? They’re really good; I’m gonna go have another one.” And he swiftly moved away, as far away as he could manage without leaving the room.

Most people made sure not to establish eye contact with her; no surprise there. It made no different, and she was so used to it by now, it was hard to imagine it any other way. Ponies or humans, friendship was only a word. ‘All you’ve ever done is drive people apart,’ Twilight’s voice echoed in her head.

Privileged brat. People drive people apart.

Once, she had thought Princess Celestia would be different.

The lamps suddenly dimmed, and a beat sounded through the room. A rhythmic tapping coming from the speakers. Wasn’t that her ex boyfriend up on the stage, and his motley crew of musicians? The beat picked up, catching the attention of everyone. Then the melody started, and with it, Twilight’s band of friends appeared—wearing clip-on accessories resembling horse ears and tails— hopping across the stage in an obviously practiced routine.

“Hey hey everybody, we got something to say!” they sang. “We may seem as different, as the night is from day!”

The dance was silly, and the lyrics were trite and cliché. And yet, there was a genuine passion to it, in a way that practically radiated happiness. Indeed, Sunset couldn’t deny there was so much pizazz to the song that, even as the words ‘magic of friendship’ were sung, she couldn’t even bring herself to cringe.

“So get up, get down, if you’re gonna come around; we can work together helping Twilight win the crown!”

Darn it, this is toe-tappingly good! A sentiment shared by the audience, because they were either bobbing their heads or dancing outright. The dance choreography on stage, now that it got going, wasn’t half-bad either. Who knew Fluttershy had it in her to perform in front of so many people? But she suspected that was exactly the point of it: these individuals, all from different clubs and life styles, were coming together under the banner of unity. ‘Together, we are strong.’

Finally, Twilight Sparkle herself emerged onto stage. Her part in the song was particularly unsubtle, but again, her charisma made up for it. “If you follow me, we’ll put our differences aside; we’ll stick together and start working on that school pride!”

Just as Twilight sung that last drawn-out note, the drummer pulled on string next to the set, which all of a sudden made those horse ears and tails rain down from tipped-over boxes cleverly attached to the ceiling. A lot of the students, seemingly amused by the display, picked them up and started attaching them to themselves.

Sunset couldn’t stay in the room for another minute. The meet-and-greet had all but turned into a dance party. Curses, she thought, striding down the hallway, after only a couple of days, she acts like she owns the place. Outside the school building, she stopped, and took a deep breath. She had to calm down. This changed nothing. There would still be time to snatch the victory right from under her nose.

She just hadn’t counted on the students rallying behind her so quickly.

Eyes on the price, she reminded herself. Tomorrow, Twilight will know the bitter taste of defeat.

Muted by layers of wall, Sunset could still hear the music. “…turn around, start now, make a change, help her win the crown!”

It did nothing to calm her down.

Comments

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

This was brief, but still very good. I liked the look into Sunset's mentality - and the irony of her thought processes. XD Good work.

I also got a laugh out of her reaction to the musical number. Yes, it IS catchy!

Caught a little typo here, though:

Eyes on the price, she reminded herself. Tomorrow, Twilight will know the bitter taste of defeat.

*prize* not "price."

Still, looking forward to what comes next! Even as I dread what will be Sunset's plan, as I'm sure it's something more intelligent than cut-and-paste photo editing.

[BlueHood]

Perfection

[djthomp]

Ahh, there's the song.