Magical Movie Night: Another Story

by ArcanaMaverick7

Dance Magic Chapter 4: Crystal Prep Confrontation

After returning from the mall, Rarity contacted her friends before immediately getting to work at repairing Rainbow Dash's jacket. As Rarity used the sewing machine in her bedroom, she heard a knock on her bedroom door and the Rainbooms arrived with the rest of Fragment Hunter. "We're here," Pinkie Pie exclaimed as Silver, Slate, and the girls all entered the bedroom.

"We got your text. You said it was an emergency," Twilight asked.

"Everythin' all right, sugarcube," Applejack questioned.

"Well, since you asked," Rarity said as she kept her composure and calmly sat down on a chaise lounge she had in her room. When she flattened out her skirt, Rarity began to sob dramatically. "The answer is no!"

"Oh, no! What happened," Fluttershy asked as she pet Rarity's cat, Opal.

Rarity began to answer as she continued crying. "Sour Sweet... and the... Crystal... Prep girls stole our video concept," she told the Rainbooms before she sniffled. "I saw them filming at the mall. They copied my design ideas and everything! So of course they looked absolutely fabulous," she explained before going on a brief tangent. "But the worst part is that they're all incredible dancers!"

While Rarity told everyone, the teenagers all had different expressions when they heard about the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts. Twilight and Applejack felt sorry for Rarity's idea being stolen while Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all patiently listened. The members of Fragment Hunter looked like they were trying to prevent a few of their members from going on a manhunt as they held back Silver and Rua. "Major bummer in the summer," Pinkie Pie exclaimed before she held out a tissue for Rarity. "Tissue for your issue?"

Rarity accepted the tissue and daintily dried her running mascara with it before loudly blowing her nose. "Everyone is counting on me, on the video to win us the prize money for the camp," Rarity said with a sigh as she flopped down onto her chair. "Oh, how could I have been such a fool," Rarity asked as she scolded herself angrily. "Of course, those Crystal Preppers stole my concept! I practically served it to them on a platter!"

"I said it to you before, Rarity," Sunset Blaze reminded. "It wasn't a smart idea to share your plan with the girls who pressured Twilight into harnessing magic that almost destroyed three different worlds just to win a stupid game of 'Capture the Flag'. No offense, Sci-Twi."

"None taken," Twilight said to Blaze before facing Rarity. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Rarity. It's gonna take more than one Friendship Games for those Crystal Prep girls to learn that winning isn't everything."

"And if they don't, I'll pull a 'Winchester Special' on them," Rua stated as she held up a closed fist and pulled on her glove.

"What does that mean," Twilight questioned.

"Punch them in the face until something bleeds or breaks," Silver explained mildly surprising everyone.

"Then why is it called that," Twilight asked.

"A bully at Beacon Academy named Cardin Winchester," Celadon told the Rainbooms. "When he first insulted Azalea in our history class, Rua pummeled him into his desk. The two ended up getting detention for it."

"I'LL NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR IT," Rua shouted.

"Eh, maybe this was all for the best," Applejack remarked as she changed the topic, confusing Rarity as she sat up to listen to her friends. "Uh, your concept and costumes are really awesome, but, uh... our dancin'..."

"Nnnnot so much," both Sunset Shimmer and Sunset Blaze said.

Applejack giggled at how bad the Rainbooms were at the dance Rarity had planned. "A few of us can dance normally, but these moves aren't what we usually do," she stated. "We could barely get in a two-step without trippin' over each other's boots."

Everyone started to laugh and agree on what Applejack said before Rarity spoke up. "Nonsense! You all looked great," she exclaimed as she attempted to correct the girls, but sighed as she knew they were right. "Okay, maybe not great, but, but... but it was getting there! And the point is we don't have to let them win," she said as she returned to the subject of the Shadowbolts and started to march around her room. "That is our video concept! And I am going straight to Crystal Prep to let them know that they have messed with the wrong girls! Who's with me?!" When nobody answered Rarity, she was disappointed by the lack of reaction from the Rainbooms and cleared her throat. "No, n-no, seriously, who is with me? I have no idea how to get to Crystal Prep," she added.

"I'll go. Maybe I can try to reason with them. We were classmates once," Twilight said as she decided to help Rarity.

"And we followed Twilight there when we saw her sneaking around CHS while she was still part of that prep school," Rebecca added.

"That's the spirit! Come on," Rarity declared as she pulled Twilight out her her bedroom.

Rebecca, Sunset Blaze, Azalea, and Rua all joined the two and headed off while the others stayed behind and processed everything. "So... while they're doing that, you want to help us with our music video," Bianca asked the other Rainbooms, who pleasantly agreed.

---

The six girls all made their way to Crystal Prep Academy and snuck their way in through one of the doors while Azalea used her Semblance to keep all of them invisible. As they entered the school, they didn't see that a raccoon-tailed man wearing a trenchcoat and mask was watching them from the roof of the building. "Well, well, well. Looks like today's a lucky day for me," he said as he recognized several faces before they disappeared. Pulling out a Scroll, he spoke to somebody on the other end. "Tremor, get ready. We have a little company joining us today." After giving the message to his ally, the man phased through the roof like a ghost to enter Crystal Prep.

As the girls all snuck through the halls and avoided students, Rarity peeked around a corner of lockers just as Azalea deactivated her Semblance. "Okay, where's the dance studio," Rarity asked Twilight.

"There's a dance studio," Twilight and the members of Fragment Hunter asked.

"Didn't you go to this school, Twilight," Rarity asked in reply as she didn't expect Twilight to not know the answer.

"Well, I can show you where the library is," Twilight said, which amused Rarity and the others.

"Of course you can, Sci-Twi," Sunset Blaze remarked.

Before the girls could say anything else, Rebecca and Rarity gestured for the others to be quiet. "Wait, shhh. That's their music," Rarity said as she heard the music that the Shadowbolts were dancing to in the mall. Looking for where the music was coming from, Rarity saw an open door in front of the group and grinned. "Bingo!"

As the girls made their way to the studio, they saw the Shadowbolts finish practicing their dance routine and Rarity was in awe as her jaw dropped. The Shadowbolts saw the visitors and stopped dancing. "Hey, girls," Sour Sweet greeted. "So what did you think of our routine? Scared yet?"

"We kill soulless monsters for a living and I'm friends with a pop star," Azalea remarked with a bored expression on her face as she adjusted her top. "I'd say we're fine."

"How are you friends with a pop star, you d-" Sunny Flare questioned, but stopped herself from calling Azalea what she intended, remembering the reactions Fragment Hunter had at the Friendship Games.

"Don't change the subject," Rarity exclaimed. "You know why we're here! You stole my— our music video idea," she corrected as she remembered Twilight was with her. "Now... change your concept, or else!"

Rua cracked her knuckles to threaten the Shadowbolts, but they weren't intimidated by her as they only stretched to prepare for more of their dance routine. "Sorry, heh, but we can't," Sour Sweet told Rarity and the Shadowbolts all laughed at her.

"And why is that," Twilight and Sunset Blaze asked in different tones. Twilight's out of curiosity, while Blaze's was more of a tone you would expect from an interrogator from the police.

"Because we care about winning. Duh," Sunny Flare stated smugly, which annoyed Fragment Hunter.

"And we will, because we're just about to submit our video," Sour Sweet said with an overconfident tone and laughed with the rest of the Shadowbolts. Sunset Blaze only glared in suspicion as she knew that the Shadowbolts were hiding something. Her Semblance's mind reading abilities allowed her to tell if a person was lying or not, which made it great for gathering information or knowing if she could trust somebody.

On the other hand, Rua was absolutely livid at the way the Shadowbolts were acting, forcing Blaze and Azalea to hold the brawler back. "CRANBERRY, WHEN I'M THROUGH WITH YOU AND YOUR BITCH FRIENDS, YOU'LL HAVE DUST CRYSTALS SHOVED RIGHT UP YOUR A-" Before Rua could finish screaming her threat at the Shadowbolts, Rebecca jabbed a finger into one of Rua's pressure points and the latter made a gurgling noise as she fell unconscious.

Rarity looked dismayed at what Sour Sweet said while Fragment Hunter managed to keep Rua from going through with her attempted threat. "You're what," she asked before stammering and focusing again. "It doesn't matter! Because we are still doing our video the way we planned!"

"Go ahead," Sour Sweet told Rarity. "But there's just one flaw in your little plan."

"By the time you submit yours, it'll just look like you copied us," Sunny Flare stated.

"Except the worse version," Sugarcoat added.

Rarity and Fragment Hunter were appalled by what the Shadowbolts said. As they only looked at Sour Sweet and the others, Lemon Zest walked over to start up the music the Crystal prep girls were practicing to. But just as she was about to press the button, she felt nothing. "Hey, where's my boombox," Lemon Zest asked as she saw her music player had vanished.

Everyone's attention now turned to the empty table in front of the wall of mirrors. "An immature tactic like that won't stop us," Sugarcoat told Rarity, Twilight, and the members of Fragment Hunter.

"Where would we hide a music player like that," Twilight asked as she looked at her old classmates.

"I didn't touch it," Azalea said as she held onto Rua.

"That's because it was me, my beautiful wallflower," a voice echoed around the dance studio.

Everyone looked around to see where the voice came from. "Who said that," Sunny Flare asked in surprise as the Shadowbolts looked in every corner.

Rarity recognized the voice from before and searched the room for herself. "Leblanc? Is that you," she asked.

"Is that what you're going with now, Sombra," Rebecca questioned as the voice was very familiar to the members of Fragment Hunter.

"I feel like I've heard that name before," Twilight remarked as she scratched her head.

"Come on out, Ringtail. I know it's you," Sunset Blaze told the voice.

Phasing through the wall of mirrors, the masked man walked into everyone's view and twirled his cane around idly. Rarity, Twilight, and the Shadowbolts were all startled by the fact a young male with a raccoon tail entered through the mirror. "Ladies, it's a pleasure as always to see you," the male said with a smile as he looked at Azalea and Sunset Blaze.

"Wish I could say the same to you, thief," Sunset Blaze replied as she crossed her arms.

"Blaze, you know this guy," Twilight asked.

"He's been trouble for us since our first semester at Beacon," Blaze said. "Rarity, Twilight, say hello to the first real threat that Fragment Hunter has ever faced. The phantom thief, Smoke Shadow."

Author's Note:

We know have more of an original twist to the confrontation at Crystal Prep now that Smoke Shadow has made his appearance to the characters. You'll get more of him in the next chapter before I continue with the main plot of the first special. Until then, ask any questions you want about him or my other characters.