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Disposition1,287 words
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Homeward Bound2,500 words

Homeward Bound

Author's Note:

Time to wrap this up.

The students had finally been set free from the hypnotic trance that the Sirens had cast upon them. They all had their attention fixed on the Rainbooms.

The Sirens were still down on the stage. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna stared in total disbelief of what they had just witnessed.

Principal Celestia leaned into the mic on the desk, "Luna, you may do the honors."

Vice Principal Luna took the mic and jumped on the desk and yelled, "DISQUALIFIED!"

She took a deep breath and gave the mic back to her sister. Celestia smiled, "Feeling better?"

Vice Principal Luna nodded, "Yeah, definitely. Something told me they were up to no good, but this insanity just proved it."

Principal Celestia turned, "The winner of this competition is Tool."

The students gave them a round of applause.

Maynard turned to the Rainbooms and that random girl with the DJ turntable and speakers in her car. He smiled and turned back to Celestia, "Hey, let them have the win, they earned it."

Vice Principal Luna nodded, "Very well, the Rainbooms have been announced as victors. After saving our asses yet again, I would say they definitely earned it."

The Rainbooms cheered and began to celebrate. Applejack turned to Sunset Shimmer, "Go ahead on, sugarcube, that's your trophy right there. If it wasn't for you coming in last second, we'd have been overrun by them Sirens."

Sunset smiled, "After all you've done for me, I couldn't just sit idly by and let you get defeated. I have to credit Maynard yelling 'LET GO' towards the end of that last song. That's when it dawned on me that I have no reason to hold a grudge against you girls for defeating me. You're my friends now. I hope this last ditch effort to come up with the win settles our score."

Rarity nodded, "Of course it does, dear, you've already proven you're trustworthy by not going back to your old ways. You really worry too much about what others think of you. You need 'let loose and go with the flow', as Pinkie says."

Rainbow chimed in, "Yeah, that was cool but the real MVP here is my homie Vinyl Scratch over here rolling up in the WubMobile. This car is awesome!"

Vinyl smiled and honked the horn.

Maynard thought for a moment, "Wait, how the fuck did we get outside?"

"Sirens," Twilight guessed.

"Speaking of which, they haven't moved, we need to go see if they're okay," Fluttershy murmured.

"I guess you're right, we also need to go and get the trophy! I'm totally throwing a 'We Saved The World' party when we get home," Pinkie Pie was ecstatic.

Sunset Shimmer went first. She approached the judge's table. She accepted the trophy, "We did it."

She turned her attention back to the stage. Her friends and the members of Tool all climbed up to where the Sirens were laying down. The students in the audience lost interest and left.

"They're still breathing," Danny said after checking their pulses.

"Good," Twilight replied.

The sisters stirred before sitting up. All three of them looked down in unison to see their amulets had been destroyed.

"I see, you destroyed the source of our power. A wise decision," Adagio commended their efforts.

"Yeah, we ain't stupid. Whenever y'all started singing, them things started glowing. Don't take much to deduce that," Applejack laughed.

Sonata flipped the bird and remained silent. She turned to look at her two sisters.

Adagio got up and looked around, "Wait, how did we get out here? I could've sworn we were in the auditorium."

"When the three of you started that last song before finally being stopped, something crazy happened. Everybody in the auditorium somehow transported outside. We climbed up on a hill overlooking the school," Twilight answered.

Aria rose and then spoke, "I did it. I brought everyone out here because the red circular waves that spread out attempting to take the audience's energy were strong enough to bring the whole building down. It would have killed us all."

"So, you do have a heart. I must say I'm surprised," Rarity said.

Aria shot her a look of pure malice, "At least I actually have a complexion. You look like a sentient marshmallow."

Rarity was taken aback by this. She lashed back, "Oh, the nerve! At least I'm not just a color swap of my sister."

Sonata jumped up, "Take that back."

Rainbow Dash got in between them, "Okay, that's enough. Rarity, you're supposed to represent Generosity, you're not doing a very good job at it right now."

Rarity sighed and looked toward Aria, "But she started it."

"I'm finishing it. They can't do anything to us. There's 11 of us and only 3 of them," Rainbow Dash diffused the situation.

Rarity agreed, "Yeah, I suppose you're right, Rainbow. I retract my statements."

"Alright, me too," Aria agreed to squash the beef.

Sonata was the last to get up. Aria hugged her two sisters and then stood back beside them.

"I guess there's no talking our ways out of this one?" Adagio inquired.

"Well, they're powerless now. Maybe we can build them back up like you all did for me," Sunset proposed.

"That's a good idea, Sunset," Twilight smiled.

Aria was shocked, "You mean you forgive us? After all the trouble we put you through, you forgive us?"

The Rainbooms nodded in unison. Twilight spoke, "Of course. We represent friendship. Applejack is Honesty, Rarity is Generosity, Rainbow Dash is Loyalty, Pinkie Pie is Happiness, Fluttershy is Kindness, I'm Magic, and Sunset is the newest member, Forgiveness."

Sunset smiled, "You mean I'm actually part of your group now?"

"Of course, you pretty much carried the team toward the end," Rainbow Dash approved.

The others agreed, everyone turned their attention to the Sirens again. The three sisters stood defenseless, expecting the worst. The members of Tool stood quietly and watched this play out.

"What's gonna happen to us?" Sonata asked.

"Well, like Sunset said, you no longer have any power, so you're just regular kids like the rest of us now. You might have to change schools after this though because Principal Celestia gives every student the same warning," Twilight answered.

Pinkie jumped and imitated her, "If you do anything to harm my students, I will PERSONALLY massacre you."

The others laughed, but stopped when they felt a presence behind them. They turned to see Principal Celestia had not left. She spoke, "So, you think that's funny? Keeping you all safe is my responsibility. The only thing that has stopped me from fulfilling that promise is that you befriend all the people we're supposed to massacre."

"I didn't hear a thank you, but you're welcome," Rainbow shrugged.

"It's definitely appreciated. I said all that to say this, those three sisters can continue going to school here. If they're alienated for past wrongs, let me know. If Sunset can be reformed into a productive member of society, so can they," Principal Celestia laid down the law again.

"Alright, I reckon that sounds like a plan," Applejack agreed. The others nodded.

Adagio turned to her sisters, "So, what do you say, girls?"

Aria shrugged, "I'm cool with it, I never really had any beef with anyone here, I was just going with what you were saying because you're my sister."

"We obviously got carried away, of course not everyone is going to think our music is good," Sonata stated the obvious.

Adagio sighed, "Yeah, that was our only real desire, was to be liked by people. Instead of forcing that on everyone, we should've just stayed lowkey and made friends like everyone else."

"I figured that was all you wanted when the chorus of your song was 'We will be adored. Tell us that you want us, we won't be ignored. It's time for our reward.' That was definitely not the right way to go about it," Sunset laughed.

"I'll be real with you though, that song was super catchy. No wonder everyone got hypnotized. I feel like if you got signed with a label and dropped an entire album of those earworm pop songs, you girls would make an absolute killing," Rainbow Dash suggested.

"You think any of them would actually sign us?" Sonata raised an eyebrow.

"If Canterlot Records signed us, they'll sign anyone. Trust me on that," Rainbow laughed.

"Guess we better get to work then, girls, what do you think?" Adagio turned to Sonata and Aria.

The two of them nodded and said, "Okay."

"That settles it then, we're gonna go start on a Dazzlings album and hopefully they'll release it for us. We already have instrumentals and lyrics, all we have to do is record the music and compile it," Adagio seemed excited about the idea.

The three sisters started walking away. They brushed past the Rainbooms. When they made their way past Tool, Aria stopped and threw her arms around Maynard, hugging him.

"I know you put on the tough guy act like you hate everyone, but you know deep down you care," she said to him.

Maynard was half-tempted to suplex the girl, but he took the compliment, "Yeah, okay. Thank you, Aria, you can let go now."

Her sisters decided to annoy him by hugging him as well. Maynard nearly popped a blood vessel, "Get the fuck off of me!"

The three sisters decided to quit messing with him and let go. The Rainbooms and Tool watched them walk away.

"Well, I suppose it's time for us to take the 4 of you home," Twilight addressed the other band.

"Oh, already? I was beginning to like this place," Maynard said sarcastically.

"Well, if you ever want to come back, we'll leave a portal open in your studio," Sunset joked.

"Please don't. If I lean against a wall and end up back here again, I'll burn this box of pastels to the ground," they couldn't tell if Maynard was joking or if he was serious.

"Okay, well, it was nice knowing you. We appreciate your help," Sunset waved.

"Wait, I do have something for you, since I'm a kind and charitable soul," Maynard deadpanned.

"What is it?" Pinkie asked curiously.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out 7 little strips of plastic that resembled bookmarks, "Here. These are tickets to our next concert. It'll be on May 5th in Jacksonville, Florida. If you can get there, don't be strangers. Don't say I never gave you anything either, these things are not cheap where we come from."

Twilight accepted them, passing one to each of her friends and keeping the last, "We'll be there with bells on."

"Alright, now how do we get home?" Maynard was growing impatient.

Danny pointed at the stage, "I'm not going anywhere without that drum kit."

"Right, of course," Twilight took the protective ward off.

"You should be able to move it about freely without getting shocked," she told them.

"Alright, cool," Danny went up onto the stage.

"Wait, I have a better idea, don't take it apart," Twilight said.

"Okay," Danny backed up.

Twilight snapped her fingers and the drum kit vanished into thin air.

"Dude, this magic shit is crazy," Adam finally spoke.

Justin nodded, "I know, I still can't seem to wrap my mind around it."

Danny called from the stage, "Where the hell did it go?"

"It's sitting in front of the portal. That spell only works for short distances. We have to go to the statue in front of the school, let's go," Twilight led the way. Her friends and the members of Tool followed her.

When everyone got there, the drum kit was sitting in front of the statue, just as Twilight said.

"I'll be damned, it worked," Danny laughed.

"Yep. All we gotta do is open up the portal and send you all through, then you're all home free," Twilight explained.

"I'll help you open it," Sunset offered.

Twilight obliged and the two of them worked their magic to open the portal. The members of Tool looked through to see their Los Angeles studio was completely destroyed.

"Shit. Well, the good news is, we mix the albums in Maine, so haven't lost any progress on that album," Adam breathed a sigh of relief.

"I know, our fans would come and kill us if we they had to wait any longer. It's been 13 years," Danny laughed.

"Don't worry, we'll get you there," Twilight promised.

The portal changed, the image through it now showed the mixing studio in Maine.

"Woah, that was quick. How did you guys know which one it was?" Justin asked.

Sunset laughed, "We're not even from your world and we know there's nothing in Maine but lobsters."

Maynard actually cracked up at that one.

Sunset lightly punched his arm, "Ha, finally got you to laugh. I knew I could do it."

"You must be proud," Maynard replied.

"Definitely," Sunset nodded.

Danny approached the portal, "No time like the present."

He went to push his drum kit into the studio. Sunset and Twilight helped him carry it through before crossing back to the Equestria side.

"Thanks!" he called from the other side.

"No problem," Sunset and Twilight smiled.

Adam carried his guitar case and put it through the portal. He saw it sitting on the floor when he backed up, "I'll see you girls in May."

Adam passed through the portal. Maynard and Justin were still on the other side.

Justin approached the portal next. He turned to Applejack, "Take good care of that bass, love."

"Damned right, I will. Thanks again for letting me have it," Applejack grinned from ear to ear, still holding the guitar case.

Justin waved and went through the portal. Maynard was the last one. He took a look around at the girls that surrounded him, "Well, it's been a hell of a ride. I appreciate the laughs."

They smiled and waved as he passed through. The portal closed.

"I miss them already. I was gonna invite them to our We Saved The World party before we sent them home," Pinkie sighed.

"Well, it was still fun to have them around. Hope we cross paths again someday," Rainbow looked at the ticket.

"We will in May when we go to their concert," Sunset chimed in.

"That's true, at least we got something to look forward to," Applejack held the bass.

"Well, Pinkie, I suppose it's best we go ahead and set up this party of yours," Rarity said.

"Great! Let's go!" she skipped toward her house.

The other Rainbooms followed her. They were always excited about her parties, she threw the best.

The Sirens had been defeated, the Rainbooms won the Battle of the Bands, and the members of Tool had made it home safely. It appeared everybody won because the Dazzlings released their debut album, Under Our Spell. It was already topping the charts within the first few days of its release. All's well that ends well.

The End

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