• Published 26th May 2019
  • 4,471 Views, 86 Comments

Equestria Girls: Two Sunsets - moviefan-92



CHS is having a talent show, and the girls are eager to join. But then the human Sunset Shimmer suddenly appears. They try to befriend her, but she's shy and reserved, and seems to be hiding something magic. Is she evil like her counterpart once was?

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Chapter 12: How the Sun Sets

Author's Note:

Haha! It looks like Hasbro took my idea of having one of Micro Chips' inventions go haywire and having the Equestria Girls need to take it down for their new music video Cheer You On. Well, ok, they likely planned that on their own, but you gotta admit, it's a pretty big coincidence, especially since I posted that chapter in mid-July and that video came out on September 1st. The video even took place during a talent/music show, which Micro Chips was going to use Mr. A.I. for in my story. Hmm, interesting. I did post this story here, on FanFiction, and submitted it to Daily Equestria, so maybe they did see it and get the idea for it. That's pretty cool.

Now then, last time the Equestria Girls managed to defeat the human Sunset, with some help from the Mane Six. It was always my intention to have them make an appearance, I just hope their arrival wasn't too much of a cheesy eye roll. I hope their appearance also demonstrates exactly why I thought it would be easier to simply italicized certain names. But yeah, as Princess Twilight said, she and the others were off solving a friendship problem in Equestria and only recently got back, which is why the Equestria Girls hadn't heard anything from them. As Pinkie Pie pointed out, their arrival may have been a bit of a deus ex machina, but I thought it worked, and the chapter title did hint to them coming. We also got to hear Sci-Twi's song, but unlike Sunset's, you should have known what it was since she actually said the title a few chapters back. It was the other saw that only appeared in the live-action music video, I just had to tweak a few lines here and there. If you don't know what I'm talking about or never heard the song, you can find it on YouTube. For now, we're finally going to get all our questions answered. I hope you're ready to cry, because it's going to be a pretty emotional chapter. Well, I don't know if I'll actually be able to trigger tears, but it'd be cool if I could get an emotional response like that from my readers.

Disclaimer: I own nothing


Equestria Girls and other human world residents: …Normal Font…

Mane Six, human Sunset Shimmer, and other Equestria residents: …Italicized Font…

Chapter 12: How the Sun Sets

The light died down, and all traces of the dragon-beast were gone, leaving behind only a cloud of dust it had dissolved into. The Equestria Girls and Mane Six hovered in the air, still glowing with magic at the conclusion of the song. They slowly descended from the sky and settled down a short distance from what was left of the destroyed stage.

Also descending were seven small lights that floated over to the Equestria Girls. The flecks of lights were revealed to be their geodes. The strings seemed to have dissolved away, but the geodes themselves were still whole and intact, undamaged from the ordeal they had undergone.

"I don't believe it," Twilight awed as she and the others held their hands out, and their geodes floated into their open palms. "It actually worked. The song worked."

With her hand still on her counterpart's shoulder, the Princess of Friendship gave it a small squeeze. "It was a great song, but it wasn't the song that did it. It was the friendship you all share. The song was more or less a conduit that allowed your power to manifest. Your magic showed itself when you showed your friendship, and it was stronger than any kind of power SunShim could have obtained through force."

"Where is SunShim?" Sunset asked, worried for her counterpart.

The vapor the dragon-beast's body had dissolved into was beginning to clear. The Equestria Girls and the Mane Six rushed forward as the last of it faded, and Sunset Shimmer, back in human form, lay unconscious on the ground. She didn't appear to be harmed physically, but she was completely out cold.

With the danger seemingly over, the audience began to approach. Granny Smith stared at the scene for a few moments before letting out a laugh and began clapping. "Now that's what I call a show. Wouldn't you say so, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup," her grandson agreed, and began clapping as well.

The applause soon spread, hesitantly at first, but then with more enthusiasm, particularly when the students made an extra effort to make it out like the whole battle really was a show in order to hide the magic behind it from those in attendance who didn't know about it. How convincing it would be was yet to be seen, but it was better than nothing.

Rainbow Dash gave the audience a strange look. "Wait, so they actually think that all that was just part of the show?"

Rarity just held a finger up to her lips. "Shh, shh, darling. Just let them think that."

Principal Celestia slowly made her way over to what was left of the stage, looking a little uncertain. "Um, yes, thank you, everyone. And now, if everyone would please make their way to the gymnasium, we will continue with the talent show… Somehow."

She glanced at the Equestria Girls and was given a thumbs-up by Sunset. She nodded and went to take care of things with the talent show, trusting them to deal with things here since magical incidents seemed to be their jurisdiction.

Applejack stared at the principal as she walked off, and slowly pointed at her. "Hold on, ya'll. Was that supposed to be…?"

"This world's version of Princess Celestia, yes," Twilight confirmed. "The Luna of this world is probably around here somewhere too."

A whimper came from behind them and they turned around to see that Sunset was awake. She was sitting in a fetal position, hugging herself as she wept, and the Equestria Girls and Mane Six hesitantly approached her.

"SunShim, are you ok?" Fluttershy dared to ask.

Lifting her tear-streaked face, Sunset sniffled. "What was that? That wasn't what I wanted."

Rainbow Dash practically rolled her eyes. "That's what we were trying to tell you, but you didn't listen."

"Magic can be very dangerous in the wrong hands if not handled properly," Twilight told her. "You're not the first person to be corrupt by it."

"And with our luck, probably won't be the last," Applejack added in resignation.

Sniffling, Sunset rubbed her eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt anyone. Honest. I just wanted to get the magic."

"We told you, when corrupted by magic, it can twist your desires and make you do horrible things," Sunset replied. "Not even I intended to take things as far as I did when I became a demon."

"Why were you so desperate to get magic anyway?" Rarity asked.

Sunset was silent for a few moments. She looked reluctant to talk at first, but then seemed to decide that she owed them an explanation after everything she had done.

"I wasn't always the way I am now. A long time ago, I was a more cheerful and happy person. Not the scared, friendless, loner that I am now. I had friends, and was much nicer and more open."

"Sounds like this might be a friendship problem," Applejack whispered to Twilight, who nodded in agreement.

Sunset was thinking the same thing, having already theorized this herself. "What happened?"

Her counterpart didn't answer right away, and instead curled in on herself some more. "When I was still a little girl, my parents and I suddenly moved to the city due to my father getting a job transfer. I didn't know anyone there, and was basically going to have to completely start over." She raised her head and looked up at Sunset. "Things didn't quite work out for me the way they worked out for you."

A frown crossed Sunset's face as she shared a look with the others. It was apparent that they were all thinking the same thing; that they were about to hear something very bad.

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

Sadness filled Sunset's eyes as they lowered to the ground again. "Now even a week since moving, there was a horrible fire. Something about a gas leak I think, I don't really remember. It all happened so fast. First I smelled the smoke. The next thing I knew…" She trailed off and clenched her eyes shut. "I managed to get out of the house safely, but my parents… they…"

She couldn't bring herself to say it, but then, she didn't need to. There were shocked gasps from the Equestria Girls and Mane Six as they realized what must have happened, and both Pinkie Pies' hair deflated. The two Applejacks in particular shared a look of understanding with each other, both having lost their parents as well.

"I never forgot how I felt that day," Sunset continued tearfully. "So weak, so helpless, completely powerless to do anything. All I could do was watch as the house burned to the ground."

"SunShim," Twilight said quietly. "I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what that must have been like for you."

She didn't respond to the bespectacled girl's sympathy, but she did open her eyes again, though she refused to look at them. "Social services took me away after that. I had no other family, no friends, no one to take me in. So I was placed in foster care, with people I didn't even know."

"I reckon that must have been really hard for you," said Applejack. "When I lost my folks, I at least had my friends, brother, sister, and Granny Smith to help me get by."

"Yeah, same here," her counterpart acknowledged.

Sunset shook her head. "Well, not me. I was all alone. No friends, no family, nothing. Oh, sure, the foster family they put me with were nice, and they did their best to try and make me feel welcome, but after what happened, I just couldn't bring myself to connect with them, or anyone else for that matter."

She shut her eyes and gripped her head, as if reliving a horrible memory, which, in a sense, she was. "Any time I started to feel attached to someone, I would get scared, because I would remember what it felt like to lose my parents, and how helpless I was to prevent it. I was afraid that if I got close to anyone else that I might lose them too, and that I would once again be powerless to do anything about it. So any time I started to get close to anyone, I would pull back."

An understanding settled over the Equestria Girls as a great deal of Sunset's behavior suddenly made sense. This would explain why she seemed to get anxious whenever they tried to be friends with her, and why she constantly kept them at arm's length. It sounded as if a lot of her antisocial behavior stemmed from this past trauma.

"My relationship to my parents was a lot closer than it was with yours," she told her counterpart sadly. "And I was still just a little girl when I lost them, and I had to deal with that pain all on my own. Oh sure, the foster family I was staying with was understanding, at first anyway, but I just continued to show a disconnect. They kept trying to get closer to me, but I was afraid of making a connection with anyone again, so I kept pushing them away. Eventually, it was decided that I might do better somewhere else, so I was placed in a different home, but it was the same thing."

She sighed. "After that, I was moved from home to home over the years with the same results. It was almost like they wanted me to just get over what happened and move on, like they expected me to just forget what happened. As if anyone can just get over that. And so I was just passed from one family to another, like I didn't have any real meaning, like I was just some extra secondhand object, and not a real person with my own thoughts and feelings."

Her tears were clearing up, and there was bitterness in her voice now as the Equestria Girls recalled what she had said about how people didn't listen. The way it sounded, from Sunset'sperspective at least, no one had attempted to understand her or how she was feeling. Or, more likely, they weren't able to since they were strangers, and it seemed as if Sunset had closed herself off in order to avoid connecting with others out of fear of losing anyone else she cared about.

"That sounds like a very lonely life," Twilight told her sadly. "You had no one you could go to that could help you."

"And since you had just moved, you didn't have any friends either," Sunset noted.

Letting out another sigh, Sunset hugged her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of them. "I did want to make friends. Deep down I wanted to be with other people. But I was afraid, afraid that I would lose them, just like I lost my parents. It was like that for years, one foster home after another, not connecting with the families, not making friends, getting sent somewhere else because I wasn't connecting, rinse and repeat."

Her eyes suddenly narrowed, and a determine look crossed her face. "Then one day I decided that I would get stronger. I would find a way to no longer be powerless, so that nothing I cared about could ever be taken away from me again. Then I wouldn't need to be afraid anymore, and I could finally have friends and not worry that I might lose them again someday. Like with what happened in the library with that computer monster. You girls could have been killed, and I would, once again, have been powerless to do anything. That time though, I was able to do something, and it only strengthened my resolve to obtain more power so I wouldn't lose anyone else I cared for."

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and nodded in understanding. "Now I get it. That's why you wanted our magic."

"It all makes sense now," said Pinkie Pie, who then began talking very rapidly. "You were afraid of making friends even though you wanted them because of what happened with your parents, and you didn't want anything else bad to happen that would make you lose them, so you avoided others until you eventually decided to get stronger in order to prevent that from ever happening again."

Without missing a beat, her counterpart took over, speaking just as quickly. "And when you found out about the magic here, you thought you could get stronger if you got your hands on it, so you came here looking for it, met us, learned about Equestrian magic, our geodes, and our ability to pony-up, so you decided that you needed the magic more than us since we already have friends and had a lot going for us while you had nothing, so you tried to take it for yourself so you wouldn't be afraid to have friends and make connections again, only you ended up turning into a big scary monster when you were overwhelmed and corrupted by the magic you got."

Sunset blinked up at her, still not used to the hyperactive girl's antics. "Um… yes, that's pretty much the simplified version of it."

"But that's silly," Pinkie Pie continued. "You don't need magic to have friends."

"Yeah," her counterpart agreed. "Making friends just takes three easy steps."

"Meet someone new."

"Introduce yourself."

"Sing a random song out of nowhere."

"And, boom!" they finished together. "Become instant best friends!"

Both Pinkie Pies squeed, looking quite proud of themselves for their explanation, even as the others gave them strange looks. Sunset in particular was raising an eyebrow at them before letting out a resigned sigh. "It may be that easy for you, but not for me. I was afraid to make friends just to lose them. That's why I thought I needed your magic. Even though I knew what I was doing was wrong, I made excuses to try and justify my actions. I really am sorry for what I did, especially after everything you've done for me. I really felt guilty about it, but I was so tired of being afraid to connect with others and being alone all the time."

Her hand came up to touch her choker. "Then I met those girls who showed me magic and said I could obtain some of my own if I came here."

"Wait, hold up," Applejack interrupted. "What girls?"

Sunset gave a small shrug. "The ones who gave me this choker. I never saw them before that day, and they didn't give me their names, but they introduced themselves as the Dazzlings."

"The Dazzlings!?" everyone else exclaimed, startling Sunset with their outbursts.

She gave them a strange look. "Um, yes. I guess you know them."

"Understatement of the century," Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"What a twist!" Pinkie Pie declared.

Applejack, glanced at the Equestria Girls. "The Dazzlings. They were them there sirens that ya'll defeated, weren't they?"

"The sirens?" Sunset repeated questioningly. Then her eyes widened in remembrance. "The sirens!" She looked at her counterpart. "You mean the ones you told me about?"

Sunset nodded. "Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. Yeah, they're the sirens I mentioned."

Pinkie Pie began wiggling her fingers around in a creepy fashion. "They used these freaky magic pendants to make everyone in the school be super mean and want to fight with each other so they could absorb negative emotions and our magic in order to cast a spell on everyone that would make everybody love and adore them."

"Speaking of which," said Twilight, her eyes going to Sunset's choker. "Can I see your choker?"

It wasn't a request, despite it being phrased as a question, and she held her hand out for it. Sunset hesitated for a moment before reaching up to remove her choker and placed it in the Princess of Friendship's hand.

Twilight held up the choker and examined it closely. She gasped in surprise as her eyes widened in realization. "I recognize these gem stones. Sunset, take a look."

The red and yellow haired girl looked at the choker and almost immediately realized what Twilight had. "I don't believe it. How'd I not see it before?" It was a rhetorical question, as her counterpart had never allowed anyone to get a good look at her choker before. "These gems look like some the shattered remains of the Dazzlings' pendants."

Twilight nodded. "That's what they are. The pieces are small, but you can see that these gems aren't cut or shaped, but are the broken pieces of something bigger." She took another look at them. "Hmm, it looks like they used the pieces that still had some magic in them and made them into a choker. It seems like they were altered a bit in order to make absorbing magic easier, probably so they wouldn't need to rely so much on negative energy. That's… actually some pretty impressive tampering."

Fluttershy glanced at Sunset. "But then why give them to SunShim?"

"From what you told me about them," said Twilight, "my guess is that they were using her for revenge."

"Of course," said Pinkie Pie. "They knew that they couldn't beat us since we already defeated them before, which is why they didn't try again."

"And instead," continued the other Pinkie Pie, "they decided to use the Sunset Shimmer of this world by giving her some of their broken pendants pieces made into a choker and sending her here to steal the other us's magic. It's so obvious."

As the two Pinkie Pies high-fived each other for a job well done, the others simply stared at them.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty accurate," said Rainbow Dash.

"And to think," Rarity muttered in disappointment, "that they used such perfectly good gems for something so evil."

"Agreed, darling," Rarity replied. "It's so wasteful."

"Especially when they look so tasty," Spike commented.

His counterpart frowned. "You eat gems? Eww. I'll stick to dog treats, thanks."

"I don't think you'll be able to eat these the same way anyway, Spike," Twilight told him. She looked back at the choker, then at Sunset. "I'm sorry, Sunset, but I'm afraid I can't let you keep this; it's too dangerous."

Sunset looked at the choker for a few moments before looking at Twilight, and her eyes narrowed. "Take it. If it was given to me as some way to get revenge or hurt people, then I want nothing to do with it. Throw it away for all I care."

Twilight nodded in appreciation. "Don't worry, we'll dispose of it properly."

Pinkie Pie stepped over to her. "Allow us."

She held out her hand for the choker. Twilight shrugged and placed it in her hand, and the pink-haired girl grinned. "Thank you. Now then, Sci-Twi."

It took a few seconds before Twilight realized that she was talking to her. "Oh, right. That's what you're calling me when the other me is here. Ok, here we go."

She levitated the choker into the air above them. Pinkie Pie then reached into her hair and pulled out a jar of sprinkles, much to her counterpart's delight.

"Ooh, I want to try that," she said, and reached into her own hair to pull out, to her delight, a cupcake, which she promptly stuffed into her mouth, much to everyone else's bewilderment.

"Wait," said Applejack, "where did you…?"

"It's called hammer space."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Pinkie Pie, you're so random."

"Oh, yours too, huh?" her counterpart remarked.

Pinkie Pie cleared her throat. "Rarity, if you please."

"Of course, darling."

The purple-haired girl surrounded the choker with a cage of diamonds, leaving an opening at the top. Pinkie Pie then poured the entire jar of sprinkles into her hand, and the pile began glowing. Jumping up, she threw the pile of glowing sprinkles into the diamond cage, and Rarity quickly created another diamond to cover the top.

There was an explosion that was contained within the diamond cage. And as the smoke cleared, Rarity let the diamonds fade away. The choker had been completely destroyed, leaving only some red and black dust behind that blew away in the wind.

"There," said Pinkie Pie, clapping her hands together as if she had just finished an unpleasant task. "Done and done."

Applejack shrugged. "Well, I reckon that's one way to take care of things."

"Those lousy sirens won't be able to harm anyone ever again," said Rainbow Dash. She punched her palm. "And if I ever get my hands on them…"

A miserable groan escaped Sunset. "This is all my fault. I can't believe I let them fool me like that."

Rarity waved this off. "Oh, please. You wouldn't be the first one, darling. Those three are skilled manipulators, with or without magic."

Sunset just shook her head. "I still shouldn't have done what I did. You all even tried to warn me, but I didn't listen."

Twilight couldn't hide the smile that crept up her face. "You're also not the first one to do that either. Even I'm guilty of misusing and abusing magic."

Sunset raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her. "You?"

Now looking somewhat embarrassed and slightly ashamed, the Princess of Friendship nodded. "Yes, me. For example, I once used magic to actually cause a friendship problem just so I could solve it. Not one of my best moments."

"Just one of many instances," Spike muttered, earning him a glare from her.

"Yeah… among other things…" she reluctantly admitted. She shook her head. "Look. The point is, we all make mistakes. What's important is that you realized that what you did was wrong and you make an effort to change for the better."

Sunset stared at her for several long moments. It looked like she wanted to say something, but then she hung her head in shame instead. Twilight frowned and glanced at Sunset, hoping that perhaps she would have a better idea of how to handle things since Sunset was her counterpart.

Sighing, Sunset knelt down by her counterpart's side and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, getting her to look up at her. "Look, we understand why you did what you did, and we forgive you for it. It must have been hard to go through what you did, and I can understand why you were scared. But, SunShim, sorry, I mean Sunset, you don't need to be afraid to connect with others. Yes, there's a chance that you can lose people close to you, and it will hurt when you do, but you shouldn't give up all the potential good times just to avoid the bad. You don't even know if anything bad will happen in the first place."

She gave her counterpart a warm smile. "But even if something bad does happen, I can tell you from personal experience that the good times far outstrip the bad, which are few and far between, and more than make the bad times worthwhile."

She glanced at the Princess of Friendship, seeking her approval, and Twilight smiled at her proudly. "Spoken like a true friendship professional."

"She's right," Rainbow Dash told her. "Even with the bad times, you'll find life a lot more fulfilling when you have others you care about in it."

"You may not be able to always avoid the painful times," said Fluttershy, "but the good ones will make up for it."

"And even when you have the most horrible of experiences," Rarity added, "they never last."

"Sometimes you will lose those you care about," Applejack lamented, speaking from personal experience as she thought about her own parents, "but you'll have the good memories you made with them to help you get through the hard times. And you'll have your friends to stand by your side to help make things better too."

"Besties five-ever!" both Pinkie Pies shouted. "That's longer than forever."

A light chuckle escaped Sunset as she looked back at her counterpart. "So you see, you don't need to be afraid to get close to others. If you want friendship, it's out there, you just have to have the courage to go looking for it, and accept it when it's offered to you."

The two Sunsets stared at each other, one with a look of kindness and understanding, the other with uncertainty and hesitation. The uncertainty slowly became a look of hope before it dropped off into sadness once more, and she looked down.

"It's been so long since I've had friends," she admitted miserably. "I don't even know if I remember how to genuinely be friends with anyone anymore."

Rather than looking discouraged, Sunset's smile just widened. "Well then, lucky for you, I happen to know someone who knows everything there is to know about friendship. And while she's here, who better to teach you about being friends than the Princess of Friendship herself."

She stood up and moved aside, making way for Twilight. The Princess of Friendship just smiled before stepping forward and offering her hand to Sunset. She stared at the offered hand for several long moments before slowly reaching out and taking it.

Twilight helped her to her feet, and then surprised her by pulling her into a hug. She was surprised even further when she was enveloped in a group hug by both the Equestria Girls and the Mane Six. The surprise and mild discomfort remained on her face for a few moments before she visibly relaxed and a small smile crept up her face and more tears appeared in her eyes, this time for a completely different reason.

(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)-(-)

A good forty yards away, hiding behind some bushes, three pairs of eyes watched the display, the pair in the center burning furiously as their owner began to grind their teeth together.

"Ah! I don't believe it!" Adagio Dazzle seethed as she popped up from behind the bushes. "We were so close at getting our revenge on those Rainboobs!"

Beside her, Sonata Dusk popped out of the bushes as well. "It's Rainbooms, not Rainboobs."

Coming up on Adagio's other side, Aria Blaze mumbled in a bored tone, "I told you it wouldn't work. It was stupid to try and use Miss Bacon Hair like that. Now the last bits of magic our pendants had is gone. So much for any hope of getting revenge now."

"We were also hoping she would gather enough magic for us to maybe be able to fix our pendants," Sonata reminded her. "That's why we used the other Sunset, because the Rainbooms wouldn't trust us enough to get close to them to absorb their magic."

A sigh escaped the moody girl. "Yes, I remember, Sonata. And like I said back then, it was a dumb idea." She held up what was left of her pendant, observing the crude way it was glued back together, including the missing fragments that had been used to make the choker. "All these things are good for now are fancy night lights."

"Oh, shut up, Aria!" Adagio snapped, jabbing her finger into her chest. "I didn't hear either of you coming up with any ideas. You two are the most useless sisters in history."

Aria slapped her hand away. "I did have ideas. You just never wanted to listen to them."

"That's because I'm the leader."

"Well, you led us down a road to nowhere. Look at us, we're but a shadow of our former selves. We never should have challenged the Rainbooms. Not only did they break our spell over the school and shatter our pendants, but they destroyed our siren forms. I didn't even know that was possible! So even if we do get back to Equestria, we won't be the same as before. Worse, we might become ponies instead of sirens, and magic-less earth ponies at that, or some other creature without magic. It'd be better to just remain in this world."

She motioned towards the destroyed stage. "And with the last of our magic gone, we're now completely powerless, and any chance of getting back at those girls is gone as well. In fact, I think they even used a line from our song Under Our Spell in that last one they played, and we can't even do anything about it." She glared at her sister. "And need I remind you that this revenge scheme was your idea too. Using the few fragments of our pendants that still contained any remnants of magic to make a choker, what a stupid idea."

Adagio was once again grinding her teeth as she seethed in anger, getting right up in her face. "Aria, I swear, if you don't put a lid on it, I'm going to-"

"Stop it!" Sonata shouted, pushing them apart. "Stop fighting! We're all we have. Can't we just have a fresh start? No revenge, no magic, just forget all this stuff with Equestria and the Rainbooms. Lets just enjoy our lives here however we can. Maybe we can find the magic in the simple things in life." Her face suddenly lit up. "Ooh, I kind of like the sound of that; I think it would make an interesting song title. Maybe if we practice, we can try having a singing career without our enchanted voices. Or we can try that auto-tunes thing."

Aria crossed her arms. "I don't see how we have much of a choice since the last tidbits of our magic is now gone. Courtesy of our wise and mighty leader."

Adagio got right up in her face again. "Things may not have gone the way I planned, but we'd be a lot worse off now if you were in charge."

Seemingly tired of arguing, Aria just sighed and rolled her eyes. "Then what do you propose we do now, oh great leader?"

"Can we go get something to eat?" Sonata asked hopefully. "I'm starving. How about tacos?"

Aria cut her eyes at her. "Are you trying to start a meme or something?"

"What?" Sonata asked with legitimate innocence. "I love tacos."

An annoyed growl escaped the head Dazzling as she turned her attention back to the scene before them, watching as the Equestria Girls and Mane Six hugged it out with Sunset. "Unfortunately, Aria, you're right about one thing. We've lost all hope in getting any form of revenge against those girls, or of repairing our pendants."

"That's two things," Sonata innocently pointed out.

Adagio's eye twitched in irritation. "It doesn't matter! The plan is still a bust. For now, lets just get out of here before anyone sees us and we get in trouble."

There was the sudden clearing of a throat from behind them, followed by a disapproving voice that said, "A little late for that."

The Dazzlings froze, and expressions similar to that of a deer caught in the headlights crossed their faces. Slowly, they turned around to find Vice Principal Luna standing behind them with her arms crossed and a deep scowl on her face.

"Uh oh," Sonata muttered nervously. "We're busted."

"That you are," Luna scolded. "I've heard more than enough, and I think Principal Celestia would be very interested in what you tried to do here."

Aria put on a very forced grin and nudged Adagio. "What now, all knowing leader who has all the answers?" she asked through clenched teeth.

Adagio ignored her as she stared uneasily up at Luna. "We… We can explain."

Uncrossing her arms, Luna placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, I'm sure you can. Just like I'm sure you can explain your involvement in what happened back at the Battle of the Bands."

"I… We… That is… I mean…"

"Speaking of which, you girls haven't been to school since then. That's quite a long unexcused absence. But I'm sure you'll be able to explain that as well."

"But… But… But…"

"But nothing. Officially, the three of you are still students of Canterlot High, and it's time you faced some appropriate disciplinary action for your behavior." She pointed to the school. "I want to see you girls in my office right now. Principal Celestia and I will need to discuss a punishment suitable for your actions."

The Dazzlings gulped.