• Published 1st Jun 2020
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LEGO Equestria Girls 9 - Chronicler06



In the Lego World, the Equestria Girls attend a music festival, but Sunset Shimmer somehow finds herself repeating the first day over and over again.

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A Do-Over?

Chapter 2
A Do-Over?

Morning arrived at the campgrounds just outside the Starswirled Music Festival. It was little more than an hour after sunrise, and by this point, Sunset Shimmer was the only one still asleep within the RV that she and her friends were using for their stay at the festival. As Sunset slept in her sleeping bag beside the window, her phone was lying beside her head on the pillow. At the moment the time became 7:00, the phone’s alarm went off by playing a song by PostCrush.

Be the true… true, true original—

Sunset slowly woke up and shut off her phone’s alarm. She didn’t bother glancing at the phone as she set it back down and let out a tired groan. She had definitely not forgotten about how she had been unable to watch the live performance of PostCrush the previous night, and still felt very depressed about it. As far as she was concerned, today was sure to be absolutely miserable.

Sunset shuffled out of her sleeping bag, tossed off her pajamas, and slipped on the same outfit she had worn yesterday for the music festival. She then walked out the door and around the front of the RV to join her friends, who were already gathered outside.

At this moment, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Applejack were seated around the RV’s heating table as they ate breakfast, while Rarity and Spike were seated at a nearby picnic table as Spike demonstrated some of his beatboxing skills.

Rarity rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Ugh, I shall never understand the appeal of beatboxing.”

Spike kept his smile as he shrugged and remarked, “Eh, to each their own.”

Didn’t they have that exact same conversation yesterday? thought Sunset in confusion as she looked towards Spike and Rarity. With her attention on them, she failed to see Rainbow Dash quickly run over and stop right behind her while carrying a large paddle with the Sonic Rainbooms band symbol printed on it.

“Starswirled day one! Come and get it!” Rainbow excitedly declared as she swung the paddle around, accidentally smacking Sunset’s rear end.

“Ow! Watch it!” exclaimed Sunset as she grasped her rear end and glared at Rainbow Dash.

“Oops.” Rainbow chuckled sheepishly and responded, “Sorry. I’ll be more careful next time.” She then turned and walked away.

Sunset began to rub away the stinging pain, but then stopped as a shocking realization occurred to her. “Wait…” she quietly muttered. “Did she just say… Starswirled day one?” She then turned to the rest of her friends seated around the heating table.

“So Ah says to Big Mac, ‘Get your own chicken coop!’” spoke Applejack.

Fluttershy happened to be in the middle of taking a sip of her orange juice when she heard the end of that joke, so she ended up doing a spit-take directly onto the front of Applejack’s torso before beginning to laugh.

“Hey! Watch it!” complained Applejack.

Fluttershy laughed for a little bit before she calmed down enough to respond, “Sorry. It’s just that one had animals in it.”

Applejack grabbed a nearby napkin and started drying herself off as she grumbled, “Well next time, try not to spray it at someone!”

As Sunset listened to that conversation, she was astonished by how remarkably accurate it was to the conversation they had the previous morning. Either her friends were all playing a very convincing joke on her, or something really weird was happening. What is going on here? she thought to herself in absolute confusion.

“Ooh! Ooh! How about this one?!” Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed excitedly as she bounced over to where most of her friends were seated. “What do you call a PostCrush fan with three eyes?” She waited only one second before she quickly answered, “Pinkie Pie!” She then rushed over to Sunset and began shoving her towards the festival grounds.

Sunset was so preoccupied with her confused thoughts that she stumbled a little as Pinkie shoved her ahead.

Fluttershy glanced around at her friends with a confused look on her face before she confessed, “Um… I don’t get it.”

As Applejack stood up and continued wiping off all the orange juice splattered on her torso, Twilight suddenly stood up and called out, “Pinkie, wait! I don’t think Sunset’s had a chance to grab any breakfast yet.”

Pinkie stopped and glanced back at Twilight, then turned to the other nearby table where a large plate with plenty of pancakes on it was still set out. She then giggled in embarrassment and released her grip on Sunset. “Sorry about that,” she said. “I guess I’m just so excited that we’re finally gonna see PostCrush tonight!”

“Yeah… that thing…” agreed Sunset halfheartedly as she walked over to the table, grabbed her own plate, and started gathering a stack of those blueberry pancakes.

That rather dull comment from Sunset caused most of her friends nearby to glance at each other with confused looks. Applejack wadded up the soaked napkin she had used to clean herself and tossed it into a trashcan a short distance away before she worriedly asked, “You feelin’ all right, Sunset? Ah thought you’d be practically over the moon to see PostCrush tonight.”

As Sunset poured some maple syrup over her pancakes, she hesitantly replied, “To be honest… I’m not sure. It’s just… something doesn’t feel right about any of this…”

Pinkie hooked her arm around Sunset’s neck and smiled as she assured her friend, “Aw, you probably just had a rough night. I’m sure you’ll forget all about it once we get there.”

Sunset wished she could share Pinkie’s optimism, but was still too baffled by what she was experiencing at the moment. Perhaps it was her imagination, but as she took her first bite of those pancakes, she couldn’t help but notice they seemed to appear perfectly identical to the pancakes she had for breakfast the previous day. But perhaps the strangest part of all was that everyone around her was behaving as if there was absolutely nothing weird to be concerned about. This doesn’t make any sense, thought Sunset as she continued eating. Why is everyone behaving like it’s day one all over again? I thought I went through all of this yesterday. Why am I the only one who seems to notice anything weird about it?

If anything, the only thing Sunset could be certain about right now was that, somehow, something very strange was going on…


Once everyone had finished with breakfast, the group began to walk towards the entrance to the festival grounds. Rainbow Dash eagerly led the way, followed by Applejack and Rarity having a casual conversation, Pinkie Pie cheerfully skipping along, Fluttershy and Spike walking beside each other, and finally Twilight with Sunset following right behind. But while the rest of her friends were looking forward to the day ahead of them, Sunset was feeling rather lost and confused about everything going on around her.

Squish.

“Whoa!” cried out Sunset as she suddenly stumbled forward and grabbed onto Twilight’s shoulders.

Twilight yelped as Sunset fell onto her, but she was able to keep herself upright and thus prevent Sunset from falling to the ground. Twilight helped her friend stand up straight again and asked, “Are you okay?”

Sunset glanced down at her feet and noticed that her right foot had stepped into a mud puddle — just like what had happened to her the previous day. She frowned as she stared down at her mud-coated foot and hesitantly replied, “I’m… not sure…”

Twilight glanced down at Sunset’s feet and asked in confusion, “What are you talking about? It’s just a little mud puddle.”

“It’s not just the mud,” replied Sunset as she rubbed her foot against the grassy ground a few times to scrape off most of that mud.

“Sunset! Sunset! Look!” Pinkie cheerfully cried out up ahead with the others. “So many lines to stand in! This day’s already amazing! Let’s go!” She immediately rushed ahead to the middle of the three security lines. The others also took their places in the lines, with Rarity and Applejack in the left line, Fluttershy and Spike in the right line, and Rainbow Dash following Pinkie into the middle line.

Meanwhile, Twilight was starting to feel a little concerned about Sunset, so she calmly offered, “If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you go ahead of me in line.”

Although Sunset accepted the offer and began walking ahead of her friend, she still felt uneasy as she responded, “I don’t know if that’ll make much of a difference…”

Sunset and Twilight arrived at the middle line just in time to hear Pinkie Pie attempt to share some casual conversation with the guy ahead of her in line. “You come to this line often?” she asked him. “Any other sweet lines we should hit up?”

That guy raised an eyebrow in confusion and replied, “Uh… I’m just waiting in line to get through security.”

“I know!” remarked Pinkie cheerfully. “Isn’t it exciting?”

As that guy turned away and muttered something under his breath, Sunset simultaneously spoke, “Not as exciting as watching paint dry…”

Rainbow Dash suddenly glanced back and forth between Sunset and the guy ahead of them in line, somehow convinced that she had just heard both of them say the exact same thing at the exact same time. “Huh?” she asked in confusion.

“That’s what the guy ahead of us just said,” explained Sunset, just as baffled as Rainbow.

Feeling a little weirded out, Rainbow Dash turned her attention elsewhere and soon discovered the other two lines seemed to be moving ahead more quickly than the one she was currently stuck in. Since she naturally hated staying in one place for too long, she impatiently called out to the front of the line, “What’s with these long lines, man?!”

The security guard at the gate up ahead was in the middle of waving his metal detecting wand over the person currently at the front of the line. He paused his work and turned his attention to the girl who had shouted at him from further down the line. “Security is an art,” he firmly responded.

“It cannot be rushed,” spoke Sunset simultaneously with the security guard, albeit in a much less confident tone than he had used.

Behind her, Twilight was now really starting to feel concerned for Sunset. Accurately matching two spontaneous comments in under a minute? she thought to herself in confusion. There’s definitely something unusual about Sunset today, and judging by her behavior, it seems she’s struggling to understand all of this as much as any of us are.


More than two hours had passed by the time all of the girls had made it through the security lines. Even there, Sunset was continuously reminded of all the events she had remembered occurring, such as all the unusual items inside Pinkie’s tiny fanny pack, and Pinkie’s struggle to control her reflexive giggling during the part involving the metal detecting wand. What did turn out different this time was that Rainbow Dash and Twilight were also in their line, so that was a little more additional time she was forced to wait through. And unlike last time, she felt no sense of urgency to get through the line, so she never spoke up at all when it was her turn to go through the security process. And when that green festival bracelet was placed on her wrist and she was permitted to enter, she could only stare at that bracelet in disbelief as she walked into the festival grounds that she had so vividly remembered being kicked out from the previous night.

By the time Twilight made it through security and was the last one to join up with the group of friends, Pinkie was practically hopping in place with barely contained excitement for the day ahead, while Sunset still remained speechless from her immense confusion.

“Welp, y’all have fun seein’ PostCrush,” stated Applejack as she waved at Pinkie and Sunset. “We’ll see ya back at camp tonight.” Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike also waved at Pinkie and Sunset before they all went their separate ways to enjoy all the different shows and activities at this music festival they were all interested in.

While Pinkie eagerly waved back to their departing friends, Sunset continued to display an absence of any emotions, while Twilight was so concerned about Sunset that she decided to forgo her own interests at this festival so she could keep an eye on her seemingly lost friend.

“What do you wanna do first, Sunset?” asked Pinkie excitedly. “There’s so much we can do! Like…” She quickly glanced around and when her eyes fell upon a nearby giveaway booth, she gasped and exclaimed, “Win a tandem bicycle?!” She immediately rushed over towards that booth with a purple tandem bicycle displayed to the side.

Sunset was about to protest Pinkie running off, but stopped herself before she could get a word out, somehow understanding that it would be a pointless effort. She glanced over at Twilight, who responded with only a shrug and a confused expression.

“All I have to do is guess how many candies are in the jar,” explained Pinkie as she eyed the jar full of jellybeans on the booth’s counter, “and my sugar senses say…”

Sunset leaned close to Twilight and quietly said, “She’s gonna guess three hundred and five, which will be wrong.”

“…three hundred and five!” finished Pinkie.

BZZZZ!

The booth’s attendant smacked the buzzer on the counter, indicating Pinkie’s guess was incorrect.

“Awww…” moaned Pinkie in disappointment.

Twilight’s jaw dropped as she turned to Sunset and asked, “How did you…?”

“Exactly,” agreed Sunset in astonishment. “Seriously, is anyone else having some serious déjà vu right now?”

“Nope. Just déjà V-you,” joked Twilight in an effort to lift her friend’s spirits. She laughed at her joke and explained, “Get it? ‘Cause it’s just you? With the déjà vu? And the U is replaced with you?” With Sunset not even cracking a smile at that, Twilight sighed in defeat and admitted, “Okay, so I’m terrible with puns.”

Sunset rubbed her forehead as she began to walk away and explained, “I don’t know how to explain it, but… I did all of this yesterday.”

“Yesterday?” asked Twilight in confusion as she followed after Sunset. “But yesterday was Friday, a weekday when we all have job obligations in the city. And since this is the very first day of the music festival, how could you have done anything like this the previous day?”

“That’s the thing,” replied Sunset. “I know for a fact that I already went through this whole day. I mean, right now, Pinkie has just run off to—” Sunset immediately stopped — both speaking and walking — when she realized the full implication behind what she was about to say.

“What is it?” asked Twilight. “Where’s Pinkie?”

“Oh, no,” said Sunset firmly as she frowned and furrowed her brow. “I’m not gonna waste most of the day like that again. This time, I’m coming prepared.” She immediately turned and ran off towards the area where all the food trucks were parked.

“Pinkie’s over by the food trucks?” asked Twilight in confusion as she ran after Sunset.

“No, she’s in the Neon Garden,” replied Sunset as she continued running. “But that place is literally a maze, and she’s too busy having pointless fun to bother finding her way out, so my only option is to lay a trail of candy to lure her out.”

“Seems a little desperate, if you ask me,” noted Twilight.

“I don’t know about you,” retorted Sunset, “but I’d rather not spend hours and hours wandering around in a hedge maze trying to find someone with seemingly no interest in focusing on the most important thing that needs to get done, and that’s to get us the best seats to watch PostCrush.” Once she arrived at the truck that was selling all kinds of candy, she slapped a one dollar bill on the counter and grabbed a bag of hard candy in assorted flavors. “Call it what you want, but I’m interested in dealing with this issue the fast way.” She then began to run off towards the Neon Garden.

“Let me help you out,” Twilight quickly offered, before she also handed over a one dollar bill and quickly grabbed another bag of candy. She then ran off after Sunset all the way across the festival grounds to eventually reach the entrance to the Neon Garden.

As soon as the two girls passed through the entrance into the Neon Garden, they heard the unmistakable sound of Pinkie’s blissful giggling from somewhere within the hedges. “She’s definitely in here somewhere…” muttered Sunset with determination as she opened her bag of candy. She made her way further into the hedge maze until she reached a site she remembered was part of the looped path she had discovered the previous time she was here. “You go that way and I’ll go this way,” ordered Sunset, pointing first to the left and then to the right. “We’ll meet up somewhere on the other side, then backtrack our trails. Once we find a missing part of either trail, we’ll know where to find Pinkie.” She then began dropping pieces of candy as she headed off down the right path.

“If you’re sure about this…” responded Twilight with uncertainty before she opened her bag of candy and started dropping pieces of it as she headed off down the left path. Unlike Sunset, she was unfamiliar with the arrangement of the paths within this hedge maze, so she was concerned she might take a wrong turn and end up getting herself lost, which would make finding Pinkie much more difficult.

Thankfully, Twilight managed to choose the correct path and ended up encountering Sunset at a different site after only a few minutes. Once their trails of candy came together, the two girls shared a nod of agreement and began to backtrack down the trails they had laid out.

Twilight made it around only two turns before she found her trail suddenly ended, even though she was sure it should have continued back to the path into the garden. With no sign of Pinkie in sight, Twilight was convinced this meant Sunset would likely intercept her, but just in case they managed to somehow bypass each other, Twilight decided to replace the missing trail in an effort to further ensure Pinkie could be lured out of this maze.

Meanwhile, Sunset also discovered her trail had suddenly ended before she reached the starting point, so in the unlikely chance that Pinkie was somehow able to bypass Twilight, she set down that trail again to shrink the gap. With her and Twilight coming in from both directions, Sunset was convinced there was no way Pinkie would be able to escape from them.

After only a couple minutes, Sunset and Twilight met up again, but they were both astonished to see each other replacing the missing trail of candy with no sign of Pinkie anywhere between them.

“Huh?” asked Twilight in confusion. “How did she avoid both of us?”

Sunset was about to say something when she suddenly heard a rustle in the hedges not far behind her on the path where she had laid her trail of candy. She rushed back the way she came and made it around a corner just in time to see a pair of pink arms retreat into the hedge wall, followed by some mischievous giggling that unmistakably came from Pinkie Pie.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” cried out Sunset furiously.

“Is she going through the hedges?” asked Twilight as she caught up to her friend.

“Unfortunately, yes,” grumbled Sunset in response.

“So how are we gonna catch her now?” asked Twilight.

Sunset took a moment to consider her options. As she thought about what else she could remember about the Neon Garden the last time she was here, she soon smiled and replied, “I might have an idea…” She turned to Twilight and added, “Stay on the trail. I’ll be right back.” She then ran off towards a different part of the garden.

While she waited, Twilight decided to follow the complete circuit of the trail of candy. She found a few short gaps scattered along the trail, but no large missing sections that would indicate Pinkie was following the trail. “I think Pinkie might already be onto us,” she muttered to herself with concern.

“Not this time,” Sunset spoke up as she returned, now carrying with her an empty food crate and a short rod piece. “It’s amazing what kind of random parts people leave lying around in random places.” Without wasting any time, she tossed her entire bag of candy to the ground, then overturned the small crate with its open side down and used the short rod to prop up one end of that crate, essentially creating a classic box trap.

“Simple, yet effective,” remarked Twilight with a smile.

“We’re definitely gonna catch her this time,” declared Sunset with a grin of confidence.

“Who are we catching?”

Sunset and Twilight immediately turned to that third voice and found Pinkie Pie standing right behind them while snacking on an armful of candy pieces she was carrying around.

After a moment of shock, Sunset facepalmed, then grabbed Pinkie by the arm and began to forcefully tug her along the path out of the Neon Garden, causing her to drop her armful of candy.

As Sunset and Pinkie left, Twilight glanced back at the box trap and pile of candy as she asked, “Uh, shouldn’t we clean this up?”

“No time for that,” replied Sunset dismissively.

After a few minutes of navigating the winding paths through the hedges, the three girls finally made their way out the exit from the Neon Garden and proceeded towards the main performance stage, with Sunset leading the way.

“You need to focus, Pinkie,” Sunset firmly stated. “If you keep running off like this, we’ll be late for the concert!” She then turned away and grumbled under her breath, “Again…

However, it seemed fate was not favorable to Sunset this time, for she had forgotten about the pair of easels set up along the path, along with the eccentric artist who was handling small balloons filled with paint.

“Who wants to be part of an art show?!” the artist cheerfully called out as he held up two of those paint balloons.

Pinkie suddenly freed herself from Sunset’s grip and began waving her arms around as she excitedly replied, “Ooh! I do! I do!”

The artist turned to the three girls and smiled when he saw they were already standing between the two easels he had set up. “Ah, perfect,” he declared. “Stay right where you are…” He then pulled his arms back, preparing to toss the filled balloons in his hands.

“Don’t do it!” Sunset desperately cried out as she held her hands out. “Don’t—!”

Splat!

The artist ignored Sunset’s protests and tossed the balloons at the easels, bursting upon impact and splattering paint all over the easels and the three girls, with green paint on Twilight and Pinkie on the left and blue paint on Sunset and Pinkie on the right.

Thrilled to be in the middle and covered in both colors of paint, Pinkie giggled and cheerfully cried, “Do it again!”

“No! Not again!” Sunset protested.

Again, the artist obeyed Pinkie and ignored Sunset by swiftly tossing two more balloons at the easels, splattering yellow paint on the left and pink paint on the right.

Pinkie giggled again and excitedly exclaimed, “Awesome!”

In a fit of rage, Sunset grabbed the easel next to her and tossed it towards the eccentric artist.

The artist narrowly dodged the flying easel and shouted, “Hey! Watch it!”

“Consider it payback!” Sunset shot back. “I never agreed to be part of this pathetic excuse for art, and I never will! Seriously, when I said no, I really meant no!” She then tightly grasped Pinkie’s wrist and began dragging her away.

“Owie! Owie! Owie!” cried out Pinkie in pain as she stumbled along after Sunset.

“Hey! Wait up!” Twilight called out as she attempted to follow after them. “I can’t see anything!” Due her glasses being completed covered in paint, she was forced to reach her arms outward as she followed the voices of her two friends.

“But Sunset, I was just having fun!” whined Pinkie as she continued to be pulled along.

“Do I look like I’m having fun?!” Sunset furiously shot back as she stopped and glared back at Pinkie.

Seeing the fierce scowl — complete with an eye twitch — on Sunset’s face caused Pinkie to hesitate for a moment before she shamefully conceded, “Uh… I guess not…”

Sunset let out a sigh of frustration as she turned away and grumbled under her breath, “At least you’re not completely clueless.” She then spoke up, “Let’s just go to the restroom and wash off all this paint. Hopefully, we’ll still have enough time to get ready to see PostCrush.” She then continued walking ahead, pulling Pinkie along behind her.

As Twilight blindly staggered over to them, Pinkie reached out and grabbed her hand and assured her, “Don’t worry, Twilight. We got ya.”

Sunset guided her two friends over to the public restrooms, kicked open the door to the girls restroom, and hauled them both inside before she finally released her firm grip on Pinkie’s hand. “Just get cleaned up so we don’t waste any more time,” insisted Sunset.

“Consider it done!” declared Pinkie with a smile. She then tore open one of the paper towel dispensers, removed the entire roll of paper towels, brought it with her into one of the toilet stalls, and shut the door.

Sunset sighed and shook her head before she turned her attention to the mirror and one of the sinks. She grabbed a paper towel, soaked it under the running water in the sink, and wiped it across one of the paint splatters on her body. Once that paper towel had soaked up as much of that paint as possible, she wadded it up, tossed it into the trashcan, then grabbed another paper towel and repeated the process. Removing all of that paint proved to be just as difficult as she remembered the first time, so she knew she would be at this for quite some time.

Meanwhile, Twilight felt her way around until she reached one of the available sinks. She turned on the water, removed her glasses, and rinsed off all the paint that covered them. Once all of that paint was washed off, she flicked off the water and put her glasses back on. Now that she could finally see how much of a mess she was, she sighed in frustration and grumbled, “If this day already happened, then couldn’t you have at least warned us about the paint?” She held out her hand towards Sunset.

Sunset grabbed a paper towel and passed it over to Twilight, who used it to start wiping the paint splatters off herself. “I was kinda hoping that getting out of the Neon Garden sooner meant we wouldn’t have to face that freaky artist,” admitted Sunset as she grabbed another paper towel for herself and continued cleaning off the paint splatters on her body. “Seeing as he used different colors this time probably means he got set up sooner than I thought.”

Splash!

That noise from the occupied toilet stall was immediately followed by some hysterical giggling from Pinkie.

The two girls at the sinks glanced back at that occupied stall, then turned to each other. Sunset sighed, then leaned close to Twilight and quietly explained in a flat tone, “Pinkie just splattered some paint on the inside of that stall’s door and it just so happens to resemble Rarity with a pirate mustache. And when I’m not impressed by it, she’ll just argue that it’s washable.”

Twilight smirked and remarked, “That’s so randomly specific that if it turns out true, there’s no way it can be excused as a total coincidence. Especially when you take into account the changed variable regarding these paint colors.”

Pinkie partially opened the stall door and peeked her head out as she eagerly said, “Guess what! I spilled some paint on the inside of this door and it looks exactly like…” She threw the door all the way open to reveal the splattered paint on the other side of it. “Rarity with a pirate mustache! Huh? Huh?”

Twilight’s jaw dropped the moment she caught sight of that paint splatter that bore such an uncanny resemblance to Rarity’s face with a bushy mustache slapped over the mouth. She pointed at the paint splatter as she turned to Sunset and exclaimed in shock, “Seriously?!”

“What?” responded Pinkie with a shrug. “It’s washable.”

Twilight’s jaw remained down and her mouth gaping as her gaze shifted back and forth between Sunset and Pinkie while her hand continued pointing at that paint splatter.

“Seriously…” responded Sunset in a bored tone.


By the time the three girls had finished cleaning off all that paint, there was still just over an hour left to go before PostCrush was due to come on stage and begin their show, so they agreed to head over to the food trucks and grab something quick to eat. Sunset decided to get a small basket of fries, Twilight settled on a large pretzel, and Pinkie naturally went with some cotton candy. As they sat down at a table and ate their food, Sunset decided to explain in more detail her strange experiences of having already been through today’s events once before. However, she chose not to explain how her previous day ended, only stating that she and Pinkie ended up missing PostCrush’s live show.

“So what do you think, Twi?” asked Sunset. “Any scientific explanation for this?”

Twilight finished the last bite of her pretzel as she considered a potential hypothesis to explain Sunset’s recent experiences. After thinking it over for a minute, she stated, “It’s possible that yesterday, a snag in the fabric of spacetime could cause a temporal point — i.e., today — to fold in on itself and thereby repeat. Quite fascinating, really.” As she spoke, she presented a visualization of her hypothesis by taking one of the fries and bent it around to create a circular shape.

Sunset took a moment to think about what Twilight was suggesting, and once she realized what it all meant, she gasped and noted, “A time loop…”

Pinkie giggled and cheerfully remarked, “Time loop! Classic Sunset…”

Sunset ignored Pinkie and asked, “But why only me? The only time I was alone yesterday was on the hill when I wished—”

“For more wishes?” interrupted Pinkie blissfully as she leaned close to Sunset. “Solid choice.”

Sunset rolled her eyes, placed her hand on Pinkie’s face, and gently shoved her away. She then continued, “This might sound crazy, but… I think Equestrian Magic is giving me another chance to see PostCrush.” She smiled as she spoke that final thought.

Twilight and Pinkie glanced at each other, then turned back to Sunset. “Eh, not that crazy,” remarked Twilight before eating that fry she was still holding.

“Eh, seen crazier,” agreed Pinkie before she took a final large bite of her cotton candy.

Sunset sighed with a smile and admitted, “Yeah, I guess we really have been through a lot of weird things involving Equestrian Magic.”

As Pinkie finished the last of her cotton candy, she suddenly frowned and asked, “Wait. Why didn’t you see PostCrush?”

Sunset doubted it would have been appropriate to say right to Pinkie’s face that it was entirely her fault they both missed seeing PostCrush, so she just glanced to the side and grumbled, “Mistakes were made…”

Pinkie moved over to sit beside Sunset and assured her friend, “Aw, don’t beat yourself up. I promise we’ll see them together tonight, or so help me, I—” She suddenly stopped when she began to smell a rather sweet and delicious aroma. “What’s that smell?” she asked as she continued sniffing the air. “Could it be?” She let out and excited gasped as her gaze fell on a certain food cart. “Puffed Pastry’s exclusive star-crusted, cinnamon-dipped churros!”

Hearing those exact words come out of Pinkie caused Sunset to immediately glare at her, remembering all too well what those words ultimately led to on her previous experience of this day.

Pinkie’s enthusiasm fell when she noticed the angry look on her friend’s face. “Now’s proooob’ly not the best time to go get one,” she reluctantly acknowledged.

“It’s not!” Sunset eagerly agreed. “Let’s get moving so nothing goes wrong for PostCrush!” As she stood up, she handed over her half-full basket of fries to Pinkie. “Here, I’ll even let you have the rest of my fries.”

Pinkie smiled at the offer and carried those fries with her as she began to follow Sunset and Twilight towards the main performance stage. She made it only a few steps before her mind drifted back to those churros. “On the other hand, if I get two, then Sunset can have one with me,” she noted to herself. She immediately snapped out of it and scolded herself, “No! No! I will not give in!” She then grabbed a handful of those fries and shoved them in her mouth.

Alas, those fries were not enough to satisfy Pinkie’s cravings, which demanded something much sweeter with a cinnamon flavor, like those mouth-watering churros that she struggled to keep her eyes off for more than a few seconds. Her mental tug-o-war between obeying Sunset’s advice and giving in to her cravings left her whimpering and groaning for a few seconds, her body motionless as her mind kept jumping back and forth like a ping-pong ball. Finally she tossed those fries aside and rushed the churro cart as she screamed, “But I can’t resist!”

As those fries spilled all over Sunset and the basket landed upside down atop her head, she turned back to Pinkie and exclaimed in panic, “Okay, this is the worst possible time for churros!” She then charged after Pinkie.

Pinkie completely ignored Sunset and remained solely focused on grabbing some of those churros. She continued to rush towards that cart with an almost psychotic smile on her face with her tongue flailing out, the sight of which caused everyone near the cart to run away in terror.

“Pinkie! Stop!” Sunset cried out desperately as she leaped into the air and tackled Pinkie. Although they both hit the ground, their momentum caused them to continue tumbling forwards until they both slammed into the churro cart, smashing it to pieces and sending cinnamon dust flying everywhere.

Crash!

Twilight cringed as she helplessly watched that disaster unfold.

Sunset and Pinkie were both momentarily dazed from the impact. When they recovered, they both noticed a shadow looming over them. They looked over their shoulders and saw the security guard from the front entrance was now standing before them with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face, and his head and torso covered in cinnamon dust.

Pinkie giggled nervously and sheepishly said, “Our bad.”

“No, her bad,” argued Sunset to the security guard. “You saw me try to stop her, right, sir?”

The security guard wasn’t interested in hearing any excuses. He grabbed the two girls by the shoulder and hauled them up to their feet, then began forcefully escorting them towards a doorway in the wall that marked the perimeter of the festival grounds. Once they arrived at that door, he removed their festival bracelet pieces, used a pair of scissors to snip them in half, and dropped the destroyed parts to the ground. Finally, he kicked the door open, shoved both girls outside, and then slammed the door shut.

Once again, Sunset was faced with the message of “EXIT ONLY! Trespassers will be tackled on sight,” on a decal stuck to that door. And once again, it was only seconds after being kicked out that Sunset saw over the wall some bright lights shining up into the sky from the direction of the main performance stage while an amplified voice in the distance shouted out, “Let me hear three big cheers for two best friends who got back together for one incredible night! PoooooostCruuuuuush!!” That announcement was immediately followed by a roaring cheer and applause from the crowd that had gathered around that stage.

And once again, Sunset was furious at Pinkie for causing both of them to miss out on the show that was now starting without them.

“Maybe you’ll get another another chance?” assured Pinkie sheepishly.

Sunset removed the overturned fries basket from atop her head and slammed it to the ground. “This is exactly how it ended the first time,” grumbled Sunset as she turned and began walking away back to the campgrounds. “If I do get another do-over, then I’m definitely gonna do this whole day alone.”

Pinkie was at a loss as she glanced back and forth between the shut door and Sunset walking away. Although she heard PostCrush beginning to play their famous song, she was too devastated to enjoy it.

“There you are!” cried out Twilight as she ran over to Pinkie from the main entrance of the festival grounds. As she stopped in front of Pinkie, she worriedly said, “I saw the whole thing happen. Are you okay?”

Pinkie began to cry as she sadly replied, “Well… neither of us got injured, but… Sunset’s really mad at me. She said that this is exactly how this day ended for her the first time, and that if she gets another do-over, she’s gonna do it all alone…”

“Oh, Pinkie, I’m so sorry,” said Twilight calmly as she pulled Pinkie into a hug. “I’m sure it was all just a misunderstanding.”

“But you don’t understand!” sobbed Pinkie against Twilight’s shoulder. “Sunset knew that me going after those churros would ruin everything for us! She just didn’t say it in front of me because she knew it would hurt my feelings, but it still happened anyway! Why oh why did I have to give in to those silly churros?!”

As Pinkie continued sobbing, Twilight simply patted her on the back to do what little she could to calm her depressed friend. After about a minute, Twilight released her hug and suggested, “Let’s head back to the campgrounds. I’m sure both of you will feel better once you have a chance to talk it out.”

Pinkie sniffled and rubbed the tears from her eyes, but nodded in agreement. She and Twilight turned away from the door and began to make their way down the path towards the campgrounds.


Later that evening, Sunset arrived at the RV in the campgrounds, where the rest of her friends were seated around the heating table and roasting marshmallows over it. As she walked, she had a grouchy look on her face as she kept her gaze down at the ground.

Rainbow Dash placed her roasted marshmallow on a graham cracker and removed it from the skewer she held when she noticed Sunset’s arrival. “Look! There’s Sunset!” Rainbow spoke up eagerly as the others also turned to Sunset. Rainbow’s excitement quickly turned to confusion as she asked, “Uh, where’s Pinkie and Twilight?”

“I’m sure they’re somewhere behind me,” grumbled Sunset irritably.

The others looked at each other uneasily before Applajeack cautiously asked, “Uh, what’s wrong?”

Sunset let out a sigh of frustration and grumbled, “I missed PostCrush… again. And it was all because of Pinkie… again.”

The others stared at Sunset in confusion. “Again?” asked Fluttershy. “What do you mean by that?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” muttered Sunset as she turned away and headed towards the door into the RV. “I’ve had a long day. I’m gonna turn in early.” She opened the door, stepped into the RV, and then slammed the door shut.

The rest of the group of friends were stunned and remained silent as they awkwardly glanced at one another.

A couple minutes passed before Twilight and Pinkie finally arrived at the RV. Pinkie was leaning against Twilight’s shoulder with a shameful look on her face, while Twilight had her arm around Pinkie’s shoulder as she guided her remorseful friend over to the RV.

“And there’s Pinkie and Twilight,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, not as excitedly as she had been just moments ago.

“Hi, girls,” greeted Twilight with a smile, though the tone of her voice made it obvious she was not exactly in a positive mood at the moment. She frowned as she glanced over her friends and asked, “Where’s Sunset?”

“She decided to hit the sack early,” replied Applejack as she gestured at the RV.

“She seemed to be rather frustrated over supposedly missing PostCrush,” explained Rarity with concern. “Would you care to elaborate?”

Pinkie sighed and sadly confessed, “It’s all my fault. I got us kicked out just before PostCrush went on, all because I couldn’t resist grabbing some churros. She knew it would lead to trouble for both of us, and I was too stupid to listen to her.”

“No, Pinkie, you’re not stupid,” assured Fluttershy as she walked over and placed a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Whatever happened, I’m sure it was just an accident that no one could’ve expected.”

“But she did know that would happen!” argued Pinkie shamefully. “She had already been through this whole day once before and got another chance for us to see PostCrush. But I totally blew it!” Unable to hold back, she began sobbing again.

While Fluttershy embraced Pinkie and gently rubbed her back in an effort to calm her down, everyone else turned to Twilight with looks of confusion on their faces.

“It’s a little complicated…” explained Twilight uneasily.

“Aw, cheer up, Pinkie,” assured Spike with a friendly smile. “I’m sure Sunset will forgive you in the morning.” Just then, the marshmallow he was roasting suddenly caught on fire. He yelped in panic and started waving the skewer around in an effort to put out the fire. Instead, the smoldering treat flung off the skewer and splattered against Rarity, who yelled out in horror at seeing her expensive jacket ruined by the gooey mess.

Meanwhile, inside the RV, Sunset had changed into her pajamas and climbed into her sleeping bag. Due to her sleeping bag being placed right next to the window, she was able to see and hear the conversation that was happening outside. Although she could understand why Pinkie would be devastated by today’s events, the fact that the exact same outcome had occurred twice in a row made it difficult for her to have much sympathy for her overly energetic friend.

Sunset let out a huff of frustration and laid down inside her sleeping bag. Although she had her doubts she would be able to repeat this day a third time, she couldn’t help but hope that it would indeed happen. After all, if Pinkie was always going to be responsible for ruining this day, then the only way she could possibly hope for that perfect outcome she desired… would be to completely exclude any interference from her friend.

Author's Note:

Not much new to be seen in this chapter, aside from some additional little details here and there. Those of you familiar with the official version might recognize which scenes are ones that I came up with on my own, such as that final part back at the RV at night. Even so, writing this chapter was very slow-going for me, so hopefully the later chapters of this story won't turn out to be quite as problematic.