Equestria Boys

by SuperPinkBrony12

Sunset Strikes Back

Shining Armor's plan was actually quite simple. A sort of impromptu pep rally in the cafeteria with the intent being to show how the students were all alike despite Sunset's attempts to keep them apart.

Fancy Pants even revealed something to give the pep rally a bit of extra flair. A series of costume pieces involving ears and a tail, including a blue shirt and matching pants with the C for Canterlot emblazoned in a light yellow on the center of the shirt. "We used to have a mascot to go along with the school's team name, but Sunset Shimmer immediately insisted we get rid of it," He explained. "Don't know what's so wrong about The Canterlot Wondercolts. Maybe it's a little bit goofy, but if the crowds eat it up that's all that really matters."

Even Shining himself had to admit the outfits and the name were charming in their own way. "I hadn't planned on including something like this, but it should be an excellent touch," He told Fancy Pants. "Well done."

But Soarin wasn't quite so convinced. "I don't know. You really think a musical number is gonna win over the school? I'm going to look ridiculous."

"Trust me, it will work!" Shining vowed. "When you all hear the signal at lunch, start the music. Make sure they all can hear you so they understand what the message is."

"We'll do our best, Shining," Big Macintosh nodded his head in agreement. "But we've only got until the end of today to get the school on your side."

At that Shining blinked in surprise. "Why? The Fall Formal isn't until tomorrow night."

"Yeah, but the votin' takes place at the end of the school day today," Braeburn explained. "They have to have a whole day to get everythin' together. Dances like the Fall Formal don't just happen, there's a whole lotta plannin' and preparation that has to go into it."

"Just like the Grand Galloping Gala and the Summer Sun Celebration in Equestria." Shining thought to himself but didn't say it out loud.

Just then, the bell rang to signal the start of classes for the day. That meant it was time for everyone to go their separate ways and report to their respective first period classes. All would meet up again at lunch to carry out the rally.

The hours passed agonizingly slow for the group. None had to say it to know that this planned pep rally would have to go off without much of a hitch if it was to stand any chance of success. If it didn't, or even worse failed outright, it might not be possible for Shining to convince enough students in time for the voting and Sunset Shimmer would win yet again.

At last, however, lunch time came. Shining gave each of the boys last minute instructions, and then waited outside while they went to their assigned tables as normal.

Spike poked his head out from the backpack. "I guess this is it. Let's hope your hunch about these human counterparts of our friends turns out to be right, for your sake."

"I hope so too, Spike." Shining replied while he watched and listened from outside the cafeteria as the five friends began to carry out his plan.

---

The rally was an incredible success! By the time Shining entered into the cafeteria, every student from every table was clapping and singing along as they danced! Many were now wearing replicas of the outfits the five friends had worn, and even Granny Smith was joining in even though she technically wasn't supposed to.

But there was one person who was anything but pleased with the success of the pep rally in the cafeteria. Sunset Shimmer had already been planning for some time on how to best ensure Shining Armor wouldn't be a threat to her, knowing that she had to act soon if she didn't want to be defeated.

As the teenage girl approached the cafeteria, she could see and hear the whole school as they were singing and dancing, with Shining Armor right in the center of it all! "Oh, so that's his little game, is it?" She thought to herself as she clenched her fists in anger. "Well he better celebrate while he can, because I'm about to put an end to his little party for good!"

However, before Sunset could even begin to think of how she might best counter Shining's move, she had a more urgent issue that had to be resolved. She was shocked and dismayed to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon emerge from the cafeteria wearing the Canterlot Wondercolts outfits. And they were dancing about with joy.

"Wow, I can't remember the last time we had that kind of fun together, Silvy!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed with amazement!

Silver Spoon nodded her head. "I'd almost forgotten what it was like to not be the mean girls in the school all the time, Di. At this rate, Shining Armor's gonna win for sure."

Stomping a foot down, Sunset grabbed her underlings by the ears and yanked off their Wondercolts hats and tails! "What's the matter with you two?! Whose side are you on?!"

Cornered, the girls tried to defend themselves as best they could. "W...we were just... just... scoping out the competition," Diamond nervously answered. "Yeah, that's it!"

"I thought you said 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em', Di," Silver Spoon commented, before realizing her mistake as she gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth! "Oops!"

Sunset struggled not to lose her composure as she narrowed her eyes at the two. "I'm trying to take down my most challenging opponent to date, and yet I find you two imbeciles trying to join his team!" She was quick to add in a more ominous tone of voice. "Don't forget, we have a deal. You two agree to help me, and in return I keep quiet about the 'uncouth' things you two get into. Something tells me your parents wouldn't be too thrilled to find out you were wasting your education picking on other students."

"That's only because they made fun of us, or rather Silver Spoon!" Diamond protested. "They always deserved it."

"Somehow, I don't think your parents would agree. Especially not your mother, Diamond Tiara." Sunset declared while making sure the 'mother' part of the speech was well emphasized.

The two girls gulped. They knew from experience that Diamond Tiara's mother was not exactly a pleasant person, although she went to great lengths to hide this from everyone.

Sunset grinned. "That's what I thought," Then she cleared her throat. "Now, I need you two to do me a favor. You know that last ditch resort we talked about yesterday?"

Silver nervously began to ask. "You don't mean..."

"-Oh, but I do!" Sunset smiled. "I hate that it's come to this. But as they say 'Desperate times call for desperate measures', and when my hand has been forced what other options do I really have?"

Against her better judgement, Diamond proposed to Sunset. "You could always just swipe the crown and run away. Or better yet, just admit defeat. It gets tiring being a bully after a while."

But the girl with fiery locks would hear nothing of it. "Look, are you gonna do what I asked you to, or do I have to start telling?"

Reluctantly, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon found themselves unable and unwilling to go against Sunset Shimmer. They would go along with her plan. They were going to engage in an act of sabotage.

---

Sometime later, Shining Armor was surprised to bump into Sunset Shimmer in one of the hallways. And was it his imagination or did the girl he knew to be Celestia's former student have a smile on her face despite the circumstances? "Oh, Sunset. What a surprise. Don't tell me you're here to throw in the towel."

"Ha, you wish!" Sunset Shimmer laughed. "I'm not here for you. I was just on my way to see Vice Principal Luna. There's something quite awful that she needs to know about."

Shining blinked in surprise. "Vice Principal Luna?"

Sunset nodded. "Yup, Principal Celestia's younger sister. Apparently, she used to work at Crystal Prep for a couple of years. But Principal Celestia made up the vice principal position specifically so she could lure Luna back here." And then she slipped away.

Suspecting that the girl was up to something, Shining Armor followed his opponent until she stopped outside a room just a door down from the principal's office. Strangely enough, this room was devoid of all natural light and did not have any electrical lights turned on.

Sunset raised a hand and knocked against the door, soon bringing out a light bluish gray skinned woman who seemed only slightly shorter than Principal Celestia. She had very familiar moderate opal eyes and moderate sapphire and pale, light blue colored hair, to say nothing of her pinkish-purple shirt that had crescent moons on the collar. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this woman was probably the Vice Principal Luna Sunset had been talking about.

The woman glanced at Sunset and appeared to eye her skeptically as she asked the girl. "What is it, Sunset Shimmer? I'm very busy at the moment."

Adopting the most innocent tone she could possibly muster up, Sunset dramatically exclaimed! "Oh please, Vice Principal Luna! You must come to the gymnasium! Something truly horrible has happened! I couldn't believe it when I saw it for myself."

Vice Principal Luna sighed as she stepped out of her office all the way. "Oh, very well. Let's get this nonsense over with." Her tone of voice sounded rather bored.

That all changed when the woman was brought to the gymnasium (Shining following from a distance. Something told him he didn't want to be seen by the vice principal, and not just because he had a dog in his backpack that was actually a baby dragon). Upon entering into the massive room, the vice principal's eyes widened with shock and dismay!

It looked as though a small bomb had been set off within the gym, all without anyone noticing! Stands had been knocked over or straight up demolished, decorations lay scattered across the floor in tattered remains, balloons had been rudely popped, banners were defaced, in short it looked as if the entire preparations toward converting the gymnasium into the hosting ground for the Fall Formal had all been undone so swiftly and so violently. To make matters worse, it seemed as if the security cameras that would've caught the perpetrator in the act had been disabled (probably to cover the culprit's tracks).

"What happened here?!" Vice Principal Luna exclaimed as her voice began to rise! "Who or what caused all of this?!"

Now devolving into full blown hysterics, Sunset dramatically proclaimed with tears in her eyes. "It was Shining Armor! He did it! I saw him messing with the security cameras just before lunch. He must've used the start of his pep rally as a cover to tear up the place."

But Shining came forward to denounce the accusations! "Lies! You've no proof!"

However, Vice Principal Luna took one look at the boy and seemed to suspect something. "Well, I don't know who caused this. And I'm reluctant to take Sunset's word. But I still need to bring you in for questioning. You've got some explaining to do." She told him as she narrowed her eyes and began to frown.

---

The vice principal's office was just as dark on the inside as it was on the outside, though that was soon rectified when the shades were opened just a little to allow for some sunlight to seep in.

Shining was seated in a chair in front of Luna's desk, and the woman was gazing down at him with an expression that was difficult to read. "I'm telling you, Vice Principal Luna, I didn't do it! I most certainly didn't destroy the gym or touch the security cameras. I barely even know how to work a computer."

Luna appeared to nod in agreement. "I saw that video Sunset uploaded of you, and I have word from our librarian confirming that indeed your computer skills are lacking," But then she spoke up. "That's not why I brought you to my office, though. There's something far more concerning that needs to be addressed."

"What do you mean? I haven't done anything... yet." Shining confessed.

"Then do you mind telling just why in the world a Crystal Prep graduate like yourself has decided to transfer here?" The vice principal questioned. "I don't know why my sister didn't know about this before she let you participate in the Fall Formal, effectively approving your transfer?"

Shining Armor gulped. He hadn't been anticipating being put on the spot like this. Should he tell the vice principal the truth? Would she even believe him if he did? What could he say that wouldn't make him look even more suspicious?

"I'm waiting for a response, young man," Luna demanded. "Or do I need to call your parents? Perhaps they can shed light on your true intentions."

Immediately, the disguised prince protested. "Please, Vice Principal Luna, there's no need to involve them! No one can know why I'm here! I didn't come here voluntarily."

Luna frowned further. "So you've come here to spy on us, then? Cinch must've put you up to this. In my time at Crystal Prep, I knew Cinch to be guilty of many things even though she would always publicly deny them. But even I never imagined her to stoop so low as to engage in industrial espionage."

"I'm not a spy either, though technically I am here undercover," Shining reluctantly explained, knowing that that part at least was true (or at least half true). "If I told you why I'm here though, you wouldn't believe me. Look, just let me go and I promise I'll stay out of trouble. After tomorrow night I won't be a problem for you or the school to worry about."

"That may be, and you do have an alibi for the time the destruction of the gym was allegedly carried out. However, without knowing when the gym was destroyed or by whom I'm afraid I can't let you go," Luna told the prince. "So, did you see anything or anyone suspicious at all today?"

"No. If I had I'm sure I would've noticed," Shining Armor truthfully confessed. "I'll help you question the students if it'll convince you that I can be trusted. I don't want any troubles between us, I mean you and Canterlot High no harm."

---

Just then, however, the door to the vice principal's office was flung open as Flash Sentry surprisingly strolled on in! "Shining Armor's not at fault, Vice Principal Luna. And I know who the real culprits are!" He explained as he produced a strange looking object that seemed to be no bigger than the size of his pants pocket.

Vice Principal Luna took the object and examined it. "What is this, Flash Sentry?"

"I was able to convince Microchips to take a closer look at the security cameras," Flash explained. "He managed to find one that wasn't disabled completely. It captured the entire act of sabotage, and Microchips was able to get the footage transferred to this flash drive. I rushed it over here as soon as it finished downloading."

Luna took the "flash drive" and after inspecting it closely she placed it into a slot on her personal computer. A few clicks soon elicited a noticeable gasp from her, and she clicked again! Then she turned the computer around so that the two boys in her office could see what it was showing.

Although the footage was in black and white and marked by numbers in red marking the date and time, the image that was displayed was still visible to all plain as day. It clearly showed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as they went about destroying everything in the gymnasium, and doing so quite thoroughly.

The footage seemed to be enough to convince Vice Principal Luna as she told Shining Armor. "Well, it looks like you're off the hook. Since I know now you didn't destroy the gym, my suspicions behind your sudden transfer aren't enough to justify detaining you here. You're free to go," Though she ominously concluded her sentence by saying. "But be warned, I'm watching you very carefully. Give me any reason to think you're up to no good, and I'll bring up everything I found with my sister. Then you can explain to her why you weren't honest with her up front."

"Don't worry, Vice Principal Luna, I'll make sure you don't have any reason to be suspicious of me," Shining saluted before turning to Flash Sentry. "And thank you so much for uncovering the truth behind this act of sabotage. You didn't have to stick up for me, we don't know each other yet."

Flash only smiled. "If I'm gonna be a police officer someday, I gotta be willing to stand up for what's right. And that means not letting an innocent young man take the heat over something he didn't do. Besides, Microchips did all the work. If not for his discovery of the un-tampered security camera I wouldn't have been able to produce that flash drive to clear your name."

Vice Principal Luna then spoke up. "Well, even though I know the culprits I'm afraid there is still some bad news," She cleared her throat. "Given the extent of the damage caused by Diamond and Silver's display of vandalism, I'm afraid the Fall Formal will need to be postponed for at least a day."

At that a look of horror befell Shining's face! He knew at once what that would mean and he didn't like it in the slightest. "No, it can't be!" He cried and ran out of the vice principal's office in dismay! In his mind he was thinking. "If the Fall Formal is delayed I'll miss my only chance to go back to Equestria!" And then he realized something. "This must've been Sunset's plan. She probably was hoping I'd either get expelled, or that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would cause the Fall Formal to be pushed back."

Yet he knew he couldn't return to Equestria without his crown. Without the Elements of Harmony, the prospects of defending Equestria were bleak if another threat like Chrysalis or Sombra showed up.

But Shining didn't know what he was going to do.

Author's Note:

Not a lot would've changed for "Helping Twilight Win The Crown", so instead of just having the same lyrics but with Shining Armor instead of Twilight Sparkle I decided to link to the original song.

As for the sabotage and Vice Principal Luna, the purpose behind the subplot in the original movie is just to have Twilight grow closer to Flash Sentry. But it's a very weak plot considering Sunset uses very obviously cropped photos to frame Twilight, and she is dumb enough to leave the cutouts behind (which anyone could've discovered). So I knew I had to change it up here, and I hope the way I included it in this universe makes sense.

Also, I couldn't resist making a couple of nods to how Hades belittles Pain and Panic during Disney's Hercules, especially when he catches them wearing Hercules' merchandise after Hercules has beaten yet another monster Hades has sent. And this won't be the last time such nods will crop up between Sunset Shimmer and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Comments

[Melody Song]

This was a great chapter, I like how they got evidence it was Sunset's lackeys trashing the gym and not Shining, it makes more sense than cropped photos.

[Comickook]

Absolutely wonderful work on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up here. Greatly enjoyed the little Shout Out to Disney's Hercules (and yeah, Sunset is going to learn the hard way [like Chrysalis will in a couple of years] that being a Bad Boss tends to bite you in the rear in a major way). As well as the reasons Diamond and Silver are working for Sunset. Also, a pretty logical alteration of Flash's helping Shining by mentioning that Micro did the real work. Unfortunately, Celestia and Luna blew a small hole in Shining's cover story when they pointed out they know his counterpart already graduated. Let's just see how Shining and the others bounce back from this.

VERY definitely looking forward to more of this. As well as the last fourteen chapters of your main "Stallion Six" story, the rest of the "Equestria Gang" mini-series, "the Future of Friendship" (assuming you plan to do the two-decade time skip as a separate semi-short sequel story to allow for greater detail concerning the changes), your "What If?" series (not only Volume Eleven [which will probably be the last one for the main series as you have to be running out of episodes you want to do] but also the "Equestria Girls Edition" and "Comics Edition") and the next installments in your super-hero alternate universe stories (Batmare, Spider-Mare and Super Dragon). And, yes, I KNOW that's going to take quite a while, but you give me a lot to look forward to.