If I Could Love Again...

by Petalled

~ 2 ~ 03 ~ Tuned On

In a disappearing act of the Great and Powerful Trixie, blue smoke erupted which caused all the members of the Rainbooms including Sunset to cough before, quite literally, their hearts skipped a beat as they all made their way falling down once the floor made a hole when Trixie pulled the liver.

Now at the bottom, the floor which was now above them had shut closed, the room in complete darkness until Sunset felt something against her ankle and picked it up where it allowed light to shine on the walls.

In an hour of being stuck there, they began hearing music, singing, and applause up there.

''Great!'' Rainbow Dash cried out, kicking her guitar to the side. ''Now what? She's trapped us when it was our time to shine!''

Fluttershy stood up and looked down at her. ''Ours?! You've been making this all about you!'' She slouched down as she crossed her arms. ''We never even got to play my song yet.''

''It's the finals!'' she shouted back. ''We have to make it awesome in order to win! What? You think we will be able to with your little bird song?''

Fluttershy gasped, taking offense to that, and they began glowering at each other until Applejack stepped in between to separate them.

''Hold it!'' she exclaimed, sending both equal glares. ''Listen to what y'all be arguing about. We're the Rainbooms; we're supposed to be a team, not a solo act, Rainbow.''

''Well, it should be!'' she protested, pushing Fluttershy to the side in an attempt to look at Applejack eye-to-eye. ''I am awesome at this!''

When she was pushed, even if gently to move away, Fluttershy took this as strong offense and fell on one of Rarity's dresses she prepared for their performance.

Rarity gasped, glaring at Rainbow. ''Really, Rainbow Dash! Just how ruthless can you be? Do you know how long I've spent on those dresses?''

And at that, Applejack had begun to lose her temper over this. ''Enough with the dresses! We don't care what we're wearing, Rares!''

Rarity scowled and shouted rather indignantly, ''I care, Applejack!''

Soon, Pinkie Pie joined in and they all started arguing with each other, a sense of green smoke seeping out of them which was only noticed by Sunset. She looked at Twilight who was sitting on the floor, back leaned against the wall, as she planted her face on her knees, arms wrapped around them.

Sunset's ears flicked to the sound of the Sirens' singing above and noticed the trail of green smoke from her friends was leading upwards.

And so, Sunset decided to take charge and step in. ''Stop! You have to stop!'' When she finally got everyone to stop arguing, she began frantically explaining: ''This is what they've been after all along; they're feeding off of the magic inside you.''

''How can they be using our magic?'' Applejack asked, confused. ''It's the magic of friendship.''

With a frown, Sunset looked at Twilight and then began explaining further: ''Ever since you started this band, you've been letting little things get to you. I never said anything because I didn't feel like it was my place. Not when I was so new to this whole friendship thing. I still have a lot to learn, but I do know that if you don't work out even the smallest problems right at the start, the magic of friendship can be turned into something else.''

On the floor, when everyone looked at Sunset benevolently, Twilight began thinking to herself before getting up from the floor and joining her friends.

''I can't believe I didn't realize all these things when it was right underneath my nose,'' Twilight said as she frowned. ''I'm supposed to be the one with all the answers, but all I've done since I got here is let you down.''

Sunset looked at her sympathetically, then a smile appeared as she placed a hand on Twilight's shoulder.

''I don't think anyone is supposed to have all the answers,'' she explained in a gentle voice. ''We're a team and we're supposed to help each other.'' She then turned to the others. ''And listen and share ideas.''

After a few empathetic gazes and warm smiles, a determined smile began to make its way on Twilight's face and launched herself at the door as she beckoned everyone to follow her motion. After a few pushing attempts, the door finally opened by itself — or so they thought.

Below them, they spotted Spike wiggling his tail joyously until Twilight picked him up from the ground to nuzzle him. In front of them, they saw another person.

''Sorry I took so long,'' Spike apologized. ''I had to find someone who wasn't under the Sirens' spell to get you out.''

Twilight looked at her who waved. ''Why isn't she under their spell?''

Spike shrugged. ''Never takes off her headphones.''

They all looked at each other and they had all thought up a genius idea, then Rainbow broke out of their ideal trance and walked over to Fluttershy.

''Fluttershy's written a really great song for us to use,'' Rainbow announced which beamed the other girl up.

---

''Come on! We'll be late for our concert, Cadence!''

Cadence was seemingly out of breath but tried to catch up with the energetic filly.

''I'm coming, Twilight,'' she told her, and she did. In front of them was a crowd of ponies all directed towards a stage. ''Come on. We need to get backstage.''

Twilight nodded and followed her around the crowd where they ended up behind the stage. They waited a few minutes for the other performers to finish until it was their turn. Twilight was as giddy as a horse but Cadence pushed her out onto the stage into everyone's view but then she began to feel a sense of nervousness.

''Don't worry, Twilight,'' Cadence said in a soothing voice to compose her. ''Remember; cool, calm, and collected.''

Twilight looked up at her and nodded, following the gesture as she took in a breath.

Then the two mares got into a position where everyone was looking at them. A sound as blissful as morning sunrise came up and Twilight and Cadence started jogging on the spot, facing each other.

''Sunshine, sunshine,'' they said at the same time, then put their hooves to their eyes. ''Ladybugs awake!'' They began clapping each other's hooves now. ''Clap your hooves, and...'' They began swishing their tails together. ''Do a little shake.''

The audience had looked stunned by this act that they were speechless. Twilight felt odd about this and was ready to turn back with her head down until, much to her surprise, the noises of cheer erupted behind her, and now it was Twilight who was speechless.

Twilight beamed and ran to Cadence for a hug, then spotted her brother within the crowd smiling genuinely and fondly at them. She frowned on the inside but attempted to wear the happiest smile ever.

---

They did it.

They thought it was over, that there was no hope for the Rainbooms.

Until...

Until Twilight looked behind her where Sunset was still standing with Spike in her arms. She saw a spark; not a hope of defeating the Sirens but a whole new level of hope for the Rainbooms and for her.

Twilight gasped. ''Sunset Shimmer, we need you!''

At the sound of those words, the kind of words that she had always wanted to hear, Sunset felt her heart spinning several loops. She looked at the floating Sirens above and swallowed a lump down her throat. Placing Spike next to her friends laid on the floor, she picked up a microphone and took off her jacket.

Twilight was only amazed by this whole new side of her when she threw her jacket across. She could feel her heart beating but tried to focus on Sunset's chance to shine.

The DJ turned on the music again so Sunset could begin and they all watched her.

''You're never gonna bring me down...''

Surprised, her voice had sounded so smooth like velvet to Twilight's ears and she began eagerly following through the tune, her heart dancing along.

''You're never gonna break this part of me.'' Sunset pointed up at the Sirens floating closer to them. She helped Twilight back up, and so the others stood back up again. ''My friends are here to bring me around. Not singing just for popularity.''

And then Twilight also held onto Sunset's microphone, their fingers intermingling, and she began singing along. All their friends around them started playing their instruments.

This caused the Sirens to be angry and soared down to them, but the Rainbooms never gave up. When Sunset and Twilight waved their hands about, all of them moving within the beat, a sense of magic sound wave erupted out of them and washed over the crowd causing them to snap out of the Sirens' spell and sing along.

The Sirens noticed this after the magic wave went through them. They continued singing, and the Sirens' red eyes began to disperse and they weakly looked up at their enemies.

While the Rainbooms had already Pony-uped, Harmony forgot one pony or person. Sunset Shimmer began lifting gently above the ground next to Twilight as they all watched her yet continued to sing as she flashed like the rays of the sun. Ears appeared on her head and her mane became slightly longer for a tail.

The Rainbooms all hovered beside her, and together, a rainbow came out of them directed towards the sky where it created a giant alicorn. The alicorn spread its humungous wings and stood its ground against the Sirens where it blasted its rainbow power at them.

The Sirens were seen on the stage on their knees, their pendants broken in front of them glowing a faint red. They collected the pieces to their chests and tried singing for their audience but it only sounded awful, causing the audience to start throwing food at them before they got out of their way.

Sunset picked the pieces up. ''Guess that explains why these were so special to them.''

''Without those pendants and the magic you brought here from Equestria,'' Twilight began to explain, ''they're just three harmless teenage girls.''

''Rainbooms rule!'' erupted a voice, and came grasping onto Twilight. They spinned her around into a hug.

All of Twilight's friends looked at her chuckling except for Sunset who turned herself around.

Twilight pushed herself away a little to take a look to see who it was. When she recognized, a faint blush made its way to both of their cheeks.

Well, that's one thing that's never going to change.

...Or will it?

---