> This Night Aria
>  by Ianpiersonjdavis
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aria was livid-as if it weren’t bad enough that that she was still stuck with Adagio and that idiot, Sonata. But, they had also lost the Battle of the Bands, all of the disharmony they had been feeding on since coming to this stupid world and their amulets were destroyed, meaning that their beautiful singing voices were now lost forever. One-thousand years of work down the drain, thanks to Adagio’s incompetence as a leader.


When that old wizard banished them, she immediately wished that he had killed them instead. Death would have been preferable to Sonata’s incessant jabbering and Adagio’s unbearable self-importance. The only reason she even continued following Adagio and her plans were because as long as they worked together, their powers were stronger and their meals were bigger.


Only a few hours had passed since The Dazzlings had been booed off stage by Canterlot High. They had taken refuge in the same café that Adagio had first noticed Equestrian magic entering this world. To avoid the other patrons, they were even seated in the same corner booth-the irony was not lost on Aria.


They had all underestimated Sunset Shimmer. Despite herself, Aria was actually impressed with how easily Sunset was able to manipulate and intimidate most of the school. But, master plan or not, she couldn’t believe anyone would voluntarily come to this horrible world and give up their magic.


“Wow!” Sonata exclaimed. “Who woulda thought they could make a big, giant Alicorn thingy like that!?”


Aria cringed as her stomach twisted in rage; Sonata’s voice was the last thing she wanted to hear, right now. In this world, Sirens were nothing more than mythological creatures-pure fantasy. But, in one of those myths a group of Sirens committed suicide out of shame for failing to entrance their prey. Right now, she wished Sonata was one of those Sirens.


“It would never have happened if they weren’t so desperate,” Adagio growled. “Think about it, why would they ever trust someone like her? Especially, after she tried to murder them at the Fall Formal.”


“If we did that, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.” Aria grumbled.


“The Alicorn was pretty, though…” Sonata commented, causing Aria to glare at her.


“I’m sorry, can we have her put to sleep or something?” she asked Adagio. “I mean, it’s bad enough that we have this annoyingly cheery airhead-“


“HEY!” Sonata protested. “I-“


“Our powers are gone!” Aria shouted. “Our voices are gone! It’s only a matter of time before we starve to death! Do you even realize just how screwed we are, now?”


“I’ll think of something…” Adagio replied, sitting back down.


“Really!?” Aria challenged. “Without magic we can’t do anything! And if memory serves, oh glorious leader-you’re last two plans got us banished here and made us powerless. So forgive me, if your track record doesn’t inspire much confidence.”


“Fine,” she replied, begrudgingly. “Then let’s hear your plan.”


“Finally…those five in the Rainbooms, they’re gullible idiots. They accepted Sunset Shimmer into their group after everything she’d done. All she needed to do was feed them a sob story about not understanding how to make friends.” Aria replied.


“For realsies!?” Sonata gasped.


“You can’t be serious-befriend them!?” Adagio added.


Aria shook her head.


“I don’t mean that we actually become friends with them, we fake it to gain their trust until their friend from Equestria returns, when that portal is opened-we can finally go home-”


She stopped herself when a woman with pink hair stylized in such a manner that made it reminiscent to that of a cupcake wearing an apron came up to the booth.


“I couldn’t help but notice that you girls have been sitting here for the past twenty minutes-I don’t mean to interrupt, but do any of you actually plan on ordering anything?”


“Ooh! Yes!” Sonata exclaimed. “I want a triple Chimi-cherry-changa covered in hot fudge and banana cream!”


Aria and Adagio merely rolled their eyes in exasperation, knowing that they would have to wait for Sonata to explain to Mrs. Cake whatever it was she was talking about.


“Coming right up!” she replied, cheerfully.


The two Sirens exchanged surprised looks before returning to the matter at hand.


“I have to admit, this plan of yours actually sounds pretty good.” Adagio continued; sounding genuinely impressed. “There is just one problem-we can barely stand each other, how in the world are we going to put up with those girls too, especially that annoyingly energetic one?”


Aria hated to admit it, but Adagio had a point; one Sonata was painful enough to put up with, but two of them?


“We’ll just have to learn to tolerate them-and each other, until they begin to trust and the portal opens up again.” Aria replied, thoughtfully. “Besides, they’re stupid, remember? It shouldn’t take too long for them to gain our trust. We then explain that we are dying and need to return home to find a way to cure ourselves.”


“Instead of telling them we need to back to Equestria, we say that we are looking for a cure for our hunger…” Adagio mused.


“Why would we do that, silly?” Sonata asked. “If we go home, we could go back to making everyone do everything we want and get more powerful from it again!”


“We aren’t going to actually do it-we’re just going to lie to them so they think we are and let us go home.” Adagio explained, exasperatedly. “Aria’s right, you really are the worst…”


“Oh, yeah?” Sonata challenged. “Well, I think you’re-”


“Order up!” Mrs. Cake announced, reappearing with Sonata’s meal.


“Ooh! Cherry!” she replied, gleefully before grabbing it.


“Are you girls sure you don’t want anything?” Mrs. Cake pressed.


“I guess I’ll have a soda…” Aria replied; all of this planning and the strain from trying to sing without magic earlier were beginning to leave her throat dry.


Mrs. Cake then turned to Adagio.


“And what about you, dearie?” she asked.


“I’ll just have water…with crushed ice.” Adagio replied.


Fortunately, when they first came to this world they realized very quickly that they wouldn’t get far without money. That was why they taught themselves how to pickpocket. Aria was able to pick up Flash Sentry’s wallet, to find that the guy was completely loaded. Even with that car of his, she had just assumed it was a birthday present from his parents.


While it would have been preferable to try and get something from Silver Spoon or Diamond Tiara, it would have been too difficult to be worth the risk. Taking out his wallet, she pulled out his license to inspect it. Adagio noticed this.


“What’ve you got there?”


“Wallet I snagged from that guy, Flash.” Aria replied, nonchalantly. 


“Anything good?”


“A few hundred bucks and his license…also, it looks like there are a few love songs he wrote down.” 


“So he’s rich-or, at least his parents are…what are you doing now?”


“I’m looking for his home address,” Aria replied. “We could break in whenever we’re strapped for cash, instead of trying to get lucky waiting for random people on the street.”


She put the license and the wallet back in her pocket, once she saw Mrs. Cake returning with their beverages.


“Here ya go! Just let me know if you need anything else.”


They waited until she left again before continuing.


“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Adagio asked.


“Yeah, Filthy Rich had a security system.” Sonata added.


“Well, we can’t really mooch off him or those girls without them getting annoyed or suspicious…”


“Then, I guess it’s worth the risk…” Adagio sighed. “Hopefully, we can get this done before it comes to that, though…”


If this actually worked, it might have actually been bearable to continue working with Adagio and Sonata. If they could find a way to restore their amulets then, with the power they could gain from returning to Equestria all they would need is a source of chaotic energy to feed off of. And in their one-thousand year absence, it seemed like it would be pretty unlikely for anyone to recognize them until it was far too late.

> Study Session
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset was browsing one of the dozens of social media sites this world seemed to have, back when she was taking control of the school she had correctly assumed that it would help spike her popularity and make up for the social stigma of being the ‘new girl’.


She was in one of the school’s study rooms along with the rest of the girls-save for Fluttershy who was handing out fliers to support the pets at the shelter. Sunset’s level of intelligence easily rivaled Twilight’s in both magic and academics, even with her unsavory behavior the years before nobody could claim that she had bad grades. It was something that seemed to frustrate Vice Principal Luna as she saw her as a smart girl making bad decisions. Of course, that was before her rampage caused Luna to lose all faith in her.


One of the most jarring things she had noticed upon entering this world was despite many similarities, there were quite a few differences-in not just the world and the physical embodiments of its dominant species, but the how some personalities from their Equestrian counterparts. Princess Celestia was one such case, when she was younger and angrier Sunset had always believed that Celestia was trying to hold her back and use her somehow, but she loved to teach while always seeming warm and kind to everyone. While, Principal Celestia seemed apathetic, like she would rather be doing anything but deal with kids and at times even came across as passive-aggressive.


Glancing up over the phone she had ‘borrowed’ from the mall when she had first started her high school career she observed the other girls and the progress they were making. When Luna was frustrated over her social interactions with other students, she had suggested putting her intelligence to good use by tutoring other students and pointed out that she could get paid for her services, she seemed to have hoped that these interactions would help her become more empathetic. At the time, Sunset couldn’t have cared less and was only focused on claiming what she had believed to be her destiny, rather than waste time and energy on other, lesser individuals.


The rest of the girls on the other hand, each seemed to have their own issues in different fields-the only exception was Pinkie Pie, who seemed to be excelling in all of her classes for reasons no one seemed to be able to comprehend as she never really seemed to pay attention, nor had she ever been seen jotting down any notes. 


Yet, despite all of this, she still insisted on showing up to each session. Normally, Sunset wouldn’t have minded the extra help-if her special form of tutoring didn’t involve horrendous musical numbers that were meant to be inspirational. Now, Pinkie mostly sat around and waited for someone to ask for help before giving even more confusing answers to questions, the logic to which Sunset herself could barely follow. 


Rainbow Dash was staring intensely at the paper she was working on with a book open to her left, her tongue was hanging out of her mouth slightly and she was beginning to sweat. As Sunset glanced down at her primary colored wristband she noted that Dash’s hand was shaking slightly. The book was too far away for Sunset to be able to make out the text, but previous study sessions suggested that it was either one of the mathematics courses or the sciences.


Thanks to her pride and embarrassment, Dash would hate asking for help on these subjects when the other girls seemed to be able to handle them so easily-it made her feel stupid. So, she would always wait until everyone else left to quietly ask Sunset for help since she stayed at the school later than anyone else. Inwardly, Sunset sighed as this would likely be the case tonight as well-which meant she would lose time she could have spent sleeping in the storage closet going over with Dash what she could have during the session.


Applejack vigorously erased something with a grimace, which must have been some kind of math problem. When these sessions first started, in frustration, she had voiced her disdain for ‘fancy mathematics’, before Sunset asked her how they handled the finances of the farm. It was then revealed to her that Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were more gifted in that area.


Unfortunately, Applejack was too stubborn to ask for help and as her grade kept dropping, Sunset would keep offering assistance only to be angrily told off by her and claiming that she didn’t need anyone’s help. At first she had assumed that Applejack still hated her for everything up until the Fall Formal, but after speaking with the others-it turned out that she had always been like this. What further baffled Sunset was the fact that she kept showing up at study sessions, despite claiming she didn’t want or need any help.


Rarity was actually doing surprisingly well in everything except the physical activity class she had taken up because she had an aversion to becoming ‘sweaty’. In chemistry she was doing well in everything except the labs because she was worried about the chemicals spilling and ruining her clothes. Sunset suggested wearing clothes that she wasn’t particularly attached to if she was that worried about accidents like that happening and reminded her that there were showers if being covered in sweat for the rest of the day was that much of an issue as well as the fact that everyone else in the class was getting just as sweaty.


It was difficult to ascertain exactly where Fluttershy stood with her classes, given that her volunteer work for the animal shelter ensured that she was always late to these sessions. Whenever she showed up, there would be twenty minutes of the session remaining at the most. This was frustrating, given how little time was left for Sunset to figure out where she was at in whatever subject and that best way to help her.


On the social media site she was currently on, several students still made derogatory comments about her. Just because a few students came to accept her, didn’t mean they all had. As unrealistic as she knew that hope may have been, it was still irritating to deal with these people.  


There was a knock on the door as everyone looked towards the glass, Sunset sighed as she got up to open it. It was probably Fluttershy-fashionably late as usual. As she got close enough to make out the figures on the other side, her heart sped up as she felt that familiar sense of hatred burning in the pit of her stomach.


As she flung the door open, nearly hitting Fluttershy as she glared at the Dazzlings.


“What are you doing here?” she seethed. “And why would Luna and Celestia let you come back after all the trouble you caused?”


“Aw…what happened to the sweet, friendly Sunset who wanted to show us around the school?” Aria replied.


Sunset turned to Fluttershy, who was awkwardly standing to the side.


“Why did you bring them here? Did they threaten you?” she asked, grabbing her shoulders. “Did they hurt you?”


“Um, no….they…they just said they needed to talk to you about something important…”


Sunset glared back at the trio.



“Fine, get in and we’ll talk.”


The Dazzlings entered the study room as Sunset turned to follow them, she was stopped by Fluttershy.


“I-I’m sorry….they came up to me when I was handing out flyers for animal shelter and I wasn’t sure what to do…”


“Don’t worry about it, at least this way we can figure out what they’re up to before they have a chance to do too much damage.” Sunset sighed, gesturing for Fluttershy to follow her inside.


These three were the last people she wanted to see, all she needed to do was hear them out, pretend she cared about what they had to say, and throw them out-the authorities would be a waste of time, emotion-eating Sirens from another world would just sound insane and with the amulets shattered, it wasn’t like they had proof.


While, her relationship with Flash was originally just to use him as another tool for becoming popular-she had come to regret her actions and part of her was hoping he would be able to forgive her. However, the Dazzlings spell on the student body began to make her question if that was even a possibility. Given the affect on Trixie, Luna, and Celestia didn’t change her personality too drastically; it seemed safe to assume that Flash probably still held quite a grudge against her.


Given how successful they were last time cementing public opinion against her along with the Rainbooms-they weren't going to earn any sympathy from her.

> Negotiation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unsurprisingly, everyone jumped up from the table as soon as they saw the Dazzlings enter.


“What are they doing here!?” Dash demanded as she was about to charge towards them before being held back by Applejack.


“Now, hold on!” she grunted. “I want to hear what they have to say, though they’ve certainly got a lot of nerve coming back here after all they’ve done.”


“Well, that’s a funny reception coming from Sunset Shimmer’s friends.” Adagio smirked.


“Now girls, settle down-we just came here to talk.” Aria replied as she took a seat at the far end of the table with Adagio and Sonata taking Rainbow Dash and Applejack’s chairs to join her on either side.


The rest of the girls stood around the opposite end of the stable, grouped around Sunset’s chair as she sat down.



“What do you want?” she asked, irritably.


“Someone’s in a mood…” Aria commented. “Anyway, we realize that we didn’t really part on the best of terms, but we’ve come apologize and seek forgiveness for our misdeeds…”


“Wait a minute-I thought that one was the leader?” Sunset commented, jerking her thumb in Adagio’s direction.


Adagio looked like a deer caught in the headlights before Aria answered for her.


“Oh, she’s not very good at the whole ‘humility’ thing.”


This earned her a glare from Adagio. 


“Yeah, well you’re going to have to excuse us if we’re a little skeptical.” Sunset replied, crossing her arms. “You’ve been preying on the emotions and insecurities of everyone since you first came to this school and during that time you weren’t really known for your honesty.”


“Well, what could we possibly gain from causing such chaos now?” Aria challenged.


“Yeah,” Sonata added. “Our amulets shattered, so we can’t use them to stay young or feed on emotions anymore.”


“…Or sing, apparently.” Rarity muttered dryly.


“So?” Dash pressed, now relaxed enough that Applejack released her. “Everyone gets old, what’s the big deal?”


“The big deal is that we are over a thousand years old and without magic keeping us young, the years that should have affected our bodies in the past might catch up to us at an accelerated rate and kill us.” Aria explained.


“Okay,” Sunset leaned back in her chair. “I see now; you either want to find a way back to Equestria or see if we know of a way to restore your powers-which is not going to happen after what you pulled.”


“You mean that lever?” Sonata asked. “Because that was Trixie and her band, not us!”


Ignoring her, Aria continued.


“We’re not asking for you to restore our powers-we just don’t want to die, surely you won’t be able to stand by as someone’s life slowly drains away…”


“Watch us.”



Aria slammed her hand on the table as she stood up in outrage.


“You can’t be serious! Are you really saying you’d rather just let us die than even give us a chance at redeeming ourselves!?”


“Maybe she’s still just as much of a monster as she was when she destroyed the school...” Adagio commented, causing Sunset to grit her teeth.


“Yeah, that’s pretty mean.” Sonata added.


“I’m sorry, what was it that you said to me before?” Sunset asked, turning to her. “’Too bad, so sad’? Welcome to the world of being normal and magic-less, kind of sucks-doesn’t it?”


After they had taunted and humiliated her throughout the Musical Showcase, there was a great deal of satisfaction she was finding at the prospect of seeing them suffer so much, even more so when she could be the one to prevent them from returning to power.


“Um, Sunset?” Fluttershy spoke up. “Maybe we should give them a chance…they might actually be telling the truth…” she caught the looks of disbelief the other girls were giving her and timidly back away into the corner.


“Or not….”


The other girls exchanged glances as Sunset thought about this; on the one hand, these girls had caused nothing, but trouble and sabotaged her attempts to redeem herself in the eyes of the student body at every turn. But, on the other hand, as horrible as they had been-in the off-chance that they were actually telling the truth, if they died as a result of her inaction, she may as well have killed them herself and as much contempt as she had for them, the last thing she needed was more guilt.


Even the old Sunset had a few qualms about such actions before she her mind had been completely consumed by dark magic after taking the crown. There was also the guilt that the other girls would have to go through if they decided to ignore the Dazzlings. What would Twilight do in this situation? 


“What makes you think we would even know to deal with your issue-or, even have the resources if we did?” Sunset challenged.


“You’re from Equestria,” Aria replied, sitting back down. “You already know far more about magic than anyone else in this world, besides you were able to bring Equestrian magic here before.”


“Yes, but that was due in large part to good timing-the gateway between worlds only opens every two and a half years-so, you’re in for a long wait.” Sunset countered, crossing her arms.


“That friend of yours...Skylight Sprinkle, or whatever her name was didn’t seem to be stopped by it.” Aria noted. “And since you were able to get her to help you before it shouldn’t be too much trouble to do it again, since she obviously found a way to bypass that time restraint.”


'Twilight…what would she do in this situation?'


“Alright, you called my bluff.” Sunset sighed. “If you guys are really serious about changing, then I guess I can give a chance.”


“You can’t be serious!” Dash shouted. “After everything they’ve done, you’re actually going to help them?”


"For realzies?" Sonata added, excitedly.


“Twilight and the rest of you girls gave me a second chance when I asked for it, it would be a little hypocritical of me to not even consider the possibility that they might be telling the truth.”


“And if they’re not?” Applejack pressed.


“We’ve beaten them once before and we can do it again.” Sunset replied, confidently.


“But, we had Twilight here to help us.” Rarity reminded her.


“I still think we can handle them without her, besides we can’t just keep calling her over her every time we run into a problem-she has a life and a job with family and friends of her own in Equestria.” 


“So we have a deal then?” Aria asked.


“We do,” Sunset replied. “If you can prove to us that you’re actually trying to reform.”


“Sounds easy enough…” Adagio muttered.


“But, how can we reform without magic?” Sonata asked, tilting her head and earning annoyed looks from Aria and Adagio.


“Reform, as in change your ways-prove to us that you’re not going to abuse your magic like you did before.” Sunset elaborated. “And we also need to know that you can live without turning everyone against each other, even I was able to do that without magic-so we'll be watching you.”


“But, then how are we going to-” she was cut off as Aria cupped her hands over Sonata’s mouth.


“Mmmgh! Mmmph! Mmmgph!”


“You don’t need to worry about us,” Adagio assured them as the Dazzlings stood open and began walking out of the room with Aria keeping her hands cupped over Sonata’s mouth. “We can play nice, you just worry about finding a way to keep us alive and healthy-of course, we’ll need you girls to vouch for us if we’re going to come back to this school.”


“Aw….I wanted to hear what she had to say!” lamented Pinkie.


“I still say this is a bad idea,” Dash insisted, heading back to her seat. “I don’t trust those three and I don’t think anyone else here should either.”


“I think we all agree with you on the first part,” Applejack conceded. “But, as Sunset said; if we didn’t give her another chance, where would we be after the Dazzlings first showed up?”


“We certainly wouldn’t have had the power we needed to stop them.” Rarity agreed before turning to Sunset. “If they are being honest and have changed there ways with kind of power they had before, then they could be of great assistance if another threat shows up from your world-which, unfortunately seeming to become a more common occurrence as of late... ” 


“And we could throw a ‘You’re not evil Siren anymore, so now we can all be friends!’ party!” Pinkie added, excitedly.


“Fluttershy?” Sunset prompted. “Do you really think they can be reformed?”


“I…I think there’s a chance if we just show them a little kindness…” 


“You mean like Sunset did when she first lead them around the school?” Applejack noted, dryly.


“Look, we’re not instantly going to give them whatever answers we find as soon as we find them-we’re not stupid.” Sunset elaborated. “We need to observe them to make sure they’re putting forth some actual effort as proof that they are trying to change for the better, otherwise it’s just going to be the Musical Showcase all over again.”


She stood up, intending to get a book from her locker.


“Now, I knew a lot about magic, but unfortunately I don’t have the knowledge or resources I would like to properly research Equestrian Sirens-I don’t think it will be too much of an imposition to request some reading material of Twilight and getting her to send it over, so we can figure out a solution to their problem.”


“Uh, what if they find out you have a book that could solve it for them and try to steal it from you?” Dash challenged, draping her arm over the back of her chair.


“That won’t be a problem because I’ll be keeping the book safe in my locker, when it’s not in my sight.” Sunset replied before looking around the room at the other girls. “Now with that said, this is a team effort and while we’re keeping an eye on the Dazzlings, we need to be constructive to their efforts, and judge them for their actions now, instead of tearing them done for what they’ve done in the past.”


'Now, the only issue other major issue is going to be trying to convince Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna of this plan...'
> A Perfect Day for Fun
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“What did you think you were doing?” Aria demanded, removing her hands from Sonata’s mouth. “You almost blew our cover!”


“But, they said-”


“We know, what they said.” Adagio replied exasperatedly, massaging her temples. “And we are going to play along until we got our powers back, then after we find out how to get back to Equestria we can get our revenge and things can go back to the way they were before.” 


“Unless you screw it up.” Aria added, crossing her arms.


“How was I supposed to know?” Sonata pouted. “You didn’t tell me that when we were in there!”


“We didn’t tell you because it was supposed to be obvious.” Aria growled. “We talked about this, remember? It was after our humiliating defeat at the end of the Showcase? Last night?”


“Well, it’s not my fault!” Sonata groaned, clutching her stomach. “We haven’t eaten all day and I’m so hungry…I can’t concentrate on all this stuff.”


“Yes, I know you’re hungry.” Aria sighed. “We’re all hungry-that’s the whole reason we’re doing this in the first place.”


“You mean aside from getting revenge on the Rainbooms?” Adagio added. “Besides, I think she means actual food…I’m getting kind of hungry myself…”


The trio then began walking down the hall.


“I’m so hungry…I wanted to eat Sunset’s hair!” Sonata groaned. “I couldn’t stop looking at it…it looks so juicy and delicious…”


“Yeah, it looks like bacon.” Aria laughed. 


“Really?” Adagio pressed as they rounded a corner moving towards the exit. “I was thinking it used to be different color entirely, but she dyed it with condiments to stand out more…”


They pushed through the double doors leading out to the front lawn.


“So, we still have a few hundred bucks from that Flash guy-where do you wanna eat?” Aria asked, as they stopped next to the horse statue.


“Ooh! Can we get some pizza?” Sonata begged. “There’s this new place that opened up with ball pits, arcade games, tickets, prizes, and singing animals!”


“’A Perfect Day for Fun’?” Aria frowned, crossing her arms. “Isn’t that place meant for little kids?”


“And their parents!” Sonata insisted.


“Well, I do hear that they have pretty good pizza…” Adagio mused. “Besides, we can certainly afford it-and it’s not like we have anything better to do until Sunset convinces Celestia to let us back into the student body.”


Aria leaned back against the base of the statue.


“Fine…” she sighed. “I guess we could have a little fun here in this world until they tell us where the portal home is…but, don’t say I didn’t warn you, Adagio.”



---




“Welcome to ‘A Perfect Day for Fun!’” A young man greeted the trio. He had slick black hair that looked as if someone had poured a bucket of water over his head and didn’t look as if he could have been more than a year or two out of high school. The violet strap around his neck had a photo id on the end that said his name was Chad. He was wearing the same uniform as most the staff that weren’t dressed up as one of the entertainment center’s several animal mascots; a black t-shirt with violet and white stripes trailing from the shirt’s v-neck down the sleeves.


“How may I help you girls?”


Sonata looked as if she were a child in a candy store as her eyes widened in wonder at her surroundings; large multicolor tube-like structures that could be explored, reaching up to the ceiling, animatronic animals singing on a stage before those dining on pizza, and arcade machines spitting out tickets to be exchanged for prizes.


Adagio held out her hand as Aria gave her the cash for the entry fee, she wasn’t going to be caught dead paying for entry to place like this.


“Yes,” Adagio replied, approaching him. “We would like an extra large pepperoni pizza and a few tokens for our friend here.”


“Uh, sure thing…is there any kids coming with you or…?” 


“No, it’s just us.” Adagio replied before leaning close to him and gesturing to Sonata with her thumb. “We’re mostly here for our friend, she’s…special.” 


“All right then, follow me…” he instructed as he began leading them to their table.


Adagio went first as Sonata followed close behind with Aria bringing up the rear before grimacing as she realized she was stuck to the floor and lifted her right leg to reveal gum stuck to the bottom of her boot.


“Alright, here you go.” Chad stopped before a table in the back corner. “Sorry, we don’t have anything closer to the stage.”


“Oh, that’s quite alright.” Adagio replied. “There are some things we would like to discuss and it would be better if weren’t in front of stage blasting music.”


“Well, in that case your pizza will be ready in a few minutes…would you like anything to drink?”


“Just a few glasses of ice water will be fine.” Adagio replied.


“Okay.” He nodded before taking off as Adagio and Aria sat down.


“Ooh! I want to sing with band!” Sonata exclaimed, looking up at the stage with the animatronic animals singing a prerecorded song.


“No,” Adagio replied. “You have to stay from the stage or you’ll get us kicked out, we can’t sing anymore, anyway.”


“We can still sing better than those stupid puppets.” Aria grumbled. “Besides, I thought you wanted to play in the arcade.”


Sonata gasped as the realization struck her; “That guy forgot to get our tokens!”


“Chill out,” Aria replied leaning back in her chair, crossing her arms and legs. “He’ll probably bring them back with our water and if he doesn’t-we’re not about to let him screw us out of our money.”


“And didn’t you also want to play in…whatever that is supposed to be.” Adagio added, gesturing up towards the large structure towering over them constructed from multi-colored play tubes of various shapes.


Sonata’s face lit up as soon as she was reminded of this fact.


“Okay, but you get me when the pizza’s ready?” she asked.


“You’re a big girl,” Aria replied, annoyed. “Come back here in fifteen minutes-it should be done by then, if you’re late then I guess you’ll just have to go hungry.”


This caused Sonata to frown; it was a lot harder having fun when they put her under a time limit like that. But, she knew from experience that Aria and Adagio meant it when they said they wouldn’t wait for her. She hadn’t either, in the few times she was in their shoes.


Kicking her boots off, Sonata rushed off towards to the plastic playground, eager to traverse the newly constructed tunnels and the mysterious they held.


“Well, that takes care of her for a while…” Adagio mused before turning back to face Aria. “I’m curious; what makes you think Celestia will allow us to return to the school as students again-we were able to avoid detection this time, but it’s not something I look forward to doing on a regular basis…and for that matter, what makes you so confident that Sunset Shimmer of all people can convince her?”


“Sunset Shimmer was a lot like us before we came to the school, remember?” Aria replied, irritably. “Even without our powers I can tell that a lot of the animosity the school’s had towards her has died down-no doubt thanks to her being the reason our plan failed, she could easily cite herself as an example of a reason for us to be given a second chance.”


“Need I remind you that Sunset Shimmer was more or less an outcast when we arrived, which was the very reason she offered to show us around in the first place?” Adagio placed her elbows on the table, interlacing her fingers as she leaned forward thoughtfully. “If she could influence Luna or Celestia in such a way-then why hadn’t she done so before?”


“Because she wanted to prove that she had turned over a new leaf, she had both the experience and the intelligence to play everyone in the past-unfortunately, she abandoned her strengths in an effort to show that she was being genuine.” Aria elaborated. “While everyone was already distrustful of her and making our manipulations easier-it wasn’t until she assisted the Rainblossoms…or whatever they called themselves and ruined your plan-that’s probably when they started believing her.”


It was difficult enough for Aria to stand this place with the horrific prerecorded singing of the onstage animatronics and the little brats running around screaming without Adagio trying question her every move.


“You do realize that if we screw this up, we most likely won’t get another chance?” Adagio pressed.


“Of course I do!” Aria snapped, slamming her hands down on the table as she stood up. “Do you think I’m an idiot like Sonata?”


“Aren’t you?”


Aria’s eye began to twitch.


“I actually understand what I’m doing and I’m well aware of the risks if we screw up-that’s why I’ve been thinking long and hard on this, which by the way-wouldn’t even be necessary if you idiots had just followed my lead in the first place!” 


“Aria, sit down-you’re causing a scene.” Adagio commanded calmly.


“That’s another thing; I can’t remember anyone ever making you the leader-yet, you’re always trying to take control and telling us what to do.” Aria continued.


“That’s what leaders do; they take charge of a given situation.”


“Yeah, and look where that’s got us!” Aria exclaimed, holding her arms out. “We’re still stuck in this crappy world with no voices, no magic, and no amulets, possibly dying, and forced to take votes on whether or not to go to some lame kiddy pizzeria while we’re stuck waiting for even the possibility of being able to return home after one thousand years.” 


“You got that off your chest?” 


“Yeah…” Aria sighed, returning to her seat.


Chad returned with three glasses of water and a plastic cup balanced on top of a steel tray.


“Alright ladies, I have your drinks and your tokens…and your pizza should be ready in just a bit.”


“Thanks,” Aria grumbled, taking one of the glasses.


“Hey, where’s that other girl?” 


“Oh, her?” Adagio replied apathetically. “She’s probably still playing around in that tube-thing.”


“Well, kind of just meant to be for children…” he continued nervously. “They aren’t really constructed for those with the size or weight of an adult…”


“Well, she’s in there.” Aria added just as apathetically.


Chad turned to leave with a worried look on his face.


“If she gets stuck, I’m leaving without here.” Aria informed Adagio.


“Agreed.”


Sonata returned to the table with her boots back on, seemingly even more excited than when she left.


“You guys, they have a slide here too!” she exclaimed before grabbing the plastic cup. “They remembered my tokens!”


“For fifty bucks they’d better.” Aria grumbled. “Now, why don’t you sit down-the loser we talked to when we came in said the pizza will be ready in a few minutes and the horrendous sound of your voice just reminded me how grating your whining is.”


“So, eat the pizza before you go do anything else.” Adagio added.


As Sonata sat down Chad returned with their pizza, which was still steaming.


“Pizza!” Sonata exclaimed. “You see? This place is the best place ever!”


“More like the worst place ever.” Aria grumbled. “No wonder you like it so much here.”


“What?” Sonata asked incredulously, appalled by Aria’s comment.


Chad placed the pizza before them and then looked uncomfortably between the three girls.


“Is everything alright?” he asked. “If it’s a service issue I can do better-it’s just that this is my first week on the job and-”


“It’s fine.” Adagio replied. “We’re just having a discussion.”


“Okay…” he replied uncertainly before returning to the front.


As soon he left, each of the girls grabbed a slice.


“You just think everything’s the worst because you hate fun.” Sonata growled at Aria before biting into her pizza.


“Yes, because when I think of fun the first things that pop into my head are crappy music, whiny kids, and being stuck with you two.” Aria replied, bitterly. “Did you know that guy called you fat when you were screwing around?”


“He did not!” Sonata insisted confidently.


“Did too,” Adagio agreed. “He said he was worried you were to fat to play in the tubes-he was afraid you’d get stuck.”


“Yeah, I could tell just by the look on his face that he was worried about you suing this place because of it, too.” Aria continued.


“You’re both liars!” Sonata exclaimed, clenching the remains of her pizza crust in her fist.


“Go ahead and ask him.” Adagio prompted.


“No! Every time we go out in public and I do something away from you two, you always do this to me!” Sonata replied adamantly. “I always go up to someone to ask about it and then it makes me look stupid!”


“Uh, that’s because you are stupid.” Aria replied. “As stupid as Adagio is flat-chested.”


This earned a glare from Adagio.


“You two just don’t know how to fun!” Sonata pressed. “All you ever do is complain and I bet neither of you have even given this place a chance.”


“Well, we’re here now, we’ve paid to get in, and we’re eating the food here.” Adagio retorted.


“But, you haven’t tried any of the other stuff!” Sonata pressed. 


“We don’t want to go play in that stupid jungle gym-or whatever that thing is.” Aria replied, exasperatedly.


“There’s an arcade here!” Sonata reminded her, picking up the plastic cup and shaking it, causing the tokens inside to jingle. “And you can win tickets from it to get prizes with!”


“Yeah, you would-wait, what kind of prizes?”


“All kinds of stuff!” 


“Thanks for being so specific.” Adagio deadpanned.



---


Aria followed Sonata to the arcade while Adagio had stayed behind.


“You really think there’s something here that’s gonna impress me, huh?” Aria asked, as they passed by kids playing on other machines. 


“Well, you won’t know unless you try…too bad Adagio doesn’t want to give it any of these games a shot…” Sonata frowned as they stopped before a machine with several holes and a small mallet attached to it with a cable. Above the machine was a sign with a cartoon mouse holding a wedge of cheese with stars swirling above its head as a mallet levitated above it. In big bold letters the sign read; ‘Hit-A-Mouse’. 


“Haven’t you figured it out, yet?”  Aria replied as Sonata inserted her tokens. “Adagio thinks she’s better than us-that’s why she thought she was supposed to be in charge all this time.”


Sonata struck a mouse.


“But, I thought she was?”


“No, she might have intimidated me a bit in the past…but, we’ve already lost too much for me to keep standing by while she tries to think of another ridiculous plan-especially when I know I can do things better and you’re…you.”


Three more mice popped up as Sonata hit them in quick succession.


“So? You’re in charge now…does that mean you think you’re better than us?”


“I’m going to try out one of those light gun games.” Aria commented, ignoring her as she walked towards a row of three machines that gave the choice of blasting dinosaurs, zombies, or aliens.


Sonata shrugged before returning her full attention to her game.


---


Adagio was sipping on her glass of water as Aria and Sonata returned with the latter carrying a large teddy bear.


“What is that?”


“His name is Sir Reginald Bear Esquire!” Sonata replied gleefully. “I traded the tickets I won for him!”


“My tickets too.” Aria reminded her. “I played a few games, but most of the prizes were pretty lame…”


“So, Sonata was wrong after all…what a shocker.” Adagio deadpanned, standing up.


“I wouldn’t say that…” Aria replied as they began walking out. “It did feel pretty good to blow off some steam.”


“That thing is huge, are you sure you can carry it all the way back to the hotel?” Adagio asked Sonata, there was no way she was going to be carrying that oversized thing if she got tired.


“Mm-hmm!” Sonata replied, cuddling the bear.  

> Reflection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunset opened her locker to grab the book Princess Celestia had given her, the insignia of her Cutie Mark on the cover a reminder of the old days-before the Dazzlings, before she turned into that…thing, and before she came to this world.


“Uh, hey…” Sunset looked up to see Flash Sentry approaching her.


Every time she was around him, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt, he actually did seem to pretty nice guy when she had first begun dating him-but unfortunately for him, that was the old Sunset Shimmer who only wanted to use him for his popularity and took great pleasure in publicly abusing him to assert her dominance over the rest of the school.


His hands were jammed into his pockets as her approached her awkwardly, a familiar sense of déjà vu washed over her as she was reminded of the first time he ever approached her, he had believed that she was genuinely a good person deep down and that it was the anxiety of being the new girl in school that was causing her to lash out.


'“Now that’s the bad girl we love to hate!”'


As much as those words had stung, she realized she had probably deserved that after all she had done to him, it made her wonder how much of that had been the Dazzlings’ influence and how much of it was how Flash really felt deep down. 


After all, Trixie was generally obnoxious and unpleasant before they showed up and those negative traits had only been amplified by their spell, Sunset also knew from experience how competitive Flash could be.


“Hey, Flash…is everything okay?” she asked.


“Well, I just got finished practicing with my band and….my wallet’s missing.” He sighed.


‘Wait, is he accusing me of something?’ 


“I think I might have dropped it…have you or any of the other girls seen it?” he asked. “Because I was finishing up a report in the study room yesterday.”


“I’m sorry, we haven’t…actually we’ve been dealing with something that kind of distracted from noticing anything like that.” Sunset replied.


“Oh, yeah?” he asked, leaning his back against the locker next to hers.


“Yeah, the Dazzlings came back.” 


“And what did they want?” Flash asked irritably.


“They claim that they’ve changed their ways and want to come back to the school.” Sunset sighed. “Not that I completely believe them, but it’s unlikely they could do too much too damage without their amulets, they’re just harmless teenage girls now.”


Flash looked at her skeptically; he knew better than anyone how much damage a ‘harmless teenage girl’ could cause.


“I’m not expecting you to trust them, but I want to you to know what’s going on…I’m nothing like the girl you dated.”


“I know, Sunset.” He sighed. “I just think we should be careful around them-they can still do a lot of damage just through word of mouth-this is high school, after all.”


“Do you think they could’ve taken your wallet?”


“I’m not trying to point fingers, but…” he put his hands in his jacket pockets. “I wouldn’t put it past them.”


Flash lowered his voice.


“There was actually a good chunk of cash in there-not to mention my driver’s license and my student ID, so it’s really important that I get it back.”


“I was wondering why your car wasn’t here this morning…did you walk all that way?” Sunset asked.


“Yeah…”


“Okay, I’ll see what I can do…” Sunset replied earnestly, it seemed like a good start to making amends for all of the emotional and psychological abuse she had put him through back when they were dating. In retrospect, she couldn’t believe that he had stayed with her for as long as he did.


“So…do you mind telling me what that is?” he asked, seeing the book. Whenever he used to ask her when he saw it in the past, she would tell him it was none of his business with a string of insults and very descriptive threats of excessive bodily harm should he have dared to go near it. But, now that she had turned over a new leaf it seemed safe to ask.


“Just a diary.” Sunset replied, nonchalantly. 


Which was half true, since she mostly kept it to herself for nostalgic reasons and to review the notes she had taken as well as a record of the correspondence she had with Celestia. She also technically wrote in it to tell someone about what significant events had happened in her life. Though, it still didn’t feel right still not being completely honest with Flash while trying to make up for her old behavior.


Flash leaned forward, lowering his voice.


“Do you really believe that those three have changed…or that they’re actually willing to?”


“I changed.” Sunset replied. “But, just between us? I don’t believe it, not for a second. Sure, there are those like me that can learn to be empathetic towards others, but there are people-and I use that term loosely in their case-that just seem to be born bad. No matter how much compassion they are shown, they will always choose to take advantage of others’ kindness.”


“Then…why?” he asked, taken aback.


“As I’ve told the girls, it would be pretty hypocritical of me not to be willing to give someone a chance when they say they want to make an attempt to turn their lives around…and part of me is actually hoping that I’m wrong, but don’t worry-I’ll be watching them very closely.”


Flash looked at her with an expression of concern.


“Sunset, if you need help with this-you know that you can come to me, right?”


She felt her heart stop for a moment before mentally berating herself. Of course, he wasn’t reaching out to her as anything more than a friend. But, if she asked for his help-would it even be a good idea to get him more involved?


Both she, and the Dazzlings had used him as a pawn in their mind games, so it made sense that he would want to get involved, but then how much information should she give him?


There was no telling how much damage she, Twilight, and the Dazzlings had cause to the balance of this world, just by coming over from Equestria. Logically, if there were doppelgangers of prominent figures like Celestia and Luna, there could easily be alternate versions of everyone else. Telling him about her method of communicating with Twilight, could easily make things much more complicated.


“Sunset?” Flash prompted, perturbed by her prolonged silence. “Are you alright?”


“Huh?” She snapped back to the real world at the sound of his voice. “Yeah, I’m fine-just thinking, sorry.”


“You know, I’m not going to pretend to understand how magic works…but, the way I acted during the Musical Showcase-as angry as I was at you-I would never act like that, it wasn’t me.” He stated, averting his gaze. “I mean it was me saying that stuff, but I wanted to apologize because…I’m not like that, I was just filled with so much hate for everyone else competing against my band and getting further than we did, and I wanted all of you to pay for taking something that I wanted so bad.”


“It wasn’t your fault,” Sunset reassured him. The Dazzlings twisted everyone’s emotions with their dark magic…even something that was supposed to be a friendly social event was turned into a brutal competition of cutthroat musicians. So, it’s cool. Besides, it’s not like I didn’t deserve any of it after….anyway, I’ve still got some more work to do.”


She held up the book for emphasis.


“Okay,” Flash replied turning to leave. “I guess I’ll see ya, then…and don’t forget what I said; if you guys need anything, I’ll try to help out.”


“Flash?”


“Yeah?”


“Thanks.”



---



Hey, Twilight-sorry to bother you, but the Dazzlings came back earlier today.


They’re claiming that they want to change their ways, but the girls and I are skeptical. 


Those three also claim that without their necklaces, they are not able to feed on the conflicts of others and without being able to, their age may catch up to them and that it could cause them to die.


Any information on Sirens over here is purely based on mythology and I have no idea if it applies to our sirens-I wouldn’t be troubling you with this if I didn’t have the resources-but, the girls and I agreed to keep an eye on them to see if they truly have changed before fulfilling our end of the agreement, they could still cause a lot of trouble without their magic, after all. 


Is it possible to simply cast a spell to allow them to continue living without returning their powers?



P.S.


A lot of the student body seems to have warmed up to me since I helped take care of those three, but there are a few that still seem to hate or fear me…which is natural, I guess-but, I’m still working hard on earning that trust-even if the feeling is mutual for some of them, I can’t in good conscience let the Dazzlings get a stranglehold on the school like that, again.



P.P.S.


Sorry, I was afraid to ask last time but…before you showed up I sent a message to Celestia asking for your help and she never responded to me…does she still hate me? I mean, I wouldn’t blame her-but, I actually really miss her and it would be nice to know how to send her a message-that is, if you think that’s a good idea…anyway, I’ll be dealing with school and trying to get a better read on the Dazzlings as I await your response. 

Thanks.



---



Sitting on the front lawn of the school, Sunset leaned back against the base of the statue as she looked up at the sky.


Forgiveness was something that she knew she would have to earn after the Fall Formal, deep down she wasn’t even sure if she deserved it. Perhaps she didn’t and Celestia realized that when she left? Why else wouldn’t she try to contact her through the book? Sure, she may have ignored it or lashed out, but to not even make an attempt?


Did she really hurt her that much? Or did she mean so little to her, that Celestia couldn’t be bothered? Looking at Twilight, it certainly didn’t seem like she wasted any time finding a replacement to be her protégé. Then again, maybe she was just looking at it the wrong way?


This world’s Celestia seemed quite callous in stark contrast to the one she knew, who was sometimes stoic, but had a great deal of warmth to her and genuinely cared about those around her, without it feeling forced for the sake of her position. Vice Principal Luna on the other hand, was a complete blank slate to her. 


It didn’t take a quantum physicist to piece together that the dreaded Mare in the Moon from legend back in Equestria was Princess Luna, but that was all she knew about her prior to going through the mirror.


Based on what she heard from Twilight, the Trixie in this world was much more of a jerk than the one back in Equestria who would boast a lot for stage presence and had a small stint using dark magic, but much like herself seem genuinely remorseful about her actions afterward.


If there was a Flash Sentry in Equestria, was he anything like the one here? Or was there another difference in his personality? 


She couldn’t help but wonder what Celestia would think of her if she knew everything she had done since coming to this world. It didn’t seem like Principal Celestia would be very proud or even all that impressed with one good deed, especially not when compared to Princess Twilight. But, given their differences, perhaps she did care and there was some other reason she didn’t write?


It sounded like she was willing to forgive Luna, but there seemed to be a lot of different factors contributing to that case; Luna was her baby sister, Celestia probably felt guilty for banishing her and being unable to prevent her turn, as well as the fact that Luna was also remorseful.  


Now that she had finished cleaning up the debris from demonic rampage and had more or less repaired most of the damage she had caused, if she was able to permanently stop or reform the Dazzlings, and Celestia was willing to forgive her-now that she had the means, it was beginning to feel like she could actually be morally justified in returning home after paying her penance and having all of this resolved.


Hopefully, if there was another Sunset Shimmer in this world, her life wouldn’t be associated with the physical damage she had caused and the negative reputation she had accumulated before that. 


That was when a horrific thought occurred to her; what if the other Sunset was a monster like her? What if she discovered dark magic and sought it out to achieve her own ends? What if she also discovered the portal and came to Equestria after learning about the abundance of it?


Sunset stood up as she prepared walk home, the girls were kind enough to rotate with allowing her to spend the night at their houses upon being horrified to learn that she more or less lived in the school, sleeping in a storage closet, using the showers to bathe at night, and stealing food from the cafeteria.


Tonight was Applejack’s turn to host, she and her family had been surprisingly hospitable, despite the insults the old Sunset would make towards their collective intelligence and was even more grateful knowing how prideful and stubborn Applejack could be.


It would be nice to relax before going through the headache of convincing Celestia and Luna to give the Dazzlings another chance to re-enroll, especially when she herself didn’t have much faith in their sincerity, but a promise was a promise-something that she took pride in as it helped differentiate the old Sunset from the new one.  


It was going be a long day…

> Enrollment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Despite entering the school early to avoid too much negative attention before meeting with Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, the other students still took notice of the Dazzlings as they leaned against a group of lockers.


While they seemed to have kept their distance for the most part, the dirty and worried expressions worn by those who noticed them made it very clear that they hadn’t forgotten the damage that they had caused at the Musical Showcase.


“Why do they keep staring at us?” Sonata asked, the negative attention from so many making her feel uneasy.


“Because they don’t trust us.” Adagio replied. “As soon as our necklaces shattered our spell wore off, remember? Besides, it hasn’t been too long since then, so I doubt they would just forget about us so easily, even if that were a common occurrence in this world.”


“I know that, I just don’t like it….” Sonata clarified before lowering her voice. “They aren’t going hurt us, are they?”


“If they try it won’t be here at the school.” Aria replied, apathetically as she leaned back against a locker, crossing her arms. “Some of them might be thinking about it, but I highly doubt any of them will actually have the guts to go through with it.”


“But, some of them still might?” Sonata asked anxiously.


Aria was about to respond when Sunset Shimmer approached them.


“Took you long enough.” Adagio commented. “Where were you anyway?”


“One of the benefits of having friends is that you can rely on them when things go south-like not having a place of your own to stay outside of school.” Sunset replied, leading them toward the Principal’s office. “Anyway, it will probably be best if I speak to Celestia and Luna first on your behalf.”


“Fine, whatever makes jumping through all of these hoops easier.” She sighed.

“So you’re taking advantage of their kindness.” Aria observed. “It looks like there’s still some of the old Sunset in you, after all.” 


“No, I’m not manipulating them.” Sunset replied, “They are all very well aware of my situation and have offered to help me out.”


“For nothing in return?” Adagio asked, visibly shocked.


“For realizes!?” Sonata pressed.


“Yes,” Sunset replied. “That’s what friends do-they help each other in times of need, I could have sworn I just told you that.”


“Well, we have a hard time buying it.” Aria elaborated. “Besides, if we knew how naïve you all were in the beginning, we wouldn’t have wasted so much energy causing chaos through our magic-we could have saved it until the very end-and probably beat you Rainblossoms.”

The uneasy looks the other students were giving her did nothing to increase her wavering confidence in this plan. Of course it would look suspicious, having the girl who formerly ruled the school with an iron fist and became a bloodthirsty demon leading the three girls who brainwashed and caused discord throughout the student body down the hall. But hopefully, she could get them to change their ways-though, as anticipated it didn’t seem like it would be very easy.


“I do hope you haven’t forgotten your end of the bargain?” Sunset asked, after listening to Aria’s comment.


“Just sayin’, in hindsight we could have done things so much better.” Came her response. “Of course, I don’t need to tell you that.”


This earned a giggle from Sonata as Sunset tried to control the anger that flared up inside her.


“That’s in the past.” She replied, trying to maintain her calm demeanor. “As will your actions, if you can prove to us that you’re sincere.”


“Speaking of your friends why aren’t they here with us?” Adagio pressed.


“They still have to go to class,” Sunset replied. “I’m the only one in our group who’s acing all of her classes-one of the benefits of being gifted with genius intellect.”


“Nice to see your ego’s recovered.” Aria muttered dryly.


“Just stating a fact.” Sunset shrugged.


“Wait, if you’re so smart-then why are you still here instead of college?” Sonata asked.


“Just because I’m doing well in my academic studies, doesn’t mean I don’t still have a lot to learn.” Sunset pointed out. “Before the Fall Formal, I knew how to socialize in the form of manipulation and intimidation, but forming genuine relationships was something I never thought possible or worth the effort. I believed that since I was faking sincerity, that everyone else was or were simply to incompetent to utilize such tactics to get ahead in the world.”


As they reached the Principal’s office, Sunset lightly rapped on the door.


“Come in.” Came the exasperated voice of Principal Celestia.


Sunset opened the door just enough to stick her head in the room to see Principle Celestia sitting at her desk with Vice Principal Luna standing next to it, both of them appeared to be drinking coffee and seemed to have been discussing something before her interruption. Sunset wasn’t sure what their reactions would be upon seeing the Dazzlings, but reasoned that they probably wouldn’t be the best if she just brought them into the office. It seemed like it would probably for the best to ease them into the idea before making the big reveal.


“Principal Celestia? Vice Principal Luna?” Sunset began nervously. “There’s something I need to talk to you about…if you’re not too busy, that is. But, it’s kind of important.”


“No, it’s fine…” Celestia sighed.


Sunset then opened the door wide enough to completely enter, but was careful enough to make sure the door obscured the view of the Dazzlings standing beyond the doorway before closing it completely and standing in the center of the office. Sunset noticed that Celestia hadn’t yet crossed the previous date off the calendar hanging on the wall behind her. She and Luna must have been in their conversation since they entered, it must have been pretty engaging if she was too focused on it to multitask as she usually did when speaking to students. Sunset couldn’t help, but feel a little guilty for interrupting and more than a little curious as to what they were discussing.”


“I…I’m sorry.” She apologized. “I’m actually a little nervous because I’ve found myself in quite an awkward position.”


The two administrators exchanged glances.


“Well, just take the time you need to collect your thoughts.” Luna replied.


“I’ve been trying to since yesterday, but I don’t think this is going to be any easier than right now…so, try to bear with me…a few girls approached me in the study room yesterday…they wanted me to convince you to let them enroll here.”


“So what’s the problem?” Celestia prompted, the irritation in her tone making it very clear that she believed this was a waste of her time.


“The issue is that these three have been students here before-quite recently in fact, however they were…disruptive during the extremely brief amount of time that they were enrolled here.”


“Disruptive?” Luna repeated.


“In what capacity?” Celestia pressed.


Sunset opened the door and gestured for the trio to enter the office, Celestia and Luna’s facial expressions upon seeing the Dazzlings before them once more were about what Sunset had been expecting, a mix between shock and anger.


“Sunset Shimmer, what is the meaning of this?” Celestia demanded. “Know that if this is intended to be some kind of prank, we are not amused.”


“Yeah, I kind of thought that would be your reaction…” Sunset muttered. “Well, I can see that you still remember the Dazzlings…as I said earlier, they approached my friends and I in the study room yesterday.”


“And they…what?” Luna asked. “Blackmailed you? Somehow made you suggestible to whatever form of hypnotic suggestion they specialize in?”


“That’s funny, if memory serves-when we came to you before with our concerns about the Dazzlings utilizing dark magic to control others, you claimed it was difficult to believe such things, despite previous experience.” Sunset retorted before seeing Celestia and Luna’s irritable expressions.


“My apologies,” she amended. “It’s just something I find interesting, in any case-I can assure you that my friends and I are completely lucid, they could not put us under their spell before and they certainly wouldn’t be able to now.”


“What makes you believe this is the case?” Luna pressed. “And how have they been able to convince you to vouch for them in this endeavor?”


“The bond Twilight Sparkle and her friends have was what protected them during…The Fall Formal-for the most part.” Sunset replied, not enjoying having to bring up the incident that seemed to have earned her Celestia’s permanent contempt, the reminder of which might ultimately prove counterproductive to this meeting. “For whatever reason it appeared that I was immune as well.”


“The reason I am here today is because when the Dazzlings approached us, they made the case that they are willing to make an effort to change their ways and are attempting to improve themselves by learning how to better interact with others.” Sunset continued. 


“And they believed you would be the ideal candidate to appeal to us on their behalf?” Celestia pressed, raising an eyebrow. “You, who caused so much chaos throughout all of your time at Canterlot High? Not to mention the property damage you caused at the Fall Formal, and sabotaging the Rainbooms-your alleged friends at the Musical Showcase. In fact, given these past actions and your questionable character, I would not be at all surprised if you had struck some sort of deal with these girls in a bid to regain whatever social status you had before the Fall Formal.”


Sunset felt anger rise up in her stomach, this was becoming just as frustrating as she feared-unlike her Celestia-this one was completely unreasonable, whenever she thought this about her mentor, she realized that she was being the unreasonable one in retrospect. Unfortunately, that assessment of this Celestia was not only completely accurate, but had held true with the Dazzlings, and now it was happening again.


“I believe you are being more than a little harsh.” Luna chastised her. “After all, they have not fully presented their case-it would not be fair to prematurely pass judgment on them-especially not while making such baseless accusations. The other girls in the band have since come forward and stated that her actions were merely a result of poor judgment, not a result of intentional sabotage.”


“I would say that these allegations are far from baseless, Luna.” Celestia retorted, folding her hands on her desk as she glared at Sunset. “Need I remind you of the damage she had caused towards school property on the night of the Fall Formal? Not only did she have a severe disregard for other students’ safety, but openly expressed malicious intent towards six others and attempted to assault them with deadly force. I would say that is legitimate cause for concern.”


“While I agree those actions were reprehensible, I would also like to point out that Sunset voluntarily chose to repair the property damage she had caused.” Luna reminded her.


“If only to avoid a legal sentence.” Celestia replied, curtly before directing her attention back to Sunset. “What happened at the Formal is something I take very seriously and since then, many students have come forward citing your poor moral standing and how you have made their lives a misery under our very noses. The resources required to give you the tools you needed to repair the property damage you cause during your rampage dipped into the school’s funds considerably.”


Aria faked a cough to remind Celestia that she and the other Dazzlings were still there.


“I haven’t forgotten about you three.” Celestia replied, never moving her gaze from Sunset. “Before we make a final decision, we need to assess how genuine Miss Shimmer is with her intentions, it has recently come to light that she is a very good actress when it comes to getting her way.”


“Yeah, I know I screwed up…” Sunset admitted. “And that’s why I stayed here to try and fix things, after that incident…I realized who I really was, and I didn’t like her…why do you think I offered to show the Dazzlings around in the first place?”


“So they could meet the façade before the other students could reveal your true nature to them beforehand.” Celestia countered. “These girls turned out to be a lot like you…perhaps they were even sweet girls once before you manipulated them to your cause.”


Sunset slapped a palm to her forehead in frustration.


“If I was with them in some kind of scheme, then why would I help out the Rainbooms against them throughout the Musical Showcase?” she pressed. “What sense would that make?”


“Chaos seldom makes sense, and you have shown that you are more than willing to cause it when the opportunity arises.” Celestia replied. “Perhaps you and these girls were in the same group, but had some sort of falling out.”


Realizing that the discussion would be getting them nowhere, Luna spoke up.


“I understand your concerns, but perhaps I could make a suggestion?”


“Very well,” Celestia sighed. “What is it?”


“Perhaps we could allow these girls to re-enroll, but they will be Sunset’s responsibility-since she seems to have enough in their reform to vouch for them.” Luna suggested. “That way, she will be penalized along with them for whatever severity the punishment of their infractions entail.”


“Including expulsion and legal action…” Celestia mused.


“If necessary.” Luna agreed. “What do say, Sunset? Do these sound like acceptable terms?”


“I….” Sunset began.


These terms didn’t sound fair at all, given the situation at hand. She didn’t even trust the Dazzlings to behave and now she would be punished along with them? As unfair as it was, she did have a deal with them standing and she couldn’t very well keep up her end of the bargain or keep an eye on them if they weren’t at the school.


“Yes…thank you.” She conceded, oblivious to the smirks the Dazzlings wore behind her.


“What are your names again?” Celestia asked the Dazzlings, pulling out a notepad and uncapping a pen.


“Adagio Dazzle.” Adagio re-introduced herself, confidently.


“Aria Blaze.” Aria followed suit as their eyes trailed over to Sonata, who was bouncing on her feet, humming to herself.


Aria nudged her.


“Hm?” Sonata looked around at everyone in the office staring at her. “Oh.”


“Sonata Dusk.” She introduced herself, giving a curtsey.


“Now it’s coming back to me.” Luna muttered.


Sunset wondered why Celestia and Luna were having trouble remembering the Dazzlings’ names. It could have been a side-effect of the spell wearing off. Their judgment seemed off when she and the Rainbooms first came to them for help-even by the standards she had come to expect from them, but could their memories have been affected as well?


“We still need time to put together a curriculum for you three and notify the teachers in question that they will be having three new students as well as explaining the situation to them.” Luna concluded, leading the girls out of the office with Celestia getting up from her desk and following closely behind. “If you have any further questions or concerns-our door is always open.”


Sunset turned around to thank her before Celestia slammed the door in her face.


Real friendly lady.” Aria deadpanned.


“Are you sure you didn’t prefer her under our spell?” Adagio added.


“She treated me the same way, regardless.” Sunset grudgingly reminded them. “And while we’re on the subject of others’ perceptions….yesterday, Flash came up to me and told me his wallet was missing. You three wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”


The Dazzlings exchanged glances.


“Nope.” Aria replied.


“Are you sure?” Sunset pressed, narrowing her gaze. “If you did, the consequences would be less severe if you admitted to it now, rather than us finding out later.”


“We already told you, we don’t have the stupid wallet.” Aria growled, crossing her arms. “Why do you keep grilling us?”


“Yeah, that’s like calling us liars.” Sonata pointed out.


“We’re trying to chance.” Adagio reasoned. “Perhaps into something the opposite of our nature, but we’re not stupid. Obviously theft and lying would be counterproductive to that end. Especially since those were things we had done in our old lives.”


“Fine.” Sunset sighed. “I’ll give you the benefit of a doubt this time, but if I do find out you were behind it somehow, I won’t believe anything you say in the future without proof. There is one other thing, though…that spell you cast on the school-is memory loss a typical side-effect of it wearing off?”


“No idea,” Aria replied nonchalantly. “Those we held under our power in Equestria were like that for generations before we were banished to this pitiful world by that old, bearded wizard.”


“Santa!?” Sonata asked hopefully as her eyes lit up.


“No, Starswirl.” Sunsest corrected. “I wonder if her knew this world was also inhabited by sentient beings or just didn’t care as long as you weren’t causing problems in Equestria…”


“In either case, the humans we’ve affected here we’ve only been able to use to generate small meals of chaos.” Adagio added. “Usually on buses, restaurants-places where there’s lots of people, but you don’t typically stick around them long enough to keep tabs on them-so we wouldn’t know. It’s helped us avoid suspicion for centuries.”


Sunset sighed, that meant there was something else she would need to ask Twilight to research for her.


The bell rang as the halls flooded with students as the trio followed Sunset down the hallway to her locker as she prepared for her next class.


---


“That wasn’t very professional.” Luna chastised her sister. “I am aware that Sunset Shimmer’s behavior has been less than sterling in the past, but how do you expect her to improve herself if we keep cutting her down every time she tries to build herself back up in a positive manner?”


“Sunset has deceived us far too many time in the past for me to be able to take her word at face value, anymore.” Celestia replied, sitting back down. “Even if what happened at Musical Showcase occurred the way she and her friends claim, one good deed is not enough to make up for her entire time her spent lying and rule-breaking.”


“And yet, here I am.” Luna retorted, crossing her arms. “If you truly believed what you are saying-then why have you not only given me a second chance, but assisted me gaining this position?”


“You were young.” Celestia sighed, leaning back in her chair.


“So is Sunset.”


“That’s debatable, we know very little about the world she comes from, how it works, or even if she’s the age she claims and appears to be, or if it’s another one of her tricks.” Celestia countered. “To date, there has only been a single representative of this otherworld who I have seen-one positive example out of five students-that’s statistically disappointing to say the least. I sometimes wonder what kind of nightmare world it must be…”


“Based on what I’ve heard, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer seemed quite fond of it with the way they spoke.” Luna pointed out. “Perhaps, it is a good world…or at the very least has the same balance between good and bad as this one and only the truly evil are sent here as punishment?”


“That’s even worse.” Celestia replied. “Does that mean that they look down on us to the point that they send all of their trash here? Sunset Shimmer….The Dazzlings, they’ve caused nothing but trouble since their arrival.”


“What about Twilight Sparkle?” Luna pressed. “You seemed to be quite fond of her and she brought this whole school together during a time the students couldn’t be further apart.”


“That’s different,” Celestia grunted, indignantly. “She was here by choice and only because Sunset Shimmer somehow found a way back to steal something from her world and left as soon as she retrieved it.”


“All I am saying, is that I believe it is hypocritical of you to give me a second chance and yet, deny the opportunity to Sunset when the majority of the school has warmed up to her-a large number of which used to be bullied by her…why would they do that if she hadn’t truly changed?”


“Stockholm Syndrome?” Celestia suggested. “She could also be bribing or blackmailing them behind the scenes for good publicity, now that Twilight is no longer around to stand up to her.”


“Well, I believe the Sunset is sincere.” Luna pressed. “I see a lot of myself in her, she has exhibited a lot of negative behavior in the past, but has seen the error of her ways and is seeking to make amends for them.”


“She has also proven to easily be able to pull the wool over your eyes.” Celestia replied nonchalantly, as she began typing on her computer. “Or was it someone else that was easily fooled by a sloppy photoshop framing another student for destructive behavior before the Fall Formal.”


Luna glared at her.


“Now, if you’ll excuse me-I have to get ready inform our staff about the new students. One of us has to maintain order in this school. As much trouble as they might have caused, at least the Dazzlings haven’t tried to burn any other students alive…”


Luna was about to retort, but decided it would be a waste of time before storming out of the office, wondering if the other world’s Celestia was this unreasonable.

> Lesson One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, where have you been sleeping all this time, anyway?” Sunset asked, as she took the book out from her locker along with her physics textbook.


“We’ve been staying at a hotel since you and the Rainblossoms upstaged us.” Aria replied, coolly.


“Rainbooms,” Sunset corrected, causing Aria to roll her eyes apathetically.


“What’s that?” Sonata asked, pointing to Sunset’s book.


“Oh, this?” Sunset asked. “It’s just a book I carry around with me to take notes on important things…for classes.”


“And unimportant, so shut up and let us finish our conversation.” Adagio berated her.


“How do you three have money to stay at a hotel for so long?” Sunset asked, suspiciously. “I mean, no offense, but I thought if anything, you’d all be stuck in some rundown, probably roach-infested motel.”


“Well, we would be if it weren’t for the fact that we do some odd jobs around town and they give us the money we need.” Aria lied.


“And they pay you enough for food, too?” Sunset pressed. “What kind of ‘odd jobs’ give out that kind of salary?


Sonata and Adagio looked to Aria as she tried to think of a convincing lie that Sunset couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to check up on. Fortunately, she didn’t have to as the warning bell rang. All around them were students rushing past them, trying to make it to their classes.


“To be continued.” Sunset commented before gesturing for the trio to follow her.


“Alright, so if you’re so smart, then why are you still a student here?” Aria asked, earning a suspicious glare from Sunset. “I mean, even if you’re still learning about social skills or whatever…why would the school let you stay here?”


“Well, being smarter than most of the students here reflects positively on the school and the teaching ability of the staff, plus I’ve been offering to tutor other students who have trouble in certain subjects-which of course, subsequently improves their test scores.”


“Which helps explain why Luna and Celestia have allowed you to remain a student here, despite the latter’s obvious contempt for you.” Adagio concluded.


They entered the physics classroom, which was now filled with students sitting at long black tables. On matching counters around the edges of the room were a series of beakers and test tubes. The whiteboard at the front of the room held the scientific definition of Gravity Force along with its equation.


The teacher, a man with grey skin and light grey hair, wearing a green-yellow sweater vest with dark green patches on the elbows and white undershirt with a black necktie tucked into a pair of brown pants leading down to a pair light brown shows was standing at the front of the room. He adjusted his black, horn rimmed glasses as his blue eyes examined the trio of girls following Sunset. They looked vaguely familiar, but he was fairly certain that they weren’t any students of his.


“Hey, Bill.” Sunset greeted, grinning sheepishly. “These three are going to be auditing the class while Principal Celestia fills out the paperwork for them to be re-enrolled here.”


“Re-enrolled?”


“They were students here temporarily a while ago…the Musical Showcase and the resulting Battle of the Bands? That was them.” Sunset elaborated, gesturing to the Dazzlings behind her with a thumb.


“And your names are?” he asked.


Sunset stood back silently as they introduced themselves once more, it actually was a little helpful. The first time she had clashed with them, she only knew their band’s name. Now, she would be able to identify them more accurately than she was able to previously identify them as internally; the angry one, the stupid one, and the leader-former leader she corrected herself. Fortunately, she wouldn’t have to worry about that being a point of tension later, going through this roll call all day would probably hammer their identities into her head.


“Those are beautiful names.” He commented before turning back to Sunset. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but you do realize that I will have to speak with Celestia later to verify this?”


“I am aware.” She replied, cursing at herself internally for forgetting to ask her for a slip so the other faculty members wouldn’t think she was pulling something.


With that, he gestured for Sunset and the Dazzlings to take a seat. As they walked, she gauged the reactions of the other students, some of whom had their mouths agape and others simply glared at the girls, while more than a few eyed Sunset herself, suspiciously. They found a table that was mostly empty before sitting down. As Bill began his lecture, Sunset took out her physics textbook when she caught Aria looking at her with a cocked eyebrow.


“What?”


“Bill?” She prompted.


“Yeah, he’s pretty laid back-he knows how to explain scientific theories and methods while connecting with students and he doesn’t really like the formality aspect of teaching.” Sunset lowered her voice, still finding it odd that the inhabitants of this world kept Equestrian names like Neigh. “I think it makes him feel old, besides he’s more enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge with others than enforcing the rules-“


She was cut off as there was the sound of something vibrating, causing all heads in the classroom to turn back to her direction. Sunset’s first instinct was to keep the book hidden from the Dazzlings, fortunately she had kept it under her physics book when she sat down. Unfortunately, the book was also eerily glowing with a light brilliant opal magical aura. Regretting the fact that Celestia channeled it to her own magical aura when demonstrating how it worked, she tried to keep it covered with her arms as Bill approached her.


‘Seriously, Twilight? Now!?’


“Uh-oh,” Sonata commented in an enthusiastic tone. “Someone’s in trouble!”


Bill stood in front of Sunset before extending his hand with his palm opened up as she looked up at him.


“Sorry, Sunset.” He sighed. “But, if I don’t crack down this trimester, Celestia and Luna will make my life difficult-especially since this can be considered a distraction for the other students. You know how parents can get during conferences when their kids are underperforming. Please give me your phone.”


Sunset hesitated as the vibrating continued. The light from the glow was barely visible thanks to the small cavern she had made on the table with her arms encircling the book, only for the light to be caught by the inner creases on leather from her jacket. But, the entire classroom was staring at them. Even worse still, were the Dazzlings sitting right beside her, if she removed just one of her arms to take the actual phone out of her jacket, then they would certainly see that there was something magical about the book.


“Sunset, I don’t like enforcing this rule any more than you, but it is a distraction-so I need you to hand over your phone.”


Adagio and Aria sat back in their chairs, watching smugly.


“Why won’t she just give him the phone?” Adagio whispered.


“Don’t know, maybe it’s a control thing?” Aria replied, glancing slyly back at Adagio and earning a glare from her.


Sunset let out a deep sigh before slowly moving away from the book and internally sighed with relief at seeing the glow finally begin to fade. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out her cellphone and placed it in Bill’s hand. He then returned to his desk at the front of the room to place it in one of the drawers. 


“Thank you, you’ll be getting this back at the end of glass.”


‘Hopefully, Twilight won’t feel the need to contact me again before then…’ 

> The Face of Evil
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luckily, Twilight apparently didn’t feel it was necessary to contact Sunset again, since the book had been idle for the remainder of the class. Picking it up, Sunset realized that it would probably be safer to keep it in her locker as long as the Dazzlings were following her around, she’d have to check to see what Twilight had written and respond when she had some time alone. Now that her cellphone was gone, there wasn’t really much else that the book could be mistaken for if it went off again.


Exiting the classroom, the Dazzlings followed closely behind her once more. Under any other circumstance, this might have been a problem, but since she needed to return to her locker to get another textbook anyway it probably wouldn’t raise much suspicion from them. Plus, she still needed that note from Celestia for those teacher who were still suspicious of her.


“So, what’s next, teach?” Aria asked.


“She’s not a teacher, silly!” Sonata replied, causing her to roll her eyes in exasperation.


“She means, what’s the next class?” Adagio explained.


“Algebra, which is why I need to go back to my locker to get another textbook.” Sunset replied.


The Dazzlings followed Sunset to her locker and as she turned the dial to each number of the combination the trio stood around her, watching silently.


Sunset then pulled the door open to reveal a piece of lined paper taped up on the inside of the door. On it was the design of a blue shield with a speaker in the center and a lightning bolt on either side, with several multicolored wires beneath it and four different colored stage lights above it. The image appeared to have been created with colored pencil.


“What’s that?” Sonata asked, pointing to the paper.


“It looks like that one lame band that lost near the end of the Musical Showcase.” Aria commented.


“Still better than your singing.” Sunset muttered under her breath. “Actually, it was the design I was helping Flash come up with for his band back when we were going out.”


“Oh, and that was before he dumped you for that other girl, right?” Adagio asked.


“Before Twilight showed up, actually.” Sunset growled, bitterly. “And that was mostly because of my attitude at the time-originally, I only dated him because he was the most popular guy in school and I knew I could use that to my advantage.”


“Only to get dumped by him, instead.” Adagio chuckled. “Still, you have to admit, it’s kind of ironic to be tossed aside like that after treating so many others the same way.”


“Yeah…”Sunset sighed.


“And yet, the other girl seemed to be almost exactly like you in every way, except personality-what do they say about karma, again?”


“I don’t know you tell me.” Sunset replied coolly, causing a brief flash of rage to appear across Adagio’s face before Aria place a hand on her shoulder and cut in between the two.


“You’re going to have to excuse her, we didn’t have breakfast this morning.” 


“Oh, is that all?” Sunset replied skeptically before placing both books in her locker and taking out the algebra textbook.


“Why are you putting the other book away?” Aria asked.


“Huh?”


“I thought you said earlier that you liked to take it with you for notes and stuff?”


“Well, yeah-but, I think I’ve got the rest of my classes pretty much covered.” Sunset replied, which was technically half true.


“Yeah, but in class you didn’t write in it at all.” Sonata pointed out.


“For once, she’s right.” Aria agreed.


“Well, I already knew about what we were going over today and have it more or less memorized, so I didn’t feel the need to write any of it down.


“Oh, yeah?” Aria challenged, crossing her arms. “Prove it.”


“Gravity Force also known as Weight is the force with which the Earth, Moon, or other massively large object attracts another object towards itself. By definition, it is the weight of the object. All objects upon the Earth experience a force of gravity that is directed by what we perceive as “downward” towards the center of the Earth.” She recited, annoyed. “Now are you satisfied, or shall I recite the equation for it as well?”


The Dazzlings all stood around her, mouths agape at the detail in which she was able to memorize the lecture.


“Lucky guess.” Aria grunted.


“How do you remember all of that?” Sonata asked, impressed.


“Please, I passed my first course of Advanced Magical Theory when I was seven and that was after I had to beg Celestia to let me take it because she was worried it would be too overwhelming for someone so young.” Sunset replied. “Speaking of, I need to stop by Principal Celestia’s office again to get a slip verifying our situation to the other teachers.”


---


“Why don’t you three wait out here?” Sunset suggested before entering Celestia’s office.


To her surprise, the Dazzlings complied without protest.


Celestia was filling out some paperwork on her desk before she looked up disdainfully at Sunset.


“Hey, I know that earlier emotions were running pretty high and I think that’s probably why we both forgot about some kind of slip telling the teachers of my classes what’s going on with the Dazzlings.” Sunset began, awkwardly massaging the back of her neck.


“I didn’t forget.” Celestia replied, coldly.


“Well, I kind of need it for the Dazzlings’ reformation.” Sunset continued. “Some of the faculty members still don’t trust me enough to take my words on things most of the time.”


“And this surprises you?”


“Not really,” Sunset sighed, looking down at the maroon carpet. “And I know that I was pretty terrible in the past…but, I’ve been trying to make up for it ever since the night of the Fall Formal.”


Celestia merely looked at her skeptically.


“And you are doing quite poorly, I might add. Sure, you may be doing small good deeds, but rescuing animals from trees and helping old ladies across the street isn’t enough to make up for attempted murder.” Celestia retorted. “Just how many lives have you actually tried to save to make up for the damage you not only caused, but the lives you nearly took?”


“Well, I think saving you, Luna, and the entire school from being brainwashed and possibly killed by the Dazzlings at the Musical Showcase may have been a good start!” Sunset replied, angrily. “Again, I came to you and Luna to ask for help, telling we thought they were using dark magic, but you didn’t believe me or my friends because you were brainwashed and thought we just wanted them kicked out of the contest for our own glory! And what did you do leading up to the Fall Formal?”


“I could only do what you made me, you brainwashed Luna and I along with the student body, if footage from students’ cellular phones are to be believed.” Celestia replied.


“I’m talking about before that, I’d been causing problems for the other students here for years.” She elaborated. “What did you do when Twilight Sparkle first came to this school? Did you try to help her in any way?”


“I let her know that my door was always open.” 


“Uh-huh, which is code for ‘get out, I’m busy’.” Sunset sighed. “After all of the hate and passive-aggressiveness I’ve gone through and the public humiliation I’ve suffered since the Fall Formal, if I had any malicious intent towards you or the other students here-don’t you think I would have carried out any plans I did have by now?”


Celestia sat at her desk silently.


“Besides, I have friends now-real friends, not some sham relationships for good publicity, like I had with Flash. When I saw our friendships being torn apart by infighting thanks to the Dazzlings-it actually hurt me and I hated it. I saw what it was like firsthand to go through what I had been doing to others for years and I hated no being able to do anything about it.” Sunset recalled, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. “So, I want to know why you hate me so much-others have hated me-and some still do, but nowhere near the extent that you seem to. So why?”


Celestia tilted to the side of her chair to make sure the blind on the inside window of her office door was pulled down behind Sunset before turning around and closing the blinds to the windows outside. Once she was certain that nobody could see into the office, she sat back down in her chair. Sunset looked at her uneasily.


“What I am about to tell you does not leave this office, do you understand?”


Sunset nodded, shakily.


“While it is true that your transformation and subsequent rampage at the Fall Formal has made me distrustful of you, there is another reason why I’ve been so hard on you….are you aware that Vice Principal Luna is my younger sister?” Celestia began.


“Yeah, she was in Equestria-in my world, I mean.”


“Well, when we were younger our parents would go on business trips a lot, leaving the two of us alone. I practically raised Luna and I was always kind to her-perhaps a little too kind. Whenever she did something wrong, I would politely ask her not to do it and never punish her-no matter how serious whatever she had done wrong was. Eventually, I was more focused on my education and getting ready for my career as an educator when Luna became restless, now that we were no longer as close as we used to be.”


“So what happened?” Sunset asked, shakily.


“At first I naturally assumed that she was merely misbehaving to get attention. However, her actions soon became much more malevolent. Luna had joined a gang, at first she was loud, obnoxious, and self-centered, but then she began stealing, hurting people-even other members of her gang. This went on until finally, they were terrified of her and soon she ended up in a jail cell, using her phone call to ask me to bail her out.”


“Did you?” Sunset asked, beginning to draw parallels to a certain Equestrian legend.


“Of course, we were family and just because I couldn’t focus as much time on her as we would have liked, didn’t mean that I stopped caring for her. On the phone, she was certain that one or all of the remaining members of the gang had set her up. With how out of control her behavior was, they very well might have...”


Celestia looked at Sunset sternly.


“There aren’t many things in this world that scare me, Sunset…but, that Luna-the one in the gang was not my sister. It’s hard to explain, but it was like she was another entity-something that took all of the negative attributes of her personality and amplified them. Sometimes she even looked monstrous…I know how crazy this would sound to most people, but Luna and I agree that whatever that thing was-it definitely wasn’t her.”


“So, she had what? Slits for pupils? Fangs?” Sunset prompted.


“I can’t tell if you’re mocking me, but yes.” Celestia replied. “But, she would only appear to be that way temporarily, it made me feel like I was losing my mind whenever I saw her like that for just a few seconds…that’s why I was terrified of going to see her, even if she was behind bars.”


“Was she like that….when you went to see her?”


“No, thankfully. In fact, it was the first time in years that I saw her as my baby sister again….perhaps being stuck in that cell made her realize that gravity of the situation. Or perhaps, it was because I was the only one in her life that was still there for her after everything else.”


“And you bailed her out?”


“I did, on the conditions that she got clean, went back to school and worked towards a positive career goal.”


“So she decided to become a Vice Principle?” Sunset pressed.


“Not at first, originally all she knew was that she wanted a career in education-which, lead to her following in my footsteps. Once she got clean and applied herself, she made excellent progress. It really helped securing her position here.”


“So, nepotism wasn’t a factor? I mean, with her history, wouldn’t that have created some skepticism about her qualifications?” 


“It did, indeed. And I had to vouch for her in order to get the job.”


“So…no offense, but what does this have to do with me?” Sunset asked.


“At the Fall Formal, the way you were acting and that creature you turned into was so much like that thing that seemed to have controlled Luna…I was worried that something similar would happen or that it would come back if I wasn’t harsh enough when it came to punishing you. Luna had told me that she thought I didn’t teach her about consequences because I didn’t care, but the opposite was true. And now it seems that I have made a mistake about going in the opposite direction with you-even after learning your lesson.” Celestia conceded.


“I’m not asking for your forgiveness, but I would like you to understand that before the Fall Formal, magic was nothing more than a concept her. It was nothing more than fantasy or sleights of hand during one of our students’ stage shows. I was worried about how to deal with something I still know very little about.”


“I do understand, you were worried that any inaction would lead to a similar situation.” Sunset replied, sympathetically as she took a step forward. “And I’m sorry for yelling earlier, but it’s very frustrating when you try your hardest to change and some of the people who matter the most aren’t even willing to give you the benefit of a doubt for your efforts. As for what happened to Luna, I can’t say for certain, but in our world there was something similar; she changed due to jealousy and her alter ego referred was referred to as ‘Nightmare Moon’.”


“Fitting name.” Celestia commented. “It feels good to be able to talk about this with someone besides Luna, and I would like to apologize for my poor treatment of you in the past. But, do you really think it’s wise to trust the Dazzlings? You seemed hesitant earlier.”


“I…don’t really think so, but it would be pretty hypocritical of me not to on the off-chance that they are telling the truth. Besides, they say that they’re dying without being able to feed on conflict and I’ve asked Twilight to look up whether that’s true and if there’s a way for them to feed without returning their powers or letting them hurt anyone.”


“I see…and how are you able to contact Twilight?”


“Through a magical book that you gave me….well, the other you in Equestria, back when I was her student.” Sunset explained. “You just write in it and the message will appear in the other book that it’s magically connected to.”


“Interesting, but I’m afraid I’ve kept you too long.” Celestia replied, looking up at the clock and realizing that Sunset’s class was half over by now. “Sorry, I keep forgetting it’s difficult to hear the bell in here, I’ll write you that note you asked for.”


“And the Dazzlings?” Sunset pressed.


“I will speak with Luna and inform her that I have changed my mind about punishing you along with them, but I don’t want you to take this as a free pass for causing mayhem.” She warned.


“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Sunset promised, taking the blue slip of paper and exiting back out into the hall.


“Took you long enough.” Aria grunted. “You know the bell already rung, like twenty minutes ago?”


“Sorry,” Sunset apologized. “I really didn’t expect it take that long. I’ve got the slip, so there shouldn’t be any more issues with the teachers.”


While it felt nice to finally be on the same page with Principal Celestia, the mysterious circumstances surrounding the events she described were disturbing. Perhaps, Celestia had been holding something back from her story, but as far as she knew-this world didn't have any magic aside from creatures and artifacts from Equestria. Was it possible that Vice Principal Luna somehow came in contact with a magical artifact and that triggered her transformation into this world's equivalent of Nightmare Moon? The potential ramifications didn't sound as dire as eternal night and the transformation sounded pretty short-lived, meaning whatever triggered it couldn't have been too powerful...


Maybe there was a way to keep the Dazzlings alive and healthy, without their need to feed on others, after all.