Student president Starlight Glimmer starts to cause problems for the student body of CHS when she starts to enforce an absurdly strict uniform rule.
Newly appointed student president Starlight Glimmer has the brilliant idea of wearing uniforms to make sure everyone is equal. And while it seems to suit her well, for everyone else it's a living nightmare.
Today was a normal day at Canterlot High. No evil she-demons, no jewel wearing sirens. Just a normal spring day at a normal high school.
This was something Sunset thanked every god she knew of for.
Granted, after some interesting recent events, there wasn't anything truly 'normal' about Canterlot High anymore. (Sunset herself was proof of that.) But she was finally glad after months of proving herself redeemed that she could sit back, relax, and have an uneventful lunch with her five friends.
That is, until the cafeteria doors burst open.
In walked a student in a black and white school uniform wearing a band with an equal sign on her arm, carrying a riding crop.
Sunset banged her head on the table.
So much for normal.
"Greetings, students of Canterlot High. I suppose you all are doing fine on this fine spring afternoon?" The girl asked, pacing across the cafeteria floor. The entire room had went deathly quiet when she had made her entrance, and all eyes were on her.
"Who in the hay is that?" Applejack whispered to Pinkie.
"Oh! That's Starlight Glimmer! She was elected student president last week!" Pinkie bubbled, reaching for the pudding cup on Dash's tray.
Rainbow mushed her in the face, effectively keeping the surgar crazed girl away from her lunch-time dessert. "We had a student election last week?"
"Uh...yeah. It was announced on the announcements like four times last Monday." Pinkie responded. "Don't you guys pay attention to anything that has to do with school at all?"
Applejack blinked. "Ah'm sorry darlin' ya lost me at 'school'."
"And anyway how could she have won? I've never seen her around here before," Dash pointed out, grunting as she continued to keep Pinkie at bay.
"Well considering how both you and Applejack had no clue about the elections, it would make sense that you have no idea about any other students outside our group," Rarity proposed, filing her nails.
"Okay...so who exactly is Starlight Glimmer?" Sunset asked. The name sounded like a combination of hers and Twilight's.
"She's a senior like us. She moved here from the city a while ago." Pinkie said, sighing in defeat when Rainbow coughed into her pudding cup. She was always persistent when it came to pudding and other various sweets, but once germs were involved, her determination fizzled out.
Starlight cleared her throat, bringing the attention of the humane six back to her. "As you all know, I was elected your student president last week. And as president, I promise to make this school equally as fun and comfortable for all." her eyes shifted around the room as other students murmured about what she had just said.
"What's with the riding crop?" Vinyl Scratch asked.
"Oh this?" Starlight asked, waving it around. "It's just for show. I assure you I won't be using it on anyone," For some reason she looked at Sunset and smiled. "Oh, you must be Sunset Shimmer. I've heard so much about you." she said, the smirk never leaving her face.
Sunset tried to look as emotionless as possible. "Uh...thanks?" she answered half heartedly.
"You tried to rise to the top with power, and didn't view yourself as an equal to your fellow classmates," Starlight continued. "What I'm about to do to this school will probably benefit you the most." she added ominously before walking back to the center of the cafeteria to address the entire student body again.
"Uh...is anyone else feeling like things are going to get really bad really fast?" Rainbow whispered behind her hand to the rest of the girls.
"You're telling me," Rarity agreed. "Something about her gives me chills, and not the good kind."
Pinkie gave her a confused look. "There are good chills?"
Rarity rested her hand on her chin. "Why, yes of course darling! Like when you finally take your bra off after a long day at school, or when you're home alone and finally sink into a warm relaxing bubble bath after ma-"
"Ahem!" Applejack coughed loudly, blushing. "Ah think we're getting a little off topic here," she added, jerking her head in the direction of Starlight.
"You're right, my apologies," Rarity said, flipping her hair.
Pinkie looked even more confused. "What? What was she going to say?!" She demanded, looking at everyone with her eyebrows turned down in curiosity.
"Er, anyone got anything to distract her with?" Applejack asked around.
At that moment each girl reached into her individual bag in search for some random item that would grab Pinkie's attention.
"I got a chewed up pen," Sunset said.
"I've got an empty pack of gum," Fluttershy offered.
"I've got a half eaten candy bar," Dash said.
"I have some needle and thread," Rarity added, then quickly shoved both items back into her bag. "On second thought, let's not give Pinkie a sharp object."
The others nodded in silent agreement.
Applejack pulled out an empty fizzy cider bottle and handed all the items to Pinkie. "Here, knock yourself out."
"Ooh goody! I can make something!" Pinkie squealed, taking the random pieces of junk.
"As I was saying, I want to make sure all of our students feel comfortable and happy here. No one left behind, and no one left out. We'll all spend our last year here equally." Starlight finished. "Any questions?"
Vinyl's hand went up. "Uh, yeah. Why do you keep talking about all of us being equal? I'd say we're pretty equal already," some students at her table and around her nodded and mumbled in agreement.
"That's a wonderful question. You see, that's why I ran for student president because instead of telling you all, I wanted to show you." Starlight responded.
Flash raised his hand. "Um, how?"
"With these," Starlight said, stepping aside with her arms outstretched.
The cafeteria doors opened again and in walked Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna sporting the same outfit she was.
Everyone in the cafeteria gasped when they saw the older women wearing the uniforms.
Principal Celestia cleared her throat. "As principal, I must say that what Starlight is doing is seriously something to be considered the mark of a leader, and you all should follow in her example."
"Is she high?!" Dash barked. "There's no way in hell I'm wearing that!"
"Ah'm agreeing with Dash here those things are more ugly than a black eye from getting kicked by a horse," Applejack said. Then back tracked. "No offense, Sunny."
"None taken." Sunset shrugged. "I'm a pony, not a horse."
"Aren't they the same thing?" Pinkie asked, chewing on the half eaten candy bar.
Sunset shook her head. "No, not entirely. You see actually-"
"Are you all done with the chit chat?!" Starlight barked, scaring the everything out of the girls sitting at the table.
"Y-Yes?" Fluttershy squeaked, hiding behind her hair.
"Good. Now to go off of what Principal Celestia was saying-"
"I'm sorry darling but I simply cannot wear such a horrendous outfit! I mean really! Black and white? In the middle of spring? Spring is the time for pastels and floral prints not dressing like monster hunting secret agents!" Rarity scoffed, flipping her hair. "Honestly! I'm all for equality but there simply has to be a less fashion killing way!"
Starlight stomped over to Rarity. "Your fashion sense should be equal to mine. There is no being different. From now one we are all the same. One entity! One school!" She shouted to the rest of the crowd.
The other students cheered, persuaded by her words. They mirrored her chant. "One entity! One school!"
Somewhere in the back Snowflake let out a loud, "YEAH!"
The humane six looked about themselves, sharing worried glances as the students crowded around their student president, chanting her name.
Pinkie let out a long, "Ooooh boy."
"This might be worse than The Dazzlings," Sunset murmured as she and the girls got lost in the crowd.
The next day was perhaps one of the weirdest days of Sunset's life. Not only was everyone in school wearing one of Starlight's uniforms, but they all seemed pretty happy about it.
"This...isn't right..." she said to herself, hugging her leather jacket closer to herself. A few students glanced her way but didn't say anything. Unlike her classmates, she hadn't given into Starlight's philosophy so easily, and had opted out of wearing the uniform given to her the previous day.
That proved to be a very bad mistake.
"Oh, look who it is!" Starlight said, stomping up to her with two other students dressed similarly to her flanking her on either side. "It's the intransigent delinquent Sunset Shimmer." she folded her arms. "I hope you brought your uniform with you because you're not getting into this school without it."
Sunset folded her own arms challengingly. "Oh yeah? And how exactly are you going to stop me? This is a public school. It's open to the public. And I just so happen to be apart of that public."
Starlight grit her teeth. "Fine. I can't stop you from entering the school but you do have detention for being insubordinate." She poked a finger into Sunset's chest. "You may think you can do whatever you want because you think you're such a bad girl, but you'll see just how equal we all can be!"
"Again with the equality. Honestly, I'd say we're not that equal considering how much you're acting like you run the place." Sunset sniped. She raised a brow. "You can also forget about me wearing that uniform. Not only is it tacky, it looks uncomfortable and it's completely impractical for the approaching warm weather."
Starlight's eye twitched. "Well. If that's how you feel, then you can explain that to Principal Celestia. From detention." She curtly handed Sunset a pink slip and then turned on her heel to leave.
Shrugging, Sunset went over to her locker to find Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack standing there waiting for her. It seemed they all hadn't had the shear will power she had, because they were all wearing those dreadful uniforms.
"She called my parents." Dash said dryly, trying to tug her black skirt down.
Sunset whistled. "Wow. Never have I ever been so glad that my folks are in another world." She turned to Applejack, and noticed something was strangely off about her. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but it made her uneasy nonetheless.
Then it hit her.
"Where's your hat?" she asked, pointing to the top of AJ's head, the brown cowboy hat that was usually perched there was absent.
"In my locker. Starlight said it set me apart from the other students too much," Applejack defiantly chewed on the toothpick in her mouth as she spoke. "An' told me Ah can't talk in my accent neither! Ah mean, how does someone lose an accent over night?!"
"The same way someone could suck the fun out of everything over night," Pinkie grunted, leaning up against the locker next to Sunset's. Her hair was flat and lifeless and her eyes were like daggers. She looked like she was ready to kill someone and bake them into a delicious treat.
"So let me get this straight," Sunset said, closing her locker and slinging her bag on her shoulder. "Wearing uniforms causes Pinkie to become emo? What would happen if she got an office job?" She held her hand out after a moment. "Actually, don't answer that, I already answered my own question."
"Sunset Shimmer would you please report to the Principal's Office."
Sunset's shoulders slumped. "Well, looks like I'm getting more than an afternoon of detention." She sighed. "I'll see you guys at lunch." And with that, she slowly made her way to Celestia's office.
Celestia's office had been completely dark when she entered for some reason, (save for the slits of light coming through the closed blinds) and Vice Principal Luna nearly scared her out of her wits when she found her standing behind the door.
Celestia was seated at her desk, arms folded, giving Sunset the same look of contempt she had given her the night she had destroyed the front of the school. "Honestly Sunset, I thought you were better than this," She sighed in a tone that sounded more like a disappointed mother than an irritated principal. "I thought that Twilight and her friends had taught you the joys of friendship over these past few months."
"They....have," Sunset said, a bit confused as to what the heck was going on here. She rubbed her temples. "Look is this seriously about me not wearing my uniform? Because if it is, you can forget about me wearing that thing. Everyone in this school is already a mindless drone who will listen to anyone who can carry a tune and I'd rather not be grouped in with a bunch of idiots,"
"Such a shame you won't adapt Starlight's philosophy," Luna tsked, shaking her head. "We thought that you might even see a bit of yourself in her."
"A bit of my self?" Sunset repeated. She frowned. She didn't like where this was going. It was one thing to be disappointed in her for not being as blind as her classmates but another to think that she would ever see even a small piece of herself in a sociopath like Starlight.
Clicking her tongue she tried to keep her voice leveled and leave her bubbling irritation out of it. "Look, if you're gonna give me detention, then give it to me. Starlight already gave me this stupid pink slip, and I'd rather not stand around in here all day when I have to catch up on classes I couldn't attend because I was busy cleaning up my past mistakes!" Her voice had risen at the end of her rant, and she was now slightly red in the face.
She held so much respect for Celestia and Luna, she really did, (though less than the Celestia and Luna she knew back home,) But this conversation was going no where and the more they talked, the more angry Sunset was becoming.
And no one liked an angry Sunset.
"Very well, you have detention for the rest of the week. And if you don't come to school wearing your uniform tomorrow, you will have another week. Am I clear?" Celestia asked with a raised brow.
"Crystal," Sunset responded, running her tongue over her teeth. Without waiting for an answer, she picked up her bag and left, stepping out once again into the empty hallway.
By the time lunch rolled around, Sunset was ready to give up and go home. But she knew her friends needed her, and she sucked it up. Literally the only thing that could possibly make this day better was that it was Taco Tuesday, and soon she'd have an entire plate of tacos to herself. She smiled. She could almost taste the ground beef as she opened the door to the cafeteria.
Her smile fell once she reached the lunch line, and Granny Smith had put a heaping wad of something out of the second floor science lab on her plate. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Uh? What is this? I thought we were having tacos today,"
"Sorry girlie, Principal Celestia installed some new rules this mornin'. Everybody eats the same thing. An' since everybody's got allergies an' all that, she insisted ya'll get this," The older woman responded.
That still didn't answer her question. In fact, she was now even more concerned with learning what the 'this' in question actually was. It looked like someone had blended up everything ever and put it in a pot.
Sighing, Sunset just tookher tray over to the table where her friends sat all looking just as disgusted as she was.
Everyone had given their plate of mystery lunch to Pinkie it seemed, because she was the only one chowing down. She pointed to Sunset's plate. "You gonna eat that?" She asked.
Sunset's face twisted in disgust and she slid the plate in Pinkie's direction. She wasn't going to stop her. Especially since she was so far gone.
"This sucks," Rainbow Dash whined, slamming her hand on the table. "We have no freedom whatsoever! Did you know that we now all have to wear our hair in braids?! I haven't had pig tails since grade school! I'm gonna look like a Skittles factory exploded on Wednesday Adams!" She let out a groan as her head collided with the table.
"Why, I was forced to remove my eye shadow! Do you know how long it takes me in the morning to get the shade just right?!" Rarity exclaimed. "Hours! Beauty takes time! And she just, just made me wipe it off!"
"Ah can't believe she made me put my hat up and told me Ah had to change the way Ah talk!" Applejack shouted. "Why, Ah'm madder than a-" she paused. "A....um...."
The others stared at her blankly.
"Madder than a...pig in the....a snake in a....Land sakes Ah done lost my countryisms!" Applejack said, tugging at her blonde hair.
"Now darling, I'm sure you're just overreacting. That's absurd. That would be like me being not able to tell if something was fashionable or not!" Rarity comforted her.
"Rarity, what do you think of this dress for prom?" Fluttershy asked, holding up a magazine containing a picture of an ugly brown dress.
Rarity waved her hand. "It's lovely darling. The color is quiet catching." She paused, and then let out a blood curtling scream that probably caused half the entire cafeteria to lose their hearing. "My fashion sense!" She wailed, laying her head in Applejack's chest, sniveling as her mascara started to run. "It's, it's gone!"
Sunset stood up. "That's it! I can't take anymore of this! We need to get rid of Starlight Glimmer and we need to get rid of her fast!"
Rainbow frowned. "Oh yeah? And how do you propose we do that? It's not like we can just turn everyone against her. They adore her and her new stupid rules."
Sunset smirked, pulling her songbook out of her bookbag. "The best way we know how, of course."
After lunch was free period, so the entirety of the Rainbooms met in the music room across the school. Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood by the door as look outs in case one of Starlight's lackeys got nosey.
"Okay, so how exactly are we going to take care of her?" Dash asked, leaning up against the door.
"Easy. We sing a song about being ourselves and all that and then boom! Everyone's against her!" Sunset said, waving her arms.
"Uh, how exactly are you sure this is going to work?" Applejack interjected.
"Oh come on! Last year you all helped Twilight win fall formal by waltzing around the cafeteria dressed like diet furries!" Sunset said, waving her arms. "I mean, two weeks ago we blasted three sirens with the power of a song about a bomb that Fluttershy wrote! Music will make these idiots do anything!"
"What's a furry?" Pinkie asked, squinting.
Rainbow tapped her chin. "Hey, Didn't you spread a rumor in ninth grade that Fluttershy was-"
"Ahem!" Sunset interjected, clearing her throat. "Not the main focus here! Now, does anyone have any ideas for a song?" She looked around expectantly to the other members of thr band and frowned when they all looked at each other and then back at her, shrugging.
She smacked her forehead. "Alright, I see that I'm alone on this one I guess,"
"Not so fast," A sultry voice from behind the door said.
The girls turned towards the door and Applejack and Rainbow Dash opened them.
In walked The Dazzlings, dressed in the tacky uniforms. Sunset was surprised to actually see them. She had thought for sure after she and the girls had humiliated them at the Battle of The Bands in front of the entire school that they had skipped town, never daring to show their faces in Canterlot High ever again.
"We want in on whatever your little group is planning," Adagio continued, folding her arms.
"Forget it! We're not teaming up with the likes of you!" Rainbow snarled, balling her hands into fists.
Adagio raised a brow. "So I see you haven't trained your mutt yet, have you Sunset?"
"Hey!" Dash protested, offended.
Sunset sighed. "What do you want, Adagio?" She might as well let her speak because at this moment the conversation was going nowhere and Sunset was starting to become very agitated. She didn't like Adagio, and she definitely didn't like Sonata or Aria. But if they could come up with a plan better than the one she had brewing in her mind, she would at least hear them out.
"Like I said, we want in. For once we have a common goal," Adagio explained.
Sunset arched a brow. "And that is?"
"To get rid of Starlight Glimmer of course," the Siren said, smiling. "You and I both know that she isn't worthy of ruling the school."
"Oh what, and you three are?" Dash asked, folding her arms. "In case you forgot we kicked your sorry asses during the Battle of the Bands,"
Adagio's eyebrow twitched at that. "Yes," she hissed in a strained, iritated voice. "I do remember that. Vividly." She sighed. "But that's behind all of us now and we want nothing more than to assist you in ridding the school of Glimmer."
"What's in it for us?" Sunset asked cautiously, folding her own arms.
"Well, for one thing you gain us as allies," Adagio reasoned.
"True," Sunset agreed, nodding. "But that's not enough. How do we know we can trust you? If I didn't know any better I'd say you're still pretty peeved about losing your magic and becoming a normal girl."
"Oh believe me, she is!" Sonata piped. She quickly cowarded behind Applejack when Aria and Adagio sent her deadly glares.
Aria sighed. "Look, all we're asking for is a chance. No one in this school has been nice to us in the slightest since we came back and all I want to do is just graduate from this hellhole and move on with my life,"
"You and me both, sister," Pinkie agreed, high fiving Aria.
Sunset frowned. There was no way they were getting out of this one. If she said no she would look like a jerk, and then she'd hear from Twilight all about how she was betraying her element and not being a good friend. And as much as she loved Twilight, she couldn't stand to listen to her dumb friendship lectures.
She heaved a resigned sigh. "Fine." she grumbled. She stuck her hand out and winced when Adagio shook it. "But just know that ifyou screw us over there will be hell to pay."
"Oh don't worry," Sonata offered, punching her fist into her other open hand. "She messed with my Taco Tuesday. She's going down!"
"Ah, yes, which is exactly what we were discussing before your lovely interruption," Rarity said, filing at her nails.
"It's not like you were contributing either," Sunset snapped at her. "You were giving me a stare as blank as everyone else's two seconds ago!"
"C'mon ya'll, we gotta think of somethin'! Ah don't know how long I can go without making any countryisms!" Applejack whined.
"Oh, my poor fashion sense!" Rarity wailed hysterically. "Soon I'll be wearing jean jackets and, and skorts!" She cried, her mascara starting to stain her cheeks again.
"What in the hay is a skort?" Applejack asked, squinting.
"It's like, a skirt, but with shorts underneath," Fluttershy explained. "We used to wear them in grade school."
"Not me! I wore top of the line fashion for little girls! Ugh! Just thinking about not being able ro wear my gorgeous outfits to school just makes me want to die!" Rarity sobbed.
"Okay, Rarity's weird melodramatics aside, does anyone have an intelligent way to go about this?" Sunset asked, looking over the group of girls again.
"I liked your song idea," Fluttershy offered. "You're right about the students at this school being easily influenced by music. Maybe we could write a song about rebellion and standing together."
"Those two things contradict each other, don't you think?" Applejack replied. "It's a mighty fine idea, Ah just think the message would be a little confusin'."
"Applejack's right." Sunset agreed. "Let's just stick with the rebellion theme." She pointed to Rainbow Dash. "Any ideas for lyrics?"
Rainbow smirked, pulling her gutiar pick out of her backpack. "Gimme twenty minutes and we'll have a song!" She boasted proudly.
Sunset smirked. "Good." She turned to the rest of the girls. "Now, as for us, we'll work on the music."
The next day was uneventful to say the least. All of the girls went through their morning classes without problem and then met up in the music room at lunch timeto go over their plan one final time.
And then when they were sure they were ready, they all waited until the cafeteria was full before charging in.
Rainbow and Sunset played a loud rock and roll like melody that got everyone's attention. They were both wearing their uniforms but they were modified, (thanks to a frazzled Rarity,) to look more rebellious with patches of plaid and splashes of color that matched their hair.
In walked The Dazzlings, singing backup for Pinkie as she sung the song that Rainbow has written the day before. Their uniforms were also modified to match the theme. Their singing wasn't exactly on par with what it was before, but it was definitely better than what it had sounded like when Sunset and the others first defeated them.
The more Sunset and Rainbow played, their hair grew longer and they sprouted their usual ears.
When the song was over they looked around the cafeteria to see that not only did their plan not work, they also had neglected to check if Starlight was in said cafeteria.
She clapped her hands slowly, the sound echoing over the silent room. "Good job, girls. Who knew you all had such a lovely vocabulary?" she laughed. Then, frowning she said, "You all obviously haven't taken my philosophy to heart." She flipped her hair. "No matter. I have a special punishment for you all." She said with a grin.
"Uh, I need an adult!" Pinkie shouted, hiding behind Sunset.
