> Rainbow Rocks (feat. The Cavalry)
>  by Authora97
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> First Verse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a normal, relaxed, peaceful day in Equestria.

Or it had been, before a mighty goat called Tirek came and fucking Kirby’d the entire population.

All of it, except for one tiny group. Twilight Sparkle, and Raspberry Stardust. 

After a fight worthy of a Super Saiyan, Tirek was defeated. All the stolen power had been returned to the creatures of Equestria.

Raspberry Stardust walked into her home. A simple, Ponyville style cottage. Raspberry gave it upgrades over the months. Now the house was just a little bit bigger on the inside, and a lot more magical. Wards that locked out any threat kept the residents safe, and magical spells that made it easier to change your shape.

Once in the safety of the cottage’s wards, and the disguising magic, Raspberry let herself be changed into her more normal form.

Soon, the pink alicorn vanished. In her place was a human woman.

Morgan Stardust.

She fixed the little details of her disguise as she walked into the new family room.

Waiting there was the members of her family, also wearing their natural forms. Darcy Anderson-usually disguised as a pegasus named Killjoy- lounged on a couch. A changeling named Thorax was sitting on a chair. Her youngest daughter was playing with a ball of yarn. Another daughter, Dynamite Berry, was clearly working on plans for some kind of explosive device. She knew her two other children were safely tucked away in their bedrooms, up to their own devices while this impromptu family meeting took place.

Her eldest daughter stood in the middle of it all. Lilac Stardust stood up. She was taller than she’d been at eight. Her dark blue hair was grown out to her shoulders, though a lot of it had been brushed to one side. Her matching blue eyes were big with dreams, full of the light Morgan knew was gone from her own at that age. Her skin was a dark natural tan, free of freckles or blemishes. Dragons don’t get zits apparently.

Though she was young, she stood with all the authority of a child ready to explain just exactly why Mom and Dad should let her get a puppy. Complete with power point presentation, twelve point paper, and a kickstarter.

“No.” Morgan stated. “Whatever this is, no.”

But Lilac was a Stardust. That didn’t let that bring her down. “Mom, during my three month stint in Manehattan I managed to survive on my own, get my own apartment with no help from your funds or your fame. I used my own merits for it.”

“No. This isn’t happening.”

“You gave your word.” Thorax reminded her.

“Show me that in writing.” Morgan accused.

Dynamite Berry pulled out a sheet of paper from a folder at her side, not looking up from her design plans.

“I should’ve left you on the street corner where I found you.”

“But you didn’t.” Dynamite Berry replied dryly. “Boo-hoo. Just give Lilac what she wants. We all know you’re going anyway.”

Morgan huffed. “No.”

Thorax sighed.

Cookie continued to play with the yarn.

Dynamite shrugged, deciding she would just go wait in her room. She’d done what she could here. Besides, her family liked plausible deniability in Dynamite’s schemes.

“She’s passed every test you’ve given her.” Darcy remarked, sitting up on the couch. “She survived for three months on the streets of Manehattan without any of your money, or access to her royal status.” Darcy assured.

Morgan bit her lip, clasping her hands over her mouth. “Manehattan is so much nicer than Manhattan. You could die in Manhattan. People die a lot in that city, every day.”

“Which is why you set her up in that big virtual room where she’s been training whenever she wasn’t working.” Darcy countered.

“Yes, exactly! Virtual! Not real people!” Morgan argued.

“I taught her myself. You did too.” Darcy reminded.

“...we could’ve gone easy on her.” Morgan argued, now clearly grasping at straws.

“Didn’t you want her in the life at ten?” Darcy asked.

“In the life, knowing about it and helping Plan!” Morgan excused. “Not actually doing anything! Not putting herself in danger!”

“She’s fourteen!” Darcy argued. “We were doing way more dangerous stuff at fourteen!”

“I was an idiot at fourteen! You were a psycho killer half the time, and having sex the other half.” Morgan argued.

“She’s better than both of us. We raised her better than us.”

“She’s...she’s my baby.”

“Mine too. I raised her too, Morgue.” Darcy reminded her. Because it was the truth. Because Darcy had been there from the start on raising Lilac. With how much she had been a part of her niece’s life, she deserved some of the credit in claiming her.

It takes a village to raise a child, especially when it’s a dragon-child.

“But you of all people know how much trouble they get into, and what you’d rather they know what they’re doing.” Darcy stressed.

Morgan let out a long sigh.

Thorax stood up. He walked up to his wife’s side, pulling her in for a hug.

“I don’t even like that you’re coming with.” Morgan admitted.

“And we’ll talk about that later.” Thorax promised. “Right now, you need to tell Lilac what we all know you’re already going to say.”

Morgan sucked in a pained breath.

Thorax made a show of exhaling slowly, then continuing to breathe through his nose. Once Morgan started copying him Thorax moved to stand at her side. He put a wing over her back for more assurance.

“Princess...” Morgan’s shoulders slumped as she sighed. Lilac’s dropped too. “Welcome to the Cavalry.”

Lilac gasped, suddenly smiling. She clapped. “Woohoo!”

“It’s not time to leave, yet.” Morgan reminded Lilac. “There’s a movie up first. Until then, you need to get ready.”

“A movie? What movie?” Lilac asked.

Morgan reached in her bag. She pulled out a journal, glowing and shaking. “This movie.”


==RRFTC==


The Mane Six were settled in the Palace of Friendship. Or Friendship Castle, the name was still up for debate.

The friends helped move Twilight into her new home. Completely by chance, Raspberry kept the treehouse from exploding in Tirek’s attack. The ponies helped Twilight move her belongings into the palace.

She enjoyed the large space. It felt nice. Sure, she would miss her home. Her friends insisted on moving in. Raspberry and Thorax declined- wanting to keep their kids in their home. Twilight should have a quiet library- not the mania of five kids.

Raspberry insisted their six-month project be moved to the palace. Twilight understood why. The palace came with more space- way more than Twilight’s tiny basement. They only moved personal effects today.

So now, the friends settled in the throne room. Twilight read over her science notes.

A pony knocked on the door. Twilight looked over. A delivery pony stood at the door, pulling a cart stacked high with precious, precious books. “Excuse me, Princess. Where do you want all these books from Princess Celestia?”

“The library. Third door on the left.” Twilight explained. Rarity wanted to make that another closet for all the princess dresses Twilight and Raspberry would surely need. Applejack- bless her- kept things practical. Rainbow Dash had the library set up before Rarity could even complain.

“Thanks!” The delivery pony walked away.

As he left, Raspberry ran in. Thorax and Killjoy on her tail.

“Emergency!” Raspberry called out.

“What is it, Morgan?” Fluttershy asked.

“Sunset Shimmer is suffering.” Raspberry explained. “She’s writing to me.”

“About what?” Rarity asked.

Raspberry beamed. She walked up to Twilight. “You remember the project I asked you to move?”

Twilight paused. “You mean the d-”

“Yeah. That one. Time for a test run!” Raspberry cheered.

“But we could never get it right. It always needed a tether.” Twilight reminded her.

Raspberry held up the still glowing book. “Sunset gave us one.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. Then she beamed.


==RRFTC==


Twilight brought the rest of their friends to the library. The delivery pony left all the books behind. Twilight pulled a couple books from the stacks.

“Yes, I’ve known for months about this. However I couldn’t come because I need probable cause to start assaulting teenagers.” Raspberry explained. “Right now, the students at Canterlot High are under attack from sirens.”

“Not the sirens!” Pinkie exclaimed. She leaned towards Twilight. “I don’t actually know what that is!”

Twilight put down a book, explaining. “The sirens were three beautiful but dangerous creatures who had the power to charm ponies with their music. But to maintain this power, they had to feed on the negativity and distrust of others. The more of this negative energy they consumed, the stronger their voices became, and the farther they could spread their dark magic.”

“I don’t think I like this story very much.” Fluttershy wilted.

“I think it’s awesome.” Killjoy laughed. “You guys need to get your feathers ruffled more often. A good old fashioned fight fixes everything!” She eyed Thorax, who hadn’t spoken since they left the house.

“If the sirens had their way, they would have divided and conquered all of Equestria. But a certain Star Swirl the Bearded wasn’t having it. Rumor has it he found a way to banish them to another world– one where he believed their magic power would be lost.” Twilight closed the book. “By Morgan and Sunset’s reports, that world was where our Canterlot High friends live.”

“But Star Swirl must have sent them there ages ago. How come they’re just surfacin’ now?” Applejack asked.

“Our fight.” Raspberry answered. “When Twilight’s crown used magic last time, it brought a big burst of Equestrian magic into that world. The Sirens noticed it. It’s taken them months to get close enough to Canterlot High to cause problems.”

“The spell they’ve cast is just the beginning.” Twilight warned. “Our friends need us. We have to get back to them.”

“I hate to burst your bubble, Twilight, but the connection between their world and Equestria will still be totally cut off for a super long time.” Rainbow Dash reminded them.

“Okay, first of all, if there was bubble-blowing going on, why wasn’t I told about it?!” Pinkie exclaimed. “And secondly, if the connection is totally cut off, how was Sunset Shimmer able to get a message to Raspberry?”

“As always, Pinkie, you’re a genius!” Raspberry praised her.

“Yeah, I get that a lot.” Pinkie turned to Rainbow Dash. “Now about those bubbles-”


==RRFTC==


The project had been kept very secret for the past few months. Raspberry approached Twilight with an idea. They spent the time working to make a magical, functional door.

Long ago, Raspberry got a message from her future self that she would build a ‘magic door’. A door that could appear in any time or place, regardless of universe or timeline. It’s easier said than done. 

She and Twilight worked a lot of trying to just make one working door. A door that crossed between one world into another. They had no luck. All tests required something already there on the other side.

It’d be like…you could teleport. But only if you put a teleport pad wherever you wanted to visit.

Raspberry needed it to work without that.

But...it was useful this one time.

The door they built looked basic. Simple. A plain wood door of wood from the Everfree Forest. Twilight and Raspberry added large technical bits and bobs, trying to break through the barriers of reality. Nothing worked.

Except today. Because now, the door got a destination.

“...And the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions.” Twilight finished with cheer.

Everypony blinked.

“Say what now?” Spike asked.

“Duh!” Pinkie hopped up, pointing T the portal. “She’s gonna take the magic in here and put it in there. That’ll make the portal open up so that whenever she wants to, she can go from here to there. There to here. Here to there. Here there! Here there! Here-”

Killjoy stuffed her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth. “We got it!” Pinkie giggled. Killjoy pulled out her hoof, shaking off the spit. “Geez.”

“See? She’s always a genius.” Raspberry held up her hoof. Pinkie slapped it.

“Now to see if it actually works.” Twilight stated.

Raspberry floated Sunset’s journal into a large receptacle in the portal. Twilight flipped a switch. The door buzzed. It whooshed and whirled as it powered up.

The ponies ooh’d and aah’d.

The door activated. The door opened, recreating a wall of gray.

“Does it work?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“That’s the statue from Canterlot High. It’s how their portal works.” Twilight assured.

“Don’t suppose we could join you this time around?” Applejack asked.

“Better not. It could make things pretty confusing if Canterlot High all of a sudden had two of all of you.” Twilight explained. Her friends agreed. 

Raspberry, Killjoy, and Thorax were noticeably silent.

“But I still get to go, right?” Spike asked. “There isn’t another one of me at Canterlot High. And you never know if you might need your trusty assistant.”

Twilight beamed. She nodded.

Spike fist-bumped. “Yes!”

“Killjoy and Thorax can come too.” Raspberry stated.

Twilight looked over. “They can?”

“Killjoy was never around last time. We’re gonna need her. Thorax too.” Raspberry replied.

Twilight tilted her head. “But wasn’t there a Thorax there?”

“You think he looks like that now?” Raspberry nodded back at Thorax. Taller, green, and with antlers.

Twilight understood. “What about the kids?”

Raspberry and Thorax looked at Pinkie. She excitedly gasped.

“Really?!”

“They asked if it could be you.” Thorax admitted.

“It’s you or Discord.” Raspberry admitted at the same time.

Pinkie squealed. “PARTY AT RASPBERRY’S!!”

“We won’t be gone long.” Twilight reminded Pinkie.

The party pony was already long gone. She pulled out her party planner, plotting out details for the party.

“Oh, you be careful, everybody.” Fluttershy asked them. 

Rainbow Dash waved them off. “Take care!”

Applejack winked, waving too. “Y’all be safe now.”

“And don’t forget to dress well.” Rarity asked.

Pinkie was too focused on party planning.

“Ready, Spike?” Twilight asked.

Spike cracked his knuckles. “Ready!”

Twilight turned. “Raspberry, Killjoy? Thorax?”

Raspberry grinned. She patted her Bag. “We’re ready.”

“I wanna punch a siren in the face!” Killjoy fist pumped herself. 

Thorax rolled his eyes at her.

They stepped through.


==RRFTC==


Outside a stone statue, humans waited. Six humans, to be specific. All waiting for Princess Twilight and Princess Raspberry to walk through the portal.

Rarity did Fluttershy’s nails. L

Applejack and Pinkie played cards.

Rainbow Dash kicked a ball up in the air.

Sunset Shimmer waited, doing the equivalent of twiddling her thumbs. She kept opening and closing the journal. She waited for a reply. None came.

Dash sighed. “I’m starting to think they’re not coming.”

At that exact moment, the portal spat out people. Twilight and Spike fell out in a barrel roll. Raspberry came out on her legs, then Killjoy knocked her down. Thorax came in last, bumping and knocking down Killjoy into a pile.

“Twilight! Raspberry!” The humans cheered.

Sunset held out her hand. 

Twilight smiled at Spike. “Oof. I’m back.” She eyed Sunset’s hand, unsure.

“Of course we’re back.” Raspberry let Sunset help her up.

She and Sunset became something like penpals over the months. Sunset wrote more and more lately about trying to redeem herself in the eyes of her classmates.

Raspberry tried offering advice. Mostly by talking about all the ways Raspberry failed at it, so Sunset could learn from her mistakes.

The human girls excitedly huddled around Twilight and Raspberry. They all excitedly giggled and welcomed back their old friends.

She brushed dirt off her hoodie. She paused to stare at the other two of their group. “Wow.”

“Umm. Who are they?” Human Rainbow Dash asked.

Killjoy and Thorax stood up on their feet. 

Killjoy (her skin now a washed out blood red) wore a baby pink crop top, a dark violet jacket, blue jean shorts, and knee high black boots. Her silver gray hair was the same sort of straight, reaching her elbows. 

Thorax’s changes kept Raspberry’s attention. He still stood taller than her. This time, he had bright green skin like back home. His hair was a vibrant orange, sticking any which way it wanted. The human form of Thorax wore a pastel blue cover jacket, a white shirt with a gray watermark of a honey jar, blue jeans, and red sneakers. 

Raspberry liked it.

Raspberry liked it a lot.

“That’s my sister.” Raspberry explained. “And that’s Thorax.”

Thorax made a face at his introduction. Killjoy waved her fingers.

“Wasn’t your sister-” Rarity began.

“I told you. She came back.” Sunset reminded them. “Morgan told me everything.”

The girls all eyed Sunset. Each of them gave a look of ‘can you blame us for not believing you?’

“We got news about the Dazzlings.” Raspberry promised.

All the Canterlot High students frowned.


==RRFTC==


Raspberry handed a cherry smoothie to her sister.

Killjoy elbowed her sister. “I said I wanted the strawberry.”

“They were out.” Raspberry replied. She handed Thorax his order. 

Killjoy scoffed. “Pinkie is drinking one right now!”

“That’s bubblegum.”

“It’s got a strawberry on it!”

“It’s strawberry bubblegum.”

“Thorax. I am being bullied.” Killjoy whined.

The humans giggled at the antics at the twins. Raspberry talked to Sunset about losing Killjoy, and getting her back. Apparently none of the Canterlot High girls believed it. Killjoy’s presence shocked them.

“I am too.” Thorax held up his drink. “I wanted soda.”

“The kind you like doesn’t exist there.” Raspberry told him. “That drink will do just as good.”

Thorax pouted. Raspberry grabbed it, poking the straw in his mouth. Thorax yelped before actually trying it. He hummed, delighted.

Killjoy looked at Twilight. She rolled her eyes, gagging.

Pinkie handed Twilight her root beer float. Twilight accepted it with a smile. Fluttershy passed Spike a dog biscuit.

“Oh, I do hate that you had to return at a time of crisis. There’s so much catching up to do!” Rarity dipped at her tea.

“For starters, a certain blue-haired guitar player was just askin’ about you.” Applejack waggled her eyebrows at Twilight.

Twilight blushed. “Flash Sentry was asking about me?!” She realized everyone was grinning at her. “Isn’t that nice?”

“Girl, you got it bad.” Killjoy rolled her eyes.

“Bumblebee has been asking for you too.” Rainbow Dash told them.

Thorax tensed. Raspberry smiled- so plain and easy, as if it gave her no trouble at all. “Yeah?” Raspberry asked. “Does he go to Canterlot High now?”

“No. We actually don’t...know where he goes.” Fluttershy passed Spike another dog treat.

“Huh. Guess we’ll see him whenever.” Raspberry leaned on Thorax’s seat. He scooted over. Raspberry stayed still. 

“Perhaps you would give us just the slightest bit of gossip from your world?” Rarity asked.

“She’s got an official title now.” Spike pretended to play his dog biscuit as a trumpet. “The Princess of Friendship!”

“Wow, that’s really impressive.” Sunset twirled her straw in her drink. “Guess you really were Princess Celestia’s prized pupil.”

“Got a castle and everything.” Killjoy plucked the cherry off the top of her drink. She dropped the stem in her mouth. “It’s an eyesore.”

“She shares the castle with Morgan.” Spike reminded Killjoy. Killjoy stuck out her tongue, showing off the stem tied in a ribbon. “It’s her castle too.”

“A castle?! You are sharing a castle?!?” Rarity exclaimed. Her raised voice got the attention of the other patrons. She smiled politely. Her blush was obvious on her white skin. She cleared her throat. “Ooh, uh, lovely.”

“What about your world?” Applejack asked. “You had a different one.”

“Everything is the same there too.” Raspberry replied. She hadn’t explained much about her human world last time. Not that the high school students asked. Over the months, Sunset talked to Raspberry about it. Sunset liked stories about it all.

Raspberry liked sharing them.

“Cookie turned into a person, and they have three more kids.” Killjoy countered. She flicked the cherry stem at her sister.

Raspberry caught it. “Four. Everyone always forgets Nina.” Killjoy rolled her eyes. “She’s your niece!”

“Show me her adoption certificate!”

“It’s not ready yet!”

“Then she ain’t my niece yet!”

Rainbow Dash snickered. “More kids? Seriously? That’s insane.”

“It is.” Twilight agreed. “Her kids are...loud.”

“How did your sweet little kitten become a person?” Fluttershy asked.

“The portal did magic.” Thorax answered. “Got in Cookie to make her...sentient? Conscious? I don’t get it myself.”

“None of us do.” Raspberry reached over the chair back. She let her fingers ruffle his orange hair. “Anything else weird happening on your end?”

“Actually yeah. This.” Rainbow Dash pulled out her phone. She held it up, showing the Equestrians the video. On screen, Dash played the guitar. As she played, she gained blue wings and a tail. 

Twilight snatched the phone. She stared at it, shocked.

“Pretty sweet, huh?” Dash beamed. “It happens to all of us when we play.”

“You didn’t say anything about this.” Twilight said to Raspberry.

The Traveler shrugged. “I think I did. I said that the Element of Magic brought Equestria magic here. It got the Dazzlings attention, yes, but it’s side effects should be more obvious for the humans that were right at the epicenter. Just like I was.”

The side effects for Raspberry were mild. Or extreme, depending on who you asked. At first nothing changed. After Raspberry returned home as Morgan, things changed.

Her powers lashed out. The magic of the Element merged her Traveler powers with Equestria magic. It started off- well- big. Plants attacked Morgan and her friends via Earth pony magic. Morgan kept summoning clouds or floating in air, thanks to Pegasi magic. Her unicorn magic was a whole other ballgame.

It took ages for Morgan to manage it. The human, to manage it. Raspberry Stardust did it perfectly. Morgan Spencer’s magic brought a learning curve.

That fight happened when Morgan was barely 200. She was 207 now. She cracked the code.

These girls had, what, seven months? Six? They would take a while longer to notice the effects. Even longer to manage them. Magic from Equestria stuck around...unless a centaur ate it.

Twilight knew all of this. Morgan’s planet considered Twilight the expert on managing Morgan’s wild magic. She spent a lot of time in the human world, helping the transition. Many of their visits this year were about the magic door, along with checkups to make sure Morgan’s magic was settled.

Twilight flushed. “I- yes. My bad.”

“She’s got Flash Sentry on the brain.” Killjoy excused. “Cut her slack.”

The girls giggled.

“Now that we’re all back together, we can use that magic on the sirens. Just like when we were able to use it on Sunset Shimmer when she turned into that horrifyingly awful winged monster!” Twilight reasoned.

“None taken?” Raspberry asked Sunset.

The orange human shook her head. “You know how it is. I’m used to it.”

Thorax squeezed Raspberry’s hand. She squeezed back. Thorax never wrote to Sunset Shimmer. Raspberry talked about her letters with him, when she got time to write back. Sometimes he would offer advice, if either Sunset or Raspberry needed help.

He liked that his wife had a pen pal. Raspberry was always so excited to get a new letter.

“They’ll never even know what hit ’em!” Dash warned.

“Alright, sick!” Killjoy held up a fist. Rainbow Dash bumped it. “Let’s punch sirens in the FACE!”

“Not very subtle.” Thorax cautioned.

“I like the way you think!” Dash praised Killjoy.

“We’ve got nothin’ to worry about now that Twilight and Raspberry’re back.” Applejack cheered.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I could find something to worry about. But it won’t be the sirens.” Fluttershy admitted.

“The sooner we do this, the better.” Twilight stated. She turned to Raspberry. “Any idea where the Dazzlings might be?”

Raspberry looked at Pinkie.

Pinkie sipped her milkshake. “There’s a big party tonight for all the bands who signed up to be in the showcase! That would include the Dazzlings.”

“They’ll be spying on their competitors.” Raspberry explained. “But girls, hear me right now.”

The girls all quieted. The boys kept their ears and eyes wide open.

“They will be looking for Equestria magic.” Raspberry told them. “They saw only the large rainbow in the sky last time. They do not know the names or the faces. The longer we keep them from knowing, the better.”

“Ah yes! I forgot we are television characters in your world.” Rarity flipped her hair. “Tell me- are my designs popular in your world?”

“People love them.” Raspberry confirmed. Killjoy hid a snicker. Raspberry withheld the important bit of info that only people that saw the show liked them, not the whole world. “We cannot use magic, or imply we have any, to the Dazzlings. Then we will be their targets. If we are their targets, they will use the magic they have gathered on us.”

“Wow. Did you do this when you were fighting me?” Sunset asked.

“Yes. I was quite good at it.” Raspberry replied.

Twilight nodded. “She even made sure you were kicked out of the election- that you wouldn’t interfere or cheat to win.”

 Sunset nodded. She looked at Raspberry, questioning.

Raspberry gave an apologetic shrug.

They spoke often about Sunset’s tactics in taking the crown. Raspberry did explain that it wasn’t personal. Sunset threatened her friends and Equestria- she was a threat that had to go away. Sunset made it personal, yes, but Raspberry explained she forgave and forgot. Sunset’s words from the journal showed a willingness to change.

Sunset appreciated it more than words could say.

Raspberry understood the sentiment involved.

“Uh, one problem with your plan.” Dash began. “Their magic doesn’t work on us. Everypony else is fighting, but we aren’t.”

“Did Sunset need magic to make you fight last time?” Raspberry deadpanned. Dash winced. “Exactly. They come after your feelings, your relationships. Magic is built off your emotions, your wants and desires. It supports you- it’s based on your personality. They built theirs on causing mayhem and war, by creating battles from nothing. They can and will use those feelings against you. My job, and the job of Killjoy and Thorax, is to be the band’s security.”

Killjoy waved her fingers. “We’re very good at keeping people physically safe.”

Thorax nodded. “Also emotionally safe!”

“Where in the contract did it say that?” Killjoy countered. She sipped at her cherry milkshake.

“Nowhere.” Raspberry supplied. Killjoy clicked her fingers, pointing a finger gun at Thorax.

“They’re just like this.” Twilight assured the teenagers. “But they’ll help.”

Thorax leaned up. Raspberry adjusted on the arm of the chair, her arm still around Thorax’s shoulders. “You said something about a party?”

Pinkie squealed in excitement. 


==RRFTC==

AN: Welcome to a new fic! Yes, there’s a lot more exposition than expected here. Sorry about that.

Anyways- get ready folks! The next few chapters are gonna be a wild ride at Canterlot High!
> Chorus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The party was not a happy party. Everyone had the grumpiest face. 

Raspberry stood at the punch bowl. Killjoy stood beside her, sipping at a drink that never even touched the punch.

Raspberry gave her sister a curious look. Killjoy sipped her drink. 

“None of these people have even noticed you or Twilight yet.” Killjoy remarked. “They’re angry.”

“And it’s Mean Girl anger.” Raspberry said. “Not Hulk-Smash anger.” Killjoy nodded. “We worried?”

Killjoy shook her head. “I could fight them off with my pinky.”

“Me?!” Pinkie popped up behind Killjoy.

To her credit, Killjoy did not jump. “No. This.” Killjoy held up her pinky.

Pinkie gave her a thumbs up. She sank back down, rising up at Rainbow Dash’s side.

Killjoy turned to her sister, wide eyed. “Why are they your friends?”

Raspberry shrugged. “They’re funny.”

Killjoy conceded that.

Thorax walked back to the punch bowl. Raspberry eyed him. 

“You did it?”

“Nobody saw me.” Thorax promised.

Raspberry smiled at him. She went to his side, meaning to pull him in for a hug. Thorax stepped away from her. He reached for another cup of punch. Raspberry wilted. She quickly put on a straight face for the approaching Twilight.

Killjoy watched it all happen- her and Fluttershy exchanging a look.

“I don’t see the Dazzlings.” Twilight told Raspberry. 

“They show up soon.” Raspberry promised. “We cannot engage.”

Twilight made a face.

“Sparkle of Twilight.” Raspberry stressed. “We cannot engage.”

“We need to keep our friends safe.” Twilight argued. “They have magic! It can work.”

“No. It won’t.” Raspberry stressed. “I watched it. Y’all stood there for a good minute. No magic. Not even a spark. The Dazzlings make us as Equestrians, and life goes downhill fast.”

Twilight frowned. She didn’t like the picture Raspberry painted. After the Tirek incident, Raspberry promised to be more open with details about things. Twilight in turn promised to take her warnings seriously.

It’s just...Raspberry made it sound so bad. Their magic had to work- it had to. Maybe Raspberry misunderstood the scene.

“Their magic works differently than yours.” Raspberry added. “Like how Changeling magic is different, or even Discord’s magic.”

“So how do we use the magic?” Twilight asked.

“We work that out. Later.” Raspberry promised.

Twilight sighed. “Morgan-”

“I won’t steal their spotlight.” Raspberry told Twilight. “Someone in our group figures it out. It can’t be me telling it to you.”

“Why not?” Twilight asked. “We could stop them now if you said anything.”

Raspberry opened her mouth to say something. She wanted to argue that point. About the point of letting things happen naturally, of figuring things out yourself. She wanted to say that Sunset needed a chance to stand too.

But then Flash Sentry bumped into Twilight.

Raspberry backed away from that mess. She stood back at the punch bowl.

Killjoy snorted. “Canterlot’s into jocks. I hate it.”

“She’s happy.”

“Stop pretending to be a ship whore.” Killjoy gulped down more of her non-punch. “If you were, you’d ship-”

“He is a thousand feet tall and Bilbo is three.” Raspberry stressed. “We’re not arguing about this again.”

“We’ve been arguing it for, what? Twenty years? Just admit I’m right.”

“Raspberry never admits anyone else beside her is right.” Thorax grumbled.

The twins stared at him. Killjoy looked like he just swore in front of kindergarteners. Raspberry gawked before correcting it to a strict blankness.

“You good?” Killjoy asked him.

Thorax grumbled under his breath. He stuck his hands in his jeans, walking away from them both.

The doors to the gym opened. Raspberry turned to them, ready. She was prepared to hide from the Dazzlings. The Rainbooms (the name of the Canterlot high girls band) would need anonymity during the battle.

But the Dazzlings did not walk through the door.

Bumblebee did. Dressed in the same black jacket, white shirt, and jeans as last time.

He had a girl at his side. Her skin was a dark gray, almost but not quite black. She was decked out in a red and black thigh high dress, a large pink belt around the waist, thigh high black stockings, and pink shoes. Her black hair was cut like Bumblebee’s, barely reaching her neck. Bright blue eyes scanned the gym, thin pink lips stretched in a giddy smile.

Raspberry wanted to believe it was this world’s version of Thorne. She knew better.

Cicada.

Thorax’s sister.

The one Garfield stole.

Bumblebee and Cicada walked in. Raspberry’s mind scrambled. Is his real name Thorax? Why is he still in the Bumblebee disguise? Do they all look like normal changelings or advanced changelings? If so, which disguise is the real disguise?

How my Thorax noticed them yet? 

Killjoy followed her gaze. Her jaw dropped, offended. How dare her sister get two versions of the same hot guy. Like Thorax wasn’t ever Killjoy’s type, but like damn it.

The Dazzlings came in after them.

Killjoy elbowed her sister. “Targets in sight.”

Raspberry shook her head, trying to shake off the thoughts.

Rainbow Dash was faster. She picked up Killjoy’s cup, tossing it at Twilight.

“I hadn’t finished.” Killjoy hissed.

The cup bonked on Twilight’s head. She whirled around, glaring at Killjoy. Raspberry nodded her head at the Dazzlings. Twilight turned. Her eyes went wide. 

“Can you excuse me for just a minute?” Twilight asked Flash.

He nodded. Twilight scurried away. She met Raspberry’s side. The humans leaned closer to them.

People were bickering again. The whole room seemed to be in the middle of an argument. The noise was enough to give anyone a headache.

The Dazzlings looked unaffected. They shone above all the strife and anger. They smiled with victory, smug and haughty.

Raspberry hated it.

“Remember. Do not engage.” Raspberry tone the girls.

Dash frowned, crossing her arms. “I still think we can hit them with friendship.”

“You would fail.” Raspberry stated.

“Go do it.” Killjoy grinned. Raspberry glared. Killjoy shrugged. “Hey, it ain’t gonna be me getting embarrassed. Let her do it.”

Dash grinned, then realized what Killjoy wanted. “Hey!”

“Just listen to them?” Sunset asked. “Maybe we’ll stop them soon.”

The Rainbooms grumbled, suspiciously eyeing the Dazzlings. Raspberry and Twilight watched too. Killjoy looked at Bumblebee and the human Cicada. 

Then Thorax noticed them.

“I think we could take them on!” Dash argued. “They can’t be that tough.”

“Raspberry ain’t saying they are.” Applejack told Dash. “Just that we ain’t ready for a fight.”

“Not ready? How much ready do we need?” Dash asked. “I get my wings back all the time!”

“You are. We don’t.” Fluttershy pointed out. “It’s always you getting wings.”

“And the ears!” Pinkie held her hands up to her hair, mimicking the horse ears.

Dash frowned at her friends, annoyed. “Well I’m awesome. So maybe I’m ready, and you guys aren’t.”

Her friends glared at her.

Twilight was starting to understand what Raspberry meant. Sunset too.

“That’s how! We’re gonna fight them in the Battle of the Bands and beat them!” Dash boasted. “It won’t even be a battle. They have no chance of fighting me at my best!”

Applejack rolled her eyes.

A voice laughed. The Rainbooms and Equestrians turned to it. Adagio Dazzle, leader of the Dazzlings, laughed loud enough to get the attention of everyone in the room.

“Talk about throwing down the gauntlet!” She said. Seeing she definitely had her audience, she looked around at all the other bands. “This group is obviously serious about winning! A little cocky though, aren’t they? Claiming there won’t really be a battle. Seems they think they’ve already got this thing all locked up.”

That got the normal student’s hackles raised.

Raspberry hated her friends at this moment. Killjoy was right. Why were they friends?

“Not if the Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie has anything to do with it!”

“Whatever, Trixie! We’re the best band at CHS!”

“No! The Crusaders are gonna win!”

More and more students shouted and argued. Raspberry ran her hand over her face. Killjoy snickered, watching all the fighting. Thorax hadn’t looked away from his counterpart. Twilight watched it all, looking overwhelmed and scared.

Raspberry grabbed Twilight’s hand. She dragged her fellow princess out of the gym. The rest of their friends followed.

The Dazzlings never gave them a second glance.

But Bumblebee and his sister did. 


==RRFTC==


Raspberry closed the app on her phone. She raised her eyebrow to the group. They’d grouped up around the entrance of Canterlot High. “See? It was bad.”

Rarity shuddered. “The humiliation...it was disgusting!”

Killjoy giggled. “Play it again.”

Raspberry pointed a warning finger at her. “Hey. Stop it.” Killjoy stuck out her tongue.

“It doesn’t make any sense.” Twilight shook her head. She started pacing. “I should have been able to create the spark that would help us break their spell. That’s how it worked before.”

“I think, maybe I have an idea?” Sunset leaned up from her seat. “To defeat me, you drew magic from the crown I was wearing. The sirens’ magic comes from their music. So maybe you have to use the same kind of magic to defeat them. Or... maybe not.”

Twilight looked at Sunset. “No. I think you’re onto something.”

Sunset lit up. “Really?”

Twilight turned to the group. “It’s when you play music that you transform now, right?”

“Yup. Ears, tails, the whole shebang.” Applejack replied.

“So maybe the way to use that magic to defeat the sirens is by playing a musical counter-spell!” Twilight realized.

“You mean like...a song?” Fluttershy asked, brushing her hair aside. Raspberry and Killjoy could see her beaming smile.

“Uh-huh. And in order to free everyone who’s been exposed to the sirens’ spell, we’ll need them all to hear it.” Twilight explained.

“So I was right! We are beating them in the battle of the bands!” Rainbow Dash cheered, fist pumping.

“It is the only time we can be certain everyone will be in the same place at the same time.” Rarity added.

Raspberry and her sister rolled their eyes. Thorax sat, silent.

“Guess the Rainbooms are the band to beat.” Applejack bumped Rainbow Dash’s side.

“And I believe you, Twilight and Raspberry, just became the Rainbooms’ newest member.” Rarity cheered.

The girls all cheered. They rushed over to Twilight and Raspberry to pull them in for a hug. Sunset and Thorax were left on the stairs, alone. Killjoy reached in the hug. She pulled Raspberry out of the hug.

“Nope.” Raspberry shook her head.

The Rainbooms all sighed in disappointment.

“As fun as it would be, I don’t wanna be in your band.” Raspberry replied.

Killjoy wrapped her arm around Raspberry. “She’s got a contract with me.”

“I’m not allowed to break it.” Raspberry nodded. “But Twilight can totally join.”

“What can she play?!” Pinkie started pulling instruments from her hair. “Triangle? Sousaphone? Theremin? Soooo magical.”

Twilight scratched the back of her head. “Though I’ve gotten more used to them, I might take a little too long to learn how to play something with these.” Twilight held up her hands. “I’ll just sing.”

“Like, as in, lead singer?” Dash asked. She leaned on Twilight’s shoulder. “Cuz that’s usually my gig. This being my band and all.”

“It’s our band!” Applejack reminded Dash. The jock rolled her eyes at them. “And, of course, as lead singer. She’s the one with the magical know-how to help us pull this thing off.”

“Okay, yeah, that’s cool.” Dash started playing air guitar. “I’ll just use this as a chance to hone my already insanely good lead guitar skills.”

“It’s only temporary.” Twilight assured Rainbow Dash. “And we don’t have to win the Battle of the Bands. We just have to perform during the first round of the competition.”

“Let’s get to learning that musical counter-spell!” Dash said.

Twilight flushed. “Well, that’s just it. I don’t know any.” Her friends frowned. “But I’m sure I could figure out how to write one!”

“Totally! Twilight can write a spell like it’s nobody’s business.” Spike explained. “That’s pretty much how she got to become a princess in Equestria.”

“Hey! My sister can do spells too!” Killjoy snapped at the dog. “Twilight’s not the only one that can do it!”

“Yeah but Twilight did most of the work.” Spike replied.

Killjoy’s eyes sharpened. She reached for her back pocket. Raspberry grabbed her wrist.

“Twilight finished the spell.” Raspberry reminded her. She squeezed tighter to Killjoy’s wrist. “I stood too close to the magic backlash. She’s used my spell once, though, to travel between realities to my world.” She glared at Twilight. “I’ve...forgiven you for that.”

Twilight did not feel very forgiven.

“We’ve got this.” Twilight breathed. She nodded to the Equestrians. “C’mon, guys.”

“Where’re you goin’?” Applejack asked her.

“Well, last time we were here, Spike and I spent the night in the library.” Twilight explained.

“Yeah. Where’re you goin?” Raspberry repeated. “We can stay at a motel. That’s what I did last time.”

“How did you pay for that?” Rarity asked.

Raspberry narrowed her eyes. “Do you really wanna know?

“I can always find the best motel in any place.” Killjoy offered. “Like, it’s a gift. We’d need three rooms. Twilight would refuse to sleep in my room, and I refuse to sleep in the same room as the dog.”

Spike barked.

“Are you crazy?!” Pinkie cried out. She pulled Raspberry and Killjoy in for a hug. “We’re besties now! Slumber party at my house!”


==RRFTC==


Bumblebee leaned away from the door. 

Cicada smiled at him. “She’s nice.”

Bumblebee grinned. He scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah. I mean...yeah.”

“Why don’t you go talk to her?”

“With Raspberry? You don’t do that, Cic.” Thorax clicked his tongue. “You wait for her to come to you. Like a gentleman.”

“Like a bee catching honey.”

Usually, Bumblebee got mad at her jokes. But if they were about Raspberry, he wouldn’t mind.

“Who are the other two?” Cicada asked. “Like that’s Twilight Sparkle, and the talking dog is Spike...who are they?”

Bumblebee shrugged. “I don’t know. They- they look weird.” His eyes narrowed on the green guy. He thought about who that could be, maybe Equestria’s version of him, but he doubted it. His skin wasn’t green underneath the yellow. Maybe Raspberry broke up with her Bumblebee. He would have to wait and see. “Let’s keep an eye on them before we engage.”

Cicada nodded. While neither of them were happy with how they grew up, it gave them a great amount in training on stalking their prey.


==RRFTC==


The Pie house was very used to having a lot of people inside of it. With four daughters, you were not expected to have an empty house. Maud and Marble was often quiet. Limestone was at home, working with her parents on the farm. Pinkie brought the friends all the time. Loud, partying friends. Girl friends.

Thorax was decidedly not a boy.

All the Rainbooms thought so. Thorax shifted his form- his orange hair growing to a pixie cut. His- her clothes became a dark green leafy dress, her legs became lean, her face rounder.

Thorax was Thorax.

The Rainbooms freaked out when Thorax first did it.

Sunset tried punching him.

Twilight explained that as a Changeling, Thorax could shapeshift. Raspberry and Killjoy were totally cool with it.

Still. The girls all agreed Thorax would sleep downstairs.

They were all in Pinkie’s room. Applejack, Dash, and Killjoy played videogames. Pinkie worked on her social media timeline. Rarity, Sunset, and Fluttershy took selfies that Spike kept photobombing.

Nobody saw Raspberry or Thorax until the pizza arrived. According to Raspberry, they called their kids to wish them goodnight.

Twilight struggled with the counter spell. Fluttershy graciously gifted her song journal. Twilight filled pages with unintelligible scribbles.

She could do it.

She didn’t need to ask Raspberry for help.

She could do it alone. Everyone believed in her, that she could save them. They said they would be lost without her and Raspberry to save them.

Twilight could write a song.

She needed to write a song.


==RRFTC==


Twilight stumbled into the kitchen. She tried to sleep. The humans were deeply sleeping, curling up with each other in a friendship pile. Twilight couldn’t sleep. The spell needed to be completed before the competition tomorrow.

She went downstairs, hoping not to disturb anybody.

“-I just don’t understand what I did.” Raspberry’s hushed voice snuck by Twilight.

Curious, Twilight leaned towards it. Raspberry and Thorax slept downstairs in the Pie family living room. Mr and Mrs Pie thought nothing of it.

“You understand so much all the time. What, your super powers of what others are thinking don’t work when you use them on me?” Thorax argued. Their voice was still deep like a stallion’s in the female form. She barely sounded different.

“No. It’s- no. That’s not what I do. I just-”

“Go on. Read my mind.”

“I’m not telepath-”

“But you know everything. So why can’t you see why I’m angry?”

“I know you’re angry! You’re just not telling me why!”

“Why should I even have to tell you anything?”

“Because I don’t know what I did!”

“Right. We’ll just focus on the competition, like I said-”

“No. No, you’re upset. We focus on that!”

Something tapped her shoulder. Twilight almost screamed. A hand clamped on her mouth. Twilight looked back. Killjoy knelt behind her, Sunset there too. Both of them looked concerned and worried.

All three knelt by the wall. They kept quiet to listen to the fight.

“I’m not upset!” Thorax insisted. “It’s nothing. We have other thing to think about. You wanted me to start winning, right? So let’s-”

“Winning the Equestria Games! Not this battle.” Raspberry replied. Twilight heard Raspberry hurt before. This voice like she was holding back the urge to cry, or to keep herself to not attract attention from others. It made Twilight’s heart hurt to hear it.

“If we lose the battle, we lose Equestria.”

“Yeah-”

“So isn’t that more important? Isn’t that the plan?”

“I don’t know why you’re doing this!” Raspberry pleaded. “Please tell me. You keep saying I should know. I don’t! I really, really don’t.”

Thorax scoffed. Raspberry inhaled, sharply.

Killjoy’s nails dug into Twilight’s cheeks.

“Why don’t you believe me?” Raspberry asked, words wavering.

“Because I know you know. You’re lying to me, to avoid a fight.” Thorax stated. Raspberry spluttered. “You are! I know you are.”

“I’m not! I really, genuinely, do not know! All I know is I tried to kiss you and you recoiled from me like you hate me-”

“I don’t hate you-”

“I tried to hold your hand, and you pulled it away! You read to our kids-”

“You didn’t want to-”

“-without doing the voices-”

“-read it before, so why now-”

“-and Cookie loves the voices-”

“-are you getting so upset-”

“-so when you don’t do it she notices-”

“-for the first time about it?”

“-and if Cookie notices something is wrong, then it’s gotten bad! And I didn’t notice!” Raspberry explained.

Killjoy pulled Twilight’s head back. Twilight went along with the grip. Killjoy brought Twilight back into the kitchen. The kitchen smelled of pizzas and cookies. The empty pizza boxes were tossed into the trash- not a signal crumb left behind. The cookies were gone too. If Pinkie didn’t get to them, the many girls did.

Twilight liked the smells earlier. Now they made her stomach roll.

Killjoy stopped at the small island countertop. She removed her hand. Twilight rubbed her cheeks, feeling marks from Killjoy. Killjoy looked up at the group- glaring in a very specific way.

“Are we sure they’re not affected by the sirens?” Twilight asked, in a rushed whisper.

Killjoy’s nostrils flared.

Twilight squeaked. “I just mean-”

“They’ve been fighting for days. Morgue’s just in denial.” Killjoy replied.

“Fighting about what?” Sunset whispered. She leaned on the countertop. “Morgan always said things were good between her and Thorax.”

“That’s just it. I don’t even know.” Killjoy admitted. Twilight stared. “Yeah, I have no clue. I can’t tell if Morgue knows either. It’s weird.”

“Thorax doesn’t seem like the angry type.” Sunset added.

“He’s not-” Twilight agreed.

A loud door slam cut them all off.

They waited for a sound. Any sound. Nothing. Did Thorax leave, or did Raspberry? Did they both leave together? Twilight couldn’t tell.

“What are we going to do?” Twilight asked.

“The sirens aren’t making them fight. Could they be making it worse?” Sunset asked. “They don’t just need their magic to make people act strange.”

“I have a guess.” Killjoy pulled herself up, taking a seat on the island. “But I don’t think it’s exactly right.” Sunset and Twilight shrugged. Anything was better than not knowing anything. “Bumblebee.”

Sunset gasped. “He’s been asking about Raspberry again. Does he even know about-?”

“He showed up at that party earlier.” Killjoy went on. “So he saw Thorax, and Thorax definitely saw him. And the girl he stood with.”

“Thorne?” Twilight guessed. “What does she have to do with-?”

“That wasn’t Thorne. Definitely not. That was Thorax’s missing sister, Cicada.” Killjoy revealed. “The one Garfield Logan stole.”

Her heart dropped like a stone in Twilight’s chest.

“But...if that was it, wouldn’t Morgan have said?” Sunset asked. “Instead of pretending she doesn’t? And weren’t they fighting for days anyway?”

“Yeah, and those two made it worse.” Killjoy told them. “Whatever they were fighting about, it’s worse because of that.” Killjoy looked at Twilight. “So, Canterlot, tell me. Do you have something for that counterspell?”

“No.” Twilight held up Fluttershy’s song journal. “We only get one shot at this. It has to be perfect.”

“Yeah. So ask Raspberry to help you.” Killjoy stated.

Twilight shook her head. “If her and Thorax are fighting, the last thing they need to do is worry about this.”

They all still spoke in whispers, careful and afraid to break the heavy silence coming from the living room. If Killjoy whispered, it was because she still thought someone was around. That was enough to convince Twilight and Sunset to lower their voices.

Sunset walked over to the fridge, probably intending to grab a late night snack. “We really are lucky you’re both here.”

“That’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Twilight replied.

“We’re the best in the biz.” Killjoy snarked. “Honestly. And my sister wonders why I packed so much to drink.”

“Well all they have here is whipped cream.” Sunset showed off the fridge, packed to the gills with cans of whipped creams. “If you wanna share.”

“Not exactly a child friendly drink.” Killjoy replied.

“I’m an adult, back in Equestria.” Sunset reminded her. Killjoy grinned. Sunset felt a shiver up her spine. “What’s it like, having Morgan for a sister?”

“About the same as having her for a mom.” Killjoy answered. “She likes fixing problems. I have a lot of problems to fix. It’s great.”

“Yeah, sounds great for her.” Sunset pulled out a can of whipped cream. “Having everyone always look to you for answers to their problems... instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.”

“Just because everyone expects something from you doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen.” Twilight added.

“Especially if you’re dealing with your own stuff, and are expected to be perfect anyway.” Killjoy nodded.

“Well, that doesn’t stop them from expecting it.” Sunset told Killjoy.

Twilight sighed, lowering the journal. “Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is-”

“-let everybody down.” All three girls whispered.

Sunset and Twilight smiled at each other. Killjoy hopped off the island. She meant to grab the can off Sunset. Instead she bumped into Maud Pie.

Sunset and Twilight screamed when they saw her.

Killjoy rolled her eyes. She glared at them, disgusted.

Maud blinked, expression blank as always. She walked to the cupboard. “Boulder was hungry.”

A sniffle. “Yeah sorry. Took the crackers.”

The four girls turned to the archway. Raspberry stood there, dressed in dark blue star patterned pajamas. Her eyes were bloodshot, but her lips were clamped tight.

Twilight wanted to cry with her.

Raspberry held out the box of crackers. “Sorry.”

Maud took the offered box. She held up Boulder. “Boulder says it’s fine.”

“But do you-” Raspberry cut herself off. “Nevermind. Enjoy the snack, Boulder.”

Maud walked out. She started pouring crackers on the rock in her hand. They fell to the floor, shattering as they did.

The five girls watched them go. Only after Maud retreated into the darkness did they set their sights on the fifth.

Raspberry kept her lips pressed tight. Water welled in her eyes. She took a deep breath, her hands visibly shaking. She realized this too. She reached up, threading her fingers in her hair. “So. Maud and Pinkie. They’re related. That freak anybody else out?” Her voice came out gravely and wet, as if she’d already been crying awhile.

Twilight couldn’t speak. Words were caught in her throat. She wanted to say something, anything. Should she apologize? She watched a private moment between Morgan and Thorax, she should apologize. She violated her friend’s privacy. Twilight knew how important that was to Morgan. Then again, Killjoy was doing it too. Did that make it better, or worse?

“Yeah. Aren’t you friends with the other one?” Killjoy asked.

Raspberry nodded.

“It’s just as unbelievable over here.” Killjoy agreed.

“Morgan.” Twilight began. “I’m-”

“Thorax ducked out.” Raspberry interrupted. “She wanted to jog. She loves jogging. Cold air sh-sould h-help.” Raspberry rubbed her cheek, before the tears even fell. “She- she just. Space. I’m- you know what-”

“Hey. Did you want my drinks now?” Killjoy asked.

Raspberry nodded.

“It’s what I thought.” Killjoy walked over to her sister. She looped her arm with Raspberry. “We got a counter spell to write, yeah?”

Raspberry nodded again.

“And I don’t need to-”

“Follow her and I pull out every single one of your teeth and stuff them in your ears.” Raspberry promised. Tears ran down her face. 

Killjoy held up her hands. Her arm was still tangled up on her sister’s. “No murder. Got it. Just good hard liquor. Have fun with the counter spell.”

“But Twilight-”

“-is about to go to bed.” Killjoy reminded Raspberry. She narrowed her eyes at Twilight. “Cause it’s late. We should all go to bed.”

“Right.” Sunset yawned. “Sleep sounds good. Come on, Twilight.”

Twilight looked over at her friend. Raspberry wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I’m-” Killjoy glared. “Nevermind. It’s not important.”

Raspberry shook her head. “I-It- it-”

“Drink time.” Killjoy pulled Raspberry away, off towards the backyard. “Drinking and crying. Sister bonding time. Can’t do murder but can drink anybody under the table. Like that choice.”

The door clicked closed behind her. 

Twilight watched, tears filling her eyes.

Sunset sighed.

“What do we do?” Twilight asked. “We need to help.”

“We can.” Sunset said. “By putting less on her plate. Right? If someone is stressed, completing tasks for them helps. It lightens their workload.”

Twilight looked at the journal, at the useless scribbles inside. Songwriting wasn’t her thing. Fluttershy’s songs were beautiful and heartfelt, coming from a place of deep heart and connection. Twilight couldn’t put a rhyme together.

She needed Morgan.

(-to help)

(-so Twilight could apologize)

(-to be okay)

(-to help Twilight be okay)
> Second Verse
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

They woke up that morning to a warm smelling kitchen. When the Rainbooms and Equestrians exited the friendship pile, they were surprised to see Pinkie still in the room. All nine walked downstairs. They found Raspberry in the kitchen.

She set up plates and plates of food. Warm, sweet smelling French Toast, scrambled eggs, apples, and glasses of apple juice. Raspberry finished making eggs, pouring them into a bowl on the island.

“Good morning, everybody!” Raspberry cheered. Her eyes had heavy bags under them, and her eyes were still bloodshot. Her smile came too casual, too giddy for her. For anybody. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I cooked a lot. Is French Toast okay? I couldn’t decide what pancakes y’all liked and- well. Well Thorax likes French Toast. I don’t get it, he just loves them.”

“Raspberry.” Sunset walked forward. “Are you okay?”

“Peachy!” Raspberry threw up her hands. The frying pan went flying into the sink, full of bubbled water. The water splashed up. Raspberry got hit. She carried on as if she were dry. “It’s all good now. We can fix the counterspell, the friendship issues, and my not-marriage.”

Killjoy pinched the edge of her nose.

“Friendship issue?” Fluttershy and Applejack asked.

“The counterspell?” Twilight, Spike, and Sunset asked.

“Marriage?!” Rainbow Dash and Rarity yelped.

“You’re married?” Rarity gasped.

“Yeah. To Thorax.” Raspberry went back to the stove. She flipped over slices of wet bread. “We’re fighting but I figured out what I did wrong!” Raspberry told them. “I forgot Thorax’s birthday.”

“You did?!” Pinkie gasped.

“Well. It’s either today or tomorrow. Or yesterday. And I think it’s today.” Raspberry explained. She paused in her toast flipping. “Do you think differently?”

“It’s an emergency! Pancakes are required.” Pinkie leapt into the kitchen. She started pulling out more bowls and serving cups. “What kind of pancakes do they like?”

“Chocolate chip.”

Pinkie pulled a bag of chocolate chips from her hair. “How old are they?”

“He- she? They turn 30. 30 is the big one.” Raspberry pulled some slices of toast onto a plate, then got to making another batch. “So I gotta make it big.”

“Girl, not even you are that stupid.” Killjoy groaned.

“Yes. But I know at least part of it is the birthday thing.” Raspberry replied. She looked at her friends. Her smile was too fake, too clean and shaky. Hesitant and fearful, like what she was saying could get her in trouble. “I had a great thing planned. Hadn’t guessed it would happen during this, but I’ll go along with it. They’ll love it.”

Twilight stepped forward to Raspberry’s side. “His birthday? Really?”

“No. Why would it be anything else?” Raspberry asked.

That Bumblebee is still around?

That he has a sister and Thorax doesn’t?

Any number of things that happened before we got here?

Twilight couldn’t say that to Raspberry though. “Did you sleep?”

“I don’t need sleep.” Raspberry replied. She checked her wrist. “I can go 72 hours without sleep. Then the hallucinations will kick in.”

“Wasn’t it 65?” Killjoy asked.

“I got better at it.” Raspberry assured her sister.

Killjoy hummed, accepting it. She started making a plate.

“You can’t be encouragin’ this!” Applejack scolded her.

Killjoy shrugged. “No. But if I eat food, she’ll worry less.” She handed Applejack a plate. “Just eat so it won’t go to waste. Okay?”

The high school girls went along with that logic. Besides, the food smelled good. Twilight stayed beside Raspberry.

“Morgan, I’m really worried.” Twilight told her.

“It’s Raspberry, and spell crafting is hard.” Raspberry nodded. “Especially counter spells. If you’re lucky, you get to write both. We’re not lucky. Granted I could tell you the spell they used to control the students, but I don’t know how effective it’ll be-”

“I’m worried about you.” Twilight said. Raspberry pressed her lips together. She kept moving around, checking to see if the bread needed to be flipped. “I know you saw me last night.”

“I trained you in sneaking, and you still suck at it.” Raspberry dismissed, shrugging like Twilight overheard her talking about the weather with Thorax. “I don’t know how you managed it. Can we get back to the spell please?”

“No, why can’t you see it?” Twilight asked.

“Wait. I think I do.” Sunset stepped in. She held up a plate, passing it to Twilight. “Can I talk to her?”

Twilight winced. “I don’t know...”

“You’re blocking my path.” Raspberry stated. “Please clear away?”

Twilight sighed. Sunset squeezed her shoulder, trying to comfort the princess. Twilight accepted the plate. She followed the rest of her friends to the table. Raspberry pushed finished toast slices onto a plate.

Sunset turned back to Raspberry. The Reality Traveler walked over to the island, grabbing a finished bowl of batter from Pinkie Pie.

“It’s Thorax’s birthday.” Raspberry reminded Sunset. “That’s what I did wrong, I forgot. I can’t forget things. Rule four says I remember everything.”

“Morgan.” Sunset began. Raspberry started pouring out pancake batter on the frying pan. “We want you to be okay. Whatever you give us, it’s not worth it if you hurt yourself to give it to us.”

“I’m not hurting myself.” Raspberry snapped. The pancakes sizzled against the pan. “I’m not- it’s not like that.”

“So staying up all night is healthy?” Sunset countered. Raspberry huffed. “You said you remember everything? Do you remember what you said the nights I would write to you?”

Raspberry paused, like genuinely paused to consider it.

Sunset hadn’t written much at first. It took her time to warm up to the idea of writing a princess that defeated her. But one night, according to Sunset, it got bad. Years and years of guilt hit her all at once it seemed. Or, more realistically, it was built for weeks.

Weeks of people avoiding her. Of them giving her hateful glares as she repaired the school, and simply walked the halls. Study groups forming without her, on purpose. Nobody agreed to be her lab partner. Nobody trusted her. They treated her with scorn and distrust. Even the Rainbooms held her at arm’s length. Sunset had been trying to be good, to be a good friend, and she failed again and again.

Sunset spilled all of it to Raspberry. A tear stained letter talking about how awful it made her feel. About how Sunset knew what she did was wrong, that it would never be made right. Everyone’s treatment of her proved it. They would never see her as anything but the demon princess she became. Sunset would be alone.

Raspberry wrote back.

She had asked if Sunset hurt herself.

Sunset replied in a big, bold denial.

Raspberry explained that there was more than one way to hurt yourself. Sometimes, it was telling yourself all the hateful things from others. It was keeping their thoughts in your brain. It was all the hateful names you called yourself. It’s you hating yourself right back into that negative mindset from before.

Raspberry had asked if Sunset did anything like that.

When no reply came, Raspberry kept writing.

As she stood in the Pie family kitchen, Sunset wanted Raspberry to remember the many things she wrote to Sunset. Those same words that Raspberry gave to her now.

“What did you say?” Sunset asked.

Raspberry considered the answer. Raspberry said a lot to Sunset about it. The thing that stuck out the most was:

Take care of you, Sunset. Then, the people that love you can have you forever. Even if it’s nobody at Canterlot High, I would still miss you.

“It doesn’t apply.” Raspberry dismissed.

“What did you say?” Sunset repeated.

Raspberry sighed. “That I am worthy of love, and should take care of myself. But that doesn’t-”

“Thorax loves you.” Sunset started making a new plate. “Whatever is going on, he loves you. Would he want you staying up late, worrying about him, or ignoring your feelings?”

Raspberry winced. “...no.”

“Then eat something.” Sunset handed Raspberry the plate. It only had two apples, a slice of toast, and a scoop of eggs. “Then we’ll worry about everything else.”

Raspberry nodded.


==RRFTC==


Thorax never showed up for breakfast.

Raspberry found him later.

Today was Saturday. The Battle of the Bands would happen around 12, then carry on into 6 or later, depending on the number of participants. The top Battle itself was on a Sunday- to give the top two bands time to practice on the main stage.

The Rainbooms were trying and failing to practice. Raspberry dipped out at 11, saying she was going to look for Thorax. Killjoy followed her. The Rainbooms kept on praciting. They hadn’t been able to make their pony forms appear. They hadn’t even noticed her leave. Sunset did- wishing her luck.

Raspberry found Thorax at the same cafe from earlier. She found him- for he was in his male form- talking to Bumblebee.

‘Talking’ wasn’t right.

They were fighting.

Raspberry ran into the cafe. Killjoy huffed, chasing after her.

“Hi!” Raspberry called out.

Thorax and Bumblebee turned to the door, to her. Bumblebee’s face broke out in a smile. Thorax glared at her.

Raspberry ignored the pang in her chest.

She looked at the third member of the argument. A silent figure, hiding behind Bumblebee.

Raspberry smiled at them all. “Thorax, hi. I was getting worried. Bumblebee. Nice to see you again. Who’s this?”

“Hey Raspberry.” Bumblebee greeted her.

Thorax ground his teeth.

“This is my sister.” Bumblebee brought her forward.

The human version of Cicada watched her, eyes wide. “H-hi. Um- uh-”

“Raspberry.” Raspberry repeated.

“I know. My brother talks about you a lot.” Cicada squeaked. “I’m...u...” She glanced around the cafe. “Star...fish...yeah.”

‘She’s as bad at fake names as Bee was. Oh, I hope you’re the same on our side.’ Raspberry thought to herself. ‘If she wants to be ‘Starfish’, then she’ll be Starfish.’

“Starfish. Nice to meet you.” Raspberry held out her hand.

Cicada held out her’s. The two shook on it.

Thorax glared at them.

Raspberry stepped closer to his side. “That’s my sister, Killjoy.”

“Zup.” Killjoy held up a peace sign.

Cicada waved. Bumblebee grinned, beaming.

Thorax seethed.

Raspberry needed to calm everyone down. “Have you met Thorax?” Raspberry asked.

Bumblebee’s smile tightened. “Yeah, we were just talking.”

“Nice.” Raspberry smiled up at Thorax. Her smile twitched at seeing his angry expression. “Uh. He’s you.”

“...huh?” Bumblebee and Cicada asked.

“Thorax is from Equestria. He’s you. Our you.” Raspberry explained. “Or- my you? The version of you that is mine? Is that closer?”

“Yes.” Thorax moved his arm. He wrapped it around Raspberry’s shoulders. She looped an arm around his waist. He glared at Bumblebee. “She’s mine.”

It made Raspberry shift on her feet. She’d wanted to hear it. Really, she did. Thorax still wanted her. It eased the ache in her chest. That he said the words in front of...well...his alternate, that caused a lot of the issues here.

But he still said it.

No take backs.

“Yep. Us. We’re a couple.” Raspberry said. “I told you that. I know I did.”

“You did. I was happy for you.” Bumblebee nodded. He smiled at the still glaring Thorax. “Uh. If I’m you, you know that I’m not a homewrecker right?”

Thorax kept glaring. Raspberry pinched his side. “Yes.”

“Yeah. I’m not gonna steal your girl.” Bumblebee shook his head.

“Oh no!” Cicada shook her head. “No, my brother wouldn’t!”

“Sure.” Thorax replied. His grip tightened on Raspberry’s shoulders. “That’s why you’ve been asking about her, and following her.”

“No! No that’s not- okay yeah that looks bad but-” Bumblebee scratched the back of his head. “Uh. Starfish help here.”

“We were just wondering when you would come back!” Cicada explained. “Like yeah, you said 2 and a half years but, but you told Bumblebee that you would be back sooner. You just…never said when sooner was.”

“And those creepy girls!” Bumblebee reminded her.

“Yeah!” Cicada’s face brightened, like a lightbulb going off. 

Raspberry held tighter to Thorax. She forced off a pained expression. She couldn’t think about their Cicada- the one she never got to meet.

“Yeah so listen. One time, I was going to get burgers, right? I waited in line when all of a sudden I got really, really mad at the person in front of me. I don’t get angry like that ever so I thought it was weird. Then I heard this big whoosh. I looked out a window to see a rainbow laser beam.”

Raspberry remembered this scene. The first one from the movie. The sirens all sat at a fast food joint, leeching off the meager emotions there. They saw the magic effects of Twilight and Sunset fighting. That Cicada watched too...made Raspberry cautious.

“Then what happened?” Raspberry asked.

“Well I was thinking about how weird it was. Cause nobody else noticed.” Cicada explained. “Except those girls. They got up from their table and left. As soon as they were gone, all my anger just kinda popped!”

“The sirens.” Raspberry confirmed. “They feed off negative emotions.”

Cicada blinked. “Wow. You figured it out that fast?”

“Nah. We’re already fighting them.” Killjoy said. She reached in her pocket, pulling out a flask. “In that band battle thing.”

Raspberry’s eyes widened. “Oh shoot! That’s soon. We need to get going.”

“It’s in, like, a half hour. We’re fine.” Killjoy drank. “If we ignore speeding laws.”

Raspberry sighed. She rested her head on Thorax’s shoulder. He didn’t flinch away, or push her off. Raspberry loved it.

“Oh, you’re competing in it?” Bumblebee asked.

“Yes. Us. Our band.” Thorax stated, curt and rude. “We’ve got it under control.”

“Yeah. Sirens’ll be gone by Monday.” Raspberry promised.

“Cause weekdays were my thing.” Bumblebee asked. His blue eyes lit up at the old joke.

Raspberry laughed. “Oh no no no. I’m beating them Sunday night. On Monday, everyone will have moved on. Weekends are still my thing.”

Thorax huffed.

“-our. They are still our thing.” Raspberry corrected. Then her eyes lit up. “Our.”

Thorax shook his head. Killjoy snickered. “No. No we’re not doing it.”

“We need someone on keys. Either of you play?” Raspberry asked, ignoring him.

“Keys? You mean piano?” Cicada asked. Raspberry nodded. “I can?”

“Yes.” Bumblebee agreed. “She’s great.”

“Great! You’re in the band. Bumblebee, you can be the groupie.” Raspberry decided.

“Yeah!” Cicada cheered. She leaned towards her brother. “What’s a groupie?” Bumblebee shook his head, obviously having no idea.

“Great! Hop in the car. We’ll drive you.” Killjoy nodded to the doors. She took another gulp from her flask. Bumblebee and Cicada happily followed.

Thorax clenched his jaw. He turned to Raspberry. “How did you get a car?”

“How did you sleep last night?” Raspberry countered. Thorax stared, eyes wide and incredulous. He kept his jaw clenched. “You never came back. I waited.”

Thorax stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Whatever.”

Raspberry’s eyebrows scrunched together. She frowned, trying to get a read from Thorax’s face. Her feelings were still hurt, yes, but Raspberry could put them on mute. The last thing Thorax would need is to feel her negativity.

Sure, Sunset asked her to focus on her own feelings. Killjoy was right too- Raspberry worried less when everyone around her was okay.


==RRFTC==


A short drive later brought them to Canterlot High. Raspberry, Killjoy, Thorax, Bumblebee, and Cicada walked into the building.

“Wow! We’re on time!” Bumblebee said.

“You’re a great driver.” Cicada praised Killjoy.

Killjoy held up the flask. “Yeah, I am.”

“I can’t believe you got us here alive.” Raspberry shook her head.

Raspberry unloaded equipment from her Bag. She handed Killjoy her guitar, and Thorax snatched away his drumsticks. Bumblebee was handed the very, very large drum kit. 

They loaded up into the school. The whole gym was full of bickering students, and heated glares. Killjoy showed Cicada the song lists, and explaining their sets for the day. Thorax kept close to Raspberry’s side. As she tuned her guitar, Raspberry leaned towards him.

Raspberry recalled their fight. She asked if the emotions of the students bothered students. Sirens fed off negative emotion, and changeling fed off the positive. All the negative feelings must be hurting him. Thorax told her otherwise, and the fight continued on.

She tried to think about what upset him, still. Any number of things could be the cause. But Thorax expected her to know it, to already be working on fixing it. Or maybe he was upset that Raspberry tried to know, and got it wrong? Being wrong usually annoyed Raspberry, not Thorax.

Thorax wasn’t annoyed often. A lot of stuff slid off of him. Raspberry had no idea how he did it. Thorax got bothered by: the people he loved being in danger. But Raspberry hadn’t put them in danger or anything like that.

Right?

Except...maybe...well the battle of the bands was pretty dangerous. The sirens could incite a mob against the people of Equestria any time. Raspberry worked hard to keep herself and her friends/family under notice.

The Cicada thing was a major factor. Sure, she went by ‘Starfish’ here, but that didn’t change the fact that she was Bumblebee’s sister. Thorax’s sister. It could be that.

No. Thorax was mad and pulling away long before then.

Maybe because he knew they were visiting this dimension, with the human Bumblebee? Thorax was really upset about that. Raspberry thought they worked it out. Maybe Thorax just ignored his feelings? Until now.

If that were the case, he buried those feelings for ten years.

Well Raspberry would need to prove she could fix it. To prove that she would pick Thorax every time, all the time.

“He’s a junior.” Raspberry stated.

Thorax hummed. He kept glaring a hole into the back of Bumblebee’s head. “Huh?”

“Bumblebee. Other you. He’s a junior. That’s like- just a few years older than our kids.” Raspberry explained. “You’re 30. That’s ancient.”

Thorax scoffed. He twirled a drumstick in his hands. “You were flirting with him.”

“I wouldn’t flirt with a guy still in highb school.” Raspberry countered. She thought back to the conversation at the cafe. “We were bantering.”

“Bantering, flirting, is there a difference for you?” Thorax asked.

“Yes. I flirt with you. Everyone else gets pity banter.” Raspberry replied. Thorax shifted his shoulders, trying to loosen them but failing. ”Okay. Honesty time. I don’t actually know why you’re angry. Please, talk to me about it?”

Thorax narrowed his eyes. Except this time, he did not glare at Bumblebee. He glared at his own hand. Raspberry wondered why he would glare at a drumstick.

“Why should I?” Thorax asked. “You never tell me anything. Or anyone. Why should I tell you?”

The words hurt now just as much as last night. Raspberry squashed down the hurt. “Bee, I’m trying here-”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we were fighting? Then we get no happy pony transforming.” Thorax snapped. He grabbed the drumstick, clenching it tight in his fist. “Would your precious plan be good with that?”

“Bee.” Raspberry breathed out the word. She couldn’t stop the pain from filling that one word. It came so fast and stronger, knocking Raspberry back. She wished she was the mind reader Thorax thought of her.

Thorax shook his head.

At that moment, the doors to the gym slammed open. The Rainbooms stumbled in, all clutching their instruments and such.

Raspberry stayed where she was.

Killjoy stumbled over to them. She corrected herself. She walked straight and narrow. She went up to Twilight. “Whassit.”

“Killjoy! Where were you guys?” Twilight asked. “Did you find Thorax?”

“Both of them.” Killjoy nodded towards their group. “Do you like my guitar?”

“What the-” Twilight stared at the two Thorax’s. One still bright green, one yellow. Then to the girl excitedly talking to her brother, and the stone faced Thorax with a flat faced Raspberry. “Why is he here?”

“I didn’t wanna carry things.” Killjoy answered.

“And who is that?”

“Our pianist.” Killjoy answered. “Duh.” 

Principal Celestia walked in with Vice Principal Luna. The students all quieted.

“Welcome to the first ever Canterlot High School Battle of the Bands.” Principal Celestia announced. Silently, the Rainbooms walked over to Raspberry’s corner. “I believe I speak for everyone when I say it is by far the greatest thing we have ever done here at this school!”

The students cheered. The Rainbooms took a moment to join in.

“We are so glad our three newest students encouraged us to turn this event into something exciting!” Principal Celestia cheered.

“But, as this is now a competition, we can only choose one winner. Who is it going to be?” Vice Principal Luna asked.

This, of course, immediately set off new arguments. The many bands snapped and fought with each other.

Twilight turned to Raspberry. “Why are you holding a guitar?”

Raspberry played a riff. A riff so strong and fast, it stunned Twilight silent.

“Wait, you can play?” Applejack asked.

“I’ve been alive for 207 years. Yes, I can play guitar.” Raspberry played another chord. “Killjoy too.”

Killjoy joined in harmony with her sister. “We tried this instead of violence, when I was a kid.” She finished with dramatic flourish. “It didn’t work.”

“She is good at both.” Raspberry added.

“But why are you holding them?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Cause we signed on to the competition.” Thorax stated, curt.

“What?!” The Rainbooms yelled.

“First bands!” Principal Celestia called out. “Please come to the stage!”


==RRFTC==


A few bands went on before the Rainbooms. Their first round opponents were Snips and Snails, beatboxing.

Rainbow Dash shook her head at them. “I can’t believe you signed up! We had a good act.”

“An act that couldn’t complete a transformation once.” Raspberry countered. She held out her hand. Cicada passed her a guitar pick. “We’re bettering our odds.”

“How?! You’re just taking the spotlight!” Rainbow Dash scolded.

“Said the pot to the kettle.” Applejack grumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow Dash snapped.

Raspberry put her hand on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “It’s good to have backup. If at any point you get kicked out of the Battle, the Cavalry can keep competing. Or, if we get exposed, you guys can keep playing. This way, we are guaranteed at least one of us makes it to the final fight. By then, we can all come together for a show stopping number.”

“That’s really smart.” Sunset said.

Rainbow Dash grumbled, crossing her arms. “Cavalry is a stupid name.”

“YES! Now we can all have fun!” Pinkie cheered. She leapt up, pulling Raspberry into a hug. Pinkie gasped. “THORAX!” She pushed Raspberry aside. Pinkie pulled a confused Thorax into her arms. “She said it was your birthday and you missed your birthday breakfast but DON’T WORRY! Pinkamena Diane Pie is on the case!”

Thorax grinned. Raspberry’s eyes lit up. “That’s thoughtful, thanks. Wait, it’s my birthday?”

Twilight winced.

Snips dropped the mic.

Everyone else winced too.

“Please do not drop the mics!” Principal Celestia cautioned them.

Applejack shook her head. “Least we know one group who won’t stand in the way of us gettin’ to the finals.”

“Let’s get ready to rock!” Dash held up her guitar, performing her own riff.

“Wait! Where’s Rarity?” Pinkie asked.

Oh! Here! I’m here!” Rarity ran up to them. Her outfit was very...70’s. A white dress, with fringed sleeves except the sleeves were metal. “We will be performing in front of an audience. I’m not going to wear something fabulous? Hmph.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Guh..”

Cicada gasped. She looked down at her outfit. “Wait! Do I need to dress up?”

“No, Starfish, you’re fine.” Raspberry told her. Cicada let out a relieved sigh. Raspberry looked down at her own clothes. “Oh...these are yesterday’s clothes.”

Killjoy snorted.

“Remember, we have to be good enough to make it through but not so good we let the sirens see the magic within us.” Twilight reminded the Rainbooms. “They could realize we plan to use it against them.”

“Got it! Be cool enough to win, but not so cool that we end up showing off the whole ears and tails and rainbows thing. Sooo... about twenty percent less cool.” Dash nodded. She pointed her thumb at the Cavalry. “We won’t even need you guys. We’ve got this in the bag.”

The Rainbooms walked on stage. After waiting to be announced, the Rainbooms sang the song “Shake Your Tail”, by Rainbow Dash.

Raspberry leaned over. She and Killjoy scanned the room. The Dazzlings sat at the top of the bleachers, watching the Rainbooms with a curious eye. Still, the Dazzlings did not have to do a thing.

The rest of the competitors did.

Killjoy leaned towards Cicada and Bumblebee. “Okay. Time to keep idiots safe.”

“Wait, what? But they’re fine?” Bumblebee pointed out.

Raspberry snorted. She walked off towards the backstage area. Killjoy snickered.

Thorax sighed, annoyed. “They always look fine. Then the chaos starts. Come on.”

No sooner had the Cavalry got in position,  chaos started.

A group of students lowered magnets at Rarity,

“KJ.” Raspberry warned.

“See it.” Killjoy pulled a knife out of her sleeve.

She threw it. The knife cut off the strings connecting the magnets to the students above.

“Party cannon incoming.” Thorax told them.

Raspberry knelt down. She pulled out a large fan from her Bag.

Pinkie turned her drum kit. A loud bang went off, confetti flying everywhere.

Raspberry pushed a button.

The fan powered up. It started blowing all the confetti off stage, out towards the audience.

“Spotlight.” Killjoy called out.

Thorax nodded. He pulled out a nerf gun. He fired shots at Snips and Snails. The freshman ran after a short pelting of foam bullets.

Raspberry breathed out in relief. 

Sunset and Spike walked up to them.

“How did we do?” Raspberry asked her. She turned off the fan to put it away.

Sunset beamed. “They did great! Thank you for helping. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that. Not that they would have welcomed my help.”

“You would’ve done great.” Raspberry assured. 

“So she’s our friend now?” Bumblebee asked. “Didn’t she try to mind control us?”

“And?” Raspberry raised an eyebrow. “She stopped.”

Bumblebee shrugged.

Raspberry and Killjoy smiled.

Cicada copied their smiles. Bumblebee shook his head, chuckling at them. Thorax sighed, like he’d had this fight a hundred times.

The Rainbooms came off stage. The Cavalry and their groupie stepped aside.

“That actually went alright.” Applejack praised.

“Speak for yourself.” Rarity tried to pull off the magnets. “These things ruined my entire look!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “You look exactly the same.”

“This was an act of sabotage!” Rarity argued.

“Yeah, well, whoever did this couldn’t have done this if you didn’t insist on dressin’ like... like... this!” Applejack motioned to Rarity’s metal accessories. “We need to sound good! Is there some reason that concept seems to escape you?”

“And what was with the confetti, Pinkie Pie?” Dash yelled. “How is anyone supposed to watch us if they’ve got confetti in their eyes?!”

“It was pretty distracting-” Fluttershy spoke up.

“Hence why we have two bands.” Raspberry explained. “So if any of us get kicked out, the other can stay and play!”

“Genius plan.” Bumblebee praised her.

“Why thank you, groupie!” Raspberry replied. “It really is.”

Thorax ground his teeth.

“You still sounded much better than most of the other bands.” Sunset assured them. “I’m sure you’ll make it to the next round.”

“I- Uh. I listened to it!” Cicada encouraged.

“I did too!” Bumblebee waved at the Rainbooms. “Ready to- shake my tail!”

“Being good won’t change the fact that we have no counterspell.” Raspberry reminded them. “I only know it because I know the future. If it’s used before anyone is ready, we’ll lose our element of surprise.”

“It’s alright.” Sunset stepped in. “You all find a place to practice where the sirens can’t hear you. I’ll keep an eye on things around here, with their help.”

The Rainbooms conceded. They went off, hoping to find a space.

“The next band to play is the Cavalry.”

Raspberry lifted her guitar. “Ready y’all?”

Killjoy pumped her fist. Thorax twirled his drumsticks.


==RRFTC==


Raspberry started off the song.

“Friday night, date night, I say ‘Pick out what you like’. I don’t care as long as you’re here.” Raspberry glanced back to Thorax. He avoided looking at her. “Surprise, surprise. Ain’t that nice? Same old chick flick, eighteenth time. You know the one with that guy.”

Raspberry smiled, fond. She and Killjoy got into the swing of the song. 

“Half way through, look at you, smiling like you always do and I can’t help but just stare.” Raspberry glanced over.

Killjoy winked at her before nodding her head back.

Raspberry glanced over. 'Cause suddenly, it hits me as I watch you make believe: I want to make this your reality.”

Another student stood up in the rafters. They were holding up water balloons. Raspberry quickly stepped to the side as the balloons fell. She spotted more students in the bleachers prepping spitballs.

“And if I can be your leading lady, even though I may look crazy.” Raspberry nodded.

Killjoy looked. She started her loud intro to the chorus. She leapt up in the air, falling back in a crouch. The spitballs went right over her.

“I’ll grab your hand, ask you to dance in the middle of the street! Learn to sign cheesy lines, like ‘Baby, you complete me’!”

Cicada yelped. Raspberry checked. The poor girl got a spotlight shined in her eye. The girl cowered from the keyboard.

Killjoy was on it. She hopped back up on her feet. She flung her arm for a strong chord. As she did, a knife going out of her hand towards the cord holding up the spotlight. The handle hit the hands of the student. They cried out, letting go. The light fell back in place.

“And in case you forget where we’ve been and what we did, I’ll write it all down, read it out loud, again and again.” Raspberry stepped back out of the puddle beneath her.

Thorax glanced at her. 

“I promise if you let me I’ll love you like the movies.” Raspberry told him.

Thorax looked away.

Raspberry braced herself. She walked over to stand at Killjoy’s side. “Now I’ve never been one of them gals who get the leadin’ men. Just never seemed all that real.”

“But you’re like, a superhero.” Killjoy pointed out.

“So’s Jolie.”

“True.”

“But here right now with you somehow.” Raspberry winked at Thorax. “The kind of love they write about is the kind of love that I’m starting to feel.”

He tossed up his drumstick. It bonked a student on the head, before they could reach Thorax. Thorax held up his hand. Bumblebee tossed him a spare stick from the sides.

Raspberry sang the chorus again. Cicada got back into the swing of it.

Raspberry could feel it. A small feeling building up in her chest, warning her up and making her feel joy. Raspberry looked back to see a blank faced Thorax. It killed the feeling stone cold.

“I’ll never let go, Jack. I’ll never let go.” Killjoy chuckled into her mic.

“If you’re a bird, I’m a bird.” Raspberry joked back.

“You had me at hello.” Thorax added.

All four laughed.

“Like Noah loved Allie!” Killjoy added.

Raspberry laughed. “Like Harry loved Sally!”

“Like Richard loved Julia!”

“Twice!” Cicada shouted.

“Like Tom loved Meg!” Thorax offered.

“Nice!”

“And the way he loved that volleyball!” Raspberry added.

“WILSON!” Killjoy shouted.

“The way Demi Moore loved that ghost!” Raspberry winked.

Killjoy rolled her eyes. “Please don’t.” She leaned forward, avoiding a rotten tomato.

“The way Jack loved Rose!” Raspberry sang.

“What?” Cicada asked.

“I’ll never let it go, never let it go!”

“Was she talking about a ghost?” Cicada asked Thorax.

Raspberry spotted them. Holding a nerf gun, aimed at Thorax. Raspberry jumped, putting herself in the line of fire. It hit her. When she landed, she hit the still wet puddle of water.

She wiped out.

“Hey. You good?” Killjoy asked.

“Yeah.” Raspberry rolled out of the puddle. She ignored the aches and pains on her body, especially from where her guitar dug into her body.

“Cause that sounded like it hurt.” Killjoy went on.

“Yeah should we st-”

“It did but I’m fine.” Raspberry insisted.

“Oh okay.” Killjoy shrugged.

“Uh, if I can be you leading lady, even though I may look crazy.” Raspberry coughed. “I grab your hand, ask you to dance in the middle of the street.”

Raspberry turned. She faced Thorax, looking at him. He focused on his part. Raspberry spun around, locking eyes with Principal Celestia. She sang the chorus doing that.

Killjoy grabbed her hoodie. Raspberry went with the motion. She missed a foam pellet to the face. 

“Close your eyes, arms out wide. ‘I’m the king of the world.’ Carpet ride, starry nights. There’s no way I don’t kiss the girl.” Raspberry smirked at Thorax. “And in case you forget where we’ve been and what we did, I’ll write it all down, read it out loud. Again and again. I promise if you let me.”

Killjoy did a finger gun. “Here’s looking at you kid.”

“Frankly my dear.” Thorax added.

“I’ll love you like the movies.” Raspberry promised.

Thorax walked off stage. He never looked at her once.

Raspberry wanted to be okay. She wanted that so bad. How could she, though? If even Thorax, who always looked at Raspberry like she hung the moon, now couldn’t even meet her eyes?

Would anyone be okay after that?

Raspberry needed to fix it. She did something wrong (whatever that was), so she had to fix it. You make the mess, you clean the mess. If Thorax wanted to know it to fix it, Raspberry would do that for him.

Then he would love her again.

(Right?)
> Second Chorus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hours and hours later, bands fought. The Cavalry and the Rainbooms were getting closer and closer to competing.

The last fight put the Cavalry against Trixie & the Illusions.

Raspberry had full confidence her band would beat Trixie. It would be her third time doing so. Was there a punch card for this? Raspberry should get a free sandwich. She would love a free sandwich for kicking any version of Trixie’s butt.

Cicada liked playing too. Bumblebee freaked out every time she went on stage. The students kept throwing more tricks their way, trying to trip them up. After the first song, Raspberry tried to teach Cicada how to defend herself. Cicada proved she could do it, and beyond. Raspberry was impressed. Bumblebee was tearing out his hair.

Thorax paid them no attention at all.

It tore at Raspberry. Any time she looked at Thorax, reaching out for him, the Changeling turned away. Killjoy wanted to kick his ass.

It was doing wonders to keep them from transforming. Raspberry tried to focus on the positives.

She held her guitar. Killjoy stood at her side, glaring at Thorax. Thorax twirled a drumstick in his hand. Cicada hummed the next song to herself.

Sunset and the Rainbooms walked up to them. “This is it! Last round and we’re in the finals!” She turned to Twilight. “Unless you think the counter-spell is ready to be played now...?”

Twilight squeaked. She wrapped her arms around the song journal, an embarrassed frown on her face. Sunset looked over at Raspberry. Raspberry was staring at Thorax.

“Don’t worry, Twilight and Raspberry. Finals aren’t until tomorrow night.” Applejack assured them. “We’ll get in a little more practice before we’re supposed to hit the stage. We won’t let you down!”

“Oh- oh and you’ve still got us!” Cicada cheered. “We’ve got your back!”

“Yeah!” Bumblebee hugged Cicada’s side. “We know you can do it!”

Killjoy bumped Raspberry. Raspberry’s head popped up. “Huh? Oh. Yeah. Gonna do great.” She went back to staring at a cold Thorax.

The rest of the Rainbooms agreed.

Twilight frowned. “You won’t let me down-”

“When we win.” Killjoy began. “Our next fight is against you.” She walked up to Dash. Killjoy grinned, smug. “Think you can beat us in a fight? And yes that was a pun.”

Dash ground her teeth. “No way are you beating us to the finals. We’ve gotta be there so Twilight can do the spell!”

“My sister can do the spell just as good.” Killjoy countered. “That’s how she got to be a princess. In fact, she can do it 20 percent better than Twilight. No, 100 percent.”

Dash growled.

Twilight slumped further. She stared at her friend. Even with Raspberry so focused on Thorax, on their fight, Twilight knew the truth. Raspberry would do the counter spell much better. Raspberry was the only reason they beat Tirek.

Raspberry probably already knew the spell, how to make it work. Twilight would always be leagues behind. In a high pressure moment, Raspberry could just...switch off her feelings to be a better fighter. Twilight worried herself into a rut.

Raspberry disagreed. She knew she was in no state to fight sirens. With Thorax so apathetic, it made it hard to think about anything else.

Applejack pulled Dash back from Killjoy. “Come on you two. Ain’t no need for fightin’. Not when we’re this close.”

Killjoy stuck out her tongue. Raspberry reached over, without looking, to drag her sister back. Killjoy glared at her.

“Hear that? No need for fighting.” Killjoy repeated. She narrowed her eyes, grinning a wide insincere grin. “We ain’t gotta fight.”

Raspberry moved her grip to Killjoy’s neck. She dragged the red girl closer to her side, ignoring her gasps and choked giggles.

“Is everything okay?” Twilight asked.

“It’s fine.”

Twilight didn’t even pause. “Killjoy. Is everything okay?”

Killjoy held her thumb down. Raspberry gripped tighter to her neck. Killjoy kept it going.

“Is this okay?” Sunset asked Twilight.

“Those two fight all the time.” Twilight dismissed. She looked down at Fluttershy’s song journal. “And try to kill each other. They’re- they’re fine.” Twilight couldn’t forget the real issue. Sunset couldn’t either. They literally saw the breakdown this morning. Did Sunset forget that fast, or stop caring? Maybe Sunset needed more time to learn friendship. Even Raspberry took awhile, and she’d been around Twilight for (on Raspberry’s end) almost 20 years.

Sunset did remember this morning. She also knew that Raspberry kept secrets, and Killjoy was the type to tell you all of it. Raspberry wanted you to figure it out yourself. Killjoy- from all Sunset saw today, and read about over the months- would tell you and make you work backwards for it.

If Killjoy was talking about fighting, and Raspberry was trying to shut her up, that meant something. Maybe that clue was the key to defeating the sirens. Sunset tried to think about it all. The sirens caused the fighting, but the Equestria magic made them immune to it. 

Raspberry said something, though. Sunset tried to recall the exact words. Something about the siren magic...that the sirens wouldn’t need magic to make them fight. That was it! Because the Rainbooms were already fighting. But Sunset didn’t get it. The Cavalry were fighting too. Is that what they were supposed to be doing? Why was Killjoy trying to warn them? Why was Raspberry letting it go on?

Unless they actually weren’t supposed to fight?

But needed to for now?

Sunset watched Raspberry. Yes, Sunset had been a villain before, but she learned a lot. There was still room to grow, yes, but Sunset knew she had grown. Raspberry helped point out some things. All the tools and tricks Sunset used to cause pain before could be twisted to be used for good.

So she watched her target. Sunset watched closely. Looked at Raspberry to find the hurt. 

Sunset would help her friends.


==RRFTC==


“...I got tricks up my sleeve. See me dominate ’cause I’m powerful and grea-ea-eat!”

The students cheered. They often cheered the loudest for the people that went against the Cavalry or the Rainbooms. They all thought it would make the principals more likely to pick the other band. Only problem with this plan was that the magical bands were actually, genuinely better.

Trixie walked off the stage, her bandmates behind her. She puffed her chest and chin up at the Cavalry.

“Hmph. You’re never gonna top that performance, ‘Cavl-cry’.” Trudge boasted. She used a fog machine for her song, and small indoor safe fireworks. A teaser for her eventual, inevitable performance in the finale.

Raspberry simply blinked at Trixie. A bland, uninterested blink. Killjoy plucked her strings, ignoring her. Thorax looked at Trixie the way people in retail looked at troublesome customers. Cicada just smiled. 

Trixie hadn’t liked it. She wanted them to be intimidated, scared, worried. She wanted to prove she was great and powerful! “You shouldn’t be allowed to when you have such a big advantage over the rest of us.”

“That advantage being...?” Raspberry asked.

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous. You know what I mean!” Trixie snapped. “You’re magical! It’s helping you win!”

“How?“ Raspberry asked.

“You’re obviously using it to make you and your band sound better! And do all those stunts!” Trixie argued.

The Cavalry did have some crazy dance moves with their songs. Mostly Raspberry and Killjoy, the other two stayed by their instruments. The twins grew up learning martial arts. When the students threw their petty, childish attacks, the twins easily dodged but made it look like part of the show. It only added to the spectacle.

It took some talks to make the same happen during the Rainbooms songs.

“No. That’s just our training.” Raspberry replied.

“We took ballet as kids.” Killjoy supplied. “I can stand on my tiptoes for ten minutes.”

Raspberry recalled a fond memory of making Killjoy run training drills. Which, over time, did include walking on tiptoes. It made for a more silent killer. Trixie didn’t need to know about that part.

Trixie sneered at them. She reached in her pocket, pulling out a smoke bomb. She threw it to the ground.

Cicada and Thorax coughed.

Behind them, Pinkie gasped. “She’s gone! ...Oh, wait. There she is.”

Trixie ran out the back door. Her bandmates walked around the Cavalry and Rainbooms.

“Next up, the Cavalry.”

Spike howled. “Knock ’em dead, Cavalry!”

“I’ll be here...just...watching.” Sunset offered.

“I’ll keep them under control!” Bumblebee promised. During practices between matches, Bumblebee asked the twins to help him protect Cicada from the sides. They agreed to help. They taught him a lot of different tricks or ideas to keep attacks off Cicada, to help her stayed focused on piano.

Of course, neither sister explained that Cicada asked for similar tips. Raspberry called dibs on helping teach the girl the songs and defense.

The Rainbooms offered excited cheers. Rainbow Dash crossed her arms, ignoring them all.

On stage, Raspberry looked at the set list on Cicada’s piano. She glared at Killjoy.

“That’s not the right song.” Raspberry stated.

Killjoy plucked a guitar string. “Power-up songs are banned.“

“But it-”

“Nope.”

Raspberry, Killjly, and Thorax practiced these things for months. They made up separate song lists depending on their behavior close to the battle. Songs for if Raspberry and Thorax were happy and in love, and songs if they weren’t. Songs if they were in the mood for a big happy party, and songs for if they were not. Songs that were basically parody comedy without swear words, which Killjoy insisted be placed as backups.

The whole day, Raspberry and Thorax flip-flopped on transforming. Killjoy decided early in the day they were gonna play from the ‘Lovers Quarrel’ playlist. Songs that talked about how in love they were, and all that nonsense. If they were fighting, that was the best choice. But Raspberry changed in their first song- Killjoy acted fast to save them the headache.

They switched to the ‘Together Forever’ playlist. Songs about breaking up or being mad at your partner. Thorax kept almost transforming.

Killjoy tried their playlist for party songs. With them all fighting, surely a happy go lucky dance song would keep them down. Except that time Killjoy nearly changed.

Cue a switch to the Depression playlist. That time, unsurprisingly, Raspberry started changing. What did surprise them was that Cicada started changing too.

(Piano playing was apparently very intense during the sad song they picked. Author dammit)

Now it was the semi-finals. They hadn’t gone one round without a near change. The Rainbooms were kept in the dark about it. The fighting between the Rainbooms kept them safe. The Cavalry needed to keep better focus on their own abilities.

So Killjoy picked this next song about the one thing she was sure nobody in her band would want.

A love song, sung by Thorax.

Killjoy thought it made perfect sense. Raspberry was still in love, and very much unable to sing any song that would upset Thorax more. Killjoy would enjoy it too much. Cicada would blush the whole time, especially when it was an alternate version of her brother singing to his girlfriend/wife. Thorax, in whatever state he was in, wouldn’t transform.

If he did, then maybe he and Raspberry would get their heads out of their asses and talk.

A perfect plan. Her sister would be proud. Or at the very least thankful.

“Huh?” Thorax looked at the song. Killjoy saw the exact moment he realized what was happening. He glared at Killjoy. “You- I’m not singing that!”

“Too late. It’s the song the principals know about!” Killjoy went up to her spot.

Thorax seethed. Raspberry kept her face expressionless. Cicada just looked between her sheet and bandmates, confused.

“Cicada! Time to get started!” Killjoy reminded.

Cicada yelped. She rushed to her keyboard. Begrudgingly, Thorax went up to his drums. Raspberry stood at Killjoy’s side.

The song started. Raspberry played, soft and slow. She willed herself to ignore it.

“She wants to get married, she wants it perfect.” Thorax sang.

Raspberry would kill her sister. By the way she glared at Killjoy, it would be slow.

“She wants her granddaddy preachin' the service. Yeah, she wants magnolias out in the country Not too many people, save her daddy some money.” Thorax shrugged his shoulders, forcing them to relax. “Ooh, she got it all planned out. Yeah, I can see it all right now.

“I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back. I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without cryin’ so nobody sees. Yeah, she wanna get married.” Thorax looked over at Raspberry. She felt his eyes on her. “But she don’t wanna marry me.”

Raspberry would use poison. Poison to kill her sister. Then, when Killjoy inevitably woke back up, Raspberry would get her.

Students started their attacks. Raspberry kept dodging foam bullets, and the spotlight shined in her eye. Killjoy defended Cicada from a water bucket.

“I remember the night when I almost kissed her. Yeah, I kinda freaked out, we been friends for forever. And I always wondered if she felt the same way. When I got the invite, I knew it was too late.” Thorax shook his head. “And I know her daddy’s been dreadin’ this day. Oh, but he don’t know he ain’t the only one givin’ her away.”

He repeated the chorus. Killjoy spun in place- it launched a knife at the rafters. It bonked the spotlight, pushing it back in place.

Raspberry relaxed. She 

“Bet she got on her dress now, welcomin’ the guests now. I could try to find her, get it off of my chest now.” Thorax played the beats harder than needed, louder and angrier than the song was meant to be played. “But I ain’t gonna mess it up, so I’ll wish her the best now.”

Killjoy lived it. She looked back at Thorax. The students started avoiding the stage- finally giving up. They could actually win the finals. 

She saw sparkles on his head.

Behind the curtains, Sunset and Bumblebee noticed the same.

Killjoy checked Raspberry. Sparkles were forming on her head too- and shoulders. Her wings were forming.

Killjoy may have been an idiot.

“So I’m in my black suit, black tie, hidin’ out in the back.” Thorax slammed his drumstick on the drum. “Doing a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask.“

Killjoy and Sunset moved at the same time. Killjoy flung out her sleeve. Sunset went to the sound equipment.

Killjoy’s thin blade knocked the stick from 

“I’ll try to make it through without cryin’ so nobody sees-” Thorax cut off. The drumstick went flying. It hit Raspberry on the head. Raspberry turned in time to see the sparkles fade from his head.

The music stopped.

The students still clapped for them. Mostly, because the students thought they did so badly that the Cavalry was sure to lose.


==RRFTC==


It surprised and disappointed the students to hear that the Cavalry would move on. The most upset by this was Trixie & the Illusions.

She swore it wasn’t over, that she would have revenge.

Raspberry wanted a punch card for that too.


==RRFTC==


It was time.

The bigger battle.

Which band of magic girls (-and magic people of varying gender) would advance?

The Rainbooms went first. The Cavalry went off to the side, to watch and have a little...chat.

Fluttershy tapped Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “Um, I was just wondering. We haven’t played any of my songs yet, and-”

Dash shook her head. “It’s the semifinals. We gotta do ‘Awesome As I Wanna Be’.”

Fluttershy wilted. “Don’t know why I even asked-”

Dash dragged the shy girl on stage. The band had a quick warm up before rocking.

Thorax and Raspberry looked at each other. Killjoy, Cicada, and Bumblebee watched. Sunset tried watching both. Twilight tried to sing onstage and see if anything happened backstage.

Raspberry and Thorax stood stiffly beside each other.

“...happy birthday.”

Thorax scoffed.

Raspberry kept her expression clear. “Did Pink-”

“You are not throwing me a party when we get back to Pinkie’s.” Thorax stated. Raspberry blinked. “Yeah. You do that a lot, don’t you? Make plans without telling me. Finally caught onto it. And I don’t want it.”

This time, Raspberry could not hide the hurt in her eyes.

On stage, the Rainbooms glared at Rainbow Dash. Dash was hogging spotlights, and singing about how awesome she herself was.

Sunset noticed the sparkles. She couldn’t think of a thing to stop it. She watched the Cavalry stop transformations all day. It included throwing stuff, but Sunset had nothing to throw!

It ended up not mattering. Just as Sunset decided to tackle Dash, something got thrown.

It cut one of Dash’s guitar strings. She tried playing a note, falling flat. The guitarist noticed it. She stopped singing, to look down at what happened. Her guitar string was broken by a...hair clip?

Killjoy held up her own hands, twirling a knife in her fingers.

Raspberry stormed off through the side doors. Thorax stayed in his spot, fists still in his pockets.

The song stopped as Dash stopped singing. The students offered quiet applause. 

Dash stormed off stage. Her bandmates followed, confused.

“What was this?!” Dash asked Killjoy, pointing at her broken guitar string.

“My sister has good aim.” Killjoy excused. She used the knife in her hand to file her nails. 

“Oh please! This has you all over it!” Dash yelled.

Killjoy raised an eyebrow.

“No, it was Raspberry.” Cicada confirmed. Bumblebee nodded. “We watched her do it.”

“Good heavens!” Rarity gasped. “Are hair clips even that strong?”

“For us.” Killjoy replied.

Dash ground her teeth. “Then why did Raspberry ruin my song?!”

“Your song?” Fluttershy pointed out.

“You were showing them your magic. There weren’t a lot of options.” Sunset defended her friend.

“Ugh. Close the curtains? Unplug her amp? Give us a chance to deal with the situation?” Rarity listed.

“Right, because you guys are so good at that today.” Bumblebee argued.

“She was trying to help.” Cicada added.

“Yeah, well, she didn’t.” Dash snapped. “She knows it! Why else would she run off?”

Killjoy stood up. She walked into Dash’s face, a dangerous glint in her eye. “You were transforming. Nobody else was. You think a song all about you was gonna work to wake up friendship magic? Really?”

“Well yeah.” Dash shrugged off. “But we’re never gonna know because your sister ruined it.”

Twilight got between the two girls. Twilight knew these two wouldn’t get along- they fought a lot in Equestria too. “Killjoy. Is Raspberry okay?”

“She ran out of here after throwing a hair clip fast enough to break a guitar string. No.” Killjoy answered. She still glared at Dash. “She’s not okay.”

Applejack pulled Dash further back. “None of this would’ve happened if you weren’t tryin’ to show off– as usual.”

Dash growled. “Why is everybody blaming me?! I didn’t do anything!”

The principals walked out on stage.

“SHHH!” Pinkie leapt up in the air, hushing them. “They said they’re gonna announce the winner!”

Cicada yelped. “But- but we haven’t gone on yet! And we can’t without Raspberry!”

“Neither can we!” Dash pointed to her guitar string. “These were good strings-”

“Attention students!” Principal Celestia called out. The Rainbooms and Cavalry gasped. Thorax and Killjoy tensed. “Given the recent behavior of the students-”

Sunset spotted something. The sirens stood on the other side of the stage. Sunset could hear the sirens, see their gemstone necklaces glow.

“-we have decided that the band that will be joining the Dazzlings in tonight’s finals... The Cavalry!” Principal Celestia revealed.

The crowd cheered. Mostly, because it meant the Rainbooms lost. They shouted their hate about the Rainbooms and their band, and for the Cavalry. All at once the crowd began chanting for the Dazzlings.

Rarity frowned. “What can we do? There isn’t gonna be another opportunity for us to play. And I had the most gorgeous outfit for the finals!”

“Yup, ’cause that’s the real tragedy here, Rarity– that you won’t get to play dress-up!” Applejack snapped.

Rarity huffed. “You know perfectly well that is not what I meant!”

Principal Celestia invited the Cavalry on stage. The trio walked on. The students booed them. They shouted for the Dazzlings.

“Congratulations, Cavalry. You deserve it.” She praised them.

Killjoy smiled. She waved at the students. Cicada, following Killjoy’s lead, giving a nervous smile and small wave. Thorax just nodded at the crowd.

“But uh- we didn’t-” Cicada began.

“We had another song.” Thorax reminded Celestia.

“The Rainbooms were disqualified after tampering with their opponent.” Vice Principal Luna explained.

 Dash fumed. The Rainbooms tampered with the Cavalry? That’s not at all how it happened!

The principals walked away. The Dazzlings took their place. 

Adagio Dazzle smirked at the Cavalry. “See you at tonight’s big show, Cavalry. We are really looking forward to it. Where is that band leader of your’s?”

“Right here.”

Everyone on stage yelped, jumping back.

Raspberry stood in front of the drums. She blinked, face blank. Not a trace of emotion to be seen. She turned to the Dazzlings, keeping her face clear.

“Just getting myself spotlight ready.” Raspberry replied. She brushed her hair back. “Since it’s going to be me and mine winning tomorrow.”

Adagio giggled. “Ha! We’ll see.”

Raspberry curtly nodded.


==RRFTC==


In the parking lot, the groups were standing around the front of the portal statue. The sun had long ago set. The only way to see anything was from the streetlights around them.

“We got kicked out of the battle of the bands!” Dash pointed an angry finger at Raspberry. “How are we supposed to beat them now?!”

“You know there’s nothing stopping you from actually taking the stage, yes?” Killjoy asked.

“I- huh?”

“If you went on stage, with us defending you, you could still play. Nothing would stop it, and afterwards everyone would be thankful for getting rid of the sirens.” Raspberry explained.

“Oh- that’s smart!” Cicada cheered. She elbowed Bumblebee. “Your other self really picked a winner.”

“Hey, I liked her too.” Bumblebee reminded her. “But you know-”

“Twilight, what do you think?” Applejack asked.

Twilight looked at Raspberry. The Reality Traveler nodded. “If Raspberry says we can do it, I believe her.”

With that, the Rainbooms were in agreement. Bumblebee and Cicada left, saying they needed to go home. The rest agreed on another sleepover at Pinkie’s place.

As they made their way to the place, Sunset pulled Raspberry aside.

“Are you okay? I saw you leave, really suddenly.” Sunset told her.

Raspberry shook her head. “It’s okay. The ponies back home, I had to call them about something.”

“Is everything alright?” Sunset asked. She was worried that Raspberry called to warn about the sirens invading.

“No it-” Raspberry glanced at Thorax. Just enough to see how close he stood before she spoke. “Pinkie and Rarity were working on something there. I had- well I needed- Bee said he didn’t want it.”

“The birthday party?” Sunset asked. “Wasn’t our Pinkie Pie planning a party?”

Raspberry swallowed, keeping a tense smile. “He didn’t- My Pinkie said he did, but I don’t know.”

“I think he’ll love it.” Sunset promised. “Who wouldn’t love a party from Pinkie?”

Raspberry turned away. Back to looking at Thorax, who was standing beside an excited Pinkie. The drummer was rambling about the kinds of things that Thorax liked- all for the party at her place.

“Yeah. Who couldn’t love ‘em?”


==RRFTC==


Later that night, the party ended. Thorax- in her female form again- finished off the last of her banana cake.

Raspberry dropped on the couch. Pinkie cleaned up after the party. Raspberry offered but Pinkie insisted. Raspberry stayed by Thorax’s side.

Thorax stared down at her plate. Raspberry took note of the stray white icing on Thorax’s green hand.

“You’ve got some on your hand.” Raspberry told her.

Thorax turned her hand. She spotted the icing, humming. She wiped it on the plate before tucking it aside.

Raspberry bit her lip. It was quiet again, in the living room. Last night was quiet too. They still fought.

Raspberry settled to being allowed on the couch. “...so-”

Thorax tilted her head. “Yeah?”

Raspberry bit her lip. “...did you like the party?”

“Pinkie’s parties are great.” Thorax replied. Her tone was flat, vague and distant. She was looking at the plate like one looked at the black void of space.

Her stomach spun. The awful feeling danced up her chest into her throat. Raspberry kept forcing herself to calm down, trying to have some semblance of peace. Thorax wouldn’t need to feel Raspberry right now.

Thorax leaned back on the couch. Raspberry copied her. Thorax’s head fell back on the cushion. Raspberry couldn’t look away from her face.

She hadn’t changed much, or anything really. Sure some parts were smoother, or longer, but everything looked the same. Broad shoulders, only slimmer. Her arms and legs lost none of the muscle. Raspberry even spotted the same little half-scar below the ear. Thorax was never allowed to use electric razors since. Raspberry loved the curve of Thorax’s face. The slope of her nose. The way Thorax sat when in deep thought. Every part of Raspberry’s Thorax was amazing.

The pajamas were nice too. A clean nightgown. Matching pajamas from Pinkie Pie. Thorax wore one in soft baby pink, while Raspberry wore a soft green. Long sleeved, long legged, frills on the edges, and two big hearts on the chest. It made them look like a couple.

Her hand moved closer to Thorax.

Thorax shifted on the couch. She moved her arms up, cuddling herself.

Raspberry slowly moved her hand away.

“You liked it?” Raspberry asked.

Thorax signed. Raspberry winced. “Yeah.”

“I know you didn’t want...a party.” Raspberry played with the frilly cuffed sleeve. “I tried-”

“Pinkie talked to me about it.” Thorax said. “I told her I wanted a small thing. So it’s what I got.” Thorax nodded her chin towards the empty plate.

Something in her chest settled at that. “You like banana cake best. Do you remember the fight you and Lilac had, about if the cake would be banana or banana nut?”

Thorax did laugh. A beautiful, warm giggle. The same timbre as Thorax always did when giggling. “She burned off my eyebrows.”

Raspberry giggled to match. “And apologized.”

“For a month.” Thorax laughed. Her hypnotical, endearing laugh that Raspberry never wanted to lose. Because of how Thorax placed her head, you could see the laugh shaking the smooth expanse of her throat.

A perfect moment.

There was still a fight going on, still souring the bond between them. Raspberry would need to fix it soon. But for a moment, Raspberry watched the love of her life laugh.

The moment ended. Thorax dropped the laughing smile. “Time for bed.”

Raspberry sobered her joy. “Right. Yeah.”

“So you sleep upstairs again?”

“I slept on the couch.” Raspberry could feel her cheeks warming up.

Thorax scrunched up her eyebrows. She looked down at the couch they were on. “No you didn’t.”

“Yes I did.”

“No. You hate sleeping on the couch, especially alone.” Thorax stated. She sat up. Her bright purple eyes locked on Raspberry.

Good thing she was sitting down. Raspberry’s legs were jelly.

“Morgan.” Thorax leaned forward. Raspberry- Morgan- whichever. She would answer it. Thorax leaned close enough for their noses to touch. “Did you sleep last night?”

She could only stare. Her purple eyes were such a bright shade- like the aurora borealis. 

“Morgan.” Thorax prompted.

“I waited for you to come back.” Morgan hadn’t realized her eyes were watering, not until she felt tears on her new nightgown. Her head spun with the bombarding feelings. “B-Because- I don’t know-”

Thorax sighed. She pulled Morgan in for a hug.

“-what I did. I can’t- I don’t know-”

“Shh, Shh.” Thorax brushed her fingers in Morgan’s hair. “Time for bed.”

“-but you’re mad!” 

“Yes. But that can wait until we sleep.” Thorax assured her.

Always.

Thorax always assured Morgan. Every time, all the time. Thorax could always make Morgan right again.

Morgan never wanted Thorax to leave.


==RRFTC==


Mr Pie found two girls asleep on his couch. Both of them curled up under a blanket, tangled up together on the small couch space. One girl wrapped her arms around the other, the blanket framing her arms and legs squeezing the other girl.

He assumed it was to keep from falling off. He would talk to Pinkie about it later. If the girls were staying another night, Mr Pie would need to offer better accommodations.
> Bridge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The band wasted very little time getting ready. According to the schedules given by the principals, the first third of the day would go to the Dazzlings. The second third would be for the Cavalry, while the end would go to the finals.

Everyone slept in. That is to say, nobody slept well, and by the time they did fall asleep it was practically morning. So the Rainbooms and Cavalry woke up around noon.

It made them scramble to get ready. The slot for their practice started at 2. They would have until 6, and then nothing until the battle at 7.

Meaning they had two hours to get ready.

No, scratch that.

That Rarity had two hours to get ready.

After realizing this, those two hours were jam packed with movement and speed. Rarity moved fast enough to make Pinkie Pie jealous. She needed to get her outfit together, the ones for all the Rainbooms, and ones for the Cavalry. For those counting at home that is ten outfits to make in two hours.

Things were tense on the drive to the auditorium. Rarity struggled in the back, stitching on colors and sleeves and emblems.

Killjoy thought it was entertaining.

They made it to the auditorium a half hour late. The Cavalry pretended to set up their stuff. The Rainbooms used it. Sunset tried running the tech booth. Raspberry stood beside her, actually running tech booth.

“Check, one, two. Testing, testing...” Dash tapped her mic. “Testing...!”

The speakers squeaked. The sound came sharply and in everyone’s ears.

Raspberry lowered the mic’s sound. Sunset winced, apologetic. “There. We good?”

“No we are not!”

The group turned to the side stage. Trixie Lulamoon stood with the Illusions, glowering.

“Didn’t we beat you?” Killjoy asked. “You’re supposed to be- I don’t know. What does Trixie do when you beat her?”

Raspberry shrugged. “This.”

“Ah.”

Trixie Lulamoon “The Great and Powerful Trixie is the most talented girl at Canterlot High. It is I who deserves to be in the finals!” Trixie announced. “And I will not...be denied!” Sge clicked her fingers.

Her lackeys grabbed a nearby lever.

Raspberry grabbed Thorax. 

A trap door on the stage. Cavalry and Rainbooms fell beneath the stage, Sunset and Bumblebee too.

Trixie cackled as the trap doors closed. “See you never!”

Raspberry groaned. Thorax landed on her legs.


==RRFTC==


They tried kicking down the door. Thorax attempted to shift into a large form- it failed. The magic of this world worked differently. He could only shift into human forms. 

They were trapped down there.

For hours.

Rarity bemoaned that she couldn’t work on her dresses. Even worse, overhead were the loud repetitive sounds of the Illusions singing ‘Powerful and Great’.

The song grated after a while.

“Why did Trixie do this?” Twilight asked.

“The sirens probably tricked her into it. Said she would’ve won if we hadn’t beat her- which is why they told the principals you cheated.”

“You think so?” Twilight asked. “Oh that makes sense. Trixie would’ve been bothered that she couldn’t stand against me, and would blame you. When she came here to stop you, it must’ve looked perfect that we were both here.”

“Yeah.” Killjoy slumped herself on a box. “Trixie really hates you in any universe.”

Raspberry sighed. “It’s a tragedy.”

Thorax and Applejack tried kicking down the door again. For twenty minutes. It failed. Hilariously.

“Can’t you kick it down?” Dash asked Raspberry.

“No. It’s locked- really locked. I would break my foot.” Raspberry answered.

“Then- then use magic-” Dash tried.

“We tried that already.” Raspberry waved her hand at the door.

“Fine. Fine!” Dash made a run at the door.

She collided with it.

“See? I said-” Raspberry never got to finish her sentence.

Dash stood up. She made another run at the door.

“They’ve done everythin’ they could!” Applejack told her friend. “So how about you start trying!”

Dash ground her teeth. “They have magic. I know they do. They used it earlier, when they transformed!”

“Why were you transforming, Bee? You never said.” Raspberry asked. She could feel the many eyes of the others.

Thorax stuffed his hands in his pockets. Raspberry noted they were fists. “It’s a song. I’m part pony. Why wouldn’t I?”

“This magic requires a strong emotional connection, just like it does back home.” Raspberry argued. “Why did you emotionally connect with that song?”

Thorax narrowed his purple eyes. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“No. I’m bad at it. You tell me, please?”

“It’s a song about a girl leaving a relationship for somebody else.” Thorax stated. “Why did you?”

Raspberry grimaced, quickly correcting her face. She agreed partly with Thorax. The song was about a guy losing his girl, but there was another side to that. A side that Raspberry enjoyed very much. She hadn’t realized she started transforming until the drumstick hit her head.

“Maybe...” Raspberry glanced behind her. Checking on the others, and the Rainbooms. “Maybe I heard a different song.”

“What song were you hearing?”

Raspberry swallowed. 

Twilight tried to step forward. 

Killjoy pulled her back. She wore a giddy smile, watching with wide dark purple eyes. “Nonono. Let them have this.”

“What, why?” Twilight asked.

“They’ve been avoiding this fight for six months. Let them have it!” Killjoy explained.

“Six months?” Sunset asked. Raspberry started messaging her six months ago. She never mentioned anything about any fights.

“They never want the kids to see them fight, so they hide it.” Killjoy reasoned. “So now a lot of big things built up into this and I really wanna see it!”

Raspberry swallowed. “You- you think I want to leave? Leave you?”

Thorax raised his chin. “Well it makes sense. You keep getting further and further from me.  I told you last night. A huge monster nearly destroyed everything. He was gonna go after our kids and you said nothing!”

“I explained, last night, that I worked around that.” Raspberry replied.

“And- when it did, you just- just gave up.” Thorax shook his head, trying to shake off the image. “You looked dead.”

“My friends and family needed me.”

“And what about me? Did you even think about me during all of this?”

“You were why I did it.” Raspberry admitted. “All our kids were safe. Twilight would’ve managed fine. Discord came and reminded me you were in trouble.”

“It didn’t feel like it.”

“That’s on me. I should’ve taken your feelings into account. I’m sorry.”

“And my sister? What about her? Why haven’t you found her and her abductor yet?”

Cicada and Bumblebee gasped. They hadn’t known the reason Cicada’s alternate wasn’t around. Maybe they should have guessed, but the idea was so horrible that no sand person would jump to abduction. Bumblebee held tighter to Cicada.

“Because she’s trapped in one of his world’s. The only way in is with his permission, which we will never get, or his blood. Breaking in. Doing to him what he’s done to me.” Raspberry explained. Each word said like it was pulling out from her heart. “I want to find her too. A lot of my tech for that was- well I left it in my MCU apartment. Or it would work best in my MCU apartment. I want- I want you to have your sister back. I pushed you to get back with your brother, and I want you to have your sister more than anything. Because I want...I want you happy.”

Thorax visibly struggled. Like he wanted to rage, and now that he had he couldn’t stop. But he knew- it was clear on his face- He knew that fighting in front of their friends would hurt them both.

“Bumblebee still follows you around.” Thorax pointed at the boy, furious. Bumblebee tilted his head.

“I- Uh.”

“He’s still here. Trying to get close to you, and you don’t tell him to back off.”

“He’s a boy-”

“And you won’t even tell him we’re married!”

The Rainbooms and the Cavalrys gasped. Killjoy held tighter to Twilight, buzzing with excitement.

“Or anybody! You hide it, all the time!” Thorax ranted. “Nobody is allowed to even think it. You keep correcting them. What did I transform during that song? Maybe because the mare I love doesn’t want to marry me.”

Raspberry bit her lip. She met Thorax’s eyes. He could see them watering. Thorax kept himself meeting her eyes. He refused to look away from it. He wanted to challenge Raspberry- to see her weasel her way out of it.

She reached into her Bag. She pulled out a wrapped parcel.

“Happy Birthday.” Raspberry said.

Thorax glared at the present.

“I wanted to give you this in a big party- it was gonna be great. We convinced the others to make it a big thing. Pinkie was throwing us a party in Equestria. A big birthday party for you and this was gonna be- well you should have it now.” Raspberry held out the parcel. “Please?”

Thorax took the gift. The rest of the people in the room watched with bated breath. Pinkie chewed her nails off, creating a little pile at her sides.

Thorax opened it. The parcel held a folder. He opened that to reveal a bunch of documents. He glared again at Raspberry.

She met his stare. She loosened her shoulders, forcing herself to relax.

“What is this?” Thorax pulled out one of the documents.

“They’re for Thorsten Chrysson. I- I wanted to still call you- it’s stupid. Your birthday is the same but I played around with the year.” Raspberry answered.

Killjoy gasped. “She’s doing it.”

“Doing what?” Twilight whispered. Killjoy hushed her.

“…why?” Thorax asked, eyebrows scrunched.

“Because then the next bit would make sense.” Raspberry came over to his side. She turned the page. “Please tell me you can read that?”

Thorax’s eyes widened. Killjoy squeezed Twilight’s hand.

“…did you fake my signature?” Was all Thorax could manage to say. His purple eyes watered, quickly overflowing with tears.

“And my parents’. I’m good at that.” Raspberry replied. Yep, the tears came now. Thorax cried, looking at the papers like they would vanish if he looked away. “I…do you mind? I thought you wouldn’t mind. Do- do you mind?”

“What’s on the paper?” Pinkie whispered.

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know. I can’t see.”

“It’s a marriage certificate. From Earth. For us.” Thorax revealed.

The girls all gasped. They looked at Raspberry. Her dark pink cheeks were even darker with a blush. She lifted her chin, trying to pretend the blush wasn’t there. The girls all cooed and cheered.

“We’re Earth married now.” Raspberry told him. “There- Pinkie’s party was gonna end in a marriage ceremony and I haven’t gone to get the dress...but I mean this is fine too. Yeah. Marvel’s still gonna be the honeymoon. I’ve got, like, so much stuff to make it better for you. Stuff that I couldn’t get in Equestria.”

“Are you serious?” Thorax asked.

“About you? Always.” Raspberry replied.

Thorax could only stare. He stared at the birth certificate, and the marriage certificate. They weren’t fake. They were faked, but they weren’t faked. They were- Raspberry- She arranged it. 

“She got it all planned out.” Thorax recalled.

Raspberry blushed. “I’m gonna kill her for ruining the surprise.”

Thorax looked up at her. He shook his head. “You- you had a wedding planned out. As-as a birthday present?”

Raspberry nodded. “It- I thought you didn’t- it was another thing I planned without you. I’m sorry. I told Pinkie to cancel it-”

“Call her back.”

Raspberry blinked. “I...huh?”

Thorax shook his head. “Call Pinkie back.”

“Wha...why?”

Killjoy snorted. Fuck, she loved it when her sister was struck dumb.

The others in here smiled too. Most of them, anyway. Rarity was crying. This was better than a soap opera!

“For that party.” Thorax started walking up to Raspberry. “That big, awesome party. You and I are gonna plan it. Together.”

Raspberry squeaked.

“Okay?” Thorax asked.

Raspberry nodded, cheeks a bright pink. She scrambled to get her phone from her pocket, holding it out. “Please.”

Thorax grinned. Giggling, he took the phone. “This is going to be insane.”

She giggled with him. “It- you still, really?”

“Yes.” Thorax stated. “Okay? Yes, I want that.”

“Because I’m gonna find her, I will.” Raspberry promised. “She’s- I’ll find her. I want to find her-”

Thorax came closer. He held her hand, pulling her up to him. Raspberry shut up. Thorax wrapped Raspberry in a hug. Raspberry stood, gobsmacked.

“I love you.” Thorax promised.

Her heart burned.


==RRFTC==


There was a loud thud.

Thorax and Raspberry didn’t flinch. She stayed wrapped up in a hug. The rest of the group sighed, used to this.

There was another thud.

Killjoy rolled her eyes. She tossed a knife in the air, making a show of catching the blade. She tossed it again.

Another loud thud.

“If we couldn’t bust down the door.” Killjoy groaned. “Why do you think you can?”

Dash grunted. She brushed off her shirt, getting ready for another run up.

Applejack stepped in her way. “Give it up, Rainbow Dash.” She pulled her friend away from the door. “You’ve been tryin’ at this for hours. It’s not gonna open.”

“Maybe it doesn’t even matter that we’re trapped down here. I don’t think the counter-spell would have worked anyway.” Twilight reminded them.

Raspberry shifted in the hug. Thorax pressed his nose against her head, nuzzling her cheek.

“Of course it would have worked, Twilight.” Applejack narrowed her green eyes at Dash. “Assumin’ a certain band member didn’t try to hog the spotlight the whole time we were tryin’ to play it!”

“Hey! If you wanna tell Twilight she’s getting a little too caught up trying to be the new leader of this band, you don’t have to be all cryptic about it.” Dash shrugged off.

“She was talking about you, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity yelled.

Dash gawked. “Me?! I’m just trying to make sure my band rocks as hard as it needs to!”

“OUR BAND!” The rest of the Rainbooms yelled.

Thorax squeezed Raspberry. “You got this.” He assured her.

Raspberry bit her lip.

Cicada moved closer to Bumblebee. She moved her head, making her head fall over her face to hide herself. Bumblebee acted as the protector.

“But why wasn’t it working? I should know what to do.” Twilight fretted. She backed away from them, curling in a ball. “How could I not know what to do? How could I have failed like this?”

“It might’ve been your idea to start a band, but it’s not just your band, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack argued.

“I’m the one who writes all the songs!” Dash stated.

“I write songs! You just never let us play any of them!” Fluttershy reminded her.

“I had the most perfect outfits for us to wear!”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Again with the costumes! No one cares what we’re wearin’!”

“I care, Applejack! So sorry if I enjoy trying to make a creative contribution to the band!” Rarity argued.

Pinkie popped up between them. “Hey! Anybody here remember fun?! I’ll give you a hint: It’s the exact opposite of being in the Rainbooms!”

“I wish I never asked any of you to be in my band!”

“I wish I’d never agreed to be in it!”

“Me neither!”

Thorax pulled back, kissing her head again. “You ready to work?”

“Do it for a livin’.” Raspberry sighed. She smiled as Thorax hugged her side. He stayed there, arm around her back. 

Green magic was pouring off the girls. The magic floating up into the ceiling. Raspberry watched it go. A bitter feeling swelling in her gut.

She took a deep breath in.

The Rainbooms continued arguing.

Killjoy stood up, tucking her knife away. She stood at Raspberry’s non-hugged side.

“ENOUGH!” Raspberry shouted.

Her voice boomed. It cut to each of the Rainbooms, silencing them. They stared at Raspberry, confused and only more enraged. Raspberry stood strong and confident. She had people on her side that gave her all the courage she needed.

“You girls have been bickering since we got here.” Raspberry made sure to look each girl in the eye, slowly moving between each one so they couldn’t escape this moment. “About everything that anyone can argue about. I’m no better, you all just saw that. But I did hope you guys would take my warnings.”

“You didn’t give us any!” Dash shouted.

“No, she did.” Pinkie pulled a sticky note out of her hair. “‘The Dazzlings don’t need magic to make you argue’. Right, Raspberry?”

“Exactly. They don’t need to use their magic. You’re all doing a fine enough job yourself.” Raspberry stated.

“Now, sure, we’ve been fighting, but it ain’t that bad.” Applejack shook her head. “It’s just-”

“You were spitting out green clouds before I stopped you.” Raspberry told them. She turned to Sunset. “You saw it too, yeah?”

Sunset swallowed. “I- I did. Yes. Ever since they-” She stopped herself, hugging her arm to her chest and looking away from the others.

Raspberry held out her hand. Killjoy stepped back, letting the hand go out. “Ever since they...?”

“Started the band.” Sunset admitted in a rush. She quickly shut herself back down.

Sunset looked at the Rainbooms. All of them stared, confused but now a little more hurt. She wanted to be their trusted friend, to be welcomed in their group. They closed their ranks to her ages ago. Sure, the words and entries from Raspberry helped, but they did nothing to stop that lonely feeling. What would they think of her now? Would they think she started their fighting, just to ruin Equestria again? The very thought made Sunset sick.

“Hey. No, come on.” Killjoy bumped Sunset forward. The yellow-orange haired girl stumbled. “You got their attention. Just finish it. Rip off the bandaid.”

Killjoy didn’t often give Sunset advice. Or, advice that didn’t end with ‘just stab your problems away’. Sunset took this advice like a duck to water.

She took a deep breath. “Ever since you started this band, you’ve been letting little things get to you. I never said anything ’cause I didn’t feel like it was my place. Not when I was so new to this whole ‘friendship’ thing. I still have a lot to learn. But I do know that if you don’t work out even the smallest problems right at the start, the magic of friendship can be turned into something else.”

“I can’t believe all this tension was happening right under my nose and I didn’t realize it. I’m supposed to be the one with all the answers. And all I’ve done since I got here is let you down.” Twilight wilted back into her legs.

Raspberry pulled back. Thorax kept his hold tight. Raspberry moved into it. 

“Twilight.” Raspberry and Thorax walked towards her. “You’re still recovering from Tirek, and of all the stress that came with it. You nearly lost your house, and all of your friends. You have not let any of us down. We let you down, by expecting so much too soon.” She held out her hand. “Now come on. Accept some help.”

Twilight looked at the hand. Shakily, she reached up for it.

Raspberry and Thorax helped Twilight to her feet.

“Or, accept someone’s songs.” Raspberry offered. She smiled over at Fluttershy. “Because I think our counterspell belongs to somebody very special.”

“That doesn’t solve our problem with the door.” Dash reminded them. She pointed at the door with her thumb.

Raspberry hummed. She kissed Thorax’s cheek. “Bye babe.”

“Bye babe!” Thorax waved.

Raspberry walked to the door. “Door turns towards us. Kicking it down isn’t gonna work.” She knelt on the ground, eyeing the door. “It’s got a hole...makes it an interior door. That means I need a-”

“-allen wrench.” Killjoy noted. “Green tool case.”

Raspberry opened her Bag. She pulled out a small green tool box. “

“Do we need a lock pick?” Killjoy asked. She knelt beside her sister.

“No.” Raspberry pulled out an allen wrench. She used it on the doorknob. It wasn’t the right fit. She reached for another one.

“You still owe me a new one.” Killjoy reminded her sister. The allen wrench didn’t fit. “After you lost mine.”

“Find one and I’ll cover it.” Raspberry tried another.

“All the ones I want require a lockpick to get.”

“Buy one with money.”

“There’re more fun to steal.”

“Then point me at the one you wanna steal.”

“No. I wanna steal it.”

“Then steal it.”

“No.” Killjoy complained. She slumped against the wall. She eyed the tool box. “It’s that one.”

Raspberry looked at it. “Oh okay.” She plucked it up, tucking it into the doorknob. It turned. “We got it!”

The door opened. A small purple dog fell over.

“Spike!” Twilight cheered.

“Huh?” Spike looked up. He looked around at the group. “How did you open the door?”

Raspberry held up an allen wrench. “We unlocked it.”

Spike blinked again. “Oh. Yeah that makes sense.” He stood up, shaking his body. “I was just gonna start looking for somebody who can avoid the sirens magic.”

“We know somebody.” Raspberry and Killjoy stated.

“You heard ‘em, girls!” Cicada jumped up. She hauled Raspberry and Killjoy to their feet. “Time for you to prove you’ve got the- the-”

“Friendship magic!” Bumblebee told her.

“And there’s only one way to do it!” Twilight stated.

“We’re getting the band back together?” Pinkie asked.

Dash hugged her. “We’re getting our band back together!”

Pinkie threw up her hands. Confetti floated down. “Whee!”

“Ooh, which version of the counterspell are we going to play?” Rarity asked.

Twilight looked at Raspberry. Raspberry nodded at the song journal. “I know just the song.” Twilight turned to the exact page in the journal. “The song Fluttershy wrote is perfect.” She showed it off to them.

Dash grinned. She gave Fluttershy a thumbs up. “Yeah. It’s great, and I can’t wait to hear it.”

Fluttershy squealed. She joined Dash and Pinkie’s hug.

“We’re about to save the world here. Personally, I think we should do it in style.” Applejack turned to Rarity. “Rarity?”

Rarity’s blue eyes sparkled like diamonds. “I thought you’d never ask!” She grabbed Thorax, pulling him close. “I’ve got outfits for everyone!”
> Final Chorus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Dazzlings walked out on stage. Adagio, head of the group, began their song. A low, hypnotizing melody. They hadn’t gotten much magic from that Cavalry, but what they had was good enough. It gave them a much needed boost to their powers.

It would’ve been better if the Rainbooms were the ones with magic. That would have been a nice touch. The magic taken from the Cavalry...it was the best. 

The crowd silenced. They stared up at the Dazzlings.

“Welcome to the show. We’re here to let you know our time is now. Your time is running out.” Adagio grinned out at the crowd.

She and the others kept harmonizing, drawing the students further in.

Their magic grew and grew.


==RRFTC==


They’d moved to a nearby hill, behind the amphitheatre. Rarity got them all into new outfits. Colorful, beautiful outfits. Raspberry shouldn’t have been so surprised to be given clothes that looked so good.

For Raspberry, Rarity made a blue and silver dress shirt decorated in smaller versions of her cutiemark, a white belt, blue and purple leggings, and a pair of silver boots. Killjoy wore a black corset with red lacings, red fishnet sleeves, a black mini skirt, pink and green leggings, and red boots. Thorax was given a dark green vest, a green long sleeved undershirt, brown leggings, and green boots. Cicada got a white corset, pink fishnet sleeves, a pink lace flared out skirt, purple and black leggings, and black boots.

The Rainbooms were given their own amazing outfits. But that’s not something there is time to explain. The sirens were getting more powerful by the minute.

“How are we supposed to play over them from up here?” Dash asked.

A car screeched up the hill. Vinyl Scratch came, driving a small white car.

“How come she wasn’t affected?” Applejack asked.

“She wears headphones.” Raspberry supplied.

Vinyl pointed at her pink headphones. She flipped a switch on the car. All at once, the car shifted into a perfectly working sound system.

The Rainbooms cheered.

Raspberry held up a fist. Cicada bumped it.

Thorax held up his fist. Killjoy knocked it aside. Bumblebee leapt at the chance. He pulled his alternate in for a hug. Thorax initially tensed against the hug, but he relaxed. He hugged Bumblebee back.

“Feel the wave of sound as it crashes down. You can’t turn away! We’ll make you wanna sta-a-a-ay!”

The band turned to the stage. The Dazzlings were starting to float in the air. Their eyes and bodies glowing a vicious green. A magical red wave poured out from the sirens. It waved out over the crowd. They became even more entranced.

“We will be adored! Tell us that you want us. We won’t be ignored! It’s time for our reward.” The Dazzlings began to glow a dark red. The magic hardened around them. They broke out of the shells, revealing siren style wings on their backs and pony ears on their heads. The magic of Equestria served them well. “Now you need us. Come and heed us. Nothing can stop us now!”

Dash and Killjoy started off the song.

“Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh. I’ve got the music in me.” The bands sang. “Oh-oh, oh-whoa-oh!”

The Dazzlings paused in their song. They turned to the hill. They hissed and glared.

“Don’t need to hear a crowd cheering out my name.” Twilight sang.

The students began to pull out from their trances. Slowly, the students started to turn to the hill. To see the Rainbooms and the Cavalry singing, colored spotlights shining all around them. Vinyl Scratch kept up the audio tracks.

“I didn’t come here seeking infamy or fame.” Raspberry sang.

“The one and only thing that I am here to bring is music, is the music-” The Rainbooms and Cavalry sang. “-is the music in my soul. Gonna break out!”

In a flash, the joined band was taken over by bright magic. One by one, the girls powered up. Pony ears began appearing. Their hair stretched out with colored streams being added, forming ponytails down their backs. Thorax grew antlers. Wings formed on Twilight, Raspberry, Dash, Fluttershy, and Killjoy’s backs. Thorax got his usual insectoid wings, and Cicada got wings of bright blue.

“Set myself free, yeah. Let it all go! Just let it be, yeah. Find the music in your heart. Let the music make you start to set yourself apart!”

The girls began to glow brighter and brighter. The Equestrian magic began to swell within them. 

The Dazzlings rose higher in the sky. The students in the crowd shifted back to them. “What we have in store all we want and more. We will break on through. Now it’s time to finish you!”

They sent out another red wave. Another red shell formed around the trio of sirens. Pouring out this time were their true siren forms. Longer, serpentine shapes with pony heads. They growled. The sirens charged at the hill.

The band all stared at the approaching sirens.

Killjoy leapt up. She played a riff.

A large, powerful attack flashed out from her guitar. An attack shaped like her cutiemark, colored dark purple. To anyone who didn’t know her cutiemark, you would just see thousands of purple knives going out towards the purple siren.

Thorax nodded at Pinkie. The two of them, joint on drums, prepared another attack. Blue balloons and honey bees flew out at the blue sirens.

Twilight and Raspberry made an attack of their own. They sang into their microphones. Thousands of purple and pink stars, and blue and silver books attacked Adagio Dazzle.

Adagio hit them with a counter attack. 

Raspberry kept her and Twilight on their feet. 

Fluttershy and Rarity fired an attack. Pink butterflies and blue diamonds hit the purple siren.

Blue lightning bolts and orange apples lashed out at the blue siren.

The three sirens saw how to improve their attacks. As a trio, they sang.

Red waves attacked the band.

All the girls were knocked to the ground. Their growing magic vanished. Twilight’s mic fell to the ground in a clatter. Raspberry’s flew right into Sunset’s hand. Vinyl Scratch got thrown from her car.

Sunset stared at the mic like it was a ticking bomb. Bumblebee wasted no time, rushing to the car. Sunset continued to stare at the mic in fear.

“Sunset Shimmer, we need you!” Twilight pleaded.

“You can do it!” Raspberry promised.

Sunset squeezed the mic.

Bumblebee started the car back up. He switched up the sounds, letting a beat play from the speakers.

The sirens cackled.

“You’re never gonna bring me down.” Sunset sang. She threw off her jacket. Her hair moved in the breeze. 

Sunset held out her hand.

Raspberry grabbed it.

“You’re never gonna break this part of me.” Sunset sang. She smiled at Raspberry. Raspberry helped Twilight up. “My friends are here to bring me ’round. Not singing just for popularity.”

Sunset, Raspberry, and Twilight sang together. And the magic between them had never been brighter. “We’re here to let you know that we won’t let it go.” 

The Rainbooms and Cavalry stood up with them. “Our music is a bomb and it’s about to blow!”

“And you can try to fight-” Sunset and Bumblebee began to glow, much to their confusion. As the band watched, Sunset and Bumblebee floated in the air. “-but we have got the light of-”

“Friendship on our side!” They all sang.

The magic exploded from them again. The Rainbooms and the Cavalry floated in the air, glowing with magic. Sunset began to shift and change. Her own hair growing out, colored streaks being added. She looked up at her pony ears- a happy pang going off in her chest. Bumblebee suddenly found himself with a pair of blue wings to match his sister’s.

“Got the music in our hearts! We’re here to blow this thing apart! And together, we will never be afraid of the dark.” They sang. A rainbow of magic branched out from them. It covered the students, forever freeing them from the spell. “Here to sing our song out loud! Get you dancing with the crowd! As the music of our friendship! Survives, survives!”

The sirens growled. They exchanged a glance, narrowing their eyes on the performance.

The students began to sing. They turned to the Rainbooms and the Cavalry. 

Got the music in our hearts

We’re here to blow this thing apart

And together, we will never

Be afraid of the dark

Here to sing our song out loud

Get you dancing with the crowd

As the music of our friendship

Survives, survives, survives!

The magic reached a fever pitch. A Sunday night fever pitch, if you will. It grew and grew. The power and unity of twelve singers (instead of the original six) made the magic explode and overflow in excess. It stretched up into the sky.

As the sirens watched in shock, the magic took on a shape. A glowing white serpentine horse, magic sparkling around and inside it. The white horse made the sky glow as if the sun still shone. The horse caught sight of the sirens. With a mighty cry, the magic horse-beam charged at their prey.

The sirens screamed when the horse ran into them.


==RRFTC==


The Dazzlings were gone, by the time Twilight and Raspberry left the stage. All that was left behind were the shattered jewels remains of their necklaces.

Twilight turned to Raspberry. Their bands walked up behind them. “Did we-”

Raspberry knelt down. She picked up the shards. “They’re not dead. The magic has never been deadly.” The shards fell from her hand. “They...ran.”

They ran in the movie as well, Raspberry noted. The Dazzlings ran early. Nobody even heard them sing after. Raspberry considered what it could mean. 

“Probably nothing.” Raspberry stood back up.

It could mean something, something deep and rotten and bad, but Raspberry didn’t know for certain. These girls felt more like one-time only villains than a recurring threat. 

“Really?” Twilight asked.

Thorax walked up. He put his hand on her back, giving her a supportive rub.

“Really.” Raspberry said with more certainty. “Definitely above 80%.”

“Not 100?” Twilight asked.

Raspberry looked at Sunset. “They could come back but...I think we’ve proven...” She grinned at Twilight.

Instantly, Twilight didn’t like the look in those amber eyes. 

“...friendship is magic.” Raspberry told him.

Twilight laughed.

Sunset knelt down, scooping up the broken necklace in her hand. “Why were these so important to them?”

“They powered their magic, made them good at singing.” Raspberry answered. “Can’t mind-control people without a good voice. Those three? They could carry a tune about as well as Killjoy could bake a cake.”

“Hey-”

“-without poisoning it.”

“...true.”

“Guess that explains why these were so special to them.” Sunset mused. “Without those pendants and the magic brought here from Equestria, they’re just three harmless teenage girls.”

Raspberry nodded. Thorax hummed, squeezing her in a proud hug.

“Rainbooms rule!” Someone shouted. The girls cleared a path. Flash Sentry ran up to Twilight, swilling her up into a hug. “That was amazing!”

Her friends giggled at Twilight’s blush. Killjoy grinned, giving Twilight a look that might even be described as proud.

Twilight did get put back on her feet. She giggled, twirling her hair as her blush brightened.

Raspberry looked up at Thorax. She nipped his nose, resting her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead, chuckling.

Trixie pushed herself between them. Raspberry might actually kill her this time.

“You may have vanquished the Dazzlings, but you will never have the amazing, show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!” The stage magician dropped a smoke bomb on the floor.

Everyone coughed. Thorax lashed his arm out, grabbing the first thing he touched. He hoped it was Raspberry. As the smoke cleared, he saw his wife in his arms. She glared at the retreating form of Trixie Lulamoon.

“She’s gone!” Pinkie gasped. “Oh, wait. There she is.”

Trixie tried retreating from around the stands. She ended up falling over. “Trixie’s okay!“

Raspberry grunted.

Thorax patted her head. “There, there. No need for that.” Raspberry growled. “Not worth it.” Raspberry conceded that.

“You know, Twilight is going back to Equestria soon.” Dash began. She grinned at Sunset. “The Rainbooms could really use someone to help Fluttershy on backup vocals?”

Sunset beamed. She grabbed a nearby guitar. She played a perfect riff, loud and amazing. “I also play guitar.” She offered.

The Rainbooms smiled, giggling. They turned to Dash’s shocked expression.

“...We’ll see.” Dash offered.

“Hey, uh...is this permanent?”

They all turned to Cicada, and Bumblebee beside her.

They were still very colorful.

Like...colorful colorful.

Raspberry and Thorax gawked. Killjoy cackled, like of course that happened. The Rainbooms looked at the siblings in confusion. Twilight gasped.

“You changed!” Twilight realized.

Because yep. That’s exactly what happened. Bumblebee now looked like Thorax’s double, a near perfect copy down to the long orange hair. Cicada, who used to have gray skin, stood before them with neon orange skin and violet hair.

They changed. As all changelings did before.


==RRFTC==


Raspberry pulled away from Cicada. She lowered the device in her hand.

“What’s that made of, again?” Bumblebee asked.

“Not radiation.” Raspberry assured him. “It’s a smaller version of Twilight’s magic scanning device.”

“It got cumbersome to bring it out every time I needed to scan Raspberry.” Twilight explained. “She made a smaller version.”

Bumblebee still looked worried. He kept pacing in the room. His sister sat in front of Raspberry. Her skin was still orange, short hair was still purple. Worried dark green eyes watched Raspberry, biting her new pale orange lips. 

They were at Canterlot High. The room where the Rainbooms practiced stayed empty, since nobody needed to be here. It was a Sunday night, after all. Raspberry and Twilight decided that made it the perfect place to check over the siblings for magic.

Twilight was overjoyed. She loved getting to study the changelings last time. After she stopped worrying about Morgan, obviously. Twilight got to connect with the Changeling people, to introduce them to friendship and their new magic. Queen Thorne was also very nice. Twilight studied and wrote out her learnings for weeks. Now she would get to do it all over again!

Sunset was absent from this. She offered to take the Rainbooms out and about, bonding with them as proper friends. Twilight encouraged it. 

Killjoy sat on the other side of the room. She texted on her phone, paying barely any attention.

Thorax stood vigilant at the door. Feeling more secure with Raspberry, he didn’t view his alternate with suspicion or derision. Thorax worried for the kid. And, he watched the human Cicada. The girl looked even younger, and only more afraid.

He wondered if his own sister would ever look like this. 

Raspberry showed Twilight the readings. “You see what I see?”

Twilight read the small screen. Her eyes widened. “Wow.”

“I know. It’s incredible, right?”

“It’s impossible! Well, I suppose I can’t say that. Clearly it is possible. It’s happened once and it happened again.” Twilight stared at the screen again. “But that’s weird on its own! What happened last time was such a bizarre occurrence. Now that it’s been repeated here- it’s so incredible!”

“What’s happening to me and my sister?” Bumblebee asked.

“You and Cicada-”

“It’s Starfish-”

“Nobody believes you-” Raspberry replied, dismissive. “You and Cicada went through a magical shift. The changelings in Equestria did the same about seven months ago.”

“Changelings. What are changelings?” Bumblebee asked.

“Shapeshifters.” Thorax answered. He shifted to the feminine form. Bumblebee and Cocada gawked. “We can change our shape to whatever we please. In this place, I’ve only been able to change to human shapes. Back home, I could turn into a bear.”

“He and his people weren’t treated right by their mother.” Raspberry stated. “They were raised in a home without love, starving for it. They used their skills to ‘trick’ love from people. I’m speaking in vague references, because I suspect you two are going through much the same.”

Bumblebee and Cicada shifted, uncomfortable. 

“Seven months ago, Thorax and I fought against their mother. A big, awesome fight, worthy of at least a feature length movie.” Raspberry explained.

“Oh no way. It’s a double feature.” Thorax stated.

Raspberry blinked at him. “...because I have a twin, or because you do?”

“...both.” Thorax admitted. Raspberry winked at him.

“Anyway. During the fight, Thorax unleashed a large attack of the magic he’d gained. He shared love. The magic shifted him into, well, that.” Raspberry gestured to all of him.

“He looks like a person.” Cicada pointed out.

“He’s like seven feet tall and that’s not counting the antlers.” Killjoy revealed. Cicada and Bumblebee gawked.

Twilight stepped in. “You two joined in the battle of the bands. Our magic grew and grew, and it started changing you. Giving you old changeling ears and wings. When we attacked the sirens, the magic shifted you at the same time. You were changed just as the changelings were.”

“That doesn’t answer our question.” Bumblebee reminded her. “Can we change back? Did any of you try to turn them back?”

“No.” Thorax stated. He narrowed his purple eyes at Bumblebee’s new matching pair. “We fought for years to get out of the horror Queen Chrysalis trapped us in. Why would any of us go back?”

“Because we can’t be seen like this!” Bumblebee argued. “We had- people recognized us. We have more family than just us! Now we look- we look like different people!”

“Is that so bad?” Cicada asked. Her brother stared, appalled. “Come on. Think about it! Did we even wanna go back?”

“It’s not that bad-”

“We hide in our room most of the time to avoid Mom and Pharynx.” Cicada argued. “Raspberry was right about that much. We can have a new start like this.”

“It’s not our real faces.”

“I’ve worn so many disguises, trying to hide, it doesn’t feel like my real face anymore.” His sister argued. She waved her purple hair. After a close look, they were the same purple as her brother’s eyes. “This feels real. Like- like really real. I wanna be this Cicada, instead of the other one. I like this look.”

“You’re orange.”

“You’re green. What about it?”

Raspberry snorted. “Wow, Cicada, you’re so cool.”

“Cooler than all her brothers.” Killjoy added. Thorax glared at her. Killjoy met the glare, raising a challenging eyebrow.

Thorax agreed that Cicada was cooler, just...Bumblebee was cooler than Pharynx. Why did Killjoy think Pharynx was her brother too? Pharynx would be lucky to get Cicada as a sister. Just like Thorax was lucky. And that-

Oh.

Oh.

Oh right yeah Thorax was Cicada’s brother too.

“You don’t want to change back?” Raspberry asked Cicada. “I’m not judging, I’m only double checking. Is this change alright?”

“It’s amazing.” Cicada cheered. She reached over, holding Raspberry’s hands. “Thank you. Really, thank you.”

“Where will we live?” Bumblebee asked. “They won’t let us come home.”

“We could stay with our aunt!” Cicada said.

“The one mom hates?”

“Mom hates everyone.”

“Yeah but she really hates Aunt Thorne.”

“Thorne is your aunt here?” Thorax asked.

Bumblebee tensed. “You know her?”

Thorax nodded.

“After they defeated Queen Chrysalis, Queen Thorne took the throne.” Twilight explained.

Bumblebee hummed, processing that information.

“We have tea parties.” Raspberry admitted. “Killjoy doesn’t even try to poison her.”

“I respect that lady.” Killjoy confirmed. “She puts up with so much Changeling bullshit. I kill her, who takes her place? None of them. All of them are stupid.”

“See? She’s gotta be nice.” Cicada reasoned. She was still mostly convinced that Killjoy poisoned things as a joke. Cause..cause it can’t be actual murder, yeah? “Let’s go meet Aunt Thorne. Start new with her. Please, Rax?”

Thorax felt his chest tighten. Raspberry reached for him. The Changeling came over. He squeezed her hand, tight enough to cause pain in someone normal. Raspberry took it with a comforting smile.

Bumblebee crumbled. “Yeah. Okay. We could- we could try it.”

Cicada squealed in delight. She threw her arms at her brother, pulling him in for a hug.


==RRFTC==


The Rainbooms returned from their friendship outing. Now, everybody stood at the portal.

The girls hugged Twilight, Raspberry, and Thorax. Killjoy avoided the hug.

Applejack sighed when the hug ended. “Sure wish you could stay longer.”

“Us too.” Twilight replied.

“Liar. I wanna go home.” Killjoy argued. Raspberry thumped her arm. “You do too!”

“Yeah but you don’t say it.”

“Make it a rule then!”

“We have responsibilities in Equestria that we have to get back to.” Twilight spoke up, trying to get moving before the twins started a proper fight. “Its citizens need us- need me. But now we can go through the portal whenever we need to. This isn’t goodbye. It’s just goodbye ’til next time.” She turned to their group. “Ready?”

“Ready!” They all replied.

Killjoy ran in without a word. 

Twilight waved her friends goodbye. She and Spike walked in.

“Make good choices!” Thorax told them.

“Or fun ones!” Raspberry winked at Cicada. The orange girl giggled.

Raspberry and Thorax walked in the portal.

“MOM! DAD!”

They found themselves tackled by a large number of children. Raspberry laughed. 

“It’s Dad’s birthday!”

“Did we miss it?!”

“We gotta have a new one!”

“I got him a present!”

“We all did!”

“Mine is better!”

“No it’s not!”

Thorax laughed. He stood up, antlers glowing. The children laughed as he put them on his back. “I could go to a party.” He smiled at Raspberry, meaningfully. “Unless you-”

“No. I made up my mind. I’m not changing it back.” She kissed his cheek, nuzzling it for good measure.

Thorax blushed. “You heard Mom, kids. Let’s find Pinkie!”

“Yay!”


==RRFTC==


Dear Princess Morgan, and Princess Twilight,

Missing you already, and I hope you’ll be back soon. Things are definitely looking up for me here at Canterlot High. But I know I still have a lot to learn about friendship. Hope you don’t mind if I write to you for advice when I need it.


==RRFTC==


Pinkie fired the party cannon. As the ponies cheered, Thorax blushed and Raspberry pretended she wasn’t. Pinkie made a banner above their heads. 

‘Recently engaged!!’

“But we’re-”

“Rarity insists on another royal wedding.” Raspberry told him. Thorax started to frown. Raspberry nuzzled his cheek. “Which is why Earth invented Vegas.”

Thorax smiled again.


==RRFTC==


The readings came out from the machine. She collected them, pinning them to the board beside the picture of Canterlot High.

Twilight stepped away from the board. “No doubt about it, Spike. There’s definitely something strange going on at that school...”

Her dog barked.

“Should we do something about it?” Her only other friend asked.

Twilight sighed. “I’m starting to think we’ll have to.”
> Fade Out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Darcy was sitting in her house. Since she was inside her Equestrian home, Darcy could use her human form. She needed that. It was easier to clean up her weapons with hands instead of wings. 

She was sharpening her knives, currently. They were her pride and joy. Darcy always had a good time with her weapons. Caring for them, knowing how to properly store them, the most effective uses for them. Somedays, Darcy likened it to having a pet.

She never had a proper pet before, Darcy mused. Probably ‘cause Morgan thought she’d kill it. Not that Darcy would(wouldn’t try), pets were so cute. 

Darcy was most excited at being alive too. She’d died and revived and died and revived more times than a Joss Whedon character. 

A part of that tied in to being Nikki Stevens, aka Iron Assassin again. That girl was able to party hard, and had cool powers. Fuck yeah this is gonna be cool.

There was a creak outside her door. Darcy did a quick check. Her sister knew about the creak, so she’d just yell beyond it. Thorax would just open the door like an idiot. Cookie too. The ponies would open the door then duck.

“I was given a knife, niece!” Darcy called over her shoulder.

A sigh, then the door opened. Lilac poked her head in. Her head fin falling to the side of her face.

“How’d you know?” Lilac asked.

“I’ll never tell.” Darcy replied.

The dragon sighed. “Where are Mom and Dad?” Lilac asked.

Darcy looked up from her blade sharpening. “...talking about wedding plans.” She replied after a moment’s thought. “That or sex.”

Lilac grimaced. She was almost fifteen. She didn’t wanna hear about her parents...ya know.

Darcy snickered at her niece’s expression. She sat up from her weapons. “Nervous about the trip?”

“A little.” Lilac admitted. “Weren’t you nervous the first time Mom took you someplace?”

Darcy shrugged, toying the newly sharpened blade in her hands. “Not really. I was younger than you, so I wasn’t really...it didn’t hit me until later how big that should’ve been, you know? It was bigger for Morgue than it was for me. Then again, Morgue always blows things up in her head. Must be why she gets along with Twilight.”

Lilac chewed her lip beneath a fang. A new habit she had picked up from her family. She couldn’t say herself when she started doing that, only that it hurt whenever she accidentally bit into her lip.

Darcy realized she’d have to...give reassuring advice. “...it’s gonna be easy, Lilac. Over before you know it, and then you’ll ask why you were so nervous.” Darcy explained. This reminded her of the Talks she’d heard in foster care. Well, at least Darcy knew what to say if Lilac ever started asking those questions.

Darcy’s ability at giving advice was proven stupid at Lilac’s unsure expression.

She decided on a new tactic.

“You trust your mom with your safety, right?” Darcy quizzed.

“Of course.” Lilac answered.

“Then you know your mom wouldn’t have given in unless she was sure you could handle this.” Darcy pointed out. “If she thought you weren’t ready, she’d have given you something else to do to get you ready.”

Now Lilac had a smidge of hope on her face. “You think so?”

“Am I the one in this family that gives false platitudes?” Darcy questioned.

Lilac’s eyes widened. “No Auntie!”

“That’s right. That’s Thorax.” Darcy countered. “That guy has the backbone of a feather.”

Lilac laughed, despite the insult to her father. “You and Dad are always like that with each other.”

“Because he’s always had the backbone of a feather.” Darcy answered. “The guy needs to toughen up, or the MCU is gonna eat him alive.” Lilac suddenly paled. “You’ll be fine, Lilac. You may be Morgue’s kid, but we worked together to make you tough.” She put a hand on her niece’s shoulder, beaming. “It’s gonna rock. Now, get out. I’m not done sharpening my stuff.”

“Bye Auntie Killjoy.”

“Whatever.” She waved the child away.

When the door shut, Darcy got back to work on her weapons. 


==RRFTC==


Later that day, Thorax was cooking their dinner. 

Morgan sat at the dinner table working on the Plan. Ah, yes, the Plan. Basically Morgan Stardust’s Plan was everything she knew about the world she was entering, everything she knew about what was coming, and all the things she noted that needed to be changed either actively or inactively.

Lilac loved watching her mom work. She’d seen it a few times over the years. Once or twice, Morgan let Lilac in on the Planning process. It had been a lot- given Lilac her first ever headache. An achievement, according to her mom.

Right now, Lilac was standing at the path to the living room, looking torn between actually walking up or walking back to her room.

Morgan was organizing some index cards, shuffling them around the table in a unique fashion that seemed to make more sense in her head than in reality. Lilac remembered being told the color code system for Planning, remembered that it was something her mother had spent a lot of time thinking about before following through with it. 

Lilac should’ve studied it again.

“Hey Lilac.” Lilac turned, seeing her dad walk over. His horns were glowing blue. A quick look told Lilac that Thorax was using his magic to continue cooking. “What’s up?”

“Just-” Lilac glanced at the dinner table, which was covered in papers and pictures and a rainbow of index cards. “Do you know how it-”

Thorax snorted.

“You don’t?”

“You think your mother hasn’t tried?” Thorax countered.

Lilac winced. “That bad?”

“She actually thinks I have color blindness, because of how badly I kept mixing up the cards.” Thorax admitted with a fond smile.

“...are you?”

“Well no, it’s just they all kinda looked the same when I picked them up in my magic.” Thorax excused. He gave Lilac a kiss on the head. “You’ll do great, Lilac, just ask.”

“I’ve already had it explained three times.”

“You’ll be dead by dinner time.” Thorax smiled kindly. “Good to know, when working out portions.” He walked back to the kitchen.

Lilac groaned.

Her mother hummed.

Lilac squeaked, slapping her hand over her mouth.

“What’s happenin’?” Morgan asked, barely looking up for a note she’d been writing.

“Nothing, Mom, ignore me.” Lilac made to run up to her room.

“Hey wait. Come here.” Morgan instructed.

Lilac stopped.

“I changed the code around. Wanna see?” Morgan offered.

“...yes.”

Lilac sat down beside her mother, observing the Plan laid out on a new angle.

“Okay. Now, as a given, this is a Live-Action world. The Green Index Cards are for-”

“People that you’ve met in other worlds, but...they aren’t the same person.” Lilac recalled. “Like...like because Maria Hall played Robin Sher...Scherbatsky. She got a Green Card.”

“Look at you, showing off the Stardust brain.” Morgan praised. She picked up another index card. “Red is for fixed points, and also fixed facts. Like the fact that a portal is going to open up above New York. That’s a given. I can’t see a way to stop that, and I think it’s actually impossible at this stage. Also, I have to admit that Loki doesn’t come out of this looking good.”

“Okay.” Lilac nodded. “Or like...how the Tesseract is going to be used by Loki as a door?”

“Correct, mi hija!” Morgan praised. “Now...the blue. That’s me.” Morgan cheered, holding up a plain blue card. “All my shit. Oh, you think I should add a color for you guys? I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Nah...too confusing.”

“You think so?”

“Mom, this table looks like the meme of that guy trying to explain why there’s no secretary in HR.”

“...not exactly what he was doing, but I’m touched by the effort.” Morgan admitted. She went back to the index cards. “Glad you brought up memes though. That’s what pink is.”

“Wait, you organize memes into this?” Lilac asked. She picked up a pink card that had ‘thirty fucking seconds’ written across it in black.

“And tumblr posts.” Morgan cheered.

“Why?”

“Cause they make sense.” Morgan reasoned. She plucked the card from Lilac’s hand, putting it back on the table.

“What kind of powers will I have?” Lilac asked her mom.

Morgan shrugged. “Anything. You could get new powers fit to this universe, or your dragon abilities will transfer over. This is the first time we’ve brought an Equestrian there. Your dad too. It’s gonna be a wild ride.”

“My dragon powers worked in Doctor Who.” Lilac pointed out.

“Yeah, but they didn’t in How I Met Your Mother.” Morgan countered. She was writing something on a colored index card. “So who knows?”

“But How I Met Your Mother was a more...mundane world.” Lilac reminded her mom. “Doctor Who was more open to oddities. MCU should be too.”

“...I both hate and love that you’ve got that brain.” Morgan sighed. Morgan glanced at a wall clock. “Shite. Babe what time were we supposed to be there?”

Thorax paused. “2 o’clock.”

“It’s 1:30!”

“I know, that’s why I made baggy sandwiches.” Thorax floated over two such packed sandwiches to Morgan and Lilac.

Morgan huffed. “Alright. I’ll finish this after. Come on, Lilac. Bee, get my sister.”

“Sure!” Thorax ran off upstairs.

“Where are we going?” Lilac asked.

“Did you not hear?” Morgan grinned. “Rarity was making our outfits.”

Lilac’s eyes bugged out. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes.” Morgan grinned. She threw her arm around Lilac’s shoulders. “Nope, nu-uh. You signed on for this, kid, you gotta deal with the fallout.”

“But we don’t even know how I’m gonna look there!” Lilac whined.

Morgan laughed, the way a mother does when she knows her child can’t reason their way out of something. “Of course you’re not getting your outfit yet, Lilac, that’d be ridiculous! You’ll get your’s much later. I doubt you’ll be older than a teenager over there. For now, you’re going to watch us get outfits.”

Lilac groaned. While not worse, it was so boring to just sit around for hours while other ponies were given outfits.

This was her punishment for insisting on joining. She was sure of it.