> Equestria Girls: A Fairly Odd Friendship > by redandready45 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Canterlot Vs Dimmsdale (Part 1)-Edited By Firestorm808. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In his living room, a brown-haired ten-year-old wore a white VR helmet, while two fairies watched their godchild with concern. "C'mon." Timmy Turner grit his teeth in determination Wanda frowned in worry. "Sport, haven't you had enough?" "Yeah," Cosmo added. "You've been playing for-." He glanced at his wristwatch, drawn with a green crayon. "Uh, a long time." "I'm gonna get it this time!" Timmy obsessively glared at his opponent. "I can beat-," "GAME OVER! LOSER!" The screen blinked mockingly. "Darn it," Timmy yelled. He threw his VR helmet away in frustration and slumped on the couch in annoyance. "I almost had it." "Timmy, maybe it's time for you to take a break?" Wanda patted him on the shoulder. "This game isn't exactly going to help you in life. You shouldn't waste your time on-," "I wish I had another soda." Timmy stared at the screen with horribly bloodshot eyes, ignoring her words. Upset, Cosmo crossed his arms. "Timmy..." "Soda," Timmy repeated without even looking in their direction.  "Chop, chop!"  The two fairies looked at each other, wordlessly agreeing on an idea with a smirk. Wanda grinned mischievously. "Okay, one soda coming right up." The couple raised their wands, and with a poof, a bottle of cola appeared above Timmy's head. It immediately turned on its side and poured on him.  Timmy wailed as the cold liquid washed him. "Wanda!" He turned to the pink-haired fairy in anger only to falter in the face of her glare. "Okay, sorry." Timmy sighed reluctantly. "Maybe, I'm too on edge from playing for so long." Wanda's expression softened. "Don't worry, Timmy." Wanda poofed away the dripping soft drink. Cosmo smiled reassuringly. "Besides, with Vicky on vacation, you have all the time you need to finish that game,"  Suddenly, the doorbell rang. His mother called from the other room. "Timmy, can you get that?" "Sure!" The buck-toothed boy walked to the front door and answered it. A teenage girl stood outside his house. Red and yellow hair draped down her fair skin while wearing a biker's jacket, a blue-green dress, and jeans. The teen smiled at him with her blue eyes. "Are you-" The girl glanced at a card she was holding- "Timmy Turner?" He raised a brow in confusion. "Yeah?"  The girl bent down to his level and extended her hand. "I'm Sunset Shimmer." The girl smiled warmly.  "I'm your temporary babysitter." The brown-haired boy stared blankly at Sunset for a moment. "I hope we can become best-." The door quickly slammed in her face. 4 Days Ago On the bus to Dimmsdale Elementary, Timmy sighed in exhaustion. "What's wrong, Timmy?" asked Wanda. She and Cosmo had changed into candy bars in his left pocket. "I already know that I flunked Crocker's test again." Timmy sulked in his seat "Relax, Timmy. It's not the end of the world," assured Cosmo. "Really?" Timmy's mood lifted. Cosmo smiled. "Yeah. Even if you completely fail, the world will still be here."  Any positivity took a nosedive to melancholy.  Wanda growled and took a bite into Cosmo's chocolate center. "Ow, ow!" Cosmo cried in pain as his wife tore at his sugary body.  Soon, the bus pulled up to the school, and Timmy stepped foot onto the sidewalk. "Ignore Cosmo," consoled Wanda. "There are worse things to be afraid of." Timmy rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, like what?" Too absorbed in his thoughts, the boy bumped into someone. Regaining his focus on his surroundings, Timmy paled as his blood went cold. Francis grinned maliciously at his target. "Turner!"  "Hey, Francis," Timmy greeted nervously. "What's going-" "I have you booked for 9:00 AM," the bully answered as he pulled out his phone's digital planner. Timmy looked everywhere for some sort of escape. "Maybe you made a mistake?" "Really?" Francis frowned, unimpressed. "How dumb do you think I am?" Thinking quick, Timmy pointing his finger in a random direction. "Oh, look! A ferret!" "Ferret? Where?" The grey-skinned bully cocked his head away.  Using this distraction, Timmy managed to slip away. He tried to run only to collapse to the ground in exhaustion, panting like he had run a marathon. "Wow!" Cosmo exclaimed in astonishment. "You're really out of shape."  A shadow cast itself over the boy. Francis lifted Timmy by his shirt in malice.  To his frustration, Timmy couldn't wish Francis away without drawing attention to himself. Francis grinned once more. "C'mon Turner. We're going to play a game." The bully carried him through the school while the others watched either in fear or laughter. "What game?" Timmy asked nervously. "Fishing," answered the grey-skinned bully. "Fishing?" Cosmo whispered in excitement. "What are we going to catch? Tuna? Catfish? Shamu?"  Wanda sighed, used to Cosmo's train of thought. "What do you mean?" Timmy quickly made the connection seeing the bathroom up ahead. "No! Francis!" He squirmed to escape the bully's grip to no avail. "Please!" His desperation grew as a stall opened. "I'll be the rod, and you'll be the bait," Francis smirked as he raised the child into the air. "NO!" yelled Timmy before being engulfed in the water. After about ten seconds, he finally got a chance to breathe.  "Looks like I didn't catch anything." The older kid laughed. "Better keep trying." Without hesitation, Francis repeatedly dunked his head into the toilet. Later "Napoleon had assembled the largest army Europe had ever known when he tried to conquer Russia." Crocker gestured theatrically to his students while holding a history book. "Unfortunately, his raw power didn't matter when he couldn't account for Russian tactics and the environment. However, all of this would be irrelevant," Crocker threw away his book, "if Napoleon had... FAIRY GODPARENTS!"  Following that outburst, a soaking wet Timmy Turner burst through the classroom door. Crocker checked the clock with a displeased expression. "Turner, you're late."  "Sorry," Timmy said with frustration, "I had bathroom trouble." Some of his classmates chuckled at the assumptions made. "For a moment, I was afraid you wouldn't show up. I'm happy to give you your test grade," Mr. Crocker said with a smile. Timmy seemed to brighten. "Really?"  "Yes!" Crocker cheered. "Your test is the 1000th 'F' I've given this year!" The pale-skinned teacher pulled down a banner, celebrating this supposed achievement. Timmy slumped in disappointment. "Oh..." "Now, such an honor deserves a special prize." Timmy raised a brow in doubt. In hindsight, nothing good came from Crocker. Crocker placed a hat on his head. It didn't take long for the boy to realize it was a dunce cap. "You get to be the class dunce again!" Crocker maniacally laughed while Timmy walked miserably to his desk.   He tried to ignore the mockery from his classmates, thinking about other plans. Lunch Trixie Tang and Veronica sat at the popular kid's table, talking about a variety of upper-class topics. Trixie groaned miserably. "I can't believe my yacht captain broke his leg."  Veronica gasped hastily.  "Really? That's terrible." Trixie sighed. "I know. We can't go to the French Riviera until we get a replacement. Why does everything bad happen to me?" "Don't worry, girlfriend," Veronica said with full empathy, putting her hands on Trixie's hands, "you can get through this! You're strong." A high-pitched voice interrupted them. "Hey, Trixie." A familiar brown-haired boy approached the raven-haired popular girl. "How's it going?" She sighed tiredly and with some annoyance. "I thought I heard something." "Probably nothing important," Veronica said with her mean smile. Timmy pulled out two tickets from his pocket. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Crimson Chin musical with me."  The idea piqued Trixie's interest. She planned on attending the event in disguise, but they sold out of tickets. Seeing the boy offering her interests again brought a smile to her face. "Timmy, that sounds-" Unfortunately, a glare from Veronica toward him changed that. "I-I mean - SECURITY!"  The large bouncer yanked Timmy by his shirt and brought him outside, tossing him in the dumpster.  Timmy wretched from the spoiled food from the past week. Thankfully, his friends followed him as he attempted to pull himself out. "Don't worry, dude." Chester grabbed Timmy by one arm. "We got ya'," AJ grabbed Timmy by the other.  Exiting the cafeteria, Chad and Tad approached Timmy and his friends with mean smiles. Chad smirked. "I see you're in a dumpster, Turner." "I guess it makes sense that he lives there," finished Tad.  The duo let out a nasty laugh that was echoed by everyone in the schoolyard. Not long after, the girls left the lunchroom for recess. Veronica chuckled at the aftermath, while Trixie's reaction was more forced, as she watched the boy with a mix of guilt and pity. Ostracized once more, Timmy walked away utterly humiliated with Chester and AJ following behind him.  Later Timmy sat miserably on the bus ride home. "What a day," he lamented. As a pink pencil, Wanda tried to console him. "I'm sorry about today, Timmy." "At least school is over," asserted Cosmo with a reassuring smile. "Now, you can go home and relax." Timmy's eyes widened with joy. "You're right. I can spend the rest of the day wishing and playing video games, with nothing to get in my way." He marched to his front door with renewed confidence. As soon as he opened it, a familiar face sneered down at him. His evil babysitter Vicky smiled sickeningly. "Hey, twerp,"  Timmy froze like a deer in the headlights. "Vicky?! What are you-." Vicky picked up the boy by the collar of his shirt. "Lucky me. Your parents are having one of their business meetings, which means we get to have fun together." Timmy went slack in her grip, knowing the inevitable. "Okay, what-," "I need to finish my volunteer hours. So, I signed up to help the Dimmsdale High School girl's basketball tournament, and you're going to help me." Timmy stared at her with a defeated expression. "By help, you mean that I'm going to do all the work while you get all the credit." "Isn't our capitalist system wonderful," Vicky gushed. She let him go and pointed to the stairs. "Get ready! We leave in ten minutes for the away game."  Timmy sighed in annoyance as he walked up the stairs. "Where are we going?" Canterlot In Canterlot High's gymnasium, the student body worked hard to prepare for tonight's game against Dimmsdale High.  Sunset Shimmer sat near the entrance, writing in her journal to Princess Twilight. "Dear Twilight, things have been pretty quiet since the Battle of the Bands. Right now, Canterlot High is going to have a basketball game. Our magic only shows up when we play music. Aside from that, I haven't got much else to tell you. Wish us luck tonight. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer." Finished, she got up and walked across the gym, happily waving at her fellow students, who also returned the gesture. Sunset smiled at the turn of events. The people that she mistreated gave her a chance to be a friend. Once upon a time, she desired the power to rule and control others, but it only amplified the void inside.  Meanwhile, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom worked together on a banner for Dimmsdale High. Apple Bloom put a hand to her chin. "It should say Welcome Dimmsdale High. It's short, sweet, and to the point." Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Nah, it should say Bienvenue A Canterlot." Scootaloo blinked in confusion. "What is that supposed to mean? Did we suddenly become some fancy restaurant? No. It should say 'Get Ready to Lose, Dimmsdale!' " Their banter was interrupted by one of their mutual friends. "Hey, guys!" Sunset approached the trio with a warm smile.  The three girls returned the gesture. "Hey, Sunset," Apple Bloom greeted. "Do you need any help?" Sunset offered. "No thanks," Apple Bloom replied politely. Scootaloo waved her off. "Our sisters already offered to help." "It was nice of you to offer anyways," Sweetie Belle finished. The older sisters made their way over. Rainbow Dash walked up to Scootaloo and gave her a playful noogie. "Don't worry, Sunset."  Applejack followed up, hugging her little sister. "We'll take care of this," Rarity head patted Sweetie Belle. "Besides, too many cooks spoil the dish, Darling." "I think the banner should be something awesome!" Rainbow argued, "to show them how we're gonna beat their butts." "Ah think it should just be something simple," Applejack said with a stern expression, "since we don't even know who's gonna win." "I believe it should be fabulous, darlings," Rarity argued. The flame-haired girl's expression faltered. "I see. I'll let you guys get to it then." Sunset walked away from her friends and their sisters. She soon came across Fluttershy hanging up streamers. "Hey, do you need someone to keep the ladder steady?"  Before Fluttershy could reply, a pre-teen with a blond bun came up. "Never fear, sis." Zephyr Breeze spoke dramatically with a smug grin. "Your awesome brother is here to help." He quickly steadied the ladder with flair. Fluttershy gave an embarrassed smile. "Don't worry, Sunset. Zephyr's helping me, even when he shouldn't have." The smile grew more strained. "Even when he really shouldn't have." "Ah, okay." Sunset accepted her answer and walked away. "Don't worry, Flutters. Your little brother will help you out no matter-," Zephyr paused as his colorful crush walked past him. "Rainbow! How's it going?" He ran after the athlete, much to Fluttershy's dismay. "Zephyr?! Get back here! I can't-" Fluttershy grabbed the streamers to regain her balance only for the ladder to tip over, leaving her dangling from the wall. "Zephyr Breeze!" Unfortunately, her exclamations didn't reach the others as fast as they should have. Sunset walked over to Pinkie Pie, setting up the refreshment stand. "Hey, Pinkie." "Hey, Sunny." "Need some help with the refreshments." "I'm fine. My family is already helping me." She gestured to her three sisters bringing in the food. "Don't you guys love helping out?" "Yes," answered Maud in a dull tone. "Remember, Pinkie. No eating until the games start or else!" chastised Limestone. "Mhmm," Marble shyly nodded. Pinkie Pie gushed before going off to help Maud. "Isn't having a family awesome, Sunset?"  "Yeah..." Sunset watched all her friends' family members together. "It is," she continued in an even quieter voice. Feeling out of place, she left the gym with a forlorn and tired expression. > Prologue: Canterlot Vs Dimmsdale (Part 2)-Edited By Firestorm808. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "What kind of name is Canterlot?" mused Timmy while he waited at the bus stop. Meanwhile, Vicky read a magazine a few feet away, paying him little mind. "Canterlot was founded by a horse breeder who was also a fan of King Arthur," answered Cosmo as a pen.  Timmy looked at him in confusion. "Cosmo, you know about it?"  Cosmo smiled. "Nope. I'm reading their brochure."  As a pink pen, Wanda glanced at the brochure and awed. "Look, Canterlot High used to be that man's mansion. It's almost as old as California itself." "Who cares about some dumb school," scoffed Cosmo. “Look at that awesome trash can, Wanda! Look at it!" The bus pulled up, and Vicky entered first. Teenagers from Dimmsdale High filled the seats. The pair neared the back with Vicky taking one of the last empty benches.  Timmy tried to sit next to her, only to be blocked by Vicky. "What now?" he groaned. Vicky proceeded to lay on the entire bench. “I need my legroom". "Then where am I supposed to sit?" Timmy protested. "Find somewhere else." Vicky kicked Timmy into the aisle. “Try the back with all the other losers!"  Timmy sighed and continued the back of the bus, seeing only one space available. Next to it was a girl with red and purple hair and glasses in a black hoodie. She was staring out the window with a tired expression.  With no other options, Timmy sat next to her.  Noticing him, the girl seemed to shy away.  Hoping to make a positive impression, he tried to be friendly. "Hi, I'm Timmy. What’s your name?"  Unfortunately, she continued avoiding his direction.  Timmy grumbled. ‘Great… She already thinks I'm a loser, just like everyone else." Meanwhile, the teen, Moondancer, thought the same. "Why didn’t you answer him? Now, he probably thinks you’re a jerk."  Wanda observed the interaction with concern. "Timmy can’t seem to catch a break," She thought.   In contrast, Cosmo was in his own world. "Meow meow meow meow meow meow." With everyone seated, the bus drove down the freeway to their destination. During that time, Timmy and Moondancer bounced uncomfortably with every pothole and speed bump. It didn’t take long for them to be on the verge of motion sickness. When the group pulled up to Canterlot High, Timmy and Vicky were among the last ones to get off. Timmy was on the verge of vomiting. Seeing the young boy still ill, Vicky rolled her eyes. “Oh, suck it up, Twerp. They'll be plenty of food for the team and us." Hearing that, Timmy took a deep breath to settle himself. As they approached the school, a woman with a clipboard walked up to them. She was a head taller than Vicky, had cherry-pink hair with lighter pink highlights, and wore a white blouse, a brown vest, a green skirt, and brown boots. "Excuse me," she inquired, "I’m looking for a Miss Vicky Valentine."  Vicky plastered a smile on her face. "That's me."  "I'm Miss Cheerilee. You must be our volunteer." "I'm happy to help out," the pony-tailed girl lied. Cheerilee smiled. "That's wonderful. Doesn't it feel good to volunteer and help your school." "You have no idea." "Now," Cheerilee began but looked down and saw Timmy. "Oh. Who are you, young man?" she cooed. Vicky answered before he could. "This is Timmy, or as I call him: My Best Helping Buddy." Vicky squeezed him into a tight hug to sell the image of being a loving babysitter. "Aww, you do care about him," Cheerilee cooed again. Vicky squeezed harder. "Yes, I do. Isn't that right, best buddy?” "Too tight," Timmy went blue from the lack of oxygen. "Anyways, let's get to work." Cheerilee looked around. "By the way, have you two seen someone named Moondancer? She's supposed to be our AV-," "That's me," a quiet voice spoke.  Cheerilee, Vicky, and Timmy turned and saw a hooded girl approach them.  "Okay, then." Cheerilee was mildly concerned with Moondancer's forlorn expression but put it off for later. “Let's go." When the group reached the AV room, Moondancer ran in and slammed the door shut. Timmy huffed. "What's her problem?"  "As I said before, she's one of the losers," Vicky whispered spitefully under her breath. Cheerilee and the two entered the gym as the other Canterlot students were working. "We needed all the help we could get. Hosting a basketball tournament is a big job. We've got streamers to put up, bleachers to set up, and snacks to make.” Timmy looked at all the teenagers in wonder. Despite the hard work they were doing, everyone in the school seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing at each other's jokes, and having fun. "This might be fun.“ He smiled. "So, what are we working on, Miss Cheerilee?" "The most important thing of all," Cheerilee said happily. Instead of being in the warm and lively gymnasium, Vicky, Timmy, and Cheerilee all were in a dingy, wet, empty, and dim loading dock in the back of the building. They saw a parked truck filled with heavy boxes. "You two will be unloading all these important documents from the truck to the back door," Cheerilee instructed. "We have to move all of them?!" exclaimed Timmy in dismay. Cheerilee shook her head. "Don't worry. As long as you two work together, you two can do anything. Friendship can conquer all." Finished, the woman walked away to take care of other business. Vicky sneered in the direction of Miss Cheerilee. "Blech! What a load of crock. Anyways, get to work, twerp." "You can’t seriously think I can finish this on my own without your help? "I am helping." Vicky pulled out a magazine and leaned against a wall. "I’m supervising."  Timmy grumbled and climbed into the truck trailer. As much as he tried, Timmy couldn't even budge the boxes. Timmy's eyes widened when he came up with an idea. "Vicky, why don't you go watch the game while I work?" Vicky scoffed. "I don't care about some dumb game. It’s more fun to watch you struggle."  Hearing that, Timmy sighed in defeat. The Gym Principal Celestia stood in the middle of the basketball court holding a microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to CHS-Dimmsdale basketball tournament. Before we begin our game, we'll begin our opening show, with our respective school's cheerleading squad and school band. Sit back and enjoy the show.” NOTE: The tune is similar to I'm On a Yacht. Dimmsdale High School Cheerleaders D to the I to the M to the M to the S, Dimmsdale High School is the best, We're fast. We’re strong, You think you can beat us, You're wrong Canterlot High School Cheerleaders You think you can win, You people are dim, We're Canterlot, we love a lot You're cruel, your mean We're all one team You may be gruff But we're still tough Dimmsdale Head Cheerleader So what if we're cruel, What matters is that we rule, Who cares about nice Who cares about right Tonight, you'll get schooled, You’re a school of fools. Pinkie Pie as a Cheerleader We may be nice, But we're also cool, Like a tasty sundae at the pool, You may win the day, But I'm here to say, Friends are great, There's no other way. Dimmsdale High School Band We fight for glory, We fight for what we want, Get out of our way, We'll kick your butts, We are Dimmsdale High, You're all just runts. Rainbooms Who cares if we're runts, We're all together, When we unite The outcome is better Even we go down We'll eventually rise Because we have Our friends on our side. Outside "I've got to go to the bathroom," Vicky got up from her box and walked away, leaving her magazine behind. "Don't go anywhere." Timmy sighed in relief. He heard the faint sound of music from the auditorium, and he only managed to carry one box a quarter of the way. "Finally. Cosmo, Wanda, I wish all the boxes were moved. The gym sounds like a lot of fun, and I want to be there."  With a wave of their wands, the two fairies poofed all the boxes out of the truck and near the doors. "Yes!" "Forgot my magazine." Vicky came back outside, much to Timmy's consternation. Vicky blinked in shock at the boxes in place. "How did you-"  Footsteps approached the two, revealing Cheerilee. "Hello kids, I just wanted to check up on-," She nearly dropped her clipboard in surprise and confusion. "How did you two move all this stuff?" "Uh, teamwork," Timmy grinned. "Yeah," added Vicky uneasily. Cheerilee narrowed eyes in suspicion. "Really? There had to be at least 800 pounds of boxes, and you two moved them in five minutes."  "Yes?" Timmy replied nervously. With a hint of suspicion and disbelief, Cheerilee nodded. "Well, good job. With that done, I guess you two can enjoy the tournament." She then walked away stiffly. As soon as the teacher was gone, Vicky pulled Timmy by his shirt to her face. "So, how did you move all this stuff, twerp?" "Uh, super vitamins?" he blurted. "Whatever. Let's go watch the dumb game." Vicky walked out of the loading dock, with Timmy following suit. The Gym Dimmsdale's Lead Guitarist We'll crush, beat you, Stuff you, pound you, We're Dimmsdale's High, You're low, We're fast, You're slow, Rainbow Dash You can't be me, I've got speed, I've got moves, But my greatest tool, Is loyalty, With my friends with me, We'll always be, Number one, Just wait and see. Rainbow Dash rose into the air, her body glowing. In a few moments, she sprouted pony ears and wings. As she flew into the air, she spread blue sparkles all over the place. The students of Canterlot cheered while the Dimmsdale High School students were speechless. The Dimmsdale students were astonished. "Man, those are great special effects." Another student watched in awe. "It looks like she's sprouting wings and flying."  Timmy ran to the door, hoping to catch the concert. "C'mon. I don't want to miss-" Timmy entered the gym, only to be disappointed. The concert was over, and the game had already begun. "Rats! We missed it!" With a frustrated sigh, Timmy looked for an open seat, reluctantly taking the one next to Vicky. With nothing else to do, he pulled out his Joy Boy. Moondancer walked out of the AV room. Despite being a hermit, she still needed to use the bathroom. She drew her hood to avoid being seen only to bump into someone. "Sorry." Moondancer looked up and saw a familiar face, an uncomfortably familiar face. Sunset Shimmer looked at her with an unusually warm smile different from the nasty grin that she expected. "Don't I know you from somewhere?" Sunset looked at Moondancer in confusion. Moondancer narrowed her eyes, "Probably. I-" "Moondancer, was it? I haven't seen you since the-," "Spring Fling." Moondancer grit her teeth. + Sunset grew morose. "Moondancer, listen." She rubbed the back of her head with some shame. "I was wondering if we could put what happened behind us." "Behind us?" Moondancer parroted with an unimpressed tone. "It was a long time ago. I was in a bad place." Before Moondancer could respond, Sunset’s phone rang. "Hold on. I got a text.” After reading it, she gave the girl an embarrassed look. “Ah. Sorry. I have to go. Maybe we can get together some time?" With that, Sunset ran off.  Moondancer meekly followed her to the basketball court. She saw Sunset in a group hug with her friends. Moondancer's blood boiled, and her fist clenched as she glared at the fire-haired girl. "It’s time to begin our third game. We'll start with-," Principal Celestia paused as someone snatched the microphone from her. "I'm Zephyr Breeze. I just want to give a shoutout to my favorite girl with the best hair and the fastest legs. Rainbow!" Rainbow Dash facepalmed in annoyance. Principal Celestia strained her patience. "That's very nice, Zephyr. Now, please-" "This one's for you!" Zephyr stripped his clothes off and streaked across the court. Everyone was shocked and disgusted while Fluttershy and Rainbow were utterly mortified.  "When I run, I run for my girl Rainbow!" Zephyr wailed. "Cover your eyes, twerp." Vicky shoved Timmy's hat over his eyes while covering her own. Apparently, Zephyr’s streaking was too horrific even for Vicky. "Nothing can stop me!" Zephyr bellowed, "nothing-," Zephyr tripped and fell onto the gym floor. It didn’t take long for him to get caught by the school security. "You can stop me, but you can't contain my love!" Several security guards began dragging him out. "Man, that guy's an idiot," Cosmo commented. Cosmo and Wanda were Timmy’s plate and a cup, respectively. "Takes one to know one." In another part of the gym, Scootaloo grabbed her stomach. "I think I'm going to be sick."  Sweetie Belle was blocked from sight by her sister. "From Zephyr?"  Scootaloo’s insides were queasy. "No. Well, that too, but I also had too many pork chops." She got up from her seat, covered her mouth, and looked for a trash can to throw up. Sadly, she didn’t make it in time and threw up near the bleachers on someone else. "AHH!" the older teen screamed. The girl had a green shirt, black pants, pink eyes, and black shoes that were now ruined. She had red hair style into a ponytail and pink eyes that glared at her angrily. Scootaloo looked in shame at what she did to the vicious-looking red-head. "I'm so sorry," Scootaloo pleaded. To her horror, the girl growled and grabbed her by her shirt. "You are so dead!" the menacing highschooler growled. "I said I was sorry!" Scootaloo winced as the angry teen raised her fist. "Hey!" Scootaloo looked to the side and, to her relief, a very angry Rainbow Dash stormed over to where she was. "You take your hands off my sister!" Rainbow Dash bared her fists.  The red-head let Scootaloo go and glared at the newcomer. "It vomited on my shoe!” "I didn't do it on purpose," Scootaloo protested. "Yeah. That doesn't give you a right to beat her up!" Rainbow argued back with a glare. "Oh, yeah? Well, I paid 200 dollars for these shoes!" A sudden loud whistle from Mrs. Harshwhinny interrupted the argument. "I don't know what's going on, but this argument is over. If I see any more funny business, both of you will leave until the game is over." The two teenagers glared at one another before storming off to their respective sides. Rainbow looked warmly at her younger sister. "Don't worry, Scoots. You’ll probably never see her again." "OK," Scootaloo felt relieved from the support. "C'mon." Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo's hand. "I'll take you to the nurse's office." Scootaloo smiled. "Thanks, Rainbow." Later The game was over, and Canterlot High was victorious. This meant the losing team’s volunteer had to clean-up. That meant Timmy had to clean the basketball court while Vicky supervised. "That's it." Vicky nastily grinned as Timmy scrubbed the floor. "I want that floor so clean that I can eat off of it." "Yes, ma'am," Timmy replied miserably.  Thankfully, as soon as he was alone when Vicky finally left, Timmy wished the mess away. With the work taken care of, Timmy exited the building to join the others for the after-game snacks, his hard work building up his appetite. When the young boy reached the table, he discovered that the entire table was cleared of all its food. "They ran out?!" He looked at one of the teens eating a bag of popcorn. "Why didn't you leave any for me?" The girl shrugged. "Sorry. Vicky said you already ate. We figured you didn't mind if we cleaned up." With that, she started walking away. "Can I at least have some popcorn?" An empty popcorn bag met his face, and Timmy sighed in defeat as he went to an open table. Alone again, Wanda reassured him. "Don't worry, Timmy. I can always wish you up something to eat." He ignored her. "Are you okay?" Timmy watched glumly as the kids from Canterlot High enjoyed eating with their families and friends. They ate happily and shared with one another. He looked back at his own empty. The well of emptiness finally made him crack, letting out a sob. Not wanting to look at them anymore, he walked out of the cafeteria, dejectedly throwing away the game’s complimentary T-shirt. He left the shirt on the ground, but this did not go unnoticed by a certain blond-haired girl. On the other side of the room, Sunset Shimmer was in a similar state of mind. Her heart sank, seeing her friends and their families celebrating winning 4 to 2. She sat down on the bleachers, feeling tired and alone. "Hey, Sunny. Having-," Pinkie Pie saw Sunset looking down in the dumps. "What's wrong? Why are you so upset?" "Nothing." Sunset started running into the hallway. "Tell me." Pinkie Pie followed her. "Pinkie..." "Tell me! Tell me!" Pinkie Pie circled Sunset, jumping up and down. "Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" "Okay," relented Sunset with some annoyance.  Pinkie Pie finally stopped jumping and stood next to her. NOTE: This song sound's like "What More Is Out There". I was inspired by the deleted part of the song, which showed Sunset feeling alone. Sunset Shimmer I've got the best grades, I've passed all my exams, But deep down, I don't know who I am. Pinkie Pie You're Sunny. Who else could you be? Sunset Shimmer I've got a guitar, I've got friends, But I don't know where my life will go. I've got so many people like me, But I feel all alone. (The boy in a pink hat walked in his lonesome.) Timmy Turner I've got wishes I've got magic, But sometimes I feel alone, I feel so tragic Wanda Oh, sweetie, don't worry. Cosmo I have a hip made from plastic-ow! Sunset Shimmer I feel like something's missing, But it's hard to explain, But even though I can't say it, I feel as gloomy as the rain Pinkie Pie Sure, you can feel gloomy, Sometimes life isn’t always fun, But behind every storm cloud is a bright and shiny sun. Timmy Turner I can make it rain cookies, I can wish to another time zone, But sometimes I wonder, Am I doomed to be on my own? Wanda Sweetie, I know the future is scary. I know you fear growing old. You may not be the toughest, You've got a heart of gold. Cosmo The bread has lots of mold. Sunset and Timmy I guess I shouldn't worry. I guess I shouldn't be afraid, Maybe my destiny is just over the horizon. Maybe I'll find out someday. Wanda, Cosmo, and Pinkie That's the spirit. Sunset and Timmy The future is always blank The future feels far away I don't know what I'm looking But for now, I'll live for the day. Timmy found himself sitting against some horse statue, feeling slightly better. The sun began to set, just tipping the horizon and making the sky glow a weird red. Wanda disguised as an eraser in his front pocket. "So, what do you want to eat?"  Timmy smiled slightly, when he heard a clunk on the ground. He saw a familiar nickel on the grass. Cosmo was the first to respond. "Philip! Don’t leave me! You’re my only true friend." Timmy glared at him, and he strained a smile. "Besides you." Timmy sighed. “Yeah. Yeah. I got him.” At that moment, Derpy walked out of the school, looking for the kid who left his shirt. Turning to the statue, she found him. Before she called out to him, Derpy's eyes narrowed at the brown-haired kid picking up something near the portal. Derpy rubbed her poor eyes to see better. Looking again, she saw the kid was holding up something metallic. Pocketing the object, the boy in the pink hat seemingly spoke to himself. "I wish I had a muffin." POOF! A muffin suddenly appeared in the boy's hand.  Derpy dropped her jaw in horror. She threw away the T-shirt and ran into the school in a panic, shouting, "Muffin emergency!" Timmy blinked and looked around. "Did you guys hear something?"  Cosmo hugged Philip tight as Wanda rolled her eyes. "Nope!"  Timmy shrugged, wanting to indulge in his treat. Just as he leaned in to bite, a shadow loomed over him. "Hey, twerp.” Vicky got into his face. "Where did you get that muffin? I thought we ate all the grub." "Uh, Internet." Vicky spoke in a falsely sweet tone. "Really? Well, thank you so much for sharing."  Knowing what would happen if he refused, Timmy reluctantly handed the muffin to her.  She proceeded to bite the whole thing in his face. "It's so delicious!" Vicky continued chewing on the pastry. "Too bad you can't-" Forgetting to not talk with her mouth full, Vicky started choking on the muffin. Seeing some form of retribution, Timmy laughed at his babysitter's misfortune. When Vicky regained her composure, she glared at the boy; however, she had other things to take care of. "Just be on the bus when we finish up." Vicky walked away from the 10-year old boy, still coughing out muffin bits caught in her throat. Hallways "Muffin emergency!"  Sunset and the Rainbooms were packing up their equipment when they heard Derpy yell as she ran up to them, "We have a Muffin emergency!" "Derpy, what is it?" "I saw a kid." "And?” "He was eating a muffin.” "Okay." Sunset went back to packing up her equipment. "So?" "He was near the portal thingy!” This got their attention. "What about the portal?" asked Sunset, paying close attention to Derpy's words. "I don’t know. I was on the other side, but he picked up something shiny. Then he wished for a muffin, and it just poofed in his hand." Rainbow Dash raised a brow. "Poofed?"  Derpy waved her arms. "Yes, Poof! Then he had a delicious muffin." "And this is the most important question," Pinkie Pie asked in seriousness. "What kind of muffin was it?" Pinkie asked with a smile. "Um...well-," Sunset frowned. "Alright. Let's go check this out. What did he look like?" "Uh, buck teeth, pink hat, and brown hair." Outside Timmy waited patiently at the crosswalk, waiting for the pedestrian signal to light up. The others had forgotten to tell him that their bus stop moved to the next block over, and he had just found out from Ms. Cheerilee. "Come on. I just want to go home." The street lights changed to his relief. “Finally!”  Meanwhile, Sunset and her friends stormed out of the school, looking around for the boy. Rarity crossed her arms. "Well, he's not near the portal. Where could he-"  "Wait." Applejack narrowed her eyes across the lawn to the street corner. She pointed toward the street. “I think that’s him."  Following her eyes, the others concluded that it had to be. The boy was a quarter through the road, and they needed to catch up to him. Rainbow Dash took the lead, hoping to get his attention. “Hey, kid! Wait up!” Sadly, he was too far away to hear. Up the road, a driver muttering to himself the rules of road safety. "Ten and two. Ten and two. Don’t lose focus. You are a responsible-" His eyes drifted to the floor. “Ooh, a nickel!” Without any hesitation, the man let go of the steering wheel and leaned down, focusing only on the coin. His hand pressed harder on the accelerator due to the change in posture. The brown station wagon sped past the group of teens outside. They didn’t think much of it until they noticed that the vehicle wasn’t slowing down before it was too late. Their eyes widened in horror. "GET OUT OF THE ROAD!" Sunset yelled to the boy. Hearing a voice, Timmy looked left only to see the vehicle coming right for him. Screaming in fear, he acted fast. "I wish I won’t get hit!" Miraculously, the car poofed away, to the shock of the Rainbooms. Seconds later, the car suddenly appeared on the other side of the crosswalk. Timmy grabbed his chest and took a deep breath. “That was close." Not wanting anything else to happen, he ran across the street and toward the bus. Within the car, the driver pushed himself up back into his seat, the object of his desire in hand. "What a shiny nickel. Today must be my lucky day. I'll call you, Phillip." After placing the coin safely in his pocket, he checked his surroundings. "Darn. I missed my turn." Back at the school grounds, the teens stared at the boy.  Rarity gasped. "I'm not the only one who saw that, right?"  Applejack shook her head. "Nope." Forcing down her surprise, Sunset ran after the kid, but the crosswalk stopped her. Sunset watched with frustration as the brown-haired boarded the Dimmsdale High School bus that drove off into the distance in shock and confusion. > Observations-Edited by LightningStrike34 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset sat in the AV room with Micro Chips. They watched the footage over and over again from the security cameras. That car had dissipated in front of that kid and reformed a few feet away. She spent several moments trying to find some other rational explanation for what happened. A quirk in physics. Some weird car technology she still never heard of. But there was no denying it. Magic was afoot, and that kid was at the center of it. "Do you think this kid is from that magic world of yours Sunset?" Micro Chips asked. "I don't think so," Sunset said while shaking her head. "I spoke to Princess Twilight. She told me that if something had gone through the portal, she would've known. Ever since the whole demon thing," Sunset said uneasily, "she put a charm on the portal to keep track of who went through. If he were a pony, he would be stumbling around on all fours," Sunset said with a smirk, remembering how hard it was for her to walk on two legs. "So what is it," The nerd asked Sunset. "did he grab some...magical...thing?” "Probably." Sunset said. "What did the Princess say?" Micro Chips asked nervously. Sunset opened her magical journal, revealing the Princess' message. "Dear Sunset," the Princess wrote, "there are many artifacts that could enhance the power of a human. Putting on my crown, after all, did grant you demonic powers. However, you haven't given me enough information to make a sound judgement. I advise you to make more observations before this gets out of hoof, I mean, hand. This use of magic does not seem natural." "Your friend, Twilight Sparkle" "What does she mean by 'this is not natural'?" Micro Chips asked with a worried expression. "I don't know for sure," Sunset said evasively, "not until we get more data." Micro Chips tried to put on a calm face, but he felt on edge seeing Sunset become fearful. "A child with buck teeth, a pink hat, and brown hair," Rarity asked Cheerilee in her classroom. It was currently study hall, which made it a good time for students and teachers to talk, "did you remember seeing him?" "Yes," Cheerilee said, "his name was Timmy....something...." her eyes narrowed. "I think he used magic once." "What do you mean?" Rarity asked Cheerilee with a stern expression. "This girl named Vicky Valentine came over to volunteer," Cheerilee said. "Timmy, who was her special buddy, came along with her." "And?” "I had them unload some boxes at the loading dock," Cheerilee said. "I left for five minutes, and that somehow managed to unload 800 pounds of material in that time." "Really?" Rarity said with some astonishment. "Yes," Cheerilee said, "and when I asked them how they did it, they got very...evasive." "Do you mean to tell me that this Timmy child and this Vicky person both witnessed magic?" Rarity asked with a haunted expression. "I don't know," Cheerilee said gravely, "I think I have the sign-in sheet. Which might have both their names and numbers, but not much else." Rarity pursed her lips grimly. "I'm afraid I can't do that.” Principal Celestia said, much to the disappointment of Applejack. Applejack came to the principal's office, hoping she could track down the kid for them. "But you're the principal," Applejack said, "don't you have access to every kid in the state?" "Applejack, the Dimmsdale school system is a separate jurisdiction," Celestia said gentle but firmly, "and while I do have contacts within the district, I need some legal reason to access some random student's information." "Oh..." Applejack said with a frown. "Unless of course, there is a law that prevents someone from moving a car with magic," the tall woman said, "and since there isn't, well, there is no grounds." Celestia's face became more serious. "But let's say you do find Timmy Turner's information. Do you...want me to get his parents to bring him here to my office?" "No," Applejack said with a shake of her head. "not until we know who or what we're dealing with." Applejack walked out of the room, feeling somewhat disappointed with herself. "Hey Applejack," Flash said, approaching the farmer girl with a happy smile. "What is it, Flash?" Applejack said. "I found your little kid.” Flash said. "Really?” Flash, the Rainbooms, Micro Chips, and Derpy sat in the cafeteria. Flash had his laptop. "I couldn't really find much when I looked up Timmy Turner," Flash said, "but then I had a hunch. I typed in 'Turner' and the phone number, and this came up." He showed the page, which said 'Dimmsdale Reality' at the top. "So, what does selling homes have to do with anything?" Rainbow said impatiently. "Patience.” Flash said with a smirk. The blue-haired boy clicked on a sub page marked 'Turner.' The picture of a woman popped up: she looked to be in her 40s, with brown hair than when down to just below her ears. She wore a sharp business suit and a professional smile. Below was a hyperbolic advertisement about how she would sell you a home no matter what size or condition. "So what does-" Sunset began, only for Flash to scroll to the bottom, which showed a picture that read, "as a family woman, I know what the family needs." It showed her happily hugging a man in his 40s with black hair and a business suit, possibly the woman's husband. And the very bottom was- "That's the kid.” Derpy said. He was in the picture, probably trying to sell the woman's image as a family woman. Unlike his parents, who looked like they loved one another, he looked pretty...morose. Instead of being embraced by his parents, he was made to hold up a sign that said "BUY NOW!" Which he did with a pout. Sunset though it was both sad and strangely adorable. "They even put down their address.” Flash said, pointing to it. Everyone at the table was pretty pleased. "Flash, you're a genius!" Rarity said with a proud smile. "Thanks." Flash spoke proudly. "Oh no," Pinkie Pie said fearfully. "What is it Pinkie?" Sunset asked "They've got to be, like, a gillion miles from here," Pinkie said sadly. "Dimmsdale is like... ten miles away.” Rainbow Dash replied flatly. "Oh," Pinkie Pie said, blushing awkwardly. "Anyways, now we have our address," Sunset said. "Let's go do some observation." "You mean spying?" Fluttershy offered meekly. "No…” Sunset said flatly. "You two are going to the cook off?" Timmy asked his parents with dismay, "but-but-" "Timmy, you know how we tell you we love you and that you're our top priority?" Mr. Turner said with a smile. "Yes." Timmy said. "Well, you’re more of a distant second," Mr. Turner said cheerfully, "our top priority is finally avenging my honor against the evil and putrid Dinkleberg clan!" "Oh," Timmy spoke with some sadness. "Cheer up Timmy," Mrs. Turner said with a smile, "your best buddy Vicky is here to watch you," the woman said, opening the door to reveal a smirking Vicky. "Have fun you two!" the Turner parents said, ignoring their son's pale face. "Hey Turner," Dinkleberg greeted with a smile while mowing his lawn, "good luck at the cook-off." "Dinkleberg..." Mr. Turner growled under his breath as he got into the car. "Hey Vicky," Timmy began nervously, "how's it-" "Lawn work, pronto." Vicky said with a mean grin. "Those leaves aren't going to pick themselves up." Timmy let out a tried sigh. "So what kind of name is Dimmsdale?" Sunset asked idly. Her friends were being driven to Dimmsdale in a surveillance van owned by Vinyl. Unlike most surveillance vans, it was white with blue lines running along its edges. "Dimmsdale was founded by a prospector named Dale Dimm.” Pinkie Pie said. "How did you figure that out?" Rainbow asked curiously. "I didn't." Pinkie said, holding up a tourist brochure. "Oh." Rainbow replied. "As it turns out, there were two competing stories about the founding of Dimmsdale," Pinkie Pie began. "One was that it was founded by a brave frontiersman named Arlen Bitterroot. The other was that Dale Dimm fell down and hit his head on a rock." "Oh dear," Fluttershy spoke timidly. "But it was OK," Pinkie Pie said, "Dale Dimm broke the rock and found gold." "Lovely." Rarity said with some joy. "However, recent historical evidence proved that Dimm was not only the founder, but that Bitterroot was a mean outlaw who tried to trick Dimm out of his gold." Pinkie Pie, showing pictures of Dimm and Bitterroot. "Man those pictures look pretty good for the 1850s." Sunset observed. "I think we're at the house.” Rarity said. She was looking at the GPS, which took them right in front of some plain white house with a red-thatched roof. "I see him." Rainbow Dash pointed out. The boy was raking some old leaves on his house, and then dumping them into a tall trash can. Vinyl came to the back, and began activating all her surveillance equipment. Dinkleberg smiled as the last of his lawn was mowed. "Ah," the big-nosed man said happily, "nothing like the smell of freshly cut grass. My buddy Turner seemed especially happy about the cook-off. I can't wait to tell him 'good luck' again." he said excitedly. He looked around the neighborhood. "I love this neighborhood," Dinkleburg said wistfully. "from the Turner kid slaving away, to everyone's beautiful lawn, to that white surveillance van in front of the Turner." He went back into his home, but did the double take, noticing a surveillance van. "Oh my gosh!" Mr. Dinkleberg shouted in horror. "They're illegally parked on the other side of the road." He grabbed his cell phone and made a call. The equipment was activated, giving them both audio and visual. "I think I'll be sick if I ever see a rake again." they heard the buck-toothed boy say with exhaustion as he scooped up the last pile of leaves and put them in the trash can. Even though he sounded hoarse, the kid's voice was still unusually high for a boy. "Man, he looks beat." Rainbow said with some sympathy. "Little buckaroo's working away," Applejack said with a proud smile. "Hideous." Rarity said. "Rarity," Fluttershy admonished, "aren't you being a little mean?" "No, not him Darling." Rarity said, "I meant that boy's hat. Pink!" She said with disgust. "It's just a crime against all fashion." Pinkie Pie glared at Rarity. "Don't worry Darling," Rarity said sheepishly, "it looks good on you." Someone walked out the door onto the lawn. She was a tall-teenage girl with red-hair tied into a ponytail, black pants, a green- "Wait," Rainbow said with gritted teeth, "I know her." "You do?" Sunset said. "That's the jerk who tried to hurt Scootaloo!” Rainbow said with a growl. "OK," Timmy said with exhaustion to Vicky, "I got all the leaves." "Silly little twerp," Vicky said in a falsely sweet tone, "you missed some leaves." "What leaves?" Timmy asked. With a nasty grin, Vicky kicked over the large bin where Timmy spilled his onto the ground. "Those leaves.” Vicky said with a nasty grin. "I spent an hour working on that!" Timmy yelled, angry and hurt. "Do it again." "No," Timmy yelled angrily, "you can't make me!" "Really?" Vicky spoke in a falsely sad tone, "I guess I'll have to tell your parents about how you broke their priceless vase." "What are you-" Timmy began, only for Vicky to pull out a fancy vase, and threaten to drop it. "No, please!" Timmy begged. "Leaves," Vicky said with a mean smile, "now!" With a defeated whimper, Timmy went back to picking the leaves up. "What a horrible lout." Rarity said with fury. The rest of the Rainbooms looked at the scene with shocked outrage. Vinyl took off her sunglasses, her purple eyes glaring at the bully. Sunset looked at the scene, not only with anger, but a sick feeling in her gut. That girl's meanness was, to her frustration, so uncomfortably familiar. "Should we do something?" Applejack asked with gritted teeth. "We can't blow our cover." Rarity said with frustration, looking with sympathy as the brown-haired boy worked like he was on the verge of tears, while the red-haired girl was clearly taking joy from the boy's misery, watching over him like a slave owner. "Poor thing..." Fluttershy lamented. "Don't worry Twerpie," the girl said with a smile, "this is just my last hurrah." "What do you mean?" Timmy asked. "My parents won a vacation to Cancun," Vicky said with a smile, "and they're taking me and my darling sister with me." "You're leaving?" Timmy asked with some hope. "For three weeks," Vicky said. "I just wanted our last time before I go away to be special." "Oh…” Timmy said meekly. "Anyways, I got to check on something," Vicky said, "stay here," she began walking away, only to come back. "and when you do finish the leaves, take out the trash." "But I already-" Timmy began, only for Vicky to take a trash bag out of the garbage can. Before Timmy could do anything, Vicky opened the bag over his head, dumping all the trash on him. Vicky let out a nasty snicker before walking away. "THAT'S IT!" Rainbow Dash yelled, jumping up from her chair, and about to storm out of the van, only to be held back. "Let me go Applejack," Rainbow yelled, "that witch needs a hole punched into her head!" "I know," Applejack said, restraining the angry girl, "but we can't blow our cover because we're angry." "THAT GIRL IS SO MEAN!" Pinkie Pie yelled, with a growl that scared everyone, clenching her fists, "IF I COULD, I'D-I'D-INVITED HER TO A PARTY...AND...AND- "What?" Fluttershy asked. "GIVE HER THE SMALLEST PIECE OF CAKE!" Everyone looked at Pinkie with disbelief. "Wow, Pinkie," Rainbow said sarcastically, "that is really harsh." "Really?" Pinkie Pie said sadly, "I am so sorry. I didn't actually mean it." Sunset ignored Pinkie's irreverence, focusing on the brown-haired kid. He stood still, but began shaking with anger, glaring daggers at the babysitter as she walked back into the house. "That's it!" The boy said angrily under his breath, "I wish Vicky was covered in garbage." They heard a poof sound. "There's the poof." Sunset said. After a moment, everything stayed the same. "That's odd-" Sunset began, only to hear a loud noise coming from the sky. "Why do I hear a plane crash?" Up in the air, a plane suddenly appeared, and began crashing out of the sky. "Captain," a co-pilot said, "we're crashing out of the sky!" "We'll have to lighten our loud.” the pilot, an older man, said in a dramatic voice. He pushed a red button, and the bomb bay doors opened, causing garbage to spill out. The garbage fell with a whistling sound. Just as Vicky was about to enter the house, she heard a whistling noise. She turned around and saw the garbage coming toward her. "AAAHHH!" Vicky yelled. SPLAT! Vicky wretched with disgust, seeing herself covered in garbage. "How did this happen?" Vicky said with horror. Her anger grew as she heard Timmy laughing uncontrollably. The Rainbooms began laughing like crazy at the mean girl's misfortune. Even Fluttershy couldn't help but laugh. Vinyl didn't laugh, but smirked. "That kid really got her good." Rainbow said, cracking up. The only one not laughing was Sunset, who looked at the kid, especially his nasty grin, with concern and a bit of fear. "I don't know how that happened," Vicky yelled at her charge, "but you're going to clean it up, while I'm going to take a bath. And when I get back, I expect all of these chores done!" She then stormed into the house as the last of Timmy's laughs died down. "I think we've got our confirmation," Rarity said assuringly. "that kid made that garbage fall on her." Sunset felt her hands begin to shake. "Or it could be just some huge coincidence," Applejack said. Everyone stared at her. "What it could-” "I wish the garbage was taken out and the leaves were done," the boy said. With another poof, both chores were immediately taken care of. "Well, there's our confirmation." Applejack said with a sigh. "Yay!" the boy said happily, "no Vicky for three weeks! This calls for a celebration guys." "Is he talking to someone?" Sunset asked with some confusion. "I don't know," Rainbow said, "but-" they paused as they felt something hit the van. They then felt the angle of the van increasing. "What's happening?" Rainbow said as she and her friends grabbed onto something. They looked outside and saw the van was being raised vertically by a tow truck with a hook. They all let out a collective yell of terror as the tow truck pulled them away. "STOP!" They all yelled in vain as they were taken away from the kid's house, "PUT US DOWN!" "Did you guys hear something?” Timmy said. "Probably the yell of some girls in a surveillance van that is being towed away," Cosmo said, disguised as a bag of fertilizer. "Really?" Wanda said while disguised as a watering can. "Nah," Cosmo said, "probably just termites." "Anyways," Timmy said happily, "we should celebrate." Cosmo and Wanda waved their wands, and suddenly a giant rock concert was poofed in front of them, complete with rock bands, refreshments, and a large crowd. "This is great!" Timmy said. "Especially since we know no one is watching us." Cosmo and Wanda said in unison. > Rainbooms Babysitting-Edited By Dragon Turtle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You couldn't wait for us to get out of the van first?!" Sunset yelled at the tow-truck man, while her friends stood behind her, angry and exhausted. They had been towed to an impound lot called Sal's Towing, and were arguing with the owner, a surly, greasy, obese man named Sal. "When Sal gets a call, Sal tows," the man said unapologetically in third person. "When a man named Dinkleberg gave Sal a call, Sal knew he had to act to protect the parking spaces of the good people of Dimmsdale." "Dinkleberg..." Rainbow growled. "Here's your fine for illegal parking," Sal said, handing a citation to an angry Vinyl. "Have a nice day," he said insincerely, before turning around to walk back to his office. "Well, we know the kid has magic." Applejack said. "Now what?" Fluttershy expressed tiredly, after being hauled around on the road by a stranger. "Who cares?" Rainbow said with a smirk. "That kid roasted that jerk." "Who cares?" Sunset asked with dismay as they all walked to Vinyl's van. "Who cares?! Don't you guys understand how serious this is?!" "Nope!" Pinkie said simply. "Darling," Rarity said to Sunset, "I don't see what the issue is. So what if a child is using magic? He doesn't seem to be using it for anything bad." "Of course you don't understand..." Sunset said, pinching the bridge of her nose and getting her anger under control. "Let me put it this way: I was one of the most magically potent unicorns in Equestria-," "Real humble Sunset," Applejack snarked. "Anyways," Sunset said with a roll of her eyes, "I was magically potent, but I didn't learn to cast spells overnight. To teleport a single pin, it took me two weeks of training. And yet this kid, who we know was born on Earth, is teleporting cars, boxes, and garbage overnight! It just isn't natural. He's probably using some kind of magical enhancer." "That sounds awesome," Rainbow said with an oblivious smile. "Why don't ponies back home use them?" "Because they have very, very dangerous side effects, like anger, delusions, hallucinations," Sunset said, much to the concern of her friends. "Their effects on a pony outweigh any benefits one can get." "Oh I see," Pinkie Pie said, "you're afraid he'll become some angry meanie bent on world domination like you did when you put on that crown, and brainwashed everyone, and tried to destroy us." "Yes, Pinkie," Sunset said with a face palm, "just like that." "That is concerning," Rarity thought with some trepidation, "what do you think it is?" "I don't know," Sunset said, "Twilight would probably now. All I know is he can get whatever he wants by wishing for it." The Rainbooms waited patiently at the portal, doing small hobbies. After a few moments, Princess Twilight burst out of the portal. Having had experience with interdimensional travel, Twilight managed to appear standing upright. "Hey Twi." Sunset said, walking up to give Twilight a warm hug, which each one of the Rainbooms joined in on. Suddenly, something else began to emerge from the portal. It was a green-haired boy of elementary school age. He had purple shorts, green sneakers, and a purple hoodie with a green-t shirt burst out of the portal. The boy had a purple backpack with a dragon symbol on it. He looked to be in a daze. "Who's that?" Pinkie asked. "Me, Spike," the boy said, slowly getting to his feet and getting his bearings. "Spike," Rarity said in confusion, "I thought you became a dog." "I edited the portal," Princess Twilight said, "I realized how suspicious it was for a dog to be able to talk, so I made it so he would look human." "Yeah," Spike said proudly, "and besides: why should a dragon become a pet, not a human. Does that mean that dragons are inferior to ponies?" "Oh you're so cute," Pinkie said, pulling boy Spike into a hug, much to his annoyance. "That is a good point," Rarity said with a stroke of her chin, "it sounds...downright racist for an intelligent being to be reduced to a house pet-," "This is a lovely discussion," Rainbow said with a frown, "but, uh, we have bigger things to deal with," gesturing to Princess Twilight. "It's good to see you all again," Princess Twilight said with a smile. "I just wish it was on better terms." "So do we." Sunset said. "Anyways," Twilight said, pulling a tome out of Spike's backpack, "I think I know what this colt-I mean-boy, picked up." "What is it?" "The Stone of Desire," Princess Twilight said, opening the book and showing off an illustration of a spherical stone that was all the colors of the rainbow arranged vertically along the stone. "That stone...completes me." a voice said. Everyone turned and saw Maud approaching them from behind with a bunch of rocks in her arms, startling them. "Maud," Sunset said with some fear, "when did you get here?" "Yes." Maud said, before walking away to collect more stones. "I can't believe she's your sister." Spike said to Pinkie Pie. "I know," Pinkie Pie said, "she's so...AMAZING!" "Anyways," Twilight began, "ages ago, there existed a stone that could grant one's heart desire. A being who wielded it could get anything: money, wealth, and power. But all who wielded the stone were driven mad. Some used their power for conquest and destruction. Some became paranoid that others would take it. They even pushed away friends and family, not wanting to share it. Whole kingdoms were destroyed just to get one of the stones." "That's not ominous..." Rarity uttered. Everyone else looked deeply alarmed by what they were hearing. "Eventually, Starswirl the Bearded ordered them destroyed. It appears that he might've dumped them into your world instead." "Just like the Sirens." Sunset said with frustration. "So we have a mighty, corrupting, magical rock in the hands of an immature boy with potential anger issues?" Everyone understood the gravity of the situation.  "What do we do?" "I say burst into that kid's house and take it," Rainbow said. "It's not that simple," Twilight said, "the stone isn't easy to get rid of. Apparently, it fuses into the body of the person who wields it, and it gets stuck in the longer it is used." "Oh..." Rainbow tried imagining how she could work her way around that.. "He could give it up willingly-," "I'm on it," Pinkie said, running away for a moment, before returning while wearing a brown fedora. "I have the perfect plan to get him to give us the stone." "Let me guess," Applejack said in an unimpressed tone, "your plan is to go to his house, knock on his door, and ask him 'please give back the stone, pretty please, with sugar on top?’" "No silly.  I'm going to go to his house, knock on his door, and ask him 'please give back the stone, pretty please with sugar, and cherries, and a marshmallow on top.’" "Pinkie," Sunset said, "aside from having an overbite and liking pink, we don't know anything about this kid. He could be a selfish brat for all we know. I mean, he dumped garbage on someone." "Only because that girl was being mean to him." Fluttershy said with unusual prompt and a fixed gaze. "These things are a slippery slope." Sunset cautioned. "One minute, you're asking about a mirror. The next minute, you're becoming a demon..." Her eyes turned downcast. Everyone hugged her, assuring her they didn't hold it against her anymore. Twilight came to a conclusion. "Sunset's right, if he's used violence once, he could do it again. And we have to stop him before he has a chance to do worse." "But how," Rainbow said, "we can't just go up to him. He won't give up magic like that to complete strangers. He especially wouldn't be nice to us if he knew we spied on him." "I can make a rune that can bind magical artifacts," Twilight said. Sunset looked hopeful. "Really?" "But building rune that can bind that much magic will take time." "How much time?" Rarity asked. Twilight rubbed her chin the back of her hand. "With magic of this scale, three weeks.  But we need to keep an eye on him, to make sure he doesn't cause trouble. But how?" "I think I figured out a way," Rarity said with a smile, "not to mention a way to ingratiate ourselves with him to boot, and prove our sincerity should the need arise." "How?" "His babysitter," Rarity said with some derision, "is going away for three weeks. Maybe one of us could step in." "That's a good idea," Twilight nodded. "But who?" "Oh, oh," Pinkie said, excitedly waving her arm like she wanted to answer a question in class, "pick me! Pick me!” "No." Twilight shot down.  "We need someone who has a strong background in magic, someone responsible, someone who understands the danger of corrupted magic, someone who is neither too serious OR too silly." Sunset pondered this, until she realized everyone was staring at her. "OK," Sunset said with a sigh, "I'll do it." "So let's go set up our babysitting service," Rarity said, "shall we?" NOTE: The rhythm of this song is based off of 634-5789 by Wilson Pickett. Rainbow Dash For eleven bucks an hour, Pinkie Pie With love, we will shower, Rarity Your little girl or boy, Fluttershy And fill his life full of joy. Applejack And hold him if he cries Sunset Shimmer And push his tears aside, Rainbooms Together We are Rainbooms Babysitting, You get one free sitting, First time free, Money back guaranteed, All you have to do is pick up your phone and Dial 578-9913 Rainbow Dash But we have several rules to follow, Rarity You must chew before you swallow, Fluttershy You must be kind, never mean, Pinkie Pie No hogging the ice cream, Applejack You have to give, you have to share, Sunset Shimmer You have to love, you have to care, Rainbooms Together We are Rainbooms Babysitting, You get one free sitting, First time is free, Money back, guaranteed, All you have to do is pick up your phone and Dial 578-9913 "Man, this poster came out top-notch." Rainbow looked impressively at the screen. "But we have to make sure the kid's parents will choose us." "We’ll have to capture their attention."  Rarity said with a degree of experience. "How do we do that?" Sunset asked aloud. Mrs. Turner sat in her office at Dimmsdale Realty, panicking as she tried to find a babysitter online. "If only Vicky had told me earlier," the woman said with frustration, "Rats, everyone is booked! It's not as if the solution is going to come through my window." The window next to her shattered, to her shock. Mrs. Turner looked at the damage, and saw a brick with a note attached. "Rainbow!" Sunset yelled. The two had parked at Dimmsdale Realty, and found the woman working on a Sunday, of all times. Rainbow decided to get her attention in a very provocative way. "What?" Rainbow said defensively, "you said get their attention." "You threw a brick through that woman's window! Do you know how insane that makes us look?! She'll never pick-," Sunset paused as her phone started ringing. Sunset answered it. "Ehem. Hello?" Sunset said. "Is this Rainbooms Babysitting?" a woman said. "...Yes.  This is Sunset Shimmer. May I ask who's calling" "This is Mrs. Turner of Dimmsdale Realty," the woman said. "I am sorry to bother you, but my usual sitter had to go away for a few weeks. If it’s not too much trouble, could you come tomorrow and watch my son?" "Suuuure..." Sunset said. Rainbow Dash gave her a smug look, to which Sunset responded with a roll of her eyes. "That sounds wonderful," the woman said politely, "You'll never believe how I learned about you." "How?" Sunset strained. "I was sitting in my office, when suddenly a brick was thrown through my window," the woman recounted, "and by some strange coincidence, your poster was attached to it." "Imagine that?" Sunset said with disbelief. "Is 3-4 PM good for you?" The woman said. "Absolutely." Sunset Shimmer said. "And I do see you are based in Canterlot," Mrs. Turner continued.  “Are you sure it isn't too far for you?" "Nnnope." "Good," the woman said, "just send me your references, and I'll see you tomorrow." "Have a good day ma'am." Sunset stiffly ended the conversation. "You too." the woman said, and hung up the phone. "Well that's taken care off," Sunset said. "But please don't break any windows," Sunset said in a serious tone. "Why not?" Rainbow said. Sunset glared at the athletic girl. "OK, sheesh." Sunset Shimmer rode her motorbike to the Turner residence. After a half-hour, she arrived at the white house, walked to the door, and rang the doorbell. Within a few minutes, the door opened, and her new charge came to greet her. He wore a pink hat, pink shirt, jeans, and tiny sneakers the same dingy blue that let them almost melt into the hemming. He was short, with brown hair grown far out on top, big buck teeth, and blue eyes a shade off from hers that for the moment were staring unchangingly. "Are you," Sunset read off a card, to give the impression that she didn't know his name, "Timmy Turner?" "Yeah." The boy said, confirming what they both knew. Sunset bent down to look at him while extending her hand to look friendly. "I'm Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said with a warm smile.  "I'm your temporary babysitter." The brown-haired boy just kept staring for a moment.  Was he feeling shy? "And I hope we can become best-," the door was slammed in Sunset's face. > Breaking the Ice-Edited By Dragon Turtle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset Shimmer was too stunned to respond. She was there less than a minute, and the kid already slammed the door in her face without saying one word to her. "I've heard of being shy, but this is ridiculous," Sunset said to herself. After a moment, Sunset walked into the house herself, intruding on a family argument. "-don't need a babysitter!" the kid argued loudly. "Now Timmy," a tall, black-haired man who could only be Mr. Turner said in a stern tone while wearing a sharp dress suit, "you can't stay here by yourself." "I know you miss Vicky," the mother said in her own stern tone while wearing a fancy purple gown, "but until she gets back, Sunset is going to watch you, and you will behave." Sunset cocked her head in confusion. "Why would he miss that girl?" Sunset thought. That girl was clearly a bully who wanted to humiliate him for kicks. Maybe Vicky had a softer side that the buck-toothed boy only saw? However, that didn't excuse her behavior, and she hoped never to see it again when she did come back. "...Fine," Timmy said with resignation. "Excuse me?" Sunset said, alerting the residents she was in the house. Mr. and Mrs. Turner looked at her with polite smiles and decided to approach her, while Timmy stayed behind, looking at her nervously. "You must be Sunset," Mrs. Turner said, "I'm sorry for how rude Timmy was." "He's just a little shy," Mr. Turner said, "since sweet, lovable Vicky isn't here." "I can only imagine," Sunset said, trying to hide the disdain in her voice. "Anyways," Mrs. Turner said, "we're going to the opera. We'll be back around 10:00 PM. Make sure Timmy is in bed by 9:00." "Sure," Sunset said. "Anyways," Mr. Turner said, "in case of an emergency, here is a list of numbers you can call!" the man said. "That sounds-," she paused as the black-haired man handed her a list "-long," Sunset said with awe as the list went down to her ankles. "Let me show you to the first aid kit," Mr. Turner said. "OK." "Second aid kit," he said, pointing to a bigger box, "third aid kit," he continued, pointing to an even bigger medical tool. "And I say Twilight overprepares," Sunset muttered. "And in case of a home invasion," Mr. Turner said, "my patented Home Defense System, or as I call it, the HDP." "Don't you mean HD-," Mr. Turner paused as he pulled out a metal case that piqued Sunset's interest. Maybe it would be one of those sacred weapons Celestia had lying around. "Hold onto it with your life," he said dramatically as Turner opened the case. "For having it will be the difference between life and death." She wondered what Mr. Turner was going to give her. He pulled out- It was a regular baseball bat with spikes glued on. "Uh, thanks," Sunset said uneasily. "It works well against burglars, the mailman, the Girl Scouts, and Dinkleberg!" Mr. Turner said. "Who's Dinkleberg?" Sunset asked. Mr. Turner looked at her as if she had asked if the sky was blue. "Who is Dinkleberg?" Mr. Turner repeated with growing anger. "Who is Dinkleberg?!" "Um-," "Dinkleberg is a monster, an animal, a beast who hides in human form," Mr. Turner said dramatically. Mrs. Turner rolled her eyes. "If you let your guard down, he'll destroy everything and everyone you care about!" "Hey Turner," a man at the window said. He was a cheerful-looking man in a yellow polo shirt, a fishing hat, and brown shorts. He had a big nose and greyish-dark hair that seemed to be balding. "I, your neighbor Sheldon Dinkleberg, wanted to stop by and say hi." He turned to Sunset. "Oh hello, Ms.-," "Shimmer," Sunset said politely, ignoring Mr. Turner's shut-up gesture. "Sunset Shimmer." "Oh, you play the bat game too?" Dinkleberg asked happily. "Bat game?" "Once a week, Turner chases me around the neighborhood with that thing like he wants to kill me," Mr. Dinkleberg said, "to motivate me to keep in shape." "Really," Sunset said in disbelief, noticing that Mr. Turner's glare seemed to grow fiercer. "Maybe they're frenemies." Sunset thought. "Anyways, I got errands to run," the man with the Pinkie-like smile said before walking away. "He seemed nice," Sunset said. "Of course he does," Mr. Turner said with disdain, "until he's drinking the blood from your-," "Anyways," Mrs. Turner said, interrupting her husband's tirade, "we'll see you at ten. Have fun." The couple walked out of the house. Sunset noticed they never bothered to say something to their son before they left. She turned and saw that Timmy was gone. "Where'd he go now?" Sunset said to herself. She heard the sound of running water, so she followed the noise there. It led her to an area with green walls, a TV, and a Fuschia-colored couch—the standard living room.  The noise trailed in from the kitchen. She found her charge in the light-blue room, washing the dishes while wearing a hairnet. Sunset thought about how she could break the ice. "You're doing the chores without anyone asking you," Sunset Shimmer said in an enthusiastic tone, "that's really sweet of you." "I uh, guess," Timmy said uneasily without looking at her. Well, it was better than him saying nothing. Sunset saw that he was trying to wash and dry the dishes at once. She noticed the job wasn't being done well. "Uh, some of those dry dishes look pretty wet," she advised gently, "if you-," Timmy immediately began drying one of the badly dried dishes like his life depended on it. "I'm sorry!" Timmy shrieked in a panicked tone, looking back at Sunset fearfully. "I didn't mean to be lazy!" He then turned back, scrubbing the dishes with trembling hands. Sunset was a bit taken aback by his response. She tried to offer some friendly advice, and he acted like she was going to attack him. He saw her the way everyone...used to. "How about this," Sunset offered the fearful kid, "I'll wash the dishes while you dry them." Timmy paused his scared dish-drying and looked at Sunset with disbelief. "You want to help me?" Timmy asked as if the concept of getting help was incomprehensible. "Yes," Sunset said with a welcoming smile, "if we work together, we can get the chores done early. And the sooner we get the chores done, the sooner we can eat that pizza I brought." Sunset smirked as the buck-toothed boy's interest peaked. Sunset had chosen her bait very well. Now she just needed to reel the fish in, "No anchovies?" Timmy asked suspiciously. "I'm a vegetarian," Sunset said with a smile, "I don't touch them." "Oh boy," Timmy said happily. Sunset felt relieved. He finally got the kid to smile for the first time since she met him. "What kind of pizza is it?" Timmy said, his mouth foaming with hunger. "Pepperoni and olives?" "Even better," Sunset crooned, opening the box, "cucumber and spinach." Timmy's hunger was replaced with disgust. "Vegetables on pizza!!!" Timmy said with horror, "BLECH! Are you trying to kill me?!" "You don't like vegetables," Sunset asked in an amused tone, "when I was a little fil- I mean, girl, I loved vegetables." "Vegetables are disgusting!" Timmy yelled, "I want pepperoni!" Sunset felt a little hurt by Timmy's rejection. "Well, fine," Sunset said with some disappointment, "more pizza for me. But no coming into the kitchen for snacks." Timmy stormed out of the room in a bratty rage and walked upstairs. Timmy ran into his room and slammed the door. Cosmo and Wanda poofed in front of him. "Cosmo, Wanda," Timmy began, "I wish I had a hot fudge-," Timmy stopped his glare when he saw his godparents looking at him with disappointment."What?" "Timmy," Wanda said in a stern tone, "you're being rude." "But Wanda," Timmy said, "she bought me a pizza with vegetables. Vegetables!" "Are you sure you don't want some?" Sunset called from downstairs. "But unlike Vicky, who gobbles up the pizza," Cosmo said with a smile, "that girl wanted to share hers with you." "She also helped you with the chores and bought you that pizza." Wanda said sternly, "She was nice to you, and you thanked her by being mean to her." Timmy's anger died down "...Oh," Timmy said, his face full of guilt. "It's delicious," kept calling Sunset. "At least try the pizza before you ask me to wish you something up," Wanda said gently. "Don't worry, Wanda," Cosmo said, "If Timmy wants to be fat, he can always be a sumo wrestler for the rest of his life." Cosmo poofed himself into looking like a morbidly obese adult version of Timmy. He looked disgustingly fat and was covered in a loincloth. He made some weird moves while making noises in Japanese before falling to the ground in agony. "Ow, my coronary artery," Cosmo-disguised-as-Fat Timmy said. Timmy let out a shudder. "OK," Timmy said with incoming dread. "I'll eat it." He walked out of the room. "Stiiiiiill got it!" Cosmo said with a smirk to Wanda, who returned it with a smirk of her own. "I see you're hungry after all," Sunset said as Timmy came back into the kitchen. By the time he got back, Sunset had set the table, pizza, and dishes placed on it. He looked a little morose. "Timmy," Sunset began, "Is everything-," "Sorry," Timmy said, "for being so mean to you." "Don't worry," Sunset said, "it's hard to try new things. But to grow as a person, it’s something we must do." She turned the box to Timmy. "You get the first slice." Timmy let out a sigh since he still didn't care for vegetables. With some reluctance, Timmy took a slice and slowly but surely bit a tiny bite of it. "So," Sunset asked happily. "What did you think?" "It's OK," Timmy said, "I guess it needs a little salt." Timmy grasped the salt shaker. "I guess a little salt isn't too bad," Sunset said but paused as Timmy took the lid off the salt shaker and poured all the salt onto the pizza. Timmy rolled up the slice and ate it like a burrito. "Mmm," Timmy said happily, "that was delicious." "Timmy had the right idea," Cosmo said. He and Wanda were disguised as paper plates. "Salt goes with everything. And-, Blood pressure rising!" Cosmo screamed. He felt an eye twitch. Wanda sighed in disbelief. "Would you like some pizza with your salt?" Sunset said, genuine amusement in her voice. Timmy let out his own little laugh. After finishing their pizza, Sunset and Timmy walked into the living room. "So, what do you do for fun?" Sunset asked the brown-haired kid. "Wait, what time is it?" Timmy asked. "6," Sunset said. Timmy started squirming. "Why?" "Um," Timmy said nervously, "no reason." The boy was planning something devious. "Then why do you look so nervous," Sunset asked with a smirk. "Nothin-," "Dude!" a male voice uttered. Two boys burst into the living room. One of them was a dirty-blond kid with thick braces on his teeth, a green jacket he wore over a black tee, and tired jeans. The other was a bald, African-American boy with a blue V-neck vest over a white shirt and pressed beige pants. They held up piles of toilet paper and cartons of eggs. "Guys," Timmy said nervously, "we can't-," "With this," the blond kid crooned, "we'll make ol' Crockpot regret giving us Fs." "Ahem," Sunset said with a smirk. The two boys noticed the tall teenager in the room with horror. "I thought you said you didn't have a babysitter?" the bald kid whispered to Timmy. Timmy shrugged nervously. They looked back at the teenager still sneering at them. "It was his idea!" the two boys yelled, literally pointing fingers at Timmy, before running out of the house with their contraband. "Guys!" Timmy hollered indignantly. He then looked back at Sunset with a nervous chuckle. "So who's Crockpot?" Sunset asked. To Timmy's relief, Sunset looked more amused than annoyed. "The biggest jerk ever," Timmy matter-of-factly stated. "He may be a jerk," Sunset said firmly, "but you're not going to ruin his day, got it? And I'll pretend I didn't see anything." "OK," Timmy said nervously. "Aside from getting pointless revenge," Sunset said with some snark, "what else do you want to do?" "Video games," Timmy said, turning on a V-cube, which played a game that read Crash Nebula 2: The Revenge of the Horde on the TV screen. "Can I play?" Sunset asked. "You like video games?" Timmy asked. "I have my own let's play channel on TooYube," Sunset said proudly. "Really?" Timmy said. He happily passed a controller to Sunset, "then let's play." Sunset had to give him credit. Timmy was quick on the controls. The game was entering the last ten seconds, and he was winning by a narrow lead. On the screen, Timmy played Crash Nebula, while Sunset played one of the evil aliens. "I'm gonna win," Timmy gloated. Sunset let a smirk form on her face. She yanked Timmy's hat over his eyes. "Hey!" Timmy squawked. Just as Sunset calculated, Timmy let go of his controller to pull the hat from his eyes. Sunset gleefully mashed the "Y" button, finishing him off. "Game Over!" The screen said, "Sunset is the winner!" "You cheated," Timmy said with a growl. "All is fair in love and intergalactic conquest," Sunset said remorselessly. Timmy let out a growl, but it was more playful than annoyed. "So," Timmy said, "you want to play again?" Sunset smiled but then glanced at the clock and saw it was almost nine. "Bedtime," Sunset said. "Can't we play some more?" Timmy asked the fire-haired girl with pleading in his eyes. "Bed," Sunset repeated. "Aww," Timmy said. "Don't worry," Sunset said with a smile. "I'm gonna be here for three more weeks. That gives us plenty of time for me to beat your butt." "Oh yeah," Timmy challenged playfully, "we'll see about that," Timmy said, running up the stairs happily. Sunset smiled. Despite a rocky start, she finally connected with the brown-haired kid. And to her surprise, she enjoyed hanging out with him. "Time for school, Timmy," Mr. Turner said. "Hurry up," Mrs. Turner said, "or you'll be late for the bus." Timmy ran out of the house. To his surprise, someone in an orange and red motorcycle was parked in front of his house. The obviously cool dude wore a blue and purple outfit and a purple helmet. "Who is -," Timmy began before the guy pulled off his helmet, revealing familiar red and yellow locks. "Sunset," Timmy asked, "you ride a motorbike?" "Yep," Sunset said. "I wanted to know if I could take you to school." "Really?" Timmy asked Sunset, his eyes alight with excitement. "Well," Sunset said with a smirk, "I just wanted to show it off. You want a ride?" "Do I!" Timmy said, yanking off his pink hat and putting on a pink helmet. "Then hang on," Sunset said as Timmy sat behind her. Timmy let out a happy wail as Sunset rode her bike all across Dimmsdale. "That was so much fun!" Timmy said as Sunset came to a stop. They arrived at a parking lot in front of Dimmsdale Elementary. "I bet," Sunset said, "but don't expect this every day. I have to go to school too." "Alright," Timmy said with some disappointment. "Turner," a displeased voice said from behind them. Sunset and Timmy turned around and saw a bespectacled man with a coffee cup. He wore a plain white shirt, black trousers, and a black-tie. His hair was short and dark, his skin grey, and he had some weird growth on his neck that almost looked like an ear. Hands-on his hips, he looked at Timmy with a suspicious expression. "Crocker," Timmy returned with a glare of his own. "I see you've arrived on-," Crocker paused, just noticing the teenager on the bike. "You seem a bit tall and aged to be attending elementary school." Sunset let out a playful snort. "I'm not a student," Sunset said, "I'm just dropping Timmy off as his temporary babysitter. Mr.-," "Crocker," the man finished. "Denzel Q. Crocker." "Crocker, crockpot," Sunset said under her breath. "Timmy told me about you." "What did he say?" Crocker asked with a frown. "Um," Sunset stammered, noticing Timmy looking downward in shame and fear. "He told me how...nice and cool you were. And how he looks forward to your classes."  "Oh really," Crocker hmmm’d, not believing one word of what Sunset said, "maybe he's looking forward to his next F." The man said this as a matter of fact before turning away, plodding to the entryway stairs. Sunset was a bit taken aback by the man's mean demeanor and felt a strong urge to throw toilet paper and eggs at the man's house. "Think you want to get to class on time," Sunset warned her charge. "Yeah, he isn't the teacher you want to be late for," Timmy said disdainfully. But as Timmy got off the bike, Crocker returned to them with rapid-fire backflips. "Tell me, girl," Crocker asked Sunset, a sly smile on his face. "You've been in Turner's house. Have you noticed anything unusual?" "Like what?" Sunset replied with a forced smile on her face. Timmy looked both incredibly annoyed and bored. "What if I told you that boy held the key to world domination?" Crocker said, a crazed look in his eye. "Excuse me?" Sunset asked nervously. "The power to rule the world in the palm of his hand," Crocker went on with a hungry expression. "Help me, Shimmer," Crocker said, "and I might find a place for you at my new world order." "New world order?" Sunset parroted in confusion. "As long as you help me capture his-," Crocker's rant was disrupted by a tap on the shoulder. "Who dares touch-," Crocker stammered when he saw who was glaring at him. "Crocker," the red-haired woman said with an annoyed tone that sounded Irish. "Principal Waxelplax," Crocker said nervously. Sunset just noticed the woman. She had red hair that was shaped into a beehive. Unlike Principals Luna and Celestia, who had tall and svelte figures, this principal was short and stout. She wore a blue business dress with a light blue blouse underneath. She was looking at Crocker like he was an out-of-sorts child. "Crocker," the Irish woman said in a displeased tone, "what did I say about your megalomaniacal rants?" "Not to do them in front of visitors," Crocker listed off, sounding like a scolded five-year-old. "And what did you do?" "Did them," Crocker said. "You win this round, Turner-!" he began to rant, only to walk away after another glare from the annoyed woman. "I'm so sorry about Crocker," Waxelplax said to Sunset, giving her a friendly grin. "He's having one of his episodes. Ms.-" "Shimmer," Sunset said, "It's OK. But what’s all that about?" Sunset said, trying to hide the concern in her voice. "Oh, Crocker thinks magic is real," Waxelplax said in a tired, mocking voice, "and he wants to rule the world with it." The woman let out a silly laugh. Sunset let out her own forced laughter, as did Timmy. "Crazy, right?" "Yeah, crazy," Timmy said nervously. "Anyways, off to class now," the plump woman said to Timmy, who ran off, giving a friendly wave to Sunset, who returned it. "What if, hypothetically speaking," Sunset said, trying to hide her nervousness in her voice, "magic was real?" "Then we'd all be in trouble from future dictator Denzel Crockpot," the woman said playfully as if the idea of Crocker doing anything threatening seemed utterly ludicrous. "Anyways, got to get to work," the woman said, marching back to the school. "Bye," Sunset said idly, a serious frown forming on her face as her glare penetrated the face of the school the crazy teacher slunk through. > Schoolhouse Sunset-Edited by Dragon Turtle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So this teacher gloated about world domination?" Rarity asked uneasily. The Rainbooms sat at their usual spot in the cafeteria. They used the window of lunchtime to talk about their pressing issue: Timmy Turner. "Yes," Sunset Shimmer said with exhaustion, "new world order, offering me a chance to rule at his side, yadda yadda yadda." "He sounds like a loonie," Rainbow muttered with disdain. "Like a real meanie," Fluttershy remarked. "Like Sunset, before she became our friend," Pinkie Pie replied. "Yeah, I guess," Sunset said with some shame. "Anyways, I didn't like the evil look in his eye. It was the evil look in my eye." "Does he know about the portal?" Applejack asked Sunset with serious eyes. "If he knew, I think he would probably gloat about it, and about how he was going to conquer all of Equestria," Sunset stated with a roll of her eyes. Her friends began snickering. "In all seriousness, he didn't suspect me of being anything but a normal person, but knew Timmy had... something that he wanted me to capture." "But how could he know?" Rainbow asked Sunset. "I'm guessing he notices the strange things that happen around Timmy," Sunset said. "And just chalks it up to magic." "Should we be watching out for him?" Rainbow followed up. "We shouldn't rule him out completely," Sunset concluded, "but Timmy's principal, a nice lady, says he's harmless." "Alright," Rainbow said. "Now on to the more important question..." "Soup or salad?" Pinkie Pie asked, holding up both dishes in her hand. "No," Rainbow said, "did Timmy act....like...evil?" "Well no, he was really, really nervous at first." "In the 'hiding something' kind of way?" Applejack asked, her green eyes trained to tell fibs from facts. "No," Sunset said, "more like...the afraid of me kind of way." "I think we know why," Rainbow murmured. Sunset questioned whether that was the case, but kept it to herself. "Anyways, I did get him to open up to me," Sunset said. "And he did act like...a brat sometimes. But he seemed like a nice kid other times. He liked pizza and comic books." Sunset felt a happy grin form on her face. "He's also really good and video games." "Aww," Pinkie Pie cooed, "Timmy-Wimmy's like your wittle baby brother." The other Rainbooms gave her teasing looks. "No he isn't," Sunset said with a blush. "He's just a kid I babysit."  "I love Scootaloo," Rainbow gushed, "but I've always wanted a little bro." "Take mine, please," Fluttershy said with annoyance. "No thanks," Rainbow said with greeted teeth. "I don't see any sign of the Stone of Desire clouding his mind. Yet.”  "Well that's good," Rarity said, "hopefully we can keep things that way until Twilight can finish the rune." Sunset decided to go pick up Timmy from school on her motorbike. Since her mission involved building a relationship with the kid, it was important she hit the ground running and give him a ride home. Sunset parked her motorcycle and walked into the playground. She saw the kids assembled around something. She came across a truly ridiculous sight.  Timmy was riding around on a white horse while dressed in a medieval barding. He also had roses in his hand. Sunset already knew where that stuff came from, and had an idea of what he was trying to do. She let out an annoyed sigh. "Onward noble steed!" Timmy commanded the newly-acquired horse. "This has got to be the best way to impress Trixie," Timmy said to Cosmo and Wanda, who were disguised as his helmet and his sword respectively. Timmy approached the popular girl, sitting astride her domain in her usual spot at the popular table. "Fair maiden," Timmy said to Trixie, "wouldst thou join me, the Great Knight, upon the journey of love?" He extended his open hand to her. "Alas," Trixie said, looking away from Timmy while manicuring her own nails, "a dork by any other name is still a dork." "But-," Timmy began. "SECURITY!" Trixie wailed. The fuschia brickhouse of a man slapped the horse on the hide, sending it to go scurrying. Unable to regain control, Timmy slid off the saddle and face-planted into the Kentucky Bluegrass. Everyone in the playground started to laugh. With a tired sigh, Timmy walked away, feeling utterly humiliated by his latest rejection. After a quick wish in the bushes, he managed to poof away his armor and grass stains, and regain his red backpack. "What went wrong?" Timmy asked Cosmo. "Maybe the horse was too light!" Cosmo said. "I'm gonna go with the medieval language and trying to act like a character in a storybook," Wanda said with an edge in her sympathetic voice. With a sigh, Timmy left the bushes. He saw the reassuring smile of Sunset as he approached the playground fence, and his mood lightened considerably. "Rough day?" Sunset asked, opening the fence so Timmy could leave. "Yeah," Timmy said, "I got rejected." "Who's the unlucky gal?" Sunset asked with a smirk. "Trixie Tang," Timmy said wistfully, "the most beautiful creature in existence." Sunset rolled her eyes at the shallow crush. "Where did you get all that stuff?" Sunset said. "Um, Internet," Timmy replied, his eyes darting back and forth.  Sunset put on a smirk. "Works for me.  Anything else happen today?" "I got a quiz grade back." Timmy said miserably. "And?" Timmy angrily pulled out his quiz. A big red "F" was on it.  "An 'F' ?" Sunset said with disgust. "How did you get an 'F'?" "Because Crockpot assigns us surprise pop quizzes," Timmy muttered angrily, "and instead of teaching us, he spends his time lecturing us about his new world order." "How does that guy keep his job?" Sunset asked with disdain. "Tenure." Timmy said. "Oh," Sunset said. Timmy angrily grabbed the test paper, rolled it into a ball and glared at it. "And what was the subject he covered today?" "We were supposed to be studying multiplication," Timmy said with disgust. "Don't worry," Sunset met his eyes. "I'll be your tutor." "Really?" A confident smile formed on Sunset's face. "Trust me within 30 minutes, I'll have you getting multiplication." One Hour Later "I still don't get," Timmy said with exhaustion. Sunset tried to force a patient smile on her face. But she still couldn't get Timmy to understand multiplication. They had gone through dozens of problems and papers, and he still didn't understand multiplication. "It's hopeless," Timmy muttered. "Let's just," Sunset said with a sigh, "take a break, and clear our heads. That should help." "Whatever," Timmy said sadly, walking outside of the room. Sunset felt disappointed in herself. Despite having the best teacher ever, Sunset was not a good tutor herself. With a sigh of sadness, Sunset followed Timmy outside. He was in another part of the backyard working on something. "Hey Timmy," Sunset asked, "maybe we should-," she paused as she saw what was in the back. A mini-golf course. To her confusion, she saw Timmy hammering something. "I didn't know you did mini-golf," Sunset said. "You didn't ask," Timmy retorted. "When did you get this?" Sunset said. "I built it." "Really," Sunset said with some awe. She looked at the designs. The construction was pretty amateur, with the various courses in disrepair. But the layout was so good, it almost looked like professional mini-golf course. "I tried to get out of a project," Timmy said with a sheepish smile, "and had to do this to get out of trouble." "Well it’s pretty OK," Sunset said with sincerity. "Shh," Timmy said, working on some mini-windmill, "I need to measure the dimensions exactly right," Timmy said holding up a ruler, "they need to be precisely 3ft, by 6ft, by 9ft." Sunset's eyes narrowed. "Wait, what did you say?" "The part about dimensions?" "Timmy," Sunset said with a smile, "that's math!" "Really," Timmy said. "I thought math was just boring numbers." "Oh Timmy," Sunset said with a smirk, "everything is math." "It is?" NOTE: The song is sung to the tune "Non-Stop" from Hamilton. Sunset Shimmer Whether you’re keeping score, Or taking a swing after saying 'fore' That's math. Timmy Turner Really? Sunset Shimmer When you're getting your paycheck, Or getting a rain check, That's math. Timmy Turner You're just kidding me. Sunset Shimmer Whether your adding or dividing, Whether running or flying, Those weird numbers, Get you the answers you're finding. Timmy Turner So what do I do? Sunset Shimmer What do you like? Timmy Turner Riding my bike. Sunset Shimmer What else, what else? C'mon, don't be lame. Timmy Turner I like a nice golf game, Sunset Shimmer What other thing do you like to give a look? Timmy Turner A Crimson Chin comic book. Sunset Shimmer We've got your hook. If you have ten bikes, each in three lots? How many bikes, do you got? Timmy Turner 30 bikes. Sunset Shimmer Good job. Now there are ten golf players, each seven clubs, How many clubs among the schlubs? Timmy Turner Seventy. Sunset Shimmer Great job. Final Question.  There are 8 Chins for every 7 Kneecaps. What's the answer, give me the recap. Timmy Turner Fifty-six. Sunset Shimmer Fantastic! Now remember this motto, It is really hard, but you got to. Timmy Turner OK. Sunset Shimmer Whether your adding or dividing, Whether running or flying, Those weird numbers, Get you the answers you're finding. If you work hard and try,  You get buy, My little guy. Timmy Turner Can we get French Fries? Sunset Shimmer If you pass the class. Once again, Crocker was passing out freshly baked grades for his random pop quizzes.  "Well children," Crocker said with a nasty grin, "I once again have all your results. And except for A.J., you've all gotten... Fs." "Aww," the class groaned. "I love seeing all your children fail at everything," Crocker sang with glee, handing out each failed quiz.  "Well Turner," Crocker said, walking up to a very smug pink-hated boy. "I have your test grade and-," Crocker looked at his test grade. "This can't be?" Crocker exclaimed with shock. "It is a-," he looked again. "B" Everyone in class gasped in shock. "Minus." Crocker glared at Turner suspiciously. "This can only be the work of-," "Fairy Godparents," the class groaned. "I was gonna say 'a good tutor'," Crocker said, "but since you all broke the ice-FAIRY GODPARENTS! FAIRY GODPARENTS! FAIRY GODPARENTS!"  … ….. ……. "Part of me wants to fail you anyways," Crocker said with a glare, "but as your teacher, I am nominally supposed to support your success." "Which means?" Timmy asked with a cocky grin. "Congratulations Turner," Crocker said grudgingly, placing the passing test on Timmy's desk. "But don't expect your luck to last. It only gets harder from here." "Thank you sir," Timmy said overtly politely to stick it in Crocker's craw even more, happy that he finally got a passing grade. > Mind Over Muscle: Or, Timmy and Sunset In the World of Crash Nebula > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Who got a B?" Timmy sang over and over again while riding the bus home, "Me. Me. Me." Chester, A.J., Elmer, and Sanjay looked increasingly annoyed with Timmy's chant. "We get it Timmy," Chester said with strained patience, "you got a B. But you don't have to act go all A.J. on us." "Yeah," A.J. butted in. "What he said." He did a double take. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Timmy silently conceded Chester's point and put the grade back into his backpack. "So what do you guys want to do tomorrow?" "Disprove the laws of thermodynamics." A.J. said. "Break into Mr. Johnson's green house," Chester said. "Read the Bhagavad-Vita," Sanjay said. "Buy ointment for my boil," Elmer said. "How about a game of Timmyball," Timmy offered. His friends all agreed. The bus pulled up to his house. He waved goodbye to his friends, got off the bus, and began walking to his house. Only for a grey hand to grab his shoulder. "Turner!" Timmy fearfully cocked his head and saw Francis glaring at him. "Francis," Timmy said fearfully. "What are you-," "I heard you got a B minus!" the tall bully said with clear menace in his voice. Before Timmy could respond, Francis angrily lifted Timmy by the scruff of his neck. "That means you're a nerd," Francis said with a growl to the cringing boy, "and I hate-," "What's going on?" a female voice said. Francis turned and saw some girl with red and yellow hair approaching him. The girl was a little taller than him. "Sunset," Timmy said with a relieved voice. "You know her?" Francis asked in confusion. Sunset crossed her arms and looked at the bully with an amused expression. "I'm his temporary babysitter," Sunset said with clear annoyance. Francis felt a twinge of fear go through his face. "Um," Francis said, forcing a fake smile on his face, "I wasn't doing anything wrong." He pulled Timmy into a fake hug. "My buddy Timmy and I were just playing." Timmy wondered if Sunset would fall for Francis' act. Her smirk showed she was amused by Francis' act rather than impressed. "Just like that used motorbike some con artist tried to sell me," Sunset said with a mocking grin, "I ain't buying it." Francis dropped all pretensions of being a nice guy, frowning menacingly. "Oh yeah," Francis said, bravely (or stupidly) walking up to Sunset and getting in her face. "What are you going to do about it? You're a girl!" Sunset's smile got bigger. The fire-haired girl whispered something into Francis' ear. Timmy strained to hear was she was- "AAHHHHH!" Francis shrieked with a terrifying expression. He then sprinted away from the fire-haired girl. "Get away from me freak!" Francis said, turning back to yell at the red and yellow haired girl. He didn't look where he was going and plowed into a lemonade stand. He felt to the ground in a heap, covered in cups and lemonade. The girl running the stand did not look amused. "That's three dollars for the lemonade, bub," she said to Francis in a stern tone. Francis let out a pained moan as he laid on the grass in pain. "What did you say to Francis?" Timmy asked Sunset. "Do you really want to know?" Sunset asked with a smirk. Timmy decided he was better off not knowing. "No thanks," Timmy said with some fear in his voice. "Why was he picking on you?" Sunset asked. Timmy narrowed his eyes. "He's mad because I got a B on Crocker's quiz," Timmy answered in annoyance. "Figures," Sunset said with a snort, "he doesn't look too bright. How old is he?" "12." Sunset looked askance at that. "He's 12? He's almost as tall as me!" "I think he has a gland thing," Timmy said. "Anyways congrats on the test," Sunset said with a proud smile that warmed Timmy's heart, "I just know the perfect way to celebrate." "What's that?" Timmy asked with some anticipation in his voice. "My favorite food," Sunset said, "a three bean salad." "More vegetables," Timmy said with dismay. "If you liked the veggie pizza," Sunset said, "maybe you'll like this." "I guess," Timmy said with a shrug. After putting the quiz on the wall and enjoying Sunset's salad, the two were sitting in the living room, where Timmy was asking for help with his VR game. "There's this level you can't beat?" Sunset asked Timmy. The brown-haired boy held up his VR helmet. "It's too hard," Timmy complained. "Maybe I could help," Sunset said. She let out a frown. "But I need another helmet." Timmy thought for a moment, then smiled. "I have another helmet," Timmy offered happily. "Where?" Sunset said. "Um," Timmy stammered, "upstairs," Timmy said, before running up the stairs into his room. Sunset heard a faint poof coming from the room. Timmy came back down with a helmet that look so brand new, it shined with sparkles. "Alright," Sunset said, taking the shining piece of equipment. "Are you ready?" Timmy said. "Ready," Sunset said. The two put on their helmets, and were plunged into cyberspace in a burst of light. Sunset and Timmy materialized in some digital, extraterrestrial wasteland. The sky was an ugly yellow-brown, the ground had numerous cracks in it, with one of them leading to a canyon of some kind. He saw a short distance away was a volcano that was constantly blowing smoke. They wore Crash Nebula uniforms, complete with helmets and a side arm. "Man," Sunset said, her voice having a metallic timbre in the VR world, "these effects are amazing. Where did you get this?" "Internet," Timmy said, his eyes darting back and forth. "So where is the-," Sunset began, before she heard some stomping. She looked and saw the boss. It was some giant chrome-plated robot beetle thing with clear red eyes. "Chromebug," Timmy said, before activating his cannon. He blasted the bug, but his cannon didn't work against the thick hull of the metal creature. "Come on. Come on." The beetle fired a laser at Timmy, wiping him out in one hit. "GAME OVER!" "Darn it," Timmy said, throwing his helmet off in annoyance. Sunset took her helmet off calmly. "It's so unfair," Timmy growled, "that bug is so much bigger than me." "Yep," Sunset agreed, "you can't beat that thing with raw power." "I know," Timmy lamented. "you'll have to use your brain," Sunset said. "How?" Timmy said. "Power means nothing," Sunset said, "if you can't master your environment. To win, you need to use the environment to help you." "What do you mean?" Timmy asked Sunset. "I'll show you," Sunset said. "Want to try one more time?" "OK," Timmy said. They put the helmets back on. They were back in the VR world. "So what now?" Timmy asked Sunset. The Chromebug approached them once more. "Look around you," Sunset said, as the giant metal beetle came toward them. He saw some crevices in the ground. "So?" Timmy said. Sunset rolled her eyes and jumped in. Timmy, confused by what Sunset was doing, but fearful of being blasted, jumped into the crevice. The beetle blasted them...much to Timmy's horror, but to his relief, the blast didn't affect them. "See," Sunset said with a smile, "we can hide in here from the beetle." Timmy looked and saw how The Chromebug was hanging over them, but its blasts couldn't break through the rocks surrounding the crevice, nor could the beetle reach them in here. "OK," Timmy said, "but now what?" "We wait," Sunset said with a smirk. "Wait for what." They heard a volcanic blast. The blast distracted the beetle, turning away from Sunset and Timmy. Its back was turned, revealing that the the back was made of a weaker copper. "See," Sunset said. "The boss' weak spot is usually its backside, where you can't reach." "Wow," Timmy said with a smile. "Go," Sunset said with a smirk. Timmy jumped out of the crevice and blasted The Chromebug. The health bar of the bug went down by a lot. Chromebug finally turned back toward Timmy, and with a roar, charged for him. Timmy yelled and ran back into the crevice, where it couldn't get him. "See," Sunset said with a smile. "All you have to do is hide here, wait for the volcano to erupt, and the Chromebug will turn its back." Timmy saw the pattern, and repeated it several times. Within a few minutes, the Chromebug was defeated as its health bar went to zero. The bug let out an angry roar as it exploded, releasing a bright light. "CONGRATULATIONS!" a voice said, with the same word appearing in the sky. "YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS LEVEL!" "Thanks Sunset," Timmy said, happy to have defeated this annoying level. "Like I said," Sunset said with a proud smile, "when we work together, we can do anything." > Breaking Da Rules (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Want to prove you're cool?" a "radical" voice said from a monitor in the hallway at Dimmsdale Elementary, "Yeah!" Timmy, Chester, and AJ said to the monitor. "Want to prove you're not a loser?" The monitor said. "Yeah!" "Want to prove you're awesome, even if you have braces, buck teeth, and no hair?" "YEAH!" "Then come on down to the Dimmsdale Skate Park for the Junior's Skaters Contest," the monitor yelled, "and prove how cool you are. The contest starts tomorrow at 8:30 PM." "Hey Turner," a snide voice yelled. Timmy and his friends turned around and frowned as Tad and Chad approached them with smug grins, "and Turner's pets." "Hey!" A.J. and Chester protested. "What do you two want?" Timmy said to the two rich kids with a sigh. "Just wanted to tell you we'll be at the Junior Skater's Contest with all the people who matter," Tad said. "Which means we won't be seeing you," Chad said. The two let out a snide laugh and walked away. "If I can just win," Timmy said with some frustration, "I can prove to those two jerks I deserve to be popular." He felt a stab of envy when he saw Chad and Tad hanging out with Trixie. "Go for it, dude!" Chester said encouragingly. "It's not like there's something that won't let you go," A.J. said. "What do you mean you won't let me go?" Timmy asked with dismay. He was talking to his parents, who were getting ready to go to another neighborhood contest. This time, it was a topiary contest, based on the fact that they were packing up lawn equipment into a bag, "It's late at night and almost at your bedtime," Mrs. Turner said. "You're too young to be allowed to hang out at skate park at night," Mr. Turner admonished. "But I got a B minus," Timmy said, "doesn't that prove I can be responsible?" "And it was wonderful," Mrs. Turner said to him, "but that doesn't change the fact that you're still ten and too young to be at a skate park at night." Timmy let out a frustrated groan. The doorbell rang, revealing that Sunset was here. The Turner parents opened the door to welcome Sunset. "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Turner," Sunset said with a smile. Seeing Sunset at the door, a smirk formed on Timmy's face. "Hey, Sunset," Timmy said, walking up to the tall girl, who gave him an affectionate pat on the head. "Sunset, wish us luck as we avenge ourselves against the filthy, putrid, Dinkleberg clan," Sunset looked at Timmy with concern. "What is...your dad's...deal with Dinkleberg," Sunset asked Timmy in a quiet voice. "He hates him," Timmy said. "But why?" Sunset asked. "Hey Turner," a voice said at the window. Everyone turned to see a smiling Dinkleberg at the window. "I was just polishing my first place trophy from last year's topiary contest," the man said proudly while revealing the large and opulent trophy shining brilliantly, "and I thought I'd stop by to tell you, break a leg." The man didn't sound remotely smug about his victory. Dinkleberg seemed sincere. A little too sincere. "Oh," Sunset said, understanding the jealousy forming on Mr. Turner's face. "And I hope you break a leg too, Dinkleberg," Mr. Turner said, gritting his teeth. "Literally," he finished under his breath. "If only more people were as great as you, Turner," Dinkleberg said obliviously, "anyways, got to go." The man walked away. With that, the Turners walked out the house, with the father muttering angrily about Dinkleberg's coming reckoning. "So, how's it going, Timmy?" Sunset asked. "Great," Timmy said. A crafty smile formed on his face, "and...your hair looks so pretty." "Thank you, Timmy," Sunset said with a smile, "that was really sweet of you." "And your eyes...are...like...as blue as the sky," Timmy said. "Aren't you just the sweetest thing?" Sunset said with the same smile. "It sounds like you like me, and not at all that you want something from me," Sunset finished, her smile becoming a sly smirk. Timmy frowned at Sunset's intuition. "What do you want?" Sunset grinned, seeing right through the brown-haired boy. "Well," Timmy said uneasily, "I want to go to the skate park, and my parents won't let me go because it is too late." "And they're right," Sunset said firmly. Timmy frowned. "You can't go." "But-but," Timmy protested. "I agree with them," Sunset said, "I don't think you should be out." "But-," Timmy protested. "End of discussion," Sunset said firmly, "or you'll be eating the leftovers for dinner." "OK," Timmy said sadly, "I won't go." "I've got to go," Timmy said. "Or else Tad and Chad will think I'm a wimp." He and his fairies were in his room, where Sunset couldn't hear them. "Sport," Wanda said. "I know you want to be popular, but maybe you should let this one go." "Yeah, Timmy," Cosmo said, "your friends love you, and your family loves you. You shouldn't worry about what they say." "I have to worry about them," Timmy said sadly, "if they don't think I'm popular, Trixie will never date me." "Timmy," Wanda said in a scolding tone, "I know why you want to date Trixie, but this isn't the way to do it." "I tried to show her I cared about her even if she loved boy stuff," Timmy said sadly, "but you know how that went." "Is this worth disobeying your parents and Sunset?" Wanda asked firmly. "They're not going to find out," Timmy said with a smug smile. "I've got the perfect plan." "Really?" Cosmo asked. "Yeah," Timmy said, "Sunset will never find out I was gone. What could go wrong?" "Timmy," Sunset called, "Dinner. I've got that fruit salad I want to try." "Oh boy," Timmy said, running out of the room, leaving an annoyed Cosmo and Wanda behind. "Did he just say what I think he said?" Cosmo asked with alarm. "He did," Wanda said with a frown. A Few Hours Later Sunset was pleasantly surprised when Timmy offered to help her with vacuuming in the living room. She assumed the pink-hatted boy would whine about chores, but he looked eager to do them. "I really appreciate this, Timmy," Sunset said as they ran their vacuums along the floor. "I was just happy to help," Timmy said in a bashful tone. Sunset barely resisted the urge to pinch the little boy's cheeks. "Anyways, let's get this cleaned up," Sunset said. Due to the noise of the vacuum, Sunset barely noticed the front door being open and shut. "Ahh, the clone wish is one of my favorite wishes," Timmy said happily as he, Cosmo, and Wanda walked out onto the porch. His fairies were disguised as a skateboard and a helmet, respectively. "It was certainly better than your old idea of poofing back and forth," Wanda commented. "Now that Sunset is distracted," Timmy said, "I wish we were at the skate park." With a poof, they were at the skate park. All around them, boys his age were showing off killer moves. He was eager to show them off as well. Zephyr Breeze loved coming to the Dimmsdale skate park. It was where he got to show off his great moves. Especially since he was still undergoing his temporary, short-term... Lifetime ban from Canterlot Skatepark. He knew the reason why because they couldn't handle his awesomeness and not because of those silly cease and desist letters. "Hey dudes and dudettes," Zephyr announced to the skate park, proudly holding up his blue skateboard like a sword. "Get ready to see the great Zephyr Breeze." Everyone just ignored him. "Now, now, no applause," he said. He was about to show off his awesome moves when everyone clamoring around someone else. Zephyr followed them, his curiosity piqued. A familiar brown-haired boy started showing off some incredible moves. Zephyr's eyes widened when he saw who it was. That buck-toothed boy who drew the interest of Fluttershy and her crew with his fancy rock, if his memory served him. He decided that they needed to be alerted to this and pulled out his cellphone. "How are you lifting the couch?" Sunset asked Timmy. Sunset looked with astonishment as the small boy lifted a whole couch to vacuum under it. "Uh...puberty," the boy said, darting his eyes back and forth. Sunset frowned deeply. Sunset had one guess as to where Timmy could've gotten that strength. Sunset looked for signs of deceit, anger, or mistrust, which were one of the symptoms of the Stone of Desire, but none were found. "I shouldn't worry," Sunset said to herself, "Timmy's a good kid who never does anything irresponsible." Her cell phone rang. "Hello?" "Hey, Sunny Boo," a snide male voice said. "What is it, Zephyr?" Sunset said, pinching her nose. "If you're calling to tell me that my hair shines with the light of a thousand suns, again, I'm gonna punch you in the eye!" "I decided to go to the Junior Skater's Contest," the blond kid said with a smirk, "to show off for the ladies," Zephyr said with a smirk. "And I happened to spot the kid with the stone Fluttershy told me about." "Timmy," Sunset said with a frown. She looked at the boy vacuuming in the living room. "But he's right here in the house," Sunset said under her breath. "He's here," the boy said, "and he's doing some slick moves." Sunset got a text video from Zephyr. The video showed... Timmy was at the skate park. Sunset felt her hackles rising at that. But he was doing insanely awesome moves using some green skateboard that no boy should be able to. He even was reading while somehow leaping into the air. Were Sunset in a better mood, she would've been amazed. But the cool moves didn't change that Timmy had done two things she didn't want him to do: He had disobeyed her and gone to the skate park. And he was using his magic to show off and cheat. Sunset felt bits of red cloud her vision. "Thank you, Zephyr," Sunset said, gritting her teeth. "I'll...take care of this. And...delete this video as soon as possible." "You're welcome, Sunny Boo," the boy said. "I also wanted to say your eyes glisten-," Sunset hung up the phone, nearly crushing it in her grip, turning with a glare at the person vacuuming. "Turn off the vacuum," Sunset said sternly to the Timmy...person. "What," he said, shutting off the vacuum. "Who are you?" Sunset said an angry smile on her face. "Uh...Timmy," the fake Timmy said. Sunset let out a merciless chuckle and walked over to the impersonator. "I said," Sunset said, suddenly seizing the imposter by his shirt and pulling him directly to her face, "who are you?" The fake-Timmy stammered as Sunset smiled like a vicious lion that was going in for the kill. Ten boys were on the half-pipe, getting ready for the tournament to start. Among them was Timmy. Tad and Chad were looking at him with angry smiles. Timmy was eager to go first. "Come on, Turner," Tad said with a smirk. "Show off those killer moves," Chad said with a smirk of his own. "I'd be happy too," Timmy said with a smirk. Cosmo and Wanda didn't look nearly as confident. "Oh, Timmy," Cosmo said, concern. "There is something-," "Our first competitor," the referee, a tall man in a striped uniform, said, "is Timmy Turner." Everyone looked eager to watch this impressive kid show off. Timmy put his foot onto Cosmo-disguised-as a skateboard, went to the edge, and... Tumbled pathetically down the half-pipe with a grunt. He hit the ground groaning in utter pain. "Oh," the referee said, "what a wipeout. Timmy Turner was out in less than ten seconds." "Wow, Turner, really impressive," Chad said. "Impressively bad," Tad agreed. Everyone at the skatepark began laughing at Timmy, who angrily pulled himself off the ground, walking away in utter humiliation as everyone jeered and mocked him. Timmy hid under a small bench. Both out of humiliation and to talk alone to his fairies. "What happened?" Timmy asked Cosmo and Wanda sadly. "The no magic in a competition rule," Wanda said. Timmy frowned, feeling utterly humiliated. "How could I be so stupid," Timmy said, groaning in anger and pain. "It's probably the concussion you suffered from," Cosmo pointed out with a smile. "Can this day get any worse," Timmy muttered? He got up from behind the bench and walked away, only for someone to tap him on the shoulder. Timmy turned around and felt his blood go cold. Sunset was staring down at him; arms crossed and an unhappy frown on her face. "Hey, Sunset," Timmy said to the tall girl with a sheepish smile, "what are you doing here?" "I could ask you the same question," Sunset said in a quiet but stern voice. "It's a...funny story," Timmy said with a sheepish laugh, which trailed off as Sunset frowned, her fists clenched, and her face turned bright red. Timmy never imagined anyone could look scarier than Vicky. Let alone someone as nice as Sunset. But as Sunset grabbed his arm and roughly dragged him out of the skate park, he found himself wishing Vicky was back, especially when he saw how everyone was mocking him even more for being in so much trouble. "Sunset," Timmy groaned as the tall girl yanked him out of the park by his arm, "you're embarrassing me." "Good," Sunset said with a cold, nasty smile. As soon as he was forced into the parking lot, Timmy saw Sunset had brought her motorcycle. This time, with a cab attached. Inside the cab was... Timmy's blood ran cold when he saw the clone was in the cab, looking at Sunset with sheer terror. "Maybe you can explain to me who...this...is?" Sunset chocked out with gritted teeth. The clone climbed out of the cab, shrugged apologetically, and ran away, leaving Timmy to Sunset's mercy. "Well..."Timmy stammered. > ...Don't Do the Crime (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A trained actor," Sunset Shimmer said icily. Sunset was taking Timmy home on a motorcycle. For seven minutes of the ride, Sunset had not said one word to Timmy, staring straight at the road. Those seven minutes were one the most uncomfortable of Timmy's life. Timmy initially thought Sunset was calm, but he eventually realized that Sunset was too angry to speak. After seven minutes, Sunset asked him who the clone really was. "Yeah," Timmy said with a sheepish smile," a trained actor from Hollywood." "And where did you get him again?" "Internet." "Interesting," she replied in a voice that showed she was only pretending to care about his words. "You're telling me...you let a stranger into your...house without your parents or me knowing." The hidden force in Sunset's calm voice made Timmy's fragile smile fade. Timmy was at a loss for words. "I-," Sunset angrily pulled over into some empty parking lot, got out, and walked away from Timmy, silently staring off into the distance. Timmy sat in the cab, too afraid to try and walk up to her. After a few moments, Sunset started laughing. This wasn't the good kind of laugh; this was the angry laugh that his mom would do when she was very, very annoyed. As Sunset came back toward him, a nasty grin forming on his face, Timmy resisted the urge to run away. "You know what the really funny part was?" Sunset asked, the smile of a mean alligator on her face. Timmy wisely chose not to dignify her with a response. "You thought you could away with it." "I-," "What were you thinking?!" Sunset finally yelled. "What made you want to do this so badly that you would disobey your parents and me?!" "Th-there were these jerks in school who are really popular," Timmy said fearfully, "and I thought if I could go there and win the contest, I could become popular." Sunset's anger seemed to rise even further if her glare was an indication. "Oh, that's what this is about," Sunset said with utter disbelief, "you ran out on me because you wanted to be popular?" Timmy felt some of his nerves come back to the surface. "Hey, if you stop treating me like a baby and let me go-," "Oh yeah," Sunset interrupted sarcastically, "letting a bunch of idiots get under your skin and disrespecting me is the definition of maturity." "I wasn't trying to disrespect you." "Well, you did!" Sunset yelled, bending down to glare at him. "I cook your food, I watch over you, help you with chores, help you with your homework, play video games with you! And for all that, I still matter less than impressing two jerks who couldn't care less about that." Timmy felt a little bit of shame at that. "Do those two jerks do any of those things for you?" Timmy felt some regret form on his face. "No." "Not only that, but you ran out on me," Sunset said in a disappointed tone, "into a neighborhood full of dangerous, little punks who could hurt you." "Nothing bad was going to happen," Timmy argued, albeit without as much force as before. "And what if something did happen?" Sunset asked, sounding more upset than angry. "And I had no idea where you were?" Timmy tried to argue but couldn't. Sure, he had Cosmo and Wanda, but Sunset had no idea about them. The guilt in Timmy's stomach grew, and he looked at the ground in shame. "Imagine if you disappeared. What do you think I would tell your mom and dad?" To Timmy's shock, Sunset started to cry a bit, her face falling into her hands. Sunset was right. How could he have been so stupid? "I'm sorry," Timmy said in a pained and genuinely remorseful voice. "I wasn't trying to do that." He felt a small tear run down his eye. He felt his head being raised to look at Sunset. The fire-haired girl was still upset but no longer as angry as she was. "I know you are," Sunset said in a calmer but still stern voice, "so I know you'll understand why I have to tell your parents." Timmy hung his head again but didn't say a word. He accepted he deserved to be punished. Unbeknownst to him, Sunset was smirking a bit. They pulled up to his house a few minutes later, with Timmy still looking down in shame. "Wait out here," Sunset said with a quiet voice. Timmy sat in the sidecar, still brooding over how he treated Sunset. "Guys," Timmy said to his fairies. They were still disguised as a skateboard and helmet. "Am I a bad...person? Is Sunset gonna hate me forever?" Timmy said, almost on the verge of tears. "Timmy," Wanda said in a soothing tone, "you were being selfish and mean. But you're not a monster." "Yeah," Cosmo said, "you made a mistake." "All you can do is be better," Wanda assured him, "and Sunset will forgive you." After a few moments, Sunset came out of the house. Timmy forced himself to look at Sunset. Sunset didn't look angry at him anymore. "I decided I'm not gonna tell your parents," Sunset said in a calm voice. Timmy felt a surprising smile forming on your face."Really?" Timmy asked. "I honestly believe you're sorry," Sunset said. She then frowned at him and crossed her arms. "But let me be clear, you're not off the hook with me." Timmy's hopeful smile died. "You still have to earn my trust back." "I guess," Timmy said, bitter but not arguing with the fact that he deserved to be punished. "Tomorrow Saturday," Sunset began, "you're going to do some chores for my friends and me. If you work hard, we'll be cool. But if you don't, I'll tell your parents what you did, and you'll be grounded for a week." A smug smile formed on her face. "Do we got a deal?" "Yeah," Timmy said, still feeling ashamed of himself. He felt someone patting him on the head and saw him looking at Sunset with a warm smile. "I'm sorry," Timmy said, feeling warm tears fall down his face. "Don't worry," Sunset said, warmth in her voice. "We all do stupid things." "He seemed honestly sorry," Sunset said, writing in her journal to Princess Twilight while sitting in her apartment. Sunset told Twilight what happened tonight. "Of course, it helped that I turned on the waterworks a bit," scribbled with a smile. "That's good," the Princess wrote back to him. "At least the Stone hasn't affected his morality." "But there was something...off about the Stone," Sunset wrote. "What was?" Twilight asked Sunset. "Well, Zephyr showed me that he was tearing up the skate park with some inhumanely cool moves," Sunset dictated. "But as soon as he tried to compete, the Stone...failed him." "That is odd," Princess Twilight replied. "Maybe the Stone has limits on its power." "Which is good.," Sunset wrote. "Maybe we could be able to fight him if he went rogue without the rune. Anyways, I'm going to see how honest he can be tomorrow." "Let's hope things go well," the pony princess wrote her friend. "Now remember ya'll," Applejack said to her family in the farmhouse as they awaited two guests. "What are we not goin' to do?" "Bring up magic," Apple Bloom repeated. "Now I know y'all don't like ya fudgin' the truth," Applejack stressed, "but if Timmy finds out we were spyin' on him, then we're doomed. Got it?" "Yes," Apple Bloom said. "Mhmm," Big Macintosh said. "Not a word," Granny said. They heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Applejack said. She opened it and saw Sunset standing at the door. "Hey, Sunny," Applejack greeted happily as Sunset came into the door, "where's the little troublemaker?" "Just outside," Sunset said. "Hey, Sunny," Apple Bloom said gregariously. "Hey, Apple Bloom, guys," Sunset said to the Apple Family. "Thanks for doing this." "Don't worry, sugar cube," Applejack said, "we're happy to help someone get their act together-" "And not because we're trying to subvert child labor laws and get free labor," Apple Bloom finished while darting her eyes back and forth, as did the rest of the family. "Anyways," Sunset said, "I'll let him in." Timmy entered the farmhouse with trepidation. He wondered what the Apple family was like and if they would treat him like a bad kid. The door opened, and Sunset beckoned him to come inside. Timmy walked into the farmhouse. The place was both quaint and modern. She saw a girl who was slightly taller than Sunset, and even his own mom, waiting for him. Timmy expected some barefooted hillbilly girl with broken teeth. Instead, this girl looked well-groomed. She had long blond hair with a small ponytail held together with a red scrunchie. She wore a Stetson, a white shirt with green sleeves and an apple, a denim skirt, and brown boots with little tiny apples on them. Her skin was tan, and she had tiny freckles on her cheeks. "Timmy, this is Jacqueline Smith," Sunset said. "But you can call her Applejack." "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres," the farmer girl said with a warm smile. Timmy felt his fear die down a bit at the farmer girl's friendliness. "Thanks," Timmy said, still feeling a little shy. "Don't you fret sugar cube," the tall girl said reassuringly, "here at Sweet Apple Acres, we believe in second chances." Timmy let out a small sigh of relief. "Anyways," Sunset said, "I've got errands to run. Just do what Applejack says, or you know what will happen," Sunset finished with a sinister tone and a frown. "Yeah," Timmy said uneasily. "See you at two," Sunset finished with a smile, walking out of the farmhouse. "So let's get you set up sugar cube," Applejack said. Timmy followed Applejack into another room with a group of people. "Timmy," Applejack said, "meet mah family." "Mah little sister Appletini Bloom Smith," Applejack said, gesturing to a girl in a green shirt, jeans, yellow boots, and with bright red hair with a pink bow. She looked like she was in elementary school like him. "But you can call her Apple Bloom." "Nice to meet you," the girl said in a friendly tone. "Mah big brother Macintosh Apple Smith," Applejack said, gesturing to a muscular teenager. The guy was as tall as his dad since Timmy had to crane his neck to look up at him. The guy had orange hair, tanned skin, and freckles on his face. He wore jeans, a red jacket with a brown leather collar, tiny apples, and red shoes. "But you can call him Big Mac." Big Mac simply gave him a friendly nod. "Yep." "And my grandma, Malus Smith," Applejack said, gesturing to an old lady. She was an overweight woman with grey hair tied behind her back. She wore a red skirt, a tan blouse, yellow boots, and an orange scarf tied around her neck. "But y'all can call her Granny." "Pleasure to be havin' a youngin' like you come around," Granny said in a friendly voice. "Nice to meet you," Timmy said politely if nervously. "Anyways," Granny said, "Time to get ya' set up." "So what am I doing," Timmy said to Applejack and Big Mac. He followed the two siblings outside into a field somewhere. He marveled at the miles and miles of apple trees. "Picking apples?" "There's more to being an apple farmer than just pickin' apples," Applejack said with a sly smile. "No, we're creating more farmin' land, so you'll be mowin' the lawn today," she finished as they approached a lawnmower. "That doesn't sound too-," Timmy looked with horror at the field, which looked to be a whole acre."I have to do all that," Timmy said with disbelief. "Wah no sugar cube," Applejack assured him. Timmy let out a sigh of relief. "You'll be doing that!" To Timmy's horror, she gestured to an area of land the size of a football field. "Really," Timmy choked out. "Yep," Big Mac said. "Can't I just...pick apples?" "Nope," Big Mac said. "The only reason you're here is because y'all made a mess of yer life by tellin' lies," the blond girl admonished with harsh green eyes. "When y'all make a mess, you've got to clean it up, or as some people call it, takin' responsibility." Timmy's bratty indignation faded, accepting Applejack's point, albeit reluctantly. "Y'all promised me an honest day's work, and a real man keeps his promises and delivers. So I expect a good amount done within an hour, or I'll tell Sunset you've been slackin' off." Timmy's blood went cold over Applejack's threat, and he immediately began painstakingly pushing the lawnmower across the grass. With that, the two Apple siblings walked away. After a few minutes, Cosmo and Wanda poofed to him, disguised as a pitchfork and a watering can. "Well, Timmy, at least you're learning something," Wanda said, trying to reassure Timmy, who was grumbling about how unfair it was that he had to do this. "Yeah, and it looks like you're having fun," Cosmo said, oblivious to how exhausted Timmy was. The disguised fairy looked around for a bit and frowned a bit. "That's odd." "What?" Wanda said. "I think we're completely alone," Cosmo said. Timmy stopped mowing, looked around, and saw no one was around him. No one is watching him—a devious smirk formed on his face. "Timmy," Wanda said in a warning tone of voice, knowing the look on Timmy's face, "don't you think you should just do the work yourself?" Timmy thought about it for a few moments. "Nah," Timmy concluded with a cheeky smile. "I wish the lawn was done." With an annoyed sigh, his fairy godparents raised their wands...and instead, the annoying raspberry noise came out. "What happened?" Timmy asked with annoyance. Wanda poofed up Da Rules and opened the book. "According to Da Rules," Wanda said, "a godchild can't wish away chores that are given to him as punishment." "What?" Timmy said in exasperation. "So you know what that means?" Wanda asked rhetorically. "It means it's time to get mowing!" Cosmo said happily. Unknown to Timmy, two figures were watching him from a distance, hidden in the shrubs, wearing camouflage and holding binoculars. "Is he doing anything?" Applejack asked Apple Bloom with narrowed eyes. Sunset warned her that since Timmy had used magic to do his chores once, he might be bratty enough to try and use magic to get out of his punishment. And so they laid a trap for him; they'd make Timmy think he was alone. If Timmy tried to cheat with magic when he thought no one was looking, Sunset would go right to Timmy's parents. "I think he's complaining to a pitchfork," Apple Bloom said in a deadpan tone. "Where did those even come from?" Applejack stared in confusion. "I don't know. Maybe Timmy wished them up to do the work?" Applejack muttered to herself. "But is he using his magic to do the work for him?" Applejack asked. "Doesn't look like it," Apple Bloom said after watching Timmy go back to lawnmowing, albeit with an annoyed frown. "He's angry, but he's mowing the lawn the honest way." Applejack felt a proud smile form on her face. "Well, that's nice," the apple farmer commented porudly. "The kid may act like a varmint, but at least he has the decency to do things the right way and not use magic to do them." "I wish I could use magic to do this," Timmy muttered angrily as he painstakingly mowed another part of the land. He saw his disguised fairies about to raise their wands. "Not literally." "Anyways, Apple Bloom just stays here," Applejack said, walking away, "and keep an eye on him in case he tries anything funny." "I don't mind that at all," the red-haired girl said with a smirk and a blush. After an hour, Timmy stopped, feeling like he was going to collapse from exhaustion. He looked around, and he only managed to get about a tenth of the lawn done to his despair. "Time's up," Applejack's voice said. Timmy panicked as the girl approached him with a stern expression. "I'm sorry," Timmy said in a sad voice, "I know was supposed to finish, but there was so much-," "Wow, sugar cube," Applejack assured him, raising her hands. "I said put in an honest effort. And ah see that you have. I don't expect someone as short and scrawny as you to finish everything." "Thank you so much," Timmy said with a frown and a sarcastic tone of voice. "I didn't mean it like that," Applejack said with a smirk. "What matters is you're trying you're best. I came in here to tell you it's time for lunch." "Lunch?" Timmy asked. "But I thought I was in trouble." Applejack smiled assuringly at him. "Sunset said to put you to work; she didn't say you couldn't eat. Unless you're not hungry." The growl on Timmy's stomach proved he was. "Sure," Timmy said, an honest smile forming on his face. Timmy approached the dinner table in the kitchen, where the rest of the Apple clan had assembled. His eyes fell on the freshly baked pie on the table. His mouth watered as he approached it. Apple Bloom also was drooling at the sight of the pie, "No pie for you youngin'," Granny Smith warned. "Not until you finish your collard greens." "Aww," Apple Bloom and Timmy said in unison. Timmy went to join them at the table. Applejack watched with a smirk as Apple Bloom moved away from her brother and moved her chair closer to Timmy. Soon, the family and their guest/indentured servant began eating. "So Mr. Turner," Granny Smith said, "what do you like to do?" "I love video games," Timmy said to the old lady. "Too many young people staying indoors," Granny Smith mourned. "Back home in North Carolina, we wrestled pigs'. That was our video game!" "Ooh," Timmy said excitedly, pulling something out of his pocket, "I have that same game for my Joy Boy." He showed off a game cartridge that red "Pig Pen 2." Granny rolled her eyes. "In mah day, we didn't need fancy doohickeys," Granny waxed nostalgically, much to the quiet annoyance of the Apple family. "Everybody pulled his weight and didn't accept help from nobody either. Too many people want something for nothing." "Granny," a Sweet Apple Acres employee said, barging into the room, "our subsidies from the government came in." "Yeehaw!" Granny said happily, "free government money." She ran out of the room like a kid in a candy store, following the employee. "I also love Crimson Chin comics," Timmy said to Apple Bloom. "You ever read Daring Do comics," Apple Bloom asked Timmy. "Not really," Timmy said, "they're boring." Apple Bloom stared at Timmy like he was an evil monster, while the rest of the Apple family looked at Timmy with amused horror. "Now you have done it," Applejack said with a roll of her eyes. "Done what," Timmy began, only to see the ten-year-old girl coming up to him with a glare. "Daring Do ain't boring," Apple Bloom said in an angry tone. "Daring is a brave archeologist who battles evil using her wits." "Yeah, but all she has it was a whip and a hat," Timmy Turner said dismissively, "The Crimson Chin has superpowers and can defeat anybody with his awesome chin." "I say being awesome isn't about power," Apple Bloom said passionately, "it is about how you use whatcha got. Without his superpowers, Crimson Chin would be a nobody." Timmy Turner glared back at Apple Bloom. "I bet Chin could wipe the floor with Daring, even without his powers," Timmy argued back. "No, he can't," Apple Bloom said. "Yes, he can't," Timmy said. "No, he can't," Apple Bloom argued. "OH YEAH!" Timmy said. "YEAH!" Apple Bloom The rest of the family looked at the arguing with amusement. After lunch, Timmy returned to work for another couple of hours of boxing, gardening, plowing, apple-picking, and banjo-tuning, much to Timmy's terror. By the time it was over, he was completely winded when Sunset came to pick him up at the farmhouse. "So, how did he do?" Sunset asked Applejack. "Can I lie down," Timmy muttered with a hoarse throat. "I reckon he put in an honest day's work," Applejack said with a smile," and didn't cheat." Sunset recognized the code word for 'magic use' and smiled proudly at Timmy, who was too exhausted to care. "Bed," Timmy requested. "Later," Sunset said sternly, "you still got more work to do." Timmy let out an annoyed sigh but followed Sunset to the motorcycle. "It was nice havin' ya," Applejack said. Despite his exhaustion, Timmy returned his wave with a genuine smile. While the Apple family was strict and worked him to the bone, they were actually kind of nice. Apple Bloom smiled at him a lot. "Thanks for lunch," he said gregariously. "We'd love to have you back real soon," Apple Bloom called out to Timmy. "I bet you would," Applejack said with a roll of her eyes. Timmy and Sunset entered the lobby of Canterlot's animal shelter. Since he was going to an animal shelter, Timmy decided to carry Cosmo and Wanda into the lobby as goldfish. The lobby was a whimsical place, full of pictures of animals and little kids walking out with their adopted pets. At the reception desk was a girl with long, pink hair with a somewhat skittish disposition. She wore a white tank top, a green skirt with butterfly pictures, and green boots. "Hey, Fluttershy," Sunset said to the girl. "Hey Sunset," the girl, one of the softest voices Timmy had ever known, "is this Timmy-," Fluttershy paused when she saw the goldfish."Oh my gosh!" Fluttershy said, jumping up to Timmy and taking the tank they were located in, much to his amazement. "These goldfish are so cute," Fluttershy said, ignoring the eye roll from Cosmo and Wanda, "what are their names." "Cosmo and Wanda," Timmy said uneasily. "Be careful-," "Don't worry," Fluttershy said in the most assuring voice possible, "I'll take good care of them," taking the bowl with her into the backroom and putting them on the shelf."Oh, you're so cute," Fluttershy cooed to the tiny fishes. She poured some fish food into the bowl."Eat up," Fluttershy said before walking out of the room. "That girl was really nice," Cosmo said. "I guess we're just gonna sit in here," Wanda said. "Cosmo, let's-" Wanda looked to Cosmo and saw that the green-haired fairy was eating the fish food. "Cosmo, what are you doing?" Wanda asked with astonishment. "Wanda, please," Cosmo said. "My doctor said I needed more earthworms and squid in my diet." Wanda let out an annoyed sigh. "Thanks for coming," Fluttershy said to Timmy, who followed her into a room full of caged animals. "It is so nice of you to volunteer." "Well, I'm not really a volunteer," Timmy said, his eyes darting back and forth. Still, he couldn't help but notice how nice this girl was. "There are so many animals that need help," Fluttershy said, ignoring Timmy's protests, "but a little love and kindness from everyone can go a long way." "Fluttershy," a voice warned. The sound of angry barking found it. One of the most vicious guard dogs Timmy had ever seen came out. It was black, massive, and was snarling viciously at Timmy and Fluttershy."Dover got to lose," the voice said.The dog barked and looked at them with merciless eyes. "Someone do something," Timmy said, shaking in fear as the dog lunged toward him. To his confusion, Fluttershy got in front of him. "Fluttershy!" Timmy said with horror as the mean dog lunged toward the shy girl. Timmy closed his eyes, waiting for the girl to scream. None of the screamings happened. Only Fluttershy's cooing. Timmy opened his eyes and saw something that was impossible; the vicious guard dog lying on his back like an adorable puppy and Fluttershy rubbing its belly. "Who's a good dog," Fluttershy said in a nice voice. The guard dog jumped up and began licking Fluttershy, who laughed, cooed, and kept talking about how sweet the dog was. "How did you do that?" Timmy asked Fluttershy, amazed that this timid girl turned the Rottweiler so nice. "A nice scratch behind the ears," Fluttershy said. "Really?" Timmy said with confusion. "Dover came from a mean family that didn't give him love," Fluttershy said, some sadness creeping in her voice. "That's terrible," Timmy said, frowning with some pity at the once vicious dog. "Sometimes, anger is just another way of being sad," Fluttershy said, "and what is the best way to help a sad person?" "Tell them to get over it," Timmy offered bluntly. Fluttershy rolled her eyes. "No. Be nice to them. Sometimes kindness is better than any medicine or acting like a meany." Timmy looked back at the now docile guard dog letting little kids petted him, and began to see Fluttershy's point. "Anyways, let's start with your first chore," Fluttershy said, beckoning Timmy to follow her into another room full of birds. Parrots, canaries, chickens, geese, and ducks were all in cages and making weird noises. "Since this is your first day," Fluttershy said, "we'll start with something simple." She gestured to a sack of seeds in the corner. "Make sure all the cute birdies get their seed while I'll check on the baby turtles." She walked out of the room. "How hard could it be to give a bunch of bird brains seed?" Timmy said. He went over to one of the bags and made a small tear into the bag. Only for the whole bag of seeds to pour out on top of him. "I'm all covered in seed," Timmy said in anger. "At least this can't get any worse." He got up, put his hand on the wall, only to accidentally push an "Open the Cages" button. Suddenly all the cages opened. The birds jumped out and stared at Timmy and the seed he was covered in. "Uh, hi," Timmy said nervously. They all licked their beaks, eyes brimming with hunger. "Hey Timmy," Fluttershy said, walking back into the room, "I just wanted to check-" only to find a seed-covered Timmy running out of the room with a yell, escaping from a horde of ravenous birds. Fluttershy saw what had happened and facepalmed. Timmy and Sunset walked out of the animal shelter, the former not looking too hot. Timmy had his fishbowl in his arms, was covered in feathers, and had an embarrassed and defeated expression on his face. Timmy winced as the other employees, except Fluttershy, kept laughing about the whole thing. To the brown-haired boy's chagrin, Sunset was also snickering. "C'mon, Timmy, it's a little funny," Sunset assured him in between fits of laughter. Timmy's spirits were more than a bit down. "I'm just a screwup," Timmy muttered miserably. "Nothing I do ever goes right." Sunset's snickering ended and was replaced with concern for her charge. "Don't worry, Timmy," Sunset said, patting the forlorn ten-year-old on the shoulder, "everybody has bad days." "I feel like those days are every day," Timmy moaned. "There's no such thing as a perfect day," Sunset said in a soft voice. "Sure, you got chased by birds, but at least you got to have a nice lunch." "I guess," Timmy said, his spirits rising a little bit. "Anyways," Sunset said once she reached her motorcycle, "onward to your last chore." "Yippee," Timmy said without passion, jumping into the sidecar. "So this is where you live," Timmy said. Sunset lived in a loft. The place was all one room, with lots of band equipment, computers, and video game consoles. It had a single flight of stairs that led to a platform where Sunset slept. "Yep," Sunset said, "your last chore is to clean my apartment." Timmy looked in horror as he saw the room was a total mess: clothes lying on the ground, trash not taken out, dishes not washed, and dust everywhere. Timmy glared at Sunset suspiciously."Are you trying to teach me a lesson," Timmy asked with an edge in his voice, "or are you just using me to clean your room?" "A little from column A and a little from column B," Sunset said with a smirk on her face. "Would you rather I tell your parents?" Sunset said with a hint of nastiness in her voice. "No," Timmy breathed. With that, Timmy started cleaning the place up. After several hours of sweeping, polishing, vacuuming, and scrubbing, Timmy was finished cleaning the apartment. With one last sigh, Timmy collapsed onto the couch."I am so tired," Timmy said with a sigh. "Good," Sunset said proudly, bringing Timmy some cheese quesadillas fresh from the microwave," that means you learned your lesson and earned back my trust." Timmy felt his spirits rise at that and eagerly took one of the quesadillas. "Do you live here?" Timmy said idly. "Yep," Sunset said. "Where are your parents?" Timmy asked her. "They're... out of town," Sunset said, her eyes darting back and forth. "That's great," Timmy said, "not having parents to tell you what to do." "You can't imagine," Sunset said with a sad smile. She noticed Timmy becoming drowsy. "So do I go home," Timmy asked Sunset, "I decided it was late, so I texted your parents," Sunset said, "and asked them if you could stay over. I figured you were too tired to be moved so-," "Thanks," Timmy said with a smile. He felt his eyes begin to get heavy. "Timmy," Sunset said, "there's this lullaby from...someone I knew. Whenever she sang it, I would always fall asleep." "Lullabies are for babies," Timmy argued weakly. "So you don't want-," "Please." "Sure," Sunset said. "Just let me set up my guitar." Princess Celestia was working in her office when she began hearing whimpers in the other room. Sunset's room. The Princess galloped to the room in a panic and opened the doors. "Sunset," Princess Celestia said to her student. Sunset was tossing and turning and letting out the occasional whimper. With a pat on the head, the little filly woke up with tears in her eyes. "Sunset, are you OK?" Princess Celestia asked. "I'm fine," Sunset weakly argued, the tears trailing down his eyes. "It was just the zombie pony dream." "Sunset, there is a song I know," the Princess said with a warm smile, "a lullaby that my mother sang to me." "Lullabies are for little foals," Sunset groaned. "I see," Celestia said with disappointment, "then I better-" "Please stay," the filly asked abruptly, "and sing it to me." Note: The rhythm of this song is similar to Lee Greenwood's God Bless The USA. Sunset Shimmer The darkness can be scary, The night full of fear, But fret not, little one, I'll always be near, Don't be afraid, For I'll be by your side Until the day returns For the sun will always rise. Princess Celestia The night can be cold, What lies there is unknown, But fret not my filly, You are not on your own. I shall stand by you, Look into my eyes, I promise this, The sun will always rise. Cosmo and Wanda watched as Timmy's babysitter sang him to sleep with no small amount of joy from their fishbowl. They held hands, or fins, and felt the need to sleep. They swam back into their castle. Cosmo immediately fell asleep when he got into bed. Wanda felt her eyes close as she entered her bed when she felt a short burst of magic. Wanda, deciding she was too tired, decided it was nothing and decided to go to sleep too. Princess Celestia If I am not there, Please don't cry, For you have another friend, Sunset Shimmer Who hangs in the sky. The stars that are so ancient That hang-up on high Sunset Shimmer and Princess Celestia (unison) They watch over you, little one Until the sun shall rise. Sunset watched as Timmy was now asleep on her couch, letting out a gentle snore. To Sunset, the brown-haired kid was the most precious thing in the world. Sunset carefully removed his hat and shoes and placed a yellow blanket over his body. Sunset began getting ready for bed herself. She glanced at a mirror, and to her shock, her hair had extended downward, and pony ears grew out the back of her head. > Running Like the Wind (Part 1) (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rainbow Dash looked at Sunset in surprise. "You ponied up while playing Timmy music?" "Yeah," Sunset said. She and her friends were eating in the cafeteria, talking about her time babysitting and the eruption of her magic. "I think this was inevitable, darling," Rarity said with a teasing smile. "What do you mean?" Sunset asked. "It is obvious, sugar cube," Applejack said with a teasing smile, "Ah've seen the way he looks at you." "He doesn't just like you," Fluttershy said with more genuine kindness, "he looks up to you." Sunset frowned bitterly, which didn't go unnoticed by anyone. "Sunset, what's wrong?" Applejack said. Sunset pulled her eyes from her lunch and looked at her friends. "I don't know. When I started this, I just thought I'd be doing a mission. I never expected...to be...someone's caretaker." "Oh ah see," Applejack said, her green eyes full of wisdom. "You spent all your time being a terror. It's hard for you to imagine that littlun' lookin' up to you." Sunset was confused. "He does?" "Sunset," Fluttershy said with a smile, "we've seen how he looks. He really trusts you a lot." Sunset didn't look assured. "When I came to this world, I never expected that I would interact with a human kid, let alone take care of one. What if," Sunset frowned, "what if I mess up with him?" "If you ever feel like you don't know what your doing," Rainbow said with a smile, "just ask us. Not to toot my own horn, but I am a pretty good big sis to Scootaloo." Her phone rang, which she answered. "Hey, sis, what's happening?" "Rainbow," Scootaloo said, "Babs challenged me to a fight." Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she gave Scootaloo instruction. "OK, Scootaloo? What do you do when someone challenges you to a fight?" "Sneak up behind them in hit them in the back of the head with a chair," Scootaloo recited. "And if that doesn't work?" "Go for the eyes." "Good, you're learning something," Rainbow said with a smile, "be sure to bring me some of her teeth." "Will do," Scootaloo said, "HEY BABS! I WANTED TO INTRODUCE MY FIST TO YOUR FACE!" Rainbow hung up the phone. "That's my little Scootaloo," Rainbow said with pride. Everyone's eyes rolled at that. "Hey, Face Plant." "Epic Fail Boy." "Lord of the Loser." "Well, at least they're not making fun of your teeth anymore," Chester said in an attempt to reassure his pink-hatted friend. Timmy, Chester, and A.J. were at their usual spot in the cafeteria. Everyone still remembered Timmy's disaster at the skate park and kept mocking him for it. "There's got to be something I can do to rebuild my reputation," Timmy said with some frustration, "if I don't, people are gonna keep making fun of me for months." "There is a simple solution." A.J. advised, "Just do something so awesome, everyone will forget about what happened." "But what can I do?" Timmy asked. "Attention, students," Principal Waxelplax's voice announced over the intercom, "tryouts for the school track team will begin on Thursday. Please sign up at the gym before the end of the day." Timmy smiled a hopeful smile. "That could work." Timmy walked into the school gym and stood in line to sign up. To his anger, he saw two unwelcome faces smirking at him. "Hey, Timbucktooth," Tad said. "Love kissing the ground," Chad finished. The two began laughing like crazy. "I'm here to sign up," Timmy said defiantly. Tad, Chad, and everyone else in the gym started laughing even harder. "What's gonna be your big move," one boy said. "Fall on your face," another boy said mockingly. "Well, good luck," Tad said sarcastically. "You're gonna need it," Chad said. "I can beat you any day, at any time," Timmy declared. "Oh really," Tad said. To Timmy's shock, Tad and Chad both did backflips. "How-," "Our parents got us a personal trainer," Chad gloated while pushing a button. A few seconds later, a very muscular man burst into the room wearing red shorts and a tank top. The man put a cinderblock on his arm and destroyed it by curling his bicep. "The only muscle you've exercised is your wrist," Tad gloated. The two let out another laugh before walking out of the gym, followed by their personal trainer. "I would definitely fall in love with a boy who was an athlete," Trixie said lovingly, following Tad and Chad out of the room with hearts in her eyes. "How am I gonna compete with that?" Timmy muttered to himself. Then he smiled and looked at his fairies, disguised as two lunchboxes in his bag. "You guys will help me, right?" Timmy said, only for the two to give him a concerned look. "What do mean you can't help me?" Timmy asked with dismay in his voice. He spoke with his fairies alone in the sandbox. Wanda was disguised as a plastic shovel, while Cosmo was disguised as a pail. "The non-competition rule," Wanda said firmly. "Oh yeah," Timmy said with frustration. "Well, can't you wish me up a personal trainer?" "No," Wanda said, reading off Da Rules. "That would be using magic to help you win." "Track coach?" "No," Wanda said. "Nutritonal specialist?" "No." "Gym membership?" "Yes," Wanda said. Timmy smiled. "But we all know those don't ever work," Cosmo said with a smile. Timmy frowned bitterly. "Timmy, there is something you can do," Wanda advised with a smile. "What?" Timmy asked him. "Don't you remember?" Wanda asked Timmy. "Your dad ran track. Maybe he can help you out." A smile came to the bucktoothed boy's face. "Right," Timmy said happily. Timmy came up to his father, who was mowing the lawn. "Dad," Timmy asked his father. His father blissfully ignored him. "Dad," he repeated. "DAD!" Timmy let out a disappointed sigh, annoyed at his father not caring about him. Again. He began bitterly storming away. Timmy's father turned off the lawnmower and pulled out some earplugs from his ears. "Man, these earplugs work great," Mr. Turner said happily to the objects in his hand, "they can keep out the noise generated from lawn equipment, annoying neighbors, and unwanted children." He saw Timmy walking away. "Hey Timmy," Mr. Turner said happily, "did you need something?" Timmy stopped his walking at let out an annoyed sigh. "So let me get this straight," Mr. Turner asked Timmy sternly while they sat in the living room. "You wish to join a sports team in the pursuit of vapid popularity and win the eye of a popular member of the female segment of society?" "Yeah," Timmy said. A happy smile formed on the dark-haired man's face. "I am so proud," Timmy's dad said, a joyful tear forming on his face. "Get ready. We're going to practice outside on the lawn." "Yay," Timmy said, excited to be doing something with his dad. Timmy came out on the lawn dressed in a white tank top and pink shorts. He stood patiently, waiting for his dad to show up. "Oh, Timmy," Mr. Turner said from behind the house. "In honor of me teaching my son how to run track," Mr. Turner said, "I've decided to wear my track uniform from all those years ago." Timmy's father wore a track uniform that barely fitted over him. The shorts were fine, but the tank top was too small, showing off Mr. Turner's middle-aged gut to Timmy's discomfort. "Ah, it burns!" Timmy yelled. "Anyways, Timmy," Mr. Turner said, "let's do some stretching." Timmy wore a smile, happy that his dad was helping him with something, and stood next to him on the lawn. "Let's start with touching our toes," Mr. Turner said. The dark-haired man started to bend down. "That's right," Mr. Turner said as Timmy repeated the gesture, "nice and-" a cracked echoed throughout the lawn, and Timmy's Dad let out a moan of pain and fell to the ground, clutching his back. "Dad, what's wrong?" Timmy said with concern. "My back," Timmy's dad moaned, "not stretched...in twenty years. Middle-aged body...feeble. Need...eggnog." Timmy walked away from his father and looked down at his fairies, this time disguised as two water bottles. "I wish my dad was better!" Timmy asked his fairies. The two fairies raised their wands, only for the same raspberry noise to come out. "What?" Timmy asked Wanda with annoyance. "Sorry, sport," Wanda said to Timmy. She poofed up Da Rules book. "Since using magic to heal his back would help you win the competition, that's out." Timmy let out a sigh of disappointment. "Thanks for coming on short notice, Sunset," Mrs. Turner said to Sunset. "I was happy to do it," Sunset said in a humble voice, watching with concern as Mr. Turner was carried on a stretcher into an ambulance. "Get this man an IV," one of the paramedics said as Mr. Turner was pushed in. "Yes," Mr. Turner said euphorically as an IV of eggnog was inserted into his arm. "sweet, sweet nog." "The paramedics said he'd be out by tomorrow," Mrs. Turner said, walking into the ambulance to join her husband, "so I'll see you all tonight." As soon as the door was closed, the ambulance drove a few feet before being lifted into the air by a medical helicopter. Sunset looked back at Timmy, who sat on the lawn, looking upset. "Don't worry," Sunset said to Timmy in a reassuring tone, "you're dad's gonna be" "I know he'll be fine," Timmy muttered angrily. Sunset frowned in concern. "Then what's wrong?" Sunset asked the brown-haired boy. "So you're trying to run track," Sunset said. The two sat on the living room couch, where Timmy discussed his predicament. "Yeah," Timmy said, "if I can become an athlete, I know Trixie will date me." "This Trixie girl again," Sunset said with distaste. "She's not a girl. She's an angel," Timmy said. "Her eyes sparkle like a thousand beautiful suns." Sunset let out an annoyed frown." Timmy, we need to have a serious talk," the teenager said with some annoyance. "About what?" The doorbell rang before Sunset could speak. "Wait here while I get the door." Sunset opened the door and then returned with an odd smile on her face. "Timmy," Sunset said, as if trying to control laughter, "it is for you." Timmy walked over and saw a fat lady with brown hair and a brown dress at the door. "Are you Timmy Turner?" The woman asked in a deep voice. "Yeah." "This is a singing telegram from," the woman read the card, "Tootie Valentine." Timmy let out a horrified frown as the woman took a deep breath and began to sing. "TIMMY I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU TIMMY," the woman sang in a deep, obnoxious voice, "TIMMY, TIMMY, TIMMY, I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU, TIMMY! I LOVE YOU. I-," Turner slammed the door with a yell. "Even when she's not here," Timmy said, yanking on his hair, "she's still a pain!" "Who?" Sunset asked, laughing a little bit at the spectacle. "Tootie Valentine," Timmy said, "an annoying girl who has a crush on me. She won't leave me alone no matter how many times I tell her to go away!" "Why does she have a crush on you?" Sunset said. "I gave her my extra cookie at kindergarten," Timmy said, "and she acts like we're soulmates." "Aww," Sunset cooed. "It's not funny," Timmy protested, "she doesn't just have a crush on me. She's really creepy about it." "How?" Sunset asked Timmy. "She once had a wedding with me," Timmy said. "That doesn't sound to-," "With cake," Timmy said. "That's not-," "And a wedding dress," Sunset frowned in shock. "OK," Sunset said uneasily, "that's a bit-" "And a minister who would marry me against my will," Timmy finished. Sunset felt an uncomfortable frown. "Really?" Sunset said with disbelief. "Yes, and she made me wear a leash and a tux." Timmy and Tootie held each other's hand. Or, more specifically, Tootie held Timmy using a chain that was stuck to his wrist. The girl wore a white wedding dress, while Timmy was stuffed into a tuxedo, looking utterly mortified, as the minister read off his book. Tootie smiled. At long last, Timmy would be hers. "If there is anyone here who objects to the marriage," the man said, "aside from the groom," the man uttered as Timmy tried to object, "speak now, or forever hold your peace." "Oh look," Timmy suddenly said, pointing somewhere, "it's Timmy Turner." "Where," Tootie said excitedly, looking away. POOF! Tootie looked back and saw that Timmy had vanished. "Why doesn't he love me?!" Tootie shouted. She ceased her mourning and pulled out a cellphone. "Cancel the hors d'oeuvres and our honeymoon to Boca Raton," Tootie said with disgust before returning to crying on the ground. "So this girl hounds you, no matter how many times you tell her no?" Sunset asked. "Yes," Timmy said tiredly. "And she keeps following you around with gifts and stuff," Sunset surmised. "Yes," Timmy said. "Just like you do with this Trixie girl," Sunset finished with a stern glare. Timmy frowned in annoyance at Sunset's insinuation. "That's not the same thing," Timmy said defensively. "HOW?!" Sunset yelled. "I saw that girl, and she clearly wasn't into you. Heck, she sent her bodyguard to humiliate you, and you keep stalking her. You're obsessing over someone who doesn't like you, has probably never liked you, and probably never will. I know she's pretty and rich but-," "You don't know anything!" Timmy yelled angrily. Sunset was a bit shaken; Timmy could be disobedient and cheeky, but he never talked back to her that way. "Timmy, what's wrong?" Sunset asked, her annoyance given way to concern. "You-you wouldn't understand," Timmy said sadly. "Then help me understand," Sunset said in an understanding tone, "why are you letting yourself get hurt by this girl?" "So...you dressed up as a girl," Sunset said uneasily. "I was...dared into doing it," Timmy said, his eyes darting back and forth. "But I also figured if I could become a girl, I could figure out what Trixie wanted for her birthday." "And," Sunset said. "I learned Trixie has a...secret," Timmy said uneasily. "What is it?" Sunset said. "Please don't tell," Timmy beseeched her. "Well, she doesn't go to my school," Sunset said with a smile, "so I probably won't need to gossip about her to anyone." "OK," Timmy said dramatically, "Trixie....loves...comic books and video games." A brief pause hung in the air before Sunset began laughing like crazy. "What?" "Timmy," Sunset said, still chuckling, "I don't see what the big deal is. I love video games and comics too. Why would that be bad-" "Well, I don't know where you went to elementary school," Timmy said, "but in my school, it works like this: boys can only like boy things, and girls can only like girls things." Sunset frowned. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard." "I know," Timmy muttered angrily, "but because of that, Trixie thinks she's a freak. When she saw me as Timantha, she was scared. She said, 'please don't tell anyone I like boy stuff. My friends will think I'm weird.'" Sunset frowned with concern. "But I hung out with her. And..she wasn't a freak at all. We had a lot of fun together. Trixie isn't just some pretty face. She likes all the things I like. And she told me that all she wanted was a friend who liked boy and girl stuff." "Then why not just tell her that?" Sunset asked softly. "I tried," Timmy said, before looking down in shame, "and...she kicked me out of her party. She doesn't want to be caught with a loser like me." "Timmy," Sunset said with sympathy in her voice, "I'm sorry that she turned you down after you opened your heart to her. But there's always fish in the" "I don't really care that Trixie wants to date me," Timmy said with sad eyes, "I'm upset that Trixie....hates herself." Sunset looked at Timmy with even more sympathy. "If I could become popular, all I would need is just one day to show her that...she's great the way she is. And she doesn't have to be afraid of doing what she loves." Timmy got up from the couch and walked away. "I know," Timmy said morosely, "it's stupid," he muttered morosely as he climbed the stairs to his room. Sunset looked at the sad boy, not with mockery as he feared, but with a mixture of concern, astonishment, and.... a bit of pride. "He actually cares about her," Sunset muttered, a proud smile forming on her face. She narrowed her eyes in thought, thinking about a couple of people who could help her. > Running Like the Wind (Part 2) (Rewrite) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Yeah," Rainbow said with some bitterness, "I know what he's talking about." Sunset looked concerned. "You do?" She and her friends were at their usual spot in the cafeteria. Sunset told them about Timmy's dilemma with Trixie Tang. "When I was in elementary school," Rainbow replied with a frown, "these jerks would always make fun of me because I 'acted like a boy.'" The prism-hair colored girl's frown deepened. "And some of the girls made fun of me too, saying I was a disgusting slob." She stuck a finger into her nostril, fishing for some gold. "Can you imagine that?" Rarity rolled her eyes. "Not at all," the fashionista muttered sarcastically. "So, what did you do?" Sunset asked Rainbow. Rainbow's grin became manic. "Threw bricks at their heads." Fluttershy looked horrified. "Rainbow!" The pink-haired girl scolded. "Hey, didn't throwing that brick get us into Timmy's life," Rainbow gloated. No one bothered to argue with the rainbow-haired girl, which made her smirk. "Anyways," Rainbow said, "boys and girls would hate me because I didn't ''act like a girl should',"Rainbow muttered with a roll of her eyes. Sunset frowned in disgust. "That's so stupid." "You never faced anything like that, Sunset?" Applejack asked the fire-haired girl with curiosity in her eyes. "In Equestria, a woman, or as we say 'mare,' ruled the land," Sunset said, "And there was no such thing as 'boy stuff' or 'girl stuff.' Ponies celebrated your special talent no matter what it was." "That makes more sense," Pinkie exclaimed. "You should just do what you think is fun." "But in this world, you can be despised and resented for doing what you fancy if what you fancy doesn't conform to gender norms," Rarity said with some anger. "I've known many male fashion designers who quit because they were afraid of being seen as girly." "A lot of boys made fun of Zephyr and called him a girl because he wants to be a hairstylist," Fluttershy with some lament. "That's why he hits on girls: because he wants to prove how macho he is after all the teasing." Everyone's expression showed they also felt some pity for the boy, even Rainbow."I can't believe I'm actually feeling sorry for Zephyr," Rainbow wondered aloud with a mixture of sympathy and reluctance. Applejack frowned in annoyance at the double standard. "Y'all know how ah love to wrestle?" Applejack asked Sunset. The fire-haired girl nodded. "When I challenge a guy to a fight, they avoid me!" She snorted with disgust. "It's either because they're afraid of losing to a girl or afraid of being hated for beating up a girl." "It really is that serious," Sunset wondered aloud. "But Timmy can apparently look those things," Sunset said with a smile. "I mean, I don't think he should care about popularity," Sunset said with some disdain and a roll of her eyes. "But he wants to be popular for a good cause, so-" "I'd love to teach him how to run!" Rainbow said with an excited smile. Sunset looked hopeful. "Really?" "People always made fun of me for liking boy stuff," Rainbow commented. "So if Timmy wants to help a girl who was in my boat, I'll help him, Rainbow Dash-style! I wish I had a friend like him when I was his age." "I would also love to help young Timothy in the ways of romance," Rarity offered. A grateful smile formed on Sunset's face. "Really?" "As a budding young socialite, I sympathize with anyone who seeks to climb the ladder of society." Rarity gushed. "Especially since young Timothy seeks to use status for a noble cause of helping a young lady." Rarity smile proudly. 'If I can build upon that, I can make him grow from a lump of coal into a beautiful diamond." "Wait, wah doesn't he just...wish for all that stuff?" Applejack asked. Sunset gave it serious thought. "I guess he...would rather win fairly." "If he wants to do this fair and square," Rainbow gushed, "that's all the more reason to help him." "You guys are the best," Sunset said to her friends with a beaming smile, "for doing this for him-I mean, for the mission," Sunset abruptly said with a blush on her face. "For a mission, of course," Rainbow teased. "That's why you want to do this." Everyone else was also looking at Sunset with sly smiles. Timmy slept peacefully in his room. His alarm clock rang at 6'o clock, but the brown-haired kid still laid in bed, much to Cosmo and Wanda's disappointment. "Timmy," Wanda said gently. "Timmy," Cosmo said. The two looked at each other slyly before poofing into the shape of airhorns. They let out a harsh noise that startled Timmy awake. "AHHHHHH!" Timmy screamed, leaping from his deep slumber. The brown-haired boy glanced at the clock and let out a tired sigh. "Can't I sleep a few more minutes?" Timmy asked his fairies with bags under his eyes. "Sorry, sport," Wanda said with a teasing smile. "Sunset said if you wanted her friend to train you-," "Then you're gonna have to get your little butt up," Cosmo finished. With a tired sigh, Timmy threw off his blanket, and began to get ready. By 6:30, Timmy was out the door in his regular attire, carrying his backpack and a bag of gym clothes Wanda helped him prepare the night before. He stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the supposed star athlete to arrive. A few moments later, a super-fast blue car pulled up to his house. A girl came out of the driver's side. She was a head shorter than Sunset but with what looked like a lot more muscle. Her hair was all of the colors of the rainbow. She wore a blue jacket over a white T-shirt with a multicolored rainbow lightning bolt on it, white and blue sneakers, and mauve polyester pants with lightning bolts on him. When the girl spotted him, she gave him a wide grin. "Are you Timmy T?" The girl asked excitedly. "Yeah," Timmy said, a little unsettled by the athlete's enthusiasm. "You must be Rainbow-" "Are you ready to win?!" Rainbow shouted. "Uh..." Timmy droned. Rainbow rolled her eyes in disappointment. "'Uh?'" Rainbow repeated in a mocking tone. "A winner doesn't say 'uh'! C'mon where's your spirit?" "It died when I discovered public education existed," Timmy snarked. Rainbow rolled her eyes and smirked. "Let's try this again. Are you gonna win?!" "Yeah," Timmy in a slightly louder voice. "Louder!" "Yeah!" Timmy said, feeling the passion in his voice. "One more time!" Rainbow yelled. "ARE YOU GONNA WIN?!" "YEAH!" Timmy yelled to the heavens. "That's the spirit!" "Hey!" Rainbow cocked her head to the right and saw big-nosed man who had approached their car. He wore a brown bathrobe over some pajamas and looked at Rainbow and Timmy with tired exasperation." I appreciate the passion," the man said in a hoarse voice, "but some of us are still trying to sleep."Sorry," Timmy yelled to the man sheepishly. With that he walked back inside a neighboring house. "Who's the wet blanket?" Rainbow asked with a roll of her eyes. "Mr. Dinkleberg," Timmy said. A frown appeared on her face. "Did you say Dinkleberg?" She asked Timmy, her eyes narrowed. "Yeah. Why?" "Uh, no reason," Rainbow said, her eyes darting to the ground, "uh, why don't you get in the car while I take care of some... business." Timmy shrugged and went into the back seat. Rainbow looked at Dinkleberg's fancy hybrid car parked along the road with an evil smile. "Time for payback," Rainbow said with vicious glee. She reached into her trunk and pulled out a crowbar. She approached the Dinkleberg's car with sadistic joy on her face, ready to smash the car to get some revenge. "Hey!" Rainbow turned and saw a man coming out of Timmy's house. He was tall and wore an unusually frilly pink robe. His hair was dark and full of curlers. He was looking at Rainbow with a sharp expression. "Are you planning to smash the Dinkleberg's windshield with that crowbar in an act of vengeance?" the man asked sternly with crossed arms. Rainbow guessed this was Timmy's dad. "No...Mr. Turner, I was...," Rainbow stammered. "If you're gonna smash the Dinkleberg's windshield, throw a brick," the man offered helpfully. "That way, you can make a clean getaway in case you activate any alarms." Rainbow looked at the man with surprise. She then smiled when she realized he was serious. "Believe me, I love bricks. But I think there's a certain....thrill you get from destroying a windshield with a handheld weapon," Rainbow argued, "that you can't get from throwing from a distance." "Then try my 9-iron golf club," the man offered, handing the club to Rainbow. "It is not only perfect for that long drive, but its metal head ensures that the glass will break easily, and that your act of vengeful vandalism can remain an enjoyable and lawsuit-free experience." "Thanks Mr. T," Rainbow said with a smile. "I never thought an adult could be so cool!" "Man, if only more kids were as polite as you," Mr. Turner lamented with a smile. Timmy got into the backseat. He saw another girl on the right side, who looked to be his age. She had purple hair that was cut short. She wore a grey jacket, green shorts, and grey boots. "I'm Timmy." "Scootaloo," the girl said in a sharp voice, "I'm the sister of the coolest girl in all of Canterlot." "Sunset?" Timmy asked. Scootaloo looked positively scandalized. "Rainbow Dash!" The girl screamed. "Don't you know how awesome she is!" A smirk came on Timmy's face. "Well, Sunset owns a motorcycle, loves video games, and she helped me with my homework! I doubt Rainbow can top that!" Before Scootaloo could argue, Rainbow rushed into the driver's seat with a panicked expression on her face., "C'mon we've got to go," Rainbow said, scrambling to get into the car. "Are you OK?" Scootaloo asked her sister. , "Yeah sure, cool," Rainbow said nervously as she put the car into drive, "By the way if you hear the sound of police sirens, they're definitely not chasing after us, OK?!" "What are you-," Timmy began, only for Rainbow to hit the gas and speed down the road. Timmy and Scootaloo yelled as she drove out of his neighborhood at high speed. "She even knows how to make a clean getaway and escape from responsibility," Mr. Turner muttered in an impressed tone. "Timmy sure is in good hands." As soon as Rainbow entered Canterlot's athletic field, she walked through a gauntlet of high-fives from all the athletes who showed up to train. Scootaloo also got some praise as well. "Hey Rainbow!" "Yo Rainbow!" "Hey Scootaloo!" "So you're really the captain of all the girls' sport teams?" Timmy asked the rainbow-haired girl. "Yep," Rainbow said. She paused to give some jock another high-five. "How can you do all that?" Timmy asked the rainbow-haired girl. "Because she's awesome!" Scootaloo gushed. "Because I have a love of Canterlot High, the desire to be the best, and the thrill of competition inside me," Rainbow said proudly. "That's all I need to keep me awake." "Really?" "Well, that and s-s-sixty or s-seventy cups of coffee," Rainbow stammered, twitching like crazy. She took out a blue thermos, poured some coffee into the cup, and guzzled the whole thermos before throwing the cup away. "Ah, that feels good! Anyways, let's get to training." Timmy followed Scootaloo and Rainbow across the athletic field. The blue-eyed boy couldn't help but notice that some of the jocks stopped whatever they were doing and gave him a weird look as soon as he walked by them. "Uh," Timmy wondered, "why is everyone staring at me?" Rainbow and Scootaloo looked at him with odd smiles. "Uh...they've never seen a boy in a pink hat before," Rainbow said uneasily. Timmy accepted that. "Makes sense. I'm just...not used to people-," "Don't be scared, Timmy," Scootaloo said, suddenly getting into his face, much to the brown-haired boy's astonishment. While Timmy was distracted, Rainbow made a "shut up" gesture to get everyone to stop staring at him. "Once you become a star athlete," Scootaloo gushed, "you'll revel in the attention." "I could become a star athlete?" Timmy replied with disbelief. "I can't even touch my toes." "You should stop acting so scared," Scootaloo sighed with annoyance. The two started to follow after Rainbow Dash. "I am never scared about anything and because of-,"Scootaloo paused as she felt something was being placed on her neck. The purple-haired girl she saw what it was. "AHHHH!" Scootaloo yelled. "I'M SCARED!" Timmy turned and saw what was in Scootaloo's hand. "SPIDER!" Timmy yelled. "AHHH!" the two elementary school students bellowed in unison. Scootaloo angrily threw the spider on the ground and began stomping on it."DIE YOU EVIL MONSTER! RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!" Scootaloo yelled in between stomps. "Kill it! Kill it!" Timmy said, bravely cowering behind the purple-haired girl. "What's wrong?" Rainbow said, running up to the two children. "EVIL-," Scootaloo stomped once, "-SPIDER!" To her confusion, the spider wasn't being squished under her foot. "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" Rainbow's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She picked up the spider. "Rainbow," Timmy said fearfully, astonished at the athlete's audacity at picking up a spider. "What are you-," Scootaloo began fearfully, only for Rainbow to squeeze the spider. SQUEAK! Scootaloo and Timmy's panic and fear were replaced with embarrassing blushes on their faces when they realized the spider was fake. Timmy suddenly heard some very amused and mocking laughter from behind him. "Gilda!" Rainbow yelled in annoyance. The brown-haired boy looked back and saw a group of five teenagers laughing at them uncontrollably. "Oh, you dweebs are too easy," one girl said while clutching her torso, laughing so hard it was hurting her ribs. "Gilda, they're just kids!" Rainbow said with a growl. "Loosen up, flip-flop," the girl said with a roll of her eyes. One thing Timmy noticed about the girl was that she was tall. Possibly the tallest girl Timmy had ever seen. She had white hair with purple highlights and yellow eyes. She wore an open brown jacket, a white tank top, brown cargo pants, a belt, and green combat boots. "Who is she?" Timmy asked Rainbow with some annoyance. "Gilda Griffon," the girl answered. "Captain of CHS's mixed martial arts team and CHS' top prankster," the girl gloated while doing some stretches. She gestured to her friends. "These are my teammates." "Is she a friend of yours?" Timmy asked Rainbow. "She would be if she weren't such a square," a girl with orange hair and yellow highlights sneered. "I'd rather be a square than an idiot," Rainbow muttered. "Only a square could have a sister who was a little scaredy-cat," a tall guy with brown hair said in a mocking tone. The group of jocks laughed harder, much to Scootaloo's embarrassment. Timmy felt his hackles rise as these five jerks acted mean to Rainbow's sister. Rainbow looked increasingly unamused at the mockery of her sister. "Why don't you just-," "Oh my gosh!" A muscular jock with grey hair said with an excited grin, pointing at Timmy. "You got a pet beaver, Dash!" Timmy frowned at the insult to his teeth. "Man, those buck teeth look big enough to land a plane on," an Australian-sounding girl with cloudy hair joked. The five jocks started laughing again at Timmy's expense. Gilda walked up to Timmy and snatched up his pink hat, to his consternation."Hey," Timmy yelled. "Give that back!" "Come and get it," the white-haired girl sneered. Timmy jumped up to try and get his hat, but Gilda kept pulling it away. "Almost got it. Too slow." Gilda mocked. "C'mon, Beaver Boy, I thought you wanted this dumb little hat!"Gilda and her goons laughed, even as Rainbow angrily snatched the hat away from Gilda and gave it back to the buck-toothed boy. "I may look like a beaver," Timmy said directly to Gilda, "but at least my hair doesn't look like a tissue with boogers." Scootaloo and Rainbow began snorting, especially as Gilda started bristling. "What did you say, punk?" Gilda growled. "Yeah the beaver joke is so original," Timmy said snarked. "Not! I'm not surprised you couldn't come up with anything new. You're probably so dumb, you slept on the lawn because someone called it a 'flower bed'." Rainbow and Scootaloo laughed even more. Gilda and her cohorts fumed with rage for a moment, much to Timmy's fear. But soon, they started laughing like crazy. "I like you," Gilda said to Timmy with a wide smile. She sounded more amused than annoyed. "Maybe we can hang out sometime, Beaver Boy," she said, before turning away from him, "when you stop being afraid of a widdle-itty-bitty spider." Gilda and her club turned around to walk away, laughing even more. "Man, what a bunch of jerks," Timmy said. "Yep," Rainbow agreed. "Rainbow," Scootaloo asked in a soft, ashamed voice. "Am I a scaredy cat like they say?" The rainbow-haired girl immediately put a warm hand on her sister's hand. "Scootaloo, don't listen to those idiots. Being scared doesn't mean you're not brave." Timmy looked at Scootaloo with a sympathetic expression, before glaring in the direction the jerks walked in. The two Dash sisters walked to the track. "Timmy," Rainbow called back to him, "are ya comin?" "I'll be there in a minute," Timmy said. The two sisters shrugged and walked away, while Timmy looked at fairies, disguised as arm bands on his wrists, with a cruel smile. "Cosmo, Wanda." Timmy said. "We really got those two good didn't we?" Gilda gloated. "Yeah," Lightning Dust said with a cruel smile, "we-," a poof sound was heard behind her. Gilda walked, until she noticed her four friends looking at with fear. "What's wrong?" Gilda asked her friends in an amused tone. "You look like you've all seen..." "Not ghost," Hoops whispered with a horrified tone. "Spider." Gilda looked at the brown haired athlete with a smile. "Yeah I'm not falling for-," Gilda paused, feeling something tickling her neck. She also heard a hiss behind her. Gilda fearfully turned around. There were several giant brown spiders the size of dinner plates on her back, sticking their tongue out at Gilda and looking at her hungrily. Gilda and her friends started shacking with fear. "Help me," Gilda hissed Rolling Thunder attempted to placate the mega-spider. "Nice...giant spiders?" The spider hissed furiously. With a loud scream, Gilda threw away her jacket, and ran away screaming for her mommy along with her cohorts. Timmy laughed like crazy at this. "Alright guys, I wish the spiders were gone." The giant spiders were wished away. Having gotten revenge, Timmy ran back to join the two Dash sisters. Unbeknownst to him, someone was watching him from a distance, hiding inside of a trash can. "Oh laugh it up Turner," Crocker said with malicious glee, "but I'll be having the last laugh when I capture your...FAIRY GOD-!" Crocker yelled in severe pain when when a blue thermos full of still burning coffee was poured onto his head and body. His face throbbed from the severe burns. "But first I must treat these...THIRD DEGREE BURNS!" "OK," Rainbow said. They were sitting on some grass near the running track. "first were going to be doing some stretches." Timmy, Scootaloo, and Rainbow were clad in vests and shorts that were pink, purple, and blue respectively. "Let's try touching our toes," Rainbow said. Scootaloo and Timmy got into position. "Oh boy," Timmy said, happy to start exercising. Hidden from the bleachers, Crocker prepared some green cannon with a yellow star on it. Crocker looked gleeful as he prepared his next plan. "With my new Crocker Cannon, I shall release an explosive anti-magical sludge that can contain any magical energy. With this I will be able to capture Turner's …FAIRY GODPARENTS!" Crocker fired it at Timmy, only for the boy to duck as he bent down to touch his toes. The missile, not hitting him, flew away from him to another target, leaving a smoke trail behind. "CHS' Mixed Martial Arts Club will celebrate our 10 year anniversary with cake, fresh from Pinkie Pie," Lightning Dust announced, placing the vanilla frosted beauty on the table near the running track. Gilda, Hoops, and Dumbbell, and Rolling Thunder all salivated at the idea of trying one of Pinkie's cakes. Gilda rubbed her hands with glee. "There is absolutely nothing that can get in the way of our cake," Gilda said. Just as they were about to eat, they suddenly heard some whistling. "What's-" Gilda began. BAM! The whole cake was destroyed, and splattered over everyone along with some strange green goo. The track team was angry and dismayed. Gilda's eye twitched as she looked where the smoke had come from. "What was that?" Scootaloo asked, seeing the smoke and the mess., "You!" Scootaloo, Rainbow, and Timmy turned and saw she saw some angry man in glasses march toward them from the bleachers with a crazed expression and a cannon in his hand. "I was this close to my new world order, but you again foiled my plan." "Let me guess," Rainbow said with an annoyed expression, "that's Crocker." "Sunset must've already told you about my crazy teacher," Timmy muttered disdainfully as the white-shirted man stormed up to them. "That's your teacher?" Scootaloo asked Timmy with disbelief. "Yep. He keeps hounding me, thinking magic is real," Timmy said. The two Dash sisters looked nervous. "My Crocker Cannon was fool-proof," the hunchbacked man ranted to the group of three. "But you ruined it, Turner." He turned to glare at the Dash sisters. "You and-," "Hey!" Rainbow said, getting into the man's face. "Why don't you back off, creep, and leave me, my sister, and Timmy alone before I call the cops on you!" Crocker glared back, before deciding to turn away. He gained nothing from fighting with a girl less than half his age. "You've won again, Turner," Crocker said with a stern look, "but mark my words I will prevail." He walked away from Timmy and the Dash sisters, angrily muttering, only to bump into someone. "Watch where your going!" Crocker said with some disdain. He looked into who he had bumped into, only for his eyes to widen when he saw a very and tall and angry girl glaring at him and covered in green foam. "So you're the idiot who blew up our cake!" the girl accused. Behind her were several jocks. They were also covered in foam and giving him dirty looks. "You with that stupid cannon!" A less tall girl with yellow and orange hair yelled. Crocker realized he had caused them trouble, and by holding his cannon. he let himself get caught red-handed. "This was..." Crocker began nervously, "an attempt to celebrate your team's...triumph." The angry glares he got showed they weren't buying his excuse. "GET HIM!" Lightning Dust yelled. Crocker tried to run, only for the five to restrain and carry him away somewhere. "Where are you taking me?!" Crocker groaned, as he struggled in their grasp. "Yeah Gilds," an Australian girl asked. "Where are we taking him?" The white girl, who seemed to be the leader of the group, paused as she thought it over. An evil smile came over Gilda's face. "Flying." The same smile appeared on the other teenager's faces. "Flying?" Crocker asked with a worried expression. The five mixed martial arts students dragged Crocker to a tennis court. "What does flying entail?" Hoops and Dumbell pushed Crocker against the tennis net, while Rolling Thunder and Lightning Dust stretched both ends of it like a rubber band. To his horror, Crocker realized they were going to launch him into the air. "You can't do this to me!" Crocker bellowed. "I...have...tenure!" "Yeah, well, we don't exactly care about petty things like... rules," Gilda said casually. "Night, night crazy guy," Dumbbell hissed. Crocker was launched into the air with a yell. He landed at Canterlot's student orchestra, crashing into bunch of instruments. He laid on the ground in a daze, his head trapped in a sousaphone. One nearby band player played "wa wa wa" on his trombone. "Oh laugh it up," Crocker said, his voice echoing from inside the metal instrument. "Well, now that that's over with," Rainbow said with a disgusted snort, "let's see you run on the track." Timmy walked up to the starting line with a confident smile. "Are you ready?" Rainbow asked Timmy with anticipation. "I was born ready," Timmy said with a cheeky grin. Rainbow looked at her new trainee with pride. "Now you're getting into the spirit of things." Rainbow said, holding up a stopwatch. Timmy braced himself to run. "And....Go!" "I'm gonna make it to the finish line," Timmy boasted as he started running. "Can't make it to the finish line ," Timmy said with a wheeze, having collapsed from exhaustion. "I must have been running for...two...hours." "You collapsed after ten seconds," Rainbow said in an unimpressed tone. "Nine seconds too many," Timmy complained. Rainbow face-palmed. "You can do better than that," Rainbow said. "Get up." Timmy laid on the ground, panting. "Come on." Timmy continued to be inert. "OK," Rainbow said idly, "if that's the way you want it." Rainbow walked away, leaving Timmy to rest. Timmy felt something brush his scalp. He began to notice something: his head felt empty. Timmy realized his hat was missing. The brown-haired boy jumped up in a panic. "Where's my-" "Looking for this," a voice said. Timmy saw that Scootaloo was on her scooter, waving his pink hat around like a trophy, and looking at Timmy with a challenging smirk. "Give me my hat," Timmy growled, his energy returning as his anger grew. "Hmm, nope." "It's mine!" Timmy yelled. "Alright Timmy. I'll give it to you." Timmy walked up to Scootaloo to get the hat from the girl. "BUT FIRST YOU GOT TO CATCH ME!" Scootaloo yelled, riding away from Timmy on her scooter with a cackle. Timmy's face turned bright red, he felt his body trembling with rage, before steam violently burst from his ears. "GIVE IT BACK!" Timmy roared, running like the wind after Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash watched this with a smirk. It appeared everyone had their own motivation. For Timmy, it was that silly pink hat. Timmy chased Scootaloo to Canterlot's park with exhaustion. "Give me my hat!" the running boy yelled in between gasps. "Come on," the girl on the scooter said with some disdain, "is little baby afraid of running ten more miles." Timmy let out an agonized groan as he kept chasing after the purple haired girl. > Running Like the Wind (Part 3) (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So Crocker fired a rocket at Timmy?" Sunset asked with narrowed eyes and a deep frown. It was study hall. Rainbow explained the incident with Timmy and Crocker. "Yeah," Rainbow said dismissively, "but it didn't do anything but create a lot of green goo." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "And he was so weedy, Gilda and her goons took care of them." "I don't see any reason to worry," Applejack snarked. "Sounds like the man's two apples short of a bushel." "Perhaps," Rarity commented, "but maybe we should take precautions." Sunset's severe look faded, but the disdain and annoyance didn't go away entirely. "I'm gonna make a complaint to Principal Celestia. I don't want that creep walking around here." Rarity felt a smile form on her face. "Anyways, how was Timothy's first day training." Rainbow smiled as she prepared to boast about her own training of the boy. "It...was...AWESOME!" Rainbow gushed. "Timmy can move when he has the right motivation." "And we all know what that is," Rarity expressed with sheer joy, "a young poor child wishing to impress a young lady from the upper class." She squealed. "He shall make an excellent student of love when I come meet him." Crocker was sitting on his office working on a crossword puzzle. " 'Hmm, a eight letter word for the young people I despise'."Crocker mused. "Crocker." "No, children." Crocker felt a tap on his shoulder, looked up, and saw a very irate Principal Waxelplax glaring at him. "Yes Princ-," "We need to talk, Denzel." The words made Crocker pause and eyes widened. She hadn't called him Denzel since college, as did the quiet sharpness. "Principal Celestia told me you were at Canterlot High, bringing your craziness to her school!" The red-haired woman complained. "I was performing an experiment," Crocker excused. The woman walked up Crocker and pulled him by his tie to her face. "I've put up with your craziness long enough, but I've had it," the Irish lady hissed. "You pull one more of your schemes, and I-," "You can't fire me," Crocker gloated with a sneer. "Thank the labor unions for giving me tenure." "I may not be able to fire you, but I can control what job you do," the woman warned, which spooked Crocker a bit. "One more scheme, and you'll be working as a janitor for a whole month." With that said, she turned around and walked out of the room, making it clear that she brooked no argument. Crocker's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he stared at the door through which Crocker walked through. "I must come up with a scheme that will allow me to once and for all capture Turner's...FAIRY GODPARENTS!" His hand fell into his chin as he tried to come up with some ideas. Timmy sat on the bus riding through Canterlot, tired, panting, and exhausted. Even after resting, he still felt utterly drained. He bought an ice cream cone to cool down. "At least you got some exercise, sport," Wanda said, disguised as a smartphone in Timmy's pocket. "Yeah Timmy," Cosmo said, disguised as a headphone, "if you keep this up, you could be running marathons." Timmy let out another sigh. Timmy saw the bus stop. "That's our stop," Timmy said. He got off the bus, and saw the location: Carousel Boutique. The outside of the building was all different shades of purple. "So this is where I'll be getting a lesson in love," Timmy said, "not that I need one. I learned all my lessons in love from TV movies." "Oh darling," the woman from the TV said, "why did you tap my phones, open my mail, and follow me all the way to this remote island where I fled to get away from you." Timmy sat in front of the TV, taking notes. "All that was out of my love for you," the man in the movie said dramatically. "Oh honey," the woman said, "I love you too." "So let's see if I got this right," Timmy said, looking over his notes. "Stalking, illegal spying, and mail fraud are all romance," Timmy surmised. "Well," Wanda said with a nervous chuckle, "it can't hurt to get new lessons." Timmy entered the boutique. The inside was really fancy, with a beautiful purple interior, colorful mannequins everywhere, and lots of women and girls shopping. The clothes were the really fancy ones his mom loved to shop for. "Are you Timothy Turner," a very classy voice asked him. Timmy looked and saw another girl approach him. This girl had purple hair that was shiny, beautiful, and well groomed. Her face was coated in makeup, including a really pretty eyeshadow. She wore a blue dress, a purple skirt, and purple and white high heels. Timmy couldn't take her eyes of this girl. He felt his cheeks turn a little red just looking at her. "You must be Timothy," Rarity said with a kindly expression, "I am Rarity Belle. Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique." "My Timmy call me friends," the pink-hatted boy objected. He then blushed, realized he goofed up his own words. Rarity chuckled, looking more amused than annoyed with Timmy mangling his words. "Come along Timothy," Rarity said with a coy smile, "your lessons in romance await." Rarity moved across the boutique, while Timmy followed. "Smitten, are you sport," Wanda teased while disguised as a pink pin on Timmy's shirt. "Don't you get it Wanda," Cosmo said, disguised as a green pin. "Timmy has a thing for pretty rich girls who are way out of his league." Timmy angrily ripped Cosmo from his shirt, and threw him into his pocket, who let out a yelp as he was stuffed inside. "What was that," Rarity said, turning to Timmy. "I heard a yell." "Nothing," Timmy said. "Anyways, I am here to teach you not to be a lout," Rarity said, "and to instill into you the intricacies of romance." "What's a lout?" "A rude, disgusting person." "I am not rude or disgusting," Timmy said defensively, angrily throwing his ice cream on the ground, "and another thing-" he paused, realizing his ice cream cone was splattered on the ground. "My ice cream," Timmy exclaimed with terror, before he fell to his knees and began licking it on the floor like a dog, much to the disgust of Rarity and the other patrons. "That boy must've grown up on a barn," said one Crystal Prep student with disdain. Rarity let out a nervous laugh, before grabbing Timothy by his shoulders and pulling him from the room, much to his annoyance. "Wait, not my ice cream," Timmy shrieked. Rarity took Timmy into some kind of back room. "When Sunset told me how you wanted to learn about love," Rarity said, "I felt honored to do so. I know quite a bit about it." "Really?" Timmy asked. "My ancestry goes back to France," Rarity boasted, "In fact, I am descended from a long line of French designers, romantics, and royalty." "Rarity, stop," a young female voice said. Timmy saw some girl his age approach them. She had curly hair that was two different shades of pink. She wore some pink jacket over a striped white and pink shirt, a yellow skirt, and purple boots. "We are not French," the girl said with annoyance, "our ancestors weren't fashion designers or royalty. They were lumberjacks from Quebec. You. Are not. French" "In spirit I am," Rarity said, closing her eyes proudly. The younger girl let out a sigh. "And she thinks I live in a dream world." "Timothy, this is my younger sister Sweetie Belle." "Hi," Timmy said with a wave. "Anyways," Rarity said, "let us begin our lessons," she gestured to some other room." Timmy followed her in. "Can I...join you," Sweetie Belle asked her sister. "Nope Sweetie," Rarity said firmly but politely, "this is Timothy's private lesson in love." "Uh sure," Sweetie Belle said with a blush, "that's what I was asking about." Sweetie Belle walked away, but not before giving one last wistful gaze at the brown-haired boy. Timmy was led into a breakroom. Inside was a plastic table that had a fancy table cloth and fancy dishes on it. "Let's start with the first part," Rarity said. "What do you do for a lady?" "I don't know," Timmy said. "Pull the chair for them, darling," Rarity advised with a smile. "Oh right," Timmy said, pulling the chair for Rarity. She began to sit, only for Timmy to spot something. "Ohh, a quarter," Timmy said, letting the chair fall over, causing Rarity to fall onto her keister with a yelp. "Ouch," Rarity said, rubbing over her sore bottom. Timmy looked away from his quarter and looked at Rarity. "Why are you sitting on the floor?" Timmy asked Rarity. "No reason, darling," Rarity said with an annoyed grunt, before pulling herself up. "Just take a seat." Timmy was about to take one, before Rarity held up her hand. "Hats off at the dinner table, young man," Rarity said with a stern smile. "But my mom let's me eat with my hat on all the time," Timmy said. "Hats off." "But-," "Very well," Rarity said with a disappointed grin. "Begone. I do not wish to converse with someone who won't practice basic etiquette." With an annoyed sigh, Timmy took his hat off, and sat down. "Let us start with the obvious, darling," Rarity said. "If there was a girl you fancied, what would you say to her?" "Oh Trixie," Timmy said with a lovestruck smile, "light of my life. Your face burns with the beauty of a thousand-," Timmy paused as Rarity let out an amused laugh. When it ended, Rarity looked at Timmy with a stern frown. "Timothy, darling, you don't honestly believe that's how love works, do you?" The purple haired girl asked Timmy sternly. "Isn't that what happens in movies?" Timmy asked. "Darling, everyone loves a good story," Rarity said. "The story of a knight saving a damsel in distress, hopefully a broad-shoulder man who carries his lady into his room for a night of," Rarity said with a blush on her face and a wsitful before she was silenced with an "Ahem," from Timmy. "But that's all it is, darling," Rarity said, "a story. True love and knowing who's right for you takes a lot more time and work. That's what a girl wants: someone who respects and cares for her feelings. And you proclaiming your love for her is anything but that." "Really?" Timmy asked. "The thing about girls is we are always insecure and nervous," Rarity said, "and we worry about finding the right guy." Rarity gave Timmy a stern look. "You have to be more subtle, because a girl needs to feel like she has a choice. If a girl feels like she is being pressured, she'll run away from you." The door slammed open, revealing a desperate and hyperventiliating Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow," Rarity asked, "what are you-," "HIDE ME!" Rainbow bellowed in terror, before she dove inside the fridge. Rarity and Timmy looked at the spectacle with confusion. "Oh Rainbow," a male voice said. A middle school-aged boy burst in with a wide smile. He had blond hair tied into a bun and had a creepy smile on his face. He wore a brown vest, blue pants, and brown shoes. "Hey Rarity," Zephyr asked the fashonista, "have you seen Rainbow? I was asking her about our wedding cake, and she ran off." "No Zephyr," Rarity lied, "I have not." Zephyr looked at Timmy with a smile. "No," Timmy lied with his eyes looking toward the grown. "I knew she was here," Zephyr said with some annoyance."I smelled her." He pulled out a plastic bag that had some rainbow-colored hair in it. "I sleep with a lock of her hair every night, so I have her scent down flat." Timmy looked at Zephyr with disgust. "Zephyr, I have business to attend to," Rarity said with forced politeness, "if you will please excuse yourself." Zephyr shrugged and walked out of the room. "Is he gone yet," Rainbow said from the fridge. "Yes," Rarity said. Rainbow came out of the fridge with a frown and a pizza slice on her head. "Who was that?" Timmy asked Rainbow. "Zephyr Breeze," Rainbow said with annoyance. "A complete pain who won't leave me alone." "And also the laughing stock of Canterlot Middle and Canterlot High School," Rarity said with some disgust. "Every girl avoids him because he has zero consideration for the feelings of girls around him, treating them like objects he can possess." "Do you want to end up a creep like that?" Rainbow asked Timmy with a stern look. "Do I really act like...that?" Timmy asked with horror. "A little," Rarity said. To Rarity and Rainbow's shock, Timmy fell to his knees, and grabbed Rarity's ankle in desperation. "Please, please, please," Timmy said fearfully, "don't let me end up like him." "Desperation," Rarity said with a proud smile, "the key to success. Pull yourself together Timmy. I am a strict taskmaster." Rarity spent an hour teaching Timmy about everything from asking a girl out to dinner table etiquette. "See darling," Rarity, "you must face the world and all its hardship rather than live in a world of fantasy." "Time for another hour of Kissy Kissy Goo Goo," a TV said. "KISSY KISSY GOO GOO!" Rarity and Timmy said in unison. Rarity stared at Timmy. "You like Kissy Kissy Goo Goo?" Rarity asked Timmy. "Well," Timmy said nervously, "I just like the writing." "Would you like to watch it with me?" Rarity asked. "Would I?" Timmy said happily. "Oh Roderick," Isabella said from the TV, "what are you hiding from me." "Very well darling," Roderick said with regret, "Joanna is my secret...insurance saleswoman." "Oh Roderick," Isabella said with tears in her eyes. "Roderick, how could you?" Rarity asked, tears in her eyes. Rarity and Timmy watched the heartrending scene while sitting at the table. "How could he like to Joanna like that," Timmy said, wistful tears falling down his eyes too. He looked at a watch. "Sorry Rarity," Timmy said, "I've got to go home." "Darling, don't leave," Rarity said, "I haven't made you a new outfit yet." "No thanks," Timmy said, "I don't need new clothes." " I insist Darling," Rarity said, her grin becoming feral. "I'm fine," Timmy said nervously. "Darling," Rarity said, hyperventilating, "I must make you something." Timmy ran out of the room screaming. "They always run," Rarity said, before pushing a "Young Men Not Wanting Clothes Emergency" button. Timmy was about to reach the door when a massive metal gate came down in front of it. Timmy tried the windows, but they were also sealed shut as well. "I'm trapped," Timmy said. "Timmy," a voice said, Timmy looked with horror as Rarity came towards him, a tape measure and sewing needle in her hands. "I insist that you give me the right to make you look fabulous darling," Rarity said with a crazed look on her face. "No," Timmy said to the merciless fashionista, his back against the wall, "No. Get back." "NOOOOOO!" Timmy yelled, his voice echoing through the streets of Canterlot. > Running Like the Wind (Part 4) (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Crimson Chin, robbed of his power and reduced to being Charles Hampton Indigo, could only watch with despair as the Bronze Kneecap loomed over in him in his giant new fighting Bronze Bot. He laid helpless on the ground, unable to do anything. "At last Chin," The Bronze Kneecap said from his robot with wicked glee, "or should I say Charles. With you out of the way, I shall now use my machine to rule the world!" "And with a lovely lady by my side," the crazed villain said, holding Lady Lovely in his robotic hand. "Chin, help me," the beautiful, helpless women said to the downed hero. "He can't help you," The Kneecap said nastily, "he can't even help himself." The massive machine turned away from the weakened hero, with Lady Lovely screaming all the way. The cries of the woman filled Charles with something. He felt extreme anger. He felt extreme shaking. Without realizing it, his chin grew back, and his muscles started- "Boring," Timmy said, throwing the Crimson Chin comic book away in disgust. "How could that be boring," Scootaloo said. The two were at Canterlot's running track in the early hours, where Timmy putting in some last minute training before the race the coming afternoon. They had been allowed a short break by Rainbow. The two discovered they enjoyed Crimson Chin, and decided to read the newest edition together. "The Chin gets his powers back because he loves someone," Timmy said mockingly. "And then he defeats in the Bronze Kneecap in one page? How lame is that?" "I think it's cool," Scootaloo said with a smile. "His love is so strong, he can overcome anything." "But there's no build up," Timmy complained, "no foreshadowing, no-," "OK guys," Rainbow said, "break time over, back to work." Timmy and Scootaloo ran back into the field for more exercise. After some sit ups, push ups, and squats, Rainbow was leading the two kids into doing some stretches. "So how do you feel, Timmy?" Rainbow asked. "A little...scared," Timmy said, stopping his stretching with a morose frown. "Rainbow didn't look impressed. Scared," Rainbow said. "I mean, I've only been training for a few days," Timmy said worriedly, "while Tad and Chad have been training-," "This isn't really a race," Rainbow said in a reassuring tone, "you just have to be in the top ten to qualify, and there are eleven of you competing." "But what if I lose or just do bad," Timmy said morosely, "than everyone will make fun of me more, and Trixie won't ever talk to me." "Yeah," Scootaloo said under her breath with sarcasm, "real shame." "Timmy you can't think like that," Rainbow scolded, "or you'll never win." "Easy for you to say," Timmy said, "you're popular, and cool, and great at sports." He sat down heavily. "I'm just....me." "And what's wrong with that," Scootaloo said. "A lot," Timmy said sadly. "Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself," Scootaloo said with contempt. "You think you're the only the only one who has had problems," Rainbow said with some scorn. "Listen up. I'm gonna tell you a story." NOTE: The tune is similar to Non-Stop, from Hamilton and has some of the CHS rally song from Friendship Games thrown in. Rainbow Dash You think I'm fast, You think I'm cool, You think I'm tough, You think I rule. Scootaloo It's all true, She's so cool. Rainbow Dash But don't assume, Don't assume, That it was always true, That I was always cool. Timmy Turner That can't be, That can't be, You're as cool as can be. Rainbow Dash I was once you, Scared and short, Alone and frightened, Of little import. Scootaloo That's not true. That ain't so, You're the coolest, You're Rainbow. Rainbow Dash They called me names, Like Rainbow Crash, They said I was lame, That I would always be last, Scootaloo Well what changed sis, How did you grow, From a little wimp, To my hero. Rainbow Dash I fought to be the best I could be, To rise above what they thought of me, I never gave up, I never gave in, And I always fought to win. Timmy Turner So that's it, just try, Keep working away, What if I fall, What if I fail anyway. Rainbow Dash If you lose, don't worry, Here's what we'll do. Scootaloo We won't let you fall, We'll be here to catch you, Rainbow Dash Everybody crashes, And you lose sometimes, Scootaloo But you'll never be doomed, With friends by your side. Rainbow Dash I fought to be the best I could be, To rise above what they thought of me, I never gave up, I never gave in And I always fought to win Canterlot Athletes Go Rainbow! Scootaloo But even if you go down, You can still rise to the top, With friends to help you, You can never stop. Canterlot Athletes And Scootaloo! Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo When we work together, When we unite, Then you'll never be nothing, Your future will be always BRIGHT! Canterlot Athletes And Timmy too. "So are you ready to stop feeling sorry for yourself?" Rainbow asked with a smile. A confident smile formed on Timmy's face. "Yeah," Timmy Turner, "I know I'll do well." "Good," Rainbow said. "Now drop and give me 60." Timmy began his pushups. Scootaloo immediately started doing them next to him. It was with a smile, Rainbow noticed, that her sister like to follow whatever Timmy did. "What do you mean you guys aren't coming?" Timmy asked his parents. "Sorry Timmy," Mr. Turner said, "We have our spa treat-, I mean, get my badly needed physical therapy from all that pain I was in," Mr. Turner said, despite standing straight in the air. "We'll see you later," Mrs Turner said quickly, before heading toward the door, as did Timmy's dad. "I love-," Timmy began, only for them to slam the door. Timmy let out an annoyed sigh. "Don't worry Timmy," Wanda said. "Yeah," Cosmo said, "Sunset and Rainbow said they'd be there." "And I bet when you're on the team," Wanda said with a confident smile, "your parents will have to show up at your track meets." "You really believe in me?" Timmy asked his fairies. "Yep," Cosmo said, "and not just because I bet my paycheck on you joining team." Timmy frowned. "He's just messing with ya' sport," Wanda said, "right?" Wanda harshly whispered into her husband's ear. "Well, not my paycheck," Cosmo said, causing Wanda to growl at him. Timmy heard a honk outside. Timmy saw a fancy white car and approached it. He saw Sunset and Rainbow, in the passenger's and back seat, respectively. They both were wearing tank tops and short shorts in the warmer weather. Rainbow wore blue while Sunset wore orange. He also saw Rarity in the driver's seat, also dressed in the same way with purple and white, and Scootaloo, in the back as well, was wearing her regular attire. Rarity opened the window to her car. "Hop in, darling," Rarity said. "Rarity, Scootaloo," Timmy asked, "what are you doing here?" "I wanted to see you win," Scootaloo said with an excited grin. "I want to see you when you when swoon dear Trixie Tang off her feet," Rarity said. Scootaloo's face curled up, like she had swallowed a lemon. "Anyways, hop in." "Where are your parents?" Sunset asked Timmy. "They were busy," Timmy said with a frown. "Don't worry," Rainbow said from the car with a surprisingly warm smile, "you'll have something to surprise them with." Timmy's confidence grew at that. "So come on in." Timmy was about to go to the left side, where Rainbow sat, only for Scootaloo to yell at him not too. "What is it?" Timmy asked the purple-haired girl. "Uh," Scootaloo stammered, "I think...Rainbow should have the most space. So why don't you come around and sit next to me?" "Are you sure Scoots," Rainbow asked her little sister, "you don't mind being squished between me and Timmy." "I just...want you to be comfortable, sis", Scootaloo stammered and staring down. "Of course you do," Rainbow said with a teasing grin, that was shared by Sunset and Rarity. Timmy came in and sat down next to Scootaloo, who looked at Timmy with a smile. "Anyways," Rainbow said, "let's head out." Rarity pulled into the Dimmsdale parking lot, where other parents were pulling up along with their children. Timmy and everyone else got out. "I can't wait for you to win," Scootaloo gushed. "Neither can we," a voice from the distance said. Timmy looked and saw Chester, AJ, Sanjay, and Elmer looking at him with happy smiles. "Guys," Timmy said, sounding happy, "you're here to cheer me on?" "That's because we're your friends," AJ said. "And not because we're losers with nothing to do," Elmer said. "Yes you are," Bob the Boil said, "accept it, and turn your hate toward world domination." "Who are those guys," Chester said to the Canterlot group. "Guys, meet my newest friends from Canterlot," Timmy began. "Sunset, my temporary babysitter." "Hey," Sunset said, waving to the already familiar Chester and AJ. "My professor of romance, Rarity." "Charmed." Rarity said. "My newest friend, Scootaloo." "What's up." Scootaloo said. "And my personal trainer, Rainbow." "What's happening." Rainbow said. "She's your coach," Chester asked with some disbelief. "Yeah," Timmy said, "why?". His friends snickered a bit, before laughing like crazy. "What, dare I say, is amusing?" Rarity asked sternly. "A girl who's good at sports," Chester said, finding the whole idea ludicrous, "that's hilarious." "What sport id she teach you," AJ said while clutching his sides, "using makeup?" "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Elmer laughed. Sanjay and Elmer started laughing even more. They were so deep into laughter, they barely noticed Sunset, Rarity, and Rainbow's nasty smirks, Timmy's shut up gesture, and Scootaloo's increasingly red face. "Guys," Timmy said in a warning tone. Someone let out a loud yell, which caused Timmy's four Dimmsdale friends to stop laughing. Before Chester knew it, he was being tackled to the ground. When Chester came to, he found Scootaloo on top of him, keeping him pinned. AJ backed away nervously as Scootaloo looked at him with a merciless gaze. With another yell, Scootaloo, brought AJ to he knees, arms pinned behind his back. "Let me go," AJ said painfully, wincing as Scootaloo began twisting his arm and struggling to escape from the purple-haired girl's grasp. "Say 'girls rule'," Scootaloo grunted. "Girls rule," AJ squealed in pain. "Now say 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm'!" "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," AJ said in a pleading tone. Scootaloo let AJ go. Scootaloo then turned toward a fearful Elmer and Sanjay with a glare. "Got a problem with girls, Mt. Zitmore?" Scootaloo yelled after getting into Elmer's face. "No, sir," Elmer said nervously. Scootaloo got into Sanjay's face. "How about you, Four Eyes?!" Scootaloo roared. "Not at all," the Indian kid said fearfully. "That's what I thought," Scootaloo yelled. And then turned to a the crowd of assembled Dimmsdale students, who ran away when she glared at them. "Scootaloo," Rainbow said in a warning tone of voice. The disappointed tone made Scootaloo feel regret, and she walked back toward her big sister. "What are you supposed to do when someone makes fun of you for being a girl?" Rainbow said. "Make them acknowledge me as the Supreme Goddess of the planet," Scootaloo said with regret. "Sorry Rainbow." "Don't worry," Rainbow said, putting a warm hand on Scootaloo's shoulder, "I'll let it slide this once since your my sister." "Anyways," Chester said, "we should get going." The mixed Canterlot-Dimmsdale group marched into the school, where the ultimate showdown awaited. Timmy walked onto the grassy field, wearing pink shorts and a pink vest. He was being given some last minute coaching by Rainbow. Rarity was there to provide moral support. "Now remember, you just have to be in the top ten," Rainbow said, wearing a blue hat, "you just have to- "Hey Turner," a snide voice said. Timmy saw Tad and Chad approaching him with nasty grins. They both wore lavender shorts and vests. "Tad and Chad," Timmy said with some contempt in his voice. "Oh so those are the two numbskulls I've heard about," Rainbow said with a smirk. The two boys bristled. "How dare you," a female voice said. Two women approached them. Despite being middle-aged, they looked as young as college students. One was a blond haired and Caucasian, while the other was an African American with dark hair. Both women had hair that went down to their backs. They were tall, svelte, and wore designer lavender shorts, sleeveless purple blouses, and had designer sunglasses on. "Never speak to my son that way," the blond woman said. "Or mine," the African-American woman said. "So you're Tad and Chad's moms," Timmy said. "I'm Terry," Tad's mom said. "And I'm Cherry," Chad's mom said. "And you must be Timmy Turner. I must say...you are not at all what my son described." Timmy frowned. "Really?" "Yes, you're even more unimpressive than i imagined," Tad's mom uttered. Tad and Chad and their moms laughed scornfully. Rainbow bristled at that, especially when Timmy frowned defensively. "Hey don't talk to him like that!" Rainbow yelled. Terry sneered at Rainbow with her sunglasses. "I'm sorry, I don't consort with the filth of society." Rainbow was about to throw a punch, but was held back by Rarity. "Rainbow," Rarity said in a scolding tone, "let us deal with them like civilized people. Behave as a proper lady does, with class and dignity, such as I." "Someone who wears those shoes and those shorts in the same ensemble can't possibly be called proper," Cherry snarked. Rarity frowned at the affront to her honor."Excuse me," Rarity said in an outraged tone. "But by that way your hair is styled," Terry said with a smirk, ," you look as if someone glued a rag to your head." Rarity began shaking at the insult to her hair. "Oh. It. Is. On." Rarity balled her fist, but was stopped by a whistle. "If you want to fight," a flamboyant voice announced, "please do it on the track." "Mr. Bickles," Timmy said in confusion. His effeminate drama teacher was wearing a black and white coach uniform, along with his usual red beret and scarf. "Please let us not bring unnecessary drama," the man said, acting as if he was on stage, "and escalate this situation into tragedy." Tad and Chad, along with their moms, walked away with a shrug, but not before giving one last smug look at Timmy. "That guy is the track coach," Rainbow said with disbelief. "Why are you the coach?" Timmy said. "Well," the man said jovially, "it has always been my dream to coach track." "Really?" Timmy asked the man. "Well that and budget cuts," the man said. "Union cowards," Mr. Bickles muttered angrily under his breath. "Just get into position," the man said, his smile returning on his face. "The games are about to begin." "I guess this is where we leave you," Rainbow said. "Good luck Timmy," Rarity said, "and swear that you will avenge my honor." "I will," Timmy said. When they were gone, he took a deep breath, and steeled himself to his task. Timmy stood assembled along with his competitors on the running track. They all looked at each other with deep suspicion, except for Chad and Tad, who looked smug. Timmy felt a mixture of fear and resolve. The fear grew when he looked at Trixie, who didn't look at him with any sympathy, and the large crowd of boys and girls cheering for Tad and Chad. But his resolve grew when he looked at his fairies, disguised as water bottles, his Dimmsdale friends, and his Canterlot friends. When he looked at Sunset, and her pretty smile, he felt something...weird. It wasn't a crush. It was...a feeling he got when he looked at Cosmo and Wanda, and his parents...sometimes. He knew that Sunset would just...be there for him. "Eleven of you have assembled," Mr. Bickles said, "but there are only ten spots. You all have to run three laps. First person to cross will be made captain. Last person can't join. On the count of three. 1...2...3!" Bickles fired a flare into the sky, and everyone started running. Everyone began cheering at shouting encouragements. Timmy's support group frowned when they saw after two laps, Timmy was still in last place, while Tad and Chad were in first place. "Timmy's going, really slow," Elmer said with some disappointment. "Yeah," Sunset commented, until he noticed Rainbow and Scootaloo looking at with him with satisfied smiles. "Is this part of some plan?" Sunset asked Rainbow with a serious look. "You'll see," Rainbow said with a wicked smile. Sunset looked at them in confusion, but sat back and paid attention to Timmy. As the second lap ended, Timmy saw himself in last place. Instead of being annoyed he smiled. He still felt like he had energy, while everyone looked tired. He imagined Scootaloo stealing his hat away. The rage and anger did the trick. He soon began to speed up, and using his saved energy, and soon began surpassing everyone. "It appears Timmy Turner is begin to overtake everyone," the announcer said. "He's gone from 11th, to tenth. Now he's going ninth. Eight. Seventh." Everyone in Timmy's support group felt their jaws drop in shock and amazement. "How's he doing that?" Chester wondered with amazement as his best friend began overtaking everyone. "Oh I see," AJ said with a knowing smile, "he's began conserving his ATP while others exhausted it in the opening part of the race." He saw everyone giving him a blank stare, not understanding his technobabble. "You mean, slow and steady wins the race," Sunset asked the bald boy. "Pretty much," AJ said with shrug. Everyone turned and saw Timmy was overtaking more and more of the competitors. "Timmy's now in sixth....," the announcer bellowed, "now he's fifth. Now he's forth..Now he's third! He's gaining on Chad and Tad" Trixie Tang watched Timmy moved with shock and amazement. And maybe a little bit of admiration toward the buck-toothed boy. "Come on Timmy!" Rainbow gushed. "You can do it!" Scootaloo chirped. Sunset, lost in the excitement as Timmy appeared to be winning the race suddenly jumped up and started cheering Timmy on. "COME ON TIMMY!" Sunset shouted enthusiastically. "I believe in you!" Soon he was followed by Timmy's Dimmsdale friends, who began letting out their own cheers. Timmy smiled. He was only a few feet behind Tad and Chad. His face was red, and knees burned, but seeing his friends, especially Sunset, cheering him on. This was it. He was gaining on them. He might not only get to join the team, he might even become team- He felt something slam into his ankle, and suddenly collapsed to the ground, his face painfully hitting the track, as did his fellow competitors. One of the kids, a fat kid, fell onto Timmy's leg, crushing his ankle. "Ahh," Timmy said, letting out a grunt of pain. Silence fell over the whole audience in the bleachers, as they watched all the kids collapsed. Tad and Chad were the first boys to reach the finish line with smug smiles. The other boys got up, while Timmy struggled to get up. "Timmy what's wrong?" Wanda asked Timmy, who was gritting his teeth in agony. "My ankle," Timmy whined, growling in what was obvious pai. Even "I wish it was better." Cosmo and Wanda raised their wands, only to be met with the raspberry noise. "What?" "Sorry, sport, we can't help you in the competition," Cosmo said with disdain. Timmy tried running, but he was in so much pain. The other boys were able to get ahead of him. Still he struggled to run. Everyone in Timmy's cheering section watched this with no small amount of disappoinment. "Timmy got last," Scootaloo said with disbelief. "Look at him," AJ said with concern, "I think he's hurt." The word 'hurt' caused Sunset to jump up, and she ran down the bleachers when she saw Timmy collapsing onto the ground. "Timmy," Wanda asked with concern. "Are you OK," Cosmo said. "No," Timmy said, in the verge of tears from the pain and the shame of being in dead last. His sorrow faded a bit when he saw Sunset running toward him. "Timmy," Sunset said, scooping the ten year old into a hug, "are you OK? What happened?" "What happened?" Mr. Bickles said, apporaching the boy and Sunset with concern in his voice. "I don't know", Timmy said, his voice revealing he was in pain, "something tripped us." "Well sorry Turner," Tad gloated with a mean grin. "See you next fall," Chad said. Sunset turned to glare at the two brats, when her eyes suddenly widened as she had an epiphany. "Did you say something tripped you?" Sunset asked with a fierce gaze. "Yeah," Timmy said. Sunset got up, and began investigating the track. For some reason, Tad and Chad looked shocked and when she began examining the area where all the kids tripped. "Wait," Tad said to Sunset. Sunset turned to face the popular boy. "Yeah," Sunset said, a stern expression on her face. "You're not gonna find anything there," Chad claimed. Sunset's suspicion grew."Really," Sunset said, a glare on her face. Mr. Bickles himself grew suspicious too. "How would you two know?" "Uh," Chad said, "we'll pay you to...leave." Sunset became even more determined than ever. In the dirt path, she found a massive rope that, due to its color, was hidden from site in the dirt. She pulled, and saw it extended across the track, to some flimsy cabin in the distance. Everyone in the room was shocked at the discovery. With a massive tug, Sunset brought the walls of the cabin down, revealing a very tall man in pink clothing. "Hey," Timmy said angrily, "that's Tad and Chad's bodyguard!" The two chuckled nervously as everyone turned to glare at them. Sunset, who ran back to Timmy and pulled him into a hug, gave them a look that could kill. Other people were glaring at the bodyguard, who looked utterly embarassed. "What," he said defensively, "I'm just making a living." Mr. Bickles stormed up to the two popular kids with a cold, angry expression."So you two decided to cheat," the man said in a stern tone that lacked its usual flamboyance. "Mr. Bickles," Tad said feebly. "Who are you gonna believe," Chad, "some poor kid or-," "Not only that," the man said, "but you injured one of your classmates." "But-," "Tad, Chad. I have no choice but to-," Mr. Bickles paused as he found a sack of money being shoved into his face. "Surely a...donation to the track team can help to make amends," Terry said with a wicked smile on her face, waving the bag of currency in his face. "You think I'm gonna sell out for a sack of money," Mr. Bickles said, looking at the woman with an unimpressed expression. Sunset smiled proudly at the man for keeping his integrity. "How about two sacks of money," Cherry said, offering her own. "Deal," Mr. Bickles said, happily taking the "donation". "Tad and Chad are our new track captains." Timmy looked dismayed, while Sunset, Rarity, Scootaloo, Rainbow, Chester, AJ, and Sanjay, and Elmer looked outraged. "Come on," Scootaloo said, walking up to the other track runners with a glare, "you guys aren't gonna let those jerks get away with it are you?!" They all looked uneasy. "Well," one of them with a green shirt stammered. "Uh," Tad began, "Party at my house tonight to celebrate." "Everyone except Turner and his dweebs are invited," Chad said. "Tad and Chad are the greatest," the green-shirted boy declared. "What?" an outrage Scootaloo declared. "But they-," The other competitors began cheering "Tad and Chad". Sunset, Rarity and Rainbow began looking at everyone, except Timmy's friends, with outrage and disgust, especially as the rich brats started being carried by other competitors and lifted into the air. Sunset especially glared at the two brats with a fury she never felt before, and the red beret man for accepting a bribe. Timmy didn't say anything but looked utterly...broken. Sunset's anger faded and was replaced by sympathy. She ignored those idiots, her attention directed to the boy who needed it. Trixie, from her bleacher, found herself looking at Tad and Chad with disgust, and looking at Timmy, injured and defeated, with pity. "Trixie, are you coming," Veronica said. Trixie ignored her gal pal, unable to stop the feeling of sorrow for the buck tooth boy. She finally could justify leaving when she saw Timmy getting a hug from his new babysitter, and his other friends going in to comfort him. She was glad someone was. And yet, she still felt dirty going to a party with Tad and Chad. > Never Hit Softly (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The mood in Rarity's car was foul and morose. Sunset alternated between fuming over what she witnessed and looking with concern at Timmy. As the driver, Rarity maintained her composure, but squeezed the wheel like a stress ball to express her frustration. Scootaloo crossed her arms with frustration and looked at Timmy with no small amount of sympathy. Rainbow Dash had spent the last few minutes ranting and raving. "We worked so hard, and this is what we get!" Rainbow ranted angrily for the twentieth time. "We get cheated by those brats and their idiots parents!" She balled a fist and pounded it into her hand. "I say we should take them to the corner of pay and back!" "Rainbow Dash, stop," Sunset urged. Her tone indicated that her nerves were being worn thin by her anger and Rainbow's prattling. "Yeah!" Scootaloo yelled in anger. "Let's find out where those brats live, and throw bricks through their windows!" "Guys," Sunset said with an annoyed frown, turning to look at the two Dash sisters with a stern look. "But Sunset-" Rainbow protested, only for Sunset to silently gesture with her thumb at the brown-haired boy. Timmy was in the worst mood of all. He hadn't said a word since the race, drifting into some kind of daze. He just stared blankly with a hollow look in his eyes. It was clear that Timmy was too angry to think. Rainbow and Scootaloo, with a small amount of horror, ceased their yelling, and realized the point Sunset was trying to make. While they might want to take vicious revenge on those brats and their parents, they would be setting a bad example for Timmy while he still held onto powerful and corrupting magical stone that could twist his brain. As hard as it was, they had to turn the other cheek, so Timmy wouldn't be tempted into giving in to his rage. For now, they had to defuse the bomb that was Timmy Turner's emotions rather than incite him. "Want to get some ice cream?" Sunset offered. Timmy didn't respond. "Want to try my new Crimson Chin video game?" Scootaloo offered. The boy still stood still. Rarity, while looking at the boy through her rearview mirror, also made an attempt to talk Timmy down. "Timothy, maybe you'd like to come down to Caurosel Boutique for a new outfit." Timmy didn't even glance in Rarity's direction. "Timmy, I know what happened stinks," Rainbow began with barely papered frustration as they pulled into the Turner residence, "but they'll be other-," as soon as they parked the car, Timmy opened the door, and angrily ran out. He was so angry and full of adrenaline, he was able to ignore the pain on his ankle. "Timmy!" Sunset said with concern, "come back!" The boy ignored her, storming into the house, to the concern of the other occupants. "Poor Timmy," Scootaloo lamented as Sunset ran after him. The sad looks of Rainbow and Rarity meant they felt the same way. "My nails look beautiful," Mrs. Turner gushed, looking at her fresh manicure. "So are mine," Mr. Turner said, looking at his red acrylic nails. "I look just fabulous." The front door opened, and their only son came in through the door. "Hey Timmy," Mr. Turner said with a smile, "how was the-" the boy turned away from him, and angrily ran up the stairs while limping. "What happened?" Mrs. Turner asked aloud. Mr. Turner said nothing but also looked concerned with his son's mood. "I'll tell you what happened," Sunset said as she ran into the house with a morose expression. "Sunset, why is Timmy so angry?" Mrs. Turner asked the Canterlot teenager with some sadness in his voice. "Did he lose?" "Worse," Sunset said, taking a deep breath to try and control her anger. "These jerks cheated, hurt his ankle, made him lose his spot on the team, and got away with it by paying off the coach." "What?" Mrs. Turner said in a mortified tone. "Quick honey," Mr. Turner said with a dramatic expression, "let's go upstairs and give our child the love and support he deser-," Mr. Turner paused as he heard a beep come from his phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it. "After our racquetball game," Mr. Turner said. The two Turner parents out of the house without any hesitation or concern for their son, much to Sunset's disappointment. Sunset glared at them. "Nice, loving parents," she muttered angrily. She wanted to chew those two out, but her concern lay to the kid who was upstairs fuming. Timmy ran into his room, letting out a moan of pain from his ankle, and slammed the door. Cosmo and Wanda appeared before him, looking at their godchild with concern. "Timmy," Wanda said, unnerved at Timmy's icy fury. "I know you're angry but please don't-," "I wish my ankle was better," Timmy said in a calm tone. His godparents wished it into being healed. Timmy flexed his leg, happy it was good as new. "Well," Cosmo said, "that wasn't so bad." "I wish Tad and Chad were slugs." Wanda looked horrified at Timmy's request. "But-," "Now," Timmy ordered coolly. His fairies reluctantly raised their wands...only for the raspberry sound to come out. "What happened now?!" Timmy yelled. "Well, sport," Wanda said, "since Tad and Chad being turned into slugs would allow you to join the team," Wanda handed Timmy Da Rules, "no dice." Timmy, with a shaking hand, pinched the bridge of his nose to calm himself. "OK, I wish Tad and Chad were both trapped on a deserted island." "That would also clear your way to joining the team," Cosmo said with a frown, "so no". Timmy looked desperate. "Wishing their parents were poor?" "Wishing that is considered by Da Rules to be theft," Wanda said with a stern look. "So no." "What if I wished that Bickles wouldn't take their bribe." "Again, since it would allow you to join the team," the pink hair fairy said with reluctance, "no." Timmy said with a brutal frown. "So you're saying they can cheat and I can't do anything about it?" "Well," Wanda said, trying to say something comforting, "you can take pride in learning to rise-," "I DON'T CARE ABOUT RISING ABOVE!" Timmy bellowed. "I WANT TO WIN! I WANT TO SMASH THOSE JERKS HEADS IN! STUPID RULES!" Timmy threw Da Rules against the wall and fell to the floor throwing a furious tantrum. "Timmy please," Cosmo said in pleading tone while raising his hands, "this isn't going to-," Timmy angrily fell to the ground and began punching the floor in a furious tantrum. "I DON'T CARE, IT'S NOT FAIR, IT'S NOT-," A knock was heard at the door. Cosmo and Wanda quickly turned themselves into goldfish. "Timmy," Sunset said from outside the door, "can I come in?" Timmy's angered faded, and he pulled himself from the floor. "OK," Timmy said, his voice becoming soft. Sunset came in with a warm look on her face. "Timmy I-," "It's not fair," Timmy said, tears falling down his eyes, "I did all that work and-," "I know Timmy," Sunset said in a soothing tone, bending down pulling the brown-haired kid into a hug. They held each other for a few moments while Timmy cried. "Timmy don't worry," Sunset said encouragingly as Timmy's crying ended, holding Timmy's hands and looking at him with a warm smile, "Rainbow and I are going to talk with your principal. There is no way those jerks can get away with it." "I'm afraid they can get away with it," Principal Waxelplax said. Rainbow and Sunset were in Principal Waxelplax's office, hoping they could get her to punish Tad and Chad and let Timmy join the team like he deserved. "You're gonna let those creeps get away with bribery," Sunset said incredulously. "Bribery? No. A charitable donation to the school," the woman said with a sly smile, "yes." "What?" Rainbow and Sunset asked. "Technically, Tad and Chad's parents are giving the money to the school," the red-haired woman uttered with a roll of her eyes, "thus, it is a donation for which they can also receive a tax deduction. Rainbow's eyes narrowed in anger. "So they can just bribe anyone they want, call the shots and get a tax break for it all?" The Canterlot athlete asked with disgust. "That's crazy," Sunset with a growl. Principal Waxelplax was taken aback by Sunset's mood. Realizing she was taking her frustration out on the innocent principal, the fire haired girl took a deep breath before continuing. "But can't you refuse the donation?" "I can't make that decision," Principal Waxelplax said with a small frown. "That lies with the school board." "OK," Sunset said, "so who runs the school-," the door to the principal's office was slammed on the two teenagers. In stepped a man with slicked-black hair, a brown sharkskin suit, and a falsely charming grin. "Chairman Pizzo," Principal Waxelplax said with forced politeness, "how can I help you?" "Hey Geraldine, just want to make sure our fact-finding trip to Cancun, which is totally not a vacation for the school board that is being made at the expense of the students, is all set to go," the man gushed. "Our school deserves the best, doesn't it?" the plump woman asked sarcastically. "Yes," Chairman Pizzo said. "By the way, could you have my coat dry cleaned and have my car moved." "I-", the woman began, before the man's coat was rudely thrown over her head, and the car keys were thrown at the desk. "Take it is easy, big G," the man said with a smug expression, before leaving the office without closing the door. Sunset and Rainbow came back from behind the door as the woman threw the coat away, angry at being treated like a low-rate secretary. "That guy runs the school board?" Rainbow asked with disbelief. "Yes," the woman said with some lament. "Pizzo is a scion of one of the town's most wealthy families. I can imagine he has ties with people like Tad and Chad's parents, which is why he can overrule any punishment I give them." "But don't people care that their kids' education is run by that jerk?" Sunset asked with disgust. The woman looked at Sunset with an odd smile. "Ms. Shimmer, most people know their President," Principal Waxelplax said, "but very few people know about their elected representative, and even fewer people care about the people who run their hometown. As long as they get their football and burgers, they're not going to care." Rainbow and Sunset frowned at the woman's pessimism."What about adding an extra team member?" Rainbow asked the woman with a pleading expression. "I could do that," the red-haired woman said, "but if kids found out I was helping Timmy, they would call him Principal's Pet and make fun of him even more." Sunset and Rainbow's eyes widened in surprise at the plump woman's social astuteness. "I was once a child too," the plump woman said with a grin, "I know how they work. Now unless you two plan to run for school board yourselves, and you don't seem old enough to do it, I'm sorry. I can't help you." "Thanks for listening," Rainbow said trying and failing not to sound too glum. "I guess". The two walked out of the room with a melancholy sigh. When they left, Waxelplax leaned back in her chair and let out a sad sigh of her own. "I'm afraid Principal Waxelplax is right," Principal Celestia said. "Really?" Rainbow asked incredulously. Sunset and Rainbow tried to get answers from their own principal, but came up against the same wall. "Yes," Principal Celestia said. "Schools receive tax-deductible donations like that all the time." "Even CHS?" Sunset asked. "This very wing of the school was a 'donation'," the tall woman said. "From who?" Sunset asked. The principal pointed up. The two teenagers saw a man's grinning face engraved in silver on the ceiling with the caption that read "Doug Dimmadome Wing." "Doug Dimmadome?" Rainbow said with surprise. "Owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome?" Sunset followed up. "That very same one," Celestia said, "my predecessor as principal took his money to expand the wing. In exchange, we had to promote the Doug Dimmadome brand." She opened a drawer various Doug Dimmadome merchandise."Doug Dimmadome napkins, Doug Dimmadome pens, and even Doug Dimmadome brand history books," Celestia said, handing one over to Sunset. It showed Doug Dimmadome dressed as Abraham Lincoln. Sunset opened it and began readng." 'In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Doug Dimmadome sailed the ocean blue?' " Sunset read. "That's ridiculous," Sunset said with disgust as she threw the book away. "Yeah," Rainbow said, "we all know that George Washington was the one who discovered America after winning the civil war." The Principal and Sunset stared at Rainbow with disbelief for a moment before continuing. "We even sold Dimmadome brand-Blubber Nuggets," Celestia admitted. Sunset looked at the woman with disgust. "Aren't those made with baby whale meat?!" "Hey they were chewy," Celestia said defensively. Rainbow felt a wistful frown form on her face. "I remember what Fluttershy did to get people to stop buying them." Fluttershy walked into Canterlot High's cafeteria, wearing a blue T-shirt that read "Save the Whales" and a grey cap that was shaped like a baby whale. She walked up to a group of students who were eating Blubber Nuggets. "Excuse me," Fluttershy said in a tiny voice. The students ignored her and kept eating the Nuggets. "Excuse me," the pink-haired girl said in a slightly stronger voice. The students still kept digesting the nuggets. "Could you...pretty please stop eating adorable baby whales?" "Man, these are chewy," Snips said, still talking with his mouth full of them. Fluttershy let out a tired sigh. "I said...please stop eating the whales," Fluttershy said before pulling out a flamethrower, "or I'll DESTROY YOU!" The students scattered in fear as Fluttershy used her flamethrower to destroy them, cackling as the flames danced around her. "Most donors don't abuse their power so blatantly, which is why most people don't see anything wrong with it," Celestia uttered. "But can't you do something about it?" Sunset asked. "What makes you think I can do anything?" Celestia asked them with a grin. "Well," Sunset began, "your the princess-I mean principal." "Doesn't that mean you can do anything?" Rainbow asked. "Sunset," Celestia began with a mix of amusement and sternness, "Rainbow, I am not the pony princess who can change the rules that govern society with the stroke of a pen. I am a principal, which means my power is limited to these walls. I don't have the power to change policy. Sunset looked desperate. "Principal Celestia, I know life can be tough but there's the a little boy out there who feels cheated." "Even if he doesn't go crazy with his magical dynamite," Rainbow said with a serious look, reminding the woman of what was at stake, "he might quit running, when has so much potential." Rainbow looked upset at the thought. "I don't want him to throw it away because of what those brats did." A grin formed on Principal Celestia's face. "Oh, don't worry. I have a solution to that." The tall principal opened a nearby drawer. Rainbow and Sunset looked curious. "What?" The woman placed the brochures on the table. The two girls looked at them and smiled. "Yeah, that could work," Sunset said with a smile. "And its clear that Timmy faces a lot of bullying and mistreatment," the woman continued with a serious look, pulling out another brochure., "and his teachers don't appear to be able or willing to help him." She slapped it in front of them. "I have an...unorthodox way for him to deal with it." Rainbow looked at it and felt a vicious grin form on her face. "That could work too." Timmy sat in front of his house, idly bouncing his ball against the garage door with a tired frown, when he saw a shadow loom over him. Timmy looked up and saw the grinning face of Rainbow Dash. "Timmy, good news." "Tad and Chad were thrown into space," Timmy joked. Rainbow grinned. "No, but I've got the next best thing," the rainbow-haired girl said, holding up a bunch of brochures. "While you can't join the Dimmsdale Track Team, there are lots of teams you can join in Canterlot. And I've got the perfect-," "Forget it," Timmy refused, "I don't want to." Rainbow was dismayed. "Why not?" Rainbow asked. "Because Trixie won't see me-," "Will you just get over her already!" Rainbow said angrily. "I can't Rainbow," Timmy said with a sad tone, "Trixie needs me. She's miserable-," "You know what," Rainbow said with a stern expression, "it's nice that you care about this girl. You want her to be who she wants to be. But what has she done for you besides be mean to you?" Timmy thought it over. "Nothing," Timmy admitted with a frown. "But she's lonely and miserable." "NO!" Rainbow said fiercely. cutting Timmy off. "It's one thing to be lonely and miserable. But if she's not going to care when some jerks break your ankle, or if she decides to hang out with those jerks instead of you, she should never, ever be worth your time." Rainbow let out a disgusted snort. "If she wants to be miserable, let her be miserable. That's her choice, not yours." Timmy frowned as he mulled over Rainbow's words. Rainbow bent down to look at the ten-year old boy in the eye. "Didn't you have fun training with me and Scootaloo?" "Yeah." "Didn't you love exercising and getting into shape?" "Yeah." "Isn't it more fun than try to get the attention of some snob who keeps ignoring you in favor of a pair of rich brats?" Timmy thought this over for a few moments. "And do you really want to join a team full of idiots who let themselves get bought by two brats?" "You're right," Timmy said after a few moments of serious thought. "I keep being nice to Trixie, and she keeps treating me like a loser." He clenched his fists. "You know what else? She can take a hike for all I care," Timmy said defiantly. "I'm going to run for Canterlot, whether she cares or not!" "That's the spirit," Rainbow said proudly. "And I also figured out a way you can put those brats in their place once and for all," she said with a nasty grin. "How?" Timmy asked. "You want to train me?" "Sure, why not?" Gilda said with a sly smile. Rainbow took Timmy to Canterlot High, stating there was a surprise for him at the gym. The surprise was Gilda wanting to teach the brown-haired boy self-defense to fight back against bullies. "But you thought I was a loser," Timmy said with some sadness. Gilda looked taken aback at that. "What makes you think I thought that?" "You made fun of my teeth and stole my hat," Timmy stated flatly. The statuesque girl rolled her eyes with disbelief. "I was just messing with you. I do that to everyone I meet. Don't take it personally." Timmy looked reluctant. "But, your also...big and strong-" "You forgot pretty," Gilda said a grin. A sly smile formed on Timmy's otherwise shy face. "Well, you can't be good at everything." Gilda let out an honest chuckle. "See, why wouldn't I want to teach you? You've got spirit. You showed me that when you stood up to me and got back at me for messing with Dash's little sister. Timmy was concerned. "You figured out that the spiders were me?" Gilda didn't look upset at all. She looked amused in fact. "Yeah," Gilda said. She knew about the magic Timmy had, but decided to humor the boy. "How did you get those spiders on me?" "Secret agents?" "Works for me," Gilda said with a smile. "The point is you've got guts, and with guts, you can do anything." "But I'm skinny and wimpy-," Timmy began. "Let me tell you something," Gilda interrupted. "I wasn't always big and strong." A small frown came over her face. "I lost my parents when I was six, and then lost my Grampa Gruff when I was ten years old." Timmy looked sympathetic. "I'm so sorry. How did he die?" "Where's my order," Grampa Gruff hollered in a café in downtown Canterlot, banging his fist on the table. "Here you are sir," the waitress said, "Triple Bacon Cheeseburger served on waffles and coated with extra butter." The fatty dish was placed in front of the old man. "Can I get it refried?" Grampa Gruff asked. "Of course," the woman said taking the burger, sticking it into the fryer, and refrying it until the burger was coated brown. "My life begins today," the old man said cheerfully. "He died of a heart attack?" Timmy said. "Not really," Gilda said with an annoyed frown. "Clear," the EMT said, pressing the defibrillator on the chest of Mr. Gruff, who lied unconscious in the ambulance. The man was jolted awake. "I'm alive," the man said happily. "I'm gonna celebrate with a new diet." "Don't worry sir," the EMT, a blond young man said with a smile, "we'll make sure you stay safe." "Ten and two, ten and two," the ambulance driver said to himself. "Ten and two." He looked down at saw what was on the floor. "A nickel," the man said, taking his eyes of the road and letting out of his steering wheel. His hand fell onto the accelerator. "I shall call you Philip," the man said to the small coin. He then realized they were driving off a bridge into the water below. "Oops," the driver said. "Don't worry Philip, I won't let you go." The man clutched the poor nickel to his cheek. "Curse you private insurance!" Gruff shouted as the ambulance hit the water. "I'm so sorry," Timmy lamented. "It's all water under the bridge," Gilda said. "As is my Grampa," the mixed martial artist continued under her breath. "Anyways, I ended up in a foster home in Griffonstone, the roughest part of Canterlot. And with a bunch of mean foster brothers." Ten year old Gilda sat in front of the TV, watching her favorite show: the Crimson Chin. Her peace was disrupted by an ahem. Gilda turned around fearfully, and felt her blood go cold. A group of dark-haired boys in leather jackets came up to her menacingly. "Hey Victor, Vincent, Vance, Vaughn," the white-haired girl nervously, "how's it-," "GO TO BED, TWERP!" The boys yelled, pulling the girl away from her spot and stealing the remote, eager to hog the TV for themselves. "By the way," Vaughn said nastily, "We ate all the pizza. But don't worry, we saved some of the crumbs for you." "Thanks," Gilda said miserably under her breath as she walked away. TImmy asked with some sympathy. "Why were your foster brothers so mean to you?" "They were jerks," Gilda muttered with frustration. "Things were no better for me at school either." Gilda sat alone in the middle of Griffonstone Elementary's parking lot with a fearful expression. She waited with anxiety for them to show up. When they didn't, she decided it was safe enough to take a bite out of her baloney sandwich and start reading her Daring Do comic book. "Hey Gilda," a nasty voice. Gilda looked up from her meager lunch, and what she saw made her blood go cold. Vanity and her posse coming toward her with malicious intent. Vanity's long purple hair, blue bow, and mauve dress had become the symbol of pure evil in Gilda's yellow eyes. "Hey Vanity," Gilda said with a sheepish smile, "how's it-," "What are you doing out here all by yourself?" Vanity said with a sadistic smile. "Oh wait: its because you're too ugly to look at, aren't you Orphan Girl?" The purple haired girl cackled, as did her group of goons. "Why do you have to be so mean?" Gilda said fearfully. "Because you act like a boy," Vanity sneered, snatching the white-haired girl's comic and ripping it apart. "Girls don't read comics. My mommy said so." "Stop it!" Gilda pleaded. "Oh look," one girl said mockingly, "Gilda's crying". "No I'm not," the white-haired girl said, even as her yellow eyes became moist. "Don't worry," Vanity said with a grin, "I have something that will make you look normal." "What's that?" Vanity's posse pinned her down, while the purple haired girl began rubbing white paint and red lipstick all over her face. "STOP IT!" Gilda screamed as tears rolled down her eyes. The girls continued to dress her up as a clown while laughing. "You were bullied?" Timmy asked, unable to comprehend that Gilda could ever have been so helpless. "Yep," Gilda said. "I was the butt of everyone's joke." Gilda felt a frown form on her face. "But there was someone out there worst than Vanity and her stooges." Gilda timidly walked down the street near the park, clutching her backpack. "Maybe they won't find me today," the young girl whimpered, only to bump into someone. Gilda looked up and felt her face go pale with fear. "Hey Gilda," Garble said with a deceptive smile, "how's it going buddy?" "Hey Garble," Gilda said, "listen, I'm busy, so can you-," "Aren't we pals Gilda," Garble said in his deceptively kind tone. "Look," Gilda said to the tall boy while slowly backing away from him, "I am really, really tired so-," she backed into something. She turned around and saw she was trapped by two of Garble's goons. "Don't you want to play our favorite game?" Garble said with a smirk. "Throw The Ball Down the Hill," Gilda said with a resigned quiver. "You read my mind." The three shoved Gilda into a filthy trash can and rolled her down the hill. Gilda popped out of it, dirty and in serious pain. She heard the vicious laughter from Garble and his gang, and felt her eyes water. Only when she was sure they were gone that broke down crying on the grass. "So what changed?" Timmy asked with Gilda with a mix of sympathy and concern. Gilda didn't cry, but she looked a bit hurt by talking about this. "When did you learn to fight back?" "A good friend came into my life," Gilda said a warm smile. Gilda slept in her bed, desperately trying to enjoy her rest, until suddenly a trumpet blared, startling her awake. "But its' only 6 o'clock," Gilda complained groggily to the trumpet blower. "The early bird catches the worm," said Marty Goldhair with a nasty smile and a gruff voice. Her track coach, with his poofy yellow hair, black sweat clothes and black cap, was a being whose presence was both welcome and unwelcome in Gilda's life. He took care of her when no one else did. But she made her get up early. "But-," "If you can't rise out of bed, you can't rise above the rest," Goodhair said sternly. Gilda let out an annoyed groan, before throwing off her blanket, and putting her boots on. "That's the spirit." Marty said with a smile. "Now drop and give me 60." "I don't remember how he came into my life," Gilda said with a smile. "Marty just... showed up one day and offered to train me day and night, worked me to the bone. But in the end, it was all worth it," Gilda said with a smile. "What do you want for lunch, Gilda," Marty said. Marty was walking Gilda to class to make sure she stayed safe. "Fix me up a pastrami sandwich will ya," Gilda said to Marty, "they're serving leftover gruel today." "OK," Marty said, "one sandwich coming-," Gilda heard a yell from the distance. She saw a crowd of students gathering somewhere. Vanity was tormenting some poor girl with orange hair with yellow hihglights running through it. It appeared she was getting ready to give the girl a "makeover" the way she got one, while two of Vanity's goons held her down. "Are you gonna let her get away with it?" Marty asked Gilda with a frown. Gilda clutched her arm in anxiety. "But-," "You've trained for months," Marty said with a proud smile. "Now it's time to show them what your made off!" The poor girl started crying and begging to be left alone. The sound of that poor girl's suffering made Gilda's fists ball up, her fear replaced by one feeling: justice. "Whatever happens, I'm here for you Gilda," Marty said with warmth and encouragement. With that last bit of prodding, Gilda found her nerve. "Leave her alone!" Gilda yelled. Vanity and her friends looked at her with disdain, while the girl on the ground looked at her with some faint hope. "What are you gonna do, Orphan Girl?" Vanity asked with a cruel grin. "Cry like a baby." "I said, LEAVE HER ALONE!" Vanity simply raised her pointer finger, and one of Vanity's goons lunged for her. With a grin on her face, Gilda did a double leg-take down of first one. Before the goon could even begin to be stunned, Gilda knocked her out by slamming a boot onto her head. Vanity, her other minion, and everyone else was completely shocked by all this. "Who's next?" Gilda asked with a challenging smile. Vanity and her goons fearfully ran away, crying for their mommy. Gilda ran over to the girl lying on the ground. "Don't worry," Gilda said, "those jerks won't hurt you again." "Thanks," the girl said, sheer gratitude in her voice, "I'm Lightning Dust." "Gilda." "Mate," a girl said. Lightning Dust and Gilda turned and saw some girl who looked she had a cloud on her head. "That was incredible," she said with a thick Australian accent. "You're one tough Sheila." Gilda was confused. "My name is Gilda, not Sheila. What's yours?" "Rolling Thunder," the girl said with a chuckle. "Can you teach me how to do that?" "Sure," Gilda said a smile. From a distance, Marty watched Gilda with almost parental pride. "Lightning Dust was like that too?" Timmy asked with confusion. With what little she glimpsed from the girl, Timmy knew she was someone not to be messed with. "Lightning was always strong," Gilda said with a small smile, "but those witches made her think she was completely powerless." A smirk formed on her face. "But we became friends and the three of us were able to put Garble in his place." Gilda was sitting on a bench in Canterlot Park between two bushes. A falcon with a yellow complexion on her right hand, and a Crash Nebula comic book in her left. She looked up and saw Garble approaching. The oversized twelve year old was impossible to miss, with his incredible height and orange mohawk. "Hey Gilda," Garble greeted with his falsely cheerful expression. Instead of fear, Gilda just wore a smirk on her face. She gave a sly glance at her falcon before looking back at Garble with an almost amused expression. "Ready to roll the ball," Garble gloated, holding it up the trash can. "Nope," Gilda said. She heard footsteps behind her, which told her that his goons were approaching.Her smirk only deepened. "What was that?" Garble asked rhetorically "Nope," Gilda repeated. Garble looked behind her, silently communicating to his goons what to do. Just when they were about to attack, two girls leaped out of the bushes. "Target acquired," Rolling Thunder said. "Target engaged," Lightning Dust said. The two pounced on the goons, who despite their raw strength, couldn't overcome the two girls' fighting skill. Lightning decked on goon in the face, knocking out one of his teeth, while Rolling Thunder smashed the others' nose. "Leave us alone!" One of them said, screaming as he ran away. "Monsters!" The others yelled, fleeing from the girls. "Target destroyed!" Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder said in unison. They turned toward Garble with a nasty look. For the first time since Gilda met Garble, the overgrown bully wasn't smiling that smug smile. He looked afraid. A nervous chuckled erupted from his mouth. "Listen, can we talk about this?" Garble asked with a shaky voice as the three girls approached him with devilish smiles. "Sure," Gilda said with narrow eyes, "we can...talk." The three girls pounced on the preteen thug, beating him without mercy. He let out the occasional sob and plea for help. A group of kids, who had also been victims of Garble's bullying, gathered around and began cheering Gilda and her friends on. In one last humiliation, the three girls shoved the can over his head, and kept banging on it with bats until he was unconscious. "Should we roll the ball down the hill," Lightning Dust asked Gilda with a nasty smile. Gilda was intrigued by the idea, until she glanced at her pet Falcon, and remembered Marty's warning about not stooping to Garble's level. "Nah," Gilda said, "he isn't worth it. Let's get some lunch." "Fine by me," Rolling Thunder said, "I'm hungry for some vegemite." The three friends walked off, leaving the orange-haired clown writhing on the ground in pain. The falcon looked at Gilda with pride. "After that, Garble never bothered me again," Gilda said with a smile. "So this Marty guy helped you out," Timmy observed. "Does he still teach you how to fight?" "Nah," Gilda said. "One day he just...disappeared," she said with a frown. "Why?" "Well, he hung around for a few more years. Then, when I was 12, I did my first mixed-martial arts tournament," Gilda said with a smile. "And I not only ended up winning that contest, but got something more valuable." "A gift card?" Timmy asked Gilda. "No," Gilda said. "Well that, and something else." A warm smile formed on her face. "A home." "The Almond County Junior Mixed Martial Arts Champion is," the voice announced, "Gilda!" Gilda felt enormous pride as everyone applauded her and gave her the trophy. "I want to thank....well....me!" Gilda said, snatching the microphone from the referee, "and how awesome I am!" "And your reward is," the coach said, snatching back the microphone, "a sixteen dollar and forty three cent gift certificate for Barnyard Bargains. However it can only be used on Wednesdays between 10 and 11 when the store is closed," the coach glanced at the fine print," and is only eligible in certain time zones." The white-haired girl took the certificate and ran behind the bleachers. "I...I mean, we did it," Gilda said to Marty, who pulled Gilda into a hug. "I knew you had it in you kid," the blond coach said with a smile. "Who did you bet on?" Gilda asked with a cheeky smile. "Was matters is not the 47,000 dollars I just lost," Marty said with a somewhat forced smile, "what matters is-," "Hey," a voice said. Gilda turned around and saw some tall lady with hair that looked like some orange flame. She wore a blue military uniform resplendent with medals, sunglasses, and a smile that oozed confidence. "Great moves kid." Gilda noticed Marty suddenly disappeared. "Thanks," Gilda said. "Who are you?" "I'm Spitfire," the woman, "of Hurricane Air Force Base. There's someone I know who wants to meet you." --- "Gilda, I am Master Sergeant Glider Griffon," the man said. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and brown hair that was graying at the edge. He wore a sharp blue military uniform. Gilda and the man were currently at a burger joint, where he decided to treat her. "So what's all this about?" Gilda asked the man. "I saw you compete," Glider said, "and as a military man, I am very impressed." "Really?" Gilda asked, some pride entering her voice. "So I decided to learn more about you," Glider said, "and I discovered that you currently live in a foster home." "Yeah," Gilda said sadly, "I guess." "But...and I'm speaking hypothetically here," the man said with a warm smile, "what if I could offer you a place under my wing...so to speak." Gilda looked at him like she was joking. "You want me to join the military?" Gilda asked the man in disbelief. "No, you're too young," Glider said with a smirk. He placed a form in front of her. Gilda looked at the form and her face twisted into disbelief. "You want to adopt me?" Gilda said with disbelief. She had been bounced around by different foster homes in the area. The idea of being adopted was something she never imagined. "Why?" "Because you're a skilled fighter," The man said with kind eyes. "And you've got spirit in you." "You really want someone like...me?" Gilda said with a soft voice. "I think the world needs more people like you," Glider Griffon said with warmth in his voice. Gilda couldn't believe it. It was like a dream come true. She never expected anyone to want her. Suddenly, she was pulled into a hug. "Do you want to become a Griffon?" The man asked. Gilda felt happy tears fall down her face, all the while her new dad hugged her. Marty watched this from a distance with an usually bittersweet expression. "After that," Gilda said, "I just...never saw Marty again. After I was adopted, I guess he thought his job was done. But I'll always remember what he did for me." Timmy stared at Gilda in a far different way than he did when he first came into the room. Once he saw her as a cool person who could do now wrong. But now, he felt...something else. Is was like...he could feel like he could relate to her. "Is that why you decided to be my sensei?" Timmy asked Gilda. "Because you wanted to do for me what someone did for you." "If Marty could a see a fighter in someone like me," Gilda said with a warm smile, "then I know that underneath your unimpressive exterior is a warrior waiting to break free." "Thanks," Timmy said uneasily, "I think." "And frankly, you need to learn to fight." Gilda said with a stern tone. "From what I've heard, you have a lot of jerks in your life. I bet you that your mommy and daddy and a bunch of dumb cartoons often talk how we can all talk our problems out, right?" "Yeah." "Well, Garble didn't go away because I asked him nicely," Gilda said with some contempt. "Vanity also didn't leave me alone because I said a few kind words. The idiots in your life won't go away with a few words. The only you can stop them is by beating them and exposing them for the pathetic little cowards they really are." Gilda then gave Timmy a stern glare. "Are you willing to take them down, or are you gonna be a little scaredy cat?" Timmy's face twisted from one of reluctance to one of resolve. "You're right. I won't let those jerks get away with it. I want to learn how to fight." "That's the spirit!" Gilda said with a smile. "Now go get dressed." Timmy returned to the gym dressed in a pink gi with a white belt. He saw Gilda wearing a white gi with a black belt. The gi had a large griffon emblazed on the front. "Are you ready to train, Turner?" Gilda asked with excitement. "OK," Timmy said, feeling more confident than ever. If Gilda could become strong, than so could he. "Then get on the mat!" The two took of their shoes and got on the purple mat. "Are you ready to dance," Gilda said with a mocking grin, getting into a fighting stance. "After you," Timmy said teasingly, getting into a fighting stance of his own. "So what am I gonna learn?" Timmy asked Gilda with a devilish smile as he prepared to throw down. "How to break a cinder block with my head?" "Aren't you eager," Gilda said with an equally sly smile. "Let's start with-," Gilda screamed. "Behind you! A spider!" "Where?!" Timmy asked with terror, turning around behind him. Suddenly, a large hand gripped his neck. He felt himself being tripped onto the mat and fell with a thud. "Hey," Timmy said with anger to a snickering Gilda. "I can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book!" Gilda said while snickering. " What's with you man?  Come on!" She saw Timmy's frown and looked apologetic. "You know what? I'm sorry." She said, extending a hand with a remorseful expression. "Let me help you up!" "OK," Timmy said with a smile. Gilda took his hand and then threw him across the mat with a nasty grin. "Ow!" The buck tooth boy grunted as he struck the mat, landing on his back. "Oh, look at that!  You fell for that, too!  I can't believe it, man!" "I wasn't ready," Timmy complained with a frown. "You cheated!" "Well too bad," Gilda said with a smug grin. "The jerks aren't going to care if you're ready or not. You have to be ready for all the nasty tricks they'll pull." "But-," "That's how it is!" Gilda interrupted. "Unless you want to lose, you have to fight dirty." "OK," Timmy said, pulling himself up. "Good," Gilda said, "then I don't want any whining. Whining is for the weak!" Timmy was forced to run along a path of hot coals while carrying a trey of British tea to some British gentlemen. "Ow! Ow!" Timmy said. "What is this supposed to teach me?" "Balance," Cosmo said, disguised as a headband. "Come on," Gilda ordered from a distance while holding up a stop watch. "Come on old boy," said a wealthy British man with a top hat and monocle at the end of the trail of hot coals, "that tea isn't going to serve itself." After some painful running, Timmy reached the end of the trail of hot coals and served the man his tea. "5 minutes and 34 seconds!" Gilda said. "Not good enough. 3 more laps and we're good." Timmy frowned with dismay, barely remembering he should not whine. Timmy watched with awe as Gilda destroyed ten cinder blocks with a karate chop. "Now you try," Gilda said, pointing to a single cinder block. Timmy raised his hand, and struck the cinder block. "Ow!" Timmy said, hurting his own hand. His hand turned red and swelled up like a balloon. Gilda used a ruler to measure the swelling. "3 inches," Gilda said with pride. "We're making some progress here." "Now remember Timmy," Gilda said into the boy's ear, "no mercy!" Timmy looked at his opponent and saw red. "NO MERCY!" Timmy bellow, charging for his opponent: a creepy clown bop bag. Timmy tackled the opponent, and thrashed it merciless. "Yes, yes," Gilda said, clenching her fists in viciously, "you've got it!" When it was over, Timmy stood over the doll triumphant. "In a few years, I can see you winning the mixed martial art championship," "Of course. No one can get past Timmy Turner," Timmy said with a smug grin, only for the bop bag to rise up and slam Timmy in the cranium. The plastic clown let out an obnoxious laugh as Timmy rubbed his head, having got a minor concussion. Gilda facepalmed in some disappointment. "Spoke too soon." Timmy found himself surrounded by ninjas in an open field. They all looked at him menacingly, but he merely beckoned them forward with his hand. One ninja charged at him, but Timmy defeated him with a mule kick. Two others came at him, but Timmy beat them back with a few more punches. Timmy dodged one ninja, and bowled him over with a foot sweep. Others charged at him. But Timmy, with rapid moves, defeated all of the ninjas, "Had enough," Timmy taunted, only to get struck in the arm with a poison dart. Timmy fell over dead. "GAME OVER," said the screen. "Darn it," Timmy said to the video game he was playing. "I always forget the darts." "The problem is all those video games shorten your attention span," Gilda said next to him while doing sit ups. The two were sitting in Gilda's living room, taking a break from her training. "No they haven;t," Timmy objected, "I am very focu-oh, a ladybug," Timmy said, watching the tiny insect creep across the floor. Gilda rolled her eyes. "Thanks for letting me play Gilda," Timmy said. "I figured you needed a break," Gilda said. "I do too," Timmy said, rubbing his sore neck, "you kind of did a number on me." "If you can't take the pain, don't play the game," the girl said. "I guess," Timmy said. "But I assure you, it will all be worth it when you can prove to those idiots you can fight," Gilda said, looking at him with a vicious smile. "Want to help me ruin their party?" Timmy asked with a smile. "No," Gilda said firmly, "that's the last thing you want to do. Even though you can wish to make their lives miserable-" "What?" Timmy said. Cosmo and Wanda, disguised as two barbells, also looked at Gilda with confusion. "I mean," Gilda stammered, "even if you could wish to make their lives miserable, just leave them alone." "Why?" "You're off to a good start," Gilda said, "but you're not yet in good enough shape to take them on." "I thought you said to not let them get away with it," Timmy said, "Besides, you beat up Crocker." "That's different," Gilda said, "one: the moron blew up our cake. Two: he was a weedy piece of garbage. Tad and Chad are idiots, but unlike Crockpot, they have the money and power to make your life very miserable." "So what do I do?" Timmy said. "Let them have their victory," Gilda said with a smirk, "let them get comfortable. Meanwhile, keep playing the helpless wimp." "Why?" Timmy said. "All warfare is based off deception," Gilda said. "Is that a fortune cookie?" Timmy asked. "No, Sun Tzu." "The guy who owns the Chinese restaurant down the block." "No. Sun Tzu was one of the greatest generals ever," Gilda said, "in The Art Of War, he talks about how the best way to defeat your enemies is making them think your weak while making them think they're strong." "How does that work?" "These rich idiots are arrogant, and think they've stopped you," Gilda said, "keep letting them think that. Keep acting like a little wimp. They won't notice you getting bigger and stronger. That makes is so much more sweeter then when you pull the rug out from under them." Timmy let out a smile. "I see," Timmy said. "Yeah, I think I can do that." He frowned. "But what if they do something really, really mean?" "Then give me a call, and I'll deal with them," Gilda said fiercely. " "Thanks," Timmy said, looking at Gilda with admiration. "That's the spirit," Gilda said. "Are you still gonna run track?" "Yep," Timmy said, "Rainbow signed me up for the track team at Clover Community Center." "Even better," Gilda said with a smile, "you can train where those two brats can't see you." Gilda said. "Now repeat after me. To achieve victory, we hide our strength and bide our time." "Hide our strength and bide our time," Timmy repeated. "Good." Timmy heard honking outside. "That's my ride," Timmy said, running out of Gilda's house. With him gone, Gilda continued her workout. But she stopped as her lips pursed in serious thought. "Whatever happened to Marty?" Gilda wondered aloud. > Timmy the Champion (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timmy walked into the Clover Community Center's indoor track. He saw a group of boys in jerseys being coached by some tall guy. He realized this was the place. "Excuse me," Timmy asked as he walked up to the tall person, "are you Thunderlane?" The guy turned around. He looked old enough to be a high school senior. He had a light blue mohawk, a muscular frame, and he wore a blue tracksuit over his body. "You must be Timmy Turner," the guy said with a smile. "Welcome to CCC's Junior Runners. Let me introduce you to everyone." Timmy followed Thunderlane as he walked toward the boys. "Guys," Thunderlane said. The group stopped their exercise and ran up their coach. "Meet your new teammate. Timmy Turner." "Hi Timmy," the group cheered happily. "Timmy," Thunderlane said, "meet Buttons," he pointed to some kid with a two tone orange hair and a cap with a propeller on it. "Featherweight", he said, gesturing to some scrawny kid with two-tone brown hair. "Red," Thunderlane said, gesturing to some chubby kid with red hair. "Terramar," Thunderlane said, gesturing to a tall, thin boy with aqua blue hair. "Pipsqueak," Thunderlane said, gesturing to some short kid with hair color similar to Timmy's. "Rush Sentry," Thunderlane said, gesturing to a stern looking boy with navy blue hair, "younger brother of my friend, Flash." "And-," Thunderlane said, only to see someone not there," where's Rumble?" "He's still on the mat," Pipsqueak said with a British accent, gesturing to some boy who was furiously doing push ups. "101...102," the boy grunted, furiously doing his reps. "Rumble," Thunderlane said, "get over here and introduce yourself." "Oh fine," Rumble grunted. "You're the captain, little bro," Thunderlane scolded, "you have to introduce yourself to your new teammate." "Wait," Timmy said to Thunderlane, "your little brother is the team captain?" "I know," Thunderlane said with pride. Timmy watched with amazement Rumble backflipped his way to the rest of his team. Timmy suddenly heard a girlish scream. "Oh my gosh," a girl said. "It's Rumble," said another. "Who else could it be," Rumble said with some snark. The two girls ran up to the boy and asked to take pictures. "Popular too," Timmy said with some envy. Rumble pushed away the girls and approached Timmy with a smile. "Hey Timmy," Rumble said, "I'm Rumble Rage. I wanted to welcome you to our club." Timmy barely avoided a deep frown. "I bet you do," Timmy said with forced politeness. "Anyways," Rumble said, "let's train." Timmy trained, and to his frustration, he was dead last behind everyone else in everything from push ups to running. Rumble always was first, smiling because he probably thought he was better than everyone else. When their lunch break came, Timmy felt discouraged, as he watched the boys enter the community center's lunchroom. "Timmy what's wrong," Wanda asked Timmy. She and Cosmo were disguised as shoes on his feet. "I did terrible," Timmy said. "Timmy," Cosmo said in an assuring tone, "don't get yourself down." "Come on guys," Timmy said, "I'm always been picked last at gym. These guys are probably no different. They've probably already decided I'm the team loser." "Maybe just eat something," Wanda said, "you'll feel better." Timmy sighed and walked into the lunch room at the Community Center, sitting at a separate table from his team. He opened his lunchbox, only to find a note inside. "Dear Timmy. I owe you a tuna sandwich. Love, Dad," "Stupid dad," Timmy said, balling up the note and throwing it away. Just as he was about to wish something up, someone came up to him. "Timmy," Rumble said in confusion, "what are you sitting over here?" Timmy looked at Rumble with confusion. "Uh..." "And where's your lunch," Rumble asked. "I...Uh....forgot it," Timmy said. "You want some of mine," Rumble said, pulling out an egg salad sandwich, and splitting it in half. "You're giving me some of your sandwich," Timmy said with confusion. "Why?" "I don't want you going hungry," Rumble said with sincerity. Timmy frowned morosely. "But you're popular and cool. And I'm the newbie," Timmy said sadly. "Listen," Rumble said, "I can be a jerk, but I am no snob. I'm your captain, and as your captain, it's my job to look out for you." The firmness in his tone brought a smile to Timmy's face. "Now quit sitting alone," Rumble said, beckoning the buck tooth boy to join them. With a happy grin, Timmy ran to sit with them, where the other boys were chatting about their business. Except for Button, who was playing on his Joy Boy. "Oh," Timmy said to Button,"is that the new Crash Nebula?" "Yeah," Button said furiously, "but I can't past this one level." "Maybe I can help," Timmy said. "Really?" Button asked. "I'm kind of an expert on Nebula," Timmy said with a proud smile, taking the game. Timmy started fiddling with the controls, using the tricks Sunset taught him. "He's doing it," Button said with surprise. Soon, every member of his team started crowding around him as he plowed through the boss that everyone struggled with. "YOU WON!" The game said. The boys starting cheering for the pink-hatted boy, filling Timmy with a huge smile. "How did you do that?" Red asked Timmy in amazement. "Knowing your environment," Timmy said with a smug smile. "See you guys next week," Timmy said happily as he walked out of Clover Community Center. "Bye Timmy," the Junior Runners said in unison. "Wow," Wanda said, disguised as watch, "that turned out better than expected." "Yeah," Timmy said with a deep frown, "I thought Rumble was gonna be like Tad and Chad," Timmy said, "but he turned out to be a great guy after all." "You thought Chip Skylark was a jerk," Cosmo said, disguised as a water bottle, "but then he turned out to be pretty nice." "I guess," Timmy said. "Just remember Timmy," Wanda said, "life may not be perfect, but not everyone out there is looking to make you miserable." Timmy smiled warmly at that. "So what now?" "Sunset said we're going for a walk in the park," Timmy said. His smile grew as he saw the familiar motorcycle pull up. He ran up to the motorcycle. When he approached, Sunset took off her helmet. "Hi Sunset," Timmy said. "Hi Timmy," Sunset said with a warm smile. "How was your first day?" "Great," Timmy said with a warm smile. "Thank you." "For what?" Sunset said with a happy smile. "Because of you, I'm doing so much cool stuff that I never did before," Timmy said, getting into the minicab. "You wouldn't be doing this if you weren't such a cool little guy," Sunset said with a smile, which Timmy returned. "Anyways, onwards to the park." The two drove to the park, thinking their day couldn't get any better. Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them from the distance, hidden inside some bushes, with deep, furious eyes. > The Honeymoon Is Over (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "So how do you play Timmy ball?" Sunset asked, holding the pink ball in her hands. The two were in the middle of Dimmsdale Park along with other kids who were enjoying the warm weather. "Rule one," Timmy said with a smile, "there are no rules. Rule two: I always win." Sunset let out an amused chuckle."You're really good at this," Sunset said with a smirk. "Thanks," Timmy said. A whimsical noise came from the distance. Timmy looked and saw it was the ice cream truck. "ICE CREAM!" The chorus of kids blared out, rushing the truck. Timmy looked at Sunset like a hungry puppy dog. "OK I'll get you an ice cream," Sunset said with a smirk, "but no dessert later." Timmy let out a grateful smile as she followed Sunset to the ice cream truck. "You know," Wanda said while disguised as a terrier, "you can just wish for an ice cream, sport." "Don't you get, Wanda?" Cosmo pointed out in an exasperated tone. "It's the principle of the matter." Wanda rolled her eyes. The window to the truck opened, revealing a sweet old lady. She was plump, bespectacled, and had her greying hair tied into a bun. She wore a really old-fashioned lavender dress. "Hello children," the kindly woman said, "I am Mrs. Butterbatter. I'd like all of you try some of my homemade Butterbatter ice cream. It will fill your heart with love...and cholesterol." Children began lining up to buy some of it. Eventually, Timmy and Sunset reached the woman. "What is your name young man?" Mrs. Butterbatter asked the boy. "Timmy." "Well, Timmy, it is your lucky day," she said, "you are my...three hundred...and....seventy...third customer." "That sounds awfully specific," Wanda said. "You're right," Cosmo said, "this is quite-look," Cosmo said, looking away from the ice cream truck, "squirrel!" Cosmo playfully chased after it while barking. Wanda let out a sigh and followed him. "This means you get all the free ice cream you want," Mrs. Butterbatter said. She pointed to a door in the back. "Just get inside." "Really," Timmy said excitedly. The other kids muttered about how lucky he was. "Go on Timmy," Sunset said encouragingly, "claim your prize." Timmy wandered to the door, only to look at the woman staring at him in the eye. He abruptly turned away from her. "Timmy," Sunset asked with concern, "don't you want ice cream?" "I'm just not hungry," Timmy said nervously. "can we go?" Sunset noticed that Timmy seemed...afraid for some reason. "Timmy, are you OK?" "Don't you want ice cream?" the woman asked Timmy, having gotten out of the truck. Sunset frowned as Timmy's anxiety grew. "No thanks, I am on...a...diet," Timmy said. "Can I have free ice cream?" One kid in the crowd asked. "NO!" The woman yelled, startling everyone. "Timmy was first," she said, trying to regain previously lost composure, "I insist he get his ice cream." Sunset's eyes narrowed in suspicion. This woman's stance and posture was far too aggressive for someone who wanted to give a kid cream."He said he doesn't want ice cream," Sunset said to Mrs. Butterbatter with a glare and a stern tone, putting Timmy behind her. Timmy was looking away somewhere and muttering something about...Cosmo...or something. "Now why don't you just get in your truck and get lost." The woman just stared at her for a moment with narrowed eyes, before pulling a red button. Sunset heard a massive explosion. She looked behind her and saw fireworks going, pulling her attention, and the attention of the other kids, away from the woman. Sunset felt a mallet being slammed into her head, knocking her out. Timmy gasped and tried to run away, only for the woman to push another button. A net came from the back of the truck, ensnaring Timmy and pulling him in. "HELP!" Timmy called out. "Look at the pretty colors," one kid with a blue shirt and brown shorts said. "We're we doing something?" Another kid with green pants and a yellow jersey asked. "Nothing important." Timmy realized it was no use. The kids were too distracted by the fireworks, and the noise was making it impossible for them to hear their screams. "Come down squirrel," Cosmo said excitedly, trying and failing to climb the tree to get the furry critter. Wanda looked at this with boredom, but was willing to let the green-haired fairy have his fun. Wanda heard shrill screaming from the distance. To her horror, Timmy was pulled into the ice cream truck. It then drove away very quickly. "TIMMY!" Wanda said with fright. Sunset felt water being poured on her face. She looked up and saw some kid in a red shirt standing over her with a cup of water. "Are you OK?" the boy asked. "Fine," Sunset said, rubbing her throbbing head. "I just-," she jumped from the ground in realization. "Timmy!" Sunset looked around the park fearfully, trying to find her charge. "Timmy," Sunset said, looking under a bench. "Timmy," she said, looking under a bush. "Timmy," she said, looking into a carriage, which was angrily pulled away from her by other woman. Sunset fell to her knees, in fear and terror. "TIMMY!" She shrieked. Timmy was cocooned in some net while trapped inside the back of the truck. He was so trapped, he couldn't move his arms and legs. He felt the car being driven a few blocks before it came to a stop. He heard footsteps to his left. With enormous anxiety, he saw Mrs. Butterbatter coming toward him with an evil smile. She suddenly tore off her clothes, revealing she was wearing a fat suit. She ripped it off, revealing a black jumpsuit with a white skull on it. She then tore off the wig, revealing long, flowing white hair with a pink bandana over it. "I told you I'd be back someday," the woman said with a sinister purr. "You," Timmy said fearfully. "Yes Turner," Ms. Doombringer said dramatically, "It is I, Mary Alice-," "I know it's you," Timmy said with some disdain, "you don't need to shout it out loud." "How dare you interrupt my villainous monologue," the white-haired woman growled. "Oh well, it doesn't matter," the woman said with demented glee, "now I'll have your fairies' wings mounted on my wall." "I don't know what you're talking about," Timmy said nervously. "Lie all you want Turner," Ms. Doombringer purred, pulling out a scanner, "but I can smell the magic on you." He ran the scanner, only for it turn red, to her rage. "I knew I detected magic in that park," she bent down to get into Timmy's face. "Where are your fairies?" "What fairies?" With a growl, Ms. Doombringer took out her pink shurikens and threw them near Timmy's head. She then yanked Timmy by his hair, causing him to let out a groan of pain. "Where are they?!" "I don't have any!" Timmy protested. "Very well," the white-haired woman said, opening the door to the front of the truck, and returning to the wheel, "I'll bring you to my home, where I have many ways to get you to talk." She glanced slyly at the boy. "Or maybe your fairies will come to me." The pink-hatted boy glanced toward the freezer. To his horror, there was a green-glowing orb that said "Anti-Magic Field Generator." Timmy felt his heart pound in his chest as the woman turned the ignition. "Do you see him?" Wanda asked Cosmo. The two of them were disguised as bees and flew around, trying to find him. "No, can't find the llama shop?" "Cosmo," Wanda groaned, "we're supposed to be looking for Timmy!" "Oh," Cosmo said. "He's right over there," Cosmo said happily. Wanda looked over to where the truck was. Wanda sighed with relief. Cosmo began flying toward it, only for Wanda to stop him. "Cosmo," Wanda said warningly, "don't go near it." "Why?" Cosmo said. Wanda pointed her wand at the truck, and it flashed red. "Anti-magic field," the wand warned, "do not approach." "Anti-magic field?" Cosmo said fearfully. "Wanda, what do we do? How do we save Timmy?" "Don't worry," Wanda said, "I have a plan. But it's pretty...complicated." A middle aged man in a suit sat at a bus station with his laptop in his lap. "Excuse me sir?" He looekd up and saw a middle-aged woman in a yellow shirt, black pants, and black shoes. Her hair was swirly and pink. "Yes," the man said. "May I borrow your phone," Wanda asked. "Sure," the man said, handing the woman the phone. Wanda dialed a number and held the phone to her head. "Hello, 911," Wanda said, "I'd like to report a kidnapping..." Timmy felt time slow down as he struggled to understand the gravity of his situation. He looked at the magical force field generator and felt incredible fear for not only himself, but his fairies. "What do I do," Timmy said, "what do I do?" He heard a small tear. He looked behind him, and saw his net cocoon has been torn by one of Doombringer's throwing stars, which was pinned to the metal wall. A smile formed as he developed an idea. An even bigger smile formed as he remembered Gilda's words. "Make them think you're weak while they think they're strong," and "hide your strength and bide your time." "I want my mommy," Timmy said, pretending to cry. "She can't help you now Turner," Ms. Doombringer said. "Pweeze wet me go," Timmy said in a cutesy voice, "I miss my daddy." "Pathetic," Ms. Doombringer muttered with a roll of her eyes. Timmy smiled. The crazy woman now had so little fear of him, she wouldn't bother to look in his direction. Timmy again began fake-whimpering, all the while slowly rubbing his cocoon along the shuriken. Slowly, but surely, the nets were cut away, and Timmy was able to move his legs. Still, Timmy pretended to be trapped, hoping the madwoman would slip up. Timmy struggled to suppress a grin as the truck pulled over somewhere. "I have an errand to run, Turner," the white-haired woman said. "Don't go anywhere." She got out of the truck and walked away. Using his now free legs, Timmy got up and pushed the nets long the throwing star, freeing his arms. "Yes," Timmy said victoriously as the net came down around him. He then took one of the shurikens from the cab and threw it at the anti-magic field generator, destroying it. "Yes," Timmy said victoriously. All he had to do was leave the truck. He saw the front of the truck, which led to the driver's seat, was locked shut, but saw the back of the truck was loosely locked. With a deep breath, Timmy charged the back doors. To his joy, the doors burst open. He leapt out of the truck, and fell to the ground in a thud. When he pulled himself up, he felt proud of himself for breaking free. "TURNER!" Ms. Doombringer yelled, ending Timmy's feeling of triumph. The woman glared at him while holding a bag of groceries. Timmy ran with a yell, while Mrs. Doombringer dropped her groceries, pulled out a machete, and went after him. "I'm doomed," Timmy said, only for a poof to appear on his arm. "Cosmo, Wanda," Timmy said happily, the two appearing on his arm as star-shaped stickers, "am I glad to see you?" "What do you need, sport," Wanda asked. A loud female roar made Timmy remember what he was running from. Thornton worked his behind off to become maitre'd and manager at Chez Escargot. It was the best he could do without a high school degree or a college education. To hold onto this one piece of success, he ran a tight ship, demanding high standards from his employees. Some called him fuzzy, but he wanted his workplace to be the best it could be. He disliked employees who never tried to pretend to be sophisticated. Especially this one employee in training who seemed to wear an angry frown all the time. She was ten times more bratty and self-entitled than the average teenage girl, and they were already difficult to deal with. Still, Thornton forced himself to be patient. "Young lady," Thornton said to the young woman, wearing an apron and a fishnet in her unusually voluminous hair. "If you wish to advance at this fine establishment, you must act professional, fancy, and sophisticated. Chez Escargot only thinks in terms of the finer things in life, and not trash" He held up a trash bag full of smelly garbage. "Now throw this trash out." The girl angrily took it from him and stormed away, angrily muttering about how if she had her way, she would be the one getting served fancy French cuisine. The girl dashed into an alley, throwing the trash out furiously, still muttering about how ultimate power could've been hers. Before she went back inside, she heard a furious yell coming from the street. She walked toward the road, and saw some brown-haired boy being chased by some angry white haired woman wielding a machete. "I wish Doombringer was soaked," the boy yelled. A "poof" noise followed it. A moment later, a water line burst out of the ground, and sprayed the woman so hard, she was knocked to the ground, her machete falling out of her hands. "I wish she was covered in sewage," the boy yelled. Another "poof" sound followed it. Suddenly, a whole sewage line burst out of the ground like a snake, dumping raw sewage onto the downed woman, who yelled and wretched in disgust. A moment later, the employee-in-training heard police sirens. Timmy turned around and saw two police cars from Dimmsdale PD coming down the road and sighed with relief. They stopped in front of him. Out stepped a man in a police uniform. "Are you Timmy Turner?" The man asked. "Yes," Timmy said. "Are you from Dimmsdale Elementary?" "Yes," Timmy said. "Do you claim that the woman over there kidnapped you," Timmy said. Timmy looked at Ms. Doombringer, who was writhing on the ground in agony. "Yes." "Boys," the officer said to two other officers who emerged from the car. "Arrest that woman." The two officers picked the woman off the ground and cuffed her. "Mary Alice Doombringer", one of them said, "you are under arrest for kidnapping." Ms. Doombringer heard them reading her the Miranda Rights, but tuned them, focusing her diminished energy at glaring at the pink-hatted boy as she was led into the back of a police car. He simply gave her a mocking wave as she was driven away. "What happened to that sewer line?" the officer asked with disgust. "Uh," Timmy said, "maintenance failure." "Makes sense. Anyways" the man said to Timmy with a friendly smile, "let's get you home." The man graciously opened his car door for Timmy to get inside. Timmy smiled, knowing he could always trust the police to do their job. The girl in the alley watched with a hungry look and a devious smile as the boy got into the police car. With a small, but dark, chuckle, she pulled out her phone, and sent a single text. "Aria. I found one." > Camp Learn-A-Torium's Safety Seminar (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "This is a horrid disaster," Principal Waxelplax said at the conference table. The Dimmsdale school board had been assembled to deal with the fact that Timmy Turner had been abducted in broad daylight. "Ine of our children being kidnapped." "I know," Chairman Pizzo said with horror. "If we can't be seen as protecting the children, the parents might withdraw their tax dollars-I mean, children from the district." Principal Waxelplax glared at the man for his self-serving behavior. "And without them, we won't be able to go on our completely necessary and not an attempt to indulge ourselves, fact-finding trip to Miami Beach! " the chairman wailed. The other board members gasped at this horrific scenario. "I have an idea," the man at the end of the room said. The board members turned to look at the grinning, hunchbacked man with mild annoyance. "Let me guess," a female member of the board said with some disdain to Crocker, "your plan involves fairy godparents, right?" "Well, FAIRIES would be helpful," Crocker said with a smirk. "But what I propose instead is this: a child safety seminar." "Safety seminar," another board member parroted, looking at the dark haired teacher with interest. "We summon to the auditorium all the children I care so deeply about" Crocker fibbed. "And we warn them about all the dangers in the world. We can not only fill their sugar-addled brains with something useful, we can show everyone that Dimmsdale Elementary prioritizes the safety of its students." "Thank you, Crocker," Principal Waxelplax replied with forced, but condscending, politeness, "but-" "I think it's a wonderful idea," Pizzo replied, much to the chagrin of Principal Waxelplax. The idea piqued the interest of the school board as well, if their interested expressions were any indication. "But Crocker's insane" Principal Waxelplax complained with annoyance. "You can't all- "Very well," Pizzo announced. "We'll vote in it. All in favor of a seminar devoted to student safety, vote aye!" "Aye!" all the board said at once. "All in favor of giving Mr. Crocker the resources to plan this seminar," Pizzo declared. A smug grin formed on Crocker's face. "Aye!" "But-," Principal Waxelplax objected, only to be ignored. "Since we're all in a agreement, I declare this meeting adjourned," Pizzo announced in a self-aggrandizing tone. The board members walked out, giving a Crocker earnest praise for his idea. Just as began to walk to his classroom, Waxelplax stormed up to him."This better not be one of your schemes, Denzel," the plump woman said with gritted teeth. She grabbed the man by his tie and pulled him to her face. "Like I said: one more stunt, and you'll be scrubbing floors for a month!" "How could I possibly turn student safety into a plan for world domination?" Crocker asked with a falsely innocent expression. "Only you could!" Waxelplax barked. Having said what she had to say, she let the man go and stomped out of the room. Crocker walked away from the board, a devious grin on his face. "You won't have to worry about next time," the hunchbacked teacher said to himself once he was alone, gleefully rubbing his hands together. "Because this time, Turner's FAIRY GODPARENTS will be mine!" "We can't bring him to Equestria!" Twilight yelled at Sunset. "We have to hide him-I mean, the stone!" Sunset yelled back at her with a hoarse, angry voice. After Timmy was brought back home, Sunset alerted Twilight to Timmy's kidnapping. The pony princess put aside her schedule and came through the portal, as the seriousness of the situation required her presence. The Rainbooms assembled in Pinkie's living room to debate a strategy. Sunset wanted to come clean to Timmy and make him wait in Equestria until the rune was done. Twilight wanted to keep Timmy in the dark until the rune was ready, not wanting to risk blowing their cover while he was still armed with powerful magic. The argument quickly degenerated into screaming match between the former unicorn and the pony princess. "Sunset," Applejack said to the angry, fire-haired girl with raised hands.. "Chill," Rainbow urged. "How can I chill?!" Sunset asked, tears running down her eyes. "He was-The Stone was nearly-," Overwhelmed by the stress of nearly losing her charge, Sunset broke down and cried in terror. Her friends all ran up to give their friend a comforting hug. "Sunny, anyone can see you love Timmy," Pinkie Pie cooed in a soft tone. "I know you're scared for Timothy," Rarity said in a soothing voice. "I'm scared too. But you can't allow your fears to cloud your judgement." "But-," "Sunset, we like him too," Applejack said. "But just because we're scared for him doesn't mean we can go off into a panic. That makes things worse." "You're right," Sunset agreed with reluctance once she regained her composure. "Thanks for calming me down, girls," she said warmly as the girls released her. "I don't see what the big deal is anyway," Rainbow said with a nonchalant smile. "Timmy was able to escape from that freak without our help." The Canterlot sports captain was unable conceal the pride in the boy she was coaching. She happily threw down a copy of the Dimmsdale Dossier on the table, showing off the article that detailed Timmy's ingenuous escape. The pink-hatted boy was proudly smiling in the photo. "Rainbow," Twilight said in a stern princess voice. "I know what Timmy did looks cool. But we can't just ignore the fact that Timmy was kidnapped." Twilight stormed over to the table and pointed to a section in the article. "In that truck, a woman had something that apparently created an anti-magical field, along with lots of sharp weapons...and butterfly nets," Twilight read oddly. "Butterfly nets," Fluttershy said fearfully. "What if she's an evil meanie who hurts innocent butterflies?" The pink-haired girl whimpered. "I doubt she cares about butterflies," Rainbow said with a roll of her eyes. "The point is," Twilight continued, "that woman had equipment that made it so Timmy couldn't protect himself with the stone." The Princess of Harmony and Friendship frowned in a serious tone. "If one woman could do that, who's to say there isn't someone else out there coveting Timmy's magic. And if they went after Timmy, he might get so lucky next time." Rainbow's enthusiasm was replaced by concern. "And if they decided to go after us, who's to say they can't disable our magic too. Then how could we possibly protect him, let alone ourselves?" Everyone went silent with fear at the idea. "If they've been spying on Timothy," Rarity added ominously, "maybe they could know about us too." A dark cloud hung over everyone, dreading the idea of power-hungry humans disabling their magic and going after. "So what do we do?" Fluttershy asked fearfully. "We need to find some other way to keep Timmy safe," Twilight said in a serious tone. "It's clear the job is getting too big for us to do by ourselves. Even though we're about a week and a half away from a rune, we can't take any chances, and we need a non-magical way of protecting him as well." "Maybe we could get him some...bodyguards," Rainbow guessed. Everyone looked at Rainbow with happy surprise. "That's..,not a bad idea Rainbow," Rarity said with a proud smile. "What can I say, I'm full of them," Rainbow boasted. "I suppose a broken clock can be right twice a day," Applejack said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "Could you get the Royal Guards?" Sunset asked Twilight with some desperation. "That won't work," Twilight said in a stern tone. "The guards are tough, but since they would struggle to walk on two legs, they wouldn't be any good in a fight." Twilight's mouth twisted in frustration. "And if there are enemies out there that can disable magic, they wouldn't be able to fight them." "What we need is good old fashioned human muscle," Rainbow offered. "A group of people who can fight well without magic." "Who'd be willing to defend Timmy?" Twilight asked. "If we're sending them to fight other adults," Rarity said, "they would have to be unafraid to defy authority." "Someone not afraid to bend the rules," Applejack offered. "But who?" Pinkie exclaimed. Rainbow's eyes widened. "I think I know who," Rainbow said with some disdain. "Really?" Twilight asked with a smile. "They're...jerks, but I think they wouldn't mind taking the job," Rainbow said uncomfortably. "I guess we'll talk to them and see." Seeing Timmy might get some more protection. Sunset's alarm died down, "There's also some other good news," Sunset said, a smile forming on her face. "After what happened, Dimmsdale Elementary is going to have a mandatory safety seminar tomorrow." "Well that's good," Rarity said with a smile. Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed groan. "What's wrong Rainbow?" Fluttershy asked her athletic friend. "Those things are so dumb," Rainbow muttered. "They treat kids like idiots, sing a bunch of stupid songs, and teach things that any moron should know." "I think a little bit of instruction never hurt anyone Rainbow," Twilight said to the athletic girl. "Like I need safety instructions. I am always 100 percent super careful." A cloud of smoke emerged from the nearby kitchen, much to the concern of others. "The toaster's on fire!" Fluttershy wailed. "Don't worry guys," Rainbow said confidentally, "I'll just use my trusty fork to get the bread out of the toaster." Rainbow ran to it, and prompty electrocuted herself by not unplugging the toaster before sticking a fork in it. Rainbow, fried by the electricity, laid on the ground in a daze. "Must...save....toast..." "Can I come with you?" Pinkie Pie asked Sunset in a pleading tone. "Timmy-Wimmy must be so scared and I want to make him feel better." "Sure Pinkie," Sunset said with a smile. "Yes, how is Timothy?" Rarity asked with some concern."Is he coping with what happened?" Sunset had an expression of concern. "He actually seems fine." "He hasn't nightmares or anything?" Twilight asked. "No, he's not shaken up at all." Sunset said, not sure if she should be relieved or concerned. "Either he doesn't understand what happened or he sees it as some cool adventure. In any case I'm gonna go with him...you know, to make sure...he's OK," Sunset uttered, unable to hide her protective instincts. Rainbow painfully pulled herself from the ground. "And I'll go talk to our potential...recruits..." Mr. Cranky was teaching his incredibly informative and engaging math lesson. "So you just use pi and the radius to get the circumference," the stern teacher said. "Can anyone tell me how they arrive at volume?" The entire class was half-asleep or completely asleep. One student let out a loud snore. "No, it isn't 2," Mr. Cranky said in a dull tone, "that's why you have to show your-," suddenly the class started laughing like crazy. "Yes, I find volume to be quite humorous," the teacher said, "but we must-," Cranky looked up, and to his horror, his toupee was hanging by a fish hook that came out from one of the air vents. Inside, a group of five was letting out bellyfuls of laughter. "You've really outdone yourself Gilda," Lightning said in a proud tone. Using her fishing pole, the white haired girl used it to reel in Mr. Cranky's toupee. "Serves him right," Hoops said with fury, "for giving me a D." "You know, he did offer you the chance to retake the quiz," Rolling Thunder pointed out with a look. "It's the principal of the matter," Dumbbell threw back. Cranky looked up at the air vent above with a stern gaze. He could hear the delinquents in the vent talking aloud. "We really got him good this time," one delinquent said. "He'll thank us later," another one said. "It's a really stupid wig." With a nasty grin, Cranky walked over to his desk and opened a drawer which had a big red button on it. "Now let's get out here before-" Cranky pushed the button. Suddenly the air vent was titled on its side, causing five teenagers to spill out and tumble to the floor with a yell. Gilda smiled. She didn't break a thing. Good, loyal, Lightning Dust used her head to break the white-haired girl's fall. As she pulled herself up, she found herself face to face with a stern looking teacher. To her horror, the white-haired girl realized she was holding the fishing pole with his wig attached. Gilda let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh...Hoops you idiot, this isn't Lake Tahoe." The gruff man wasn't impressed. "This was just a... fishing accident?" Gilda and her friends cried out in mercy as they were paraded before the school judge, their bodies wrapped in chains. "Gilda Griffon, Lightning Dust, Rolling Thunder, Hoops, and Dumbbell," Vice Principal Luna bellowed. She was wrapped in a judicial robe and wore a white wig on her blue hair. "You all have been charged with 25 counts of tardiness, 62 counts of delinquency, 18 counts of pranks, 29 counts of bullying, and nine hundred seventy four counts of borrowing a pencil from the teacher and never returning it!" She leaned in dramatically. "How do you plead?!" "Uh, didn't do it," Gilda offered. The Vice Principal didn't look impressed. "I have been patient with you five and given you multiple chances. But time and time again, you thrown those chances in my face!" She put on her black cap. "I have no choice but to give you the ultimate punishment!" "Death?" Lightning Dust squeaked. "Worse," Vice Principal Luna said ominously. "Two weeks of in-school suspension!" The five broke down in tears, begging for mercy from the pitiless school administrator. "We'll be good, I promise!" Gilda said. "I'll...I'll help the orphans." "Your pleas will not save you!" The blue hair woman commanded. Her expression softened. "However, there is a...task you may be able to perform instead." "A task?" Rolling Thunder asked while cocking her head. "Please, please give us the task," Hoops pleaded. "Whatever it is." "Very well," Luna said. "It is task that Princess Twilight has asked me to give you. If you can perform it, you may be....redeemed!" She banged her gavel. "So what do you want us to do Princess?" Lightning Dust asked the pony princess. The five mixed martial arts members met with Twilight and Rainbow in front of the horse statue. "As some of you may know, Timmy was nearly kidnapped," Twilight said with a somber expression. "I heard about that," the white-haired girl said with a smile. "Timmy's a genius for how he got away from that freak." Gilda couldn't hide her pride in her student. "For a little twerp who wears a pink hat," Lightning Dust said with a someone impressed smile, "he ain't so ba." Her friends, based on their smiles, were also impressed with Timmy's ingenuity. "Yeah well, we can't count on him being lucky forever," Rainbow said in a stern tone. "So we're trying to find people who'll protect him in cae-," "WE'RE IN!" They all said in unison Princess Twilight was taken aback. "Wait, you'll do the job like that?" "You guys are always battling evil magic," Lightning Dust said with a hint of jealousy "And we think its unfair you Sheilas get to have all of the fun," Rolling Thunder exclaimed gleefully. "This time, we get to be part of the action," Dumbbell gushed. Hoops said nothing, but looked like a kid in a candy store. "Well, I do find Timmy to be...mildly entertaining," Gilda said in a seemingly indifferent tone. "So I'm in...I guess." Rainbow and Twilight gave the white-haired girl proud smiles. Gilda was kind of hardnosed, and more than a bit irresponsible. But she'd come to care for Timmy, even if she wouldn't say so openly. "Very well," Princess Twilight said. "Do you five swear to protect Timmy from any harm, physical and emotional." "YEAH!" The five said proudly. "Then I christen you five the...Defenders of the Pink Hat," the Princess said in a royal tone of voice. "Do we get a cool armor?" Lightning Dust asked with an eager expression. "We'll see how you do," Rainbow said with a smile. Deep down, the athletic girl was relieved. While these five were careless jerks, they were a tough bunch who could easily protect the bucktoothed boy if anything happened. "Enough Adagio," Aria said with some annoyance. The three former sirens were in their apartment they'd been forced to move too after losing their magic and their main source of income. It was far from rundown-Adagio boasted they could still be called middle class-it was too small for the former sirens' collective ego. The two older sisters were arguing while Sonata lied on the ground, obliviously drawing in crayon. "But Aria," Adagio pleaded. "I swear-," "Every day you say you found something that'll give us our powers back!" Aria argued back. "And then it turns out to be nothing! I'm sick and tired of it." "This twerp made a wish for that freak to be covered in sewer water, and it happened," Adagio said, showing the picture of the upended sewer line on her phone. "What else could've caused all this?" Aria's stubborn wavered for a bit. "I don't know," Aria said barked, albeit not as strongly. "They also found something in the truck called 'anti-magic generator'." Aria's interest grew. "The normies call it superstition, but that woman wouldn't have chased after that twerp for nothing." Aria's disbelief seemed to die even more. Adagio smiled as she prepared to close the deal. "If this turns out to be the Stone of Desire," Adagio said with a purr, "we could get everything we want: our magic, our voices, this world in the palm of our hand, and revenge against Canterlot High." Aria's interest heightened. Adagio knew how Aria was angriest of three of them over their defeat at the hands of the Rainbooms. While she calmed down after the first few days, the desire for payback still hung in the back of her second youngest sister's mind. "Hey guys!" Sonata butted into their argument with her dopey smile. "I drew you guys a picture of a taco." Sonata showed off a juvenile drawing to her older sisters, who were less than impressed. "It's really nice Sonata," Adagio lied. Aria butted in with her sly smile. "In fact, this museum wants to put it on display." Sonata looked like a kid in a candy store. "Really?" The blue-haired siren chirped happily. "Yeah", Aria joked, her eyes darting back and forth, "But its all the way in San Francisco! Which means you have to go. Now! Run!" "OK," Sonata said cheerfully, "see you guys later." The youngest siren ran out of the door, singing to herself. Aria and Adagio smiled over their younger sister's gullibility. "When should we look for her?" Adagio asked Aria. "She's like a cat," Aria said dismissively. "She'll come back when she gets hungry." "So are you in Aria?" Adagio asked, returning to the subject at hand. "OK, fine," Aria said after a few moments of thought. "We'll check this out." But if you're wrong-," "I won't bother you again about this." "You will shave your cheese poof head so I don't have to clean your hair from the drain." "Deal," Adagio said, extending her hand. Aria took it. "And my hair isn't a cheese poof," Adagio said defensively. Aria rolled her eyes and let out a yawn. "I'm gonna hit the hay," the purple-haired siren said, going to her bedroom. Adagio looked at the newspaper article again, her eyes staring at the picture of the brown-haired runt. "Maybe you'll be the key to getting what we deserve," Adagio hissed, looking at the twerp with hungry and greedy eyes. "Why do we have to wear our hoods?" Aria asked. The three sirens drove around in a used orange SUV. It wasn't the worst car in the world, but several steps down from the limos and fancier cars they rented using their magic. Adagio drove, Aria sat in the passenger seat, while Sonata sat in the backseat. "So no one spots us," Adagio said. "This is dumb," Aria muttered, "we're in Dimmsdale! One of the lamest towns ever." "Oh Aria," Adagio said dismissively ,"wherever there is power, there are always those who compete for it. Remember, some woman with a machete chased after that boy. And where there was one person, there could several others wanting that twerp's power." "I guess," Aria said indifferently. "Are we there yet?" Sonata asked. "No," Adagio said. "Are we there yet?" "No." "Are we-," Aria furiously turned her gaze to her younger sister. "I'm gonna toss you out of this car if you don't clam up!" Aria yelled at Sonata. "Clam up?" Sonata replied. "Are we eating seafood?" Adagio and Aria let out frustrated sighs. They loved their sister, but she was a major pain. "Just be quiet," Aria muttered in annoyance. "We're here," Adagio said, pulling into a parking lot. The three put on their hoods, and got out. They saw a massive truck that said "Camp Learn-A-Torium" in front of the building. "Maybe I am being paranoid," Adagio said, "I mean how hard could it be to enter an elementary school." As soon as they approached the building, the sirens were shocked by what they saw. The school was surrounded with electrified fences that sparkled with deadly electricity. Metal detectors and guard dogs were placed at every checkpoint. One nervous blond kid try to go through one of the checkpoint, only for an alarm to go off. The guards shook him and slingshot fell out, much to their annoyance."Were you aware that you were in the possession of this contraband?" the guard said, waving it menacingly at the boy. "I swear I had no idea," the kid squeaked nervously. "I-I was holding it for a friend." "A likely story," the guard said with a frown. "Sic'em Fido." The guards let an angry Rottweiler chase after the hapless boy, who yelled in terror as he ran by the sirens. "Oh well," Adagio said nervously, "this is going to be tougher than I imagined. We just have to get through security. Let's prepare." Aria turned to her younger sister. "Sonata. Shut up." "Yes ma'am," Sonata said. "OK preparation over," Adagio said. "Let's go." After getting through the checkpoints, the three sisters stood far enough from the entrance to be incognito, but close enough to see the kids going in. "When is he getting here?" Aria asked. "This seminar is mandatory," Adagio said, "I'm sure he'll be here soon." "When we get the Stone, can I have 1000 tacos?" Sonata asked. "For the tenth time yes!" Adagio and Aria barked in unison. Sonata startled chuckling. "Look guys," Sonata said, happily pointing her finger like she saw a funny looking bird and she wanted her sisters to see. "Timmy-Wimmy is here." Adagio and Aria smiled as their target arrived, only to frown at who was behind him. "We live in a small world, don't we," Adagio said with restrained patience. "It can't be," Aria growled. "It is," Sonata said. "Who is it?" "Sunset Shimmer!" Aria hissed. "Sunset," Timmy said, "I'm fine!" "Just trying to keep you safe," Sunset said with a nervous smile. "You're making me a wear a leash!" Timmy exclaimed. Sunset was so shaken by Timmy's kidnapping, she forced Timmy into a pink baby leash and was yanking him along, much to his embarrassment. "Oh look," one boy said mockingly, "Widdle Timmy needs a leash." The laughter made Timmy blush with embarrassment. To his annoyance, Sunset either didn't know or didn't care how humiliating the whole thing was. "What happened was no big deal," Timmy said with a smile. "Now can we please go inside where no one can see me?!" "No," Sunset admonished, "we still need to wait for Pinkie." She looked at her watch. "Where is she?" "HEY SUNNY!" a loud voice said. Sunset turned and saw Pinkie Pie, looking at them with her cheerful smile, while leaping up and down. Timmy looked at the girl. She had puffy pink hair that went down her back. She wore a pink skirt with balloons on them, blue boots, and a blue and white blouse with a heart on it. "Hey Pinkie Pie," Sunset greeted. "When did you get past security?" "What security?" Pinkie Pie asked. She then looked at Timmy and bounced over to him. "Hi, Timmy-Wimmy," Pinkie Pie said. "I'm Pinkie Pie, your newest friend!" She bent down to hug the brown-haired kid. "Doesn't that sound great?" "Too tight," Timmy wheezed, being squeezed by the excitable teenager's embrace. "I heard you got kidnapped," Pinkie Pie said, releasing the poor boy, "and I was wondering if there was anything I could do to make you feel better.? "I'm good," Timmy said, taken aback by the girl's energy. "I could bake you a cake," Pinkie offered, "or throw you a party." "I'm fine." "Or throw you a cake party," Pinkie said. "I'm good." Timmy said. "Make you a pie," Pinkie Pie offered, "tell you silly jokes.." "Pinkie." "Balloons, hot fudge, jellybeans..." "Pinkie." "Petting zoo, real zoo, a stuffed animal.." "PINKIE!" Timmy bellowed. Pinkie's chatter ceased. "If I want something, I'll let you know. OK?" "Yupperoni," Pinkie Pie said, regaining her joy. She began to skip inside, with Timmy and Sunset following in. "That girl was weird," Wanda said to Cosmo. Both of them were disguised as balloons in Timmy's hand. "What are you talking about Wanda," Cosmo said, "she loves petting zoos. The ultimate form of entertainment." Wanda let out a sigh as they went inside. "It's that meanie, Sunset," Sonata said with fear and some anger. "What is she doing with our target?!" Aria said with a hiss. "It's obvious," Adagio said with an annoyed tone, "the Rainbooms smelled magic too, and went to where it was." He watched as Sunset let that boy into the school with a leash. "They act nice, he gives them whatever they want." A smile came on her face. "Ol'Sunset is many things, but she certainly lets an opportunity go to waste." An envious frown formed on the head siren's face. "But two can play that game." The three sirens followed behind their enemies, hoods down. Pinkie, Sunset, and Timmy walked into the school. Timmy abruptly stopped and frowned. "What's wrong Timmy?" Sunset asked. "Them," Timmy said. The two Canterlot teens looked ahead. They saw a man and a woman in their late 20s cheerfully greeting every attendee who entered the school with a song and dance routine that was a bit juvenile.They dressed up in a grown up version of a school uniform, complete with a graduation cap, pink bow ties, pink clad vests, and white short pants. "I'm Peppy Happy Gary," a redhead man sang. "I'm Peppy Happy Betty," a blond pig-tailed woman sang. "We're peppy happy peppy happy happy peppy hap!" The two sang to some girl who wasn't at all impressed with their performance. "Idiots," she muttered aloud before walking away from them. "What's wrong with them?" Sunset asked Timmy. "Yeah," Pinkie Pie with a smile, "they seem really...peppy and happy!" "They're idiots." Pinkie Pie gasped. "Timmy. that's not nice," Pinkie admonished. Sunset said nothing but silently scolded Timmy as well. "But they are," Timmy protested. "I don't want to them to see," "ITS OUR BUDDY-WUDDY TIMMY!" The pair exclaimed, much to Timmy's consternation. They ran over to hug Timmy as well. "How are you Timmy Buddy?" Gary asked "Did you miss us?" Betty asked. "Not really," Timmy wheezed. They finally let Timmy go. "Who are your new friends?" Gary asked Timmy, looking at the two girls behind him. "I'M PINKIE PIE!" Pinkie Pie said, leaping up and down. "I'm Sunset Shimmer," Sunset said, extending a polite handshake, "pleasure to-," instead of shaking her hand, two started dancing around her and singing their annoying song. Sunset was a bit discomforted by this. She had seen this behavior from Pinkie Pie, but she was a bit disturbed to be seeing it from two people who looked to be in their late twenties. "Yes," Sunset said with an uncomfortable smile, "thank you for...this." The two refused to stop. Sunset found herself getting a headache from those two. Sunset decided to be a bit more forceful. "Could you please- "I'M PEPPY HAPPY PINKIE!" Pinkie started dancing with the two Learn-A-Torium employees, suddenly wearing the same outfit they were. Sunset used that opportunity to escape, dragging Timmy away from the annoying duo. After a few moments, Pinkie stopped her dance. "That was real fun," Pinkie said, "but I have to be with my friends now." Before she could leave, Gary reached into her hair and took out a bag of gumdrops. "Hey," Pinkie said with some annoyance, "why did you take my candy?" "That candy-wandy is leaving your brain rotted-wooted," Gary said, as if he was talking to a five year old. "I can tell," Betty said running her thumb along Pinkie's forehead. "Excuse me?" Pinkie Pie said, sounding insulted. Pinkie looked even more mortified as Gary threw her candy down an incinerator. Her candy was obliterated into a puff of smoke. "Isn't that better?" Betty asked the increasingly outraged girl. Gary presented Pinkie with a plate of Brussel sprouts. "Wouldn't your prefer some nice healthy Brussel sprouts?!" "BLECH!" Pinkie let out an expression of disgust and stormed away from them, mildly upset. "See," Gary said with a smile, "she's feeling better." "Hello Principal Waxelplax," Sunset said, greeting Waxelplax respectfully. The woman sat at a table near the entrance to the auditorium, giving out attendance tickets. Timmy, tired of wearing a leash, tried to tear at it with his buck teeth, to no avail. "Hello Ms. Shimmer," the woman said politely. "How are you?" "After what happened to Timmy, relieved," the Canterlot student said. "I think this safety seminar is a great idea." "I wish this was my idea," the Irish woman said, "but it was actually Crocker's." Sunset's face twisted into a frown. "Crocker?" Sunset asked with concern. "Yes it seems strange," the plump woman said with a disdainful tone, "but for once, the man had a good idea. I suppose a broken clock can be right twice." "Yeah...sure," Sunset said, her gut telling her something was rotten. "Anyways," Waxelplax said while handing Sunset two tickets, "best head inside." Sunset wanted to give Timmy her ticket, but instead she saw Timmy has gotten out of the harness, which was coated in butter. Apparently, Timmy wished for butter to escape. Sunset ran inside in a panic, where she saw an annoyed Timmy sitting somewhere in the middle. "Timmy, why did you escape your harness?" Sunset asked with annoyance. "Get over here to I can put it back-," Timmy turned to glare at her. "OK," Sunset said, remembering Timmy had magic and a nasty disposition. "I went too far with that. No more harnesses." "Good." Timmy said, his annoyance fading. Sunset took a seat to his right, while an unusually annoyed Pinkie took a seat the boy's left. Together, the two formed a shield around the brown-haired child. But with her instincts telling her that Crocker was up to something, Sunset wondered if it would be enough. She looked back at the boy she increasingly saw as her brother, remembered how he had been kidnapped by some psycho, and realized she couldn't take any chances. She pulled out her phone and sent a text. The meaning was only meant to be understood by the recipient. "Crockpot's gunning for baby bird." "Our buddy Crocker is at it again," Gilda said disdainfully, reading the text from Sunset. She sat in the passenger seat of a minivan, with her four teammates in the car. "Can't wait to pay him a visit," Lightning Dust said gleefully. The two got out, alongside Hoops, Dumbell, and Rolling Thunder. "So what do we do Gilds?" Lightning asked her leader. "Climb up to the roof?" Rolling asked with excitement. "Crawl under the school through the sewers?" Hoops asked. "No," Gilda said, "I've got something else...up my sleeve," she said deviously. "Entering the building like a normal person," Dumbbell said. The five entered the school in a less extreme and sneaky way. Simply by going through security like everyone else. "You've outdone yourself again, Gilda," Rolling Thunder said with admiration. "Of course," Gilda said. "It's so obvious, ol'Crockpot would never suspect us of doing it." Much to their annoyance, they were blocked from entering the auditorium by a pair of dancing clowns. "I'm Peppy Happy Gary," one said. "I'm Peppy Happy Betty," the other said. "I'm disgusted," Gilda snarked. "Nice to meet you, Disgusted!" The blond clown said happily. They still kept up their juvenile dance. Rolling Thunder looked annoyed. "Could you get out of the way already?" "Of course not," the redhead clown said with a condescending smile. Gilda looked at the two with dismay. "Why not?" "Because you five are so grumpy-wumpy," the redhead said. "And because you're supposed to say please," the blond buffoon said. Hoops looked incredibly annoyed. "Do we look like we're five years old?!" "Move," Gilda ordered. The clowns didn't get the message, looking at her like she's an out-of-sorts child. "We're on a mission and we need-," "I think what you need is a hug," Gary said, hugging the tall teenager, ignoring her growing outrage. "Doesn't that put a smile on your face?" POW! "Thanks," Gilda said with a vicious smile and a bared fist. She saw the redhead moron lying on the ground with a swollen cheek and a dazed expression. "You did put a smile on my face." Betty stepped away from Gilda in fear. "Creep." The blond clown got the message and fearfully moved aside. As soon as Gilda stormed away, Betty looked down at her co-worker with concern. "I think we're best friends," Gary said in a daze. The seminar started. Timmy, Sunset, and Pinkie sat in the middle, the light dim. Unbeknownst to the small boy, a group of five was sitting several rows behind him, their eyes looking for anything that might hurt him. Unbeknownst to that group, a group of three stood near the back, inconspicuous, and watching the same boy with hungry ambition. "Good morning, students," Principal Waxelplax said into a microphone. "To help you kids prepare for the dangers you might face, Camp Learn-A-Torium has put together a show to teach you children how to stay safe. Here in person, Camp Learn-A-Torium CEO Flappy Bob." The stage lights went on. A suavely dressed businessman in dark hair walked onto the stage. "That's Flappy Bob," Pinkie said with disappointment, "I thought he'd be more...peppy and happy." "Hello children," the man said in a suave voice. "Do you know we're here? Because we want you all to be safe and sound," he held out a wad of cash, "and your parents' tax dollars, of course." "Smug bogan," Rolling Thunder grumbled with disgust. None of her friends were impressed with this crook with a silver spoon in his mouth. "This guy is manipulative, greedy, and deceitful," Adagio muttered. She then smiled with a small blush. "If only he were a siren." "To teach you how to stay safe," the man continued, "give a round of applause to your pals, Happy Peppy Gary and Betty." The two Learn-A-Torium employees came onto stage with wide smiles. "Hey boys and girls," Gary said into the microphone. "We're about to give you a lesson in staying safe," Betty said. "To do that, we need a volunteer." "Since we know that all of you are rushing to help out your old pals Gary and Betty," Gary said. The grim expression on every kids' face and the chirping crickets showed that no child was eager to be their volunteer. "So to be fair, we have to pull one out of this box," Betty said, presenting some cardboard box. They reached in and pulled out name at random. "Our lucky volunteer is," Betty read, "Timmy Turner." "What?" Timmy said. Before he could do anything, several Learn-A-Torium employees yanked him onto the stage much to Sunset and Pinkie's concern. "So Timmy," Gary asked Timmy with an eager smile, "can you tell me the dangerous things you might encounter on a day to day basis?" "Uh..." "I know," Betty said excitedly. "Let's show them what happens you don't look before you walk." They pushed Timmy over their foot, tripping him. "Oof," Timmy said, falling to the floor. Pinkie winced a bit. "That doesn't look fun," Pinkie with some concern. "They're teaching kids about safety," Sunset said, "safety isn't supposed to be fun." "Or you could hurt yourself on the door," Gary said, slamming a door into Timmy's face. "Ow," Timmy set, gripping his nose in pain. "Or you could get blown away in a storm," Betty exclaimed, turning on an industrial fan that blew Timmy across the stage, making him fall to the ground in a heap. "Or you could get into a baking accident." Flour was poured on Timmy's body. Timmy noticed, with frustration, that almost everyone was starting to laugh at him. Sunset and Pinkie felt themselves wincing even more. "I think that's a little mean," Pinkie Pie said uneasily. "Or you crash into the pastry table at a party," Betty warned. A blueberry pie slammed into Timmy's face. "Or you could burn yourself while cooking." Hot grease was thrown at the brown-haired boy, burning his arm. "My arm." Timmy sobbed in some pain. The sound of Timmy in agony made Sunset's hackles rise, especially as Timmy pleaded with them in desperation, only for the two to throw red paint on him. Sunset's patience with those two slowly eroded. She felt her fists begin to clench. Pinkie herself wasn't too happy. For the first time in a while, looking at Timmy's uncomfortable expression, she began to feel...concern...scorn...annoyance. She gripped her arm rests tightly, a frown forming on her face. "Or you could chased by bees," Betty said, pouring honey on Timmy and shaking a beehive to make the bees chase after Timmy. Timmy ran around trying to escape being stung. The crowd of students laughed even harder. Principal Waxelplax began watching this, especially Timmy's distress, with ever growing concern as well. "They're being mean to him," Pinkie barked. They were humiliating him. They were...hurting him. Pinkie felt an angry face like the one Limestone had form, and felt herself grip the arm rests so hard, they began to bend. What made her angry was that the two clowns on stage were doing it with a smile. Either they thought what they were doing was funny, or too stupid to know what they were doing. Sunset, her jaw set, looked ready to jump up from her chair and storm onto the stage as well. ."Can we smash those clowns already?" Hoops asked Gilda with a mixture of eagerness and anger in his voice. Gilda and her friends were becoming increasingly unamused with the "safety demonstration", as it became clear Timmy was being hurt by what the clowns were doing. Sure, they weren't above pranks and acting like idiots. But there was a difference between pranks, and injuring someone and driving them to tears. "Or hit yourself with a hammer without wearing gloves," the blond clown said, smacking Timmy's knuckles with one. He let out another cry of pain. "Sure," Gilda said with a growl. The five mixed martial artists were about to go up to the stage when Gilda spotted something with her yellow eyes, and stopped her friends with a raised hand. "What?" Lightning asked with some annoyance. Gilda gestured to the entrance bottom of the stage. A familiar man in a white shirt walked inside. Her instincts telling her something was rotten, the five teenagers followed the man under the stage. "Or get chlorine in your eyes." Timmy felt his eyes get splashed with pool water. "Chlorine, it burns!" He rubbed his eyes in a vain attempt to get the irritation out of them. "That's it!" Sunset growled. She jumped up from her chair, as did Pinkie Pie, angry expressions on their faces. The two were about to storm on stage when Sunset felt her phone vibrate. It was a text from Gilda that read, "Don't go on stage. Meet me behind. Crocker's on balcony. Speak quietly. DON'T LET HIM SEE YOU." "New orders," Sunset said to Pinkie Pie. "Don't go on stage." Pinkie face her face turn sour. "But Timmy's getting hurt!" "Crocker's planning something." Sunset said forcefully. "Don't do anything until I say its safe." Pinkie was about to object, but with a stern glare from the fire-haired girl, accepted Sunset's warnings and sat back in her seat, albeit with a reluctant frown. "I'll text you when its all clear," Sunset told Pinkie as she ran into the aisle and ran into the entrance under the stage. Pinkie felt helpless, watching those two torment poor Timmy. Sunset found Gilda and her group standing just behind the stage in a maintenance area, hiding behind a heavy cart full of props. "Gilda," Sunset barked, flinching when she heard another one of Timmy's sobs, "why aren't you-," Gilda silently pointed upwards. Crocker was on some rail-less maintenance balcony about story up, watching what was happening with a smile. He had some black case next to him. "I think he's planning something." Gilda whispered. "I don't want to do anything until I know what." Gilda may have had a reputation for being in a hot hea "What could that creep possibly plan?" Sunset asked with some disdain. "Just as I planned," Crocker purred with a nasty grin. "Those idiots would follow my 'safety plan' to a letter, driving Turner up a wall." Sunset's eyes narrowed. Crocker wanted Timmy to get hurt on purpose. But why? Sunset and the others flinched with they heard Timmy let out another cry of agony, and the mocking laughter of the audience grew even more. "Go ahead Turner," Crocker gushed while rubbing his hands with glee, "retaliate against those imbeciles with a wish. And when you do," the man said, bending down opening his case. To the horror of Sunset and the mixed-martial arts club, he pulled out some green and black laser rifle. He turned it on, emitting a whirling sound, and aimed it at Timmy. "Make a wish against those imbeciles," Crocker said dementedly, "and your magic will be as good as mine!" Crocker felt euphoria as Turner's anger grew. "At last. No more mockery. No more being called Crockpot, no more nasty letters from New Baltimore Community College asking for a donation," he gloated. "Soon, the ultimate power will be mine and I'll show the world I'm right!" He let out a nasty cackle, the image of Timmy in agony reflecting in his glasses. Sunset seethed with rage as she glared at the man. This man was a teacher. He was supposed to help children. Instead he used a safety seminar to hurt and humiliate one of his own students for power. Sunset never felt so much genuine hatred for someone in her entire life! Her fellow associates felt the same way, as shown by their angry expressions. Lightning Dust was about to charge, but Gilda held her back. "We don't know what that thing does!" Gilda hissed. "If he sees us, he could blast us with it." "Then what do we do?" Rolling Thunder asked with fear, especially as she saw Timmy was about to reach his breaking point. Sunset looked at the cart she was hiding behind, and saw how it was six feet away from the ladder that brought Crocker to the balcony. A wicked smile formed on her face as did Gilda's as they both came up with the idea. "OK," Sunset whispered. "At the count of the three we push and run!" Sunset, Gilda, and the others pressed themselves against the cart. "One, two, three!" Crocker was so focused on his dream, he failed to see the cart careening toward the maintenance ladder. The cart smashed into the ladder. The vibrations traveled up to the balcony, and made Crocker stumble. He lost his grip on his laser, which fell to the ground and snapped in two. "No, no I won't be denied!" Crocker shrieked as he flailed his arms, desperately trying to regain his footing. Sunset looked at one of the ropes near the balcony with a vicious smile. "Deny this, Crockpot!" She yanked on the rope, releasing one of the counterweights. It slammed into Crocker with enough momentum, that he finally fell of the balcony. He hit the floor with a thud, his glasses were knocked off him and one of his legs was broken. He laid on the ground in a daze. The group of six ran. Sunset texted Pinkie that it was all good. She barely noticed that part of her blue dress was ripped by one of the maintenance bars as she ran out from under the stage. "And now, let's see what happens when you don't wear a rain coat," Gary said, holding up a hose. "Stop!" Timmy protested, only for water to get sprayed all over his pants. "Hey look," a nasty voice said. "Turner wet his pants". Everyone in the crowd started laughing like crazy. "Our little buddy Timmy should be thanking us," Gary said. "We've taught him to be safe," Betty said. The laughter, on top of his pants being ruined, was the last straw. He glared at the two idiots who had made him look like a fool, his face turning red. Now it was payback time. "THAT'S IT!" Timmy bellowed, steam coming out of his ears. "I WI-," he paused as a hand grabbed his shoulder. "What's wrong with you?!" Timmy looked up and saw an angry Pinkie Pie glaring at the two buffoons while trying to comfort him. "Don't you see you're humiliating him", Pinkie Pie yelled, "you...you...IDIOTS!" Gary and Betty looked incredibly confused by Pinkie's accusations. "We're teaching him how to be safe," Gary said. "I don't see what's wrong with that." Betty said with the same dumb smile. Pinkie Pie looked at their shamelessly happy expressions with disgusted disbelief, but then decided they weren't worth her time. She instead turned toward the audience that had been laughing at Timmy's pain. "You all think that's funny," Pinkie said to the audience in an angry yell. "Well it's not! And you know what else. YOU'RE ALL MEANIES! There," she hissed, "I said it." Pinkie Pie stormed off the stage, pulling Timmy by his arm very gently, leaving behind a silent and ashamed audience. As they left the stage. Timmy started to whimper. Pinkie's angered faded, and she bent down to give Timmy a warm hug. Timmy was too forlorn to refuse. He melted into the hug, crying out of pain and embarrassment. All the while, Pinkie rubbed his back and whispered soothing words into his ear, telling him it was OK. She'd done this for Marble. She'd done whenever any of her friends were upset. Timmy counted as a friend. And so she would hold him until he was all better. Pinkie helped Timmy laugh again by putting her hands to her mouth and making a whoopie cushion. Compared to the crying he heard, it was a relief. "You want to go get washed up," Pinkie asked Timmy gently as they reached a bathroom. "Sure," Timmy said in a small, less broken voice, but his eyes were still red and puffy from the crying. Before he got in, Pinkie presented Timmy with something. "New pants," Timmy said with surprise, taking the blue pants that were identical to his wet ones. He looked at Pinkie with a grateful smile, and gave the pink haired girl a hug. "Thank you." "Like I said," Pinkie Pie said gently, patting Timmy's head, "I help my friends." Timmy gave her one last grateful look, before going into the bathroom to change. "Pinkie", Sunset said, approaching her pink-haired friend. "Where's Timmy?" "In the bathroom," Pinkie said. "How is he?" "Upset," Pinkie sighed. "This was Crocker's idea," Sunset said with a deep frown. Pinkie Pie's face curled into a frown. "That, that-," Pinkie began, only to be cut off by a voice that rung in their ears. "Ms. Shimmer," Crocker said angrily. He was limping on a cane, his leg broken by the fall. "Crocker," Sunset said with suppressed rage. Pinkie Pie didn't say anything, but glared at the man who hurt Timmy. "I was...doing maintenance on the balcony," Crocker lied as he stumbled toward the two teenagers, "when a cart hit the ladder, sending me tumbling to the ground." He glared. "You wouldn't happen to know who did that, do you?" Sunset played dumb. "Why would I know anything," Sunset said, trying to suppress the smile she got from sending this idiot plummeting to the ground. "Very well," Crocker said, he was about to turn away, only to turn back with another glare. "I guess this just happened to be in the maintenance stairs," he said. "What?" Sunset said. Sunset felt her jaw drop when Crocker presented a piece of Sunset's blue dress. Crocker may have been crazy, but he wasn't a complete idiot, and cottoned on too Sunset's shock. "This piece of dress, which just happens to be in the same color as yours," Crocker said sarcastically, "which just happens to be in the same shape as that tear in your dress, and which just happened to be in the maintenance hall where someone could've...plotted my downfall." Sunset felt a chill go down her spine, as did Pinkie Pie. Crocker knew Sunset was responsible, even if he couldn't prove it. "But, one shouldn't jump to conclusions," Crocker said sarcastically, before his bespectacled eyes glared at Sunset once more. "Mark my words Shimmer," Crocker said ominously, "I will remember this day. The day you dared interfere with Denzel Q.-," Crocker felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned and saw the angry face of Principal Waxelplax staring at him. Even worse, she was holding up the broken remains of his laser. "Crocker, what is this?" The redhead asked him rhetorically while presenting to him the damaged equipment. "Uh," Crocker stammered, "stage prop." "You used a child safety demonstration for one of your schemes!" The woman yelled back at him. "That is the last straw. You are suspended from teaching for a month, during which time you will be scrubbing the floors!" The woman presented the form that announced his suspension and stormed away from him in a huff. Crocker felt his blood go cold as he looked at the form, banning him from teaching. "My scheme has been foiled," Crocker said to himself," I've been suspended from teaching, and my leg has been broken. How can this get any worse?" "Hey Crockpot," a rough voice said from behind him. Crocker turned around and saw Gilda Griffon staring at him mercilessly with crossed arms. "How've you been?" "Hello, Ms. Griffon," Crocker said fearfully. "how's it going?" "You think its OK to make that boy cry," Gilda said with a snarl. "I-," "Well now I'm about to make you cry," Gilda said, cracking her knuckles. Crocker tried to back away. "Let's not be hasty! You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses." Gilda took his glasses, and broke them in his hand. Crocker chuckled nervously. "Now that you've taken care of that-"Gilda pounced on Crocker and proceeded to wail on the man without mercy or restraint. The man let out agonizing screams as he was beaten within an inch of his life. Principal Waxelplax watched Crocker get beat up, but while obligated to do something, she let it go on. The man used an assembly for his crazy schemes. It was more than he deserved. Other people, including Sunset and Pinkie, felt the same way. Many kids cheered as Gilda beat up their least favorite teacher. When it was over, Gilda dragged Crocker into a nearby closet and pinned the battered teacher against the wall. "If you go after that boy again, and I find out," Gilda warned, "I'm gonna be looking for you." She released the shirt and stormed out, letting the man fall to the ground in a heap. Behind thestage, Gary and Betty were packing up their supplies when behind them, they heard a loud cough. They turned around and saw Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder. Behind them were Hoops and Dumbbell. All four of them were looking at the peppy and happy duo with forced smiles on their faces. "How can we help you four?" Gary asked. "Real great safety demonstration," Lightning Dust said in all too cheery expression. "Really," Betty said. "In fact," Rolling Thunder said, her Aussie accent being more pronounced. "We're about to give you blokes one." "That sounds wonderful," Gary said with oblivious cheer. "We'll show you the danger you can find yourself in when you mess with little kids," Hoops said the smile of a shark. The blood of the two Learn-A-Torium employees ran cold when the four raised their fists. The empty auditorium echoed with their screams and the beatings they got. Timmy wished himself clean once he was alone. He then took off his ruined pants and put on Pinkie's gift pants. His fairies appeared before him with sympathetic expressions. "How you feeling sport?" Wanda asked. "Better," Timmy said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that Timmy," Cosmo said with honest concern in his voice. "It's OK," Timmy said, "like Pinkie said, its all-" Timmy looked outside the window, and saw his classmates looking at their phones. They were laughing away at something. "I wish I knew what they were laughing at," Timmy said, his eyes narrowing in confusion. With a poof, a screen appeared in the air. Apparently, some recorded his humiliation. Now, it was becoming a viral hit on TubeYoo. Timmy felt his eye twitch. "Timmy," Wanda said, trying to diffuse Timmy's anger. The video already had one million hits. "Timmy," Cosmo tried. Timmy started shaking, and felt his face turn red again. The three sirens walked through the halls, laughing up a storm. "Remember when they dumped paint on him," Adagio cackled. "Or when they let those bees chased after him," Aria snickered. Sonata said nothing, but laughed as well. "Did you get that video uploaded onto TubeYoo?" Adagio asked Aria with a cruel smile. "One million hits and counting." Aria proclaimed proudly. The pigtailed siren's expression became more stern. "Well Adagio, we got a good laugh. But no Equestrian magic. You know what that means." "I know," Adagio conceded with defeat, "a deal's a deal. I get my hair cut-," a blast was heard outside. The sirens' eyes widened in shock. "What was that?" Aria asked. Everyone wandered outside, wondering what the tremor was. Learn-A-Torium truck was crushed by a giant meteor. Gary and Betty, both black, blue, and with broken teeth, looked at this with horror. "Our truck," Betty said. "Destroyed," Gary said. "AAAAHHHH", they screamed, while Flappy spoke on his cell phone. "Our insurance policy doesn't cover meteors," Flappy said, putting his phone down. All three of them let out an even louder scream. Pinkie, Sunset, and Gilda looked at this scene with shock. The entire truck had been squashed flat like a pancake. "Who did this?" Pinkie asked Sunset in a scared voice. Gilda pointed toward the parking lot. They looked at the brown-haired boy, who was staring at the destroyed truck with deep satisfaction. Timmy smiled, seeing the Learn-A-Torium's truck destroyed. If they were gonna hit him, like Gilda said, he should hit back hard. Behind him, Sunset, Pinkie, and Gilda looked at their charge, not with approval, but with sheer terror at what he had done. Not only that, but they felt their blood go cold at the joy he took is causing such destruction. On the other side of the parking lot, the three siren sisters looked at the boy, not with horror, but with approval. Aria and Sonata, in particular, looked at him with demented glee. "I think we could...make this work," Adagio said with an opportunistic smile. "This could work out very well indeed." This Turner boy was like all human children: weak, frail, and stupid. But like all humans, he had a dark side. Like all good sirens, she understood and respected that power. He was, after all, willing to use magic to get what he wanted. To get the revenge on those wrong him. To hurt those who stood in his way. Imagine what he could do if...pushed in the right direction. So many possibilities, Adagio thought, her smile growing wider. > Power Attracts the Corrupted (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm Chet Ubetcha," the diminutive news anchor said on TV. "Tonight, a meteor crashes into Dimmsdale without warning from NASA, destroying a whole truck. A sign of Doomsday, or a quirk of astrophysics? All that and more tonight." Timmy sat in front of the TV, enjoying some vanilla ice cream. He took a bite when he saw those idiots crying on television. The ice cream tasted sweeter as he savored their suffering. Cosmo and Wanda, disguised as pins, also smiled as that moron Flappy Bob whined about his lost forth quarter. "For our first story, the largest yacht ever to be owned in Dimmsdale was purchased," the camera zoomed out, revealing the reporter was standing on a yacht and wearing swim trunks, "by me!" The man said cheerfully. "It is in the opinion of this reporter that anchorman salaries are the best!" Sunset sat behind him on the couch. Timmy, while savoring the pain of those idiots, couldn't help but notice Sunset was...unusually quiet and nervous for some reason. It was 9 PM at the Canterlot Library. Normally, the only person in CHS at this hour was the janitor. But because of the subject of the meeting, several students had been allowed by the Principal Sisters to stay past closing time where they could talk in secret about their most pressing concern: Timmy Turner's destructive revenge and how to stop him from acting out again. Various sides sat at the big table and began arguing over how to deal with Timmy's wrath. Princess Twilight said nothing, hearing all sides and taking notes before being allowed to make the final judgement. The secrecy of the meeting proved to be necessary, as the discussions got increasingly heated. "YOU WANT TO KEEP HIM IN A CAGE?!" Sunset angrily bellowed to Applejack. "Who said cage?" the farmer girl said defensively. "This here's a....nice, metal box where we can keep Timmy from hurting someone and where we can watch over him twenty four seven until the rune is finished." Applejack held up dog-sized kennel that she usually kept for Winona. "That's a cage!" "Also, Timmy has, like, a ton of magic on his side," Rainbow said with an unimpressed tone. "Do you really think that little box can keep him in?" Applejack silently conceded her point with a frown and threw the kennel aside. "OK, ah say we invite him into one of our homes, trick him into thinking he's sick," Applejack said. "That way we can shove him into bed and keep him where we can see him for the next few days. My granny can watch-" "You're still treating him like a criminal!" Sunset argued angrily. "Well Darling," Rarity threw back with glare, "he did destroy a truck!" "Those idiots and Crockpot humiliated him!" Rainbow yelled back. "But destroying a truck was so mean," Fluttershy muttered. "Those meanies were being mean to him!" Pinkie yelled back. "While thinking they were being nice!" It was rare for Pinkie, of all people, to defend an act of violence. But the actions of Gary and Betty made Pinkie's stomach turn so much, she was on Timmy's side. "It was self defense!" "HE DESTROYED PROPERTY!" "HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO STAND UP FOR HIMSELF!" "ENOUGH!" Twilight yelled in a voice that blew everyone away, ending the dispute. Everyone pulled themselves up looked back at the Princess of Friendship with shock and a bit of fear. "Sorry," Twilight said sheepishly, "Royal Canterlot Voice." "Maybe we need to take a break," Flash said in a soft tone. "This whole thing is getting to us." "Guys," Thunderlane said in a soothing tone, "this could all just a huge coincidence. Maybe that meteor came on its own." Everyone turned to glare at blue-haired jock. "It could!" He said defensively. "My friends at the observatory said the meteor plummeted to the ground at a speed well beyond terminal velocity," Micro Chips said. Everyone, not knowing what that meant, stared at the science geek blankly. "It means it fell too fast for any normal meteor," Twilight said, translating for the other students. Micro face-palmed in frustration. "Not to mention the meteor materialized out of nowhere without warning," Micro added with a glare to the skeptical jock. "Unless you have some alternative hypothesis for how a ton of space rock could suddenly appear, then by all means, contribute!" "OK, he probably did do it," Thunderlane reluctantly conceded with a frown. "B-but I have a hard time believing he could do that. He seems like a good kid." "Not normally, but it appears that the corruption of the Stone has begun." Rarity said ominously, "And now he's begun his descent into becoming a ne'er do well." "I really, really doubt that's happening." Rainbow said with crossed arms. "What do you mean?" Rarity asked Rainbow. "He's had that thing in his body for, like, a week," Rainbow said with a stern frown. "He's probably been making wishes without us knowing. If he's supposed to go crazy, wouldn't he have done it." Rainbow turned to Twilight. "Is there, like, a timetable for becoming an evil villain?" Princess Twilight grew pensive. "Well...these stones mostly faded to legend. So their properties aren't fully known." "So y'all are sayin' he's doin' this of his free will?" Applejack asked Rainbow with a pointed glare. A concerned look formed on everyone's faces. "Did you see what he was put through by those peppy happy idiots!" Gilda threw back. "That wasn't a prank. That was torture. Torture. I wouldn't do that." "You tortured Crocker," Applejack pointed out. "He deserved it," Gilda said unapologetically. No one dared argued with her. "Not to mention some idiot put his what he went through on Tube Yoo!" Flash through in with a frown. "Has anyone figured out who that was yet?" Flash was not by nature a violent person, but he looked like he wanted to have words with the jerk who humiliated Timmy on the Internet. "I don't know," Sunset said with a frown. "The username just has 'AB'. Who do we know with those initials?" Pinkie felt a serious frown form on her face. "I know who it was." Everyone looked at the pink hair girl, her bright blue eyes becoming narrow as she prepared her answer. "Apple Bloom." Applejack said with a roll of her eyes. "I doubt my sis would ever do something like that. She...likes Timmy too much for that. And even if she did, she would have come all the way from Canterlot Elementary to do that." "Oh," Pinkie said with a frown. "Gettin' back to mah point," Applejack interrupted. "If he's not being corrupted, than what does that say about Timmy?" "I mean," Sunset admitted meekly, "he normally is a...nice...kid. But...he can be really, really...vindictive and bratty sometimes. But he's not too bratty that he can't learn from his mistakes or say sorry. I mean, he did do his punishment chores without magic. If were really a bad kid, wouldn't he have used magic to do his chores?" "I mean, he has hurt people," Rainbow observed. "But only when those people hurt him, like that freak who kidnapped him." "He dumped garbage on Vicky's head," Pinkie said with a look. "But only because that girl was being really mean to him." "He wished a bunch of spiders on me," Gilda said with a smile. She frowned when everyone turned to stare at her. "He did that?" Rarity asked with concern. "Why?" "Because I put a fake spider on Dash's little sister." Gilda's smile was proud. "He was standing up for his friend." A cheerful smile formed on Rainbow's face. "Really?" The school athlete asked excitedly. "Why didn't you say anything?" Sunset asked Gilda in a serious tone.. "I didn't think it was a big deal," Gilda replied with a shrug. "You thought him wishing poisonous creatures on your body wasn't a big deal?" Fluttershy asked with a serious look. Gilda's grinning face was replaced with concern. "What?" "Spiders can inject poison into other people's bodies," Fluttershy said under her breath. Gilda was a little bit freaked out. "See," Rarity pointed out with a hiss. "It is plain as day he's out of control!" "Out of control?" Rainbow asked with some disgust. "Have you seen the jerks he's had to deal with! That witch of a babysitter, that idiot Crocker, those bullies, those rich brats who cheated him, those other brats who laughed at him," Rainbow said, her voice becoming more and more sad as she went on, "that psycho who kidnapped him, those peppy-happy idiots." "And his parents...aren't always around," Sunset added with a sad expression. "It's like they want to ditch him any chance they get." An aura of melancholy fell over everyone, as they recounted the depressing facts in Timmy's life. "Man," Flash commented sympathetically, "Timmy...has had to deal with a lot. It's like...everyone in his life is out to get him. I mean, how can he live with that and not go crazy!" "I would," Limestone Pie added with a snort. "If that idiot Crockpot did to Marble what he did to Timmy," the gruff Pie sister commented with a dark look ,"I'd pound him to gravel myself." Pinkie, for once, shared the dark look that was on her elder sister's face. Even for someone as nice as Pinkie, her niceness had limits when it came to her younger twin sister. "And how are you guys any better?" Gilda asked Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy with a serious look. "You didn't exactly complain when my crew and I thrashed Crocker and those two clowns." The three girls suddenly looked at their hands. "If it was your brothers and sisters in Timmy's shoes, wouldn't you do the same?" "You're absolutely right Darlings," Rarity said to Gilda and Limestone with a pointed look. "I don't fault you for giving that pathetic excuse of a teacher a good thumping. If he touched a single hair on Sweetie Belle's head, I would happily do it myself!" The martial arts champion and the rock farmer let smug smiles form on their faces. "BUT I certainty wouldn't murder them over it!" Rarity threw in. "What do you mean murder?" Thunderlane asked with concern. "Imagine if those two had been in that truck when the meteor hit," Rarity hissed. "Or worse, what if some innocent bystander had been in or near the truck? Or what if the meteor hit someone else?!" The feeling of horror descended over everyone at Rarity's observation. Even Gilda and Limestone were aghast at the idea that Timmy's retaliation could've gotten someone killed, innocent of not. "But Timmy wouldn't do that," Pinkie muttered with some sadness. "Maybe not on purpose sugar cube," Applejack replied solemnly. "But it's clear the boy doesn't think things through! Whether or not those varmints deserved it, that meteor could've hurt someone else real bad...or worse. Sure, we got lucky once. But let's say some other jerk comes into his life and hurts him. If he thinks it's A-OK to drop rocks on people, what do y'all think he'll do next?" The thought brought everyone to another horrified silence. "And if that rock is messing with his brain....the next time...someone else wouldn't be so lucky." Everyone silently mulled over that scenario. They didn't like thinking of Timmy as a threat to public safety, but it he proved he could do a lot of damage when sufficiently angered. And...they were really lucky that only the truck was destroyed. The teens turned to Twilight, having silently decided to end the conversation. "Well Twilight," Sunset said to the pony princess in a soft voice. "what do think we should do?" Twilight mulled over her answer, before rising from her chair. "Out of all the beings I've encountered, I've never met someone more in need of friendship," Twilight concluded solemnly. "Timmy sounds like he's had it pretty rough and has had to deal with a lot of terrible people," the pony princess concluded. But then her face shifted into a more stern, princess-y look. "But let me clear: having terrible people in his life doesn't give him a right to be terrible, and it certainly doesn't give him a right to do this." Sunset was little annoyed. "But that idiot Crocker humiliated him." "You humiliated me!" Twilight yelled at Sunset. "Should I have dropped a meteor on you?" Sunset thought about and frowned. "Twilight turned to everyone else. "Should I have done that to Sunset after she turned you guys into zombies?" Everyone frowned in discomfort. "I know what Crocker did was beyond horrible, and you all have a right to be angry at him. But I was always taught to believe in mercy and compassion." Princess Twilight continued in a stern tone, "There are situations where you have to use lethal force, but this isn't one of them.Timmy has every right to be mad, but he had no right to put other people in danger." She paused and frowned. "I don't think Timmy is pure evil. But he's not responsible or mature enough for this power, and if he thinks this is the way to deal with his problems, we need to take it away from him." "So your saying we should put him in quarantine like Applejack said?" Sunset asked in a tone that indicated that while she was upset at the prospect, she couldn't rule it out entirely. Princess Twilight looked askance at that. "Look, I know you're all scared about what Timmy did, but don't let this affect-," "We're not gonna ditch him!" Sunset said defensively. "Darling, while I don't exactly approve of what he did," Rarity replied with a stern gaze, "I would never dream of abandoning Timothy over it." "Truck or no truck, Timmy's one of us now," Rainbow said with a serious tone. "I wasn't accusing you of that," Princess Twilight said empathetically. Twilight couldn't help but notice that everyone frowned at the insinuation that they would ditch Timmy over this stunt. Timmy had long stopped being just a mission to them. They all, in one way or another, had become invested in his well-being. It made her heart so fuzzy. "What I am saying is don't let this affect your behavior toward Timmy. Right now, he trusts all of you guys, and we can't endanger that. Timmy may not be academically gifted, and naive, but he's not blind. If any of you change your behavior, he'll notice," the Princess of Friendship stressed. "So don't do anything that could make him question your trust in you. My advice: keeping acting the way you normally act to him." "So just keep being nice to him," Sunset surmised. Twilight nodded. Everyone smiled. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Thunderlane said with a smile. He then frowned. "But...how do we stop him from, you know, dropping meteors on people." "Like Rainbow said," Princess Twilight observed, "the only time he lashes out is when he is under extreme duress. We just have to protect him from those kinds of situations, and keep an eye for anything that goes after him." Gilda smiled wryly. "Well don't worry Princess. I'll make sure nothing goes after him. I mean, he is mildly tolerable." Gilda wouldn't admit it, but everyone knew she cared for the boy.. "But she would, you know, keep a closer eye on him?" Applejack asked the Princess. "As long as you do it in a way he won't notice you," Princess Twilight said sternly. Rainbow Dash smiled. "Don't worry Princess. He won't notice we're there." "Why are you here?" Timmy asked with some confusion. Fluttershy and Rainbow were sitting next to Timmy on the bus. Rainbow smiled like Timmy said the silliest thing in the world. "Because...I always take this route to go to Canterlot High." "Yeah this bus is so comfortable," Fluttershy said, only to groan. "Ow, sat on a spring," she said with a wince. Timmy didn't look impressed. "This bus only goes to Dimmsdale Elementary." "Uh...we'll walk the rest of the way to save gas?" Fluttershy offered. Timmy, holding his goldfish in his arms, let out an annoyed sigh. "OK class," the arts and crafts teacher said. "Today we're going to make origami." Timmy took Cosmo, disguised as green paper, and started folding him. All the while using Wanda as a ruler. "Oh Timmy, please make me into a crane," Cosmo gushed. "They represent wisdom." Wanda roll her eyes. "That would be a-," Wanda stopped her sarcastic quip when she noticed someone at the door. "Uh Timmy?" Wanda said, gesturing to the door. Timmy looked at the window of the door. To his annoyance, he saw someone standing at it. Lightning Dust. As soon as she noticed him, she turned away. Timmy let out annoyed sigh and asked to be excused. Timmy went into the hall and confronted the orange and yellow haired girl, who was trying and failing to hide herself behind a trash can. "Why are you here?" Timmy asked. "What are you talking about?" Lightning Dust asked Timmy with a silly smile. "Why we're you watching me through the window?" Timmy asked in a more assertive tone. "Uh...I was held back...several years?" Lightning Dust replied with a smile. "That isn't a surprise," a gruff voice asked. Lightning turned with some annoyance to the speaker. "And what do you know about-," Lightning Dust's heart fell into her throat when she saw who it was. "We meet again, Lightning Dust," Truant Officer Shallowgrave hissed, menacingly baring his hooked hand at the Canterlot teen. "Hey Officer," the delinquent squeaked. "It's been a while." "Remember the Arcade Disaster of October 12th," the eyepatched man grunted. "Uh-," "Let me jog your memory." His hooked hand became a laser beam. Lightning Dust ran with a scream, while Truant Officer Shallowgrave chased after her, blasting her all the while. Timmy watched this with confusion and annoyance. "So how do you play Timmy ball?" Scootaloo asked. She and her fellow Crusaders decided to hang out with Timmy and his friends at Canterlot Park. Timmy couldn't help but notice how adamant the three Crusaders were about spending time with him here in this spot. "Well-," Timmy began, only to hear a sneeze coming from the bushes. "What was that?" Elmer asked. He and the rest of Timmy's friends looked confused as they stared at the bush, while the Crusaders looked nervous. "Nothing," Apple Bloom said with an uneasy smile. "I didn't hear a thing," Sweetie Belle denied. "Nada," Scootaloo said abruptly. "We should get back to the game and not pay attention to what's in the bush," A sniffle was heard. "There's definitely something in that bush!" A.J. remarked in an analytical tone. "It is a raccoon?" Chester asked excitedly. "Oh boy, game meat!" "I'm more of a possum person myself," Apple Bloom said. "Ow, thorn!" A female voice yelled from the bush. Timmy pinched the bridge of his nose, and wandered over to the bush. He found Sunset hiding there with binoculars. Sunset met his annoyed gaze with an attempt at looking innocent. "Uh, birdwatching?" Timmy felt his eye twitch. With a yell, Timmy dived into one of the bathrooms at Dimmsdale Park, and hid himself in one of the stalls. "Every one is so annoying today," Timmy yelled with frustration. "They keep following me around and won't leave me alone!" Cosmo and Wanda poofed in front of him. He couldn't help but notice they were looking at him with teasing smiles. "Uh Sport," Wanda said as if she was about to laugh. "The reason seems pretty obvious." Timmy looked at this fairy godmother with consternation. "What?" "Because they care about you, Timmy," Cosmo said happily. He poofed up a phone. "Allow me to demonstrate." He dialed a number. "Hey mom!" Cosmo said to Mama Cosma. "Cosmo darling, how are you?" The green-haired fairy said. "What if I told you Wanda called me a moron and left me?" From the other line, the green-haired fairy poofed up a flamethrower. "Then I would destroy her and bring you home safe and sound! No one can be allowed to mess with my son!" "Thanks, bye." Cosmo abruptly hung up the phone. "Allow me to demonstrate," Wanda said, make her own call. "Wanda," Big Daddy said over the phone in his gruff voice. "What's happening?" "Cosmo-," "Say the word, and I'll have him put on ice," the garbage collector threatened. "Nope, everything is fine," Wanda interrupted before hanging up. "Does Cosmo need to be put on ice?" One of Big Daddy's associates asked him ominously. "Not yet," Big Daddy muttered with a growl. "Can I come out now." Binky burst out of a nearby freezer, his skin blue and his head coated with frosted. "I c-can't f-feel my w-wings," the bald fairy shivered. "You should've thought of that before you stole Big Daddy's parking spot," Big Daddy's associate growled. "Aww," Binky conceded before going back into the freezer. "Sunset following you around and putting a leash on you is annoying," Cosmo pointed out. "But she's doing it because she cares about you." Timmy looked confused. "She does?" "Timmy we're fairy godparents," Wanda assured him with a smile. "We can tell. Sunset hasn't just watched you. Even that would be a step up from Vicky." "She's played video games, sang you a lullaby, and even hugged you," Cosmo pointed with a warm smile. "Why else would she do all those things?" "Remember Timmy, you were kidnapped and later tormented by the Learn-A-Torium," Wanda pointed out, "And while you getting into trouble happens practically every week, Sunset and her friends don't know that." "They also don't know that we have super magical powers to protect you either," Cosmo expressed with a smile. Timmy's frustration was replaced with understanding. "I guess."Timmy felt a warm smile form on his face. His hand fell into his chin as he thought furiously. "What's wrong Timmy?" Wanda said. "I'll talk about it later," Timmy said defensively. He let out a sad sigh. "I should probably go say sorry to Sunset. She is trying to protect me." He walked out of the bathroom, his fairies disguised as pins on his shirt. "Not that I need it. There's nothing out there that can-," Timmy paused and noticed a table. It was a table full of candy. Gum drops, chocolate bars, candy corn, you name it. A sign above said, "Free Candy for Boys With Pink Hats." "Oh boy," Timmy said, his mouth salivating at all the sugary sweets. "Doesn't that seem a little suspicious," Wanda pointed out. "Who cares," Timmy said happily. "Makes sense to me," Cosmo muttered obliviously. Hidden in the bushes, three girls looked at the pink hated boy the way a spider looked at its prey. "This is it girls," Adagio said with vicious glee. "As soon as he wanders over to the candy, he'll step on the electric-rigged platform we hid underneath, electrocuting him into unconsciousness. We'll abduct him and rip the stone out of his body." "This is gonna be so sweet," Aria gushed. "Magic powers here we come," Sonata chirped. "He's coming over," Adagio told her sisters to get them to simmer down. "Patience." The buck-toothed little brat wandered over. "Timmy!" a voice said. The three sirens looked and saw a purple-haired brat on a scooter and came over to them. She parked her scooter near the table. "It's Dash's little sister," Aria groaned with disgust. The two elementary aged kids chatted. The purple haired girl noticed the candy and wandered over. "Oh no!" Sonata exclaimed with horror. "She's gonna get electrocuted too." "Who cares?" Aria asked. Sonata shrugged. "Makes sense to me." The two kids wandered over to the table. Adagio smiled. She would get her powers back, and get her sweet revenge on one of the Rainbooms. Only for the two children to take the candy and walk away completely unharmed. "What?" Adagio hissed. The three sirens crawled out from the bush and wandered over to the table. "What happened?!" Adagio asked angrily. The eldest siren wandered over to the hidden platform. She stepped on it, but no electricity came out. Aria and Sonata also were confused. "We wired this perfectly!" Aria looked down at the grass. "I see what happened." "What?" "Dash's sister disconnected the cord with her scooter." Aria said with some annoyance. The plug that connected the platform to its power source had been severed. Sonata happily bent down and put the plug back onto the outlet. "There we go," Sonata said proudly. "All-," A massive electric shock went out, followed by Adagio screaming in pain. Aria and Sonata turned to see an electrocuted, steaming, and burnt Adagio glaring at them with unhinged fury. Sonata gulped. "Aria did it!" Sonata exclaimed, literally pointing a finger at her pig-tailed sister, much to her annoyance. Adagio was about to respond angrily, but instead let out a wet couch before collapsing onto the dirt. Timmy was doing his practice laps with Rumble and the rest of his team at Clover Community Center's indoor track. Despite still being in last, he didn't feel as much pressure before, since he knew they didn't look down at him. "That's it Timmy," Rumble called, "you got it!" From the roof through a window, the Dazzlings themselves plotted a scheme, out of sight from everyone else. "OK girls," Adagio said, holding up a soccer ball. "This soccer ball contains knock out gas. With it, we can knock out Turner and all those brats." She threw the ball into the window, closed it, and waited for it to release its gas. After a few moments, the Dazzlings opened the window, only for the fake soccer ball to remain inert. "What happened now?" Adagio groaned. "Must've failed," Aria said. "Like how we failed to conquer the world," Sonata chirped, much to the annoyance of their older sisters, who glared at the soccer ball. "Oh boy!" A scratchy voice exclaimed. The Dazzlings saw that Rainbow kicked the ball around a bit, much to the hope of the sirens. Only for the soccer fanatic to kick it back into where they were, right into Adagio's arms. "Uh-," Adagio muttered. The gas was released in a purple haze. Aria and Sonata scattered, leaving Adagio to get knocked out by the gas. Timmy was on his lawn, doing his work out. Despite Rainbow not being there to coach him, he insisted on doing his own workout at home. He was strenuously doing push ups. Cosmo and Wanda were disguised as plastic water bottles and acted as his coach. "Wanda was that 29 or 182?" Cosmo asked Wanda. "10," the pink fairy stated. Timmy fell to the ground in disgust. "I can barely do ten." "Don't worry Timmy," Wanda assured her godchild. "These thing take practice. I'm sure you'll get there." Hidden from the behind the fence in a neighboring house, the Dazzlings looked at the brown-haired boy with disdain. The poofy-haired siren held up a straw in one hand and a tranquilizer dart in the other. "You're power will be ours twerp!" Adagio scowled. She put the dart into the straw and spat it. It flew toward the boy... "Timmy," Sunset said happily. "Dinner." She held up a plate of tuna salad. "Oh boy," Timmy said, looking at his babysitter with joy. The dart bounced off the plate, ricocheted off the tree, and flew toward Adagio. "Not this time!" Adagio ducked, allowing the dart to miss her. The sirens groaned when Sunset patted Timmy's head, before leading him into the house. "Phew! That was close. At least nothing happened-" The dart lightly bounced off the Dinkleberg's door. Suddenly a loud siren came out from the house, to the horror of the sirens. "WARNING! WARNING!" A loudspaker blared with Dinkleberg's voice. "YOU HAVE ACTIVATED THE DINKLEBERG SECURITY SYSTEM!" An electrostatic gun burst out of the ground, aimed directly at Adagio. "IF YOU DO NOT VACATE THE PREMISES AT THE COUNT OF FIVE, YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED....PLEASE!" Adagio stood there like a deer in the headlights, while Aria and Sonata dove out of the way. "ONE, TWO...." "But-," "FIVE." An electric blast struck Adagio, shocking her, and leaving her fried and crispy. "YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT A LESSON ABOUT TRESSPASSING! HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!" "Dinkleberg," Adagio groaned, before collapsing to the ground. The sirens were back at their apartment. Adagio, once she had her electric burns treated, sat at the table, scribbling and trying to come up with a reason for why her plans failed. Aria listened as Sonata recounted her own plan for getting the stone, complete with slides. "And that's how we pretend to be stone collectors," Sonata finished. She clicked the button, revealing crude stick figures of herself holding up the stone and her sisters hugging her. "And how we get our magic back. The end." "Man Sonata," Aria said, "I thought you were dumb, but this is a different level of stupid. It is so stupid, they ought to call it Sonata stupid!" "Oh yeah," Sonata said with a frown, "you're....stupid." Aria rolled her eyes. "Aria," Adagio scolded, "Sonata's trying her best. I don't see you coming up with any ideas." "Yeah, your ideas certainly worked out," Aria snarked. "That's why I am looking at my notes," Adagio said. "I'm trying to find out what our mistake was." "Boring," Aria grumbled. "This is why I became the Crown Princess," Adagio gloated. "I study my mistakes, like any future leader should." "And what have you learned, oh leader?" Aria asked with more than a bit of annoyance in her voice. Adagio let her hand fall into her chin as her face twisted into serious thought, before a flash of brilliance came into her face. "Canterlot High," Adagio hissed. "What?" "My plans have failed because those stupid Canterlot brats keep getting in our way," Adagio said. "We just got to...get them out of the way." Aria put on a pretense of being impressed. "Really brilliant idea Adagio. You've outdone yourself." Aria put her hands on her hips. "But there's one teeny, tiny flaw in your plan." "What?" "WE DON'T HAVE OUR MAGIC!" Aria yelled in annoyance. "The only reason we took that school over was with our song. We probably could fight maybe one of those brats, but not all of them. Heck, even if we did get our magic back, the Rainbrats would use their rainbow powers on us." Adagio's expression became troubled. "And if you couldn't tell," Aria continued, "those brats are watching him like a hawk. If they even caught a whiff of us near the boy, they'd hand us our butts." Aria let out a sigh. "Well duh," Sonata intoned. "Sunset looks like she really loves Timmy-Wimmy." Sonata cooed over that. "Of course she does," Adagio growled, "The boy is a good asset." "I wonder how Timmy would react if he saw the mean old Sunny," Sonata mused. Adagio's eyes widened. "That's it," Adagio said with a smile. "What's it?" Aria asked. "Timmy looks up to Shimmer and those Canterlot goons," Adagio commented. "But what if we could get him to look up to us instead." Aria was intrigued. "How?" "What if he learned about an evil mastermind who brainwashed others?" Adagio began with a smile. "One who was pretending to be his friend just to use him. And then some brave sirens swooped in to warn him about this...monster." Aria was surprised, but then smiled brightly at what Adagio was getting at. "That's...actually not a bad idea," Aria said with sincerity in her voice. "Oh I see," Sonata said. The noise of broken china erupted from Sonata's head. "Oh wait, I don't." Aria and Adagio frowned. "We tell Timmy about Sunset Shimmer still being a demon," Aria explained to her baby sister. "So that we can look like the heroes, while turning Timmy against ol'Bacon Hair." Sonata smiled at that too."That's a great idea," Sonata said excitedly. "Yes it is," Adagio said with a confident smile. "In one move, we'll have our revenge against that pathetic unicorn who got in our way, and all the magic we need." Her smile got even wider. "Our comeback appears to be just around the corner," Aria and Sonata grinned manically at that. "And this time," Adagio said with a dark look in her eyes, "we'll make sure no one can stand in our way." > Old Grudges (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "How's your sundae?" Sunset asked Timmy. Sunset was answered by Timmy happily stuffing his face with more ice cream. The two were at an ice cream parlor at the Dimmsdale Mall. Sunset had taken Timmy there to apologize for obsessively following him around. "Again, my friends and I are sorry for following-," "I get it," Timmy said in a surprisingly understanding tone. "You guys were trying to help me. Sunset smiled warmly. Once again, Timmy seemed to display a keen insight. "Well why wouldn't I want to help you?" Sunset said in a kind voice. "You're just so adorable." She came up from behind Timmy and started giving the brown-haired boy a noogie. "Stop it Sunset," Timmy screeched, albeit with some joy. "You're embarrassing me." "It's part of my job as your babysitter," Sunset said, stopping and returning to her seat. "Anyways, as long as you and everyone else don't do it again, we're cool," Timmy assured her. "I promise," Sunset uttered, briefly cocking her head at another table. Lightning Dust couldn't help but let an amused snort come out of her nose. "Aww, Sunset's practically in love with Timbucktooth," the girl mocked. Gilda responded with a roll of her yellow eyes. She and her crew were acting in their capacity as the boy's bodyguards. Princess Twilight still insisted on them watching the buck-toothed kid, so did, albeit from a distance to avoid aggravating him further. "I bet she's gonna get him a wolly pop," Rolling Thunder mocked. "She thinks he's so adowable," Hoops mocked. "Coochie coo," Dumbbell teased. Despite what her friends thought, Gilda respected Sunset's affection for the boy. She even felt some of it too. Not that she would ever admit it that out loud to them. She had a reputation to uphold. Her eyes wandered to the edge of the food court. He noticed three people with hoods down. Her eyes narrowed when she couldn't help but notice they seemed to dart away from her. They looked familiar. Uncomfortably unfamiliar. "I bet she's gonna buy him a lollipop," Dumbbell said with a nasty cackle. "I-," Dumbbell paused as he saw kiosk full of the large rainbow lollipops. "Gilda can I have a lollipop?" Dumbbell asked, his demeanor that of a five year old. "Can I have one too, pretty pwease," Hoops asked. Rolling Thunder and Lightning Dust also looked at her with puppy dog eyes. Gilda snorted. "Do I look like a buffet to you guys?" They switched to an even more insidious tactic: the whimpering lip. Gilda sighed and relented. "Fine, consider this your paycheck for doing this." She got up to get them the lollipops. If she had been looking in the same direction, she would've noticed the hooded people were gone. "Stop yanking on my arms!" Sonata whined as her sisters dragged her from the food court. "It hurts!" "It hurts because you won't keep up!" Aria bellowed. Once they were a good distance away, they stopped. "So why didn't we just go over there and tell him?" Sonata asked Adagio. "Because Gilda Griffon was there, you idiot!" Aria yelled with anger at her sister. "She and her goons are bodyguarding the brat," Adagio pointed out spat. "The second they spot us, they'll be after us." Adagio and Aria's expressions weren't just angry, but a bit fearful. Gilda was tough, a prankster, and more than a bit ruthless. When she was under their spell, it made her a good asset: while she lacked any musical ability for the Battle of the Bands, she was useful to the Dazzlings in another way: She and her crew helped sabotage the competition as delinquents, adding to the chaos and hate they fed off of. "You're the one who put glue into my synthesizer!" Micro Chips accused. "Why would I do that?!" Bon Bon raged. "You're so bad at playing notes nerd I wouldn't bother! You probably put the racoon in our piano!" "Or maybe it was you!" Lyra yelled at Bulk. "You call that music?!" Bulk exclaimed. "Your compositions are highly derivative and lacking in any originality!" Lyra looked utterly enraged. "Them is fighting words!" The four descended into a ball of violence. From a distance, Gilda and her minions cackled like madmen. "We're on a roll today!" Lightning gushed. "Let's go mess with another group of losers!" Dumbbell exclaimed. Gilda's eyes flashed green for a moment. A more malevolent smile formed on her face. "Don't worry, we're just getting started." The green energy from the fight and from Gilda's gang flowed into the gems of a few nearby sirens. Adagio found herself looking at the white-haired girl with twisted admiration. Had they triumphed, the Dazzlings might've made Gilda one of their agents of hate. But the second she was no longer under their spell, she wasn't exactly...pleased to have been brainwashed into being their minion. Unlike the Rainbrats, Gilda didn't adopt the pony mentality and try to make friends with them. Not by a long shot. Princess Twilight and Flash Sentry held hands as they walked out of Canterlot High. It was the night after the Battle of the Bands. With Twilight still having another week on Earth, Flash decided to take her on a date to celebrate their victory against the sirens. Right now, the blue haired boy was giving the pony princess a tour of the neighborhood. Unbeknownst to them, two girls watched the lovebirds with malicious glee while hidden within a few trees. A sadistic smile formed on their faces as they prepared to make them suffer for destroying her magic. Aria rose from the bushes, bearing her most deadly weapon. A paint ball gun. "Payback time," Adagio said with vindictive joy as she watched her younger sister aim the gun at them. Just as she got out of the bushes, Aria saw something in the distance, and her eyes twinkled and her mouth smiled like she was a child in a candy store. "Adagio look," Aria said with glee, "new gems." Adagio looked and her eyes widened. There was a table with a bunch of shiny red gems. On top of it was a sign that read "Free Siren Gems". With Sonata-like glee, Aria lept out of her hiding spot and ran toward the table. Adagio walked toward it, exclaiming, "this sounds too good to be true." But then Adagio frowned. She realized when things seemed too good to be true, they probably were."Aria, don't-," it was too late. A rope snared Aria's leg and she was foisted high into the air. "Get me down! What is this?!" Aria screamed as dangled upside down. "I thought you might come back for revenge." Aria looked at saw a familiar yellow eyes looking at her. "And I was right." Gilda Griffon looked at the girl with crossed arms and a mocking smile. "Get me down, now!" "Well that wasn't very polite," Gilda said in a faux-sad tone. She looked down and picked up the paintball gun. "So this was your big scheme against the Princess? Ruining her dress?!" Gilda let out a mocking laugh, much to Aria's growing fury. "I guess that's what happens when all you have is magic. You never have to learn to use your brain. Otherwise you wouldn't have fallen for something so obvious." "Shut up!" Aria bellowed in embarrassed rage.. "Nah, we have something to discuss," Gilda said, a deadly edge forming in her voice. "You used me and my friends as your sock puppets." Aria's anger was replaced with fear. "Adagio, help!" Gilda looked toward the woods and spotted the eldest siren. Adagio, believing it was every siren for herself, tried to run away, only to bump into someone. She found a devious looking Lightning Dust glaring at her. Adagio tried to run in the other direction, only for the rest of the goons to surround her. "Can we talk about this?" Adagio whimpered uneasily, feeling genuine fear for the first time in a long while. One Talk Later "Let me down!" Adagio screamed. She was hung from the air along side her sister. Instead all she got was nasty round of laughter, much to their growing rage. "Let this be a good lesson to you," Gilda commented with a remorseless smile. "While Rainbow Dash and her dweeb friends may buy that love and friendship junk, we don't." She yanked the eldest siren up by her hair to her face. "You mess with us again,- "-we'll tie you up feed you to the crocodiles!" Rolling Thunder finished. "Yeah," Hoops added. "Got it, cheese poof hair?!" Dumbell added. "Yes!" Adagio exclaimed, her voice full of pain, rage, and defeat. "Let me go!" Gilda did rather roughly, before walking away, leaving the two older sirens hanging by their legs. "And my hair does not look like a cheese poof!" It was one of the most brutal things Adagio had ever experienced. Gilda and her goons hadn't just humiliated them. They reminded Adagio and Aria of how powerless they were without magic. For a siren princess such as herself having to be fearful of a mortal human wounded Adagio's pride like nothing else. "We also don't have proof Sonata," Adagio told her younger sister. The sisters had spent the whole night online, trying to find info about Sunset's sordid past, but there was nothing: no comments, no pictures, no posts. All the data from Sunset's past had been picked clean from the Internet. The good news was, so was theirs. "Look at them," Adagio continued with scorn, watching as Sunset pat Timmy on the head. "She's got him wrapped around her finger. He's not gonna turn against Sunset without hard proof." "If we talk to him without proof and he talks about us to Sunset," Aria hissed to her oblivious younger sister, "we're finished." "What about going to the school?" Sonata asked her sisters. "Too risky," Adagio replied. "If we're spotted, it's all over for us." "Then what are we doing here?" Sonata asked Adagio. "Sunset Shimmer was, as you recall, Public Enemy #1," Adagio said with an opportunistic smile. "That entire school resented her, that it didn't take too much magic to bring that hate to the surface. Sure she 'has turned over a new leaf', but there has to be someone out there who still remembers and despises Sunset." "Then why don't we go to school?" Sonata pondered. "Too risky," Aria said with a frown. "Even the brats who still don't like Sunset would probably hate us more for driving them crazy. We go to the wrong person, they'll go right to Sunset and she'll go after us." "That's why we can't look in Canterlot," Adagio cautioned. "We have to look in Dimmsdale, where no one's heard of us." "But who could still-," Aria stopped as some angry hooded girl stormed up to Sunset near the food court. The approach of that girl got Sunset to panic. Sunset immediately began getting up from her table. Timmy looked confused, but eventually followed Sunset. Gilda and her friends got up and walked away to follow the two, but not before casting a suspicious glance at the hooded girl. Moondancer couldn't believe it. What was she doing here? Why was Shimmer hanging out in her town? It wasn't enough for that monster to run her out of Canterlot. Now, she had to come here? "So you hate Sunset too," a voice from behind her said. Moondancer turned around and saw three girls behind her, seemingly coming out of nowhere because she hadn't heard their footsteps. One had blue hair tied into a ponytail, another had purple hair tied into pigtails, and the final tallest one had big poofy orange hair. "Who are you?" Moondancer asked suspiciously after being startled momentarily. "And what's it to you, cheese poof?" The orange haired girl looked offended. "My hair does not look like a cheese poof," she said before reigning in her temper and putting on a sly smile. "We are three girls who had their lives ruined by Sunset Shimmer," the one with orange hair purred. "And by the way you act around her, she's done the same to you. How would you like to help us get revenge on her?" Moondancer was taken aback by the offer, but frowned suspiciously at the trio. "I don't care what the witch does," Moondancer said with a growl. "But don't you think it's unfair," the purple haired one asked her, "that girl acts like a monster, and she gets everything?" Moondancer grit her teeth. "Not worth my time," she muttered, walking away from them. "What if we told you she was being mean to that little kiddie?" the pony-tailed one asked with some sadness. Moondancer stopped, and looked at the three with a snarl. "What?" "She's planning to humiliate that sweet child," Adagio said with a forced frown. "You don't want her doing to that poor boy what she did to you, right?" Moondancer clenched her fists at the idea. That Sunset would stoop so low and hurt an innocent kid. Messing with her was one thing, but hurting a ten year old boy was another thing. After moments of serious thought, she looked at the girls with a nasty smile. "What do you need?" "Anything you got on ol'Sunny," the purple haired one requested. "And we'll show that poor boy so he knows to stay away from that...monster." "I'd be glad too," Moondancer said, taking out her phone and exchanging contact information. "Try going to that stupid school as well," the orange haired one advised, "and looking at their digital archives." "I will," Moondancer said. In a computer at the corner of Canterlot High's library, a hooded girl worked away tireless. She was amazed her login for the school computer still worked after all this time. After hours of digging and hacking, she found a folder labeled BACON. She opened it and found proof of Sunset's misdeeds. She put it all into a compressed file and prepared to send it to Adagio. But she hesitated. Moondancer remembered how she was taught by her parents never to give into vengeance. Never to give into hatred. Never to hold a grudge. But then she remembered those idiots who called themselves their friends laughing at her when ran off in tears and then writing her off as damaged goods. She remembered that witch Sunset stabbing her in the back and humiliating her. She remembered the best night of her life being ruined. She remembered Sunset's stupid, stupid smile as she took what was rightfully hers. And now she was going to humiliate some poor kid for kicks. Moondancer pushed the send button with a vicious grin. She then picked up her cardboard box of materials and prepared to deliver it to those three girls personally. She smiled, thinking about how Sunset would finally be exposed for the bully she truly was. Timmy was hard at work in his arts and crafts class. His new project was coming along smoothly. "Timmy, are you sure you don't want any help?" Wanda asked, disguised as a pair of scissors. "Nah, I want this to be special," Timmy replied to his fairy godmother. "If I want Sunset to be my permanent babysitter, it has to be something authentic! "See Wanda," Cosmo said with a nasty grinwhile disguised as an eraser. "Timmy has once again found another hopeless crush."Timmy angrily picked up Cosmo and began painfully grinding him against his table. "I WAS KIDDING! I WAS KIDDING!" Cosmo wailed. With one last cut, the card was finally done. It was poorly made picture of himself and Sunset done in crayon. It was drawn on a purple piece of paper with a caption in yellow that read "BEST BABYSITTER EVER!" "Aww that's great, Timmy," Wanda cooed in a motherly tone. "Sunset will love that," Cosmo assured his godchild. The idea filled Timmy with a joy he had never felt in his life. The idea of Sunset being his permanent babysitter made Timmy feel giddy. He could picture how it would go in his mind. Timmy and Sunset held hands as they stood on the beautiful cliff overlooking a beautiful coastline. The sky was blue, dolphins happily leapt out of the water and waved at them, and the air was filled with the tweets of beautiful birds and the tides peacefully washing the rocks below. Sunset wore a beautiful white dress and gold colored high-heeled shoes. Timmy wore a pink bow tie, a tuxedo. and fancy black dress shoes. "It's so beautiful," Sunset said with a happy tone. "It is," Timmy agree, his tone soft but kind. He let go of Sunset's hand, and turned toward the tall teenager. "Sunset?" "Yes?" Timmy bent his knee and presented her with a small black box. "Will you," he said, opening the box, revealing an application form from Rainbooms Babysitting, "let me sign up for one more year of Rainbooms Babysitting?" "Timmy," Sunset said with happy astonishment. "I...I do." Sunset lifted Timmy into her arms and gave him a warm hug and kissed him on a cheek. Timmy let out a dreamy sigh. "So when are you going to ask her sport?" Wanda asked her fairy godson. "After I get home," Timmy happily replied. "Gilda's taking me to train first though." The bell rang, signaling school was over. Timmy walked out of the classroom, only to be confronted by Tad and Chad. "Hey Turner, want to come to our super-exclusive and cool track party?" The blond rich kid asked the buck-toothed boy. "Yeah?" "Well you should've gotten an invite!" Chad finished. The two laughed at him. To their annoyance, Timmy didn't meet their mockery with his trademark anger. "Whatever," Timmy simply said with a shrug, before walking away with a smile, much to their annoyance. "Why isn't Turner freaking out!" Tad asked angrily. "Don't know," Chad muttered. "I guess his...brain fell out or something." "Yeah that's it," Tad agreed. "Timmy." The buck-toothed boy was approached by Chester and AJ. "Tad and Chad mocked you, but you didn't get mad?" Chester asked. "The're just idiots," Timmy said with a shrug. AJ looked at his pink-hatted friend with confusion. "What are you planning?" AJ asked, sensing of his best friends had something up his sleeve. "Let's just say someone's teaching me I don't have to let those two jerks get to me," the buck-toothed boy replied. His smile grew as a familiar black truck pulled into the entrance of the school. Gilda and Timmy trained in an open field in Dimmsdale Park while barefoot and in robes. Gilda was teaching Timmy to block a kick, but Timmy kept flinching. "Come on," Gilda said in a mocking voice, "are you really afraid of a foot? Are you some scared little girl?" "It's coming too fast," Timmy said anxiously. "Too bad," Gilda said, "an opponent won't care about your feelings. You've got to block, or you'll neve-," Timmy suddenly rolled behind her, pushed on her thigh, and knocked her to the grassy ground. Gilda was shocked. This was the first time Timmy had managed to take her down. And this was after a few days of training. The brown-haired boy looked at her with a cheeky grin."Who's the scared girl now!" Timmy gloated. Gilda felt a proud smile form on her face. "OK," Gilda said, pulling herself up, "you've earned your ten minute break. Heck, after this, I'm buying you your favorite snack." Timmy walked away from Gilda with a triumphant smile, and sat down to take a rest. His godparents appeared before him disguised as pigeons. "Slick move sport," Wanda said. "Yeah," Cosmo said, "you're like Jackie Chan, only shorter and weaker." Cosmo's insensitive comments couldn't take away from Timmy's good mood. "I bet I could take down Francis by now," Timmy said with excitement. He looked around. "Where's my hat?" Timmy asked with some annoyance. "It was right there." "Over there," Wanda said, pointing with her wand. For some reason, his hat ended up near the dense forest at the edge of the park. Timmy tried to reach for his hat, only for something to snatch it away. With a growl, Timmy ran into the forest. He looked around. "Where is-," "Excuse me," a voice said from behind said. Timmy turned around and saw three girls coming up to him. They looked high school age. All three of them wore hoodies and blue jeans. The tall and svelte one had orange hair that looked like a cheese poof, the second tallest had purple hair with a blue streak tied up in pigtails, and the shortest one had two-toned blue hair tied into a ponytail. Timmy smiled a bit. "Hey, your hair looks like a cheesy poof," Timmy said to the tall one. A bit of annoyance flashed on the older girl's face, while the two other girls smiled with mocking amusement. "How nice of you to point that out," she said with suppressed anger, before she smiled again. "Is this your hat, little boy?" The orange haired one asked with an odd smile, while holding up his hat. "I found it in the woods and was wondering if it...belonged to you." "Yeah?" Timmy said with a bit of confusion in his voice. The girl bent down and gave it to him. "Thanks," Timmy said with a mixture of courtesy and unease. "I'm gonna-," "Wait, where are you going?" The tallest girl cooed with a weird grin. "We haven't gotten to know each other." "My mom told me not to talk to strangers," Timmy replied. "But we know you, Timmy Turner," the pigtailed girl pointed out. Timmy's eyes widened. "How do we now? We read about you in the papers and saw you escaped from that van. Cool." Timmy looked uneasy. "Yeah, I-," "What about that sewage line that burst out of the ground," the orange one added, "onto the freak chasing you. I'm sure it was a coincidence," she added, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Timmy felt a tingle go down his spine. "Yeah," Timmy said with a nervous smile. "A coincidence." "Funny how an asteroid happened to hit the truck of those two idiots who humiliated you," the pigtailed one mused. Timmy felt his blood go cold. "I-I don't know what you mean," Timmy stammered, feeling sweat run down his forehead. "I'm sorry, but I really have to go." Timmy uttered, turning back to where he had run from, hoping Gilda was still there. He opened his mouth, ready to call her name. "I think we do," the orange one said, "and so does Sunset Shimmer." The words made Timmy pause, and he turned around to look the girls in the eye. "What about Sunset Shimmer," Timmy pressed them. "Let me guess," the orange-haired girl said with hands on her hips, "she's acted nice to you, right?" "Yeah." "And all her...friends started being nice to you too?" "Yeah?" "Oh, no," the pig-tailed one said with terror in her voice, "Sunset's at it again." "At what again?" Timmy asked them. "Hmm," the poofy-haired one said. "Nah, we don't want to tell you and hurt your feelings." "He's probably not mature enough to handle it," Aria said out loud. The three turned away from him and started walking away. "Three.Two.One," Adagio said under her breath. "I am mature enough!" Timmy yelled in an immature tone. The three turned back to him with nasty grins. "Sunset's duping ya," the pigtailed girl said. "What?" "She's doesn't love anyone except power," the orange haired girl said ominously. "That's why she's hanging out with you." "That's not true," Timmy said with a frown. "She's a monster," the pigtailed one added. "No she isn't," Timmy said, clenching his fists, angry at anyone who insulted Sunset. "She's a meanie," the ponytailed girl said. Timmy looked ready to explode. "Sunset's the best babysitter ever-," "No she's not!" the orange-haired girl snarled. Timmy was taken aback by the sheer rage in the girl's voice. "Think about it," the tall girl continued. "She shows up into your life and acts all nice. Suddenly you start making all these new friends. Then, all these grown ups would normally wouldn't interact with a little kid started acting...nice to you." "They're nice," Timmy argued as if that explained everything. "Now they're following you around. Yesterday, I saw the very girl training you spying on you while you were enjoying your Sundae with ol'Sunnybun." Timmy was taken aback. "They-they were?" A first hint of doubt formed on the buck-toothed boys face. "B-but Sunset promised-," "See," Adagio said. "But-but, they were just trying to protect me," Timmy argued, albeit without much resolve. "I was kidnapped and-" "Protect you or make sure the magic stays safe?" Aria inferred. Timmy felt his brain shut down for a moment. "That's what she wants you to think," Adagio warned in a mocking tone. "All so she can get what she wants." "Don't believe us," the pigtailed girl said, pulling out some book from her hoodie. "See for yourself how honest sweet and lovable Sunset is". She handed the book to Timmy. It read "Canterlot High Yearbook", and had a green bookmark in it,. "Or don't," the orange haired girl said, "but don't come crying to us when Sunset stabs you in the back." "Timmy," Gilda called you, "Timmy, where are you?" "Whatever you do," the ponytailed one said in a scared voice, "don't tell Gilda you saw us. She'll tell Sunset and Sunset will get...mad and destroy you." "Timmy," Gilda called again, getting closer. The three immediately ran away, while Timmy stood there, frozen. He heard the sound of footsteps and twigs snapping from behind him. "There you are," Gilda said happily from behind her. "What are you doing in here?" "Nothing," Timmy said, hiding the book in his robe, while turning to face Gilda with some anxiety on his face. Gilda immediately picked up on his fear. "What's wrong?" Gilda asked with a frown and narrowed eyes. "Nothing." Gilda was not impressed with his excuse. "Timmy I may be a 'C' student, but I'm not an idiot. I can tell something's bothering you. What's wrong?! You didn't respond when I called you. Some idiot giving you a hard time?" She pressed with crossed arms. Timmy pointed to some green snake. "I was scared of the snake. It is..the poison-y kind." The snake simply blinked. "Don't worry," the white haired girl said with a smile, "I'll take care of it!" Gilda tackled the snake, and starting beating it up. "TAKE THAT, EVIL SNAKE!" "I think you'll be the strongest kid in your class in a few weeks time," Gilda said to Timmy with a smile. She was driving him home in her truck. Timmy sat in the back, forcing a smile to his face. The yearbook was hidden in his robes. He started absorbing more of those three girls said. A part of him didn't want to believe it. But a part of him...was telling him it was true. Sunset and her friends had been following him around a lot lately. They were...really nice. Now that those girls pointed it out, Sunset and her friends were taking an unusual interest in his life. Not even his own parents did that. He'd been down this road before. Maybe...maybe... "I think we should open it sport," Wanda said, disguised as a notebook in Timmy's lap. "I'm sure those girls are just spreading a rumor," Cosmo assured him, disguised as a pencil case. Gilda dropped him off at his house and waved good bye to him, a gesture he returned weakly. Sunset's motorcycle wasn't there, showing she still wasn't here yet. With extreme reluctance, Timmy opened the textbook where the bookmark was. It showed a picture of Sunset in some fancy purple and white dress and wearing some crown. Underneath the picture was a caption that read, "Spring Fling Princess". > Past Demons (A rewrite of True Colors) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "That is odd," Wanda said, holding up the textbook, looking at the picture with Sunset. Timmy and his fairies were in his room, mulling over what those girls had told him. "Why has Sunset never talked about this?" "What do you mean Wanda?" Timmy asked the pink-haired fairy. "Timmy, winning a prom is every girl's dream," Wanda said. "The fame, the adoration, everyone looking at you like you're the greatest person ever," Wanda said with a wistful smile on her face. "Always want you can't have, ay Wanda," Cosmo commented. Wanda zapped her husband in the butt. "The point is," Wanda said, "it is odd Sunset hasn't talked about winning her prom, or Spring Fling as they call it." Timmy looked a bit nervous. He looked at the bookmark and saw the written instruction on it. "Ask Sunset about sophomore year." Timmy watched from his window as Sunset pulled into his house. "So Sunset," Timmy said walking up to Sunset, who was doing some homework in the living room ,"what was...your sophomore year like?" Sunset looked a bit nervous. "Nothing," Sunset said with an uneasy smile. "Nothing...worth talking about." "Really?" Timmy pressed, trying to hide his anxiety. "Completely boring," Sunset relied, darting her eyes back and forth. "Why do you ask?" "Nothing," Timmy said, looking at the floor, "just wanted to know what high school is like." "Lots of work," Sunset said with an ironic sigh. "But don't worry you're getting smarter-," "Got to go to the bathroom," Timmy said suddenly, "be right back." Timmy ran away from Sunset, who looked confused. Timmy ran into his room. His fairies also look concerned. "Sunset lied," Timmy said with some fear. "But why?" "Maybe we should check this out," Wanda said. Cosmo's expression said he felt the same way. "I think I know one way to settle this." Timmy said. "I wish I had my time traveling scooter." With a poof, the scooter appeared before them. Timmy climbed on, while his fairies morphed themselves into being his accessories. Cosmo was his helmet while Wanda were his goggles. "Let's go back in time to Sunset's sophomore prom." "Good idea!" Wanda said. In a flash of light, the fairies and Timmy traveled back in time. One Year Earlier In a flash of light, Timmy and his fairies materialized in front of Canterlot High. "Man, this looks the same," Cosmo commented. "It's only been a year," Wanda pointed out. "Oh." "Well there's something different," Timmy pointed out. "Blubber nuggets," Flash Sentry said dispassionately while he was dressed up in a blubber nugget costume and handing out free samples to students. "Dimmadome Brand Blubber Nuggets. They're chewy." Timmy snickered a bit at Flash's misery. Remembering his task, he wandered toward the building. Flash was passing out his blubber nuggets when someone approached him. "Dude." Flash turned and to his horror, he saw Sandalwood looking at him with annoyance. "What are you doing?" Sandalwood asked in a soft, sad tone. He was holding a clipboard for some kind of petition. "Look this isn't personal Sandalwood," the blue-haired teenager pleaded. "The guy paid me 2 dollars-," "Dude, you're...like...killing baby whales," Sandalwood muttered in a disappointed tone. "I guess I'm gonna have to...persuade you." His clipboard transformed into an ax. The vegan guy bared it menacingly at his best friend. Flash dropped his plate of samples and ran away screaming. "Dude, I haven't...like...persuaded you yet," Sandalwood called out while chasing Flash with his new ax. "So what's the plan Timmy?" Cosmo asked his god son as they approached the entrance. "Wish yourself to be a 16 year old, act mature and smart, and get into a really awkward romance with Sunset or one of her friends, and inadvertently make the time stream make come true by trying to change it?" "No," Timmy replied. "That's too complicated. I'm just gonna wish myself invisible and to not be heard." "Good thinking Timmy," Wanda said as she raised her wand. Cosmo raised his wand with a roll of his eyes. "Boring." Timmy became invisible. He walked into school, with no one sensing him. Hanging above his head were green banners that read Spring Fling. It was then that Timmy noticed someone familiar. Sunset was walking down the hall, waving at everyone with her usual happy smile. She wore a leather jacket, a purple shirt with a sun logo on it, black and purple boots that went up to her thighs, and an orange skirt with a purple and yellow stripe. "Vote Sunset for Spring Fling," she called out, passing out flyers to people who happily accepted them. "You got my vote." "Don't worry about it." Timmy felt reassured. No one seemed to be afraid of Sunset or wary of her presence. "Fluttershy," Sunset called out to the girl who was going through her locker. For some reason, the girl jumped at the sound of Sunset's voice. "We need to...talk," Sunset said. For someone reason Fluttershy seemed to shrink away from Sunset's gaze. "But-," "Now." Fluttershy swallowed and followed the fire-haired girl in a way that made it look like she was dragging her feet. Timmy followed them down some hallway to a darkened dead end when he heard a shout. "ARE YOU COMPLETELY BRAIN DEAD?!" Timmy shook at that voice. It sounded familiar and...different. Timmy peaked around, and what he saw made him rub his eyes. Sunset was pushing Fluttershy up against a wall, and glaring at her with unhinged fury. "I WAS-," "I wanted red banners! Red!" Sunset bellowed, looking at the pink-haired girl like she was a worm, while holding up one of the banners. "Red completes me!" She through the streamer on the ground and stomped on it in disgust. "Not this junk!" "But everyone else-!" "I'm the princess of Spring Fling! Me!" She then let Fluttershy go, not out mercy, but disdain. "Never mind. Why am I wasting my time talking to a complete idiot like you." A nasty grin formed on the fire-haired girl's face. "I mean, if I wasn't around, no one would ever look at you, you're so stupid." Timmy felt his jaw drop at that, as did Cosmo and Wanda. His shock shifted into disgust when he saw Fluttershy running away from Sunset, tears coming down her eyes. "Pathetic," Sunset grunted. She then stomped away, oblivious to Timmy's presence. "Wow," Cosmo said with wonder. "It's like Vicky, but with a leather jacket and cooler hair." Wanda never imagined those words could ever go together. It seemed...unreal. The Sunset she knew was always kind, nice, if a little strict. For once, her husband's observations really did hit the mark. She did act...like Vicky. To Wanda, it looked like some monster was wearing her skin. "Maybe this is...a bad day," Timmy rationalized as she followed Sunset down the hall. "Aren't Sunset and Fluttershy friends?" "Sunset Shimmer," someone called. Sunset forced a smile to her face as a teacher approached her. It was Miss Cheerilee. "Miss Cheerilee," Sunset said with fake politeness. "I heard you yelling and saw Fluttershy running down the hall crying," the compassionate teacher remarked. "Is everything alright?" Timmy saw a flash of annoyance-not regret, annoyance-appear on Sunset's face. But then it was replaced with a false veneer of concern. "Fluttershy...saw a poor, innocent cat being abused," Sunset lied with ease. "She was so upset at what had been done with the cat, she cried." Sunset put on sad puppy eyes. "And seeing a poor creature be abused like that I..." Sunset's hands fell into her eyes and she cried crocodile tears. "She's pretending to be nice, like Vicky," Timmy remarked. Her acting was so good, even Miss Cheerilee was fooled. Miss Cheerilee embraced the girl. While Cheerilee was looking away, Sunset smiled a triumphant smirk, the kind Vicky would once she knew she got away with it. "I'm sorry Sunset," Cheerilee assured the seemingly forlorn girl. "Maybe you and Fluttershy can bring it to the shelter." "Of course Miss Cheerilee. That sounds," her eyes darted back and forth, "wonderful." The pink-haired woman was satisfied with the answer and walked away. "Sucker," Sunset said under her breath. Putting on a happy smile, Sunset walked away, oblivious to the brown-haired boy watching him. "Let's recap," Timmy said. "Sunset bullied Fluttershy until she cried over something dumb, lied to the teacher, and acted nice when she thinks everyone is looking." Timmy frowned uncomfortably. "It really is like Vicky." . "Don't worry Timmy," Cosmo said. "Maybe Sunset...just got on the wrong side of the bed." Timmy looked unimpressed with this answer. "Or maybe," Wanda butted in, "this could be a phase that Sunset overcame. You certainly weren't always so nice when we first came into your life." "Like when you used us for popularity, or when you threw water balloons at Tootie, or when you wished for Christmas Every-," "OK I get it Cosmo," Timmy muttered with exasperation. But then he smiled at his fairies. "Maybe you're right. Maybe Sunset was...just in a bad place." "Even if she was like Vicky," Wanda reassured her godchild, "that doesn't mean she was planning world domination. "My plan for world domination hinges on me winning," Sunset told her subordinates, Snips and Snails. They were in a commons room with no one watching them. Unbeknownst to them, a group of three was watching them in a way they couldn't detect. "OK," Snips said uneasily. "Sure," Snails muttered. "We need to do everything to make sure I get crowned Princess of...my world!" "Don't you mean princess of Spring-," "I KNOW WHAT I SAID!" Sunset bellowed at the two goons. "OK," Wanda said uneasily, "maybe she is...a villain. Or maybe she's doing make believe." "Did you make sure everyone else was disqualified," Sunset hissed at her minions. "Yep, except Moondancer," Snips replied. An evil smile appeared on Sunset's face. "Don't worry. I've got something special planned for that little brat." Timmy felt a child go down his spine. The way Sunset spoke and talked... It was when Vicky was preparing to do something mean to him. "When do you meet with Moondancer?" Snails asked. "5 PM today. I convinced the little brat we're going to have a study date." Her evil smile returned. "Little does she now the subject I'm studying is...her." "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Sunset cackled, much to the unease of Snips and Snails. "Maybe she's....really good at make believe," Wanda uttered, trying to convince herself. Sunset got off the bus in front of Moondancer's house. She knocked on the door, slightly impatiently. Eventually Moondancer came out of the house. "Sunny," Moondancer greeted happily. "I hope I didn't wait to long." "Of course you did," Sunset half-joked. The two laughed. Eventually Moondancer led Sunset into the house. She didn't notice the door was still open, or someone sneaking in. "Wait, that's the really shy girl on the bus," Wanda commented. Timmy's eyes widened at what he saw. It was that girl, and yet it wasn't. The redhead girl he met was so withdrawn, she made Timmy look like a social butterfly. But this girl was happy, cheerful, and animated. "I'm so excited to be going over electromagnetic detection," the girl muttered, sounding like AJ, but with a Tootie-like voice. "So am I," Sunset lied again. "I baked you some cream buns," Moondancer said happily pulling them out of the oven while wearing adorably pink oven mittens. "Why that is so...sweet of you," Sunset remarked. Timmy could sense the insincerity in the tone, but Moondancer didn't. Moondancer pulled out her laptop and logged in. As soon as she logged in, Sunset smiled. When the red and purple haired girl wasn't looking , Sunset spilled water on her own skirt. "Moondancer," Sunset complained. "I spilled water on myself." "Oh no," Moondancer panicked. "Before the stain sets in," Sunset begged her "friend", "I need you to get me some fresh towels." "OK," Moondancer said, running out of the room. Sunset looked at the laptop and pumped her fist in triumph. "The idiot didn't even bother closing her laptop," gloated Sunset as she wandered over to it. "Now I have access to all her personal information." "So Sunset hung out with Moondancer just to steal her secrets?" Timmy asked, bit of anger in her voice. "But what for?" Wanda asked. Timmy took out the yearbook and looked at the picture of Sunset winning. His anger toward Sunset grew when he saw how Sunset began downloading some of Moondancer's files, while eating the cream buns the bespectacled girl baked for her. That wasn't just Vicky-level mean. It just felt...sick. To want to hurt someone who made you food. Timmy poofed behind the stage of the Spring Fling. He and his fairies witnessed Snips and Snails getting some last minute instructions from the fire-haired girl "Do you guys have it set it up?" Sunset asked her two minions. "Yep," Snips said. "Ready to go," Snails said. "Excellent," Sunset said. "When I become the ruler of the world, you two will receive seats of power in my new world order." "Cool," Snails said. "Do we get free blubber nuggets," Snips replied. Sunset ignored the idiotic proclamations of her minions. Her hands rubbed with glee, "At last," she gushed," the final phase of the final part of the penultimate part of my master plan is coming to fruition." She hissed. "Once the Fall Formal starts, those fools won't ever be able to challenge my power." Timmy watched this with growing alarm. Wanda tried to laugh this off, but couldn't. If Sunset was acting make-believe, she wouldn't going to such efforts. Cosmo himself looked at Sunset with concern, especially as she started cackling again. Sunset left the stage while Snips and Snails stayed behind. Timmy noticed the stage go dark. The Spring Fling was beginning. "Our two contestants for Spring Fling are Moondancer Aquarius and Sunset Shimmer," some kid in a suit announced. Moondancer walked up to a podium, wearing a pretty purple dress, looking happy yet humble. She was followed by Sunset, who also wore a grin. Timmy noticed Snips and Snails looking from behind the curtain at Moondancer with nasty joy. "We love them both," the kid at the microphone said, "but there can be only one princess this Spring Fling." The two goons yanked on a lever. "Our Spring Fling Princess is-" suddenly a canvass fell from the ceiling. A bunch of pictures appeared on screen. They showed so many embarrassing moments of Moondancer's life. Including one where she wet the bed. Moondancer looked horrified, and soon everyone started laughing. Timmy felt horrible for Moondancer and wanted to intervene, but couldn't. His past experiences warned him against messing with the past. "Could this get any worse," Timmy said. Snips and Snails yanked on some rope. A bucket of oatmeal was dumped onto Moondancer's head. The laughter of the crowd grew even louder. Moondancer ran off the stage, crying her eyes out, to Timmy's shock. With Moondancer gone, Sunset got the crown by default. While her smile seem humble, her eyes watched where that girl ran with mean-spirited joy. Cosmo and Wanda were beyond mortified. Timmy felt sick and scared as a similar memory came back into his mind. Eight year old Timmy Turner walked around Dimmsdale Elementary. He was so eager to get to Mrs. Bellamy's class. She was his nicest teacher, and gave out the best cookies. "Hey twerp," a mean voice said. Timmy turned to his right, nd saw Vicky smiling at him, while holding a cup of water. Timmy felt scared. "Hey Vicky," Timmy said nervously, "what's-," Vicky through the cup of water at Timmy's lap. "Hey everyone," Vicky called to the people in the hall, "Timmy wet his pants." Soon everyone pointed at Timmy and started calling him bedwetter. Timmy's humiliation grew from bad to worse when he saw Vicky taking pictures with her camera. "That's going on the Internet," Vicky said with a smile. Timmy felt tears poor down his eyes. Timmy let out a wail, before running into the bathroom and locking it. "Sunset really did do that?" Timmy whimpered. His confusion grew as he watched Flash dance with Sunset. Timmy and his fairies immediately came back into the room with a flash. "I wish I had a cellphone," Timmy asked his fairies with desperate fear. It was poofed into his hand. Timmy dialed a number and uttered a code word that was written onto the bookmark. "I'm coming over for dinner," Timmy muttered. He had to glance over his shoulder, thinking Sunset might be listening in, even though she wasn't in the room with him. How could he feel that way about the girl who had been so nice to him? "Thanks for dropping me off at...Sarah's house," Timmy said to Rainbow, who drove him to the three girls' apartment on the other side of town. "Anything to help a friend of Sunny's," Rainbow said happily. Timmy struggled not to frown at that. Once, he would've smiled, but now he began to doubt if anything Rainbow was saying was true. "Thanks," Timmy said with a forced smile. "See you later future track star," Rainbow cheered, before driving away. With enormous trepidation, Timmy stepped into the apartment. "There's one thing I don't get," Timmy asked the three sisters. She was in their somewhat dilapidated living room. She learned their names and more or less confirmed that he accepted Sunset was evil. "What is it?" Adagio asked. "If Sunset's evil," Timmy asked uneasily. "Why does everyone like her?" "We have the answer for that," Sonata said. The three Muses led Timmy into a living room and sat him in front of a TV. They put a tape into the VCR. It showed all of Sunset's evil behavior, which only confirmed to Timmy what he knew was true. Sunset was an evil, lying supervillain. "Canterlot High is said to be the perfect high school," Adagio muttered. "People there seem to get along really well." "Yeah," Timmy said. He remembered how everyone in that schooled seemed to be good friends to one another. She remembered how nice all of Sunset's friends were. "But in reality," Adagio said, "they act nice for a reason." She paused for dramatic effect. "Sunset's reasons." One last clip appeared. It showed Sunset triumphantly putting on some crown. In a flash of blue light.... Timmy started shaking and hyperventilating. Cosmo and Wanda, disguised as pens in Timmy's pocket, gasped in terror. Sunset became a demon. A big, flying, scary red demon. Her smile was fanged and bloodthirsty. She had an evil look on her eyes. She then turned her two minions into mini demons. She then flew up to a panicking group of students, who ran inside to school in a desperate attempt at safety. "I've had to jump through so many hoops tonight just to get my hands on this crown, and it really should have been mine all along," Sunset said in a furious tone to the students. A fake smile formed on her face after she growled. "But let's let bygones be bygones. I am your princess now," she said, her forehead and hands glowing blue. "and you will be loyal... to me!" The entire front of the school was destroyed, causing Timmy to let out a scared whimper. Sunset flew inside, and with glowing eyes, turned everyone in the school to her zombies. The clip ended. Timmy stared dumbly at the screen, unable to process what happened. "She brainwashed them into being her zombies?" Timmy squeaked. "Yes," Adagio said. "In fact..." she said with a smile. "She brainwashed all of Canterlot High." "They were being brainwashed into liking you by her," Aria finished. Timmy felt to sick to respond. "Why?" He asked in a weak voice. "Sunset took over that school long ago," Aria said in foreboding tone. "She's turned everyone into her puppet." "Once she learns about people with magic," Adagio said in that same tone, "she lures them there by pretending its the perfect school." "And then she uses her demon powers to steal their magic and brainwash them to into being their slave," Sonata finished. "You must've felt her power too," Adagio said. Timmy felt his eyes water. "Yeah...she was...nice..." "That...that was her messing with your head," Adagio warned. "Once she lures someone in, she traps them in their mind, while she uses their bodies as her slaves to do her bidding." Timmy sat there, feeling like his entire world had collapsed all around him. "So what do you-," Adagio began, only for Timmy to leap out of his couch and lock himself in the bathroom, The Dazzlings were stunned. But then they smiled the widest smiles they ever smiled. Once the bathroom was locked, Timmy angrily tore the card he made for Sunset to shreds and flushed them down the toilet. He then leaned against the sink and cried his eyes out. > Dancing to Another Tune (Rewrite) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Did you get the duck feed?" Fluttershy asked Sunset. "Got it," Sunset said. The two teenagers were walking around the pet store at the mall, buying supplies for Fluttershy's planned nature study of ducks along the Klamath River. "Duck brush?" "Got it." "Rubber duckies?" "Got it," Sunset said. "Do you have the duck cams and microphones?" Fluttershy asked Sunset. The fire-haired girl held up the equipment in her hands. "Yep," Sunset said. "Do you really need all this?" "For a future zoologist," Fluttershy said, "it is necessary for me to be able to study animals up close without disturbing their habitat." "I can see that," Sunset said, marveling at the duckling shaped camera in her hand. She idly placed one of them into her hair. "Ooh!" Fluttershy gushed. "There's a sale on fish food." "Yeah Timmy would love that," Sunset said, "He's really attached to his goldfish." "How's he doing?" Fluttershy asked with serious expression on her face. "Well, he's been fine," Sunset said, "although he's been a bit nervous." Fluttershy looked at her friend with a severe expression. "Nervous how?" Fluttershy pressed. "Well he was jittery yesterday and today," Sunset said, recalling that the buck-toothed boy seemed anxious around her. Seeing Fluttershy's panicked face, Sunset added, "don't worry, Timmy told me he was just nervous about seeing his long lost friend Sarah." "Where is he now?" The pink-haired girl asked Sunset. "Rainbow Dash dropped him off," Sunset replied nonchalantly, "He said he'll be gone the whole afternoon. I'll see him tomorrow." "Are you sure it was a good idea to let him wander off alone?" Fluttershy asked with serious eyes. "Yeah, why?" "The meteor," Fluttershy said with a frown on her face. Sunset looked uneasy. "I think we've been going a bit overboard with the spying. Like Princess Twilight said, we need to tread carefully around him. Giving him some time alone with a friend is so he doesn't feel pressured." Fluttershy looked like she was about to swallow a lemon. "Are you sure it's a good idea to be leaving him alone?" Sunset looked concerned. "Fluttershy, you're normally never the suspicious type." "Timmy dropped a big rock on people," Fluttershy pointed out. "Like Applejack said, it's mean no matter who he does it to." "Fluttershy," Sunset urged her pink-haired friend, "Timmy has been good. I doubt he's planning-," "Just like you didn't plan on becoming a demon." Sunset's jaw dropped. Fluttershy was the last one to cast aspersions on her for being a demon. To her credit, Fluttershy hid behind her hair and had the decency to feel bad about bringing that up."I'm sorry Sunset," Fluttershy squeaked, "but I'm afraid something...really bad is going to happen if we ignore him." "I can't really blame you," Sunset said in an understanding tone, "but if we want to get this right, we can't panic. Twilight said we have to keep treating him normally. Trying to follow him around would make him suspicious." Fluttershy gave her a small nod. "Sunset," Fluttershy said in a serious tone. "I need you to listen to me very carefully. I know you care about Timmy. And I think he's a nice boy. But you can't let that blind you to the fact that he could really hurt someone or," she shivered, "worse." "If I was blind to what he could do, would have I started this mission?" Sunset asked with a look. "Fair point," Fluttershy conceded. "But please don't take your eyes off him completely." "Don't worry," Sunset assured her friend. "I'm not ignoring anything. Besides, I know a way to keep him happy." Sunset walked over to the fish food on sale and began putting boxes of it in her bag, "He'll love some food for his pet fish." Sunset wasn't just buying this to keep him happy. Timmy and his very joy had become one of the things Sunset looked forward to during the week. If buying fish food would make Timmy happy, so be it. Timmy collapsed to the ground as he cried his eyes out. His fairies soundproofed the room so those three sisters couldn't hear. They then pulled Timmy into their arms and held him, patted him on the shoulder, and comforted him as he wept and wept. Several minutes passed before Timmy's tears died down enough that he could say something coherent. "Why Wanda?" Timmy muttered miserably. "Why can't somebody like me?" "We like you Timmy!" Cosmo said. Normally, Timmy would be relieved by the smiling, if goofy, face of his godfather. But it didn't bring him comfort. "Guys, its your job to love me," Timmy wailed. "I want someone to like me for me." "I'm sorry Timmy," Wanda said with a mournful expression, patting her crying godchild on the head to control his tears. "But just remember," Cosmo said with a reassuring smile, "even though Sunset turned out to be a monster, at least you have Adagio and her sisters." "Yeah," Wanda said with a smile, "they seem....a little rough around the edges, but they went out of their way to warn you." Timmy's spirits were lifted slightly by Wanda's words. "Yeah," Cosmo assured the brown haired boy. "I'm sure that deep down, they're nice, sweet girls who'll love you as much as we do." "I can't wait for that twerp to start granting us wishes," Adagio gushed with glee. The three Dazzlings stood outside the bathroom, waiting for the kid to come out. "I don't hear anything," Aria said with some annoyance. "He's been awfully quiet." Adagio frowned in serious thought. "Aria, did you go deaf?" Sonata asked with a panic. "Yes, Sonata," Aria said with a roll of her eyes, "I've gone completely deaf." "Really?" Sonata said with a frown. "Despite me being able to hear your questions," Aria snarked, "I can't hear a thing." "Oh no," Sonata said, putting her hands on her face. "Don't worry," she said, grabbing onto one Aria's ears, "I'll help you here by screaming really loud." "Get off me you freak," Aria said, trying to push her sister away and she prepared to bellow into one of her ears. Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opened. "Into position girls," Adagio mouthed. The three sisters got in front of the door, and put on a sad face as the brown-haired boy came out of the bathroom. His face was puffy, his eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly lost. His hopes were shattered. It was perfect. Now they could rebuild them in their image. "I'm sorry we had to tell you," Adagio said in a seemingly sympathetic voice, "I wish there was any other way we could've spilled the beans to you." "But we had too," Aria said, pretending to be on the verge of tears herself. "We're sorry." "I...I don't blame you," Timmy said in a voice that made him sound like all the joy had been drained from him. "Sunset pretended to be my friend and..." Timmy started whimpering again. Adagio got onto her knees and pulled the poor boy into a hug. She needed to sell the image of being a kind soul. "I know," Adagio said in a falsely mournful voice. "We know how you feel." "Really?" Timmy asked, hugging Adagio tighter. Adagio was annoyed by the gesture, and all the tears and snot getting on her clothes, but she suppressed her disgust and began patting Timmy on the head. "We thought she was our friend too," Adagio said in the most longing voice she ever put on, "we thought she liked us." "But then she stole our magic," Aria said, letting her face fall into her hands. "She did?" Timmy asked them. "We used to sing," Sonata said in a wistful expression. "Everywhere we would go, we would spread joy and laughter with our voices, but now..." Sonata began whimpering too, and letting tears fall down their eyes. Adagio and Aria barely suppressed a proud smirk. Their young sister was clearly a ditz, but she wasn't a siren for nothing. In her natural environment, of deception and manipulation, Sonata was pretty much their equal. She was killing it with her "lost soul" act. "We can't even sing," Adagio complained, hugging the boy much more tightly to pretend she was hurt. "That's horrible," Timmy said. "Why?" "Because she dreams of taking over the world," Aria said in an ominous voice. "She goes around looking for magic to steal. Every day she gets stronger and stronger." "We had to warn you before it was too late," Aria said, also joining in the fake hug, "like it was for us." "Because you're a cutie-patootie," Sonata said, also joining the hug, "and we don't want anything bad happening to you." "Thank you," Timmy said, the last of his tears dying down. "It's great knowing there are people like you out there." The three barely suppressed their usual grin. This was working out better than they hoped. The boy was so devoid of hope, he was ready to latch onto anything, like a newly hatched duckling. The good news was, he was latching on to them. "So how did you find the stone?" Adagio asked, her kindness giving way to her more usual calculating tone. She stepped back from Timmy and looked at him with keen interest, as did her fellow sirens. Timmy cocked his head. "What stone?" "What stone?" Adagio parroted with some annoyance. "How have you been making all these...things happen," Adagio said less articulately. "Are you....really magical?" Timmy asked them in a serious tone. "Yes," Aria said. "Are you sure?" Timmy repeated, putting serious stress. "Yes," Aria repeated, barely suppressing her bad temper, "we are...or were magical," Aria finished, letting out a small snarl. A smile appeared on Timmy's face. "Cosmo, Wanda," Timmy said happily, "you can come out!" The sirens were confused. "Who are-," Adagio began, before she heard a poof. Two floating creatures appeared before them. They both looked like human midgets. One had pink hair, black pants, and a yellow shirt. The other had green hair, black pants, and white shirt with a black tie. They both had golden crowns on their heads, insect like wings on their backs, and wands in their hands. The Dazzlings were completely taken aback. "What are you?" Adagio asked in astonishment. "I'm Cosmo," the green-haired girl said. "I'm Wanda," the pink-haired one said. "And we're," they said excitedly, "Timmy's fairy godparents!" Suddenly a bright neon sign appeared before them, saying those exact words. "Fairy what?" Adagio asked. "Didn't you see the sign," the being named Cosmo said. "Yes I heard you," Adagio said with a nervous smile. "But what are you?" Aria asked in confusion. "So you're assigned to take care of children in need?" Adagio asked the pink-haired one. "Yes," Wanda said proudly. "We love Timmy a whole lot," Cosmo said, ruffling Timmy's hair in a display of fatherly affection, which Timmy returned with a bashful smile. "You do," Aria said, trying to sound happy when she really wanted to vomit, "don't you." "If something were to...cause him trouble," Adagio asked nervously, "you would...deal with it right?" "I'd blow it to smithereens!" Wanda exclaimed, poofing up a bazooka while wearing a happy smile, much to the fear of the Dazzlings. "Of course you would," Adagio said, trying to suppress the tremors on her voice. "Aww honey, you had that same bazooka the night I proposed to you," Cosmo said in a wistful tone. "We'll your mom did need some...convincing," Wanda said with a sly grin. Cosmo, Wanda, and Timmy let out a small laugh at that, which the Dazzlings tried to imitate, to cover for their growing fear. "Anyways, I love Timmy," Wanda said, "which is why I'm grateful to you girls for telling us the truth." The female fairy flew up the Dazzlings to give them a hug, as did Cosmo, which they returned with sheepish smile. "Yes, well, it was nothing," Adagio said, trying not to scream in frustration. "Which is why I think we can help you," Wanda said. This gave the three sisters pause. "Help us?" Adagio asked in genuine confusion. "You said Sunset took your magic," the pink-haired fairy said. "We think we can give it back," Cosmo aded with a happy smile. "You can?" Aria said with genuine surprise. "With a wave of our wands," Cosmo and Wanda said together, "we can do almost anything." The Dazzlings hope returned. This was working out better than they hoped. "That would be...great," Adagio said, a genuine smile forming on their face. "We could get our song back?" Aria asked excitedly. "Yay!" Sonata chirped. "Wait here," Adagio said, running into a room. After a few moments later, she returned with a few items and placed them on a table in their small living room. "What are those," Timmy asked Adagio, looking at the red gems on the table. Instead of being fancy and shiny, they looked cracked and ugly. "Our pendants," Adagio said with anger. "This was what allowed us to sing." "Before that meanie Sunset ruined them," Sonata said with a mixture of fury and tears, "with her...demon magic." "Could you fix them?" Aria said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. "Well sport," Wanda asked Timmy with a smile. "I wish the pendants were fixed," Timmy said. The two held their wands. With a poof, the gems were as good as new. The Dazzlings never felt as happy as they did now. "Our gems", Sonata said with bliss. "We can sing again," Aria said. "Our dream come true," Adagio said in a rare display of excitement The sisters immediately started cheering and hugging each other. After a few moments, the cough made them remember the other occupants of the room. "Thank you," Adagio said, putting on a polite smile to the fairies and the boy. "This means...so much to us." "Don't mention it," Wanda said. "But how do we deal with Sunset?" The fairy said with a serious frown. "Oh right, that," Adagio said, remembering her fabrication of Sunset as a villain. "She's really dangerous," Aria said, putting on a scared tone, "she has power like...you wouldn't believe." "Oh really?" Wanda said with a growl. The Dazzlings struggled not to smile as the pink-haired fairy looked positively furious. Not at them, but at Big Bad Sunny. "She uses her powers to brainwash others!" Adagio said in a forboding tone. "She was trying to brainwash Timmy," Cosmo said with a snarl. "Yes," Adagio said. "It is a good thing we got to you in time." "Why didn't she brainwash you guys?" Timmy said. "Well," Adagio began, looking for a response to fill the hole in her argument. "Because she wanted us to live with our failure," Aria with a mournful expression. Adagio never felt prouder of her sisters. They would be good Hollywood actresses. "Yes. She wanted us to live with the knowledge that we could never stop her," Adagio said, throwing in some histrionics, "Sometimes, I wish we had been made into her slaves." Timmy himself looked positively furious. "That, that monster!" Timmy said with a growl. "Well don't worry," Timmy said sternly, "we'll make sure she'll never hurt anyone ever again." "You're such a good little boy," Adagio said to Timmy with a toothy grin, bending down to pinch Timmy's little cheeks. It was more important than ever to act like the sweet older sister, especially since she was mindful of the two older beings watching her moves. Thankfully, they looked at her and her sisters with joyful pride. "And you three are the sweetest girls I've met," Wanda gushed. "Can we hear you sing?" Cosmo asked. "Sure," Adagio said with a grin. This was the best case scenario possible. They not only had the boy's magic on their side, but their magic was back too. Maybe they could...turn the Turner boy into their puppet. Based off the nasty looks her sisters were giving the brown-haired twerp, they had the same idea. "Alright," Adagio said. "From the top girls." "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-," the sirens sang, "ah-ah-ah-ah." The sirens frowned. Their voices were back...but something felt off about their magic. It felt...weaker. This wasn't noticed by the other three in the room. "That was pretty good," Timmy said with a smile. "Bravo, bravo," Wanda said. "I never knew emphysema could sound so beautiful," Cosmo said. Their applause died as they noticed the dismayed expression on the faces of the three sisters. "What's wrong?" Timmy asked them. "Our pendants aren't," Adagio said with some frustration, "working like they should." "Can we-" Cosmo began, only for Adagio to hold up her hand. "No," Adagio barked forcefully. "We'll...look into that." The three sisters walked into their collective bedroom. Aria turned back to gaze at Timmy with serious look. "Just focus on bringing Sunset down," Aria to Timmy with a clenched fist and a furious frown. "Make that monster pay-," she paused, seeing the fairies looking at her. "I mean, make sure that monster can never hurt anyone again." "We will," Timmy said with a growl. He looked at his two fairies, who were completely onboard with him. "Excellent," Adagio purred, before the door was shut. "At least that problem would be...dealt with." "Why don't we send her after the others," Aria asked. "Like the pink one or that dumb princess." "Because unlike Sunset," Adagio said with a growl, "they don't have any baggage we can show off to those two fairies." A nasty smile came to her face. "No, Sunset is good enough. Let's work on our gems." Sunset drove her motorcycle to school. It was such a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. As soon as she entered the school, everyone looked at her. "Hey guys, what's," Sunset said. But her voice trailed off. Everyone wasn't staring at her, but glaring at her. "Did I...accidentally leave the door open?" Sunset asked sheepishly. "What are you doing here, demon?" Flash suddenly asked with a vicious growl. "Yeah monster," Thunderlane said with a growl, "why don't you go brainwash someone else." "Demon," Sunset said with even more forced laughter, "Flash, we already established I'm not that-," "Why are you here monster?" Sunset turned and saw that Rarity asking her that question. The other Rainbooms were staring at her with deep distrust and hate. Like she was a bacteria, and they were the antibodies sent to destroy her. "Guys," Sunset said with a sheepish smile, "is this some kind of-," she felt something grab her and smash her into her locker. She was turned, and forced to face Gilda. The martial artist was looking at with her furious expression she reserved for the most vile people while keeping Sunset's body pinned to the locker. "Didn't I tell you to scram!" the statuesque girl growled into Sunset's face. "Gilda," Sunset said with a whimper, "don't you remember, I'm not-," a large fist slammed into Sunset's ribs. Sunset fell to the ground, clutching her torso. Sunset looked up at her friends with desperation. "Guys it's me!" Sunset shrieked with tears in her eyes to her friends, letting out a pained sob. They only started laughing her derisively. "Man," Rainbow said with snide contempt, "she's a complete baby without demon powers." "Feels horrible, doesn't it?" Applejack asked her with a sneer. "Meanies deserve to be punished," Pinkie Pie said a smile. "You should be in a cage with all the other monsters," Fluttershy said, sounding both meek and nasty at the same time. "Guys," Sunset said fearfully, "I'm not a-,"a massive trash can was shoved over her head."Let me out!" Sunset begged. "It's dark! Please-!" Gilda kicked the can several times, the vibrations leaving Sunset in a daze. "Time to take out the trash!" Lightning Dust gushed. Sunset moaned as the trash can she was shoved into reached the bottom of the hill. "And stay out from Canterlot!" Gilda muttered evilly, before walking away. Sunset slowly got out of the can. Once the pain went away, Sunset sat in shock, unable to process what happened. Suddenly, everybody hated her again. Sunset immediately pulled out her journal and wrote about her predicament to Princess Twilight. A message appeared. "Sunset?" The journal asked. Sunset's hope grew. Sunset replied and confirmed what happened. "Don't worry Sunset," Twilight replied. "I am going to look into what might be causing this. Just hang tight!" Sunset let out a small sigh of relief. Sunset drove her motorcycle above the normal speed limit to Timmy's house. While her babysitting was important, she hoped that there was someone out there who didn't despise her on Earth. After pulling into the house Sunset knocked on the door, albeit with some trepidation. Her anxiety faded when she saw Timmy at the door with a smile. "Sunset," Timmy greeted, running up to hug her. Sunset felt enormous relief. Whatever was causing everyone to hate her wasn't affecting Timmy. "Timmy," Sunset said desperately, "am I glad to see you." She then pulled Timmy into a tight hug. "Really?" The boy asked. "You have no idea," Sunset said with a smile, "everyone...is a little grumpy today," paraphrased, not knowing how to explain her predicament to her charge. Timmy ran over to the couch, pulled out a comic, and sat down to read. "It is just good to see-," Sunset paused. Timmy wasn't reading his usual Crimson Chin comic. The cover was....much darker. "Whatcha got there?" Sunset asked. "Demon Hunter," Timmy said to Sunset, putting down the comic with a smile. Sunset felt something odd in that smile. "About a brave hero who hunts evil monsters bent on world domination." "Really?" Sunset asked. "Yeah," Timmy said. "You know how the story ends," his smile becoming toothy. Sunset didn't know why, but she suddenly felt unease build up in her gut. "How?" Sunset asked with some concern over Timmy's tone. "WITH MONSTERS LIKE YOU GONE!" Timmy suddenly roared, suddenly glaring at Sunset in anger. Sunset's unease became caution. "Timmy," Sunset said with some fear, "what is this-," Timmy grabbed a yellow laser gun from behind the couch and pointed it at Sunset. Timmy's reddened face and growl told her she was in a lot of trouble. "After all this time," Timmy said, his face twisted into rage, "I thought you might like me-" "Timmy," Sunset said, raising her hands in the air on instinct, "what's this-." "But no," Timmy said with another growl, "you were just a demon who wanted to use my magic to take over the world!" "Timmy," Sunset said with a quiver. "Please, I'm a not a demon anymore-," "You think I'm stupid don't you?!" He pushed a button. The laser came on with a whirling noise. "Timmy, I can explain," Sunset squealed, feeling more afraid then she ever felt in her entire life, "just-," "Explain this," Timmy bellowed with a vicious smile that reminded Sunset of Crocker. The resemblance became more stark as like the crazy man, Timmy was pointing a weapon at her with ill-intention. Seeing Timmy like that made her blood go cold. "Timmy, no!" A yellow beam answered her. The beam struck Sunset, causing her to let out a yell of agony. Then, everything went dark. > All Your Wishes And More (Rewrite) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunset felt herself come to slowly. Her eyelids felt as heavy as bricks. She strained to open them. After a moment, she finally got a good look at her surroundings. She was in some kind of glass...compartment. She felt it being bobbed up and down. The sides were covered up with something that blocked the light, while the bottom was not, allowing letting her see below was some grassy ground. The fact that the ground kept shifting showed it was moving. There was a faint reflection in the glass. One Sunset cleared her vision enough, she could see what it was. In it was some worm....creature that was red on one side of its body, and yellow on the other side. On its head was red and yellow locks that fell over to the side. For some reason, it wore a leather jacket. "What are you?" Sunset asked. To her confusion, the lips of the creature followed her own speech. Sunset tried to rub her eyes to get a better view. Only to not be able to feel her arms. "What's going-," With a growing sense of horror, Sunset realized her arms and legs were gone and she was lying on her belly. She looked into the mirror again and let out a blood-curdling shriek. "WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" "Oh, you're awake." Wherever she was being lifted. She looked up, and saw some metal roofing in the compartment she was in. The darkness faded, revealing two large hands at the sides. Sunset eventually found herself eye level with a familiar looking bucktoothed face. "T-timmy," Sunset said with a fearful quiver. The boy, normally much shorter than her, was now much bigger than her. Heck, his head was now much bigger than her entire body. "Hey demon," the boy said with a nasty smile, "how's it going?" To her growing horror, Sunset realized she was being carried inside some glass jar. And she was in the middle of some kind of forest. "Timmy," Sunset asked with growing fear, "what did you do to me?" "Well, since you treated everyone like a worm," Timmy said with a chilly nonchalance that scared Sunset more than his tantrums, "I figured you should become a worm." "Timmy," Sunset pleaded, "I'm not that kind of person anymore. I swear, I'm in a much better place." "Of course you are," Timmy said with a voice that brimmed with disbelief. "I am," Sunset insisted with desperation, "Just talk to my friends-," "You mean all those people you brainwashed," Timmy said with a growing edge in his voice. "I haven't brainwashed anyone since-," "I know all about your scheme. How you brainwashed everyone into being your slave, and then used your demon powers to make everyone like me. All to get my magic once you had me under your control." Sunset looked at Timmy with disbelief. "Timmy I didn't brainwash anyone into liking you," Sunset said with some frustration, "I know what your thinking. You think I must be like Vicky-," "How do you know about Vicky?" Timmy asked in a quiet tone. "Oh, so you were spying on me too?" Timmy concluded with narrowed eyes. Sunset felt like an idiot, having revealed what she didn't want to reveal to Timmy. "Yes," Sunset said with some shame, "I did spy on you. I know how that and everything else looks, but I swear was trying to protect you from the Stone's power." "The only protection I need is from your evil demon powers." "Timmy, I'm not a demon anymore," Sunset pleaded. "I'm not forcing anyone into liking you." "Sure, sure." "Timmy, my friends and I care-," "SHUT UP!" Timmy bellowed. "Or I'll squish you!" Sunset closed her mouth. The corruptive power of the Stone was already making him defensive and paranoid. The pony-turned-human-turned worm realized that opening her mouth and challenging his neurotic beliefs would exacerbate the situation and destroy what little mercy he apparently had. "Where are you taking me?" Sunset simply asked with some trepidation. "Everfree State Forest," Timmy hissed, staring down at the transformed girl. "Like it? It's your new home from now on." "What?" Sunset said with a whimper. Timmy opened the jar and poured Sunset on the ground. "We're in the middle of it," Timmy said with a mean smile, "away from any of the nature trails, where no tourist can ever find you." "Timmy please," Sunset pleaded, trying to get Timmy to listen. "I'm not evil anymore! Just ask everyone in Canterlot. They'll explain-" "Sorry, demon, I freed everyone from the evil spell you put them under!" Timmy said with a frown. Sunset's face twisted into disbelief. "Evil spell?" "You were a mean bully," Timmy pointed out. "Why else would anyone like you unless you brainwashed-" "Timmy, everyone likes me because-," "But with a wish, I made sure everyone remembers what an evil demon and bully you are." Sunset felt her mind slow down as the situation sank in. "You're the reason why everyone at school hated me?" Sunset asked with horrified dismay. Timmy looked proud of his 'heroism'. "Yeah, didn't expect anyone to get rid of your evil spell." "Timmy," Sunset complained, "I didn't put a spell on-," "Sorry demon, I know how much of a liar you are." Timmy said coolly. "Nothing you say...really matters to me." "Timmy please, please," Sunset said, almost on the verge of tears. "I'm not a monster anymore. I'm sorry for spying on you but-," "I wish I had some apples." Suddenly hundreds of apples materialized in front of Sunset. "Don't worry, Demon. Unlike you, I'm nice enough to make sure your new home at least has plenty of food." "Timmy PLEASE!" The boy just walked away with an expression that indicated that Sunset wasn't worth his time and energy. Sunset continued to let out more pleas, before collapsing to the ground in tears. Out of stress, she took a bite of the apple. "Actually," Sunset said, with bits of the fruit in her mouth, "these do taste better when you're a worm." She then resumed her crying. Timmy walked away, continuing to ignore the demon's whining. Timmy knew it was just part of her plan to brainwash him. He may get bad grades, but he would never be that dumb enough to trust that lying fiend. "I wish we could go back to the Muses," Timmy commanded his fairies once he walked far enough away from the demon to not be able to hear her fake tears. Wanda and Cosmo, disguised as a compass and an army knife respectively, raised their wands. Wanda's face also carried the same angry resolve as her godson as she raised her wand. Cosmo's face was also stern. Yet he couldn't help but spare one last reluctant glance and worried frown at Sunset's direction before he and his family poofed away. Aria and Sonata watched with great anxiety as Adagio looked at the ancient tomes they had kept, trying to figure out what was wrong with their gems. "I've come to one inescapable conclusion," Adagio said after ten minutes, pushing the book aside and looking at her sisters with a serious frown. "What is it?" Aria asked. "It appears our gems have been locked out of the Equestrian Flow System," Adagio gravely. Aria's jaw dropped in horror. "You can't be serious." Aria said with disbelief. "It can't be," Sonata whined, "it shouldn't be." Sonata then smiled oblivious. "What is it?" "You weren't paying any attention in class were you," Aria groaned. Adagio said nothing but let an annoyed frown form on her face. "Nope," Sonata chirped. "And those classes were, like, a thousand years ago." "OK, Sonata," Adagio said. "We'll give you an explanation." "From the mightiest alicorn to the lowliest cow," Aria began, "every being in Equestria has some kind of magical ability. The Equestrian Flow System is the magical network that unites all creatures and from where all magical energies were drawn. From the weather power of pegasi, to Celestia raising the sun, to Zebrican shamans, all creatures benefit from the System in one way or another." "So what is happening with our gems?" Sonata asked. "The Elements of Harmony are often mocked as some 'friendship cannon' that turns everything nice," Adagio said with a wry grin. "What the Elements actually do is simply banish and neutralize dark magic. That's why it destroyed our gems. But its other power is that it disables a creature's connection with magic by locking them out of the Flow System." "So, why can't we power our gems?" Sonata said, still not understanding, but concerned. "Because our ability to feed on negative energy depends on being able to draw from the Flow System," Aria continued. "And we've not just been depowered. We've been...kicked out of Equestrian magic." Sonata's draw dropped in horror. She understood the gravity of the situation. "But, but how is that possible," Sonata said with a squeal. "We've been gone from Equestria for, like, a thousand years. And we've been able to feed a little bit." "Because our connection to Equestria wasn't completely severed," Adagio said with a wise smile. "That bearded goon separated us from our home, but considering that the annoying princess was able to show up, and Sunset Shimmer was able to find her way to this world, it means there were still connections to Equestria. Heck we could've potentially have used them to go home." Adagio and her sisters frowned a little at that missed opportunity. Aria's mind fell into serious thought. "So wait. Why don't we just go back to Equestria-," "That won't work," Adagio interrupted. "Like I said, we can't draw power from Equestrian magic anymore. Even if we showed up in Equestria, or tried to go after the remaining Rainbrats, we couldn't really feed of any negative energy from an Equestrian creature, because the gems aren't part of Equestrian magic anymore". "Going back to Equestria won't automatically fix that." Sonata looked even more horrified at that. Aria looked increasingly agitated. "Our ability to harvest has been shut down for good?" Aria asked with horror. "Well, not completely," Adagio said, tapping her gem. It glowed for a short second. "By my estimate, we can still create chaos and get some negative human energy, but not to the extent we were doing these past few centuries. We could potentially charm some poor sap, but only for a few moments. Unfortunately, we'd consume that energy at a much more rapid pace than we could collect it without baseline Equestrian magic powering it." "So we're getting less magic than we did before we stepped foot into CHS?!" Aria asked with growing anger. "I can't believe this! We thought we were back to square one, but we're in an even worse position than that!" "Well, we can't feed on Equestrian magic specifically," Adagio pointed out. "However, we could potentially feed on the magic of those two fairies." "So wait," Aria said, "in order for us to regain our power, we would need their magic to do it?" "Yes," Adagio said with a frown. "But how can we," Aria commented with some fear. "Those fairies look stronger than the Rainbooms, and our song is weaker than ever." "I'd go so far as to say that those two could potentially be as strong as Celestia herself." Sonata and Aria's jaws dropped in that. "Strong as Celestia?" Aria asked with disbelief. "You're telling me those two...midgets are as strong as that busybody princess?" Adagio couldn't blame her sisters for being dumbfounded. Back in Equestria, even the most lowly creature was aware Celestia's power and presence. She was able to command the sun and later the moon when her sister was banished, and she wielded that power with a dignity and grace even her greatest enemies couldn't truly deny. Even in the Kingdom of Sirenia, a land that got its energy from volcanic vents and didn't need Celestia's sun, the mere mention of Celestia's name could make any siren feel a mixture of respect, admiration, and fear. The Dazzlings themselves understood this. Despite their power and skill, they estimated it would take plunging all of Equestria into chaos and strife in order to get the power they needed to challenge the pony princess. That's why Adagio chose to attack isolated pony villages first. In the aftermath of Luna's banishment, Celestia was too weak, both physically and emotionally, to put up a real fight or focus her energies on some hick towns. But before they could even gain a fraction of that power, the bearded cretin and his goons sent them packing. "Think about it Aria," Adagio explained. "Those fairies have the power to fix the damage Harmony did to our gems and voices. The fact that they could repair our pendants and give us our voices back, even in this weakened state, is nothing short of a miracle. Heck, they were able to upend a sewage line, send a giant meteor crashing onto that truck, teleport, and make objects materialize out of thin air." A troubled thought formed on her face. "And they can do this with the ease even an alicorn could struggle with." "But they're....they're dwarfs!" Aria protested. "Aria, you know that looks can be deceiving," Adagio said with a smug grin. "The reason we've been able to slip under the radar is because no one would expect pretty ladies like us to be capable of anything." Aria rolled her eyes, used to her sister's self-serving vanity. "Could they actually beat Celestia in a fight?" Aria thought with wonder. "I'm not sure," Adagio admitted. "They certainly have a lot of raw power, but that doesn't mean you automatically win. Despite our power, those wizards were able to defeat us by tricking us into going to that portal." She let out a thoughtful frown. "While Cosmo and Wanda are powerful enough to fix our gems, they don't seem to be able to get us back into the Equestrian Flow System." "Why not?" Sonata asked them. "Starswirl's Theory of Magical Systems," Adagio said, gesturing to a page. Her two sisters snorted at the mention of that alicorn lackey. Not that she could blame them, but a future leader such as herself swallowed her pride enough to study the strategies of her opponents. "Two systems can't interfere with one another. Cosmo and Wanda may be strong, but they don't have the ability to tamper with the Flow System." "But they could battle Celestia and even win?" Aria pressed Adagio. The orange-haired siren nodded. "So you're telling me that," Aria began, " that there is a whole of world of those...things rhat have the power to overcome alicorns." Aria clenched her fists in a jealous rage. "And they waste that power on...babysitting a bunch of human brats instead of ruling this horrible place?" "I know Aria," Adagio said with a growl. These creatures had the combined potential to rule this human scum world several times over. It was meant for lesser creatures to be ruled over by the mighty, after all. But instead they gave their power to human children, and their limited little brains. "These creatures should be lording over the human scum, not coddling them." A nasty grin appeared on their face. "But what you do you expect. The oh-so creative name for their homeland, Fairy World, proves they lack the imagination." Adagio's face became one of resolve. "But perhaps it is up to us to take up their power and put it to....proper use." A hopeful smile appeared on Aria's face, but then became a frown. "If they're stronger than Celestia, how can we get them under our spell?" Aria asked with anger. "Again, if those Rainbrats could resist us, then those fairies are head and shoulders above them in raw strength." Aria thought for a moment. "Maybe we can have Beaver Boy wish for our power back." "That's not going to work," Adagio pointed out. "We need negative energy to power our gems." "Oh Oh," Sonata said, waving her hand like an excited child in class. "Oh, Oh, Oh." "Sonata we're not in a classroom," Adagio expressed. The girl kept up this routine. Adagio face-palmed and sighed. "OK Sonata, what is your idea?" "Why don't we just brainwash Timmy-Wimmy?" Sonata offered helpfully. "We still have some of our magic. Maybe we can get him to grant us wishes." Aria's eyes widened in disbelief. "Sonata actually having a good idea," Aria commented, as if the very concept violated the laws of physics. "I suppose there's a first time for everything." A twisted smile formed on her face. "Why don't we sing that twerp a lullaby-," "Are you two completely out of it!?" Adagio asked her younger sisters with some frustration. "Our magic is weaker than it was before. If we tried to brainwash the boy, those fairies could stop us before we could do anything." Her stare became even more severe. "And what did the pink fairy say she'll do if she catches someone threatening her precious godchild?" Aria and Sonata's went pale at the thought. "Fire a bazooka at us," Sonata said with a squeak. "Yes. And what do you think the boy will do to us? He destroyed the truck of those idiots after they humiliated him." Adagio rose from her chair to look her sisters in the eyes. "Remember, we're not dealing with soft ponies who want to us to be their friends, or those Rainbrats who took up the pony cause. The boy is human: weak in body and brain, but as prone to violence as the rest of them. And those fairies seem to share that. If we do anything to make that boy even slightly angry, we won't be getting an offer of friendship and a second chance. At best, he'll take away our voices. At worst, he'll order those fairies to drop a space rock on us." Aria and Sonata shuddered at the very thought. After centuries in this world, the two had gained a healthy understanding of humanity's capacity for violence. It was one of the few things Adagio liked about humanity: unlike cutesy ponies, they had the strength of character to ditch morality and do what needed to be done. "So what do we do?" Aria asked Adagio with some fear in her voice. Adagio crossed her arms, struggling to come up with a plan. "Maybe we should just....go back to her." Adagio felt her hackles rise, while Sonata looked downcast at the very idea. "NO!" Adagio bellowed, grabbing Aria by her hoodie and into her face. "We're not going back to her. We don't talk about her. We don't mention her. Her does not exist! Got it." "OK," Aria said a little fearfully. Adagio released her sister. "Then what are we gonna do?" "Nothing," Adagio said with a smile. "Those fairies and the Turner boy owe us for our 'heroism'. For now, we can just milk that for all its worth, and have them grant us our hearts' desire." "That doesn't sound to bad," Aria said with a satisfied smile. "You mean," Sonata said with excitement, "I can get all the tacos I want." "Yes Sonata dear," Adagio said with a happy smile, "all that and so much else." A sly grin formed on the elder siren's mouth. "But in case the boy get's second thoughts." Adagio reached into her drawer, and pulled something out, "I've got something to...push him in the proper direction." A few minutes after discussion, a knock on the door was heard. "Who's there," Adagio asked. "Me," Timmy's voice said. "Me who," Sonata said. "Sonata, just open the door," Adagio ordered with a frown. Sonata skipped to the front door and opened it. Timmy walked in with a proud smile. As soon the door was shut, Cosmo and Wanda appeared before them with proud expressions. The latter seemed nervous for some reason. "Did you take care of Sunset?" Adagio asked the group of three. "Sunset's now a worm," Timmy said happily, "and trapped in Everfree, where she can't hurt anyone ever again." "And Canterlot High?" "Freed from her evil grasp," Wanda said with a smile. The Dazzlings all smiled. "Timmy you're such a good little boy," Adagio said, patting him on the head. Adagio suppressed a grin as the boy looked at her with joy, as did the fairies. "No you're a hero Timmy." "Thanks Adagio," Timmy said with a bashful smile. "Is there anything I can do to repay you?" The Dazzlings suppressed another smirk. "You don't have to," Adagio said, pretending to be humble, "We're just...happy to help." "Oh please," Wanda said. "The girls who saved my godchild deserve more." "Well," Aria said with a hungry voice, "you guys can do everything, right?" "Well, not everything," Wanda said with a small frown. "All wishes have to follow Da Rules." "Da Rules?" Adagio asked them. "What are-," a giant purple book was poofed in front of them. Its title, written in gold, was "Da Rules". "These are the rules all fairies have to follow," Cosmo pointed. "This book looks...big," Adagio uttered, marveling at the massive book. It looked like an old tome from ancient times. She opened it, and was bit horrified to find so many rules. "No murder, no interfering in true love, no wishing up money, no cheating in a competition," Adagio read. "No breakfast wishes after 10:30," Aria said with some confusion. She read something that made Aria looked up in frustration. "You can't cure disease? Why?" "Ever heard of the superbug," Cosmo asked them. "Yes." Adagio said. "Now imagine a superbug resistant to all magic." Wanda said. "And that's how you get the Black Death and Spanish Flu," Cosmo finished cheerfully. The Dazzlings shuddered at that. "These rules seem...a tad unfair," Adagio said, a bit peeved at all the restrictions, "and there are so many." "You don't have to tell me twice," Timmy said with some contempt. "Don't worry about it," Wanda said. "We teach you what you can't do," Cosmo said, "in song." "No thanks," Adagio said, "that's our thing-." The two poofed up some musical instruments and began playing some jazzy tune. Note: This song is intended as a parody of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music and should be sung in that tune. Cosmo Murder and terror and violence and maiming, Wanda Theft and malice and dress clothes staining Cosmo and Wanda in unison Assault, and death, and setting people flame You cannot wish for any of these things. Timmy Turner The love of my life who is quite purty Breakfast wishes after ten thirty Free tickets for my favorite game I cannot wish for any of things, Adagio Dazzle So many rules Aria Blaze So uncool Sonata Dusk So unfair The Dazzlings Together Whoever wrote all these rules, Is one big square Timmy Turner Yeah, I know the rules can be really lame, It can seem tricky to make any claim Cosmo and Wanda But don't fret you musical dames, You can still wish for some wondrous things. Adagio Dazzle A new outfit, Aria Blaze New weights to lift, Sonata Dusk New tacos to be had. (Cosmo and Wanda wish that stuff up for the Dazzlings, to their happy surprise) The Dazzlings Together We got what we wanted, I guess this isn't so bad. (The three looked at each other with mischievous smirks) The Dazzlings Together How about a stretch limo with leather seats, A brand new mansion with a pool that heats, Luxury outfits for the spring, Can we wish any of these things? (Cosmo and Wanda grant their wishes. Their used SUV becomes a limo, their apartment becomes a large mansion with a pool, a yard, and a fountain in the shape of the three sisters, and their dime store clothes become designer clothes). Timmy Turner So how great is magic and wishing Cosmo and Wanda All that you want, that your hearts are missing, The Dazzlings Together Luxury, comfort, and bling These are some of our favorite things. "So what do you guys think?" Timmy asked them. "Wonderful," Adagio simply said to Timmy, still marveling at the luxury before her. Adagio looked to her sisters with a wry smile, silently communicating her plan. "Thank you so much," Adagio said, putting on a pretension of gratitude. A grin grew almost manic. "In fact, I have a present for you." Timmy looked excited. "Really? What is it?" "A child as noble as you is deserving of something so powerful," Adagio said. Her two sisters barely suppressed a grin. "And you two have raised a boy who is so pure," Adagio said with a warm smile, "you should be proud." Cosmo and Wanda smiled warmly at that as well. "For your bravery," Adagio said, reaching into her purse, "you have earned this." "What?" Adagio pulled out a bronze medallion with a chain necklace. It had a sea horse insignia on it. "Ooh," Timmy said happily. "Someone...special gave it to me," Adagio said with kindness in her voice. "It is meant for those who are...pure of heart." Timmy proudly bent his head and let Adagio put it around his head. Cosmo and Wanda looked pleased as well. After one last goodbye. Cosmo, Wanda, and Timmy poofed home, leaving the sirens to revel in their acting skills. "Pure of heart," Aria parroted playfully to Adagio with a snicker, "that's so...lame." Sonata also started chuckling. "I got it from one of these dumb cartoons," Adagio said under her breath. "where the hero gets everything just by being a goody toe-shoes." "You actually sounded like Princess Sunbutt for a minute," Aria pointed out with a grin. "And they bought it." Aria's amusement was replaced with a severe expression. "Are you sure those fairies won't see anything?" "Again, the Medallion of Manipulation doesn't release or absorb negative energy," Adagio said with a confident smile. "It manipulates the psychic energy within the brain of the wearer. That's what makes it so effective. There is no magical residue to trace." Feeling assured, Sonata and Aria began exploring their newfound luxury. "A fridge full of tacos," Sonata said with cheer. "My own personal gym," Aria said with glee. Adagio said nothing, settling for a nice sit on her brand new leather couch. She decided to turn on her new wide screen TV and veg out. Aria began using the barbells to work out, while Sonata excitedly began cooking tacos. Adagio and her sisters were the happiest they'd been in months. No more working hand to mouth. No more clipping coupons. They were living the high life now And they were going make sure they kept it, by making sure the boy would forever remain under their thumb. > Beware the Kiss of a Viper > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Turner parents' faces were twisted into disgust as they watched the video of Sunset bullying some girl. When Adagio showed up at the Turner residence, the boy's parents were a bit reluctant to let a stranger like her babysit. She anticipated this, so she showed them the video Moondancer made (without the demon parts) to make Sunset look bad and make herself look like the Turner boy's savior. The two parents sat on the couch, rooted to it by sheer anger. Adagio sat in the big chair to their right, a cup of tea in her left hand. She took a sip cover up the smirk that formed on her face whenever the brat's parents flinched at what they saw. Timmy stood next to her, watching the clips with renewed anger. "I can't believe this," Mrs. Turner hissed with some anger as she shut off the TV, "Sunset was stealing from my son?" "Yes," Adagio said in a falsely sympathetic tone. She put a seemingly kind hand on Timmy's head to sell the image of a noble protector. "She was mistreating this poor thing," she then pulled Timmy into a light but warm hug, "and I just had to put a stop to it." "Sometimes you meet someone," Mr. Turner said with equal amounts of disdain, "and they they turn out not to be what you thought they were. You can imagine that feeling, can you?" Adagio's eyes briefly fell to the floor, and she put the cup in front of her lips to cover up the smirk on her face. "Yes, it is...horrible." "Thank you so much for looking out for my son Ms. Dazzle," Mrs. Turner said with warmth in her voice. "You can babysit him anytime we need to give you a call!" Mr. Turner said with an equally welcoming smile. A massive smile formed on Adagio's face, especially as Timmy became unabashedly happy at the prospect. "I would love the honor of looking after your little boy," Adagio said, rising from her chair and giving the brown-haired brat an affectionate noogie. "If I could, could I have my two other sisters come over to have him watch me?" Timmy felt to his knees pleading. "Pretty please," he asked with puppy dog eyes. The Turner parents looked a bit reluctant. "I don't know," Mr. Turner said uneasily. "While it'd be nice to have several people watching my son, I'd rather not have several teenagers running around my house," Mrs. Turner remarked. "That's only fair," Adagio Dazzle said, casting a sly glance at the boy, who had told him what could get the father to come around. "I mean, my sister Aria had a plan to deal with that evil wretch Dinkleberg, but if it's too much-" "They can come over any time," the man said happily, like a boy who got his Christmas presents early. "Yay!" Timmy chirped happily. The brown-haired woman did not like being overruled, but eventually let out a reluctant sigh of acceptance. "As long as you three don't throw parties or take too much out of the fridge," Mrs. Turner said with a polite, but stern, expression, "I suppose it's OK." "Don't worry," the eldest Dazzling assured the brown-haired woman with a fake smile, "I certainly don't plan on doing that." The dark-haired man approached Adagio with the expression of joy. "Adagio, if it isn't too much trouble, could you help me with my newest invention?" "Sure," the eldest siren said, ignoring the silent warnings from Mrs. Turner and Timmy. Anything to help ingratiate herself with the pencil-pushing fool. The man ran away and returned with an object that looked like a metal colander with a lightbulb. "Adagio, your unruly, out of shape hair is perfect for my newest invention." Mr. Turner said cheerfully. Adagio briefly fumed at the swipe at her hair and forced a polite frown on her face. "Behold the latest innovation in personal hair care. The Turner Hair Care Device 5000." Adagio snorted at the boring name of the device. "Would you love the honor of testing it out?" "Sure," Adagio said with a shrug. "I wouldn't mind." She took the object in her hands. "Adagio-," Timmy warned. A confident smile formed on Adagio's face. "Please," she dismissed as she placed the device from Mr. Turner and put it on her head. "What could possibly go wrong?" BRRZZZT! Adagio convulsed as a massive amount of electricity went through her body. When it was over, her new clothes had been burned, her skin slightly charred, her large hair stood up, and fumes emerged from her body. The Turner family gasped in horror. "Oh my gosh," Mr. Turner said with what sounded like regret. "I've done it!" the man said cheerfully. "I was able to give Adagio a new hairdo." The man said referred to the way Adagio's hair now stood up. "Honey I'm so proud of you," Mrs. Turner said, embracing her husband over the "success" of his latest invention. Both of them were oblivious to the anger and pain on Adagio's face. The brown-haired woman let out a sniff. "It even gives the wearer a lovely aroma." "I think that's the smell of burning hair," Timmy said meekly, feeling sorry for Adagio. "That's a lovey name , sweetie," Mrs. Turner mused. "Smell of Burning Hair." "Quick honey to the patent office and the trademark lawyer," Mr. Turner said dramatically, taking his device off of Adagio and running out the door like a prospector who discovered gold. "We'll see you later," Mrs. Turner said to Timmy and Adagio before running after her husband. "Sorry Adagio," Timmy said with an uneasy grimace. "It's OK mommy, I'll have the seaweed," Adagio said incoherently, before letting out two coughs and collapsing to the floor. Dinkleberg was sitting in his den reading the paper while his wife Mary knitted. Their quiet day was interrupted when they heard a knock at the door. The big-nosed man got up from his chair. "I'll get it honey." At the door were two flamboyantly dressed people. One was a man who looked suspiciously like Turner but was not actually like him holding up some extremely large envelope. He had a brown mustache despite having dark hair. He wore a plaid yellow suit.. Next to him was teenaged girl with purple pigtails. She also wore a purple dress and high-heeled shoes. "Are you Sheldon Dinkleberg?" the man with the envelope asked. "Yes." "Than you have won one million dollars!" the teenage girl boasted excitedly. "Really?" Dinkleberg asked with a smile. Aria handed him a form, which he signed without reading it. "Here you are sir," the man said, handing him the large envelope. "Have a lovely day," Dinkleberg said to the two, shutting the door. "Sheldon, who was that?" Mary asked her husband as he came back into the house. "Someone who offered us a million dollar prize," Dinkleberg said happily, showing off the envelope. "Really?" Mary said excitedly. Sheldon opened the envelope... Only for a massive bird to come out of it instead. "Sheldon," Mary said fearfully, "what is that thing?" "Its a cassowary Mary," Dinkleberg chirped. "Hey, Mary, cassowary. That rhymes." "Cassowary?" Mary said, alarmed by the behavior of the bird. "A bird from Australia," Dinkleberg cheerfully explained. "Did you know they have a sharp nail that can cut through a human abdomen?" "Abdomen?" The woman said with horror as the bird walked towards them. "Yes Mary," Dinkleberg said, "I thought we were getting money. But we're getting something better." The bird slashed at Dinkleberg's chest, slicing his shirt off. "The gift of nature in our very home." The cassowary let out an angry shriek and lunged for them. Aria and Mr. Turner chuckled as they heard the cassowary attack the Dinklebergs and destroy their home from the outside. "Oh Aria," Mr. Turner gushed, "you are a genius." "I know," Aria said. She held up the clipboard. "And you know what the icing on the cake is?" "What?" "I tricked him into signing over power of attorney." The pig-tailed girl handed the clipboard to Mr. Turner. "You committed contract fraud?" Mr. Turner observed. "Well-," Aria began only for Mr. Turner to pull Aria into a hug. "You're the daughter I never had," Mr. Turner cheerfully exclaimed. Aria let out an annoyed snort at the man's behavior. Timmy sat in front of his house, waiting for the bus to arrive. The bronze medallion he got from Adagio was proudly on his neck. Suddenly, a limo pulled up in front of him, to his confusion. A door opened, and Adagio emerged in fancy designer clothes. "Adagio?" "Hey Timmy," the poofy-haired girl said in an affectionate voice, even bending down to meet his gaze. "Want to ride in a limo with my sisters and I?" "Uh," Timmy said uneasily, "I'd rather take the bus." Adagio looked confused. "You'd rather ride a dingy old bus than ride in a limo?" "Well, my friends are on it," Timmy explained, "and I don't want anyone to see me come from a limo." Adagio didn't understand. "And what's so bad about that? Wouldn't that make you the coolest-," "I don't want people to like me for the stuff I had or think I'm rich," Timmy said with a sad tone. "I want people to like me for me." "B-but Timmy," Adagio said in a sad sounding voice. "We drove all this way for you. Aren't we friends?" "Yeah?" "And don't friends make other friends happy?" She pursed her lips. "It would make me really happy if you let me take you to school." Timmy looked uncomfortable. "But I really don't-" "I guess we're not friends after all," Adagio concluded with a disappointed expression. "Even after I saved you from the demon, you don't want me to be happy." "Well..." ADAGIO HELPED YOU. YOU SHOULD BE NICE TO HER. "You're right," Timmy said immediately. "I should." Cosmo and Wanda, who were disguised as shoe laces, looked at this with concern. Timmy got in the limo, gave greetings to Sonata and Aria, and sat next to Adagio, who pulled him into a hug with one arm. "Hey," Sonata said with a frown. "I want a hug too!" Sonata joined into the hug. Aria looked disgusted with the mushiness, but also joined in the hug after a glare from a hug. Timmy would've enjoyed being hugged, we're he not feeling like he was being constricted by a boa. "Guys," Timmy said with a wheeze, "I appreciate the effort, but I can't brea-", ADAGIO LOVES YOU! Timmy decided to return the hug instead. "So there's this Trixie girl you've had your eye on," Adagio recounted. Timmy explained his predicament. "Yeah," Timmy said. "And she loves things like comics, and video games, and other boy stuff?' "Yeah." "And you want to help her be who she wants to be?" "Yeah." Adagio's face was twisted into serious thought for a few moments. Eventually, a calculating grin formed on her face. She looked at her sisters, and she realized they had the same idea too. "Don't worry," Adagio offered. "I think I can talk to her for you." "Really?" Timmy said with some excitement. "But there is something I want you to do first," Adagio said with an edge in her voice. "Sure." "Lose the hat." Timmy look confused. "I'm sorry?" Adagio rolled her eyes. "Lose. The. Hat." "Why?" "You want any girl to think you're a man," Aria muttered, "a pink hat doesn't say that at all." "But," Timmy protested, "it was the first birthday present my parents gave me." "If you wore diapers when you were one" Adagio asked, "would you wear them now?" "I actually wore diapers until I was twenty nine," Cosmo said cheerfully, disguised as a seatbelt. Wanda, who was disguised as an armrest, sighed. The elder Dazzlings looked at the green-haired fairy with utter disgust, while Sonata felt a wistful smile form on her face. "I remember when Aria and Adagio potty-trained me," Sonata chirped. "It took me only three whole weeks to earn how to put the lid down before I sat-," Aria muzzled Sonata with her hand. Sonata continued to babble, despite being made intelligible. Adagio turned back to Timmy. "Getting rid of your hat would be the best way to show people your grown up." Timmy was still reluctant. "Well." "Fashions change all the time," Adagio said. "There's no shame in ditching something when you get older." "But-," "I thought you wanted me to help you find love," Adagio asked with a frown. "I thought we we're best friends. Don't best friends listen to the people who care about them?" ADAGIO'S RIGHT! WHO CARES ABOUT A STUPID HAT FROM MOM AND DAD! THEY'RE LAME ANYWAYS! "OK." Timmy immediately handed his hat to Aria. Wanda was concern by Timmy giving away his hat so quickly. "Sport," Wanda said, "Are you OK with this?" "Life is change," Adagio said to Wanda with a smile, "about adapting with the times." "Besides only an idiot would wear something like this," Aria scolded. "Can I have it?" Sonata asked Aria, looking at the hat like it was candy. "See," Aria pointed out, handing the hat to her younger sister, who happily put it on sideways. Timmy was annoyed over the way Sonata wore it, but smothered his frustration to avoid upsetting Adagio. "No, they're right," Timmy said. "I got to...grow up." Timmy accepted what Adagio said. Nevertheless, his head felt cold and empty without his hat. He felt himself subconsciously rubbing his hair. Chester and AJ were near the entrance to the school, playing trading cards. "My creature has taken half your heart points," Chester gloated, hiding his smirk behind his cards. AJ's smirk became even more pronounced and he pulled out a card from his hand. "But I have the Win card, which means...I win!" AJ threw down a card which just has the word "win" printed several times in bold red letters. Chester angrily threw down his cards. "That is the stupidest card ever! You just play it and win. What's the point of doing anything else?" "You're just jealous," AJ gloated. Chester was about to respond before he saw a large stretch limo pull up, drawing the attention of the other kids. "I wonder who's the next big shot," Chester muttered with disdain. AJ also was unimpressed. "Probably some self-absorbed jerk trying to grab attention." Their eyes widened when they saw Timmy get out of it. "Timmy's in a limo." One kid remarked. Everyone started clamoring around the buck-toothed boy. Chester and AJ watched this with frustration. "He's doing one of his popularity schemes," Chester remarked with disdain. "How long before he decides to ditch us?" AJ asked with frustration. The popular kids' eyes widened as they saw Timmy emerge from the limo. "Turner's got a limo," Chad remarked. Chad and Tad, instead of being impressed, started snickering with disdain. "I can't Turner's trying to pretend to be rich," Chad remarked. Trixie herself was extremely unamused. "He actually thinks this will impress me," she muttered, exasperated by the Turner boy's constant courting of her. Veronica felt hearts form in his eyes. "Why can't he impress me?" the blond girl said dreamily. Her friends looked at her suspiciously. "I mean," she backtracked, "what a wannabe," she muttered in a mocking tone. Suddenly three teenaged girls emerged from the limo. "Who are those...babes," Chad said dreamily. "And what's Turner doing with them?" Tad wondered. Trixie couldn't help but wonder herself. Those three, based off their clothes and good looks, seemed pretty upper class. She usually saw girls like that at the country club. She never imagined people willingly associating with the likes of Timmy Turner. "Hold on," the tallest girl with orange hair said with a huge smile. "We want to give our special buddy one last goodbye!" the pigtailed exclaimed in a way that made sure everyone could here. "Come here, little buddy", the girl with a blue ponytail gushed. The three girls lifted Timmy into the hair and each gave him wet kisses on the cheek before driving away. Trixie was stunned. Chad and Tad watched Turner with more than a bit of jealously as he approached his loser friends. Veronica fumed with rage at the popular girls. "Timmy, who were those girls?" Chester asked him. The blond boy then panicked. "Don't come near me. Girls give me hives!" "My new babysitters," Timmy remarked. "Adagio, Aria, and Sonata." AJ was stunned. "What happened to that other babysitter? Sunshine, or whatever her name was." Timmy's face was twisted into a frown. "She turned out to be even worse than Vicky." AJ looked sympathetic. "Really? But she seemed so nice." "So did Vicky," Timmy grumbled angrily. "But Adagio and her sisters knew about her and saved me," he said, his anger giving way to joy. "They seem pretty cool," Chester began. The bell suddenly rung, signaling it was time to go inside. As the three friends walked into the school, AJ noticed something else. "Timmy where's your hat?" The boy genius asked Timmy. "Got rid of it," Timmy said sternly. Both Chester and AJ were stunned. "You got rid of it?" Chester asked. "It was a baby hat," Timmy said in an ornery tone of voice. "What's the big deal?" "But you've that hat since...like...forever," Chester pointed out. "I can get a new one," Timmy muttered. "It just feels like...something's missing you know," AJ said uncomfortably. "I'll get used to it," Timmy muttered. Chester wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he could tell Timmy didn't feel happy without his hat. While he wanted to press him further, he wanted to get to class without being late. Trixie Tang walked into the girls' bathroom, got out her purse, and prepared to apply her daily makeup. "Perfection is everything," Trixie said to herself as she began applying blush. "I always tell people that." Trixie jumped and turned around. Behind her was some teenage girl with poofy hair giving her an odd smile. "I wish people understood the amount of work it takes for girls like us to be perfect." "Uh yeah," the raven-haired girl said confusedly. Her eyes narrowed. "Oh wait, you're Timmy's new babysitter." Trixie could feel the smugness and conceitedness that flowed from the girl's form. She was definitely of high-class. All she needed was a purple uniform, and she would be one of those Crystal Prep girls she encountered at the country club. "Adagio Dazzle," the girl introduced herself as if Trixie meeting her was in itself a great honor. "You're Trixie Tang, the diva of Dimmsdale Elementary." A wry smile formed on the Taiwanese girl's face. "I see my reputation goes beyond these walls." Adagio seemed to look at her with some pride. "Confidence. Charisma. I see you doing...great things in the future." Trixie couldn't help but let a bashful smile form on her face. "Thank you." Being complimented by an older girl, especially one who was clearly the cream of the crop at her school, was something that Trixie couldn't help but be excited by. "In fact," the teenager said, an opportunistic smile forming on her face, "there is a...project I need you're help with. One requiring a girl of your talent and charisma." Trixie, while enjoying her ego being stroked, was not dumb enough to take easy bait. "What kind of project?" Trixie said with a challenging smile. "I appreciate the compliments, but you sound like your trying to sell me a time share." Instead of being annoyed, Adagio seemed impressed with Trixie's contrary nature. "Most girls your age are so easily tricked. Very well, I'll just cut to the chase." Adagio's expression became more stern. "It involves Timmy Turner." "What?" "Let's just say...ol'Timbucktooth has something I...want," Adagio said. "Something I....need." "Uh, what could he possibly have that you want?" Trixie asked with a confused expression. "You look like the kind of girl who could get...whatever you want. Why do you need him?" "You wouldn't understand," Adagio said dismissively. "But let me ask you a question? You seem like a crème de la crop with this school." "Yep," Trixie said unabashedly. "But rather than just ruling these dumb little brats," Adagio muttered with some disdain. "What if I could offer you something...more." Trixie's interest was peaked. "What do you mean more? Becoming the most popular girl in all of...Dimmsdale." Adagio wasn't impressed. "Silly little girl. I'm not talking about lording over the little carpet crawlers of this backwater town. I'm talking about...ultimate freedom." "What do you mean, ultimate freedom?" "I learned that underneath all this glitz and glamour, you secretly yearn for things like comic books, video games, and other things," Adagio muttered. The raven-haired girl became suspicious. "How did you-," "I have that kind of power," Adagio said dismissively. "I find it interesting. How despite your supposed power, you seem to be nothing but a slave to what others want you to be. If you truly were in charge, you'd be allowed to do what you want, wouldn't you?" Trixie looked stunned and a little uneasy. "Well-," "Let me guess," Adagio asked. "You're mommy and daddy order you around? Dress you up like a little doll that they show off to their shallow friends? Force you to live according to their whims?" Trixie felt sad. "That's-." Adagio snatched the purse from Trixie. "Hey...what are you doing?!" Adagio dug into the purse, took out Trixie's phone, opened it, and began scrolling through something. "Give me my phone!" Trixie bellowed. "It's mine! If you don't give it back, I'm gonna call my security-!" "Go ahead call them," Adagio muttered with disdain. Trixie was concerned by the lack of concern on Adagio's face. Trixie felt her blood go cold. "What did you- "You think I wouldn't confront you and not have the means of getting rid of your precious security," Adagio muttered with disdain. "Let's just say my sister's and I are more than a match for your security." The purple bouncer stood near the door with a concerned expression. "Ms. Tang has been near the door for a long time. Maybe I should-," the giant of a man felt a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you'd rather go shoe shopping." A green haze appeared in the man's eyes. "Yes, I'd rather go shoe shopping." He immediately walked away, leaving behind the two younger Dazzlings, who guarded the door. Trixie's protests died in her throat as she began shaking with fear. "So now that's settled," Adagio simply said. She opened the phone, and began scrolling through it. Trixie watched anxiously, trying to figure out what this girl wanted, why she confronted her, and why her bodyguard couldn't help her. "It appears I was right," Adagio remarked. "About what?" Trixie said with some anger. "I scroll through all these text messages," Adagio said. "Almost all of them come from a being you call...mom." "What do you care?" Trixie asked with disdain. An amused smile came over Adagio's face. "All of them are orders. Like brushing your teeth or making sure your hair has no split ends." Adagio's smile became brighter. "But there is one phrase that appears to be missing from all of them." "What's that?" "I love you." Trixie's felt gut form in her bile. "Like I guessed, you're not a daughter to your mother. You're nothing but you're mother's prized...poodle." Adagio leaned down to look Trixie in the eye. "Subject to her whims and her desires. And so you lord over others and strut like a peacock to make up for the fact that in the grand scheme of things," Adagio's smile became incredibly nasty, "you're utterly powerless." Trixie was on the verge of crying. "What's it...it to you?" Trixie whimpered. "Nothing," Adagio admitted with a smile. "Frankly, I'd rather not have to deal with you. But like I said...you're in a unique position to help me get what I want." Trixie revised her opinion. This was no mean girl or bully. Trixie was reminded, to her horror, of some of her parents' more ruthless business associates. The one who sought power and money at all costs. And to her misfortune, Trixie was being dragged into this person's scheme. "And if I get what I want, you'll get what you deep down desire: the power to be who you want to be, without some obnoxious witch of a mother to tell you what to do." "What do you want from me?" Trixie asked her, both in fear and desperation. The girl said nothing. Suddenly, the gem affixed to her neck began to glow a bit. Timmy was eating in the cafeteria, when suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder. Timmy looked up from his meal and saw the grinning face of Trixie Tang staring at him. "Trixie, what are you-," "Want to eat lunch with me?" She asked excitedly. Timmy was taken aback, as were more than a few students. "I'm sorr?." Suddenly, Trixie grabbed Timmy by his arm and yanked him out of the cafeteria. Chad and Tad watched with no small amount of envy. Veronica immediately stormed into the bathroom where she thought no one could see her. "Why can't I be Trixie?" She said to herself in the mirror. She put on her dark-haired wig. "I'M TRIXIE!" "Where are we going?" Timmy asked Trixie, still being dragged around. The popular girl dragged him onto the lawn. He saw a picnic basket and blanket. "I just wanted to spend some time with the coolest guy ever," Trixie said almost dreamily. Timmy felt a smile form on his face. "Really?" "Yeah," Trixie said, suddenly pinching his cheek. "Why?" "Because your new babysitters finally convinced me what I was missing out on," she said. "Adagio set this up," Timmy said with a happy smile. "Yes, because she thinks you're a special guy," Trixie gushed. Timmy never felt more happy than he did in his entire life. "So what do you got?" "Oh nothing too fancy," Trixie said, reaching into her basket. "Caviar, lobster, fillet mignon. I figured we'd go light for the basics." Timmy took a plate of fillet mignon. He was about to dig into it with his hands, only to remember Rarity's etiquette lessons. "Eat like a civilized man, not like a barbarian." Instead of eating with his hands, he politely used a knife and fork. Cosmo and Wanda watched this with pride. Wanda appreciate her godson chose to eat a polite manner. Hidden from behind the school, the Dazzlings watched this with opportunism. Timmy was so euphoric and into eating the food, he didn't notice how wooden Trixie's smile was, nor how her eyes were covered in a green haze for a moment. The two sirens pulled over in their limo a short distance away from the house. They didn't want to confuse the Turner parents by showing off unexplained wealth. After a short walk they approached the door. They rung the doorbell, and Timmy opened up. He looked at them with confusion. "What are you guys doing here?" Timmy asked. "What are we doing here?" Adagio asked in confusion. "Oh Timmy, you silly goose," Aria said, "we're your babysitters." "I don't need a babysitter today," Timmy said with a smile. "It was nice of you to come over," Mrs. Turner said, appearing at the door. "But we're taking Timmy out today," Mr. Turner said. Adagio and Aria looked confused. "Today's the premiere of the Crimson Chin musical," Timmy said happily. "And my parents promised they'd take me out." "He marked it all over the calendars," Timmy's Dad said, showing it off the defaced calendar with the date scribbled out. "And sticky notes all over my clothes," Timmy's Mom said, showing all the sticky notes that had been placed on a business jacket. Adagio's eyes noticed something. How fake the parents' smiles actually were, in contrast to how animated the formerly pink-hatted child was. The two parents didn't seem to be looking forward to the event.. "I'm gonna get my Crimson Chin T-shirt," Timmy said, running up the stairs. Once he was up the stairs, Adagio decided to break the ice. "That was real nice of you," Adagio said, "to take Timmy out for this special day. It helps if you love the Crimson Chin too." The parents' face became even more strained. "Is there something bothering you?" Adagio said. "Nothing," Mrs. Turner said. "Are you sure?" Aria pressed. "Aside from the we don't want to take Timmy out to see Crimson Chin," Timmy's Dad said. He frowned, especially when he saw his wife glaring at him. "You don't want to take Timmy out?" "Well," Mrs. Turner said uneasily, "we're not really fond of the Crimson Chin." "And I'd rather go for a walk in the park," Timmy's Dad said. "Then we'll take him out for you," Aria said with a smile. "I appreciate the gesture," Mrs. Turner said with a forced smile, "but we did make a promise to our son." The two sisters looked at their gems. They felt crafty smirks form on their faces. Aria and Adagio clasped Mr. and Mrs. Turner on the shoulder respectively. "What are you-," "I think you deserve time to yourselves," Aria said. "You work so hard for Timmy," Adagio said, her voice becoming sultry, "what's one more night off." The two sisters' gems glowed faintly. Timmy happily came down the stairs, happy to spend a day with his parents for a change. Only to discover they weren't there. "Where are my parents?" Timmy asked Adagio and Aria. "They said they had an important business meeting to get to," Adagio said with a smirk. Timmy let out a morose frown. "They said it was more important than going to a silly musical," Aria said. "But they promised," Timmy said sadly. "Don't worry Timmy," Adagio said, forcing a warm smile on his face, "we'll take you." "Really?" Timmy said, his melancholy on his face fading but not completely. "But I really wanted to go with my parents." "You can always go with them some other time," Aria said, bending down to Timmy and cupping his chin with her hand to look affectionate. "Besides, we really wanted to spend time with you." "Yay," Timmy said, running upstairs, presumably to change into his theatre clothes They saw they were approaching Dimmsdale's Main Theater. "Time for the show," Timmy said happily. The limo pulled over into a parking lot. Timmy got up to the door to get out. His fairies took on the form of buttons, while Adagio and Aria followed close behind them. Unbeknownst to Timmy, the two sisters were chuckling to themselves. Timmy was so focused on getting inside, he didn't realize he accidentally bumped into grown man in a suit. "Sorry young man," the guy said with a sheepish smile. Timmy was about to respond politely- Maybe he bumped into us purpose! Timmy found himself glaring at the man. "Watch where you're going moron," Timmy said angrily. The man walked away, confused and a little hurt. "Timmy," Wanda scolded, "why were you being so mean to the man?" "Yeah, it was an accident," Cosmo said. "Because he was doing it on purpose," Timmy said with a growl. "What-," Wanda glanced up the clock and saw the show was about to start. "Never mind, we'll take about it later. Let's get inside the theater." Timmy's anger faded as he ran inside, his new medallion swaying on his neck, glistening in the sun. He happily looked down at it. He didn't like how cool and old-fashioned it was. He loved that it came from Adagio and Aria, his new friends. As the show began, Timmy couldn't help but feel happy he had such great people in his life. > Cracks Form in the Facade (A Rewrite of Cracks in the Facade) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timmy and his friends walked to their next class, when they came across a truly pathetic sight. Crocker was wearing a grey janitor's uniform, nervously scrubbing the floor. He wore a bandage on his nose, a cast around his leg, and sling around his arm, one of his eyes was black and swollen, and he seemed to be missing a few teeth. His glasses were tied together with tape. "What happened to you?" Timmy asked Crocker, more out of idle curiosity than compassion. His two friends walked away, promising to catch up later. "And where have you been these past few days?" Crocker looked up from his work. "Timmy!" the teacher said with a nervous smile. "How are you doing?" Timmy's eyes narrowed. "What are you planning Crockpot?!" Timmy asked angrily. Crocker never once asked him how he was, called him by his first name, or stared at him with anything resembling fear. "Another scheme for world domination?" Crocker got visibly afraid of the brown-haired boy. "Nothing at all," the man said almost fearfully, "Certainly nothing that would invite retaliation from your paid hooligans." Timmy looked confused. "What paid hooligans?" "You really don't know," Crocker remarked in confusion. "Know what?" "I see," Crocker with a frown. "Very well. I had the perfect plan to capture your FAIRY GODPARENTS! I set up the whole safety demonstration, and ensured that those two imbeciles would make you so enraged, you would make a wish in retaliation against those two Learn-A-Torium fools, allowing me to capture your FAIRY GODPARENTS with my laser." "You did," Timmy said with annoyance. "I almost won," Crocker said with some pride. The bespectacled nutcase frowned bitterly. "But then, that little delinquent Sunset Shimmer got in my way." "What?" Timmy asked in confusion. "She sent me plummeting to my doom," Crocker said theatrically, "I was suspended temporarily for misusing an assembly for my own ends, demoted to janitor during that time, and then the white-haired hooligan beat me senseless in retaliation." The brown-haired boy couldn't believe it. "Gilda beat you up?" "Yes," Crocker muttered miserably. "And I've spent the last several days recuperating-," "Less talking, more scrubbing," Waxelplax commanded as she walked by. Crocker once again returned to his miserable scrubbing of the floor. Timmy walked by him, feeling conflicted. "Sunset saved me from Crocker...and then had Gilda beat him up?" Timmy asked his fairies, disguised as books he was holding in his hands. "Why?" Cosmo asked. DUH! SUNSET NEVER LIKED YOU! THE REASON WHY SHE ATTACKED CROCKER WAS BECAUSE SHE WANTED THE POWER FOR HERSELF! "Oh please, Sunset just wanted to clear the competition," Timmy said angrily to his fairies. "That's it." "That makes a lot of sense," Wanda remarked with wry disdain. Cosmo frowned in contemplative thought. "Or maybe," Cosmo began uneasily, "Sunset wanted magic, but maybe she decided she liked you more." Timmy gave it some thought. Sunset was definitely evil. But she did- OH PLEASE! THE ONLY THING COSMO KNOWS HOW TO BE IS AN IDIOT! IF YOU LOOK UP IDIOT IN THE DICTIONARY, YOU'LL FIND A PICTURE OF COSMO! SUNSET IS EVIL! THE DAZZLINGS SAID SO! "Don't be stupid Cosmo. You saw how mean Sunset was. There is no way someone like that...would like someone like me," Timmy finished somewhat miserably. "Don't be down sport," Wanda said. "You still have people who like you." Wanda's words brought Timmy some comfort. He grabbed the medallion the Muses gave him and smiled. With this, he knew who his true friends were. Cosmo, however, continued to wear a troubled expression on his face. "This isn't so bad," Sunset Shimmer said to herself with a happy smile, looking around at the beautiful wildlife around her. "I don't worry about tests, taxes, or girl scouts anymore. And Timmy did leave me plenty of apples." She inhaled the crisp clean air. "Maybe living in nature is a blessing in disguise. Maybe I'll go on great adventures." She crawled up to a fellow neighbor. "So how's it hanging," Sunset said to a fellow worm. The worm, lacking any kind of sentience, crawled away from her, more interested in eating a tasty leaf. "She ya' around, neighbor." Sunset said with a chuckle. Gradually, her chuckling descended into whimpering. "Oh who am I kidding," Sunset sobbed, "I miss video games and legs so much!" It was bad enough that Sunset was a worm. But she was also worried about other things. Her friends, her school.... Timmy. Despite everything, she couldn't hate him for what he did. On some level, she didn't blame him. Before the Battle of the Bands, almost everyone avoided her for what she had done. Not everyone was as nice as Princess Twilight after all. Timmy's past would be horrifying to those who learned of it. And Timmy had enough of a conscience to leave her well fed. What scared her is that learning of her dark past finally activated the Stone's corruptive properties. Timmy found it justifiable to do this to her. And to some extant, it was. But as the Stone wouldn't stop there. Timmy would soon start doing even more horrible things, justifying them for any reason, until finally Timmy was consumed by the Stone, and would wreak havoc with nothing that could stop him. And there was nothing she could do to even warn anyone. Even if she could somehow become human again, they wouldn't believe her. Sunset felt tears flow down her eye. She was finally getting her life together, and then that stupid rock had to ruin everything. As she wept, some weird light began shining in the distance behind a tree. Sunset didn't know what is was. It could be nothing. It could be salvation. But with nothing better to do, Sunset walked there. Or crawled, to be more specific. Very, very slowly with her worm tail. Sunset ruminated over how much she took her legs for granted. Cosmo and Wanda sat in the living room of their fancy fishbowl castle. Wanda was sitting on the couch, reading a catalog on chocolate products, while Cosmo was beside her nervously reading a magazine upside down. "So what would look better," Wanda asked her green haired husband, "a chocolate mouse or a chocolate goose". To her confusion, Cosmo wasn't responding with his usual irreverence. He instead stared at the magazine with a troubled expression. "Cosmo?" Wanda repeated. Cosmo still didn't respond. Wanda flew up to the white-shirted fairy with a concerned expression. "Cosmo, are you OK?" Cosmo put his magazine. "I've been thinking." "That'd be a first," Wanda snarked. "Aren't we...I don't know," Cosmo said uneasily, "being a little too mean to Sunset." Wanda frowned furiously at her husband. "Cosmo," Wanda said with some anger, "that witch tried to brainwash Timmy and all of those teenagers." "But Wanda," Cosmo said with some pleading, "she sounded really sorry." "Oh yeah," Wanda said with merciless sarcasm, "she's sorry all right. She's sorry her scheme has been foiled." An annoyed expression came over her face. "You saw how much of a liar she was. She did what Vicky does: put on an act to get out of trouble." Cosmo wasn't convinced. "But think about it Wanda," Cosmo replied. "She did so many nice things for Timmy and saved us from Crocker." "Because she wanted that magic for herself," Wanda expressed with disdain. She turned away from Cosmo, her attention focused on the catalog. Cosmo's soft expression became a little more assertive, and he yanked the catalog away from his wife. "Well, how about this: When we beat the evil meanies trying to hurt Timmy, they usually do this." Cosmo poofed his head to look like Crocker. " 'Curse you Turner' ," Cosmo said in his normal voice, " 'I'll have my revenge'." "So?" Cosmo poofed his head to look like Sunset. "They don't usually say 'sorry Timmy, please don't leave me'." A hint of doubt came over the pink-haired fairy's face. While Sunset was indeed guilty of the things she did, Cosmo did raise a good point: none of the bad people in Timmy's life usually begged for forgiveness. "And unlike Mr. Crocker," Cosmo continued, "Sunset's a teenager. We did a lot of stupid things didn't we. Maybe we shouldn't be so harsh to her." "Alright fine," Wanda said after a few moments of thought. "We'll let Sunset live like a worm for a week. And then we'll ask Timmy about letting her go." "Yay," Cosmo said, his lively mood returning. Wanda looked at her husband with no small amount of pride. While her husband was not the sharpest tool in the shed, he was undeniably a kind soul. Even to the people who disliked him, like Juandissimo and her father, he could be friendly. While she didn't agree with his view on Sunset, the fact the he could be kind toward someone so despicable was something she could admire. "Now let's have a magic fight," Cosmo said while raising his wand. "OK," Wanda agreed with an expression that was both playful and challenging. She happily joined her husband in a magic fight, more certain than ever she made the right choice to be married to him. "And I said, 'oatmeal, are you crazy'!" Pinkie recounted to her friends. Everyone at the table started laughing at Pinkie's joke. Everyone except Fluttershy who's expression was pensive. "What's wrong Fluttershy," Rainbow said. "Nothing." Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Flutters, we've been friends since five. I know when you're upset." "Aren't we....being too mean to Sunset?" Everyone at the table looked aghast. "You feel bad for the Demon!" Rainbow said with disdain. "She's a hideous beast," Rarity exclaimed. "A big meanie!" Pinkie whined. "Rotten to the core." Applejack muttered. "I know," Fluttershy said. "But she was really, really upset." "Fake tears," Applejack dismissed. "The demon does nothing but lie. People like that are best got ridden off." Eventually, the conversation shifted to something more lively. But Fluttershy couldn't help but feel everyone was making a terrible mistake. Princess Twilight came into her lab, levitating hundreds of scrolls and tomes. Spike came in, painfully carrying more scrolls. "Twilight," Spike angrily muttered. "Isn't this too much-," "Nothing is ever too much!" the studious alicorn bellowed. "I MUST HAVE EVERY BOOK! EVERY TOME!" Foam came out of the alicorn's mouth. "Because if I don't read them," she said while hyperventilating ,"...who will?!" "Can we just get to work already," Spike muttered, finally dropping all the books. Princess Twilight opened her two way tome she use to communicate with Sunset. A troubled expression came over her face. "Twilight," a concerned Spike said while approaching the pony princess. "What's going-," "Spike," Twilight yelled in a panic. "Sunset hasn't responded to any of my messages in the past 12 hours." She galloped toward the portal. "I'm going in! Do the chores while I'm gone!" She lept in. Spike watched this with drama. But with Twilight gone, a conniving expression came over his face. He opened a cupboard in the lab, snuck to the cookie jar, and prepared to take a sumptuous bite. "AND DON'T TOUCH THE COOKIES!" Twilight ordered, suddenly reappearing in the lab with a stern expression. Spike put the cookies back with a defeated pout on his face. "Uh, you let me win again," Timmy said with a forced smile. Timmy wanted to get Trixie to enjoy the stuff she couldn't in private. They decided to play his Crash Nebula video games. But for some reason Trixie kept throwing the game. "Why do you keep losing on purpose?" Timmy asked the apparently love-stricken girl. "Because you're so awesome," Trixie said in a dreamy tone. The way Trixie said it made Timmy uncomfortable. While Timmy was charmed by how lovey-dovey Trixie was at first, it got creepy and annoying. It felt Trixie didn't actually want to spend time with him, but just saw him as an idol. The way she kept throwing the game was part of that. It felt like he was dating a robot and not a person. "Trixie, I know I'm awesome," Timmy said in a patient voice. "But I...don't want you to think you have to do things for me." "OK." Trixie said. "So...what else do you want to do now?" Timmy asked Trixie. "Whatever you want." Trixie said in the same admiring tone that increasingly rung in Timmy's ear. "Trixie, I think we need to talk-," "OK, playdates over," Adagio ordered abruptly. "Trixie don't you have that...thing to go to." As soon as Adagio made eye contact with the raven haired girl, Trixie abruptly got up from the floor and ran out of the house. "Don't worry," Aria said, suddenly appearing from behind her sister. "The limo will take her home." Aria looked at Timmy with a smug grin. "So was your date, playa?" She asked excitedly. "OK," Timmy muttered without any joy. Adagio felt a concerned frown form on her face. "Timmy what's gotten into you," Adagio said. "You're dating Trixie Tang." "Trixie kept...doing whatever I wanted," Timmy said with some discomfort in his voice. "Of course she is," Aria said encouragingly. "You're awesome! A supreme gentleman like you gets whatever you want." Timmy didn't enjoy the compliment. Trixie said it so many times, it lost all meaning. "When I dated Trixie, I imagined both of us doing things together." He pursed his lips. "Not just her acting like some...servant to me." Adagio was confused by Timmy's discomfort. "I don't see the problem." She bent down to look Timmy in the eyes. "The reason why she is treating you like you're special is because...you are." She pulled him into a hug. "Don't ever forget that." Timmy felt discomforted by the whole- WHY ARE YOU UPSET! YOU DESERVE TRIXIE FOR BEING SUCH A NICE GUY! "You're right," Timmy abruptly said. "Trixie likes me because I am such a nice guy!" He then glanced at the clock. "My parents won't be home for a few more hours. So what do you guys want to do?" Timmy asked the Dazzlings. "Play video games-" "Well actually Timmy." Aria began. "We need a...few more wishes," Adagio said. "Pretty please, with hot sauce on top?" Sonata. The two fairies appeared before them. "Sure," Wanda said happily. "We don't mind granting you a few wishes," Cosmo. The Dazzlings smirked mischievously. 600 Wishes Later "Timmy can I have another taco?" Sonata asked them. The three sisters were sitting in his living room, compulsively asking for wishes, while Cosmo and Wanda hovered overhead. "I wish Sonata had another taco," Timmy asked them. The two fairies granted the wish, albeit with a frown. "I want blue boots instead of these red," Adagio said. "Red is so last season." With a poof, the red boots appeared on Adagio. "I wish had another taco." "I want a running track," Aria asked. "I want new barbells." "More tacos." "A new dress." "Still more tacos." "Can we please take a break," Cosmo said with tried hiss. The living room was now full of various goods the Dazzlings wished for. Both he and Wanda were utterly winded. "But-," Adagio began, only for a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Timmy said, walking over to the door. He opened it and saw Chester and AJ at the door. "Hey guys," Timmy said happily. "Hey dude," Chester said. "Ready to go to the skate park?" "Who's at the door," Adagio said, walking over to the door. "Oh its your friends." "So you're Timmy's new babysitter," Chester remarked. "Pleasure to make your..." "Nice to meet you," Adagio said abruptly, "Timmy can't play with you. Real busy. Got to go." "What?" Chester began, only for the door be slammed on them. "Hey!" Timmy said angrily to Adagio, "What did you do that for?" "Timmy," Adagio said, "I just...want to spend more time with you." "But I promised Chester and AJ," Timmy began, only for Adagio to get to eye level with him. "You've....known them all your life," Adagio said, her eyes darting back and forth. "We've only known each other for a few days. Can't we spend more time to get to know our newest buddy?" "But-," "Aren't we friends?" Adagio pleaded. "Didn't we help you date Trixie and beat that evil demon?" "But I guess we're not really your buddies," Aria said with a shrug. "To think the boy we helped could be so selfish." THE DAZZLINGS ARE YOUR FRIENDS! WHY ARE YOU IGNORING THEM "You're right," Timmy said abruptly. "I'm sorry for being so selfish." Cosmo and Wanda watched this display with concern. "Perfect," Adagio said, "I just need a few more wishes." Cosmo and Wanda let out tired groans. After several more minutes of compulsive wishing, Cosmo and Wanda dragged Timmy into his room for a private discussion. "Those girls seem to love wishing don't they?" Wanda asked Timmy uneasily. "As do I." "They seem to love stuff, don't day?" Cosmo said. "As do I." "Can't you read between the lines." Wanda asked. "What line?"" Timmy said with a blank stare. Wanda facepalmed before continuing. "Timmy don't you see what these girls are doing?" Wanda said with frustration. "Asking for wishes?" Timmy said. "Timmy, they're taking advantage of us," Cosmo said with a tired tone. "Look at my face". His face was covered in wrinkles. "Unlike Wanda I'm too old for crows' feet." Wanda glared at her husband before continuing. "And Adagio told you not to hang with your friends," Wanda warned, "They're treating you like a servant!" "No they're not," Timmy protested. A bell rung. "Timmy I need a glass of water," Adagio said. Timmy immediately put on a maid's dress and hat. "Wanda?" Timmy asked. With a frustrated sigh, Wanda granted the wish. A glass of water on a platter appeared on Timmy's arm. Timmy ran downstairs and handed Adagio the glass of water. Adagio drank the glass of water and spat in on Timmy. "The water was cold," Adagio said with disgust, "are you trying to kill me?" Timmy looked annoyed at what Adagio did. But suddenly, his annoyance was replaced with sad acceptance. "Sorry," a dripping wet Timmy said sadly. Wanda watched this with narrowed eyes. Aria stood in the Turner home garage, wearing purple shorts and a blue tank top, practicing her boxing and martial arts with a blue punching bag. Out of all her sisters, she liked to stay in shape and fight. "Hey," a small voice said. Aria turned around and saw Timmy looking at her with a happy smile. "Hey," Aria said in a disinterested tone. "I started taking fighting lessons," Timmy said. Aria ignored him. "I think learning to fight is really cool." Aria kept ignoring him. "I want to-," the bag struck Timmy in the face. "What are you doing?" Aria asked the pink-hatted boy who was rubbing his sore nose. "I want to learn how to fight," Timmy said. "I would love it if you taught me." "OK," Aria said with a forced smile. "Let's start with some laps." She pointed to the door to the lawn. "Start running out the door." "Yay," Timmy said, running out the garage and onto the lawn. "I'm feeling the burn," Timmy said. "Aria, isn't this-," Timmy turned around and saw the door was closed. Aria didn't want to train him. Timmy let out an upset sigh. Aria said she'd were- ARIA NEEDS HER REST! YOU'RE THE ONE BOTHERING HER! Timmy decided Aria needed to relax and decided to find the other siren. "Hey Sonata," Timmy said, walking into the kitchen, where Sonata was still indulging in tacos. "Want to play Crash Nebula?" Timmy said, "It is really-," Timmy paused as taco meat poured onto him from Sonata's overeating. "Nevermind," Timmy said with a tired sigh, seeing Sonata was more interesting in eating them him. Adagio lazily sat on a lawn chair in front of the house getting a suntan. She wore nothing but a purple bikini, sunglasses, and red sandals. A purple robe laid at her feet. It was a clear day, and she was keen to get as much sun as possible. Her tan was interrupted by a shadow looming over her. Adagio looked up with annoyance and saw a smiling bucktooth boy. "Hey Adagio," Timmy said happily, holding up a math textbook, "want to help me-," "Can't do math," Adagio said with a wave of her hand, "need to tan. Nice conversation. Let's have it some other time. Goodbye." "But-," Timmy began, only for Adagio to turn away from Timmy in disgust. Timmy let out a tired sigh. "Adagio," Timmy said sadly, "do you like me?" Adagio rose up from her chair to look at Timmy. "Of course I like you Timmy," Adagio said in a condescendingly nice tone, pinching Timmy's cheek. "Why would you say that." "Well," Timmy said reluctantly, "Wanda said you were...taking advantage of me." Adagio suppressed a frustrated frown, forcing a fake smile on her face. "Timmy," Adagio said, "Wanda...doesn't understand certain things." "Really?" "Wanda doesn't understand what it's like to live without magic," Adagio said to Timmy. WANDA IS BEING UNFAIR TO ADAGIO! ADAGIO IS TRYING TO HELP YOU! "I guess," Timmy accepted. "And how hard our-," there was poof that interrupted her train of conversation. Adagio turned around and saw Wanda, having morphed herself into human sized adult, looking at her with crossed arms and a stern expression. "Wanda," Adagio said nervously, "what's-," "We need to talk," the pink haired fairy ordered, "in private." Adagio tried to argue, but the tone in the fairy's voice said this was mandatory. "Sure," Adagio said, rising from the lawn chair and putting on her robe. She followed Wanda to behind the house, leaving behind a confused Timmy. "So what's going on?" Adagio idly asked the fairy. Cosmo poofed next to her, also looking like a human adult. Her sisters were poofed there as well, to their confusion. "How dare you!" Wanda asked with a hiss. Cosmo said nothing, but looked at the three sister's with a disappointed expression. "What did I do?" Adagio said innocently. "You three come into our lives," Wanda said angrily, "and all you've done is work us to death, not give us a single thank you, and treated Timmy like a butler. And when he wants to spend time with you, you three brush him off." "Look-," Aria began, "we like-." "And when he rightfully complains to you about how you've been treating him, you try and manipulate him against me," Wanda said, the fire in her eyes growing. "We saved his life," Adagio argued in a sad tone ,"and we're helping him become popular. We deserve some-," Wanda angrily yanked Adagio by her robe and pulled the orange-haired siren to her angry face. Adagio, remembering how the fairy poofed up a bazooka, felt something she never felt before. A chill down her spine. The pink-haired fairy released her, but the gesture was not done out of mercy. "And you think that gives you a right to exploit my godson and us," Wanda said with outrage. "I think you three should leave. It isn't personal," the pink-haired fairy said sternly. "But...I don't think you're the friends he needs." Before Adagio could think of an excuse, Sonata started crying. "We're sorry," Sonata wailed, water pouring from her eyes. Aria and Adagio immediately understood what their baby sister was doing and starting weeping crocodile tears too. "We didn't realize we were taking advantage of him," Aria wailed. "I guess we lived without magic for so long," Adagio wept with crocodile tears, "we got...carried away. You're right, we weren't being nice to Timmy. We're sorry." "C'mon Wanda," Cosmo said encouragingly, "maybe they should get another chance." Wanda thought furiously for a few moments before her expression softened. "OK fine," Wanda said reluctantly, "you get one more chance. But let me clear," Wanda said sternly, "our magic is for helping children in need, not for being your credit card. So no more wishes," Wanda said, "not until you start giving my godchild the love he deserves." Aria and Sonata frowned furiously at that. "But-," Aria began, only for Adagio to put a hand on her shoulder. "We'll behave," Adagio said with a forced smile, "after all, we love little kids, don't we?" Adagio said with gritted teeth to her two sisters. "We love the little munchkins," Aria said with her own forced smile. "Timmy-Wimmy is awesome," Sonata said with her own silly smile. "Good," Wanda said with a nasty frown, poofing up some feather dusters, "because you're gonna dust the house to make up for taking advantage of him and exploiting us." She handed the cleaning implements to the three sirens. The three sisters let out horrified sighs, but not wanting to provoke the pink fairy's wrath, accepted the work anyways. The three sisters returned to their mansion utterly exhausted. "I can't believe we had to do all that dusting," Aria said, collapsing on the couch. "My arms feel like they're about to fall off." "I did more dusting than you," Sonata said. "Well I got more work done because I'm better at it," Aria grunted. "No you're not," Sonata said. "No, you're the worst at dusting," Aria said. "You are." "You are." "You are." Adagio ignored her sisters' stupid argument, sitting on the couch with a huff and crossed arms. She wasn't upset about all the feather dusting, although her arms still ached from hours of dusting. No, her fury went deeper than that. For a long time, Adagio thought she was the most powerful creature in this desolate human world. Her song was able to charm entire crowds. She managed to manipulate wealthy and powerful men into giving her their loot. Despite her anger at being banished, she could take some satisfaction in being the more powerful magic user among a bunch of hairless apes. Then she lost her power, and was left with nothing. She hoped she could manipulate that small boy and those two fairies into giving her what she wanted. But then that pink haired wench threatened her and made her work like a common serf. To her furious shame, Adagio felt powerless in that moment. That stupid fairy had made her feel like an ant. She wasn't supposed to feel weak. She was the Crown Princess of Sirenia. She was destined to rule. Destined for power. Destined for greatness. Not to live at the whim of two magical midgets and to be the nanny of a stupid little boy. Even worse, their magic would go away once the boy grew up, leaving them with nothing again. Clenching her fists, the eldest siren decided that this was unacceptable. "Change of plans, girls," Adagio said with a growl, rising from the couch, "we're gonna break those fairies, and that little twerp, and their negative energy will be ours." "But you said not to get them mad," Aria replied. "I know what I said," Adagio said with a hiss. "But we're sirens. We don't live on the scraps of others. We get power for ourselves." "But how?" Sonata said. "That pink fairy was really scary." "Nothing is indestructible," Adagio said with a vicious smile, "those Rainbooms droned on about friendship, and we were able to drive them to hatred for a time." Adagio tented her fingers. "Those fairies have to have a chink in their armor that we know about." "What?" Aria asked. "Their precious little boy," Adagio said with a cruel growl. "His mind is weak and impressionable. We'll...push him into thinking our way. Then the fairies will follow. And the negative energy of those two will be ours." Aria and Sonata faces faded from uncertainty to malicious joy. Another nasty grin formed on Adagio's face. She ran to the cupboard, pulled out a glass, and smashed it with her boot. "You're next, Turner." > A Taste of Darkness (Rewrite of It Doesn't Matter Who You Hurt Part 1 and 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timmy was being spoon fed by Trixie. Behind him, two boys watched him with envy. "The more he spends time with her, the more popular he becomes," Tad said ominously. "And the less popular we become," Chad uttered. The two looked at each other and back at the buck-toothed loser, a plan in mind for the boy. Timmy was walking down the hall, when suddenly a ton of smelly garbage fell onto him. "AHH!" Timmy wretched. Suddenly, everyone in school was laughing at him. Timmy turned around and glared. "Hey Turner," Chad gloated. He and Tad we're standing next to some fancy version of a catapult that had trash on it. "It is the Catapult 6000!" Tad advertised. "Built with stainless steel and aimer so that our revenge in precise and organized." Timmy fumed at them, especially as everyone continued to laugh. He tried to charge at them, but their bodyguard stood behind them, non-verbally daring Turner to try. They then walked away from him, satisfied with having tormented the boy. "First my ankle, now this!" Timmy muttered. "We wish we could help you sport," Wanda said, disguised as a watch. "But we're still bound by the rules," Cosmo replied. "If only I could still learn you how to fight," Timmy said, remembering his classes with Gilda. They seemed so real, but in reality, Gilda was just brainwashed into liking him. "But you guys can't wish for that." "I think I know someone who could," Cosmo said. Aria sat on the couch in the Turner living room, reading some auto-repair magazine, and waiting for the boy to arrive. Adagio decided to go on a shopping spree, while Sonata was sick at home from overconsuming tacos, which meant she was stuck babysitting the brat alone. To a small degree, she enjoyed her sister's suffering. Because Sonata would never shut up about tacos, Aria felt this was proper punishment. "Maybe the ditz would never eat tacos again." "I'll never eat tacos again," Sonata moaned. She laid on the couched, and rubbed her belly. "So...much...pain." She wandered over to the fridge and looked longingly at the seltzer bottles. "Need to settle my tummy with some nice bubbly- yay! More tacos!" Sonata's pain was forgotten and she immediately began inhaling tacos again, taking them from the fridge and into her mouth without hesitation. Aria heard the door open. Timmy approached her with a pleading expression. Aria didn't like the boy. She hated children as a whole. Sonata was functionally a dumb brat, and she didn't want another one in her life. But Adagio ordered her to ingratiate herself with the boy. The pigtailed girl forced a smile on her face. "Hey Timbucktooth," Aria greeted with false cheer. "What's cracking?" "How can you help me get revenge?" Despite her disinterest with the brat, her interest was piqued by his dark tone. And revenge was something she could definitely get behind. "Elaborate," Aria asked with a smile, a plan forming in her own mind. "So those two rich jerks hurt your ankle," Aria asked with a smirk. "And then they dumped garbage on you?" Aria and Timmy were outside on the lawn dressed in robes and barefoot. Timmy wore a pink robe while Aria wore a purple robe with a sea serpent on it. In front of them was a practice dummy that looked like a skeleton. "Yeah," Timmy muttered miserably, "they've been able to get away with everything, just because they have money." Aria smirked. This would be so easy. "Then smash their ankles back," Aria said. Timmy looked horrified by that. "That seems a little mean," Cosmo said. Aria was spooked, wondering where Green Fairy came from. Then she noticed pink and green bottles on the ground and remembered. Those two fairies could poof themselves into any shape and hide everywhere. This was so frustrating, having them watch over her. "But Gilda told me that a true warrior never starts a fight," Timmy said. The name made Aria's lips curl into a frown. This didn't go unnoticed by Timmy. "Did you say Gilda?" Aria asked, unable to mask her anger. "Yeah," Timmy said meekly. "Gilda Griffon," Aria said, clenching her fists. "Yeah," Timmy said, "what's wrong?" A lot was wrong. Aria still hated Canterlot High for costing them their gems. Hated those idiot Rainbrats for getting in their way, hated that stupid unicorn for dealing the final blow. But again, she hated Gilda especially for reminding her of how powerless they were without magic. "Gilda was being mind controlled by Sunset," Aria lied. "Into training you wrong and making you weak." Aria would've loved to claim that Gilda was actually Sunset's minion and have the boy turn that wench into a worm as well. But she couldn't. While the boy was impulsive and easily manipulated, those two fairies weren't. They only accepted the Dazzlings words when there was concrete evidence to back it up, and there was no proof that Gilda was anything worse than a sly prankster. One broken lie would undo the whole ruse. "Oh yeah," Timmy said. For now, Aria was satisfied with stealing Gilda's role as the boy's source of inspiration. Aria was content with waiting until she got her magic back. Then she would get real revenge on that white-haired mortal for daring to cross her. "Now," Aria said, pointing to the skeleton she assembled to act as a fighting dummy, "in all fights, there is no mercy. Once you've beaten your opponent into the ground, you've got to do everything to make sure you're opponent can't get back up. When you beat those stupid boys, bust their ankles back." "But that's...mean," Timmy said uneasily. "You turned Sunset into a worm," Aria pointed with a smirk. "And doesn't the Crimson Chin smash the Bronze Kneecap's...kneecap when he does something evil?" Aria asked. "Well, yeah," Timmy said uneasily. "Is the Crimson Chin evil for doing that?" Aria continued, "And were you evil for punishing Sunset? Or are you both doing what needs to be done to defeat the bad guy." "That's different," Timmy said. "Sunset and the Bronze Kneecap are supervillains, but those two are just...jerks." "Fighting back is necessary," Wanda conceded, "but causing them a serious injury feels a bit...wrong." Aria struggled not to tear her hair out. She couldn't get the boy enraged with them around. But then she remembered Adagio's words: to control an enemy, you must control their hearts. "Like you said, you two aren't going to be around forever," Aria said to the two godparents with some feigned sympathy, "If he doesn't toughen up, how will he be ready for the world when you two can't protect him?" "That's a fair point," Wanda said uneasily. "I guess," Cosmo conceded. Aria barely suppressed a smirk. Instead of brute force, which she always relied on, she was learning to toy with others like a good siren. While she could be annoyed with Adagio, Aria did put stock in Adagio's approval, and hoped to impress her older sister. "A hero has to make tough choices," Aria said, trying to sound wise. "Are you prepared to make the tough choices so those two jerks can't hurt anyone the way they hurt you ever again? So that no one else can ever be bullied?" Aria said, trying to play to the boy's conscience. TAD AND CHAD ARE EVIL! THEY NEED A GOOD LESSON! "You're right," Timmy said with stern resolve. "I can't let those jerks get away with it." He then turned toward the skeleton dummy. He imagined it as those two idiots mocking him, laughing at him, cheating him out of his spot on team. He charged at the skeleton's with a low sweep kick, destroying its legs. Timmy was pleased with himself in a dark way. Aria suppressed a smirk. Her plan was being set into motion. Chad and Tad were enjoying their time with Trixie and Veronica. To their annoyance, the former girl kept singing the boy praises. "He's so dreamy!" Trixie muttered like some kind of wind up doll. "And those buck teeth are...buck teeth." "I know," Veronica muttered. "He's so-," her friends glared at her. "I mean, what a loser." "Our plan didn't work," Tad muttered, seeing Trixie still longing for the boy. "I guess we'll have to go to phase-," "OH YEAH?" Timmy muttered. Timmy approached them with stern resolve on his face. "Did I hear something?" Tad asked rhetorically. "Probably something dumb and poor!" Chad snarked. The two laughed out loud. With a yell, Timmy yanked Tad by his shirt, and pulled him to his face. "You and me, right here and right now," Timmy bellowed. Tad was momentarily shocked, but then a smug smile formed on his face. He snapped his fingers, and Timmy found himself being yanked up by his shirt. "You want me to throw him outside?" the popular kids' bouncer said, lifting the small boy up with minimal effort. "Yep," Tad said smugly. "You two are cowards," Timmy yelled with gritted teeth, "you need a bodyguard because you're too weak to do anything yourselves!" Tad and Chad looked stunned by the accusation. "You're right," Tad admitted. "But...we can live with that/" Chad said with a smile. The bodyguard dragged Timmy into the playground outside and dropped him onto the asphalt, before walking away. "Timmy, maybe you should let this one go," Wanda said. "Yeah," Cosmo said, trying to wean the boy off revenge, "there are better things to do." DESTROY HIM! HE WANTS TO HELP THOSE JERKS FOR MONEY! HE DESERVES WHATEVER HE GETS! "I'm gonna fight him!" Timmy said, gesturing toward the bouncer. "He keeps beating me up. It is time for some payback." "Timmy you can't-," Wanda began, only for the brown-haired boy to charge toward the man with a yell. One Second Later Timmy was tossed into the trashcan at the end of the courtyard with a black eye. "Well, that's that," the bouncer said stoically, treating Timmy like some insignificant ant. "I've got to meet with my dentist." he said before walking away. "What went wrong?" Timmy asked in a daze. "Gee, he's six foot tall man and you're a ten year old boy who can't reach the shelves," Wanda said sarcastically, disguised as a basketball. "I wonder?" "But I've had training from Gilda and Aria," Timmy said, pulling himself up. "But they're your teachers," Cosmo said, disguised as a mitt, "they're supposed to go easy on you. And you've only been training for a week or so." From the distance, Aria watched this hiding behind bushes while pinching the bridge of her nose with disappointment. "That kid is so lame," Aria said with a grunt. "Hopefully this teaches you to walk away in the future," Wanda admonished. Timmy watched the tall bodyguard walk away, feeling powerless. Maybe Wanda was right. Maybe he should let things- USE YOUR MAGIC, LOSER! "Wanda," Timmy said with a growl, "we're gonna give that stupid bodyguard what's coming to him." "Sweetie, its against the rules," Wanda warned. "FORGET THE RULES!" Timmy yelled, "I'm sick of that jerk attacking me!" COSMO AND WANDA ARE SUCH WIMPS! "Timmy," Cosmo said, "just take deep-," "SHUT UP!" Timmy said to Cosmo, who was stunned by Timmy's behavior. "Timmy," Wanda said with some horror, "what's gotten into-," "We're gonna find a loophole," Timmy said gleefully. Aria was gonna walk away in disgust when she heard Timmy yelling in a rage. Something was going to happen. He saw Timmy pointing to the tall man in pink who had just beat him up. Suddenly a pink bowling ball poofed above his head. Aria was intrigued. Timmy took out a slingshot and fired it at the bowling ball. The bowling ball fell out of the sky and landed on the man's head, knocking him out. "See Wanda," Timmy gloated with sadistic glee. "We technically didn't wish for him to get head with a bowling ball. We set things up for it to happen." "But Timmy-," Wanda pleaded, but Timmy ignored her, and ran into the cafeteria, his mind thinking about revenge. Aria smiled. At last, the boy was finally getting it. She walked up to the building, wanting to watch the show through the window. "We really nailed Turner didn't we," Tad said. Everyone sans Trixie, was laughing their heads off. Tad was laughing so hard, he didn't notice the fist flying for his face. Tad was knocked off the table. Everyone in the cafeteria looked in shock at who had done it. Timmy Turner. "What happened to our bodyguard?" Chad asked with some fear. "He...had an accident," Timmy said slyly. Everyone was even more shocked. "You knocked him out," one person said fearfully. "I had training," Timmy gloated with dark glee. He cracked his knuckles before coming over to Tad, who was shaking fearfully as Timmy approached him. "You and me," Timmy said with a sneer. Tad tried to throw a punch, only for Timmy to block it. Timmy was able to bring Tad to the ground with a single-leg takedown. "Turner stop," Tad said fearfully only to be punched in the face, knocking his sunglasses off. Timmy felt nothing but euphoria, seeing the kid who bullied him squirm. "Who's the loser now!" "I'll give you anything you want," Tad said fearfully, "just leave me-," he was silenced with another punch in the face. "All I want is to smash your head in!" Timmy bellowed. "Help," Tad said with terror. To his humiliation, none came. Everyone was cheering Timmy on as he wailed on Tad. Chad looked scared, but then he remembered he had a ceramic plate and smiled deviously. He tried to sneak up to Timmy, and knocked him out while his back was turned. Or he would have had Timmy not lifted Tad up and threw him into Chad, bowling both of them over. Everyone starting cheering. But Timmy didn't hear it. He didn't care about the cheers or attention he got. Only one thing went through his mind. MAKE THEM SUFFER! MAKE THEM PAY! MAKE THEM WISH THEY WERE NEVER BORN! Timmy saw a metal chair behind him. With a crazed smile on his face, he picked up the chair, and slammed it into their heads over and over. They let out pleas for mercy, which he ignored. "Timmy," Wanda said. Both of them were disguised as pens in Timmy's pocket. "I think they've had enough." "Timmy, stop!" Cosmo said. "TIMMY STOP IT!" Wanda pleaded. "WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU!" Timmy was so consumed by rage, he didn't hear them. Once he knocked them out, he decided to get the ultimate revenge. . He started stomping on Tad's ankle gleefully. He felt joy as his foot sprained Tad's ankle like they did his. A hand was placed on his shoulder. "DUDE, STOP!" He slammed his fist into the face of person who dared touch him. Who dared to stop him from getting the revenge he so deserved. IF THEY'RE GONNA GET IN MY WAY, THEY DESERVE TO SUFFER TOO! He raised his fist to hit the loser... And saw Chester lying on the ground with a swollen cheek. Suddenly all the anger Timmy felt faded. He felt pain. His knuckles hurt. With the adrenaline gone, they started throbbing. He looked around and saw...As his anger faded, he suddenly was aware of his surroundings. Everyone was staring at him with more than a bit of fear. He looked around and saw Tad and Chad lying on the ground unconscious. He looked back at Chester, his best friend, and saw tears in his eyes. Chester, his first friend, looked afraid of him. Timmy looked back and forth at the two unconscious boys, everyone, and Chester. He felt guilt, Soon his eyes began to water. "I'm sorry Chester," Timmy said, sobbing his eyes out. "I'm sorry." Aria smiled, watching the show from the outside the cafeteria and looking through the window. This was going better than expected. The boy, under the influence of the Medallion of Manipulation, had lashed out and attacked those two brats. He was so consumed by anger, he attacked his own friend. And because it relied on psychic energy and not emotional energy, those two fairies wouldn't suspect a thing. This was perfect. Timmy's friends and all his classmates would desert him after seeing him go psycho. And with his friends gone, it would be easier to get the boy under their control. Adagio would be so proud of her. Aria smile became wider as Brace Face rose up and... To Aria's confusion, Brace Face pulled Timmy into a hug. "What are you doing?" Aria asked under her breath with gritted teeth. "He hit you! Why are you hugging him?!" To her growing rage, Timmy's other friends all started joining in the hug. Timmy continued to sob while his friends held him. "It's OK dude," Chester said, rubbing his back. Timmy's cries and his friends' assurance that they didn't hate echoed through the room, as everyone silently looked at Timmy with a mixture of fear and pity. Timmy miserably followed Waxelplax to the Principal's office. His knuckles still ached, and everyone was looking at him like a monster. He looked at his fairies, disguised as band-aids on his arm. "Guys," Timmy said remorsefully, "I'm-," "It's OK Timmy," Cosmo said with a warm smile. "We don't blame you for how you acted," Wanda said in a kind tone. "You had every right to be angry at those boys." "But I hurt Chester," Timmy said regretfully, "what was wrong with me?" "Anger can make us do things we don't want to do," Wanda said. "That's why you should always try and think positive," Cosmo said. Principal Waxelplax opened the door to the Principal's office. They entered a waiting room where Francis was sitting. "Please wait here," the red-haired woman said sternly, walking into her office. "Hey Timmy," Francis said. Timmy's eyes widened. Francis never called him by his first name. To his confusion, Francis was shooting him a smile. Not a mean smile, but a kind one. "What do you want?" Timmy asked in a timid tone. "I wanted to congratulate you, champ," The 12-year old boy said. "Take a seat." Francis patted the seat next to his. "For what?" Timmy said, reluctantly taking a seat next to the grey-skinned boy. To his greater confusion, Francis offered him a bottle of cola. "What's this for?" Timmy asked. "Where did you get this?" "My minibar," Francis said, pointing to a minibar under his seat. "You have a minibar?" Timmy asked the school bully with a raised eyebrow. "I get sent here so often," Francis said, taking a sip from his cola, "I have that, and a whole entertainment center," Francis reached up to the ceiling and pulled down out a TV with a V-cube. "Oh," Timmy said taking the cola, "what's this for." "That's for beating up those two snobs," Francis said, looking like a proud older brother. "It was incredible." "It was nothing," Timmy said, not feeling proud of what he did. "It was amazing," Francis said with a proud smile, "especially when you stomped on their ankle and made them cry in agony." The reminder made Timmy feel even more guilty. "Well-," "To think you went from being a puny wimp," Francis said wistfully, "to being my inspiration." Timmy felt bile build in his stomach, getting told he was an inspiration from Francis. Timmy never thought getting a compliment from Francis would make him feel worse than getting a punch in the face from him. Suddenly, he didn't want to drink Francis' cola. He probably got it by stealing some kids' lunch money. "We should hang out more," Francis said cheerfully. "Well-," Timmy said wearily. The door opened, revealing a stern looking principal. "Timmy," Principal Waxelplax said. Timmy let out a sigh, getting up from the chair. "See you around killer," Francis said happily, playfully punching the brown-haired boy on the shoulder. Timmy struggled not to flinch. He sat in the chair in front of Waxelplax's desk, expecting for the woman to yell at him. He looked down on the floor. "Timmy," the woman said. "Look at me." Timmy pulled his eyes from the floor, expecting a glare. Instead he saw kindness in the woman's eyes."Listen to me," the woman said in a soft voice. "I'm not mad at you." Timmy cocked his head in confusion. "But I sent Tad and Chad to the nurse's office," Timmy said with a whimper. "And I hurt Chester." "I know," the Irish woman said with a raised hand, "and it was wrong. And you will be getting a week of detention for it." Timmy nodded, accepting he deserved it. "But I want to tell you that you're not a monster. You had every right to be mad at those two boys for what they did. You just went too far." "But-," "You made a mistake," the woman assured him with a warm smile, "and as long as you learn from it, you'll never be a bad kid." The woman gave her an even bigger smile. "And if you ever have something bother you, you can talk to me." Timmy found himself smiling for the first time since his fight. "See Timmy," Wanda said with a smile. "Yeah," Cosmo said, "no one thinks you're a monster." "There's the monster." Timmy and Waxelplax turned and saw some well-dressed man walk in the room, followed by two other people. "That's Chad and Tad's parents," Timmy said, "who's the other-," "Chairman Pizzo," Waxelplax said with forced politeness, "Mrs. Delaney", the woman said to Terry, "Mrs. Johnson, may I ask-," "So there's the monster who hurt my son." Terry said with obvious disdain for Timmy. "What is it doing here?" Cherry asked. "But they hurt me," Timmy protested. "Little boy I suggest you don't say a word," Chairman Pizzo said condescendingly, "boys who disrespect their elders end up in federal prison." Timmy's face twisted into fear. "Chairman Pizzo," Principal Waxelplax said with a stern expression, "that is not true. Timmy made a mistake." "Mistake," Cherry said with feigned horror," are you saying you're OK with juvenile delinquency?" Principal Waxelplax's eyes narrowed at what was obviously a loaded question. "Timmy is getting detention for a week," the woman said, "I am not letting Timmy off the hook in the slightest." "I want the boy expelled," Terry said with obvious disdain. "Little brats don't deserve education." "I'm not expelling him." Waxelplax said, annoyed at this woman for talking down to one of her students. "Yeah," Timmy said, his confidence returning, "Tad and Chad hurt my ankle, and you didn't expel them." "Nonsense," Terry said with a nasty grin, "my boys never did such a thing. They won fair and square." "They-," "Lying about my sweet boy?" Cherry said with feigned anguish, "how could you." "I am not expelling Timmy," Principal Waxelplax said firmly to the two women. "You two do not have the authority-," "But I do," Chairman Pizzo butted in. "As school board Chairman, I can overrule decisions regarding student discipline." "Chairman Pizzo," Principal Waxelplax said in a pleading tone, "what Timmy was wrong, but he's proven that he-," "It would be shame to lose you," the dark-haired man said smugly to the obese woman, "but if you're not interested in protecting your students from unruly delinquents, I guess you can get another job elsewhere, and I can find someone more suited to my...agenda." Principal Waxelplax's face turned red. She barely resisted the urge to smash these idiots with a mace, but he was right, and so swallowed her bile. "Now," Pizzo said to Timmy with a smug smile, "this is a form in which you admit to causing mayhem and emotional distress to those poor boys." He slammed it in front of Timmy. "If you sign it, I promise you will not end up in federal prison." "Timmy," Waxelplex began, only for Pizzo to glare at her to remind her of her own powerlessness. Waxelplax sighed, giving Timmy a regretful look. "He should end up in there anyways," Terry said with contempt. "Along with all the other evil little boys," Cherry sneered. Timmy stood dumbly, unable to understand what was going on. These mean adults were threatening to kick him out of Dimmsdale Elementary and make him lose his friends. "Timmy," Wanda said angrily, "they can't make you sign that." "Yeah," Cosmo said. Timmy didn't know what he could do. "IF THEY THINK YOU'RE EVIL, THEN ACT LIKE IT! MAKE THEM SUFFER! Yeah, he could do that. Maybe turn them into worms too. Aria walked to the principal's office, eager to see the kind of trouble Timmy was in. What she saw through the window filled her with joy. Three adults looked like they were making the twerp very agitated. And that pudding of a principal looked helpless. She waited for the moment when the boy would inevitably lash out and she would step in. By acting as his protector, it would be easier to bring the boy over to her side completely. "Aria what are you doing here?" Aria turned and saw that Mr. and Mrs. Turner showed up. "Timmy's parents," Aria said with hidden frustation. "What are you doing here?" Aria forced a friendly smile on her face. "Same reason as you," Mrs. Turner said with a shrug. "Our son was in a fight that he won," Mr. Turner said with a proud smile, "and we're here to congratulate-," Mrs. Turner let out an audible cough, "teach him that fighting is wrong." "You don't have to be here," Aria said, trying to sound casual. "I can handle this for you guys, while you could be having fun, enjoying yourselves, tormenting Dinkleberg." Aria's gem glowed slightly. "That sounds-," Mr. Turner began before he saw what was happening in the principal's office. Some suited jerk was yelling at his son, who looked increasingly agitated, while two woman looked like they were talking down at him. Mr. and Mrs. Turner's eyes narrowed at that. "Come on, you have better things to do than-," Aria began, only for the two parents to push past her and storm into the office when they saw the idiot was getting into Timmy's face. "May I ask what's going on here?" Mr. Turner asked in a stern tone. "Mom, dad," Timmy said in surprise, "what are you doing here?" The words made Terry, Cherry, and Pizzo look nervous. "We heard you were in a fight," Mr. Turner said. "Are you OK sweetie?" Mrs. Turner asked kindly. "That man said if I don't sign this," Timmy said sadly, "I'm gonna be sent to federal prison. And those ladies said I'm an evil brat." "Oh really?" Mr. Turner said with a frown. "You must be Tad and Chad's mothers," Mrs. Turner said with equal disdain. "You bribed your sons out of punishment for cheating my son, and now you have the nerve to threaten him with his own punishment when he dares to fight back?" The two women looked nervous. "Mr. and Mrs. Turner," Pizzo said with a fake smile, "I was...just concerned about...law and order. No need to blow things out of-," Mrs. Turner felt a merciless smile form on his face. "Its funny that you mention law and order when you tried to bully my son, a minor, into signing something without his parents present." Pizzo's face went pale at that."D-did I do that?" Pizzo said nervously. "Can I tell you how that makes me feel?" Mrs. Turner said in a falsely sweet tone. Mr. Turner loosened his tie, while Principal Waxelplax put her feet on her desk, eager to make herself as comfortable as possible as she watched the show. Aria watched as the three adults who bullied Timmy ran out of the principal's office with their tails between their legs. "Run," the blond woman said fearfully, "run as far away from it as possible." "Don't look back," Pizzo said, "she'll smell our fear." With incredible dismay, Aria Blaze watched as the Turner parents walked out of the office, comforting their son. "Oh honey," Mr. Turner said, "how do you do it?" "I am a saleswoman," Mrs. Turner said, "we're always very persuasive." She bent down to look her son in the eye. "Are you OK Timmy?" "Yeah," Timmy said with a smile, "thanks for helping me out." "You've had a hard day sweetie," Mrs. Turner said kindly. "In fact, why don't we all go out to your favorite restaurant right now, and then we'll bring you back to school." "Really?" Timmy said happily. "You need a break," Mr. Turner said happily, "and you've earned it champ." Mrs. Turner glared at him. "I mean, you should talk about your problems." Timmy smiled warmly at his parents as they walked toward the exit. "Hi Aria," Timmy said, waving at the girl, before running to join his parents. Aria furiously clenched her fists. She had the perfect plan. She were gonna turn Timmy into a cold-blooded fiend who would scare others away from him, so she and her sisters would be his only friends. But those stupid friends and parents... In a rage, Aria slammed her first into the a nearby locker, leaving a massive hole. "Freedom," a small male voice said. A hand emerged from the hole she had made with a punch and turned the combination lock on it. A boy tumbled out of the locker. He clothes became rags, and a beard formed on his face. "Freedom," the boy said happily, "freedom at last. I've been in there for three whole-," the boy yelled as Aria angrily lifted the boy up and hung him from a ceiling fan to take out her frustration. "Oh well," the boy said with a shrug, "at least the air's fresh." Aria fumed over what happened. Those idiot fairies were big enough of a pain, but those dorks and those white-collar losers were also an obstacle. Aria's face twisted into one of cruel glee. If Timmy and his fairies' powers were to be theirs's, those idiot parents and friends had to go. They also needed a way to deal with those two fairies. As long as they were goody toe-shoes, Timmy would never come under their control. But like Adagio said, there's a chink in every armor. But they would find it, and once they found it, those fairies, that boy, and their power would belong to them. > Chinks In The Magical Armor (Rewrite of It Doesn't Matter Who You Hurt) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "You've got to be kidding me," Adagio said with a snarl. "One of the twerp's friends started hugging him, after he got hit." "Yeah," Aria said with a snarl, "because he felt sorry for the whimpering little brat. Who knew humans could be like ponies." The three sisters sat at a fancy café near downtown Dimmsdale, discussing strategies for dealing with Turner. "At least you left those notes," Sonata said optimistically, "and I got a cool hat." "Darn it," Adagio said with a frown. "As long as he has his stupid parents and godparents, the Medallion won't be able to takeover his mind." "Then what do we do," Aria said with a snarl. "We need to find the weaknesses of those fairies," Adagio said. "We're not strong enough to do anything without their power." "I've looked through that book several times," Aria said in a disappointed tone, "and found nothing." "You think they would keep their weaknesses in a book," Adagio said with disgust. "It's not like someone is selling an anti-magic solution off the streets." "Someone is selling an anti-magic solution off the streets," someone pointed out. The three turned around and two guys in barbershop attire and with bright red hair who were standing on some kind of truck. One had a big mustache, and the other didn't. "Hello, beautiful public!" The mustached man greeted. "Be amazed as we show you our newest item for sale." "The Flim-Flam Brothers Magical Neutralizing Solution 5000!" They got off the truck. Behind them were beautiful purple bottles of some liquid. The three siren sisters smiled. The immediately ran up to the pair. "We'll take it!" Adagio said. The two brothers were taken aback by the eagerness of the three sisters. "How much do you want." "Yes," Sonata said simply. Timmy sat in his living room, drawing with crayons. Cosmo and Wanda were disguised as a green crayon and a pink crayon respectively. He looked up and saw the Muses approaching him with wide grins on their faces and their hands behind their backs. "Hey guys," Timmy greeted. "Cosmo, Wanda," Adagio began. "We have a present for you guys!" Aria continued. The two fairies poofed in front of them. "What is-" "PSYCH!" Sonata said. The three splashed water over them from jars they hid behind their back. The three sisters' excitement was replaced with horror when they realized the water didn't work. The fairies were just dripping wet and annoyed. "Oh, I see what you were planning," Wanda said with an annoyed frown. The three sisters felt their blood go cold. "You do?" "Yes," Cosmo said ominously. "You wanted to have a water fight!" "Uh, sure." "Oh boy," Timmy said happily. "Water fight! I wish Cosmo and Wanda were water guns." The two fairies poofed into the shaped of water guns the size of assault rifles. He aimed them menacingly at the three teenagers. "Can't we color," Adagio said in a horrified voice. Her sisters looked equally horrified. Timmy responded by blasting them with water. SPLASH! "Don't worry girls," Adagio urged her sisters. "It's just water." The three of them were in their fancy mansion, trying to dry off after that horrible failure. "We'll just dry ourselves off." Adagio got out a hairdryer, "This couldn't possibly be dangerous-," Adagio was electrocuted again by the faulty hairdryer. With an angry groan, Adagio threw the hairdryer against the wall. "We wasted our money on that," Aria groaned. "We didn't waste all our money." Adagio got the receipt. "We only wasted...four...thousand...dollars." She threw away the receipt. "Well, money isn't everything." She tried to play off the situation with a chuckle, but Aria and even Sonata just glared at her with disdain. "Maybe we can get a return for them," Sonata offered. A hopeful smiled appeared on the faces of the Dazzlings. "They got to give us a refund!" Aria offered. "We can't give you a refund!" The mustached Flim-Flam brother gloated. "What?" Adagio hissed. "Once you use it, it cannot be returned!" The other one said. "But you can get an exchange on Flim-Flam if you fill out this form." The Dazzlings took it. "Hey wait a minute," Aria bellowed. "This is a poster for Dimmsdale Tourism-!" Once she looked up, the Flim-Flam brothers had already escaped from them with escape pods. To their anger, the Dazzlings realize they had been utterly had. The fake exchange form being nothing more than a diversion. "And you thought this was a dumb idea," Flim said to his brother. "So what do we do know?" Aria wondered aloud. Adagio's face fell into serious thought, while her younger sisters sat around looking miserable. "Maybe there is someone out there who knows about how to deal with fairies," Adagio wondered. "But how do we contact them," Aria said, "and where do we find one?" "Aria look," Sonata said, pointing at a nearby newspaper. "What is it Sonata," Aria groaned. "Another taco coupon?" "No silly," Sonata said. Adagio looked at where Sonata was pointing at. Their eyes widened as they saw who was in the picture. A scowling woman with familiar long white hair. Dimmsdale Woman's Prison "Mary Doombringer," the cell block matron said to the prisoner in cell 15. Doombringer, clad in an orange prison gown, pulled her gaze away from her dartboard with Timmy's face on it. "Visitor," the woman said. "A Ms. Adagio Dazzle." Doombringer wondered who would visit her. She had no family or friends to speak off and never heard of this person. But she'd do anything to get out of the cell. In the visitor's center, Doombringer saw an unfamiliar teenage girl on the other side of the glass window. She had large poofy orange hair, wore a purple designer skirt and tank top, and wore a red gem on her neck. Her suspicion grew. This girl clearly had wealth. Why would she bother to visit her? She sat down and pick up the phone. The teenager did the same thing. "What do you want?" Doombringer asked the girl not-to-nicely. "Ms. Doombringer is it," the girl asked, a confident smile on her face. "Yes," the white-haired woman said. "What do you want?" "I'll keep this short," Adagio said, "since my powers will only keep the guards from not listening in for ten minutes." "Powers," Doombringer said in confusion. "You're lucky Ms. Doombringer," Adagio said with a smirk, "we both have a common interest. Timmy Turner." Doombringer's eyes widened. "You know about the boys fairies," Doombringer said with keen interest. "I can't confirm or deny anything," Adagio said with a small wink. Doombringer understood was she was implying. "I'm offering you an alliance," Adagio continued. "You have the means and the knowledge to capture...you know what." She let a proud smile form on her face. "I've managed to become the boy's surrogate sister." Doombringer's eyes widened in admiration at this girl. "He won't suspect me of a thing." Doombringer immediately started talking about how she had many weapons in her home, how to get in, her books on fairy capture, her knowledge of fairy weaknesses, while Adagio took notes. "What's the catch?" Adagio asked with narrow eyes. "You're just handing me this info, but you haven't even told me what it is you want?" "Besides being free," Doombringer said, "I want the wings of the boy's fairies cut off and mounted on my wall." "That's it?" Adagio asked. with disbelief. "That's all you want?" The woman's face had wild eyes and a crazed smile. "I live for the thrill of the chase, the adrenaline, the joy of capturing rare creatures." Adagio could see it in the woman's eyes and expression. This Doombringer was a predator. A being who lived only according to his or her own savage impulses. Whether it was food or the love of causing pain. As Crown Princess of Sirenia, Adagio had to study the types of allies one obtained in the struggle for power. She initially thought this Doombringer sought the power of the fairies. Power-seekers were dangerous allies to have. While they could be competent, they could easily stab you in the back when you weren't looking. This woman had the brains to capture fairies, and could easily betray her at the last moment. But predators had different strengths and weaknesses. They lived only according to their desires and wants, and lacked any higher thinking beyond that. As long as they got that, they were usually satisfied and could be reliable allies. But without any control, a predator could easily be dangerous, like a dog without a leash. They could easily turn on you, as they often lacked genuine loyalty to anything but their mere whims, or they could become power-seekers themselves. While predators could be valuable, you needed to have insurance in case you lost control over them. Adagio wondered what she could use to keep this woman under control if need be. Adagio looked around and remembered this woman was trapped behind bars Adagio believed the threat of prison could keep the woman at bay should she decide to turn her weapons on her. Adagio decided this was a gamble she could make. "Deal," Adagio said with a smile, "I'll get the....you know what and their power, and you'll be free and have their wings mounted on your wall." "Excellent," Doombringer said with a happy smile. "But there is one more word of advice I have for you." "What?" Adagio asked the woman. "I am not alone in seeking the boy's power," Doombringer said. "The only thing that stopped me was a fool named Denzel Crocker." "Denzel Crocker?" "The boy's teacher," Doombringer said with a snort, "He seeks to gain the boy's fairies for world domination." Adagio narrowed her eyes. "But he's easy to manipulate. He's one of these fools who gloats about taking over the world." Adagio snickered. She encountered many of them in Equestria. Imbeciles with more bark than bite who ruined themselves with foolish mistakes and nonstop monologuing. In contrast to her, who preferred to work silently while she amassed power behind the scenes. "However, he still managed to beat me," Doombringer said with a vicious snarl. "So pluck that thorn from your side as soon as possible." As the visit came to an end, Adagio nodded. Adagio drove to the woman's home. She let her younger sisters handle the babysitting. Aria seemed more enthusiastic about training the boy beyond convenience, She was impressed with his ability to take on two opponents without any magic, despite her scheme failing. Adagio herself couldn't scoff at that. One of the reasons why she wanted to boy to come around to her...ideals. He may seem weak, but he clearly had potential. The home of Doombringer seemed so ordinary, so average, so plain. Like one of those homes in a cheesy sitcom. No one would suspect this woman of any impropriety. As instructed, Adagio used the key behind the potted plant to enter. The inside was also unremarkable. She wandered to the fridge, and did the "shave and a haircut" knock, as Doombringer requested. To her horror, giant missiles burst out of the fridge, pointing at her. "You have five seconds to enter the password," an automated voice said, "or will you be destroyed. Five, four, three-," "Lollipop," Adagio said fearfully. "Have a good day," the voice said, the missiles returning to where they came. The refrigerator shifted to the left, revealing a hidden room. Adagio entered, and her jaw dropped. It was a room painted plain white. In it were weapons. Lots and lots of weapons. Machetes, knives, shurikens, knives, anti-magical devices, knives, nets, knives, and of course, knives. On a table was a book called "How to Hunt Fairies." Adagio smiled mercilessly as she picked up the book. Her path to power was almost at hand. "A butterfly net?" Aria asked her older sister with disbelief at the kitchen table. Aria read Doombringer's manual on fairy capture, and saw all the ways in which a fairy could be caught. "That's what it says," Adagio said. "You're telling me that these creatures, who have alicorn levels of magic, can be stopped by a stupid net?" Aria growled. "If it floats and it has wings, a butterfly net can catch it," Adagio said. Aria and even Sonata narrowed their eyes in confusion. "That's what Doombringer said," Adagio said, "and the only reason why I believe her is because of....all her...trophies." "So what do we do," Aria asked, "put them under a net and push them into getting mad." "No," Adagio said, "their magic de-activates under the net. If we want their negative energy, we need them as they are." "But how?" Aria said. Adagio turned to a page with a smile. "I have a plan." Aria saw the section. It was labelled, "Fairy Allergies." "I guess we'll see," Aria said. Both she and Sonata had hopeful smiles on their faces. Sunset, after hours and hours of crawling, finally made it to the objects that were glowing in the distance. Beautiful crystals that glowed a golden light. These artifacts made Sunset felt relieved. For the first time in days, there was a faint chance for some hope. Sunset crawled to what was hopefully her salvation. Until she accidentally let out a yell. Sunset looked down and saw she accidentally crawled over some glass. To her disappointment, she realized they weren't fancy crystals. They were a broken soda bottle that reflected the sun above. Sunset let out an angry sigh. "Can't I just get one break," Sunset yelled angrily to the sky, "one sign that you care!" A hoot was her answer. Sunset turned around and saw an owl on the ground looking at her. Sunset was not comforted by the hungry look and lip, or in this case, beak smacking of the feathery fiend. Sunset let out a nervous chuckle. "Hey little guy," Sunset said in a sweet tone, trying to sound like Fluttershy, "listen, you're a little on the chubby side. Maybe you want to cut back the worm and try the more healthy, and non-sentient, beetle over there." The owl let out a shriek fanning its wings. Sunset squealed. No it couldn't end like this. She would not end up some other creature's breakfast, but she couldn't move fast enough on land. As the owl flew toward her, Sunset was forced to do the unthinkable. Sunset munched the dirt in order to hide underground. At the last moment, she was able eat her way into the dirt deep enough that she could escape the owl. "Whoever made those books where animals got along needs a punch in the nose!" Sunset growled from her small cavern underground. Eventually Sunset made her way back up to the surface, breathing a sigh of relief. "But at least the dirt was chewy," Sunset said. "At least it can get any worse." "Well Timber," a voice said. Sunset looked up and saw a young woman with long raspberry colored hair and a teenaged boy with green hair walking up to them. Their beige uniforms showed they worked in Everfree. "Time to mow the area." "Mow the lawn," Sunset whimpered. "Sorry Gloriosa," the green-haired boy said to the long-haired woman. "The mower is on the fritz." Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry Timber," Gloriosa said. She pulled out two machetes and handed one to her younger brother. "We'll just scrape the ground by hand." Sunset was about to let out a plea, only for them to put ear plugs into their ears. "Man, these earplugs work great," Gloriosa said happily. "They can keep out the noise generated from lawn equipment, annoying anmals, and unwanted children." "What?" Timber asked, unable to hear anything "Exactly?" Gloriosa joked. Sunset struggled to crawl away as the two began scraping the soil. "Please," Sunset cried. "Someone help me! Please, please, someone out there, help me out!." She slammed her head against the root. Unbeknownst to her, she accidentally activated the duck cam hidden in her hair. "It is getting close to your bed time Sport," Wanda said, having transformed herself into a clock. "I'm gonna hit the hay," Timmy said with a yawn, "Goodnight Wanda!" Timmy ran out of the room only to stumble on a green box. "Wanda," Timmy said, handing his Fairy Godmother the present, "this box says its from Cosmo to you". Wanda took the box and opened it. "Oh my gosh," Wanda said happily, "chocolates!" Seeing how Wanda was happy, Timmy decided to go to bed. Wanda took a bite out of the chocolates, and- Wanda felt her mouth burn from spice and felt hideous pimples form on her face. Wanda looked in the mirror and shook with anger. "And corn is also nice," Cosmo continued, because-," "COSMO!" Wanda bellowed, poofing outside, interrupting Cosmo's tangent about the greatness of corn. "Wanda what's-," Cosmo looked shock as she saw pimples all over Wanda's face. "What happened?" Aria said in an innocent voice. "Why is your face so bumpy?" Sonata also asked. "May I borrow him," Wanda said with a forced smile to the two siren sisters, grabbing Cosmo by his shirt and teleporting them to the living room. "What is this?" Wanda asked Cosmo, presenting a box of chocolates. "Chocolates," Cosmo said. "What were you thinking?!" Wanda bellowed. "Don't you remember that fairies can't touch paprika! At best, I get a horrible rash, at worse, it could've made my throat close up!" "Hey wait," Cosmo protested, "I didn't poof up-," "ONLY YOU WOULD SO SOMETHING SO DUMB!" Wanda yelled. "But-," "Only you could randomly buy a box of spiced chocolates and pick up the one with paprika, but that's just how STUPID YOU ARE! YOU'RE A WHOLE LEVEL OF STUPID!" Cosmo's patience gave with a frown. "No you're stupid!" Cosmo yelled. "YOU ARE!" Wanda said. "YOU ARE!" The sirens stood outside the house, watching the commotion in the living room through one of the windows. "C'mon," Adagio said with anticipation. "C'mon," Aria said. The sirens felt overjoyed as the familiar green mist returned, and the negative energy from those two entered their gems. The sirens let out happy sighs as the energy flowed into their bodies. "I've never felt so full since we were in Equestria," Aria said. "It's almost as tasty as tacos," Sonata said. "At last, our work has come to fruition," Adagio said with a vicious smile, watching at her gem, and the gems of her sisters, glowed with the energy it had during the Battle of the Bands. "But tomorrow, we begin phase two." Timmy slept peacefully in his room, only to be woken up by a bucket of ice being poured onto him. "Aah," Timmy wailed. He looked up and saw who did it. "Cosmo," Timmy said angrily, "what did you do that for?" "Because I could," Cosmo said holding up a bucket with a sneer. HE LOVED DOING THAT ON PURPOSE! "What are you, stupid!" Timmy bellowed. "Takes an idiot to know one," Wanda snarked with a sneer of her own. "Just get me cleaned-," "Lazy boy, always asking for help!" Wanda mocked, "because he can't do anything himself." HOW DARE THEY CALL US LAZY! THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING WHAT WE WANT! "Whatever," Timmy said with a fit, "I don't need you cleaning me up! I can do things myself! Let's not talk for the rest of the day!" "First good idea you ever had!" Wanda said. "But more than Cosmo ever had in his entire life!" Timmy stormed out of the room in anger. Crocker swept the sidewalk with a tried expression in the early hous. He was so into his work, he barely noticed someone approaching him "Hello Crocker," a voice said. Crocker looked up and saw three young woman approach him with interested smiles. "Who are you," Crocker said with some suspicion. "We are the Muses," the tall one with orange hair said. "We heard about you." "The greatest fairy hunter ever," the one with pigtails said with a smile. Crocker smiled. "Oh please," Crocker said, "you don't give me enough credit," "We've ingratiated ourselves with a certain Timmy Turner." the pigtailed girl said. Crocker's interested was piqued. "Are you aware that Timmy Turner has FAIRY GODPARENTS?" Crocker said. The Dazzlings were a bit taken aback by the man's freak out, but suppressed it. "We've seen...something," Adagio said evasively. "What if I told you with his FAIRIES, the world could be in the palm of my-I mean, our hands," Crocker said with a crazed expression. "Help me capture them, and I'll grant you a position of power in my new world order!" "OK," the pony-tailed girl said. "Fool," Crocker said with an angry frown, "don't you see the-," Crocker paused. "Wait, what did you say?" "We said we'd help you," the tall one repeated with a smile. "Really?" Crocker said with disbelief. "This is the first time I've made my usual pitch to a teenager without being called crazy or pepper sprayed." A happy smile formed on his face. "Welcome to Team Crocker!" "Glad to be on the team," the orange-haired one said with unease. "Don't be bashful," Crocker said, "with my...expertise, we shall capture the boy's FAIRY GODPARENTS and rule the world!" "How can you afford all this," Adagio asked Crocker, "on a school salary?" The three sirens were amazed at the massive underground lab this man had. It was full of computers, scientific equipment, diagrams, and fairy hunting technology. "You'd be surprised how creative school accounting is," Crocker said, "I managed to list those blast capsules you're standing next to as a business expense." The three sirens moved away from them fearfully. "As members of Team Crocker," Crocker said, "you have earned the Team Crocker shirt." Crocker passed around... Plain white T-shirts with "Team Crocker" written in crayon. Only Sonata actually enjoyed wearing hers while S. "You must remember," Crocker said triumphantly, "to be loyal to Crocker. Not to anyone one nation! Denzel Crocker is not subservient to anyone." "Denzel," an old lady's voice crooned from some speaker, "come help mommy clean the basement." "Mother," Crocker yelled to the monitor, "I am busy plotting world domination with my new minions." "But Poopie Bear," the woman said in a wounded tone, "don't you love mommy?" The Dazzlings laughed at how pathetic this was. "Alright," Crocker relented. "I'll stop by later." Crocker turned back to the Dazzlings with a glare. "Speak of this to no one." "Alright," Adagio said. "Poopie Bear," Aria said under her breath, before snickering. "Anyways, are you prepared to do the work needed to capture Turner's FAIRIES!" Crocker bellowed. The three girls talked amongst themselves for a few moments, before collectively turning to Crocker with a smile. "Thank you so much Crocker," Sonata said. "You've been so helpful," Aria cooed. "When we have our thrones," Adagio said, "we'll remember all that you did for us." Crocker narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to-," Adagio let out a sonic wave that knocked Crocker against the wall, knocking him out. "You know what to do girls," Adagio said with a delighted hiss. "Take what we can carry," Aria said. "And destroy the rest," Sonata finished. Their gems lit up as they prepared to bring this lab down. They were excited to be able to go all out again. Timmy came into school, still annoyed by Cosmo and Wanda's bad behavior. WE SHOULD PUNISH THEM! THEY SHOULD BE OBEYING US! He would deal with them later. Right now, he was just going to try and enjoy his day. But as soon as he walked into the school, something happened. Everyone turned toward him with viciously angry expressions. Even his two best friends, and best backup friends. Timmy chuckled nervously. "Hey guys," Timmy said, "what's-," "Well if it isn't the loser," AJ said, furious hatred in his voice. "AJ," Timmy said nervously, "I know you screwed up, but maybe we can-," "Why don't you beat it," Chester said with disdain, "this school isn't for pathetic people like you." "You give me bad karma!" Sanjay barked. "My boil hurts more when you're near me!" Elmer hissed. "Yeah," Trixie said, "Dimmsdale has enough losers!" "Trixie," Timmy said in a hurt tone, "why are you saying these things. I thought we had-," "I'd never date someone as weak and useless as you," Trixie said with an evil smile. "But-," suddenly everyone starting throwing things at him. Books, pencils, lunches, and backpacks. "Stop it," Timmy said, tears flowing down his eyes. He cried as more and more stuff was thrown at him. "Oh look," one girl said, "Loser Baby is crying!" Everyone started laughing at him. "Leave me alone," Timmy cried out , pain and misery in his voice. "Why are you all attacking me?" "Because you exist." Elmer said. "Because your lame." Sanjay said. "Enough!" a female voice exclaimed. Principal Waxelplax came toward the crowd with a stern expression. "Principal Waxelplax," Timmy said with joy, "thank goodness you're-," Waxelplax snarled at Timmy, before angrily yanking him from the room by his arm. "Timmy Turner," Principal Waxeplax said with hate in her voice, "you are hereby expelled forever!" "Why?" Timmy said, letting out a sob of agony as Waxelplax yanked on his arm too hard. "Because your screams of pain were making too much noise," the woman said, before literally booting Timmy from the school onto the lawn with a cackle. "Why was everyone attacking me?" Timmy said with a whimper. His two fairies appeared before him. "Because its fun," Wanda said with disdain. "Because you stink?" Cosmo said. "I wish we were home," Timmy said with a whimper. "Fine lazy boy," Wanda said as she raised her wand. Timmy poofed home, hoping to find some comfort from his parents. "Mom, dad," Timmy said, running into the door, "everyone at school-," "What are you doing here?" His dad said with a growl. "I live here?" Timmy said timidly. "Not anymore," his mom said with a sneer. Timmy backed away as both his parents looked at him with sheer hatred. "You're the reason why we're poor," his mom said. "You're the reason why the Dinklebergs beat us at everything!" his dad yelled. "You're the reason why our careers are going nowhere." "Waste!" "Brat!" "Loser!" "Baby!" "But-" Timmy found himself booted from his house and into a pile of mud. Timmy sat in shock at what happened, and started crying. "First my godparents, then everyone at school, and now my own parents," Timmy muttered with tears rolling down his eyes. "Why's everyone being mean to me?" Timmy knocked on the door of the mansion, with a hopeful expression. Adagio answered. "Timmy," Adagio said with a surprised expression, "what are you doing here? Why aren't you-," "I don't know," Timmy said with a whimper, "first Cosmo and Wanda got mad at me, then everyone at school attacked me, and now my parents-," Timmy broke down and cried. "Don't worry Timmy," Adagio said with a warm smile, "you can stay with us, OK?" "OK," Timmy said, before being pulled into a hug by Adagio. Timmy cried into Adagio's shoulder. He was upset, but he was happy there was someone out there that would help him. Unbeknownst to him, Adagio smiled viciously. "Nothing can get in my way now," the eldest siren said under her breath. Princess Twilight was frustrated. She looked all over Canterlot, but she couldn't find Sunset. Not at her job at the mall, not at her apartment, not anywhere. In her last act of desperation, she decided to try Canterlot High, despite the fact that she had been apparently been kicked out. She got out of the cab after it pulled up behind CHS. "Hey," the cab driver hollored. "You've got to-," several gold coins were thrown at her. The cabbie marveled at the gold coins. "Looks like I can retire to Jamaica after all," he said happily. Twilight was too tired and desperate to try the front entrance and ran into a back entrance, where a sign read 'nature lab'. Fluttershy walked into the nature lab at CHS. She was followed by Rainbow Dash and Sandalwood. "Thank you guys for helping me move this stuff," Fluttershy said with a warm smile. "Of course," Rainbow said, "anything for a friend." "Anything for a fellow friend of nature," Sandalwood said happily. The athlete and the hippy began carrying heavy crates of equipment out the door, to be loaded into the van for her environmental study. Fluttershy noticed one of her devices was blinking. That meant... "Look," Fluttershy said, "one of my cameras has a signal." "Let's hear it," Sandalwood said. They pushed the button. An image appeared on the laptop it was connected to. The image was poor, but they heard a voice that was not at all a duck shouting. "Please help me!" a female voice said. "Someone help me! Please, anyone!" The three people in the room were taken aback by the fear and desperation in the voice. Until they remembered who it was. "Oh its the demon," Sandalwood said with disdain. "She's crying..." "She deserves it for making us cry," Rainbow said. "I need someone to help me," Sandalwood and Rainbow starting laughing. Fluttershy started to laugh, but her laughs trailed off as she felt...uneasy. "OK Fluttershy," Rainbow said, "shut it off, I've heard enough from the demon." Fluttershy was about to shut it off, "STOP!" The group turned to see who was at the door. Princess Twilight stood there, wheezing. "Do we...know you?" Rainbow asked. Sandalwood and Fluttershy also looked at Twilight with a lack of familiarity. The alicorn-turned-human couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You guys don't really remember anything, do you?" Princess Twilight said with some sadness. "All we know is we're tired of the demon and her bad vibes," Sandalwood said. Twilight heard Sunset's pleas for help and was shocked. "Don't shut it off!" "Who cares about some dumb demon!" Rainbow joked. "She's your friend. Why can't you guys remember?!" Princess Twilight pleaded. "Move out of the way, demon lover," Rainbow said to Twilight with disdain. She was about to shut it off before Fluttershy stopped her with an outstretched arm. "Flutters," Rainbow said with disdain. "Why do you "Because...." Fluttershy stammered uneasily, "because...." her eyes widened. "We love Sunset as our friend." Fluttershy's eyes widened. In a flash, all her memories came back. "Because she isn't a demon, she isn't a meanie, she's our friend who got a second chance." "What are you-," Rainbow began, before suddenly her eyes widened and all her memories came back too. Sandalwood's eyes widened as well, signaling his memories were also returning. "You're right," Rainbow Dash said, "why am I just remembering that? And Twilight...the Battle of the Bands... and...Timmy Turner too." "How did we forget about all that," Sandalwood said. "I don't know," Twilight said. "We'll explore that later. But all we know is Sunset's in trouble, and we have to save her." "But how?" Rainbow said. "The camera comes with a GPS," Sandalwood said. He clicked on the laptop, and the GPS revealed where Sunset is. "Everfree Forest," Sandalwood said. Sunset didn't know how long she had been screaming for, before she collapsed from sad exhaustion. An hour. A day. But she realized it didn't matter. Nothing mattered. She was stuck as a worm. The rest of her life would be spent hiding from evil birds who saw her as dinner. This was her fate. What she deserved for being a monster for her whole life. She was so lost in thought, she didn't realize that she heard some chanting in the distance. But gradually it grew louder and louder. Eventually, she realized that...it was her name being chanted. Sunset pulled herself from her underground shelter, where she saw it was the evening, and watched several people in the distance. He recognized them as Rainbow, Sandalwood, and Fluttershy, and they were chanting her name. "Guys," Sunset yelled, feeling more relieved than ever. "Guys!" Her relief died as, to her frustration, she realized she was too small to be heard from so far away. Sunset looked for a way to signal them. But how could she. She was a worm. She looked around in desperation, especially as she saw them walking away, and saw the shards and how they reflected light. A sly smile formed on her face. "Sunset!" "Sunset!" "Sunset!" "I know she's hear dudes," Sandalwood said, holding up his tracker, "Somewhere." "But why isn't she responding," Fluttershy said fearfully. "I don't know-," a shine of light came in the distance. The way it faded in and out indicated this was some kind of distress signal. They walked toward some field surrounded by trees. "Sunset!" they "Down here!" "Sunset we found you," Fluttershy said. "Down where?" Rainbow said with some confusion. "Look down." They all did, and what they saw was unimaginable. They saw an oddly colored worm that was red and yellow. But the worm also had a very familiar hairdo and jacket on it. "Sunset," Rainbow said with horror. "What happened to you," Fluttershy gasped, rushing over to pick up Sunset with her pinky. Sunset crawled on, before collapsing in tears. Sunset cried. She cried in fear, she cried in relief, she cried because of the horrific fate she nearly suffered. "Dude," Sandalwood said once Sunset's crying got under control, "how did you end up-," "Timmy." Sunset said. Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Sandalwood were shocked. "Timmy did that to you?" Rainbow said with horror. "Why?" Sandalwood said with dismay. "Timmy found out about the...demon thing," Sunset said sheepishly. The other three looked even more horrified. "What?" Rainbow said. "He saw you be evil," Fluttershy said. "That's...bad,," Sandalwood said. "He's also the one who made you forget about me turning good," Sunset said. "He thought that I brainwashed all of you into being my slaves, and that I was forcing you guys to be nice to him, so he would let his guard down." "That's...that's whack," Sandalwood said. "I...also accidentally let it slip that I spied on him," Sunset said with a nervous frown. The three others went pale with fear. "This...this is really bad," Rainbow said. "Yeah," Sunset said, "he felt so threatened by my demon self, he reacted by turning me into a worm. But now the stone is only going to drive him to do worse things. I can only imagine what he's been doing for the past few days." Sunset blinked, then looked up her friends. "How did you guys find me, and how did you get your memories back?" "I guess you left one of the cameras in your hair," Rainbow said, gently plucking it from Sunset's locks. "But how did you remember who I was?" Sunset said. "I don't know," Fluttershy said with a shrug. "We heard you were in trouble, we remembered how much we loved you, and suddenly we remembered." "We'll worry about that later," Rainbow said, "right now, we got to warn the Princess, help everybody get their memories back, turn you back to normal, find Timmy, and get the stone out of him." Everyone started rushing back to leave the forest and head back to Canterlot. Sunset worried about Timmy. Worried about what he might do. Her only hope is that he was surrounded by people who could keep him from going to far. Timmy whimpered, sitting in the bedroom the Dazzlings set up for him, hearing Cosmo and Wanda yell at each other in the other room. He didn't like it when they fought. He was upset when they got upset. It meant they couldn't take care of him. It meant they called him names, even when he was begging them to stop and get along. "I wish I married Juandissimo," Wanda yelled. "I wish I married Blonda," Cosmo yelled. "Of course you would," Wanda said, "she's an idiot!" "Jokes on you," Cosmo said, "you married an idiot." Timmy flinched as they started beating each other up. He cried, not liking it that his two godparents were hurting each other. Everyone in his life started hating him and being mean. He didn't know why. But, looking at the girl coming into his room, he was a little happy there was one person he could trust. "Here you go Timmy," Adagio said, bringing him a plate of warm milk and cookies. "Is there anything else you need?" "No thanks," Timmy said with a sniffle. He ate the cookies and drank the milk. "Thanks for letting me stay." "Timmy," Adagio said with a warm smile, "you know you can always count on me and my sisters." "Can you help me figure out what's wrong with everybody?" Timmy said. It was nighttime and he was suddenly feeling sleepy. "Don't you worry Timmy," Adagio said as he began to fall asleep, "we'll be your new family, and keep you safe." Once Timmy fell asleep, Adagio lit her gem. Her two sisters came into the room. "Are you sure he's out," Aria said. "Warm milk," Adagio said with a smirk, "puts everybody to sleep. Are those two distracted?" The blast was heard from the other room. "Take that, Scary Godmother!" "Yep," Sonata said. "Good," Adagio said, looking at the sleeping boy. With this last step, their control over those fairies and their magic would be total. By tomorrow, the brat would be nothing more than their puppet. The three sisters gathered around him and put their hands on his head. They soon let out a chant. With this boy, at our side. With this boy, at our side. Victory will be nigh Victory will be nigh. Power, power forever ours. Power, power forever ours. Our strength will grow by the hour. Our strength will grow by the hour. With this boy at our side. With this boy at our side WITH THIS BOY AT OUR SIDE WITH THIS BOY AT OUR SIDE WITH THIS BOY AT OUR SIDE! A bright green glow emerged from the room. > Breaking Point (Part 1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Princess Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie waited near the horse statue. It was currently the early hours, with the sun barely over the sky. They watched with horror as Rainbow and Fluttershy brought Sunset back in worm form. "Sunset," Rarity said with sorrow to her transformed friend, currently residing on Fluttershy's thumb, "I am so sorry." "Rainbow its not your fault," Sunset said. "It isn't really his fault either." "I can't believe he would do that," Rainbow Dash said with horror. "Erase our memories and ditch you in a forest." "He did destroy a truck," Applejack reminded them with narrowed eyes, but based off her tone, she clearly wasn't happy either, nor was she trying to gloat. "You were right Applejack," Sunset admitted, "we should've kept him on a sick leave-," "Sugar cube," Applejack said gently, "I'm not gonna tell you ah told you so. None of us could ever have guessed he would learn about your demon episode." "Dark magic can corrupt even the purest soul," Princess Twilight said with a frown. "But he'll be fine as long as we catch him." "But how did he learn about Sunset's episode," Rarity asked with a severe frown. "All of the data was erased online and kept on file." "Maybe someone leaked it," Rainbow said with a frown, "to get back at Sunset." Everyone was horrified. Someone in Canterlot was so willing to get back at Sunset, they'd risk Timmy going berserk to do it. "Look," Fluttershy said gently, "we can't worry about that now. We have to find him and stop him from becoming a super meanie." "Do you have the rune?" Sunset asked Twilight with a hint of desperation. "Spike is getting it ready," the pony princess said. Out of the portal emerged Spike. "I got the rune," the dragon-turned-boy, said while taking something out of his backpack. The rune looked like black stone tablet, about the shape and size of a small book, with weird markings running across the surface. It was placed inside of a glass box. "So that's the rune?" Rainbow asked. "What does it do?" Applejack said, "but keep it short please," Applejack adde with a stern glare, not wanting a lecture from the pony princess. "So we need to catch Timmy," Princess Twilight said, "and put it right on his body. When we do that, the magic will deactivate, and the Stone will shoot out of his body. Then we take the stone, put it on the surface, keeping it bound and preventing anyone from touching it or making a wish." "That's it?" Rainbow asked. "That's it," Princess Twilight said. "But let me clear," Princess Twilight said sternly, "we need to be very, very careful. If this breaks, we lose our only chance of stopping him." "Don't worry," Spike said, carrying the glass case, "I'll be super-," he tripped, causing the glass case to bounce into the road. "Spike," Twilight yelled. "My bad," the dragon turned human child said sheepishly. Everyone started panicking as it fell into the road. Thankfully the glass didn't break. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. A speeding car ran into the glass case, knocking it into the air. "Ahhh," everyone yelled, as the case was launched into the air. "Oh no," Fluttershy said with terror. "We're doomed," Rainbow Dash as the case fell to the ground with a whistling sound, only for the case to bounce softly on the grass in front of them. "It's a good thing I bought disaster proof glass," Princess Twilight said triumphantly. "I think 'disaster' is the best way to describe our lives this past year," Rainbow snarked. "How are we gonna turn me back," Sunset asked Princess Twilight with a hint of desperation. "Oh that's easy," Princess Twilight said. "I think the portal should be able to overcome the magic spell placed on you. You should be changed back into a pony, and then back into a human when you cross over again." "Well, here goes...nothing I guess," Sunset Shimmer said. Fluttershy brought her to the portal. With a shrug, Sunset entered the portal. Everyone waited with baited breath, hoping the Sunset they knew would emerge. To their relief, a teenage girl materialized in front of them, lying on the ground with an exhausted sigh. "Yay," Everyone said. "Sunny's back to normal," Pinkie said. "This is-," Rainbow paused as Sunset started wiggling on the ground. "Uh, sort of back to normal." Everyone looked aghast as Sunset wiggled like a worm to the lawn and started chewing on the dirt. "Sunset," everyone yelled. Rainbow and Applejack pulled her away to stop her from eating the lawn. "What," Sunset yelled defensively, clumps of soil and grass coming out of her mouth, "I've had no limbs for two days, and I need more minerals in my diet." "Stick to vitamins," Rainbow snarked, as she and Applejack forced Sunset upwards, trying to help her walk. Sunset slowly waddled to school Everyone followed them into the school, the rune in Spike's hands. The student body of Canterlot High gathered in the auditorium. Everyone was shocked and confused by how they had been made to forget about Sunset's redemption. Not to mention remorseful over how they treated Sunset. Sunset had gotten numerous apologies from people, which lifted her spirits, but not enough to overcome her sense of dread. Everyone looked at her for guidance as she came to the podium, the principal sisters, the Rainbooms, and the entire staff behind her to sell her image of stern resolve. "As many of you know," Princess Twilight said, "we somehow were overcome by a curse that made us forgot Sunset's becoming our friend." Everyone frowned severely, wondering who would mess with their brains like that. "We already know the culprit," Princess Twilight said, suppressing a sad sigh, "Timmy Turner." Everyone began muttering in horror and confusion over that. "Timmy did that?" Gilda asked with horror and disgust. "As all of you know by now," Princess Twilight said, "Timmy has come into the possession of a powerful magical artifact that was fused into his body. Sunset became his babysitter to watch over him, and to keep him from being corrupted. and until we could come up with a solution." Princess Twilight's lips pursed into a small frown. She had not yet mastered control over her face muscles the way Princess Celestia did. "But he somehow uncovered Sunset's demon past." Everyone went silent with horror over that. "He believed that Sunset was an evil supervillain who brainwashed all of you into liking him." Everyone was confused at that. n"He turned Sunset into a worm, ditched her the forest, and he thought he was freeing you from an evil spell." The silence was so thick, everyone could hear a pin drop, especially as an overhead projector showed Sunset had been transformed into a worm. "Somehow, his spell wore off on all of you, and we found Sunset and cured her. But as it stands, Timmy has begun to be corrupted by the stone." "Do you know...where he is?" A voice asked timidly. "We don't know," Princess Twilight said after a small period of hesitation. "We called his house and school, but they don't seem to be able to find him. But there is no need to panic-," "EVERYBODY PANIC!" A voice yelled, Everyone started screaming in fear and panic. "The horror!" Roseluck said. "This is awful!" Lily bellowed. "A disaster!" Daisy said. Some students were tearing up the seats, other started smashing the windows. They were running around the aisles in fear, while Princess Twilight pleaded for order into the microphone; "IF Y'ALL DON'T SIMMER DOWN!" Granny Smith bellowed into the microphone, "I'LL TAN YER HIDES!" Everyone immediately calmed down and returned to their seats. "We can't panic in this situation," Princess Twilight said. "We will only make things worse." "What are we going to do?!" Someone asked. "The Rainbooms and I are going to find him," Princess Twilight said. "And we're going to use a magical artifact to disable his magic." She walked away from the podium, allowing Principal Celestia to come to the table. "Listen to me very carefully," Principal Celestia said in a firm tone that brooked no argument, "these are the rules, as recommended by Princess Twilight." Her eyes narrowed. "If any of you violates these rules, you will be in detention for the rest of the year." Everyone immediately went quiet. "If you all decide to go into Dimmsdale and you happen to spot Timmy, do not approach him, talk to him, fight him, or let him see you. Report his whereabouts to me, and I'll send the info to Princess Twilight." "Can't we just talk to Timmy?" Flash asked, standing up to address the audience, "and tell him that Sunset is not actually evil." "Yeah," Thunderlane said, "maybe he'll listen to us!" "I'm afraid its too late for that," Princess Twilight said coming back to the podium. "Right now, he is undergoing personality shift. That is when his old personality is being rewritten by the new, evil one the stone wants. At this stage, he is deeply delusional and paranoid. Again, he is under the delusion that you all are Sunset's brainwashed slaves. If you challenge that delusion, he'll get defensive and attack you!" "But c'mon," Lightning Dust, rising to her feet, "he wouldn't ever attack us?" "He turned Sunset into a worm," Princess Twilight reminded. "You all don't think he can do anything dangerous, but dark magic can affect anyone and turn them into something horrible. I am pleading with you to avoid him at all costs and let us deal with it." "So we're supposed to sit around and do nothing like a bunch of wimps!" Gilda said, rising to her feet in anger. "Ms. Griffon," Vice Principal Luna said, coming to the podium, "it doesn't matter how smart you are, or how tough you are, or how brave you are. None of you are a match for magic. And your presence will only make things-," "So just want us to laze around like a bunch of babies!" Gilda bellowed. "Ms. Griffon," Luna said with a stern eye, "I understand your concern, but this is not something you can handle!" "Says you!" "Ms. Griffon," Principal Luna said, "if I find out you tried to confront Timmy, you will be served a detention-" "Serve this," Gilda yelled, storming out of the auditorium, to the shock and concern of everyone else in the room. Principal Luna looked like she was about to walk after her, but then Thunderlane rose up. "Let me talk to her," Thunderlane said, running after the white-haired girl. "As I said, none of you have the ability to deal with this," Principal Luna said, "you will not only endanger yourselves, but the people around you by making Timmy's anger worse to deal with, and make it harder to stop them. I am pleading with you not to exacerbate the situation." With that, the assembly was over, and everyone went back to their classes with more than a bit of anxiety. Rainbow from the stage, saw a very familiar haircut, and walked after it with a very stern eye. "Let's just hope this doesn't get worse," Sunset said, looking at the rune in its glass case. "Um," Nurse Redheart said, "Ms. Shimmer and Princess Twilight. There is something I need to talk to you about." "What is it?" "I have good news-," "And bad news," Sunset said sardonically. She, Sunset, and Princess Twilight met in the nurse's office. "The good news is that there is something out there that will stop Timmy if you plan falls through," Nurse Redheart said. "What is it?" The two girls asked the nurse. "The bad news is it is his heart," the pink-haired woman said. "His heart?" Princess Twilight said. "I studied the effects of the Dazzlings magic on everyone after the Battle of the Bands," the nurse said, pulling out some forms from a desk. "One commonality was that everyone's blood pressure rose. Now I attributed that initially to anger, until I learned from you that humans don't have a natural magical filter." "Yes," Princess Twilight said, "I wondered how humans here dealt with the Dazzlings spell." "It appears in the absence of a magic filtration system, magic enters and exits through the cardio-respiratory system," Nurse Redheart said, pointing to a diagram. "But that means it has to share space with blood, and air and stuff. A little magic is no problem, but imagine if massive amounts of magic enter a body. What happens to the cardio-respiratory system?" "It gets...overloaded," Princess Twilight said. Sunset frowned, not liking where this was going. "If his cardio-respiratory system has to deal with the combined stresses of pumping his blood, filtering his blood, and absorbing and expelling magic, it means Timmy will be headed for cardiac arrest unless you can rip the stone away." Princess Twilight and Sunset looked aghast at that. "And since he is shorter than a teenager, he may be headed there very soon." "You didn't think to mention this before?" Sunset asked. "I assumed you had things under control," the Nurse said with a shrug. "But don't worry, no pressure," she said with a goofy smile. "Get it? Heart attacks? Blood pressure?" The two ponies-turned-human glared at the woman. "I'll stop talking now," The woman said sheepishly. Sunset walked out of the room shaking. "Sunset, you can't panic," Princess Twilight said. "How can't I," Sunset said morosely, "he could be anywhere, not just Dimmsdale. Alone, angry, and now he could-," Sunset broke down in tears. Princess Twilight held her friend as he cried. Despite everything he did to her, Sunset was still scared for Timmy. It showed how Sunset evolved from the self-centered jerk to a kind soul. Princess Twilight hoped that Timmy could be put back on the same path as well. Thunderlane found Gilda in the gym, furiously using a punching bag, muttering about how life is unfair. "I know how upset you are," Thunderlane said uneasily, "but leave the poor bag out of it." Gilda was unamused, and stormed away from the tall teenager to lift some weights. "Gilda, you need to cool it," Thunderlane said seriously, "this isn't helping." "Why," Gilda said, dropping the barbell, "that stupid principal is treating us like wimps." "We can't deal with a magical out of control kid," Thunderlane stressed, "we're not prepared to-," Gilda dropped her weight, and sat on a nearby press, looking deeply upset. Thunderlane never seen Gilda like this. "Is this about being treated like a wimp?" Thunderlane asked with serious eyes. "Or is this about...Timmy?" Gilda looked down at her knees. "You're worried about him, aren't you?" "Well," Gilda said with a sad look, "I just think...he's a good student, and-," Gilda's lip began quivering. "You're scared for him, aren't you," Thunderlane said in an empathetic voice, sitting down next to the martial artist. "Yeah," Gilda in a soft voice, "The reason why I decided to train him was because he was like me when I was his age: a kid everyone picked on. A kid no one understood. I wanted to do him for what Marty did for me. And he's getting better and becoming tougher. But then this stupid stone came along," Gilda's voice got weaker, "and now he's going crazy, and I want to help him, and there's nothing I can do," Gilda broke down in tears. Thunderlane held her in a hug while she cried. "I just feel so useless," Gilda said with a whimper. "You're not useless," Thunderlane said in a soft voice, "just because you can fight a magical threat doesn't mean you're useless. Look, I'm scared too, but you can't let that cloud your mind. Like Princess Twilight said, we can't panic." "But I'm a warrior," Gilda said, "a good warrior shouldn't shy away from a threat." "A good warrior knows went to stay out of things he or she can't deal with," Thunderlane said. "You need to have faith." "Well, the Princess needs more than faith," Gilda said with a stern frown, "I think I know how to deal with Timmy if their plan fails," she said, rising from her bench. Rainbow ran out of auditorium and saw someone short and with purple hair. "Scootaloo," Rainbow said sternly. The girl turned toward Rainbow with a sheepish smile. "Hey Rainbow," the youngest Dash said, "how's it-," "Why are you here?!' Rainbow asked her younger sister with crossed arms. "Just passing through," Scootaloo said with a shrug. Rainbow noticed something behind her. "Is that a red bat attached to your back," Rainbow said with confusion said. "Is it?" Scootaloo said nervously, "i could've sworn-," "Scootaloo," Rainbow said in a stern tone, "you can't hunt for TImmy. You need to be in school." "C'mon Rainbow," Scootaloo said with a stern frown, "you told me a Dash sister doesn't back down." "Scootaloo," Rainbow said with fierce eyes, "if you even go near Timmy, he could attack you, and I won't be able to save you if he does." "But Rainbow-," "IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BUTT BACKED TO SCHOOL," Rainbow yelled, "YOU'RE GROUNDED!" Everyone, including Scootaloo, was shocked. While Rainbow could be brash and competitive, she was rarely angry enough to raise her voice. "But Rainbow," Scootaloo said with tears in her eyes, "Timmy needs-," "I know you're lovey-dovey for him," Rainbow said in a softer voice, "but-," "I'm not lovey-dovey for him," Scootaloo said with an annoyed frown. "It's just...Timmy isn't some lame crush. You know when I beat a boy at something? They get angry and humiliated. Timmy's the one boy who kept exercising with me, even when he knew I was better at him." Rainbow was taken aback. She knew what Scootaloo went through: being hated for being a girl and tough. Because boys were taught to believe that being less tough than a girl made you a sissy. But Timmy understood what girls like her and Scootaloo went through. Sunset told her that Timmy dressed as a girl and learned what that Trixie girl experienced. Rainbow thought that was silly, but seeing Scootaloo look so upset, Rainbow seriously wondered if making a boy dress up as a girl could be the key to gender equality. "Went I first saw him," Scootaloo said unhappily, "he looked so goofy, with his pink hat and buck teeth." Scootaloo's lip started quivering. "But he didn't get upset, no matter how many times I beat him at pushups. And he likes Crimson Chin and-," Scootaloo started crying. "And now that stupid rock might erase him, and make him into someone evil." Rainbow pulled her sister into a hug. "I know you're scared Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash said, "but if Sunset was able to come around, I know Timmy can be saved. But you can't fight him, because he has a ton of magic. Let me and my friends handle it." "OK," Scootaloo said, her tears going away. The Rainbooms prepared to leave for Dimmsdale in Applejack's truck, when suddenly a white-haired girl came up to them. "Hey dweebs," Gilda said. "If you need to bring Timmy down, I got something for you." "What," Rainbow said. Gilda presented them some white colored pistol. "The Dimmadome Brand Tranquillizer," Gilda said, "perfect for pranks, girl scouts, and census takers." "You want us to shoot him?" Sunset asked furiously. The other Rainbooms glared at Gilda. "This will only knock him out," Gilda said sternly, "I know you don't want to hurt him, but if he's going to get someone hurt, and your magic fails, then you need to stop him somehow." With a sigh, Sunset took the tranquilizer, accepting the possibility. "Thanks," Sunset said. "Careful how you hold that," Gilda said, "you might-," a dart fired off. They hurt a grunt, and saw that Vice Principal Luna lying on the ground, a tranquilizer dart in her leg. Principal Celestia glared at the teenagers. "She did it," Gilda and Sunset said, simultaneously pointing fingers at each other. Princess Twilight face-palmed. "I want cake and ice cream!" Timmy bellowed at the breakfast table. "Of course Timmy, "Adagio said, placing the sugary food on the table, "you can have whatever you want." "Of course he'll eat it," Wanda said, hovering above Timmy with a sneer. "He loves getting fat." FAT! I'M NOT FAT! THEY'RE MORONS WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT! "Takes a fatty to know one," Cosmo said. "Well at least I don't have a fat head!" Wanda bellowed. "Well at least I don't have fat lips!" "Why don't you two shut your pie holes," Timmy yelled. "In fact, I wish you would". The two raised their wands and a giant mask appeared over their faces. The Dazzlings looked amused, especially as Timmy began eating his ice cream like a pig. "Eat up Timmy," Adagio said. "We've got a busy day!" Aria said with glee. "To think, we get to have a baby brother," Sonata said, "a-," "And do you know why?" Adagio said, walking over to the boy and bending down to him. "Why?" "Because we're your best buddies!" Sonata said. OF COURSE THEY ARE! THEY TOOK IN WHEN YOUR SO CALLED FRIENDS AND FAMILY DESERTED YOU! A smile formed on Timmy's face. "And since we're your best buddies," Aria said with a sly grin, "we get to have fun together." "There are a few things we want," Adagio said. "Another 600 dresses," Wanda said mockingly, "how about- "SHUT UP WANDA!" Timmy bellowed. "And do what they want! They deserve it for being so nice to me!" "If you insist," Adagio said. With an angry growl, the two fairies raised their wands. Many Wishes Later "New clothes," Adagio said, cooing over all the clothes she got. "New weights," Aria said, cooing over her new workout equipment. "New tacos," Sonata said, cooing over the new taco restaurant Sonata poofed across the street. "This is all wonderful," Adagio said with a smile. The three sat in Adagio's luxurious bedroom, "but we need to do something to prove the boy will be loyal to us. Prove he'll obey our every word." An evil smile formed on Aria's face. "I figured out a way to kill two birds with one stone," Aria thought. "Timmy," Adagio said, running into his bedroom. "What is it?" Timmy asked Adagio. "We figured out what was making your parents and friends-," "I DON'T NEED THOSE LOSERS ANYMORE!" Timmy said, "I have you guys now!" A nasty smile appeared on her face. "You're right Timmy," Adagio said, "we're your family now. But we learned the demon had minions." Timmy's face twisted into a frown. "Really?" Timmy hissed with rage. "Yes," Adagio said, "those annoying Rainbrats." "What?" Timmy said, "I thought they were being brainwashed." "They were," Adagio said sympathetically, "but it turned out they wanted to work with the demon for power," she said sadly. "They did?" Timmy said angrily. "Yes," Adagio said with some sadness, "I don't know why anyone could be so evil. But now they're hunting for us, and they want to take our voices away." Timmy's face twisted into rage. NO ONE MAKES ADAGIO UPSET AND GETS AWAY WITH IT! "Don't worry," Timmy said. "Cosmo. Wanda." The two poofed before him. "We're going demon hunting," Timmy said with a growl. "Whatever," Wanda said in a disinterested tone. "I want a souvenir!" Cosmo said. "Oh, blah, blah, blah your needs!" Timmy ordered. Adagio suppressed a smirk, happy the boy was finally seeing things her way. He walked out of the front door and poofed away. "Want to send him after the Princess and Sunny," Aria asked. "No," Adagio said, "if we bring them together, their Harmony magic could activate. We'll get them later". This was the perfect revenge. The Rainbrats destroyed by the boy they tried to care for. She could imagine the look on the faces of the alicorn and unicorn once they learned what he did. It was the perfect revenge. Once they got those pathetic Rainbrats out of the way, nothing would stop her and her sisters from making this world theirs. Things were finally going her way. > Breaking Point (Part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rainbooms parked in downtown Dimmsdale. "OK," Twilight said as everyone got out of Applejack's truck, "everybody split up and try and find him. Remember, try not to be seen by him, report if you see him, and keep calm." Everyone went their separate ways, while Twilight and Sunset went together, on Sunset's motorbike, which for some reason, had been towed away by that Sal guy again, and they had to collect at the impound lot. Who knew caring for a boy meant you had to be stuck with an impound fee. "Let's hope we find him," Sunset said. Rainbow Dash was wandering down the street, her eyes peeled to look for some buck teeth and a pink hat. Yes, she was perfectly aware. Nothing could sneak up on- "Would you some cookies?" "He-yah," Rainbow Dash screamed, doing a karate chop at her assailant. The assailant laid on the ground, rubbing her head, her boxes of cookies lying destroyed. "You ruined my peanut butter biscuits!" The girl said. "Sorry kid," Rainbow said, "that's the way the cookie crumbles!" Rainbow speeded away from the menace. "I wish it could be easier to find him," Rainbow said. "Wish granted." A familiar voice said. Rainbow turned around and saw a familiar boy sneering at him. "Timmy," Rainbow said with a nervous chuckle, "what are you-," "You were working with the demon all along!" Timmy bellowed dramatically. "Timmy," Rainbow said carefully, sweat pouring down her face as the magically enhanced boy glared at her, "Sunset isn't a demon-" "That's what the demon's minions would say!" Timmy yelled. "I should've known you were working for the monster!" "Timmy," Rainbow said nervously, "I'm-" Timmy poofed up a laser and pointed it at her with malicious intent. "Timmy," Rainbow said, "please don't-," Rainbow was blasted. Applejack was looking around the farmer's market, trying to find him, when some farmer approached her with a basket. "Would you like a pear, young lady," a farmer said. "Did you say a pear," Applejack said with a growl. "Yes, pears are simply divine," the farmer began, only for him to get to lasood with a rope and hog-tied. "Anybody else want pears," Applejack said with a growl to everyone else. Everyone nodded fearfully. "Good, y'all have brains." Applejack stomped away. She wandered near some dark ally, only to get blasted with some yellow light. "There you are sir," Rarity said to a hobo sitting on the sidewalk, who was now wearing a fancy suit with patches. "The silk tie may be a little ostentatious, but the patches mean you still have that same homeless chic." "I just wanted some change," the vagrant said. "No need to thank me Darling," Rarity said, "even though you'll be the envy of all the homeless of Dimmsdale." She wandered away, looking for Timmy. "Where is the poor darling," Rarity said with a worried expression, "I must find him," Rarity said with some sadness, "I'll never get a chance to tell him...that pink doesn't go with blue." She collapsed into tears. She was so lost in her misery, she didn't a yellow blast coming her way. "You can't have another sample." "Please," Pinkie Pie said. She was outside the supermarket, talking with some annoying meanie who wouldn't give her another free cupcake. "No." "Please, please, please, please, please." "Fine," the person said in annoyance, "take the whole plate." She handed the plate to Pinkie and wandered inside the store, deciding she would finally get a college degree. "Yay," Pinkie said, she was about to take a bite when she remembered. "Oh wait," Pinkie Pie said, "we have to find Timmy-Wimmy." She looked under the sample table. "Timmy." Pinkie looked inside of a trash can. "Timmy." "I wonder where he could-," a blast struck her. "Aren't you cute," Flutteshy cooed to the creature lying on the ground. She was at the public The little kitty hissed at her violently. "Ow, you hate me," Fluttershy said cheerfully, "that's so wonderful-," the cat swiped at her. "He slashed my arm," Fluttershy said, "that proves he's nice and healthy. And I have to get a possible rabies shot, which means a free lollipop at the dentist's office." Fluttershy smiled over her good fortune. "Now I have to find Timmy." Fluttershy wandered away, looking for the pink-hatted boy only for a blast to get her. Sunset and Twilight were riding around on motorbike when Sunset pulled over. "Sunset," Twilight asked, "why are we-," Twilight looked concerned when Sunset collapsing on the ground clutching her chest and wincing. "SUNSET! What's wrong?!" "I don't know," Sunset said. "Is your heart-," "It's not my heart," Sunset said, "I don't know what it is! I just-," Sunset felt her eyes becoming covered in light. She suddenly heard, no felt, her friends, crying out in fear. "Help us!" They all said at once. "Our friends are in danger," Sunset said, running back to bike. "How do you-," "I don't know," Sunset said, "I just-," Sunset's eyes lit up again. "I know where they are." She and Twilight got on the bike, and zoomed off in another direction. "So what is this about," Moondancer said, stepping into the mansion after being welcomed in by Adagio. "Nice place," Moondancer said. "How did you guys get a mansion?" "Internet." Adagio said. "Anyways, we wanted to thank you for all your help." "Really?" Moondancer said. "So you get to witness those brats who mocked you get what they deserved," Aria said with a smirk. "Really," Moondancer said happily, "that's great. What are you going to do?" "Its a surprise," Sonata said, "patience." Timmy poofed to the mansion, carrying a jar of his friends turned worms. "Turn us back!" Applejack said. "Mercy!" Rarity said. "I don't want to be worm." Fluttershy said. "Let us go!" Rainbow said. "Where's your hat?" Pinkie asked. "You decided to work with the demon!" Timmy said. "You're getting what you deserve!" Timmy put the jar down and wandered into the house. "Hey guys," Timmy said, opening the door. He saw someone else near the entrance. "Oh, you must be Moondancer!" "You're the boy Sunset was picking on," Moondancer said. "Moondancer helped us find the photos of that evil monster," Adagio said. "It's thanks to her Sunset's villainy was stopped." Moondancer felt a bashful smile form on her face. "It was nothing," Moondancer said humbly. "Nothing," Adagio said, "you're too kind Moondancer. It is only fitting someone as great as you should help save a boy from a bunch of criminals." "Is there anything you want," Timmy said with a kind smile to Moondancer. "You deserve something nice after Sunset was so mean to you." "Uh," Moondancer said, "a plate of pancakes." "I wish I had a plate of pancakes," Timmy said. The plate materialized before them, to Moondancer's surprise. "So there really is magic in Canterlot," Moondancer said with wonder, taking the plate, and eating them. "Sure, let's go with that," Timmy said. "Yes," Adagio said, "and Sunset and her goons were planning to use it to bring about chaos and destruction." "Really?" "Yes," Aria said, "but you and Timmy stopped them. You two are heroes." Both Timmy and Moondancer smiled at the praise. "Did you get Sunset's minions," Adagio asked. "Yep. Turned them into worms," Timmy said cheerfully. "Such a good boy," Adagio said. "A cute little hero," Sonata said, pulling Timmy into a hug. "Turned them into worms," Moondancer said nervously, "is that...a joke." "Nope," Timmy said, "its what those meanies get for being so evil." "That's a little extreme," Moondancer said with a humorless chuckle, "there are better ways to-," Adagio put her hand on Moondancer's shoulder. "They humiliated you," Adagio said, looking into Moondancer's bespectacled eyes, "aren't people like that deserving of such a fate." Adagio's gem glowed, and Moondancer's eyes flashed green. "They deserve worse!" Moondancer groweled. "Oh they will," Adagio said to Moondancer. "Timmy, as your friends, we want to know, are you willing to do anything to save the world?" "Yes," Timmy said. "Then dispose of Sunset's meanies," Adagio commanded. "What do you mean-," "Squish!" Aria said. Timmy looked confused. "But, but-," Timmy stammered. "Timmy, aren't we buddies?" Adagio said with an edge in her voice. "Well," Timmy said, looking down nervously. "I'd say squish them." Wanda growled, disguised as a pen in Timmy's pocket. "Monsters deserve to be killed!" "Then why are you still here, miss nag!" Cosmo snarked. "I-," "I thought you wanted to be a hero, Turner," Adagio said. "Don't you want to be a hero?" Aria asked. The Dazzlings Are you a hero, or are you a zero Do you want to greatest hero of them all You have to put your foot down. Their faces you must pound If you want to stand tall, above them all. Adagio Dazzle (Aria and Sonata hum in the background) Life isn't fair Life isn't just If you want to survive, you must Do the hard thing Crush your foes. You have to For evil must go The Dazzlings Are you a hero, or are you a zero Do you want to greatest hero of all You have to put your foot down. Their faces you must pound If you want to stand tall, above them all. Adagio Dazzle (Aria and Sonata hum in the background) You want to be nice You want to do right And that's alright But to win the war But to win the fight You must must crush them, with all your might The Dazzlings Are you a hero, or are you a zero Do you want to greatest of them all You have to put your foot down. Their faces you must pound If you want to stand tall, above them all. "I hope we're not too late," Sunset said, as they reached the mansion. Timmy She's right If I want to win If I want to be safe I can't be nice I have to seal their fate For I don't end Their evil plan Then they'll just Come back again. (The Dazzlings green mist flowed around Timmy. Timmy's eyes turned green, a massive vein formed on his forehead, and his face became red. His fairies went through the same thing.) Timmy: I wish I had a bunch of birds. (Two hungry birds appeared. The Rainbooms screamed as they realized what he was doing. He looked at them with a demented smile). Timmy I have to stand tall, above them- "STOP!" Timmy looked and saw.... Sunset running toward the center. She gasped when she saw her friends as worms, and the nearby birds. Her jaw dropped when she realized what Timmy was about to do. "Timmy, you have to stop," Sunset pleaded. "It's the demon!" Timmy growled. Sunset was horrified. Not just by the fact that Timmy was gonna feed her friends to birds. It was his face. His face was red and snarling. His eyes green and pitiless. The friendly face Sunset had known was completely absent, replaced with a merciless caricature of the boy she bonded with. Also, his hat was gone. "Timmy, you have to stop," Sunset said. "My friends are innocent. That magic's gonna-," Sunset barely dodged a blast from his worm laser. "GET BACK HERE DEMON!" Timmy growled. "Accept your fate." "Timmy," Sunset said ducking behind a bush, "leave my friends alone, please." Sunset shook with fear. Twilight couldn't get close to Timmy without him spotting her. His mind was down the rabbit hole, and if got frustrated enough, he could just wish for Sunset to come out from the bushes. "FINISH HER!" Wanda said. "TEAR HER HEAD OFF!" Cosmo yelled. "You want to hide, chicken," Timmy growled. An crazed smile formed on his face. "Then fine," Timmy cackled. He opened the jar, and took Fluttershy out of it. "Then I'll feed her to a bird," Timmy gloated with a snarl. "Timmy please don't," Sunset pleaded. Twilight, from her hiding place, cried. Her friends were about to become bird food, and there was nothing she could do. "This is working out better than I thought," Adagio gloated while looking through binoculars. "That pathetic unicorn has to watch as the boy she raised as her own feed her pathetic friends to a worm," Aria gushed. "This is even better with tacos," Sonata said, using her feet to eat the tacos. Moondancer watched all this with glee. "FLUTTERSHY!" The girls turned worms yelled. "Timmy, don't," Rainbow said, with tears in her eyes as Fluttershy was dangled above the hungry birds, "leave her alone." "Please don't eat me Mr. and Mrs. Bird," Fluttershy said with tears in her eyes, "I'm mostly empty calories anyways." KILL THEM! DESTROY THEM! MAKE THEM SUFFER! "THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO MONSTERS!" Timmy yelled mercilessly at Fluttershy. "What happens when you side with-," Timmy let out a wheeze. He felt a shooting pain go through his arm in which he carried Fluttershy. He dropped the girl-turned worm, and dropped his rifle in his other arm as he used it to clutch the arm he hurt. "Ahhh!" Timmy said with a wheeze, "what's happening?" He was in so much pain, he fell onto his back. "Cos-," Timmy tried to say, but was in too much pain to make a wish. "What's the brat doing," Adagio growled. "GET UP!" Aria yelled. "Boring," Sonata said. Moondancer watched this, less with anger, and more with concern over what was happening to the boy. Sunset saw what was happening. Just as Nurse Redheart had predicted, his overuse of magic was hurting his heart. He couldn't even articulate a wish. Feeling safe enough, Sunset came out of the bushes, and marched toward the boy. "What's happening to him," the girls-turned-worm said. "Man," Wanda gloated, "you're really out of shape Timmy." "Yeah," Cosmo stated, "you-," their snide behavior faded as Timmy let out another wheeze. "Timmy," Wanda said, some concern returning to her voice. Timmy panicked. The throbbing in his chest and arm mad him too weak to move. It got worse as Sunset came closer to her. "No," Timmy wheezed in fear, "no. Stay away from me, monster." His panic grew as Sunset pulled out some kind of pistol. "Timmy!" Both his fairies screamed, the green from their eyes gone, getting ready to raise their wands if Sunset tried anything. This was it. Sunset had the boy on a platter. He was too weak to move. To weak to make a wish. With this tranquilizer, his terror would come to an end. Sunset had every right to knock him out. He turned her into a worm, left her in the forest, put a horrible curse on her school, turned her friends into worms and tried to make them into bird food. But something was holding her back. Something kept her from pulling the trigger. It was Timmy's helplessness, the fear in his eyes, the panic over the pain he felt, the whimpering. Suddenly, Sunset realized she wasn't staring at a monster, but the boy who cried after being humiliated. Who cried after cheated. Who cried after being abused by his caretaker. A boy who feared the world was out to get him, after being hurt by so many. Did his pain give him right to hurt others? No. But was this the answer to his pain? "C'mon," Aria said, "we need to get out there and protect our meal ticket." "No need," Adagio said. Aria, Sonata, and Moondancer watched with shock as Sunset dropped the pistol and held her hands up. "Idiot!" Adagio snarled. "She has him on a platter, and takes a dive." Sonata and Aria watched this with deep satisfaction, while Moondancer watched this with disbelief and a little pity. "Go ahead Timmy," Sunset said, "turn me into a worm." "Sunset," Fluttershy said with concern. Her friends were shocked by Sunset's choice. "What are you-," Rainbow asked. "I was evil," Sunset said, "and I did spy on you, and I did do horrible things. I do deserve it." Timmy's panic was replaced with a look of confusion and shock. Cosmo and Wanda felt the same thing. "Just let my friends go," Sunset said with melancholy, "don't punish them for the things I did." Timmy felt the pain go through his body fade. He was able to get up. "If me being a worm makes you happy," Sunset said, tears flowing down her eyes, "then do it. Cause that's all I want. For you to feel happy." "Why isn't he turning her into a worm," Aria snarled. Adagio also snarled too. She clutched her gem with gritted teeth, releasing more negative energy into the boy. "Do it!" WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR LOSER! DO IT! FINISH HER FOR GOOD! ARE YOU STUPID! But Timmy couldn't. Timmy saw that Sunset could've fire that gun at him. But didn't. Timmy saw Sunset's face. It wasn't angry or scared. She was smiling at him, and she had tears in her eyes. Timmy heard Sunset speak. She admitted she was wrong, and she begged not for herself, but for her mi-,no friends. She said she wanted him to be happy. Timmy felt tears go down his eyes. DO IT! DO IT! "NO!" Timmy screamed. The red faded from his face, his eyes turned blue, and the bad thoughts went away. When he blinked, he saw what he had done. Nearly killed a bunch of girls. Nearly killed someone who spared his life. Timmy felt himself crying some more. "C'mon do it!" Adagio snarled. "Why isn't he-," "Look," Moondancer said, "maybe we should stop. If Sunset's sparing the boy, maybe she-," Adagio let out a burst of magic, knocking Moondancer out. The Dazzlings anger exploded when they saw Timmy turning the Rainbrats back into human using his laser, before crying some more. "I'm sorry," Timmy said with tears to the girls who had transformed, "I'm sorry." Timmy barely noticed some other girl run from the bushes toward them. Before Sunset or anyone could say anything comforting, another voice interrupted. "Timmy what are you doing?" The Rainbooms looked up, and saw three uncomfortably familiar girls emerge from the mansion. The Dazzlings came out of it, gems restored and all. The seven girls immediately got into a fighting stance while Timmy looked at them with confusion. "You know how dangerous she is," Adagio said with a strained smile, "why are you letting her and her minions go?" Sunset gasped, realizing who had been pulling the boy's strings. It became even clearer seeing Timmy's hat on Sonata's head. "You put him up to this," Sunset said in quiet, but fierce, voice to the sirens, "didn't you?" "Look," Timmy said uneasily, "I know Sunset did evil things-," "You told him about Sunset's past," Rarity gasped in horror. "You told him Sunset was still a demon," Rainbow said, her face twisted into rage. Timmy looked even more confused. Cosmo and Wanda too didn't know what was going on. "Don't real heroes do what need to be done," Adagio instructed. "You tricked him into trying to kill us!" Princess Twilight screamed in sheer rage. "Look," Timmy said to the Dazzlings nervously, "I know Sunset and her friends did bad things, but she said sorry." "You used your evil magic on him!" Fluttershy snarled. "You took his super cool pink hat!" Pinkie yelled. "Look," Timmy said with an uneasy smile to the sirens, "maybe we can all be friends. Sunset, just say sorry for stealing their magic-," "WHAT ELSE DID YOU LIE TO HIM ABOUT?" Applejack yelled sheer rage. "Timmy, aren't we buddies," Adagio asked the brown-haired boy. Sunset could feel the manipulation and fake kindness in the way Adagio asked that. The rage of the Rainbooms grew when they saw how Timmy flinched at those seemingly kind words. "Timmy, they're not your friends!" Princess Twilight said to the boy. "The Dazzlings are monsters who feed of off of misery and hate. They've been feeding you lies and half-truths just to get their hands on your magic. They've been brainwashing you into doing their biddings." "We have been feeling...angry lately," Cosmo said. "Yeah," Wanda said, "we didn't start having our fights until...they showed up." Wanda's eyes widened in realization. "I think enough has been said," Adagio said. "Destroy them, Timmy," "But-," "LISTEN TO ME YOU LITTLE TWERP!" Adagio bellowed, but then covered her mouth. "How dare you yell at him like that," Sunset said, being even more outraged. "I'm sorry Timmy," Adagio said with a fake smile. "Yeah," Aria said, "Adagio just forgot her beauty-," "You said your name was the Muses," Timmy said. His uncertainty was replaced by a stern glare and an angry frown. "Did I?" Adagio said nervously. "I-," "Are you the reason why my parents kicked me out of the house," Timmy said, a deep fire in his eyes. "They did what?" Rarity asked with a snarl. The Dazzlings jaws dropped in shock. They regained their composure, but too late for Timmy not to notice. "YOU'RE THE REASON WHY EVERYONE AT SCHOOL ATTACKED ME!" Timmy yelled in a rage. His fists clenched in anger. "That's it," Timmy yelled, "I wish-," Timmy tried to make a wish but found his mouth being forced shut. Suddenly, he was being lifted up into the air by a green energy and into Adagio's face. It was twisted into sheer hate. "Timmy," Adagio said with restrained fury, "you should've listened to me." Timmy whimpered in fear. "Timmy," Cosmo yelled. "We'll save you," Wanda said angrily. They raised their wands, only for a net to surround them. "Sorry Cosmo and Wanda," Adagio said. Aria had placed a butterfly net over Timmy's head. "Nothing personal." To Cosmo and Wanda's horror, their magic failed them. "THAT'S IT!" Princess Twilight said. The Rainbooms, fury on their faces, joined hands. Timmy watched in confusion as their bodies began glowing. He grew even more confused as they gained wings, horns, pony ears, and hair that flew went down to their feet. "Let's end this once and for all," Sunset said looking sternly at the Dazzlings. Everyone agreed. Their bodies lit up- Only for a net to trap them, canceling their magical attack. "What is this?" Rarity said. The Rainbooms all protested their confinement. "Anti-magic net," Adagio gloated. She allowed Sonata to hold up Timmy and gag him with her magic. "In your world, you think the Elements make you invincible, Princess," Adagio said in a quiet, merciless voice. "Maybe in Equestria. But here on this world, the rule is this." Adagio bent down to look the Princess directly in the eye. "Adapt or die." Adagio looked to the Princess' right and saw what had fallen out of her dress. "An anti-magical rune," Adagio said with glee, "I haven't seen one of these in ages." She took the object out of the glass case and held it, careful to touch the flat side. "Nothing like a trip down memory lane." Adagio heard Timmy's gagged murmurs, and turned back toward him with a vicious smile. Aria held the net over his body, while Sonata held the boy in her magical grip and silenced him. "Don't worry Timmy," Adagio said nastily, walking toward the boy with rune, "I haven't forgotten you...for now." Timmy's panic grew as Adagio got closer and closer. "Leave him alone," Rainbow said. The Rainbooms made similar pleas, but to no avail. "No," Wanda said, trying to use her wand, but couldn't due to the net. "Please," Cosmo said, also making a futile effort. "There you are," Adagio said with glee, having found Cosmo and Wanda disguised as pens in the boy's pocket. Timmy's panic grew even more. "NO!" Adagio brought the rune to them. It let out a green wave that pulled them in as pens. Then it deactivated their magic, revealing their true forms. "TIMMY! HELP!" They screamed. The Rainbooms expected a stone. They instead got creatures who looked mini-humans with tiny wings on them. "Who are those creatures," Princess Twilight asked. But they also noticed how they looked at Timmy with concern, and how Timmy cried as they were ripped away from them. Aria took the net off of Timmy, ran into the house, and came back with some green vacuum thing and a brown box with a nozzle attached. "HELP!" They both screamed as Aria turned on the vacuum. The two became a pink and green form of energy and were gradually sucked into the magic vacuum, but not before saying one last word. "TIMMY!" "Got' em," Aria said viciously after trapping the fairies. "Good," Adagio said. "Yay," Sonata said, releasing Timmy who touched the ground standing up, his face in a daze. "Now let's get out of here," Aria said. She turned to the Rainbooms with glee. "But first." "Who were those-," Twilight began, before Aria came toward them with the brown box. A grey ooze came out of the nozzle. They let out screams, which ended as they were coated them with the ooze . Gradually the ooze hardened into some kind of concrete, trapping them in a stone prison. "Anti-magical concrete," Adagio mused. "Let's go," Aria said. "Sure, sure," Adagio said. They began walking toward the garage. "I thought we were friends," Timmy said in a quiet meek voice. The Dazzlings turned toward him with expressions of contempt, but then turned away from him. They didn't trap him in concrete or say mean things. They left him alone. But it wasn't out of kindness. They just didn't think he mattered anymore. The three piled into a fancy car and drove away. Timmy stood still for a few moments, before letting out the most pained wail he ever let out. "NO," Timmy repeated, each time smashing the dirt he was on. "No. No. No. No. No." "COSMO! WANDA!" Timmy collapsed to the ground, crying his eyes out. > I Feel As If The Sun, the Moon, and Stars Have Fallen On Me > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timmy didn't know how much time had passed. Maybe a minute, maybe an hour. He was so broken, he couldn't care about the time. His world, in his own mind, had crumbled into dust. He continued to lie on the ground, crying his eyes out and moaning in pained agony. He was so forlorn, he didn't notice the sound of a car engine that got closer and closer. A white car pulled up in front of the luxurious mansion. Out of the car stepped Vinyl with her usual relaxed smile and Scootaloo who wore a determined grin. "I know Rainbow is here," Scootaloo said to Vinyl while idly glancing at her phone. The two frowned as they heard what they thought was a pained wail. They followed the sound to the lawn, when they saw something that made their hearts sink. Vinyl and Scootaloo both had seen Timmy upset. The blue-haired teenager had seen the buck-toothed boy looking downcast after being bullied by that redheaded jerk. The purple-haired elementary student had seen Timmy looking defeated after he was cheated by those rich snobs. But all that was nothing compared to the ball of sorrow and despair before them. Timmy laid curled up into a fetal position, his face buried into the grass, weeping violently and loudly. "Timmy," Scootaloo gasped in sympathy. She and Vinyl ran over to the crying boy. "Timmy?" Scootaloo asked, "what happened? Are you hurt? Where's your hat?" Timmy continued wailing. Either he was ignoring the two, or he was too lost in grief to notice them. "Timmy what-," Scootaloo felt Vinyl tap her on the shoulder. Scootaloo looked up. The blue-haired girl pointed with her thumb somewhere with a grim frown on her face toward a more horrific sight. Her older sister and her friends trapped in some kind of stone. "RAINBOW!" Scootaloo ran over to her friends. They were effectively trapped in stone, expressions of horror embedded into the concrete, except Pinkie Pie who still looked bubbly. "Rainbow." Scootaloo broke from her sorrow, a determined expression on her face. "Don't worry Rainbow," the purple-haired girl declared, "I'll save you!" She reached into her backpack and pulled out her secret weapon. "GO BRICK OF RIGHTEOUS JUSTICE! FREE RAINBOW AND HER FRIENDS! HYAHH!" Scootaloo threw the brick toward her friends hoping it would shatter the concrete. Only for the brick to tumble harmlessly to the ground, not even touching the grass near where they were. Scootaloo looked at Vinyl sheepishly and let out a nervous chuckle. The blue-haired girl rolled her eyes and walked over to her car. She then drove it onto the lawn right in front of them. Scootaloo watched with awe as the giant sound system emerged from Vinyl's car. "That gets cooler every time I see it," Scootaloo said with gleaming eyes. Suddenly, a massive booming noise emerged from the speakers. Scootaloo frowned with some annoyance. "How is music-," Scootaloo paused as cracks formed in the concrete. Slowly, but surely, the vibrations generated by the sonic wave tore apart the rock trapping her sister and her friends. Finally, the grey mass crumbled into dust, releasing a small haze. Scootaloo heard a coughing noise from inside the small cloud that formed. To her immense relief, her sisters and her friends were freed, albeit still coughing out dust and trapped in some net. The dust didn't detract from their euphoria. "Thank goodness that's over," Fluttershy moaned. "It was so...dark." She let out a whimper. "Rainbow," Scootaloo chirped as she ran over to the Rainbooms. Vinyl ran over as well, brandishing a large knife that she used to cut through the net. "Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked aloud. "What are you doing here?" Scootaloo flinched at the hidden anger in her sister's eyes, but pressed on. "I know you told me not to help...but I was afraid something was going to happen to you. So I put a tracking device on you. When I saw that you kept...jumping across places, and than didn't move for like...an hour...I called Vinyl to come find you." The blue-haired girl paused from her net cutting and smiled proudly. Applejack looked at her younger sister's friend with a bit of anger. "Are y'all tellin' me you disobeyed us, snuck out of school, and committed illegal surveillance." Scootaloo's face turned white. "Well-," "I am so proud of you, sis," Rainbow gushed as the net was cut off from. "You are 20 percent-" "Rainbow, why were you guys trapped in a stone?" Scootaloo asked, her mood too serious to appreciate her older sister's praise. She then looked away from her. "And why was Timmy crying?" The mention of the brown-haired boy broke the Rainbooms of their joy as they remembered what had occurred. They immediately clamored to their feet and looked to where the boy was. He was no longer crying. But not out of relief or joy. He remained curled into a fetal position, as if all the joy in his life had been drained out of him. Despite what he had done, the sight of Timmy looked so broken was a knife into Sunset's heart. Especially since she knew who was responsible for him going after her friends. "Timmy..."Sunset said in a soft whisper. The rest of the Rainbooms were horrified by what happened to Timmy. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were on the verge of tears. "What happened to him...and you?" Scootaloo asked. Vinyl looked at them with a face that was both sad and eager for answers. A grim frown formed on Sunset's face. "The Dazzlings." Scootaloo's eyes widened in horror, while Vinyl took her sunglasses off in shock. "What?" Scootaloo exclaimed. "They stole...the Stone from him?!" "Yeah..."Rainbow uttered, not knowing how to explain what she witnessed. "They trapped in you in that concrete stuff?!" "They're the ones who told Timmy about Sunset being a demon," Rainbow muttered in an upset tone. Her voice indicated she was making every effort not to yell in a rage. "They're the ones who lied and said we we're brainwashed into liking Timmy," Applejack muttered. "They brainwashed Timmy into turning us into worms and feeding us to birds," Fluttershy exclaimed in a sad tone. "They took his totally cool pink hat," Pinkie growled. Each explanation made both Scootaloo and Vinyl progressively more outraged. That, combined with the sight of her new friend and workout buddy lying broken and traumatized, set Scootaloo over the edge. "Those...those," Scootaloo's face turned red and steam came out of her ears. "MEANIES! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THEM I'M GONNA TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB!" Vinyl didn't yell, but her purple eyes became deep pits of cold rage. She squeezed her sunglasses so hard, they snapped in two. "Scoootaloo, Vinyl," Twilight said in a soft, but upset tone. "I need you to go wait behind the house. We need to talk to Timmy alone." Both Scootaloo and Vinyl both looked like they wanted to give the brown-haired boy a badly needed hug, but they accepted orders from the Princess of Friendship and walked away, but not before giving one last sympathetic look at the boy. With enormous trepidation, the Rainbooms slowly approached the down boy. Princess Twilight decided to bring the brown-haired boy out of his trance. "Timmy, what happened? Who were those-"Timmy suddenly jumped up from his trance and glared at the Princess of Friendship. "WHY DID YOU HAVE THAT!?" Timmy's eyes were red hot and furious, yet bloodshot from all the crying. The Princess was stunned by the brown-haired boy's sudden rage. No one had ever yelled at her like that. "Have what?" "THAT RECTANGLE THING!" Timmy bellowed. "THE THING THEY USED TO TAKE COSMO AND WANDA. I SAW IT FALL OUT OF YOUR CLOTHES! WHY DID YOU HAVE THAT?!" Princess Twilight blinked, but her eyes widened as she realized how that looked. "Timmy," Princess Twilight, uncomfortable and unused to any creature looking at her with such fury and suspicion. "I-," "Why did all of you grow wings and ears and stuff?" Timmy asked again, his rage giving way to sadness and fear. "Timmy-," Sunset began. To her growing sorrow, the boy fearfully backed away from her. "Why were you a demon?" Timmy asked her in a soft, broken voice. "Timmy," Sunset began, "I made a mistake-," "You think humiliating some girl for a crown was a mistake?!" Timmy asked her with some disdain, still backing away. Sunset was stunned. "It wasn't just the demon thing! I saw you..." he paused. "Pretending to be some girl's friend, only to humiliate them." "Timmy, it was a long time ago. I'm in a much better-," "Someone did something like that to me." The Rainbooms looked at Timmy with even more sympathy, while Sunset's face was twisted into shame.. "What it Vicky?" Rainbow asked the brown-haired boy, her sadness replaced with stern anger. "Oh so you all were spying on me?" Timmy asked them, his voice becoming high with fear. "This gets better and better doesn't it?" "Timmy," Applejack began. "Why were you all spying on me?" Timmy demanded with a wheeze, unable to shed any more tears. "Are you all some kind of...magic police?" "Timmy," Fluttershy pleaded, "please listen..." "How can I listen." Timmy looked down at the ground with a defeated expression. "I don't even know what you all are." The last expression stopped them cold. With that, the Rainbooms saw anger, confusion, fear, and mistrust on the boy's face. They realized there was only one way to salvage the situation: the truth. "OK Timmy," Sunset muttered, "we'll start from the beginning." Five Minutes Later "So to put it all together," Rainbow said to Timmy, his face staring at them with what looked like disbelief, "Twilight and Sunset are actually ponies from a pony dimension. Twilight is the Princess of Friendship and Sunset was an evil unicorn supervillain. And..." she rubbed the back of her head uneasily, "the rest of us have magical pony powers." "I see," Timmy muttered. He then narrowed his eyes. "So what does all that have to do with me?" "Timmy I know that sounds crazy but-," Rainbow paused and did a double take. "Wait, you believe all that?" "Yes." "I grew pony ears out of mah head and ah can hardly believe that," Applejack commented. "I don't see how you-" "Well, someone who's gone to other dimensions- and even been part of an interdimensional love triangle- can't say that a pony dimension doesn't exist," Timmy said casually. The disbelief on the Rainbooms' face was incredible. "You've traveled to other dimensions?" Applejack asked in a skeptical voice, her green eyes scrutinizing Timmy. "I've also been a computer virus, a Norwegian supermodel, and I defeated an alien invasion by eating a bar of chocolate." The casualness in which Timmy expressed this supposed nonsense left them dumbfounded. "Timmy," Applejack began, "that all sounds-," "Crazy?" Timmy asked with an odd smile. "If there's magic around, and something sounds crazy, its probably true." His eyes narrowed. "Is all that any crazier than the stuff you've told me." A thoughtful silence formed on the faces of the Rainbooms. "I can't really argue with that," Fluttershy muttered. "So wait," Twilight added with a serious look. "There's magic in this world that isn't...Equestrian?" "Nope," Timmy said. "In this world, there are all kinds of magical creatures." "Well, who are....Cosmo and Wanda?" Princess Twilight asked him. "And what are...they?" "Fairy Godparents," Timmy said. "So they're the ones who have been granting you all these wishes?" Twilight asked. "Yeah," Timmy said with an uncomfortable expression. Sunset's mouth was twisted into an annoyed frown. "I spent months looking for magic when I came to Earth. Months! And to think the power I desired was under my nose-" Rainbow punched Sunset on the shoulder, and gestured to the boy who was still somewhat distrustful of her. Sunset uncomfortably cleared her throat before continuing. "If creatures like that exist, why haven't I heard of them?" Timmy looked down and then looked up. "Fairies are only for little kids. If a non-magical person finds out about them...then they go away forever. Since you have magical powers...it was OK for you guys to see them." "So some kids have these...midget genies who follow you around, giving you all kind of things?" Rainbow asked. An annoyed frown appeared on Timmy's face. "Are you kidding? Fairies are awesome, and genies are jerks." "Genies are real too!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "If I had one, I wish for the bestest, estest, superest, party-," "Why do you have these...fairies following you around giving you stuff?" Twilight asked. Applejack noticed Timmy was somewhat uncomfortable with answering the question, if his darting eyes and his arm rubbing were any indication. "Because..." he said in an evasive tone, "they...like me." Applejack didn't think Timmy was lying per se. But there was a lot more to this relationship than he was revealing. She wanted to press him, but decided it was too personal to ask, for now. "Wait Timothy, there is something else I need to confirm," Rarity said dramatically. "You're Gah the Supermodel?!" "Uh yeah," Timmy said. "Why?" A small blush appeared on Rarity's face. "No...no reason at-," "She wrote...love letters to your fan club," Applejack snickered. "I had a fan club?" Timmy asked with a cock of his head. "Applejack!" Rarity hissed before turning back to Timmy. "They were merely...letters of...admiration." Her eyes darted back and forth. "Letters so insignificant, no one would care if they were shredded, burned, buried and...burned again." Applejack's smile became even more insidious. "But didn't you say your love for 'Gah' burned with the intensity of a thousand- "It is certainly nothing that needs to be seen or discussed or talked about by anyone ever, ever again." She finished with a nervous expression, getting into Applejack's face. "Understood!?" she asked in a voice that more than a bit menacing. Everyone mumbled in assent, while Applejack rolled her eyes. "Anyways," Timmy said idly. He turned to Sunset with stern eyes. "So you used to be this big bully?" "Yeah," Sunset admitted. "And you're not....anymore?" Timmy asked her in a serious tone. "No," Sunset admitted. "What made you stop being evil?" A wistful smile appeared on Sunset and everyone's faces. "The most powerful magic of all?" "Santa Claus?" Timmy idly asked. "No silly," Pinkie Pie said. "The Magic of Friendship!" Everyone exclaimed. Timmy stared at them for a moment before he started cackling. And cackling. And cackling. "What's so funny?" Princess Twilight asked the brown-haired boy with a hint of annoyance. "Magic of Friendship," Timmy parroted, clutching his torso as he laughed so hard he looked like he was busting his gut. "HAHAHAHAHA! That is the lamest thing I've ever heard!" A smirk appeared on Rainbow's mouth. "I mean, it does sound lame when you say it like that." "Ah guess," Applejack muttered. Twilight was miffed. "The Magic of Friendship is not lame! It is a real thing! When friends come together, anything is possible! How dare you mock-" Timmy responded by laughing even harder. He was now into laughing to the point of tears. "When friends come together!" Timmy mocked. "What are you gonna say next? That 'friendship is forever'?" "Yes," Twilight muttered. Timmy responded with even more laughter than before. It when on while the Rainbooms watched with either amusement, annoyance, or boredom. "OK," Timmy said as he chuckles died down. "I'm done. I'm good." "Alright," Twilight said, "let's-," "Friendship is Magic," Timmy said again before laughing once more, much to the irritation of the pony princess. "So the Dazzlings came to you with...proof of the things I did," Sunset said uneasily. Timmy's brief joy collapsed as he remembered the dire situation he was in. "Yeah. They told me you were an evil magic stealer, and how you took away their ability to sing." He sounded like he was trying to suppress his anger, "and how you were going to do the same thing to Cosmo and Wanda." Sunset suppressed her rage at the accusation. "Did they...use their song on you." "Not at first," Timmy commented. "Their voices stank. But then I wished their gems were better and-," "You gave them their magic back?!" Twilight asked Timmy with horror. The rest of the Rainbooms looked at Timmy with utter disbelief. Timmy felt his cheeks turn red. "They told a good lie." His tone became more angry, and he furiously tore a bronze medallion from his shirt. "They even gave me this medallion to prove our friendship." He threw the medallion away. A serious expression appeared on Twilight's face. "They gave you that?" "Yeah?" Applejack picked up the medallion and carried it over to Princess Twilight for scrutinizing. "Hmm," the pony princess said in a serious tone. "I don't sense any magical energies." Pinkie suddenly snatched it away from her. "Pinkie, what are you-," "I just think its a good accessory," Pinkie said. She slowly clamped it around her neck. "And-," suddenly Pinkie frowned. The shift from bubbly to morose stunned everyone in the room. "Pinkie," Fluttershy asked, "are you-?" "You never really like my parties!" Pinkie Pie bellowed to the other pink haired girl. "Pinkie?" Fluttershy muttered. "What-," "You're just a meanie who wants my cake!" The poofy-haired party girl shrieked. "You never really-." Everyone was concerned by the party girl's unusually bad tempered demeanor. "Pinkie, what's gotten-," Twilight began. "You all the least fun and boring people I ever-," Applejack snatched the medallion off of Pinkie. Her goofy smile immediately returned. "Wow, I was all...mean suddenly." "What happened?!" Applejack asked Twilight, showing her the bracelet. Both her and Sunset were extremely enraged. "A PSYCHIC CHARM!" Sunset bellowed angrily. "What?" Applejack muttered. Princess Twilight furiously snatched it from them. "A psychic charm uses psychic energy to manipulate its host! They used this to mess with his brain in a way that no one can easily detect!" The Rainbooms were even more outraged. "They messed with his head," Rainbow muttered with a dark expression. "When I get my hands on them-," Timmy looked even more brokenhearted. "They used that on...me?"! Each one of the Rainbooms wanted to give the boy a hug and tell him it was OK, but Timmy stopped them with a raised hand. "There's something I don't understand," Timmy asked in a melancholic voice. "If you guys aren't evil and not trying to takeover the world, why did you spy on me and have something that could capture Cosmo and Wanda? They told me you thought I had some kind of stone." His expression became even more severe. "Well yeah," Rainbow said. She noticed the suspicious expression on Timmy's face. "But not the reason you're thinking." "Then what was this all about?" Timmy asked in a serious tone. They explained how they saw Timmy using magic at the basketball game, how he dumped garbage on his babysitter, and this lead them to assuming he was using a corruptive magical artifact, and how they wanted to take it out of him before he could go nuts. "You entered my life because you thought I was going to become evil," Timmy surmised. "Well," Sunset said a voice that was becoming increasingly stern, "there seems to be...I don't know... a pattern of...shall we say...bad behavior with you." Timmy's hackles raised at that. "Bad behavior. What are you-," "First you...dumped garbage from the sky onto that girl's head," Applejack pointed out. "You wished poisonous spiders onto Gilda," Fluttershy remarked. "You dropped a meteor on a truck," Rarity remarked. "You snuck out on Sunset," Pinkie Pie "And let's not forget turning me into a worm," Sunset remarked with an even darker look. "Be honest. Was that their idea...or yours!" Timmy's shameful look told them everything. "It seems that you and your...fairies think being a violent and destructive is A-OK," Princess Twilight said in a tone she used when scolding Spike for his behavior. "Oh so I'm suppose to let a bunch of jerks hurt me," Timmy said defensively. "You nearly got someone killed!" Sunset bellowed. "When?" Timmy asked. "The meteor you sent down on Gary and Betty's truck," Rarity pointed out. "Those idiots humiliated me and hurt me!" "So you thought it was OK to get them killed?!" Sunset hissed. "They never were going to die! I didn't wish for that!" "And what if they, or someone else, had been in that truck!" "No one was going to die!" Sunset's eyes narrowed. "How do you know?!" Timmy's eyes darted back and forth. "I-I just do, OK!" Applejack could see Timmy being evasive, but before she could press that, Sunset moved in. "That's your excused for destroying a truck," Sunset said with growing anger. "Everything was 'just gonna work out'." "They humiliated me!" "So if someone even flicks you on the head, are you gonna burn their house down!" Pinkie looked concerned with Sunset's anger. "Sunny, I think-" "You mean like you did, demon." Timmy in quiet, stern voice. The way that Timmy said that final word made Sunset's hackles rise even more. "What did you call me?" Sunset said in a quiet, but ominous, voice. "You must've thought that I was mean, and selfish, and cruel as you," Timmy yelled. "Yeah, I've done stupid things, but I've never became a demon and destroyed a school for something as stupid as a crown!" His face was brimming with disdain. "Don't lecture me, demon!" "How dare you call me demon!" Sunset said. "After all I-," "Sorry, your a stupid, evil ...witch!" Timmy threw back to Sunset in a blatantly disrespectful tone. "Timmy," Applejack warned, doing a shut up throat gesture. Rarity tried to intervene. "Perhaps we should make some tea and calm-," "And you're an idiotic brat who nearly got my friends killed!" Sunset yelled back. She became calm, but no more sympathetic. "I bet deep down, you actually loved being with the Dazzlings," Sunset said in a calm but nasty tone. "You're both brain-damaged lunatics who love causing people pain!" "Sunset Shimmer!" Twilight scolded. "It takes a brain-damaged lunatic to know one!" Timmy threw back, getting into Sunset's face. "I don't have to listen to anything you say, stupid evil witch!" "Call me that...one more time." "Guys," Fluttershy begged, "maybe we should-" "STUPID EVIL WITCH! STUPID EVIL WITCH! STUPID EVIL-," Before Timmy knew it, he was lifted up by his shirt to face an angry, red-faced Sunset. "CALL ME THAT AGAIN, YOU STUPID TWERP! I DARE YOU!" Timmy angrily spat into Sunset's face. Everyone was shocked by what Timmy did. "Timothy Turner!" Rarity scolded. Sunset felt the spit around her face. Her other hand was balled into a fist. "THAT'S IT, YOUR GONNA-!" "ENOUGH!" Sunset was yanked away from him by Applejack, while Rainbow yanked Timmy away from him. Princess Twilight raised her hands in an attempt to pacify the situation. "We all need to-," "I can why everyone in your life doesn't want you around!" Sunset hissed. "He's such an ungrateful little brat!" Twilight was mortified with Sunset's words. "Sunset, you've said enough-," "I buy him food, help him with chores, play video games, tutor him, help him make friends, drive him places, and he calls me names and spits on me." Sunset felt a mean smirk appear on her face. "I can see why his parents always ditch him. You do nice things, and he's so ungrateful-". "AND WHO WERE YOU DOING NICE THINGS FOR?!" Timmy yelled. "Timmy the boy with a magic rock or Timmy the buck tooth loser?!" The question gave everyone pause. "It that why all of you did nice things for me," he said, addressing everyone. "Did you really like me, or were you just trying to keep...me...quiet?" The question struck each and everyone of them, except Sunset who continued to glare contemptuously at the formerly-pink-hatted boy. "So that's it," Timmy muttered miserably. "I thought for a moment that a bunch of cool people could like me for me." Tears started falling down his eyes. "But it turns out...you were just trying to keep a monster under control." The other Rainbooms, sans Sunset, looked morose. Pinkie was the first one to speak up. "Timmy, that's not true-," "What happened when you got your 'stone'? Were you gonna say goodbye and never talk to me!" Rainbow looked uncomfortable. "Timmy-buddy that's not-" "I HATE YOU!" Timmy shrieked. "I HATE ALL OF YOU!" "Timmy-," the boy ran away from them into the house, tears running down his face. Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy ran after him, pleading with him that they cared about him. Rarity, Twilight, and Applejack gave Sunset disappointed looks. "What are you staring at me for?" Sunset yelled. "He's the destructive brat!" "You were way out of order," Twilight pointed out in a stern tone. "I'm not the one raining flaming meteors down on trucks!" "Sunset, I know Timmy acted out of line," Rarity pointed out. "But you had no right to do what you did." "And what was that?!" "You sunk to the level of a petty child and badmouthed him back with those horrible insults," Rarity pointed out. "For a moment, you almost sounded like that Vicky character." The objection stunned Sunset, but only briefly. "I didn't dump garbage on his head." "But y'all were about to hit him and you called him names!" "That's funny," Sunset replied viciously. "I thought you country hicks were big on corporal punishment. And I was just telling him the truth, which is what you do!" "No, you were being hurtful," Twilight scolded. "Should we've called you names and hit you after what you did?" "For a moment," Applejack pointed out coldly, "you sounded like Old Sunset too. Calling me a 'hick'!" Sunset's anger died down as he took in what the others were saying. Rarity butted in. "But more importantly, you don't seem concerned about his feelings." "What do you mean?" Sunset asked in a softer tone, her face no longer red. "Darling, think about it," Rarity said in a softer tone. "Think of all the things he had to go through." "The kidnapper, Vicky, the bullies," Twilight listed off. "That varmint Crocker and the Learn-A-Torium," Applejack pointed out. "And now the Dazzlings act like his friend, use him, and then steal two...beings who he seems to care for," Rarity muttered. She gave Sunset a sad look. "Would you be in a good spirits if you had to through all that?" Sunset felt her face twist into remorse. "But...he did all those...and he called me...and he spat..." "And it was wrong," Twilight agreed. "But hurting him back isn't the answer. And while we kind of had the right to look into him...how would you feel if a bunch of strangers spied on you and came into your life?" "All you just did...was make him think we really didn't care about him at all," Rarity scolded, "like he believed." Sunset's face was tinged with remorse. "I wasn't...I didn't mean..." Sunset stopped her rationalization. She face-palmed with remorse. "Maybe I should apologize..." "Do it tomorrow," Twilight ordered sternly. "Let's...leave him alone for now, until he's calm." Her eyes narrowed. "We have more important things to deal with! There are two beings who need our help, and the Dazzlings plan to use their power for their own ends!" Rarity and Applejack's looked away from Sunset, and became stern and full of resolve. "Your right," Sunset said, pushing away her shame to deal with the greater problem. "Maybe the Dazzlings left behind some clues on where they are currently located." Twilight got out a purple cell phone "I'm gonna text Flash to come over here." "You got a phone?" Rarity asked the pony princess. "I might as well, since I have to stop by here every know and then." Twilight said. Her face is full of geeky enjoyment. "Plus these...phones are really great for emergencies and problem solving!" She then pointed to one of text. "I'm even learning coding." "Coding?" Applejack asked. "These weird misspellings Flash keeps sending me like 'ILY' and 'LOL' ". Twilight let out a geeky squeal. "I never thought I would learn about secret military codes." The other Rainbooms rolled their eyes. They walked into the house, where they found a morose Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow sitting on the couch. "How is he?" Sunset said. The fire-haired girl flinched as the three Rainbooms glared at her. "He's locked himself in his bathroom," Fluttershy barked. "And he won't even answer us." "Good job," Rainbow said with some bitterness. "If there was a contest about how make things not fun," Pinkie muttered, "you would win hands down!" Sunset looked down in shame. "Guys," Twilight said in a stern tone. "I know we have problems right, but we have to remember who our top priority is here." "The Dazzlings," Applejack pointed out. The words broke the three girls out of their morose stupor. But it was replaced with righteous fury. "How do we find them," Rainbow growled while baring her fists. "OK, so hear is what we're going to do-," "What happened?" The Rainbooms looked in the corner of the room. They found some bespectacled girl pulling herself up from the ground. She had familiar purple and red hair. "Was that all a dream-," Moondancer looked around and saw the Rainbooms. "I guess not!" Moondance growled, her hackles rising. "Moondancer what are you-," Sunset's eyes narrowed. "We're you working with Dazzlings?" "Why yes Shimmer," Moondance said with narrowed eyes and a wicked smile. "I was." "You told the Dazzlings about what Sunset did!" Rarity yelled. Moondancer shrugged remorselessly. "I mean you did feel the need to share with everyone my...personal history." Moondancer's vengeful smile grew wider. "I thought it was only fair for to share with everyone yours-," Rainbow angrily yanked Moondancer by her hoodie and shoved her against the wall. "Don't you realize what you've done," Rarity scolded. "Now the Dazzlings hold," she paused, "Timmy's magic in the palm of their-," "I don't care about what they done," Moondancer said coldly. "I just care that the brown-haired boy knows what you really are all about!" "I can't believe this," Sunset muttered. "You did all this for a stupid crown!" "You think I care about a stupid crown?!" The red-haired girl threw back. Rainbow was so taken aback she let Moondancer go. "Of course you would think that Shimmer. Only someone as stupid and shallow as you would care something so idiotic!" "Then why-," "I thought I made a friend!" Moondancer screamed. "I thought when I came to Canterlot I could get a new fresh start! I thought when I invited Sunset to her home, I was gonna finally hang out with people." Moondancer barely held back a whimper, but it was enough to make the Rainbooms feel like they were kicked in the stomach. "But no. All that was just plan to humiliate me! I invited you into my home, fed you food, and you thanked me by humiliating me!" Sunset felt like someone had stuck a knife into her heart. "Moondancer, I'm so-," "After that, I could never trust anyone. I lived alone because-," "Look Moonie," Pinkie said, jumping over to the angry girl. "I know Sunset was a meanie-weenie but-," "And that's the other thing," Moondancer said, becoming even more morose, "when I came back to Canterlot, I find that you guys were hugging the girl who humiliated me." Pinkie frowned a bit. "Moondancer, I know that seems unfair, but Sunset needed-," "I needed someone to help me after my best friend stabbed me in the back," Moondancer wailed, "but no one was there. Instead everybody laughed at me." "Moondancer, we were upset-," "Then why did no one visit me?!" Moondancer replied. The feelings of guilt on the Rainbooms were palatable, but Moondancer was too angry to care. "No, you gave all your love and attention to some...demon, but left to me suffer in loneliness and misery once I became damaged goods!" "Moondancer," Rainbow muttered. "And you were just about to hit me!" Moondancer pointed out to Rainbow. The athletic girl looked down in misery and shame. "You help the girl who hurt people, but you'll hit the person she hurt?" "Moondancer we know how that looks," Fluttershy said, "but Sunset was in a bad place." "Try getting indigestion from the gourmet selections at Dimmsdale High's cafeteria and getting a swirly in the Dimmsdale Girl's bathroom and than tell me about a bad place!" Moondancer exclaimed. The image made the Rainbooms frown with horror. "Bad place," Moondancer mocked. "You don't know bad place Shimmer. Try living your life thinking you can't ever trust a single soul because the one time you let someone into your house and then you'll know what a bad place-," Moondancer couldn't continue, or else she would've cried. Sunset was on the verge of tears. "Moondancer I didn't mean to make you-," "Save it," the bespectacled girl growled, not caring one bit about Sunset's apology. "On second thought, I realize I'm lucky I left Canterlot. I'm lucky I was able to escape from a bunch of shallow idiots like you! You give your love to some demon, but not the person she hurt. You deserve each other." Pinkie's face was twisted into tearful shame. "Please Moonie, let us make it up to-," Moondancer stormed away with disgust on her face. "Well, you got what you wanted," Rainbow said bitterly. "The kid hates us now and won't come out of his room." She paused and turned to look at Rainbow without any sympathy. "Well," Moondancer said coldly, "I think he should be aware of the fact that the girl babysitting him steals personal sympathy from the PEOPLE WHO GIVE THEM FOOD!" She stormed out the door. None of the Rainbooms bothered to stop her. None could really argue with her. Scootaloo and Vinyl tried to enter the home, only for some girl in glasses to burst out of the front door. Scootaloo approached the girl. "Who are-?" "As for you," she girl scowled at Scootaloo, "I don't know who you are, but I'm sure you're a jerk," she screamed before walking toward the driveway and driving off in a car. "We just got here," Scootaloo exclaimed in confusion, "what did we do?" Vinyl shrugged. They walked into the house. Scootaloo and Vinyl found the Rainbooms lying on various chairs and couches and looking incredibly downtrodden. The Canterlot Elementary student decided to approach her sister. "Rainbow," Scootaloo asked her sister. "What's going on? What happened with Timmy? I heard him and Sunset yelling at each other?" Rainbow didn't respond. She just keep staring blankly. "Rainbow, are you OK?" After a small breath, Rainbow leveled with her sister. "No sis." She looked down. "Nothing...is...OK." Timmy sat on the toilet seat, hugging his knees. He never remembered feeling so scared in his entire life. Yeah, Vicky was mean to him, and he was bullied, but at least he had Cosmo and Wanda there with him to make him feel safe. But Timmy had nothing. Not even the fish bowl to pretend they were there. His friends and family had been brainwashed into hating him by what he thought were his real friends. And the people from Canterlot...just thought of him as a mission. They weren't really his friends. Sunset admitted he hated him deep down. He shouldn't be surprised at this point. But still.... He was so alone. Timmy fell to the bathroom floor and cried harder than he ever had in his life. In the middle of North Canterlot wasan abandoned factory. It wasn't an impressive looking building, save for its tall smokestack. But within this building, three magical beings plotted and schemed. They stood on the roof, triumphant smiles on their faces. "Well girls," Adagio gushed, "would you like to do the honors?" Aria was too cheerful to contest. "After you, sis." "Go ahead, Dagi," Sonata chirped. Things had gone so well, their usual bickering and sniping at each other had ceased. But that was the mere icing on the magical cake they know dined on. "Very well," Adagio uttered. "let our power be restored." Her eyes glowed red, and she began rising into the air. Her sisters followed her up soon after. The three sisters hair lengthened, pony ears grew out of their heads, and translucent fins grew out of their backs. "Now, we wish for the power to crush this pathetic town!" Adagio demanded. The sirens waited with glee, hoping their wishes would be answered. A few moments passed, but nothing happened. To their confusion. "I said," Adagio repeated, "we wish we had the power to crush this pathetic town!" Still, nothing occurred. "C'mon," Aria yelled, "we were supposed to be able to wish for stuff." A brief look of frustration appeared on Adagio's face, before it was replaced with a sly smile. "I guess we'll have to speak to the...source." The three sisters entered the old production line. Seated on a decrepit table were Cosmo and Wanda, who were trapped under a net. The approach of the girls made Cosmo fearful and Wanda red with fury. "Hello Cosmo, Wanda," Adagio said mockingly, "how-," "You...you evil witches!" Wanda bellowed furiously. "We give you everything, and this is how you repay us...repay him!" She gritted her teeth. "When I get out of this net-," "Oh I'm terrified," Adagio said mockingly. She bent down to sneer at the fuming pink-hair fairy. "How do you intend to get out, stupid fairy?" "Timmy will find us," Cosmo yelled defiantly, "and when he does, oh you three are in for it." "He won't find you. Do you know where we are?" Adagio asked the two fairies rhetorically. "Oh, oh," Sonata said, excitedly raising her hand. "I know...I know. Somewhere....on...this...planet." Aria rolled her eyes. "Thank you Sonata," Adagio said while pinching her nose in annoyance. "We're in the middle of Canterlot's Industrial District," the orange-haired said, ignoring her sister's irreverence. "2 square miles of old, abandoned industrial space that hasn't seen any activity in 25 years." "This place was once the largest producer of clown noses in the world," Sonata remarked. "Over 1.5 billion clown noses were made every leap year, and almost 10-" She look down somewhere."-people worked here making clown noses." Aria raised her eyebrows in confusion. "How did you know that?" "I didn't," Sonata remarked, holding up a brochure. "I just read it in the brochure." "Anyways, no one would ever suspect three sophisticated and charming young ladies such as ourselves as living here," Adagio said. "We're sophisticated," Aria paused to pick her nose, "alright." "Yeah," Sonata said, before scratching her butt, and finding a louse. "Yay, a snack." She munched on the tiny insect. "The little brat won't find us," Adagio gloated to the two fairies. "His parents kicked him out of the house," Adagio said with a sadistic smile, thinking about how he ruined the boys life,"and his friends are brainwashed into hating him." "You think any of those Canterlot brats will lend a finger to help him after what he did to them?" Aria asked. The thought made Cosmo and Wanda worried for a moment, but then regained their nerves."Timmy will find a way," Wanda warned, "and when he does-," "REVENGE!" Cosmo bellowed. An amused grin formed on Adagio's face. "He's too stupid to find water if he fell out of a boat." The two younger sirens laughed nastily. Wanda growled at him. "How dare you talk about him like that!" Aria smirked, wanting to dig the knife even deeper. "I mean he's funny. So funny...I thought it would be nice to upload his humiliation to the Internet." Aria's grin got even meaner. "I especially loved it when those two idiots made it look like he wet his pants." Wanda's vision became red with rage. "YOU...YOU..." Wanda paused as Cosmo put his hand on Wanda's shoulders. "Wanda," Cosmo admonished, "remember what those girls said. They feed of our hate and misery." The green-haired fairy started massaging Wanda's shoulders. "Go to your happy place. Think about chocolate, our marriage, chocolate, my mother's funeral, chocolate, Juandissimo getting hit by a car, chocolate, and chocolate." Wanda started calming down. Aria smirked. "Corn is lame." "HOW DARE YOU INSULT CORN!" Cosmo bellowed. He tried tearing at the butterfly net. "CORN IS THE GREATEST THING-," Wanda put a shoulder on her husband to calm him her down. "We don't need to drive you up a wall anymore." Adagio smirked. "You're trapped under a net and completely helpless. Which means we can take what we want from you." A hungry frown appeared on Aria's face. "And what we want is your wands, now!" "Pretty please with sugar on top?" Sonata asked politely. "We don't have our wands," Wanda gloated. "What are you talking about Wanda," Cosmo said obliviously, holding up his wand. "My wand is right here and your wand was under my armpit." Wanda glared at her husband. Aria reached into the net and confiscated from them from the now powerless fairies, ignoring their pleas. For some reason, they didn't even put up a fight. Adagio started cackling like a madwoman as Aria gave her one of the wands. "To think something so silly could be so power," Adagio hissed, cradling the wand like a baby. "Don't make a wish!" Wanda pleaded. "We're begging you." Cosmo wailed. 'Whatever you say," Adagio said. She raised her wand into the air, a megalomaniacal expression on her face. "After all this time, the power we deserve is ours!" Aria and Sonata applauded. But then Sonata noticed she didn't have a wand. "Can I have a wand?" The two older sirens looked at each other with nervous expressions, before looking back at their younger sister with disingenuous smiles. "Sure," Adagio said abruptly. "In a million years," Aria said under her breath. "I wish...we could rock this world!" Adagio commanded. The eldest siren let out a cackle as all around her storm clouds gathered. Literal storm clouds gathered. "Man, those are some really good special effects," Sonata remarked as clouds started forming inside the building. "It is...pretty hardcore," Aria admitted. So lost in their megalomania, the three sirens ignored the smirk forming on the two fairies. Adagio's evil laugh reached a fever pitch. "At long last, ultimate power is ours!" Adagio proclaimed in between her laugh as thunder and lighting erupted from the clouds that formed above her. "There is nothing that can get in our-," BRZTTT. Adagio was struck by an lightning bolt from the clouds she summoned. She let out a yell as she was electrocuted, her body lighting up with static. When it ended, she was again badly burned and practically catatonic, much to the horror of Aria and Sonata. "I said 'rock'," Adagio paused to let out a wheezy cough, "not 'shock'." Aria nervously held up her wand. "Here Sonata," she said nervously, you try it." Sonata was dim, but her bulb wasn't out, as judge. "No Aria, you try it." "I think it will work for you." "You try." "You try." "You try." "You try." Aria smirked. "I try." "I try," Sonata repeated. "I try." "I said I want to try," the blue-haired girl whined. "OK," Aria said, handing the wand to her sister, "if you say so". Sonata took the wand and smiled. "I wish I had some tacos." POOF! Sonata looked with horror at what had materialized. Chinese takeout instead of tacos like she wanted. "NOOOOOO!" Sonata wailed, falling to her knees with despair. "Why hadst thought forsaken me?" She angrily asked the wand in her hand. Aria shrugged and sampled of some of the chicken lo mein. Adagio regained her bearings, only to hear the mocking laughter of the fairies. She let out a growl, stomped over to them, reached her hands into the net, and grabbed the pink-haired fairy by her shirt." "What did you do?!" Wanda smirked. "How could I have done anything? I'm just a stupid fairy." Adagio's face turned red. "You did something to this wand! Fix it!" She released the fairy from her grip. "Oh, you silly, silly girls," Wanda mocked. "You think you could just wave a wand like that." She pulled out a nail file and started doing her nails. "It took us four years at the fairy academy to learn how to use those." She looked away from the fuming siren for a moment, pausing to do her nails, much to her growing annoyance. "But don't feel bad. This was your first try. Every fairy causes some havoc. Just ask Cosmo." "Well," Cosmo said all too cheerfully. "I turned my dad into a fly and sank Atlantis." A horrified expression appeared on Adagio's face. "You sank Atlantis?" "Nine times," Cosmo admitted. "You're the accursed one!" Aria exclaimed. "How could you destroy Atlantis," Adagio said with a horrified expression. "I had a coupon for the Atlantis Mall, and because of you, I couldn't get a discount." Adagio let tears fall down her eyes. "You...monster." "Why not just wish for it," Wanda asked with a smirk. "Go ahead. I'm sure you'll get it right eventually." Wanda's smile became nastier. "Or maybe you might...blow your face off." Sonata looked at her wand before fearfully throwing it over to the side. Adagio fumed for a few moments, before regaining her composure with a smile. "I don't need to make wishes." She stood up with a proud expression. "Because you two will be doing that for me." Cosmo was not impressed. "And what makes you think we'll do that." Cosmo and Wanda were strapped to what looked like an operating table, with bracelets keeping their arms and legs bound. To be safe, they were both covered in butterfly nets. "Did you have to ask," Wanda muttered. "Our song didn't work on you before because we didn't have any of your magic," Adagio said. "But now that we have some of your magic," Aria sneered, "it will." "From the top girls," Adagio commanded. The girls sung "Under Our Spell", the song they considered to be their most popular. Cosmo and Wanda began to feel like they were getting a splitting headache. Because their arms were strapped down, they couldn't cover their ears. They let out moans of pain. When the sirens stopped, the two fairies felt like their heads were about to explode. "Enjoying the music?" Adagio asked with a smirk. "Go ahead," Cosmo declared with exhaustion, "sing all you want! You can sing on the beaches, you can sing on the streets, you can sing on the street....corner, but we will never surrender!" "You'll have to sing all night for us to be under your control," Wanda declared. "Hmm, good point," Adagio remarked without concern. With a sneer on her face, Aria took out a remote control and pushed a big red button. With a mechanical whirl, a massive boom box was lowered directly in front of the two fairies. "We've programmed it to run on a loop," Adagio declared. "Just so you can't...not hear it." Aria pushed a button. The boom box activated, unleashing the song of the sirens, only amplified with the increased decibels of the stereo equipment. "Enjoy," Adagio said. With that, the three sisters walked out of the room, leaving the fairies to be slowly brainwashed by their song. They both let out yells of help. > Mending The Divide (Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Success breeds arrogance. It was a phrase Twilight read before, often in morality plays about rulers who let success get to their heads and allowed . She imagined it also applied to the snobbish nobles she grew up with in Canterlot who stared their nose down at the common pony. She never thought it would ever apply to her. But today, she realized that her own self-image as an all-knowing defender of Friendship and Harmony had been that. Arrogance. In hindsight, she realized that all the success she had came not from her supposed competence, but from living one of the most charmed lives imaginable. For most of her life, she had been benefited from being born with incredible magical ability, being the student of a Princess, and later becoming a Princess herself. The lauded positions she held, and the resources it afforded her, meant she faced none of the challenges of the common pony. For most of her life, she petty worries she obsessed over were, in the grand scheme of things, pretty meaningless. As a filly, she fretted over having the proper ink, the proper parchment, and getting to class early. When she entered young adulthood, she thought not having enough tickets for her friends to go to a gala, trying to keep Spike's not-secret about his crush on Rarity, and not being able to write a friendship report was the pinnacle of terror. Her human friends had a word for those non-emergencies: first world problems. The kind of problems people without any real problems had. That's not to say her life was always tiptop. She and her friends had disputes every now and then. But her friends could always solve their problems and friendship would win out. But now she realized those problems had always been relatively minor. She had faced the occasional fiend who wanted to bring Equestria to its knees. But even when those evils did strike, the battles were short, and victory was accomplished with little consequences since she always had the Power of Harmony to do the work for her. And she realized almost all her foes were arrogant blowhards. Nightmare Moon could've stopped her friends from going into the Everfree at any time and Discord could've easily defeated her and her friends with a single snap of his fingers, but both were too smug to accept even the possibility of defeat. (It said something that reforming Discord was a bigger headache than actually fighting him). But since she became a Princess, she began to see that life was a bit more complex than she imagined. Where good and evil were rarely as simple as she wanted them to be. Where victory was not nearly as straightforward as one hoped. But for the most part, the easy life she had enjoyed was still there. One where things happened to work out. Tirek had been banished, but not without a brutal betrayal from Discord and the loss of her library. But still, Harmony had rewarded her with a ginormous castle, and yet she had the nerve to complain about adapting to a castle while many creatures didn't have the most basic shelter. Starlight Glimmer and the Changeling Queen had been beaten but were still on the lose. Sunset's road to acceptance by her peers was not nearly as instantaneous as she hoped, but she was finally accepted after defeating the Dazzlings. And her own human friends won the Battle of the Bands, but not before several massive setbacks. Heck, that should've been her first warning sign that she was allowing past victories to go to her head. She assumed Harmony would solve the problem for her, and when it didn't, she couldn't even write a decent counterspell. The Dazzlings were even able to trick them, trap them, and exploit their growing anger. And even when her human friends had been empowered, the Dazzlings still fought them to a draw, and were only defeated when Sunset stepped in. But again, Twilight realized all that had been luck. The same dumb luck she'd always relied on. But now that luck had run out. She found herself feeling a sense of loss, despair, and hopelessness, and shame that she never felt in her life. Not even Discord, with his chaos magic, had left her feeling so weak. It was partly because of a human child who was too short to reach the shelves and that fact that he despised her very being to the point of locking himself in the bathroom. And if Twilight was being honest, she somewhat deserved that hatred. And the biggest buck in the teeth was that she had been trying to help him. She had assumed, like the others, he was being possessed by corruptive magic and could potentially become a threat to public safety if he wasn't stopped. She came up with a simple plan: develop a rune and then use it on him to disable any menace he could pose, while having her human friends watch over him to keep him from acting out until that time. But Twilight never once considered the ethics of what she had ordered Sunset and her human friends to do: espionage, manipulating the trust of a ten year old (albeit in a nice way) and committing theft. Nor did she even consider how he would feel about being seen as nothing more than a mission. No, Twilight just assumed he would automatically accept why she did that and join her in friendship once he had been neutralized. Because she was used to that back home. Always used to being respected, admired, and listened too. But she realized it wasn't due to her competence or desire to spread the Magic of Friendship, but because of her status. First as the student of a Princess and later as a Princess herself, she realized that most ponies, especially young foals, didn't worship her but her status as a celebrity. The boy wasn't from Equestria and new nothing about her. And, maybe unconsciously, she assumed he would just follow her like everyone back home and in Canterlot High would do. Finally, never once did she even consider the ways the plan could go wrong. Again, she assumed things would just work out as they always, like the privileged fool she was. But her plan had failed and catastrophically so. Old enemies returned and were armed with weapons she knew nothing about that could disable the Power of Harmony. Not only had they walked away victorious, but she inadvertently given that evil the tool to achieve their goals. Sunset Shimmer, who had supposedly achieved redemption and forgiveness for her bad behavior, saw one of her past deeds come back to bite her. Twilight never imagined they were those who could still hold a grudge against Sunset Shimmer. But, again, she just assumed Harmony and Friendship had automatically won out. In stress and anger, Sunset was driven to nearly attack the child she came to see as a surrogate sibling, and slipped back into the cruel habits she had fought so hard to avoid. The child in which she had seen so much promise felt the need to lock herself in the bathroom and hide away from her. By trying to save him from madness, he had pushed him further away from her, her friends, and the very Magic of Friendship into a dark haze of paranoia and distrust. For the first time in her life, Twilight Aurora Sparkle did not have any solution or lead to solve either of those problems. She felt...hopeless. As the Element of Magic, she thought she knew everything there was to know about magic. But now she had come across a world of magic that was alien to her. Apparently, this world had beings invisible to all except human children who could be given what they wanted at ease. Her inquisitive and knowledge-seeking mind would normally jump at this discovery. But some of her most dangerous foes had control over that magic she knew nothing about, and weapons that could somehow stop her own magic cold. Even if she could find them, she didn't know what to do. Facing them again would be like trying to fight a battle without knowing the terrain. The odds would be in their favor. Adagio Dazzle, cruel witch though she had been, was correct: she relied too heavily on the Elements and was unable to adapt to a foe who could cancel them out. All her previous knowledge of magic couldn't serve her. In her encyclopedic knowledge of magic, there was not a single tome on Fairy Godparents or any creature of relation, and she didn't think a study session in her library would turn up anything. Despite being a smart, she never felt more like a dumb fool in her life. Despite being a supposed expert on Friendship, she didn't know how to get back the trust of that small boy. How could she? In her obsession with victory, she and her friends had committed several wrongs against him. Again, as a resident of Earth, Timmy Turner knew nothing about her reputation. Timmy didn't understand the concept of the Harmony, and wouldn't automatically accept Sunset could change for the better. For this reason, the Princess of Friendship found herself standing in front of the bathroom he was hiding from her in, at a lost for what to do or say. She seriously considered going back to the portal and consulting her former mentor and current co-ruler. But she realized she couldn't do that. There was no time and if she was being honest, it was an attempt at procrastination. If she wanted to earn her title, she had to deal with these uneasy situations. With a deep sigh, the lavender-haired girl took a few steps and knocked on the door. "Timmy," she said softly. "Timmy," she repeated a bit more loudly. "are you in there?" Silence was her answer. She didn't know if the boy was ignoring her, or had fallen asleep, and not knowing filled her with even more despair. "Timmy, I am so sorry," she said in a saddest, and most empathetic voice she could muster.. "I'm sorry about what happened to Cosmo and Wanda." No reply. "I know how all this looks, but I promise you, that the things that Sunset said...she didn't mean it. She cares about you. We care about you a lot, and not just because of our mission." Still no reply. "I promise you, we'll find your fairies." After a few moments of more silence, Princess Twilight threw her hands in the air, turned away from the door and trudged down the stairs with a sigh. She didn't even offer a goodnight. Twilight came into the living room of the mansion that Timmy had apparently wished up for the Dazzlings. The splendor reminded her of Canterlot's more prosperous neighborhoods. But her surroundings filled her with sheer disgust, since they had been obtained by the manipulation of a troubled child. Seeing the beautiful finishing and expensive furniture, Twilight saw how the Dazzlings had treated Timmy and his magical companions as nothing more than a meal ticket. In it, a blue-haired boy sat on a velvet couch, furiously working away on a laptop. Emphasis on the furious. Flash was currently the only one residing in the mansion besides herself and the boy. The drama and indecisiveness of the day had driven everyone to go home. Flash had been invited over because he had put his detective skills to good use before, and he wanted to see if he could find out where the Dazzlings were. When Twilight had revealed Flash what had occurred well.... Twilight had never seen Flash so angry. Not even Sunset's manipulations or the Dazzlings' song had made him so furious. The reason why Flash was angry were understandable. The Dazzlings, as far as Flash knew, had lied to Timmy, tricked him into hurting Sunset, used him for his magic, messed with his brain, groomed him into being their little minion, bullied him into trying to kill the Rainbooms, stabbed him in the back, and damaged the trust Timmy had with Canterlot High. There was a reason he was up at 2 in the morning, typing without a single-sign of exhaustion. Twilight, out of respect for Timmy's wishes, didn't mention his fairies. But she could only imagine how angrier Flash would get if he learned that Timmy had his friends taken away from him, and the Dazzlings had kidnapped a pair of sentient beings for their own nefarious purposes. "So, did you find anything?" Princess Twilight asked. She knew the answer, based off Flash's expression, but she asked out of an attempt at small talk. "I can't find anything," Flash said with a red face. "Those," Flash paused, in an attempt to control his temper, "they...they covered their tracks real good." His anger faded from his face. "How is...he?" he asked in a much softer tone. Twilight looked down at her knees. "I couldn't get him to utter one word." Flash's face drifted from anger to sorrow. The idea of Timmy being unable to trust anyone was a knife to Flash's heart. Despite not meeting the boy, the blue-haired guitarist felt a strange affection for him. Flash came to sympathize with Timmy's suffering, even before the Dazzlings had brutally betrayed him. Timmy and Flash's younger brother were also members of a track team. As an older sibling, Flash felt a protective instinct for little kids besides Rush. But much more than that, Flash felt a sense of responsibility for the boy. Flash, like everyone else, saw the buck-toothed kid as a kindred spirit: someone else who had encountered magic (though the blue-haired boy didn't know the exact of the boy's understanding of magic). Rainbow said it best during the meeting after Timmy's vengeful attack on the track. Timmy was one of them. And it felt like one of their own friends was giving them the cold shoulder. "Maybe I can try and talk to him," Flash offered. "I do have a younger brother." "What can you say to him that haven't already?" Princess Twilight asked in a hopeless tone. "If you can't trust the Princess of Friendship, who can you trust?" Flash concluded with a sad expression. The two sat in angry, frustrated silence for a few moments. Flash went back to work to try and find a lead, while Princess Twilight got up from her couch, and decided to poke around the house. Not out of any confidence she could find something. But because she wanted to feel less useless. "So anybody find anything?" Dash asked, the usual enthusiasm in her voice replaced with a serious tone. The Rainbooms and others sat around the dinner table in the Dazzlings old mansion. Almost everyone was in some kind of poor mood. Others hadn't gotten any sleep because of the stressful situation. Sunset Shimmer was in the worst mood of all, guiltily looking down at her hands. It was understandable. Her own past actions had come back to haunt her in the most horrific way. And she was upset about how close she had come to attacking Timmy. No one answered. The silence of the meeting grew even more melancholy. "Anybody at all? Find out where the Dazzlings are even." "My fellow geeks couldn't find information on their whereabouts," Micro muttered with a frown. "I couldn't find a single record on where they bought their new hideout," Flash expressed with self-dissapointment. "None of my friends on the street could get the word on them," Lightning muttered angrily. "My friends in the army couldn't find where those goons were," Gilda muttered with deep anger. "When I get my hands on them-!" "They weren't in any of the cakes stores in Dimmsdale and Canterlot," Pinkie complained. She took some cupcakes and shoved them into her mouth. "Believe me, I looked everywhere," she said while talking with her mouth full. Applejack's lips were pursed, her face twisted into serious thought, in contrast to the hopeless expressions on everyone's faces. "Ah have an idea," she uttered at last. Everyone looked to the farmer girl. "You do?" Princess Twilight asked, trying (and failing) not to sound too desperate. "I think...Timmy knows something about the...'stone'," Applejack muttered. "But he ain't tellin'." "You really think so?" Rainbow asked. "I think I know how I can tell if someone is hidin' something," the blond-girl grunted. She looked toward Pinkie Pie. "Maybe you can get him-," "I TRIED EVERYTHING!" Pinkie complained in a sad voice. "Apologies. Balloons, songs, magic tricks." Her poofy hair became depressingly straight. "But I couldn't get him to even say one word to me." "Everything?" Applejack asled. "I even tried to give him super tastylicious Triple Chocolate Cake," Pinkie muttered miserably. "And?" "Nothing." Everyone gasped in horror. Pinkie's cakes were irresistible. You know you were in a bad mood when you wouldn't even sample one of Pinkie's cakes. "I tired talking about how much Scootaloo and I loved training with him," Rainbow muttered. "No dice." The rainbow-haired girl glared at a wincing Sunset. "Maybe if you hadn't scared him into the bathroom or bothered to help Moondancer he would've-, "Rainbow," Rarity scolded. "What Sunset did wasn't right. But Timmy wasn't exactly well-behaved yesterday...or in the past. You didn't exactly try and help Moondancer either. We have to go forward." "Well how can we go forward if we can't get Timmy to tell us what he might know?" Rainbow asked with some anger. The rest of the gathered Canterlot students talked amongst themselves, trying to come up with a solution, while a yellow-eye girl walked to the fancy stairwell, and stared at the second floor where the boy was hiding from life. Timmy continued sitting on the floor, his mind consumed by anger, betrayal, and hurt. Suddenly, he heard a violent banging on the door. This knock was loud enough to unsettle and startle him. "OK Beaver Boy," Gilda's voice called out. "Pity party's over. Time to get out of the pool and face reality." Timmy just gave a defiant glare at the door. "Why should I listen any of you!" Timmy bellowed. "You all lied to me and pretended to like me because you all thought I was evil." An annoyed sigh was his answer. "You know what Timmy? I'm not gonna tell you how to feel. You want to hate us? Go ahead and hate us. You think we we're nice to you because of the stone? Whatever. I'm just gonna tell you the facts: the sirens have control over powerful magic and everybody thinks you might know a way to defeat them. Do you?" Timmy did not dignify the assertation with a response. Gilda let out an annoyed sigh. "If I knew you were going to do this, I wouldn't have wasted my time with you." That struck a nerve with the buck-toothed boy. "Do what?" "The Dazzlings are out there gaining power, and you're just sitting their feeling sorry for yourself!" Gilda yelled in a disgusted tone. "Even when you know what they're capable of, your letting your grudge keep you from going doing what you have to do. A true warrior doesn't let stupid grudges control them. They leave their grudges at the door to do what's right. To me, your nothing but a spoiled little brat whose anger is more important than taking those evil witches down." Timmy's anger was replaced with a thoughtful frown. But still, he did not respond. "You wished a bunch of ginormous spiders on me," Gilda called out. "Maybe I should've let that idiot Crocker blast you. But no. I did what I had to do because. Maybe you should return the favor." Timmy felt a guilty frown form on his face, but he still said nothing. "Fine, sit there," Gilda said in a passive-aggressive tone. "But understand this: everyone the Dazzlings hurt from now on is on you. By hiding in that room, your giving them exactly what they want: letting them get to you and making you feel weak. I thought you'd be better than that. That wouldn't be the kind of person who would let a bunch of idiots bring you down. I guess I was wrong." Timmy heard Gilda stomp away. A troubled expression formed on the brown-haired face as he mulled over Gilda's words. After staring at the door in guilty silence for a few moments, he noticed a small piece of of colorful paper on the floor. Timmy looked at it. It was a card he got from Cosmo and Wanda on his tenth birthday. It must've still been in his pocket. He decided to open it. "Dear Timmy," Wanda wrote in pink. "Congratulations on making it to the big ten. Even though it is your birthday, I have a wish for you." "More corn," Cosmo wrote in squiggly green crayon, "because corn is nice." "Cosmo, look what you made me write," Wanda admonished in her writing. "Anyways, my wish for you is this: to always be strong and happy. I know you've have to deal with a lot of terrible things and mean people in your life. But don't ever let those things get you down. Don't let anyone bring you down or make you feel like a failure. Because your not, Timmy. If you ever feel upset, alone, or scared, remember this Timmy: we love you and we believe in you." Love, Your Fairy Godparents." Timmy read the card over and over again. Gradually, his depressed expression was replaced with a stronger one. "Gilda's right," Timmy said with a fierce frown on his face. "Cosmo and Wanda are in danger, and I've done nothing but feel sorry for myself." Timmy clenched his fists, righteous anger on his face and a determined gleam in his eyes. "I've got to save them from those sea monsters. And nothing is gonna get in my way." He proudly stood up, his head held high. He took a step. Only to trip over a doorstop and fall to the floor with a thud. "OK," Timmy said in a small daze. "Nothing henceforth will get in my way." He pulled himself up again and smiled deviously as he thought of a plan. His plan was interrupted when he heard munching out the window. He wandered over to it. Some grey furry creature was munching on the garbage that had fallen out of the trash can. Upon closer inspection, Timmy realized. "My clone," Timmy muttered. "I forgot to wish him away." Timmy looked at the decrepit creature, wearing a somewhat crummy looking grey hoodie. Timmy looked at him for a few moments, before a wonderful, terrible idea entered his brain. Using the curtains in the bathroom as a rope, he climbed down the wall of the mansion in front of the clone. The clone noticed the sudden appearance of Timmy and got furiously defensive, jealously guarding the trash he was munching on. "Get back. I found this garbage. It's mine! All mine!" He let out a racoon-like hiss and staring menacingly slashing at the air, as if he had claws. "How would you like to eat real food?" Timmy offered the clone with a sly smile. Timmy smirked as his buck-toothed clone's interest peaked. Timmy had chosen his bait well, now she just needed to reel the fish in, "People food?" The clone asked suspiciously. "I'm human," Timmy said. "We got plenty of that." "OK," the clone said. "What do you need me to do." "First we need to switch clothes," Timmy began, his plan coming to fruition in his brain. A group of Canterlot teens stood in front of the door with nervous expressions on their faces. Limestone's face, however, was an excited grin as she did some stretching. Princess Twilight stoically looked at her pocket watch. "It's been an hour," Princess Twilight quietly. "I didn't think we had to do an intervention," Applejack drawled. "But we don't have any choice," Rarity muttered. "Lime," Pinkie called. "We need your elbow." Limestone approached the door with a wide grin. She braced her good elbow for breaking down the door. But just as she charged forward, a brown-haired boy came out of the room with a smile. "Hey everybody!" He said cheerfully. Limestone, so focused on the door, ran past Timmy, into the bathroom, and crashed with a yell. Timmy heard moaning and turned around. Limestone's head was wedged into the toilet bowl and she struggled to pull herself out. "Hey Lime," Timmy said with an odd frown, "I'm not a bathroom expert, but I think your doing everything upside down." Limestone responded with an angry moan. Everyone was taken aback. Timmy showed almost no sign of the scorn, anger, or distrust he had been displaying for the past day. In fact, he looked downright jolly. "Timmy are you-," Rainbow began. "Never better," Timmy said. "I figured out a way to defeat the Dazzlings." Everyone was surprised by what they heard. "Really?" Princess Twilight asked happily. "How?" "So Crocker has a bunch of anti-magic weapons lying around?" Rainbow asked the brown-haired boy. Timmy and the Canterlot teens gathered in the dining room. Timmy sat and explained his plan to them. "Yep," Timmy said while taking a sip of tea. "And he just...gloats about them to you?" Rarity muttered with astonishment. "In case you haven't figured it out," Timmy said with disdain. "The guy is a nutjob who won't stop cackling about his plans for world domination. I never was worried because," he paused to take a sip. "He's...you know...Crockpot." A sly smile appeared on everyone's faces. "Well, I can't argue with that," Rainbow added with a smile. "So, you're just telling us this?" Flash asked carefully. "I mean...you were pretty mad before." Timmy paused to take another sip of tea. "Well...I was. But Gilda helped me realize I was being a jerk." "Well, I don't mean to brag," Gilda said with a wide smile. "But I am pretty persuasive." "It's funny how the people who say they don't like to brag are always the people who love to brag a lot," Pinkie pointed out. Gilda groaned and facepalmed. "Rainbow does that a lot," Applejack snarked. "Hey," Rainbow objected. "How can it be bragging if your just...telling the truth?" she finished with a cocky smile. Everyone rolled their eyes at that. Princess Twilight looked at Timmy carefully. "So are you sure your OK with us." "Yeah," Timmy said, pausing to take a sip of tea. "And I want to say something else. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused," Timmy apologized with sincerity. "And Sunset," the boy said, turning to the fire-haired girl. He took another sip of tea. "I'm sorry for being so mean to you." Sunset was taken aback. "Timmy I wasn't exactly-," "I realize that while you weren't perfect, you didn't deserve to be called names, or turned into a worm, and I'm-," Timmy's eyes moistened and his lips quivered. "I'm-," Sunset walked over to the boy and gave him a hug. "It's OK Timmy. These things...just happen sometimes." Everyone said aww at that, gushing at the reconciliation between Timmy and Sunset. "Yeah, yeah this is real sweet," Gilda muttered with disdain. "But we can be cute later. We've got three...jerks who need to be put in their place." Everyone also frowned, remembering the lesson they needed to teach to a certain trio. "Don't worry," Timmy said with a devious smile of his own, "As I've said, I've got a way to deal with them. We've just got to find Crocker's stash." The Rainbooms all left the mansion and piled into Rainbow's blue sedan, with Timmy joining them last. Everyone cheered them on and wished them good luck as they sought out Crocker's arsenal, hoping that the loon's weapons could defeat the sirens. "Alright everybody", Rainbow said happily. "Let's go." She hit the gas and drove away. All the other Canterlot teens piled into their cars and drove away. At a bus station a few yards away from the mansion, someone in a grey hoodie and blue pants watched as all the Canterlot teens drove away. He pulled down his hoodie, sneering nastily at them. "Suckers," Timmy said gleefully, happy to have sent those liars on a goose chase. "With them distracted, I can take down the Dazzlings myself. And when I get Cosmo and Wanda back, I'll wish I never met them." Timmy smiled as the bus pulled up. He entered the vehicle and proudly showed off his bus pass. "Aren't you a little young to be taking a bus to Canterlot by yourself?" The Dimmsdale bus driver, a blond-haired man, asked skeptically. "Shouldn't you be in school?" "I'm actually 30 years old," Timmy lied with darting eyes. "I have a ....genetic disorder." "The pass says your ten." "That's so I can...get discounts on move tickets?" "Works for me," the man said happily. Timmy sat down and stared firmly out the window, dead set on saving his fairies from those evil witches. No matter what it took. > Looking for Reinforcements > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was mid-morning when the Dazzlings returned to the factory floor. They smiled when they saw their goal had apparently been achieved. Cosmo and Wanda's eyes glowed a sickly green and they laid still in a daze. Showing that the two had been put under their spell. With a satisfied smile, Adagio shut off the music. "Yay," Sonata said cheerfully. "The fairies are ours now." Sonata pushed a button, releasing the shackles that bound them. She then extended her arm to remove the net, only to be blocked by her eldest sister. "Ah, ah, ah Sonata," Adagio admonished her younger sister. "We can't just let them out of the net willy-nilly." "Yeah doofus," Aria muttered with a roll of her eyes, "they could be faking for all we now." Adagio got in front of the fairies, her eyes hungry and full of desire, as she tested whether or not the fairies were under their control. "Who do you serve?" Adagio asked, her eyes glowing a bright red. "You Princess Adagio," Wanda said in a monotone voice, sounding like a mindless puppet. "We obey you, Princess Fuzzhead," Cosmo said in a zombie-like voice Adagio's smile grew wider. "Let's prove it, shall we?" "Cosmo," Aria asked." I order you to punch yourself in the face." Cosmo proceeded to do so. "Ow," he said over and over again. "Is this to your liking-ow!-Princess Pigtails McGee?" Aria's grin was that of a shark. "Definitely." "Oh, oh me next," Sonata said excitedly bouncing over to the trapped fairies. "Wanda, I order you to do the nag dance." She then added, "Pretty please with sugar, and cherries, and a marshmallow on top?" "Of course, Princess Sonata." Wanda started dancing. "You nag it to the left, you nag it to the right, come on everybody do the nag tonight," she sang. Sonata started cheerfully clapping, like a kid watching a puppet show, much to the consternation of her two older sisters. "Repeat after me," Adagio uttered with a stern glare. "Adagio is the prettiest creature around." "Adagio is the prettiest creature around," the two brainwashed fairies parroted. "We serve you and your sisters only." "We serve you and your sisters only." "We will do your bidding." "We will do your bidding." "Grant you your hearts' desire." "Grant you your hearts' desire." Adagio smiled and tented her fingers together. "Excellent." "Excellent," the two fairies repeated. "Things have gone according to plan." "Things have gone according to plan." Adagio became slightly annoyed with them parroting everything she said. "OK," Adagio said with some forced patience ,"that's enough." "OK, that's enough." "Stop it." "Stop it." Adagio became increasingly annoyed. "Stop repeating what I say!" "Stop repeating what I say!" "Silence!" "Silence!" Adagio, out of patience, stormed up to the fairies and grabbed them both by their shirts, staring at them with glowing red eyes. "I, your Princess, do decree that, you my faithful servants must oblige me and...SHUT YOUR PIEHOLES!" The two fairies clamped up, simply looking at Adagio with dazed smiles. "Good." Secure that the two fairies were under her spell, Adagio removed the net, and handed the two fairies their wands. "Now that that has been settled," Adagio said with tired exhaustion, "I wish all of Canterlot and Dimmsdale were under our spell-," "And we could have tacos for lunch," Sonata interrupted. "And I had some new workout equipment," Aria added. "And that stuff too," Adagio said with slight annoyance. The two fairies raised their wands, much to the excitement of the three sirens. "At last", Adagio thought with a gleeful smile. This was it. No more scraping the world for small snacks. No more living like one of these pathetic apes. Soon, she and her sisters would have the power to rule this world. First Canterlot, then Dimmsdale, then this entire world would come to adore them. It was what they had been entitled to from the very beginning. They had been taught that powerful spellcasters like them have a right to rule over the lesser creatures, after all. No, this world would be privileged to have beings like herself and her sisters guiding them. Time slowed as their ultimate victory approached. Sonata squeed as their wands began lighting up. Adagio and Aria barely suppressed one, instead clenching their fists in excitement as- The wands let out a strange raspberry noise, and did nothing. The sirens stood in shock for a few moments. "What happened?" Aria muttered with anger. "We said 'I wish'. Isn't that how it works?" "Yeah," Sonata whined. "Why didn't I get any tacos?" Adagio snarled and stormed over to the fairies, grabbing them by their shirts to her face. "What did you do?!" Adagio growled. The two fairies just continued staring at her obliviously, unable to seemingly comprehend the anger in Adagio's voice. "Answer me!" "Uh, I think you ordered them to shut their pie holes," Aria said with a sly smile. Adagio raged for a few moments, before taking a breath to calm down. "I order you to answer me," she commanded. "We're sorry, your Fluffy Haired-ness," the brainwashed Cosmo commented. "We're having trouble with the rules, Your Majesty," the brainwashed Wanda said, poofing up a copy of the Da Rules and opening to a certain page. "Gimme that," Adagio said, snatching the book away from them. Adagio looked over the section." 'Fairy Godparents can only grant wishes to their assigned...godchild?!' STUPID RULES!" Adagio angrily threw the book against the wall and glared at the two fairies. "You knew about this didn't you!" Adagio accused the pink-hair fairy. "You didn't ask, your majesty!" Wanda said with a wide smile. Adagio continued to fume with rage, until her eyes widened and she started chuckling sinisterly. "What are you laughing at?" Aria asked her older sister with some frustration. "Did you look in the mirror?" "No girls," Adagio said. "They said they need the boy who grants wishes." She turned to look at her sisters. "Who is that by again?" Aria and Sonata thought for a few moments and smiled. "The brat is useful to us after all," Aria expressed in surprise. "We just have to find the boy, put him under our spell, and the magic is ours!" Adagio said with a clenched fist. Despite this small setback, the Dazzlings saw victory in their sights. The bus pulled up to the Turner residence. Timmy climbed out of it, his hood down. He noticed the car was absent and realized his parents weren't there. He worried about them and how they were doing. He put aside his anxiety as he prepared to approach the house. As soon as he put a foot on the grass, an alarm blared and a massive laser erupted from the roof of the house. "Security system activated," the voice blared. "Burglar, prepare to be vaporized in three, two-" "Wait, wait, it's me, Timmy!" The laser retracted. Timmy let out a sigh of relief. Only for an even bigger laser to emerge from the roof. "Timmy, prepare to be vaporized in three. two," TImmy yelled and dove out of the way, just in time to avoid being vaporized. A massive, smoking crater formed where he stood. Timmy was upset by what happened, until he remembered his parents had been brainwashed into hating him. "It isn't their fault," he said to himself. "But how am I suppose to get into the house?" Timmy asked himself with frustration. "Intruder," the security blared as a newcomer stepped onto the lawn. "Identify yourself or prepare to be vaporized in three two..." "I am...Timmy Turnador," Timmy declared in a faux-Mexican accent. He wore the elaborate disguised of a single-brown mustache on his face. "I am, how you say, gardener." He smiled as he prepared to sweeten the deal. "And since I am undocumented, you can pay me below minimum wage." The laser immediately retraced into the house and the front door swung open. "Welcome," the voice said happily. Timmy ran inside. He first went to his room and opened his secret chest underneath his bed. He opened it, and took out a photo album labeled "Cosmo, Wanda, and Me". He poured over the pictures with a combination of wistfulness and strength. "Don't worry you guys," Timmy said, hugging the book to his chest tightly. "I'll save you, and wish for everything to go back to normal." He put the book away, began scouring his room for supplies, and emptying them into his red backpack. Timmy opened the door, a confident smile on his face. "I got everything I need and not single thing went wrong," Timmy said as he stepped out of the door onto the lawn, only for his moustache to get caught on the door. The laser emerged from the house again, blaring at him. Timmy felt his face and shook with horror. "Vistor," the voice warned, "you accidentally left your mustache at the door." A metallic hand protruded from the door, grabbed his fake mustache, and returned it to him. "Ah, gracias," TImmy muttered in disbelief. "Who knew a security system set up by my parents could be so clueless." Timmy's eyes widened. "Wait, that makes perfect sense," Timmy muttered in disappointment. Timmy got off the bus at Dimmsdale Elementary. He saw his classmates gathering around some kind of effigy. To his horror, Timmy realized the effigy they were burning was... "I'm so glad that Timmy is finally gone," a hypnotized Chester said as he threw more logs into a bonfire that was burning an dummy that looked like Timmy, with all his facial features exaggerated. "But I couldn't throw out these precious memories from our time with Timmy," AJ said with what sounded like remorse, holding of a box of them. Timmy smiled. "Then throw them into the fire," one kid asked. "Right. Worthless gifts from a worthless friend are scientifically proven to be good kindling," AJ said blissfully, tossing the momentos into the fire, making it burn brighter. Timmy frowned. "HOORAY!" The other kids chorus. "That's horrible," Timmy commented. "My teeth are way too big on that dummy," Timmy said with anger. "Stealing my fairies is one thing. Making my friends and family hate me is another thing. But misrepresenting my teeth. That's when those dumb sea monsters have crossed the line!" Timmy pulled down his hoodie and charged into the school with clenched fists. He ran past the voices of people who hated him, remembering that they didn't mean it. It was those sea monsters and their evil magic that made everyone hate him. After walking the halls for a few moments, Timmy approached a certain locker. Most would assume it was an average locker. But Timmy knew better. "To the Crocker Cave," Timmy said, opening it. Timmy had a pretty simple solution: go the Crocker gave, steal some of his crazy teacher's gadgets, use them to track Cosmo and Wanda, defeat the Dazzlings, and wish everything was back to normal. Timmy screamed as he was suck through the tube. He fell on the floor of Crocker's lab with a cry, missing the mattress. Timmy chuckled with joy, until he realized the Crocker Cave was in a state of ruin. Everything, from the electronics, to the weapons, to the control panels had been utterly destroyed. Timmy noticed that many of the weapons had been stolen, and what remained was broken junk. "What?" Timmy said with dismay. "How did this happen?" Timmy noticed one working screen, that based off its position in the corner, and with a small curtain above it, was made somewhat conspicuous. Timmy's jaw dropped when he saw what happened. Crocker had lured the Dazzlings here, they knocked him out, stole his equipment, and trashed the place. Adagio used some weird red singing magic to blow away the control panels. Aria crudely destroyed the equipment with a sledgehammer. Sonata had done the most evil thing of all: Stole snacks from a nearby fridge. Mostly shrimp puffs though. Gross. Eventually, the video became static, showing the Dazzlings destroyed the security cameras too. Timmy fell to the ground in a daze. What could he do? Timmy thought he was smart, if academically behind boy. Whenever evil came his way, something would come across it. But he realized the truth: he was lucky. He was used to dealing with complete idiots. People who were dumb enough to shout their plans to the sky. But the sirens weren't idiots. They were smart. They covered all their tracks. Even managing to trick Crocker and make sure he couldn't get in the way. They even made sure Timmy had nothing to stop them or even find them. No fairies, no friends, no fairy hunting equipment. He couldn't go back to those Canterlot jerks. They never were his friends. They only liked him because they had too. He knew deep down they would never forgive him for turning them into worms. Sunset, who almost acted like a sister to him, had called him a dumb twerp. It's probably what she thought all along. Just like Vicky. Just like everyone in his life, besides his fairies, that claimed to like him, but were really using him. Timmy was about to cry when he heard someone else yell. It was Crocker. He was coming to the cave. Timmy took cover under some broken desk. The hunchbacked nutcase fell to the ground with a yell, somehow missing the mattress. "Those fools," Crocker muttered, beginning one of his trademark tirades, "they think they could trick me did they?! But they won't bring me down! I'll pay them back for backstabbing me and capture Turner's... FAIRY GODPARENTS!" "The guy doesn't know when to quit, does he," Timmy commented quietly and with disdain. "They may have destroyed my lab," Crocker declared dramatically, picking up some of the destroyed equipment. "But little do they know, or anyone else for that matter, that I have a secret lab in my very bedroom." Timmy's eyes widened with hope. "From this seed of failure will spring force the flower of opportunity. Opportunity to avenge myself and continue my plans for world domination!" Ending his theatrics, Crocker took his equipment with a hopeful smile and left his lab with a somewhat uneven gait, his leg still not having fully healed from the fall. Timmy's hand fell into his chin, a sly smile on his face. "Hurry up," Crocker ordered as he opened his totally-not-suspicious black van. Crocker was being supervised by a nurse after the combination of his fall and his brutal beating by that white-haired miscreant. She was a large middle-aged woman in her 40s with a stout and muscular body, long brown hair, and tired brown eyes. She was currently carrying his broken equipment. "Why do I pay you for!" Crocker declared. While he and the nurse were distracted, Timmy leapt into the van and camouflaged himself with a black blanket. "You don't pay me," the nurse declared with a tired, jaded voice. "I am paid for by the state, which provides you medical benefits as a public school teacher." A spiteful smile appeared on Crocker's face. "I love it when I can bilk the taxpayer with my wild schemes." Timmy smiled. "This is perfect. Nothing could possibly go wrong," Timmy declared. "Is there anything else you need?" The emotionally drained woman asked as she placed the doodads in the back of the van. "Just to collect my other belongings." A fearful frown formed on Timmy's face. "Belongings?" He asked anxiously. "What?" The snide woman asked. "Just a few things," the bespectacled loon muttered. "Phew!" Timmy muttered. "A few large things!" Crocker bellowed. "Like my mother's newly retuned, one ton Steinway Grand Piano." The super strong nurse tossed the piano into the van, painfully striking Timmy, who swallowed a yell of pain. "An authentic sculpture of a porcupine, made with real quills." The object hit Timmy, puncturing his skin painfully. Timmy went red trying to suppress the pain. "My newly fixed antique iron stove." The heavy metal object slammed into Timmy like a car. "I think I have a bruise," Timmy muttered quietly, feeling a throbbing pain form on his lower back. "And finally..." Crocker declared. "A basketball." "That isn't so bad," Timmy uttered. "Made from pure lead that if it struck someone at high speed., it could rupture bone morrow." "No, no," Timmy begged quietly, only for the metal ball to strike him on his body. "Ow, my marrow!" "That is all," Crocker said to the brawny woman. "Now begone!" He declared to the frustrated woman. "Believe or not, your not even the worst patient I've had to deal with," the woman muttered as she walked away. "Does my life reek." Crocker slammed the door and stumbled his way to the car. He was about to turn the ignition when suddenly he narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute!" Crocker said angrily, looking at his rearview mirror. Timmy started panicking. "Forgot to check my mirror," Crocker said cheerfully. "Must not ignore road safety." With that done, he turned on his engine and drove away. Timmy let out a sigh of relief, only to be painfully bumped around. "From now on," Timmy declared quietly in a small daze. "I always wear my seatbelt." After a few minutes of driving, Crocker returned to his mother's incredibly decrepit home. He pulled up, got out, and took some of his equipment out, slowly limping into his house. A somewhat bedraggled Timmy got out. For once, he was looking at his horrible teacher with hope. "I just hope Crocker can fix that stuff," Timmy muttered. "I don't want anything else to go wrong." Adagio and Aria tore apart Timmy's room, looking for any sign of where the boy could be. "Maybe we should try the old mansion," Aria offered. "I doubt he would stay there for long," Adagio said with a roll of her eyes. "Why not Canterlot High?" Aria followed up with. "We could easily-," "First of all, I doubt those Rainbrats, even if they got out of their...mess would shelter the boy. Once they and those pathetic Wondercolts learn about what he did, they probably would kick him into the street," Adagio uttered with a sadistic smile. "Also, we can't risk going anywhere near the Rainbrats," Adagio said with a frown, "or that school until we have those fairies powers." "But we have Crockpot's tech," Aria asked. "Maybe we could-," "We thought we had victory in the bag," Adagio threw back, "but those Rainbrats pulled something up their sleeve and robbed us our magic and voices. We can't be arrogant, or we'll lose everything." "Then how are we gonna find Rabbit Mouth," Aria asked with cross arms. Before Adagio could reply, a shivering, quivering, Sonata burst into the room. "Sonata," Adagio asked, "what did you do?" "I looked in T-timmy's f-f-freezer," Sonata said, still shivering. "H-h-he wasn't th-there." Aria narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "How long did you look?" "F-forty five minutes." Adagio let out an annoyed sigh. "I'll take Sonata outside to get warmed up." She looked at Aria. "You keep looking," she ordered. When her two sisters left the room, Aria did some digging and found a treasure chest underneath the boy's bed. She opened it. Inside was a disgustingly adorable photo album of the brat and the midgets smiling like idiots. "How adorable," Aria cooed, before tearing apart the pictures out of spiteful glee. When she followed her sisters outside in the backyard, she found a bunch of broken-down wooden sculptures. "What's all this junk?" the pig-tailed siren asked. "The twerp's golf course," Adagio uttered with disdain. "Only a brat like him could make such a mess of something so simple." "I wonder if we'll ever find him," Sonata said with some sadness. "Or maybe,,,she was right about us." The assertation made the normally brash Aria feel powerless. Adagio felt her temper rise again, and she starting smashing the rundown golf course to vent her frustration. Aria was normally not a kind soul, but she was taken aback by the tantrum her sister was throwing, as she demolished the twerp's broken down golf course." "We'll find him alright," Adagio snarled as he destroyed some courses. "He's some stupid little brat! We're not got let a ten year old get in our way!" He destroyed another one of Timmy's golf courses. "We'll prove to those...fools back home and Equestria that we're are smart-," she paused to do some more destruction, "intelligent-," "Dagi," Sonata muttered with some caution, "don't-" Adagio ignored her youngest sister's comments, stomping on some dumb model of a windmill, "And observant-" BRZZZT! Adagio felt herself being horribly electrocuted, her muscles convulsing as electricity coursed through her body. When it ended, Adagio stood still in horrible pain, fumes erupting from her body. "I was trying to warn you Dagi," Sonata declared. She walked over to the busted windmill, bent down, and touched a yellow sign with her finger. "D-on't, ta-ch, e-lec-tri-ci-ty." She stood up with a proud smile. "My phonics lessons are paying off." "Hey Sonata," Aria asked. "I got a phonics lesson for ya. What's in front of your face?" "A....fi-st," Sonata pronounced. Aria's fist slammed into her forehead. "Aria, that hurt." "Not as much that wooden plank about to slam into your torso." "What wooden-," Aria slammed a wooden plank into Sonata's torso. "Nyuk nyuk nyuk," Sonata muttered. The two younger Dazzlings felt themselves being yanked by their clothes by their annoyed older sisters. "If you two don't start getting it together," Adagio said, "I'll turn your skins into rugs! Got it?" The two younger sirens nodded fearfully. Adagio then knocked their heads together. "Wise guys," Adagio muttered. "Well, you're the leader," Aria asked her sister while rubbing her head. "How are we gonna find him?" Adagio thought for a few moments, before her trademark wicked smile returned to her face. "We're Princesses," Adagio said. "We don't do menial tasks. We delegate them to others." "Who are we gonna delegate to," Aria said, with air quotes. "It's time I called in a favor," Adagio uttered while pulling out her cell phone. In Dimmsdale Woman's Prison, Mary Doombringer sat on the floor of her cell, drawing tally marks on the walls with chalk. A shadow loomed over her. She looked up. Her guard stood over her. Instead of the usual commanding presence he usually spoke with, he acted with the disposition of a zombie. "Mary Alice Doombringer," the man said, sounding like a robot rather than a person, "You have been scheduled for early release by Princess Adagio Dazzle." A look of surprise formed on the white-haired woman's face, before it was replaced by a devious smile. As she walked out of the prison, Doombringer was handed a ringing cell phone by a clerk. She answered. "Doombringer," the deep and charismatic voice of Adagio said. "We have the you-know-whats under our spell. As part of our deal, you go free. But I can't get them to do magic." "What do you wish for me to do about it?" "Find Turner," Adagio commanded. "We need him to grant wishes. You do that, those wings are yours." "Wait," Aria began. "Can you live without wings?" she asked the brainwashed fairies. "Barely." Aria shrugged. "Good enough for us." "But, just in case, there is a certain someone I need you to collect in case I need," an evil grin formed on Adagio's voice as she spoke on the phone, "leverage on the boy." Trixie did what she usually did at 3 PM: Wait for her family's limo to come pick her up. When it pulled up, she got in. "Hello Clyde," Trixie said respectfully to her chauffeur, applying perfume to her face. She stopped making herself over when she noticed Clyde didn't return his usual greeting. After a few moments of driving, she noticed the limo wasn't going to its usual route home. "Uh Clyde," Trixie asked with some confusion, "where are we-," "I apologize Ms. Tang," a polite female voice. Trixie looked in the rear view and noticed some woman, her hair completely covered in a chauffer's cap, was driving. She had a purple star-shaped tattoo under her eye. "You have been given different tasks for today." Trixie didn't know why, but her gut told her something was wrong. "Where's, Where's Clyde?" "I'm afraid he's...a little tied up," A dark-haired chauffeur had been robbed of his uniform and left with only boxers and a white t-shirt on, tied with chains to a stop sign, with blue tape over his mouth. In the rearview mirror, Trixie couldn't help but also notice a small lock of grey hair erupting from the woman's cap. "But don't worry Ms. Tang," the woman muttered. "I'll take...good care of you." The woman's mouth, covered with purple lipstick, smiled cruelly. > Friendship is Experience > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crocker sat at the desk in his room, working on schematics for a new fairy hunting weapon, when a mysterious voice interrupted him. "Hello, Crocker," the mysterious voice said. Crocker looked up from his desk, his bespectacled eyes narrowed. "Who goes there?" Crocker asked suspiciously. "Me," the voice sang. Crocker heard it coming from his partially opened window. What he saw made his jaw drop. What looked like a fairy was hovering in front of his window. "Hi there," the 'fairy' apparently said. "I'm a fairy. How would you like to catch me?" "Really?" Crocker asked excitedly. "Oh no," the 'fairy' warned. "I am getting away." It seemed to flutter away. "Fairies, fairies, FAIRIES!" Crocker yelped in sheer exhiliration, grabbing a net from somewhere before leaping out the window, knocking away the window screen to try and catch the flying creature. From the roof of the garage Crocker lived over, Timmy cackled with joy. He held up the "fairy", really the crude picture of a fairy that had been dangled in front of Crocker with a fishing rod, with sheer joy. "Crockpot, you're just too easy," Timmy said, watching his crazed hunting teacher running around the neighborhood trying to catch the 'fairy'. Timmy entered Crocker's room through the open window, and looked around, trying to find Crocker's secret lab. "Come on, come on," Timmy said to himself, "where-," "Denzel!" Timmy turned around and saw Mrs. Crocker had burst into the room. "Mommy has some chores you need to do," the grey-haired woman said, "I-". the woman paused when she realized some stranger, and not her son, was in the room. "Who are you?" The woman asked with some suspicion. "Uh Timmy Turner," the buck-toothed boy said. A wistful smile formed on the aged woman's face. "You're the sweet boy my son wants to destroy," Mrs. Crocker remarked. "Uh-," "My son has such an active imagination doesn't he?" the old lady thought, not taking the dark-haired man's rants about world domination seriously. "May I ask where my little Denzel went?" "Uh errands." "And not to be rude, but may I ask why your here?" "Uh, Dimmsdale Elementary is offering free cleaning services to its staff." The woman smiled excitedly. "Yay, free help!" Mrs. Crocker said cheerfully. "I'll go get you some supplies, be right back." While the woman was walking away, Timmy began poking around the room. "If I were Crocker, where would I put my fairy hunting equipment?" Timmy said to himself. There was a massive poster of Crocker on the wall, with a crown on his head and a staff. With a frown and a sigh at how stupidly obvious it was, Timmy pulled down the poster, revealing a hidden door. "Yes," Timmy said happily, as he walked up to the door. "Once again, Crocker, I can count on you to be a bumbling-" he tried to turn the knob, only for it to be locked. "OK, not so bumbling," Timmy lamented with a sigh, noticing he needed a key to get inside. He looked at the knob and back to his teeth. "Everyone always says my teeth could cut through metal. Time to put that to the test." Ms. Crocker returned to the room with a mop and a pail full of cleaning supplies. "Be sure to use the ammonia on the-," Mrs. Crocker trailed off when she saw an unusual sight. The Turner boy was gnawing on the knob like dog would a chew toy. "What are you doing?" The white haired woman asked Timmy in confusion. Timmy realized he was being noticed and stopped. "Uh, trying to test the finish on the metal." "Oh I see," Mrs. Crocker said with a smile. "You need a key to clean Denzel's 'secret' closet." Mrs. Crocker walked away and returned a few moments later with a bunch of keys. "Here's the key to the closet," Mrs. Crocker said, handing the bucktoothed boy a small silver key. "Thanks," Timmy said, unable to believe his luck. "The key to Denzel's weapons safe," the old lady said, handing Timmy a slightly larger bronze key, "the key to his ammunition safe," Timmy was handed a iron key, this time one that was hard to hold since it was bigger than a TV. "Uh," Timmy said, straining to hold up this key. A giant gold one was dropped on Timmy. "And the key to the safe with his tracking equipment," Mrs. Crocker said blissfully. "Make sure to get those corners," the senior citizen advised Timmy before walking away. Timmy, after some effort, was able to push the giant gold key off of himself with a sigh. "Well, at least I have the keys," Timmy said. After opening the closet and the safes, Timmy gathered as many weapons he could carry into his backpack. The Dazzlings weren't morons, and he needed to be ready for them. In his haste, he accidentally knocked over several things in Crocker's room, making an even bigger mess than before. "Perfect," Timmy said happily, seeing the equipment he had. He was about to leave when he saw Mrs. Crocker returning. "Just wanted to check up on-," Crocker's mother paused when saw the room was still the same. "Why is the room a bigger mess?" Mrs. Crocker asked Timmy with a mixture of suspicion and dissapoinment, seeing everything in disarray due to Timmy pilfering his teacher's equipment. "I wanted to move everything out of the way first," Timmy lied. "Good thinking," the elderly woman said with an accepting smile, "I'm so glad to have someone as resourceful as you in mu house. I would do the work myself, but, athiritis has eaten away at my hands." The old lady held up her hands, which were horribly withered, much to Timmy's disgust. "I can't clean like I used to," Mrs. Crocker lamented, "and Denzel spends more time with his crazy magic theories than with helping his mommy." "Really," Timmy said, feeling some pity for the woman. "Which is why when you offered to clean, it felt like my salvation was at hand," she chirped, "I would hate it if you turned out to be some awful liar who got my hopes up and smashed them to pieces." Mrs. Crocker walked away again, leaving behind a reflective Timmy. Timmy wanted to leave. Needed to leave. Cosmo and Wanda were in danger after all. But that woman sounded like she needed help. And...well... "I can always wish her house clean when I get my fairies back," Timmy said to himself. He started to leave the room, only to sit still in nervous thought. "But...not before she found out I was lying." Timmy normally didn't have a problem with lying to save the day. But then he remembered Sunset yelling at him for his lies. He pushed that thought away. Sunset was only pretending to like him. Why should he care about what she thinks? But then he remembered Applejack, her green eyes honed in him, telling him off for lying as well, and her words about responsibility. "When y'all make a mess, you've got to clean it up." Timmy looked around the room he trashed. Again he shouldn't care. She was like all the liars in his life who pretended to like him. It was Crocker's room anyways. But just because Applejack was pretending to like him didn't make her words about hard work any less valid. And that nice old lady needed some help. "Cosmo and Wanda can wait," Timmy said with a sigh. He took the mop, and started moping Crocker's room. One Hour Later Mrs. Crocker returned to the room. "Hello Timmy," the old woman began, "how did-," she let out a gasp. "It's, It's....BEAUTIFUL!" Mrs. Crocker looked around her son's room, marveling at the cleaning job Timmy did. "You even cleaned in the corners too. Thank you so much, Timmy!" "You're...welcome," Timmy panted while resting on the floor, feeling like his arms were about to fall off. "It this all?" He asked with a mixture of exhaust and pleading "Well, I would normally ask you to clean some other things," Mrs. Crocker said. "But you look exhausted...so...you can leave if you want." Timmy immediately began running out of the room. "WAIT!" Timmy paused just as he turned around, meekly turning back at the smiling woman. "Yes," Timmy said anxiously, dreading another assignment from mother of his worst enemy. The smiling woman... Handed him....a bag of snickerdoodles. "What's this for?" Timmy asked. "You're reward," Mrs. Crocker cooed as if Timmy was the most precious thing in the world, "you modest little boy." "Well-," Timmy found himself being pulled into a hug. "You're a wonderful child Timmy," Mrs. Crocker said happily as she squeezed the boy. Timmy realized that Mrs. Crocker was genuinely thankful, and decided to return the hug. "Thanks Mrs. Crocker," Timmy said with honest gratitude. "Just keep being a sweet little boy," Mrs. Crocker said in a way that, though corny, couldn't help but make Timmy smile. Saying a polite goodbye, Timmy walked out of the room. "Well I got some snickerdoodles and some weapons," Timmy said happily. "At least something good happened." He activated one of Crocker's tracking devices, some weird watch thing he wore on his wrist. "Fairies detected," the watch said in a robotic tone, "in...Canterlot." "I got to back to Canterlot," Timmy said. He pulled out a bus schedule and map of the bus routes. "The closest express bus to Canterlot is," Timmy observed, "...about ten blocks away." Timmy frowned at having to walk that distance. "I just hope nothing else gets in my way." Timmy walked a little bit, only for something to get in his way. A big tall man. "Sorry," Timmy began, only to feel his heart sink into his throat when he saw who it was. "Truant Officer Shallowgrave," Timmy croaked. "Turner," the man hissed ominously. "Since you're currently not in a school and it is," he glanced at his watch, "not 3PM, this makes you a delinquent." He retracted his hook hand for a deadly laser and aimed it at the boy. "Could I offer you a snicker doodle to look the other way?" Timmy asked with a nervous smile. The eyepatched man was not impressed. "Do you think I'm gonna refuse to do my duty for a snickerdoodle?" "How about two snickerdoodles?" The man's frowned deepened. "You drive a hard bargain, Turner." Timmy handed him some cookies and walked away. "I need some...milk," Truant Officer Shallowgrave said, retracing his laser, and producing a platter that had a glass and a carton of milk. "I just need to march down Grover Avenue," Timmy said, glancing at his map of the bus routes, "and I'll be all set. What could possibly go wrong?" Up the road was a zoo that contained several animals that were large and dangerous. One of the zookeepers, a thin woman with red hair named Susan, noticed a caged jaguar was becoming increasingly belligerent and angry. "Joanna," Susan said with a concerned frown, "what's wrong, girl? Marv!" The woman said to a chubby redhead man who was sitting down and reading a newspaper. "What is it?" The man asked. "Joanna's acting up," the blond woman said fearfully. "What do we do? Joanna could hurt-" "Don't worry," Marv said nonchalantly. "That cage is locked up tight. There is no possible way Joanna could escape." The cage door immediately opened and Joanna lept out of the cage and leaped over the wall of the zoo. "Well what do you know," Marv said happily. He reached into his biege pants. "I left the lock in my other pocket. Silly me!" Susan facepalmed. Timmy was walked down the street when something tackled him. It was a big, angry jaguar that stared at him with what looked like venomous hatred. "Uh, nice kitty?" The jaguar to angrily roared into his face. "Ah, it's going to eat me," Timmy shrieked fearfully. But then Timmy remembered the words one girl told him after a similar situation. "Sometimes, anger is just another way of being sad," Fluttershy said, "and what is the best way to help a sad person?" Despite his fear, Timmy tried to be understanding. "Are you...OK?" Timmy asked the jaguar. The giant cat stopped her roaring and looked at him in confusion. The zookeepers ran around and saw what was happening. The jaguar pounced on Timmy and looked like it was about to eat him. "Oh no," Susan said. "Joanna's gonna kill that poor boy!" "Don't worry," Marv said happily, holding up some documents. "Our liability forms have immunized us from any damages we would have to pay in case he was horribly mauled." "Oh thank goodness," Susan said in a relieved tone. They watched as Joanna.... Started licking the boy. "Look at that," Marv chirped, "he's savoring his juices! Don't worry kid, we have a liability form you can sign-" "I don't think that's happening," Susan said, noticing the boy's shrieks were becoming...squeals of laughter. The two zookeepers became increasingly confused as the boy pulled himself and began hugging Joanna, as if the big jungle animal was some ordinary house cat. "You're such a good girl," Timmy cooed as he pet the massive jaguar. The spotted cat thanked him by licking him some more. "Hey." Timmy looked up and saw what looked like a pair of zookeepers, based off of their outfits, run up to him and the jaguar. "Joanna was all cranky this morning," a blond woman observed, "but she's licking you and letting you pet her?" With a proud smile, Timmy revealed nasty splinter in his left hand. "I found this in her paw," the brown-haired boy said happily, "that's why Joanna was so cranky." The female jaguar again licked the brown-haired boy in gratitude. "Good job son," the blond woman said, honestly amazed at how the boy had taken control of the situation. "A liability lawsuit would've been disastrous-" the red-haired man began, before he collected himself, "I mean what matters is your safe," he lied. "We'll take it from here sport," the blond woman began. The boy started to walk away, only for the jaguar to step in front of him. "What does....Joanna want?" Timmy asked. "Aww, she likes you," the blond woman cooed. "Look, I think you're a nice...big...cat..thing," Timmy stammered, "but I'm really busy. We can hang out later." He walked away, leaving Joanna feeling like a lonely mother. "Don't worry Jo," Susan said. "I'm sure he'll be back," Marv said. The two began leading the female spotted cat back to the zoo. Yet the animal looked in Timmy's direction with longing. After some more walking, Timmy finally reached the bus stop. "Finally," Timmy said with some exhaustion. He triumphantly held up his bus pass. "With this, nothing can stop me from reaching Canterlot." A gust of wind knocked his bus pass out of his hand, and it fell into a sewer drain. "Darn it!" Timmy exclaimed. Timmy looked into the drain and saw his bus pass was floating in the sewer water. "It's just a little grimey," Timmy said to himself nervously, "lt's still good, it's still good." Suddenly, a sewer gator swam up to the license and ate it. "It's still a little eaten, it's still good, it's still good." The gator was then eaten alive by a shark, which then swam way. "And...its gone," Timmy muttered, squeezing the bars of the storm drain in sheer anger. "What I am I going to do now?!" Timmy heard some noise ahead of him and saw he was near some public playground. In it were.... He saw girls his own age playing, with the mothers watching them and sitting on the side. His hand fell into his chin as he developed an idea. "I know," Timmy said happily. "I'll charm one of these girls into getting their parents into giving me a ride." He stood in front of a bathroom mirror, praciting some pickup lines. "Hey baby," Timmy said in a smarmy tone. "No," Timmy said, "that sounds too desperate." "Am I in heaven, because I saw an angel-NO!" Timmy facepalmed over saying something so cheesy. But then the advice of one purple haired girl came to him. "The thing about girls is we are always insecure and nervous. We worry about finding the right guy. And saying things like that isn't really romantic. It makes us feel trapped and nervous. You have to be more subtle, because a girl needs to feel like she has a choice. If a girl feels forced, she'll run away from you." "Subtle," Timmy said to himself. Timmy walked up to some pretty redhead girl who was sitting on a park bench texting. She looked up from her phone in annoyance. "Yeah," she said in annoyance. "I just want to say I don't find you beautiful and attractive at all!" Timmy said with complete sincerity. A hand slapped him in the face. "Creep," the redhead muttered before storming away in anger. "Oh forget it," Timmy said angrily. He sat down on a bench with an angry sigh. He had a good plan, and now it was going to get derailed because he couldn't get a ride. He was so upset he felt like crying. He even heard it. Wait. Timmy heard someone crying. He looked to his right and saw some short blond-haired kid in a weeping. He wore some beanie and a pair of blue suspenders. He was younger them him. So young, he looked like he was in kindergarten. Timmy realized why he was crying. An ice cream cone laid on the ground. "My ice cream," the kid wailed miserably. Timmy felt bad for him. Not just because it looked like good ice cream. But he remembered all the times he felt that horrible. He wondered what he could do to make the kid feel better. But then the memory of a pink-haired girl who had comforted him flooded into his mind. "You want to go get washed up," Pinkie asked Timmy gently as they reached a bathroom. "Sure," Timmy said in a small, sad voice. His eyes were still red and puffy from the crying. Before he got in, Pinkie presented Timmy with something. "New pants," Timmy said, taking the blue pants that were identical to his wet ones. He looked at Pinkie with a grateful smile, and gave the pink haired girl a hug. "Thank you." "Like I said," Pinkie Pie said gently, patting Timmy's head, "I help my friends." Timmy gave her a grateful smile, before going into the bathroom to change. Timmy knew what he had to do. Georgie was so upset over his ruined ice cream he didn't notice someone approaching him. "Hey." Georgie looked up. Some bucktoothed boy was smiling at him and holding a cookie in his hand. "Want one?" The boy said. Georgie stopped crying and looked at the boy with confusion. "Why?" Georgie asked. The boy thought it over for a moment. "Because I always help my friends," the boy said with absolute sincerity. "You want to be...friends?" Georgie said. "Why? You're older than me." "Why not," Timmy said with a shrug. "You seem cool." Georgie was taken aback. Usually all the older kids avoided him. But here was a cool kid that wanted to be his friend. "Thank you," Georgie said, taking the cookie. He then ran up to the boy and gave him a hug. After a moment of hesistation, the boy hugged him back. "Georgie!" Georgie broke from a hug to see someone tall, dark-haired, and female wander up to him. "Hey Lizzie," Georgie said, running over to the dark-haired girl with a smile. "Georgie," Lizzie said with some annoyance. "You know you're not supposed to talk to strangers," "That boy offered me a cookie after my ice cream fell," Georgia said happily. "He even said he wanted to be my friend." "Really?" Lizzie asked in disbelief. "Yeah," the boy said. "I just wanted to help." A grateful smile formed on Lizzie's face. "Thank you so much," the teenaged girl said happily. "Is there anything I can do for you, uh-," "Timmy," the bucktoothed boy said with a smile. "And no, I'm just happy to help." "You're being modest," the girl said. "That only makes me want to help you more!" Timmy thought it over. He finally understood by what Rarity meant by...subtle. It meant you had to behave like you cared about a girl's feelings. No pressure, no dumb presents, nothing. You had to make them feel like they could make their own choice. Like you respected their choice. "Well," Timmy said, carefully choosing his own words, "I need a ride back to Canterlot. My parents...can't pick me up, but if you're too busy I under-," "I'm not too busy to help you," Lizzie said with a smile. "Come on, I'll take you back there myself." Timmy and Georgie followed Lizzie to the parking lot. To Timmy's joy, Lizzie owned a fancy blue sedan. She gregariously opened the door, allowing Timmy to sit in the rear seat. Lizzie put Georgie in some kind of booster seat in the back as well before going to the steering wheel. "So," Timmy said while Lizzie adjusted her mirrors, "are you two...brother and sister?" "No, I'm Georgie's babysitter," Lizzie said."But I've babysat him for so long, he's like a brother to me. Timmy frowned. "Really?" "She's so cool, I wish she was," Georgie said happily. "Yep," Lizzie said. She turned the key and started driving away. If she could see her rear view mirror, he could see Timmy looking down at the car floor with a somewhat troubled expression. > Seeing the Other Side > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "OK Timmy," Rainbow said from the driver's seat, "we've been driving for," she glanced at her watch, "an hour and a half. Where's Crockpot's secret stash?" The Rainbooms had been dreading a confrontation with the Dazzlings, as the latter wielded weapons that could potentially disable their magic. When Timmy told them that Crocker that had a good stash of weapons lying around in a hidden location, and he knew where they were, they were more than a bit hopeful. Following Timmy's instructions, they had drive to a forest dozens of miles outside the Canterlot-Dimmsdale Area. "I need to go potty," Pinkie wailed. "You should've gone before we left!" Applejack threw back. She turned to look at the buck-toothed boy sitting to her left. "Alright, boy, we've been driving forever. Where are all these doodads you've been goin' on about?" Timmy's eyes darted back and forth. "Um..." he stammered. "There." "Where?" Rainbow asked. "In that open field over there?" Rainbow added. "Yeah, sure, let's go with that." The Rainbooms looked at the brown-haired child with confusion. "Y'all are tellin' us that this Crocker would keep his weapons all the way out here," Applejack said with narrow eyes and a disbelieving tone. Timmy gave the apple farmer an annoyed frown. "Crocker's a nutcase." "Make sense to me," Rainbow said with a shurg, pulling over into the field. The Rainbooms and Timmy got out of the blue car. "OK Timmy," Sunset said with an encouraging smile. "Where's Crocker's tech?" "Uh," Timmy stammered, looking at the field. "We need to dig. Crocker...buried his stuff." "OK ladies...and...little boy," Pinkie exclaimed, suddenly brandishing shovels and wearing a miner's hat. "You heard him. Let's start digging!" The Rainbooms immediately grabbed shovels and started digging into the dirt. Timmy watched this with an amused smile. "Perfect," Timmy uttered scornfully. "This will keep them distracted. Nothing could possibly ruin his plan." Two lumberjacks struggled to cut through the trunk of a redwood with their sharp two person saw. "Man, this thing is hard to chop down," the one with a brown beard said. "Don't feel bad," the one with a red beard, reassured his co-worker, "these things are always hard to cut through. Let's go chop down something easier." "I love to chop." the brown-beard happily said. They both abandoned the tree and wandered away. A tiny little robin gently landed on one of the branches of the redwood. It's trunk immediately snapped, and it began to collapse. The Rainbooms were distracted from their digging when they heard something break like a snapped 2 by four. They turned around and, to their horror, they saw a massive tree falling toward Timmy. "Timmy," Sunset wailed. "Look out!" "Timber!" Pinkie yelled. Timmy turned around and felt his heart stop when he saw the redwood wailing toward him. It was too close for him to run away. In a panic, he held up his hands in a feeble attempt of defense. The Rainbooms stood sadly, too far away to save their young charge from being crushed by a tree. They... Were shocked when instead of being crushed, their young charge caught the tree like it was a tennis ball, and held it up with only a minimal effort. "Timmy," Applejack said with amazement, "how did y'all..." "Yes!" Rainbow said with an excited expression. "I knew my strength training would pay off someday!" "Sure," Timmy said. "That's it." Sunset's shocked expression was replaced by a stern and angry expression. "That's not Timmy. That's his clone." "Clone?" Twilight asked with confusion. "The clone he wished up when he deceived....me," Sunset said with clenched fists and a falsely calm tone. "And know he did... again." "I don't know what you're talking about," Clone-Timmy's words died as Sunset stormed toward him with a furious expression. "OK, I admit it! Timmy used me to send you guys on a goose chase." The silence following that admission was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. "Timmy...tricked us," Fluttershy said with a sad expression. The Rainbooms all looked angrily at the clone. "He offered me people food." Clone-Timmy defended feebly. When he saw their expressions only got angrier, Clone-Timmy threw the tree in front of them and used the distraction to escape, running away with a wail. The Rainbooms faced were twisted with hurt and outrage. "That...that litte brat!" Rainbow yelled with clenched fists. "After everything we did for him...he did this to us!" "When I find that boy, I'm gonna tan his hide." Applejack muttered angrily. Even Pinkie and Fluttershy couldn't help but frown furiously at the thought of Timmy. "What do we know?" Rarity asked Princess Twilight in a cross tone. "We drive back to Dimmsdale and try and find...him," the pony princess said with a clearly hurt tone after a few minutes of furious thought. She was so angry at Timmy, she couldn't even articulate his name. The Rainbooms moved toward the car, only to stop as they noticed Sunset was standing still, staring blankly at the downed tree. "Sunset, aren't ypu coming?" Twilight asked the unicorn-turned-human. Sunset continued to stare, her eyes completely empty and her body as still as a statue. Princess Twilight looked increasingly concerned. "Sunset, are you...OK?" Suddenly Sunset started shaking and her face turned a deep bright red, steam began pouring out of her ears. and her clenched fists starting shaking, to the fear of Twilight and the rest of the Rainbooms. "Oh man, she's about to blow," Applejack uttered with horror. "TAKE COVER!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The Rainbooms dove for cover, just as Sunset unleashed all her wrath in one explosive yell. "TIMMY TURNER!" Several trees were blown back by the force of the yell. Sunset's furious shout echoed for miles, causing flocks of birds to fly away. The lumberjacks heard the echo while working on another tree. "What was that?" The brown-bearded man asked. "Probably Sasquatch stubbing his toe," the red-bearded man. "Yeah, that makes the most sense." As Amanda drove Timmy to Canterlot, he couldn't help but feel a measure of...caution...trepidation...paranoia. Maybe it was the fact that he was in the car of a complete stranger. A complete stranger who...wanted to help him. That shouldn't bother him. But...it all seemed so easy. It all seemed too convenient. Too obvious. Too coincidental. Maybe Georgie was just paid actor, and Amanda was just... Timmy had to stop thinking that way. Not everyone in the world was evil like Crocker. Not everyone was a liar like Sunset and her friends. Maybe there were some nice people out- "End of the line," Amanda muttered. Timmy gasped with terror. "According to the GPS," Amanda said happily,"we've reached the end of Line Street." "Whew!" Timmy muttered in relief. "You're time is up!" Timmy gasped with terror. "What Ahuizotl said to Daring Do in the new Daring Do movie," Amanda gushed. "I'm such a huge fan." "Whew!" "Prepare to get creamed." Timmy gasped again. "Cause we're gonna stop for some ice cream," Amanda said happily pulling over in front of an ice cream parlor. "Yay, ice cream," Georgie exclaimed from his booster seat. Timmy slowly got out of the car with a jaded expression. He was so jaded by the troubles of the past few days, he couldn't be enthusiastic about one of his favorite things. After waiting in line, Amanda, Georgie, and Timmy were sitting at an outdoor table with cups of ice cream. Amanda helped Georgie eat his, since he was still too young to know his table manners. Timmy just stared at his ice cream melacholically, unable to eat. "Oh no," Georgie said with panic. "Timmy is sad." "What's wrong, Timmy?" Amanda asked with concerned expression. "Aren't you hungry?" Timmy sat still, not knowing how to explain his issue to someone who didn't know about magic. "Do you want to talk about what's bothering you." Amanda placed her hand in her chin. "Did you run away from something?" Amanda asked with sterner eyes. Timmy's jaw dropped in astonishment. "How did you-?" "I was wondering why a ten-year old boy was so desperate for a ride from Dimmsdale to Canterlot, that he would hitchhike with a total stranger." Amanda asked with somewhat admonishing expression. "I also wondered why his parents would leave him alone without a cell phone to call them in case of an emergencies. Either you're parents booted you out, or you were running away from something?" Timmy was taken aback by this girl's insights. She even guessed what his parents had done under the Dazzlings' spell. But then again, he was so used to being around adults who were clueless, he forgot most people weren't. And being ignorant about magic didn't mean the same thing as being a moron. "I know you just met me," Amanda said with a sad expression, "but I can tell that you look like you're in a bad place. The best thing you can do in your situation is to get it off your chest." After a tired sigh, Timmy explained his situation to Amanda, without mentioning magic, the Dazzlings, or the stolen weapons in his bag. Amanda listened patiently, while Georgie ran around pretending he was a pilot. "So to recap," Amanda said. "You got this new babysitter who was really nice to you, did a lot of fun things with you, and her friends were also really nice to you. But then you learned this girl was a mean bully in her past, and that she and her friends only hung out with you for a...project. And then you got into a bad fight where she lifted you by your shirt, you sent her and her friends on a goose chase, ran away from them using a bus pass, you lost the bus pass, and that's how you ended up here." "Yeah," Timmy said with a sigh. "And you don't know if they were nice to you because of the project or because they actually liked you," Amanda concluded. "And you're afraid that she's still a mean bully." "Yeah," Timmy muttered miserably. Amanda mulled over Timmy's dilemma for a few moments. "Do you think I'm a nice person?" Amanda asked Timmy with a stern expression. "Of course you're nice," Timmy said with a smile. "You're nice to Georgie, and you helped me out." "What if I told you I wasn't so nice," Amanda said. "What if I told you that I was....also kind of bully too?" Timmy looked at Amanda with disbelief. "That sounds like the dumbest thing I ever heard." Timmy laughed, but it died at Amanda's severe expression. "About a year ago, I was...not a nice person," Amanda said euphemistically. Amanda watched as some nerdy girl with glasses and poofy red hair walked down the hallway of South Dimmsdale High with a nasty grin. "OK ladies," the raven girl texted. "Let's show this dweed who rules." The girl opened her locker, only for a bucket of red paint to fall on her head. The girl ran off in tears, with everyone laughing at her. Amanda watched this with a vicious smile. "You did things like that?" Timmy asked Amanda with disbelief and a little anger. Amanda had the decency to feel bad about those things. "Well, yeah," she said solemnly. "I was a real...meanie-weenie." "Why did you stop?" Timmy asked. Amanda turned her head to the little boy running around, pretending he was defending the world from evil aliens. "Georgie," Amanda said, looking at her charge with a wistful smile. "I wasn't just a bully. I was a spoiled brat," Amanda said with some disgust. "I wasted my parent's money on shopping trips. My parents got tired of me using their credit card and cut me off until I either got a job or did chores. I...decided to become a babysitter." "Why?" "Because nobody else was hiring," Amanda admitted, "and I thought it would be easy. And Georgie was the first kid I got to babysit. And I wasn't a caring soul to him." Amanda sat on the couch reading a fashion magazine when she was interrupted by an annoying drool monster. "Help me fly," Georgie pleaded, dressed in a Crimson Chin costume. "Beat it twerp," Amanda muttered angrily to the small child. "But I want to fly," Georgie whined. "Lift me up. I want to be the like the Crimson Chin." An evil smile formed on Amanda's face. "You want to fly?" Amanda asked nastily. She lifted Georgie and left him dangling from the ceiling fan. "Yay!" Georgie exclaimed while suspended from the fan. "I'm flying!" "Have fun," Amanda said disdainfully, before returning to her magazine. "For the first few weeks, I wasn't really a sitter," Amanda said remorsefully. "More like I hung out in his house." Timmy was amazed. "When did you change?" Timmy asked. Amanda smiled. "One day, I had this boyfriend over while I was supposed to be babysitting. I paid more attention to him than Georgie." A guilty expression formed on her face. "And well..." "So where's the little brat," Amanda's boyfriend said as they made out on the couch. "Put him to sleep," Amanda muttered, "he won't be bothering us." She glanced out the window of the home she was babysitting in and her eyes narrowed. "There's someone hanging out near the porch," Amanda muttered. She got up from the couch and wandered near the door. "I can deal with them later," the blond-haired jock said. "stay here..." "Look, I need this job, or my parents will cut me off for good," Amanda said angrily. "I can't have the twerp's parents blame me if something went wrong." "Alright," the boyfriend muttered with some annoyance. "I'll wait for you." Just as Amanda left the house, she heard some splashing around. The dark-haired girl began walking much more quickly, thinking some punks had broken in and were playing in his pool. "I don't know who you are, but you can't crash-," Amanda's heart fell into her throat when she saw what was happening. "HELP!" Georgie shrieked. "HELP ME!" Georgie apparently wandered outside and fell into the pool. And based off his thrashing in the water, he couldn't swim. Amanda's disdain was replaced by sheer terror. "Don't worry Georgie," Amanda assured her charge. She dove into the pool to rescue the boy. Once she and Georgie were out of the pool, a guilty and crying Amanda hugged the blond-haired child, afraid to let him go. "I'm so sorry Georgie," Amanda said, remorseful tears running down her eyes. She felt tiny arms wrapped around her. "You saved me," Georgie exclaimed happily. "Like the Crimson Chin would." The words made Amanda cry harder, and she felt the oblivious boy hug her tightly. "So yeah, I was a pretty rotten witch," Amanda said to Timmy with a voice tinged in sadness. "Do you think I deserve to be hated forever for how mean I was, and how I nearly let Georgie drown?" Amanda asked the brown-haired boy with a stern expression. "Well," Timmy asked uneasily, "I don't know. You're so...nice now." "But like I said, I wasn't always so nice," Amanda said with a sage like expression. "I was a really human and I didn't always care about Georgie. Now let me ask you a question, and this is important, so pay attention. And you need to be honest with me." "OK." "Have you always been a good guy?" Amanda asked sternly. "Have you always done the things you were supposed to do, or have you made mistakes?" Timmy looked back at his misdeeds: bullying Vicky after turning into a five year old, destroying his dad's trophy, working his Fairy Godparents to the bone to help him become popular, letting Vicky take the fall for Chompy going free, causing Christmas to last for over two weeks and ruining the other holidays, letting Chip Skylark be kidnapped and nearly married against his will to Vicky, throwing water balloons at Tootie, accidentally unleashing the anti-fairies on everyone, nearly ruining American history, accidentally destroying Crocker's childhood. "No," Timmy admitted. "Do you think you deserve to be hated forever for your mistakes?" "No." "Then I don't think Sunset does either," Amanda said with an empathetic tone. "Maybe she did do mean things, and you have every right to be worrie, but has Sunset done anything to you?" "Well..."Timmy said with a sigh,"she wasn't a bully to me. "But," Timmy said on the verge of tears, as he expressed his greatest worry, "I don't know if she actually likes me or if she was doing it for a project." Timmy's sorrow ended as he felt something squeezing his leg. "Don't say that Timmy," Georgie said with a tone of admiration, hugging Timmy's leg. "You're the coolest." The sincerity in Georgie's voice made Timmy feel a lot better. "Who's to say she didn't do it for both?" Amanda offered. "Maybe, like me, she didn't start out wanting to be a babysitter. But maybe she started to like you, and not just see you as a project." A small smile came to Amanda's face. "You said she asked one of her friends to help train you, and another to help you not be a creep to girls. And she was giving you healthy food and playing video games with you. I don't think she would do all those things if she just saw you as a project." "Yeah, but what if the mission is over, and she," Timmy pursed his lips, trying not to cry, "stops hanging out with me." "Well," Amanda said in a sterner tone. "Let me ask you this: if Georgie's parents stopped paying me, would you blame me if I went to babysit someone else who could?" She noticed Georgie about to cry, and she added, "not that I would do that, but would you think I was a monster because I wanted money?" Timmy gave this some serious thought. "I guess...not," Timmy concluded. "You need money to...do stuff." "Maybe this project, whatever it is, was really important to Sunset. Or she thought it was important." Amanda said with a wisened expression. "The thing about grown ups is this," Amanda continued, "We're not always perfect. No one can be as good as the Crimson Chin. But also, no one can be as evil as the Bronze Kneecap. Most people are...somewhere in the middle. We have our own lives, needs, and dreams like you. And because of that, we don't always do the things we ought to do. But just because Sunset wasn't perfect doesn't mean she might not have cared about you." "Well she probably hates me now for what I did," Timmy muttered miserably. Amanda put a kind hand on his hand. "For what's its worth, I don't think you're a bad kid," Amanda said in a kind way. "I think you're a good kid who's a little mixed up. And since she was so nice to you, maybe she'll forgive you. Do you want me to take you to her and you can talk your problems out?" "I don't know," Timmy said uneasily. "If you have to go back to Canterlot, you might have to face her eventually," Amanda pointed out sternly. "Maybe you want to cross that bridge as soon as possible and get it over with." Timmy never imagined facing Sunset. He imagined he would rescue Cosmo and Wanda and wish he never met her. But after talking with Amanda... Maybe he was too hard on Sunset. Maybe he could talk give her another chance, maybe... Then the image of Sunset yanking him by his shirt, calling him names, and coming close to punching him rang through his mind. "Not yet," Timmy said to Amanda abruptly. Amanda wasn't happy with his answer. "Timmy..." "Look, there's this...project I have," Timmy said evasively. "I need to go to Canterlot to do it. And if I do it right...it can help me make it up to Sunset." Timmy decided he wanted Cosmo and Wanda with him before talking to Sunset. If she cared about him, then no problem. But if Sunset did hate him, he could have magic to defend himself and wish things were back to the way they were before he met Sunset. And maybe Sunset would forgive him if he granted her a few wishes. "Alright," Amanda said with a smile. "Do you want to go know." Timmy was about to answer, but the carpet-crawler hugging his leg objected. "Can't we play for a little while longer?" Georgie pleaded with puppy dog eyes. Timmy wanted to save Cosmo and Wanda, but couldn't resist Georgie's cute smile "Sure." Timmy said with a smile. "I can play Aliens and Space Warriors for a half-hour." "Thank you so much Timmy," Amanda gushed. "I'll be the alien," Georgie chirped, brandishing what looked like a toy laser and pointing it at Timmy. "Georgie," Amanda asked her charge. "Where did you get that?" "Timmy's backpack." The words made Timmy's jaw drop in horror. "Wait, Georgie don't-" "Take that human scum!" Georgie fired the laser, blasting Timmy a few yards onto the grass. "Awesome!" Georgie exclaimed. "Man, these toys are so realistic!" Amanda said with amazement. "It almost looks like Timmy was blasted and severely burned." "Sure...toy," Timmy slurred, lying on the ground in agony and with fumes coming from his body. "You know what," Sunset said with a cold tone as they approached Timmy's street. All of them were incredibly angry that they had to drive three hours for nothing because of the stupid boy. "This is pointless. I have a sure fire way to fix everything." "What's that?" Rainbow asked with a furious tone. "Timmy said if we tell non-magic people about his fairies, they'll go away right?" Sunset said, brandishing her phone. "What are you..." A nasty grin formed on Sunset's face. "I'm gonna find someone who doesn't know about magic-," "Sunset, you can't do," Fluttershy wailed. "Why not," Sunset said angrily. "We act nice to Timmy, and he treats us this way. It's what he deserves for being such an ungrateful little brat." "Those fairies are his friends," Pinkie complained. "I know Timmy's acted like a lout," Rarity uttered, "and I'm angry at him for deceiving us, but this isn't the proper way to-," "I bought that kid pizza and played video games with him, and treats me like I'm some monster," Sunset said coldly, preparing to send a text, only for Twilight to grab her wrist. "Sunset don't," Twilight warned. "He spat on me!" Sunset yelled, ripped her hand away from Princess Twilight a little too roughly. "And now he sends on a-," "Sunset look outside," Applejack said. "I know that trick Applejack," Sunset said coldly, "it's not gonna." "Sunset, LOOK!" Sunset let out a sigh and looked out the car window. "So we're at this house. So shocking," the fire-haired girl said sarcastically, "what's so-," Sunset's words died in her throat as her vindictiveness was replaced with concern. There was a giant sign on Timmy's lawn that said. "My Useless Son Is Gone Garage Sale." Sunset immediately lept out of the car as Rainbow pulled over, her concern giving way to horror, especially when she saw Timmy's parents on the lawn and what was for sale. "Hello Sunset," Mr. Turner greeted with a wide smile. "How-," Sunset ignored him, and saw all of the Timmy's possessions on the table. "Timmy's clothes, his video games, his comic books." She looked at the Turner parents with horror and disbelief. "Why are you selling his stuff?!" Mrs. Turner didn't looked even remotely ashamed. "Since we got rid of that worthless brat," she said all too cheerfully, "we can rid of his worthless junk too." "You threw him out of the house," Rarity said with a mortified expression. "How could you?" "Because he was so light and skinny," Mr. Turner said, as if saying why water was wet. "Now, if you by three of my former son's shirts for 9.95, I can throw in his baby pictures for an extra-," "I can't believe I borrowed a golf club from the likes of you!" Rainbow yelled in furious outrage. "I think these two need a little love," Applejack said with a stern tone, brandishing her left fist, "and tolerance," she added, branding her right first. Rainbow also cracked her knuckles. But before she and Applejack could teach the Turner parents a lesson, they were stopped by Princess Twilight. "Girls, look at their eyes," the pony princess said sternly. The Rainbooms looked at the eyes of the Turner parents and saw... Small flashes of green. "The Dazzlings...really did that to him," Sunset said in a soft, but shaken tone. "They did," Fluttershy exclaimed sadly. The rest of the Rainbooms were equally horrified by what happened. "Don't worry," Princess Twilight said with a smile, "I can fix it." She got up to the two Tunrer parents. "Would you like to buy-," "Family is the greatest treasure of all," Princess Twilight sang. "Love and trust will help us stand tall." A purple energy flowed out of Twilight and into the Turner parents. They felt to the ground, clunching their heads. Rainbow, no longer convinced Timmy's parents were evil, walked over to help them, only to be stopped by Princess Twilight. "What happened?" Mr. Turner groaned, pulling herself up while rubbing her temples like she had a terrible migraine. "I don't know," Mrs. Turner exclaimed, "but-," she paused, noticing the sign and Timmy's stuff on the table. "Honey," the brown hair woman exclaimed to her husband with shock, "why are we selling Timmy's stuff?!" She glared at her husband. "Did you lose your job?" "The possum was in the water cooler before I got to work, I swear!" The dark-haired man said defensively. "Don't worry." The Turner parents turned to look at Sunset. "I can explain-," "What are you doing here?!" Mrs. Turner said angrily to Sunset. Sunset was confused by the brown-haired woman's hostility. "I've been babysitting-," "The Muses told us about your evil plan to steal from our son!" Mr. Turner said in his usually dramatic tone. "But-," "Honey get me the HDP!" "Mr. Turner," Sunset said in a pleading tone, "I can explain. I was in a bad place-" "You'll be headed to a bad place, alright" the unusually stern man said as he was handed his spiked bat. Sunset backed away as Mr. Turner prepared to take a swing. "The hospital!" "Mr. Turner," Rainbow said, ripping the bat away from the man. "What are you doing? A wooden bat with nails on it looks cool, but it's gonna break the moment you hit someone with it hard enough," the rainbow-haired girl advised with a wise tone. "What you want is a metal bat with barbed wire wrapped around it for consistant damage." Mr. Turner smiled at Rainbow."See I get that, but I don't really like metal bats. That echo sound they make when they hit something just doesn't have the same impact as wood, you know?" "Mr. Turner," Twilight said, butting in with a diplomatic tone. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. I can understand why you would be hostile to Sunset. She was a bad delinquent. The key word being 'was'." "Sunny-Wunny was a meanie-weanie," Pinkie Pie said in a pleading tone to the two adults. "But since then, she's become the bestest-estest friend ever." "I assure you that whatever bad things Sunset has done, she isn't a threat to you or your son," Twilight assured them with a pleading tone. "Whatever mistakes she made, the love she's shown Timmy is real." The Turner parents weren't fully convinced. "If that's true Then why did the Muses tell us that Sunset was evil?" Mr. Turner asked with a hint of skepticism. "The Dazzlings told you Sunset's past to trick y'all," Applejack said, a stern expression in her green eyes. "They're the real thieves." "They're the reason you kicked Timmy out and started selling his belongings," Rarity warned. The Turner parents looked horrified. "How-" "Uh," Twilight stammered, coming up with an excuse. "They used a hallucinagetic agent to make you obey their every whim." "Yeah," Rainbow said with an uneasy smile. "What she said." Mr. and Mrs. Turner's expressions were twisted into thunderous outrage. "Where are they?" Mrs. Turner said with anger. "And where is Timmy?" Mr. Turner asked, some fear in tone. "Don't worry," the purple-haired princess said with an assuring smile, "we'll find the Dazzlings and we'll find your son." "You will?" Mr. Turner asked. "Of course." To Twilight's shock, the Turner parents ran into the house and immediately ran back outside, dressed in tourist clothes and cameras around their necks. "What are you two-," "Since you agreed to take care of it," Mr. Turner said happily. "We'll be taking a nice, guilt free trip to the Wax Museum." "But-, "Just bring Timmy back safe and sound," Mrs. Turner said as if she was asking them to pick up groceries, "have a good day girls," she exclaimed while getting into the passenger seat of the car. "Here," Mr. Turner said, handing his spiked bat to Sunset. "Give those animals a good whack for me," Mr. Turner urged with a stern tone, before blissfully joining his wife in the car." The Rainbooms watched the Turner parents drive off with more than a bit of distate. "They sure are attentive and loving, aren't they?" Rarity said with a sarcastic and disgusted tone. "I know," Rainbow exclaimed ironically, looking at Mr. Turner's bat with admiration. "Guys," Fluttershy said with a stern tone. "I found this thrown out of Timmy's window." She held up a photo album with the words "Cosmo, Wanda, and Me," written on it. Fluttershy grimly gestured behind her. To the horror of the Rainbooms, pictures littered the lawn, and Timmy's mini-golf course was trashed. "Who did that?" Rainbow asked. "Who do y'all think?" Applejack pointed out with a stern expression. Fluttershy silently took several torn picture pieces and put them together on the scrapbook. They showed Timmy and two fairies posing for a photo. Their hugging and happy expressions made them look like family. Looking at this, Sunset felt like she had been kicked in the stomach. "I did this." "Sunset?" Twilight asked with concern. "I drove him away," Sunset said, guilt and self-loathing in her voice. "I spied on him." "Sunset," Fluttershy. "He was scared and I was gonna hit him," Sunset said, guilty tears falling down her face. "He was hurt by the Dazzlings and I said those mean things to him." She let out a cry of pain and wept horribly. "I was gonna rip his fairies away from him." She let out a pained shriek. "I AM A HEARTLESS EVIL-," Sunset paused as her friends started hugging her. "Sunset you're not a heartless evil witch," Twilight assured her friend. "Yes I am," Sunset whimpered. "Would a heartless evil witch have played video games with him?" Rainbow asked her regretful friend. "Would a heartless witch have cried like you did when that freak kidnapped him." "Well-," "I remember when those brats hurt his ankle," Rainbow said in a reassuring tone, "you jumped from the bleachers and pulled him into a hug." "That was just part of the mission," Sunset denied as the last of tears stopped. "Y'all can't even look me in the eye and say that." Applejack said with a wry grin. "Y'all did those things because you love Timmy like he was kin." "Then why did I say those horrible things to him? And why did I spy on him?" "Because Darling, you were worried about what he might do with magic. And he and his fairies did do a lot of terrible things," Rarity pointed out with a stern look. "You had every right to be exasperated with how they behaved." "But I nearly hit him." "Yes Darling and it was wrong," Rarity assured her blue-eyed friend. "But everybody has moments of weaknesses." "Whenever you let anyone into your life," Princess Twilight said in a sage like voice, "you risk hurting them." "All friends and siblings fight and say mean things," Fluttershy said in her soft, kind tone. "But love is much more tasty then evil," Pinkie Pie said in her odd wisdom, "and with love, you can fix any problem you have." "Yeah you made mistakes, but so did Timmy and his fairies," Rainbow said. "But you're not the bad guy Sunny. And neither are they." The atheletic girl pointed to the ripped pictures, the demolished golf course, and the awful banner. "The bad guys are the jerks who did those things." "Y'all want to make it up to Timmy," Applejack told Sunset with strong green eyes. "I know one way to do it." "How?" "Save the boy's fairies," Applejack said with a face that looked like it was carved from stone. "And give the varmints who kidnapped them and broke the boy's heart a whoopin' they won't forget." Sunset absorbed Applejack's words. She picked up Mr. Turner's bat. She then looked at the damage the sirens did. Both to Timmy's life and to his house. She found herself frowning furiously and holding the bat much more tightly, as she imagined swinging it into the skulls of a certain trio. She looked back her friends. They all had the same fierce expressions. They all had the same idea. It didn't need to be spoken. They would save Cosmo and Wanda. They would prove to Timmy they cared about him. And they would make those pathetic sea monsters pay for what they did to him. They would make them regret even looking in his destruction. "But how are we going to find them?" Sunset asked, a trace of frustration returning to her voice. A fierce smile appeared on Rainbow's face. "I have an idea." > Crackpots and Schemers > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Two, four, six, eight, who do we really hate?" Veronica blared into a megaphone while doing a cheerleader practice. "Timmy! Timmy!" Everyone cheered, holding up pictures of Timmy with red Xs drawn over his face. "They used their magic on a bunch of little kiddies," Pinkie exclaimed with an unusual amount of fury in her voice. "They even turned his friends against them too," Sunset observed with furious tone, watching as even Chester, AJ, Sanjay, and Elmer were waving those horrible signs around. "When I get mah hands on them," Applejack grumbled. The angry expressions on the other Rainboom's faces showed they were equally enraged by the depths the Dazzlings sunk too for power. "Should we'try and lift the spell on everyone else?" Fluttershy asked with concern, horrified by the sheer amount of hatred these children held for Timmy. "Later," Princess Twilight said. "Finding Cosmo and Wanda and coming up with a way to defeat the Dazzlings should be our first priority." The Rainbooms followed Rainbow as she led them to Crocker's classroom. "OK Dash," Sunset said. "What's your plan?" "Timmy said Crockpot's got some secret stash, right?" Rainbow asked. "Yeah," Applejack said. "I figured out where it is," Rainbow Dash concluded. "It's got to be here, in Crocker's room." The Rainbooms looked at Rainbow like she was nuts. "Why would you assume that?" Twilight asked in confusion. "The guy is one of these loony villains gloating about world domination," Rainbow said with a roll of their eyes. "What do all these loony villains love to do?" "Have cool mustaches?" Pinkie asked, suddenly sporting a fake one under her lips. "Tying damsels in distress to railroad tracks," Rarity said ,"so that a dashing young man can save her and carry her off into the...sunset," she added with a blush. "Yeah," Sunset answered. "Nothing," Rarity said with some embarassment. "Cackling maniacally," Sunset offered. "Yeah, you always loved doing that whenever you shoved me into my locker," Fluttershy said with an oddly wistful smile. "Well yeah," Rainbow said reluctnantly. "But they're all idiots who always leave their junk where the hero can find them," Rainbow said with some disgust. "If he's got a stash, he would definitely put it in the most obvious place, which is where TIMMY could find it. How else would the kid know about Crockpot's weapons" She started looking snooping around Crocker's desk. "He's got to have some kind of secret passageway to where he keeps his tech." "Rainbow, this isn't some Saturday mornin' cartoon," Applejack said in an unimpressed tone. "Yeah," Sunset added. "Crockpot's a nutjob, but he isn't that stupid." Just as Sunset said that, Rainbow found a red button in one of Crocker's drawers. She pushed it. Suddenly the room started shaking. The Rainbooms, in a panic, all scattered to the edge. A massive square-shaped hole opened up in the middle of the room room. Suddenly, a series of stairs protruded out of the wall. Finally a massive sign burst out of the ground. It was an arrow-shaped sign with Crocker on it that read "Crocker Cave." "Welcome to the Crocker Cave," the digital recording of the man's voice greeted. "Where dreams of world domination can come true," in a tone that one would use to welcome someone to an amusement park. "Oh Crocker, you never fail to make me think even less of you," Sunset said with a sarcastic frown. The rest of the Rainbooms looked equally disgusted, while Rainbow smiled smugly at being proven right. The Rainbooms all shuffled down the hidden stairwell and found themselves in a massive underground laboratory. "This guy has a underground lair too," Sunset said with distate, "I thought the guy was out of his mind, but this is really crazy!" "He also doesn't seem to understand the concept of hygiene!" Rarity shrieked. "Look, everything is here is a horrid mess!" The Rainbooms began to notice that the whole place seemed trashed beyond repair. The cool monitors and blinking lights were cracked, the monitoring equipment and controlling was ripped out of the walls and totaled. More importantly, there was what looked like a lot of fairy hunting weapons. But a lot of them were in too much disrepair to be useful. Based off all the destruction, it was obvious that all this was an act of malice. "Who did all this?" Fluttershy asked, frightened by the massive amount of destruction.. "Forget about that," Twilight said in a stern voice. "We need to find something that can help us find the Dazzlings, find Cosmo and Wanda, and/or fight the sirens." The Rainbooms looked through the rubble, trying to find something useful, but they only came across more junk. "Look at this," Sunset said with an odd smile and looking at a wall. Sunset, in her days as a thieving bully, learned you can tell a lot about a person by what was in their personal space. A simple glance at their living arrangements, possessions, and surroundings could tell you all you needed to know. A wall labeled "Wall of Enemies," spoke of a man who was consumed by hatred and obsession. The wall had pictures of various figures of enmity, along with a quick explanation for that hatred "Let's see," Sunset muttered. There was the picture of an old man in a suit with a caption that read "Hoyt Robertson: The Chairman of New Baltimore Community College," underneath. Beneath that picture was a Baltimore newspaper from around ten years ago. "Nutjob Replaced At New Baltimore Community College for Using Funds to Build a Trap for Fairy Godparents," the headline read. There was another picture of another old man with the caption "Filmar Odish: Chairman of Dimmsdale University." Underneath was a Dimmsdale University newspaper from twenty years ago that read "Crazed Senior Student Denzel Crocker Derided for Claiming the Existence of Fictional Magical Creatures in School Assembly." That made Sunset smile a bit. She was as magical as any creature could be and she certainly wasn't fictional. Most people put up pictures of loved ones. This man seemed to cherish his hatreds more than the people he loved, if he could love anyone of course. More specifically, his hatred of those who denied him the ability to gain control of magic and take over the world. She was wholly unsurprised to see Timmy's photo on the wall. The boy had probably beaten back Crocker's attempts to steal his fairies countless times. Then she saw... A picture of herself on the wall. Underneath was a Dimmsdale Dossier paper with the headline "Crazy Teacher Suspended for Using Student Safety Seminar to Torment Student." The picture in the paper showed Crocker lying on a hospital bed with a cast around his leg, obviously from Sunset sending him tumbling to the ground. The bandages that covered the rest of his body were due to merciless beating Gilda had given him. "Aww, Crockpot's been thinking about me," Sunset said with a mixture of sarcasm and amusement. It was obvious the hunchbacked man despised her for also getting in the way of his precious world domination. The former unicorn regarded being in the man's blackbooks as a badge of honor. The wall showed not only hatred, but a man who was a complete failure. For decades, he tried to steal a fairy, and he failed time and time again. After a few moments of looking, the Rainbooms gathered all of the equipment. But all of it was only barely salvageable at best. "The best looking thing I could find is this tracker," Rainbow said with some annoyance. She held up a purple rectangular looking device. It was clearly broken. "Can you fix it Princess?" Rainbow asked the pony princess. Twilight frowned with some annoyance at her atheltic friend. "What makes you think I can fix that?" "You're an egghead," Rainbow uttered, as if that explained anything. "I'm from a pony world where candles and quils are still in use," Twilight muttered. "I don't know a thing about human electronics." "Then what do we-," Sunset began. "Guys," Fluttershy said with a nervous tone. "Look what I found." Fluttershy followed them to what looked like some kind of hidden security monitor. The footage showed... "That's them!" Sunset yelled with hatred. The security footage revealed the Dazzlings were the ones who looted the lab. That explained where they got the equipment that disabled their magic and trapped them in that concrete. They must've taken all they could from the lab. And to keep Crocker from getting in their way, they trashed it beyond repair. Sunset had to acknowledge it was a brilliant, if ruthless, move. Adagio was an awful creature, but she was an intelligent and cunning one. "But look at this," Fluttershy said, pulling back some green curtain revealing another security monitor. It showed what looked like one of the most dilapidated homes Sunset had ever seen. There was footage being shown on a loop. Someone was emerging from... "That's Timmy!" Pinkie said. Sunset and the others immediately got in front of the monitor. It was their charge. The buck teeth and hair cut were all too familiar to them. He seemed to be carrying something, but the footage was too poor to make out what it was. "Fluttershy can you enhance it?" Twilight asked the pink-hair wallflower. Fluttershy found some red switch and pushed it. Timmy was.... They saw Timmy was proudly carrying what looked like magic weapons in his backpack. "So Timmy's stealing Crocker's weapons," Sunset observed with a frown. "Why would he need them-," Rainbow frowned in realization. "Unless he wants to...fight the Dazzlings himself?!" The idea made everyone's blood go cold. While Timmy was smart the Dazzlings, had over a thousand years of experience on them, were utterly merciless, magically endowed with mind-bending magic, and were physically stronger than a skinny ten year old. Odds are, Timmy was walking into a slaughter house. Sunset's face fell into her hands out of sheer frustration. "What do we do?!" "Maybe we can go to Crocker's house," Rainbow offered, "and steal his junk." 'We can't," Twilight said with some regret. "Crocker may be an idiot, but he's dangerous. If he has footage of Timmy stealing from him, he's going to be guarding his stuff like a hawk. If we go near him, he could blast us with the stuff the Dazzlings used." "And Crockpot won't exactly be thrilled to see me," Sunset muttered in a futile attempt at lightening the dire situation. "Ah have an idea," Applejack said, picking up the broken scanner."Ah know some people at school who might be able to fix this stuff." "Really?" Sunset asked hopefully. "Eeyup," Applejack said, pulling out her phone. "I'm gonna make a call." She picked up the scanner and other objects and began carrying them on her broad shoulders. "Let's giddy up, y'all." The Rainbooms all began to file out of the Crocker Cave only for Twilight to stop them. "Wait," Twilight said, "we need to delete the footage of Timmy sneaking into Crocker's house. He could use that against him." "I'm on it," Rainbow said happily, holding up a bag that read "Video Erasing Equipment." "You guys go, I'll take care of it." Her friends smiled happily at her, and then they piled out of the Crocker Cave. When they were gone, Rainbow eagerly reached into her bag and pulled out the latest in footage erasing. A red brick. "Go mighty brick of justice!" Rainbow lobbed it at the surveillance monitor. The brick... Lightly bounced off the screen. And then the whole thing exploded with a shower of sparks and flames. "Works every time," Rainbow said proudly. Amanda pulled her car into Canterlot's biggest public park. It was a beautiful day, but since it was still just 3 o'clock, the park was still mostly empty, except for an old lady sitting on the bench feeding the birds. "Are you sure you don't need my help?" Amanda asked Timmy with a serious tone, reluctant to leave an unaccompanied minor in the middle of Canterlot. "I'm sure," Timmy said. Timmy didn't want Amanda or Georgie involved. They could end up in the crossfire of whatever battle he may end up having with the Dazzlings. He also didn't want them in a position to learn his secrets. Just as Timmy got out of the car, Georgie began yelping. "Timmy, wait!" The kindergartener said. "What?" To Timmy's shock, Georgie handed him something. It was a rock. "What's this?" Timmy asked "A present?" Georgie replied happily. It wasn't a new V-Cube, but Timmy decided to humor the boy. "Thanks, I-," as soon as Timmy put the rock into direct sunlight, it immediately let out a bright light. "Isn't it pretty," Georgie babbled. "My eyes," Timmy shrieked, the light blinding him. He rubbed his eyes in frustration, but then he saw Georgie smiling at him. "I mean, thanks Georgie, this is really nice." "Do you want to play with me again?" Georgie pleaded. Timmy thought it over, but then he saw Georgie's puppy-dog eyes and Amanda's silent pleading . "Sure," Timmy said with an honest smile. "I'd love to play with the coolest kid in Dimmsdale." "Yay," Georgie said while clapping excitedly. The sight of that little boy looking at Timmy with joy warmed the ten-year-old's heart. "It was nice hanging out with you Timmy," Amanda said with a smile. "And good luck with your project." "Thanks," Timmy said. "And Amanda," he said with a serious talk. "Thank you for everything." "Don't mention it," Amanda uttered with an appreciative smile. With that, Timmy got out of the car, his backpack on his back and his bag of snickerdoodles in his hand, and Amanda drove away. With them gone, Timmy pulled out his fairy scanner. This thing was hard to use. It had to read through other magical signals, including the energies of other fairies. This process was gonna take a few minutes. Timmy was so focused on his scanner that he wasn't paying attention as he walked along the dirt path of the park. He ended up bumping into someone. "Sorry-," Timmy began, only to feel his backpack being ripped off his body and his scanner being ripped out of his hand. "Hey, give me that-," Timmy paused as he realized his currently-suspended evil teacher was glaring down at him. "Crocker," Timmy said with a fake smile, "how are-," "Save the plesantries Turner," the hunchbacked man said with cold fury. "Tey won't spare you from the torment about to inflict on you for breaking into my home, stealing my equipment, and cleaning my room!" Timmy was confused. "How is that a bad thing?" "Normally it wouldn't be. In fact, I would've thanked you and offered you a truce," Crocker said evenly. "But because of you, my mother expects me to actually do housework from now on," he hissed. "And that is....UNFORGIVABLE!" Crocker pulled out a green laser beam and furiously pointed it at Timmy. "I'll destroy you, defeat those ungrateful sea witches, and capture your...FAIRY GODPARENTS!" Timmy pulled out a snickerdoodle. "Can I offer you a-," Crocker fired a blast at Timmy. He barely ducked out of the way. "I guess that's a no." Timmy started running away, jumping several times to avoid Crocker's blasts and letting out a yell. He looked at an old lady feeding pigeons. He then looked as he saw a flight of stairs that led down a hill. Timmy smiled as an idea came to him. Timmy reached into the bag and pulled out some crumbs. "Hey Crockpot, think fast!" Timmy threw the crumbs at Crocker. They covered his face, eyes, and clothes. The hunchbacked man was not all that impressed. was not at all impressed. "Oh, food particles," Crocker replied sarcastically. "I am so-," Crocker heard bird song and looked up. Pigeons gathered all around him, looking at him with an especially hungry look. "Uh, greetings," Crocker muttered. With a loud squeak, the pigeons dive-bombed and began furiously pecking the crazy teacher. "Curse you bird conservation!" Crocker yelled. He ran away with a screech from the birds chasing after him, dropping Timmy's backpack and the scanner he had tried to steal back. In a panic, he ran toward the stairs. Covering his eyes, Timmy put Georgie's stone into direct sunlight. The light blinded Crocker. "I can't see!" Crocker screeched, covering his eyes out of sheer agony. In a panic from being blinded and pecked, he tripped and painfully tumbled down the stairs. "Cool," Timmy said. He collected the dropped backpack and the scanner. He opened the bag, and too his joy, the weapons were still there. Timmy thought about how easy it was for his only way to defend himself to be stolen, and had an idea. After walking for a half hour, Timmy finally was able to hone in his fairies' magical singature. He was walking for a few miles when he was approached by four police officers. "Excuse me young man," one of the officers, a blond man, said. "Yes," Timmy said with a smile. "Do you know this man?" one of them, an African-American man, asked. He held up a picture of Crocker. "Yeah," Timmy said. "We think this man is violating public safety and with your word against him," a tall redhead said with a smile, "you can have him put away for good." Timmy was taken aback. Crocker had always been a pain and a jerk. The chance of him being put away for good was an absolute dream for Timmy. Da Rules against unlawful detention meant he couldn't wish him away. So to see four police officers who could get him sent away, Timmy jumped at the opportunity. "OK sure," Timmy said happily. "What do you need me to do?" "Just follow us to that car, and we'll let you know what to do," a balding man with grey hair said, gesturing to a police car in the distance. "Of course," Timmy smiled, "you all seem like perfectly trustworthy adults." He followed them to the car. "OK, now-," A painful surge of electricity went through Timmy's body. The pain caused Timmy to collapse. When Timmy regained his bearings, he realized he had been tazed. Before he could do anything, Timmy felt himself lifted by his grey sweatshirt. The cops bundled him into the car, taking his backpack off his body and throwing it to the floor. Timmy's terror grew when he saw who was sitting in the passenger's seat. "End of the line, Turner," Doombringer said with a nasty hiss as she turned to look at him. The grey-haired woman was clad in a police uniform and glared at him with utter hatred. Timmy was so scared, he didn't notice the police officers pinning his hands behind his back and cuffing them. "And this time, you won't be going anywhere," Doombringer warned. She activated the childproof locks. Three of the officers held him down while one of them drove off. "Where are you taking me?" Timmy choked out to the white haired woman with a whimper. He was so scared and confused? How did Doombringer get out of prison? Why were the police helping her capture him. "I suppose you want me to tell you," Doombringer said in a voice laden with contempt, "as well as all my other secret plans to you? And how you can get out of the cuffs? And how you can escape this police car?" "Yes," Timmy said with a forced smile, "that would be really polite." With a disgusted snort, Doombringer turned away from him and slammed the plastic window seperating the police officer from the suspect. Timmy tried to move, but his tiny ten year old body wasn't strong enough to beat back three grown men, let alone with cuffs around his hands. After some struggling, Timmy gave up. There was nothing he could do. After about ten minutes of driving, done in eerie silence, the police car stopped near some old factory. Doombringer got out of the car, taking his backpack. The four officers got out, following the grey-haired woman and dragging Timmy along with them. When they got to some courtyard, Timmy saw three figures standing outside in front of what looked like the main building. "Oh no," Timmy whimpered, cold sweat running down his face when he realized who was there. "Timmy, buddy," Adagio greeted with a falsely kind tone and the smile Vicky used when she prepared to torment him. "How've you been?" The other two Dazzlings also looked at him with equally nasty grins. Timmy never felt more scared in his life as Doombringer and the-he now realized-brainwashed police officers dragged him to the clutches of the sirens. He whimpered when he realized his two enemies had joined forces. And that he couldn't escape. "We have a lot of," Adagio's eyes narrowed slightly and her grin got nastier, "catching up to do." > Beating the Beat! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I can't fix it." The Rainbooms were having a teleconference with Micro Chips over Applejack's phone while they were assembled on Dimmsdale's lawn. They hoped the science nerd could fix the scanner they obtained. To their dissapointment, he claimed he couldn't. "Why not?" Rainbow complained. "Isn't this...egghead stuff." Micro Chips eyes narrowed. "I am an expert on physics,electronics, IT, AV, marine biology, marine paleobiology, geneology, generators, refrigerators, electrical engineering, basket weaving, finance, and interpretive dance. But I am strictly limited to just those fields. Sensory devices are completely, totally, and absolutely outside of my area of expertise." "Awwww," the Rainbooms groaned. Micro Chips smiled. "Not-aww." "Not-aww?" Pinkie asked in confusion. "I know someone who is most definitely an expert in sensory devices, where they are, and where they live," Micro Chips said with a smile. Sunset was equally pleased. "Who?" Their happy smiles faded when they saw who the expert was. "Please tell me you know someone else?" Sunset pleaded the blue-haired nerd with more than a hint of desperation. "Not someone who can do it on short-notice," Micro Chips pointed out with a look. "If you think about them waiting until tomorrow, just remember this; every second those Dazzlings have the Stone is one second too late," he pointed out with incredible urgency. "As does you're ability to repair your relationship with Timmy." Sunset and the others were reluctant. But then the fire-haired girl glanced at the tapped-together photo of the boy she come to care for her, and his magical companions. The boy who know hated her, and who's trusting smile she longed to see again. She also remembered the terror of those fairies' faces as they were pulled away from the boy they cared about, and how they were probably being tormented by three power-hungry sirens. "Alright," Sunset said with enormous reluctance and a set jaw. "Give me her info." Timmy stood still in shock and horror as Doombringer approached the Dazzlings with a wicked smile. "I found the boy wandering around town," Mrs. Doombringer said as she handed Adagio Crocker's tracking device. "As it turns out, he was already looking for you." An amused smile formed on the faces of the three witches. "Ain't that a coincky-dink," Aria said with no small amount of mockery. "We were looking for you!" "W-w-w-why?" Timmy stammered, so scared he could barely speak. "Well Timmy-buddy, it goes like this," Adagio said with a nasty smile, albeit strained by some frustration. " We couldn't get the midgets to grant us wishes. and those wands are just a...pain to use." Timmy wasn't surprised. He remembered how hard it was to be a fairy godparent. He couldn't even wish himself gills when he tried to become a goldfish. "So...we decided to go looking for you." "Why-why would you think I'd help you?" "You're not going to help us?" Aria asked in a faux-sad tone, putting her hand around her neck to make her look sorrowful. "After all the things we've been through together?" "Oh well," Adagio muttered sarcastically, a'I guess we'll have to give up and go home." A whimpering noise was made. Everyone turned and saw Sonata was practically overwhelmed with grief. She let out a few more whimpers before she started crying, tears and all. "Sonata, what are you crying about?" Adagio asked, more annoyed than concerned. "You and Aria said Timmy beat us," Sonata whimpered in grief, before crying again. Sonata really was like Cosmo if Cosmo was an evil girl. Adagio and Aria's exasperation reminded him of Wanda's whenever his green-haired godparent did or said something dumb. Aria facepalmed and sighed in frustration. "We were being sarcastic!" Sonata's tearful face was replaced with a goofy Cosmo-like smile. "I thought you were a Capricorn?" Aria snarled in annoyance. Adagio pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Anyways," Adagio said as she regained her composure, "what you want is...irrevelant to us. With hard work, we've managed to regain our siren song-," "I'M THE ONE WHO GAVE YOU YOUR VOICES AND MAGIC BACK!" Timmy shouted, his anger at their betrayal overcoming his fear for a moment. A brief but palpable silence followed, during which Sonata frowned uncomfortably, while Aria's eyes drifted to the ground. Adagio's face looked carved from stone. "Nothing personal Turner," Adagio said in a neutral voice. "I am the jaguar in the forest looking for the next meal to keep going another day. Sometimes I'll eat other animals to stay alive. Is it because I hate the prey animal? No. I just do it to live." To Timmy, the orange-haired siren sounded...weirdly sincere. She wasn't at all remorseful but she wasn't trying to mock him either. "Anyways, once you're under our spell," Adagio said, her cold smile returning, "you'll be granting us wishes again whether you want to...or not." Timmy's veins turned cold. Timmy looked at the brainwashed police offiers restraining him, and their vacant expressions, and started sweating in terror even more. He was going to become like them: nothing more than a zombie. The Dazzlings' personal wish slave. "Oh he's scared," Aria remarked, finding twisted amusement in Timmy's fear. "Don't worry Timmy," the pigtailed siren remarked with feigned sympathy, "once you're under our spell, you won't be afraid. In fact, you won't feel any emotion at all. All you'll have in your puny human brain is the desire to serve your new masters faithfully." The sirens let out a cruel cackle that made Timmy tremble even more. Or as much as he could with several officers restraining him. "Now," Adagio muttered with grim anticipation, "shall we-," "Hold it." Adagio looked at Mrs. Doombringer, who had interrupted her. "When am I getting the fairies' wings?" The white-haired woman pressed with narrow, hungry eyes. Adagio was annoyed by the interruption. "You'll get the wings after the boy is under our spell," Adagio remarked idly. Timmy's terror became more pronounced. Doombringer was working with the Dazzlings so she could get his fairies' wings. But what scared him more was how casually the orange-haired siren viewed the mutilation of his fairies. To Adagio, his fairies being hurt like it was chore. Sonata or Aria weren't bothered by this either. They didn't care about anything but getting wishes. "I captured the boy!" Doombringer yelled impatiently. "I demand you honor our agreement and give them to be now!" Adagio's face became neutral. "You...demand me?" She asked in an even tone, but with very stern eyes. "Yes!" Doombringer yelled. "You...demand me?" Adagio repeated in an even calmer tone. Sonata and Aria began smiling at Doombringer like a really creepy kid who squished ants for fun. Timmy soon recognized that tone. It was the tone Vicky used when Timmy refused to do one of her mean chores. She acted nice and understanding, but it was completely fake "YES!" Doombringer shrieked, losing what little remained of her composure. "I capture the boy, now give me-" Adagio interrupted the fairy hunter's tirade with a small hum that released some green energy. Suddenly two of the guards restraining Timmy ran over to Doombringer and began restraining her "What's the meaning of this!" Doombringer yelled in betrayal as the guards pulled her up, restraining both her arms. "I-," Adagio gave the restrained Doombringer a vicious slap across the face that made Timmy wince a little. Doombringer, her cheeks reddened from the attack, was shocked into silence. "You think you're tough don't you?" Adagio asked the white-haired woman with in a voice laden with contempt. "I suppose by the pathetic standards of your pathetic species, you might be." Adagio crossed her arms. "But where I'm from, there are creatures with powers you couldn't even begin to comprehend. Creatures that could destroy you with nary a thought. You would see you as nothing but an ant. The only reason why they don't is because they're too nice too." She then yanked Doombringer by the collar of her police uniform and pulled her to her angry face. "But I'm...not so nice," Adagio said with a glare. "To me, you're nothing but a peasant, a pawn, a slave, a serf, a servant. a gnat compared to my powers. These officers of the law only obey you because I command them to. And with one word, I could have them drag you back to your cell." Doombringer frowned in fear and outrage. "But-but-," Adagio eyes turned red. "In fact," Adagio said with a nasty smile. "I could turn you into my brainwashed slave, rob you of all your free will, and there would be nothing you could do to stop me." Doombringer began shaking with terror. "I'm sorry," Doombringer blubbered. "You will be." Adagio sang a small tune. The officers released Ms. Doombringer, only for her to become as still as the statue. "Why can't I move?" Mrs. Doombringer asked. Suddenly her body started crouching down."What's happening!?" Doombringer asked in confusion and panic. The white-haired woman found herself being forced to bow to the eldest siren. The white-haired woman whimpered, horrified at the loss of control over her own body as she looked up at the merciless eldest siren. "I have real power," Adagio gloated to the white-haired woman. "Power to make you obey my every whim and-," "OK," Aria interrupted with a wry grin, "now stand up and punch yourself in the face over and over again." Doombringer immediately was forced to stand up against her will and began assaulting her own face. "OW! OW! OW!" "Stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself," Aria repeated with a mean smile. "Oooh, oooh, oooh," Sonata said excitedly, "Now juggle ten rubber chickens while riding a unicycle!" Doombringer immediately began doing those circus tricks with an annoyed frown. The image of Doombringer doing something silly while looking so morose made the brown-haired child almost want to laugh. "MAKE IT STOP!" Doombringer begged in sheer terror. Adagio smiled with a shark-like expression as she prepared to twist the knife even more."Make it stop, who?" "Make it stop...Your Majesties!" the white hair woman chocked out in an humiliated and terrified shriek. With another snap of Adagio's fingers, Doombringer regained control over her body. She fell to her knees and panted out of both exhaustion and terror. She moved back fearfully as Adagio began striding toward her. Timmy was shocked. Doombringer was one of the scariest humans the brown-hair boy ever encountered, and Adagio made her look like a scared little girl. "Please," the white-haired woman whimpered, "not again!" To the ten-year old's amazement, Adagio started floating in the air and using the same psychic powers, she lifted Doombringer by her neck to her face. Both of them hovered ten feet above the ground. "Since I am a kind ruler, I can forgive your insolence...once," Adagio replied with a pitiless frown. "But you ever forget your place again, and you'll be nothing but Sonata's personal toilet scrubber. Got it?" Sonata immediately began rubbing her belly in agony. "I think you need to clean it again very soon," the blue-haired siren groaned. "Tacos, why have you betrayed me?" Aria shuddered in disgust. "Yes...your highness," Doombringer chocked out, angry and scared at being reduced to the Dazzlings' personal minion. With a more relaxed smile, Adagio roughly released Doombringer from her magical grip, and the white-haired woman fell somwhat painfully onto the ground below. Timmy would normally take some joy in Doombringer's suffering, as she pitifully began pulling herself from the ground. This woman was a creepy maniac who deserved every minute of it. But to his horror, Timmy realized that this would soon his be fate: reduced to being the plaything of these sea monsters. "Good," Adagio remarked. She then turned back to Timm with a wide smile. "Now where we again?" "Letting me and my fairies go?" Timmy asked with a forced smile. "ANNNHH," Adagio muttered, sounding like a wrong answer buzz on a game show, "wrong. Good guess though, I respect that." Adagio snapped her fingers. The officers that restrained Doombringer went over and began restraining Timmy again along with the two others. The white-haired woman broke out of her terror, and smiled at him nastily. With that, the three sirens strode toward him with red eyes and sinister smiles. Timmy felt time slow as the reality of the situation dawned on him. This was it. He failed. He and his fairies were doomed. These sirens had beaten him and they were going to turn him into their personal slave. And they were going to use the magic to do evil things. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. He had the perfect plan to defeat the Dazzlings, save his fairies, and wish everything back to normal. But he couldn't have planned for them and Doombringer to be working together. He couldn't have planned for his hands to be cuffed behind his back, or for four highly trained police officers to restrain him. Timmy tried to think of someway he could trick them. But that wouldn't do no good. Doombringer and the Sirens weren't idiots like Crocker. After all, they had taken extra special care to make sure he couldn't escape. Timmy thought of struggling ,but it was no good. Timmy may have gotten in better shape, but he was still a scrawny ten-year old. He didn't have the strength to snap his cuffs, let alone fight off the four trained police officers. Even he could get out from these cops, he wouldn't get away. Doombringer or the Dazzlings could go after him. "PLEASE NO!" Timmy begged, his eyes on the verge of tears. Time slowed as the sirens took a deep breath, about to sing their enthralling song. Timmy shut his eyes, too scared to face the inevitable. That was when heard a screech, three yells, and the sounds of someone hitting the ground. Timmy opened his eyes, and what he saw filled him disbelief. "Joanna." "What was that?"! Adagio yelled in a rage. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw what tackled her. It was a massive jungle cat. Based off the angry growls coming from it, it was angry at them. Adagio laid under the cat, while Aria and Sonata were directly under their elder sister in that order. "Aww, what an adorable kitty," Sonata cooed, oblivious to the danger. "Can I pet it?" "That thing will take your hand off Sonata," Aria warned. A smirk formed on Aria's face. "You know what Sonata? You should definitely go pet it." "Get this off me!" Adagio yelled before screaming as Joanna painfully bit one of her wings and tried to tear it off. She was in too much pain to focus her magic, and her struggling on top of her sisters meant they also couldn't focus their magic. As if they were robots given a command, the cops restraining Timmy released him and ran toward Joanna. "Don't worry Mistress Adagio," one the brainwashed cops muttered. "We'll save you," the other said. Timmy noticed something on one of the officer's belts that made him smile. A set of keys. He lunged toward the officer just before he ran too far away, grabbing the keys with his teeth. He smiled as he found the keys to the cuffs. Noticing the officers coming toward her, Joanna jumped back with a challenging growl. "Go on!" Adagio commaned with a painful hiss as she pulled herself up. "Put that furball down!" The officers immediately grabbed trainquilizer guns, Doombringer brought out one of her machetes, and Aria and Sonata's eyes glowed. Timmy's relief at being freed turned to horror. Joanna was a tough kitty, and a brave one based off of her challenging expressions, but she was no match for weapons and magic. Timmy's hand fell onto his thigh, and remembered there was something rocky in there. He then noticed one of the officers had a taser a couple of pairs of sunglasses on his belt. Taking advantage of everyone being distracted by Joanna, the brown-haired boy reached for the electric weapon as a devious smile came to his face. Aria smiled deviously as she glared at the angry jungle cat. She had no idea where this stupid animal came from, but she wouldn't show it any mercy for daring to get in their way. She noticed the four brainwashed cops and frowned. In their haste to come to their aid, they had been distracted from the boy. "Wait a minute," Aria yelled. "If you four are here, where's the brat?!" "Joanna, cover your eyes!" The sirens, Doomnbringer, and the four cops looked with shock as the boy was no longer free from his cuffs and smiling proudly while wearing sunglasses. Aria barely noticed the jaguar obeying the command and covering her eyes with her paws, her attention toward the now freed boy. Adagio snarled. "YOU'RE NOT GONNA GET-," "Go mighty rock of justice!" He threw some black stone toward them. "Oh a rock," Doombringer said in a mocking tone, "we're so-," A massive light as bright as a supernova emerged from the rock, blinding everyone. "AHH!" Adagio wailed. "I can't see!" Timmy ran up to Joanna, and put some sunglasses on her to shield her eyes from the light. "You're such a good girl!" Timmy cooed, petting Joanna affectionally." Joanna returned Timmy's affection with licks to the face. Timmy laughed a bit. "Want to help me some more?" Timmy asked the jaguar. Joanna smiled a wry smile. Adagio rubbed her eyes in vain. She heard her sisters screaming, and the jaguar's roar. "What's happening?" Adagio yelled in frustration. "Why can't I-? "BRZZZT! The familiar and painful feeling of electricity coarsed through Adagio's body. When it was over, Adagio was smoky and exhausted. With one cough, Adagio painfully collasped to the ground. "Serves you right!" Adagio heard the boy gloat with anger. Wanda normally didn't like Timmy using violence against his enemies, warning him he should be more merciful. But after all that the sea witch had done to him and his fairies, electrocuting Adagio tasted sweeter to Timmy than all the candy in the world. He smiled as he watched Joanna also began attacking the cops and the sirens, exploiting their temporary blindness, mauling them and injuring them. He frowned a bit at the cops getting hurt. "Note to self," Timmy said, "wish some apology fruit baskets for these cops after I find Cosmo and Wanda." He had to remember that since they were being brainwashed, it wasn't their fault. Timmy looked and saw the white-haired loon lying on her knees, trying to rub her eyes out. Another devious smiled formed as Timmy's face as she prepared to electrocute the white haired nutjob. "As long as I have the sun on my side," Timmy declared triumphantly, looking at the shining stone with sunglasses, "nothing can stop me!" All of a sudden, a huge number of clouds began forming in the sky. Within moments, the sun was completely covered by large, grey clouds. Without sunlight, The Mighty Rock of Justice went completely dark. "Oh crud," Timmy muttered in annoyance. No longer blinded by the light, Doombringer noticed the ten-year old boy approaching her with a tazer. With a furious yell, Doombringer lobbed one of her shurikens at him. The flying throwing star knocked the tazer out of Timmy's hand and pinned it to a wall. Timmy stared blankly for a few moments before running back to the police car with a yell. "They always run," Doombringer said with a vicious grin. She brandished her machete and chased after the boy. "Once I've gotten your fairies' wings, I'm gonna rip your hides off!" Joanna immediately jumped in front of her, eager to defend the boy from any harm. The white hair woman glared hatefully at the jungle cat. "While I'm at it, I might as well make you into a nice rug!" Doombringer taunted. She began waving her machete, eager to cut the jaguar in two, but the jungle cat kept dodging and dodging each one of her attacks. "Hold still, you stupid cat!" Eventually, Joanna caught Doombringer's machete in her teeth, bit into the weapon so hard it broke in half, and proceeded to snarl at the unarmed woman. Doombringer fearfully backed away, when she accidentally trampled on the arm of one of the unconscious police officers. She saw what was still in his hand. The white-haired woman's panic gave way to sheer joy. Adagio finally regained her bearings, but it wasn't easy. Her fin was still in throbbing from that jaguar's bite. Her body trembled from the searing agony of an electric shock. For some reason, the blinding light stopped though, which meant she could open her eyes. She saw her two sisters lying on the ground, moaning in pain, and still rubbing her eyes. The police officers, lacking any magic, were completely out cold. She saw Doombringer had gotten one of the tranquilizer guns. She fired it furiously at the jungle cat, striking it on one of her legs. The jaguar looked where she had been hit for a few moments, before suddenly collapsing. Adagio smiled viciously. That stupid cat would suffer for getting in her way. She would definitely enjoy watching the white woman skin it alive. The brown-haired boy looked in shock at what happened. "Joanna," he said fearfully. Doombringer proceeded to aim the tranquilizer gun. The boy stood still like a deer in the headlights. Doombringer fired. On reflex, the boy lifted his foot to block it, only for the dart to enter his shoe. He blinked twice before collapsing to the ground as well. Adagio smile grew wider as Doombringer approached the unconscious brat, picking up a piece of her broken machete. "It's time you learned your place!" The white-haired woman hissed as she prepared to disfigure the boy in a vengeful rage. Adagio watched with enormous anticipation as... Suddenly, the boy immediately jumped up, clearly not being knocked out by the tranquilzer, and wrapped himself around Doombringer's legs. Adagio's eyes widened as Timmy performed a perfect double leg and trip. With his arms wrapped around the woman's legs, Timmy pushed Doombringer toward one his own feet, tripping the woman, who painfully collapsed onto her back. The tranquilizer dart and broken machete were knocked out of her hands. "Why you-" Doombringer snarled, but too startled to respond, Timmy jumped on the woman's head, ran for the tranquilizer gun, and shot the woman in the leg.The woman let out a shriek, before her eyes became dull. "Yes I'd like cheese with my crackers," Doombringer mumbled in a daze before collapsing unconscious. Timmy plucked the dart, which had struck only his shoe, and ran toward the car with a smile. Adagio was...shocked wasn't the right word as she watched Turner run away. The boy had somehow gained the obedience of a jaguar, escaped his cuffs, used some shiny rock to stun them, worked with the creature to take down seven grown ups, and deceived and tackled a grown adult twice as big as him. The elder siren looked at the boy with...she didn't know what? Amazement? Respect? A little bit of admiration? But those feelings were replaced by one: hate. Hate for the boy who had gotten in their way. Hate for the boy who was about to foil her plan. Hate for the boy who attacked her and electrocuted her and her sisters. Fueled by hatred, she overcame her pain, stood up, and ran toward the boy with a vicious snarl. She wasn't gonna lose. Especially not to some human brat. "GET BACK HERE TURNER!" Using his keys, Timmy opened the door and dove into the second row of the vehicle. "Yes!" Timmy said as he picked up his pink backpack. "My plan can commence." His eyes widened and he felt the car was moving. But how, there wasn't any driver? He looked out, and with a yell, he realized the car was floating. "Uh oh," Timmy muttered. He opened his backpack. "Got to work fast." Adagio let out a pleased sigh. Fairy magic was so much more powerful than Equestrian magic. She proceeded to unlock the car door and turned it on its side, causing the boy to fall out of it with a thud. He was wearing some toy helmet for some reason and glared at her with no small amount of hate."You took my fairies and lied to me!" He accused, while pulling out some gun. "Take this!" Adagio prepared to raise a shield to defend herself, only to get struck with... Darts. Plastic darts with red suction cups. Harmless plastic darts with suction cups. Only one of which struck her in her cheek. "Yeah," Timmy yelled, as if she had scored a major blow to her. "Take that!" "Oooh," Adagio mocked as she pulled the dart off her body. "Darts, my one weakness." "Yeah, I defeated you, take-," Adagio let out an angry roar, blowing the boy back and knocking his pathetic toy out of his hand. His helmet was knocked off as well, revealing his head was still covered with the hood of his ugly black hoodie. "What!" He exclaimed very loudly in dismay. "That didn't work! The commercial said it would be like Crash Nebula!" Adagio let out an amused chuckle. To think she actually began to respect this boy. For a moment, he seemed...pretty competent. But he actually thought a toy gun would work. Adagio was reminded of how dumb and impressionable these children were. The boy started to run away, only to be stopped and restrained by her two sisters who had apparently regained their bearings. Sonata and Aria grabbed him by the arms and lifted him, their faces revealing they were equally enraged and still in searing pain. "Nice try Turner," Adagio said insincerely as she wandered over to pick up his backpack. "You almost had me. Too bad your just a stupid little brat." "But I had a Crash Nebula gun!" The boy wailed. Aria and Sonata chuckled at the boy's stupidity. "What other 'amazing weapons' did you have?" Adagio asked him as she opened his backpack. "No," he wailed in a very loud tone, "don't look in there!" Adagio opened it and laughed even harder. "Look at this," Adagio said with amused contempt as she emptied the bag of its contents and threw them on the ground. "A fake sword, plastic nunchunks, a Crash Nebula costume, a plastic bat, a Cleft-The-Boy Wonder mask, a Crimson Chin insignia and a bunch of Crimson Chin comic books." "Ooh," Aria said excitedly, while letting go of Timmy for a moment, picking up one of the comics. "It's issue #782." Aria was about to open it, until she noticed Adagio, Sonata, and Timmy looking at her with disbelief. "I mean," Aria corrected herself, her eyes darting back and forth. "BLECH! Only a geek would read this." Adagio turned her attention back to Timmy, who quivered fearfully as Sonata held him up. "Is that what you thought Turner?" Adagio asked the struggling boy with no small amount of disdain. "You thought this would be a comic book? You'd save the day just because you were a hero?" "No, I won't help you take over the world," Timmy yelled."You aren't my father!" Adagio frowned in confusion, as did her two younger sisters. "OK," Aria said uneasily, perplexed by what the boy was saying. Adagio smiled. "Sorry Turner, you won't distract me. I'm too smart to forget-, "Ohh, a ladybug!" Sonata said. "Where," Adagio said excitedly, forgetting about Timmy for a moment. She saw the ladybug on the ground. "Aww," Adagio cooed, "it is so cute! I'm so in love with the creature, I've completely forgotten what I was supposed to be-," Aria immediately stomped on it with a snort. "Thanks Aria," Adagio said to her second youngest sister. "As I was saying Turner," the orange-haired siren said, turning back to the boy. "Life isn't a comic book. There are no heroes coming to save you," she threatened as her eyes glowed red. "No please!' Timmy begged as he struggled in Sonata's grasp. The three sirens let out a song, complete with the green fumes. Gradually the boy's resistance and struggling stopped. His alert eyes became glazed and dead, and his face became zombie-like. "I seek to obey Your Highness," Timmy said in a drone like voice. The three sirens laughed triumphantlly. Sonata dropped the boy, who fell on his feat, his face empty as he looked up at the Dazzlings. "We did it girls!" Adagio exclaimed happily. "The boy is ours!" "Now we can have him wish for whatever we want!" Aria said while pumping her fist. "Like tacos!" Sonata chirped. "Or some new gym equipment." An ambitious grin formed on the lead siren's face. "Or the people of Canterlot adoring us as their masters. Then Dimmsdale, than California, America, and then the entire world!" The sirens cackled and walked back into the factory courtyard, following by the enthralled Timmy. They walked by Doombringer, who was slowly regaining consciousness, rubbing her head and moaning. "Oh suck it up," Aria said with a roll of her eyes. "Is he under your control?" Doombringer asked as she pulled herself up. A proud smile formed on their faces. "Yes." Adagio uttered in a euphoric voice. "And when we're sure we can be granted wishes," Adagio added with an encouraging smile, "those wings are yours." Doombringer rubbed her hands with glees. "Excellent." "What was that?" Adagio asked with stern eyes. "I mean, thank you Your Majesties," Doombringer said in a sycophantic tone. "Good," Aria said with a smile. "You're learning." "In the meantime," Adagio ordered while pointing to the unconscious cops, "wake up and patch up those idiots. And keep on the look out for any of the Rainbrats or any other Canterlot goon who show their faces." "Yes your majesties," Doombringer said, addressing the sirens in a more respectful tone. She snarled as she looked at the unconscious jaguar who attacked her. "What about it?" "Whatever you want," Adagio said with a merciless smile. "You can have the kitty," Sonata whined, still sore from Joanna's attack. "It's too mean." "Thank you Your Highness," Doombringer said more genuinely this time. She didn't like being under the thumb of these sirens. But maybe working for these sirens wouldn't be so bad. If they truly had the means to conquer the world, than as their employee, maybe it would allow her to indulge her hobbies more. She stormed over to the jungle cat that was out cold. "I'm gonna skin you alive!" She hissed menacingly. With that, the sirens walked away from Doombringer and entered the factory with the possessed boy in tow. They had never felt more happier than they did now. "To think that stupid brat will be the key to everything," Aria said, looking back at their new wish slave. "I'm so happy," Sonata said, jumping over to the boy, "I just want to rub his adorable little head." The blue-haired siren proceeded to rub the top of the boy's head, knocking his hood off. Adagio and Aria watched this with no so small amount of amusement before turning away. Sonata eventually joined them, Adagio and Aria paused, did a double take, and looked back at the boy. He had ear plugs in his ears. Instead of looking at them with dead, obedient eyes, the boy was glaring at them with furious, hateful ones. He then proceeded to draw a magical rifle from, literally, under his sleeve and point it directly at them. "My dad's earplugs work great, don't they," Timmy asked with a nasty smile as he aimed the rifle at the shocked sirens. "They can keep out the noise generated from lawn equipment, annoying neighbors, and....obnoxious sirens." He pulled the trigger. BANG! > Beating the Beat (Part 2) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before the Dazzlings could respond, the buck-toothed boy pulled the trigger. The three sea creatures barely saw the projectile coming toward them when all of a sudden they felt like they had been punched in the face and knocked across the room. When they regained their bearings, they were suddenly surrounded by something...orange. Their eyes widened and their horror grew when they realized they were trapped in some kind of orange anti-magical bubble. The Dazzlings mood drifted from horror to rage as a smug looking boy approached them. "LET US OUT OF HERE YOU TWERP!" Aria bellowed in a rage as she banged fruitlessly against the orange prison. "Yeah, I have to go potty!" Sonata whimpered while rubbing her growling stomach. Aria looked at her sister with disgust. "You go in here, I swear-," "Don't worry," Adagio muttered reaching into her pants pocket, "I'll call Doombringer-," the orange-haired siren paused. "Where's my-", Adagio's face was a mixture of shock and horror, as she saw the ten-year old boy was triumphantly holding up her cell phone. "Looking for this," Timmy taunted. "How..." was all she could say, but paused as she realized he must taken it while pretending to be a zombie. Adagio's watched with growing anger as the boy proceeded to stomp the phone to pieces. "NO!" The eldest siren bellowed in hysterical rage. "All my photos of the Dimmsdale Aquarium were on there!" "Now time to finish you off once and for all!" the human child declared with sheer rage, pulling something else from hisother sleeve. This was a yellow laser thing with a wand logo on it. The blood of the Dazzlings went cold as he activated it. "This. Ends. Now!" Timmy declared as the rifle began to activate, its lights lit up, and.... The rifle suddenly sputtered and its lights went out, much to the confusion of both Timmy and the Dazzlings. "Battery dead," Timmy read on the side of the rifle with frustration. "Darn it, I should've tested the first." He looked back at the trapped sirens with some relief. "Oh well, at least they can't get out." A nasty smile formed on each of the sirens' faces, much to Timmy's confusion. "What are you-," Suddenly, the sirens all let out an earsplitting wail. Cracks formed on the stairwell, much to Timmy's horror. "Oh no," he muttered, before fleeing into a nearby stairwell with a yell. Timmy looked at his tracker with frenzied desperation. "Come on, come on," Timmy said with panic in his voice to the tracker. "Where are Cosmo and Wanda?" "Fairies detected on the first floor," it said. "Yes!" "Just kidding," the tracker said. "Fairies detected on the fifth floor." "Rats!" Timmy muttered with anger. He looked out the window and saw that the orange trap he had placed the sirens in was about to give. He pulled out the bubble rifle, only to see the battery was also drained. He turned it on. It was still working. "Yes!" But then the battery also died too. "Rats!" Timmy declared. He went into the pouch of his sweatshirt, and, to his relief, he found another battery. He placed it into the yellow laser. "Yes!" "Battery needs five minutes to recharge before it can be used again," it said. "Rats!" Timmy slammed the door to the stairwell, locked it, and decided to scramble up the stairs, his thighs burning with exhaustion. He finally collapsed when he got to the third floor, too tired to run up any more stairs. It was when he heard a blast. Timmy looked through the window and saw the Dazzlings had broken out of the anti-magic bubble and were using their strength to beat down the door to the stairwell. Timmy looked back at the laser and saw it still needed some time to reload. Three minutes. It wasn't enough time. Once the Dazzlings broke the door down, they could easily fly upstairs. And while his earbuds could protect him from their being brainwashed. He wasn't strong enough to battle one of them head on, let alone three of them. And his laser had only enough power to disable the magic of one of them at a time. "I'm done for," Timmy muttered to himself, as he fell onto his butt out of a combination of exhaustion and defeat. "I almost won, but lost because of one stupid mistake," he expressed almost on the verge of tears. "It's not like a video game where I have a lot of chances to-," Timmy paused for a minute. "Like a video game," he said to himself, with a more hopeful tone. He remembered the words of someone. "Power means nothing," Sunset said, "if you can't master your environment. To win, you need to use the environment to help you." He looked around the floor and saw something that gave him hope. Lots of corridors. He ran down one of them and saw some kind of kitchen. A metaphorical lightbulb appeared over his head. With one last punch, Aria knocked down the door with a mixture of anger and resolve. "When I get that brat-," Aria grumbled. "Don't worry," Adagio assured her second youngest sister with an angry hiss. "We'll catch the boy." They flew up to the third floor and saw it was a maze of corridors. "Split up," Adagio ordered her sisters. "If we seperate, he won't be able to shoot us at once." The three split up, with Sonata going down a single corridor as she began to search for the godchild with a convinction her sisters demanded of her. "Timmy," Sonata called out playfully. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" She pouted when Timmy wouldn't. "Pretty please. I promise you that when you become our slave, I'll let you-," Sonata paused when she smelled something. Using her nose, she floated to the source of the scent. It was taco on a plate which was placed conspiciously in the middle of a hallway, near an open door. Seeing nothing wrong, she floated over to the taco, picked it up, and- Only to be suddenly bodychecked by something into a cage that was only slightly bigger than a dog kennel, knocking her totally cool pink hat off of her. Before she could do anything, it was slammed shut. "HELP! HELP!" She wailed, "the taco has betrayed me." She tried to releae a sonic boom, only for it to not work. "You have been imprisoned in a smoof cage," Timmy gloated to Sonata, taking his pink hat back and putting it proudly on his head. "Smoof?" Sonata wailed. "Let me out! Please!" the pony-tailed siren cried.Timmy scoffed with disgust, pushed the earplugs back into his ears so he wouldn't hear anymore whining, and slowly pushed the caged Sonata toward the edge of the stairs. "This is for stealing my hat," Timmy declared before knocking the cage down the stairs. "OW! OW!" Sonata muttered painfully and she rolled down the stairs. "I thought I heard something," Timmy heard Aria say. Timmy' felt a smug smile came to his face. "All according to plan." Aria was floating around when she heard the frantic wails of Sonata. She followed them and saw a truly pathetic sight. Timmy lying on the ground, rubbing his foot. Aria snarled and snorted. The boy looked pitiful, but she had no pity left. This boy had given them too much trouble. And it was time to end it. "You know, Adagio said this wouldn't be personal," Aria growled meancingly, "but the truth is," she added while baring her fists and she floated toward the boy, "I'm really going to enjoy beating you to a pulp!" "Please don't hurt me," Timmy said with a cowardly whimper. "Well you should have thought of that before-," just as Aria dove toward the boy to give him the beating of a lifetime, Timmy smiled viciously and proceeded to kick her viciously in the ankles. "AHH!" Aria yelled in pain. "Hey, you taught me how I shouldn't show mercy," Timmy gloated with no small amount of spite. "A hero has to make tough choices." He then proceeded to do a double leg takedown onto her while she was distracted by the pain. Aria fell to the ground with a painful grunt. "I can't believe you fell for that," TImmy mocked. "But I'm not surprised. Gilda fell for it too, and she's a hundred times tougher, smarter, and cooler than you'll ever be!" The mention of her most hated rival, not to mention the humiliation of being felled by some human brat, filled Aria with enormous hate. Her eyes glowing red with rage, and pigtailed siren rose up and floated toward the boy with no small amount of malice. "I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR HAIR OUT!" So consumed was Aria with hate, that she didn't notice Timmy had tied an anti-magical rope around her leg. Aria tried to use her magic to escape, but found it was no good. "Anti-magical rope," Timmy said with glee. He used his buck teeth to slice through the rope, causing Aria to fall into a trash can. Timmy mmediately pulled out of his father's trusty bats. "It's time to get a taste of my dad's Home Defense System," Timmy said ominously. "Patent pending." He proceeded to beat on the trash can with Aria inside. The vibrations from Timmy pounded on the trash can left Aria horribly disoriented. Once he was done beating on Aria, he knocked the trash can on its side and let it roll down the stairs. "OW! OW!" Aria yelled as she rolled down the stairs. "Aria, Sonata, what's going on!" Adagio yelled from the distance. Timmy smiled again. "Two down, one to go." Adagio came around the corner, and what she was stunned her. The boy looking at her smugly from a distance. "Hey Dagi," he gloated, "try and catch me!" He proceeded to waddle away. "I'm gonna get you, twerp!" Adagio screeched, flying toward the boy. He was moving at a very slow pace. Timmy smiled as he remembered Rainbow's advice at the track team tryout. "Conserve your energy. It will fool them," she said. He then pulled out the trick he had been taught. He imagined Scootaloo stealing his hat with her smug grin. It was easier to imagine since the Dazzlings had stolen his hat. He suddenly acclerated and ran like the wind, much to Adagio's shock. He was running faster than she could catch him by floating. "You can run from me Turner," Adagio declared as her eyes turned red, "but you can't outrun the speed of SOUND!" She took a deep breath unleashed a sonic wave. Timmy smiled, and remembered Sunset's advice when they were playing the Crash Nebula video game. "So what now?" Timmy asked Sunset. The Chromebug approached them once more. "Look around you," Sunset said, as the giant metal beetle came toward them. He saw some crevices in the ground. "So?" Timmy said. Sunset rolled her eyes and jumped in. Timmy, confused by what Sunset was doing, but fearful of being blasted, jumped into the crevice. The beetle blasted them...much to Timmy's horror, but to his relief, the blast didn't affect them. "See," Sunset said with a smile, "we can hide in here from the beetle." Timmy looked and saw how The Chromebug was hanging over them, but its blasts couldn't break through the rocks surrounding the crevice, nor could the beetle reach them in here. He looked at the nearby emergency hatch he opened and dove into it, landing in some small dark room, dodging Adagio's sonic wail. He smiled as he looked at his anti-magic laser. The timer on the recharge was down to its last ten seconds. When Adagio calmed down from her red hot fury, she noticed something. Instead of being knocked unconscious, the boy had somehow disappeared. Her eyes narrowed in confusion in shock. She floated over to where he had run too. "Where is that boy!" Adagio muttered. She heard a click. She looked down into some dark room, and saw some faint light building up- "What the-," BRZZZT! Adagio felt herself being blasted with something that felt even worse than an electric shock. It felt like something that was sucking the magic right out of her and draining her. With a pained sigh, she collapsed to the floor. Timmy climbed out of the emergency room using a ladder with the anti-magical laser in his hands. He smiled proudly as Adagio had been neutralized. "Who's the loser now!" Timmy gloated. "Now time to find Cosmo and Wanda and unwish the wish." He ran back toward the stairs. He was so determined to save his fairies, he didn't notice the faint, but evil, smile forming on Adagio's mouth. Timmy got to the fifth floor. The tracker led him to some metal door. He smiled, until he realized there wasn't a knob or a handle on the door. Instead there was a keypad. "Darn it," Timmy said, punching the wall, "how am I supposed to-," a noticed a piece of paper on the ground. " 'A clue for Sonata to get into the room' ," it read. " 'What is 9 times 9. And no, you have to figure it out yourself because I keep telling you the code and you keep forgetting it. Signed, Aria'." Timmy threw away the note. "OK Turner, think. What is 9 times 9?!'' He remembered Sunset's tutoring lessons and her trick to teach her multiplication. We've got your hook. If you have ten bikes, each in three lots? How many bikes, do you got? He remembered what that meant. There were three lots and each of them had ten bikes. The answer was thirty. "If there are nine Crimson Chins," Timmy said to himself," for every nine Bronze Kneecaps, the answer is..." Timmy paused as he did the multiplication in his head. "81!" He realized. He inputed the code. "Access Granted!" it said. The door swung open. What he saw filled him with immense relief. "Cosmo, Wanda!" They were on a table and fine, albeit trapped in a net. Timmy smiled and almost cried tears of joy. "I missed you guys so much!" "We serve the Dazzlings," Wanda said in a robotic tone. "All hail Adagio," said Cosmo in a daze. He frowned, realizing they were in a trance. But it faded, since he was so happy to know they were safe. "After everything that's happened, I was afraid things weren't going to work out," Timmy said with relief as he strode toward his fairies, "but now that I've found you guys, I know everything's going to be OK-," Timmy stepped on some switch, and was horrified when he realized he accidentally set off a trapdoor. "Oh no!" Timmy muttered. He fell down the hole, slid down some slide, and fell to the ground face first, yelling all the way. Timmy realized he was back on the first floor. Timmy felt a shadow loom over him. With a whimper he turned around and saw the grinning face of Adagio. "Game over, Turner!" Timmy felt his blood go cold. "Can't we just talk about-" Adagio unleashed her sonic wail. The force of the wail knocked Timmy head first into the wall, blowing the hat off his head, and knocked him unconscious. Adagio smiled triumphantly when she noticed footsteps behind her. Adagio turned her head and saw Aria and Sonata painfully limping back toward her. Their painful expressions drifted into sheer anger when they spotted the unconscious boy. "What happened to you two?" Adagio asked them. "That brat stuffed me into a trash can, gave me a headache, and sent me rolling down the stairs!" Aria yelled angrily. "He trapped me in a cage with a taco," Sonata shrieked furiously, "and didn't give me any hot sauce!" "He got me too," Adagio admitted. "Briefly." Aria growled in pain and humiliation. "If we didn't need him for magic, I'd grind his bones to-," Aria trailed off when she heard her older sister making some weird breathing noise. "Adagio," Sonata asked, "are you-," "HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Sonata and Aria were confused as Adagio began laughing. Adagio let out snickers, and the occassional evil laugh. But she never chuckled as warmly as she did now. "What's so funny?" Aria asked as Adagio's laughs began to die down. "Your face?" She snarked. "Think about it you two," Adagio asked her sisters with sheer amusement. "What has this boy done that no other human has done?" "Have buck teeth the size of Texas?" Aria asked with a bored expression. "Wore a super cool pink hat?" Sonata offered, picking the pink hat off the floor and putting it back on her own head. "Think about it you two," Adagio said. "Why did he fire those darts at us?!" Sonata and Aria gave it serious thought. "So....he would...make us think he was dumb," Aria said uneasily. But then her eyes widened when she realized what her elder sister meant. "And so that we wouldn't think he was smart enough to do something like wear those earplugs!" "Exactly," Adagio said with an excited tone of voice. "He knew we were going to underestimate him, and he actually planned for that as part of his strategy. He didn't just attack us. He outsmarted us!" "Wow!" Aria expressed with amazement, her anger toward the boy twisted into...something she almost never felt for most humans. Surprise. Astonishment. Respect. It was clear the way Adagio spoke about the boy, and the way she looked at him, that she saw Timmy Turner as a worthy adversary. Adagio didn't blame her sisters for not getting it at first. Admittedly, it was hard for her to admit that she could feel this way about a human. Let alone some skinny child who couldn't reach the shelves. There were only a handful of humans in this world whom she felt any respect for. Mainly ambitous humans who built empires and were skilled conquerers. Genghis Kahn. Napoleon. Carl the Corn Farmer. Even Adagio had to respect his power over corn. Despite being beaten by the Rainbooms, she did not at all respect them as adversaries. They had had beaten her through sheer dumb luck. Instead of gaining their magic through hard work, they had been given their powers by Harmony for being nice. They were like ponies in that regard: the dominion those pathetic land creatures had over Equestria was undeserved, because they had done nothing to earn it. They were a species made weak and dumb by their good fortune. Sunset Shimmer, the unicorn among them, was the worst of the Rainbrats in that regard. Adagio seriously considered offering Sunset a chance to join the Dazzlings. Her joining them would not only weaken the Rainbooms, but she seemed like prime recruiting material. The girl was an outcast, had savored power before, and had apparently divided an entire student body under the table. But then she learned about Sunset's oh-so brilliant plan to brainwash a bunch of magically inexperienced teenagers and use them as an army. She actually thought she could get humans not used to equine bodies or magical abilities to somehow defeat Celestia's army. Even when Sunset lusted for power, she sought it in a very pony like way: expecting everything to work out just because she said so. And then Sunset tried to confront and intimidate her in the hallway. It was so adorable how tough she thought she was. But like the weak unicorn she was, she crumpled when Adagio and Aria made her question her friendship with the Rainbooms. Even after spending years in this human world, Sunset was still a soft, dumb, and weak little pony at heart. Adagio wasn't going to let a moron like that into her team. Up until recently, Adagio saw Timmy Turner the same way. Adagio may have been born into Sirenia's Royal Family, but birth alone was not enough to succeed in Sirenian society. She wasn't allowed to sit around and eat chocolates like a lazy Canterlot noble. She earned her right to be Crown Princess through her hard work, determination, cunning, and education. She studied day and night. She did combat training. She had to work from dawn to dusk to be strong. And then comes along some ten year old child who was given guardians who could perform alicorn-levels of magic. She had been made to work her fins to the scale to even come close to that level of magic, and this human child is just given that power and allowed to waste it on stupid childish nonsense like ice-cream and some shallow crush. What made Adagio especially furious was how even by the pathetic standards of his world, he was loser, as indicated by the Fs on his report cards she had found while snooping through his drawers. The fact that he was so proud of a B minus, he put it on a fridge spoke volumes about how inadequate he was. But still, he was allowed to wield magic that would make the Princesses tremble, despite being nothing more than a lame-brain brat. (Then again, most of the blame could be pinned on the idiotic education system of his country. I mean, a school system that let's someone like Crocker teach is not going to be produce the best students). What was especially infuriarting to Adagio was how he had gotten magic because, in his own words, he was miserable. That would never do. That power was meant to be hers and her sisters' alone. They deserved more. It should be natural that superior beings like them who worked hard should wield that power, and put it to its proper use. The boy was weak little brat who earned nothing. It was why she had no problem taking his magic away. It was also why Adagio abandoned the boy once she got what she wanted from him. Adagio assumed that bereft of any power or support group, the boy would whimper, cry, and accept defeat. The Canterlot brats, once they learned he no longer had any magic, would desert him once he stopped being useful to them, probably angry at him wishing magic on Sunset. WIth that, Timmy would no longer pose any threat to him. In her arrogance and contempt, Adagio overlooked the signs of there being more to the kid then met the eye. The boy had escaped from Doombringer's truck once. But she was more obsessed with his magic to cwell on his admittedly impressive escape. And he was vicious enough to punish the clowns who humiliated him by destroying their truck. Using Aria's training, he had beaten those two spoiled brats unconscious. And while Turner fell for her "cool babysitter act", he still had the strength of will to defy her, even with the Medallion of Manipulation clouding his mind. But Adagio pointedly ignored those signs, more interested in the power he wielded than with wanting to be part of his development. When she decided the boy would make a good wish slave, she thought it would simple to sic Doombringer onto him, drag him too her, and bend his mind into obeying her commands. But somehow he had tamed a massive jungle cat into obedience, sicced it on them, escaped his cuffs, blinded her, tazed her, tackled an adult twice his own size, bamboozled her and her sisters, and even took them down briefly using weapons he apparently stole from Crocker that she missed. And he had done this without access to magic, or even a support network behind him. It was...well beyond was expected from him. He was far from perfect. He had made some critical mistakes, which is why he lost. But then again, she wasn't all too different when she was his age. She had been a happy-go-lucky fool once. She thought life was all sunshine and kelp. But then she learned how life was unfair and how power was the only thing that mattered, so she toughened herself to deal with it. Timmy, when faced with some hardship, had done the same thing: toughened up and learned to use his brains, and not just relied on dumb luck to get his way. Compared to how disdainfully Adagio thought of him, it was...pretty impressive. "If he could do this at ten years of age," Adagio mused as she stared at the boy with a respectful gaze, "imagine what he could be in five years under the right...guidance." "Are you saying you want to...make him one of us for real?" Aria sounded intrigued by the prospect, before suddenly putting on a frowning face. "I mean, he's alright for a dumb twerp." Although Aria tried to hide it, the pigtailed siren was also impressed by Timmy's fighting skill. Sonata smiled goofily. "Are you saying Timmy can be our best buddy for real!" Sonata had developed a weird affection for the boy. Albeit the way one had love for a pet. Adagio gave it some serious thought for a few moments, before shaking her head. "No. If the boy shared our goals, I wouldn't mind taking him under my wing and molding him into something...greater. But he just wants to hoard the fairies' magic for himself. As long as his mind his free, he'll spend every moment trying to subvert us. It's too risky." She looked down at the boy with an almost regretful smile. "It's kind of shame to put him under our spell." Her respect faded in favor if a more ambitious smile. "But I can live with that." Aria and Sonata also began sporting similar smiles. "So, we're gonna just make him our puppet?" The purple-haired siren asked. Adagio simply nodded. With the sirens strode toward the boy, their eyes red as they began to unleash their song on him. Aria's excitement grew as she plucked the earplugs from his ears. "At last," Adagio said in a voice brimming with anticipation. "No more set backs. No more delays. WIth this boy under our spell, this town, Dimmsdale, and the whole world will be...ours." They picked the boy up and dragged him away, in order to prepare him for a life of eternal servitude to them. The Dazzlings smiled happily. They would finally get the power they sought. And this time... Nothing would stand in their way. > Blackmail > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dazzlings stood in a circle as they surrounded the boy, eager smiles on their faces. They laid him down on the ground in the middle of the abandoned factory for their ritual. "Ready girls?" Adagio asked, her voice brimming with anticipation. Her sisters nodded. "This seems almost...too easy," Aria mused. Sonata immediately pulled out her cell phone. "Sonata," Adagio asked, "who are you calling?" "The Rainbooms," Sonata chirped. Aria immediately confiscated her phone. "WHY?!" Aria bellowed. "You said it was too easy," Sonata gushed. "Instead of just...brainwashing him...we could make it fun. Maybe we could invite the Rainbooms over for a battle of the bands over the-" "No," Aria said. Sonata was sad. "But-," "Listen to me, girl," Adagio said in her big sister voice that made Sonata wilt. "We're not gonna act like fools or get arrogant. We're gonna brainwash the boy, and that's it. No contests, no countdown clocks, no shouting our plans in the sky like a bunch of idiots." "SEE HONEY!" The Dazzlings were confused. They followed the voice to the window and saw a couple that looked suspiciously like the Turner parents standing behind the factory.. "NO ONE WOULD EVER THINK WE, THE SOUNVENIR BANDITS," the Mr. Turner look alike said very loudly, "WOULD HIDE OUT IN A PLACE LIKE THIS!" Immediately, police car sirens blared in the distance. "I told you not to do that," the Mrs. Turner look alike said before the two ran away with police chasing them. "See Sonata," Aria pointed out to her younger sister. "That's what happens when you act like an idiot." Sonata pouted and crossed her arms. "You're no fun!" "Enough," Adagio ordered. "Time to get what we're owed." They let out a loud wail, and sang the song they used to brainwash him for the first time. Once the song was over, Adagio bent down and put a hand over the boy's face. "Arise my faithful servant," Adagio commanded in a dramatic tone ,"help us crush our enemies and their hopes!" After a few moments.... Nothing happened. The three sisters frowned in dissapointment as the boy continued to lay on the ground unconscious. "I said," Adagio repeated, albeit with more annoyance in her otherwise theatrical tone, "arise my faithful servant!" Still, the boy continued to lay on the ground. Losing her patience, Aria bent down in picked up the unconscious boy by his grey hoodie and pulled him to her face. "Get up already, lazybones!" Aria ordered while shaking him. "We want wishes!" Timmy let out a cute yawn and tapped his lips. "No mommy, I don't want to go to..."Timmy was silenced with another tap on the head by the pigtailed siren, sending him back to sleep. With a snarl, Aria roughly let him fall to the ground. Sonata was confused, while Adagio was increasingly annoyed. A few minutes later, Aria was furiously using a punching bag to vent her anger, Sonata whined like crazy, and Adagio was scouring her tomes, wondering what was wrong. "Do you figure it out yet?" Sonata whimpered to Adagio while looking over her shoulder. Adagio rolled her eyes. "No, Sonata." "How about know?" "No." Sonata whined again. "But I'm hungry." "Sonata there is a fridge full of food you can have!" Aria yelled, tired of Sonata's noise. "But magic makes the food more delicious," Sonata complained. Aria pinched her nose. While looking away from her lamebrain younger sister, Aria noticed Da Rules book. She let her chin fall into her hand, and wandered over to the book, curiously. After several pages of reading, she came across something that sounded interesting: The Anatomy of The Wand. " 'The Handle of the Wand is the mechanism by which a fairy maintains control'," Aria read. " 'When a wand is created for a fairy, the handle is specifically calibrated to work for that specific fairy'." Aria glanced at a section that read 'warning. "' If the Handle is seperated from the Golden Crystal by damage' ," Aria continued, "' then the fairy will lose all control of the magic, which will spiral out of control until another magic force can subsume it'." Aria hmmed, and looked at the wands that were on the table. A sly smile formed on her face. Maybe if they broke the wands....then they could gain control of the magic. Aria considered taking a boot and slamming it onto the wands until the wandhead seperated from the handle. But then she remembered her older sister being painfully electrocuted, and decided that she would not try such a gamble. With a sigh, Aria wondered over to Adagio. "What do you think's happening Adagio?" Adagio put down her tome with a tired expression. "I'm not really sure. There are only a few ways by which one can resist our spell." "Being a siren," Adagio listed off with her fingers, "which he isn't. Ear plugs, which we took out, the charms of Jacques Costeau," Adagio said with a bright smile, "or having greater magical potential than us," Adagio said, before frowining. She remembered that while back home they were stronger than the average pony, their power paled before an alicorn. Their plan to takeover Equestria before being banished had been to steal the magic of enough ponies, and then brainwash Celestia into being their minion once they were strong enough. "You mean like the Rainbrats," Aria grumbled. "Ooh, ooh," Sonata chimed in, "maybe, deep down he is destined to have some secret magical power, and its protecting him." Aria's eyes widened. "That actually...might work-," "No, no, no," Adagio said with frustration. "I've tested the boy out. He doesn't have magical potential to speak off." "Are you sure?" Aria asked with a raised eyebrow. "He handed our butts to us. He's gotta have some kind of magic to-," "That's not magic," Adagio said with some annoyance. "The kid's just...brilliant." A sly smile formed as Aria could detect the admiration in her elder sister's voice. "It sounds like you want to go all...smoochy...smoochy on Timbucktooth," Aria teased. "Adagio and Timmy sitting in a tree," Sonata sang, "K-I-", Sonata paused, not knowing how to spell "kissing". " Darn it, I keep forgetting the rest." Adagio didn't take the bait and justed rolled her eyes. "I'm not interested in a human as a significant other, let alone one who is ten years old." A brief paused followed. "Maybe if we're ten years older, and if he were a siren, he'd make a good warrior," Adagio conceded. Aria was again mocking her. "Your knight in shining-," "He didn't need magic to beat us," Adagio pressed, wanting to end the dumb teasing. "I respect his ability. If I were to build the empire I seek, I would want such a sharp mind on my side." "You'd actually want one of these monkeys to work for us," Aria said with deep scorn and narrowed eyes. Sonata herself frowned at the prospect. She could understand Sonata and Aria's annoyed reactions. They had little love for humanity. Adagio herself had called human beings "scum" and "losers." But deep down, Adagio didn't hate humans. What she and her sisters hated about this world was there was no Equestrian magic to enjoy, and no way for them to realistically prosper in it. In truth, she had deep respect for humanity for being able to prosper without magic to help them. Human beings had admittedly done some incredible things without spells to help them. Going into space, the Industrial Revolution. Processed seaweed. The guy who invented that would be the richest being in all of Sirenia. That alone would've been a miracle for Sirenians who had to harvest kelp themselves. Let alone submarines, scuba diving, and Jacques Cousteau. Had their been enough magic in this world and she and her sisters could've ruled it, Adagio would've happily encouraged science and technological progress. Imagining what human beings could do when given the proper guidance and magic to help them made Adagio shake with joy. But all they could get from other humans was the magical equivalent of a drop of soda. Not only that, her sisters couldn't even benefit from the things humanity had. Several times, Adagio and her sisters had amassed fortunes using their powers and tried to put down roots, with landed estates and peasants. If she couldn't rule this world, Adagio was content to live like a queen in it. But unlike ponies, humanity was a vicious, deeply distrustful species. In their first years in this world, they had tried to live openly as sea witches. And every time, a random group of humans tried to burn them at the stake or drown them for witchcraft. They'd been called demons, or devilspawns, or corrupt monsters wherever they went. "If thou burns alive, ye be human," Arlen Bitteroot said to Adagio with a nasty smile, who was tied to a stake. "But if thou does survive, ye be a witch!" "That doesn't make any sense!" Adagio bellowed. But just as the pyre was lit, Adagio's eyes glowed red. To be fair, she and her sisters had committed crimes like theft. But these humans had hated them just for having magic, not for anything they did. Sadly, no king or emperor ever appreciated their...services. They feared them as demonic monsters or threats to their power. Even the ones who had shamelessly used their powers ended up backstabbing them later on. Living like a monarch, or even as a wealthy person, was not an option either. Several times they'd try to settle down, amass a fortune, and build lives. But they never sat still before suspicious authorities inquired about their unearned loot, or some jealous noble would want to take it for themselves. Even when they tried to live quiet lives, others would inquire about these young women who never seem to age. Again, the most obvious explanation these humans had was witchcraft. Even the simple accusation of it meant being chased by an angry mob with torches and pitchforkes. Humanity also had a shockingly cruel atttitude toward its females, treating them as lesser than males. Most human males had been creeps who had no respect for her intelligence, and only cared about her appearance. Some females in this world had gained positions of power, but they were few and far between, and very few of them ever helped out their fellow woman. Simply put, this world had nothing to offer them and vice versa, and so they never bothered to put down roots. So, for almost a millenia, Adagio and her sisters had been condemned to wander this world, not able to build a life, settle down, or even die. In their collective rage, they spent centuries thinking of nothing but regaining magic or finding a way back home. At times they tried to rid themselves of their magic, since it was more trouble than it was worth. Was that Starswirl's intention? To curse them to forever wander in a magicless world with just enough power to draw negative attention but not enough to achieve greatness? If it was, Starswirl was both an evil monster and an evil genius. Canterlot High had been no different then all the places they'd travel. They had zero interest in building relationships or getting an education. They only thought in terms of gaining power. And there was magic. And for the first time in centuries, they not only felt magically full, but confident enough to bring this world under their proper guidance. And then it was all undone by that lucky princess, that stupid unicorn, and her human lackeys. They not only failed, but lost every bit of magic they had. After that, Adagio, so desperate to taste magic once more, tried to find another magic source. And she did. Only it was in the form of some short human child and his magical companions. Like all the other humans she encountered, Turner was a nonentity to her. She had zero interest in his development or being a caretaker. All she wanted was the magic he could command. But Turner had been ...different from humans. She pictured the boy as another hormone-addled creep, like all the boys in Canterlot High who stared at her. But he actually had a surprisingly mature attitude toward romance. But more importantly, brown-haired boy had been...comfortable around them despite them having magic. His overtures of friendliness had been...genuine. He honestly did want them to be his mentors. He had even praised their singing abilities and greeted them with warm smiles. That trust had been misplaced, but unlike other humans, the boy hadn't resented them just for being magical beings. The reason was obvious. He had two magical midgets who gave him whatever he wanted. Turner had seen the best things that magic had to offer. There could be no better introduction to magic than that. Also humanity had evolved in many ways. Gradually, the superstition and fear that ruled the world whittled away. Humanity started exploring the world rather than listen to outdated dogma. Woman had gained more rights. Reason and knowledge became more important. Humanity itself began to see magic as something wondrous, as it deserved to be, rather than something to be feared and despised. However, humanity could still be a cruel and irrational species. Dimmsdale had a habit of sending an angry mob after its weathermen when they made a bad prediction. Crocker and Doombringer were representative of the worst humans she'd ever encountered. Crocker had been one of those crooked opportunists, while Doombringer had been one of those savages who saw magical beings as lesser mutants to be hunted or dissected like lab rats. In truth, Adagio despised Doombringer for that, and she would rather stick the crazy woman back in prison. The only reason why she hadn't done that was because she felt obliged to give the white-haired nutcase what she wanted. Cheating a minion was both disgusting and idiotic. Adagio and her sisters had been so jaded by their past experiences with humanity, and so blinded by their hunger for magic and power, they failed to see Turner was different in so many ways. And now she learned the boy had an ability that was as great, or even greater, than magic: intelligence. Magic potential was only good if the being who wielded it had a functioning brain. Discord was proof of that. The twisted creature could do anything with a snap of his fingers, but he was so stupidly arrogant, he was easily beaten by the Pony Sisters. Adagio and her sisters had learned that lesson the hard way. They were so confident after absorbing all that magic, they allowed themselves to be conned by a wizard and his goons. They had more than enough magic to destroy Starswirl, but because they'd gotten lazy, they were bamboozled. And apparently, they had nearly made the same mistake twice: letting their guard down. Because their enemy hadn't been a magical wizard, but a kid too small to be allowed to ride on rides. And that's what made Timmy so...incredible. On top of his tenacity, his drive, his cour- Adagio's eyes narrowed. She turned a page in her tome and read an important passage. "That's it." Sonata and Aria turned to look at Adagio. "What's it?" Sonata asked. "'If a being is full of resolve'," Adagio read, " 'he/she will not being to provide negative energy'." Her two younger sisters looked confused. "In order to enthrall a being, we need to be able to use their specific negative energy. Remember, we couldn't get those fairies under our spell without first driving them crazy. Aria frowned angrily. "In other words, he is winning just by being a goody two-shoes." Aria snorted at that. "Aria, don't belittle him like that," Adagio barked with some annoyance. Aria held up her hands mockingly. "Sorry, didn't mean to insult your boyfriend." Aria and Sonata snickered at that. Aria thought something over for a few minutes. "What if we got another medallion and placed it over his neck?" "That won't work either," Adagio said forcefully. "The Medallion is a psychic weapon, not an emotional one." While Adagio didn't want to admit it, she didn't want to ruin such a brilliant mind with it. "Unless we can get him to feel irrational anger, we can't use our spell on him. And since, when he wakes up, his anger will be rational and directed at us, we won't be able to enthrall him." "Maybe if we ask him pretty please with sugar on top," Sonata gushed, "we can get him to grant wishes for us again." Aria thought it over, before a sadistic smile came over her face. "Or maybe we can use a little...persuasion and reason." She held up one fist. "Here's persuasion," she held up another fist, "and here's reason." Adagio glared down at the boy, and seriously considered using physical force. But then Adagio's eyes wandered over Da Rules and another idea came to her brain. She read one page and smiled devilishly. "I think I found our...leverage." Adagio threw the open page down on the table. Aria and Sonata looked at it and smiled. Slowly, but surely Timmy came too. When he woke up, he was shocked by what he saw. A whole array of pastries on the table in front of him. Cakes, pies, ice cream, and a whole basket of apples. He felt his hat was also back on his head. Timmy nearly focused on all these treats, until he glanced up at the ceiling. He saw Cosmo and Wanda in some kind of glass ball suspended above the table. Their blank stares showed they were still under the Dazzlings' spell. "Cosmo! Wanda!" He yelled. "I wish-," "That glass is soundproof." Timmy's heckles rose even more when he saw who came into the room. "Yell all you want," Aria said with a smug smile, "they won't hear." Timmy realized he was still at the abandoned factory, surrounded by the evil witches who stole Cosmo and Wanda. "Let Cosmo and Wanda out right now!" Timmy yelled, standing up with clenched fists. "Timmy," Adagio asked with a smug smile, "why are you so angry? Look at all that good food we got you!" "What is it, poison?" Timmy accused with a narrow frown. Sonata looked wounded. "Poison? This food is yummy-licious." Sonata took the basket of apples and put it in front of Timmy. "Try one-," Timmy furiously swatted the apple basket out of Sonata's hand, much to her shock. "LET COSMO AND WANDA OUT NOW!" "Timmy why are you so mean to Sonata," Adagio said in a mocking tone, "we just want to talk." "Let them out now!" Timmy ordered. "Or I'll...I'll." "You'll what?" Adagio asked in a sterner tone. Timmy paused. He slowly remembered he was a ten year kid with no powers, weapons, or strength. And he was surrounded by three sirens who were bigger than him. "You know Aria's really mad at you for what you did." Timmy glanced at the pigtailed siren who was looking at him with the same mean smile Francis did. "Either I can talk to you...or she can talk to you." Timmy's blood turned cold. These sirens were going good cop, bad cop on him. And Adagio, of all people, was the good cop. "OK," Timmy said in a tired voice. "Now take a seat," Adagio ordered. With another sigh, Timmy took one. "Now, I don't say this very often but...we're sorry for what we did." The words shocked Timmy. She never imagined the sea monsters of being capable of any apology. His shock turned to suspicion. "Oh really," Timmy muttered with narrowed eyes. "We realize that deep down you're a smart, intelligent, and really cool kid," Adagio said. "Yeah," Sonata said cutely, "and, you're a real cutie patootie." The ponytailed siren proceeded to pinch Timmy's cheeks, much to his annoyance. "You're a tough cookie," Aria said, albeit without much gusto. "Maybe we...should start over and pretend none of this ever happened," Adagio offered in what sounded like a sincere tone. "Pretty please with sugar on top?" Sonata pleaded. "Yeah, our bad," Aria muttered without any pretense of sincerity. Timmy thought it over and smiled. "Yeah, OK, that sounds great." The Dazzlings eyes widened in surprise. "For realzies?" Sonata asked with a smile. "Yeah," Timmy said. "Yeah!" Sonata repeated. "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "YEAH!" "YEAH!" "ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LET COSMO AND WANDA OUT!" "See guys," Sonata said to her fellow sirens flying up to the glass ball, "all we have to do is ask him really nicely and-," Aria slapped Sonata on the head, silently telling her off for being dumb. Sonata meekly returned to the ground, much to Timmy's annoyance. An amused smile formed on Adagio's face."See what I mean," Adagio said to the brown-haired boy, "you've got a really sharp mind. And I'd love to let the...midgets out, but we have some...trust issues to work out first." "WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU!" Timmy yelled incredulously. "You lied to me, tricked me, made everyone hate me, turned me evil!" "Turner, we didn't make everyone hate you."Aria's grin got nasty. "Everyone already does!" Timmy's face turned red. "LIAR! You used your magic to make everyone say those mean things." "Made them," Adagio asked rhetorically. "or helped them!" Timmy's eyes narrowed. "What are you-," "Timmy my magic doesn't do that," Adagio said, her eyes darting back and forth. "All it does it bring out what people deep down feel. My magic couldn't make everyone hate you unless they already did." "That's not true!" Timmy yelled. "You're just saying that to make me feel-," Adagio suddenly snapped her fingers. Green mist appeared in front of him. It showed an image of his parents that was like a floating TV. "That was real nice of you," Adagio said, "to take Timmy out for this special day. It helps if you love the Crimson Chin too." The parents' face became even more strained. "Is there something bothering you?" Adagio asked. "Nothing," Mrs. Turner said. "Are you sure?" Aria pressed. "Aside from the fact that we don't want to take Timmy out to see Crimson Chin," Timmy's Dad said. The mist when away. Timmy's angry defiance was replaced with a sad frown. "See," Aria said with no small amount of joy," they didn't want to be around you." "That...that's not," Timmy whimpered. "They just...don't like..." "Timmy, as a siren, I can read emotions," Adagio said. "I can it in their very souls that deep down they hate you. It isnt' my fault they wish you didn't exist." "Why do you think they hired us to watch you," Aria asked. "They really must want to get rid of you." "That's not true," Timmy argued in a soft voice, "they're just...busy..." "Busy not wanting to be around you!" Aria yelled. Timmy's protests died. "And you're so-called friends don't like you either." Adagio said. She snapped her fingers again. The image of the safety seminar appeared. Gary and Betty torturing and humiliating him while supposedly teaching him about safety. It was one of the worst moments in Timmy's life. And the worst part was how everyone laughed at him and didn't try and help him, except... "If those kids liked you, why would they laugh at your suffering?" Adagio asked with a cruel smile. Timmy's blood went colder. "But...but..." Timmy stammered, but he had no response. "And as for making you do things," Adagio said, "Again, I can't make you do what you don't want to. Deep down, you wanted to all those...'evil' things." Timmy regained some of his nerve. "No I didn't-," "Just like you didn't want revenge on those two clowns who humiliated you?" Aria asked. With one more snap of the fingers, another image appeared. It showed Timmy smiling as he saw the destruction of the Learn-A-Torium's truck and how he made those idiots cry. For some reason, Timmy felt...guilty. Not for Gary and Betty. It was the way he was smiling in that image. It reminded him of all the times Vicky or Francis would smile at him. But another thing made Timmy feel sick to his stomach. It was the way three certain girls were looking at him. Pinkie, Sunset, and Gilda looked horrifed. They looked scared...at him. They looked at him like he was....a monster. "STOP IT!" Timmy wailed, looking away from the Dazzlings, his eyes close to tears. "Stop what? The truth?" Adagio came over to Timmy and forced the boy to look at her pitiless eyes. "You called me a liar, but you are the one who can't accept the truth." "And the truth is this," Aria said. "Those brats and your so-called parents deep down hate you. And you wanted to get revenge on all those idiots in your life. All we did was give them, and you, the nerve." "You can't hide, what's inside!" Sonata sang. Timmy looked away from the Dazzlings, too upset to speak, his resistance utterly broken. "Now we can play the blame game," Adagio said. "But we have...business to discuss. I want to go back to the way things were. Where you granted us wishes." Timmy looked up at Adagio with angry, but sad, eyes. "And why should I grant you anything," Timmy said in a sad, scared voice. "Three words," Aria began. "Bean-cheese burrito," Sonata said, before taking a bite. "No," Aria said with some annoyance, before regaining her composure. "Go...away...forever." Timmy felt his blood go cold and his jaw drop. "According to Da Rules," Adagio said in a seemingly disinterested tone, "if a non-magic person found out about your fairies, you would....lose them forever." Timmy felt his leg shake, knowing where this was going. Adagio presented her phone. It showed a picture of his fairies smiling. "I wonder what would happen if...someone...accidentally...sent this picture to Crockpot," Adagio mused rhetorically, holding her finger over the send button. "I guess we'll find....out..." "NO!" Timmy gasped. "No?" Adagio asked in a seemingly shocked tone. "I thought you didn't want to grant us any more wishes." "I do," Timmy muttered in a defeated tone, with tears pouring down his eyes. "I'll do whatever you want! Please don't take them away from me." "So you'll grant us whatever we want?" Aria asked us. "Yeah," Timmy muttered. "Glad we have a deal," Adagio said, giving Timmy a seemingly kind smile. "I guess you're not a complete moron after all." "Here's how things are going to work," Aria said. She held up some kind of tape recorder. "You say what we want you to say into this tape recorder, you walk of the room, and we play it into the glass ball for the midgets to hear. Do you understand," a sly smile formed on the purple-haired siren's mouth," or am I going to fast for you?" "What do you want?" Timmy asked in a tired tone. A weird smile formed on their faces. "Just...one thing," Adagio said to Timmy, handing him a folded slip of paper. Timmy felt time slow as he opened the paper. His eyes widened when he saw what was written. "I wish the Dazzlings and Timmy Turner could rule Dimmsdale." > What Courage Truly Is > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hey Moony Loony." Moondancer turned around in the hall as she saw the unfortunately familiar face of Vanity and her goons. "Where are you going?" Vanity asked with her usual fake kindness. "I just wanted to say gum goes great with your sweatshirt!" Moondancer felt around the back of her sweatshirt and felt the gum was there. The mauve-haired witch with must've put it on her shirt while she was in class. Moondancer frowned and blushed out of embarassment as everyone cackled at her suffering. The frown remained on Moondancer's face for the rest off the day and on the bus ride home. It faded when she got off the bus and saw a group of teenagers in front of her lawn. Especially one she still loathed. Suddenly her broken sorrow was replaced by sheer rage. "Moondancer," Sunset pleaded with what looked like a sad frowned. "I need your help." "What's a matter," Moondancer said in a cold tone," are you in a 'bad place', Sunnybun?" Sunset flinched a little bit and she looked down. The apple farmer approached her with a more concilitory expression. "Moondancer, I know y'all hate us but it's a matter of life and death." "OK," Moondancer said, much to the surprise of the Rainbooms. "REALLY?" Pinkie asked excitedly. "But I need a favor," Moondancer said, her bespectacled eyes glaring at Sunset with merciless intent. Sunset sighed, realizing Moondancer has some demeaning task for her to perform. "OK," Sunset said uneasily, "what do you-," "First I need you to spin around three times," Moondancer said. Sunset was abashed by the request, but eventually complied. She spun around and, predictably, got all dizzy and fell to the ground. "OK," Rainbow said uneasily, "now-," "Now drink all these packets of hot sauce at once!" Moondancer ordered, pulling out a bunch of red, ketchup sized packets of something laveled "Vesuvius Sauce-HOT ENOUGH TO MELT STEEL!" Sunset was again reluctant, but with her friend's silent prompting, she drank them all in one gulp. Steam blew out of her ears and fire painfully erupted from her mouth. Sunset started wheezing from all that spicy sauce. "Now that that's settled," Twilight said with strained patience, "we can-," "Now juggle ten rubber chickens while riding on a unicycle." Sunset was dismayed. "But I don't know how-," "Heaven help you Sunset!" Moondancer said dramatically. "Juggle the chickens." "Don't worry Sunny," Pinkie said happily. "I can teach you in less than five minutes, with my own book," Pinkie said, fishing out a new book from her pink hair do, "HOW TO JUNGLE TEN RUBBER CHICKENS WHILE RIDING A UNICYCLE IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES!" LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES LATER Sunset started juggling rubber chickens while riding a unicycle with an extremely forced smile. Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy were annoyed, while Rainbow and Pinkie were amused. Finally, Sunset got off the unicycle and approached Moondancer while panting from exhaustion. "OK, Moondancer, now that that's over, can you help us?" Moondancer let a fake frown form on her face. "Help you? Who said anything about helping you?" Sunset and the others were dismayed. "But you said-," "I never agreed to anything," Moondancer said with a mocking tone before walking toward her house. "Isn't it horrible to be deceived." As she walked by, she felt something yank her by her hoodie and slam her into a tree. When Moondancer regained her bearings, she found a snarling Rainbow Dash pinning her to it with her hands. "You're gonna help us now you little twerp!" Rainbow snarled, before yanking Moondancer so close to her face she could feel Rainbow's breath. Moondancer, despite being outclassed physically, didn't seem remotely afraid. "Go ahead, hit me and show how devoted to friendship you are." "Rainbow Dash," Twilight admonished, "we're not gonna get her help that way." With a sigh, the sports' girl let Moondancer go. Moondancer was not impressed. "Am I supposed to say thank you..." "Moondancer, I don't care if you hate us," Sunset said with desperation. "I don't care if you talk to me. I'm here because...the...Timmy ran away." "We have this...tracking device that could aid us in finding him," Rarity said with darting eyes while holding it up Crocker's sensor. "As you can see, it is defective. We were told you are an expert in sensory devices and can fix it." "Please," Twilight asked with pleading eyes, "just help us find him, and we'll never bother you again." A sympathetic look appeared on Moondancer's face. "You really care about him don't you?" "Yeah," Pinkie Pie said. "He's our bestest, estest..." A nasty sneer appeared on Moondancer's face. "Good, I hope he suffers." The Rainbooms were completely shocked. "I hope he gets hurt. I hope you never find him." He started toward her house. "Now, if you need me, I'l be getting ready for the AV-," "HOW DARE YOU!" Everyone was shocked at who was doing the yelling. Fluttershy was glaring at Moondancer, her normally soft hands balled into fists and her face red with rage. "I thought you said you cared about him?" "Care about who?" Moondancer asked. "Didn't you say Timmy deserved to know how 'evil' Sunset was?" Fluttershy asked with a hiss. "I honestly thought you were trying to save Timmy from evil Sunset. Now you're saying he deserves to suffer?!" Moondancer just smirked again. "Yeah, well you-," Moondancer's resolved vanished as Fluttershy stormed over to her, glaring daggers at her. Moondancer's fear grew as the normally milquetoast girl grabbed her by her hoodie. "What did Timmy do to you?!" Fluttershy bellowed, her eyes gleaming balls of rage. "What did he do to you to deserve to suffer?!" Moondancer was a bit shocked by the question, her eyes darting back and forth. She noticed the other Rainbooms were looking at her with sheer dissapointment. "Well," Fluttershy pressed, letting go of Moondancer but still glaring furiously at her. Moondancer's response was to stare at the floor. "You know...I'm not really upset about what happened to me," Sunset said in a softer, but still stern tone.. "I kind of..had it coming. And when you said you wanted to warn Timmy about how evil I was, I kind of accepted that. If it was just me getting hurt, I wouldn't be here." Sunset then glared at Moondancer. "But after this little display, I realize you never cared about Timmy at all. All you cared about was getting revenge!" A nasty smile appeared on the fire-haired girl's face. "How does it feel to be as bad as you think I am?" Moondancer got defensively angry. "I am nothing like you!" "You know why I did the things I did," Sunset said. "I was just a spoiled brat who cared about gettng what I wanted. I didn't care about who I hurt. You moan and complain about how we hurt you, but you're so obsessed with getting back at me, you think that Timmy, a kid who did nothing to you, deserves to suffer just because I like him." A somewhat remorseful expression appeared on Moondancer's face. "And because of what y'all did,' Applejack said, her green eyes stern and uncompromising, "he is suffering." Moondancer was slightly concerned. "What do-," "You know what Timmy has to deal with everyday?" Rainbow asked Moondancer rhetorically. "He has a horrible witch of a babysitter, jerks that pick on him, and some nutcase teacher who humiliates him for fun." Moondancer's expression became even more remorseful. "Really?" "The Dazzlings bullied him too," Twilight said in a sterner tone. "They used him to grant wishes, brainwashed his friends and family into hating him, and than stole his magic, before throwing him away like he was trash." Moondancer's eyes narrowed in some anger. "They-they did-," "Yeah!" Rainbow yelled angrily to Moondancer. "You know how? Because of those pictures you gave them." Moondancer's jaw dropped in horror. Rarity stormed up to Moondancer right now with crossed arms."You know why he isn't present right now? He ran away from us and intends to fight those brutes and get back his magic himself, because he doesn't believe there is anyone out there concerned with his well-being." Moondancer felt her spine turn cold, something rotten churn in her gut, and her mind space out as everything dawned on her. "And now those meany-weanies have super awesome magic on their side," Pinkie asked. "If they did all those mean things to Timmy, who else do you think they'll be mean too? And what do you think they'll do too him?" "I'm not gonna force you to do anything," Twilight said in a passive-aggressive tone, "but if you don't help us save Timmy than that proves-," "Give me the scanner!" Moondancer said abruptly, taking it from Rarity. "So you'll help us?" Sunset asked with hopeful eyes. "For him!" Moondancer said with stern resolve. Everyone looked at the bespectacled girl with happy eyes and wide smiles. Pinkie Pie was brimming with joy. "YAY!" Pinkie Pie cheered, "this calls for a song." (Pinkie is currenty wearing a poofy-pink dress) We used to hate each other. Like a mean older brother But now- "Stop that, stop that!" Moondancer interrupted. "You're not gonna do a song while I'm here." Pinkie was dismayed. "But I was singing the song of how we're all friends-" "I'm not your friend!" Moondancer bellowed, much to the disappointment of Pinkie and the other Rainbooms. "I said I'm doing this for the boy. As far as I'm concerned, you're still the idiots who lied to me and stabbed me in the back. Once the boy is safe, we go our seperate ways." Twilight frowned sadly. "But Moon-," Twilight paused as Sunset put a hand on her shoulder. "Twi," Sunset admonished softly, "let it go". Sunset looked back toward Moondancer with solemn eyes. "How soon can you get it fixed." "I need about...an hour to get it done," Moondancer said, her hateful tone replaced by a more professional one as she examined Crocker's scanner. "But I don't have any parts, and I need a lab to work in." "We can get that for you," Rarity offered helpfully. Moondancer was at her workstation in Canterlot High's science lab, silently fixing the scanner. She sat alone, surrounded by parts and tools. She was so focused on her work, she barely noticed someone come in. "It's not done yet." She said idly. "Moondancer can we talk?"The voice of Twilight asked. Moondancer didn't even look up from her work. "Busy." "Can I just talk...while you listen?" A short pause followed. "I don't know if you can, but you may." "Look, I know how you feel about Sunset and you every right to be angry at her-," "But I have to forgive and forget because it's the right thing to do," Moondancer blurted out. Moondancer heard the Princess make an annoyed sigh. "Did you know that...Sunset nearly got me kicked out of school?" "Not surprising," Moondancer muttered. "And, let's just say that...she finally got caught by everyone...and it was up to me whether or not she was gonna get expelled from school and/or sent to a dungeon." Moondancer snorted. "What are you? Some kind of Princess?" A long pause followed. "Anyways, I could've had her expelled, but...I gave her a chance to be better." Moondancer put down her tools and looked at Twilight with confusion. "Why would you do that?" Twilight looked at her with sympathy. "I was alway taught to believe that jerks are just...people who don't know any better. What Sunset did to both of us was wrong, but after I defeated her, she realized that she could've been better. And that's why I gave her a chance." Twilight came up to her with an encouraging smile. "Maybe you should try and give Sunset and the others another chance, they'll be better." "Well I went up to her at the basketball game, and she didn't do a thing to make it up to me," Moondancer muttered with some misery. "I walked around CHS, and no one remembered me or even said hello. I was just a nobody to them. Just like I'm...a nobody at Dimmsdale High," Moondancer whimpered. "You're right to be angry about that," the purple-haired alicorn-turned-human conceded. "But again, they didn't know how hurtful they were being. I'm sure that if you have faith in kindness and love, they'll make it up to you. I can help you if you want." "I did have faith in kindness and love," Moondancer said morosely, "and I had my personal secrets shown to everyone, oatmeal dumped on my head, I was laughed out of the building, and it was because someone who I thought wanted to be my friend backstabbed me." The bespectacled girl wandered back to her workstation. "I have to get this done, so please go away." Twilight let out a dissapointed sigh. "If you want to talk, I'm willing to listen, OK?" With that, Twilight walked out of the room. As Moondancer worked, she saw some drops fall on the table. She realized it was some tears pouring out of her eyes. She was halfway through her work when she heard someone come in through the door. Moondancer turned around and saw it that blue-haired girl who was in the Dazzlings' house, wandering over to some dresser. Her eyes were covered in sunglasses. "You're the person I called," Moondancer vaguely remembered, before smiling sheepishly. "Sorry for...calling you...that. I was just...not in a good mood." While the science geek detested CHS, she hardly remembered this girl, and felt she didn't need to be drawn into her grudge. The girl just gave her a thumbs up and a chill smile, silently assuring her it was all good. She went over to some desk drawer and pulled out some equipment, took out some tools, and began working on her own desk. "Are you building something for...the Rainbooms?" Moondancer asked. The girl let out a simple nod. Based off the enormous amount of equipment she had, the apparently mute girl had a lot of work to do. Moondancer looked down at the purple tracking device and saw it was almost done. If the Dazzlings had magic, the Rainbooms needed all the help they would get. "You...want some help?" Moondancer asked her timidly. The blue-haired girl smiled and gestured with her hand to come over. Moondancer did and began working away. "Names Moondancer," the red-and-purple-haired girl greeted. The blue-haired girl silently held up her student badge. "Vinyl Abraham Lincoln Scratch." "Nice to...meet you." Despite being silent, Moondancer thought Vinyl was so charismatic, she didn't need words or even visible eyes to communicate how she felt. "Do you..." Moondancer offered uneasily after a few moments of work. Vinyl was part of CHS. Moondancer hated CHS. But Vinyl wasn't part of her direction humiliation, and so far, at least, she didn't seem to hold anything against her. Then she remembered Twilight's words. Reluctantly, Moondancer reached into her pocket and pulled out a plastic bag. "Want some freshly backed cream buns?" Moondancer offered. The blue-haired girl nodded with a smile. "OK, so here is your tracker," Moondancer said, "is as good as new." She handed the device to Sunset. The Rainbooms, Moondancer, and Vinyl gathered in the science lab. The DJ and the AV clubber was giving them some equipment. "Vinyl and I also made you a listening device." The bespectacled teenager added. Vinyl handed Rainbow what looked like a satelite dish with a black stick glued onto it. "I also made you a radar system, that can help you detect their locations," Mooondancer said, handing a rectangled shape device to Twilight. "Thank you so much, you two." Twilight said with sincere gratitude. "Don't..,mention it," Moondancer choked out. Vinyl happily nodded. "C'mon guys," Rainbow said with fierce determination. "We've got some sea monsters to catch!" The same look also appeared on the Rainbooms. "FOR VAHALLA!" Pinkie declared, suddenly wearing a viking helmet and sword. "FOR TIMMY!" Sunset declared. The Rainbooms ran out of the lab, leaving Moondancer and Vinyl. Moondancer walked out of the lab, and toward the library when she felt someone pat her on the shoulder. Vinyl was looking at her with a smile. "What?" Vinyl pointed to the gym, and saw the students were all piling in there. Apparently, they were going to wait for the Dazzlings to be defeated in there. Vinyl extended her hand to Moondancer. Apparently, she wanted to wait with her in the gym. Moondancer stared at the hand for a few moments before letting out a sigh. "Sorry, they don't want me around," Moondancer said, before walking toward the library. Vinyl watched her go with no small amount of sympathy in her bespectacled eyes. Vinyl thought of catching up with before deciding to join her friends in the gym, but not before casting one last sad glance in the direction the hoodie wearing girl had gone. Moondancer sat in a small corner of the library alone, reading a giant science book. She blink away small tears that gathered around her eyes. Crocker's tracker had taken them to Dimmsdale. They were driving around it in Applejack's pickup truck. Everyone sat in the back, except for Sunset, who held the tracker and told the farmer girl where to drive. They pulled into what looked like an industrial slum, much to Rarity's horror. "What a wretched place," Rarity commented with disgust, even pinching her nose so she wouldn't have to breath the air. "I can see why those wretched Dazzlings would want to be here. The atmosphere suits their wicked ways," Rarity sneered. "Stop here," Sunset ordered Applejack as they drove to some large abandoned factory. Applejack parked about 100 yards from the building. Everyone got out. Twilight tried to approach it, only to be stopped by everyone and dragged into an alley away from the place. "Guys," Twilight said, "what's-" "Cameras," Rainbow hissed. Twilight poked her head out. All around them were security cameras. On the roof, near the doors, and even one was disguised as the sandwich a homeless man was eating. Twilight frowned, upset that she forgot that technology on this world was so advanced, it made it possible to record what others were doing. She learned that lesson the hard way when Sunset humiliated her while she ran for Fall Formal. "Can they see us?" Twilight choked out. "No," Rainbow said. "This is a blind spot." Applejack held up Vinyl's listening device and turned it on. After a few moments of turning knobs, a voice was heard. "You want me to rule Dimmsdale with you?" A familiar brown-haired boy uttered. Everyone smiled brightly. "It's Timmy," Pinkie cheered. "YAY!" "Of course," a distinctly female voice uttered. Everyone frowned. "It's Adagio," Pinkie cheered. "YAY-I mean-NOT YAY!" Timmy looked at the Dazzlings with no small amount of confusion. "Why would you want me to-," "It's what you want," Adagip pointed out with an odd smile. "I do?" "You said you wanted popularity," Adagio pointed out with a smile. "Where do you think popularity comes from? Power." Timmy didn't understand. "I understand you're confused?" Adagio said with a wistful tone. "I was, until I was about your age." "Those rich brats who cheated you got away with what they did because they threw money around," Aria pointed out with a digusted tone. She snapped her fingers, and suddenly, the image of the rich kids' bouncer throwing Timmy into the trash can appeared. "In this world, money is power," Adagio sneered. "Why do you think your parents never want to be around you? Because they hate having to spend money on you, and because of you, don't have time to make more money." Timmy frowned as he thought it over. Dad...did complain about the bills a lot. Adagio...sounded kind of right. Twilight frowned in confusion. "Do you hear what they're doing?" "They're playing mind games with him!" Sunset bellowed in a rage. The Rainbooms frowned as Adagio continued her manipulative and hurtful spiel toward Timmy. "No, I mean why aren't they...using their song on him?" Twilight asked aloud. "Couldn't they just...make Timmy do their bidding, or something?" The angry face's of everyone were replaced with contemplative ones as they wondered that too. But it went away as Adagio continued talking. "But we want an even greater power," Adagio explained to the brown-haired boy in a more sinister tone. "The power to bring entire villages to their knees, in both surrender and in worship. The power to make others quake when you even glance in their direction." "And thanks to us," Aria pointed out, "you managed to get that kind of power, and put a couple of those brats in their place." Aria snapped her fingers, and Timmy's fight with Chad and Tad played out. "Didn't it feel,,,good to finally give those brats what they finally deserved," Aria pointed out with a nasty grin. "What if you could do that to every other rich brat in this world?" It did...feel really good to finally get back at Tad and Chad. Timmy, however, didn't feel proud when he saw how he attacked Chester in a rage, and how everyone was afraid of him. "But everyone was scared of me," Timmy pointed out miserably. "Fear and power are the only way humans do anything," Adagio said with supreme belief that she was right. "We've walked this world for a millenia. We've learn that all people care about is power, and who has it. It doesn't matter how nice you are. If you have power, people will listen to you, no matter what you tell them, because they'll be afraid of what you'll do them, or because they want what you can give them." "The Rainbrats are like that," Aria said. The statement made Timmy frown even more. "The only reason why they pretended to like you is because they wanted your fairies' magic ." Aria frowned at the boy. "You think they would've even glanced in your direction if you if it weren't for all those wishes?" "You saw how much of a meanie Sunset was," Sonata added. "Yeah, the truth is this: Sunset never loved you. Only the magic you had." Adagio said. "Do you think someone like that would ever really want to be around you, unless they had to be?" "And if Cosmo and Wanda went away," Aria said with a small amount of menace, "you think they would ever want to be near you again? After what you did to them?" Aria snapped her fingers. The memory of Timmy turning them to worms and feeding them to a bird appeared. Timmy watched with horror and guilt as he remembered what he nearly did. "Timmy, please don't listen to them!" Sunset pleaded while holding up the listening device. "Sunset I don't think he can here you," Applejack added sympathetically. "Timmy I do care about you!" Sunset wailed, tears rolling down her eyes. "I'm sorry for the mean things I said. Please don't listen to them! Please!" The other Rainbooms watched the listening device with concern as they waited Timmy's answer. "No," he at last said with a small, sad voice, "they won't." The other Rainbooms frowned in disappoinment and shame, while Sunset cried even more. "You didn't notice me until you knew I had magic," Timmy added with a narrowed eyes. "You're right," Adagio admitted shamelessly. "But I'm honest about that. I'm being honest with you right now and telling you how it is. Unlike those Rainbrats who pretended to like you." The orange-haired siren snorted. "They call themselves heroes and blah and blah." Adagio snorted with disdain. "Oh, they call themselves heroes, but they want power and glory like everyone else." "That's why they were making you into a goody-toe shoes," Aria pointed out with a snarl. "Just to drag you down." "But we'll always be honest with you Timmy," Adagio said, bending down to look him in the eye, a kind smile on her face. "We'll always look out for you. We'll always be there for you. Because we see potential in you." "I mean, you did beat our butts," Aria pointed out with what sounded like sincere amazement. "That was pretty hardcore of you." "You'll be our bestest buddy ever," Sonata chirped. She took the hat off his head and began playfully rubbing his head. Not the fake way Vicky did when she was acting nice in front of his parents, while hurting his scalp. Timmy tried to find any kind of lie in their voices. But there was nothing. The wish they wanted him to make said he would rule with him. Sonata patting him on his head felt nice and real too. "It's a simple choice really," Aria said. "We can send that picture to Crockpot, have your fairies taken away from you, and you could go back to your life of being a pathetic punching bug no one will ever care about," she threatened while holding up the phone with the picture of Cosmo and Wanda. "Or...you could give us what we want," she said, holding up the tape recorder, "and we can give you what you want." "A world where no rich brat or bully will ever be mean to you again," Adagio said in a soft voice, while patting his shoulder. "A world where power goes to people who deserve it. A world where no kid will ever be hurt." Adagio extended her hand to the seated boy. "Give us what we want, and you'll be at our side, building that better world. Under us, you'll be the most popular kid in the world. Deal?" Timmy thought it over for a few minutes. "Deal," Timmy said at last, shaking Adagio's hand. With that, Adagio scooped Timmy into a hug. "Oh Timmy, I knew you were smart," Adagio said in a soft voice as she squeezed him. For the first time in a while, Timmy felt...happy. "Oh Timmy," Sunset muttered in despair. The other Rainbooms also cried, dejected by Timmy's choice. Aria handed the boy the tape recorder and he began to record his wish. "I wish..." Timmy began, before his eyes glanced upward. He noticed his fairies... They were still stuck in the glass ball. And based off their dopey smiles, still under the Dazzlings' spell. "There is...one thing I really want," Timmy said with a low, serious tone as he looked at Adagio in the eye. "What's that, Timmy Buddy?" "I want you to let Cosmo and Wanda out of the glass ball and stop messing with their brains." The question gave the Dazzlings serious pause. "Uh, we can't do that..."Aria said uneasily. "Yet," Adagio added abruptly. "Yet. it what I was gonna say. Until we...trusted you." Timmy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Were you ever gonna let them out of that glass ball?" The Dazzlings were silent for a moment "Of course we were," Adagio said with an uneasy smile and her eyes darting back and forth. "Now come on, Timmy Buddy, make the wish, and all your dreams would come true." Were the Dazzlings paying attention, they would've noticed Timmy's grinding teeth, his balled and shaking fist, and his red face. They would've also noticed him clenching the tape recorder tightly. So it was shock when Timmy threw the tape recorder and it bounced off of Adagio's forehead. "NO!" The Dazzlings were stunned. "What did you say-," "I said...NO!" Adagio's kind face slipped into snarl. "What's wrong with you?! We're offering you power and all you can say is-," "I DON'T CARE ABOUT POWER! I DON'T CARE ABOUT WISHES! I CARE ABOUT THEM!" Timmy said while pointing upward. "They make me feel safe. They make me feel special. They make me feel loved." "They why would you want for them go away forever?!" Aria asked in annoyance. "You could have them-," "Not like that!" Timmy yelled in disgust. "Not so you can use them as...magical batteries forever! They don't deserve that!" Adagio's eyes narrowed. "OK, fine," she said, holding up her phone, "I'll send the picture to Crocker." "Go ahead!" Timmy yelled in defiance. Adagio looked even more enraged. "You want to end up alone and and a useless waste of space forever!" "I don't care," Timmy said with a shrug, "as long as they're safe from you." Adagio kept her finger over the button menacingly. But the orange-haired siren didn't press it. To her shock, Timmy didn't even flinch or beg them not too. He just sat there, sternly waiting for them. After a few minutes, Timmy smiled at them mockingly. "You're not going to do it are you?" Timmy asked them with a sneer. Adagio ended the charade and pulled her finger away with a snarl. "Because...because you know that when Cosmo and Wanda go away, you'll stop having magic, and you'll go back to being losers." The Dazzlings' eyes widened and their jaws dropped in shock. "What did you say to us?" Adagio asked. "You heard me, losers!" Timmy yelled with a nasty grin. "You called me useless without magic, but that's you must feel. Without magic, you think no one will ever care about you. Without magic, no one will ever like you." The three siren sisters stood silently as they absorbed the ten-year old boy's observation. "I know that, because that's how I feel sometimes," Timmy said. "But here's the thing: with you, it's true," Timmy said in a low, spiteful tone. "What was that, you little twerp?" Aria said with anger in her voice. She and Sonata's faces turned bright red and their fists were clenched while Adagio stood as still as a statue. "You're mean, you're evil, and everything about you...STINKS!" Timmy spat mercilessly as he glared at the three sisters. "Your music, your clothes, and your stupid haircuts! You need to sing your song because without it...NO ONE WOULD EVER WANT TO BE NEAR YOU!" The Rainbooms all smiled proudly as they looked at the listening device. "GO TIMMY!" Rainbow cheered while pumping a fist. The Rainbooms all let cheers of their own. "I'm so proud of you," Sunset said with kindness in her voice. "OK Timmy," Adagio said. "You think we're mean and evil. That's fine." Another long serious pause followed. "Then we'll be evil and mean." The Rainbooms' hearts fell into their throats as they heard some kind of thump, and the sound of something hitting the ground. Followed by a pained whimper. Timmy laid on the ground, rubbing his cheek. Adagio punched him so hard, it knocked him off the chair. It came so fast, he felt shock. The shock faded as he looked up at the Dazzlings.They lost all pretense of kindness, and were glaring at him with red-faced hatred. Timmy felt his previous bravado fade. Adagio then picked up the chair and threw it against wall near Timmy's head, breaking it. Timmy felt terrified. "I'm done asking, twerp," Adagio said in a low, but menacing hiss. "You're gonna grant us or wishes. One way...or another." Timmy shook with terror. But then he looked up at Cosmo and Wanda. "No." "Aria," Adagio ordered. Aria came toward TImmy, fists bared and a sadistic , evil smile on her face. Timmy tried to run away, only for something to catch him. By his hair. Aria painfully picked Timmy up by his hair, clearly enjoying his pained whimpers if her mean grin was any indication, and slammed him into the wall by his back. Timmy felt a massive pain shoot through his body. "Now!" Aria ordered. "No," chocked out. With a demented grin, Aria raised her fists. "I'm gonna enjoy this." The Rainbooms heard with horror as Timmy groaned in pain and let out whimpers begging for mercy. The thumps they heard indicated the Dazzlings weren't giving him any mercy. "TIMMY!" Sunset exclaimed with terror. Sunset and Rainbow, angry expressions on their faces, ran toward the factory. Only to be held back by the other Rainbooms. "What are you guys doing?!" Rainbow said while struggling against Applejack's grip. "Timmy's in trouble!" Sunset pleaded while being held back by Rarity. "He's gonna be in more trouble if y'all rush in like cotton-pickin' fools!" Applejack ordered, while holding Rainbow back. "But-," "Darlings, I want to help Timmy too," Rarity said with a sad but determined look. "But they have cameras, and magic, and weapons." "And Timmy too," Fluttershy whimpered with fear. "If we rush in without a plan, they'll beat us!" Twilight said her stern, princess-like voice. "We can't rely on the Elements to save the day for us. We need to use our brains. and we especially need the element of surprise! If we lose, so we'll he!" Sunset and Rainbow's struggles died, replaced by grim sadness. Especially, as they heard the Dazzlings beat on the poor kid even more. Sunset felt scared tears roll down her eyes. "But-," "They won't hurt him too badly," Pinkie said with strained optimism. "They need him for wishes," she said with a frown. "You need to be calm," Twilight said with soft eyes, "for him." Sunset thought it over, and realized they were right. As scared as she was, Timmy needed her to be brave and collected. He deserved it too. The boy, in one act, proved he was worthy of the magic he wielded. He proved that, whatever his faults, he would never throw the people he cared about under a bus for power. He proved he would sacrifice magic, if that's what it took to protect his friends. Sunset was proud of him, and she wanted to tell him. But in order for her to do that, Sunset needed to swallow her emotions and not let them cloud her judgement. She needed to put away her passion and think rationally. Once Timmy and his fairies were safe... Then she could unleash her emotions. She would cry in relief. She would show him much she loved him. And she would unleash her wrath on those fiends who dared hurt him. But not now. Later. Now, she needed to be rational. "Alright ladies," Sunset said at last, wiping away her tears. She looked at her fellow Bearers with a calm but determined expression on her face. Outwardly, she was calm, but her eyes held a fire waiting to be unleashed upon those she considered her foes. "Let's...plan." > The Final Fight (Part 1) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "OK, so what's the game plan?" Sunset asked. The Rainbooms were still in an alley and were going over their plan to save Timmy from the clutches of the sirens. "We determined through the equipment there are five other people in the factory," Princess Twilight commented in a serious tone. "They seem to be in charge of security." "Four guys," Rainbow said. "And one mean-sounding lady," Fluttershy squeaked. "Are they willing followers?" Sunset asked. "Well the men seem to be under the spell of the Dazzlings," Rarity uttered. "How can you tell?" Sunset asked. Rarity simply flipped on the switch. "Oh we worship the almighty Dazzlings!" One male voice said through Vinyl's listening device. "We would die for them!" Another said in a slavish tone. "They are the pinnacle of intelligence!" "Adagio's hair does not at all look like a hairy cheese puff!" "Yep, they're brainwashed," Sunset commented in a droll tone. "But the woman sounds...too intense and serious to be under their control," Rarity commented uneasily. "Enough!" The woman said impatiently. "Keep on the lookout for any brats! I won't be denied my prize!" "The lady really needs a good nappy-wappy," Pinkie Pie uttered. "We've determined the Dazzlings' and their location," Twilight said, showing Sunset the radar. "But there are too many dang cameras for us to get around," Applejack said with some frustration. "So how are we gonna get around them?" "According to the scanner, there is only one way to get in without drawing attention." "How?" Sunset asked. Applejack uneasily showed the scanner to everyone. Everyone let out annoyed sighs, while Rarity let out a wretch of disgust." "The sewer?!" Rarity shrieked with horror. Applejack pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Rarity, I know y'all don't wanna go in, but it's the only-" "No, no, no, no, no!" Rarity shrieked with anger. "I am not going into a sewer. And there is nothing you can do to make me!" Everyone looked at each other, silently communicating something we each other, before looking at Rarity with narrowed eyes and evil smiles, much to Rarity's concern. "Darlings," Rarity muttered with some fear, "what are you...planning?" "Why Rarity why would you ever think that of us?" Sunset asked her in a disingenious tone. "We would never plot against y'all," Applejack said in a transparently false way. Rainbow Dash walked over to Rarity. "We're your best buds. Loyal to the-YOINK!" Rarity was confused. "What did you-," Rarity paused, before she noticed her ear...was bare. She felt around and... "YOU STOLE MY EARRING!" Rarity screeched at Rainbow. "I have no idea what you're taking about," Rainbow denied, while conpiciously holding it up. "GIVE IT BACK!" "OK, Rarity," Rainbow said, extending her arm to the fashion designer. Rarity reached over to grab it. "PSYCHE!" Rainbow said, throwing the earring down some hole. On impulse, Rarity dove toward's it... Only to realize she dove into an open manhole. "AHHH!" Rarity screeched, before falling into the sewer water with a splash. "Rarity?" Twilight asked. "Are you OK?" "I HATE YOU!" Rarity screeched from within the sewer. "I HATE ALL OF YOU!" "She's fine," Applejack said in a calm tone. "Darlings, I don't want to alarm you," Rarity called down from inside the sewer in a timid tone, "but there is a shark coming toward me." "What?" Sunset said with horror. The other Rainbooms were concerned. "It looks like it wants me for an entree-AHHHHH! GET BACK YOU BEAST!" "Don't worry Rarity!" Applejack called out. "We're coming to rescue you!" Sunset said. "I SAID GET BACK! LEAVE ME ALONE!" The Rainbooms all clamored down the manhole, eager to save their friens. They heard one last blistering screech from the fashionista. "Have no fear!" Pinkie declared. Rainbow let her challenging grin form on her face. "Cause we're...here," Rainbow said, her bravado dying down as she witnessed what happened. Rarity was... On a walkway, standing on top of the shark, breathing heavily, her clothes covered in sewer water, and her manicured fist bared. The shark was not only unconscious, but his nose was completely broken. Rarity was filthy and and exhausted, but no less triumphant in her victory against the shark, her ladylike smile replaced with a smile of vindictiveness. "Rarity?" Rainbow muttered in amazement. "You..." "A rose has thorns darling," Rarity said to Rainbow with her usual polite tone. "And you're lucky I have a spare outfit in my pocket, or you, my loyal friend, would've gotten the thorns too." Rarity was perfectly calm in tone, but her blue eyes were directly locked onto Rainbow Dash like they were missiles. Rainbow gulped and took a few steps backward. The others shuddered out of sheer intimidation. "But we'll deal with that later Darllings," Rarity said idly. "There are a few sea creatures whom I feel are more deserving of my fiery wrath for daring to hurt my student of romance!" With that, she marched forward along one of the walkways, like a soldier marching off to the battlefield. "Let us go forth, Darlings!" Almost on instinct, everyone started following her. Even Princess Twilight, who was ostensibly in charge. "OK," Sunset said, looking at the radar system. "According to the radar, the five people are going to be above that hatch." The Rainbooms saw that the hatch could be reached by some ladder. "Once of us has to go up first to see what we can do!" "I'll do it," Sunset offered. Everyone nodded in agreement. Sunset climbed the ladder and opened a hatch very slowly. She saw there were indeed five people in some kind of surveillance room, as shown by all the monitors. The four men looked like Dimmsdale cops, while the woman. Sunset gasped in anger. It was the Doom lady who kidnapped Timmy and knocked her out. The Dazzlings must've helped her escape prison and gotten her to work for them. And she stood over some bound and gagged jungle cat that was pinned to some kind of dissection table, while menacingly holding a machete over its head. "I think, along with those boy's fairies, you'll be a nice addition to my collection!" Doombringer hissed with a crazed smile. "Perhaps I'll make you into a nice rug for my living room!" The jungle cat growled, but more out of fear than defiance. "Whine all you want!" The white haired maniac crowed as she sharpened the machete on grindstone, sparks flying off of it. "But this is your fault for getting in my way!" Sunset felt her teeth grinding in sheer rage. But she swallowed her anger. It would do her no good. She needed a plan if she was gonna take down those cops, that madwoman, and save that cat. "Guys," Sunset said with a sad voice, "the woman is the psycho who kidnapped Timmy." Everyone gasped with horror. "And she's about to turn an innocent jaguar into a rug!" Fluttershy was horrified. "Guys we have to save that poor wittle kiddy!" She was about to climb the latter, before Sunset stopped her. "I want too Fluttershy, but we have to do this calmly," Sunset said with a stern glare, "or she'll alert the Dazzling's we're here!" Everyone frowned in anger, but silently accepted Sunset was right, and steeled themselves to the task. Four of the Rainbooms, (Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Sunset) slowly entered the room through the hatch. They calmly ran over to the four guards, using the metal podiums in the room to hide themselves. Their current advantage was Doombringer was distracted by her desire to skin the cat alive, and they would use that to the best of their ability. Once they got close enough to the cops, they ran up behind them and sung a quiet tone infused with Harmonic magic. The magic undid the spell over the police, and they fell to the ground, their heads throbbing in pain. While they did that, Rarity entered the room and found a fusebox. Using her earing, she undid the lock, opened the box, and disabled one of the fuses. With it, power to the cameras was cut off. To her relief, Rarity noticed that Doombringer was too distracted to notice. Hopefully the Dazzlings wouldn't notice either. Doombringer held a gleaming machete over the squirming cat. "Oh grow up," Doombringer said pitilessly. "This is only the circle of life, and survival of the fittest at play!" But just as she was about to skin the beast, something tackled to the ground. Once she regained her bearings, she saw some blond girl with green eyes on top of her. She felt the girl pinning her hands and putting some rope around it. She didn't like it. WIth a roar, she pushed herself off the ground, and kicked the blond girl away. Using her strength, she tore through the rope, freeing her hands. She turned to face the girl with no small amount of hatred. "Impudent brat! Do you know who you're-," Doombringer barely dodged a punch from the girl, and used the girl's own forward momentum to trip her to the ground. The girl fell to the floor with a thud, her body inert. Doombringer chuckled at how easily the girl was brought low. "Are you surprised you fell so easily! I've had three years of combat experience." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "Now I shall alert my mistress to your presence. And I warn you she isn't so kind to intruders!" she gloated to the poor farmer. She barely noticed the cowgirl grinning. She suddenly felt something slam into her, knocking her to the ground and the phone out of her hand. She looked up and saw some prism-haired dwarf standing over her. "And I've had ten years of doing...well...every sport," she gloated. Before Doombringer could pull herself up, the farmer girl tackled her to the ground. "And all my life on the farm. The rainbow-haired brat and farmer girl pinned her legs and beat her together. Once it was over, they restrained her by keeping her arms pinned. "Let me go you brats, or I'll-," "Remember me, Ms. Butterbatter?" Doombringer heard that voice and saw... It was the fire-haired girl who nearly stopped her from kidnapping Turner, followed by four other girls. The girl's face was calm, but her eyes were filled with cold fury. And they were staring directly at her. "Let me give you a hint," the girl, Sunset, based off the Dazzlings' description, said in a seemingly conversational tone that masked righteous hatred. She reached into her backpack and pulled out- Doombringer felt her blood go cold as the girl held up a sledgehammer. Based off the fact she was swinging it around idly like it was bat, she was quite strong. "Or better yet, I'll let my friend Mr. Sledgehammer do it for me." "Hi Mr. Sledgehammer," Pinkie Pie chirped. "My name is Pinkie. Want to be friends?" With that, Sunset stormed toward the pinned Doombringer, sledgehammer in hand, and a merciless gaze in her eyes. "Please," the white-haired woman stammered in a plea for mercy, "they made me do-," Sunset snarled and slammed the sledgehammer into the woman's torso. The woman wailed in pain. "That's for kidnapping Timmy!" She slammed the sledgehammer into her leg, ignoring demands of restraint. "That's for hitting me in the head with the hammer!" She gave her another hit. "That's for working for those sea witches!" She slammed the hammer into an arm. "That's for the jaguar!" Sunset raised the sledgehammer one more time. "And this...is for everyone else you hurt!"In an act of righteous hatred and care for Timmy, Doombringer was knocked into the air, through the roof of the factory, and crashed back into the prison. Sunset threw the sledgehammer onto the ground, and just stared coldly at the hole in the ceiling where the woman came from. "Creep!" "Sunset," Applejack cheered. "That was amazing!" "It was so awesome!" Rainbow gushed. "It was like Old Sunset was making a comeback." Fluttershy ran over to the jaguar and began releasing it. "Oh you poor thing," Fluttershy cooed to the beast. Sunset got defensive at that. "Really?" She nervously asked Rainbow. The athlete let a sheepish smile form on her face. "What I meant to say was...it was like if you ate Old Sunset and claimed her power!" Sunset and Applejack blankly stared at the high school sports champion. Twilight approached Sunset with a smile. "What Rainbow means is that you've learned to channel you're old instincts toward a good cause, instead of just trying to suppress them. And in the process, you're the strongest you've ever been." "Yeah, what she said," Rainbow said with an odd smile. Before anyone could respond, the girls heard some footsteps. "Can you girls explain to us what's going on?" One of cops asked with a tired expression, followed by three of his comrades-in-arms. They had finally regained their bearings. "The last thing we remember is hearing some weird song," another one of them said. "After that, it's all one hazy blur." "Officers, we can explain everything," Twilight said, approaching them. "Can you also explain why that woman is lying unconscious," one of the officer's said, gesturing to the out cold Doombringer. "And why a jaguar is loose!" One of them screeched. The officers noticed the jungle cat and were about to pull out their firearms, only for a pink-haired to step in front of them. "Please stop, Joanna is harmless!" She declared. The panic of the officers drifted into amazement, as the jaguar happily purred as the pink-haired girl pet her. "Joanna?" Rainbow asked with confusion. "The name on her collar, and she is an animal from the Dimmsdale Zoo," Fluttershy said, before giggling as Joanna began licking her hands. "As I was saying," Twilight said in a diplomatic tone. "You were the victim of,..hypnosis as the hands of three girls." "What?" One of the officers asked incredulously. "The hypnosis is why you can't remember anything," Twilight assured them. "It is an incredibly powerful and requires intervention to stop!" "And this woman, who was part of it," Sunset said. "And we took her out!" She said proudly. "And where are these girls," one of the officers asked her with a stern glare. "Upstairs," Twilight said, holding up the listening device, "and they have a poor boy hostage!" The cops panicked as they heard Timmy's cries and the Dazzlings' furious demands demanding he surrender to them. "Don't worry ladies," one of the cops said. "We'll take it from here," the other one said. "Officers," Twilight pleaded, "I am telling you now that you can't fight these girls. Only we can-," "And you're telling me a bunch of civilians can do a cop's job better," one of them asked with a stern expression. "But-," Sunset pleaded. "But nothing," the cop said, "I'm not gonna let a bunch of untrained teenagers handle a hostage situation." "I don't suppose we can't give you something to change your mind," Pinkie said slyly, before reaching into her hair and pulling out a box of donuts. The cop was not impressed. "Do you really think you can bribe us with one box of donuts?" "How about two boxes of donuts," Pinkie offered, pulling another box out of her do. "You've got yourself a deal," one of the officer's said happily. The others were equally ecstatic as they received two boxes of sugary donuts. "We'll take the woman back to prison and the jaguar back to the zoo!" One of them said. "Good luck, you girls." Two of the officers roughly carried the white-haired woman out of the room, while the other two offered to serve as escorts to the jungle cat. "Don't worry Joanna," Fluttershy kindly assured the jungle cat, "they're nice." Joanna began crowing something. Using her growls, she gradually said 'Timmy'. "The cat knows Timmy," Rainbow said with astonishment. The Rainbooms and the officers' eyes also widened. "Don't worry," Fluttershy assured the female cat in a gentle voice, "we're gonna save him. Just go back to your home and we'll make sure the meanies can't hurt him. With that, the cat ceased her mumblings and gave Fluttershy a solemn nod, before joining her police escort and following them outside. "Thanks for understanding," Twilight said with a grateful smile. "Just make sure that kid stays safe," one officer said sternly, before escorting the zoo animal back. With that, the Rainbooms looked at the ceiling, as they steeled themselves for the fight of their lives. Everything hurt. His legs, his ribs, his face. But especially his arm. He felt like it was...broken. Timmy never felt this much pain in his entire life. Francis and Vicky hurt him, but never this bad. Those two usually just...tormented him. The sirens were torturing him. He hurt so bad, he didn't even know what time it was. He barely felt that Aria was brutally slamming her fist into his back. He was in so much pain, he barely noticed Adagio looking at him with a joyful smile."Ready to do what I want?" Adagio she asked. Timmy hurt so bad, he could barely speak. But he did. "N-no." Aria carried him to the toilet and began dunking his head in several times. "Ready to grant me wishes?" Adagio asked. "No," Timmy wailed in between dunks. Aria began giving Timmy wedgies. "How about now?" "No." Aria held Timmy down as Sonata marched toward him. She had stolen back his pink hat, and was now planning to do something evil to him, based off her creepy smile. Sonata held up her finger, put it in her mouth, and covered it with a ton of spit. "No, not a wet willy!" Timmy wailed, his voice full of terror. "Then are you gonna finally do the smart thing?" Adagio asked, her eyes full of cruelty. "No!" Timmy yelled. With a nod from Adagio, Sonata strode toward Timmy, her finger dripping with slimy spit. Cosmo and Wanda, from within their glass bubble, cheered the sirens on. "Go Princess Adagio," Wanda crowed. "Show that brat-," All of the sudden, the cloud over Timmy's fairies brains had been lifted. Cosmo and Wanda woke up to see their godson being horribly bruised, held down by the sirens, and about to be subjected to the agony of a wet willy. "TIMMY!" Wanda yelled in terror. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She banged her fists, but her magical strength couldn't break the glass. "Don't worry Wanda, I'll just use my brains to get us out," Cosmo offered helpfully. He used a tape measure to measure the glass, and began writing down notes and doing calculations. Finally, the green-haired fairy... Tried to ram the glass with his head. It didn't even crack the glass slightly. All the green-haired dunce accomplished was giving himself a concussion. "Oh I miscalculated," Cosmo said in a daze, "I didn't have enough brains to break the glass." Wanda let out a sigh of dissapoinment, before watching with terror as Timmy was tormented. "I'm impressed," Adagio said insincerely, as Timmy laid on the ground, whimpering in agony from the wet willy. "A weaker child would've passed out, but you're so strong aren't you?" Adagio yanked Timmy up by his hair, and to her sneering face. "Must've been from all the beatings you got from all the people who hate you?" Timmy stared blankly for a moment, before spitting in Adagio's face, much to the shock of Aria and Sonata. The siren princess stared blankly for a few moments, before frowning at the boy with disappointment. "I would normally beat you hard for that little stunt," Adagio snarled. "But instead...for your bravery and defiance...I'm gonna offer you a prize." Timmy's eyes narrowed in suspicion, especially as Sonata and Aria also grinned deviously."Come on Timmy," Adagio said, dragging the boy by his hair painfully across the floor, with Sonata and Aria following along. The sirens and Timmy were on the roof of the building. The chill Timmy felt wasn't just from the wind. It was what the sirens planned to do to him. He noticed on the room was some kind of wooden box. While Adagio held him by his shoulders, Aria and Sonata went over to the box and opened it. Timmy gasped at who came out of it. "Trixie," Timmy croaked. "What are you-," "I'm offering you one last chance, Timmy Turner," Adagio crowed. "Submit to me, and I'll grant you your heart's desire! The glrl of your dreams by your side!" Adagio turned to look at the raven-haired girl. "What did you think of Timmy, Ms. Tang?" "I think he's a dreamboat," Trixie cooed. "AWW!" Sonata and Aria gushed. Timmy once would give anything to have Trixie say those words. But instead of being happy, he was horrified that the Dazzlings were brainwashing his crush. Trixie didn't sound like a person when she said that. She sounded like a zombie, like a puppet. A robot who had been programmed to say something. "You said you wanted Trixie as your significant other-" "No," Timmy yelled. "I don't want her! Not like that! It isn't right!" The Dazzlings frowned in disappointment. "Maybe you'd prefer her as... a stain on the pavement." Timmy felt his blood go cold. "What are you..." "Trixie...walk to the ledge," Adagio ordered. Her eyes growing green, the brainwashed Trixie walked toward the ledge, and stood precariously against the edge of the building. "Leave her alone!" Timmy wailed, tears falling down his eyes. "PLEASE, PLEASE!" The merciless eyes of the elder siren stared down at him. "You can either have this girl as your special somebody...or she'll...die." Suddenly, Trixie let out an odd moan. She started blinking as the spell of the Dazzlings somehow dissipated. She also began rubbing her head, much to the confusion of the Dazzlings. "What just..." was all Aria could say, "What's," Trixie mumbled, sounding like she had a huge headache, "going on..." Trixie, in her daze, walked over to the edge of the building. "Trixie," Timmy wailed. Trixie looked over to Timmy. "Timmy," she said in a pained voice. Unfortunately she didn't look where she was going and fell off the ledge with a yell. "TRIXIE!" Timmy yelled, before collapsing into horrified tears and wails. "You should've listen to me," Adagio hissed as she got into the crying boy's face, her grin clearly showing she enjoyed Timmy anguish. "You could've had the girl of your dreams, but now..." "Adagio," Aria said. Adagio turned away from the boy to look at her pigtailed sister. "What is it, Ari-," Adagio's jaw dropped when she saw what was happening The raven-haired girl's head poked up from the ledge. She was hovering in the air, despite being completely unconcious. Suddenly, Trixie's whole body began rising out of the- The Dazzling's jaws dropped in shock and horror as the rainbow-haired girl hovered into the air, carrying Trixie Tang in her arms, blue feathery wings protuding from her back. Timmy's tears of misery were replaced by shock, surprise, and a small amount of relief. "Rainbow?" He uttered in a weak voice. Rainbow Dash hovered in the air, her wings flapping up and down, while holding the ten-year old girl in her arms like she was her own. Her face looked like it was made from stone. The only visible signs of her rage were the stiffness that spoke of trained warrior preparing to go to war, and the hard eyes that glared at the siren sisters. But when her purple eyes stared at the brown-haired boy for a brief moment, they were soft. As if assuring him that everything would be OK. Despite the pain he was in, Timmy felt something he hadn't felt in a good while as he saw his crush be rescued. Hope. > The Final Fight (Part 2): Shaky Ground > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wanda continued to cry into her hands while Cosmo patted her on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. "Come on Wanda," the green-haired fairy urged her in a kindly tone,"Go to your happy place! The one where Mama Cosma can never, ever visit us and you have all the chocolate in the world!" Wanda thought of herself as the rational one in the family. The one who tried to get her son and husband to think critically about their choices. Timmy and Cosmo often called her a nag, but she knew that she was only thinking about the safety of those around her. The rational side of her brain knew Cosmo was right: crying wasn't going to get her anywhere. (Boy, even thinking those words was odd). But the rational side of her brain also told her that going to her happy place couldn't help her either. Her godchild was possibly in the worst trouble of his entire life and she and her husband couldn't do anything because they were stuck in a stupid glass ball. No matter how many times they tried to bang away, they couldn't breakout. "Timmy's tough," Cosmo continuing in a soothing tone. What Cosmo lacked in brains, he made up for in optimism and bringing joy. The hopeful side of her brain tried to imagine Timmy somehow outsmarting those evil witches, running back here, and getting them out. Timmy had overcome so many odds before and saved them. But the rational side of her brain told that Timmy probably couldn't this time. Timmy was a brave kid, but the rational side he was still a small boy who couldn't reach the shelves, and he was against three sirens who were bigger and stronger then him. They were also among the most ruthless beings she had ever encountered. Wanda once considered Vicky to be the worst person in Timmy's life, but these Sirens were on all whole other level of cruelty and manipulation; Using horrible magic on Timmy, on them, destroying his life in order to make him their minion. and finally brainwashing Timmy into attacking a group of teenagers who she now knew weren't monsters. They would hurt anyone and anything for power, and they were gonna beat Timmy so badly, he would have to give into their demands. Those sirens weren't fools like either. They had successfully conned their way into Timmy's good graces with a good hero act. Even the dumbest of the sea witches, Sonata, was able to manipulate the pink-haired fairy with a good crying act. The hopeful side of her brain reminded her Timmy, for all his bad grades, was crafty, but these Sirens were master con artists. Wanda tried to find something to hold onto. Something that could get her through this hopeless situation. Something that would tell her everything would be OK. But she couldn't, and began weeping again. "Wanda!" Cosmo yelled suddenly. "Look!" 'What is it Cosmo," Wanda wailed, not in the mood for her husband's irreverance, "another squirrel?" "Well yes," Cosmo declared with an oblivious smile. "And it's an adorable little squirrelly, but look who's here!" Wanda pulled herself up and looked. Her tears faded and her eyes widened in shock as the last group of kids she expected came into the room. "What a wretched place," Rarity muttered with disgust as she entered the dilapidated factory. She flinched as the floorboards began squeaking under her step. "It's not so bad," Pinkie Pie said, skipping her usual skip, "I think this place it just-," Pinkie quickly plummeted through the floor, the boards snapping. "Eekk," Pinkie Pie shrieked, grabbing onto the wood with her life to keep herself from falling. Rarity and Sunset bent down to help their pink-haired friend up. "Could use a few repairs," Applejack muttered, while leaning on metal column, only for that column to suddenly bend and nearly fall over. "Or a lot!" Applejack sighed with annoyance. As Pinkie was pulled out from the floor, she looked up, smiled, and started gesticulating and pointing wildly. "Ooh! Ooh! Guys! Guys! LOOK!" Sunset rolled her eyes."What is Pinkie Pie?" "Another squirell?!" Applejack muttered tiredly. "Well yes," Pinkie said with happy eyes. "And it's a cutie-patootie squirell," she cooed. She then pointed upward. "But I also spy with my little eye, something with tiny wings." The three other Rainbooms glanced up, and their eyes widened with both shock and relief. "There they are," Rarity exclaimed happily, "the fairies!" One of them-Sunset didn't remember their names-had green hair, a white shirt, a black tie, black pants, and black shoes. The other one had curly pink hair, a yellow shirt, and black pants and shoes. The green one looked at them with a huge smile, which raised Sunset's spirits quite a bit. But the pink one didn't seem to be happy with her presence. She just stared at her with what looked like a confused expression and a morose frown. Maybe the pink-haired fairy was in shock from whole ordeal. Or maybe she still remembered the stories about how bad Sunset used to be. Well, at least Sunset could prove her sincerity to them. "Don't worry y'all!" Applejack said with a happy grin and a cheerful smile. "We're here to spring you from captivity," Rarity exclaimed. "And save Timmy-Wimmy!" Pinkie Pie chirped. "You can count on-," Sunset frowned as the pink one began waving her finger around her ear. "You can't hear us?" Sunset asked them, imitating the gesture. The pink-haired one silently nodded. Sunset sighed in frustration. "OK girls," Applejack said with narrow yes and a determined grin, "let's get into formation." Sunset pulled out her cellphone and called Rainbow. "We found the fairies. Over." Adagio was shocked beyond belief as she stared at the Rainbrats who hovered in mid-air. She never expected the goody-toe-shoes teenagers to be able to plan their way out of a cardboard box, let alone get past her security system. But they had gotten past her, apparently defeated Doombringer, since that white-haired freak wasn't sending her any messages, and saved that snobby little brat from plummeting to the Earth. Adagio broke out of her shock as she saw that meatheaded athlete put a finger to her ear. "We caught Trixie too. Over," Rainbow said, before turning back to the Dazzlings with a taunting smirk. Realizing that the loudmouthed Rainbrat had an earpiece, her shock turned to snarling anger. She was so close. Close to getting the bucktoothed brat to give her what she deserved. She wasn't gonna let these pony-loving human brats get in her way! Her eyes glowing red, and her hands balled into angry fists, she and her younger sisters unleashed a powerful sonic wave at the Canterlot High athlete. Hopefully, the blast would knocked that raven haired snob out of her hands. Rainbow stood like a deer in the headlights and was forced to drop Trixie in order to move out of the way. "No,' Timmy muttered in pained sadness. The Dazzlings smiled. At least they would make that buck-toothed brat suffer for his insolence. "FLUTTERSHY!" Rainbow yelled, a smirk forming on her face. To the Dazzlings' astonishment, the pink-haired girl caught the elementary school student and flew away with her protectively in her arms. "Don't worry Trixie," Fluttershy cooed in a soothing tone as she carried the raven-haired girl in her arms while flying as fast as she could. "I got you!" The girl just let out a tired moan, still unconscious from the shock. Fluttershy patted the girl on the head as she flew. While her usual compassion played out on her face, underneath her kindness was a thunderstorm of rage at the meanies who had put her in danger. "How could they do this to a little girl?" Fluttershy muttered with barely contained hate. This girl didn't do anything to the sirens. And they were gonna kill her just to make Timmy do what they want. Fluttershy was broken out of her vindictive thoughts when she looked down and saw the cops they freed from the Dazzlings' control. They were sitting on a bench devouring their Pinkie donuts. Fluttershy smiled as an idea came to her brain. Fluttershy landed in a nearby alley so she could change back to her normal form where no one could see her. Once her wings went back into her body, she walked out of the alley and approached the police officers, who were having a very enlightening conversation. "I say it's the egg before the chicken." "No, it's the chicken before the egg. Think about it! The thing that came before the chicken laid an egg, and out came the chicken!" "Excuse me, sirs?" Fluttershy asked, interrupting their conversation in her usually soft and patient tone. The officers turned to look at her. "You're one of those kids we saw earlier," one of the cops commented idly. Their idleness faded as Fluttershy presented to them the unconscious raven-haired girl."Is she one of the hostages?" One of them asked her, his face becoming stern and serious. All four of them jumped from their bench. "Yes, her name is Trixie Tang," the animal shelter volunteer said gently, "can you guys make sure she finds her way home?" "Of course," one of the cops said with a mixture of resolve and compassion. The cop looked tough, but when he took the girl from Fluttershy, he cradled her very gently, as if Trixie was his own daughter. "And um, so you don't scare her, make her think everything that happened was a dream," Fluttershy advised them. The cop holding her silently nodded, determined to make sure no harm came to this child. After giving them one last grateful smile, Fluttershy ran back to the alley, let her wings form on her body, and prepared to take flight. Her anxiety formed on her face. She wasn't the bravest person. She didn't like to fight. She especially didn't like heights. But she remembered a little boy and his magical friends who were still in danger, and her anxiety faded in favor a calm, stoic expression that masked her burning anger. No one messed with her friends and a bunch of little kids on her watch! Raising her arms, she took flight ready for what would be the battle of her life. She flew past a park, saw a bunch of pretty birdies, and smirked as another idea came to her brain. The Dazzlings once again looked at Rainbow Dash with a a mixture of shock and frustration. That wispy little animal lover had taken away their hostage! She heared Rainbow mutter something into an earpiece before looking back them with a taunting smirk, as if saying, "You called us idiots. Now it's us idiots who are beating you!" Adagio snarled and let out another sonic blast at the rainbow-haired goon. She would show her who was- A massive pink blast cut through her sisters' sonic blast. "WHAT?!" Aria bellowed. Suddenly, a third figure appeared in the air. The Dazzlings had often been told countless stories of the awesome majesty of an alicorn princess. The Princess of the Sun could obliterate whole villages, whole armies, and whole nations that threatened her little ponies without a frown or even a raised eyebrow. The Dazzlings heard how she was able to maintain this composure even when she was forced to banish her dear sister turned traitor. Adagio was both intrigued, excited, and somewhat terrified at facing such a ruthless opponent. While Adagio was tough, she knew it would be foolhardy to go after a being who could commanded the Sun without plan. So, Adagio waited until the correct moment to strike, like a predator waiting to capture its prey. The moment when Celestia would let her guard down or would be took weak to fight back, she would pounce. Luna's banishment to the moon had been a prime opportunity for her to attack: Celestia had been at her weakest in years: the banishment of her sister had robbed the Princess of a major ally and source of emotional support, she had been emotionally drained from the trauma of having to exile her own flesh and blood turned traitor to the Moon, and she was magically weakened from having to learn to move both the Moon and the Sun. Her kingdom and her precious ponies had also been shaken by this, meaning they were all vulnerable to her song. But even then, Adagio and her sisters made sure to attack and absorb the negative energy from as many ponies as possible before attacking Canterlot. But before they could have a chance to face the Princess or gather the magic, they had been banished by that annoying wizard and his goons. The destined fight between herself and the Princess of the Sun had been ripped away from her. It was not just a defeat, but a blow to the eldest siren's pride to be stopped by that goody-good's pet wizard. But Adagio did eventually encounter an alicorn princess, Twilight Sparkle, and she was unimpressed. Twilight was an annoying, fidgety, and weak little busybody who had been easily outsmarted and trapped. The Dazzlings wondered how some obnoxious child could've been granted the power of an alicorn when she couldn't even break out from under a stage. But now Adagio saw why. Twilight hovered in the air with massive purple wings and a horn jutting out of her forehead. Despite being human, she carried all the attributes of being an alicorn very well. But what was more striking was the expression on the Princess of Friendship's face. The face of the quirky and chirpy teenager was replaced by a cold and merciless gaze carved from stone. There was no mercy, pity, or empathy in the youngest princess' expression. This was the frightening majesty that Adagio had only read about. Her sisters were shaken too, especially as the Princess of Friendship's horn began lighting up, her expression still unchanging. The three siren sisters shook with anger and fear at that. For a moment, Adagio's faced twisted into terror as the Princess of Friendship charged up her attack. But then Adagio regained her composure as Aria whispered into her ear a wonderful, terrible idea. Aria suddenly held up the obnoxious boy as a human shield. Twilight's composure slipped as she saw the Dazzlings put Turner in the line of fire. "Don't want to blast the boy, do you?!" Adagio gloated with a nasty smile. "ADAGIO!" Twilight bellowed in a rage, and clenched her fists, as did Rainbow. Twilight could get as angry as she wanted, but it wouldn't help her. Twilight had the power of an alicorn, but she was still not really used to this body, and didn't have as much control over her magic in it. Timmy was badly bruised and possibly had injuries she didn't know about out. Twilight bit her lip, trying to suppress her anger at that. Timmy was already in bad shape, and no matter how much she wanted to blast those monsters, she couldn't risk causing him any more pain. "Do it, Twilight!" Timmy yelled, his voice a pained wheeze, much to the shock of both the Rainbooms and the Dazzlings. "Just hit me. I'll be fine, just save Cosmo and Wna-," Timmy stopped as Aria covered his mouth with her hand. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Rainbow bellowed. The two flying Rainbrats tried to fly toward them to rescue the boy, only to be nearly blown away by Sonata's sonic blast. The two weren't hit, but being forced to dodge gave Aria enough time to run downstairs, Turner in hand, and her sisters to fly into the air, ready to battle two flying Rainbrats herself. "LET HIM-," Rainbow yelled, only for Sonata to plow into her with a yell. To her anger, Rainbow felt the earpiece in her ear fall out. Twilight tried to interfere, only for the poofy-haired siren to slam into her. Applejack and the others groaned she had to support all of her friends on her shoulders. Not being able to find a ladder tall enough to reach the glass orb on the ceiling, Applejack and her friends had to form a human ladder. Applejack, despite being a strong girl, strained under the weight of her friends. Above her was Pinkie Pie, who was the second strongest due to having to work in her parents' mines, Rarity, and finally Sunset who was trying to pluck the orb from the ceiling to free the fairies. "Can y'all...reach them," Applejack called out in a tired voice. "No," Sunset muttered in annoyance, trying to reach the orb and failing. It was so frustrating. She almost was able to reach the fairies. Almost able to get them within her grasp. But her fingers were just barely inches away from the orb. It was so frustrating how close she was, and yet so far away. The fairies were also frustrated by the situation. "Ah needs a break," Applejack muttered in exhaustion. With a sigh, everyone climbed off the apple farmer. "This is so nerve-wracking," Rarity muttered, her calm expression strained by how they couldn't reach the orb. But suddenly, Pinkie Pie starting jumping up and down with a happy smile on her face. Applejack looked at her excitable friend with annoyance. "What is it-?" "Look guys, bricks," Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily. The Rainbooms looked and saw a whole pile of them lying in the corner. "So," Sunset said. "If we use a brick, we can break the glass, free the fairies, save Timmy-Wimmy, and throw a 'we saved the day, party!' "Applejack and Rarity perked up, looking at Pinkie Pie with proud smiles. "That's,,,not a bad idea, actually," Rarity expressed. "Yer a genius, Pinkie Pie," Applejack said to her pink-haired friend with a proud expression on her face. She began walking over to the pile, ready to use a brick to free the poor trapped things, only for Sunset to stop them. "We can't use a brick." Three of the Rainbooms turned to Sunset, who looked skeptical about the whole idea. "We just can't!" Rarity looked at the fire-haired girl with concern. "Why is that, Darling?" "Because the glass might cut them?" Applejack inferred. "I can't live in a world where Rainbow Dash is right!" Sunset said, the very concept sounding sickening to her. Everyone glared at the former unicorn. "Alright," Sunset said with a sigh ,"we'll use a brick." She then looked at her friends sternly. "But Rainbow Dash can't kever now about this." Aria ran down the stairs, the bucktoothed brat in her arms. The boy struggled against her grasp. The boy was short and weak, so he couldn't break out of the second eldest siren's arms. But still, carrying around was a pain in the butt. Losing patience with the brown-haired moron, Aria slammed the boy against the wall. He let out a pained wheeze. Out of patience with the boy's disobedience, and needing to get back to the factory floor Aria decided on a desperate idea. While holding the boy still with one hand, Aria reached into her vest and pulled out another Medallion of Manipulation. Timmy began squirming even more, remembering with terror what the Medallion did his mind. In an act that combined, fear, hatred, and desperation, Timmy used his big buck teeth and viciously bit Aria on the arm. Aria let out a yell of pain and was forced to release the boy. Timmy tried to run away, but was tackled by the second eldest siren who lept on top of him. With an animalistic snarl, Aria viciously wailed on the boy, punching him several times in the face. The combined rage of being bitten, being insulted by the brat, and their plan for world domination coming under threat powered the punches. By the end of Timmy had several more bruises on his face, his nose was broken, and one of his eyes was swollen shut. The sheer joy she got from giving this brat so much punishment helped Aria calm down. With that, she bent down and placed the Medallion on his neck. Despite being savagely beaten, Timmy tried resist, feebly reaching for the psychic device in an attempt to pull it off. "No," he wheezed. "You-," Another slap across the face broke his resistance. With the Medallion secured, Aria lifted Timmy by his neck and pulled him to her face. "Everyone hates you Turner!" Aria snarled in a voice laden with spite. "THE SOONER YOU GET THAT THE BETTER!" The Medallion, as a psychic weapon, was no good for getting any emotional energy. But if he could get the boy under her control, he would be an easier hostage. She started squeezing his neck and cutting off his air to add to the pain. "NO ONE LIKES YOU! EVERYONE WANTS TO GET RID OF YOU! IF THEY HAD WISHES, YOUR PARENTS WOULD WISH YOU DIDN'T EXIST!" Her voice become a low, spiteful hiss. "The only reason why those midgets follow you around is because they have to." The Medallion began glowing and Aria's green negative energy also began flowing into the boy. After a few minutes of struggling, Timmy's eyes starting turning green. SHE'S RIGHT! NO ONE LIKES YOU! WHY DON'T YOU JUST- Timmy ran into his room crying. Vicky got him into trouble with his parents again. But his tears faded as Cosmo and Wanda pulled him into a big hug. They were sweeter than all the ice cream in the world. Don't listen her. She's lying because she wants hurt your feelings. Cosmo and Wanda love you! And they need you! To Aria's shock and fury, a small smile instead formed on Timmy's face. "WHAT ARE YOU SMILING ABOUT, BRAT?!" She bellowed, released the vice grip she had on his throat. "Cosmo and Wanda love me," the brown-haired boy chocked out in a voice that was both happy and spiteful, and eyes that were both joyful and defiant. "They've," he paused to let out a pained cough, "always loved me." Aria couldn't help but be amazed. Despite the pain, despite the agony, despite having a horrible medallion on his neck, Timmy could still smile. Aria didn't want to admit it, but Adagio was right. This boy had the potential to be a mighty warrior in Sirenia. He had outsmarted adults bigger and stronger then him, nearly kicked their butts, and now was smiling despite the pain she was putting him through. If only they he weren't some bratty wimp who- Aria was pulled from her brief bout of resepect by hearing noise from the factory floor. She moved over to the windows that overlooked the area from a few stories up and her jaw dropped in horror. Four of the Rainbooms had gotten past the Doom lady and were trying to free the fairies from the glass orb. Timmy smiled brightly at this and tried to yell, only for Aria to put a hand over his mouth. Aria growled in anger, before her eyes widened. Then a sinister smirk on her face as she saw the giant ball that hung from the ceiling. "I think I figured out a way to deal with those pesky Rainbrats once and for all," Aria hissed. She then turned the boy with a devious smile. "And you're going to be a big help." Timmy's brief hope was replaced with anxiety. In the air above the old factory, a siren princess and a pony princess traded blows and blasts. The Princess of Friendship tried to blast the head siren with her horn, but Adagio kept dodging, all with a mocking smile that tore at Twilight's composure. "Oh you almost got me," Adagio gloated as she continued evade more and more blasts. "Why don't you just give me a dumb friendship speech? It's the only thing you know how to do." Twilight just responded with another angry blast that the orange haired siren dodged. Twilight had no friendship speech to give Adagio. She had no thoughts of making any friends right now. The only thing the Princess of Harmony and Friendship was thinking about right now was how she was going to go to the deepest pit of Tartarus, dig the pit even deeper, and dump the Dazzlings there when she was done with them. She was even considering the Discord option and have them turned to stone. No, Twilight had no room for compassion, mercy, or even pity in her soul at this moment. Princess Twilight Virgo Sparkle wasangry. She never felt so much anger and desire to hurt another being since Tirek destroyed her library and threatened to kill her friends. If Twilight had all of the Princess' other magic right now, she would've reduced Adagio to ashes, no questions asked. This-this witch and her awful sisters had done so many terrible things. No, not just terrible. Criminal. Using dark magic on children, kidnapping, assualting a minor, nearly throwing an innocent girl to her death, breaking a deranged criminal out of prison, and larceny of pink hats. She was mostly sure some of the things these sirens did were illegal under human law, but anyone of these things could get a pony banished from Equestria, or sent to a dungeon, or sent to a dungeon wherever they have been banished. But all of these at once- But she wasn't just angry over their crimes. She was angry because these three foul beings had violated something very core to her being: friendship. Sunset's mission with Timmy started out with trying to save a child from corruptive magic that make him into a threat to public safety. But along with that mission, Sunset found another, more worthy mission: giving friendship and love to a troubled and lonely child. Nothing could've shown Sunset's growth as a person more than how she becoming caring and protective toward her new charge, and Twilight was proud of her for that. And the Rainbooms and the other students of Canterlot High also showed Timmy love and compassion he so desperately needed. And these sea monsters stomped on it. They exposed Sunset's dark past to Timmy in the worst possible way, used it to frame Sunset and the other's care for Timmy as a farce, lied to him, and exploited his insecurities and weaknesses in order to have their magic restored. Even when Sunset proved her innocence to the boy, the three still managed to poison the relationship between Timmy and Sunset. And how did the Dazzlings repay the boy and his fairies? Using their dark magic on them, turning his friends and families against him, treating him like a meal ticket and a servant, using him as a puppet to enact a final revenge against the Rainbooms, and finally kidnapping his magical companions and throwing him away like garbage and leaving him in tears when he refused to do their bidding anymore. And what they had done to those fairies- Twilight didn't know much about Cosmo and Wanda. But what little she did know initially didn't paint a very good impression of them at first. They both commanded incredibly power magic and were quite ruthless in how they dealt with the issues in Timmy's life: dumping garbage on people, dropping meteors on trucks, turning people into worms, and making everyone forget Sunset's redemption. Twilight could understand why Sunset wanted them taken away from Timmy, even if it was partly due to a grudge. The fairies and Timmy were both incredibly irresponsible in how they acted and could pose a threat to public safety when they were sufficiently provoked. But then Twilight noticed Timmy's horrible despair after they had been ripped away from him and the photo album that showed Timmy and his fairies being so happy together. Twilight put 2 and 2 together and realized what they were: a scared family trying to protect one another from the monsters that threatened them. Those fairies loved him like he was their child, and Timmy loved them like they were his parents. That impression was only confirmed when Timmy finally stood up to the Dazzlings. Those witches tried to blackmail Timmy by threatening to have his fairies taken away. They tried to indoctrinate him into their horrible beliefs. But Timmy didn't take the bait and violently refused. And he did so because he didn't want to see the beings he loved imprisoned forever and being reduced to nothing but a source of magical might. There was no greater statement of one's love for someone then giving them up if it meant protecting them. For all of Timmy's faults, the love he had for his fairies was genuine and pure. And these monsters attacked him over it. Twilight would defend the boy no matter what. She would save his fairy friends and reunite them with him. Not just because it was the right to do, or because she cared for Timmy. But because Timmy proved he was worthy of power and worthy of friendship. Rainbow hovered in front of the youngest siren, preparing to throw down with her."Alright Sonata," Rainbow snarled, "let's go!" "OK," the blue-haired siren said with a shrug. "But first I need some tacos." She pulled out some hot sauce packets from her pocket and tried to open them. Emphasis on the word "tried." "Ehh," Sonata grunted, failing to open something as simple as a packet. Rainbow rolled her eyes in disbelief at Sonata's inepititude. It seemed almost unfair to beat her up. This girl was a ditz after all. But then she remembered having to save Trixie Tang from falling to her doom. Rainbow didn't care much for that girl on a personal level. She was a snob who rejected Timmy's genuine, if somewhat creepy, advances, and chose to hang out with a bunch of rich jerks who cheated their way to the top. But the Tang girl, for all her faults, didn't at all deserve to be thrown off a building. And while it was Adagio's decision, Sonata didn't even show hint of remorse at the action. Ditz or not, Sonata was still an accomplice in that, along with the other horrible things her sisters had done. In fact, the fact that she could be silly while horrible things just made her so much worse, because she thought they were normal. Her last bits of hesistation fading, Rainbow flew toward the siren, ready to bring on the hurt. Sonata continued trying wrench the packet open with her teeth, oblivious to the angry athlete flying toward her. "Dashie," Sonata asked, gesturing the packet in the direction of the rainbow-haired girl while squeezing it between her index finger and thumb, "could you please open the sauce packet for me?" Rainbow's eyes narrowed in anger. "Oh, I'll open something. I'm about to open up a can off,-" suddenly the packet burst open under Sonata's grasp, and the sauce flew right into Dash's eyes, temporarily blinding her and causing her to crash into a nearby building with a yell. "YAY!" Sonata exclaimed happily. "Thank you Dashie!" "My eyes!" Rainbow shrieked, trying to rub the burning sauce out of her eyes. "My beautiful eyes!" "Can you help me with more taco stuff?" Sonata asked innocently as she flew to Rainbow. Twilight blasted Adagio with lavender colored blasts. Or tried to. Every time she blasted, the siren princess simply dodged out of the way with incredible speeds. The blasts were powerful enough, but they were poorly aimed. "Congratulations, you almost got me that time," Adagio mocked, before letting out a sonic blast that Princess Twilight barely dodged. Key word being "barely." While Adagio was weaker than Twilight magically, even with Cosmo and Wanda's magic powering her, she was far more agile. Twilight, in a rage, tried to let out another magical blast, only to overshoot it. It sailed past Adagio and crashed into a nearby street, much to her horror. "Oh," the Princess Twilight squeaked in shame. "I hope I didn't hit anyone." Denzel Crocker drove his magical surveilleance van down the street. Using his non-broken arm, he steered his van to some abandoned factory. "If my readings are correct," Crocker purred with excitement as he watched the readings on a screen he installed into the dashboard, "there is a magical event happening in this veryi instant." Crocker pulled over and lept out, still on crutches. "With any luck, I shall encounter magic-,"Denzel paused as he saw a massive purple light coming from near the roof. "Oh poopie!" Crocker muttered in fear before being fried with magic. Denzel stood in a daze. "Curses," he muttered, before collapsing. Adagio took advantage of Princess Twilight's brief bout of guilt to unleash another sonic blast. This time, Princess Twilight couldn't dodge out of the way, and was nicked on her leg. "AHHH!" Princess Twilight screamed. The pony princess grabbed her leg. Princess Twilight tried, and failed, to suppress a sob and a pant. "Oh what's the matter?" Adagio asked in the faux-sympathetic voice while floating in front of her, "getting tried already? We've only been fighting for a few minutes." Princess Twilight let out another magic blast, but Adagio dodged it easily. Adagio floated back, and to the Princess of Friendship's frustration, Adagio didn't look at all winded."I guess that's what happens when you float around in a body you're not used to in a world you just don't belong?" The Princess of Friendship hate to admit it, but the siren was right. Magic wasn't just about the power you had. Magic was as much about the brain as it was about the body. In order to perform a spell, you had to properly imagining yourself performing one. A unicorn had to imagine himself or herself as unicorn in order to perform a spell. Alicorns had far more power, but the principle was the same: in order to tame your magic, you had to properly imagine yourself performing it. If Twilight was in her alicorn body, she would've knocked Adagio down easily, because she was in her natural form. But Twilight Sparkle was in a human body. And try as she could, the pony princess couldn't imagine herself as a human performing magic. Princess Twilight hadn't spent enough time in this world to be able to see herself as a two-legged human. The longest she stayed as a human was the week she spent dating Flash after the Dazzlings had been defeated. Sure, she'd learn to walk on two legs, grab things with hands, eat with a fork and knife, and use the technology. But this body still felt foreign to her. Like she was wearing the skin of another creature and it didn't quite fit. And so she couldn't perform her magic properly in it. For the same reason, she couldn't really fly so fast in her current form. She was still a flying novice in her normal body, and she was even less skilled as a human. Adagio, meanwhile, had spent almost a millenia in her human body. She'd been human for far longer than she'd been a sea creature, and had adapted to it. Adagio could imagine herself as a human performing magic, because that's what she had been for centuries. She could fly around as one. She could fight as one. "No, you and your dumb ponies have always enjoyed your happy little lives in your happy little homes and your happy little kingdom," Adagio continued in the same conversational, but dark, tone while throwing another blast at her. Princess Twilight barely dodged that one, letting out another pant as well. To her growing terror, Princess Twilight realized why Adagio could speak so calmly: because she was so confident, so powerful, so strong, while the Princess was becoming weaker and weaker. "You've always had magic, and alicorns, and rainbow lasers to protect you. But all that peace has cost you your strength, and victory has defeated you." Adagio narrowed her eyes. "Look at you. Two minutes in, and you already want to call it quits." Twilight, out of fear, tried to make a retreat. She flapped her wings tiredly, only for Adagio to crash into her and spin her around. Adagio's face was cold, merciless, and driven, Twilight, out of fear, defensively put up her arms around her face, but it did her no good. Twilight felt the wind leave her guts as a massive fist embedded itself into her stomach. Before she could get her bearings, she felt another first slam into her face and then a hand yank her by her hair. Once Rainbow had rubbed the sauce out of her eyes, she found her pony friend being beaten up by the older siren. In her rage, Dash tried to fly over and and save Twilight, only for the youngest siren to start floating towards her, cooking something taco in a skillet...despite not having any kind of oven. "Dashie, you want some tacos?" Before Dash could respond, the taco went flying into her face, burning it. "AHHH!" The rainbow haired girl yelled, her forehead searing in pain. "Ah come on," Sonata whined to Rainbow, "I tried my best." "See Princess," the eldest siren hissed as she beat on the pony princess even more. Princess Twilight tried to fight back, but even as a pony, she wasn't skilled at direct physical combat. "Once you've been robbed of your precious castle, your servants, and your rainbow powers, you're nothing but a weak, little filly!" Adagio yanked Twilight by her shirt and slammed her fist into the side of her head. "Me, I've spent a thousand years exiled from my own home, my family, from my birthright and my chance at glory because of that stupid wizard!" She slammed other fist into Princess Twilight's stomach, knocking the wind out of her. "Banished to a magic-less world and left to starve. Being hunted, persecuted, despised, and chased by these humans for the simple crime of having magic!" Adagio slammed a knee into Princess Twilight's stomach. "Denied any chance at power and wealth for being who I am! While you and your stupid ponies and these pathetic have been LIVING IT UP! AND I REFUSE TO STARVE!" Despite her pain, Twilight couldn't help but notice the sheer rage and pain in Adagio's voice as she screamed at her. And, admittedly, Adagio was...kind of right. Twilight did have a better life than almost any other pony: she had a loving family, the best foalsitter ever, a baby dragon who loved her, and the best teacher ever. She'd gone from being the apprentice of a princess to being princess herself. And she had taken those things for granted; over-relying on the Elements of Harmony, her superior magic, and luck to get her way. She was often so driven to complete a goal, she could ignore logic and morality to do it. Heck, she brainwashed an entire town just so she could write a friendship report. Even after loosening up a bit, she could still get angry and throw a fit when things weren't going her way. It was why she was in her current predicament. She'd basically ordered her human friends to spy on, manipulate, and deceive a ten year old child, and she didn't consider that he wouldn't like the fact that Sunset and her friends only befriended him for the purpose of ripping a magical artifact away from him. Twilight just assumed a total stranger who didn't know about her reputation would accept those actions. Looking back, she realized Timmy did have a good reason to run away from her. And Twilight could understand why Adagio was so angry. While Princess Twilight could understand why Starswirl had the sirens , the part of her felt that it was a bit unfair for Starswirl to not offer them a hoof of friendship and rob them of their home completely. Twilight herself had been scared and nervous when she ended up in the human world. Even knowing she had a way back, Twilight was fearful about not having magic, friends, or the Princesses by her side. The Dazzlings, meanwhile, were dumped into that world without a way to come back, and with no one to turn to. Anyone would get angry over that. And robbing them of their magic was also something Twilight didn't wish to happen. But Twilight had no sympathy left for Adagio. She remembered what she had told her Canterlot High friends when they tried to defend Timmy's misbehavior: being surrounded by terrible people and having terrible experiences didn't give a person a right to be terrible. The Sirens may have had bad breaks in life, but in their choice to bring misery and hate wherever they went. Starswirl may have been harsh, but he was rightfully defending his land from three sirens who wanted to tear it apart. Even after being blasted with Elements of Harmony, even after the Princess of Friendship had offered the three a hand in friendship, the Sirens still chose do even more horrible things. They chose to torment a buck-toothed boy and their fairies, chose to beat him to a pulp, chose to deceive him, and chose to hurt the girl he had a crush on. While Princess Twilight may not be the most socially astute individual, Twilight knew that underneath the rage in Adagio's voice, was a temper tantrum thrown by an angry little brat who was mad about not getting her way. That's all the Dazzlings cared about: getting their way. Adagio never accepted any responsibility for how her life turned out, instead just blaming her hardships on everyone else, and envying others for having a better life. She had shown zero remorse or regret for any of the horrible things she and her sisters did, even trying to justify their actions to Timmy with the "I want to build a better world" speech, but Twilight knew that whatever tyrants existed in this world, the sirens only cared about being the new tyrants. Timmy knew that too. The boy had seen right through their self-serving justifications and rationalizations and realized that their "better world" was built on torment and imprisonment of two beings he cared for, and he would not stand for that. That's what made the little guy a hero to Twilight. Twilight knew being a hero wasn't about being perfect: everyone made a mistake, but a hero could admit they were wrong, make amends, and learn to do better. That's what made Sunset a hero in the end. Timmy, for all his faults, could sacrifice having magic to protect those he cared about. Knowing this, Twilight decided she had enough of this little brat and her head games. Adagio threw a punch, but saw it was blocked by the glaring Princess. With her other arm, the Princess of Friendship yanked Adagio by the scruff of her neck, much to the shock of the eldest siren. Twilight may not be strong, but she had adrenaline and righteous rage coursing through her. With the siren caught off guard and at close range, she lit up her horn, and prepared to make the siren pay. But suddenly her hair had been yanked. It appeared the siren had not been so stunned and managed to use her free hand. Slamming her elbow into her head, Adagio jerked Twilight's head in the direction of Rainbow. Twilight tried to stop her magical attack from being unleashed, but then the siren tickled her horn, activating a reflex that set off her horn. The blast was fired toward Rainbow, who was rubbing her face, ignorant of the magical energy coming her way. "RAINBOW!" Twilight billowed. The prism-haired girl tried to turn around but it was too late. Rainbow was blasted with the full brunt of alicorn combat magic and yelled in agony as her body was fried. When it was over, Rainbow was smoking. After letting out a wet cough of pain, Rainbow lost consciousness and fell to the ground. "Rainbow," Twilight muttered tearfully, upset at what she did. Twilight found herself being put into a painful headlock by the siren princess. Twilight tried to budge, but she couldn't. She was too tired, and had exhausted the last of her magical reserves with that blast. "Sonata," Adagio said, her voice brimming with joy over what she did, "be a good little sister and help me deal with thispesky little princess." "Sure," the blue-haired siren muttered, and began flying over with a nasty grin on her face. With that, Adagio resumed her beatings. Twilight tried to fight back, but she couldn't. With the adrenaline gone, the Princess of Friendship couldn't pull another sneak attack and felt the pain course through her body. She couldn't fight a siren in hand to hand combat, let alone two. The younger siren flew behind her and grabbed her by her hips while Adagio pinned her place with her arms. Adagio smiled her demented smirk as she prepared one last full on sonic attack. Had the two siren sisters not been so focused on dealing with Princess Twilight, they might have noticed someone coming back to catch Rainbow. They might have also noticed the sound of many flapping wings. But they failed to notice and were caught off guard when someone yelled "ATTACK!" Suddenly a whole flock of birds, mostly pidgeons, slammed into Sonata, carrying her away with a yell much to Adagio's shock. Adagio turned and saw another group of birds flying toward her. They hit her like a tsunami, seperating from the pony princess. They all bit and pecked at her. Adagio tried to regain her bearings, only to see something else flying toward her. "YOU BIG....DUMB....MEANIE!" Fluttershy slammed into the siren like a missile, screeching like a madwoman, and slamming her fist into Adagio's gut. Adagio tried to fight back, but the birds kept painfully pecking at her face. Adagio couldn't protect her eyes and fight the animal lover at once. "Say hello to my little friends," Fluttershy sneered, before raising her fists, and driving her knuckles into Adagio's face. POW! > The Final Fight (Part 3): A Phoenix Rises > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Adagio bellowed in a rage as she was pounded mercilessly by the animal lover. Adagio wasn't nearly as skilled of a fighter as Aria, but she could still put up a good fight. But she couldn't do that while fighting to keep a dozen birds from pecking at her eyes. "BATTLES SHOULD BE FOUGHT HONORABLE-" Fluttershy responded by giving the siren princess a vicious yank on her big hair. "HOW DARE YOU!" Fluttershy shrieked in indignation, painfully tugging on the siren queen's voluminous mane. She let out a moan of pain. "YOU MEANIES BEAT UP A LITTLE BOY, AND NOW YOUR WHINING ABOUT 'FAIR'?!" Fluttershy proceeded to punch the siren with the fist that was yanking on her hair. It added to the pain. "YOU STUPID. CHEESE PUFF. WITCH!" Fluttershy was normally a stickler for the rules. Almost annoyingly so, as Rainbow and Zephyr pointed out whenever they wanted to do something stupid and she called them out for it. But after being bullied for so long, she learned you can't fight meanies by following the rules. Meanies don't care about rules. Adagio was the biggest, dumbest meanie she ever met. She nearly killed a little girl just to hurt Timmy. She would never, ever fight fair. All she cared about was power and getting what she wanted, no matter who she had to hurt. No, Fluttershy couldn't let 'fair' control her. She needed to be unfair if she wanted to win this fight. She needed to be unfair if she wanted to save her friends and Timmy. Fluttershy cared for him like she cared for Zephyr. Sure, Timmy may have fed her to a worm, and ran away from her and her friends when she was trying to help him. But she forgave him. Not just because it was the right thing to do, or because Timmy was a kid. Fluttershy understood Timmy. She understood why he did the bad things he did. Fear. Fluttershy lived in fear for most of her life. She knew first hand that fear could make a person do crazy things. Fear could make you think that a jacket in the closet was a monster who wanted to eat you, that a dumb meanie was tougher than they looked, and that North Dakota actually existed. Zephyr Breeze acted like an idiot sometimes, but only because he was trying to be tough in a world that hated him just because he was a boy who wanted to cut hair. Underneath his weird manbun was a scared little boy. And poor Timmy had so many things to be afraid of; bullies, meanie supervillains, dumb grown-ups, and protecting a bunch of fairies he considered his family. Like Flash said, you could only go through so much before you went crazy. And these monsters used his fear to control him. With another whitstle, Fluttershy summoned a vulture, who proceeded to claw at Adagio's face while Fluttershy pounded her stomach some more. If Adagio wanted to be scary, Fluttershy would become the scariest person in the world. All the while, Sonata continued to be assault by birds. Princess Twilight stood on a nearby roof, watching all this with awe. Back home, she knew Fluttershy could be scary when pushed too far. Fluttershy was the only being she knew who could win a staring contest with a manticore. But still, she was amazed as seeing the human version of her friend was mercilessly thrashing Adagio and Sonata and siccing her animals on them. "Not hurting Fluttershy seems to be the law of every universe," Princess Twilight quipped. A moan interrupted her thoughts. Princess Twilight bent down and saw a barely conscious Rainbow Dash lying on the ground, letting out a gasp of agony. "I'm so sorry Rainbow," Princess Twilight said with deep regret, bending down to comfort the prism haired friend by patting her head. Princess Twilight knew about healing spells, but she had already drained her reserves trying to fight Adagio. Princess Twilight thought of fighting Sonata, but she was too exhausted physically to do it. For now, all Princess Twilight could do was soothe her athletic friend. The four Rainbooms once again formed a human ladder with Applejack at the bottom and Sunset at the top. Sunset was currently making a bargain with one of her most detested foes. A red brick. "OK Brick," Sunset said to the red object in her hand. "I don't like you and you don't like me. But for once in our lives, let's put aside our differences and do the right thing." After a brief pause she whispered, "but we won't tell anyone, especially Rainbow Dash." She began leveling the brick, preparing to throw it so that it would break through the glass trapping the fairies. Suddenly the fairies began pointing somewhere. Sunset raised an eyebrow when Pinkie happily yelled, "Look guys, it's Timmy-Wimmy!" Sunset cocked her head in that direction and what she saw made her drop the brick in shock . Onto Applejack's foot, who let out a grunt of pain. The brown-haired boy suddenly appeared in the room. After dreading what was happening to him and worrying about finding him, here he was. But he wasn't looking too good. It was clear the Dazzlings did a number on him; his eyes were black and swollen, a massive cloth was used to gag his mouth, his face and nose were covered in bruises, and he was tied up with rope. Not to mention his balance was so shaky, it almost looked like he couldn't stand on his own power. Sunset would normally be horrified, but she was just so happy to have found him, she put it aside. Timmy must've escaped while the Dazzlings were fighting Princess Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy, the smart little thing he was. "Timothy, darling," Rarity exclaimed happily. The other Rainbooms also smiled with a combination of relief and care. Sunset was so happy she immediately jumped off of Rarity's shoulders and ran toward the boy. She and the other Rainbooms were so euphoric, they failed to notice the relieved expressions of the Fairies gave way to fear and panic. They also failed to notice Timmy was mumbling something through his gag with fear in his eyes. Just before Sunset could happily pull Timmy into a badly needed hug, he was suddenly yanked away. All of a sudden, she heard an all too familiar sonic blast and the creaking and snapping of metal from up above her head. "SUNSET! ABOVE YOU!" She didn't know who yelled. But she looked up and saw a giant medal ball falling toward her. She just stood there like a deer in the headlights as- WHAM! The massive iron ball crashed through the floor, the floor below that, and finally crashed onto the hard basement with a very loud thud. The Rainbooms stood there in shock for a few moments as they tried to process what had just happened to their friend. But the shock was broken by Pinkie Pie whispering in a broken voice. "Sunset?" But no amount of staring could change the fact that Sunset was no longer present. Where the former unicorn stood was just a massive hole in the wooden floor. "Now she's Sunflat!" A nasty voice cackled. The Rainbooms, horrified tears running down their face, looked up and saw Aria Blaze grinning viciously from the balcony. "I had good bait," the purple-haired siren chuckled, dangling a crying Timmy with a fish pole, "and ol'Sunny fell for it hook, line, and sinker." All of the Rainbooms cried in horror at what happened. But soon their tears went from fear and horror to anger. "You...you monster!" Rarity shrieked in terror, her tear soaked. "You killed Sunset!" "Come on down here and face my wrath!" Pinkie challenged the second oldest siren. Applejack didn't say anything, standing eerily still like a statue. Aria, however, refused to take the bait. "Hmm, why don't you come up here, you dumb hick?" She asked in a mocking tone." She then opened her mouth, took a deep breath, and let out a sonic breath at the ceiling, knocking more debris off the ceiling. Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran for cover, but Applejack continued to stand still. "Applejack," Rarity shrieked, "what are you doing!" Applejack knew the world could be a rotten place: The farmer girl had dealt all kinds of varmints and con artists: thieving birds, rats, the Flim-Flam brothers, and the occassional pear farmer. But since she and her friends had entered Timmy's life, Applejack had seen some especially loathsome people: that horrible wench who called herself a babysitter, that idiot teacher who saw the buck-toothed boy as nothing more than a tool for power, those peppy happy fools who had no business being near children, a bunch of spoiled snobs who were all money and no honor, and his parents who seemed to treat him like a burden to dump on others. And seeing so much pain in his life filled her with more and more rage that she could barely contain. Timmy may not have been perfect, but he didn't deserve any of it. But these sirens took the cake. But she never encountered creatures so foul in her life. Not even Sunset at her worst ever filled her with so much rage. They lied to the poor boy, turned him against Sunset, played dirty tricks with his mind, used him while pretending to be his friend, brainwashed his friends and family into hating him, and took away those fairies who were clearly the boy's kin in all but name. And then they sunk to lows she never thought possible: threatening to seperate him from his fairies, making up complete horseapples about building a better world, beating that poor child like an egg when he had the nerve to refuse, and throwing the girl he fancied from a building. And now... Now... They had taken from Sunset from her. Sunset may have done terrible things, but she turned her life around and had become one of Applejack's most loyal friends. And now she was... Seeing Aria's cruel smirk, the sound of her remaining friends weeping, the horrified expressions on those fairies, and the sound of poor Timmy wailing with a gag in his mouth... Something inside finally Applejack snapped. But it wasn't just her pent up rage that came out. It was a power she had, but that she could not access....until now. And power that could only be gained through a righteousness born of anger. "AAAAHHHHH!" Applejack screamed, baring her fists as the debris came toward her. But instead of crushing her, she crushed the massive projectiles with her fists. The massive chunks of falling metal crumpled and broke to pieces, with them flying off. Everyone looked at the apple farmer with shock. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and the fairies looked at her with relief, while Aria looked at Applejack with a horrified expression. Applejack looked down and saw the brick Sunset dropped. Her anger was replaced with sinister smirk as an idea came to mind. Soon the tears of her friends faded as they collectively came to the same idea. "Do it Darling!" Rarity urged her apple farmer. "For Shimmy and Timmy!" Pinkie Pie urged. With that Applejack picked up the brick and threw it at the orb containing it. Bricks were a poor projectile even for someone as strong as her. But endowed with the magical strength of 500 men, it was like throwing a tennis ball. "NO!" Aria bellowed. She tried to fly toward them, but it was too late. The orb shattered and the fairies were free. "YAY!" The fairies triumphantly declared as they floated down. "WE'RE FREE!" The two flying creatures floated over to Applejack, gratitude in their voice, when Applejack held up her hand. "Pleasentries for later," Applejack said in a low solemn voice. "We've got a pest problem to deal with!" The fairies understood, at the euphoria faded as they turned to face Aria. Their faces were soon stone as they approached the siren in midair. Her once confident expression was replaced with panic. But the fairies had no mercy left for her, their cold expressions sharpening as they saw the mistreatment their precious godchild had been put through. Even Cosmo, the ever cheerful and oblivious soul, was devoid of any humor. These sirens had put them through so much torment, and now they were going to pay them back with interest. Timmy's terror and tears faded. Despite the agony he was in, as soon as he saw his fairies, a smile form under the gag. The fairies readied their wands, prepared to unleash unrestrained magical fury on Aria Blaze. Or they would have, had they had their wands on them. "WHAT?!" The fairies exclaimed. Aria's fearful expression was replaced by smugness. And Timmy's hopeful expression faded. With a smirk, Aria unleashed a sonic wave at them, blowing them across the room and slamming them into the wall. "You didn't think we'd let you keep your wands on you?" Aria replied with amused incredulity. "They're in the far corner of the dresser over there." Aria frowned, realizing in her smugness she spoke too much. "Adagio's right. I have to stop gloating," Aria muttered in annoyance while The Rainbooms heard that and started running toward the dresser. Aria snarled and she entered the race against the Rainbooms. She wasn't going to lose to these human losers. Sonata loved adorable birdies. She loved eating sometimes when she didn't have access to tacos. But she didn't like it when they started eating her. "OW! OW! OW!" Sonata whimpered. "Leave me alone!" But the birds wouldn't. Soon more birds showed up and she was practically being swallowed by them. If only she could sing a lullaby... Wait a minute. She could sing a lullaby. Using a soft voice, Sonata let out a song. When she was young, it helped her sleep when she had a nightmare. Now it made the birdies want to rest there little heads too and soon they started dozing off and falling out of the sky. No longer being attacked by birds, Adagio could finally fight Fluttershy without any distractions. But Fluttershy, despite losing her flying friends, was not going to be stopped. Sonata's mouth turned into a mean smirk as an idea formed in her brain. "OH NO," Sonata yelled so loudly, Fluttershy could hear, "THE POOR BIRDIES WERE FALLING FROM THE SKY! WHO WILL SAVE THEM?!" Fluttershy heard that, and immediately turned her attention away from Adagio, her concern for her animals overcoming her own preservation. Big mistake. Adagio immediately seized the initiative, pulled Fluttershy close to her face, and proceeded to blast Fluttershy with her sonic wail at point blank range. Fluttershy felt she had been hit in the head with a hammer as she was blown away. She could barely keep herself awake, let alone stay airborne. But still, she worried about the poor birdies. She looked and... Saw they were flying away, much to her confusion. "Don't worry." Fluttershy saw the youngest siren hover in front of her an adorable smile. "I woke them up from their little nappie, and told them to go home, because I could never hurt poor little birdies," Sonata said with a genuine kindness in her voice. But then it faded, replaced with a bone-chilling smirk that a child who crushed ants for fun would wear. "I can hurt meanie-mean pantses who hurt my big sister!" She let out an angry sonic blast. Fluttershy was too hurt to fly away and was blown against a nearby factory wall so hard, she was embedded into it. Fluttershy coughed and fell unconscious. Adagio flew up to her sister, a proud smile on her face. "Well done Sonata," Adagio said with genuine kindness in her voice, "I am so proud of you." Sonata smiled genuinely again. She liked it when Adagio said nice things, and her smile grew brighter as Adagio patted her on the head. Adagio cocked her head and smirked. Sonata turned around and saw a short distance away were the idiot princess next to the unconscious athlete. "Now shall we deal with the so-called Princess?" "YAY!" Sonata cheered. The two sisters flew toward Princess Twilight with vindicative joy on their faces. The princess looked up and saw that she was surrounded and without any allies. The scared look of the now defenseless and exhausted Princess was music to the ears of the siren sisters. Aria tried to throw debris at the idiot Rainbooms from up above. But every time she threw something, Applejack destroyed it with her fists. Applejack picked up a massive stone, planning to aim it at the siren with malicious intent. "Welcome to the corner of Pay and Back," the apple farmer said ominiously. She tried to throw it, only for Aria to use the brown-haired boy as a human shield. Applejack snarled at her. "COWARD!" she bellowed. Aria smirked and let out a sonic attack. Applejack barely dodged, but felt it sting her leg. It appeared while Applejack's newfound super strength gave her tremendous advantage in physical attacks, she was still vulnerable to a magical attack. Aria smirked and let out another one at Applejack, who was the biggest threat with her strength. "Applejack," Rarity screeched, jumping in front of her rustic friend to protect her from attack. The fashionista, out of reflex, held up her arms and... Nothing. Rarity opened her eyes and to her shock, saw some kind of weird screen form in front of her eyes. To her confusion, a weird diamond-like thing had formed in front of her, only to dissipate. Aria was shocked again and felt her face turn red in frustration. "YOU RAINBOOMS HAVE ALL THE LUCK!" Aria growled in a rage. Timmy, despite his pain, couldn't help but find some amusement in the siren's anger. Rarity agreed. She was lucky. But she didn't care. She smirked and looked to her farmer friend with a devious grin on her face. "You want to be the sword?" Applejack smirked. "And y'all want to be my shield?" Rarity nodded. The two girls turned to Pinkie Pie. Nonverbally, they communicated what needed to be done. Pinkie Pie and Aria raced toward the drawer at the end of the room. From the air, Aria tried to either bombard the pink haired girl with projectiles or throw a sonic attack at her, only to be defended by Applejack's super strength and Rarity's new diamond shield power. Aria became increasingly enraged as that pink-haired clown got closer and closer to the drawer. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. She and her sisters were so supposed to be getting the wishes they want. In a desperate attempt at victory, Aria tried to dive toward the cabinet headlong at super speed. As Pinkie watched this, she felt time slowdown. She saw that meanie Aria diving toward the cabinet, with poor Timmy-Wimmy in tow. With an angry frown, and with quick thinking, she knew she had to put a stop to this. "Hey Meanie!" Pinkie bellowed, pulling some confetti out of pocket. "Leave him alone!" The confetti flew through the air and slammed into Aria's eyes, blinding her. "MY EYES!" Aria shrieked, "My beautiful eyes!" While trying to rub the confetti out of her eyes, she dropped Timmy, who was thankfully caught by Applejack. She gently placed the boy on the ground and began untying and ungagging him. In her panic, Aria flew past the cabinet, shrieking in agony. "How can this get any worse?!" She bellowed. A massive confetti blast blew her back into a nearby wall, much to the shock of everyone else. "I don't know how that happened," Timmy said as he was untied, "but I'm not complaining," he finished. "Neither do I," Pinkie said with a shrug. Applejack looked at the barely conscious siren with an angry scowl. She walked over to Aria, yanked her out of the wall, and crawled on top of her. Aria looked up fearfully at the Apple farmer, who looked at her with a cold scowl. "It's time I gave you a little taste of love," Applejack raised one fist, "and tolerance," and raised another fist. "NO, WAIT!-" Applejack did not wait, and started pummeling Aria, her screams and moans echoing. The other Rainbooms and Timmy watched this thrashing with no small amount of joy. "TIMMY!" Everyone's attention turned away from Aria's beating and saw Cosmo and Wanda flying over to them with joy on their faces. Timmy, despite his pain, smiled the biggest smile of relief in days as he opened his arms. The fairies and the boy held each other and hugged, almost on the verge of tears. "I believe these belong to you," The Fairies turned around and saw Rarity graciously handing their wands to him. Both of them were touched, and began unleashing a plethora of thank yous to the Rainbooms. "What'll it be Timmy?" Cosmo asked his godchild. Timmy's eyes wandered to the hole in the ground and his face steeled into resolve as he prepared his wish. "I wish Sunset was OK and that everything was back to-," a massive blast blew Timmy, the Rainbooms, and the fairies back. The force was so strong, it pushed the Rainbooms against the wall, leaving them in a tired daze, pushed Timmy to the floor, and knocked the wands out of Cosmo and Wanda's hands. "NO!" They both exclaimed in terror, before another big red blast blew them against the wall, knocking them out cold. Timmy pulled himself up, his face going white as he saw who entered the room. A very angry Adagio and Sonata flew back into the room. To Timmy's growing horror, they carried three of the other Rainbooms in their arms, defeated and horribly beaten. Once they landed to the ground, the two sirens roughly dropped the Rainbooms to the ground. Applejack was so busy beating on Aria, she didn't notice Sonata approaching her until it was too late. Applejack saw her and tried to attack, only for the ponytailed siren to throw another anti-magic net around her. The net let loose its magical blocking energies and Applejack's newfound strength was gone. Aria pulled herself up, wiped her lip, and began beating on Applejack in revenge. Timmy saw the wands lying on the ground and tried to crawl over to them, only for very sharp heel to stomp on his hand just before he could reach them. Timmy let out a scared sob as she saw who stood over him. Adagio's face was covered in bites and scars and stared down at the boy with a cold gaze, which didn't change, even as she dugged her heel deeper into the boy's hand. "AHH!" Timmy wailed. A sheepish smile formed on Timmy's head. "Want to settle the wands over a nice game of tic-tac-," Timmy's protest was stopped with a merciless kick to the head. "Pathetic," Adagio sneered. Rainbow woke up, feeling cold water splash over her face. "Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey!" Rainbow, hearing the voice of Sonata, jumped up from her daze. Or tried too, since she found herself trapped in a net. The same magic nets the sirens used against them. In front of her, the Dazzlings stood over her, smug and happy. To Rainbow's growing terror, she saw her friends were trapped in anti-magic nets as well. Timmy was once again tied up, and the fairies were trapped under a butterfly net that had been pinned to the table. Rainbow noticed something else that filled. Sunset wasn't there. "Where's Sunset?!" Rainbow screamed at the sirens, trying and failing to rip the net apart. Her panic grew, seeing the forlorn expressions on everyone else's faces. "What did you do to her?!" Adagio merely gestured with her head toward a hole in the ground. "You, you, YOU MONSTER!" Rainbow screamed, angry tears rolling down her eyes. The other Rainbooms, Timmy, and the fairies also began weeping over what had happened. "How could you do that?!" Adagio's face was devoid of any pity or remorse. "I'm not a monster," the eldest siren said in an even voice. "I'm just an animal in the forest looking for the next meal. Sunnybun stood in my way, and so I had no choice. It's nature at work." "Yeah, get over it you whiny babies," Aria said with more malice in her voice. "Sunset's gone, there's no possible way she could've survived that." "There no possible way I could've survived this!" Sunset said with utter confusion. If Sunset knew anything, is that she was lucky. She was lucky to have been blessed with magical ability and power. She was lucky not to have been banished to the moon, or least given a written warning for openly plotting treason against a sun-wielding magical princess. She was lucky to have brought tons of bits and gems with her into an unfamiliar world, otherwise she would've been on the streets begging for change. She was lucky to have turned an entire school in on itself without anyone realizing it until she had everyone under her thumb. She was lucky to have not been expelled or chased out of Canterlot with pitchforks and torches after becoming a demon, causing property damage, and parking in the faculty lot for the third time in a week. She was lucky that the girls she tormented gave her companionship. She was lucky to have beaten the Dazzlings and been given the acceptance she wanted from the CHS student body. She was lucky to have been rescued from being turned into a worm. But Sunset knew her luck should've run out sometime. Having a two ton metal ball dropped on you, being pushed through two stories of wooden floor, and finally crashing into a concrete basement should've been the end of her good fortune.And yet against all logic, reason, and physics, she survived without any broken bones, scratches, or even a bruise. She knew she should've been grateful, but this kind of luck was just so stupid and ridiculous, it kind of annoyed her. However, not that everything was all hunky-dory. She was still trapped under a metal ball that was far too heavy for her to move and stuck in some kind of basement in the middle of an abandoned factory. "Well at least I have my-," Sunset reached into her pocket, only to find her cell phone missing. "NO, I LEFT MY CELL PHONE BACK IN MY APARTMENT! THIS IS THE WORST.POSSIBLE. THING!" Sunset felt her forehead fall into her face. "How could this get any worse?!" "But now, it's time we claim what is rightfully ours!" A sinister female voice uttered from up above. Sunset looked up in panic, remembering the situation, and realizing her friends and Timmy were still in danger. "And since we can't get this to work," Adagio continued, holding up both wands in her hands, "and since TImmy refuses to give us any more help, we'll have to do this ourselves. Aria?" Aria took the wands and walked over to the table. "What are you doing?" Fluttershy asked fearfully. Without another word, Aria began slamming the wand heads against the table. The two fairies and Timmy looked at this with terror. "STOP!" Cosmo, Wanda, and Timmy wailed in desperation. "NO!" Aria ignored them, continuing to smash the wand heads against the hard surface. Gradually, the wands began cracking near the head. Taking a huge deep breath, got on the table and started stomping of them instead. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING!" Wanda screeched at Aria. "Heck, I barely know what I'm doing!" Cosmo commented. With one last kick, the heads of the wands had been severed from the handles, breaking with a crack that echoed throughout the room. The wand heads clattered to the floor, but nothing seemed to happen. The wand heads laid inert. Yet the Rainbooms, Fairies, and Timmy remained alert and anxious as they watched Adagio and Sonata pick them up. "Wait," Wanda pleaded. "We don't care," Aria grunted as her elder sister handed her a wand head. The three siren sisters let out a strange chant. "AH-HA-AH-AH-AH-HA!" Their magic flowed into the wands. For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, nothing happened. All of a sudden, the wand-heads starting glowing yellow. It wasn't the calm yellow, but an ominous golden color. Cosmo and Wanda looked utterly horrified. "OH NO!" "What's happening?!" Rarity wailed in terror. The other Rainbooms started shaking as well. A most vicious smile formed on the orange-haired siren's mouth. "The power that once belonged to the fairies, a power we've long coveted," Adagio said in a demented purr, "belongs...to...." "Us." A massive light burst forth from the siren trio. The Rainbooms, Fairies, and Timmy shut their eyes. When they reopened them, they saw a horrible sight. A powerful golden aura surrounded the Dazzlings. They smiled a mixture of euphoria and cruelty as a massive energy surrounded them. "At last!" Adagio gushed. "I've never felt so full!" Sonata chirped. "This world is ours now!" Aria declared. Another bright light engulfed them. The entire abandoned factory exploded as a massive form burst through it. Everyone shook with terror as they took in the Dazzlings' new form. It was the combination of a giant movie monster and the Dazzlings' old sea monster forms. It was covered in scales, clawed feet, a large tail, and six clawed hands. The creature was gold colored, scaly, and as tall as a seven story building. A red jewel the size of a dinner table was embedded into the neck of the beast. It glowed with an ominous green hue. It had three sets of arms, with massive-human like hands with large claws coming from each one. It's feet were like that off a dragon with sharp claws. Three massives head jut out from the creatures torso, their necks as long as a school bus, and their heads as big as a shack. They all bore an incredible resemblance to the Dazzlings in their old Equestrian forms. The mean-spirited sneers on the faces of the three heads only added to the menace. "At long last," Adagio purred, "we have shed our inferior human forms for something more worthy of our...power." "Except for the hands," Aria gushed, moving her set of arms. "We really like those." "Yeah, their good for eating tacos," Sonata said. "I wish I had one." Suddenly, a massive taco appeared in her hand with a poof. "And we have magic!" Aria gushed. "Our new form deserves a new name!" Adagio declared happily. "One worthy of beings as wondrous as us!" Adagio thought it over. "We are now...Megasiren!" "Really?" Sonata asked. "I wanted to be Superlizard!" "I want to be Dazzling Deluxe!" Aria boasted. "Superlizard is...the worst!" "You're the worst!" Sonata argued. "No you!" Aria threw back. "You!" "You!" "Y-" "Enough!" The two heads of Sonata and Aria were painfully knocked together by Adagio's arms. "We are Megasiren, and that's final!" The two younger siren sisters reluctantly agreed. "Now where were we," Megadagio muttered. She looked down and saw the Rainbrats, Timmy, and the Fairies looking up at them with terror. "Oh right," Megaria muttered. "Dealing with the pests!" "Man it's amazing how we made all this debris," Sonata, commented looking at the devastation from the factory they destroyed ,"and nobody got hurt!" "Sonata, no one cares," Megaria muttered. "I'm just saying, somebody should've been smooshed!" Megasonata uttered. "I've been maimed, demoted, and burned!" Crocker muttered as she pulled himself up. "Well, at least in can't get any worse!" Suddenly a shadow loomed over his head. Crocker looked up and to his terror, saw a pile of debris coming toward him. "OH NO!" Crocker screeched, holding up his one good arm in a feeble attempt not to get crushed. "not again!" It...crashed harmlessly beside him. Crocker looked at the debris in confusion, which gave way to joyous relief. "For once, my ability to tempt fate has not cost me." Crocker heard a roar and saw some giant three-headed monster suddenly emerge from the ground. "A monster that could destroy Dimmsdale with its mighty terror," Crocker declared. Then a happy smile formed on his face as he pulled out a camera. "And I get first dibs on watching its destructive rampage! Score one for Team Crocker!" Megasiren looked down at the shaking group with sheer joy. "Now that I have the power of the wand, whatever shall we do with you?" Megasiren asked, looking at the trembling Rainbooms. The magical teenagers said nothing, just looking at the monster with sheer terror. "I know," Megaria muttered. "We should give them...the worst fates they could ever imagine." "We wish," Megasonata uttered. The three sirens cackled as the Rainbooms were poofed away one by one, screaming their heads off as unknown terror awaited them.. Applejack woke up and found herself in some weird town. "Wah, howdy stranger!" Applejack pulled herself up and saw some goofy-looking man in a green pear costume approach her. "Welcome to Pear City, Georgia. I'm Felix Lump of the Tubba-Lump Pear Company." "Pears?" Applejack hissed fearfully. Applejack looked around and, to her horror, this town was obsessed with pears. There were pear farmer markets, pear balloons, and pear shaped homes. The man smiled, oblivious to Applejack's growing terror. "That's right. Pears as far as the eye can see. You can do a lot with pears, the greatest fruit ever. You can cook 'em, fry 'em, make 'em into a pie, wear 'em as a fashion accessory. There's...pear omelettes, pear candy, pear..... "AHHHH!" Applejack shrieked, running away in sheer terror, much to the shock of Lump. "I'll say," the man said with a smile. "That girl must really love pears. I'm gonna find'er and give her some more." "Hey, it's our old buddy Pinkie PIe." Pinkie pulled herself up and saw herself face to face with Gary and Betty, to her annoyance. "Welcome to Camp Learn-A-Torium fat camp," Betty said obliviously. "Fat camp," Pinkie whimpered fearfully. She looked around and saw poor, fat children forced to do brutal exercises under mean guards. "What's that, piggy?" One cruel guard said with hit boot on a boy's head. "I can't hear anything you say until you give my 500 pushups." "Doesn't this violate civil rights statutes," the fat kid asked wearily. "Oh," Gary said with horror in his voice. "He said a 'no-no' word. Which means he gets to do 1000 pushups." "You heard'em piggy!" The boy started doing them painfully, much to Pinkie's horror. "Yay!" Betty cheered. The two clowns turned to Pinkie. "Now we can help you start eating nice and healthy," Gary said happily. "Want some nice, juicy brussel sprouts," Betty said, presenting the disgustingly healthy vegetables to Pinkie. "NOOOOOO!" With the Rainbooms gone, Megasiren turned its gaze to the three remaining nuisances. The three heads glared in particular at the quivering brown hair boy. "Leave Timmy alone," Cosmo pleaded, his concern of his godchild overcoming his fear. "PLEASE," Wanda screeched in terrified desperation, "we'll do whatever you want, just-," Paying the fairies no mine, Megasiren roughly grabbed the crying boy from the ground and lifted him up. Timmy started crying in terror. "Oh poor baby," Megadagio remarked with false sympathy. "He needs a widdle bottle," Sonata said, her voice devoid of its chirpiness and full of abashed mockery. "I wish we didn't have to hear his whining," Megaria remarked with annoyance. POOF! A dog muzzle suddenly appeared on Timmy's mouth, making his whimpering unheard, except for a tiny moan. Megaria smiled. "Well that was convenient." "Look at me boy," Megadagio ordered the brown-haired child. Timmy, in too much pain and terror, couldn't. "I SAID LOOK AT ME!" His gaged whimpers grew even more as a clawed hand roughly yanked him by his hair to look into the gazes of the three heads. Timmy saw in their faces the same mean, hateful smile Vicky would smile at him whenever she was about to cause him pain. Before Timmy met Cosmo and Wanda, the only thing Timmy had to hope for was Vicky not hurting him too badly. While his parents were idiots, Timmy knew Vicky had to leave a good impression on his parents. But these monsters didn't have to. They were too powerful to care about what anyone thought. They could hurt him and nothing could stop them. Timmy never felt so scared in his life. "Normally this wouldn't be personal," Megadagio said in a seemingly idle tone. "Sure we've enthralled countless beings, but it's never been personal. Not even with the Rainbooms. Like we said, we're just the predator looking for a next meal, and you and your midgets were just the prey." But then Megadagio's eyes glared with no small amount of hatred. "BUT YOU MADE THIS PERSONAL!" She squeezed Timmy tighter, making his bruises sting even more. "WE WERE GONNA MAKE YOU A PRINCE! WE WERE GONNA MAKE MORE THAN SOME PATHETIC LITTLE BRAT BEGGING FOR ICE CREAM!I WAS GONNA MAKE YOU ADORED! AND HOW DID YOU THANK US?!" Megadagio roared at him, the force of her voice making a wind. "YOU SPAT MY FACE, LIKE THE UNGRATEFUL, SELFISH, GREEDY LITTLE BRAT I KNEW YOU WERE!" "He's just a kid," Cosmo pleaded weakly. Aria and Sonata also glared at as well. "I can see why your parents hate you so much and never wanted you to exist!" Megaria hissed spitefully. "You're a disobedient, selfish, stupid twerp!" Megadagio bellowed. The gold-colored siren smiled a demented smile. "What's that? You want to change your mind? Too bad. A small part of us considered letting you live as our slave, but you don't deserve such mercy. And as the future ruler of this world, we can't less such insolence go unpunished." "Normally we'd squeeze the life right out of you," Megaria said with vicious glee. "But...we don't know what will happen to the magic. But don't worry...we've got something much worse planned for you." Timmy's eyes widened in terror. Megasiren lifted him high into the air. He saw all of Dimmsdale from up above, the lights of the city twinkling like stars in the sky. "Take a long last look, boy," Megadagio muttered in an eerie calm. "I want you to look at what could've been yours had you learned to respect your betters. Soon you won't be able too. Cause I'm gonna destroy Dimmsdale. Brick. By. Brick." Timmy felt himself crying some more. "And your friends too," Megaria muttered with cold hate."I'm gonna hunt them down. And make you watch as I squeeze the life out of them." Timmy let out a muffled shriek of terror. "And no more tacos for you, buster!" Megasonata hissed with as much hate as she could muster. "And then I'm gonna tell him it was your all your fault, and let you hear as they blame you in their final breaths," Megadagio gloated, her voice full of spite. "And then we're gonna stick you in The Room," she finished ominiously. "And by room, we mean cage," Megaria muttered with no small amount of glee. "No friends, no sun, nothing." "We'll make sure the last thing you ever see is your stupid town blaming you as their homes burn. We're gonna destroy everything you love." Megadagio warned. Her gaze turned toward the downed fairies. "And we'll start with them." Using her clawed hands, Megasiren grabbed the two fairies with malicious intent. Timmy let out a muffled noise, possibly a plea for mercy. "They can't save you boy," Megadagio gloated dementedly. "They can't even save themselves." Sunset looked up with horror as this happened. "Do what you want to us!" Cosmo pleaded with tears in his eyes. "Just don't hurt the boy!" Wanda also pleaded. "Hmm...we'd rather do both," Megadagio uttered. "I wish you were goldfish." The two fairies were turned into fish. Then they were thrown into the air. "TIMMY!" They shrieked as the fell back to Earth. Megaria and Megasonata caught them. In their mouths. Sunset stood still with horror as she heard swallowing. Timmy gazed in shock as the two heads swallowed his fairies whole. His fairies. The beings he loved the most. Gone. "Delicious," Aria gloated. With that, Timmy let out another terrified, but muffled, scream as tears flowed down his cheeks like water from a faucet. "Keep crying boy," Megadagio hissed. "But you know that deep, down... you made me do this, because you're so selfish and worthless." Megasiren wished up a cage, and shoved Timmy into it, and slammed the door shut, but not before wishing up a slave collar so that Timmy couldn't remove the necklace. "So we're gonna blow this town?!" Megaria asked her elder sister excitedly. "Later." Megadagio said with a shrug. "We have some unfinished business with some Canterlot brats." Megaria and Megasonata smiled, eager for retribution against the teenagers who had dared ignore them, "I WISH WE WERE AT CANTERLOT HIGH!" With a flash, Megasiren was gone. Inside the cage, the necklace began glowing. Timmy saw everything fade. Timmy saw...Timmy saw.. Dimmsdale burning, his friends in family in chains, Cosmo and Wanda mounted to a wall. Everyone starting cursing his name. "LOOK AT THE LOSER!" Someone yelled. "I CAN SEE WHY NO ONE LIKES HIM!" Trixie sneered. "IT'S ALL HIS FAULT OUR LIVES ARE RUINED!" Chester yelled. "I CAN'T BELIEVE I LET THAT MORON HANG OUT WITH US!" A.J. sneered. "WE WISH YOU NEVER EXISTED!" His parents shrieked. "WORTHLESS!" "PATHETIC!" "WASTE OF SPACE!" Timmy tried to deny it. He tried to say it wasn't true. But even Cosmo and Wanda looked at him with utter shame. It was true. He was worthless and because of it, everyone he cared for was done for. "I am worthless," Timmy said, his voice monotone and his eyes turning a sickly green. "I shouldn't exist." Sunset's horrified shock gave way to anger. These monsters weren't just bad. They lived to cause pain and misery. It wasn't enough to rob him, break his spirit, and beat him to a pulp. And now they were gonna destroy his life, everyone he cared about, and his self-worth. All because he dared stand up for the fairies he cared for and dared to wound those sea monsters and their fragile egos. Suddenly Sunset yelled, a weird pain stabbing her in her heart. It was her friends. She could feel their terror and pain in her very soul. "Help us!" "Save us!" "Someone help me!" She felt those fairies crying out in help. "Get us out!" "It's dark in here." Whatever their mistakes, they were loving parents that didn't deserve to be eaten. "Adagio's right. No one loves me. I guess I am worthless." With a yell, Sunset tried to push the giant metal ball off of her. The entire student body was confined in the gym, waiting for the news that the Sirens had been beaten. They got into their various cliques, sat around one another, and talked about their lives "Have you heard anything from them?" Spike asked Flash. The dragon-turned-dog-turned human boy anxiously looked at the blue-haired guitarist, hoping for some news from Twilight, who he considered to be his surrogate older sister. "Nothing," Flash said with an idle frown. He then looked at Spike's timid expression. Flash, his own brotherly instincts kicking in, bent down to look at Spike at eye level and gently patted him on the head in order to assuage his fears. "Dude, it's gonna be OK. We'll just sit around and make some small talk-," "NO SMALL TALK!" A loud voice yelled into their ear. The guitarist and the computer geek glared at the girl holding the megaphone, riding around in an electric ATV, and wearing the "Hall Monitor Sash!" "YOU MUST BE STILL!" Photo Finish declared dramatically. "As still as...a mountain watching the sands of time flow through the hourglass of eternity atop the-," "OK we get it," Flash said with some annoyance. The bespectacled photographer wandered away to bother someone else. "You, you must act as the rock along the hill..." "Who died and made her hall monitor?" Micro Chips muttered with annoyance. "Good job Photo," Principal Celestia said with a smile to Photo Finish. "I've got," her eyes darted back and forth, "errands to run, so just keep everything together while I'm gone." The photographer-turned-hall monitor- simply saluted while Principal Celestia walked out of the gym and snuck off to a teacher's longue. She entered and approached Granny Smith. "Did you lose your son?" Granny Smith asked her with a smirk. An excited smile formed on Principal Celestia's face. "I didn't lose my son." "And that's our password," Granny Smith said excitedly, pulling on a lever. Principal Celestia fell down a trapdoor and ended up in an underground chamber. "Welcome to the Real Teacher's Lounge," an excited voice said. "With good food, great service, and the best thing of all...NO STUDENTS!" "HUZZAH!" The teachers said excitedly. Principal Celestia looked around and saw all the great luxuries they enjoyed: fancy drinks, filet mignon and caviar, and back massages. "Uh...who's paying for this?" Miss Cheerliee asked warily. "The taxpayer," Celestia said with a smirk. "Government salaries are the best!" The fuschia haired teacher cheered. Near the refreshment stand in the gym, two girls chatted idly and made jokes. "So I said to her "Mummy or Mommy?" Bon Bon chuckled at the joke her girlfriend told her. Lyra was such a silly goose. The white and blue-haired girl smiled as she her began to tell another one. "So there were these two girls and suddenly-," Lyra paused and frowned. "The box is walking around." Bon Bon stared at her significant other with interest. "And?" "No, there's a box walking around behind you." Lyra said, pointing her finger. The red and blue-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, not falling for-," she jolted as she heard a bang and a yell. Bon Bon turned around and saw a box was indeed walking around. More specifically, it appeared to be a group of people hiding in a box and crawling around on their hands and feet. Apparently, they had banged into the refreshment table. "I told you we should've put in eyeholes!" An angry female voice yelled. "Then they would see we're inside." A country voice drawled. "You and your fancy logic," a squeakier voice shrieked. "I need an aspirin," a male voice moaned, "my head." With a sigh Bon Bon stormed over and took the box off. She recognized them as three of the younger sisters and the younger brother of one of the Rainbooms. They were all looking worried. "Hey Bon Bon," Apple Bloom said sheepishly. "What are you guys doing here?" Bon Bon said with a disappointed frown, "you're supposed to be at home." "We know," Sweetie Belle said with some regret, "but we-," "Wanted to see Rainbow Dash kick some siren butt!" Scootaloo gushed. Bon Bon rolled her eyes in annoyance, but she couldn't find it in her heart to be mad at those three girls. While they weren't supposed to bring younger siblings here, she could understand these girls were just looking up to their big sisters. She could glare at the blond boy. "Let me guess Zephyr," Bon Bon growled, "you're here to hit on girls." Bon Bon knew about Zephyr and his creepy behavior. Always stalking girls and following them around no matter how many times they told him no. It was amazing how much of a creep you were, that you had a bad reputation in middle school and high school. "I am not here to grace the girls of Canterlot High with my presence," Zephyr said with a smile, much to the annoyance of the three younger sisters. "I am here for my big sis, Flutters," Zephyr said, putting on a hat that said "Fluttershy #1". Zephyr, for once in his life, looked...adorable. I mean, in an annoying sibiling way, but it was clear his love for Fluttershy was genuine. Suddenly the ground shook hard enough for the building to sway a little. Everyone's chatter drifted into stunned silence as they wondered what had happened. "Was that an earthquake?" Someone asked in a nervous tone that made it sound. Derpy walked over to the door and opened it, wanting to see if the building had been damaged. "Don't worry everybody," she said in a kind, soothing tone. "It wasn't an earthquake." Everyone let out a sigh of relief. "It's just a giant three headed monster just appeared on the lawn." A stunned silence fell over everyone, before a massive roar erupted from outside. Everyone came over to the windows and let out a scream when they saw what it was. They began screaming even more as they saw the monster stomping toward them. Zephyr, however, puffed up his chest. "Don't worry everybody! Zephyr is going to save the day." The blond boy ran over to the door, slammed it shut and.... Put a chair on it in order to block it. "There," Zephyr said triumphantly to the not-very impressed group of students, "now that monster can't get us-," suddenly the building itself began to shake even more violently. In the library, Moondancer paused from her work when she began to feel the building shake violently. Megasiren proceded to raise the roof. As in, literally raise the roof from the building like it was a lid from a jar. The sounds of bricks breaking, boards snapping, steel girders tearing, and debris falling around the building echoed. The three sirens did this with eager smiles, cackling all the way. "HELLO CANTERLOT HIGH!" Megadagio declared bombastically as she lifted the roof clean off the building. "We've," Megadagio paused in annoyance when she saw no one was in the main building. "Oh," Megasonata said in sheepish tone, as if she had forgotten to pick up milk, "they're all in the gym." Megadagio saw that the lights were all on the gym and let out an annoyed groaned. Were her massive claws not occupied with the roof, she would've facepalmed. "Sonata you," Aria began, only to let out an annoyed sigh, "just forget it." "OK girls," Megadagio said in a frustrated tone, throwing the roof away like it was a used up piece of paper, causing even more property destruction as the roof crashed to the ground, "let's take this from the top." The three headed monster stomped over to the gym and began lifting the roof off. The sirens once again smiled, especially as they heard the terrified screams of everyone inside. In the teacher's secret lounge, the room starting shaking violently. "Oh my gosh!," Mrs. Harshwhinny declared bombastically. "We're out of shrimp cocktails!" The entire faculty let out a gasp of horror. "Not to worry," Principal Luna declared triumphantly, "I have prepared for such a tragedy." She took out a hammer and broke the "Emergency Shrimp Cocktail "case, much to relief of the teachers. "Thank goodness!" Mr. Cranky declared with a happy sigh, "I thought we were doomed." The room started shaking again. "What's that?" He asked on a lazy tone. "Oh, some monster is attacking us," Principal Luna said calmly, as if discussing the weather. "Shouldn't we do something?" Mr. Cranky asked her. "Nah," Miss Cheerilee said in a completely nonchalant, even as a small bit of debris fell on her head. "Whatever it is, I'm sure the Rainbooms will take care of it for us." The other teachers gave affirmative grunts. "Besides, our children ought to learn to be more independent and solve their own problems." "Makes sense to me," Mr. Cranky said with a shrug . Eventually the roof came off, revealing the horrified student body assembled. Their terrified stares brought Megasiren so much joy. "HELLO CANTERLOT HIGH!" Megadagio bombastically. "Remember us?!" "Oh, oh," Lyra declared happily while raising her hand, as if wanting to enthusiastically answer a question in class. "You're the new movie monster from Japan." "You're from that video game that came out last year." "No," Megadagio in annoyance, facepalming with a clawed hand. "We're the Dazzlings." The brief pause followed. "Ooooooooh," the other students said, followed by another silence. And then by a collective yell of terror from the student body. "Why are you here?" Stammered Sandalwood. "How did you all get so big?" Megadagio, Megaria, and Megasonata all cackled. "We'll we never got to finish our last song. You all booed us before we could finish," Megaria said in feigned sympathy as she leaned in with a menacing expression to the frightened students. "We couldn't just rob you off such an...experience, so now we're back, and better than-" "HALT!" Megaria paused, as the white-haired photographer she vaguely remembered interrupted her tirade, to her annoyance. "You have broken rule 626," Hall Monitor Photo Finish declared bombastically. "No tearing the roof off the gym. And you must be as silent as a....child in timeout. As still as the rock along the babbling brook, as-," Megasiren was unimpressed and annoyed with this windbag. Gradually, their annoyance turned to vicious joy as they prepared to give a demonstrate of their power. "I wish you would go away," Megadagio commanded. POOF! Photo Finish found herself suddenly in a cannon, which then blasted off into the air. "I am now airborn, like a flying pig!" Photo ranted as she flew off into the horizon. "Soaring like a jet with a broken wing!" The Canterlot student body looked with shock at what had happened to the overzealous photographer, before letting out another scream of terror. "As we were saying," Megaria said, clearing enjoying the terror of Canterlot High. "We we're so angry after you rejected us and our...charms. But don't worry, we're prepared to let bygones be bygones." "If you're prepared to serve fealty to us," Megadagio said, "the new masters of this world." "Yeah, what we said," Megaonata added. The other students began shaking with terror, except for one. "Jokes on you, cheese poof!" Everyone looked to see who was talking back to the lizard. "My sister and her friends will take you down!" Zephyr Breeze declared bombastically, as if unaware of the danger. "Yeah," Apple Bloom replied, albeit without as much foolish confidence as Fluttershy's younger brother. "Our sisters will save us," Sweetie Belle added. "Twilight'll stop you!" Spike declared happily. "And when they do, you'll be so much trouble," Scootaloo gloated. Megadagio looked unimpressed. "Really? Oh that's so terrible," she said with feigned terror. "That would be so horrific, oh what are we gonna do?!" "There's just one problem," Megaria said with a nasty sneer. "We already took them down." The brief confidence the Canterlot students had was replaced with confusion and fear. The siblings of the Rainbooms were shocked and horrified. "You're-you're lying!" Spike screamed, his confidence replaced with terror and panic. "Twilight wouldn't have let you-," "They put up a good fight lizard boy," Megaria said idly, "but in the end, they were no match for beings as powerful as us. And now they're...gone." Zephyr, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo started crying and holding each other. Big Macintosh started whimpering and feeling tears fall down his eyes. Marble Pie started weeping, while Maud hugged her, while trying to stop herself from crying. Limestone Pie glared up at Megasiren, her fists "BRING MY SISTER BACK NOW!" Limestone bellowed in a rage at them. "You don't have to worry your sister," Sonata said in what was sounded like a bubbly tone. "In fact, all of you won't have to worry your pretty little heads about anything ever again. Because we're gonna take away your free will and make you our eternal slaves. Isn't that great?" The crowd responded with another shriek of terror. Some students tried to pile out of the building. "Oh how cute, you think you can run," Megadagio said with amused expression, as if watching some adorable animals in a zoo. "I wish you were all outside." Moondancer heard noise coming from the gym. Out of fear and curiousity, she ran to the gym, only to see her classmates all dissappear with a poof. Her shock turned to panic as heard screams of terror. She saw her classmates suddenly appearing outside, screaming in terror as some big three-headed monster loomed over them. "Now, my little cattle, don't you see how futile it is to resist your new masters?" the yellow-colored one said with sheer glee. Moondancer let out a gasp when she realized who it was. "Adagio," Moondancer whispered fearfully. "I wish you were all in chains!" Megaria declared. Suddenly, iron yolks appeared the necks of everyone, much to their growing terror. "Canterlot will be the seat of my new empire, and all of you will be working dawn to dusk, building our new palace, upon the ruins of this pathetic little school." Megadagio declared to the panicking and crying student body. The three sirens eyes narrowed as focused their attentions on a specific individual. "Except for you!" Megaria growled, furiously picking up a struggling Gilda Griffon, much to the horror of her friends. "NO!" Rolling Thunder shriked. "Please don't kill her!" Lightning Dust screamed in terror. Hoops and Dumbell held each other and cried in fear. "Oh no, we won't kill her," Megaria declared to the girl struggling. "We're willing to forgive her...slights if she serves as our champion, helping us crush all those in stand in our way., and learns her place in the natural order." "I'M NOT WORKING FOR YOU MONSTERS!" Gilda bellowed in a rage, glaring defiantly at Aria. "I would rather be a slave then-" "Perhaps your friends would rather live their lives as worms," Megadagio declared. Gilda stopped her struggling, and looked at them with horror. "You wouldn't?!" Gilda whimpered in terror. Megasiren just sneered. "I wish-" "NO!" Gilda screamed, tears rolling down her eyes. She never felt so scared in her life. Not even when Garble was bullying her did she ever feel so much terror. "DON'T HURT MY FRIENDS, I'LL DO WHAT YOU SAY!" "You'll do what we say...who?" Megaria growled, squeezing painfully. "I'LL DO WHAT YOU SAY YOUR MAJESTIES!" The white-haired girl screamed in fear. "Gilda don't listen to her!" Lightning Dust yelled. "As for the rest you," Megadagio declared to the crying crowd, "prepare your lives of eternal servitude." A smile formed on her face. "But before I rob you of your free will, I think you should meet the little boy who made all this possible". Megasonata presented a small cage with one of her arms. Megaria opened it, revealing a small boy. "TIMMY!" Scootaloo gasped. The rest of the crowd let out whimpers, remembering the boy who once wielded the power of the stone, shocked at his physical condition. "Timmy," Gilda whimpered as he took in his condition. The boy looked horrible. He was covered in bruises, his eyes were black and swollen, he had a horrible frown on his face, and one of those horrible collars on his neck. Moondancer's fear turned to regret as she took in the condition of the brown haired boy. "You said you were trying to protect him," Moondancer whimpered in regret and anger."YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO HELP HIM!" Moondancer growled with clenched fists. "Timmy," Gilda said softly, but the boy didn't seem to be able to hear her. He seemed to be in a trance. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!" She bellowed in a rage at the monsters. Megasiren let out a collective laugh. "Nothing," Megadagio gushed. "This was all his idea," Megaria lied with a nasty smirk. "He hated all of you, and wanted all of you to become our slaves." "Liar! Thunderlane screamed. "Why don't you all ask him yourself!" Megadagio said, raising Timmy into the air. "Tell him boy! Tell him who's responsible for all this." Sunset heard everything, and her rage grew even more, as she tried to shove the giant ball off of her. They weren't just gonna destroy his life and turn her friends into mindless slaves. They were gonna destroy the boy emotionally just for some sick pleasure. Again, all because he dared to tell them the truth. "It's...my fault!" Timmy said, as if sounding like some robot given a command. "EVERYTHING'S MY FAULT!" Sunset started shaking even more and clenching her fists so tightly, she felt her nails dig into her skin. She felt smoke coming off her skin. She felt her skin starting to glow. She felt her hair start to flow and rise in some unseen wind. She closed her eyes as she began to focus in her inner rage. "Now on the count of three, I want all of you will say 'It's all your fault Timmy Turner. We all hate you.' " Sunset's eyes opened, and glowed a bright gold, as she finally let her rage out. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "At last," Crocker said gleefully, as he began looking at his assembled video evidence in his van. "With this, I can finally prove the existence off...FAIRY GODPARENTS! And nothing will get in my-," Crocker's attention was cut off by one of his screens beeping. "Magic detected", it said. "A massive surge of power has been detected." Crocker smiled in excitement. "Really I wonder-," BANG! Crocker came out, and to his shock, the rest of the factory blew to smithereens. To his greater confusion, some figure seemed to be rising out of the ashes and into the air. "What's that?" Crocker said, pulling out his camera. But then a massive chunk of debris came down on his truck. "MY TRUCK!" Crocker shrieked in horror. He then pulled out cell phone, and started to make a claim. "You don't cover damage caused by falling debris do you?" He asked into his phone. "No," he said. "I understand, have a good day," he said politely. He then fell to the ground on his knees. "Oh how could this get any-," Crocker screamed as a giant metal ball crushed him and destroyed his camera. The figure took off toward Canterlot at high speeds. "Leave Timmy alone!" Scootaloo pleaded in terror, not wanting to be part of a plan to hurt Timmy even more. Everyone else pleaded for them to spare Timmy, but Megasiren just sneered. They wanted to make Timmy suffer even more than he already did. "One, two, three. I wish all of you would-" Megadagio was stopped as some yellow-white laser beam slammed into her. The crowd's worries gave way to shock. "OW!" Megadagio shrieked in pain. "Who did-" Another one slammed into her. "OW! What is that!" Megaria screamed. Megaria tried to find the culprit, but all she could find was some yellow blur that was flying to fast for her to see. "Ow, it stings," Sonata whined. After a moment, it suddenly stopped, much to the three's confusion. "What happened?" Megadagio yelled in confusion. She suddenly noticed the yellow blur around her legs. When she looked down, she saw that something had tied their legs together. With power lines, much to their horror. "Oh seaweed," Megadagio muttered, before she and her sisters were brutally electrocuted. In utter pain, and with their legs tied together, they tripped and fell painfully to the ground. They dropped Gilda, who fell down, but was caught by the crowd, much to her surprise and joy. But her relief was short-lived when they saw another horrifying sight. "Timmy's falling!" Scootaloo yelled. The crowd watched as Timmy fell through the air, yelling all the way, only to be relieved as the same blur caught him. The being that caught Timmy yanked the collar off of him, ripped the necklace away from him, and surrounded Timmy with a yellow glow that cured all his bruises and injuries. Timmy didn't know what happened. He was seeing everyone blame him for everything and he felt himself falling. Then suddenly, it stopped and everything went dark. And then there was a bright light. He saw....he saw.... “Daydream Shimmer" - MLP: Equestria Girls - Friendship Games BGM - YouTube Wanda singing to make him feel better after a bad day. Playing video games with Sunset. Sunset taking him to school in a motorcycle. Sunset tutoring him and helping him not fail a test. Sunset giving him a chance to make it up to her after lying to her. Enjoying a nice meal with the Apple Family. Sunset standing over him, playing a guiter with a smile. Rainbow and Scootaloo helping him practice running track. Rarity watching Kissy Kissy Goo Goo with him. Him happily running at the Dimmsdale track contest with Sunset and his friends cheering him on. Sunset comforting him after those rich jerks cheated him. Gilda teaching him how to fight. Rumble and his friends welcoming him to their team. Pinkie Pie making Timmy laugh after he had been humiliated. Chester, AJ, Sanjay, and Elmer hugging him and telling him it would be OK after he accidentally hurt them. His parents holding his hands and smiling after saving him from being expelled. And...and... Cosmo and Wanda giving him their great hugs. Maybe....maybe...he wasn't a failure. Maybe.... Timmy could barely open his eyes. But still he noticed something. The pain was gone. Heck, he felt better than ever. He also noticed the horrible necklace and the collar was gone too. He finally opened his eyes and saw... "Sunset." It was Sunset. Her same face. The same pretty smile that told him everything would be all right. But her eyes had some red line on them, and her skin was glowing. He realized that he was flying. "Sunset," Timmy said, a smile and happy tears flowing down his eyes. "You're OK!" Sunset landed on some tree in a branch. "Of course I'm OK!" Sunset said, as if Timmy said the silliest thing in the world. Timmy took in how Sunset changed. Her usual clothes were replaced with some pink and white dress and gold colored boots that would normally be girly, but looked awesome on her. Her skin was glowing, and she had big wings growing out of her back that looked like they were made of light. A large horn made of white light came out of her head, and her hair was standing up on its own. She looked so powerful and so mighty. But Timmy didn't feel scared of her. She looked at him the way Cosmo and Wanda would, and his parents would when they remembered they existed. Her smile was one of the prettiest things in the world. "Sun-," Timmy began, only for Sunset to gently raise her hand, which caused Timmy's mouth to close. "I can save everybody, and save Cosmo and Wanda," Sunset said with both gentleness and firmness in her voice, "but you have to stay here and be quiet. OK?" Timmy remembered what was at stake, and simply nodded respectfully. "OK." Sunset pulled Timmy into one of the best hugs he ever had and patted him on the head. "Don't worry, Timmy, I keep you safe. I won't let those monsters hurt you or anyone else-" "WHO DID THAT?!" Megadagio bellowed. "Show yourself, chicken!" Megasonata shrieked. "No fair!" Megasonata whined. Sunset released Timmy, her warm expression faded, and then flew away. Timmy looked at Sunset with awe. Sunset wasn't angry. She wasn't even the quiet angry. It was the calm, determined face of someone who wasn't going to stop. Who wasn't going to quit. Who wasn't going to down with a fight. She wasn't angry, because she knew she was going to win. It was the face of a superhero. Sunset, her face twisted into calm, flew directly in front of the Megasiren who pulled herself up. The three heads twisted into shock as they saw who approached. "Well, well, well what a pest you are?" Megadagio commented in a voice that became increasingly angry. "Why don't you just give up and surrender?!" Sunset didn't dignify that with a response, staring at them with an utterly flat expression. Megasonata looked at the crowd of the scared students and decided to torment them with a wish. Sunset seemingly read their mind and let a blast come out of her hand. A massive magical dome made of gold surrounded the students. The fear on the faces of the CHS students was replaced with hope and exhilration as they saw that Sunset wouldn't let the monster hurt them. "Don't bother with Timmy either," Sunset said, her voice ethereal and utterly calm, as if she saw the Dazzlings as insignifcant as an ant. "I've put him where you can't fight him. It's just you...and me." "Go Sunset!" Some students cheered. "Kick their butts!" Another student said. "You're the greatest!" Megadagio growled at the praise Sunset was getting, but suppressed her envy as she prepared for battle. "Fine. Show us what you've got, Sunny-bun!" Sunset put out her arms and flew toward them. Ready for the fight for her life. She was not fighting for herself, not for her own glory, and certainly not for revenge. There was nothing on her mind, but the safety of the humans she come to see her own friends, and the well-being of the little boy who she saw as her own little brother. Her goal was as pure as could possibly be. And she would not fail. > The Final Fight (Part 4): The Last Round > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The sky over Canterlot High lit up with several blasts going back and forth. Sunset fired off her sunbeams at the Megasiren while the three headed monster fired off its red sonic blasts. The Dazzlings treated the battle like a game, looking like sadistic children who stomped on ants for fun. They also taunted Sunset hoping to throw the former unicorn off her game. "That's pretty good...for Celestia's little outcast!" Megadagio ridiculed. "You're so weak, you weren't even good enough to be that stupid princess' puppet!" Megaria said. "Haha, you are...the worst!" Megasonata said in a highly childish taunt. Sunset responded with a stoic expression and another blast. The fire-haired girl, however, wasn't reacting in any way to these taunts. The former student of Princess Celestia wore a face that was cold, silent, and above all, confident. As much as she would like to go off into a rage, it was not only wasteful, but it would affect her ability to battle. She remembered Celestia's advice when it came to dealing with an evil opponent: "Throw your anger into attacks, not into your emotions." Celestia's power came not only her control of her sun, but her ability to control her feelings no matter the situation. Losing control would weaken her, and Sunset could not afford to be weak, to give these monsters power over her. Once upon a time, they taunted her over her insecurities, and it had worked. But she would not let them get under her skin. There was too much on the line for her to lose control and she was too mature- "Tickle Fruit 2 was silly!" Megasonata chirped. That ticked off Sunset. "How dare you?!" Sunset's hands lit up and her face contorted into an utter rage. "You can attack my friends, destroy my school, and threaten to take over the world. But nobody and I mean nobody insults Tickle Fruit 2!" Sunset's blasts increased in tempo in rage, and she tried to blast the beasts to oblivion. But still, it was frustrating battling them. No matter how hard she tried, Sunset didn't seem to leave a mark. On the other hand, neither could they. In terms of magic, they seemed evenly matched. Sunset barely dodged a combined energy blast from the Dazzlings. It appeared Sunset needed to get creative. Sunset smirked as she had an idea. Raising her arms toward the sky, Sunset took off into the air, much to the confusion of the Dazzlings. "HA HA HA!" Megaria cackled, "she ran away, the little chicken!" "Yeah!" Megadagio said, only to pause as she saw what looked like a comet falling out of the sky. "What the-," High in the air, Sunset fell to the ground at terminal velocity, confident that when she hit the ground, she would slam into the Dazzlings like a projectile. To add to the pain, she had one more weapon at her disposal. Mr. Turner's bat. "Time to put the Home Defense System to good use!" Sunset said. "She's coming toward us!" The Dazzlings tried to blast her, only she was moving so fast, she cut through the sonic blasts like tissues!" They could only watch wearily as the bat came toward them. CRASH! A massive explosion ensued. When the dust settled, Sunset found herself in a crater, exhausted, but with a proud expression, holding the Home Defense System up like a sword. "Sunset did it!" Someone in the crowd exclaimed. "She beat the monsters!" Everyone cheered, including Timmy, who watched the battle from a safe distance. Only for the monsters to suddenly appear from above Sunset in a poof, much to the horror of everyone else. "Oh-," Sunset began, only to be crushed as the Dazzlings landed on top of her. Despite being superpowered, Sunset was still much smaller than the Dazzlings, and so getting brutally bodyslammed by a giant, three story monster still took the wind out of her, even if it didn't kill her. "We wished ourselves out of the way!" Megadagio said with maniacal glee. "Isn't wishing great?" "Oh poor Sunny," Megaria taunted. The fire-haired girl regained her bearings and tried to blast the monster with her horn. Only for the monster to suddenly pick Sunset up in her palm and direct the attack toward the dome protecting Canterlot's students, who let out a shriek of horror as their magical defense toward them. Timmy also watched with this with enormous terror. "Leave them alone," Sunset said feebly. Megadagio responded by slamming Sunset to the ground with her arms, and later having Megaria drop a giant boulder on top of Sunset, who let out a groan of pain. "Now that the annoyance," Megadagio said, clearly thinking of Sunset as less than a bug, "is taken care off." Megasiren began marching ominously toward the screaming and undefended students,"we can finally put these brats into their proper place." "No," Sunset screamed. She tried to push the boulder off her, only for it too strong. The Dazzlings also did a number on her, making it even harder. She began focusing her internal energies on the boulder, hoping to blast if off of her. But to her horror, she would not be able to do this in time to save everyone else. Timmy watched with despair as the three-headed beast marched toward the students. The Dazzlings smiled, took a deep breath, and smiled as they prepared to bring the students under their spell. Only for something to slam into Megasiren's clawed foot. "AHHHH!" The three heads bellowed in pain. "WHO DARED-" The three heads looked in shock. They saw an ATV had plowed into their foot. What was more shocking, for both the sirens and the students assembled, was the person who had attacked monster. Moondancer had driven the ATV, and was a little dazed by the impact, but she looked like she was without a care in the world, glaring up at Megasiren. The three heads let out a bellow of rage, angrily picking up the red and purple haired girl in Megaria's clawed hand. "YOU...TRAITOR!" Megadagio yelled in a rage. "We were gonna give you power! We were gonna make you adored! We were gonna help you get revenge against these brats! And now you're helping-," Moondancer was afraid, but still she glared at the siren princess in utter defiance. "I don't care about power! I don't care about revenge! You told me you were trying to protect the boy! I'd rather be alone for the rest off my life than let you monsters HURT HIM AGAIN!" Everyone was shocked speechless at Moondancer's passion. Timmy watched this with no small amount of melancholy. She barely knew this girl, and now she was risking her life to protect him. Timmy's brief admiration faded as Megadagio let out a screech of anger. "Very well," Megaria said in a voice of barely contained anger. "Since you protect the little brat, it's only fair to give you his fate." The three monsters mouths lit up, as the prepared to wish up an incredibly cruel punishment. Moondancer was deeply terrified, but she thought about the little boy who Sunset cared for, and remembered how she gave these monsters the power they needed, and she pushed it aside, accepting her demise with a calm dignity. Only for a boulder to explode, and for Sunset to fly in front of them, trying to save Moondancer. The sirens saw this and smiled. "I wish Moondancer who fly far away!" Megasonata said. Moondancer found herself poofed into a cannon and blasted off at high speed. Sunset immediately flew up to catch Moondancer before she could fly away too fast. "Thanks," Moondancer said as Sunset flew her back down to Earth, cradled in her arms. "You saved my friends," Sunset said in a stern tone. Moondancer was stunned. Not just by the transformation of Sunset. But the way Sunset changed so much. The snide girl who humiliated her and drove her from school was almost entirely gone. But before Moondancer could reflect more, she felt Sunset flying faster. "Sunset what's-," Moondancer paused, only to see what was happening. Sunset was distracted trying to save Moondancer, and in her distraction, she had given the Dazzlings the opening to take control of her classmates using their song. "HA HA HA, HA HA HA! HA HA HA HA HA HA!" With the song, the green fog flowed out of the Dazzlings., much to their horror. "Don't you have more earplugs," Flash asked Vinyl? Vinyl simply handed him a note saying "I'm a girl who earns a music store salary, not an armory." The Dazzlings remembered Vinyl and how she escaped their brainwashing. "I wish your headphones were gone," Megaria said. With a poof, Vinyl's headphones vanished, much to her horror, as they were the only thing protecting her from their song. Within minutes, the entire student body fell under the spell of the Dazzlings. They soon moaned like zombies and let out phrases like "Yes, oh mistresses!", their eyes turning an unhealthy green. "NO!" Sunset screamed, not wanting her friends to be like puppets. She roughly dropped Moondancer off behind the horse statue, letting out a brief sorry for the rough landing, and rocketed toward the Dazzlings. Before her brainwashed friends could march toward Megasiren, Sunset unleashed her magic to clear their minds. It came out like strings, each one connecting toward the students to help them regain their free will and keep them from marching toward the three-headed monster. It seemed to work, only for the sirens to do the same. Their twisted magic came out like green strings, each one trying to pull the students toward them. Soon, Sunset and the Dazzlings had a weird game of magical tug-of-war, trying to keep her friends from going over to the monsters. To her horror, Sunset felt herself losing. She was still badly hurt by the Dazzlings' crushing her, and she lost a lot of power trying to save Moondancer, and with her wasted attack on them. The Dazzlings, meanwhile, didn't look at all winded. Despite having taken on the form of a three-headed monster, and despite all their attacks, they didn't look at all tired. They knew this, and smiled. "See Sunny," Megadagio gloated, "this is why we'll always win! Unlike you, we can make the tough choices!" "You actually wasted your energy to save Goondancer, the little brat who got you into this mess!" Megaria snidely commented. From behind the statue, Moondancer frowned guiltily and felt tears fall down her eyes. "Unlike you, we can make the tough choices in life," Megadagio said. A weirdly maganimous smile formed on her face. "But since you put up a good fight, we'll go easy on you!" Sunset pretended not to care what the sirens were saying, still trying to stop them from luring in her friends. "Serve us loyally, and you may keep your human pets," Megadagio said in what sounded like a sympathetic tone. "C'mon Sunny," Megaria said in an oddly friendly voice. "You wanted this, didn't you: having this pathetic monkeys serve you, adoring your forever." "Pretty please with sugar and a taco on top!" Megasonata gushed. "NO!" Sunset denied. "If you serve us, we might even spare that stupid little brat who got in your way!" Megadagio added. Sunset barely avoided looking back to wear Timmy was. Sunset knew she couldn't make a deal with these monsters, but she also knew she couldn't stop them. "Or perhaps we'll crush them to death like the little bugs they are," Megadagio said, the friendliness in her voice vanishing, "and hunt down that little brown-haired brat and squeeze the life out of him right in front of you. Your choice Sunny. Clock is ticking!" "What do I do?" Timmy said to himself fearfully as he watched the horrible scene unfold before him. Never before in his life did things seem so hopeless. Even the times when Cosmo and Wanda were taken away from him, or he couldn't have access to his magic, he was sure something would come through for him or he would figure out a way. Even when the Dazzlings beat him up and threatened to throw Trixie off the roof, something did come through for him: Sunset and her friends came to rescue him and his fairies. And then Sunset became a superhero and started beating up the Dazzlings. And then she was supposed to win. That's how it was supposed to work in the comic books, wasn't it? The good guys win and the bad guys lose? Instead, Sunset was struggling to keep her friends from becoming the slaves of the Dazzlings. Timmy knew Sunset was strong, but he could tell she was running out of energy, since she was straining to stop them from falling under their spell. And based on how the Dazzlings were smiling and gloating, they had plenty of power from Cosmo and Wanda's wands. No Timmy couldn't deny it: Sunset was gonna lose; the Dazzlings were too powerful. Timmy hugged his knees and starting to whimper. It wasn't supposed to end with Sunset having to choose between protecting him and her friends, and letting the Dazzlings rule the world. It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. He looked down and- Timmy's eyes widened when he saw what was on the ground. It was a copy of Da Rules. He didn't know how it got here. Maybe the Dazzlings accidentally brought it with them. His eyes widened as an idea came to his brain. Timmy carefully slid down the tree trunk, walked over to the Da Rules, and picked it up. He an idea, but in order to go through with it, he needed to read it again to be sure. He turned to the right page and read it aloud: "Should a child declare, 'I am happy and I don't need my god parents anymore,' the fairies shall be taken away and given to another, more miserable child." Timmy frowned more morosely as read the final part of the rule. "The godchild will have the memories of their time with their fairy godaparents taken away." Out of all the rules, Timmy thought this one was the most unfair. Timmy could accept not having wishes anymore. In order to be a grownup, he needed to live without Cosmo and Wanda. He could accept never seeing Cosmo and Wanda again. They'd be probably be too busy with their godchild to have time for him anymore, let alone be able to visit all their other former godchildren. But why did he have to forget about them? Why spend time with him at all if he had to forget they ever existed?! Why shouldn't he be allowed to remember the beings who made him feel loved when no one else did?! If fairies were about making kids happy, wouldn't taking away his good memories of them make him unhappy again?! "LAST CHANCE, SUNNYBUN!" Megadagio bellowed to the conflicted Sunset. "Swear fealty to me, or I'll crush all your friends." Timmy watched with horror as the Canterlot students marched closer and closer to the Dazzlings. He had no choice did he. Sunset didn't have enough power to stop the sirens, the kids of Canterlot were in danger, and even if they did actually spare him, Cosmo and Wanda would still be their lunch, and the world would be theirs' Timmy remembered when he wanted to be an adult. He thought being adult meant doing whatever you wanted, and not having to follow the rules. Boy was he wrong. Being an adult was hard. It meant doing your own dishes and doing your own work, and that was when you didn't have kids. Having kids meant you had to sacrifice for them. Cosmo and Wanda sacrificed their time and magic to make him happy. His parents could be selfish and dumb jerks, but they sacrificed to give him food, a bed, and a roof over his head. Sunset and her friends sacrificed for him too. Yeah, they didn't do it for the right reasons, but they still tried to help him. They even tried to save him even after the mean and stupid things he did to them. If he had wanted to save everyone, Timmy had to give up....what he loved the most. Tears rolling down his eyes, Timmy opened the book and began reading the phrase that would end this once and for all . "I'm happy and I don't need-" "THIS IS WHY WE WILL ALWAYS WIN!" Megaria gloated, "because we'll do whatever it takes to win, while goody-toe-shoes like you care about rules and laws and that junk." Timmy ceased uttering his phrase for a moment as another thought came to him. Rules. Rules. Timmy's eyes widened as he remembered certain things. "Now, I don't say this very often but...we're sorry for what we did." The words shocked Timmy. She never imagined the sea monsters of being capable of any apology. His shock turned to suspicion. "Oh really," Timmy muttered with narrowed eyes. "We realize that deep down you're a smart, intelligent, and really cool kid," Adagio said. "Yeah," Sonata said cutely, "and, you're a real cutie patootie." The ponytailed siren proceeded to pinch Timmy's cheeks, much to his annoyance. "You're a tough cookie," Aria said, albeit without much gusto. "Maybe we...should start over and pretend none of this ever happened," Adagio offered in what sounded like a sincere tone. He was too angry and in too much danger to realize it then, but why didn't the sirens just mess with his mind to make him grant wishes? They never really wanted him around and they certainly didn't want to share Cosmo and Wanda's magic with him. All they cared about was making him into their wish slave. But now Timmy realized, the only reason the Dazzlings didn't turn him into a wish slave was because they couldn't. Soon, Timmy began other moments where the Dazzlings magic...didn't work. "Trixie...walk to the ledge," Adagio ordered. Her eyes growing green, the brainwashed Trixie walked toward the ledge, and stood precariously against the edge of the building. "Leave her alone!" Timmy wailed, tears falling down his eyes. "PLEASE, PLEASE!" The merciless eyes of the elder siren stared down at him. "You can either have this girl as your special somebody...or she'll...die." Suddenly, Trixie let out an odd moan. She started blinking as the spell of the Dazzlings somehow dissipated. She also began rubbing her head, much to the confusion of the Dazzlings. "What just..." was all Aria could say, "What's," Trixie mumbled, sounding like she had a huge headache, "going on..." Trixie, in her daze, walked over to the edge of the building. "Trixie," Timmy wailed. Trixie looked over to Timmy. "Timmy," she said in a pained voice. Unfortunately she didn't look where she was going and fell off the ledge with a yell. The second they used the word kill, the magic...failed. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR LOSER! DO IT! FINISH HER FOR GOOD! ARE YOU STUPID! But Timmy couldn't. Timmy saw that Sunset could've fire that gun at him. But didn't. Timmy saw Sunset's face. It wasn't angry or scared. She was smiling at him, and she had tears in her eyes. Timmy heard Sunset speak. She admitted she was wrong, and she begged not for herself, but for her mi-,no friends. She said she wanted him to be happy. Timmy felt tears go down his eyes. DO IT! DO IT! "NO!" Timmy screamed. The red faded from his face, his eyes turned blue, and the bad thoughts went away. When he blinked, he saw what he had done. The second Timmy's rage died down, the brainwashing stopped and Timmy saw with absolutely clarity the horrible deed he nearly committed. Sure Sunset and her friends did lie and deceive him, but they didn't deserve to be turned into worms and bird food. There were others moments where the magic didn't work: Sunset's friends regaining their good memories of her, the fact that Sunset survived being crushed under a ball. The brown-haired boy suddenly began flipping through the pages of the Da Rules, as an idea came to his brain. "THINK ABOUT WHO YOU LOVE!" Both Sunset and Meagsiren paused in shock. The found a certain brown-haired boy marching toward the battlefield, megaphone in hand. Sunset looked terrified and angry. "TIMMY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I TOLD YOU TO-" "ALL OF YOU, THINK ABOUT YOUR MOMS!" He screamed. "What's he doing?" Megadagio said in a tone that indicated she thought of the brat as little more than a nuisance. "Nothing important," Megaria said with a wave of a clawed hand. Focusing on trying to lure the enthralled teenagers over to her, "we'll deal with him later-," "THINK ABOUT YOUR MOMS, YOUR DADS!" Timmy continued. "THINK ABOUT YOUR BROTHERS, SISTERS, AUNTS, UNCLES, COUSINS! THINK ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU CARE ABOUT THEM, AND WHAT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THEM IF THE DAZZLINGS WIN!" Timmy took a deep breath and continued. "YOU LOVE FAMILIES MORE THAN YOUR MONSTERS. TRY AND REMEMBER FOR THEM!" Megasiren rolled their eyes, unimpressed with this appeal, until one of them started mumbling something. "Fluttershy," Zephyr muttered under his breath, suddenly stopping in his track. Megasiren's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?!" Megadagio screamed, tugging at Zephyr's magical string. "You are supposed to obey us! C'mon Zephyr. Serve us, and you can have any girl you want!" Zephyr started marching forward, a dazed smile on his face, only to pause as someone else came into his mind. Flutershy. The sister who loved him, who cared about him, who stood up for his love for cutting hair no matter how many times she embarassed him or acted like a lout. C'MON a nasty voice whispered into his ear. YOUR SISTER IS AN ANNOYING CREEP WHOSE THE REASON THE GIRLS DON'T- FLUTTERSHY LOVES YOU! SHE'S HARD ON YOU BECAUSE SHE CARES ABOUT YOU! Yes she did. And he would never work for the monsters who hurt her. Not for all the girls in the world. With that, the hold over him vanished. "I love my sister!" Zephyr bellowed in defiance. "I love my brother," Flash declared, the hold over him also dissipating. Soon, everyone started declaring how much they loved their relatives, the Dazzlings brainwashing being destroyed. With that, Sunset was able to drag her friends away from the monsters and safely behind her. The Dazzlings were utterly livid, having lost control of their slaves. "NO!" All three sirens bellowed at once. They turned with wrath on their faces toward where the brown-haired boy stood. Even Megasonata looked positively murderous. "YOU DARE!" Megaria screamed hatefully at Timmy. "YOU DARE INTERFERE WITH OUR SONG!" A siren's song was something that all sirens found sacred. It was their power, their culture, and their very identity rolled into one. To have it disabled before their eyes was an insult beyond measure. The monster immediately stopped over to the boy, only for Sunset hover in front of Megasiren with a thunderous gaze. "YOU'RE NOT GONNA TOUCH HIM AGAIN!" Sunset declared furiously. Megasiren smirked. "Oh, how adorable, Sunny-bun. You think you have a choice." Sunset put her fists up preparing for an attack, only for the sirens to suddenly turn away and unleash sonic wave onto the school. The sonic wave obliterated an entire story of the school, creating a lot of debris... That was now plummeting toward the innocent students who let out a scream of terror. "NO!' Sunset said in terror, diving in front of the debris, using all her magical might to keep it from crushing her classmates. She barely had enough power to keep the debris above her head, let alone move it far enough away from her classmates to keep it from collapsing on them. To her horror, Sunset saw Megasiren stomping toward Timmy. Sunset tried to save him, but she realized she couldn't hold up the debris and spare enough power to protect him. "NO PLEASE!" Sunset said in tears to Megasiren. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Megasiren paid her no heed, marching toward the boy with a demented smiles on each head. "You've gotten in our way for the last time!" Megadagio declared with horrible glee. "Now we're gonna silence you for good!" Timmy's face showed no ounce of fear. "BRING IT ON!" Timmy bellowed into his megaphone, his voice full of defiance. "COME AND GET ME!" The CHS Students were shocked at the small child's bluster. "That kids' crazy!" Flash declared with horror, showing zero confidence Timmy could take on a giant, three-headed, magical monster. All the Canterlot kids started screaming at him, begging him with utter desperation to get somewhere safe. "Timmy run!" Thunderlane pleaded. "Don't be a hero!" Scootaloo said in tears. Timmy remained unmoved, his face glaring up at the monster with a face made of stone. "Come on, I don't have all day," he said calmly. His words were so confident, so outspoken, and so certain, they didn't even sound like bluster. It sounded more like a challenge. Like he was the one asking Megasiren for a fight, not the other way around. For a brief moment, looks of amazement and even a small smile formed on the faces of each head. "I'm impressed," Megaria said, "you're so brave." But then the nasty, cruel expressions returned. "But let's see how brave you are when you spend the rest of your life as a slimy monster with no mouth to scream with." "We wish," Megasonata added. Soon, massive lasers formed on their mouths, as their prepared to unleash their magic. "No!" Sunset yelled, trying desperately to move the massive debris somewhere where it wouldn't land on her innocent classmates and squish them. But she didn't. She was already badly battered by the Dazzlings' attack, and the rocks were way too heavy. "Sunset save him, we'll be fine!" Flash pleaded from the ground, albeit without much conviction. Some of the other students also began pleading feebly, begging them to save the boy even if it meant being crushed to death. But she couldn't. She couldn't choose between saving her classmates and saving the boy she'd come to care for. At last, the Dazzlings unleashed their blast toward Timmy. Time seemed to slow for Sunset, who watched as the Dazzlings unleashed their cruel attack with tears flowing down her cheeks. "No," Sunset said in a weak voice as he saw his charge was done for. The combined blast struck Timmy, and a massive explosion blew out, smoke and all. Everyone watched with grief and tears in their eyes as the boy they'd come to care for was turned into an ugly blob. Moondancer fell to the ground in tears, agony, and utter guilt. Sunset couldn't watch, and was crying her eyes out, while Megasiren watched with a demented smile. "At last," Megadagio said with cruel glee as the smoke began to clear,"that thorn in our hide has been plucked from our flesh." "We should celebrate with tacos," Megasonata chirped. "Hey Timmy's OK." A voice said. Sunset's eyes suddenly opened in shock, her tears suddenly vanishing, while the three sirens looked baffled as they looked back to where. "What are you talking about," Megaria said, "Timmy's a-," Megaria paused when the smoke cleared, and she saw something that was impossible. Timmy was...fine. Completely and totally fine. He didn't look an ugly blob with no mouth. He looked like a healthy, happy, and normal looking boy, the same calm, confident expression on his face from earlier. Sunset, the CHS student body, and the Dazzlings were in utter shock. In the case of the former two's case, it was a shock of relief. In the latter case, it was a shock of disbelief in fury. "WHAT?!" Megadagio bellowed. The three sirens let out more sonic blasts at Timmy. But not of them seem to connect with him at all. "WHAT IS THIS?!" Megaria screamed in disbelief. The buck-toothed boy didn't look at all changed. He didn't have a single scar on his body. He looked the same as usual. "I said, we wish you would become a blob!" The Dazzlings unleashed another magical blast at Timmy, but not only did it bounce off of him, but he started marching toward the monsters without an ounce of fear on his face, nor did he flinch when a blast came toward him. He just kept marching like a brave soldier headed off to a battlefield. "WHY," Megadagio screamed before letting out another blast, which still didn't even ruffle Timmy a bit. "CAN'T WE," Megadagio let out another blast again, but still didn't work any better. "DESTROY YOU?!" "I'm sorry," Timmy said into the megaphone with a smirk. "I'm not good with girls. Aren't you supposed to let me buy you dinner first?" Despite the terror and fright, everyone started to chuckle a bit at that. Even Sunset did a little bit of chuckling, only to remember she still had to hold the debris up. Their fear and panic going away, some of the CHS students started cheering on Timmy. Moondancer's tears faded, as she looked at the boy with a hopeful smile. "Go Timmy", many of them said. "Kick their tails!", others bellowed. Finally losing all composure, Megasiren stormed toward Timmy ready to punish him for his disobediance. "I guess we'll have to do this the old fashion way," Megaria hissed angrily, readying her clawed hands to give the brat a good pummeling. "Ha ha, you're old," Timmy snarked. Megaria's face contorted into fury, and she slammed her fists down into the boy with roar, only for something to block the attack. Timmy continuing to smirk up at them defiantly. "Wow all that power, and you can't even hit me! Scratch that, if you even all the power in the world, you can't hit water if you fell out of the boat." The taunt made Megasiren respond with an even fiercer barrage, but it did them no good. The CHS students laughed even harder, amazed at Timmy's taunts, his ability to block attacks, and the joy that came from the fact that he was no longer in danger. "How are you doing this!" Megadagio screamed, also trying to pummel the boy, but discovering some weird blue magical dome was forming around the boy and protecting him. "HOW?!" "If you're so smart, why can't you figure it yourself? " Timmy taunted. Megadagio responded with a growl and more attacks. "You're so dumb you couldn't figure a meteor could destroy the dome and crush me." Timmy paused. "Oh no," Timmy said in a fearful tone, "did I say that out loud?" The audience and Sunset's expressions were replaced with one of dissapointment and horror, especially as Timmy expression descended into panic. "Did I say meteor I meant-," Timmy look up in horror at the three siren heads looked at him with cruelty and terror. "No," Timmy said in a scared tone, falling to his knees with tears in his eyes. "Please don't do it! Please don't wish for a meteor to come crashing down on me, crushing me to death!" "Oh yeah," Megasonata said with a nasty grin, "how about we do, anyway?" "Oh Timmy, you always impress me- for a moment, only to stumble and fall just before you reach the finish line," Megadagio mused with a taunting smile. "But this time, you won't be able to live long enough to make up for that mistake". Everyone started crying, especially as Timmy started panicking and pleading for mercy. "No," Timmy squealed as he looked up at the monsters,"please. You don't want to do this!" "I think we do," Megadagio taunted, showing no remorse or empathy in her eyes, "We wish a meteor would come crashing down on you." The sirens let out a nasty cackle, as the began their wish was about to be unleashed. Only for a nasty raspberry noise to instead ensue, echoing across the campus, much to the astonishment of the students."Uh," a stunned Flash said, "what was that?" Suddenly, the yellow glow that surrounded the Dazzlings also faded. "What?!" Megadagio bellowed in a rage. "I can't feel the magic," Megasonata moaned. "I feel weaker," Megaria screamed. Their tempers only grew when Timmy's crying trailed off into mocking laughter. "Oh no," Megaria said with horror as her eyes widened in realization, "Da Rules." "Rules," Sunset wondered aloud. "The Stone has rules," Bon Bon asked with disbelief. Megadaggio let out another growl, before she let out another smile. "At least we have our size," she glanced back over to the CHS students with ill intent, "which means we can still crush the brats like bu-" "Sunset!" Timmy said into the megaphone, "drop the rocks. It'll be fine." Sunset looked skeptical, as did more than a few other students. "Is he crazy?" Bon Bon said aloud. "Sunset trust me, they can't do anything," Timmy urged with a smile. "Nothing bad it gonna-" Suddenly Megasiren began storming over to the CHS studentsl, eager to inflict great harm unto them. The students all let out horrified screams as the monster came closer. "Sunset, do it!" Timmy urged with panic in her voice. Time seemed to slow for Sunset as she considered her options. Common sense told her dropping heavy objects on her classmates would lead to their demise. But magic, especially fairy magic, seemed to defy common sense. It was against common sense for a giant monster to struggle to fight a boy too short to reach the shelves. It was against common sense for that magic to suddenly fail. A small part of her thought Timmy might be telling the truth, and he had managed to not only defend himself against giant monsters, but smile while doing so. But another part told her the monster was coming toward her and she didn't have any choice. With another second of hesitation, Sunset let the rocks drop. The students let out a horrified scream, only for the rocks to suddenly stop in mid-air before harmlessly falling away to the students, much to their bafflement. "WHAT?!" Megadagio screamed in shock. "THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" "You know what's impossible," Timmy said into the megaphone, "that cheese puff haircut." Everyone started laughing at that, even Megasonata did. "Sonata," Megaria growled, to get her sister to stop laughing. Before they could do anything, Sunset flew in front of them. Silently, the former unicorn prepared another white-colored blast and launched it at them. The sirens prepared their own attack, only for no magic to come out. "WHA-, AHHHHHHHHH!" The three heads bellowed, as the attack struck them point black, burning them horribly and leaving them in agonizing pain. "AHHH!" Megasonata screeched. "I feel like a taco that's been overcooked." "Why does this hurt so much more than before!" Megaria squealed, letting out a sob of pain. "Because when you break the rules, the magic fails for...three minutes," Timmy said into the megaphone, "Sunset, you have two minutes now. Make it count." "Oh so you have rules you have to follow," Sunset said to the three heads with a nasty smirk. "Too bad for you," Sunset said, cracking her knuckles and looking at them with a dangerous expression. "'CAUSE I DON'T!" She rocketed toward them, her fists bared. The monster held it six arms out of a reflex. "No wait-," POW! Sunset began pummeling the monster without mercy, Despite their size, they were completely unprotected from Sunset's Harmony magic. Each punch and magical blast, in the absense of fairy magic, felt like they were being hit with several cars at once. "AHHH!" Megadagio screamed, angry at having been tricked, angry over the pain, and furious about her own helplessness. Regaining her thinking abilities, she tried crushing Sunset like a bug between her clawed hands...only for the empowered girl to burn them into to escape. "OWWW!" "Go Sunset," everyone cheered. "Get behind me, all of you!" Timmy ordered into the microphone. "They're gonna get their magic back in about a minute," he added with severity in his voice, "If you can get behind me, Sunset doesn't have to worry about having to protect all of youyou." A short pause ensued. "C'mon," Bon Bon said with a roll of her eyes, "are we really gonna let a kid-," "Cower behind the tiny child!" Zephyr Breeze bellowed. With a scream, every single student began running toward Timmy. All of them courageously and bravely hid behind a ten year old boy, forming a large crowd behind the Dimmsdale Elementary student. Lightning Dust, in a act of supreme valor, lifted Timmy up, preparing to use him as a human shield, much to his annoyance. "Keep it away, keep it away," Lightning Dust squealed, as if the Dazzlings were some scary looking bugg. "Gee thanks," Timmy said with frustration. Timmy glanced at his watch. "Sunset, fly away now!" Sunset, obeying Timmy's orders, suddenly flew away from tMegasiren. As predicted, their magic came back, the golden halo returning. In a rage, Megasiren stormed over to Timmy, and the crowd of teenagers behind him. "Oh look at that," Megadagio bellowed in a taunting voice that was on edge, showing she was increasingly angry and in severe agony. "The losers of CHS need a big baby brat to protect them!" "Since you can't beat the baby brat and a bunch of losers, what does that make you?!" The sirens smug smiles were replaced with a deep, annoyed frown. Gilda had taken the microphone from Timmy, and decided she would do her own taunting. "All that power, that you stole by the way, and this little baby is making you look like an idiot. Not that that's much of a challenge!" Everyone started laughing tauntingly at the Sirens, while Timmy smiled brightly, feeling a surge of pride. The sirens were horribly insulted at the damage to their ego. "We'll show you stupid!" Megadagio bellowed, before letting out her own sonic blast, only for the dome that had formed to protect Timmy had expanded to protect everyone else, much to their joy, and to the sirens' continued rage. "HOW?!" Megadagio yelled, before letting out a cough. "And why am I so tired?" Timmy asked for the megaphone back from Gilda so he could reply. "Cause I eat my vegetables," Timmy squealed, to which everyone laughed even more. "I mean, why don't you just wish you weren't tired, and that you could take the megaphone from me?" The sirens smiled. "That's a great idea," Megaria said with a smirk. "Why didn't we think about that?" "Because you didn't finish college," Timmy taunted, "I mean, you'd think three heads could make at least one whole brain, but now I see why you want to takeover the world: You're all too dumb to do anything else." Everyone laughed again. Megaria growled at the insults and everyone's taunting laughter. "I'll show you dumb!" Megadagio's eyes widened in realization at what Timmy was planning. "Aria, no-," "I WISH WE HAD THE MICROPHONE AND THAT WE WERE HEALED!" Only for another raspberry sound to echo, and their magic to fail again. "Sorry, healing yourself in a battle counts as cheating in a competition, and taking my megaphone is stealing. Both are against the rules." Timmy almost laughed. The same annoying sound that disrupted his schemes and kept him from doing what he wanted now sounded like music to his very ears. "WAA-," Megaria began, only for Sunset to start pummelling her and her sisters again, to which they let out even more pained grunts. Everyone watched this with joy and amazement.. "How are you doing this, Timmy?" Flash asked the boy, keen interest in his voice. "Did Sunset teach you some cool spell?" Everyone also looked at the boy with amazed interest, wanting to know what his secret was. "Why yeah," Timmy said with a cheeky smile. "Sunset taught me a spell," Timmy said into the megaphone, despite being only a few feet away from Flash. "I did-," Sunset began, only to smile cockily, realizing Timmy had an idea. "Oh yeah," Sunset said, flying away from the Dazzlings just as their power began to return, "I did, and he's learned it so well," Sunset said with a proud smile. "What?" Megadagio muttered, before letting out a gasp of searing agony. Sunset's beating were so fierce, it was getting hard for them to stand up. "Yeah a spell," Timmy said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some paper. "The Super-Duper Shield Spell! And it's right here on this paper. If only you could learn it, but like I said, your too dumb to count to-" "I wish I had that paper!" Megaria said, much to Megadagio's anger. "Aria what are you-," only for the same annoying raspberry sound to echo across the room. Then their magic failed, and Sunset proceeded to beat on them some more. "I told you already it was against the Da Rules to steal," Timmy said with mockery in his voice. To twist the knife further, Timmy added, "Just kidding, its my homework." Timmy opened up the crumpeled paper, revealing it was poorly done homework, as shown by the massive "F" on it. Everyone giggled again at Timmy's deception and the Dazzlings' misery. "WHAT?!" Megadagio, only for Sunset to start smashing into her skull. "Seriously, Timmy, how did make that shield?" Flash asked in an eager tone. Timmy silently went into his sweatshirt and pulled out a purple tome with the "Da Rules" written on it in gold leaf. "DA RULES?" Flash asked in confusion. "So that stone really does have a rule book," he said in amazement. "That tiny book it what's keeping us safe?" Bon Bon asked in confusion. Everyone else looked at Timmy with a skeptical eye. "Yep," Timmy said with absolute certainty. Bon Bon wasn't convinced. "How is a book-," "Their magic is back!" Someone yelled. The sirens, glowing again and in a complete rage, stormed toward Timmy and the CHS students. Or stumbled was the better word, since they looked horribly injured. Silently, the three sirens let out a combined sonic blast that barrelled toward Timmy and the crowd of high school students. Timmy smiled, lifting up the book. Suddenly, blue magic erupted from the book, spewing out from tome like water from a leaky dam, until a shield formed, protecting everyone from the magical blast. "Da Rules says that magic can't destroy other magical items, "Timmy told everyone with a smile. Timmy once said Da Rules not only stopped him from making bad wishes, but protected him from them. Now Da Rules were literally shielding him and Canterlot High from some evil supervillain, on top of stopping them from going too far. Oh sweet irony. "If only you could somehow bring hale and lightning down upon us," Timmy said into the microphone as Sunset flew away again, just as the Dazzlings regained their magic. Megaria began to open her mouth only for something to slam it shut. "NO!" Megadagio said desperately, covering up her younger sister's mouth with a clawed hand. "We're not gonna let him trick us again! Don't take the bait!" "Don't worry Dagi," Megasonata said cutely, "I won't let him trick me." "Hey Sonata," Timmy said. "Wouldn't a breakfast taco sound really good right now?" "I wish I had one," Megasonta chirped. Only for the magic to fail again. "Waaa?" The blue-skinned siren said in dismay before Sunset began wailing on the three-headed monster again. "SONATA, YOU IDIOT!" Megadagio bellowed. "Sorry," Timmy snarked in a completely unapologetic voice, "no breakfast wishes after 10:30AM." Everyone looked at the brown-haired boy in utter disbelief. "Let me get this straight," Bon Bon said in a completely skeptical tone, glaring at the brown-haired boy, "you can use that dumb rock to become a monster and cause massive property damage, as long as you don't murder, cheat, steal, or order breakfast!?" "After 10:30," Timmy said, as if it explained everything. "That stone is so lame," Bon Bon said, watching with disgust as the monster was once again being beaten senseless by Sunset. "Actually, it makes perfect sense," Bulk said in a sage like voice. "Breakfast is, after all, the most meal of the day. You can't just trivialize it by making it...just appear." "Yeah Bonnie," Lyra said, looking at her annoyed girlfriend. "Yeah Bon Bon," everyone added, to the chagrin of the purple and red-haired girl. Once Sunset's barrage was over and the sirens' magic came back, the sirens were in horrible shape. Their body was covered with burns and bruises, their eyes were swollen, and they looked so tired, a small breeze could knock them over. "OK," Megadagio grunted to her associates, her voice scarce from the sheer agony she was in, "here's what we'll do. We'll run away and try-," "Yeah you should definitely do that," Timmy said into the megaphone, "that's wonderful idea. I want you do to do it." Megadagio paused, looking at Timmy with a measure of worry and terror, wondering if she should listen. She then decided to make the wish, only for Megaria to cover her mouth again. "What are you doing?" Megaria yelled at her older sister. "You told us not to listen to him." "That's what he trying to get us to do!" Megadagio surmised. "He wants us to make that wish! That means he doesn't want us too. It's reverse psychology." "Then doesn't that mean he wants us to do if he wants us to not do it?" Megaria asked her sister in a stern tone. Megadagio looked at her sister with helpless confusion. "Uh," Megadagio said helplessly, "that only means he wants us to not, not, not, not to do it. That makes sense, right?" An uneasy frown formed over Megaria's face. "Yeah," Megaria said uneasily, "that makes...complete sense. Right Sonata?" "DUHHHHH," Megasonata groaned, rubbing her head, "my brain hurts." "So we should do it," Megaria argued. "We should definitely do it," Megadagio argued. "Which means we....shouldn't do it." In their arguing, they turned their attention away from Timmy, Sunset, and the CHS students. While they were distracted in debate, Sunset flew over to her classmates, only to fall to the ground in exhaustion. "Sunset," Timmy yelled. He ran over to the former unicorn, only for Bulk Biceps and Thunderlane to runover and help the girl up. "Guys," Sunset said an exhausted cough, "I think," she let out a tired cough, "I've used up most of my reserves. Need...a break" Everyone was horrified at that. "And they still got a lot of energy left," some girl with green hair exclaimed. She, and two other girls fell to the ground in shock. "This is awful!" "The horror, the horror!" The rose-haired girl exclaimed. "This is a disaster, a total disaster!" The girl with blond hair and a white streak in it screeched. Timmy also looked at Sunset with a worried expression, only for everyone to start looking at him with a mixture of desperation and fear. With Sunset out of commission, they were looking at him, since he was the only one who knew about the "stone." "Well Timmy," Lightning Dust asked the boy," got any other ideas?" Timmy felt nervous and worried, only to feel someone patting his head. "Don't worry little guy," Sandalwood said in a reassuring tone while giving Timmy a warm pat, "you're a smart." Timmy saw that everyone, including Sunset, weren't just looking at him in desperation. They believed in him and they believed he would pull through for them. With renewed confidence, Timmy poured through the tome. He smiled as he came across an idea and then he looked over at the fallen tennis nets. "Got something, little dude?" The green-haired guy asked. Timmy smiled brightly, much to the comfort of everyone else. "Yes, I've got something that will bring down those monsters once and for all!" Timmy declared triumphantly. "We need to get those tennis nets over there and build a giant butterfly net!" Timmy was expecting a cheer, only to met with silent skepticism from everyone else. "A butterfly net?" Bon Bon said with utter disbelief in her tone. Timmy began to argue. "Well I didn't write the rules, but I know-," "I'm sick and tired of taking orders from a ten year old," Bon Bon declared with disgust. "We know a stupid nets not gonna stop them!" Timmy frowned in annoyance, especially as everyone seemed to agree with the annoyed girl. "OK if you don't want to believe me, that's fine." Timmy began walking away. "I guess I'll just take my completely useless book of magical wonder and leave you all to perish-," "I believe the boy!" Flash declared with a crooked and desperate smile. "What?" Bon Bon said with disgust. "Of course we do. We believe him because we trust him," Flash argued unconvicingly, "and not just because we're desperate fools at the end of our pitiful rope." "Actually, I've seen butterfly nets work," Sunset said while resting on the ground. "If she said, it's probably true," Gilda added, before letting out a daring smile. "OK," Gilda looked at Hoops and Dumbell, her military training taking over. "You two, bring the nets over like he said." Hoops and Dumbell saluted the white-haired girl and ran over to collect the nets. "Does anybody have a pair of scissors and is really good at tying things together," Timmy asked as the nets were dropped in front of him. Everyone started looking around, only for someone to declare, "MY TIME TO SHINE!" Zephyr Breeze stormed over, scissors in his hand. "Those monsters made a mistake!" He declared with a sterness and seriousness that nobody had ever seen on him. "They messed with the sister of a guy who uses a pointy object for his future career." With rapid speed, Zephyr not only began cutting the tennis nets apart, but he began assembling the giant, oversized butterfly net singlehandedly. When he was done, Zephyr Breeze took out the scissors and blew on them, as if it was gun he had just fired. Everyone looked in amazement as Zephyr had managed to build a large butterfly net. "WOW!" Octavia declared in shock, "Zephyr Breeze not screwing something up? Has the world gone berserk?" Even Timmy was amazed. "How did you do that?" Timmy asked the aspiring hairdresser. "Little Tim, I've cut through hair," the blond-haired boy said like it was no big deal, "string is no match for me and my magical scissors." "And what you did with the ropes?" "Hair can be a lot tougher to go through then you'd imagine," Zephyr said. "Sunset," Timmy asked the white-dressing wearing girl, "do you have enough energy to cover them in the net?" "I think I have enough energy to carry it," Sunset said, pulling herself together, having had enough of a rest. She took the oversized net into her hands and began flying away, with everyone cheering her on. "Guys," Timmy said in a sad voice watching as Sunset flew toward the monster. "What it is Timmy?" Flash said, falling to his knees so he could look at the boy at eye level. His instincts told him the boy was upset. "I swear," Timmy said in a sad voice, "it wasn't my idea to turn you all into slaves. I didn't-," "Wow Timmy," Flash said, holding up his hand and looking at the boy with a reassuring smile. "Timmy, stop, we know you didn't want to work with the Dazzlings." "What, really?" Timmy said with shock in his voice. "Yeah Timmy," Limestone, Pinkie's older sister, said, "we know your brain is too rotted by sugar and cartoons to be capable of a such an awesome and evil plan." Timmy should've been insulted, but the way the grumpy white haired girl said it, she thought that it was the nicest thing anyone every said about anyone ever. Everyone just rolled their eyes. "What Lime means-," Flash continued. "Don't tell me what I mean," Lime said with a grumpy tone. "We know that stone and the Dazzlings were messing with your brain," Flash reassured the brown-haired boy, "we know what that's like, because they messed with our brains and drove us crazy too. Whatever happened-," "The stone didn't do anything to me," Timmy admitted with a frown, much to Flash's confusion. "Turning Sunset into a worm, leaving her in the forest, and making you guys hate her was...my fault," Timmy admitted with deep shame in his voice. The brown-haired boy looked at Flash, thinking he'd fine disappointment. Instead, all he found was a sheepish smile. Everyone else was also looking at him with a weird smile. "Well," Flash said in somewhat reluctant tone, "let's just say we...understand that too. I mean, we didn't exactly need your help to hate Sunset ." Timmy noticed everyone else was looking "Yeah Sunset was awful," Micro Chips kid said in a remorseless tone. "Really?" Timmy asked. "Evil!" Moondancer said. "The worst!" "OK-," "A real witch!" Timmy raised his hands, "OK I think I get-" "Want to see my Sunset voodoo doll?" Lyra asked gleefully, holding up a crude voodoo doll of Sunset. Timmy noticed a lot of puncture wounds in the doll, especially in the areas that were supposed to be the eyes. Everyone also looked at Lyra with a bit of shock. "What," she said defensively, "every time Sunset called me 'Lard Legs', sticking a pin in this doll was strangely," Lyra hyperventiliated for a moment, "comforting!" "Ignoring Ms. Crazypants" Scootaloo said in a snide tone, before looking at Timmy with a reassuring expression, "we know you're not a total meanie meanpants." Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were also looking at him, assuring him they didn't think he was bad. "If you really were a baddie-bad Little Tim, then they wouldn't have stuck you in the cage," Zephyr Breeze said in a soothing tone, "and you wouldn't be trying to save our skins. You would've worked for them willingly-," "OK," Rolling Thunder said an annoyed tone, "this is all cute, but we can kiss and make up later. Right now, we've got bigger fish to throw on the barbie." She gestured back toward the monsters, who were still deep in their debate. Everyone turned to watch Sunset deal with the monster with a hopeful expression. Except for Timmy, who was deep in thought over what the others said, an uncomfortable frown on his face. Which he broke out off when he saw two people approach them. They were Moondancer and Micro Chips. "If you don't mind," Micro Chips stated gleefully, "we have an...idea of you're interested." Timmy broke out of his self-pity, and was interested in what the nerd had to say. "OK," Megadagio said to her fellow heads. "We're all agreed." The two other heads nodded. "We wish-," Megadagio began, only to pause as shadow loomed over her head. The three looked up, only to see a giant butterly net land on top of them. "No!" Megadagio screamed as the next covered them. To their horror, the yellow glow not only went away, but despite being monsters, they couldn't even tear the net apart to get it off of them. "Get me out here!" Megadagio screamed in helpless anger. "Hey what goes around comes around," Timmy said, once again approaching the monster, megaphone and a copy of the rules in hand. "You little," Megadagio began only to start stomping the ground in a tantrum. "Let me out of here!" "We want wishes!" Megaria whined. "This isn't fair!" Megasonata whined. "Wow, you were telling me how unfair life is and how you have be tough," Timmy mocked, "and now when I fight back, and make life unfair for you, all you do is whine and complain. You call me a big baby, but you're the biggest babies of all!" "He's right," Sunset taunted from up above. "Literally, you guys are like three stories tall. You are physically the biggest little babies I've ever seen." "No I am not!" Megadagio squealed in a very child manner, stomping the floor like a kid who didn't get desert, causing the ground the shake a bit. "Yes you are!" A voice from the distance said. Unbeknowst to the Dazzlings, the students of CHS made themselves scarce while the three had been distracted, hiding behind the wreckage of the school, but gathering around an intercom set up by Vinyl. Each of them took turns taunting the Dazzlings. "He's right, you three are one big baby!" Flash mocked. "Is that why you became a big scary monster," Lightning Dust teased, "because you wanted to look and big and strong? Please I stopped I being afraid of movie monsters when I was, like, seven! You became a monster to hide the fact that you're weak little wusses without your pretty little song!" "SHUT UP!" Megadagio commanded, a massive vein forming on the side of her head. The pain, being put on the losing end of the battle, and losing access to magic was getting to her and making her so unhinged, she couldn't focus on anything but the boy destroying their plans. "You're such a failure!" Scootaloo jeered. Soon, other students took turns gleefully mocking the Dazzlings. "Loser!" "Con artist!" "Failure!" "Pathetic!" "Lame!" "ENOUGH!" Megaria screeched, unable to take anymore insults. "Dorks!" "Worthless!" "Ugly!" The sirens stood there steaming, their rage and anger growing more and more. It would take only one more insult to set them off. "You're music is just a soulless parody of 80s beats," Bulk Biceps added in a sophisticated tone. "While enjoyable and fun, it is completely lacking in originality or deeper meaning!" "AHHHHHH!" Megadagio bellowed. "Oh them is fighting words!" Megasonata barked. The monster, while trapped in a net, began stomping toward Timmy. "Let's see you smirk when we crush you to death, brat!" Megadagio screamed. Timmy stood there, smirking. Sunset would normally intervene, but she realized Timmy, based on his smile, had a plan along with her classmates. Timmy had shown incredible resourcefulness and planning, and so she sat on what remained of the roof, confident that Timmy knew what he was doing. Just as Megasiren came toward the boy, prepared to stomp him into paste, someone screeched into the megaphone. "OK Beaver Boy," Gilda said, "show me the forward roll, like we practiced!" Timmy crouched to the ground, barely diving away from the Dazzlings in time, much to their anger. "STAY STILL!" "OK, time to give them juice!" Timmy said into the microphone. The Dazzlings looked at him in confusion. Unbeknownst to them, Timmy said a codeword. Near where the students were, Micro Chips and Moodancer stood near the circuit breaker. "OK, they've reached the underground electric grid," Moondancer said gleefully. "Time to give them the shock of their life," Micro Chips snarked, chuckling to himself for such a clever pun. He looked and saw everyone was unimpressed with his pun. "Just pull the switch already, four eyes," Limestone said impatiently. Micro Chips gave an annoyed sigh out of embarassement and pulled the switch. Soon the very familiar and painful feeling of electricity coursed through the Megasiren. The three heads screamed as tons of volts coursed through their body without the protection afforded to them by magic. When it was over after fifteen seconds, Megasiren was steaming and groaning in pain. The three heads coughed before letting out a moan, and collapsing to the ground unconscious in a heap. "YEAH!" Everyone cheered, coming from behind the school to cheer on their defeat of the Dazzlings. After so much terror and fright, the battle seemed to be over. "OK Timmy," Sunset said, floating down toward Timmy, "now we've beaten them. How do we...get back the stones and turn those three back to their normal, terrible selves?" Timmy's hand fell into his chin. "I don't know. In the video game, the bad guy just...explodes once you beat him. I thought that's what would happen." "Usually," Micro Chips exposited, "but what often happens is you also need to seperate the boss from his power source. In this case, the stones. The question is, where would those three keep the stones." Sunset and Timmy thought about it for a second, remembering the time they played video games. "OK," Timmy said, "but now what?" "We wait," Sunset said with a smirk. "Wait for what." They heard a volcanic blast. The blast distracted the beetle, turning away from Sunset and Timmy. Its back was turned, revealing that the the back was made of a weaker copper. "See," Sunset said. "The boss' weak spot is usually its backside, where you can't reach." "Wow," Timmy said with a smile. The answer came to kid-teenager duo simulteanously. "The tail!" Sunset began flying over to the tail, looking for the stones. All the while, Timmy walked up to the Dazzlings, taunting the seemingly unconscious trio like the ten year old kid he was. "HAHAHAHA!" Timmy squealed happily. "Weeeeee beat you!" Unbeknownst to them, the Dazzlings were in fact awake, if horribly exhausted by the brutal combo of a being beaten up by by a magical attack, But their sheer hatred for the boy before them eventually woke them up through adrenaline, although in a way no one noticed. They opened their eyes very silently. Sunset flew behind the tail, and to her joy, the wand heads were logged under it. With a smile, Sunset grabbed one. Only for the Dazzlings to suddenly jump up with a roar. Sunset was blown away, but not before she ripped one of the wand heads away. The roar blew Timmy away, knocking the rules away from him, and knocking him to the ground painfully. Despite the searing agony they were in, they still loomed over Timmy menacingly. "I don't need magic to do this!" Megadagio said in a crazed voice, picking up a broken column from the debris and wielding it like a sword. "TIMMY, NO!" Everyone screamed. Sunset felt herself helpless, watching as the sirens were gonna try and kill Timmy. Until she remembered the wand head in her hand, as an idea came to her, her eyes narrowing. "SAY GOODNIGHT, TURNER!" The massive column came down toward Turner, who could only let out a whimper of terror. "I WISH TIMMY WAS SAFE!" With a massive poof, a yellow shield suddenly appeared before Timmy. The massive columnslammed into the shield, only to bounce back and hit Megadagio in the face. "I WISH MY FRIENDS WERE SAFE AND THAT THEIR COLLARS WERE GONE!" A massive yellow colored dome formed over the CHS student body, and the horrible colors on their necks vanished, much to their relief and joy. "GO SUNSET!" "YEAH!" The three sirens let out a furious growl, and tired to make a final spiteful wish. "I wish these brats would become worms!" Only for Sunset to make one of her own. "I wish you three were trapped in a magic proof dome and couldn't hurt my friends!" The two magical energies flowed from both Sunset and Megasiren and collided in mid-air. It was as if both wishes fought one another in a magical version of wrestling, competing over which one would be granted. The former unicorn and the Sirens both put their energies into seeing who's wish would win out. The sirens had both fairy magic and their usual siren magic, while Sunset had fairy magic and the power of Harmony on her side. In the end, it wasn't even close. The power of Harmony could overpower of sirens, who were themselves already badly weakened by repeated unprotected attacks and losing a wand head. Sunset's beam overpowered the Dazzlings, and they were struck, trapping them in an anti-magical cocoon. "LET ME OUT!" Megadagio screamed, banging fruitlessly against the wall with her fists. Megaria and Megasonata tried wishing, but they were too battered to be able to overcome Sunset's power. "I WISH MY FRIENDS WERE BACK!" With a poof, the Rainbooms returned from wherver they were were banished from. "No, not the pears," Applejack squealed. "Not broccoli," Pinkie muttered. The two, along with the other Rainbooms, opened their eyes, now aware of their new surroundings. "What happened?" Princess Twilight said. "Fight the bad guy, talk later" Sunset declared, gesturing to Megasiren. The Rainbooms broke out of their distractions, remembered the task at hand, and turned to glare at the trapped monster. Sunset looked toward Timmy and let out a warm smile. "I wish Cosmo and Wanda were back in Timmy's arms, safe and sound." With a poof, a familiar goldfish bowl suddenly appeared in Timmy's arms, with a particular pair of goldfish who were suddenly confused as to their environment. "What happened?" Cosmo asked in confusion. "Where are-," Wanda began, only to pause when she saw the happy face of her godchild on her face. "Cosmo, Wanda," Timmy exclaimed happily, joyful tears running down his face. "You're OK!" He happily hugged them to his face. "How did you-," "It wasn't me," Timmy said in a soft, respectful voice. The two fairies turned goldfish turned around as they beheld Sunset's new form. "It was her...she...she saved you." The Rainbooms looked back toward Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda with joy before turning back toward Megasiren with stern gazes. "Now that they're safe," Rainbow said with a smirk, "let's take care of some pests. Shall we girls." Suddenly, the Rainbooms started hovering in the air, a white glow forming on their bodies. The girls' hair grew out while pony ears burst out of their heads. Rainbow and Fluttershy grew wings, Rarity felt a horn grow out of her forehead, while Princess Twilight felt herself gain alicorn features. Six of the Rainbooms formed a hexagon, with Sunset Shimmer in the middle. The Rainbow energy all flowed into Sunset who glew with the color of Rainbows. Megasiren, seeing the Power of Harmony about to be used on her again, started panicking even more. "NOOOOO!" Megaria screamed with growing terror. "PLEASE!" Megasonata shrieked, blubbing like baby. "I WON'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" Megadagio screamed in angry denial. "I WILL NOT-," "Don't flatter yourselves," Princess Twilight said in a dismissive tone. "You already lost...the day you messed with my friends," Sunset added in a cool voice. "You may have your lies and your tricks," Rarity added with a smirk. "But you still can't beat us," Rainbow gloated. "Because we have the greatest power of all," Applejack said. "The power," Pinkie Pie added. "Of," Fluttershy continued. "FRIENDSHIP!" They finished in unison. Soon, more magic flowed into Sunset, who was now challening the Elements of Harmony. "NO PLEASE!" Megadagio begged, looking like a scared little child. "C'mon Sunny! Let me out, and I get you whatever you want!" Sunset didn't respond, glaring coldly at the siren. "I'll get you anything! Money, fame, riches, infinite power, YOU'RE OWN GALAXY, PLEASE! WHATEVER YOU WISH-," "You know what I wish for," Sunset said, closing her eyes. "I wish you three were-," Sunset paused holding out her hand, the wand head directed toward the Dazzlings. Her blue eyes opened, blazing with righteous fury. "BACK TO NORMAL!" Suddenly, a massive rainbow laser burst out of Sunset, this time in the shape of a missile with a wand head at the tip. The Dazzlings panic grew as it came toward them. "NO! NO!" The missile struck the Dazzlings. A bright light consumed the Dazzlings as they screamed in agony. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Megadagio bellowed. "AHHHHHH!" Megaria and Megasonata shrieked in terror as the light consumed them. Everyone watched with a mixture of relief, joy, celebration, and excitement as the light grew more and more, enveloping them but not doing them any harm. All except for one brown-haired boy, whose attention was for his two best friends in the whole world. He held them, crying and telling them how much he loved them, happy that they told them the same thing, as the worst nightmare of his entire came to an end, not caring as the benevolent light spread out across the campus, enveloping him and everyone else. No, his only concern was for the two beings who he loved like family. > Pay The Fiddler > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Rainbooms began to slowly descend to the ground as their magical powers dissipated, their pony ears retreated back into their heads, their pony attributes vanished, and their hair shortened. Sunset also returned to her regular hair long hair and normal clothing just as she reached the ground. Before they could react, the Rainbooms were met by their relatives, who were overjoyed and relieved that they were safe, sound, and that they defeated the Dazzlings. "Twilight," Spike said happily, before pulling Twilight, his surrogate sister, into a hug. Twilight returned the hug, while also bending down to pat the dragon-turned-dog-turned human on his green hair. Rainbow did the same with Scootaloo, pulling her crying half-sister into a happy hug. "Oh my pride and joy," Zephyr declared bombastically while seemingly staring at Rainbow. The athletic girl rolled her eyes, expecting Zephyr Breeze to flirt with her again, only to run past her and pull her older sister into a hug, much to the track runner's shock. But the shock turned to...admiration as Zephyr kept telling Fluttershy how proud he was, with relieved tears running down his eyes. For all his faults, Zephyr was at least a good brother when the chips were down. That, Rainbow decided, earned him a point. Applejack was nearly tackled by Apple Bloom and Big Mac, who also held her with joy and relief. Pinkie Pie immediately pulled her three sisters into a hug, much to their annoyance. But still, they reluctantly melted into it. Maud and Marble overcame their stoic and shy natures to give Pinkie a warm smile. "Pinkie," Limestone said at last, the same stern gaze on her face. "Yes Limey-Wimey?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Good job for not dying." Pinkie Pie weeped tears of joy. "That's the nicest, kindest, most wonderful thing you ever said to me!" She continued to weep tears of joy, even dripping them on her sisters. Watching Rarity pull Sweetie into a hug, reminded Sunset she needed to find her charge and give back a certain object that belonged to his fairies. Timmy wept and wept as he hugged the fishbowl to his body. He has never felt so relieved in his life. Cosmo and Wanda were safely in his arms. All he wanted to do was hug them and never let them go. "You guys are my best friends," Timmy said as the last of his tears faded. "We love you too," Wanda said with a happy expression. Cosmo also smiled. "You're our favorite-," "Man, those fish must really mean something to you." Timmy jolted, seeing Flash look at him with keen eyes and an odd smile. Timmy and fairies-turned-fish chuckled nervously. "You think the fish are talking," Timmy said sheepishly. "Yeah," Cosmo added obliviously. "That's impossible." Cosmo Flash looked at them with a mixture of confusion and amusement. "I don't know what you guys are getting defensive about. We know how it works." Timmy felt cold sweat rundown his forehead. "You do?" "Yeah," Flash said. "You used the stone to give your fish the power of speech," the blue haired boy said, as if he was saying that grass was green. "We've seen it before." Timmy's fear was replaced with confusion. "The stone?" Then his eyes widened. "Oh yeah," Timmy said with a sheepish smile. "The stone, yeah, I wished they could talk." "Yes," Wanda said, immediately catching on as she addressed Flash directly. "That's what we are. Fish who have granted the magical ability to talk and think." "Yeah," Cosmo added, "we're certainly not-," Wanda immediately covered Cosmo's mouth to prevent the nitwit from spilling the secret by mistake. Flash chucked at this. "Oh can I hold them?" Immediately, Sweetie Belle picked up the fishbowl out of eagerness. "Hi I'm Sweetie Belle." Timmy watched this with confusion. "Wow, you're all taking this rather well," he said to Flash with an odd lilt to his voice. "Taking what." "You know, the whole magic thing," Timmy stressed in a curious tone. "We'll since Sunset graced us with her presence," Flash said with an odd smile, "we've gotten used to a lot of weird stuff." The blue-haired teenager gestured to some green-haired boy who looked to be about his age. "What if I told you he's actually a dragon who used to transform into a dog." "Hi, I'm Spike," the boy greeted happily. "Yeah," Timmy said, noticing the sharp teeth and serpentile eyes, "I believe it." Timmy paused as he noticed a familiar face walking toward him. Sunset Shimmer strode toward him, one of the wand heads in her hand. Immediately Timmy ran over to Sunset and pulled her into a hug, thanking her for saving him and his fairies. Sunset bent down and returned the hug while patting Timmy on the head. A short distance away, several teens were conversing and cooing over Cosmo and Wanda. "Aww, you're so cute!" Apple Bloom said to Cosmo, cooing over him, much to his joy. "What about me," Wanda asked. Apple Bloom looked a little horrified. "Well...to be honest, you're kind off..." "Tubby?" Sweetie Belle offered. "As big as Jupiter?" Scootaloo offered. "I was gonna say a little fat," Apple Bloom said with a shrug, much to Wanda's shock. "See Wanda," Cosmo gloated with a smile, "I told you to lay off the chocolate." "I'm not fat!" Wanda protested. Suddenly, Cosmo and Wanda's bowl was picked up by Thunderlane, who looked at the Crusaders with no small amount of the disappoinment. "I'm ashamed off you three," the jock said with a frown, "for calling her fat." "Thank you," Wanda said to Thunderlane. "This poor fish is suffering from a lack of self control born from deep seated psychological issues," Thunderlane said. Wanda's smile was replaced with an annoyed frown. "You three shouldn't be mocking her over it." Wanda growled at Thunderlane. "Come inside this bowl!" She yelled while holding up her fins like fists. "And I'll show you a lack of self control!" "See, you even have all this naggy energy due to a lack of physical activity," Thunderlane surmised with a pitying expression." Cosmo again looked at Wanda with a mockng smile. "I am not naggy!" Wanda protested. "And straighten out your pants!" Wanda nagged to Thunderlane. "You look messy. "Has anyone seen the other wand-uh, other piece of the stone," Sunset said, holding up the wand head. "Here is it." Sunset turned and saw Bon Bon holding it with a petulant Lyra standng next to her. Sunset took the wand head from Bon Bon, then handed both of them to Timmy. "Thanks," Timmy said to Bon Bon, "where did you-," Timmy paused, noting weird marks on one of them. "And why are their teeth marks on them?" "Lyra thought it was a piece of candy," Bon Bon said dourly, glaring at her kooky girlfriend. Lyra crossed her arms and pouted. "I was hungry," the white-haired girl protested. Timmy wretched, but was happy to have gotten these back. He ran over to Thunderlane, took back the fishbowl, and ran away. "Where are going?" Thunderlane asked Timmy. "I've got to," Timmy's eyes darted back and forth, "fix the...stone!" He then darted behind a tree where no one could see him. "Why's he being so secretive?" Flash asked the Rainbooms. But before they could respond, they saw some students marching somewhere angrily as the light cleared. The Rainbooms saw where they were marching too and frowned when they saw who was still here." The Dazzlings slowly came too. They jumped up from the ground when they came to a horrific realization. "Our magic!" Adagio exclaimed in sorrow. "I can't feel it anymore!" "Our gems are ruined!" Aria exclaimed, mournfully holding her rebroken gem, cradling it like a baby, almost on the verge of tears. "I'm out of tacos!" Sonata shrieked. "Oh, how can this get any worse!" Adagio exclaimed, head in her hands. Sonata looked around and gulped. "Uh Adagio, Aria?" The pony-tailed siren muttered fearfully. "What?!" Aria uttered, but her bravado trailed off as she heard several footsteps crunching the grass lawn. The three sisters looked around and saw a scary sight. A crowd of high school students who were marching toward them with furious glares. The same students they had spent the night tormenting and planning to enslave. And she and her sisters had no magic to defend themselves with. The three siren sisters pulled themselves up and chuckled sheepishly at the gathered students. "I guess we'll be going now," Adagio said nervously to the crowd as her sisters turned heel to run away. Only to be blocked by another crowd of waspish high school students approaching them. Adagio felt her blood turn cold as she saw at the head of this new crowd were the Rainbooms, none of them looking at her with a disposition that could be considered joyful. Even the normally kind and cheerful Fluttershy and Pinkie glared at them with incredibly foul expressions. The angry high school students formed a circle that prevented any kind of escape. "Don't mind us," Adagio said nervously, "we'll just be...out of your hair..." "Did you really think we would let you just walk away?" The Sirens turned back and saw Limestone Pie glaring at them with an unimpressed expression and crossed arms. "You attacked my sister," the eldest Pie sister said in a voice that was unusually cold for someone so tempermental. "You trashed our school!" Flash exclaimed angrily. "You tried to make us your slaves!" Sandalwood shouted furiously. "You nearly made me miss the Kissy Kissy Goo Goo marathon," Lyra shrieked. Bon Bon looked at her girlfriend with annoyance. "You know.. you can watch that stuff on demand..." "IT'S THE PRINCIPLE THAT COUNTS!" The lyre-player bellowed. "I seem to remember promising I'd make you pay if you three showed your faces here again," Gilda Griffon said as she came to the front of the crowd to stand next to Limestone, her posse just behind her.. "And I'd just...hate to break that promise." The sirens swallowed in terror, seeing how much trouble they were in. "What happened here?!" A female voice bellowed. Everyone, both the CHS students and the sirens, turned around and saw that the faculty had emerged from wherever they had been hiding. "Where were you guys?" Flash asked the faculty with curiousity. "Excellent question, Mr. Sentry," Principal Celestia said with eyes that darted back and forth, but before she could answer, someone interrupted. "Principal Celestia, my favorite principal of all time!" Adagio gushed with a fake, sycophantic smile that her younger sisters emulated. "You're students are going to attack us over a few...mistakes. I think you ought to teach the children that violence is never the answer!" "Yeah, I agree. You should be teaching them that...right now!" Aria said with a nervous, sweaty expression. Vice Principal Luna looked at the students. "Who did all this?" The blue-haired woman said, gesturing to all the damage. Several students pointed to the Dazzlings. The Principal sisters and the other faculty started surveying the devastation. The whole cool wasn't just damaged. It was demolished. They also looked at their students, sympathetically seeing how exhausted and angry they were. "She's right," Principal Celestia said in a stern voice. "If we see violence, we're required to punish it." The sirens smiled smugly while the students frowned bitterly. The two prinicipal sisters started at each other, silently coming to a point, before looking back to where their students were. "Sister," Luna said at last, while giving the Dazzlings a cold gaze that the rest of the faculty did, "I think we ought to talk to the insurance company." "I agree," Celestia in a seemingly professional voice. "In fact, all of us should go talk to the insurance company." The Canterlot High Principal turned to glare directly at the elder siren. "While we're gone I think we'll leave you, our loving and oh so forgiving students, in charge of them while we'll be in a place where we can't see you." The vaguely hopeful expressions of the sirens faded to panic, especially as the staff soon began walking away, all of them giving a mocking glare at the sirens. Granny Smith was the last to leave, looking at the seaponies with a nasty sneer. "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya," the lunchlady hissed before walking away. With the staff gone, the physical signs of the students wrath became more pronounced as they prepared to pounce on the monsters who tormented them. Adagio looked at the children assembled, shaking with fear. "Surely, you don't want to see a bad example for the young ones," the Siren Princess said with an even more fearful and nervous tone. "I've always believed sweet and wonderful children should be spared violence." "I think we can handle it," Scootaloo said with a frown. "Ah think we'll be OK," Apple Bloom growled. "It might be hard, but we'll get through it," Sweetie Belle said. "Don't worry," Spike said, his normally human eyes becoming almost draconic with anger as he glared at the fiends who hurt Twilight. "In fact," Zephyr Breeze began, striding toward the Dazzlings before stopping a good five feet from them, "I feel...I need to give you a-," Zephyr paused to take a deep breath in an attempt to force his anger down,"-a good trim," the blond boy pulled out scissors, "as a way to thank you for how you treated my sister." Zephyr was so angry, he was shaking. In his convulsing hands, his hair-cutting tool looked almost like a dagger. "You want to make them bald, Bun Boy?!" Limestone said with an excited grin. "As bald as a baby!" Zephyr Breeze glared. The aspiring hair stylist was known for either being annoying or dopey, but he could never be described as scary. But his shark like eyes, malicious smile, and the scissors bared in his hands, he looked more intimidating than someone with a bun in his head ought to be. "Eep!" Sonata squeaked. Adagio tried to grasp at another straw. "You're attacking us...but S-Sunset also brainwashed you and turned you against-," "SHE CHANGED!" Moondancer bellowed. "She's our friend now!" Flash declared. "She protected us from you!" Thunderlane declared. For a brief moment, Sunset's angry expression was replaced with happy pride, reveling in the fact that the kids who once hated her were now defending her. After a moment that felt like an eternity, Adagio cleared her throat and forced a fake smile. "You know what? We've seen the light!" Adagio said dramatically as she looking directly at the Rainbooms, hoping to appeal to their better nature. "We realize that...we've had this all wrong. We realize that love and friendship and all that junk is the way to go," she said insincerely, "and that all we need is some kindness and generosity." "Yeah," Aria added with faux-enthusiasm while sweating bullets, "we're just....lost souls needing a second chance. None of this is our fault. It's the fault of society for making us this way. So why don't we go celebrate our new friendship. Gang!" Aria added insincerely. Sonata forced one of her trademark smiles to her face. "Yeah....let's have a party to celebrate us becoming besties!" No one was impressed with the sirens' pleading for forgiveness, since it was obvious that the only thing they were sorry about was the fact that they were in trouble. "It's amazing how you can sound entitled, even when you're trying to apologize," Bon Bon said with angry sarcasm in her breath. Yet the crowd still didn't attack, yet. They looked expectantly at the Rainbooms, the final authority on what to do with magical evil, for what would be the prosper response. The Rainbooms got into a huddle, talking quietly amongst themselves for a few minutes. Princess Twilight eventually stepped forward, carrying herself with a solemn regalness one would expect of a princess. "Adagio," Princess Twilight said in a seemingly casual tone. "Normally, I am quite...forgiving. I try to see the good in others. When my friends back home tell me not to obsess over the littlest things, I try, I really try, to cool down before I do something rash. I really try to keep control and be nice and calm." Princess Twilight strode in front of the sirens. Despite having no magical power at the moment, the three sirens shook like the seemingly-passive princess was some monster coming to eat them. "But when I see these...precious humans being attacked, and my friends bullied and treated like trash, and that poor boy who my friends love crying on the ground because of savagary of your idiotic moment...." Princess Twilight's illusion of calm faded, replaced by a moment of unhinged anger. "I JUST GO BERSERK!" Adagio forced a smile to her face. "Water under the-" POW! The punch echoed across the lawn as everyone watched with stunned silence. It was not the strength of the punch that shocked the CHS students. What shocked others was the one doing the punching. One reached a low point when the loving and generous Princess of Friendship decided you needed to be taught a lesson with a fist to the face. Adagio clutched her nose in pain while Princess Twilight looked triumphant. Or at least she would be if she wasn't clutching her throbbing fist and moaning in pain."OW! OW!" Princess Twilight hissed. "I'm not used to using...these," the Princess said gesturing to her swollen knuckles." "Don't worry Princess," Sunset said with an evil smile. "I'll show you how to do right!" She yanked Adagio by her hair and spun her around. "Like THIS!" Adagio was horrifed. "No wai-," Sunset's punch slammed into Adagio's nose and knocked the eldest siren to the ground. "That's how its done, Princess!" Sunset gloated. With that, everyone immediately started grabbing the sirens, and starting brutally beating on them. "STOP!" Adagio wailed miserably. "TIMMY TURNER HAS FAIR-," Aria began as a crowd of students started wailing on her, only to be silenced as a brick was shoved into her mouth, keeping her from spilling the beans. "Well, that was fun!" Rainbow said with an all too satisfied smile. "OK I'll admit throwing bricks is OK in some situations," Sunset said with a deeply euphoric expression. Several students began immediately began beating the two eldest sirens to a pulp. "You can't hurt me!" Sonata wailed as she was held down. "I'm the cute, adorable one!" "Well so am I!" Pinkie hovered over Sonata with a nastily cheerful grin, menacingly carrying an adorable looking baseball bat with a smiley face. "This is my friend, Mr. Happy Bat. He can teach a really good lesson in a cute and adorable way!" Sonata looked up in terror as the bat came toward her. The pained screams of the sirens, the sound of pummeling, the tearing of fabric, and the snipping of hair echoed throughout the courtyard. Hidden behind a tree, Cosmo and Wanda tested out their wand heads, hoping they still worked despite being seperated from the head. To their relief, they were still working reasonably well. "OK I think we're good!" Wanda said happily, holding her wand head. "They still work, but we still need to get to repairs," Cosmo said. "OK," Timmy began, only to hear someone approaching. "Timmy." The brown-haired boy urged his fairies to hide, and they went back to their goldfish-in-a-bowl modes. Timmy came out from the tree, goldfish bowl in hand, and saw Gilda and Thunderlane approaching him with very wide smiles. "What are you doing here with your talking fish?" The tall black-haired guy asked him cheerfully. "Uh...fixing the....stone?" "C'mon," Gilda said an enthusiastic tone, "you're missing all the fun! We got a real surprise for you and the little fishies!" The two athletes led Timmy back to the lawn. He saw the students gathered around something. As soon as he approached, they all looked at him with warm and happy expressions, like he the most popular kid at the party. Before he, Cosmo, or Wanda could ask what was going, something pink was shoved in his vision. "My hat!" Timmy said happily. He looked up and saw Lyra giving the hat back to him with a warm smile. "Thank you! Where did you-," "We plucked it off of them!" Bon Bon said with a vicious smile. "Who's the-," Cosmo began, only for the students to form a berth revealing- It was the Dazzlings. To say they were in...bad shape...was putting in mildly. They had horrible bruises all over their faces, their eyes were black and swollen, their clothing was ripped up, and they'd been shaven bald. They had also been gagged, possibly so they couldn't tell everyone that he had fairies. The gags were a little red and he could hear them moaning a bit, meaning they probably had some of their teeth beaten out of them. They were tied up with rope, with one long coil around their bodies, and their hands also tied up behind their backs,and around their ankles so they were forced to sit on their knees. Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder stood over them and held them in place with sinister smiles on their face. Timmy looked at them. He didn't feel pity. But he didn't anger. Timmy started whimpering as he remembered...remembered Timmy felt himself being choked out by Aria, the siren glaring at him with a murderous expression. Even with the Dazzlings tied up, Timmy started fidgeting in fear at their presence. Everyone's satisfied expressions were replaced with concern for the boy. "Don't worry Timmy," Cosmo said, concern for her godchild plain her voice. "We'll protect you," Wanda added. "So will we," A voice added. Timmy felt someone pat him on the shoulder. It was Flash Sentry. Timmy knew him to be Rush's older brother, yet Flash seemed to be treating him like his younger brother, based off the kind expression in his eyes. "We're not gonna let them hurt you." Timmy calmed down a bit, believing Flash. "There's a reason I want Timmy here," Sunset said aloud, staring at the Dazzlings with sharp eyes. "After all, I want everyone hear to know all about the wonderful things the Dazzlings did to Timmy. Go ahead Timmy, tell everyone about all the fun thing these witches did." To Sunset's concern, Timmy didn't say anything. He instead looked down sadly at Cosmo and Wanda, too traumatized to even speak. Still, his silence was enough to have everyone glaring at the Dazzlings, knowing they had put him through something horrible. "Ok," Sunset said in a soft voice. "I'll do it. As all of you know, Timmy found a stone that gave him incredible magic. And as it turns out, the Dazzlings were eager to get some of their magic back. So they manipulated the little guy into being their minion, stole his magic, and then left him to rot." Sunset's smiled very angrily to reign in her temper. "But as it turns out, there's more." Everyone looked to Sunset out of morbid curiousity. "As some of you also know, some crazy woman tried to kidnap Timmy to get the stone herself. So the Dazzlings came up with the bright idea to break a psychotic criminal out of prison and used her to track down Timmy. They even let freak skin an innocent jaguar alive." Everyone gasped at that. "Then the Dazzlings discovered they couldn't use the stone without Timmy's help and so they tried to manipulate him into making wishes for them, even offering to let him rule Dimmsdale as their prince. And when Timmy rejected their incredibly generous offer, they beat him to a pulp." Everyone gasped again. "And then let's talk about what they did to Trixie- "THEY DID SOMETHING TO TRIXIE!" Everyone turned and saw a certain stage magician made herself public. "They dared to lay a finger on the Great and Powerful Trixie, and prevent her mastery of the arcane arts from being passed down from generation to-," "Trixie we weren't talking about you," Princess Twilight said patiently. "We were talking about another Trixie." The white-haired magician let out a gasp. "Are you saying the Great and Powerful Trixie doesn't deserve to have her greatness preserved for all time?!" Princess Twilight was sheepish. "Well-," The magic lover looked deeply offended. "You all are not worthy of the prowess and might of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" The white-haired magician pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it. When the smoke clear, she was no longer present. "Huh!" Timmy declared dramatically. "She's gone-," TImmy paused. "No wait," the brown-haired boy said in annoyance. "She's over there." The stage magician was sneaking away from everyone else. When everyone noticed her, she immediately ran for the hills. "A stage magician," Wanda said with contempt. "Poser!" "Wannabe!" Cosmo muttered. "As I was saying," Sunset said, remembering the source of her anger,"there is this girl named Trixie Tang who Timmy fancied. So the Dazzlings thought they could Timmy over by brainwashing the girl into being his girlfriend. But when Timmy rejected their other generous offer," she paused and grit her teerh, trying not to scream,"they tossed the girl over the roof to punish the boy for being so ungrateful, and was only saved from being splattered because Rainbow Dash was quick." Everyone was so shocked at that, they drifted into a very palpable silence thick enough to cut with a knife. The Dazzlings, in fear, tried to deny it, but they were gagged. Not that anyone cared what they had to say anymore. "And then the Dazzlings dropped a giant metal ball that would've killed me if it wasn't for the rules," Sunset added sternly, "and then they banished my friends to the worst fate imaginable." "They sent me to a pear farm," Applejack said, hugging herself, only to be pulled into a hug by her family, who assured her pears didn't exist, and we're a myth, like the boogeyman, or the King of Denmark. "They sent me to the fat camp!" Pinkie shrieked with terror. "They sent him to a home for the colorblind!" Rarity yelled with horror. "Everyone was so," the fashion lover shuddered, "mismatched with their fashion. It was a horrible sight!" "I got sent to a slaughterhouse!" Fluttershy squeaked. "They sent me to peaceful cult with no competition!" Rainbow shuddered. "They sent me to a cult where they," Princess Twilight hyperventiliated, "banned literacy." "And then they ate Timmy's fair-fish in front of him," Sunset amended, "said they were gonna torture his friends, burn Dimmsdale to the ground, blame him for everything, and lock him in a cage for the rest off his life, all because he refused to do what they wanted." Sunset clenched her fists, trying to keep calm. Still, Sunset was shaking with fury. Everyone silently stared at the Dazzlings in a mixture of quiet horror and fury as they struggled to comprehend someone doing something so horrible to a kid. The silence was broken by some brown-haired boy who couldn't hold back his feelings. "They-they," he whimpered. "They even gave me a wet willy!" Timmy finally lost all composure and broke down and cried over that, everyone looked toward Timmy with utter sympathy and sadness. Suddenly, Bulk Biceps picked up Timmy and pulled him into a hug. Sunset took the fishbowl from Timmy's hands. "There, there," the dimwitted bodybuilder said, as he patted the upset Timmy on the back. "Isn't that better?!" Timmy didn't feel better per se. Being squeezed in Bulk's incredible grip, he felt his oxygen supply run out. "Too tight!" He choked out. "What's that, you want me to hug you some more?" Bulk asked, squeezing Timmy some more, much to his annoyance. "Everyone, let's give Timmy a big hug!" "Me first!" Scootaloo suddenly shouted. She blushed when she realized some people, including her two best friends, were staring at her. "I mean, I want to help Timmy fell better," she added sheepishly. The Rainbooms, the Crusaders, and dozens of other students starting giving Timmy a huge hug. Timmy found himself in an oasis of love and protection. Outside of it were a group of students who glared with a newfound hatred of the Dazzlings at their savage cruelty. One girl immediately began stomping over to the Dazzlings with no small amount of malice. The Dazzlings saw Gilda and some of her posse coming toward them with an utterly hateful expression. They started shaking and quivering, but there was no pity given to them "Get the net," Gilda said to Hoops and Dumbbell in a very controlled voice without looking at them, instead glaring daggers at the siren sisters while Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder kept them still. The two guys returned quickly with one. Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder, sensing what Gilda was planning, immediaely picked the struggling sirens up off the ground. "You want to send them flying?" Lightning Dust asked the white-girl with a sadistic smile. "High in the sky," the white-haired military brat said in an unusually conversational tone. "They might survive being slammed into the ground, but I doubt it," she finished with a happy tone. "NOOOOO!" Adagio shrieked through her gag. Her sisters also pleaded for mercy, but there was none of it in Gilda's yellow eyes. Hoops and Dumbell menacingly held the net up. Lightning Dust dragged the siren princess to the net, while Gilda began pulling back- "STOP!" Gilda and her posse ceased as they saw the Princess of Friendship approaching them with a disappointed frown. "You're not going to kill them." She said. Gilda finally lost all composure. "You're really gonna give us the 'we're better then that' speech?!" She asked Twilight incredulously. "We're giving them what they deserve!" "Yeah," Hoops said angrily. "Look what they did to us! To you! To little Tim and his adorable green-eyed fish and that fat pink-eye fish." The other students who were staring across the room also looked angrily at the Princess, showing they were not altogether opposed to Gilda's plan. "They are going to Tartarus," Princess Twilight said sternly. "They'll be living there for a long, long, long time." Adagio looked to the Princess with an odd form of hope, but the Princess made it plain by her cold expression she wasn't protecting them out of kindness. Gilda tired to ignore the Princess and carry on with her plan, only for Twilight to get into Gilda's face with a thunderous expression. "They're going to Tartarus! That. Is. An. Order." The angry eyes of someone who lived a hard knock life in the streets met the stern eyes of someone who was worthy of power and a throne. A silent staring contest ensued over who would win out. The battle ended when Gilda was the one to cave first, looking away reluctantly with a growl. "Fine," Gilda said bitterly, "you can take out trash." Very reluctantly, Lightning Dust dropped Adagio on the ground, who let out a grunt of pain, while Rolling Thunder roughly dropped the other two. Princess Twilight than looked at everyone with a stern look. "There are going to Tartarus, where they'll be in a cage and under heavy guard," Princess Twilight proclaimed in a way that made it clear she was not making a suggestion. "That is final." Everyone looked dismayed over the witches a worse punishment, but they accepted that Princess Twilight had the final say. A weird smile formed on the Princess' face. "Unless Timmy has a better idea," Princess Twilight said with a smirk. The people who were hugging Timmy finally put him down and turned to stare at Timmy, wondering what he choice was. He felt nervous, both from the attention, and from the Dazzlings starting at them, until he felt someone patting him on the head."Don't worry little guy," Flash whispered softly into his ear. "They're not gonna hurt you or you little fish again." Flash bent down to look Timmy directly in the eye. "We won't them." The words and the gesture helped Timmy relax a lot. He eventually looked up and saw Sunset holding Cosmo and Wanda in their bowl. The sight of Sunset and Cosmo and Wanda looking at him with a combination of love and strength helped drain away at his anxiety. He graciously took Cosmo and Wanda back and, seeing everyone else looking at him with kindness, his fears vanished entirely. He knew they would never let anything bad happen to him. His happy smile faded as soon as he glanced at the Dazzlings. Beaten, tied up, gagged, and powerless, he had no reason to be afraid of them anymore. With Cosmo and Wanda tightly held in his arms, both out of comfort and so no one would see them granting wishes, he approaching the helpless trio with a smile that could would scare a shark. "I have a confession to make," Timmy said very loudly as he glared daggers as the Dazzlings. Cosmo and Wanda looked up at him with concern when he said 'confession'. "I've had the...stone before I came to Canterlot". Everyone perked up at that. "And I've done some pretty crazy things with it," Timmy said, his smile getting wider and nastier. "I once made it rain hail the size of minivans." "Minivans?" Sunset asked him aloud. "Fully loaded minivans!" Cosmo chriped. "I also brought an alien invasion to Dimmsdale, turned everyone I knew into a grey blob, and helped cockroaches become smart enough take over the planet." Everyone was now staring at Timmy in confusion and shock, not sure if they could believe him or not, but not sure they could dismiss his claims. Timmy smiled even wider as he prepared to make his point. "But those were all accidents!" He turned to stare right into Adagio's eyes. "Now what do you think I'll do to someone when I'm really, really mad at them?!" The sirens whimpering, crying, and twitching grew even more. Everyone also started in shock at Timmy, realizing that even with rules, he could still inflict a lot of havoc and harm on someone. "Send them to the moon!" Spike suddenly yelled. Timmy looked confused. "That was more of a rhetorical-," "They should be frozen in carbonite!" Micro Chips screamed. "They can never have muffins again!" Derpy requested. "They should juggle rubber chickens while riding a unicycle for the rest of their lives!" Lyra yelled. "A falcon should eat their liver!" Many students also started shouting their demands for the Dazzlings' punishment, some more nonsensical than others. "They should be forced into wearing summer clothes in the winter!" Rarity suddenly shrieked. "I can think of nothing more dreadful than that." "OH!OH!OH!" Pinkie asked like a kid wanting to ask a question in class, complete with waving her arm up and down. "Are you gonna turn them into worms like you thought we were a bunch of meanies who wanted to destroy you and achieve world domination?" The debate ended once a certain pony princess offered her two cents. "I think turning them into worms is a great idea!" Princess Twilight said with an unnaturally wide smile that shocked Flash. "They've behaved like little, cowardly, pathetic, little worms. So worms should be there fate!" Twilight said with a merciless tone that didn't seem to belong to someone calling herself the Princess of Friendship. "So go ahead, Timmy: make them into slimy, little worms they really are inside." Soon, someone started chanting worms, and the entire crowd was chanting "worms" over and over, eager to see the Dazzlings brutally punished. Except for Flash, who was horrified. Not at the idea of the Dazzlings becoming worms. He didn't have any sympathy for them, but that his on-and-off girlfriend could suggest such a cruel fate. "Twilight?" The blue-haired guitarist asked the pony princess, "what are you-," The Princess silently pointed toward Timmy. Flash noticed that while everyone else was looking at the Dazzlings with vindictive glee, Twilight's eyes were on the stone-wielding boy. "I could do that," Timmy said as the chant for "worms" died down, taking a step closer toward the bound Dazzlings. "I would do that. I should do that." Each time each spoke, his anger grew until he was shaking with rage, and he took a step closer until he was eye level with the siren princess, who was now quivering and shaking with fear, her pleas for mercy audible enough through her gag. Her sisters also shook, not just because of Timmy's pitiless gaze. Cosmo and Wanda, inside their fishbowl, just silently stared at the Dazzlings. They weren't giving Timmy suggestions, but nor were they objecting to the Dazzlings being turned into slimy beings. "But...I won't," Timmy said at last after taking a deep breath, reaching into his pants, pulling out his pink hat, and putting it proudly on his head. "Because that's what you would do." His anger and shaking faded, and soon he looked at the Dazzlings like they were trash and thus beneath his notice. "You losers aren't worth it!" "Then what are you going to do?" Twilight asked Timmy. Timmy began whispering to Cosmo and Wanda, but to the other students not in the know, he seemed to just be making a wish to the stone. When he was finished, he just stared at the Dazzlings with an evil smile. Adagio said something inaudbile, but which sounded like "What did you wish for?" Timmy just kept smiling, raising the suspense for both the sirens and the students watching. Soon, there was a massive POOF, and a whole lot of pink smoke. When it was clear, the Dazzlings were gone, much to the horror of CHS. "OH MY GOSH!" Limestone Pie shrieked, "he vaporized them." She then raised her fist into the air and smiled. "Great idea, Timmy! That was hardcore!" "No they're over there!" Someone shouted. Everyone looked and saw, to their confusion, the Dazzlings had been teleported to the other side of the destroyed lawn. Even more amazingly, their injuries were healed, their hair had grown back, and they were no longer tied up. They still had massive gags over their mouths, and for some inexplicable reason, their attire had been changed to overalls, and they were suddenly surrounded by gardening implements, like rakes, shovels, and bags of mulch. "Hey, the school's fixed!" The students looked back, and to their surprise, the entire school was completely undamaged. It look like it was freshly built, with no sign of the battle that had just taken place. "Oh yeah I wished for the school to be all better!" Timmy said with a smile. "You did?" Sunset asked happily. Everyone else looked at Timmy with a grateful smile. "But why is the lawn still a-," "The next part of my wish is that the Dazzlings would be all better, so that they could fix the lawn themselves," Timmy said, his mercilessness in his voice returning, as he marched over to the trio. "They made this mess, they're gonna clean up!" Applejack looked at the boy with a proud smile, as did the other Rainbooms. Timmy marched over to the Dazzlings. "You three are gonna work all night long to fix the lawn, and then your gonna go with Twilight to that Tatar Sauce place." The Dazzlings looked at him in confusion, much to his annoyance. "Or maybe you do want to be turned into worms?!" Timmy said with cheerful menace. WIth that the Dazzlings started picking up the shovels and rakes and went to work out of fear and terror of the little boy. Suddenly, Gilda and her posse showed up behind the boy. "And just remember," Gilda added, "he may have rules, but if we decide to kill you," Gilda said in completely calm tone of voice, "we don't have any rules stopping you." The Dazzlings started working even faster. Everyone started jeering at the Dazzlngs, except for Moondancer who started looking at Timmy with a remorseful expression. "Was that some kind of princess worthiness of power test?" Flash asked Twilight. "He did turn my friends into worms," Twilight replied with a serious smile. "I wanted to see if he learned from that mistake, or he would stoop to their level. If he didn't, I would've made another rune." Princess Twilight admitted remorselessly. "Did he pass the test?" "Yep," Princess Twilight said proudly. "But I had another reason." "What-" Flash began, only for Princess Twilight to silently gesture at the crowd. Those who weren't jeering at the Dazzlings were looking with admiration at the boy supervising them. Timmy had already earned their love and respect by helping to beat the Dazzlings and being an adorable little kid. But now they were looking at him with a level of respect that only Princess Twilight and the Rainbooms achieved. Timmy hadn't forgiven the Dazzlings. Not that Flash could blame him. But like Princess Twilight had done, he was showing a defeated foe mercy they didn't deserve. Now everyone was looking at him the way they looked at Princess Twilight: like someone who could be counted on to do the right thing, like someone who would always be there help someone in need, like someone you could go to for help. They were looking at the boy like a hero. And to Flash, that's what the boy was. Sunset and the other Rainbooms were broken from their own admiration for Timmy when someone approached them. "Sunset," Moondancer said. The Rainbooms turned to look at the girl. She looked very contrite, and almost on the verge of tears. "Sunset, I'm so sorry-," "Moondancer, stop," Sunset said in a kind, patient, and understanding tone. "You don't have to say sorry. You don't have anything to be sorry for." Moondancer looked at the fire-haired girl with confusion. "You didn't know any of this was gonna happen. You thought you were getting revenge on me," Sunset said on the verge of tears of herselff, "and we-I did deserve this. You just wanted a friend, and all I did was hurt you over a stupid grudge and never bothered to make it up to you." "But I shouldn't have taken revenge," Moondancer said, suddenly looking Timmy with tears rolling down her eyes. "Looking at Timmy, that's how I should've been. I should've seen you changed for the better-" "It's not like we gave y'all a reason to be nice and forgivin'," Applejack said remorsefully. The other Rainbooms also looked upset over how they treated her. "We ditched you and didn't help you," Rainbow said, her lips quivering. "That was a crummy thing to do to a friend." "But we promise," Pinkie said in a soft, serious voice. "If you come back to school with us, we'll be the bestest, estest friends you ever had." "But I don't-," "Don't say you don't deserve it," Twilight said with a warm, strong smile that made her look like the Princess of Friendship. "You may have been consumed by a grudge, but when you saw what was at stake, you put it aside and put your own life on the line to help save Timmy and everyone else. If that isn't what a hero does, I don't know what is." Moondancer lost all control and started crying. The Rainbooms all pulled her into a large, warm, group hug to assure the red and purple haired girl that all was forgiven, some of them also crying too. Timmy turned his eyes away from the Dazzlings, watching this happily. Suddenly he found himself approached by the tall Principal and the other staff, who were looking at him with proud smiles. "Good job Mr. Turner," Principal Celestia said in a very please voice. "We're all so proud of you-," "For learning that vengeance is not the answer," Timmy replied happily. "Actually, we were gonna thank you for saving us another awkward conversation with the insurance company," Vice Principal Luna said with an opportunistic gaze. "Oh," Timmy said with some disappointment. "But learning your lesson was good too," Principal Celestia added abruptly. Suddenly the staff picked up Timmy and started tossing him into the air in gratitude, much to his annoyance. "Hip hip hooray!" The staff cheered, lauching Timmy into the air several times. "Hip hip, hooray!" But on the fifth time that Timmy was launched into the air, he disappeared with a poof, along with his fish, much to the confusion of everyone else. But the confusion grew when suddenly, the Rainbooms disappeared, as did the Dazzlings. A stunned and worried silence fell over everyone as they wondered where their heroes and defeated foes had gone. The Rainbooms, Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda, and the Dazzlings suddenly appeared in the middle of some barren desert. "Where are we?" Sunset asked in exhaustion as she pulled herself off the ground. "The Mojave Desert," Pinkie Pie said excitedly. "One of the most barren and isolated parts of America." Princess Twilight was confused. "How did you know?" "I didn't!" Pinkie chirped. "It was in the brochure." Pinkie gestured to a box with brochures. Sunset looked and saw the Dazzlings lying on the ground in a heap. Their gags were gone, and they still laid on the ground with utterly defeated expressions. Not interested in their welfare, she turned away with a snorth, and saw Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda, the latter two out of fish mode, pulling themselves up. "Timmy," Sunset asked. "Why did you bring us-," "I didn't," Timmy said, also very confused. Sunset narrowed her eyes. "Then who-," A massive explosion echoed in the distance. The blast was so powerful, it blew everyone back several feet, and a massive mushroom cloud bloomed from the sandy ground. When everyone pulled themselves up, a being had formed at the center of the mushroom cloud. If the being could be described in one word, it could be tough: as tall as house, incredibly muscular and well-built, dressed in combat boots and military fatigues, grey hair made into a buzz cut, sharp blue eyes that looked like they could melt steal, and a lantern jaw. The silly crown on his head did little to detract from the image of toughness. This guy wasn't just built like a tank, he looked like he could eat them for breakfast. "Who are you?" Sunset asked, a chill going down her spine as the tall man gazed at her friends coldly. "Jorgen von Strangle," Cosmo said fearfully. "Enforcer of the rules," Wanda added, also shaking. "Toughest Fairy in the Universe!" Timmy squeaked. "Flattery will get you nowhere Turneh!" The fairy shouted in a commanding tone and a Teutonic accent. "We have...many things to discuss." He added ominously. > Reading the Riot Act > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone looked in shock at the massive being. When they imagined a fairy, they imagined a pair of small, adorable floating midgets like Cosmo and Wanda. Not the meanest, toughest looking being that ever walked the Earth. Besides Sylvester Calzone. "Wait a minute," Rainbow added with a stern look. "Where were you when we were fighting the Dazzlings?" The athlete accused the tall fairy. "All My Biceps was having a marathon," Jorgen said nonchalantly, as if that explained everything. "Besides whenever there is trouble, I always scramble the fairies." Everyone looked at the musclebound mage with confusion. "Uh," Twilight muttered, "what good would that-," "I LIKE TO SCRAMBLE THE FAIRIES!" Jorgen bellowed, making Twilight flinch. "Man, he's a real meanie," Fluttershy muttered under her breath. "But once my beloved marathon ended, I learned not only has Turner exposed his fairies to other humans, he exposed them to an entire high school," the big tall fairy said with clear annoyance in his voice. "Which means?" Rainbow asked with some nervousness in her voice. "Your memories of the magic shall be erased, along with those of your puny human classmates," Jorgen said in a dramatic tone, "as will Turner's, and Cosmo and Wanda shall be taken away from him forever!" Everyone looked up in horror. "Excuse me?" Sunset asked with a chill in her voice. "Memory loss?" Gradually, the fairy pulled out something from his military jacket. It was some yellow tube that lit up ominously. "Can't we talk about this?" Rainbow asked him fearfully. Jorgen seemed to put little care into her words as he held up the light, much to the growing terror of the her and the other Rainbooms. "Wait!" Everyone turned to Timmy, who was looking at Jorgen with an unusually smug smile. Cosmo and Wanda floated directly behind him, also smiling. "Don't worry Turner," Jorgen said with a roll of his eyes, "I won't forget to wipe your-," "You can't erase my memories or their's," Timmy said with an even smuger smile. "I didn't break any rules." The tall fairy silently glared at Timmy in exasperation. "Explain yourself!" "The rules state that," Timmy held up the book. " 'The child forfeits his relations and memories of his or her fairies should they and their abilities be exposed to an individual'. That part is true." Jorgen silently gestured to the quivering teenagers. Timmy flipped a few pages. "However, the child does not violate the rules if the individual in question possesses magical abilities. It is within the right of the a godchild to share knowledge of his fairies and their powers to other fairies, genies, vampires, aliens, and other beings who can be proven to be of a magical nature." "I'm a unicorn," Sunset suddenly blurted out. "And I'm an alicorn princess from the magical land of Equestria!" Twilight declared with some urgency in her voice. Jorgen looked disbelieving. "Even if I believed that, then what about your other companions?" He looked toward the other fidgeting Rainbooms." " 'Humans who posess magical abilities or have learned of the nature of magic independently, such as other godchildren, can also be made aware of the fairies' magical nature' with no fault to the godchild," Timmy read aloud. "So go ahead guys," Wanda said to the Rainbooms in a panicked tone. "Show him your magical nature." The Rainbooms joined hands together, started glowing, and soon their pony attributes formed on their bodies, much to Jorgen's surprise. "We have magical powers!" Rainbow gloated, gesturing to her wings and pony ears. "So...nananananana!" Jorgen clenched his fist in annoyance for a moment, before regaining his composure. "But-but," he said, "you have still exposed your fairies and their abilities to a group of human child-," Jorgen frowned again as Timmy turned to another page with a wide smile. " 'It is OK for the fairies to be seen in public as long as the humans present are unaware of the fairies true nature.' " Timmy read, before looking at Jorgen with a gloating face. Jorgen looked shocked. "How?" "The rule helped me get Cosmo and Wanda into a costume party," Timmy said happily."The kids of Canterlot only know Cosmo and Wanda as talking fish, not fairies." "And as far as they know," Wanda added with a gloating expression of her own, "our magic is from some magical stone from Equestria. Plus they already knew about magic from Sunset and her friends, so we could expose ourselves to them if we wanted too." "So take that, Jarhead!" Cosmo mocked. Jorgen silently fumed at Timmy, more than a bit upset and being bested by a tiny chid. "The kid is good at loopholes," Rainbow remarked with some amusement at Jorgen's annoyance and some amazement of Timmy's mastery of the rules. "He should be a lawyer," Rarity gushed. Jorgen continued fuming, until his eyes widened in realiization. "Equestria," he suddenly said, as if remembering something. Twilight looked intrigued. "You've been there?" "Yes!" Jorgen said, as if remembering an embrassment from his past, "it is where that bearded moron came from!" Twilight narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Wait, Starswirl the Bearded?" "Yes, that buffoon who makes Cosmo look like a genius was dumping his trash into Earth all the time and terrorizing the puny humans!" "What?" Twilight asked in shock. "How many things did he dump?" Sunset asked. Jorgen's face fell into his hands as he remembered some particularly stressful moments. "Two-," "Dozen!" Pinkie offered. "Thousand!" Rarity guessed. "Two hundred thousand!" Jorgen said at last. "What?" Everyone exclaimed in shock. "Why did he do that?" Twilight asked Jorgen with a combination of curiousity and annoyance. Jorgen stood over a humanized version of Starswirl the Bearded, who was cowering in fear from the wrath of the musclebound fairy. The two were standing in an open field with no witness. "I had to clean up another one of your messes!" Jorgen yelled, gesturing to the injured hydra in the cage. "What do you have to say, pony?" Jorgen narrowed his eyes and pointed his wand at the scared wizard. "Look at it this way," Starswirl said with a sheepish smile. "I never thought it would be my problem." Jorgen growled and fired a magical blast at the pony-turned-human, who ran away fearfully with a yell. "Come back here pony!" Jorgen yelled while in hot pursuit of the wizard. "I shall show you a new definiton of suffering!" Twilight looked at Jorgen with disappointment and chagrin in her voice. "He really used this planet to deal with all of his problems and didn't bother helping to clean it up." "YES!" jorgen growled in a rage. "And I was the one who had to clean up and bring him pain so he would never show his face again!" He leveled his wand at Twilight. "And now you have brought his madness to this world!" "What?" Twilight asked in annoyance. "I shall not allow you to bring your crazy pony magic in this-," Jorgen paused again when he saw Timmy flipping through Da Rules. "WHAT NOW?!" Jorgen yelled. "Funny, I don't recall fairies being given absolute jurisdiction over Earth's magical activities," Timmy said all too sweetly. "Starswirl did dump his junk into Earth, but was that Fairy World's official duties, or did you decide to do yourself?" Jorgen paused in shock. "Well," the muscular fairy stammered, nervously rubbing the back of his head. "And you merely threatened Starswirl as an independent agent, not with the sanction of Fairy World's government, and thus your actions have no bearing on interdimensional contact or exchange. Meaning Princess Twilight can communicate and engage with Earth as much as she sees fit, unless her actions can be seen as a threat to the well-being of Fairy World." Timmy closed the book rather loudly, as if to twist the knife further. "And since Princess Twilight has not done anything malicious or malovent....TOUGH LUCK JARHEAD!" Everyone stared at Timmy in shock. "And you're getting Fs in English, why?" Sunset asked in confusion. "Crocker." An odd smile formed on Rainbow's face. "Well at least you have a good excuse." Once again, Jorgen growled impotently at the boy, but still, he did not try and erase memories. But then he smiled nastily. "However, if I can prove any of you have done something malicious," Jorgen gloated with a vicious smile. "Then I may wipe your memories." Timmy was shocked by that. "Uh, well...." Jorgen slammed his wand into the ground, and vanished. "Where did he go?" Applejack asked Timmy nervously. But before the buck-toothed boy could answer, Jorgen suddenly returned with a frown on his face. "Well, I couldn't find-," Jorgen began, before he started shuddering like he had seen something grotesque. "Are you OK?" Wanda asked him. "I'm sorry," Jorgen whimpered, as if he was in chilly weather. "I had to travel to that horsey world." "You mean Equestria?" "Horsey world?" Timmy asked aloud. He looked back at Sunset. "So it really is true," Timmy said in amazement. "You really are a unicorn." "Yep," Sunset admitted. "So much girliness and cutseyness," Jorgen said as if he was about to vomit, "it was so unmanly, I had to punch Binky many times just to remind myself of how manly I am. In fact, I must do it again!" Jorgen yelled, lighting up his wand. Suddenly a bald fairy appeared. To the shock of the Rainbooms, Jorgen punched Binky into the ground. "HEY!" Pinkie yelled in horror. "That's not nice!" Fluttershy admonished. "Thank you for your service Binky," Jorgen said, as if feeling better. "I would have suffered from cuteness overdose." "Glad to be off help," the injured Binky said in a daze, before poofing away. "Anyways," Jorgen said. "I searched for any negative information about you puny teenagers that proves you could pose a threat to Fairy World." "And," Timmy asked. "I found nothing," Jorgen said, much to the joy of the Rainbooms. But the joy was short-lived as he leveled his wand directly into Sunset's face. "Except you." Jorgen growled. Sunset was confused. "Wa-" Jorgen pushed the wand closer her, looking at Sunset like she was pest needing to be extirpated. "You betrayed your sovereign, assaulted members of your royal guards, stole a crown, bullied these puny humans, brainwashed them into joining your army, tried to kill innocent teenagers, and planned to usurp your sovereign in an act of treason." The coldness of his voice implied Jorgen was genuinely angry. "I SHOULD ERASE YOUR MEMORIES!" Sunset felt tears flow down her eyes, as he looked up at the merciless fairy, a pathetic, tearful expression on her face. "Please don't-," suddenly her friends stood in front of her, as if forming a shield around her, all of them staring up at Jorgen in defiance. "Leave Sunset alone!" Fluttershy yelled. "If you want to erase her memories, than you'll have erase all out of our memories!" Rainbow declared. "You want to go through her," Applejack challenged with a stern look, "then you'll have to- Her sternness faded as Jorgen started making weird noises. He started chuckling. "HAHAHAHAHA!" Jorgen said. "Wait, you didn't let me finish! I said I should erase your memories, but I never said I would." Sunset was confused and annoyed. "Then why did you make me psych it out?!" "Because I wanted a collection for my Fear-A-Gram account!" Jorgen boasted, holding up a cell phone. There was a picture of Sunset's tearful and scared expression, apparently posted onto social media. "And I love seeing your puny human face twisted into terror and !" Jorgen suddenly started cackling again. "It brings me great joy!" Everyone glared at Jorgen, not exactly used to his sense of humor, while Sunset blushed out of embarassement. "So wait," Sunset said, her eyes widening in realization. "So you're not going to erase my memories?" Twilight looked pleased at that. "You must've realized that love, trust, and forgiveness are the right way!" "No!" Jorgen yelled. "The white pony with wings told me she wrote her a pardon. Since it came from her sovereign, I cannot pursue Sunset, even if I wanted too, and I really want to!" "Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked. "Wait the Principal?" Timmy asked in confusion, before looking at Sunset. Timmy paused, seeing a guilty and sad expression on Sunset's face. "Sunset, are you OK?" Sunset didn't respond, looking horribly miserable. "That's right!" Jorgen bellowed, getting into Sunset's face. "The princess who you tried to usurp took pity on a pathetic little brat like you." The icy softness of Jorgen's voice indicated that Jorgen wasn't just mocking Sunset, but genuinely chewing her out for her misbehavior. Sunset looked down in contriteness, unable to meet Jorgen's eyes out of shame. "Had you committed these acts against Fairy World, I would've had your sorry tuchus in Fairy Jail for many years. You are very lucky-," "HEY LEAVE HER ALONE!" Rainbow yelled, fed up with Jorgen's verbal abuse of Sunset. "Sunset isn't bad anymore!" Fluttershy yelled. "She ain't no varmint, and we ain't no hoodlums, so git!'" Applejack shrieked. "Stop being such a meanie mean-pants!" Pinkie growled at the fairy. "Sunset made mistakes, but she's made up for them!" Rarity stressed in a polite and forceful tone. "She not only saved us from a group of monsters," Wanda yelled sternly at Jorgen, getting right into his face, "but she also gave us our wands back when she could've kept them for herself!" "See!" Cosmo said, holding out his wand. The sight of the wand made Jorgen's eyes narrow. "Let me see your wand," Jorgen said in a cold tone that brooked no argument. Cosmo handed his wand to Jorgen, as did Wanda. To the shock and fear of everyone, Jorgen began grinding his teeth as he observed the damage done to the wands."Who did this?!" Jorgen hissed in a tone far more menacing than any that came from his mouth as he held up the broken wands, particularly the broken-off sticks. "Who is the moron who dared desecrate-," "They did!" Everyone said, pointing to the Dazzlings. Or at least they would've since the Dazzlings weren't there. "OH MY GOSH! THEY'RE GONE!" Pinkie shrieked. Everyone gasped in horror. "No wait," Pinkie Pie said with an annoyed frown. "They're over there." Everyone watched with annoyance as they saw the Dazzlings trying to walk away while everyone was distracted. "Come on girls," Adagio said in a falsely optimistic voice to her bedraggled sisters, "I'm sure if we hustle, we can make it the nearest town in seven...." "Minutes?" Aria asked. "Hours?" Sonata asked. Adagio paused for a moment. "Days," Adagio admitted sheepishly, before a stern look came to her face. "Sonata, you be our camel!" "Yay!" Sonata chirped. "You guys are finding me useful for once. This is-," POOF! The large, angry, and well-built fairy suddenly appeared before them, glaring down at the Dazzlings with a chillingly stern frown. Adagio chuckled nervously. "Hey, Jorgen, was it?! Love the haircut-" "You dared destroy these wands?!" Jorgen roared, showing off the damaged wands, his tone making it clear he was in no mood for any brown-nosing. "Do you know how much havoc you could've unleashed?" Aria immediately pointed a finger at Adagio in fear. "Adagio did it! It was all her idea!" Adagio rounded on Aria in a rage. "Me?!" "Yeah she's the team leader," Sonata shrieked. "That means everything is all her fault!" "You guys are the leaders now!" Adagio said fearfully. "You're the one who said to follow your lead!" Aria argued angrily, only for Sonata to start jumping up and down. "YAY!" Sonata shrieked happily. "I'm the leader. Which means you all have to get me tacos!" "I'm not getting you squat!" Aria scowled in annoyance. Adagio looked horrified. "I am a princess, not a common butler-," A massive fist slammed down onto the Dazzlings, cutting off their argument. The enforcer of the Rules lifted his hand up, and stared at the crushed and moaning Dazzlings like there were ants. "That not all they did!" Jorgen looked up and saw that Timmy, the godparents, and the Rainbooms had caught with them. "They also kidnapped me, stole Cosmo and Wanda and ate them, beat me up, turned Canterlot into their brainwashed slaves, and tried to takeover the world!" Each explanation made Jorgen steadily angrier and angrier until a vein could be seen throbbing on his forehead. "Did they bother to give these precious wands the monthly polish they deserved?!" "No," Cosmo said with a smirk. "They said they were too good for that!" With that, Jorgen let out another bellow of rage. "They didn't give the monthly polish! THEY DIDN'T GIVE THE MONTHLY POLISH!" Jorgen bent down to look menacingly at the Dazzlings, who were crying in fear. "Not only that, but you brought pain and misery to those fairies and that child! ONLY I MAY BRING PAIN AND MISERY TO THEM!" He pointed his wand to the Dazzlings. "Turner maybe a weak little child with a puny brain and no common sense-," "Man, this guy is really nice," Rainbow snarked. Timmy didn't seem offended, simply rolling his eyes, apparently being used to Jorgen's mean-spirited nature. '-but he doesn't deserve to be tormented by monsters as foul as you." Jorgen's helped up the yellow light with a stern look, causing the Dazzlings to tremble even more. "So now I shall erase-" "Wait!" Jorgen paused for a moment. The brown-haired boy approached him with an eager smile on his face, much to the confusion of the Rainbooms and the godparents. "Timmy," Sunset asked, "what are you-," "Don't erase their memories," Timmy asked the stern-looking fairy. The Dazzlings let out a sigh of relief. "Instead why not give them a long nice stay in Abracatraz, the fairy jail?!" The Dazzlings' hopeful expressions were replaced with terror. "You can have them scrub your toilets and stuff." Timmy offered all too cheerfully. The Dazzlings expressions became even more hopeless as Jorgen thought it over and a sadistic smile came on his face. "Very well," Jorgen said as he turned to the quivering sirens, "you three shall be sentenced to Abracatraz for the next 100 years, where you shall learn your lesson...through pain!" "I want an appeal!" Aria begged. "OVERRULED!" Jorgen said, suddenly wearing a judicial robe and wig. He banged a gavel, there as a poof, and fairy police car appeared, and the Dazzlings were put into shackles and cuffs. "Please take us to Tartarus!" Aria begged the Rainbooms. "Don't leave us with him!" Sonata begged. "C'mon Princess," Adagio pleaded, "you can write us a get out of jail free card, can't you?" The Rainbooms rolled their eyes, annoyed at Adagio for always trying to exploit some kind of gain. To their surprise, however, Jorgen turned to Twilight. "Well, your majesty," Jorgen said in an usually respectful tone, "you do have that right. What would you wish to be done with these delinquents?" The Rainbooms were shocked to see such politeness and courtesy come from someone so mean. It appeared that, for better or for worse, Jorgen was a stickler for the rules. Princess Twilight thought it over, humming very noisily. "As the Princess of Friendship and Harmony I do decree," Princess Twilight's smile became vicious, "they are all yours, Mr. Von Strangle." With that, Jorgen turned back to the Dazzlings, and ordered them to get in the fairy van. "Please tell me you have Taco Tuesday in jail?" Sonata begged. "We only have," Jorgen declared, "Sub Sunday!" The blue-haired Sonata whimpered before breaking down in tears as she was led to the van. Adagio seemed to have drifted into what looked like silent shock, while Aria was screaming in an irate rage, which continued even as she got into the van and the door was slammed. "CURSE YOU TURNER!" The pig-tailed siren shrieked with a red face as she gripped the iron bars on the window, "WE'LL HAVE OUR REVENGE!" "See, there's the evil villain wanting revenge!" Cosmo pointed out. Everyone chuckled, finding Aria's anger and pain so adorable. Their chuckle ended with Jorgen menacingly pointing the wand at them. "But let me make it clear, Turneh!" Jorgen warned. "One toe out of line, and your time with your fairies goes kaput!" "Sure," Timmy said nervously, "I understand!" Jorgen than nervously pointed at the Rainbooms. "And as for you seven, If you dare abuse the power of the fairies, you too will be sent to Abacatraz for 100 years. There, your lives will be a never-ending torrent of pain, suffering, pain, agony, pain, misery, and....PAIN!" "Understood," Sunset said fearfully, sensing that Jorgen really had it in for her. "Uh you said pain, like, four times," Princess Twilight said meekly. "I LIKE TO BRING PAIN!" Jorgen declared furiously. He banged his wand on the ground, poofing away with another blast, while the fairy wagon flew away into the sky. Inside their cabin, Sonata wept pitifully, Aria fumed and raged, while Adagio stared silently at the corner, almost catatonic with shock. One she saw that no one was looking, a nasty smile appeared on her face. "Well played Turner. Very well played." Adagio thought with some admiration for her foe. "You have won this battle," Adagio's eyes narrowed, "but you haven't won the war." On the front lawn of Canterlot High, everyone stood patiently, waiting for the Rainbooms and Timmy to come back. Much to their relief, they did return with a poof. "What happened?" Flash said, approaching Twilight with concern and curiousity. Other students approached them too. "Where did you guys go?" "Uh, magic business?" Twilight said nervously. Flash realized Twilight was keeping something secret, but let it go, thinking Twilight was probably doing it for good reason. "Where's them?" Thunderlane asked them with narrowed eyes, still angry over the Dazzlings. "We sent them...jail," Rainbow said reluctantly. "A magic jail." "Good," Thunderlane said with a satisfied smile. "We're all going to Chubby Chicken to celebrate!" Lyra declared. The Rainbooms all smiled, thinking they deserved to kick back and relax after a trying day. They started to wander off, until someone noticed something. "Hey, where's Timmy and his talking fish?" Gilda asked with concern. The Rainbooms paused and saw Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda weren't next to them all of a sudden. Everyone also looked concerned over the pink-hatted boy's apparent absence. "Timmy," Sunset began nervously. "Timmy, where are-," "Sunset look." Sunset turned to Fluttershy. "I found this on the ground." Fluttershy presented her with a purple envelope. It read "To Sunset and everyone else" on the front. Sunset opened the letter, read it, and dropped it in a sad shock. A short message was written on it. "Thanks for everything, guys. And goodbye forever." "Signed, Timmy Turner." > Not Quite Back To Normal > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Timmy." The brown-haired boy looked up from his cafeteria food and saw Chester and A.J. looking at him with concern. It appeared both of them had been freed from the Dazzlings' spell, along with everyone, and didn't remember what they had done under it. "Dude," Chester asked him with concern. "Why are you sitting here alone?" Timmy looked down. "Timmy," The blond kid said with an encouraging smile, "I'm not mad at you. You went berserk because of Tad and Chad. Besides, they're going to a new school-," "I'm sick," Timmy lied, "and I don't want you to.....catch it." "Don't worry dude," AJ said, pushing a button, causing a giant hypodermic needle to burst out of his sleeve. "AJ will cure whatever disease you have. Super-noogies, super-tummy aches, and the ocassional wedgie burn," AJ paused at Chester started pulling him away, much to the bald kid's annoyance. "Don't worry dude," the son of Bucky McBadbat said, picking up the hint that his best friend wanted to be alone, "we hope you feel better." Cosmo and Wanda, disguised as milk cartons, watched this with concern. "Timmy are you-," "Not hungry," Timmy said simply, dumping his uneaten lunch into the trash before walking out of the cafeteria. "So yeah, Tad and Chad are, like, going to Crystal Prep's Junior Academy in Canterlot," Veronica gossiped. "Uh huh," Trixie muttered, not really caring about those two. Seeing them get beat up by a supposedly unpopular boy after picking a fight with him, to say that the raven-haired girl didn't hold them in much regard anymore was putting it mildly. She wasn't really paying attention to her ponytailed best friend's chatter. Much of her attention was on the certain brown-haired boy walking out of the cafeteria, looking like the world had ended. Francis stood by the cafeteria door, waiting for some new meat to come out of the cafeteria. He smiled when he saw his familiar victim walk out. "Hey Turner," the grey-skinned boy said menacingly, "I didn't forget about what the girl did. Welcome to the corner of pay and -," Timmy just walked by him, completely ignoring his presence. "Wow," Francis commented, for once sounding sympathetic, "he looks really beat up. I can't hit some sad kid." He frowned in annoyance. "There can be no true suffering without there being some joy to take away," the tall bully commented in a philsophical tone. "LALALALALA!" Francis looked and saw some whimsical kid dressed in bright clothes with a smile as bright as the sun. "As the President of the Glee Club," the boy chirped. "Every day is the best day ever!" Francis smiled sadistically. "But I can hurt him!" The tall 12 year old bared his fists, ready to bring the pain. "Thanks for coming over Sunset," Mrs. Turner said, dressed in a fancy outfit and getting her purse ready. "Even though this is your last day before sweet and lovable Vicky comes back," Mr. Turner gushed tying his tie, "I'm still glad you showed up." "Yes sir, Mr. Turner," Sunset. Or more specifically, a robot that looked like her said. It was so realistic, the Turner parents couldn't tell the difference. "My systems indicate that Timmy will greatly partake in numerous diversions under my supervision." "And Timmy sure is happy," Mrs. Turner said, gesturing to her brown-haired son who was sitting in front of the TV with a wide smile, playing with his V-Cube. "Anyways, have a good night," Mr. Turner said, as both he and his wife walked out the door. He paused when he noticed Sunset was, for some reason, stammering and sounded hoarse. "Sunset," Mr. Turner asked with concern, "are you-," "S-s-s-s-systemings' failing," Robot Sunset said, "power going offline." Fumes starting pouring out of its mouth. "Oh my gosh!" Mr. Turner said with a mixture of drama and horror. "It's worse than I thought. You have a sore throat," the black-haired man said sympathetically. "Well don't worry," the man said as he grasped the door, "I'll get you some cough medicine on the way back." The man opened the door, politely holding it for his wife, before leaving the house himself. The couple walked to the car, while the brown-haired woman looked over her list, trying to remember everything as they prepared to go to the opera. "Tickets, check, keys, check, wallet, check, video camera disguised a brick so we illegally record the opera," Mrs. Turner said, holding the brick with a lens it in. "We have everything," the real estate saleswoman said with a smile. "Where?" Mr. Turner asked. "In my purse," Mrs. Turner said. The middle-aged woman's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait a minute." ONE MINUTE LATER. "I forgot my purse!" The brown-haired woman ran inside and, to her relief, she found her purse on the table. She looked through it, only to notice something that gave her concern. Her son looked at the TV screen with an unusually sad tone. And he wasn't playing his video game with any real enthusiasm. He seemed to be deliberately walking the the video game character off a cliff, over and over again, causing him to get a GAME OVER. "Timmy," Mrs. Turner asked in a concerned voice. "Is everything OK?" "Everything's fine," Timmy said in a tone that didn't convince than woman, "don't let me ruin your fun." Mrs. Turner felt an upset frown on her face. She could just feel that Timmy was in a really poor mood, and Mrs. Turner was a bit shocked by what her son was saying, but before she could inquire, she heard her husband honking the horn, telling her it was time to go. "Well Timmy, if you want to talk," Mrs. Turner said in a soft, concerned voice, "I'll see you tonight." Timmy didn't even acknowlege her presence, just staring blankly at the screen. Mrs. Turner was about to inquire, but then she glanced at Sunset, and decided that Sunset could help her son out. "I love you Timmy." As soon as Mrs. Turner left, Cosmo and Wanda poofed in front of him, loving expressions on their faces. "Timmy," Wanda began, "why are you-," "You know, I think you two deserve a nice vacation." Timmy interrupted with an insincere smile that couldn't mask the sadness in his eyes. Though Cosmo was normally an oblivious goofball, he wasn't going to let Timmy distract him. "Timmy, why are you avoiding everyone-," "I wish you two would go on a nice vacation," Timmy ordered. "Timmy," Wanda urged, "don't-" "Go," Timmy said, a little harshly. With a sigh, and knowing they couldn't really disobey Timmy's orders, Cosmo and Wanda vanished with a poof. Timmy sat alone for a few minutes, staring blankly at the video screen for a few more minutes. It was pulled out of his thoughts when the front door opened. "Hey!" Timmy turned away from the screen, and to his shock, he saw a familiar fire-haired girl at the door looking at him with a smile. Timmy was confused. "What are you doing here?" Sunset looked at him with an excited smile. "Cause I have yet to beat your high score in-," Sunset paused, looking around. "Where are your parents?" "Opera," Timmy said, his frown deepening. A worried expression was on Sunset's face. "Where are Cosmo- "They're on vacation," Timmy said, in an even more agitated voice. "Then who's here watching-," Sunset paused, noticing some giant electronic robot in the room. "Salutations," the robot said, before letting out a weird static like hiss. "That's odd," Sunset said with a sheepish smile, looking at the robot that was obviously shaped like her, "a robot-," "I know what you want Sunset!" Timmy abruptly yelled in anger. "Just go away!" Sunset looked at the boy with a hurt expression. "Why are you running away from me? And why are mad at me?" Sunset's frown deepened. "Do you still think I'm a demon?! Do you still think I'm an evil bully?! That I'm gonna hurt Cosmo and Wanda-," "YOU JUST WANT ME TO GRANT YOU WISHES!" Timmy yelled, before angrily throwing his controller against the wall and running up the stairs, crying all the way. "Timmy come back!" Sunset yelled with a concerned expression, chasing after her charge. "All's fair," the robot began, before letting out another electric hiss, "in love and intergalatic conquest." Sunset ran back to the robot, an annoyed frown on her face. "I don't sound like that," Sunset said, before resuming her pursuit of the upset ten-year-old. By the time she reached the top of the stairs, the door to his room had been slammed shut and locked. "Go away," Timmy yelled. Sunset didn't go away, sensing that Timmy needed her help more than ever, as heard by the weeping coming from his room. "Timmy please come out of there," Sunset pleaded in a soft voice. She got no response, except for the weeping. The former unicorn could just picture the kid, hiding under his blanket, looking like a sad little lump on the bed. Sunset stared at the door, not knowing what to do. After thinking over a strategy, Sunset let out a sigh. "OK Timmy," the CHS teen began in a soft voice, "I'll leave and never come back. But you have to look me in the eye and say 'I hate you.' " After a few tense minutes, the door finally opened. To Sunset's relief, Timmy didn't look angry. That's not to say he was in good shape, his face was full of tears and self-loathing, but there was none of the cold anger he'd showed her during their fight. "I....I...."Timmy said, but he couldn't say the words, or even pretend to be angry. "I don't need any wishes from you. I like hanging out with you," Sunset said to the boy in a soft voice. "Why would you think that of me?" Timmy tried to speak. "Because...because I'm a monster!" The words took Sunset aback."A monster?" "You didn't do anything to me, none of your friends did anything to me, and I turned some them into worms, made them think you were evil, and I nearly turned Fluttershy into bird food!" Timmy shouted, the guilt dripping from his voice. "Timmy," Sunset reprimanded, "the Dazzlings were messing with your brain-," "They said they couldn't make me do it if I didn't want to!" Timmy protested, tears rolling down his eyes, "they said they couldn't make my friends and my parents hate me unless they really did deep down!" Sunset felt a surge of hatred for a certain trio surge through her brain, but she swallowed it. Her attention was helping Tmmy cope. "You only spied on because you thought I was a monster too!" Timmy wailed. A pang of guilt shot through the fire haired girl. "Timmy, I never thought you were-" "You could've helped me save Cosmo and Wanda, but I said mean things to you and ran away from you," Timmy continued, his eyes a sad fountain of tears. "Because of that, Cosmo and Wanda almost became dinner!" "Timmy..." "It's my fault the Dazzlings nearly took over the world, cause I'm a stupid little twerp..." "Timmy..." "Everyone would be better off if I wasn't born-," Timmy's tirade and crying ceased felt something slam into his head, followed by an oddly adorable squeak sound, as well as a weird pain from his scalp. It was not enough to make him complain, but enough to make him rub his head a little. He looked up and saw Sunset glaring at him while holding a rubber chicken in her hand. "OK," Sunset said in a voice that made her sound like a rumbly volcano that was about to blow, "I don't ever want to her those words again." The tone in her voice spooked Timmy a bit. "What words?" "That everyone would be better off if you were born," Sunset said, throwing the rubber chicken to the ground. "Let me guess, the Dazzlings told you that right?" "Yeah?" "You know why said those horrible things to you because they're sick little monsters who want to make you feel bad! Only a horrible, evil person would ever tell you something so disgusting." Sunset's anger softened a bit. "You should never, ever listen to someone who tells you those things." "But I did want to do those things," Timmy muttered in a sad voice. "Turn you into a worm..." Timmy felt himself crying a agan. "And why did you do that?" Sunset asked with crossed arms. Timmy felt himself frown uncomfortably as he remembered why. "Because...I thought you were evil-," "See, you're not a monster Timmy," the fire-haired girl sat down next to Timmy, putting a soft hand on the boy's shoulder. "You turned me into a worm and made everyone forget I was good because you were scared. You thought I was some evil villain and that I was going to hurt your fairies. And the Dazzlings weren't lying about that Timmy," Sunset said in a softer, sadder voice. "I was evil." Timmy looked concerned. "Sunset..." "I was a monster," Sunset said in a pained voice, almost on the verge of tears herself, "I was that horrible and I was that mean. I hurt Fluttershy, I hurt Moondancer..." the blue-eyed girl paused to wipe tears from her eyes, "I hurt everybody. I wasn't some supervillain Timmy. I was stupid, stuck-up, spoiled little brat who thought I was better than everyone. I was so stupid, I actually thought I could turn of bunch of teenagers into a private army!" Sunset frowned bitterly, remembering her idiotic non-plan for defeated a powerful pony sun goddess. "I didn't even really care about power or being a princess, I just threw one big tantrum over not getting what I wanted and it took a blast of rainbow magic to make me see how horrible I was." Sunset looked at Timmy with kind eyes. "I don't blame you for turning me into a worm, and I wouldn't blame Jorgen for erasing my memories either. I kind of deserved both of those things." Sunset sat down next to the boy. "But your friends didn't deserve it," Timmy said, the pain in his voice returning. "I nearly turned them into...." Timmy paused, too ashamed to speak. "And why did you do that?" "Because Adagio told me that they were evil," Timmy admitted. "I'm so stupid-," "Timmy, you're not stupid," Sunset said in a serious voice. "You listened to Adagio because pretended to be your friend. She tricked you into thinking that, and if someone tricks you, it isn't your fault, it's because they're good at tricking people. We knew what the Dazzlings were like, and they still managed to trick us. That's their special talent," Sunset said with no small amount of contempt her voice, "along making you feel bad and messing with your brain. You helped and listened to them because you thought they were trying to help you. And when you saw what Adagio and her sisters were really like, you stopped," Sunset said, putting another warm hand on Timmy's shoulder. "Even at your worst, even when the Dazzlings were messing with your brain, when you saw I wasn't evil, you stopped and turned my friends back to normal." Timmy paused, remembering when Sunset pointed a tranquilizer gun and him, then dropped it, and then let herself be turned into a worm again. Nobody who was ever evil would do something that like that. "And then you cried when you realized you did something wrong, and then Adagio tried to bully you into destroying us, and you stood up to her even when you knew how bad I was," Sunset said. "Monsters don't do things like that. They don't apologize, or admit their mistakes, or cry, and hide in their rooms. They also wouldn't give up the people they love to save them." Timmy looked at her in surprise. "Yeah I Timmy, I heard that. The Dazzlings were promising you power and playing mind games with you, and you didn't listen to them because you wanted Cosmo and Wanda to be safe. Because you love them and care about them. And not just because they have magic, but because you see them as family." "But...I....I ran away from you and called you those mean things-," "Because you were angry at me Timmy," Sunset said. "And you had every right to be. I lied to you, and spied on you, and called you names, and threatened to hit you. And it was wrong," Sunset whimpered, trying to hold back guilty tears. "But I was scared too. I wasn't scared because I thought you were a monster," Sunset stressed, seeing Timmy's mood deteriorate again. "All I knew about you what that you had lots of power and you could hurt someone with it. I thought you had some weird magic thing that would drive you crazy and make you evil-" "Just like what happened with you," Timmy commented in a soft voice. It wasn't accustatory or an attempt to deflect responsiblity, but a tone of understanding. "Yeah," Sunset said in a reluctant tone. "Part of me...was afraid you would make the same mistakes I did." Sunset's expression lightened, a proud smile. "But I'm not scared about that anymore Timmy. You know why?" "Because of Da Rules," Timmy said uneasily. "Well yeah," Sunset admitted with a sheepish smile. "But also because I know that you are good person; you gave up Cosmo and Wanda to save them, you helped me save everyone from the Dazzlings, and you helped protect everyone. Not only that, but you could've done some horrible to the Dazzlings, but instead you did the mature thing and had them shipped off to the fairy jail, That proves to me you learned from your mistakes." A proud smile formed on her face. "I know what's like to feel so bad, you want to hide from the world. You're hiding in your room with no fairies because you think you don't deserve magic or friendship. But if Princess Twilight said I should get a second chance despite not deserving it, than you definitely should get a second chance, because you've already made it up to me." She took Timmy's hands into her own and looked at him with a happy face. "I like being your babysitter Timmy, and my friends like you a lot too. We don't need wishes to want to be with you. My friends want to be around you because your a good kid who can learn from his mistakes." For the first time, a small smile appeared on Timmy's face. Sunset felt her heart soar, thinking she'd finally gotten through to the boy. But then a sad frown appeared on his face. "I used to think the Da Rules were dumb," Timmy said in a sad solemn voice. "I use to think Jorgen was a big, dumb jerk who wouldn't let me have any fun." "That wouldn't be hard to think," Sunset thought to herself silently. "But there was one rule I thought was really unfair," Timmy said bitterly. "The not-telling-anyone-about-magic-rule. Because of it, I couldn't get the thing I wanted the most." Sunset looked at her charge curiously. "What was that?" "Someone who I could tell Cosmo and Wanda about. I think magic is great, and I wished I could share it with Chester and AJ and Elmer and Sanjay. I thought if I could tell everyone I had magical fairies, they would like me more and I could become popular." Timmy looked down on the floor solemnly. "But-," "But what?" Sunset asked in a soft voice. "Two weeks after Cosmo and Wanda became my godparents," Timmy recalled, "I decided to use their magic to get popular so that Trixie would like me. I couldn't tell her I had fairies, but I did the next best thing: I wished for fancy clothes, and fancy teeth, and stuff and I told everyone I was rich. And it worked. I got to sit at the popular table, and Trixie was sitting next to me on the bus, and kids liked me." Timmy looked down again, before continuing with a regretful sigh. "But I treated Chester and A.J. like they didn't exist just to hang out with jerks like Tad and Chad." Saying their names made Timmy sound like he bit into lemon. "And then I treated Cosmo and Wanda like slaves, working them to death and never saying thank you," with a bitterly self-loathing expression. "Because you were so happy with the attention you were getting, and that you were sitting at the popular table, you didn't care about anything else?" Sunset asked with wisdom in her eyes. Timmy looked the fire-haired girl with surprise. "I kind of felt the same way when I won my first Fall Formal," Sunset said with an odd smile. "I told myself that winning was part of some evil plan," Sunset chuckled, "but deep down, I liked the attention of being a princess, and thought that becoming a real princess would make me happy." Timmy then continued. "But then...Jorgen and the Fairy Court were so mad over how I treated Cosmo and Wanda, they took them away from me." Timmy said, taking off his hat and twisting it around in his hand sadly. "I mean, it was only for a day, but because of that, I had to tell everyone the truth that I wasn't really rich. And," Timmy paused, twisting his hat again, "they all ditched me. I mean, I kind of deserved it for being such a jerk-," "And you think that's what I am going to do if Cosmo and Wanda have to go away?" Sunset asked in a hurt voice. "Ditch you?" "You and your friends only noticed me because I had magic," Timmy said with a whimper. "Timmy," Sunset admonished with a soft voice. "My human friends don't have magic, and I still hang out with them." "But they're cool, and you're like...a magical superhero," Timmy whined and let out a soft sigh. "Without magic, I'm just...buck teeth and a pink hat." "And what's wrong with that?" Sunset asked Timmy with a wry smile. "Yeah Timmy, your right. I only noticed you because you had magic," Sunset admitted. "But I really like taking care of you." "That's what Vicky said she do", the buck-toothed boy said in a more shaky and bitter voice, his hands twisting his hat even more. "She promised to take care of me...she promised me she'd love me...and the first thing she does..." Timmy paused, too upset to speak. Sunset pat Timmy on the head to help ease his pain. "What did she do?" Sunset asked, in a tone was both forceful and comforting. "She..she burned all my toys and ruined all the videos mom and dad made me and then said it was my fault." The words filled Sunset with disbelief and shock. Somehow Timmy sensed that, and he jumped up angrily, glaring at her. "Yeah I know you don't believe me! Nobody believes me! My parents don't believe me when I tell her how evil she is," Timmy said with so small amount of resentment in his voice. "My teacher's don;t either. She does mean things to me, and every time I tell someone, she acts nice and makes everyone think that I'm a dumb liar." Admittedly, Sunset was having a hard time believing was Timmy was saying. But...she kind of did believe it. She played the same game with the teachers during her "bad-girl" face, albeit not to the same extent. Sunset also had seen how cruel Vicky was to the boy when she thought no one was looking. But she also knew Timmy, while he could lie, wasn't a kid who made up sob stories for pity. This wasn't a kid lying for attention, this was someone confessing to a horrible secret. "Why is she mean to you?" Sunset blurted out. "Because she says I am a bad twerp who deserves it." The words shocked Sunset. And the shock was giving way to a deep hatred that Sunset barely contained. "And your parents don't believe you?" Sunset asked in an even tempered, but strained, voice. Timmy frowned even more bitterly. "My parents are...are...idiots!" He yelled. "They only care about having fun, they couldn't care less about who watches me." Sunset tried to argue, but Sunset had also seen their neglect first hand, and so she didn't say a word. "And...Crocker, he keeps trying to take Cosmo and Wanda away," Timmy said in a scared voice. Sunset realized the boy was opening up about his dark secrets and hung on his every word."One day, I'm having fun with Cosmo and Wanda's magic, and the next day, he's hunting me down, saying he'll prove to the world fairy godparents exist." This time, Sunset couldn't hide the hatred she felt for the man. A deep angry frown formed on her face, and she realized breaking that man's leg was too lenient for the creep. "Why don't you just wish for another teacher?" Sunset asked in a somewhat harsh tone. "Is there a rule against that?" "How do you think I met Doombringer?" Timmy asked in a sad voice. Sunset looked at the boy in confusion. "What?" "One day, Crocker hurt himself," Timmy recounted. "And we had a substitute teacher: Mrs. Doombringer. But she said her name was Mrs. Sunshine. She acted nice, giving everybody gold stars. But she only pretended to be nice so I would wish she would be my real teacher," Timmy frowned uncomfortably. "Doombringer was pretending to be nice to you so she could use Cosmo and Wanda to take over the world?! " Sunset barked, clenching her fists. "Worse," Timmy said, much to Sunset's shock. "She...she wanted to rip Cosmo and Wanda's wings off," the first tears were streaming down Timmy's eyes," and...and turn them into trophies." Sunset's anger gave way to horror. "She nearly beat me, nearly took and Cosmo and Wanda," Timmy said, trying to keep himself from crying, "and Crocker was the one who save me...because he wanted to catch Cosmo and Wanda herself..." TImmy finally broke down crying, finally unleashing the pain and suffering of his life. "And the Dazzlings..." Timmy said before crying even more, "I finally got to share my magic with someone..... and they tried to turn me into their wish slave," he wept even more, "and they were gonna destroy Dimmsdale..." Timmy once again started crying harshly, too upset to say anymore. Sunset watched all this a sense of pity and helplessness. Sunset...didn't know what to say. Life isn't fair. It was a phrase Sunset had heard more than once in her life. It was usually said when a spoiled brat complained about not getting whatever petty object they desired from their parents. Some of the less patient royal guards shouted this to her when she complained about not getting to princesss. But since she learned to be more mature and aware of the world around her, Sunset had been given perspective about how petty and selfish her own actions had really been. On Equestria, and especially on Earth, there were beings out there who had far, far worse lives than she did. She'd hurt everybody in her life over not getting what she wanted, a princess position she was not remotely qualified for, while there were poor souls who didn't even get the things they needed: not enough food, not enough money, not enough shelter, and not enough love. An innocent little kid could end up in a place with no love through no fault of his own. Poor Timmy was in that category. The people in his life, the people who were supposed to look after him, either neglected him or were selfish monsters who tried to hurt him. It wasn't shocking that Timmy finally snapped. It was shocking that he managed to hold himself together all this time. Sunset tried to feel angry. Tried to feel a sense of righteous fury anger over Timmy's situation. Instead, she felt ashamed. She knew she shouldn't be ashamed. She stopped being the villain long ago. She stopped hurting others intentionally. But to her horror, Sunset realized she'd been all of those horrible people in Timmy's life. She'd been a Vicky, a Crocker, a Doombringer, a Francis, a Tad and Chad, and a siren. She'd hurt other people for her own gain and for sick pleasure, hid behind a two-faced facade, kidnapped, stole, lied, and blackmailed. To her growing terror, she would've definitely done all those horrible things to the boy if things had been different. If Timmy had the misfortune of entering her life before the Fall Formal, she would've definitely sunk that low and took away the only real happiness in that poor boy's life. All for a stupid, childish grudge. And despite Sunset turning over a new leaf, she still made his problems worse. Yes, those problems began long before she knew of Timmy's existence, with most of the blame being laid at those bullies, those popular brats, that awful sadist who somehow got to be a babysitter, those paren- Sunset didn't know how to feel about Mr. and Mrs. Turner. They weren't the worst people in the world, they did love Timmy, and when they thought she was evil and a threat to him, Mr. Turner waved a bat in her face. They seemed more dumb and self-absorbed than malicious. But it was clear they didn't give him the love he needed, and often treated him like a chore they could pass to someone else, and for that, Sunset didn't really like them all that much. And then there were the Dazzlings. They were probably the worst people Timmy ever encountered. They didn't just hurt him, they tried to exploit his anger and vulnerabilities, and feed off of them for their own power and glory. Sunset wanted to break into that fairy jail just to tear those monsters to pieces again. But Sunset realized that didn't excuse her own role in Timmy's breakdown. Yes, she did come to care to genuinely care for the boy, as did her friends. But that didn't change the fact their first meeting was built on a measure of deceit. Sunset had been the best babysitter for Timmy, and he had to learn she had an ulterior motive for being nice to him. The end result was a kid who when he finally got what he long desired, a group of people with whom he could share his magic with, he pushed it away. He had been let down by so many other people in his life, he treated the kindness she and her friends gave him as fake. After being hurt by the people who were supposed to care for him, when he finally met someone who not only liked him, but with whom he could share magic with, he treated it like another horrible sham, expecting to be conned and mistreated. And Sunset didn't have anything she could really say to him to make him feel better. She couldn't tell him nothing bad would ever happen again. Despite all the precautions she and her friends took, bad things still did end up happening to him. Twilight was probably better at this as the Princess of Friendship, but Timmy wouldn't accept advice from the pony who spied on him as a potential threat. A small part off her wanted to adopt Timmy, but Sunset realized that she was still too young to legally adopt someone, and while she liked babysitting the boy, she was far from ready to be a guardian to a human child. And Sunset doubted adopting Timmy would be a complete solution to his problems. As she reached the elevator to her apartment, Sunset sighed, trying to remind herself that as bad as Timmy's situation was, it wasn't hopeless. This Vicky girl seemed horrible, but after everything Sunset endured, she was a little gnat. She had many, many ideas on how to deal with that little witch brewing in her brain. Despite the pain of his life, Timmy avoided sinking to the level of the Dazzlings and maintained his morals. Not only that, while Sunset didn't like Timmy tearing himself, a small part of Sunset was relieved that Timmy was reflecting seriously on his actions, rather than letting victory get to his head. It meant Timmy would never do anything the horrible things he did again. While Timmy was still uneasy around Sunset and pushing her away, he couldn't say "I hate you." Timmy still cared about her, he just wasn't sure her affection for him was real. But it was real. Sunset did care about Timmy. She wouldn't have broken Crocker's leg or punched Adagio's nose for someone she was going to use later on. From the very moment she laid eyes on Timmy, she saw a kid in great need, and had wanted to save him from what she thought was corruptive magic. From the very moment she played video games with him, she'd come to care for the boy like her own. Her fellow Rainbooms felt the same way, as did her other friends at Canterlot High. They loved him for being a little cutie, they loved his resourcefulness, they loved him for not giving in to the Dazzlings, and when he spared the Dazzlings for their cruelty, they saw him not just as a good kid, but a hero. They were all proud of him and so was she. Timmy, because of his brave deed, also helped her reconcile with Moondancer. The girl was not giving Sunset another chance, but was transferring back to Canterlot High. Timmy right now was broken, but Sunset knew he would be able to build himself back up again. He was strong kid who endured so much hardship, but never lost sight of the people he cared about or what was just. He didn't have the hatred of an entire student body to bring him down either. Plus, he had two beings whose very existence was giving love and care to children in need. And made Sunset's heart kind of fuzzy: beings with the powers of an alicorn, but who devoted their lives to being there for lonely kids. But there was one issue she had to solve first- Sunset got out of the elebator, seeing two people in front of her apartment. "Excuse me," Sunset said, "could you please-," Sunset's eyes widened as she saw the very familiar pink and green hairdos. Cosmo and Wanda were standing in front of their apartment, this time looking full grown adult humans. Sunset vaguely remembered Timmy talking about their shapeshifting abilities, but still it was stunned to see them going from goldfish to looking like normal humans. They were looking at her with a very morose expression. "Hey," Sunset said awkwardly, not having had a chance to directly talk with them, "uh...didn't Timmy say you were on vacation?" "He wished for us to go on vacation, but never said where," Cosmo added while raising his eyebrows. "Besides I've always wanted to see Canterlot's Theater District from your apartment." Sunset's eyebrows raised. "Wait, how did you-," "It was in the brochure," the green-haired fairy said, revealing a brochure marked "Sunset's Apartment." Sunset was uneasy. "There are brochures to my-," Sunset paused as Cosmo cheerfully opened the door to her apartment, letting himself in without. permission Sunset let out a small sigh followed him in, and found the fairy excitedly taking pictures of her apartment with an old fashioned camera, complete with flashy bulb. "I can't believe I am seeing Sunset's historic broom closet!" The Pinkie Pie-like fairy chirped. "And now I get to take pictures of the Great Overflowing Trash Can!" Sunset turned back to the pink-haired fairy whose mood deteriorated even further. "Uh," Sunset began,"is everything-," "I'M SO SORRY!" Wanda wailed before heavily sitting down at the table, much to Sunset's astonishment. "I'm so sorry for what we did. But please don't stop talking to Timmy! We'll give you anything!" The fairy looked so desperate. "He really, really misses you." A wry smile formed on Sunset's face. "Yeah I kind of figured that out from the Sunset robot he wished up." Wanda's eyes widened. Apparently Wanda didn't expect Sunset to still want to have anything to do with the boy. "Look," Sunset said in the softest smile she could muster, "I'm not mad at him or at you two. I get how it works, you're supposed to give Timmy what he wishes for-," "You don't understand," the pink-hair fairy whimpered, looking even more miserable. "It's not just my job to grant him wishes. I'm supposed to be the parent. I'm supposed to be the responsible one. It's my job to teach him right from wrong. And," she tugged at her hair out of self-loathing, "I failed at that. I knew...that...that...turning you into a worm and ditching you in the Everfree was...wrong. But...when...they showed us...you becoming a demon...I got so angry and scared that someone else was coming to hurt Timmy I just lost it." Wanda looked down uncomfortably before looking up. "But...in my anger...I didn't think about what I was teaching him. I made him think it was OK to do those kinds of things. Those...sea witches nearly turned them into their minion...and your friends nearly paid the price...but only because of the horrible example I set for him..." the pink-haired fairy felt tears go down her eyes, "...and not only that...he and your friends had to be the one to save us...." Sunset was taken aback by the grief, "Wanda-," she said in a soothing tone "I'm the worst fairy godmother in the world!" The fairy's head fell into her hands and she started crying horribly. Sunset could feel the grief, the shame, and the anguish. And it hurt a lot for this poor fairy to be tearing herself apart. But the former unicorn could see other things: Wanda's care for the boy, wanting the best for him, and not feeling good enough for the boy no matter how hard she tried. It was parental love, plain an simple. This being who held so much power was a mom to Timmy in all but name. Suddenly, the green-haired fairy came over and set down next to his wife. "C'mon," Cosmo said with a goofy smile, "you're not the worst godmother in the world. There is this godmother who turned her godchild into a snowman on a hot summer day, and there was this godmother who turned her godchild into a snail in France, and there was this godmother who put the peanut butter before the jelly, and there was this godmother who helped her godchild steal Christmas..." This dude was definitely spacey like Pinkie Pie. Certainly very different in temper and disposition to his wife. But Sunset noticed that the green-haired fairy was patting his wife on the back, almost pulling her into a hug. In spite of his rambling, he still trying to make his wife feel better. Wanda rolled her puffy red eyes in a silent disapproval of her husband's irreverence, but the pink-haired fairy unconsciously returned the gesture. As if she just knew Cosmo was looking out for her. Rarity once told Sunset love was more than just cute cards and fancy chocolates. True love was who you trusted to care for you, and these two clearly trusted one another. They seemed so different, and yet they seemed made for one another. "I don't need anything from you too," Sunset said as honestly as she could. "Yes, you two hurt me badly, but you did it because you were trying to protect him. Because you two love him." A huge smile formed on her face. "And I have something that proves you two aren't failures." "I DON'T CARE ABOUT POWER! I DON'T CARE ABOUT WISHES! I CARE ABOUT THEM!" The tape recorder said. "They make me feel safe. They make me feel special. They make me feel loved." The two fairies were stunned by the passion in Timmy's voice. "Where did you get this?" Wanda asked in amazement. "Rainbow went back to the ruins of the factory to make sure there wasn't any evidence," Sunset said with a smile. "The building was intact, probably because of one of Timmy's wishes." Sunset's smile grew wider. "That's not all she got." The Cosmas watched with amazement at Timmy's battles with the Dazzlings in the factory . By the end of the footage, proud expressions were on their faces. Sunset decided to put icing on the happy cake. "You raised a kid who loves you for you, not the wishes you grant him." Sunset said with a happy smile. "He was willing to give you up if it meant saving you from a life of eternal servitude. Just because you two didn't do everything right doesn't mean you didn't do nothing right." She placed a friendly hand on Wanda's shoulder. "You raised a kid who took on several armed officers with no training or experience. If that isn't a sign of good parenting, I don't know what is." Based on the huge smile on Wanda's face, her spirits were raised considerably. Cosmo was also excited, albeit like a kid in a candy store. "Yay, Timmy loves us!" Cosmo said. He was so happy, he poofed himself into becoming a firework, blasted off toward the celiling while shrieking "YAY!". He exploded into a colorful green light. "So you're still going to babysit him right?" Wanda asked her with a hopeful smile. "Uh," Sunset said uncomfortably, "Timmy and I...we're taking a break right now." The Cosmas were confused. "Why?" Wanda asked. Sunset frowned, not happy to deliver the bad news. "Timmy...blames himself for everything that happened. The Dazzlings made him think he's a monster who no one loves...and that the only reason my friends want to hang out with him it because of...your magic and that we only want to use him the way the Dazzlings did. He's been hurt by so many people, you know, that he can't believe that I would want to hang out with him. " Cosmo and Wanda looked deeply upset over Timmy's emotional state. Cosmo's frown looked especially horrible, like a little puppy who lost his family. "He's afraid that one of my friends might try and take advantage of him." "That's not true, right?" Cosmo asked hopefully. Sunset took a deep breath, needing to cross the bridge. "He's not entirely wrong." Wanda's eyes widened at her candor, but Sunset felt she needed to be frank. "My friends are decent people, but they can be a little selfish and can get carried away. Until...I can figure out a way that they don't end up taking advantage of him, ...I think maybe we need to be apart. I don't his heart could take one more betrayal, and he needs some space to come to terms with everything" The two fairies chewed on this for a while. "Maybe we can both figure something out," Wanda said in a stern tone. "I mean, not now. You're probably tired and we're also tired." "Yeah, so why don't we find sometime to meet up," Sunset asked. The two fairies nodded sternly, before getting up from the table and leaving, giving her one last "see you around" before poofing away. But before she left, Wanda came back to the table with something else to say. "I hope this isn't too much trouble," Wanda asked Sunset in a soft voice, "but can you promise me something?" "Sure." "If our luck runs out and we have to go away forever-," "Don't worry," Sunset said in a soft voice. "I'll look after him like he's my own if it comes to that. So will my friends. I promise you." Wanda smiled softly and then pulled Sunset into a hug. "Thank you," Wanda said repeatedly with relief in her voice. Not to long ago, this fairy saw Sunset as a dangerous threat. And now, she trusted Sunset to look after the boy. If they could get along, then Timmy could definitely put himself back together and trust Sunset and her friends again. Where there was love, there was hope. > Challenges and Hope > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trixie Tang sat on her bed, thinking over certain things. The past week had been crazy. For some reason, she inexplicably spent time with Timmy Turner of all people. Timmy was...complicated. Like all the other unpopular boys, Turner could be creepy, weird, and treat her like a possession a lot. But...there was another side to him. He could really care about his friends sometimes, even standing up to her to protect them. And though she hate to admit it, a small part of her did enjoy her time with him. But then, while she was being driven around in her limo, she fell unconscious, and then woke up in her bed, her parents telling her that someone tried to kidnap her. Which was... Awesome! Being kidnapped meant her fame and glory were known far and wide. It meant she was important enough for someone to abduct. She wasn't fretting over the kidnapped. But something else had been bothering her. In the nights after her kidnapping, she had this weird dream she couldn't explain. What concerned was how real she felt. Trixie found herself bound, gagged, and placed inside a cauldron with some kind of soup. In a panic, the popular girl looked around the room and saw she wasn't alone. That weird rich girl with cheese puff like hair who interrogated her was right in front of her, dressed in some witch's robe. She was surrounded by two other girls who were also clad in the same robe. One had purple pigtails and the other had a blue ponytail. "Shall we boil her alive girls!" Cheese Puff said dramatically. "Slice and dice her!" Pigtails hissed with a sadistic smile. "Make her into a taco!" Ponytail chirped. The three let out a nasty cackle. "NO!" The three witches and Trixie cocked their heads to the corner. Timmy was in the corner, dressed in rages, chained to the ground around his ankle, and had tears in his eyes. "Bake me into a stew and leave her alone!" He begged. The three witches gave him a mocking smile. "It's because we hate you so much that we're gonna make you watch as we boil your crush alive!" Adagio declared. Trixie and Timmy let out a cry of terror as Cheese Poof prepared the fire... Only for something to pick Trixie up and fly her to safety. She couldn't really see the face of the person. All she saw were big yellow wings and long pink hair. Sometimes whoever it was had blue wings and rainbow hair instead. But when Pink showed up, Trixie would feel a hand softly patting her on the head. "Don't worry Trixie, I got you." The voice was so soft, so comforting, so reassuring, it sounded almost like an angel was coming to save her. Trixie never considered herself a superstitious person. She didn't believe in things like the Loch Ness Monster, the Tooth Fairy, and the existence of South Carolina. She especially didn't believe that lunatic Crocker, who thought fairies were real and that Turner had them. If fairies were real, and Turner had them, couldn't he just wish himself into becoming rich and famous? But still...there was something about that dream that made her think. What did it mean? Was there some kind of message about it? Was it telling her that Timmy Turner was her destiny? Was it- Trixie broke out of her self-reflection when a knock came on the door to her room. "Trixie, I'm both respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your mother by coming in anyway!" A battering ram knocked her door down. Her mom came into the room with a pretentious smile. "Trixie Darling," her mother gushed in her pretentious voice. "You must try on these new dresses for the ball tonight." Trixie let out a tired sigh. When her mom always said she "must" do something, it meant "you're doing this or no allowance." "Yes mother," the raven-haired girl muttered with a tired and defeated expression. "FILE NOT RECOVERABLE!" "Dang it," Crocker screeched, banging his good fist on the lab table in rage, only to accidentially hurt his own fist. "Note to self," Crocker hissed in pain, "don't bang fist on metal tables. Despite hours and hours of work, I couldn't recover any of the footage I had taken of those magic blasts and that massive reptillian monster. All of that would've proven the existence of....FAIRY GOD PARENTS!" Despite the loss of the footage, the whole endeavor wasn't a complete failure. He glanced over to the wall, which showed an interesting article from the Canterlot Chronicler that he placed on his conspiracy flow chart. "CANTERLOT HIGH RECREATES JAPANESE MONSTER MOVIE," the headline read. "ONLOOKER CLAIMS 'SPECIAL EFFECTS WERE SO GOOD, MY CAR ACTUALLY LOOKED DESTROYED". The picture showed what look like a school in ruins, and what was described as a digitally created three-headed monster attacking it. Crocker sneered. While the sheep were fooled, he wasn't. He had seen the monster, the magical battle, and the destruction with his own bespectacled eyes. Special effects wouldn't have left him skin grafts, but sadly skin grafts were not enough evidence. Crocker looked into that school's history, and found a pattern of strange happenstances going on: magical light shows during school contests, students somehow growing wings and horns, cafeteria food that was edible. His first guess would've been FAIRY GODPARENTS, but he realized there was another common link uniting these events. With enough work, he connected the dots and found the origin of all these events. Crocker glanced at a newspaper article from last fall that was at the center of the chart. The article began with the headline "SCHOOL BULLY CAUSES GAS LEAK, DESTROYS PART OF THE SCHOOL". The picture showed a pathetic little girl in tattered clothing, weeping in defeat and self-pity, condemned to detention and hard labor for an act of vandalism, while police officers stood over her with dirty looks. She seemed so different from the girl who had the nerve to defy her and foil her scheme. She had a background in delinquency which seemed to show a history of deceit and cruelty, so perhaps she this was a sad act meant to fool others. The following months of strange happenings always seemed connected to her, which proved the girl was good at covering her tracks. So Crocker dug into her background, hoping to find something about her. Something he could use. To Crocker's astonishment, while her official birthdate said she was born roughly seventeen years ago, her records only went back to at most three years. In his search for answers, he had only found more questions surrounding the girl. Whatever the case, she had somehow come to be in Turner's life and was now standing in the way of Crocker and his FAIRY GODPARENTS! Why was she guarding Turner. Was she a fairy somehow diguised as a human? An agent of some magical government agency that was on a need-to-now basis? An archmage who had come in Turner's employ? Who ever she was, her very presence meant he no longer had the luxury of coveting Timmy's fairies openly. Crocker glanced at his still broken arm and leg. If the dark-haired teacher tried again, Turner would contact her, and Shimmer and her goons could send him right back to the hospital. He also had to think about his job. It was clear Waxelplax's patience for him had run out. For the most part, his ex-girlfriend had barely tolerated his presence out of respect of their old relationship, but it was obvious if Crocker tried to capture the fairies and failed again, Waxelplax might finally fire him. It was only thanks to tenure that he had only been temporarily suspended and demoted, but it was clear even tenure might not save him next time. Still Crocker would not give in. Trying to capture Turner's fairies might have become harder than ever, but necessity was the mother of all invention. Perhaps in finding out the secret of Sunset Shimmer, he might not only take revenge on this girl, but perhaps find the means of defeating Turner once and for all. "Rest well Turner," Crocker hissed, glaring at the picture of his most hated rival, "you may think you are well protected, but once I-," "Denzel!" To his frustration, his own mother showed up with that condescending smile. "Would you like to help mommy clean the garage?" "Mother!" Crocker yelled in exasperation. "I am plotting the downfall of my nemesis!" "But-," Dolores began, only for her son to stubbornly turn away from her and toward the screen. Normally Dolores would walk away in defeat. But then she remembered when a buck-toothed boy who wasn't even her own child offered to clean her house for free. A stranger had shown her more kindness than her own son. No, she wasn't letting that slide anymore. This time, a cold grimace formed on her face. "Very well," the 80-year old woman said in a sharp tone, "if you won't clean my garage, perhaps I can find another young man who will. One who will pay me for rent and food." This got Denzel's attention. "What?" "Pity, I'd hate to have you serve a notice to quit," the woman mused a stern, but soft tone as she walked out of the room. "But I suppose you-," "WAIT MOTHER!" Denzel said, chasing after his mom, "THIS IS SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA! I can't afford rent on a teacher's salary." Dolores turned back to her son with a smug smile. "I knew you were a kind son who would help mommy clean the garage. And while you're at it, you can also scrub the basement floors and vaccum the roof." Crocker clenched his fists, remembering again why he despised Turner. "When I'm ruler of the world Turner, you will be the cleaning the garage! It was Tad's first day at Crystal Prep Junior, the elementary school adjacent to Crystal Prep Academy, and already, he had been sent to the Dean's Office for trying to buy his way out of homework. He would normally be annoyed with getting in trouble on his first day, but the Dean was such a babe. She had a pretty face and long pink hair that flowed out of her head like a waterfall. "Tad," Dean Cadence said in a soft, understanding tone. "I know the work is hard, but you can't bribe the teacher out of it." She extended her hand with a friendly expression. "Just try your best, and eventually you'll know how to do it yourself." Tad pulled out an envelope and placed on the desk. "How we..." he paused, subtly turning the envelope to the side that was open, revealing the money inside," forget this ever happened." Tad took off his sunglasses, gave the woman his most charming smile, and winked. Tad growled at he stood in detention and was made to write, "I will not bribe the Dean" on the chalkboard 100 times. If this wasn't bad enough, he had to do it under the watchful eye of the most scary woman he ever met. "Young man," Principal Cinch said in a voice that could make a thousand babies cry at once, "you may get away with that kind of behavior in that rathole Dimmsdale. But here in Crystral Prep, we do not allow bribery as a substitute for hard work. Our reputation is built by our achievements! Not by allowing ourselves to be seen as stooping to such lows." Dean Cadence was going over some attendance sheets when the phone rang. "Hello this Doug Dimmadome." "Owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome." "That's right," the Texan said over the phone. "I'm wondering if for a small donation, you can build the Doug Dimmadome, Owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome Statue." The pink-haired Dean rolled her eyes. "Mr. Dimmadome, we can't just build a statue for you." In his office, the billionaire frowned in disappointment. "That's a pity," the Texan muttered. "I was gonna offer Crystal Prep 5 million Dimmadollars but-," "Where would you like the statue?" Doug Dimmadome, Owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome, looked up and saw the Dean of Crystal Prep suddenly in his office, dollar signs in her eyes. "What would be the perfect location?" The woman said in a sycophantic tone while bending down to polish the businessman's boots. "Next to the The Doug Dimmadome Owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome Dorm, or the Doug Dimmadome Owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome Library?" Tad grumbled angrily, only for the woman to suddenly be glaring down at him. "Perhaps you wish to spend the entire year in detention?" The woman threatened in a cold tone of voice. The blond kid dropped the attitude and started drawing much more calmly, albeit still miserably. "There are three things we expect at Crystal Prep," the dour woman ordered. "Hard work, tenacity, and above all, manners." "Mr. Cinch," a butler said while carrying a trey. "I have your tea." The principal politely picked the tea up, drank it, only to spit it out angrily. "Fool," the irate principal shrieked. "I demanded spiced herbal tea, not herbal spiced tea! One more transgression and you will be fired." Cinch turned back to Tad. "You get to work!" The woman then confiscated his sunglasses. "These sunglasses are also against the dress code." Tad let out a tired and scared sigh. Chad was used to being adored and beloved by all the students at Dimmsdale Elementary. He imagined it would be the case at Crystal Prep Junior, CPA's sister elementary school, where the richest kids of the Canterlot-Dimmsdale area congregated. It was an incredible shock when he was being told to scram when he tried to sit at the popular table. "Why?" Chad asked in shock, furiously gripping his cafeteria tray. "Don't you know who I am?" The popular kid, who had rich blue hair, sneered at him. "I don't sit with losers!" Being called "loser" was not just impossible, it was supposed to be against the laws of physics. "Why am I a loser?" "We saw you and your buddy get your butt handed to you by some buck-toothed nobody," another kid snarked, holding out his phone. Chad felt his blood turn cold when he saw the viral video. It not only showed Tad and Chad get beat up by Turner but showed how they pranked him first with the garbage. It didn't just make him and Tad look like wimps. They both looked like fools for starting a fight and then not having the fighting skills to back it up, on top of losing a two-to-one fight with some brat like Turner. Chad defaulted to his usual strategy: holding out a wad of cash. "Why don't we pretend this never happened?" He took off his sunglasses, only to remember the dress code didn't allow them. With a sigh, he winked at a girl who wore a diamond tiara. She did not look impressed with the flirting. "Please," the girl said in a pathetic roll of her eyes. "My daddy gives me that as an allowance." "So why don't you go sit over there in the loser corner?!" Her bespectacled companion mocked, before letting out mocking laughter that the other kids joined in on. Fuming with rage, Chad walked over to the table in the corner. The way that everyone else was sneering at him showed they all saw him as a complete loser, which increased his anger even more. "Quite a predicament you're in!" Chad stopped and saw some kid smirking at him. His hair was even blonder than Tad's and was even better styled, not that he would say that out loud. "Your first day, and you've found yourself at the bottom of the food chain." Chad looked at the boy with narrowed eyes. "What's it to you?" the African-American boy growled. The kid was arrogant, and based on his clothes, tone, and that obnoxious smile, he had the money and reputation to back it up. The boy became more amused, even as his green eyes narrowed into nasty slits. "Because you and I have a common adversary. Timmy Turner." Chad was confused. This kid seemed to be as upper-class as any kid could get. How could he possibly know a nobody like Turner? "How do you-," "Let's just say that boy has crossed me numerous times." The boy paused to pet an oddly colored ferret in his lap. "And I see he's unfairly ruined you." A sinister smile formed on his face. "Let's work together, and you and I can crush him. Do that for me, and I can ensure you'll be among the creme de la creme here." Crushing Turner and rebuilding his reputation. Chad felt an excited smile form on his face, as he imagined putting that bucktoothed brat in his place. Tad extended his hand. "You've got yourself a deal..." "Buxaplenty," the boy said, slowly petting his ferret again, "Remy Buxaplenty." A few blocks away, at Crystal Prep Academy, a studious young girl sat in front of her laptop in the library, excited over her new findings. Only for a manicured hand to suddenly slam it shut. Twilight Sparkle was about to protest, only to see who was standing over her. "Hey Sparkle," Suri Polomare said in that sweet tone that put Twilight on edge. "Where's my geometry paper?" "Suri," Twilight said with a nervous smile. "I'm sorry, but I've been really busy-," "Well, you're about to be very busy," Suri gushed, putting a seemingly kind hand on her skittish classmate's shoulder. "Me failing math would be really...terrible for the both of us, mmm kay?" "What's going on?" A librarian asked with a concerned voice. "Just hanging out with my best buddy," Suri said, putting on her friendly smile, and pulling Twilight into a seemingly friendly noogie. The librarian smiled, gently warned them about not talking in the library, and stormed away. Twilight let out a tired sigh. Suri got away with it again, as usual. Twilight returned to the safety of her home lab, staring at her computer screen, or she would've had it not been for another distraction. "Badminton." "Not now". "Badminton." "No." "Badminton." "Spike," Twilight said in a stern tone, turning to look at her adoptive brother, "I'm busy." "You're always busy!" The green-haired boy whined. "Can you stop being a nerd for once in your life?" "I can't," Twilight said excitedly, "that weird energy from CHS is acting up, along with some weird new energy coming from Dimmsdale. And," Twilight paused as she looked at more readings, "it looks like these two energies initially met one another antagonistically, but now they were interacting. This Dimmsdale energy seems quite adaptable in a lot of situations." "Whatever," Spike said, walking out of the room with a tired. "I'm gonna do something that's actually fun." Twilight rolled her eyes. Spike didn't know what he was talking about. Working and discovery were the greatest fun of all. Learning new things always got her excited. And she was definitely gonna learn about this new Dimmsdale energy. "Here at Abracatraz," Jorgen said to his new prisoners, "we teach repentence through pain! So great ready and...." Jorgen picked up a piece of paper and started folding it. He was in charge of Abracatraz's Prisoner Arts and Crafts program, and was teaching the convicts origami. "Fold the paper, cut the paper, show it whose boss, bend to your will and you will create anything!" The magical beings in prison sat at their workstations, folding the paper into all different shapes. "Look Aria," Sonata chirped to her grumpy older sister, "I made you a taco!" She showed off her origami, only for Aria to angrily swatted it, to Sonata's annoyance. "Jorgen," Sonata whined, "Aria's being a meanie-mean pants again." "No I'm not!" The pig-tailed siren denied. "And she ruined my origima taco!" "OH REALLY!" The big fairy grumbled, suddenly looming over Aria with a menacing tone, spooking the second oldest siren. "If you don't like arts and crafts," Jorgen threatened. "Perhaps you would like to try...." "The prison ballet!" "NO!" Aria begged with tears in her eyes. "NOT THE BALLET! ANYTHING BUT THAT!" A merciless gaze appeared on the Toughest Fairy in the Newspaper. "Then start folding!" Aria fearfully began folding paper with a forced smile on her face. "You must sing like an elf at Santa's workshop!" Jorgen ordered. "La la la la la la," Aria sang in a wooden tone, trying to sound like an elf, and failing due to her broken vocal cords. "LOUDER!" Jorgen ordered. "While I play polka in the background!" Jorgen pulled out an accordion and started playing it while Aria worked. Sonata was ecstatic. Her older sister was finally smiling. Aria certainly smiled, but if one looked in her horrified eyes, they could see that Aria would almost prefer being a worm to this nightmare. Adagio sat in her cell. She was devoid of luxury, devoid of the grandeur she sought. All she had in her cell was a mattress, a bare bulb, and a sink. She never imagined her life would turn out this way; imprisoned, powerless, and destitute. But still, a smile stood on her face. It wasn't the smile of a woman driven to surrender and insanity. No it was the same confident smile she always wore when she had a plan. They think she'd go mad in here. They thought she was a weak spoiled princess would never survive without luxury to her name. On the contrary, she welcomed being in prison. It was a challenge, and the siren princess always did better when under pressure. She had been challenged after losing her powers the first time, but she worked hard to find another power source, and she came across power greater than what Equestria produced: the magic of these weak little fairies. Her mistake had been to go into battle without having properly mastered it first. That's how the boy beat her: by using the rules of that magic against. It was a good strategy, but then again, Adagio had once considered the boy worthy enough to one day lead her armies to conquere the human scum world. But Adagio was nothing but adaptable. There were no such things as mistakes, as long as you learned from them. And Adagio would learn from them. She would adapt to this world, learn the strengths and weaknesses of fairy magic, and when the opportunity arise, she would master it. Then she would escape from this prison, conquer the world, and give her vengeance against those Canterlot brats who dared lay a finger on her and that ungrateful, bucktoothed brat who rejected her generosity. But for now, she would play the model prisoner. She would act nice, reformed, and kind so that these stupid fairies would let their guards down. "They're probably watching me," the siren hissed to herself. "Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am." A fly landed on her hand. Normally, she would extirpate such a pathetic creature, but this time, she held back. "I'm not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching... they'll see. They'll see and they'll know, and they'll say, 'Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly'." She felt a woodpecker land on top of her head and started pecking at her scalp. "I'm not even got swat away the dumb bird." She saw a scorpion crawl on her leg. "I'm not even gonna get rid of the poisonous-AHH! SCORPION!" Adagio swatted it away, shrieking like a scared housewife who saw a mouse, and then stomped on it. "DIE YOU EVIL MONSTER! RETURN FROM WHENCE YOU CAME!" Adagio took a deep breath, but calmed down once the scorpion was good and dead. "OK, not gonna tolerate poisonous death bugs," Adagio said heavily. "But I'll act like the good girl." "I want my bathroom so clean, you can eat off it!" Jorgen ordered the siren, leaving her a cart full of cleaning implements to clean his private bathroom. The bathroom was three times the size of the normal bathroom, much to Adagio's quiet annoyance. "Well that makes sense," Adagio muttered under her breath, "your wife's cooking could only taste like-," "What was that?" "I said of course Jorgen," Adagio said with a bright smile, "I'd be glad to do it, you handsome devil you." Jorgen walked out of the bathroom with a roll of his eyes, not fooled for a minute by Adagio's brown-nosing. Once the musclehead was gone, Adagio set about cleaning, grumbling all the way once she thought she was alone. It was when she reached Jorgen's sink she noticed some strange knick-knack. A lava lamp. Norm the Genie was polishing the inside of his lamp when he saw some movement outside of his lamp. "Hmm," the Genie said, "either there's an earthquake or Jorgen's wife made him the usual-," Norm paused when he saw who was outside. "I've never seen a girl with a cheese puff for a do. Either that, or it's an orangutan that had a bad hair day," The girl was tall, easy on the eyes, and had purple irises. Norm had seen all kinds of humans, most of them dumb, desperate losers. This girl was in a black and white striped prison jumpsuit, and that was often as desperate as it got. But there was something else in this girl's eyes: a deep hunger and hatred he rarely saw on anybody who had the hilarious misfortune of grabbing the lamp. The girl walked over and picked up the lamp, much to Norm's joy. "YES!" Norm yelled. happy to be free from the lamp again. "Even though I lack legs, I must do a victory dance." "Eww!" The girl muttered. "This thing is covered in dust." Norm's smile became wider. "Gross, I got to throw it out." Norm's eyes widened as Cheese Puff was refusing to rub the lamp at all. "What?! Darn it!" Norm muttered, before regaining. "So what, I end up in landfill. What could be worse than that." "If I can't enslave Jarhead," Fuzzy McFuzzhead said with a voice laden with spite, "I can at least inconvience that moron by destroying his stupid little lamp." Norm was confused. "Destroy? Wh-," Norm's eyes widened with horror. Adagio opened the nearby incinerator, smoke and flames bursting out, "WHAT?!" Norm yelled with terror, but it was in vain, since the girl couldn't hear him. "AHHHHHH!" Norm screamed in pain as the lamp was tossed. "It's a good thing smoof is fire proof, otherwise I'd be worse off, but still.....OOOWWWW!" For her next chore, Adagio had to dig a foundation for a new barrack. She was escorted to her work station by an orange haired male fairy named Buzzle. Unlike Jorgen, this loser proved easy to manipulate. "I have to say Buzzle," Adagio said with fake kindness, "you look like you've been losing some weight." Buzzle gave her a stupid, naive smile. "Well, even though I am magical creature who is weightless and doesn't need to worry about calories, I am still touched by your kindness. Have a wonderful day!" "You too," Adagio said politely. Once the dumb fairy was gone, Adagio muttered "fairy scum" under her breath. Just as she started digging, she heard someone behind her. "I must say," the British-sounding voice said, "your hair has the appearance and texture of a cheese puff." Adagio turned to face the wise guy with an irate look. "My hair is not a cheese-," Adagio paused and her eyes narrowed with rage. "Cosmo? What are you doing here?" "I am not Cosmo," the fairy-like being denied. "The fact that I have any resemblence to that ignorant boob is a grave insult to my character." Yes, the being wasn't Cosmo. While he was shaped like Cosmo, there were key differences; blue coloration, bat wings instead of fly-like fairy wings, a bowler hat in place of a crown, a fancier outfit, and fangs. But there was also something different in dispotion: the Cosmo she knew and loathed was a goofy moron like Sonata. This Cosmo didn't just have a more sophisticated speech, but a vicious and judging look. "Then who are you?" Adagio asked with a suspicious voice. "I'm Anti-Cosmo," the fairy-like being declared. "Leader of the anti-fairies!" "What's an anti-fairy?" "Unlike regular fairies, who use their magic to help little human brats," Anti-Cosmo exposited, "anti-fairies gain our power from bad luck!" Adagio's eyes widened in interest. "Bad luck you say?" "How do you know Cosmo?" Anti-Cosmo asked with narrowed eyes. "Let me guess," the anti-fairy began before Adagio could answer. "You attempted to seize control of the magic of my dimwitted double and his nag of a wife, only to lose when you fatally underestimated their lovable tot, Timmy Turner. Adagio's jaw dropped in shock. "How-," "-did I know?" The anti-fairy replied with a smug smile. "Well you appear to be human. I can't think of any other reason why Jorgen would lock you up besides coveting magic, when he usually erases the mind of humans." "I wasn't always human," Adagio muttered in anger, "I'm from a different world, where I had it as the heir apparent of a kingdom destined to rule the seas...until some busybody wizard got in my way, and banished me to Earth. I still had some of my magic left, but a bunch of goody-toe-shoes brat took it from me either. I almost had it all again-," "But then Timothy swiped it from you," Anti-Cosmo added in a teasing voice. "It's amazing isn't it: he's like every other child, obsessed with sugar and cartoons, but then you take his fairies away, and he becomes more dangerous than any adult twice his size." "Yeah," Adagio agreed. This anti-fairy disliked the bucktoothed brat, but seemed to have a gruding respect for him, something Adagio also had. "Although he didn't exactly fight alone, he had friends, those other brats I was telling you about." Adagio added not trying to sound like a sore loser. "So you fought him before?" Adagio asked, her curiousity invested in this blue being. He repliednodded. "I never thought a kid that young could have...a reputation." "Oh he does," Anti-Cosmo uttered in annoyance. "He's gotten in my way. If I could get my hands on brat-," "Good luck," Adagio said with a wry smile, "he's got a whole crew of magical brats guarding him. They're so lame, they talk about the 'power of friendship.' " Anti-Cosmo chuckled at that with mockery in his cackles. "I would love to give those brats a taste of bad luck." The anti-fairy returned to his work. But then his eyes widened, and he turned his head back to Adagio, who was also turning his head to him. He looked into the eyes of the siren princess, and it appeared they both came up with the same idea. "Perhaps," Anti-Cosmo mused with a calculating smile on his face, "we can work together in order to achieve our nefarious goals?" Before Adagio could answer Buzzle flew back with a stern expression. "Adagio," the fairy guard said in a scolding tone," Anti-Cosmo, are you two working together to achieve your nefarious goals?" "Not at all," Anti-Cosmo lied with insincere charm in his voice. "I must say Buzzle, you have become significantly less corpulent since we last gazed at each other." Buzzle blushed. "Oh you!" Adagio grinned maliciously. An opportunity had been dropped into her lap. Timmy sat at home, awaiting the arrival of the usual bane of his existence. For most of his life, he dreaded Vicky's appearance. Now, he only saw the mean teenager as a nuisance, if only because he learned there were worse things out there. As the door opened, he expected the ponytailed girl to begin her usual torments. What he didn't expect was for Vicky to pick him up and pull him into a bone-crushing hug. To say that Timmy was stunned was putting it mildly. The only time Vicky hugged him was when she was putting on an act before his parents. His mind lingered in a daze for a moment, only for Vicky to do something even more shocking. "My precious little angel!" Vicky gushed. "How would you like for me to bake you a cake?" "OK, sure," Timmy said slowly and clearly as he broke from his daze. "But before you do, can I ask you a question?" "Sure?" "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH VICKY?!" The brown-haired boy shrieked in horror. "What are you talking about silly-billy!" Vicky gushed with a chuckle that sounded almost nervous. "Can't I be happy to see you after a month. In fact, I'm gonna back you a cake." Timmy wasn't convinced. The way Vicky spoke and acted, it was almost too saccharine, too forced, to scripted. Like she was quoting pages out of some cheesy book. But then again, his parents were gone, so Vicky didn't have her usual reason to be nice. Two Hours Earlier Vicky grumbled as she drove through the streets of Canterlot. "Worst Vacation Ever!" The angry teen yelled. She plowed into several mailboxs, a couple of garbage cans, and the occassional girl scout stand. The vacation to Cancun had been a disaster: the food was too spicy, the weather was too hot, and the hotel didn't give her the complementary chocolate under a pillow. When she dared make a complaint to the manager, and by complaint, a fist to the face, she got kicked out of the hotel. Wimps. And there were her worthless parents and bratty little sister ruining things like they always did. "Don't wander off!" They whined. "Don't steal the credit card!" They dared complain. She never thought she'd say this, but she was glad to be back in Dimmsdale. At least there, she had her sweet, adorable, dumb little twerp to take her frustrations out. Vicky smiled nastily, imagining all the new ways she could cause the brat some pain. She even got some new business too in Canterlot of all places: some brat named "Rebecca" according to what the E-mail said. Normally, she wouldn't take appointments without a few days notice, but the price they were offering was too much to refuse. Hopefully, her parents were the clueless type too: then she'd have another punching bag once she played the good girl in front of them. "New clients, new meet, and my precious little twerp," Vicky gushed. "Today's going to be a wonderful day." Vicky pulled into the apartment, took the elevator, and went to the right door, and turned the knob. "Where is the little gumdrop?" Vicky said in her rehearsed, cutesy voice, walking in while closing her eyes. "Right here, my little sugar blossom!" Vicky opened her eyes in surprise, the voice sounding a little older.To her confusion the redheaded babysitter didn't find a clueless couple and a little brat. She found a teenaged girl around her age. She had red and yellow hair and she wore a biker's jacket, a purple vest with a sun picture on it, an orange skirt with a yellow and purple line running through it, and black and purple boots. The girl looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place her name. "Uh," Vicky said in confusion, "do you have...a little sister or something...whatever your name is?" "Sunset Shimmer," A weird smirk formed on the Canterlot teen's face. "Nope, just wanted to lure you here for a...ta-." "Oh my gosh! Sunset Shimmer!" To Sunset's confusion, the girl was suddenly looking at her with a fangirl expression. "I've heard so much about you!" The fire-haired girl cocked her head in confusion. Before she could respond, Vicky started bowing before her. "I am not worthy! I am not worthy!" Sunset was speechless. "Why are you bowing to-," "I heard about how you put an entire school under your thumb, sabotaged and tore everyone apart, and got away with blowing up a chunk of the school!" Sunset was taken aback for a bit, but remembered that some of her antics were made public. I mean, when you blow something up, a lot of dirty secrets would come out into the open, and it contributed to her pariah status. But gradually, the news of her actions faded from memory as she proved herself to her peers and people distracted themselves with other news stories. But no one ever praised her for her misdeeds, let alone put her on a pedestal over them. "I took so many notes!" Vicky continued to gloat. "And used them in my business!" "You have..." Sunset said, trying to keep an even face. But she could barely contain the nausea she felt over the fact that she may have inspired other bullies, let alone gained the admiration of one. "And you've brought me here because you want my aid to help you rise back to power," Vicky happily inferred. "Actually," Sunset said, the chilly calm returning to her voice, "I actually have a...different reason for bringing you here." "What is it, new best friend!" Vicky gushed. "We're not friends," Sunset said a low stern tone. Vicky looked confused the sudden contempt from someone she admired. "Personally...you only have one use to me." Sunset smirked, remembering the dialogue from her bullying days. A bit of confusion flashed on the green-shirted girl's face. "Then what-," Sunset held out her phone, and showed Sunset the footage she had collected of Vicky spray painting a bus stop with the words "Rules Are For Fools!" "Imagine if this...incident ended up on the Internet," Sunset mused in a seemingly conversational tone that set Vicky on edge. "I bet you could never find work again." Vicky felt sweat pour down her face and chuckled nervously as Sunset eyed her the way a vulture looked at a meal. "I see. You want your...cut of the profits!" Vicky went into her back pocket, fishing for something. "I guess I can give you five-HYAHHH!" Vicky suddenly pulled out a crowbar and charged toward Sunset, ready to knock this girl out. "Nobody blackmails Vicky Valentine-," Vicky paused as she felt someone grab onto her arm. The shock from realizing there was someone else in the apartment allowed Vicky's assailant to twist Vicky's arm behind her back and send her to her knees. The fire-haired girl let out a grunt of pain and dropped the crowbar. "Ahh," Vicky wailed. "Who are you!" "Ahm you're worst nightmare," the hillbilly like voice uttered ominously, before let out an amused chuckle. "I've always wanted to say that!" Vicky looked in the mirror and saw some blond country girl in a stetson was brutalizing her. The girl then knocked Vicky to the floor before stomping onto Vicky and painfully tugging on the girl's arms while standing on her back. "OK! OK!" Vicky screamed, under extreme pain, "I'll give you all the money you want! Just get her off me! And please don't tell!" Sunset bent down so she could look at the incapacitated teenager in the eye, a cruel grin on her face. "I don't want money, I have plenty of that," the fire-haired purred. "I just want to watch you squirm and quiver in my grasp." Vicky whimpered, never feeling so vulnerable in her life. Sunset snapped her fingers, and AJ painfully yanked Vicky up. "If you would, clean my floor." "But the floor's already clean," Vicky whined like a sad little girl. Applejack silently went over to Sunset's fridge, took a bottle of grape juice, and spilled it all over the floor. "Whoopsie," Applejack said with a toothy smirk, "I had a lil' accident." "Now get mopping." Sunset hissed to the trembling teenager. "You have more chores to do." For an hour, Sunset gave Vicky chores to do, usually by cruelly creating a mess Vicky had to clean up. Whenever Vicky complained, the fire-haired girl silently held up her evidence, while Applejack simply gave the redhead a glare. When it was over, Vicky has been reduced a timid mess. "Well that was fun!" Sunset gushed with a vicious smile. "We should do it again, sometime." "Please no more," Vicky whimpered. "Nothing personal, Vic," Sunset while giving herself a manicure. Not just because she needed one, but by not looking Vicky in the eye, it underscored how little she thought of her, "but as a businesswoman, I have to crush the competition before it can grow to a level that can rival me." Sunset put down the file and looked at Vicky like she was a worthless pile of trash. "Today, I've proven you are a just a little girl playing a big girl game," Sunset paused to give Vicky a nasty flick on the nose. Vicky looked like she was about to cry. Sunset almost felt pity for her. Almost. "My advice: go straight, clean up your act. Because it's obvious you are in way over your head." Sunset turned to her blond friend. "Would you kindly show Vicky the door." Applejack escorted Vicky to the door. Or more specifically, tossed Vicky into a pile of trash cans outside. Vicky fell to the ground, the garbage cans making a loud, metallic clatter. "NOW GIT!" Applejack ordered. Vicky pulled herself up off the ground and ran away like a chicken, never feeling more terrified in her life. "I'm here because I wub you!" Vicky declared rather forcefully as she went over to the pantry to get baking ingredients. "Let's see, we got sugar, butter, and-," Vicky glanced out the window and let out a sob of terror. "What now?" Timmy asked in concern and suspicion. The 16-year old shut the window in terror with a very loud slam, before turning back to face Timmy with a fake smile. "Uh....it's chilly out there," Vicky lied, "brrr. I don't want you getting a fever." Her expression almost became panicked. "C'mon, let's go bake the cake." Timmy had just been outside, and the weather was pretty normal. "What is Vicky planning?" Timmy asked Wanda, currently disguised as a ladle on the kitchen counter. "No idea, sport," Wanda said with a shrug. "Besides, cake!" Cosmo uttered while disguised as a bag of flower. Timmy couldn't argue with that. Outside the Turner residence, a girl on a bike watched through the window with a stern glare. Seeing it slammed shut filled her with incredible amounts of amusement. If Sunset was being honest were herself, dealing with the witch was not just done out of heroism or her care for the boy. The Elements of Harmony, despite what one assumed, didn't change her personality, but merely gave her perspective. Her sadistic tendencies still had lingered under the surface, and were only held down by guilt, the fear of punishment, and scorn of her classmates. But her lingering rage over the Dazzlings, and how they left her relationship with Timmy shattered, had brought them back to the surface. And for many obvious reasons, Vicky was particularly enticing target. But Sunset wandered what kind of pain she would enact on the little gnat. Sunset had all kinds of ideas: Exposing her to Mr. and Mrs. Turner, exposing her to the authorities, or simply siccing Rainbow or Gilda or any one of her classmates on the girl who had tormented their favorite little kid, and warning her to stay from the boy. The two athletes were very eager for that kind of plan. But Sunset settled for putting the girl under her thumb. She had several reasons for that. Again, Sunset liked having the ability to blackmail someone. It gave her a great thrill. But she also had a selfless reason for doing it; While Sunset's sadistic side wanted to make Vicky suffer, Princess Twilight reminded her that once upon a time, she'd been just as bad as Vicky. Twilight was personally disgusted with Vicky, but the pony princess strongly believed in second chances, and that motto didn't stop applying just because you disliked someone. Reluctanly, Sunset had agreed with her : if Sunset could turn her life around, maybe Vicky could. All Sunset needed was a little push. As well as tons of Rainbow Magic plowing her into the ground. But Vicky, for her cruelty, was less troublesome than Sunset, so perhaps reforming her could be easy. Twilight also told her that if Vicky could reform, she would make a good ally, just as she had become to the Princess of Friendship herself. So Sunset decided to give the girl a reality check, and hoped that showing her the consequences of being a bully could be the push she needed. If she learned, than Sunset could gloat about having changed someone for the better. If she didn't learn, it was no skin off her nose. But Sunset also believed it should be Timmy's decision to tell Vicky to scram. As much as Sunset wanted to do it, she felt Timmy wouldn't be able to grow unless he learned to stand up for himself. She stressed this to both Rainbow and Gilda, and they both agreed that the ball had to be in Timmy's court. And if the girl got violent, Sunset had no shortage of friends who would defend the boy who had defended them. Timmy, deep down, was still scared of the world. That's why he wanted to keep Vicky around, even if he wouldn't say it: so he would still have Cosmo and Wanda to look out for him, since he still didn't believe anyone else would, at least without magic. The thought pained Sunset, as did the fact that Timmy was pushing her and her friends away, but Sunset wasn't completely beyond hope. Sunset never imagined she would ever be accepted by Canterlot High, but with hope, she managed to earn their love and trust back. That meant there was hope Timmy would trust her once again. With that Sunset put on her helmet and drove away on her motorbike. Sunset wondered what she was meant to do in this world, if she couldn't be a conquerer. She glanced at the picture in her locket, of her and the bucktoothed boy at the mall, and knew what it was. Helping a small boy realize that the world was a beautiful place in spite of its imperfections. In other words, helping him find hope. She drove off into the sunset, not knowing the future, but knowing the past didn't have to drag either of them down. FIN > Sneak Peek for the Sequel! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As they prepared for their next outing, The Turner parents asked their essential questions so that he knew how to stay safe in their absence. "What do you when the zoning board asks about the addition to the garage?" "Lie." "And if the gardener asks for her pay?" "Threaten to call immigration." "And what are Child Services." "Evil" "Good," Mr. Turner said with a smile. Just then, a knock was heard on the door. Mrs. Turner opened it and saw Sunset standing at the door patiently. The former unicorn saw Timmy's parents dressed in tourist attire while wearing several cameras. "Sunset," Mrs. Turner greeted the fire-haired girl, gesturing her to come inside, "Thanks for taking Timmy off our hands for a whole week." The Canterlot teenager looked at Mrs. Turner with confusion and suspicion. "I thought he would stay at my place for three days-" "No take-backsies," Mr. Turner interrupted quickly before throwing Timmy at Sunset like a hot potato. The two parents started to run out of the house, only for Sunset to block them. "Isn't there something you are forgetting," Sunset said with strained patience while gesturing to the small ten-year-old boy still standing in the living room. "The most important thing in your lives." A sheepish smile appeared on Mrs. Turner's face as she looked in Timmy's direction. "Why Sunset, you're right. It was foolish to have forgotten the most important thing in my life." Sunset smiled proudly when she saw Mrs. Turner about to give her son a pat on the head. Only for her hand to reach behind Timmy and toward a nightstand behind him and grab a pair of keys. "My keys!" Mrs. Turner chirped happily. "I can't think of anything more dear to me than them." She said, seemingly ignorant of her son's presence, before running out of the house, much to Sunset's dismay. The high school student looked at Mr. Turner with a pleading expression. "Isn't there something you want to tell your son, Mr. Turner?" Sunset asked, almost gritting her teeth. "Something that starts with 'I' and ends with 'love you'." Mr. Turner stared blankly at Sunset before the realization came to him. "You're right, Sunset." He turned his attention to his only son. "Timmy, I love you..." Sunset smiled warmly, expecting a heartwarming moment between father and son. Only for Mr. Turner to throw many cleaning supplies at the buck-toothed boy. "I'd love you...to clean the toilets, son." Before Sunset could respond, Mr. Turner left the house with a short goodbye. "Watching our son for free and giving me a phonics lesson," Mr. Turner gushed as he entered the driver's seat of his car, impressed with Sunset's skillset. "What a good egg." Had Mr. Turner been paying attention, he would have seen Sunset glaring at the Turner parents, clenching her fists and shaking. "Uhh, Sunset," Timmy said uneasily, noticing his potential babysitter's rage. "Are you OK?" "Am I OK!?" Sunset asked incredulously, turning back to her charge. "How can I be OK when they treat you like that!?" "Like what?" Timmy asked. Sunset was shocked by how nonchalantly the brown-haired boy phrased the question. Did his parents ditch him so often that he wasn't at all phased by it anymore? Was his parents not being there the only thing he could count on nowadays? "Nothing," Sunset said solemnly, deciding that talking to Timmy about his less-than-ideal parental relationships when he already had enough problems wasn't the wisest decision, "let's just...go." > The Sequel Is Out > --------------------------------------------------------------------------