Equestria Girls - Drama on the Rise

Chapters

Return to Canterlot
Sparkles and Shimmers
Student Revolution
One S.T.E.P Ahead
The Show Must Go On
The Battle for Canterlot

Return to Canterlot

Twilight Sparkle stared at the portal. It was 30 moons ago, almost two years, since she last saw her friends in the strange alternate world. She had so many questions. She wondered what had changed, how they had changed. Then she thought about Sunset Shimmer. Part of her had always doubted that Shimmer could ever change, yet at the same time, she was certain she had. Her friends would not have failed her. She touched the entrance to the portal. Her hoof felt as though it was passing through water, and the surface rippled like a raindrop in a lake.

“Ya' sure about this sugar cube?” Apple Jack looked at her obviously nervous friend.

“What if you don't make it back this time?” Fluttershy seconded.

Twilight looked through the portal, her alternate self reflected back at the ponies, showing that she was worried herself.

“I have longer this time.” She reassured her friends. “This time, the portal isn't closing for ten whole days. I just want to see how my other friends are doing; that's all.”

Celestia entered the room, finding Twilight and her five friends all huddled around the portal.

“Twilight? Are you planning on going back to that other world?” She asked her student inquisitively.

Twilight nodded. “I am Princess. It's been so long since I've seen everyone from that side, and I want to see how they're all doing.”

Celestia nodded. “You of course know the dangers that you will face when you travel to that world?”

Twilight rolled her eyes. She was grateful for the concern from her friends and her teacher, but by this point her mind was already made up, and she was getting a tiny bit tired of hearing the same thing over and over. “I will be fine princess. Just give me ten days, I'll be back before you know it.”

Princess Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, lost in thought. Then opened them again and nodded. “Very well. If you feel that you are able to go, then I wish you the best of luck on your journey.”

Twilight nodded, thanking the princess and her friends. As she stepped through the portal, she could hear her friends shouting back to her.

“Stay safe!” Yelled Rainbow Dash

“Don't forget to write!”

The last thing she saw from Equestria was everyone starring at Pinkie after her bizarre comment.

Twilight opened her eyes as she steadily regained consciousness. She looked down at her self. Jacket, skirt, boots....hands...Twilight had returned to her human self. Looking behind, her she saw the mirror underneath the giant pony statue, with Canterlot High School directly in front of it, fully repaired from the damage that she and Sunset Shimmer had left. Twilight slowly and steadily rose to her feet. Putting one foot in front of the other, she let out a sigh and slowly made her way to the school.

Learning to walk this time is much easier than it was last time, Twilight thought to herself. Having pretty much gotten used to the feeling of being on two legs from the last time she was here, it made sense that it would take little effort this time. She simply had to jog her own memory.

She opened the doors and walked inside. The halls were completely empty. Not a single pony...er...human, in sight. Twilight continued down the northern most hallway to the cafeteria. Something was wrong, there was no one here either. No students, no teachers, no humans, not a single soul to be found. Suddenly Twilight heard the sounds of footsteps coming up from behind her.

“What are you doing here?” Inquired an unknown voice. Twilight quickly turned to see who was addressing her. It was a boy about her size. He had white skin and reddish brown hair. He was wearing a dark green jacket and a black tee-shirt, black dress pants, and black loafers. On his tee-shirt were three cards; a red, blue, and gold one. Oddly enough, the boy was wearing a mask. It was a darker shade of white than his skin and cut off at his nose. There were coverings over the eyes of the mask that made his eyes appear to be red and glowing.

“I-uh...was just looking for..” Twilight struggled to get her words straight, but the boy cut her off.

“Only members of the drama club are allowed on campus during the weekend. Were you looking to join us?” The boy asked her. Twilight couldn't read his expression because of the mask, but something about his tone told her that even without the mask it would be difficult.

“Yes! That's exactly what I was looking to do!” Twilight smiled awkwardly. She wasn't sure if the boy would buy her lie or not, but at least she knew why no one was around. Maybe she could find one of her friends at the drama club...Didn't Rarity used to belong to it? Or was it Pinkie Pie? She couldn't remember.

The boy motioned out of the cafeteria and down a hallway to the right, Twilight began to walk down the hallway with the boy behind her.

“By the way, what's your name?” Twilight asked.

“ACE” The boy said coldly.

“Ace?” She repeated. The boy nodded in response.

“My full name is Acerthyst, but my friends call me A-C-E, all caps.”

“That's an...interesting name.” Twilight muttered. The boy nodded in response but said nothing. Turning another right at the end of the hallway, Twilight and ACE came to two huge blue doors. ACE opened the door and the two of them entered. Twilight saw a group of several people, all working on separate things. Some appeared to be working on props while others were working on costumes and practicing lines. She was surprised by the sheer number of people, and they all seemed to be so different. She hardly recognized anyone, but she could clearly tell the “geeks” apart from the “jocks,” “goths,” and the many other cliques that she and her friends had united together. She was relieved that the spirit of unity had not left the school.

“Follow me.” ACE said bluntly to Twilight, who nodded in response

ACE lead Twilight through the groups of people to the back of the massive room. There she saw 3 people sitting at a table. The three appeared to be tossing different ideas around to one another. Each had on the same dark green jacket that ACE had on. There were two girls and one guy. One of the girls had white skin like ACE, but hers was more lively and bright where as ACE's skin was ghostly pale. She had long half black and half red hair, and wrapped around her waist was a rugged sash that ran down the back of her bluejeans. The sash was black with red streaks just like her hair. The girl standing next to her had blue skin with long blond hair that covered one of her eyes. On top of the dark green jacket she also had a bright lime green vest. She had on cargo shorts and long bright green boots. Black music notes were visible on her vest, shorts, and her boots.

Lastly was the guy who turned and waved at ACE and Twilight as they entered.

“Welcome back ACE! Who's that you got with ya? Made yourself yet another girlfriend?”

ACE glared at the other boy. “One time Ravewind, one time!”

'Ravewind' was wearing a similar outfit to the white skinned girl. A zipped up green jacket with jean pants and boots. On either shoulder of Ravewind's jacket, he had patches shaped like gears that were sewn into the sleeves. One patch was blue, the other green, and the final red.

As Twilight approached the three of them, the girl with white skin was the first to address her.

“Hi, my name's Chroma Sketch, and this is Lilly.” She pointed to the girl with blue skin and blond hair. “I see you've already met our friend ACE, and Prince Shining Armor over there is my boyfriend Ravewind.”

Twilight looked at the three of them confused. What does my brother have to do with any of them? She thought to herself.

“You okay dear?” Asked Lilly.

“It was just a figure of speech hun.” Added Chroma Sketch.

Twilight shook her head returning back to reality. “Sorry I was just thinking about my brother.”

Ravewind rose to his feet and walked over to Twilight. “Well as leader of the drama club and elected king of the school, allow me to grant you a full invitation to the drama club.” He held out his hand for Twilight to take.

“King of the school?” Twilight looked at him puzzled. She remembered that the school elected princesses at the end of every year at the Fall Formal. She was picked the last time she was here, in place of Sunset Shimmer.

“Don't pay Ravewind any mind.” Chroma said with a chuckle. “He's called himself that ever since we won the titles of prince and princess last year.”

“Uncontested.” Ravewind added. “No one ran against us, and the whole school voted for us, clearly we were meant to rule the school!”

Ravewind clenched his fist and held it against his chest as though he was saluting. “And as such I've sworn to lead humbly and benevolently, uniting the entire school under the banner of light that is the Drama Club!”

Chroma and Lilly looked at each other and laughed. ACE, who at this point had removed his mask, rolled his eyes and shook his head. Twilight noted that ACE had very odd eyes. They were almost completely solid gray, devoid of any color.

“That aside, would you still like to join us?” Asked Chroma.

Ravewind held out his hand again and all four of them looked at Twilight, awaiting her response. Twilight gave it some thought then nodded. She took Ravewind's hand at shook it.

“Wonderful! Welcome aboard! I'll have Chroma Sketch make a jacket for you.” Ravewind shook her hand excitedly as he spoke.

“It may take a bit for your jacket.” Chroma confessed. “As we were just discussing, another batch of jocks decided to join us for our upcoming play A Thousand and One Knights.”

“Wonderful!” Ravewind shouted with joy. I was thinking we could borrow some of the football padding and use it as armor, then the jocks wouldn't have to hold back on each other and we could get some real fight scenes going!”

Chroma Sketch shook her head at the idea. “The old art club will have to make the props out of stronger material if we do that.”

Ravewind and Chroma walked off, completely lost in their conversation. Lilly shook her head and turned to Twilight.

“Back to business as usual it seems, I'm really sorry about that. Once they start brain-storming they tend to zone everything else out.”

“It's fine, I've done that myself a few times.” Twilight admitted.

“Anyway, welcome to the club, I'm sure we'll be great friends!” Lilly gave Twilight a warm smile, then ran off after the others.

Twilight turned to face ACE. He said nothing to her, simply nodding and walking off after the rest of the group.

“Friends...” Twilight looked down to the floor. She had made some new friends, but where were her old ones?

Sparkles and Shimmers

Twilight Sparkle made her way to the library. She decided that spending an hour or two reading would clear her mind as she tried to break down everything that had happened upon her arrival. She opened the library door and was greeted by whom she believed to be Cheerilee.

“Hello, were you looking for any book in particular?” The librarian asked Twilight.

“Mhmm,” Twilight nodded. “I need two yearbooks.”

“Yearbooks?” Cheerilee asked. “Did you not buy yours last year?”

Twilight stuttered. “I-uh...I wasn't...around.”

“Oh! Are you a transfer student?” She asked Twilight.

“Sort of.” Twilight Responded.

“Well I have a yearbook from last year and two years ago.” Cheerilee presented the two books to Twilight.

“This is perfect! Thank you!” Twilight went to take the books and Cheerilee stopped her.

“I can't check these books out, so you'll have to stay here to look at them.” She told Twilight.

“Of course.” Twilight agreed taking the books to a nearby table. Starting with the book from two years ago, she flipped page after page until she came to the back of it. Near the end of the book she found pictures from the dance, pictures of her and her friends, with wings, extended hair and ears. She looked over the picture with a warm smile on her face, completely lost in thought. She put the book down and went to the most recent one. She saw many pictures, some old students some new ones, but one particular picture caught her interest. Under faculty and staff she saw a picture of a new councilor who apparently started just this year. Twilight couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something eerily familiar about the councilor.

“Let's see...councilor...Christina Liss. Why does that sound familiar....”

Twilight Sparkle continued to turn pages through the yearbook. She got to the end of the book and noticed somebody was missing, actually, it was several bodies. None of her friends were here, and that's not all. Sunset Shimmer, and that boy with the mask, Acerthyst, neither of them were in the yearbook either. She ran through the book again, but again, none of them where there. Twilight returned the yearbooks to the librarian.

“Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a couple questions?”

Cheerilee looked at Twilight for a bit, then shrugged as she took the books. “What about?”

Twilight turned the first yearbook to the back and showed Cheerilee the pictures of her friends.

“I was looking for my friends in last years yearbook, but I can't seem to find them.”

Cheerilee looked at the two yearbooks then nodded.

“It seems your friends graduated last year.”

“Oh...really?”

Cheerilee nodded, and Twilight looked down towards the floor, the only reason she came back was to see her friends, but they could be anywhere by now...

“Thank you. I have just one more question. What can you tell me about the new councilor?”

“Ms. Christina?” Asked the librarian curiously.

“Mhmm” Twilight responded. “Do you know anything about her?”

“Well why don't you go ask her yourself?” Cheerilee pulled out a school directory and circled the principle's office, then put a star where the councilor's offices where located. “She's right here if you would like to talk to her.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded, “ Thank you. I'll go talk to her.”

~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle made her way to the principle's office, then turned down a hallway to the left of it. The hallway had several doors. each one had a different name of whom Twilight assumed was a councilor. At the very end of the hallway she saw a door with the name 'Dr. Christina Liss.” The door was plastered all over with heart stickers of various sizes and colors, and as she went to knock on the door she heard what sounded like yelling from the other side.

“Doctor Liss, more and more parents are complaining about the lack of extra-curricular activities being offered by this school! You and the other councilors can't keep moving the school's budgets around like this!”

“Again, Vice Principle Luna, you're blaming the councilors for something that is the fault of the students. Extra curricular activities are a privilege! One that is only given to students that made decent scores on the S.T.E.P, and need I remind you that the only students that were able to make the required points were the members of the Drama Club.”

Twilight couldn't help but notice that Councilor Christina had a very raspy voice when it was raised.

“The other students didn't make the requirements because it was the Councilor's decision to make the requirement so high!” Vice Principle Luna rebutted

“The high score requirement didn't stop the drama club, perhaps the other students simply didn't apply themselves. No doubt because they were all distracted by the activities they so wrongly took for granted!”

“You make it sound like the students should be honored that we have activities that other schools give out on a whim, once more rumors are starting to circulate that the members of the Drama club were given easier versions of the test, and some were even given answers!”

'Given answers?!' Twilight thought to herself. 'Why would they go out of their way to give the Drama club an easier test than everyone else?'

“Those rumors are exactly that, rumors! Kids will do and say just about anything to put the blame on others. Besides if those rumors were true, how do you explain the 6 girls who got near perfect scores?”

Six girls? Twilight wondered if she was referring to her friends and Sunset Shimmer.

“Those six girls graduated, that doesn't have anything to do with the S.T.E.P.”

“Vice Principle Luna if you really feel so strongly about this, I suggest you put your energy towards encouraging the students to do well on this year's S.T.E.P instead of wasting our time complaining about the last years.”

The door flew open and Twilight took several steps back. Vice Principle Luna walked out of the room with a sigh and her arms crossed. She looked over at Twilight, who waved at her and gave her a rather awkward smile.

“Good afternoon.” Luna told her bluntly before walking off.

Twilight watched Luna walk down the hallway the way that she herself had come in. She turned to the door which was now wide open. With councilor Christina beckoning her in.

“Come in dear, come in, did you need to talk?”

Now that Twilight was in the same room with her she was able to get a good look at Miss Liss. Her skin was very pale, almost the same shade as ACE's, but hers seemed more vivid and alive than his. Her hair was bright blue and it flowed down her back along a lovely black dress. Her eyes were a bright light green color which was a tad off putting, but her expression was warm and welcoming which more than made up for it. To Twilight's surprise, Christina Liss' tone completely changed once Twilight had entered the room. The raspy sounding voice was replaced by a very sweet one that reminded Twilight of Princess Cadence.

“Hello.” Twilight sat down in one of the two brown chairs that were set in front of the councilor's desk. Christina Liss' room was a very vibrant color. The walls were painted with an off white that shimmered when the sun had direct contact with it, on the walls were several motivational posters and two posters mentioning the STEP test.

“How can I help you dear?” councilor Liss held out her hand and Twilight took hold of it and shook it lightly.

“Well I'm new here and I just joined the drama club, I was wondering if you had any advice.”

The councilor put her finger up to her lips and thought to herself for a moment. “Really the only advice I can give you is try to enjoy yourself, and of course study hard, the STEP test is coming up soon after all.”

Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. “This may seem like a silly question, but what is the STEP test?”

Christina Liss smiled at Twilight and gestured towards the poster closest to her. “STEP is short for Standardized Test for Extracurricular Participation. It's a general knowledge test that allows us to see who's focusing on their studies, and whose focus is...elsewhere.”

Twilight was confused and her head tilted a little bit to the side to show it.

“Those who excel at the STEP test are free to partake in any extra-curricular activity of their choice. Those who do not pass are not allowed to participate, they are removed from their activities to focus on their studies.”

“Forgive me for saying miss Liss, but that doesn't seem very fair. Also I couldn't help but notice that there are barely any extra activities available, the Drama Club seems to be the really big one.” Twilight cringed a little hopping she hadn't insulted the councilor.

Dr. Liss smiled. “Just like Vice Principle Luna, you are uninformed, but unlike her you are new here, so allow me to explain. Last year out of all the students that took the STEP test, only a handful managed to make acceptable scores. Of those few that passed six of the students were graduating that year. The remaining students were all members of the Drama Club.”

“What score do you need on the test for it to be acceptable?” Questioned Twilight

The councilor's expression started to turn a bit more serious. “A passing score is a 90 or above.” She admitted.

“But that's an A or higher!” Twilight exclaimed. “Surely you can give the students some amount of leeway!”

Councilor Liss shook her head. “Normally we would, but you see these tests are not particularly difficult, any amount of studying at all would amount to a high grade.” Dr. Liss handed Twilight a packet of papers. “Here, this is the test from last year, the one the students took right before we started making changes. Our new test is going to be completely different so there's no risk in you seeing this.”

Twilight looked through the packet. Councilor Liss was right, none of the questions looked too terribly difficult. There were maybe one or two questions that she hesitated on, but that was nothing a minimal amount of studying wouldn't fix.

“I don't understand. These questions are simple and straight forward, how could anyone get lower than the required score?”

Councilor Liss shook her head. “I fear the students might not have taken the test seriously, or maybe they felt we wouldn't be sincere with the consequences of not meeting the passing score.

“Maybe...” This whole situation was weird for Twilight. She could understand her friends making perfect scores, they were all very bright, but the rest of the school should have had no trouble with this either...maybe they really didn't take it seriously enough...

“Was there anything else you wanted to ask me dear?” Liss asked Twilight.

Twilight shook her head and stood up, as she began to walk out the door she was stopped by the councilor.

“Sorry dear but I didn't get your name.”

“Oh I'm so sorry, my name is Twilight Sparkle.”

There was a flicker in the councilor's eyes and her expression seemed to change for less than a millisecond. Twilight shrugged it off. She must have been seeing things. As she walked down the hallway she saw ACE round the corner and start to walk towards the councilor. She waved at the boy but got no response. It's like he was in another world or something.

~~~~~

As Twilight Sparkle exited the principle's office area she was stopped by the sound of someone whispering to her. Looking behind her she saw a shadow turn around a nearby corner.

“Hello? Is Someone there?” She asked nervously

“Follow me.” The voice simply replied.

“I-uh...” Twilight was at a loss for words.

“Hurry!” The voice insisted. “There isn't much time!”

Twilight groaned and shrugged then ran over to the corner the shadow was at. As she rounded the corner she saw the shadow run towards the gym area. Twilight hesitated for only a brief moment before the mysterious shadow once again insisted that she follow it. She followed the stranger through the gym to the back where it entered the gym's storage closet. Twilight approached the closet then knocked slowly. The storage doors crept open then Twilight found herself grabbed and pulled in.

The inside of the closet was completely dark. Twilight couldn't see anything, but she knew she was being watched, perhaps even by multiple people. Suddenly a lone flashlight turned on. The light shined in Twilight's face blinding her for a brief moment.

“Well, well, if it isn't Twilight Sparkle. Welcome to the new Canterlot High.”

Twilight recognized this voice, there was no mistaking it. The one holding the flashlight moved it away from Twilight and back onto herself, revealing none other than Sunset Shimmer.

Student Revolution

“Sunset Shimmer? What are all of you doing in the gym closet?” Twilight asked as she looked around. One of the students turned on a smile lantern and Twilight recognized several students, including Lyra, Bonbon, Trixie, Snips and The student she was chasing which turned out to be Snails.

“This is the only safe place for us to meet.” Trixie commented.

“Only safe place?” Twilight repeated.

“We are the resistance!” Snips shouted out

“Yeah!” Snails added. The rest of the people glared at the two.

“What is going on here Sunset?” Twilight asked more urgently this time.

Sunset shimmer didn't respond she simply held up a packet of papers.

“Whats this?” Twilight took the packet from Sunset and looked it over. Twilight noticed that the packet was titled 'S.T.E.P: Standardized Test for Extracurricular Participation,' but something was wrong, the questions were completely different from the packet that counselor Liss showed her, and that wasn't all. The questions were harder. Much, much harder.

“This was the STEP test that the majority of the students received last year.” Sunset Shimmer explained as she took the test back from Twilight.

“But that's impossible.” Twilight rummaged through her backpack and took out the test Liss had given her. “According to the counselor this was the test that everyone received last year.

Sunset Shimmer snatched the packet from Twilight and quickly looked it over.

“I knew it, I knew something was wrong when only the drama club and the graduating students got perfect scores. The rumors were true, they did get easier tests.” Sunset sighed as she handed the packet back to Twilight.

“forgive me Sunset.” Twilight interrupted. “But you were in the same class as my friends, didn't you graduate?”

Sunset Shimmer nodded. “Yes I did, but after I did, Snips and Snails began telling me about everything that was happening. About how extra curricular activities were starting to disappear and how the Drama Club was getting all the attention. I did so much damage to the school when I was the queen, I couldn't sit by and let someone else make the same mistakes I was making.” As Sunset Shimmer spoke she clenched her fist and her eyes flared up with determination.

Twilight couldn't help but smile, it looks like her friends had a possitive effect on Sunset Shimmer after all.

“Well now that we have this information what should we do with it?” Asked Lyra to the rest of the group.”

“The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie, suggests we go tell Principle Celestia! If anyone can fix this mess it's going to be her!”

Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “That wont do anything, before I came here I overheard a conversation between Counselor Christina Liss and Vice Principle Luna. Miss Christina was able to talk her way through the argument, and was able to pin the blame on the students. If we take this to Celestia, I'm sure she'll just do the same thing again.

“There's gotta be something we can do.” Bonbon added. “The STEP test is only a couple days away. This is our chance to get all of the extra-curricular activities back into Canterlot High.”

“We could always cheat.” Snips pointed out.

Everyone in the group looked at Snips, shocked that he even suggested that. Even Snails gave him a dirty look.

“No no, hear me out.” Snips insisted. “We know the drama club is going to have easier versions of the test right? Why don't we just copy all of their answers onto our tests? There's bound to be at least one Drama Club member in each of our classes!”

Both Trixie and Sunset both face palmed. Trixie let out an irritated groan, and Sunset Shimmer simply shook her head with her hand still over her eyes.

“The problem with that Snails.” Sunset explained. “Is that they're going to have COMPLETELY DIFFERENT tests than us. That includes both questions and answers...”

“Oh yeah...” Snips blushed with embarrassment.

“So what do we do?” Asked Lyra once again.

Twilight stepped forward standing in the middle of everyone. “We do the only thing we can do! We study hard, and we beat the STEP test at it's own game!”

Sunset Shimmer shook her head again. “Twilight I really do respect your resolve, but this isn't going to be solved just by studying. Think about it, the STEP test is intentionally made next to impossible for everyone except for the Drama Club so they can stay as the dominant club.”

“Next to impossible does not mean impossible Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight exclaimed defiantly. “Also it's not like we need perfect scores, we only need 90s. If the STEP has 50 questions like it did in last years packet, that leaves a five question room for error.”

Sunset Shimmer looked around at the rest of the group. Most seemed unsure about Twilight's plan, but it was the best one they had that wasn't going to get them into trouble.

“Alright Sparkle, we'll do it your way.” Sunset Shimmer held out her hand as she spoke and Twilight took it in her own.

“Great! If we can get everyone together into study groups and all help each other out, I'm sure there's nothing we wont be able to do!” Twilight looked at Snips and Snails. “You two ask around drama club, get a list together of how many people want to go back to their old clubs. Just be careful who you ask, and don't talk to any of the leaders.”

Both snips and snails saluted Twilight, with a perfectly in sync “Yes ma'am!”

“Trixie, do you think you could ask the teachers about what topics they think will be on the STEP?” Twilight continued.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will do her best!” Trixie replied also saluting Twilight.

“Alright everyone. Let's pass the STEP!” Twilight jumped out of the center of the group and held out her fist everyone in the room clenched their fists together and thrust them forward in one collective fist bump. Then they all reached up in a group cheer.

Under Twilight Sparkle's direction, and with Sunset Shimmer helping out from the sidelines, many of the students began committing themselves to studying as much as they can. Forming study groups ranging from just a few people to entire cafeteria tables. Snips and Snails made their way through Drama Club spreading Twilight's plan to anyone they thought would be interested. While some of the students were skeptical about passing the STEP, a good amount of them were more than willing to believe in anything that would get their old clubs back. Some called off of the plays they were part of, claiming they needed the extra time for studying. While others snuck in study sessions during breaks and intermissions. Ravewind, Chroma Sketch and Lilly held a private meeting between themselves and the higher members of the Club in order to discuss this strange and shocking turn of events.

“So how many exactly have we lost?” Ravewind asked.

Lilly and Chroma looked over the clipboars they were both holding.

“We lost almost all of the jocks,” Chroma answered. “A thousand and one knights is starting to look more like two hundred and twenty.” She joked.

Ravewind didn't say anything, he simply shot her a disapproving glare.

“We lost a few in the background choir," Lilly pointed out. "But I can make up the difference myself. We also lost a bit of our background characters. We haven't lost any major characters, and you and Chroma are playing the lead roles.”

Suddenly the doors to the drama room burst open. ACE walked in wearing a black mask that covered the top half of his face and a good portion of his hair. He was dragging Snips and Snails by their arms and tossed them before the rest of the members present in the meeting.

“Oh hey ACE, fashionably late as always.” Ravewind smirked at his friends before looking down at the two guests he brought with him.

“I caught these two talking to some of the students in the stage crew. Apparently our friend Twilight Sparkle is responsible for the recent desertions. She's encouraging the other students to study for the STEP test instead of helping with the club.” As ACE spoke his voice slowly turned into a low grumble and steam began to raise from various parts of his jacket's sleeve. Lilly quickly ran over to him and whispered into his ear.

Calm down Amethyst, your holes are starting to show

ACE inhaled and exhaled the steam resided and he removed his mask tossing it into his Backpack.

Ravewind looked at Snips and Snails with one eyebrow raised. “Now why would she do that? What possible reason does she have for studying for the STEP test?”

“Twilight's a bright girl.” Chroma added. “She of all people wouldn't need to study for something so easy...”

“Oh like you don't know!” Snails spontaneously burst out.

Everyone turned to face Snails. Snips desperately tried to cover Snail's mouth, but Snails managed to wiggle away from him.

“She's having us study because unlike all of you WE'RE given the really STEP, and it's Very Very VERY hard!” A small tear came to Snails eyes. “It's not fair. How come Drama gets the easy test?!”

ACE, Ravewind, Chroma, and Lilly all looked at one another.

“What on earth are you talking about?” Lilly asked as she slowly walked over to the two of them.

“Maybe the rumors are true Ravewind.” Chroma stated as she turned to the Club's leader.

Ravewind shook his head in disbelief. “There's no way. Counselor Liss told us that was just an excuse the students were coming up with because none of them put in the effort to pass.”

ACE walked up to Ravewind and put a hand on his shoulder. “In any event, excuse or not. We can't have these two pulling away more of our club members. The performance this weekend is going to be the biggest one that Canterlot High has ever done. If we loose any more members we'll have to cancel.”

Ravewind nodded in agreement and looked back at Snips and Snails. “I'm sorry you two, but for now we'll have to keep you here in the Drama Club room. Everyone else, the meeting is dismissed, thank you for your time.”

The various other students in the room left leaving only the four leaders of the club, and Snips and Snails.

Chroma Sketch turned to face the two boys ACE had dragged in. “We'll let the students that left the club already keep studying. If what you say is true, they're going to need it. However, you must understand that we can't spare anymore. Even if it means we look like the bad guys to the rest of the school this play is important to everyone still loyal to the Drama Club.”

“So how long do we have to stay here?” Inquired Snails.

“Personally I think we should keep them here until the end of the STEP test.” ACE muttered coldly.

“ACE that's a few days from now, we can't keep them locked up in the school overnight.” Lilly protested.

ACE said nothing and simply shrugged.

“We'll keep them here for the rest of the day so they can't recruit anyone else to Twilight's side. After school lets out we'll let them go.” As Ravewind spoke he gathered up the two clipboards and any other papers he could find regarding the meeting. ACE left the room giving Snips and Snails a cold glare as he did.

About an hour later, ACE knocked on the door of Counselor Christina Liss' room.

“It's me.” He stated quietly.

“Come in dear.” Christina replied.

ACE opened the door and closed it behind him.

“Twilight is aware of what we've been doing.” ACE admitted. “We should accelerate the plan.”

Christina Liss shook her head. “That's not necessary. I was already suspicious of Twilight and have acted accordingly. Let the Drama Club get all the rehearsal time they need. Because after all.” Liss' eyes flickered a bright green as she spoke.

“The show must go on.”

One S.T.E.P Ahead

Today is the day it would all go down. Not only was the STEP test today, but today was also the day of the Drama Club's big performance. One thousand and One Knights was the biggest show the Drama Club has ever attempted. Featuring students of all ties from all areas of expertise. To the members of the club, it was a symbol of unification. A pact among the students, that hasn't been seen since the fall of Sunset Shimmer. For the members of the Resistance, and for all the other people in the school, the play was a crippling detriment. A reminder that as long as drama club was in power they may never see their respective clubs again.

That was all going to change today. Thanks to the efforts Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, most of the students had spent the last week and a half studying as much as they could. They knew their tests would be harder than any they have ever taken before, but each student knew that with the help their friends had given them they could pull through. The time had come. Everyone reported to their respective homerooms for the STEP test, giving each other last second wishes of good luck. Twilight herself took her test in the library, and was instructed to hand her test to the librarian on the way out. Twilight sat down cracked her knuckles and spun her pencil around her fingers. The announcement was made by Principle Celestia to begin the test.

Twilight flipped open the STEP test and looked over the first question.

“Let's see...solve the following mathematical equation...” Something was wrong. Twilight moved onto the next question. “Find the volume of...oh no...” Something was very wrong. Twilight had been given one of the easy tests. She began to effortlessly breeze through the problems stopping on only two for brief seconds before continuing. “Christina Liss must have found out I was the one helping everyone study...” Twilight whispered to herself. Twilight double checked her responses to the problems, then triple checked. She even had the time to quadruple check her answers before anyone else in the library went to turn in their test. She handed it to the librarian than grabbed a nearby book to read. As she did she couldn't help but worry about everyone else.

It was the end of the day. The final periods all let out half way through to let students go to the school's stage to watch the Drama Club perform. As the students made their way to the stage an announcement rang out over the intercoms.

“Good afternoon students, this is Principle Celestia. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone here.”

The students all looked at one another confused.

“Vice Principle Luna, the teachers, and myself have just concluded grading the STEP tests. The scores were a record high in Canterlot High history. The lowest grade was Mr. Snails with a high 90. As a result of all of your dedication, all after school programs and activities shall resume effect of tomorrow.”

Anything else Celestia had to say was drowned out by thunderous applause, cheering, and even some foot stomping. Even members of the drama club cheered and hollered uncontrollably.

Chroma, Lilly, and Ravewind's heads and hearts all sank. Ravewind was especially crushed. All the effort he had put into building up the Drama Club, and all the work he put in to unifying the students of the school was all about to go to waste. Starting tomorrow students would return to their normal clubs, and with clubs came cliques, and with cliques came division.

Suddenly several Drama Club member approached the three of them. One put his hand on Ravewind's sholders as he spoke.

“Don't worry Ravewind. Our clubs may be back, but you and your friends still helped us. You took us in when we had no where else to go, and thanks to your help we became close friends with people we never thought we'd befriend.”

Ravewind looked behind him to see a beefy jock hug a scrawny little lightweight nerd. He couldn't help but laugh at the scene.

“We won't get our clubs back until tomorrow.” The boy pointed out as he continued. “So we're going to see this through. You helped us, we help you.” At that everyone in the room cheered for the three Drama Club leaders. Lilly, Chroma, and Ravewind looked at each other and nodded with new found determination.

“Let the show begin!” They all said together.

Twilight, and the rest of the students made their way to the school's auditorium to watch the Club perform. When all was said and done, Twilight really felt bad that she had taken away so many of the Drama Club members to help everyone win back their clubs. The Drama Club was really nice to her and she still considered them her friends. She hoped that staying to view the play would help make up for the damage she had done to them, at lest by a little bit. As everyone got seated a small gray and silver haired girl whom Twilight assumed was Silver Spoon walked up on stage and started to set the scene. Soon the curtains rose and the play begun. Twilight was amazed by the amount of detail in the props, backgrounds, and especially the costumes. Chroma Sketch and the other artists did an amazing job, and Ravewind and Lilly's acting and singing were unlike anything she had ever seen or heard. Strangely enough, there was no sign of ACE. Perhaps he wasn't in the play. Twilight checked the guide for the play. “Queen's Adviser” Twilight read aloud. “How strange...”

There was an intermissions about half way through the play. Afterwords the curtains arose once again. The scene showed all the 'knights' surrounding 'King Ravewind' as he was monologing to his throne. It seemed that all the knights were actually the schools jocks. Their outfits were quite detailed, but what was strange was that they all had rather odd looking masks on. Each one was dark green almost black and had a ruby red gem between their eyes. Ravewind's monolog wasn't too long and eventually ended with Ravewind shouting out. “Where be my queen?!”

As Ravewind shouted this a massive green puff of smoke suddenly appeared and consumed the throne. Ravewind and all the jocks took several steps back. Twilight was surprised at how well they imitated shock, it was as if the smoke wasn't planned.

To everyone's surprise it wasn't Chroma Sketch who walked out of the smoke. It was Counciler Christina Liss. With ACE right behind her.

Christina walked out on stage in a midnight black dress like the one she had on before. Only this one was a bit more ragged and the bottom appeared to be very warn. She was also wearing long black gloves that ran up the length of her arms. These appeared torn up and full of holes. ACE had on a black hoodie and black slacks, like Liss, both were full of holes.

“Miss Liss?” Ravewind asked startled. “What are you doing here? Where's Chroma Sketch?”

“I'm afraid there's been a change of plans my dear. The kingdom I'm after isn't the kingdom of Arabia. It's the kingdom right here in this school!”

“I don't understand. What do you mean?!” Ravewind asked starting to get a bit concerned.

“You wouldn't understand even if I told you fool!” Liss shouted out suddenly. “None of you have any idea what you represent, but I do, and with my new army of 'knights.' I will see my plans come to fruition. AT LONG LAST CANTERLOT IS MINE!”

Christina Liss thrust out her hands towards the jocks. Malicious green energy radiated from them and bolts of green lightning bounced from jock to jock. The gems on their fore heads began to glow, and each jock began to snarl, growl and hiss.

“It can't be!” Twilight did a double take and rubbed her eyes. She had to be dreaming, but this was no dream.

As the jocks slumped off stage Christina Liss laughed manically. A vicious green flame washed over her body as her skin turned dark green. Her ears elongated, and a sickly black horn formed out of her forehead and insect wings from her back. She landed at the front most part of the stage with an all too familiar giggle. As she did Twilight raced forward to confront her.

“It is you!” Twilight shouted. “Queen Chrysalis!”

The Show Must Go On

Principle Celestia and Queen Chrysalis continued their sword fight on stage. While the jocks continued to wrestle with one another. Twilight, Sunset, and the others removed the masks from the remaining captured students.

Celestia and Chrysalis continued to swing at one another, finally Celestia changed poses and with a quick upward thrust managed to disarm the queen whose sword went flying behind her.

Chrysalis stumbled back and growled. “How? I defeated you so effortlessly last time!”

“It seems the two 'worlds' as you put it, aren't as connected as you thought. I doubt my alter ego took five years of fencing classes!” Principle Celestia taunted.

Chrysalis smirked. “She was also a lot more aware of her surroundings!”

Principle Celesta looked behind her only to get struck in the head by ACE who was holding a sword himself. The blow to the head caused her vision to blur, and she toppled off stage to the ground and lost consciousness.

“Principle Celestia!” Twilight cried out.

“ACE?! Why?!” Lilly cried after.

ACE glared off stage to his friends the gem on his mask was glowing as well as his eyes.

“It's the mask!” Chroma shouted.

“Dang it ACE!” Ravewind spontaneously yelled out and ran for the stage only to get hit in the chest by a green laser like beam. The blow sent Ravewind flying backwards only to be caught by Chroma.

“Ravewind!” Chroma cried.

“I'm alright...that took me off guard that's all...” Ravewind laughed to himself as he steadily lost conciousness.

Steam rose out of Chrysalis' hand where the beam had come from. “I've humored you all long enough! This wasn't how I planned on dealing with Celestia, but a knocked out princess is just as good as a disposed one! ACE we're leaving this place, but before I go...” Queen Chrysalis held out both hands and aimed them at Chroma Sketch Lilly and Ravewind. Green energy like what she fired the first time radiated from her hands. “I'm going to deal with you pests. I gave you everything! I put the entire school under your feet, and THIS is how you repay me?! Well an unloyal subordinate is a useless one!”

As Chysalis prepared to fire, a voice rang out in ACE's head.

It's now or never Amethyst...we have to choose, our Queen or our friends.

ACE grabbed his head with both hands, and began to talk to himself. “More time...I need more time...”

We're out of time Amethyst! We have to choose! Do we save our friends or let them die?

“I...I can't...”

If you wont act I will! And you already know my choice!

ACE yelled out as if in pain and ripped the mask off his face. “Lilly!”

Lilly looked up just in time to see Chrysalis fire and ACE jump in the way.

“ACE!” Lilly ran over and held ACE in her arms. A good portion of his body was charcoal black, and several parts of his clothing were missing.

“Well...” ACE coughed softly. “That hurt...” ACE smiled at Lilly then blacked out.

Lilly cried softly to herself as Chrysalis shook her head. “Hmm, such a disappointment. Oh well It seems I've done everything I can here.” With that Chrysalis fired a beam of energy straight up blowing a hole in the ceiling of the Auditorium. She then jumped up and flew away laughing manically as she left.

About an hour later both Ravewind and ACE recovered. They woke up in the school's infirmary, and Ravewind rubbed his head with a groan. “Ugh...anyone get the number of that car?”

He looked at ACE who shrugged.

“Well did they at least get the number of the limo behind it?”

ACE smirked in response to Ravewind's terrible joke, but the expression quickly faded as ACE looked out the window.

“Look ACE, we don't blame you for what you did.” Ravewind admitted.

“Well you should.” ACE responded coldly.

“What do you mean?” Asked Ravewind.

“I wasn't like the others Ravewind. I wasn't hypnotized or anything. That was me...'er, the other me...We went along with everything...”

“But in the long run you made the right decision!” Ravewind pointed out.

“I guess I did...” ACE processed the events that occurred in his head.

There was a knock on the infirmary door and the nurse walked in. “Oh good you two are awake, you have visitors, and a lot of them.”

Lilly, Chroma Sketch, Twilight Sparkle, and as many Drama Club members that they could fit in the small room pushed their way in through the small door.

“You're both awake!” Lilly shouted excitedly.

“Back and better than ever!” Ravewind boasted as he flexed. Chroma said nothing and simply rolled her eyes.

“How is Celestia?” ACE inquired.

“Still knocked out...” Twilight confessed. I think some kind of magic is keeping her in that state.

“Where's Sunset?” Inquired Ravewind.

Twilight pointed outside at the statue just outside the school entrance. “She followed Chrysalis back through the portal. She's gone ahead of me to make preparations for her attack.”

“Does this mean you're going back as well?” Asked Chroma Sketch.

Twilight nodded. “My friends are going to need me. As will Princess Luna with Celestia out of commission...speaking of, did anyone ever find her?”

A girl with light blue skin and bright blond hair walked into the infirmary. “Vice Principle Luna was out eating dinner when everything happened. She just now got back on campus.” The girl explained.

“Well that figures...” Ravewind muttered only to be hit in the back of the head by Chroma Sketch. “Ow!”

“Oh hey you didn't black out again, I guess you really are doing fine.” Chroma teased.

“Oh haha...” Ravewind rubbed the back of his head.

“Anyway, I'm really sorry I put everyone through all of this.” As Twilight apologized the other students looked at one another then back at her.

“Are you kidding?” Chroma asked her. “If it wasn't for you, Christina would still be here at the school, egging on the Drama Club. Thanks to you, Canterlot High has it's freedom back, and we're still as unified as we were when everyone was in the club.

“You helped us see through the STEP test, and helped us get our school back to the way it was.” Ravewind seconded.

Everyone in the room and the students in the hallway all cheered for Twilight.

“Thanks you guys. I promise, as soon as Chrysalis is dealt with, I'll be back again to see you all!”

“We'll be waiting.” Lilly responded.

“Just be sure you come back before we all graduate.” Ravewind teased, only to be hit in the back of the head again. “Ow! Was that necessary?”

“Yes.” Chroma replied bluntly.

Everyone in the room began to laugh, including Ravewind.

As Twilight made her way to the portal she took one last look at her new found friends. “I really hope I get to see you all again.”

“I really hope we're friends with you in your world.” Chroma confessed.

Twilight thought to herself. “Come to think of it...I'm sure I've heard your name somewhere before.”

“Well that's good.” Chroma said with a cheerful smile.

Twilight nodded and waved to everyone, with that last goodby she stepped through the portal, and returned to the Canterlot that she knew.

“Hey, has anyone seen ACE?” Ravewind asked.

Lilly and Chroma looked around and shrugged.

“He's probably off somewhere working on another mask.” Chroma suggested.

Lilly looked up at the sky. “Who knows...” She responded. “ACE is a weird guy.”

~~~~~

Twilight sparkle stepped through the portal and found herself as the four hooved purple pony she had always been. As she readjusted to herself her five friends rushed over to her.

“Twilight! You've gotta come quick! It's Princess Celestia!” Rainbow Dash grabbed her by the hoof only to have Twilight tug back.

“What's got every pony all worked up?” Twilight asked her friends.

“It's the princess.” Applejack explained. “She suddenly collapsed and no one knows why. She won't wake up 'neither.”

“Chrysalis...” Twilight whispered.

“Tell all the guards to get into positions, and contact my brother and step sister in the Crystal Empire. Canterlot is about to be attacked!”

“Oh my goodness!” Gasped Fluttershy. “How do you know Twilight?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Twilight smiled.

Pinkie inhaled like she was about to speak but Rarity covered the pink ponies mouth with her hoof.

“In any event darling, we best get you to the throne room and begin preparations.”

Twilight nodded in response to Rarity's suggestion and they all headed out. A few moments later the portal shimmered again, as a pale white unicorn with a brown mane and tail stepped out from the other side. He looked around with his clear almost empty eyes and his expression became very serious.

“It's begun...” The stranger told himself.

The Battle for Canterlot

Queen Chrysalis continued to laugh as more and more of the zombified jocks slumped off the stage and approached the rest of the students. Twilight prepared to confront them, but a familiar voice prompted to do otherwise.

“Everyone! Over here! Run!” Sunset Shimmer was standing at the back of the auditorium and waving at her friends. Twilight ran towards her telling everyone else to follow her as she went. “To the Drama Club room! Hurry!” Sunset Shimmer insisted.

Right outside the room, Snips and Snails were signaling the way in. Every member of the resistance and a few other students made it in while the rest ran to various parts of the school in a panic.

“You can run, but you can't hide!” Chrysalis taunted before pointing to a handful of her newly aquired minions. “You there! Find the principles! Bring them to me!”

The jocks nodded in acknowledgment of their orders and headed towards the office.

“What are we going to do?” Asked Sunset to Twilight.

“I'm not sure...” Twilight admitted. “With the jocks under her control Chrysalis could easily take over the whole school...”

“And why exactly does she want to take over the school?”

Everyone turned to see Ravewind standing in between Lilly and Chroma Sketch.

“What possible motive would she have for taking control of a high school?” Ravewind asked a second time.

“Why should we tell you anything?” Snails aggressively asked in response.

“Yeah! It's thanks to the Drama Club that we're in this mess in the first place!” Added Snips.

Ravewind, Lilly, and Chroma Sketch all looked at one another then looked down, ashamed.

“I don't believe that.” Twilight walked over to the three Drama Club leaders and held out her hand to Chroma Sketch who looked at her with disbelief. “When we first met you all seemed sincere. You were really nice to me, and I really did want to be friends with all three of you.”

Chroma Sketch nodded and shook Twilight's hand. “The counselor played all of Drama Club.” Chroma explained. “We should have known something was wrong when students were complaining about the tests.”

“But now we know the truth,” Lilly added. “And it's time we set our school back to the way it was!”

“The first thing we need to do is free everyone from those masks they're wearing. Starting with ACE.” Ravewind suggested. “Does anyone have any ideas as to how we're gonna do that?”

“Oh! Oh! We know!” Everyone turned to face Snips and Snails.

“What if Snips and I lured Jocks here a couple at a time? Then every time we do you guys ambush them and take the masks off!”

Everyone looked at Snails completely dumbfounded. Not only was his suggestion the best on they've heard all day, but it was possibly the best idea the pair had ever had.

“Alright then! We'll use go with that plan!” Twilight clenched her fist and held it out as she spoke. “Who's with us?”

Everyone else in the room joined in a circle each one holding their fists forward in one massive collective fist pound. All at once, everyone raised their hands to the air and shouted out, “FOR CANTERLOT HIGH!”

~~~~~

A group of jocks burst into the doors of the school auditorium holding Principle Celestia.

“What?” Celestia looked around at the army of masked students then looked up on stage at whom she assume was Christina Liss.

“What is the meaning of this, Liss?!” Principle Celestia demanded.

Chrysalis smirked at the captured principle. “There's really no point in me telling you." She explained as she looked over the nails on her human hand. "You wouldn't understand if I did...”

Celestia scoffed, unsatisfied with the counselor's answer.

“Are the preparations finished?” Chrysalis asked as she turned behind her. ACE was adjusting the mask on one of the captured students, then slightly adjusted his own. Not only did the jocks capture Principle Celestia, but they were also apprehending any and all of the students in the school.

“I finished the final modifications to the gems.” ACE responded. His tone was frozen cold, and almost lifeless. Yet despite this, he seemed to be considerably more sentient than the other students. “Any students who follow you into your world will take the form of one of your minions.”

Chrysalis let out a light delighted laugh. Excellent, with my newly acquired army, I should have more than enough soldiers to take back what should have rightfully been mine.

“And what is it that should have been yours, Christina?!” Questioned Celestia again.

Chrysalis sighed. “Part of me wants to tell you, just to see what your reaction would be...but I really can't be bothered. Keep her secure backstage until the invasion is complete! Also find Vice Principle Luna! I don't want ANY interference this time!”

The group holding Principle Celestia saluted their new leader and hauled their captive to the back of the stage.

~~~~~

Snips and Snails positioned themselves behind a vending machine not far from the drama theater. As a couple possessed students walked by, Snips whistled to them and Snails waved his hands frantically. The three students gave out zombie like moans and charged at the two boys who immediately fled to the Drama Club room. Of the three students that were blindly running at Snips and Snails, only one of them was a jock, and he arrived at the Club's front door long before the other two. As he entered the room he was dived upon by all of the students in the room, including Twilight and Sunset. Despite how outnumbered he was the students still had a hard time dealing with the massive hight and weight difference. Eventually though, they got the mask off.

The jock sat there, half dazed. “Uh...what happened to me?” He looked around to see a large group of students looking over him, and Snips and Snails in the back who appeared to be hitting his mask over and over with a hammer.

“We'll explain in a second,” answered Sunset Shimmer. “For now, some more students are coming. We need your help getting their masks off.”

“I can do that,” the jock responded. As the other two students entered the room, the hulking athlete singlehandedly stopped them. He held one student in each hand, then in one quick upward motion, ripped both masks off. The other two students looked around, dazed and confused.

“Alright, one group down!” Shoued Twilight triumphantly.

“And a whole lot of groups to go...” Muttered Ravewind.

“Don't worry, this will get easier the more jocks we free.” Chroma Sketch pointed out.

She was right, each jock they picked up made the entire process easier and faster. It wasn't long until they freed every student that was roaming the halls. Once that was done all that was left were the ones in the auditorium.

“Now comes the hard part." Twilight explained. “The students in the auditorium aren’t going to want to leave as easily as the others, not to mention, as soon as we try anything we'll no doubt get Chrysalis' attention.”

“So if we're gonna do something, it needs to be all or nothing.” Ravewind pointed out.

Chroma Sketch looked over to her side to see Lilly with a concerned look on her face. “Whats the matter?” She asked her friend.

“We've been at this all day and there's still no sign of ACE anywhere.” Lilly answered. “I'm worried about him...”

“ACE is probably in the auditorium with the remaining students Lilly.” Twilight pointed out.

“He's probably in there plotting with HER...” One of the students added.

Lilly's eyes widened. “ACE wouldn't betray this school! He's under a mask's influence just like everyone else!”

“A mask that he's been able to take on and off!” Another student rebutted. “We've seen him walking around the halls before this whole thing started!”

“ACE has a love of theatrical masks.” Chroma Sketch defended. “The mask he was wearing probably had nothing to do with this incident.”

One of the other Drama Club students entered the argument. “Come to think of it, wasn't it ACE who submitted the design for the play's masks in the first place?”

“So what if he did?” Answered Ravewind this time.

“He must have known this would happen.” The student continued. “There's no other explanation.”

Several students began to whisper and quietly debate with one another.

“ACE is our friend,” Ravewind responded. “You all can think what you want, but we refuse to believe that he sold out the school.”

Twilight walked over to Lilly, and put an arm on her shoulder. “We're going to save ACE, Lilly. I promise you.”

Lilly nodded. She felt a little better, but was still uneasy in the back of her mind.

Chrysalis was sitting center stage in the auditorium with the curtains closed behind her. A group of jocks were in front of her, and ACE was to the back. The jocks were wondering around aimlessly and ACE was shuffling a deck of cards. Suddenly ACE stopped, and half of the cards dropped to the stage floor.

“What is it, Amethyst?” Inquired Queen Chrysalis to her subordinate.

“I no longer sense the gems of the students we sent out. That can only mean they were destroyed.”

“Destroyed? Impossible!” Chrysalis clenched her fist and snarled to herself. “It must have been Vice Principle Luna, she must have rallied the rest of the students!”

“Not quite Chrysalis!”

ACE and Chrysalis turned looked to the rear of the area to see Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, behind them was the army of students they had freed.

“I should have known.” Chrysalis shot Twilight an annoyed look. “To think all the work I put into this plan has been whittled away by the very same pony who tried to save Canterlot last time.”

“Is she referring to the Canterlot Siege?” Sunset asked Twilight who nodded in response.

“Well, whatever.” Chrysalis shrugged and stood up. “My first plan to take over Canterlot may have failed, but it always helps to have a plan B.” Chrysalis snapped her fingers and the curtains behind them opened revealing two hypnotized jocks and a bound Principle Celestia.

“Principle!” Sunset called out with the students behind her all letting out a synchronized gasp.

“Tell me, Twilight.” Chysalis continued as she slowly approached Celestia. “Did you know that the beings in this world are connected to those from our own?”

Twilight said nothing in response to Chysalis, who kept talking anyway.

“I'm not surprised. Even I didn't know until I found out for myself. It turns out there's a special link between the two worlds. Which is why I attempted to take all of the students under my control.”

“If you had control of them here, you had control of them back in our world!” Sunset pointed out.

Chrysalis giggled. “Brava, dearie. The same can be said about losses.”

“Losses?” Twilight asked.

Chrysalis nodded. “For example, if the good Principle here were to...'disappear' from this world.”

“Princess Celestia.” Twilight whispered as her eyes widened.

“Ah, the princess finally gets it!” Chyrsalis snapped her fingers again and all of the remaining possessed students lined up in front of her, including the two guarding Celestia.

“Twilight!” Sunset shouted.

“I know!” Twilight shouted back.

Twilight and Sunset both jumped backwards into the crowd of students.

“Formation!” Twilight shouted out.

At that signal all of the liberated jocks stood in front of the remaining students, forming a wall similar to a football line.

“Take them!” Chrysalis shouted. She pointed at the group and the jocks under her control ran at them.

“For Canterlot High!” Twilight pointed at Chrysalis and the jocks in front of her all charged. The center one, an overly muscular hulk of a linebacker gave out an overly excited “YEAH!”

The jocks collided with one another, both groups attempting to shove one other out of the way. As this happened the remains of the possessed students ran past the jocks in an effort to pin down the remaining students, but they were outnumbered almost 3 to 1.

Chrysalis and ACE were both shouting commands from the stage and didn't notice that Celestia was slowly managing to untie herself. Eventually she got herself free, and snuck up behind Chrysalis. She grabbed the queen and threw her backstage into a shelf containing several props. Wooden swords for the knights flew out on stage and Celestia picked one up.

“You thought you could sneak into MY school and take over MY students? You are sadly mistaken!” Celestia took a pose holding the sword out. Chrysalis rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing a sword for herself. She took a pose herself and Celestia continued to talk. “Now that you've so foolishly revealed your true self...” Celestia rose her sword into the air and charged at Chrysalis, who blocked with her own.

“I can protect my loyal students. FROM YOU!”