A Tad Screwy: The Laughing Dazzling

Chapters

Cheap Jumpscares
Screwball Vs. Flim and Flam
Screwbanned
Band Practice and Exhaustion
The Sirens
Temptation
Being Right Can Suck Sometimes

Cheap Jumpscares

“Okay sooo…what am I doing in this game Dash?” Sunset asked from Rainbow Dash’s computer. She sporting a pair of red and yellow headphones with her cutie marks decorating the ear portion and she had little bit of a confused look on her face as she stared down the computer screen. It was a typical Sunday afternoon for Sunset Shimmer and her friends. It had been a few months since anything major had gone down in Canterlot City, so they’d been finding themselves with more time to chill out than they had in a while. Today, they had all decided to hang out at Rainbow Dash’s house and mainly do their own thing…

Up until Rainbow had a rather nasty trick up her sleeve and showed Sunset a new game she got on the computer.

“Weren’t you listening to the phone guy? You need to make sure the animatronics don’t kill you by shutting the doors, looking at the cameras, and conserving your power!” Rainbow said, sitting on the bed across from the desk where Sunset was sitting. Right now, she was practicing her awesome guitar skills on her old, light green guitar. She’d had this thing for a while, and it was a little rough around the edges, but it sure did get the job done.

Sunset looked back at the computer screen, where she was seeing what looked like the inside of an old, crappy pizza restaurant, complete with super-creepy looking animatronics of a bear, chicken, and bunny. What was Rainbow trying to pull here by making her play this? And why did she have to wear headphones while doing it?

“…Is this like, supposed to be scary or something? I don’t get it.” Sunset said, flipping between the cameras in the game, making sure to keep an eye on her power as she did so.

“Don’t hold your breath darling. Nothing is worse than anticipation when it comes to that wretched game.” Rarity said, taking a little more interest in painting her nails than this conversation.

“…Anticipation?...Anticipation of what?”

“You’ll find out.” Applejack said, sitting at the foot of Rainbow’s bed, taking a quick swig at the bottle of cider she had in her hand. “Rainbow got all of us to go into playing that game blind, so now it’s yer turn.”

That statement alone made Sunset a little uneasy. “…Okay, now I’m getting a little paranoid; why aren’t any of you telling me anything?” Sunset said, appearing to sound a little frantic in her voice now.

“Maybe cuz we wanna see your reaction~” Pinkie said with a big smile. She was sitting right next to Sunset, watching her play. She also had a can of whipped cream with her and would occasionally squirt some of it into her mouth…

To the point where pretty much her entire face was covered in the stuff, and would then proceed to lick it all off in one fell swoop.

Sunset was going to press the matter of what she meant by “Her reaction” when she noticed something as she was flipping through the cameras in the game. Something appeared to be very out of place in Pirate’s Cove…

The curtain in there was open.

Rainbow Dash took notice of this as she looked at the screen and quickly stood up. “….Yooou haven’t been checking Pirate’s Cove have you?” Rainbow said, with a huge grin starting to form on her face at this new development.

“…Was I supposed to?” Sunset asked, going back through the cameras again to see if she could find anything else. As she was going through though, she came across probably one of the most stressful sights she had ever witnessed in her entire life…

A fox animatronic that appeared to be in major disrepair, was sprinting down the hallway outside of the security room where her character was located.

“AGH NO!” Sunset yelled in panic. She frantically clicked out of the cameras and scrambled around the screen to click the door button to lock the robot out, but kept missing the button due to her now panicked state.

“AGH I’M GONNA D-“

“EEEEEERGH!”

Ultimately, it was all for nothing, as the fox ran into the doorway, opened up its huge, gaping maw filled with rows of razor sharp teeth, and let out a high-pitched screech, which was so loud that all of Sunset’s friends could hear it through her headphones.

“AAAAGH!” Sunset yelled, falling right out of her chair because of the sudden and loud shock the game had given her, which she had been completely unprepared for. Her heart was beating so unspeakably fast that she was afraid it might burst right out of her chest.

“PFFFTHAHAHAHA! Oh man that was PRICELESS! That jumpscare gets em EVERY TIME!” Rainbow laughed out loud, holding a hand to her forehead.

“O-Oh goodness Sunset. Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked, kneeling by Sunset’s side and checking her over a little. She appeared to not have taken any physical harm, but she was breathing abnormally fast. Considering the circumstances though, that wasn’t much of a surprise.

“Y-Yeah just...nearly had a h-heart attack…o-other than that, I’m just peachy…” Sunset said in between breaths. After a few seconds of trying to calm down, Sunset stood up and sat back in the chair at the computer. “Oh jeez…why the heck would someone make a game like that?!”

“To see people overreact to it on the internet.” Rarity said, still painting her nails. “Don’t feel bad about getting scared of it darling. Rainbow got all of us with that accursed piece of computer programming.”

Rainbow waved a hand at Rarity, still laughing a little at Sunset’s demise. “Oh you’re just salty because you overreacted the worst out of everyone Rarity.”

Rarity perked up a little and looked at Rainbow with a disgusted and appalled look on her face. “What?! I most certainly did not!”

Applejack stopped drinking her cider for a moment to chime in. “Rarity, ya threw your headphones against the wall when ya lost…seriously. Fluttershy had a more stable reaction than that.”

Rarity unfortunately had no comeback for that one outside of pushing her hair out of her face, giving and offended huff, and returning to painting her nails.

Before anyone else could take a moment to discuss Rarity’s joke of a comeback, the door to Rainbow Dash’s room swung open, making everybody present flinch in surprise. Fluttershy quickly grabbed a pillow and hid behind it for security, Rarity’s nail polish had been gotten off track due to her shock and was now all over her hand, and one of the strings on Rainbow’s guitar broke as her groove was thrown off.

Sunset looked towards the doorway, only to find standing there was her newest friend; a girl with light purple skin, purple and white striped hair, and a pair of eyes that were also purple and white and were very strangely hypnotic to the look. Her outfit consisted of a tank-top with a screw and baseball branded on it, skirt, knee-high socks, shoes, and arm-length gloves, all of which were purple. She was a few years younger than the rest of the group, but she was also without a doubt, the strangest.

Looking at her, Sunset saw something she thought she would never see in her lifetime.

A very, very pissed off Screwball.

“Girls! I am going to war here!” Screwball yelled rather loudly in her angered state, and she appeared to grind her teeth from the rage she was enduring.

“Ummm…nice to see you too Screwball?” Rainbow said with a confused look on her face. This wasn’t exactly uncommon of Screwball to yell out random things without giving an explanation beforehand, so at this point she wasn’t ENTIRELY surprised…

Then again, this was Screwball, so this statement could mean anything.

“Oh you girls haven’t noticed have you?! Take a good long look at me and see if you can figure this out!” Screwball yelled, pointing to her head. The girls all looked at the top of her head, only to realize that there was indeed something different about Screwball. The area that usually held her trademark beanie was noticeably empty of it, something that nobody had ever seen in their few months of knowing Screwball as well as they did.

“Oooh, her hat’s gone! What’s happening?! Screwball NEVER takes that off! NEVER! ” Pinkie said, panicking a little. Apparently Screwball not having her hat meant the end of the universe, seeing as she was never seen by anybody without it.

Sunset quickly picked up Pinkie’s can of whipped cream and sprayed some into her mouth to calm her down.

“I….Mmmmn!~” Pinkie’s panic subsided and a relaxed smile grew on her face and her eyelids lowered as the taste of whipped cream overtook her mouth, calming her down.

Sunset let out a quick sigh of relief. “Phew, that’s better…Now Screwball, what happened to your hat?” Sunset asked. In all seriousness, this was very unusual for Screwball to not have her hat on.

“Alright, so dad was playing poker last night, got SUPER wasted, and ended up betting my hat in the game while I was asleep…and LOSING IT!” Screwball growled.

That certainly got the attention of everyone. They knew Discord was naturally kind of a creep, but betting his daughter’s most valuable possession?

“…That creep seriously bet his kid’s hat? How low can ya get?!” Rainbow exclaimed, only for Fluttershy to pat her on the back to get her to relax.

“Now Rainbow, let’s not jump to any conclusions…” she said quietly and calmly.

Screwball facepalmed and groaned a little at the aggravation she was under over the entire development. “Look, I don’t blame my dad for this. Hell if he never got drunk off his butt before, I never would’ve been born. I pretty much owe my entire existence to him and alcohol….but that’s not to say I’m not mad, cause listen. It gets better. I never even told you who has my hat right now.” Screwball said. She reached into her hair and pulled out a small flier that depicted two, smirking men wearing the same blue and white shirts with black bowties and white pants. Both of them also had the same red and white hair and same light yellow skin. The only visible differences between them was one of them had a mustache and the other did not, and one had a badge depicting an apple with a piece sliced out of it, and the other had just an apple slice badge on its own. At the bottom of the flier in big bold, white letters were the words “The Flim-Flam Brothers' Everything Under the Sun Emporium”

All the girl’s eyes widened as they laid eyes upon the flier, and Applejack more than anybody seemed to be very, very angry, as she appeared to grit her teeth a little. “Those rotten, smug little...rrgh, Ah outta go down there and teach em’ what for!” Applejack exclaimed, clenching her fist in anger.

Screwball quickly folded the paper back up and stuck it back in her hair. “My plan exactly. I’m going down there and demanding they hand over my hat, but I might need backup if things get nasty.”

“O-Oh dear…couldn’t you maybe handle this less…aggressively?” Fluttershy quietly suggested.

Screwball put on the best deadpanned look she could muster. Sometimes, Fluttershy was just too nice for her own good. “Flutters, I love ya and everything, and normally I might be a little considerate. But these jokers broke all three of my rules.” Screwball said, holding up a finger. “One. Don’t screw with my hat…” Screwball then held up another finger. “Two. SERIOUSLY, don’t screw with my hat” Screwball held up a third and final finger. “And three…can you guess what it is?” She asked looking at her friends.

The girls all deadpanned. “…Don’t screw with your hat.” They all said in unison.

“Exactly.” Screwball said with a nod. “Now who’s with me?”

Sunset got up and rolled her eyes, patting Screwball on the back. “Well, these guys are pretty big jerks, and you know I always have your back.” Sunset said smiling a little at Screwball. “Don’t worry Screwy, I’ll help get your hat back.”

“Ah’m comin’ too. Ah’ve got a few….choice words to say to those two varmints.” Applejack growled, cracking her knuckles. “Put me in a banana suit will you? Big mistake…” she said to herself.

“Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious! Flim and Flam will face our wrath!” Pinkie yelled.

“Well, I for one think that it was most unfair of them to cheat your father like that Screwball. Especially when he was under the influence. I’ll be tagging along as well.” Rarity assured her.

“I ummm…I guess I’ll go…But don’t expect me to do any of the butt-kicking if it comes down to it.” Fluttershy said a little meekly.

“Hey, count me in! I’ll just keeping practicing my guitar on the way. Can’t afford to waste any practice time ya know!” Rainbow said, strumming a chord on her guitar. “But hey Screwy. Before we go, ya wanna play a quick game on my computer?~” Rainbow said with a growing smirk.

Screwball raised an eyebrow and looked at Rainbow’s computer screen, only to see the title screen that was filled with static and a menacing looking animatronic bear staring right back. “…Nope. Not touching that with a ten foot pole.” Screwball retorted.

Rainbow frowned and snapped her fingers. “Dang it.”

~The Previous Night~

The streets of Canterlot City were abuzz with activity this particular night. All of the people that were usually crowding said streets were, for seemingly no real reason at all, yelling and arguing with each other. It wasn’t usually like this, as Canterlot City was an overall pleasant town. There was an occasional scuffle, but nothing to the rather large level that it was a the moment.

“Hey! You cut me off!” One man yelled from his car window to the car in front of him.

“Well excuse me if some of us have places to be!” The man in the front car yelled back at him.

Nearby on the crowded sidewalk, a few teenagers were fighting for elbow room in the crowd.

“Stop shoving!” One girl yelled.

“I’m not shoving! This is shoving!” Another girl yelled, pushing the other backwards on her shoulders.

“OH you did NOT just do that!” the girl yelled back.

This type of negativity is what mainly filled the air of the city that night. And in the middle of it all were three lone figures, all wearing different colored hoodies and all had the same, jewel necklaces around their necks. One of them was a girl with purple skin and had a large pair of purple and blue pigtails that were tied up with star hair clips. Another was a blue-skinned girl with big, innocent and dopey-looking eyes and a light and dark blue ponytail.

The last appeared to be the ringleader of the group. She was a girl with yellow skin and a big mass of yellow and orange hair sat on her head, and she had a malicious smirk plastered onto her face.

Also in the streets, surrounding all the arguing people was a cloud of green smoke that flowed through the darkness and into the three girl’s jewel necklaces as they sang a hypnotic and melodious tune.

“Aaaahha! Aaaaha!” They all sang until the smoke had disappeared into their jewels. The yellow girl looked over at the purple one with the pigtails afterwards. “Still not satisfied are you?” She asked.

The purple girl gave her a deadpanned look. “Honestly Adagio, think really hard about what you’re even asking. What do you think?” she asked with a tinge of sarcasm.

The girl identified now as Adagio rolled her eyes with an accompanied frown. “Well you won’t have any reason to complain soon. Once we get to that source of Equestrian magic, we’ll have all the power we desire.” Adagio said with an evil smile…

…

The sinister moment was broken however, by the blue girl. “Hey girls! Can we get tacos now? I’m hungryyyyy!” she whined.

“Sonata, stop your whining for one, stinking minute. We’re on a mission for ultimate power here.” Adagio said, looking back at Sonata with an annoyed frown.

“Aaaaw.” Sonata whined again, this time with a slight pout and crossed arms.

Author's Note

It begins. The continuing adventures of Screwball and her new friends. Right now, nothing seems to be all that out of place...

Except that Flim and Flam are probably gonna die and the three girls feeding off of negativity.

Also, Rainbow is a huge troll in this chapter and not Screwball?! What is this?! :twilightoops:

Pfft, anyway, tell me what you think.

Screwball Vs. Flim and Flam

The group of six girls and their child companion made their way through the busy streets of Canterlot City and to the Flim Flam Brothers’ pawn shop. The entire way, Rainbow Dash kept the group entertained with the sound of her practicing her guitar. She wanted to be as awesome as she could possibly be at the Music Showcase in a few days, and that meant having to practice every free second she got.

She also thought maybe laying down some sick beats could maybe get Screwball to be less pissed off.

She thought wrong.

As the saying goes, music soothes the soul of the savage beast. For Screwball however, this was not the case. The only thing that would be music to her ears right now would be the pained screaming of Flim and Flam as she mercilessly laid the smack down on them for cheating Discord out of her beanie while he was intoxicated.

The girls had all taken notice at the anger Screwball possessed over the matter, as if it wasn’t obvious before how upset she was. They knew she was mad, just not HOW mad. If her stomping, clenched fists, and grinding teeth were any indication, they’d say she was out for blood.

“U-Umm, Screwball. You have every right to be upset, b-but maybe you could calm down a little?” Fluttershy suggested, hoping to calm Screwball’s ever-growing rage.

“Oooohohooo don’t tell me to calm down right now Fluttershy. I’m not letting this one slide by a long shot. Remember my three rules?” Screwball said with a pissed off snort.

“Look, I don’t like these guys either. Heck, I’d probably be one of the first to suggest ripping them a new one. But what the heck is it about this hat that’s so important?” Rainbow asked, strumming her guitar a bit after she talked. Screwball stopped midstep and turned around to look at her with a raised eyebrow and her mouth making an “O” shape in confusion.

“…Rainbow, have you ever even seen me without my hat? To me that’s like asking “Why do you like having arms and legs?” Screwball replied. She then ran behind Applejack and pointed to her Stetson. “See, THIS girl knows what I’m talkin’ about don’t you Applejack?”

Applejack tipped her hat a little. “It’s true. Ya jus’ don’t mess with a girl’s hat. Ya jus’ don’t do it.” Applejack said with a nod.

Sunset looked at the girls, save for Applejack and Screwball, and they all gave her a shrug. They’d known Applejack a lot longer than Sunset had, and even none of them quite got Applejack’s attachment to her hat. “…Woooow, you guys take your headwear very seriously don’t you?” Sunset said, looking at Applejack and Screwball.

Both girls nodded. “Very” They said in unison.

Sunset only rolled her eyes at that. From the looks of it, Screwball was actually getting pretty close with her new friends. Considering how bad their relations with them were before, this made her feel like she’d accomplished something. If she wasn’t able to help Screwball stop acting out, there would probably have been no way these five would have gotten along with her.

The seven finally made it to the pawn shop where the entire group walked inside and was greeted by the familiar sound of the bell above the door. Throughout the store were several knick-knacks, collectables, and quite a few other random things stored on shelves and display cases. To five of the girls, this place was nothing new. They’d been there once and were less than enthusiastic about running into the owners of the store again.

Unfortunately, that’s pretty much exactly what they were there to do.

Just like the last time the girls had entered this place, the owners of the store seemed to pop up out of nowhere, practically in their faces. They were of course, the same men from the flyer Screwball had shown them earlier, the Flim-Flam Brothers. They had the same lanky body structure, the same outfits, and overall had very little differentiating them aside from Flam having a mustache and their differing hairstyles.

“Welcome to the Flim-Flam Brothers’ Everything Under the Sun Emporium!~” Flim said with a huge grin matching his brother’s.

“If you want it, we’ve got it!~” Flam also said happily.

None of the girls seemed nearly as enthusiastic or happy to see the Flim-Flam brothers again; save for Pinkie Pie who was smiling only because she was able to return to riding the rocking horse that was on the left side of the room. Understandably, Applejack seemed to be one of the most displeased ones there.

“Cut the bull you two and fess up. Where’d ya’ll put Screwball’s hat?” Applejack growled at the two of them. The brothers flinched a little and gave each other slightly worried looks before putting two and two together and going back to their smug grins.

“We’re terribly sorry Applejack, but we can’t help you on that one.” Flim declared.

“Yes, I’m afraid we don’t know of any “Screwball”. Flam said, still smiling with a raised eyebrow.

Already starting to get irritated at the duo’s attitude, Screwball reached up and pinched Flim and Flam’s noses. Both of them yelped a little in pain and looked down at the little girl that had just done this to them, who for some reason had a rather unsettling smile on her face, despite her irritability. “Hello there~ I’m Screwball~ You have something that belongs to me, and I’d like to have it back please~” Screwball said, still giving that same, disturbing grin. She then pointed over to a nearby display case that held Screwball’s beanie with a label under it that said “17th Century Collectible Beanie: $100.00”

The Flim-Flam Brothers looked at each other again, both of them seemingly unnerved by the look Screwball was giving them. They’d never seen a girl look so unnaturally sweet and happy looking when she really shouldn’t be, given the circumstances. The brothers then shook their heads and tried to continue looking like the superior ones here. Whatever this girl had in mind, they wouldn’t be fooled.

“Well little girl, unless you have a hundred dollars, that hat’s going to be staying with us.” Flim said, getting in Screwball’s face, whose expression still did not change in the slightest.

“That is preposterous! How can you expect a little girl to come up with that kind of money?! Besides, you cheated Discord to get that hat in the first place!” Rarity practically yelled. Even though Screwball had wronged her in the past, severely, she was her friend now and truly thought that these two were trying to get that much money out of a child for her own hat was disgusting.

“We won that game fair and square; therefore, it’s ours now. There’s just no arguing that.” Flam said with his hands behind his back.

“He was DRUNK! HOW IS THAT FAIR?!” Rainbow Dash practically yelled, still holding her guitar on her shoulder. At this point, she was fully prepared to unleash her fury on Flim and Flam for what they were trying to pull on Screwball.

“Listen here you two, you got that hat through dishonest means, knowing full well Discord can’t play poker well when he’s drunk. So I suggest you give the girl her hat back before things get ugly…or at least any uglier than you two already are!” Sunset growled, narrowing her eyes at the both of them.

Flim and Flam flinched for a moment, but were not deterred from their standing. “…Well there’s no way we’re giving it back after that remark.” Flim replied.

Sunset clenched her teeth and fists and was surely about to punch Flim in the nose. Before she got the chance though, Screwball put a hand on her friend’s arm. “Now now Sunset, no need to get YOUR hands dirty. It looks like Flim and Flam aren’t really willing to compromise, so I’ll just talk to them one on two alright? They’re probably all defensive because there’s seven of us against them.” Screwball said calmly.

That was anything but what Sunset expected out of Screwball. Her attitude seemed to have went from frustrated and angry to calm and collected in the blink of an eye. Something wasn’t right here, and honestly, Sunset didn’t want to find out. “…I uhhh…guess if you think you can handle it on your own we could go…” Sunset said a little uneasily.

“Lovely~…oh, but before you guys go...” Screwball turned to Rainbow Dash with an expectant look in her eyes. “Rainbow, can I borrow your guitar for a second?” she asked.

“Ummm…okaaaay?...” Rainbow said, almost as uneasily as Sunset, handing the guitar over to Screwball.

Screwball’s smile only grew. “Thank you. Now go on, shoo.” Screwball said, swaying her hand toward the door. The group gave each other some skeptical looks before leaving, Applejack having to pry Pinkie off of the rocking horse, much to the pink girl’s dismay.

“Nooooooo….” Pinkie whined as she was dragged out of the pawn shop, reaching out to the horse.

Once the group was outside and Screwball was in the building to face Flim and Flam alone, they of course, all felt the same, uncomfortable sense of dread that came with Screwball’s smile. “…Is anyone else kind of worried? Screwball seemed to get calm way too fast…” Sunset said, looking at the door.

“Yeah and what the heck did she want with my guitar?” Rainbow added.

“U-Umm…why is everybody questioning this? Screwball’s actually attempting to be calm and collected in a situation with two people that are very difficult to work with and isn’t in any way resorting to viol-

Fluttershy was interrupted by the sound of Flim and Flam screaming at the top of their lungs from inside the store, loud smacking sounds, and glass breaking.

“….Nevermind.” Fluttershy muttered.

The girls were shocked at just how loud and agonizing the Flim-Flam brothers were screaming, and they could only guess that Screwball was the one responsible for their pain, the calm façade that she had before seeming to have been simply a ruse to catch them off guard.

A few moments of this later, Screwball came out of the pawn shop, now with her beanie on her head once again. In one hand was Rainbow Dash’s now-destroyed guitar. Strings were out of place, the paint was scratched, and the whole thing was hanging together by pretty much a thread. The other hand was used to wipe the sweat from her brow. “Phew. I sure worked up a sweat.” She said, now looking back into the shop. “Remember boys. Don’t play dumb with me. That’s a game you can’t win.” Screwball said, snickering a bit. She then looked back to the six girls, who all now had mortified and shocked looks on their faces, which included dropped jaws and widened eyes.

“….What?” Screwball asked.

“Y-You…wrecked my guitar…” Rainbow stuttered in what sounded like a mix of shock and anger.

“And any innocence I thought you had just went down the toilet...” Sunset muttered with the same look as the rest of the girls.

“Ooooh yeah…sorry about your guitar Rainbow…there might be a bit of blood on it so…yeah.” Screwball said, looking at the utterly annihilated instrument and giving Rainbow a sheepish smile. Screwball then dusted herself off and found that a large, red ball of hair had fallen onto the bottom of her skirt, and she quickly got that off of her.

“…I-Is that…” Rarity started but couldn’t quite finish.

“Half of Flam’s mustache? Yeah, it is….sooo I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow I guess!~” Screwball said, dropping the guitar on the ground and running in the direction of her house as fast as she could.

Rainbow, at a complete loss for words now, could do nothing but walk over to her guitar, or what was left of it at least, and pick it up, staring at it in shock. “…That girl…is…evil.”

“…And this is news to you Rainbow?” Sunset asked. Hopefully Rainbow could get a new guitar soon, or else she might try to tear Screwball apart…

…But seeing as what she did to Flim and Flam, she wondered if she’d even have any success.

Author's Note

Ever wondered why Rainbow needed a new guitar in this short?:

Well there ya go.

And also...Don't fuck with Screwball's hat, or she'll beat your head in with a guitar. :rainbowlaugh:

This chapter took way too long for me to write. Mainly because I've never written Flim and Flam before and wasn't all that confident. Tell me how I did please. :derpytongue2:

Screwbanned

The next day at school, everyone was gathered in the gym to help prepare for the upcoming Music Showcase. In the student’s case, they were all sitting on the floor decorating banners and posters to help decorate the school and help advertise the event. They were all having a pretty good time painting to their heart’s content and letting their creativity help their school.

Somewhere in the middle of the gym, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were painting a poster of their own and having just as good a time as anyone else was; all three of them smiling big as they worked.

It didn’t get awkward until Sunset Shimmer came by and picked up a paint brush.

“Want some help?” She asked them with a slightly nervous smile.

The three girls all looked uneasily at each other at the presence of Sunset. They’d been making sure to be careful around her since the Fall Formal, but her putting them on the spot like this just made them feel all the more uncomfortable.

“Uh, no thanks. We’re good.” Apple Bloom replied, trying her best not to look unnerved but ultimately not doing a good job at it. The other two girls said nothing, but only nodded as to agree with their friend.

Sunset frowned a little. This had been the third time she’d offered to help someone today with this and every time she was told no. Granted that this was the lease mean-spirited sounding of the three rejections, but still. It didn’t really make it hurt much less.

“SUNSET SHIMMER! OVER HERE!~” Sunset heard the unmistakable voice of Pinkie Pie call to her from across the gym. When she looked at the smiling, frantically waving girl, she saw that she was with the rest of her friends, working on their own poster.

Sunset smiled to herself. At least there were a few that were willing to put up with her. She started to walk toward them, but as she did so, she could hear everyone whispering amongst themselves and all giving her that same, judgmental look she’d been getting ever since the last Fall Formal. And here she thought reforming one of the biggest nuisances the school had would help her be seen in a better light.

She guessed to everyone else it just looked like two baddies plotting the school’s downfall or something and five other innocent souls having been manipulated into joining the dark side.

“Ugh, I had no idea the whole school would be here.” Sunset sighed when she joined her friends.

The five girls all looked at her with deep sympathy, including Fluttershy who put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Sunset had been trying so hard to get others to like her since she’d changed her ways, but the poor girl had so much trouble getting any positive looks from people whatsoever.

Pinkie and Rarity quickly tried to change the subject by showing off their group’s poster for the Music Showcase, which was mostly blue and had a variety of instruments painted in various places on it with music notes intertwining with the whole thing.

“Quite the eye-catching advertisement, if I do say so myself” Rarity said proudly while putting a hand to her chest.

“And it smells like cake!” Pinkie added happily.

“It does?” Just after Fluttershy asked that question, Pinkie shoved the entire poster in Fluttershy’s face, leaving frosting in several places Fluttershy’s nose and face.

“I used frosting instead of paste!” Pinkie said, giggling a little at the sight of Fluttershy’s face right now.

Seemingly out of nowhere after Pinkie said the word “frosting”, Screwball quickly popped up in the middle of the group of girls and wasted no time in looking at Fluttershy’s face. Everyone was expecting Screwball to make some kind of joke at Fluttershy’s expense, given her current situation…

She did not.

Screwball instead, very slowly, licked the frosting off of her, making her flinch a little in disgust and confusion.

“Oh g-goodness.” Fluttershy said, looking a little flustered at what Screwball just did.

“Screwball that’s just…creepy.” Rainbow Dash said, slightly wincing at this.

“And…unsanitary I’m sure…” Rarity added.

Screwball put her tongue back in her mouth and let out a slight groan. “My favorite food is straight frosting okay? I know I have a problem, don’t rub it in.” she said, turning her attention to the poster, starting to drool a little at the smell of frosting. Fortunately, Pinkie could tell exactly what she was thinking and put the poster behind her back and away from Screwball.

“You have good taste Screwball, but this is the one time I have to keep you from eating frosting, alright?”

Screwball pouted a little and crossed her arms. “Dammit.” She swore.

Sunset rolled her eyes and patted Screwball’s head. “I’ll get you a cupcake later Screwy.”

“I’d honest to God be satisfied with just a tub of frosting...or five.” Screwball responded looking up at Sunset. “So, what’re you guys doing?”

“Just decorating some posters and stuff for the Music Showcase....! Oh you know what, maybe you should enter it Screwball. It sounds perfect for you since you like attention so much!” Sunset said with a little bit of a smile.

Screwball did not smile and agree like Sunset was expecting her to. She instead, gritted her teeth a little and looked in another direction. “Yeaaaaah I would but….I can’t.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. This was pretty unusual for Screwball to not want to be part of a big attention grabber and maybe improve her relations with the students she’d pranked much too harshly in the past. “What? Why not? You’ve got a good singing voice; what’s stopping you? You don’t have stage fright or something do you?”

“Oh believe us darling, Screwball has the exact opposite of stage fright. She can’t enter the music showcase because she was banned from singing at CHS.” Rarity said, giving Screwball a scrutinizing look at Screwball’s really uncomfortable demeanor over the subject.

If Sunset wasn’t perplexed before, she definitely was now. “Banned? From singing? Why?”

Applejack responded with a deep exhale of annoyance. “Because o’ that stupid stunt she pulled at the talent show last year. She sang at that thing and well…”

The auditorium was completely dark aside from the stage lights that illuminated the stage enough for the audience to see. It was the semi-final rounds of Canterlot High’s annual talent show, and it was down to only three contestants left. The crowd waited in anticipation for the next act to begin. Vice Principal Luna walked up to the microphone and spoke.

“We’re ready to begin the last act for the semi-final rounds. Whoever scores the highest from the judges in this round will move onto the finals. Now without further ado, let’s complete the semi-finals with Miss Screwball, and her original song titled…?” Vice Principal Luna looked down at the card she was holding and read the name of Screwball’s song again to make sure she was reading this right. “…her original song titled “Assumptions”. She said with a little bit of a confused expression as she walked off stage.

In her place Screwball bounced out from behind the stage curtain, smiling big. She looked over at Lyra and Bonbon, who were assisting her with piano music and gestured for them to start. Both nodded and looked back at their sheet music and began to play a very fast-paced and nonstop tune.

Screwball then cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and started to sing in just as fast in pace as the piano.

Llamas live on farmland,
All day long they love to spit,
I’d like em so much more though,
If they didn’t smell like
Scmhitzer was a genius,
His mind made him super rich,
His wife was Mrs. Baily,
And she’s a stupid
Pitching’s done in baseball,
My favorite team’s the Hawks,
Not really for how good they are,
But because they got big
Cockfights are illegal
And done by people with no class,
And anyone that likes,
Can just kiss my
Assumptions are really funny,
But embarrassing to relive ,
If you think my song is dirty,
I have no fucks to give!

Screwball finished the song by extending her arms out wide and taking several deep breaths, seeing as she had just finished that entire song in only one. The auditorium was almost completely silent to the point where you could hear a pin drop. The the crowd stared wide-eyed at Screwball in complete shock at everything that just came out of this little girl’s mouth. Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were on the side of the stage out of sight of the audience, but they were in the same position the crowd was, seeing as Celestia had dropped her clipboard in shock after hearing this.

The silence was broken after a few very awkward seconds by the sound of Discord in the audience howling with laughter. “PFFFHAHAHA OH THAT’S MY GIRL ALRIGHT! HAHAHAAHA!”

“She seriously went through the effort of making it to the semi-finals just for that one joke.” Rainbow Dash said with a facepalm. “And it’s the reason we have to get our lyrics approved before performing now.”

Sunset’s mouth hung wide open after hearing this. She looked down at Screwball who still had that same, uncomfortable look about her.

“…I thought it was funny. Apparently Celestia didn’t though because I wasn’t allowed to sing after that at any school event…looking back on it, maybe it wasn’t one of my better ideas.” Screwball said, looking down in shame.

“Awww”. Fluttershy kneeled down to Screwball’s level and patted her head. “I’m sorry you feel your creative freedom was taken from you Screwball…but if it makes you feel any better, we can let you help us practice.” She said softly, smiling at her.

Screwball looked up at Fluttershy, Sunset, and the rest of the girls with sad, cute-looking puppy dog eyes. “…C-Can I work the p-pyrotechnics?” she asked, stuttering a little.

The entire group’s eyes widened at the thought of Screwball having access to anything remotely explosive. It’d most likely end up being a living nightmare.

“…O-Oh dear…” Fluttershy mumbled.

Author's Note

I'm imagining this song playing every time Screwball enters a scene:

So poor Screwball isn't allowed to sing at CHS because of what she did at the talent show a year before. What is going to come out of that? Well just continue to read to find out what. :twilightsmile:

Band Practice and Exhaustion

The girls had all assembled in the band room where they had been practicing their music for the past few weeks. If they were going to really show the best that they could do at the music showcase. They’d already been working really hard to get where they were, but Rainbow Dash specifically prompted to practice even more than necessary. She wanted to look as awesome as possible. Not that anyone was complaining much, they all enjoyed playing music together and were very optimistic about their upcoming performance.

Sunset however, was not in as cheery a mood as everyone else. After the way the students had looked at her in the gym, she unsurprisingly wasn’t feeling her best. “Uugh, I am never going to live that down” she sighed, sitting on the piano in the room.

“You WERE pretty bad at the Fall Formal.” Fluttershy said, getting her tambourine ready for practice.

“Yeah but…I stopped Screwball from being a menace, that’s something admirable right? I mean come on, the school won’t throw me a bone here.” Sunset said uneasily. She hoped to Celestia that Screwball didn’t hear that last statement as she looked over at her. Luckily, she hadn’t. Screwball had passed out against the wall after eating a few tubs of frosting Pinkie had given her from her locker. She had done that in hopes of keeping Screwball from devouring the poster she made earlier.

And Screwball had gone through all of the frosting.

Without a spoon.

This of course resulted in Screwball’s entire face being covered in it as she slept. The messy sight alone made Rarity cringe in disgust. So she went to her purse, pulled out a baby wipe, and wiped the offending substance off Screwball’s face. “She really can be adorable when she wants to be, but goodness gracious her eating manners are atrocious.” She said.

Screwball winced a little bit from Rarity touching her face and seemed to grunt a little in her sleep. “R-Rgh. Y-You gotta get s-schwifty…” she mumbled, followed by a slight burp.

Sunset only rolled her eyes. She had no clue what Screwball could be dreaming about, but she could guess whatever it was, it was not normal. Then again, normal was boring. She gently nudged the little girl, trying to see if she’d wake up. “Hey, Screwy. Wake up.” She said softly.

Screwball winced again and slowly opened her swirled, purple eyes, blinking a little bit. “Ngh….Sunny, whyyyyy? I’m so tired and I have pig syndrome from all that frostiiiiing.” Screwball whined.

“What? Yer NEVER tired. Yer usually so full of energy and hyper as all heck.” Applejack said with a questioning face.

“That’s only most of the time.” Screwball yawned. “See, I was going home to chew dad out for losing my hat last night and….well….I caught him watching some…very inappropriate things on the internet and…the computer apparently froze on a…very naughty part.” She said with an uneasy face.

Pretty much every girl in the room’s face turned bright red except for Rainbow Dash’s, who was already bursting out laughing. “PFFFHAHAAHA OH MAN THAT’S TOO GOOD! USUALLY IT’S THE DAD WALKING IN ON THEIR KID WATCHING THAT STUFF! PFFF OH MY GOD!” She howled with laughter.

“To be completely honest that’s not what had me disappointed in him the most. No, what DID was the fact that he’s so technologically impaired that he couldn’t get it off the screen….so he had to ask me to get it to go away.” She said with a deadpanned expression. Rainbow’s laughter heavily increased after that, and she had already fallen on the floor trying to contain it.

“O-Oh goodness…is that why you’re so tired? Because you spent all night fixing that?” Fluttershy asked with a consoling hand on Screwball’s shoulder.

Screwball nodded tiredly. “Yeah. I mean, I get the just of how to fix that kind of stuff but news flash dad, just because I’m a kid in this generation doesn’t mean I’ll be able to fix your screw ups on there every single time it happens…nor do I WANT to.” Screwball said, yawning after her last statement.

“Awww. You gonna be alright Screwy? You look like you could just collapse any minute now!” Pinkie Pie asked.

Screwball again nodded tiredly, only this time it was so unmotivated that it looked like her head was attached to her neck only by a thread. “Yeah, I just need to wake myself up and I’ll be golden.” She said, attempting to get up but finding she did not have the strength to do so. “….Um…my legs aren’t listening to me…” she said.

Sunset rolled her eyes and helped her stand up, Screwball nearly stumbling forward and knocking both of them over. If Sunset hadn’t managed to hold her steady she probably would’ve broken something. “Jeez you’re exhausted. Look, just go to the bathroom and throw some cold water on your face, that outta wake you up.” She told her.

‘Because there is no way in heaven, hell, or on Earth that I’m letting Screwball of all people near coffee.’ Sunset thought to herself.

Screwball stumbled her way out of the band room and into the hallway. For a moment it looked like she was gonna collapse right then and there from how aimlessly she was wandering, but she did eventually make it into the bathroom.

Screwball stood at the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair looked like it was a complete mess to the point where she almost would’ve thought a bird had built its nest in there, and her swirled purple eyes were bloodshot and had bags under them. “Jeez, I look like someone’s old, chain-smoking, alcoholic aunt when I don’t get my sleep. Dad you fix your own computer problems from now on.” She said to herself.

She then turned the sink’s water on as cold as it could go. She reached down to it and splashed some of the water on her face. It was absolutely freezing cold, but in this case that’s not a bad thing. The blast of cold water in her face immediately perked her up, though it did make her shiver a little. She then looked back in the mirror and tried to get her hair in order by patting it down with more water.

As she looked at herself in the mirror though, she could hear her friends in the band room across the hall practicing their music.

There was a time we were apart
But that's behind us now
See how we've made a brand new start
And the future's lookin' up, ah-oh, ah-oh
And when you walk these halls
You feel it everywhere
Yeah, we're the Wondercolts forever, ah-oh, yeah!

We are all together
(Ah, ah, oh-oh-oh-oh)
Now it's better than ever
(Ah, ah, oh-oh-oh-oh)
You can feel it, we are back (You... can... feel... it...)
And I'm so glad that we're better
Better than ever
Whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
Oh yeah, we're better than ever
Whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh

“Heeeey…are they singing a friendship song without me?...granted it sounds sappy as hell but it’s the principals.” Screwball said with a grumpy pout. Truthfully she was really offended they’d start practice without her. She was just about to stomp out and give them a piece of her mind, when she looked back in the mirror and saw a teenage boy come out of one of the stalls and look at her, giving her a very confused and surprised look.

“…..Um, what are you doing in here?” He asked.

Screwball looked at him and deadpanned. “Well duh, I needed to use the sink. And by the way, you’re in the wrong bathroom, you know.” She said.

“…This is the boy’s bathroom.” He responded.

Screwball was about to make an objection of her own but stopped when she realized something terrible. She had been so unbelievably tired that walking into the wrong bathroom was actually in the realm of possibility for her.

And the fact that she had just looked to the side of the bathroom had confirmed her fears. There were urinals there.

Of course, Screwball didn’t waste any time in getting out of there and running back to the band room, with a deep blush on her face from embarrassment. She couldn’t believe she just did that and she was just glad nobody but her and that guy knew about it.

‘O-Okay not my proudest moment’ she thought to herself. She looked up at her friends who had just finished their song and were all looking at her with a confused expression. Screwball returned the same expression when she saw that five out of six of her friends had acquired pony ears, longer hair, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had wings. The sight didn’t last long though, as all of these disappeared from the girl’s person in a matter of seconds.

“…What the heeeeell?” Screwball asked.

“OH MY GOSH IT’S SO AMAZING, EVERY TIME WE PLAY MUSIC WE GROW PONY EARS AND STUFF, YOU SHOULD’VE SEEN IT!~” Pinkie squeed happily.

Screwball then remembered what she was thinking in the bathroom when she heard them practicing and scowled a little bit. “Yeah. What you couldn’t wait for me to get back?” she asked bitterly.

Sunset could almost immediately tell something was up with Screwball now. She hadn’t seen that kind of sarcastic hostility in her voice in a while. “Hey…Screwball are you alright?” she asked concerningly.

“…Yeah I’m cool.” Screwball said, though it wasn’t quite that convincing.

“…Yeah well uhh…any of ya wonder why that happens? Princess Twilight took her crown back to Equestria, so shouldn’t that mean she took the magic back with her?” Applejack asked.

Rainbow only scoffed. “Who cares why it happens? It makes my band totally awesome!”

“YOUR band?” Rarity asked Rainbow, looking a little offended.

“Duh, it was my idea to start the Rainbooms so we could be in the showcase…plus I’m the lead singer and guitarist.” Rainbow said, pointing to herself and smirking.

Sunset and Screwball both looked at each other with looks that silently said something along the lines of “This can only lead to bad things.”

At that moment, the door to the band room knocked a few times before opening, revealing Flash Sentry on the other side. “Heard you outside. You guys are sounding really tight.” He said, complementing the Rainbooms on their earlier music.

Screwball looked Flash over a little. She wasn’t all that familiar with the guy, though back when she still acted like an evil menace to the school, she had pulled his pants down in the hallway in front of everyone when he wasn’t paying attention. It was one of those things that Screwball kept trying to forget ever happened. Plus for some strange reason whenever she looked at Flash, she could always seem to hear a bunch of loud, angry, prepubescent voices in her head yelling probably the most horrible and grotesque insults she had ever heard in her lifetime.

She hoped to God it was just her subconscious being stupid.

“We’re getting there. Rarity’s still coming in a little late on the second verse, and Applejack’s base solo could use a little work. They’ll get it together in time for the showcase.” Rainbow Dash said confidently. Rarity and Applejack meanwhile had pretty offended looks on their faces at Rainbow’s remark about their music skills.

“I uh, don’t suppose any of our friends from uh…out of town might come? It being a special charity event and all.” Flash asked, looking at the group a little nervous and awkwardly.

The raging voices in Screwball’s head intensified, and it was honestly really starting to wear on her nerves.

“Sorry Flash, I don’t think Twilight’s gonna be back at Canterlot High anytime soon.” Applejack responded.

“Hehe, oh yeah. Okay, just ya know, thought I’d ask. K-Keep on…rockin’ it.” Flash said, trying to back towards the door, but missing and accidently backing into the wall. Flash blushed in embarrassment before finally making his way out of the room..

“…Nobody’s gonna question the fact that that guy basically wants to date a horse?...no? It’s just me then?...m’kay.” Screwball said shrugging. She then quickly realized her mistake when she looked at Sunset, who had a pretty upset look about her now. “…OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY YOU KNOW I DIDN’T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!” Screwball practically yelled frantically, looking really panicked that she might’ve just made her best friend sad. She didn’t know if she made Sunset sad because of mentioning her previous relationship with Flash or if the word “Horse” was a racial slur towards ponies where she was from, but she was really not good seeing her friend like this.

Sunset flinched a little at how sudden and loud Screwball was being over this. “Woah woah, it’s fine! I never actually liked Flash like that. I only used him to get more popular.” Sunset said, immediately looking sad again.

Applejack put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Hey, what’s important now is that you’ve turned yerself around. Don’ go dwellin’ on the past.” She said, smiling.

Sunset returned her smile, only a little uneasily. “Thanks Applejack, but I’m not sure everyone else at CHS feels the same way.”

Screwball stood next to Sunset and put an arm around her side, pulling her close in for a sort of hug. “Hey, people don’t like me either. So at least if we’re gonna be hated, we’ll be hated together!~” Screwball said with a smile.

“…Gee now I feel complete.” Sunset said sarcastically.

The intercom suddenly came on line with a loud squeak, followed by the sound of Vice Principal Luna’s voice. “Sunset Shimmer, please report to the main foyer” the speaker announced.

Sunset Shimmer perked up a little bit and walked over to the door to the hallway. “Gotta run. I volunteered to show some new students around the school. Thought it’d be good for them to get to know the NEW me before they heard all the stuff about the old me.” She said with a little nervous smile. Before Sunset got the chance to leave the room though, Screwball tugged at her skirt.

“Heeeey, my PR sucks too Sunny. Can I help?” she asked.

Sunset chuckled a little and patted her head. “Of course you can. I can use all the help I can get when it comes to making new friends.” The two of them then smiled at each other as they left the room and headed toward the main foyer. “…By the way, what the heck does it mean to “get schwifty?” Sunset asked.

Screwball only shrugged. “Pfff I dunno.”

“But…you were….never mind.” Sunset said as they approached the main foyer, where they saw a three girls, who appeared to be about Sunset’s age slightly hidden in the darkness. One of them was a blue-skinned girl with a dark blue ponytail who seemed to be smiling giddily, another was a purple-skinned girl with purple hair with light blue highlights in it, and in the middle of them was a yellow-skinned girl with curly orange hair with yellow highlights; both her and the purple skinned girl were smirking maliciously.

“Hi, are you the girls we’re supposed to show around?” Sunset asked them.

The girls stepped forward out of the shadows and into the light. “We are~” the yellow girl said, her smirk growing ever-wider.

As Screwball looked onward at the three girls, instead of intimidation of the yellow girl’s smile or being disturbed at how they were just threateningly waiting in the shadows for them, only one thought came to mind.

‘Wow…their hair is ridiculous.’

Author's Note

Fun fact: A lot of the humor that comes out of Screwball in this particular story, as well as the prequel to it, is thought of on the spot as I write.

Anyway, the Dazzlings have entered the picture now. :pinkiehappy:

As usual, comments are appreciated. :twilightsmile:

The Sirens

Screwball not laughing at something ridiculous was practically unheard of. She’s the kind of absurd little girl that finds humor in way more things than she should. The one area she’d been trying to get past is finding humor in the suffering of others. It wasn’t until recently that she had learned the meaning of the word “empathy” and tried to actually get what others go through.

Seeing these girls though and finding humor in them, was something else altogether. From her perspective, these three were over the top evil sounding. The ways they talked, acted, and even dressed sounded like something she’d hear from a supervillain undercover in a spy movie or something and it made her snicker. If they really WERE up to no good, then being subtle about it was not their strong suit. Especially not the blue one, who seemed particularly boneheaded compared to the other two.

Before they could notice the huge smile on her face though, Screwball quickly composed herself and tried to deliver a slightly smaller and more genuine-looking smile. Best to not make accusations when they’re only acting evil right?

“Heya. Nice to meet you~” Screwball said in the most sickeningly sweet voice that she could muster.

The girls all looked down at the little purple twelve year old, each of them having their own reactions to seeing her. Aria scowled a little the second she laid eyes upon her. Adagio’s reaction wasn’t much different but it looked like she was more disturbed by Screwball’s sudden outgoing sweetness than outright disgusted with it. Sonata simply smiled widely and waved.

“…Yeah…real nice.” Aria said, gritting her teeth.

‘Wow, I’ve only said five words and she already looks pissed. That’s a new record. How am I actually getting WORSE at getting people to like me?!’ Screwball yelled to herself in her head.

Sunset noticed the looks the three girls were giving her. While one of them seemed to be acting positive, the other two looked just a little displeased. She wasn’t ENTIRELY surprised since Screwball had this kind of effect on people, but she’d barely even said anything. What was their problem all of a sudden?

Sunset quickly shook her head and kept smiling. Needed to make a good first impression. “Anyway, I’ll show you three around to get you started. Canterlot High’s a great school, I’m sure you’ll like it.” Sunset said, keeping her smile and leading the way down the hall.

Adagio looked back at Sunset and followed her, gesturing for the other two girls to do the same. “Oh yes. We really sense there’s something magical about this place” Adagio said, smirking a little. Aria did the same as she did, only slightly more menacing-looking and Sonata just kept her usual, dopey grin.

“A-AHK-SUBTLE.” She said under a couple of fake coughs.

Sonata looked behind her at Screwball with what looked like legitimate worry. “Are you alright? That cough sounds awful bad.” She asked.

‘Oh this one is gonna be a LOT of fun, I can tell.’ Screwball thought to herself. She didn’t think anyone she’d ever meet could be more empty headed than her pet raccoon under anesthetics after he had to get some teeth pulled. Turns out she was completely wrong.

If her theory about these three being baddies was true and she was just acting dumb, she’d be eating her words though.

‘Well this is just going eleven different kinds of bad for me.’ Screwball thought to herself as she tried helping Sunset with showing the new girls around the school. She’d made some attempt at making small talk with them but they very casually shut her down and didn’t pay her any attention. The only one that even somewhat gave her the time of day was Sonata, but from the way Screwball was seeing it, she didn’t seem to know up from down.

She might’ve been being too harsh by thinking that, but it’s hard not to get frustrated over the whole dilemma. It was one thing to be considered a nuisance by people, but being ignored altogether she could say for sure was worse.

Screwball tried not to make it obvious, but this was starting to physically hurt. ‘First the girls go on a whole friendship song transformation without me, then like an idiot I walk in the boy’s bathroom, and now this? I just can’t win today’ She sadly thought to herself.

“That’s the science lab. The computer lab is in there-“ Sunset continued on giving her tour of the school. She then spotted a poster advertising the upcoming musical showcase on a nearby wall. “Oh! We’re having a big musical showcase this weekend. The whole school is pretty much rallying around it!”

“Yeah everyone except me.” Screwball grumbled bitterly under her breath to where no one could hear.

This really got the girls smiling once they heard about the showcase. “A musical showcase?” Adagio asked looking back at the other two who were also smiling all the bigger at the mention of the idea.

Screwball quickly popped up in between the three and tried giving a bigger smile. “If you wanna enter, I might be able to put a good word in for ya to Principal Celestia! That’s what friends are for isn’t it?~” Screwball said, really trying her hardest to be optimistic in this situation. If she messed this up, it could really hurt not just her chances for having new friends, but Sunset’s too. After everything that’d happened between them, the absolute last thing she wanted to do was disappoint Sunset.

Aria wore the same slightly irritated face she’d had before. “…I think we’ll be able to handle it ourselves. We’ll be just fine.” she growled a bit, putting extra emphasis on the last word, making Screwball’s smile turn a little less genuine and more of nervousness and embarrassment.

“…Right, hehe…what was I thinking?” she asked.

Now this was beginning to get strange in Sunset’s eyes. She’d seen Screwball irritate people before, but this was ridiculous. All she was trying to do was make friends right now. Now that she’d thought about it, they were acting pretty weird around herself too. Her best guess is that someone got to them before her about the things she and Screwball did before.

‘Oh please, don’t let that be true. I have enough people that hate me as it is, I don’t need three more.’ Sunset thought to herself. Sunset then took notice of the matching pendants all three of the girls had around their necks and seeing how bright they looked when light reflected off of them. “Those are pretty. Where did you-“ Just as Sunset reached a hand out to Adagio’s pendant but was stopped almost immediately by Adagio’s own hand.

Quickly realizing how awkward and strange this must have looked, Adagio quickly let go and smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Hehehehee, sorry. These pendants mean an awful lot to us. We’d just hate for anything to happen to them” she said. As she started to walk away from Screwball and Sunset with Aria following, she noticed Sonata was still standing there staring and quickly pulled her back towards their group and making her yelp a little.

“...I dunno about you Sunset, but I think my chances of being friends with them are about as good as getting struck by multi-colored lightning on Friday the 13th with all the planets aligned.” Screwball said, very visibly deflating.

“You noticed how weird they were acting though right? It’s not just me is it?” Sunset asked looking at Screwball with a sad look in her eyes. “You don’t think someone already told them about us do you?”

“I wouldn’t rule it out Sunny…” Screwball said without much enthusiasm. “When someone’s as infamous as we are, word can get around pretty fast.”

‘Though, I think I might have my own suspicions.’ Screwball thought to herself.

Once they were sure they were out of sight, Adagio, and Aria took a deep breath of relief. Getting away from that purple menace even if it was only for a few minutes was a godsend. Her smile really made them want to just punch her teeth out right then and there. Sonata seemed to be the only confused one out of the group on the matter.

“Um, are you alright?” She asked with a little bit of a concerned voice.

“No” Aria growled bitterly. She then turned around to face Adagio and grabbed a hold of her shirt collar, pulling her right into her face. “You promised there wasn’t going to be another one of HER in this dimension! I can’t deal with another one of that little pest, I just can’t!” she said, gritting her teeth and eyes dilated.

“Aria relax. Her pony counterpart got on my nerves just as bad. She’s so annoying that I wanna drink bleach too, I get it.” Adagio said, eyes widened a little but didn’t really look afraid of Aria.

“Um, I don’t know girls. I thought she was funny. I kinda liked her.” Sonata said, shrugging a little. She really didn’t get what her sisters were freaking out over. She got along with the pony counterpart of Screwball okay a couple of thousand years ago, and this one didn’t bother her either.

“Well of course YOU’D like her, you’re both obnoxious as all hell.” Aria said with her almost permanent scowl.

Sonata crossed her arms, pouting a little and looking away. “Mmmph…well you’re worse.”

Adagio quickly put herself in between the two of them to hopefully keep them from ripping each other apart. “I don’t want to hear you two idiots going at it anymore today. We’ve got to keep our eyes on the prize. And if this Screwball is anything like the one in Equestria, she’s going to go out of her way to make our lives miserable.” She said to quickly remind them of their goal.

“Are you sure about that Adagio? She didn’t look like she wanted to hurt us. Her face just screamed ‘I’m desperate for friends’ near the end of the tour back there.” Sonata added, frowning a little.

Adagio was about to try and make some sort of witty comeback at Sonata’s stupid comment, but stopped when she thought about what she was really saying. She DID look really desperate didn’t she? And she couldn’t just let her still be in commission while they were trying to accomplish their goals of getting the world kneeling before them. She’d truly get in the way if she tried anything against them.

But it got her thinking of something. Maybe Sonata wasn’t as dumb and useless as she acted.

“…Girls…I have an idea…it might lose us some brain cells in the process and Aria, you’re probably going to hate it, but I'm positive it'll work.” Adagio said with her eyes widening a little in realization.

Author's Note

The Sirens are up to something and it's looking like they might've had a history with Equestria's Screwball. And it's looking like Aria and Adagio didn't get along with her. :rainbowwild:

Anywho, happy to hear from everyone as I usually am :twilightsmile:

Temptation

They’d done it now. The entire cafeteria was arguing with each other now. In the matter of only about two minutes the Dazzling’s song had reduced the student body to the equivalent of packs of angry wolves snarling at each other. And all over a musical competition that they’d instigated in the first place.

It was funny how petty humans can be sometimes. So quick to try and get at each other’s throats. They truly were the perfect specimens for feeding off of. After this successful sabotage, they all headed back out of the cafeteria and spoke to each other in the hallway, out of the way and earshot of anybody else.

“Nice work in there girls. We’ve got those kids going absolutely crazy! And Aria, you-“ Adagio was shot an angry glare from Aria before she got a chance to finish.

“Adagio if you say I was out of sync again, so help me.” She growled.

“Now what made you think I was going to say that? I was just going to say that you probably sounded at your best today” Adagio asked with a legitimately genuine sounding tone to her voice, no sarcasm coming through at all. Aria would have relaxed after that if Adagio hadn’t immediately followed up that comment with something else. “…And you were out of sync.” She added with her signature smirk.

Aria’s frown deepened hard and she clenched her teeth a little. She’d known Adagio and Sonata for a really long time now, and it’s well known that if you hang around a select group of people for as long as she has, you’re bound to get sick of them eventually. That’d already happened maybe a year into their banishment to this dimension. It’s been a thousand years now.

Sonata gently rubbed Aria’s back to try to get her to relax. “Shhhh calm doooown. Adagio’s just saying you might need to work on…” Sonata paused for a moment and her face grew a little curious. She noticeably rubbed Aria’s back a little harder. “….You’re not wearing one of those things that girls wear on their chests today are you?” she asked. That earned a slap on her hands from Aria, making her flinch a little in surprise.

Aria obviously was very flustered about this, and her face turned completely beet red, but didn’t lose her angry demeanor. “S-SHUT UP SONATA, I FORGOT!” she yelled. “B-Besides, shouldn’t we be worried about if our singing affected that little purple brat? She looked way too calm when she left.”

“I see no reason for our voices not to work on her. After all, just like everyone else she’s only human. Not much to her outside a pair of deformed eyes and pre-teen angst.” Adagio said confidently. The three girls were then thrown completely off guard by the sound of the very familiar and childish voice of the aforementioned girl.

“Pre-teen angst? Woooow you really don’t know me at all after our few minutes of meeting. I’m hurt.”

The girls all turned around quickly to see where the voice was coming from, but found nothing. Instead what Sonata and Aria got were to white rags being shoved into their faces from behind. Both of them struggled to get them off but soon found themselves feeling too drained to fight it and passed out on the ground. Adagio, obviously shocked looked at the attacker, who was none other
than Screwball. She was holding the white rags she’d used to knock out Aria and Sonata by her sides and stood over their unconscious bodies with a big grin on her face.

Screwball then looked up at Adagio, who was now her current target. “Hehehe, I THOUGHT that stuff I spilled on my rags was chloroform. But maaaaybe I should make extra suuure~” Screwball dragged her words out in a creepily cheery tone of voice with her demented smile growing wider by the second. She started to walk closer and closer to her target, making her slightly back up a little.

As Adagio began to back away though, she began to think. This was a little girl. She was a lot taller and stronger than she was. She just caught Sonata and Aria by surprise there. Why was she scared? She could take her on easily.

Taking that into account, Adagio frustratingly threw a punch Screwball’s way to get her off her back. To her shock though, she moved her head completely out of the way of her fist. She then proceeded to grab Adagio’s arm to hold her back for just long enough to shove the chloroform rag into Adagio’s face. It didn’t take long for it to begin to affect her and her eyes slowly began to close. Her mind started to drift off and lose focus of the situation and was starting to black out.

The last thing she heard before completely losing consciousness was the sound of Screwball whispering in her ear. “Shhhhh just let it happeeen. Everything will be okay. Trusssst me~”

All Adagio could see was darkness as her eyes fluttered open and she began to slowly bring herself back to reality. Her “sleep” if she could call it that, was anything but blissful, and her head was pounding like a drum when she awakened. ‘What happened? What’s going on?!’ she groaned in her head. One of the first things she noticed right away was that she couldn’t speak due to a strip of duct tape slapped over her mouth. She tried to get up but to her shock, she found that she was unable to move her arms or her legs. She struggled heavily to move but discovered that her limbs had been restrained by uncomfortably tight rope. ‘The hell?! What’d that kid do to me?!’ she angrily thought, a few furious grunts coming out of her, being muffled by the duct tape.

That was when she felt something behind her. It felt warm to the touch from her bound hands, and she could also hear two other muffled voices in the darkness of the room with her. Given what happened earlier, she didn’t need to think very hard to gather that Aria and Sonata were in the same situation as her. ‘Oh my Celestia are you serious?! We got kidnapped by a little girl?!’ she thought to herself again in bitter frustration. She hoped that whatever Screwball had planned for them that she wouldn’t actually kill them. The scenario was already embarrassing and ridiculous enough as it was, but that would be the absolute worst way ever to go out.

Adagio was torn from these thoughts the instant she heard the sound of piano keys being rhythmically pressed for a moment before the sound of that damned child’s voice accompanying it with a cheery tune. One of the lights in the room switched on, showing below it Screwball sitting at a piano and singing to her own tune.

“We’ll meet again!~ Don’t know where, don’t know wheeeeen!~ Oh I know we’ll meet again some sunnyyyyy dayyyy!~”

To the surprise of the Dazzlings, Screwball’s singing voice was actually quite nice to listen to. Somewhat soothing and beauteous actually. ‘Too bad it has to be wasted on someone like her.’ Adagio thought again.

Screwball then acknowledged that the Dazzlings were all looking at her and stopped playing the piano. “Oh, sweet you’re awake. Hehe, ya know it’s funny. Whenever I see a couple of girls tied up like this, it’s usually for more…how do I put this…’R-rated’ things. But anyway, listen uh Ad…Aga…the orange one. Remember how I said everything was gonna be alright before you had your nap?” Screwball asked. She then reached over next to her on the chair she was sitting on and picked up a couple of small, and shiny red objects. All of the Dazzlings recognized them as the pendants they’d normally wear around their necks. Screwballl had taken them off when they were passed out. “Weeeeell…nobody said I was honest.” Screwball added.

The three girls all had different reactions to seeing the sources of their power being dangled in front of them. Adagio gave Screwball an unamused expression. Aria’s face was bright red and absolutely seething with rage (if she didn’t have the tape over her mouth then it’d probably be foaming), and Sonata only gave a muffled whimper that sounded similar to that of a puppy’s when it wants to be held.

Screwball didn’t pay any mind to the Dazzling’s varied reactions, and stood up in front of them. “Now I’d imagine you three have a lot of questions so I’m gonna take that tape off and let you get in whatever you have to say. But. If you try to scream…well, I’ll just say you’re gonna have a hard time performing your songs when everyone pays more attention to a couple of bald spots.” Screwball said, picking up a pair of scissors she also had sitting next to her on her chair. The sight unnerved the other Dazzlings (indicated by a few beads of sweat forming on their heads) but Sonata looked like she was having a panic attack at the thought of the scissors cutting off her ponytail. Her eyes widened, her chest rose and fell at a rapid pace, and she was sweating a lot more than Adagio than Aria were.

“Now that we understand each other...” Screwball then leaned down and ripped the tape off their mouths, making small yelps of pain and angry growls escape the girl’s mouths. “Let’s get to business m’kay? You answer my questions and I’ll answer yours. Sound good? Good. There’s no way you three are human. What are you and what are your plans?”

Adagio let out a slight grunt at this. “Tell us something first. How did our voices not affect you? How did you find us out?”

“Uuugh difficuuuuult” Screwball groaned loudly. “Fine, fine. You are sort of my captives so I GUESS you deserve to know that much. Lemme explain the obvious to you. See, my mind’s already loony and completely unhinged as it is. It’s like trying to play with an RC helicopter with no rotors, it’s pointless. In other words-“ she then raised her hands upwards to the ceiling with her demented smile spreading from ear to ear in probably the most terrifying display it could be, considering a little girl was doing this. “I’m already mad as hell~”

Aria growled a little and whispered to Adagio. “Way to go Adagio. Your brilliant plan didn’t work. What a shocker.”

“W-What’re we going to do? S-She’s gonna make us b-bald.” Sonata also added in a hushed voice.

“Will you two shut up? Let me handle this.” Adagio growled back at them quietly enough so Screwball couldn’t hear them. She turned her head back to Screwball and tried to gather her words. Trying to hypnotize her now would be pointless. Not only did it not work, but they were also lacking their pendants now; the things that let them sing so enchantingly well. She’d have to resort to plan B.

“Kid, let’s be real for a moment. We’re beings from another dimension that feed off of negative energy and simply want admiration from everyone else. Our goals may not be that different from yours. You don’t REALLY want to do this.” Adagio said, trying to sound deathly serious about the scenario.

Screwball’s smile dropped and she looked back down at her captives with an equally serious expression to match Adagio’s tone. “Uh. You’re serious right now? Well for one, I don’t use dark magic to hypnotize people. Even me at my worst isn’t that bad.”

“I said our GOALS were the same, not our methods of achieving them. Listen, we saw how you acted when you first met us. You acted way too desperate. Let me guess, you’re not well liked around here are you?” Adagio pushed on with questioning her captor.

Screwball’s frown hardened a little deeper. “…Well….that’s none of your business.” She said with a harsher tone of voice. Of all things she didn’t want to admit Adagio was right. But she was. And it made her less than happy.

Aria glanced at Adagio and quickly caught onto what she was doing. If they were going to get out of this, they’d need to cooperate. So she added her own side to the conversation. “You’re only making your entire situation harder kid. Your rep’s not going to change as easy as you think it will. We’ve heard some really bad things about you and the girl you hang out with.”

Now Screwball was starting to get uncomfortable. What point were they even trying to make with her? She knew people didn’t like her and it sucks. What’s rubbing it in going to do?

“You knooow…if you wanna make things easier you could maybe…hang out with us instead and try our way?” Sonata asked with a little uneasy smile.

Screwball’s uneasiness only grew with every comment they threw her way about her friendship problem. This was a spot she did not like being poked at whatsoever. “H-Hey, I’m no dark evil monster like you three are. I-I can get people to like me j-just fine!”

“And if you can’t? You don’t have to accept our offer if you don’t feel like it. But it would be beyond stupid to not at least have it on the table, wouldn’t it? Listen, you let us go now and hand over our pendants. We won’t say a word about this to anyone. And if at any time you don’t think your way is working like you think it is, we’ll still be available to make your job a little…simpler. You could get all the admiration you desire from just one song.” Adagio offered her.

“Not to mention if you wanted you could join our band! Your voice is like, REALLY good you know!~” Sonata said, bringing a bigger smile on her own face.

Screwball grumbled a little and looked away. “….I’m banned from singing at Canterlot High for your information. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t even participate.”

“Oooh that’s so sad. Someone with such a beautiful voice not allowed to express it. You have my condolences, really. Still though…you let us go now, and we could fix quite a few things for you if you’d like. We are quite magical after all. We'd make for some great allies. And if not, you’d just never have to speak with us again. Does that sound to your liking?” Adagio asked with a slight smile that Screwball wasn’t quite able to figure out if it was genuine or not.

This was worrying for the little girl. She didn’t know if she could trust them. They sure hadn’t acted trustful before. But they could’ve just been behaving this way to get out of their restraints. That was at the forefront of Screwball’s mind right now.

But…

They were right. She was desperate. And her own way wasn’t working. People still gave her the worst of scowls and the iciest stares whenever she saw anyone in the halls or in class or practically anywhere in the school. People hated her. They weren’t giving her a chance. And yet here were a few girls that could actually give her some kind of headway.

Screwball sat back on her chair at the piano without saying a word and nervously tapped her fingers to a certain tune in her head. Weighing her options in this situation was going to be very difficult, but she couldn’t keep this waiting up all day. And so after keeping the previously mentioned thoughts in mind, she made a decision….

The door to the music room was swung quickly opened with a WHOOSH. Following that were all three of the Dazzlings, now with their pendants back on their necks as they fixed them back into place. “We appreciate this Screwball. Believe me, you won’t regret it.” Adagio said as she looked down at the girls who was standing in the doorway now. She had probably the absolute most serious face the three had seen her have since she’d first shown it to them. No hint of laughter, humor, or sarcasm in it at all.

It just looked really stern and unfunny. She really didn’t look like she was playing around in the slightest.

“I let you go THIS time. You hurt my friends, and I’ll come back for you….” She growled a little, narrowing her eyes.

“Message received!~” Sonata said, smiling big before leaving the hallway with her bandmates. Screwball now was left to her own thoughts as she watched the girls who she for sure thought were her enemies….hell even she didn’t know right now, just walk away. And she let them go too.

She rubbed her forehead slightly to try and get rid of the incoming headache. “Ooooh man...I really just did that didn’t I? Either I scared them shitless enough to not try anything terrible or I just doomed the school. Fuck.” she groaned to herself. She then felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, signifying she had been texted. Curious she pulled it out and read her newest message.

Celestia and Luna aren’t any help right now. Time for plan b. I had to call in some help. Meet me and the girls out by the statue. There’s someone I want you to meet. –Sunset

“….Double fuck.” Screwball said after reading the message.

Author's Note

I would have gotten this chapter out sooner buuuut ya know. Had to finish up my first year of college first. :derpytongue2:

Being Right Can Suck Sometimes

Sunset and Screwball walked into the lunchroom, one of the two of them unsure of what exactly it was that’d just happened to them. The other wasn’t quite sure what to think of the three mysterious girls either, but she had a pretty good idea about the possibilities of what they were dealing with here. It was all purely speculation right now, but evil masterminds that are hell-bent on taking over a high school wasn’t out of the realm of realism.

The pair managed to find their friend’s table and sat with them; Sunset next to Applejack and Screwball directly across from both of them. Applejack could take one look at their expressions and gather that something wasn’t right with either of them. “…Sooo uh, how’d the tour go? Ya’ll make a good first impression?”

“Oh I dunno Applejack. Does these look like faces that say we’re up to our armpits in new friends right now?” Screwball said with sarcastic implications and a deadpanned look on her face.

“Weeeeell you’re the shortest one in the entire group Screwy so technically-“ Rainbow was then interrupted by purple finger belonging to the twelve year-old being put to her lips to keep her mouth shut.

“Now hang on Rainbow, I’m gonna let you finish but I just wanted to say…never make the obvious joke of making fun of a prepubescent kid’s height. It’s way too obvious. I mean, I’m twelve gimme a break.” Screwball said in a patronizing tone to Rainbow. This comment was enough to make Rainbow not even bother with the joke and just keep quiet afterwards about it.

Fluttershy frowned a little. “Oh goodness. Was meeting the new students really that bad?” she asked.

“They were…something. They acted pretty weird around both of us. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but they really didn’t seem to be 100% normal.” Sunset said with a slight frown, pondering herself over the scenario just as much as the other six girls. “It wasn’t just that. They acted like they had a bad run-in with Screwball before, but she swears up and down that she’s never met them.”

The girls all took a good, questioning look at Screwball, who simply shrugged her shoulders. “Hey, I might not remember every face of all the people I’ve pissed off by playing driveby mailbox baseball or just whatever in my short time on this earth, but hair and outfits like THOSE are not something I’d ever forget. If I’d messed with them before now, I’d know.” Screwball said, taking a bite out of an apple on her lunch tray and taking a bite out of it. Seeming somewhat unsatisfied with it, she took out a tube of frosting (seemingly out of completely nowhere) and drew a horrified face on the apple. Smiling big, she took a huge bite out of the side of the apple’s ‘face’. “Aaaaah nooo! I was two weeks from retirement!” she said in an overdramatic and intentionally squeaky voice to make it seem that the apple was sentient.

The girls all just gave her a highly disturbed stare with widened eyes. “Erm, isn’t that rather morbid?” Rarity asked with a cringe over her face.

“I don’t have a problem, I swear.” Screwball said as she took another bite out of her apple, again giving it the same scream.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata all stood outside the cafeteria doors, getting ready to make their first move to ensure their conquest of this dimension. “This is it girls. The moment we’ve been waiting for.” She said with a large smirk forming.

“Lunch?!” Sonata asked with an enthusiastic smile.

Adagio immediately frowned and put a palm to her face. How it was that Sonata managed to get the group into the most annoyed of moods within seconds was beyond her knowledge. Not that she cared to know much. She just wondered more about how someone can be as air-headed as she was. “Ugh. The chance to get our true Equestrian magic back” she agitatedly corrected her cohort.

“Oh. Right.” Sonata said, seemingly oblivious to Adagio’s annoyance.

“Okay, can I just say right now how much I hate this plan? Mainly because it’s what we always do anyway only this time getting someone actually worse than Sonata involved. This is a good idea how?!” Aria said, obviously very annoyed at the prospect of Screwball being in on their plans for domination. She’d dealt with a Screwball once before, and there was no way in hell she would be able to take dealing with another one again, only even MORE regularly than before.

Adagio waved a dismissive and hand at Aria in a condescending sort of way. “Relax. I get it, Screwball is a menace no matter the dimension; I was there too. But if she’s anything like any other human, she can be controlled with the magic of our voices just as well. And if she can’t…well then we go to Plan B. One-on-One manipulation.”

Aria narrowed her eyes. “Oh yeah that’ll work real well…except she looked like she’s been onto us since the minute we walked in here; real nice plan Adagio. No holes ANYWHERE.”

Adagio only smirked a little at that. “You underestimate my wits Aria. Her suspicions of us is exactly what I’m counting on.” She said menacingly rubbing her hands together. “Oh this is going to be delicious. Not only will we get our magic back and rule this pathetic reality, but the smiling, overly happy little pest won’t ever bother us once this is over.”

Sonata nodded happily. “Ooh yeah, delicious! But not as delicious as that!” she cheered as she pointed to a poster advertising “Taco Tuesday” in the cafeteria.

Adagio facepalmed again, this time with Aria joining her. ‘Uuuugh. Priority number 2, get Sonata’s head examined.’ She thought to herself

Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh
Ah, ah-ah, ah-ahh

Without any warning whatsoever, the cafeteria double doors swung open and was followed by the sound of three alluring and melodious echoing off the walls of the room. The students eating all turned their heads (aside from Vinyl Scratch who was still head-banging to her own music through her headphones) to the source of the voices, including Sunset and her friends.

At the lead of the singing was none other than Adagio Dazzle, with Aria and Sonata backing her up. Screwball could tell nearly right away that this had bad intentions written all over it; there was nothing else that this scenario could possibly mean, especially with all the motions that went along with Adagio’s singing. She wasn’t the only one to notice either, given the quizzical looks the rest of her group had.

We heard you want to get together
We heard you want to rock this school
We've thought of something that is better
Something that changes all the rules
Why pretend we're all the same
When some of us shine brighter?
Here's a chance to find your flame
Are you a loser or a fighter?

The Dazzlings all got closer to each other and started to slowly and slightly seductively dance along with their singing.

Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
Are you afraid of failing the audition?

Once again, Adagio began to solo-sing the lyrics while Aria and Sonata backed her up. She began to get all up in the student’s faces and giving them smug and tempting smiles as she sang her tune.

You're a star and you should know it
Yeah, you rise above the rest
It doesn't matter who you hurt
If you're just proving you're the best
Ah, ahh-ahh-ahhh

‘Okay this is like, Disney-baddie levels of subtle now. I know I’m not subtle by any definition either but come on.’ Screwball thought to herself sarcastically. Although she was rolling her eyes at the three girl’s obvious intentions, she did have to admit it. Adagio’s behind was really something else.

Battle! You wanna win it
Let's have a battle, battle of the bands
Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it
Let's have a battle, battle, battle
Battle of the bands

That was when things began to get out of hand. Almost out of completely nowhere, a few of the students started arguing and yelling at each other over who was a better singer and who could beat who in a music competition. This was unusual beyond everything she’d known about the school since Screwball’d gotten there. For the most part, the students looked happier than most teenagers should be. She’d only really heard myths and legends about teenagers, but they were made out to be probably the worst creatures to ever walk the Earth. Dramatic as hell, overly emotional, freaking out at even the slightest sign of a pimple, and as stupid and horny as a human being can come.

CHS’s students though, she found to not be like that at all. They mostly acted way too nice for their own good. They were PG levels of nice, and to her it was so surreal. The only time she’d seen differently was over herself and over Sunset. Not surprising; people don’t just forget things like this.

Now though. Everyone wasn’t angry at her or Sunset. They were angry at EACH OTHER. Over who’s better at the flute and shit. That didn’t connect at ALL.

And that’s when Screwball noticed the smoke. Green smoke began to flow around the students in the cafeteria, seemingly as they all got angrier and angrier as the song continued. That set off so many uncountable red flags in Screwball’s head. Negativity, over the top antics, how they were so protective of their pendants, green smoke. These were not typical, stereotypical mean and manipulative teenage girls here. Screwball’s hunches were right from the start.

‘Well uh, this is that moment where I REALLY didn’t want to be right but sadly I was. Shit.’ Screwball thought to herself, a slightly fearful frown beginning to make its way to her face.

Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?

All the students in the cafeteria then shouted in unison, confidently throwing their hands up as they did so.

I'm going out and winning the audition!

The rest of the girls at the table observed the scene before them, starting to put together what was happening. Obviously these girls had some form of dark magic that they fed off of with their pendants. Their singing was getting to the student’s heads somehow and making them fight. But for whatever reason, Sunset and her friends weren’t affected by any of it. She could chalk that up to them having some remaining magic, but what was Screwball’s excuse? She never had any magic of her own, and yet she wasn’t following any of this.

Battle! We wanna win it
Let's have a battle, battle of the bands
Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it
Let's have a battle, battle, battle
Battle of the bands!

The Dazzlings finished off their song in a dramatic pose among the student’s arguing and yelling at each other over their musical talents. The girls that were unaffected simply stared blankly at the group, only with the occasional blink.

“…Soooo this is what weird looks like.” Pinkie Pie said, realizing what Sunset and Screwball meant earlier.

“Okayyyy I’m just gonna say what we’re all thinking right now, m’kay?” Screwball cleared her throat a little. “Ahem…WHAT. THE. FUCK?!?” She yelled, loud enough for practically the entire hallway the group was now walking in to hear her. Rarity looked around at the awkward stares they were all getting and quickly covered Screwball’s mouth, giving a sheepish smile.

“Ehehe, now darling, it’s very unbecoming of a young lady to use those wor-EEEW SHE LICKED MY HAND!” Rarity screeched as she withdrew her now-wet hand from Screwball’s mouth in disgust.

“I will NOT be censored in times like this Rarity! Did you even SEE what happened in there?!” Screwball continued to yell.

Sunset tried to calmly calm her young friend. “Yes, we saw it. We ALL did. Those three obviously have dark magic and aren’t up to any good. Yelling and screaming isn’t going to solve anything though. We need to be quiet about this if we’re going to stop whatever they’re doing.”

Screwball tried to relax a little bit at that, but it wasn’t doing much good. “Well then…what are we going to do about it then?”

“Well Ah suggest we let Principal Celestia know about all this, and then they’ll be kicked to the curb in no time!” Applejack chimed in, attempting to stay positive about the grim situation that had just reared its head.

While the rest of the girls all seemed to smile and nod in agreeance at the idea, Screwball stopped dead in her tracks when that sentence left Applejack’s mouth. “...Oh that’s your plan huh? Well, okay, okay. Seems legit enough. Though I see one big gaping sinkhole in that idea. Wanna know what it is?...THESE THINGS HAVE MAGIC, DO YOU THINK THEY’RE GOING TO GIVE TWO SHITS IF THEY GET SUSPENDED?! NO! THEY CAN MANIPULATE WHOEVER AND GET BACK IN IN LESS THAN A FEW MINUTES!” Screwball yelled again, earning some more stares from the students. The girls flinched a little and surrounded Screwball, hoping to keep her quiet.

“Woah woah hey calm down! As much as I’d like to curb-stomp those three, we can’t do that! We need to handle this quieter than that so we don’t make anyone freak out!” Rainbow shouted back at her.

“She’s right. Listen, I respect you a lot as my friend Screwball. But you have a tendency to go way overboard sometimes. We can’t risk causing a riot with anything like that. At this point, telling Celestia about what’s happening is our best bet. Just, go with it alright? It’s for the best.” Sunset said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking in her swirly, purple eyes.

Screwball didn’t know what to think right now. On one hand, her brain was telling her that this was not a good way to solve the problems of a potential threat to the school. On the other, her friend was asking her to trust her and her friend’s judgement. She didn’t like the complications this was presenting.

“…I don’t like it, but…I guess you guys should just do your thing. I’ll just stay out of your way on this one.” She said, sighing a little. Sunset smiled a little and patted her shoulder.

“Trust me, this will all work out, just wait and see.” Sunset said, looking back at her friends. “Okay, let’s get to Celestia’s office and sort this out before things can get any worse.” The group walked back to through the hallway, Screwball seeming to stay behind. All she did was stand there and watch her group walk right into what she could very well be a disaster zone.

As much as she just wanted to let Sunset handle this one, she felt like she couldn’t. She was the only one that seemed to know how to actually get this done and yet they were just treating her like she was one-note nuts. She didn’t like that at all; it was just like how they’d left her out of their music practice from earlier. She knew she would be able to participate in the showcase, but she’d at least love to sing with her friends.

Well she wasn’t going back on this one. Not by a long shot.

“Wait and see. Humph. My ass. Don’t want to let me help, fine. I’ll do this myself.” She said angrily as she narrowed her eyes. “Cue the music.” *1

Author's Note

Yep.

And yes there is going to be an explanation as to why the Siren's influence didn't affect Screwball next chapter :twilightsmile: