Chapters Talking is Magic: Equestria Girls
“Everything okay in there?” Rarity called, referring of course to Twilight Sparkle and her canine companion, Spike, who’d followed her. offered her moral support as she made her way through this strange yet familiar world if the faces of her Ponyville friends were any indication.
“Yes!” Twilight replied, a barely concealed note of panic in her voice. But to herself she admitted that everything was not fine. She was running out of time: she needed to get her crown back tonight or else she’d be stuck in this world for thirty moons!
Enter Spike: the voice of reason.
“Uh actually,” Spike started, smiling sheepishly. “Remember the fake crown Sunset Shimmer brought back to Equestria when she was trying to steal your crown?”
Twilight remembered the instance quite vividly. How could she not ? A seemingly random unicorn had broken through what was supposed to be one of the most secure facilities in the Crystal Empire, and stole her crown! In hindsight, the alicorn turned human really should have kept the thing under lock and key. After all, the crown wasn’t just for show.
It doubled as a rare and powerful magical artifact, known as the Element of Magic, that served as the power source that allowed five other like artifacts, collectively known as the Elements of Harmony, to harness a magic so powerful that it could bring almost any adversary to their knees, and were often used as Equestria’s primary means of defense.
At least, when Spike wasn’t talking them out of their harebrained schemes that is.
“Yes, but what does that have to do with this?” Twilight asked curiously.
“Well remember the night that we spent in the library?” he asked. At her nod, he explained, “I slipped out of the library to Principal Celestia’s office to see if I couldn’t just get the crown back, seeing as no one was around. As it turns out, her door was unlocked, as was the drawer where the crown was being kept, so I was able to grab and get it back into your bag with no one being any the wiser.”
Twilight was conflicted after hearing his explanation. On the one hand, she should be proud of her assistant for managing all of this without any sort of assistance. However, the motherly part of her demanded that she at least admonish Spike for stealing the crown even if it was technically hers to begin with.
Having seemingly read her mind, Spike added, “I didn’t steal the crown. Remember the fake crown Sunset Shimmer tried to switch with yours?” Without waiting for any sort of response, he continued. “I had that with me when I went through the portal so it wasn’t so much me stealing anything as it was simply swapping the crowns back.”
Well at least the pressure is off of me to try to win the Fall Formal. Twilight thought. Then she remembered all the work she and the girls had put in to try to get the rest of the student body to vote for her. The more she thought about it, the more it seemed wrong to bail on her new friends after all the help they’d given her.
They gave this their all and it’d be wrong of me to pull out now. I’ve been a student of friendship for a long time. It’s time I show what I’ve learned to the students of Canterlot High. That thought solidified Twilight’s resolve.
Thanking Spike for recovering the element, Twilight stood up and opened the curtain to the dressing room where she’d been hiding. She and Spike had decided to tell their friends the truth about their origins. The main reason being that given all the help they’d provided, they deserved that much. Plus, as far as Twilight and Spike were concerned, it would make explaining things much easier with regards to just why they needed the crown back. After all, it seemed strange that a new transfer student was as invested in winning the Fall Formal as Twilight was, given the circumstances.
Besides, there was still the issue of Sunset’s rule over the school that Twilight had every intention of breaking. Canterlot High had been deprived of friendship for far too long and she was going to usher in what would amount to a new age of peace and love between students.
Noticing the five girls staring at them, Twilight explained everything. How the Fall Formal wasn’t happening that night. Apparently what had happened was that Sunset Shimmer had ordered Snips and Snails to ruin Pinkie’s decorations.
“WHAT?!”
“But the Fall Formal has to happen tonight,” Twilight was cut off when Pinkie had exclaimed once more. Or at least she would have had Applejack not covered the bubbly girl’s mouth.
Twilight had begun to explain the truth of her origins.
That was a lie.
Pinkie Pie had made a ridiculously good guess of their story. Her friends, Twilight and Spike included, had a hard time believing albeit for different reasons. The latter was more surprised that she had been able to guess that outright. Her school friends had simply thought that she had finally gone off the deep end.
Rainbow Dash was the first to recover. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that isn’t the reason.”
“Nope,” Spike disagreed, speaking in front of the girls for the first time. “She’s pretty much spot on.”
There was a resounding silence as the five girls stared at him in shock. They had each collectively recovered and exclaimed.
“HE CAN TALK!?”
Spike seemed to enjoy the stunned expressions for he stepped forward and supplied his explanation. “Oh yeah! And back where I’m from, I’m not even a dog! I’m a ferocious fire breathing dragon!” Given the fact that he’d been able to stand on his hind legs and maintain perfect balance, none of the girls held any illusions that he could be lying. That said, Twilight knew that calling him ferocious was a bit of a stretch…
Elated could not even do justice to how happy Fluttershy was. After all, it wasn’t every day that she got to talk to animal who could talk back to her. She’d even gone so far as to push Rarity and Pinkie out of the way and crouch down to speak with him eye to eye. The response from the animal lover had caught Spike off guard as she stared eagerly at him while asking just what he was thinking at that moment.
Spike had admitted that he would have liked a scratch behind the old ears. Naturally, the soft spoken girl was only too happy to oblige as she went so far as to pick him up and hold him tightly as she did as he asked.
While she watched her soft spoken friend play with her canine companion, Twilight had asked Pinkie how she’d known their story.
“Just a hunch,” Pinkie replied brightly.
From there, the rest of the girls had sought to clarify what had just been conveyed. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity had been amazed to learn that Twilight was, in fact, a talking pony, a princess, and from another world. Twilight’s confirmation nod had been enough to amaze Rainbow Dash and worked the rest of the girls into an excited chatter.
“Told ya’,” Spike grinned at smiling Twilight.
Returning to the gym, the seven of them made quick work of cleaning up the mess Snips and Snails made, complete with song and dance numbers! It helped that the rest of the student body had gotten involved and in practically no time at all, the gymnasium was clearly ready for the Fall Formal. It was here that the Celestia and Luna appeared, declaring that the Fall Formal would be moving ahead as scheduled.
“So you’d better get out of here and start getting ready. Oh, and don't forget to cast your ballots for the Fall Formal Princess on your way out!” Celestia called to the applause of the general student body.
The seven watched with renewed hope as each student promised to vote for Twilight as they deposited their ballot into the box Luna was holding as they made their way out of the gym.
“I can’t believe we pulled that off,” Fluttershy remarked back at the boutique.
“I can!” Rainbow replied eagerly. “We’re awesome!”
Spike could tell that Rainbow would have said more were it not for the fact that Rarity had spoken up and reminded them that they needed to get ready, and they absolutely needed to look fabulous.
One song later found the six girls adorned in clothing fit for a gala, much less a Fall Formal.
They ambled into the gym with Spike watching from afar, he was a dog after all. Shortly before entering the school, the six spotted a sleek black car pull up. Flash Sentry’s head emerged from the vehicle and approached Twilight to ask her for a single dance. While Spike enjoyed Twilight’s embarrassment at the invitation, he resolved to keep an eye on them.
Given what had already happened to them in this world, Spike wasn’t taking any chances.
* * *
“Anybody seen Sunset Shimmer?” Twilight asked, scanning the crowd for her competitor while they danced.
“Maybe she’s too embarrassed to show up!” Rainbow suggested. “She’s gotta know that you won by a landslide!”
“Maybe…” Twilight trailed off. If there was one thing she knew for certain about Sunset Shimmer, it was that she always had a contingency plan in the works in case something went wrong. She was certain that the redhead had another plan brewing and now it was just a question of what it was. She would have continued to think on it had she not spotted Principal Celestia and Vice Princess Luna step onto the stage to announce the winner.
“First off,” Principal Celestia began, “I want to say how wonderful everything looks tonight. You all did a magnificent job pulling things together after the unfortunate events of earlier,” she told them enthusiastically to a resounding applause from the student body. “And now, without further ado, I'd like to announce the winner of this year's Fall Formal crown. The Princess of this year's Fall Formal is…” she accepted the envelope that Luna had passed to her.
Opening it slowly as to build dramatic tension, everyone watched with bated breath as she pulled a small slip of paper from inside and read the name.
“Twilight Sparkle!”
With the sound and sight of students cheering as the backdrop, Twilight stepped onto the stage to accept the crown.
“Congratulations Twilight,” Celestia told her as she placed the crown on her head. Even if she’d already gotten back her element, it felt satisfying that she had been able to break the almost tyrannical grip that Sunset Shimmer had held on this school since the redhead arrived.
* * *
Spike was grinning from his perch in the bleachers. He was happy that Twilight had managed to, despite the odds being stacked against her, win the contest. It was even better since they’d managed to make a big change in the school in the scant few days that they’d been around.
It just goes to show that Twilight really had come a long way in her studies about friendship.
Twilight Sparkle. The Princess of Friendship. Spike mused, grinning at the thought. I like it .
He would have continued on his train of thought had he not noticed Snips and Snails sneak into the gym. His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t about to let anybody ruin this evening for his friends so he came up with a plan of sorts on the fly.
Namely, he snuck over to them and bit their ankles.
Both had let out yelps of pain before giving chase.
* * *
Spike grinned as he led them on a wild goose chase before pushing the door open. The mouth breathing and the sounds of vomiting nearby told him that they had given up trying to chase him. That certainly made things easier for him.
Unfortunately, his victory was fleeting for when he opened the front door, he soon found himself caught in the clutches of one Sunset Shimmer. At least her hands were soft, for what little that was worth.
“Now that I have you,” she grinned maliciously at him. “I can force Twilight to hand over her crown!”
That piqued Spike’s interest. He’d known that ever since Sunset Shimmer had stolen the crown, she wanted to do something with it. After all, one does not simply steal an ancient artifact simply for show.
“Why are you so fixated on this crown anyway?” Spike asked. “There’s no magic in this world so it would be useless to you here!”
“Oh I don’t want this puny high school,” Sunset licked her lips at the thought of all the power she’d be wielding with the Element of Magic at her beck and call. “I want Equestria.”
Spike stared as she wrapped her hands around his muzzle to keep him quiet. What she didn’t expect was a kick to the gut knocking the wind out of her. The kick had slackened her grip and allowed Spike a chance to escape.
As soon as he was a safe distance away from her, Spike turned around to find her back on her feet, glaring at him. Thankfully, she made no move to try to trap him again, still wary from that kick.
“So how would having the Element of Magic help you conquer Equestria?” Spike asked warily. Sunset took a few moments to compose herself before she explained.
“With the power of the Element of Magic at my disposal, I will be able to form my own army and storm Equestria!” Sunset was practically foaming at the mouth in her excitement. She could feel it; it was so close that she could practically taste victory.
Unbeknownst to her, Spike had the real Element of Magic in a small bag that he’d gotten. While Sunset was distracted by her fantasy, he silently slipped past her and hurled the element of magic through the portal.
* * *
Rarity was pacing back in an attempt to work off some of the nervous energy in her system and forth as she, the princesses, and the rest of their friends camped out in front of the mirror portal that Twilight and Spike had gone through to get Twilight’s element back.
They’d been gone for the better part of two days and with no means of communication, the eight mares were naturally getting worried for their friend’s safety. It certainly didn’t help that Twilight and Spike were in an entirely different world there would more than likely have some sort of learning curve that the duo would have to overcome before they could plan a means to get the artifact back.
The tension was broken when they noticed the glass of the mirror beginning to glow. They’d stood up to eagerly greet their wayward friends but what they got was something else entirely.
… Namely the Element of Magic flying out of the mirror and hitting Rarity right in the face. The speed with which it flew out knocked the alabaster unicorn over. The others rushed over to her aid and their eyes widened when they spotted the artifact lying on the ground next to her.
After making sure Rarity was okay, they all gathered around the newly returned element of harmony. Luna was the first to recover from the shock as she picked up the crown in her artifact and smiled at the portal.
“They did it,” she said simply. The others could only nod in agreement.
* * *
“You WHAT?!” Sunset shouted when Spike and Twilight told her what the former had done. The latter, safe in the knowledge that the element was in safe hands, was perfectly content to dance the night away until such time that they had to return. Unfortunately, that plan was thrown out the window when she’d learned of Snips and Snails attempted abduction of Spike. Thankfully, finding him had been easy, as the two boys had essentially spilled their guts least they incurred the six girls’ wrath.
“That’s right,” Spike nodded, “I threw the crown through the portal. You won’t be able to get it back without having to face the other five elements of harmony AND three princesses. Your chances aren’t looking too good.”
Sunset sighed as Spike laid it all down for her.
“Besides,” Spike added. “Your plan wouldn’t have worked anyway. After all, the portal can only handle so many people going through it. If you had your entire army go through the portal at once, wouldn’t they end up getting stuck in the mirror?”
For a few seconds, Sunset envisioned her army traveling through the portal all at once, only to get stuck on the other side. The mental image would have made her laugh were she not so furious with the turn of events. Recovering from Spike’s reckless move, Sunset responded. “No because they would have been going on in single file!”
“...and promptly being arrested by the Royal Guard for attempted treason.” Spike finished. “Besides, there’s still the problem of human to pony learning curve that they would have to deal with after the fact.” He gestured to himself awkwardly. “I can walk on two legs back in Equestria and learning how to run on four legs took more than a little practice so more than likely, your forces would have the same problem too.”
Sunset had refuted the claim stating that she’d had no problems adjusting between biped and equine when she stole Twilight’s crown. Spike argued back, stating that she was an equine and had the benefit of muscle memory to fall back on to help her adapt quickly.
“This also raises the question of how they would adjust to their powers in Equestria,” Spike continued without letting up the pressure. “Some of them will have magic, others will have wings, and the earth ponies will have better strength and endurance.”
“No because thanks to element of magic, I would have been able to use this power to instill within them the knowledge they need to use their horns and wings and attack Celestia so that I could rule Equestria all on my own!” Sunset declared, laughing maniacally. The six girls stared at their peer as though she’d lost her mind. In retrospect, that wouldn’t be that big of a stretch if her previous foaming at the mouth experience had been any indication.
“But let’s say that you, by some miracle, managed to beat Celestia,” Spike asked. “Where does that leave you?”
If reading comics had taught the young drake anything, it was that villains never thought their plans through very far past simply defeating their arch nemesis. Nor do they consider the ramifications of their actions on others.
Sunset rolled her eyes as such an obvious question. “Rule Equestria and reign in a new era of glory!”
“Even still,” Spike insisted. “Wouldn’t the ponies who live in Equestria either rebel or flee from you? With no subjects, all you’d have is land and no means to utilize it.”
Sunset blinked. It was clear to Spike that she had not considered that as a possibility.
“So that brings us back to the why,” Spike said. “If comics have taught me anything, it’s that anyone who wants power has something that they want to prove. Twilight and I both know that you were Princess Celestia’s personal student before you were dismissed.”
Sunset had admitted the endgame goal was to prove to Princess Celestia that she was ready for princesshood. That she was ready to be an alicorn.
“I suppose I should share with you how it all started…” Sunset began.
In the end, she had surprised them all with her response. Her endgame goal was to get Celestia’s love and affection by becoming an alicorn. As it had turned out, Sunset was not very close to her parents and had ended up running away once she was old enough to take care of herself. She’d learned of Princess Celestia’s school for Gifted Unicorns and easily passed the test to get in, impressing Princess Celestia enough to take her on as her personal student.
She had become addicted to the praise that the princess showered upon her. When the alabaster mare showed her a mirror and asked that when she looked into its infinite depths, what she saw. She had responded that she saw herself as an alicorn. When she demanded to be made a princess, Celestia had refused, stating that princesshood could only be earned not given at the drop of a hat.
That drove Sunset off the edge of her sanity as she continued to research the mirror behind Celestia’s back, her curiosity driving her forward. Unfortunately for the unicorn, she had been caught not long after she’d started researching into forbidden magic. That immediately resulted in her dismissal as Celestia’s pupil.
However, Sunset hadn’t been one to simply walk away quietly if her ambition had been any indication. As the guards moved to escort her out, she’d taken them by surprise and fled through the mirror.
Well if she was able to overwhelm the guards before, I can see why she might think that it would be easy to beat them again. Spike mused while staring at Sunset warily.
“So you’re telling me that you went through all this trouble just because you wanted to be a princess?” Spike stared. Sunset sighed and nodded. “You realize that ruling isn’t anywhere near as glamorous as they make it out to be. It’s not all balls and galas that novels make them out to be.”
“What do you mean?” Sunset asked.
“Think about it, Princess Celestia always has some kind of work to do. Day court, meetings, paperwork, ribbon cutting ceremonies among other menial tasks. If you took over Equestria, you would end up falling into the same problems that she has right now. Are you sure that you could handle all that paperwork or all those ponies coming to you with their problems?”
Sunset grimaced. She had not been a fan of the paperwork that she’d had to fill out to start attending classes at Canterlot High. For all her magical and mundane knowledge, she didn’t know just what the hay a social security number was or why it was so important. Plus there was also the paperwork that she’d had to fill out for her bike. That had been a nightmare…
Now that she thought about the paperwork that she’d be required to do, the royal advisors she’d be obligated to hire because there was no way that even with all the power in the world, that she’d be able to rule Equestria the way she wanted.
“That and there’s also the fact that ponies will be watching your every move, ready to strike if you slip up even a little, assuming that they hadn’t already run away.” Spike pointed out. “I don’t know how Princess Celestia does it but just one wrong mistake could have ponies demanding to have you overthrown.”
“Not if I have them arrested for sedition first,” Sunset pointed out quickly. “Then nopony would even think of trying to overthrow me if they knew the consequences…”
Spike then retaliated with the potential for a barren Equestria bereft of life: pony or otherwise. With no ponies, or any living beings for that matter, to rule, Sunset wouldn’t have been a ruler, she would just be an ordinary mare.
A mare with a lot of land, but a mare nonetheless.
Spike then questioned how she intended to bring in this new age of glory for Equestria. Sure, she may have had her inexperienced and brainwashed army to fight. However, their inexperience, assuming that they didn’t lose to the Royal Guard outright, would only end up with their inevitable defeat at the hands of another nation if they got the impression that Equestria was rallying up a stronger military.
“I…” It was clear that Sunset had not thought about that avenue at all.
“The other nations would be scared of Equestria building a military,” Spike pointed out. “They’ll be like: ‘are they planning an invasion?’ ‘Are they going to invade us ?’. That’ll only cause them to build up a military and then they might attack us in fear, to prevent us from taking over their lands!” That’s what tended to happen in Spike’s comic books anyway albeit on a smaller scale.
“Besides, there would still be the problem of bringing about the day and the night,” Spike pointed out.
“You realize that unicorns, before the princess brought about day and night, were able to do it themselves,” Sunset retorted. However, Spike could tell that from the look on her face, she was grabbing at straws to keep her argument alive. They both knew the Hearth’s Warming tale: it was a team of unicorns that brought about day and night. It was only alicorns that were able to possess enough magic to usher in the day and night on their own.
“Yes,” Spike agreed, “but none of them know how to do that now. The element of magic is a lot of things but it doesn’t, as far as I know at least, give you the power to raise the sun and moon and you would have defeated the only ponies who know how to do that, rendering them unable to do it for you.”
Sunset grimaced as the final nail had been placed into the coffin that would house her plan for her domination of Equestria.
“Now that you’re mentioning all these things,” Sunset sighed, her muscles relaxing as she stared up at the stars. “Being a princess and doing all these things… it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth it. Especially if the surrounding nations try to attack us.”
“It really wouldn’t be worth it,” Spike agreed. “Besides, you would be missing out on so many other opportunities to try new things and make some new friends! Besides, you know what they say about hindsight: it’s twenty twenty.”
“True,” Sunset agreed, leaning back to look at the stars as she and Spike sat on the school steps. Twilight and her friends had since headed back to dance after multiple assurances that Spike would be just fine with Sunset. “Looking back, this idea for power and ruling Equestria doesn’t seem all that attractive anymore. I honestly don’t think it’s a life that I want to lead. If I try to take it by force, nobody would yield and then there'd be rebellions...” Spike could see the gears turning in her head. Since she was not an alicorn, she would eventually die anyway so she wouldn't be able to rule Equestria for its entire duration like she had wanted.
"I think I'd like to start over with a clean slate," said Sunset abruptly. "These decisions are going to haunt me and there's nothing meaningful for me to continue down this path."
“So you really want to turn your life around and genuinely regret the decisions you’ve made?” Spike asked, staring at the fiery haired girl next to him as they stood on the front steps to the school. “You realize that it won’t be easy and there will be those out there who will be mad at you for what you’ve done up to this point.”
“Yes,” Sunset nodded, “I know it’s really hard to believe given what I was like in the past, but now that you’ve mentioned all the ways my plan can go wrong.” She leaned back and let out a heavy sigh. “I just don’t think it’s worth the trouble. It’ll only make the gap in my relationship with Princess Celestia bigger and that’s assuming that she doesn’t hate me for running away or stealing Twilight’s crown.”
“For what it’s worth,” Spike spoke up. “When Princess Celestia first mentioned you, she seemed more concerned for your well being than anything else. She also told us that she had kept the mirror in the throne room in the hopes that you would return and that you two could reconcile.”
It took all of Sunset’s willpower not to break down right there and then.
Princess Celestia still cared about her.
Now she had to prove that she was worth the alabaster alicorn’s concern. She would have to make some big changes in herself before she could forgive herself for all of the things she’d done during her time in this world.
“And you won’t have to go through this alone,” Spike spoke up; the sound of footsteps drawing near, prompting Sunset Shimmer and Spike to turn around to find the six girls that had ended up besting her for the bid of the Fall Formal crown. “You’ll have some of the greatest friends there to help you along the way.”
The six girls appeared taken aback by the prospect and opened their mouths to protest when Spike shot them his adorable puppy dog eyes.
It was super effective!
But there was still one stipulation.
“I’ll still expect an apology for last spring’s debacle,” Rarity huffed, her hands on her hips. Sunset readily agreed as the five girls struck up a conversation with the now former bully. Twilight watched on before turning to her canine companion.
“I still can’t believe that you managed to persuade her not to go through with it,” Twilight told Spike while scratching his belly.
“Trust me Twilight, when you’ve read as many comic books as I have, you tend to pick up a thing or two about how villains think,” Spike replied, content in Twilight’s arms.
“Twilight,” Sunset addressed the purple princess for the first time. The girl in question, looked up to face the other girl. She was not looking at her rival-turned-friend but rather, she was staring up at the sky. More specifically, she was staring up at the moon. “If you want to return to Equestria, you’d better hurry. That portal will be closing any minute now.”
Twilight and Spike turned to stare up at the moon and realized that Sunset was right. She could see the shadow of the moon had since reduced to a sliver, a telltale sign that they were running out of time.They exchanged goodbyes with the six girls with Sunset Shimmer who promised that she would do the best she could to make amends and learn the magic of friendship alongside her peers. Twilight and Spike also promised to figure out a way to come and visit any time.
With those as their parting words, Spike and Twilight stepped through the portal, eager to return to their own friends back in Equestria.
Talking is Magic: Equestria Girls
Sunset grimaced at she stepped away from her friends after their performance during the first round of the Battle of the Bands competition. She didn’t need to be a mind reader to tell that Twilight was struggling with the counterspell and quite frankly she didn’t even know where to start with writing a counterspell herself so she would have been of little use, regardless.
But what can we do? Sunset wondered silently. The Sirens have all the cards and the odds are against us…
“Sunset?” The redhead blinked before searching for the source of the seemingly disembodied voice.
“Down here,” said the voice, almost deadpanned. Sunset looked down to find the purple and green coated puppy that had accompanied Princess Twilight during her previous foray into Canterlot High. He had also been responsible for stopping her from harnessing an ancient magical artifact by simply explaining just why it was a bad idea. The more Sunset reflected on it, the more she realized that it was probably for the best. After all, it had been hard enough to try to change her ways given notoriety for her saboteurish tendencies.
Even though it had been difficult to earn back her classmates’ trust, Sunset was more inclined to believe that her battle would have been far more difficult if she succeeded in harnessing that power.
After all, she was certain her classmates would not appreciate being turned into her personal minions to be used to take on a sovereign nation. And that was to say nothing of the collateral damage that would inevitably follow.
Moving on…
“Spike,” Sunset frowned, staring down at the puppy, “what are you doing here?”
“I saw you leaving and got curious,” Spike shrugged. “The girls looked happy to win the first round even though other people were trying to mess up their performance.”
Sunset grimaced. “I saw them but they were too high up for me to do anything to try to stop them.”
Spike was at a loss for what to say but thankfully was saved from having to come up with any sort of retort when they both heard a trio of voices close to their spot in the corner of the creepy looking hallway that inexplicably had terrible lighting issues. It was a perfect place to segue into something more interesting.
I need to ask Principal Celestia about that once this is all over Sunset mused as she let Spike onto her shoulder and they crept closer to the voices as to hear what they had to say.
“We’d better head back. We're supposed to go on after Trixie,” said Adagio Dazzle to her bandmates: Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze.They had watched as the Rainbooms’ headed into the classroom, snidely noting that Twilight had shed a few tears after Flash Sentry unknowingly pointed out Twilight’s failings in helping out her friends in winning the Battle of the Bands.
However, unbeknownst to the sirens-turned-teenaged girls, they failed to notice a fiery haired girl with a purple and green dog on her shoulder, arms crossed and eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“You're never gonna get away with this,” Sunset stated, leaning against the wall with Spike at her side, watching the events unfold curiously.
“Why? Because you didn’t?” Adagio smirked. Spike frowned while resting a paw on Sunset’s leg as she grimaced in discomfort at the reminder of who she used to be. The redhead’s eyes narrowed as the three sirens circled her in a show of aggression. Lesser students would have been intimidated by such a tactic but Sunset had long since surpassed the limits of the average students and become something altogether more impressive.
“Oh yes,” Adagio grinned maliciously. “We know all about you, Sunset Shimmer. You've got quite the reputation at Canterlot High.”
So much for keeping the Old Me buried . Sunset sighed. She shook her head. Now was not the time to dwell on her past. Now was the time to stop these sirens from potentially making the mistake she had almost made. Sunset couldn’t imagine how much harder earning back everyone’s trust would be had she actually put on that crown and taken control of her classmates and waged war on Celestia.
“I've changed! I'm in a much better place now!” Sunset replied confidently. That much was true. Her classmates had given her the benefit of the doubt after she apologized and proved her intention to change. Subsequently, her reputation vastly improved in the eyes of her peers and she had found herself back in her place as among the most popular people at Canterlot High.
Spike had been right in that regard.
“Yet for all your changes you wait in the wings while your friends have all the fun?” Aria asked rhetorically. Sunset said nothing while Spike growled quietly. He didn’t bother doing much more as it wouldn’t have been worth the effort.
“Oh, yes, you girls are so tight. And yet... they didn't ask you to be in the band…” Adagio added confidently in what she intended to be finishing blow to crush Sunset’s confidence. Admittedly, Sonata got the last word in.
“Too bad! So sad!” She supplied, not at all sympathetic.
However, the three sirens didn’t expect the fiery haired girl to smirk at them, a glint in her eye as her posture remained confident.
The three sirens stared before inwardly grimacing. So much for crushing her confidence so that they could find the key to unlocking the equestrian magic she and her friends possessed. .
“Hold it!” Adagio pointed at Sunset as the blonde young woman came to a startling realization.. “How are you not under our spell?”
That made both Sunset and Spike exchange a confused look. By all rights, they should have been at least influenced by the sirens magic. After all, it's not like they imbued any Equestrian magic into themselves...
“Magic of friendship?” Spike offered lamely to an equally bewildered Sunset. Sunset shrugged helplessly. She was no princess but she was fairly certain that magic didn’t have to be flashy in order to be effective. She had been lucky to be part of a tightly knit group of friends and perhaps that was the magic of friendship manifesting itself and thanks to the close bonds she shared with her friends, she had been able to passively fight off the sirens’ spell.
Adagio facepalmed but opted not to question it further. They all decided that it was best that they move on.
“And thanks to my friends, I don’t even need to feel adored to be happy,” Sunset quipped.
“Easy for you to say,” Aria grumbled, her typically scowl in place. “At least you don’t need it to survive.” That had caught both Spike and Sunset off guard.
“Here’s what I wanna know,” Spike spoke up for the first time. “How’d you end up here in the first place?”
“That’s actually a really good point,” Sunset pointed out. “How’d you even find out that there was equestrian magic here in the first place?” It wasn’t like there was anything that could have given it away.
“OH! OH! Pick me!” Sonata raised her hand eagerly. “Come on! Pick me!” It was clear that Sonata wanted some metaphorical screen time.
Also, with the way that she was flailing her arms in an attempt to draw attention to herself, Sonata appeared to be quite close to wetting herself. To save the youngest siren from potential humiliation, Sunset offered her consent by way of a nod.
Unfortunately, before Sonata could open her mouth to explain, the intercom came to life. “Will the Dazzlings come up to the stage for the next round of the competition.”
“Mark my words, nothing is going to stop me from telling you! I will get my screen time!” she vowed, her fist raised. Sunset and Spike stared at her oddly while Aria and Adagio facepalmed at Sonata’s silliness.
“Don’t worry,” Adagio said smoothly to a wary Sunset as she ushered Aria and Sonata backed to the gym. “We’ll be around to talk after we’re done so we can talk more later.”
* * *
“Where did they say we were supposed to meet them?” Spike asked, poking his head into yet another empty classroom. Sunset shrugged. The three siren-turned-teenagers made themselves scarce once they had finished their admittedly catchy piece. It was so catchy that they both had taken to quietly humming it while they were searching for the wayward girls although they were careful not to sing them in front of their other friends. Tensions were already high because of the infighting and Twilight’s ongoing struggle with the counterspell didn’t make things any easier. As they continued their search, they felt their own frustrations well up. Why did things have to play out the way they did? It just made life unnecessarily difficult.
While Sunset was stewing in her minor frustrations, she and Spike were dragged into a seemingly nondescript empty classroom.
The next thing they knew, they found Aria locking the door behind them. If the pair didn’t know any better, they would have believed that they just walked into a trap.
Thankfully, Sonata had been far too eager to give up all the wonderful information about how they even discovered equestrian magic in the first place.
As it turned out, it was actually quite underwhelming: the three had just happened to pass by when their pendants started acting strangely and practically drew them toward the portal. From there, they had been a very powerful burst of energy that then surged into their pendants, restoring more of their powers.
“So basically, touching the portal gave us the power to track equestrian magic,” Aria finished, tapping her pendant fondly. “We’ve been trying to look for more of it to get the rest of our powers back.”
“So what’ll you do once you get your powers back?” Sunset asked. She couldn’t imagine them doing them anything worse than what they were already doing. That was a lie; she could imagine their powers reaching a larger audience and subsequently controlling a larger crowd.
“We’re going to make everybody in this world adore us!” Adagio stated. Sunset and Spike exchanged a bewildered look.
“Er… just how does equestrian magic help with that?” Spike asked. “Didn’t you mention earlier that this world is practically a dead zone for magic?”
“That’s true but don’t forget that we do have a magic port that we used to help us track equestrian magic to help sustain ourselves,” Adagio pointed out. “As I’m sure your princess told you, we used to be able to feed on ponies negativity and their petty arguments to keep ourselves alive.”
“Twilight never mentioned that ,” Sunset cut in. “She just mentioned that Starswirl the Bearded banished you three a long time ago.”
“That unicorn ,” Aria ground out. Adagio and Sonata’s expressions were just as murderous. “As far as I’m concerned, he was in the wrong to banish us in the first place; we were only doing what we had to do to survive. He should have been banished by denying us that basic right to life.”
“Well, that got dark in a hurry,” Spike muttered to a perturbed Sunset who nodded in agreement.
“Wait so how did it come to Starswirl banishing you guys in the first place if all you were doing was trying to survive?”
“Well it kinda started like this…” Adagio began.
* * *
Three sirens had just reached the crossroads having come from Trottingham after feasting on the negativity of its residents. They had briefly debated their next destination before eventually setting their sights on Canterlot. While Sonata and Adagio had fantasized of the potential glory that awaited in Canterlot, Aria had pointed to one glaring hole in their nonexistent plan.
“You sure this is a good idea?” Aria asked dubiously as they reached the city limits. “This place’ll be crawling with guards plus the princesses are here so one wrong move and we’re history.”
“Leave the planning to me,” Adagio reassured. “Before today is over, these ponies will eat out of our hooves.” Adagio had then spotted a flyer for a musical competition in the coltosseum, prompting the sirens to enter to ensure the largest possible audience on which to use their magic.
However, that plan did not play as they had hoped. For one, their music had been so outdated that it failed to even remotely influence a single pony. In fact, they had the exact opposite reaction: instead of seducing their audience with their spell, they had taken several tomatoes to the face as they were harshly cast out of the arena.
“What a bunch of Rubes!”
“I’ve never heard such pitiful music! ”
“Try learning some chords you hacks! ”
These were the words that stewed in Adagio’s head as she and her fellow sirens lay in their beds in the hotel.
“How dare those--those insects not recognize our brilliance!” she ground out as she paced back and forth in their room. “They should have been eating our of our hooves!”
“They kind of had a point , Adagio,” Aria pointed out dully from her place next to her fellow siren. “We’ve been using the same music for forever .”
“Yes! And it’s always worked !” Adagio countered. “Why change what works ?”
“Because Canterlot is more sophisticated than anywhere else we’ve ever been,” Aria pointed out. “If we’re going to dominate this city, we’re going to need modernize our repertoire !”
Upon seeing Sonata’s confused expression, Aria clarified that they would need to come up with new songs if they were going to dominate Canterlot. Meanwhile, Adagio was left to wonder how they were going to come up with new songs since they didn’t use any actual lyrics or instruments for that matter.
Aria had suggested using instruments until Adagio pointed out that it would take too much time and it was better to play to their strengths. This had then led to a conversation of the most popular singing styles and song composition methods.
All the while, Sonata watched on, chewing on her gum.
“We’ll never get popular just copying what’s in style! We need to come up with some new style of music! Something original ! Something with pizzazz ! Something with--” At that moment, the bubble that Sonata had inflated then popped. Aria had then rounded on Sonata, demanded what she was eating. While Sonata explained the concept of gum to Aria, Adagio was mulling over the song that the gum made when the bubble burst. It was here that she had that life-changing epiphany: the idea of pop music. Her fellow sirens had been dubious but Adagio would make believers out of them before long.
The following day found the three sirens back at the coltosseum in front a skeptical panel of judges who were initially reluctant in allowing them to compete after their disastrous previous attempt. The sirens insisted that their act had drastically improved since their previous performance.
“Fine, fine. Go ahead,” said one of the judges.
Almost immediately, the gems on their chests began to glow as they began their new song. It was immediately obvious that they had enraptured their now captive audience with their new songs. Once they had finished, they’d been met with an eardrum-rupturing applause.
Enter Starswirl the Bearded: scholar, mage, and philosopher extraordinaire.
As he puzzled over how to combat the sirens, he postulated that seeing that his normal magic wouldn’t work against them, he would need a different tool: namely music.
Every night, as the sirens sang, Starswirl fought back in an attempt to stop them. Each night was something different: first it was classical string instruments like the lyre which hadn’t turned out well. Just like with the sirens on their first day, he’d been pelted with rotten vegetables, prompting the stallion to change his strategy.
From there they clashed with other, more diverse forms of music from rock to country and back to classical in a seemingly endless struggle that would later be known as the Music Wars. New instruments and genres had been developed as a result and the war continued to rage on which could only serve to bring advancements to the arts which could only help to make Equestria a better place as far as they were concerned. Unfortunately for Starswirl, while he was among the greatest mages in all of Equestria, he simply could not hold a candle to the sirens when it came to music.
So he came to an ultimatum. It wasn't a smart ultimatum but an ultimatum nonetheless.
If this world couldn’t stop them… maybe another world could! Starswirl took a moment to silently revel in his brilliant idea before contemplating which world he ought to send them to... Whatever, he'd figure that part out later.
So one fateful night in Canterlot, he prepared the magic mirror to send the trio to another world with the hopes that they could stop them. After all, the if they couldn't solve their own problems, the obvious solution would be to make someone else solve it for them and subsequently take all the credit.
Just as the sirens were about to perform their latest hit, Starswirl’s horn lit up and forced the sirens through the mirror and to another world.
Needless to say, the audience was not happy about it. In fact, they'd expressed their displeasure by way of pelting the mage with rotten food.
“And that’s pretty much what happened,” Adagio finished with Sunset and Spike exchanging an almost incredulous glance. Their first thought was that they were glad that Twilight wasn’t here. She would no doubt protest against the sirens’ claims against her idol.
“Well that explains how you ended up here,” was all Sunset could say. “But I’ve been wondering about your powers ever since you got here.”
“Really and what would that be?” Adagio asked.
“So when you sing, I know that you feed off the negativity in the audience,” Sunset started, “but when that happens, doesn’t that drain them of that anger?”
“No,” Aria shook her head. “The spell that’s in the songs that we play gets the crowd excited which leads to competition after which they start going after each other and we feed on that.”
“So I still don’t really get how this all works,” Spike spoke up. “You sing, the crowds get excited and then they start arguing over who likes you three the most?”
“It’s not quite that simple,” she pointed to the ruby encrusted on her necklace. “Our magic is stored in these necklaces and it’s the medium we use to sing and perform.”
She paused.
“Plus, it makes us look good,” she added as an afterthought.
“So how do they work?” Sunset asked. “I mean, I noticed that all of the negative energy that you absorbed the first time was sealed into the gem.”
Adagio and Aria exchanged an uncertain expression before turning to Sonata who’d been sitting on the desk, flailing her legs while humming a tune to herself casually, clearly not having paid attention to the conversation. That all changed when she felt four sets of eyes on her. One look at the uncertain expressions on their faces told her everything that she needed to know.
“Okay, I’ll explain!” she whined after several moments of staring, hopping off her perch before pulling out a pair of glasses from her pocket along with several whiteboard markers. As marker met whiteboard, Sonata began to explain.
“In order to understand how the gems work, you’ll need a primer on these gems' material properties at both the macro and nanoscales.”
“...and then that feeds into the heart so that it can provide circulation for the nutrients that we get from music magic,” Sonata finished, drawing an arrow to point from the gem into the siren chest. She turned to the others only to find that Aria had long since given up trying to follow Sonata’s explanation as had Adagio.
After all, they weren’t the ones with Ph.Ds in material science.
This left Spike and Sunset: the former did his best to repeat what Sonata said to Sunset who then scribbled it down as quickly as she could. Spike would later wonder how the page hadn’t caught fire with how fast she was writing.
“Okay well that makes sense… in a roundabout sort of way, I guess…” Sunset smiled awkwardly. Sonata beamed while the others just stared at her before deciding it was best to just to not question it and simply move on.
“See I kinda thought that when you used the spell, you drained the negative energy from people which you used to strengthen your powers and make people adore you,” Spike admitted.
“Oh that’s also true!” Sonata chimed in. “But that bit’s obvious so we didn’t bother including it.”
“So if that’s the case,” Sunset jumped in, “then why not drain the negativity in people as well? Wouldn’t that help attract attention so that you can get bigger audiences.”
“Perhaps,” Adagio nodded, “but unfortunately, it takes time for the word spread about us but we need to keep doing this to sustain our existence and we don’t have time to wait for larger audiences to come to us.”
“And that’s to say nothing of the fact that if we drained all of the negativity out of a person, there would be no more disharmony for us to feed on,” Aria added. Spike pointed out that would be offset by a someone else getting frustrated elsewhere to offset it and that was to say nothing of the daily inconveniences that made fools of everybody.
Sunset then countered by pointing out that social media was a thing and was great for organizing events. She could say that for a fact since she’d used it for her own schemes before she met Twilight and Spike. Actually, she still used albeit for more recreational purposes like where she ought to go for lunch or potential promotions for free stuff and to follow the hot new internet celebrity. You know the one...
Needless to say, the dazzlings were fascinated at this new media readily available at their disposal.
“So now that that’s settled,” Sunset pulled the conversation back on track, “I wanted to ask something.”
“What it is?” Adagio asked curiously as she tore her eyes away from her bandmates who were busy experimenting with this ‘social media’ conundrum that Sunset had introduced them to. It was clear to both Spike and Sunset that they were clearly having the time of their lives. Even Aria, who was infamous for being the grumpiest but arguably the most rational member of the group, had the broadest smile any of them had ever seen on her face as her fingers practically teleported across the small keyboard on her cell phone.
“Do you think it’d be possible to alter your spell so that it sucks up the negativity?” Sunset asked, prompting Adagio to raise an eyebrow in askance. Thankfully, Spike had managed to catch on to what Sunset was trying to get at and proceeded to explain.
“If you can alter your spell so that you suck up the negativity, now only will your voices get stronger, but people will adore you more as opposed to when they start arguing because think about it: they start arguing with each other and then forget about your performance when the crowd starts raging at each other!”
Adagio blinked as Spike and Sunset laid out the idea to her and her bandmates.
“Plus,” Spike added, “it’d be easy to find disharmony. All you’d have to do is just sing on the streets in a large city like Manehatten or Fillydelphia. Just hearing your voices, drew people’s attention so getting a large crowd on the streets wouldn’t be very hard. It might even end up being therapeutic since you three could potentially drain the fuel from the arguments.”
“And that’s to say nothing of how often people around here break into song and dance,” Sunset added wryly. She vaguely recalled Twilight’s experiences in Ponyville where such a thing was commonplace. Add to the fact that she was friends with Pinkie Pie and with all the strange things that girl did with her free time, there was little doubt in Sunset’s mind that they could pull of this convoluted scheme.
“But there’s still a couple of problems with this plan of yours,” Adagio spoke up. “When we sing, we end up causing disharmony and then we feed on that to strengthen our powers. The second is that even if we end up getting a larger audience, how will we be able to sustain ourselves on the people who choose not see us live in favor of watching us from the comfort of their own homes?”
“The first part’s pretty easy,” Sunset started. “Since there will already be disharmony present when you sing, your magic won’t even need to draw it out and start fights, so I don’t see that being an issue. As for the second…” Sunset and Spike exchanged an uncomfortable look.
“We’re not too sure on how to go about doing that, to be honest,” Spike admitted, scratching the back of his head with a paw. “I mean, we don’t know how magic really works in this world so it’s tough to say…”
Sunset tapped her chin in thought before snapping her fingers. “We might not know right now but there’s a way we can find out. Come on, follow me,” she said, stepping toward the door. Spike jumped from his perch on the desk while the sirens exchanged dubious glances but stood from their own perches and proceeded to follow the former bully to her locker where they found her rummaging through seemingly random articles stowed inside.
A moment later, she let out a triumphant noise as she pulled out a camera and a laptop computer. The four exchanged confused expressions as they tried to figure out what Sunset was trying to accomplish with the seemingly random setup.
“We can use this camera to record you singing and then stream it online where we can get a ton of people will watch and so we put our idea to the test and judging the reaction via the comments, we can see if this whole plan will work!” Sunset explained eagerly. This drew applause from the sirens and an awed look from Spike.
They were about to go test it when they heard principal Celestia’s voice on the intercom announcing that the Rainbooms were about to compete in the next round of the contest.
“We gotta go,” Spike said, “since our friends are going to be playing, we can pose the idea to them then and go from there.”
“We’ll be waiting,” Adagio replied as Sunset stuffed the equipment into her bag and snatched Spike up before rushing toward the gym.
“You want to do WHAT!?” Twilight exclaimed as she and her friends listened to Sunset and Spike’s proposition, after winning the second round of the competition.
“I want to help the sirens,” Sunset repeated. Noticing that Twilight was about to open her mouth to refute her, Sunset added, “Think about it Twilight: their powers feed on disharmony. If we can utilize that method as a therapeutic technique, can you imagine how much better people’s lives will be?”
“It’s not so much that it’s a bad idea,” Twilight backpedaled, “but I’m just worried that if your idea backfires, it might leave this world much worse off.”
“That’s why we’re going to conduct a thought experiment,” Sunset stated quickly. She gestured to the curtain, pointing out the unruly crowd after the latest band was boo’ed off the stage and pointed out how they’d started fighting with each other. She’d gone on to explain that if her idea was sound, then the siren’s song would purge the disharmony from them and set things right.
“But what about the spell that they use to keep the audience captive?” Twilight pointed out.
“Er… Twilight, that’s not a spell that they’re using to keep the audience captive,” Spike pointed out. “That happens literally every time someone breaks into a song and dance number. Remember, it happened you guys did that cafeteria song the last time we were here.”
“That much is true,” Rarity pointed out. “Before this whole thing started, we were playing music in the music room and by the time we’d finished, we’d unknowingly drawn a crowd.” She paused before adding, “I didn’t think that it was possible to fit that many people in that room.” Her friends let out a chorus of agreement at both Rarity’s comment as well as to Spike and Sunset’s idea.
Twilight soon found herself as the center of attention before taking a deep breath and calmly exhaling in an attempt to recompose herself.
“As long as this doesn’t escalate out of control, I won’t try to stop you,” Twilight began carefully before eying the journal Fluttershy had loaned to her. “Besides, I’ve been having a lot of trouble using these to write much of anything.” She flailed her hands around for emphasis.
Once everything was set up, Sunset gave the signal and the siren trio began to sing while the rest of the girls watched the video stream. So far so good.
Almost instantly, comments upon comments rushed through the site and the same time, the negativity in those comments had traveled through the internet through the wire and into the ruby gems.
Once Sunset called a stop, the first thing she asked was how they were feeling.
“It worked!” Sonata cheered. “I can’t believe it actually worked!”
“I just down get how it worked,” Twilight frowned, her arms crossed thoughtfully.
“I have an theory ,” Sunset offered. “Since this world doesn’t have nearly as much magic as Equestria does, humanity invented alternative means of getting things done so over time, technology was developed to facilitate this since they serve the same function, I think the sirens were able to tap into that as a second medium to channel disharmony remotely.”
Twilight stared, wide-eyed before another idea came to her: could sirens feed on electricity directly?
The sirens, despite having never met Princess Twilight, somehow knew that crazed desire to conduct some science and they didn’t want to become lab rats.
“Well since we know that this is a better method than just stirring up trouble,” Adagio smiled genuinely for the first time. “I think that we don’t need to participate in the competition since we’ll have a better time finding an audience through this medium.”
“Plus it’ll be a sustainable audience so you’ll still get that adoration that you wanted,” Spike pointed out. “The possibilities are endless: think about it: you could even be professionals and have your own record label.”
The sirens smiled eagerly at the prospect of the brighter futures in store for them as they stepped out of the room.
“Wait!” Twilight called. “What about the students who were under your control?”
“Since we haven’t sung since the first round, those students aren’t under our control anymore and we don’t really need them to be after all.”
“But seriously, Spike and Sunset, we owe you both big time,” Sonata smiled, hugging the fiery haired girl and the purple dog.
“Yeah,” Aria nodded from behind her. “This way will help us build our own community and after talking with you and Spike, I think we can use it to help make this world better for both us and for people who want to listen to our music.” With that, Aria offered a hand which Sunset grasped and shook firmly.
“Goodbye,” was all Adagio said as she and her bandmates offered a single wave before leaving the school.
Author's Note
This took way longer than it should have...
Talking is Magic: Equestria Girls
Twilight Sparkle grimaced as she slumped to the ground, her back against the locker, following the tri-cross relay event wherein CHS triumphed over Crystal Prep for the very first time since the inception of the Friendship Games.
“What am I going to do?” she asked herself helplessly. She had just received a disturbing ultimatum from her principal: find out the origins of Canterlot High’s recent success or else her application to the Everton independent study program would be denied by Cinch’s hand. The odds were stacked well against her and she was in a tough bind.
“What are you going to do?” Spike asked curiously. Twilight stared at him as her brain continued to process the fact that her test subject (read: puppy and faithful companion) had recently picked up the ability to talk due to some errant contact with that same energy. At the back of her mind, she vaguely wondered how long this would last in the hopes of getting some semblance of realism injected into the situation.
Dean Cadance is busy with coordinating the final event with Principal Cinch and the others and Shining Armor’s not around so maybe talking to Spike will give me some new perspective as ludicrous as that sounds. It’s not like this day could get any crazier than it already has…
“Twilight?” Spike spoke up as he hopped onto her lap, having noticed Twilight’s eyes glazing over in that state of perpetual panic. Even before he knew how to talk, he had a strange knack for being able to tell how his owner was feeling at any given moment. It had been both strange and incredibly useful.
Plus it earned him brownie points with her family and that was to say nothing of snuggles. Oh snuggles… how he loved them so…
Moving on…
“I don’t know, Spike. I don’t know,” Twilight shook her head sadly. She silently picked up the small dog and held him tightly in her arms for several moments.
“Um… Twilight?”
“Hmm…”
“You’re hurting my windpipe,” he managed to choke out.
“Oh! I’m so sorry Spike! I’m still getting used to being able to understand you,” Twilight replied, slackening her grip.
“Don’t worry too much about it,” Spike replied. “But since I can talk now, I’ve always wondered what the point of the Friendship Games were. I mean, I’ve heard that they’re about making friends with people from other schools but doesn’t having them compete against each other kind of y’know, defeat the purpose?”
The question made Twilight pause. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that this entire competition was a farce. Sure, the medals looked nice: if they weren’t just gold plated pieces of copper. In hindsight, that really shouldn’t have been surprising given that while Crystal Prep had a very generous budget to work with, purchasing medals made of actual gold, silver, and bronze was simply too expensive.
Plus solid gold and silver tended to be heavier by comparison.
And that was to say nothing of the bitter rivalry between the schools for years; a rivalry she didn’t even understand, having never participated in the games in prior years in favor of spending her time doing her own research. Besides, the students like CHS seemed like nice enough people if that pink haired girl with the adorable bunny had been indication so Twilight didn’t really see the point of continuously taunting them like her teammates had.
Teammates… calling the other people on the team her teammates was a bit of a stretch. As far as Twilight was concerned, they were just people that just so happened to be on the same team as her and naturally cared little if they succeeded or failed. It was clear that the feelings were mutual if the previous event was any indication.
“That’s a really good question Spike,” Twilight admitted, snapping herself out of her thoughts. “Besides, I don’t really get how this boosts Crystal Prep’s reputation. Shiny says we’ve beaten CHS every time we compete against them so I don’t really see how competing against them continuously will maintain it. I honestly think that we would be better off competing against a bunch of different schools. At the very least, we might be able to learn something from them and that could help Crystal Prep’s reputation more…” She shook her head.
Spike shrugged helplessly. Or as helplessly as he could manage, being a dog and all.
“Also, why are you so dead set on this Everton program?” Spike asked. “I mean, I get that you’d get to work in all those fancy labs…” Spike could barely proceed before Twilight cut him off, citing having the ability to focus entirely on her own math and science projects without having to worry about other people getting in her way or slowing her down.
Spike then questioned why Everton specifically; surely there were tons of independent study programs out there: why didn’t Twilight look into any of those? Did she even check out the Everton campus to see if the labs there were as good as they claimed to be or did she make assumptions based on what she read online? And what kinds of projects did she have in mind once she got there?
Assumptions… Also known as Twilight Sparkle’s Achilles heel.
“Those are actually really good points,” Twilight admitted. “I’ve been so focused on getting that I haven’t even considered what kind of projects I’d like to do once I got there…”
“Plus wouldn’t you need someone to make sure you don’t end up hurting yourself while conducting those experiments?” Spike pointed out. “So calling it an independent studying is kind of a lie, right?”
“I suppose so,” Twilight shook her head. “It’s really an independent study so far as I wouldn’t have any classmates working with me.”
“I’m no scientist,” Spike shook his head, “but it isn’t almost impossible to run a lab entirely by yourself? I remember you talked about all those great scientists working together to make all those breakthroughs…” Twilight stared at Spike in surprise. She hadn't expected him to remember any of their conversations let alone ones about science.
Spike's sharp memory aside, Twilight did recall those, at the time, one sided conversations. She remembered gushing to Spike about the latest scientist and their nobel prizes in their respective fields as their lectures played on her computer.
Some people liked to watch sports for fun. Others preferred soap operas.
Nobel Prize lectures were Twilight’s metaphorical cup of tea.
She had since worked hard to make similar breakthroughs especially since there was nothing left for her at Crystal Prep; after all, she’d already learned everything that there was to learn there. As far as she was concerned, it was time to put this phase of her life behind her and move forward.
But the more that Spike talked about it, the more that she realized that working an entire lab entirely on her own would be exhausting and she couldn’t make the incredible breakthroughs that scientist won nobel prizes for by being wearing herself out such that she wouldn’t be able to make those discoveries.
“Huh…” Twilight uttered, placing a hand on her chin thoughtfully. “I never thought about it like that. I mean, I’ve been doing lab work entirely on my own but now that you bring up those nobel prize scientists… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to start branching out and meeting others, would it?”
Spike shook his head.
“But that still raises a couple issues: if I don’t do what Cinch says and she gets the admissions committee at Everton to deny my application, where will I go from there: after all, that’s been driving me to do all of this in the first place and then there’s this…” she pulled up the pendant she’d designed to measure EM frequencies… not to steal that so-called magic from that statue.
This thing’s what caused those carnivorous plants to pop out of nowhere and attack everybody. She clutched it tightly as the pendant’s image reflected off of her glasses; the memory of how her device flew open and triggered the incident that occurred during the previous event. I really should just destroy this thing and try a different topic for my independent study. On the other hand, after all the work I put into this… it seems kind of wasteful to just destroy it.
Well, it’s not like it’s measuring anything… but then that raises the question of what’s stored inside here. Is it magic, like Sunset Shimmer said it was, or some new form of energy that could potentially be used to make the world a better place…
Twilight shook her head to turn her attention to the issue at hand: what to do with the pendant. It had caused her more than a little grief both in its construction and how it’d been stealing energy. While that in and of itself would have been unsettling, Twilight would have had the benefit of being able to ask about it. Granted, she had a feeling that those girls would have preferred to keep this all a secret.
“So Twilight, what are you going to do?” Spike asked as he struggled to keep pace with his friend as she jogged down the hallway. As an afterthought, he asked, “do you have any idea where you’re going?”
“No clue!” she replied from over her shoulder as searched for those girls: she’d failed to find them in the gym, the cafeteria, any of the classrooms.
The music room… that’s where I met them the first time… Maybe they’ll be there! Sure enough, lady luck smiled down on her as Twilight pushed the door open to find six pairs of eyes on her. Overall, the reception was lukewarm at best. Twilight, for her part, was just glad that they bore little ill will for what had happened even though they'd been trying to keep the magic as far from the games as possible.
“Actually, that’s why I came to you for help: I want to return the ‘magic’ that this thing stole from the Wondercolt statue but the problem with it is that when I originally built it, it was only meant to measure, not extract the EM frequencies outright,” Twilight explained sadly. “I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
The six girls exchanged dubious looks before nodding and walking toward her.
“Well,” Sunset began, gesturing to a table nearby, “if we’re going to extract that magic, we’re going to need to reconfigure this device to do that.”
The five watched on as the geniuses of the respective schools came together for the first time in an attempt to solve this problem.
* * *
“Okay,” Sunset scratched the back of her head half an hour as she stared down at the device which had since been dismembered in every possible way but had refused to give up the prize that they’d be aiming for. She pointed to a nondescript piece uncertainly, “I think this is the core that’s been holding all the magical energy…”
“You think?” Rainbow asked dubiously. “Just how many cores are in this thing?”
“I installed two for safety’s sake in case one shorted out prematurely but from what I can see here, it looks like they had a cross reaction when it came in contact with the energy so I guess the device responded by absorbing it,” Twilight frowned. “I didn’t even know that those cores could do that.”
“You don’t think they could have been faulty do you, dear?” Rarity asked, peering over Twilight’s shoulder to inspect the fragmented device skeptically.
“I don’t think so,” Sunset shook her head, it just looks like coming in contact with the energy caused one of the cores to short out, causing the other to go completely haywire…”
“So how’d you reckon we go about gettin’ the magic back?” Applejack spoke up.
“My first thought was simply smashing the device,” Twilight began but noticing the alarmed looks on the girls’ faces, she quickly went on. “But I quickly realized that breaking a device containing some unknown energy would be a monumentally stupid idea which is why I came to you for help. Like I said, I want to return the magic this thing took. I only meant for this to be a research project for an independent study program I’m applying for.”
“Truth be told,” Sunset spoke up, “I’m out of my depth here. I’ve never seen half of this stuff, much less know how it all works.” She shot a meaningful look at her friends.
“I think we’re going to need some backup here.”
“You can’t mean,” Rainbow started but Sunset cut her off.
“We don’t have a choice, Rainbow Dash,” she said firmly, whipping out her cellphone and dialing a number.
* * *
Principal Abacus Cinch had decided to do her own investigation in just what had caused CHS's transformation into a competitive school the likes of which Crystal Prep had never seen up until that point. So far she’d had no luck in finding anything substantial: the only thing she’d noticed was the open exchange of dialogue between CHS peers. Of course, they’d quieted considerably when she passed, their eyes narrowed coldly before turning back to their idle conversations.
Let them talk she thought snidely. Once my faithful pupil unravels the secrets of this school. Crystal Prep’s reputation can only improve from here!
As she passed by the music rooms she heard the familiar voice of her prized pupil. Of course, she’d mentored many pupils as they passed through the hallowed halls that made up Crystal Prep Academy but none of them had impressed her more so than Twilight Sparkle.
She would have gone on a whole mental spiel about how great a pupil Twilight was: in that she obeyed Principal Cinch’s word like it was the word of a queen herself. In any case, she had caught the voice of her pupil and found herself peering into the music room where she spotted those girls that she had witnessed during the previous event. She could see her pupil working with Sunset Shimmer as they poured over something that she couldn’t make out from where she was standing. It was clear that Twilight had taken her words to heart and had already started to win the trust of the students of CHS.
She wasn’t really all that surprised: with how socially awkward Twilight had been known to be, she was certain that her pupil would be able to win their trust with her social ineptness.
And that was to say nothing of how well known Twilight appeared to have been the first time she came to CHS. That could really only work to her advantage.
Well it seems that my pupil has been doing her job and doing it well Cinch thought triumphantly as she silently stepped away from the room and returned to Dean Cadenza.
There was much to be discussed once the games ended.
* * *
“So you’re looking into the Everton study program huh?” Sonata Dusk spoke up as she, Sunset, and Twilight examined the core. The youngest siren had been called in to help with situation as she was the only person they knew that had any sort of background in such devices.
“Um… yes?” Twilight asked uncertainly as she watched Sonata pull out a some expensive looking equipment from her bag and stared as Sonata prodded the active core with what looked to be a pair of sensors. She watched in fascination as wisps of energy were emitted from the core and flew towards the statue outside of the school.
It took Sonata a few minutes to discharge the trapped magic but eventually the magic had been diffused from the device and all the magic that had been sealed within had since been returned to where it belonged. From there, they had reassembled the device in record time after which, Twilight had gone on to apologize profusely while agonizing over her crumbling dream of being able to participate in the Everton independent study program.
“You know,” Sonata started as she stuffed the white lab coat into her bag. While it helped her concentrate on what she was doing (outside of music, of course!), she’d always thought it pretentious of her to wear the thing outside the lab. “If Cinch won’t let you into that independent study program, I think I have an alternative that I think you might like.”
“Really?” Twilight said eagerly as Spike’s head popped open from her open backpack.
“Yeah! Here’s what I can do for you: I can talk to a couple of the professors over at Hayvard University and get you an interview with some of them,” Sonata started. “I can tell that it took a lot of hard work and talent to be able to build such a thing and I think you’d fit in great over there!”
“That’d be a really big relief!” Twilight asked eagerly. “I always heard that Hayvard was the most selective school in the entire country so I didn’t even think that I’d have a chance of getting in so I tried for something more reasonable.”
“Well, I can at least promise you an interview with their admissions committee and a good word from me,” Sonata smiled brightly. “Besides, it’d be nice to have someone younger than me at the lab.” She pouted, her cheeks puffed. “They always treat me like some child every time I go in.”
Twilight felt her hopes rise and couldn’t quite help the giggle that escaped her throat as she and Sonata laughed together as Sunset and her friends led the way to the third event. From there, they had split up: Sonata had moved to the stands to watch but close enough to be able to hear what was being said: Aria and Adagio had told her that they’d be a while and Sonata had been bored being alone at home and figured this would be a better investment of her time.
Especially with the jumbo-tron that had been flown in to allow the spectators to watch the action via a live feed as it happened.
Meanwhile, Sunset and her friends had wished Twilight good luck as they split to their respective sides of the field.
A tap on the microphone and a high pitched noise was enough to attract everyone’s attention as they listened to Vice Principal Luna explain the objective of the final event. Apparently, this task required both teams to scour the school in search of their school’s flag. The first team to find and return to the start point would be declared the winner of both the event and the Friendship Games.
Twilight listened from the sides as Principal Cinch gave her half-baked pep talk with no real encouragement behind it. She had since tuned them out in favor of mentally reviewing the quickly improvised plan, she, Sunset, Spike, and Sonata had come up with.
* * *
“So we’re all in agreement about how this is all going to go down?” Sunset had asked as the three girls plus one puppy stood in front of the doors where the final event would be held.
“Yup!” Sonata nodded. “My part’s pretty simple. Once Twilight here opens the pendant and nothing happens, I can walk down from the stands all dramatic like we do on stage and confront Cinch.
“Same here,” Twilight had nodded in agreement. “I mean… all I’d have to do is jump open the device and when nothing happens, we can transition to you and Sonata.”
“...I understand you've applied. You see, one of the advantages of having a reputation is a certain amount of influence in such things. So, let me offer you a deal. In return for contributing your agile mind to these games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though, I suppose I could also have it... denied. What do you think I should do?” [
The three girls stared at the dog sheepishly. “My bad.”
“Well that’ll definitely be helpful in discrediting Cinch,” Sunset admitted once they had gotten over the shock of the confession.
“I didn’t even know that my datalog had been recording at the time!” Twilight had exclaimed, staring at the device in wonder.
“Well, then that makes my job a lot easier,” Sunset stated. “I was just going to confront her on the sheer ridiculousness of these games and keeping up a rivalry like this in light of everything that’s happened.” She paused before turning to Twilight.
“I’m really sorry for yelling out you early, Twilight. I guess the pressure of trying to figure this out and simultaneously making sure that it didn’t get out of hand during the games really got to me and I ended up taking out on you,” Sunset said sadly.
“Apology accepted, Sunset,” Twilight replied without missing a bit. “In retrospect, I guess I can’t really blame you given what happened during the last event.”
“Yeah, but I shouldn't have taken my frustration out on you,” Sunset allowed a small smile to cross her face as the four of them met up with the rest of the girls before heading out.
* * *
Twilight frowned as Principal Cinch confronted her about her so-called magic device. She along with Twilight’s teammates had gone so far as to sing an entire song explaining why opening the device was a good idea. They’d cited such instances as if they have it, we should have it to, and similarly ridiculous excuses.
Besides, it wasn't like this event was televised or anything and no one really talked about the Friendship games after the fact so if no one would know whether CPA won or lost.
Twilight blinked as they all started to pressure her into opening the device.
Twilight stared down at the device, a tiny mischievous grin on her lips. If they really want me to do this, then who am I to say no?
The shadowbolts grinned greedily as Twilight opened the device… only to learn that nothing had happened. Those greedy grins quickly morphed into outraged scowls and those students quickly rounded on Twilight for an explanation. Normally, Twilight would have been intimidated… and she was… to a point but the footsteps of the other girls had gone a long way of assuaging Twilight’s fears.
“Why isn’t anything happening?” Cinch demanded, glaring at the device and then at her pupil.
“It’s simple,” Sonata stated brightly as she approached the stupefied shadowbolts. “I removed the energy trapped in there especially since letting that energy loose was what caused the plant incident during the previous event.”
“And just who are you?” Cinch asked, sizing her up. Sonata was not oblivious to the implied attempt at intimidation.
“I’m Sonata Dusk! I’m a research fellow over at Hayvard University!” she stated, her tone uncharacteristically bright as she offered a hand for the faculty member to shake. Cinch stared at her as though she couldn’t believe her eyes. If what she said was true and if Twilight had acquainted herself with this Sonata Dusk, then her leverage against Twilight was moot.
“Besides, would it really be worth putting students in danger just to win a contest against a school that you’ve consistently beaten in the past?” Sunset spoke up, moving to Twilight’s side and resting hand on the girl’s shoulder in support.
Cinch had to bite back the growl that had been surging from her throat. It simply wouldn’t do to lose her composure to some snot-nosed students. Even if said snot-nosed student happened to have rivaled her pupil in the academic decathlon. But still, she had to reluctantly admit that the fiery haired girl raised a good point.
“Also, I found out how the Canterlot High’s reputation improved so drastically,” Twilight spoke up. “The answer is a lot simpler than you might think.”
That had caught Cinch off guard as she wrapped an arm around her student, performing a sudden 360 shift, commending her on learning that piece of information.
“Now tell me: what is it,” Cinch leaned forward greedily. This was something that she’d been trying to learn but for some reason, everyone pointedly ignored her whenever she asked around.
“Friendship,” Twilight explained simply. “I asked Sunset while we working together and she told me it was thanks to the bonds of friendship that formed ever since the previous Friendship Games that brought them closer together.”
* * *
“Um Sunset?” Twilight started awkwardly as she and the fiery haired girl next to her went to work dismantling the device in search of the stolen energy.
Sunset had looked up from her work in askance, prompting Twilight to continue.
“I was wondering: Seeing CHS has been doing really well during the Friendship Games this year, I was wondering how it all happened?” Twilight asked nervously. She wasn’t doing this for Cinch but now that Cinch had raised the issue, Twilight had found herself more than a little curious and couldn’t help but raise the question if only to sate her own curiosity.
Sunset glanced her friends who shrugged. It was clear that they didn’t harbor any ill will toward Twilight in particular. Besides, Princess Twilight and Spike had asked them to spread the message of friendship and now was as good a time as any to start.
“Friendship,” Sunset stated simply. When Twilight’s response came by way of a dubious expression, Sunset went on to explain. “If we hadn’t broken down the walls that divided us and come together as a united school, I don’t think we would have ever been able to improve as significantly or as quickly as we did.”
“And it’s not just that,” Rarity added from her perch atop the grand piano, “but having friends in a variety of social circles had brought about collaboration the likes of which CHS has never seen before! Why, I myself have gotten all sorts of ideas for potential designs simply by talking to some of the other students that I wouldn’t have considered talking to before and it’s not only made me a better person for it but it’s also helped my fledgling business flourish.”
“And that’s to say nothing of how helpful it will be to have those friends last even after we graduate from here,” Fluttershy added helpfully. “I mean, the world is a really big place it’s hard to make out there on your own. Not that’s it’s impossible… but um, it’s just a lot easier when you have friends there that will catch you when you fall.”
“I don’t know a whole lot about CPA but it looks like you guys practically hate each other or something,” Rainbow stated. “It’s like Fluttershy said, it’ll be hard to get far in life, working entirely by yourself so it’s really thanks to everyone working together to get our act together and make our school the very best that we can be!”
A resounding cheer of agreement met that statement as Twilight watched on as the girls engaged in what looked like the biggest group hug she’d ever seen. Granted, it was the only group hug she’d ever seen as Crystal Prep had never been anywhere near as touchy-feely in favor of crisp and cold professionalism.
But the more that Twilight thought about both what these girls told coupled with what she and Spike had discussed before looking for them, found Twilight having an epiphany.
* * *
Cinch found herself slackjawed at Twilight’s recount of events but her prized pupil was nowhere near done yet.
“And ever since Sunset and her friends explained it to me, I came to realize something really important about myself: if I want to succeed, I need to have an open mind and be more willing to work with others so go ahead, withdraw my application to the Everton program.”
If Cinch wasn’t surprised before, she certainly was now.
“This is preposterous!” Cinch lashed out angrily. “I refuse to believe that mere friendships brought about Canterlot High’s newfound success! After all, the world is a cruel place where you will be stabbed in the back for befriending someone! I guarantee it!”
“Perhaps,” a new voice spoke up. The girls jumped at the sight of Principal Celestia walking over. “But it is simply not fair to label everybody the same way just because of a single person that may have wronged you, Abacus.”
“This has nothing to do with me,” Cinch hissed. However, it was clear that small cracks had started to form in her cool and aloof teacher persona.
It was a telltale sign that it had everything to do with her.
“Abacus, listen to me,” Celestia said gently, taking the older woman’s hands into her own. “Nobody should ever have to go through life without a friend.”
At that Cinch cracked as she covered her face with her hands and had to fight off the urge to weep as she stared at the frowns on the faces of her students and found herself reflecting on everything she’d done up until that point especially now that Twilight had brought about Canterlot High’s secret to success.
“Abacus, how did this all come about in the first place,” Luna spoke up from her place next to her sister.
“Well…” Cinch trailed off awkwardly.
* * *
It was a snowy day at Crystal Prep where a younger Abacus Cinch had been enthusiastically decorating the classroom alongside her friends who had decided to divide and conquer to decorate the school more quickly.
“What do you think you’re doing, Ms. Cinch?” Abacus jumped at the sound of the voice, spinning around to find one of the school’s professors standing behind her, a disapproving scowl complete with matching glare and greasy hair galore.
“I-I was just decorating the classroom for the holidays,” Abacus replied nervously yet enthusiastic all the same.
“You said you wanted to be a successful young woman, correct? One that would do Crystal Prep proud?” He asked sharply. Abacus gulped as she nodded. As he asked how she intended to reach that goal, she replied that she intended to work, learn as much as she could, network as effectively as possible and then utilize all her skills to make the world a better place.
“And how do these,” he gestured to the ornaments, “help you to achieve that end.” Before Abacus could get a word in edgewise, he had gone on, stating that the ornaments were useless but then backpedaled in what was intended to be a subtle way to force Abacus into studying harder than ever before and eliminating the idea that friendship was critical to success.
“It’s your call,” he said grimly, standing over the intimidating girl not unlike a tower looming over a person almost as though it would fall on her at the slightest gust of wind. “You could spend your time learning to become a powerful woman and make history… or you could play with your decorations and make nothing of yourself.”
He stepped out the classroom, leaving a conflicted Abacus Cinch behind as her eyes drifted miserably from the decorations she’d hung up to the textbooks sitting on her desk.
Midterm examinations were coming up soon and she’d need to keep up her grades if she wanted to maintain the generation scholarship that the school’s administration had offered. Besides, her teacher wasn’t entirely wrong. She would need to work hard to reach her endgame goal…
“Surely the others will understand right?” she whispered, pulling the textbook toward her. With a pen and a pad of paper at her side, she had quickly gone to work on her studies, drowning out her friends’ invitations to spend time together along with the worthless chatter of her peers…
* * *
“That’s how it started,” Cinch stated uncomfortably. “And my teacher was correct, as a result of his teachings, I was able to accomplish a great many things critical to improving Crystal Prep’s reputation but...” she gestured to the crowd of students. “I feel that I’ve lost sight of my overarching goal of making the world a better place…” And that was to say nothing of how her students treated each other. If the reports from Dean Cadance had been indication, change would definitely be needed. If nothing else, they'd would never learn to network post-graduation.
“Well,” said Principal Celestia in an impressive display of wisdom. “It’s never too late to get back on track. Principal Cinch, you and I could work together and usher in the renaissance that CHS has been blessed to have and bring our schools closer through the bonds of friendship forged here today just as the founders of the Friendship Games had intended. The road ahead will be tough but so long as we all stand together, there’s nothing we can’t do.”
“I’d like that,” Principal Cinch stated, a small but genuine smile on lips as she accepted Celestia’s proffered hand. All the students cheered as the two principals shook hands before promptly declaring the games this year as a double victory. Students from both teams cheered unabashedly, congratulating each other irrespective of the schools while Sunset and her friends watched on, stunned.
“Wow…” Sunset stared as the two principals distributed medals to the participating team members. Much like her, her friends were just as surprised with how the games played out.
* * *
“Um… Twilight?” Spike spoke up from his place next to his companion as they watched the crowds. It was clear to him that while Twilight had befriended those nice girls they’d met earlier, she was still wary of large crowds and opted to keep her distance. “What’re we gonna do now?”
“Well,” Twilight leaned back as she stared up at the late afternoon sky. “I’m aiming to work with Sonata at that lab in Hayvard and learning about friendship from Sunset and her friends at the same time.”
“Are you sure you can handle it?” Spike asked dubiously. “I’m just worried that you’ll have a breakdown from the stress.”
“Aww… Spike. That’s really sweet of you to care,” Twilight briefly nuzzled the dog happily before setting him onto her lap. “But it’s like you, Sunset, and Sonata have been telling me all this time: friends will be there to help you up when you fall and with their help, I’m sure that there’s nothing I can’t do either. Besides,” she grinned, pulling out her datalog with the information of Cinch forcing Twilight to compete in the Friendship Games, "at least we didn't need to rat Cinch out with this. Can you imagine how badly things would have gone for her had this gotten out?"
"Very bad," Spike nodded. Twilight then pointed out that if weren't for Cinch forcing her to compete, she would have ultimately missed out on a plethora of opportunities. So in retrospect, Twilight was glad that she had the chance to compete.
“We finally found you!” She looked down to find Sonata flanked on either side by the Wondercolts and Shadowbolts. The latter had immediately apologized to Twilight for pressuring her into unleashing a potentially dangerous energy into their world. Twilight had accepted their apology. After all, she felt no need to maintain any bad blood between them.
“Come on! Everybody’s waiting for us at the Sweet Shoppe! We’re throwing a party to celebrate the greatest Friendship Games ever!” she exclaimed. Twilight allowed a small smile to cross her lips as she stood up and moved to meet her new friends where they were.
Yes… the future was looking bright for everyone.
Author's Note
So this brings us to the end of Talking is Magic: Equestria Girls. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It was certainly a different experience as opposed to writing the main antagonists if only because of the primary setting being a public high school as opposed to Equestria so that was certainly an interesting change of pace.
