“Alright, a fresh new day of watching our friends do their things, let's provide some interesting commentary!”

“We've all taken the night off, so we're here with a fresh set of footage, should help prevent repetition.”

“Dawn of the second day. 48 hours remain.”

“Alright Twilight, you've now had enough time to consider the correct course of action?” After last night's discussion, Spike wanted to be sure Twilight was taken care of.

“Don't worry, Spike, I'm okay now. We get the students on our side, destroy Sunset Shimmer democratically, and I ask that boy to the dance, if we're going to be there anyway.”

“That's the Twilight I know. We've got a patented Sparkle Plan™, we can't fail now.” Spike was probably putting too much faith in her abilities, especially considering how this kind of planning had backfired before, but no harm in giving her some hope to hold onto.

Bristle walked back into the room. “I heard something about a plan, more specifically, that you've got one. What's our plan of attack?”

Spike filled him in. “Twilight's going to do a musical number to win over the kids, ask that guy to the dance, and show that Sunset Shimmer creep the real super power of teamwork!”

“Please tell me you didn't just reference that, Spike.”

“I didn't say anything about a musical number.”

“How else do we ever do anything?”

“I'm more concerned that he's becoming self-aware, and genre savvy. That sort of knowledge is dangerous, trust me, I know. It requires a lot of concentration to keep that power in check.”

“Should we kill him?”

“I'll look into it.”

“Well, if Spike's claim about a musical number is true, how do you plan to write, record, and sing a song in less than 12 hours?”

“Those sorts of things always work out without any kind of work. The important thing is that high school students love spontaneous musical numbers, especially in a cafeteria. We just sing during lunch, and suddenly, we're winning the race!”

“Stick to the status quo?”

“If I ever hear you reference that movie again, you will not be able to begin to imagine the agony you will feel. I'm so happy I was trapped in stone while that was popular.”

Bristle patted Twilight on the back. “Well then, we should get today going. Wait...I don't get to do any killing today?”

“No! You're not doing any killing! We're going to arrest her and bring her back to Celestia for justice!”

Bristle growled. “Why am I still here?” Nevertheless, he walked towards some classroom with her, just to maintain cover. However, their walk seemed a bit strange. Suddenly, everyone they passed was paying close attention to them. They were pointing, staring, and giggling, leaving the group of protagonists confused.

“Did it just refer to them as protagonists?”

“That was me, I think. Maybe. I have a hard time keeping track of the chaos I cause sometimes.”

“It had to have been you. Who else has the power to warp reality and break the fourth wall like that?”

“Oh, there's lots of us. We have meetings every week, and we're discussing switching places every once in a while. I really want to narrate over this 'Space Dandy' character one of them talks about.”

Once they were completely confused by their attention, Twilight felt a hand reach out of the room she was standing in front of, and pull her in. Bristle didn't question it and stepped into the room of his own accord.

Inside the room, he found Twilight being forcibly sat down by Rarity. “Don't worry darling, we can help you! I've got a wig and some makeup for you, we can keep you hidden!” She began working her magic on Twilight, who was resisting. Bristle just accepted it, and noticed that they had guests. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy, who looked away when she made eye contact with him. “So...what's going on here? Is this considered kinky? Can I fap to this?”

“You can fap to anything if you put your mind to it, Bristle.”

“That's inspirational.”

Rarity turned her attention away from Twilight to address the question. “It is nothing so crude and disgusting. Haven't you seen the latest talk of the school?”

Fluttershy gasped. “Maybe...maybe they don't know?”

The four other native high-schoolers looked at each other, none of them having considered that incredibly obvious option. Wordlessly, Rarity pulled a phone out of her purse, and began tapping the screen. Once she had reached the app she wanted to, she held it out so Twilight and Bristle could watch the video playing out on the screen.

The video was not professional, but it was prepared. It was like a shitty political ad, with a narration unmistakeably Sunset Shimmer's. The video contained pictures and footage of Twilight, doing pony things in a human body. It wasn't very flattering. She was moving her legs in her original attempts to walk, picking up books with her mouth, and even the occasional walking on all fours. Meanwhile, Sunset was talking about someone like that shouldn't be their princess. Twilight was trying not to watch out of embarrassment for herself. Spike would have been ashamed of her too, but he had since jumped out of her bag again to be cuddled more by Fluttershy.

Meanwhile, Bristle was standing next to Twilight and smiling at the video, laughing quietly under his breath. Until the end, where it showed a clip of him, acting normal. Sunset decided to be a dick to him too, and basically call him gay for running to be princess. Now Bristle was pissed. “Alright, she's gone too far now! Bitch is gonna pay! Also, what does this mean for us?”

Rainbow stepped out of her chair to answer the question. “She's slandering you! This is exactly what we were all warning you about, and you decided not to forfeit! Now you're paying the price, and she's hitting you hard. There's no way in hell anyone would dare vote for you now.”

Bristle held up a finger to stop her talking. “Hold on a minute, all of you are here together. Did one of you just hunt down everyone we made extended contact with yesterday to hold this discussion, or is there something else going on here?”

Pinkie seemed confused. “What do you mean? We're all friends, we've been friends since freshman year. When I saw this video pop up on Facebook, I sent them all messages about what we should be doing here.”

There was a pause, an uncomfortable silence in the room, until Bristle rolled his hand to cue her further. “And...what conclusion did you come to?”

Applejack made one step forward, determined. “We're gonna help ya'll. Ya got good hearts, and some serious spirit. It's time that Sunset Shimmer got what she deserves!”

“Assemble the party! Stock up on supplies! Buy 10 more Pokeballs, just to be safe!”

“Thanks for the tip, it won't help my Braixen doing killing blows when I don't want it to.”

Pinkie looked around. “Did you girls just hear something?” When no one acknowledged the phantom voice that she heard, she shrugged it off and went back to the conversation in the room. “Well, I don't want to be a meanie-pants to someone who doesn't deserve it, but Sunset deserves it now. She's been a jerk to everyone for too long.”

Rarity turned to Twilight, sitting in her chair, quietly. “Twilght, darling, you haven't said anything since we pulled you in. Is something wrong?”

Twilight wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel. Well, that wasn't entirely true, she certainly felt angry at Sunset Shimmer for stooping this low But it wasn't the type of anger that she wasn't supposed to be feeling, she instead felt betrayed.

“I'll summarize what's happening here. Twilight disillusioned herself into thinking Sunset Shimmer cared about her, based on their experience together. She stupidly decided Sunset would be soft on her, because she's an idiot. Real world, Twilight, not those shitty romance clop books you read.”

“I-I'll be fine. I'm just...not sure how I'm supposed to deal with something like this.”

Applejack patted her on the shoulder. “I'll tell ya what we should do: kick her sorry ass until she regrets what she's done!”

The rest of the room was not so enthused about that plan, Fluttershy was quietly advocating against it, but Bristle threw his arms into the air. “Finally, someone who gets it. We wait for the perfect moment to strike, right when it'll hurt her the most, and we put her in a headlock and make her feel PAIN!”

“Are you sure he's a hero of this story?”

“He's morally ambiguous at best. Chaotic Neutral, I'd say. Like me.”

“Pfft! You use D&D alignment charts?”

“They're handy for purposes like this! It's not like I play a Level 17 Paladin! And I've said too much.”

“Oh, so that's what you do with your buddies atop the fourth wall.”

Rainbow tried to come around to the idea. “So, when do you propose we fight back, when is this time where she'll really feel it?”

“Obviously, it'll be immediately after it's announced that she didn't win the title of Fall Formal Princess. She'll be crushed, then we just add insult to injury and let her know what we think of her shit.”

“Nope, I'm convinced, he's the villain.”

Twilight finally spoke up. “Don't count your chickens before they hatch...”

“...or before they egg...”

“...we still have to deal with the very likely possibility that we won't win the election. Remember, with this video out there, we're pretty much screwed already. And I'm not going to cheat.”

Bristle could swear he saw Rainbow Dash get disappointed out of the corner of his eye, but replied nonetheless. “We had a contingency plan for this, remember? One great public showing, one big song, big enough that we leave them on, but not so big that we blow our one, and they're wrapped around our finger!”

“Oh, so I can't use Ninja Sex Party lyrics, but he can use Nostalgia Critic and be fine?”

“And...how do you plan to come up with a song before tomorrow,” Rarity asked.

Bristle shrugged as Twilight explained. “Trust me, these sorts of things just always work out in the end, and I have no idea how. One of those mysteries of the universe. So...are we a team, then?”

The girls all looked at each other and nodded. Spike leapt away from Fluttershy to give her the chance to stand, as they all came together and put their hands into one pile to signify unity. Rainbow did the honors. “We're a team. All we need is one good team name.”

Bristle had a mental list for an occasion like this. “How about the Fighting Mongooses? Maverick Hunters? The IJLSA? Foxhound?”

“Not a bad list already. It could use a few additions, though. The Spinnakers?”

“That's racist, I'll have you know. My extensive research tells me that 'spinnaker' is an incredibly offensive slur. But they make good waffles.”

Twilight took the helm to provide her own name. “Alright, if you're done coming up with stupid team names...” She looked directly at Bristle.

“...I had more, but...you go ahead...,” he responded.

“...Then I'd like to suggest a far better name. The Equestria Girls.”

“That one's terrible. You should be ashamed of yourself, Twilight.”

Bristle sighed heavily. “You know what? Fine. I'll give you this. I just want you to know that it's only out of pity.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, but accepted the victory she could get. Everyone else decided to roll with it, and signaled to the outsiders to join their hand pile. Twilight and Bristle acknowledged their friendship, and professed their unison. They added their hands, and nodded all together. Twilight made their goal clear. “Now let's get that Fall Formal Princess Crown!”

Now that lunch was in progress, the cafeteria was cheering. The Equestria Girls had done their full musical number, and achieved their goal. Twilight was a popular candidate now.

“We didn't get to hear the song? What a gyp.”

“I don't know, maybe it's because WRITING CAN'T CONVEY MUSIC.”

Twilight walked out of the cafeteria to take a moment to breathe. Maybe things would start going her way...

“They won't, considering you're tempting fate too much by saying that.”

...and things were getting better. The boy she had her crush on walked out to find her. “Hey, Twilight, you did great in there! So...I had a question I want to ask you...”

“YES!” Twilight was too excited to wait to answer, even if she didn't know the question. For all she knew, she just agreed to something horrible. When he seemed confused, Twilight laughed nervously and backpedaled. “I...I assume you were asking about the Fall Formal, right?”

He slowly nodded. “Yeah, that's what I was asking about. So...I'll see you at 5 tomorrow, then? Oh, my name's Flash Sentry.”

Twilight laughed again, still nervous. “Oh wow, I didn't even realize that I didn't know your name, what kind of romance is this where the first date happens before I even know your name, is this some kind of fairy tale, hahahahaha...ha...ha...” She trailed off, and Flash just sort of went along with it.

Off in the distance, Sunset Shimmer was watching in the shadows. “Enjoy your temporary victory, Twilight Sparkle. You may think you're going to win, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, and you will know my wrath. Princess Celestia took everything that mattered from me, I'll make you know the same pain.”

“Cliffhangers...Hey Discord, you alright? You look a little off.”

“I didn't script that. I had no idea Sunset was planning something so sinister. Someone's messing with our story!”

“Is it some kind of psychic interference?”

“Do I have to do my Psychonaut thing again?”

“No...this is far more serious. Things could go horribly wrong if I don't find out what's happening. Reality, all universes, and all boundaries separating them could break apart.”

Author's Note

One more chapter...

And yes, I do know about the rumors about Equestria Girls 2. If it gives me enough material to work with, I could expand this story. But that's half a year at best.