by Perdita Finn
“But the punch is awful, too,” Aria Blaze noted.
“What do you know about good fruit punch?” Sonata spat.
“More than you,” shot back Aria.
“Do not.”
“Do, too.”
Adagio ignored their bickering and focused on the partygoers. “This is just the kickoff party,” she said to herself. “Imagine what a tizzy they’ll be in by the time the Battle of the Bands starts.”
Right behind her, in a loud, clear voice, Twilight Sparkle announced, “There isn’t going to be a Battle of the Bands! We’re going to make sure of it!”
Everyone stopped talking. The room was hushed.
“All right, girls. Let’s do this!” shouted Twilight to her friends.
The girls clasped hands and waited for the rainbow magic that always came when they were together with Twilight Sparkle. But this time nothing happened. They waited another beat. Still, nothing. The crowd was staring at them, and the Equestria Girls were just standing there holding hands with their eyes closed. Rainbow Dash peeked out at the gym.
“Um, weren’t there rainbows and lasers and stuff last time?” she whispered to the other girls.
“I don’t understand,” said Twilight Sparkle. “We’re all together again. Why isn’t this working? This is all we had to do last time to defeat Sunset Shimmer. We just had to come together and hold hands.”
From a backpack over in the corner, Spike popped out his head. “You really need to go ahead and do that whole Magic of Friendship thing now,” he whispered as quietly as he could to Twilight Sparkle.
“I’m trying, Spike,” she said under her breath. “I thought the six of us standing together against the Sirens would bring out the magic we needed to defeat them. That’s what happened before.”
Adagio seized the moment. “Talk about throwing down the gauntlet! This group is obviously serious about winning,” she said to the gathered teens. “A little cocky, though, aren’t they? Claiming there won’t really be a battle. Seems they think they’ve already got this thing all locked up.”
Trixie stepped out from the crowd with her band of girls in a tight formation behind her. “Not if the Great and Powerful Trixie has anything to do with it.”
Flash faced off against Trixie. “Whatever, Trixie. We’re the best band at Canterlot High. We’re the ones who’ll be going the distance.” Their faces were silhouetted by the faintest of sickly green lights.
They began arguing about which band was better. The Cutie Mark Crusaders insisted they were the best band. Snips and Snails yelled at them and insisted they were going to win. Everyone was shouting and fighting and squabbling. Every new quarrel seemed to produce another thread of green light. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata smiled contentedly as their scarlet pendants absorbed it and seemed to grow brighter.
Twilight Sparkle noticed what was happening and was more worried than ever. She gestured to her friends to leave the room, while they still could.
Adagio watched them go with a sinister smile. “I think we may have found what we’re looking for. Or rather, it found us.”
Sonata stared at her blankly.
Adagio nearly screamed in frustration. “Magic! Don’t you see? Don’t you see? Everyone else has fallen under our spell. But not these girls. These girls are special. And they’ve got exactly what we need to grow more powerful than ever!”
The Band to Beat
Out in the parking lot, Twilight Sparkle was beside herself. The Equestria Girls were all looking at her expectantly, but she couldn’t figure out why the magic hadn’t worked. “It doesn’t make any sense,” she said, pacing back and forth. “I should have been able to create the spark that would help us break their spell. That’s how it worked before.”
Sunset Shimmer had been thinking about that night, too. “To defeat me, you drew magic from the crown I was wearing,” she remembered. “I had used it to create dark magic, and you used it to help create the Magic of Friendship.” She stopped. She realized something. She had figured it out! “The Sirens’ magic comes from their music. So maybe you have to use the same kind of magic to defeat them.”
Twilight stopped pacing and stared at Sunset.
“Or maybe not,” said Sunset, suddenly self-conscious.
“No. I think you’re onto something.”
“Really?” said Sunset, brightening.
Twilight turned to the other girls. “It’s when you play music that you transform now, right? When the magic inside you comes out?”
“Yep,” said Applejack. “Ears. Tails. The whole shebang.”
Twilight was looking much happier. “So maybe the way to use that magic to defeat the Sirens is by playing a musical counterspell.”
“You mean like a song?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight nodded. “And in order to free everyone who’s been exposed to the Sirens’ spell, we’ll need them all to hear it.”
The girls thought about this for a moment, and then Rarity realized the perfect way to do that. “The band competition! That’s the next time we can be certain everyone will be in the same place at the same time.”
Applejack slapped her thigh. “Guess the Rainbooms are the band to beat at the Battle of the Bands!”
“And I know who the newest member of the Rainbooms is,” beamed Rainbow. “It’s you, Twilight!”
All the girls were so happy—except for Sunset Shimmer, who stepped aside into the shadows so the girls could all enjoy their reunion. It looked like a lot of fun to be in a band.
Pinkie Pie was brimming with ideas for what instrument Twilight Sparkle should play. “Triangle? Sousaphone? Theremin?” she suggested. “Soooooo magical!”
Twilight laughed. “It might take a little too long to learn how to play some of those.… I’ll just sing.”
Rainbow Dash looked confused. “Like, as lead singer? ’Cause that’s usually my gig. This being my band and all.”
“It’s our band,” corrected Applejack. “And of course Twilight Sparkle will be lead singer. She’s the one with the magical know-how to help us pull this thing off.”
Rainbow Dash exhaled slowly, taking in the news. “Okay. Yeah. That’s cool.” She tossed her hair. She was used to being the most valuable player on the team, it was true, and it was hard for her to let go of that. “I’ll just use this as a chance to hone my already insanely good lead guitar skills.”
Applejack rolled her eyes.
“It’s only temporary,” said Twilight Sparkle, stepping in. “And we don’t have to win the Battle of the Bands. We just have to perform the counterspell during the first round of the competition.” There was entirely enough rivalry making everyone unhappy at Canterlot High.
“So let’s get to learning that musical counterspell,” said Rainbow Dash, rediscovering her team spirit.
“That’s just it. I don’t know any,” admitted Twilight Sparkle.
The girls’ shoulders slumped with disappointment.
“But I could figure out how to write one,” suggested Twilight Sparkle. She would not let her friends down. She was a magical pony princess, after all.
“Totally!” chimed in Spike. “Twilight can write a spell like nobody’s business. That’s pretty much how she got to become royalty in Equestria.”
“Technically I helped finish a spell,” she explained. “And there was a little more to it than that, Spike.”
“Yeah. Whatever.” He winked at the girls. “Twilight’s totally got this.”
Their eyes wide and hopeful, they all looked at Twilight.
“I’ve got this,” she said confidently. “Come on, Spike.” The two headed back through the darkness toward the high school.
“Where you goin’?” shouted Applejack after them.
“Last time we were here, Spike and I slept in the library.”
“Are you crazy?!” said Pinkie Pie. “We’re besties now! You’re staying at my house. It’s time for a slumber party!”
Pajama Jam
Pinkie Pie’s b
edroom was decorated all in pink. The walls were pink; her desk was pink. Her bed had pink pillows and a pink comforter. And the pajamas she had given to Twilight Sparkle to wear were soft and fuzzy and, of course, pink.
Twilight was sitting on Pinkie Pie’s bed deep in thought. She had a notebook Fluttershy had given her in her lap. She was humming softly to herself, trying out tunes and lyrics and writing them down. She had to find just the right words and melody to counteract the spell.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack, also in their pajamas, were playing a video game together. Pinkie Pie was checking out gossip on her computer. “Status update: Okeydokey-lokey!”
Rarity held up her phone and took a selfie with Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy in the picture. “Gorgeous!” she said, checking it out.
Sunset was smiling happily in the photo. It felt good to be included. How could she have ever thought being an all-powerful, all-lonely she-demon would be more fun than this? If only the Sirens could understand that, but Twilight would have to defeat them first.
Rainbow Dash turned off the video game.
“Hey! I was about to beat you!” exclaimed Applejack.
“I doubt it,” bragged Rainbow Dash. “Hey, Twilight, how’s the counterspell coming?”
Twilight stopped humming and looked up. “Huh? Oh, uh, good. Great,” she said distractedly. “Thanks for letting me use your notebook, Fluttershy.” She flipped to an earlier page in the book covered in Fluttershy’s writing. “I really like the song you wrote for the Rainbooms.”
Fluttershy blushed. “Thanks.” Then she added so softly that only Twilight heard her, “Hopefully one day we’ll get a chance to play it.”
Rarity plopped down on the bed next to Twilight Sparkle. “Dearest Twilight, I think I speak for all of us when I say that I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been able to come back and help us.”
All the girls chimed in, agreeing with her. Without Twilight Sparkle, there would be no hope against the Sirens! A doorbell ringing downstairs interrupted them.
“Pizza’s here!” announced Pinkie Pie, jumping up. The girls all dashed downstairs. All except for Twilight Sparkle.
Everyone had such faith in her, but she just couldn’t come up with the right words. She picked up the notebook and studied it again. The page where she had been working was blank except for a single line, which had been crossed out. What was she going to do?
Pinkie Pie poked her head back into the bedroom. “Don’t you want any pizza?”
Twilight nodded and followed Pinkie downstairs, but not before tucking the notebook under a pillow.
Late that night, after all the girls had finally stopped giggling and fallen asleep, Twilight slipped out of her sleeping bag, tiptoed around the girls, and retrieved the notebook. Quietly, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. She had to come up with a solution before the girls woke up!
She scribbled down words and phrases and crossed them out. She chewed on the end of her pen. “No, that’s not going to work,” she said to herself. She wrote down something else and stared at it, dissatisfied.
A gentle voice interrupted her work. “Hey, Twilight,” said Sunset Shimmer, coming into the kitchen.
Twilight nearly jumped out of her skin with surprise! She dropped her pen.
“You’re up late,” noted Sunset, sitting down at the table with her.
“Just looking over the counterspell. We only get one shot at this. It has to be perfect.” Casually, she closed the notebook so Sunset couldn’t see how little she’d actually written.
“We really are lucky you’re here,” said Sunset.
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me.” Twilight sighed.
There had been so much Sunset Shimmer had wanted to say to Twilight Sparkle after the disastrous events of last fall, and no time to say it before she had disappeared, seemingly forever. Sunset noticed the worried look on Twilight’s face. She got up and opened the door to the fridge, and laughed when she saw its contents. “Who could possibly need this much whipped cream?”
She began moving canisters of the topping around, looking for a healthier midnight snack. “Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers,” she said to Twilight from inside the fridge. “Instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.”
But Twilight felt just as blue as Sunset Shimmer. Maybe Princess Celestia had made a mistake. Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a magical princess. “Just because everyone expects something from you, doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen,” she confided.
“But that doesn’t stop them from expecting it,” noted Sunset.
“Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is—”
“Let everybody down!” said both girls at the same time.
Sunset turned around and stared at Twilight. Maybe the two of them had more in common than she thought. Being a good friend wasn’t always easy; that’s what she was discovering. It was a lot of responsibility.
A figure with arms outstretched, holding a rock in her open palm, staggered into the kitchen. It was Maud Pie! “Boulder was hungry,” she said, her voice flat and dull. It was always a surprise to the girls that the vibrant Pinkie Pie had such a lackluster older sister.
Sunset Shimmer and Twilight watched silently as Maud walked over to the pantry and grabbed a box of crackers.
“I still can’t get over the fact that she’s related to Pinkie Pie,” Sunset Shimmer whispered to Twilight.
“You and me both.”
Maud had opened the crackers and was crumbling them over Boulder in a kind of daze. She reached in for another handful. Clearly, she was going to go through the entire box before she was done. She explained that she was feeding her pet rock.
“Better get some sleep,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Good luck with the counterspell. Not that you’ll need it. This must be nothing compared to the stuff you’re expected to deal with as a princess in Equestria.”
“But what if I can’t…” began Twilight, ready to share her doubts and worries, but Sunset had already headed back upstairs. She opened her notebook again with a deep sigh. “No. I have to be able to do this. I have to.”
She began humming and writing again while beside her Maud Pie “fed” Boulder more crumbled crackers. But as she worked, she felt more and more hopeless. What would happen to Canterlot High if she couldn’t come up with a counterspell? She could barely think about it, but she knew that she could never return to Equestria as a princess if she couldn’t take care of her friends right here, right now.
Princess in Peril
The Rainbooms gathered together at Applejack’s Sweet Apple Acres Co-op the next day, setting up their instruments in the barn to practice. Sunset Shimmer and Spike were sitting together to watch the rehearsal, but Spike kept covering his ears. The music was terrible! The girls were trying to play the song Twilight had written, but they couldn’t seem to blend their instruments, find the right rhythms, or even sing in tune. Even worse, they would start to pony up and then stop halfway as if something was terribly the matter.
Rarity got a tail but not ears. Fluttershy grew wings, but no one else did. One ear popped out of Pinkie Pie’s head but not both. Rainbow Dash’s mane kept growing and growing until it wrapped around her guitar and made it impossible to play!
“I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going wrong with this counterspell,” said Rainbow Dash over the cacophony of the music.
“You’re turning what should be the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo?” Applejack criticized. She was getting tired of Rainbow Dash’s need to always be the star.
“I have to pick up the slack somehow. Are you guys even trying?” Rainbow Dash tried to untangle her mane from the guitar.
“I’m trying,” said Fluttershy softly.
Big Mac, Applejack’s older brother, poked his head into the barn. Almost immediately, he ducked back out of the room, covering his ears with his hands just like Spike. The Rainbooms put down their
instruments, and silence filled the barn at last. Spike and Sunset looked relieved.
Spike tried to be supportive, but he wasn’t very convincing. “That sounded way better than the last five times you played it.”
Twilight Sparkle was frazzled. She hadn’t slept all night, and now one of her eyes was twitching. “It’s fine. It will be fine,” she said to herself. Taking a deep breath, she turned toward the other girls. “One more time from the top.”
Rarity spoke up first. “Or perhaps we should take a short break? Try on some of the wardrobe choices I’ve put together?” She ran over to a rack of clothing in the barn, riffled through it, and produced a bright blue rock-and-roll jacket like something the Running Hooves would have worn in their heyday. “I’m particularly fond of this one. Of course we could always go with something a bit more modern.…”
“We’re tryin’ to save our school here. Enough with the costumes,” said Applejack, fiddling with her amp. She kept getting all kinds of screeching feedback when she tried to play.
Rarity was trying on more outfits, and now she was dressed in black leather with a metallic neon-lit helmet, like she was in Mad Steed. “You can never have enough costumes,” she said in a strange electronic voice.
“Rarity just wants to make things fun,” said Pinkie Pie supportively. “Isn’t that what being in a band is supposed to be about?”
Sunset Shimmer shook her head. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, guys, but you don’t have time for any of this. You’re supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes.”
The girls went nuts. They had completely lost track of time. The whole day had vanished while they struggled to play Twilight’s song. Now they had to pack up their instruments. There was no more time to practice. The next time they played the song, they would be performing it.
Twilight Sparkle was clearly panicked. “But… but it’s not ready. If we play the counterspell in the first round and it doesn’t work, the Sirens will know what we’re up to and make sure we don’t get a chance to play it again.”
