Make Your Own Magic: Starswirl Do-Over
Page 6
“High-speed maneuvering,” Rainbow Dash offers.
Applejack cracks her knuckles. “You can always fight tough with tough.”
What should Sunset do?
Toughen up with Applejack. CLICK HERE.
Befriend the security guard with Pinkie Pie. CLICK HERE.
Sneak past the security guard with Rainbow Dash. CLICK HERE.
SUNSET SHIMMER AND PINKIE PIE RUN AS FAST AS THEY CAN.
On the main stage, PostCrush greets their fans. As they start to play their first song, Pinkie Pie and Sunset crash the stage. The crowd gasps.
K-Lo is taken aback.“What?! How?!”
“Pastries!” Pinkie Pie yells triumphantly.
Sunset snatches the Time Twirler out of K-Lo’s elaborate hairdo.
Su-Z falls to her knees.
“Don’t! Please!”
Sunset shrugs. “Nothing’s perfect.”
And with that, she deactivates the Time Twirler. K-Lo fumes.
“You ruined our perfect reunion show! I really had a good feeling about this one!”
Sunset gestures to the audience. Their fans wait, holding their collective breath.
“They don’t want perfection. Your fans just want you. The real you, flaws and all. Rocking out and having fun with each other.”
Su-Z looks to K-Lo. “It has been a while since we had fun doing this. Like we used to, when we started.”
K-Lo nods. “We used to be friends. Now we’re just… bandmates.”
“Who cares if you put on a perfect show? Life’s about the messes you make along the way.”
“And the people you make them with!”
Pinkie Pie pops up next to her with a poof of cupcake confetti.
“So what do you say? One more song.”
Sunset leads the crowd in chanting, “One more song! One more song!”
K-Lo and Su-Z look out at their fans, moved. And then to each other. Su-Z helps K-Lo to her feet.
“Let’s crush it,” K-Lo says with a grin.
The crowd goes wild. Su-Z tosses drum sticks to Pinkie Pie, and K-Lo tosses a guitar to Sunset Shimmer.
“We could use some backup. If you want.”
And just like that, Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer are actually playing Starswirl with their favorite band. K-Lo lets herself dance as wildly as she wants, and Su-Z improvises a new verse. Fans lose their minds, loving it.
In the audience, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy all look up quizzically at the stage.
“I don’t know why they’re onstage, exactly…” says Fluttershy.
“But it is awesome!” finishes Rainbow Dash.
They start dancing, cheering on their friends.
Pinkie Pie drums her heart out while Sunset Shimmer wails on the guitar. They share a smile. A perfect ending to a perfect day.
CLICK HERE.
WHY CHOOSE?
With so many bands playing Starswirl, there’s no way anyone could see all of them. Unless, of course, your name is Sunset Shimmer and you’re stuck in a time loop caused by ancient Equestrian magic.
Even the least known band is sure to be huge a year from now. She’s seen a DJ remix classical music into an insane dance beat. She’s sung along to a new indie songwriter’s acoustic jam. She’s seen every act from hip-hop to country to alternative to hip-hop–country–alternative. Sunset’s worked her way through the lineup, and now she’s bobbing her head along at the goth-metal show. Not exactly her cup of tea, but it’s definitely a look.
“Sunset?” a meek voice asks from behind her.
She turns around to see…
“Fluttershy?!”
Fluttershy is decked out with black eyeliner and a spike-chain bracelet. She replies cheerily, “Great to see you here! I didn’t know you were a fan of Skullcrusher! Rock on!”
Fluttershy headbangs furiously. Sunset can’t help laughing in surprise.
Sunset crosses Skullcrusher off her list. Soon she will have seen all the bands at Starswirl!
The next day, Sunset wanders around the festival grounds with her friends and mentally plans her band lineup for the day, when she hears lyrics drifting over the crowd:
“Every day is the same,
the same, the same.
Over and over again,
again, again…”
Sunset’s eyes widen. Those lyrics can’t just be a coincidence… can they?
What should Sunset do?
Investigate the lyrics. This is beyond suspicious. CLICK HERE.
The lyrics probably mean nothing. Why bother checking? CLICK HERE to choose a different kind of festival fun.
STARSWIRL WON’T KNOW WHAT HIT IT.
“Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” Twilight Sparkle paces in front of Sunset Shimmer like a military general. Sunset raises her hand.
“I’ll accept it. I really don’t have much of a choice.”
“Great. Then your objective is as follows: Get the music festival canceled.”
Sunset thinks.
Later that day, the festival organizer is stressed. How can everything be going so wrong? First the food trucks mysteriously didn’t receive their produce shipments, then the band Deviant Septum had to cancel because they supposedly got a better gig, two members of the band Wild Ones never made it to sound check, and as if that wasn’t enough, all the Starswirl merchandise has gone missing!
He paces back and forth, shouting into a walkie-talkie, completely oblivious to Sunset. She cartwheels back and forth like a stealthy ninja.
When he turns around, she freezes behind a perfectly arranged stack of boxes, holding an extension cord. Everything’s going according to plan.
He sighs. “What else could go wrong?”
She pulls the plug, and all the lights go out.
A voice buzzes over his walkie-talkie. “Sir, the power just went out.”
The organizer sighs for a long time. “Yes, I noticed that. This is the last straw. Starswirl is canceled!”
“Woo-hoo!” Sunset can’t help but let out a cheer. The event organizer peers behind the boxes and sees her. She gulps. Then—WHOOSH! A purple light splits the sky, and suddenly it’s morning again. She did it! But before Sunset can celebrate, the sun rises again. And again. And again. The day is still repeating, except now it’s on fast-forward! Sunset walks through the festival, bewildered, as it blurs around her. The crowds rush by, moving at super speed. Bands play for an instant, then are done. What has she done?
Sunset sighs. Turns out, ripping the fabric of space-time can have some unintended consequences. Hypothesis: tested. Mission: failed.
THE END
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