Equestria Girls: Starlight's Story - Scene 6

Disclaimer: It’s time to bring back the Shadow Five, and a chance to get to know the characters.

Equestria Girls: Starlight’s Story

[Scene 6: Divide and Conquer]

[INT. Hallways-Crystal Prep Academy-The City-Day]

[Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, and Lemon Zest are just casually walking.]

Sunny Flare: I’m thinking about letting it grow longer.

[Then they stop to see Starlight at her locker. They watch Starlight pull the mysterious photo out of her locker, looking sad.]

Boy’s voice: Well, well, well. Look what we have here.

[Starlight finds herself surrounded by the three boys: Dumb-Bell, Hoop, and Score. Dumb-Bell is dark brown with light grey messy hair barely covering his blue eyes, and has a six-weighted dumbbell tie tack. Hoop is big with orange skin, brown hair covering his green eyes, and three basketballs branded on his breast pocket. Score is short and pudgy with violet-colored skin, dark grey hair covering his eyes, and three footballs branded on his pants pocket.]

Dumb-Bell: You must be the new girl we were told about Starlight Dimmer.

[The three boys laugh at that remark, annoying Starlight.]

Hoop: Heheheyeah! Starlight Dimmer! Off to another thrilling adventure in the life of a nerd?

Dumb-Bell: Yeah. You think you’re such a big shot just because you’re the top of the class? Well we think you should leave the heavy lifting to the ‘real’ pros and keep your nose in a book where it belongs.

[Starlight gets annoyed even more, and so are the Shadow Five.]

Indigo Zap: [grunt] I can’t take this. I’m going over there.

[Indigo Zap is about to go there, until Dumb-Bell spots the picture in Starlight’s hand and snatches his arm.]

Dumb-Bell: What this? [Starlight becomes more furious.] Aw, isn’t this cu—

[She then suddenly grabs Dumb-Bell’s wrist and starts twisting it. The surprised Indigo Zap stops as the surrounding students watches as the boys start yelling from the pain.]

Hoop: Hey!

[The two boys are about to help their friend, until Starlight reacts. Still hold Dumb-Bell’s wrist, Starlight shoves him into Hoop. Then she grabs and pulls Score’s tie, hitting his head on the lockers. Seeing Hoop about to retaliate, she got a foothold by pushing Score away with her foot, running up the lockers with momentum. When coming down, she knocks the approaching Hoop down with a double-kick. After landing, still twisting Dumb-Bell’s arm, she pushes her other hand down on his shoulder, making it more painful. The other students watch in fright and amazement on what happened. Even Indigo Zap starts backing-up, back to her friends.]

Indigo Zap [to Sunny Flare]: On second thought, you go over there.

[Starlight still torments Dumb-Bell for her picture.]

Starlight Glimmer: Give it back! GIVE IT BACK!

Dumb-Bell: [grunting] Alright, take it! Take it!

[She takes the photo from his hand and lets go of him. She presses the picture to her chest with relief, while the two boys help Dumb-Bell up. Meanwhile, Party Favor and Sugar Belle join the crowd, along with Double Diamond and Night Glider. Double Diamond has white skin, white messy hair, little blue eyes, and a pin of three snowflakes on his lapel. Night Glider is blue with white spiky hair, cerulean eyes, and a pin with a crescent moon in the center of two feathers on her right chest. All four look with fright at the sight of Starlight.]

Party Favor: It’s her! It’s her!

[Starlight calms down and looks around at the crowd, giving out a small chuckle.]

Starlight Glimmer: Now you see what happens when someone says such horrible things to you. Now we know just how hurtful teasing can be. In a world where everyone is unique, some are bound to feel more special than others. But that isn’t a license to be cruel, is it? Oh, isn’t it a shame we don’t live in a world where everybody is equal? No one would ever be teased there. Wouldn’t that be nice?

[As the crowd starts to process what it heard…]

Boy’s voice: Oh this is proposers.

[It is Hoity Toity; the new high-class, bigwig hotshot of Crystal Prep. He is grey with white well-groomed powered wig-style hair, blue eyes covered by his purple sunglasses, a dark magenta ascot, and a stick pin with an image of a fan on the end.]

Hoity Toity: I have never heard of such rubbish in all my life. I mean really, “more special than others”? What does being special have to do with teasing? This sounds like a mishmash of words that would be a complete waste of my valuable ti—

Starlight Glimmer: QUIET!

[Hoity Toity looks in fright at the furious Starlight. She looks around and sees the surrounding students, the bullies, and Shadow Five staring at her with the same scared expression.]

Starlight Glimmer: I am offering you a chance to see that there is more harm than good that comes from when you start “making your mark”. Or are you so desperately clinging on to what Abacus Cinch the Witch has taught you? [All the students start to feel confound and speculate on that statement.] She thinks the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts deserve more than any other school, while all of you have been living your miserable lives thinking you’re better than everybody else. But don’t you worry. You’ll understand. You’ll all understand soon enough. So you better ask yourselves: where do your loyalties lie…with each other or with her?

[She then walks away from her classmates, who are just standing there with so many thoughts going through their brains. The four friends are still frightened, knowing Starlight is at their school.]

Night Glider: Ah man, that’s her alright.

Double Diamond: No. Not again!

[As for the Shadow Five; they feel scared, concern depressed, and confused at the same time.]

[INT. Gymnasium-Crystal Prep Academy]

[The whole gym is completely empty, with the exception of the Shadow Five hanging out at the bleachers.]

Lemon Zest: Well, at least everyone knows she’s against Cinch now.

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Oh yes. They sure do. [sourly] Except now they know she means business. What makes her think she can make people do whatever she wants anyway?

Sugarcoat: Well if I would have to guess, going against Witch Cinch would allow the others to rally to her side. Though due to her ridiculous statement about equality, some may consider her to be completely insane. Unless if anyone refuses, she may resort to force as she did earlier. So they might decide to join her method through fear. From what I can tell; with her intelligence, her defiance, and her “possible insanity”, she may have the power to do it.

Indigo Zap: Oh, so now we got another Twilight? One who doesn’t mind playing rough?

Sunny Flare: No. She is no Twilight Sparkle. Twilight would never resort to such brash behavior.

Lemon Zest: Especially when we wanted her to.

[The five girls begin moping.]

Sunny Flare: Okay, so we weren’t the best of classmates. But Twilight has already forgiven us, and we get to hang out with her and her new friends on occasion. She taught us to be much better friends, so everything’s alright between us. But all of it could’ve been avoided if we were good to her when she was here. We could’ve been nicer, much more considerate, less selfish…we already failed Twilight before. I would hate for that to happen again. So that’s why we need to make friends with this Starlight girl. This is our chance to make everything right on everything we have done. If Starlight can see just how we can be such good friends in our own way, she might give up on her silly philosophy and try to be someone who would fit in with the rest of us. She can be someone worth getting to know. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Lemon Zest: You know, that actually does sound like a pretty sweet deal.

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Yeah, that must be the most delightful… [sourly] piece of hogwash I’ve ever heard. Oh give me a break, Sunny. You’ve seen how Starlight acted back there. The chances of us helping her to change are a million to one.

Sugarcoat: Yeah. I’m gonna have to go with Sour on this one. Starlight is a potential nutcase bound to her own beliefs. The thought of having her change her ways is completely impossible.

Indigo Zap: Well, if it all sounds way too challenging, then I’m all in. We are not giving up on this girl. We’re gonna become good friends, correct our mistakes, and show her Crystal Prep can be a perfect place to be!

Lemon Zest: Oh yeah! That’s what I like to hear, man! Count me in!

[Indigo Zap and Lemon Zest high-five.]

Sunny Flare: [To Indigo and Lemon] Thanks guys. [To Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet] Well?

Sour Sweet: I…guess it’s worth a try.

Sugarcoat: Have you all forgotten we’ve already offered our friendship to her before? How can we possibly befriend her if she might not cooperate?

Lemon Zest: Oh yeah. What would the Wondercolts do?

Indigo Zap: Starlight thinks people are better off being the same than being completely separate.

Sunny Flare: [whispers] “Separa…” [out loud] THAT’S IT! Divide and Conquer!

Rest of the cast: [various interjections of confusion.]

Sunny Flare: We couldn’t make a difference when we were together. But if Starlight gets to know each of us individually, she may get to see how great the parts of our friendship are made as a whole. That could be enough to convince her that there’s nothing wrong with being great or different.

Indigo Zap: You know, that actually might work.

Lemon Zest: Yeah! Let’s do this!

Sour Sweet: [sourly] That is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. [sweetly] Let’s do it.

Sunny Flare: Thanks, Sour. Glad to have you with us.

[The four girls then turn to look at Sugarcoat in hopes of an answer.]

Sugarcoat: I think this whole cockamamie scheme has no logic behind it, that it absolutely holds no water of being accomplished just on a whim. [Moment of silence.] But, seeing this looney plan actually working might be interesting. Count me in.

Sunny Flare: Alright!

Shadow 5: [various cheers]

[INT. Starlight’s Research Room]

[Starlight’s is setting up another video log while several failed devices are on the floor.]

Starlight Glimmer [video]: “Video Log 18:” After fifteen failed attempts, I finally succeeded on making the device capable of sustaining the bizarre energy, that’s Part 1. Part 2 is letting it knowing what type of energy to attract. Luckily; I found the solution. Going through Twilight’s notes, I learned she created a scanner to detect these unusual power fluctuations. Not only did it sense the strange energy, but it was also able to establish the full analysis of its unique signature. Once Twilight got what she needed, she took the scanner apart and applied the pieces to her little gizmo. That’s how it was able to track and capture the anomalies. Now, I could duplicate the process. But to save time and money, I need to know what happened to the original. Looks like I got some free time on my hands.

[She then turns off the camera.]

[INT. Girls’ Bathroom-Crystal Prep Academy]

[Starlight leans on the counter of sinks, talking to someone on her cellphone.]

Starlight Glimmer [on the phone]: And are you sure you can deliver the parts I need…No, I have no problem with the price. So when will they arrive…Sounds great! Thank you so much…Yes, I’m looking forward to it myself…Okay. Bye.

[She turns off her cell phone and puts it away. She then looks in the mirror and adjusts her equal sign pin. Then she looks at her hands, shrugs her shoulders, and uses one of the sinks to wash her hands. While washing, Sunny Flare enters the girls’ bathroom.]

Sunny Flare: Ah, Starlight. I’ve been looking for you.

Starlight Glimmer: Sunny Flare. It’s good to see you again. Have you accepted that offer of mine?

Sunny Flare: Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something else.

Starlight Glimmer: Oh?

Sunny Flare: …Have you considered accessorizing and beautifying yourself?

Starlight Glimmer [confused]: Excuse me?

Sunny Flare: Oh I think you would look fabulous with a little blush, maybe with some mascara as well. What kind of product do you use?

Starlight Glimmer: You want me to improve on the way I look? Unacceptable! No one should change their natural appearance to impress others.

Sunny Flare: Come on, sweetie. There’s nothing wrong with a little primping. You at least gotta give it a try.

Starlight Glimmer: No thanks. I already got my own style that everyone should consider. I’m thinking no accessories, no makeup, well-trimmed straight hair for the boys, and braided hair for the girls, or in a bun.

Sunny Flare: [dumbfound] Uh…Well…[turns Starlight toward the mirror]…maybe you need a new outlook. [She starts messing around with Starlight’s hair. I’m thinking you should get rid of those pesky bangs, they do not work for you, honey.

Starlight Glimmer: Umm…

Sunny Flare: [She pulls out her compact.] Trust me; this is a good color for you.
[Sunny pulls a little brush from the compact and starts applying a little blush to Starlight’s cheek. But Starlight whacks Sunny’s arm away from her out of discomfort, and takes a paper towel to wipe away the blush off her cheek.]

Starlight Glimmer: What do you think you’re doing?!

Sunny Flare: I just want to improve your profile to give you a much better prospective.

Starlight Glimmer: Well don’t. I’m not gonna change myself just to be someone else. And neither should you.

[Starlight leaves the girl’s room, with Sunny feeling miserable.]

[INT. Library-Crystal Prep Academy]

[Starlight is just sitting at one of the reading tables, looking at books on engineering. Sour Sweet pokes her head around one of the book shelfs and sees Starlight. She walks over to her and sits next to her.]

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Hey, Starlight. How’ve you been?

Starlight Glimmer: Pretty good.

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Great. You don’t mind if I have a quick chat with you? [whispering sourly] Even though I could be doing something better right now.

Starlight Glimmer: What?

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Oh nothing. So, what’cha reading?

Starlight Glimmer [closing the book]: Oh, nothing special.

Sour Sweet: [sourly] Oh. [sweetly] Well, if you’re interested, we can talk about…guys. Are you into boys?

Starlight Glimmer: Only if they share my interests.

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Really?!

Starlight Glimmer: …And everyone else.

Sour Sweet: [sourly] Oh. [sweetly] So, you spend a lot of time in this library. Quite amazing, isn’t it?

Starlight Glimmer: It sure is. [Sour Sweet smiles.] Just wish it was plain. [Sour Sweet snarls.]

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Okay. So you’re really into this equality thing, huh?

Starlight Glimmer: Oh of course.

Sour Sweet: Why do you like it so much anyway?

Starlight Glimmer: What’s not to like? Being with other people you have so much in common with; people you can always trust and never betray or abandon you.

Sour Sweet: But wouldn’t that be a bit strange? Having everyone look like you, act like you? There’s really nothing to gain out of it. Just the same thing every single day. There won’t be anything new.

Starlight Glimmer: It’s better than having different opinions and constantly hating each other for it.

Sour Sweet: But don’t you think there can be more to leading a better life?

Starlight Glimmer: Of course you wouldn’t understand.

Sour Sweet: [sourly] What’s that supposed to mean?

Starlight Glimmer: You’re just trying to fool yourself to believing just acting like a nice person will help you live a better life.

Sour Sweet: [gasps] [sweetly] That’s not true. I’m not manipulating the way I feel. [sourly] Even though you got no problem doing it yourself. [She then quickly covers her own mouth.] [sweetly] What I meant is, I’m just looking out for what’s best for you. There’s really nothing wrong with being different, and I want you to know I’ll always be there for you when you need help.

Starlight Glimmer: [cheerful] Gosh. You should be a great motivational speaker.

Sour Sweet: [sweetly] Really?!

Starlight Glimmer: [cheerful] Yeah. [She then grabs her books, gets up from her seat, and changes into an irritating tone.] You motivated me to get out of here.

[Starlight walks away from the table with a small stack of books under her arm, leaving Sour Sweet.]

Sour Sweet: [Sourly scoffing and stammering, then grunts.]

[She slams her forehead on the table.]

Amethyst Maresbury (the librarian): Shh!

[INT. Hallways-Crystal Prep Academy]

[Starlight is just causally putting some books in her locker and taking a few out, while whistling the toon from “In Our Town”. She closes the locker and reveals Sugarcoat on the other side, waiting for her. Then Starlight whistles the last note in disappointment.]

Starlight Glimmer: What do you want?

Sugarcoat: With an attitude like that, you’re not gonna make any friends.

Starlight Glimmer: You didn’t answer my question.

Sugarcoat: You’re acting ridiculous. This whole equality business is complete lunacy. You should consider giving it up.

Starlight Glimmer: Give it up?! Are you insane?! Having equality means everything to me.

Sugarcoat: Well maybe it’s about time you try something different.

Starlight Glimmer: No! I refuse to try anything else. This is the only way I would make any friends here.

Sugarcoat: What makes you think your crazy ideas are gonna help everyone for the better?

Starlight Glimmer: I already have plans for this school, and I’m not gonna stop because someone has an issue. Who are you to tell me how I should run my life anyway?

Sugarcoat: Hey, I’m just being honest with you.

[Starlight becomes stammered on what Sugarcoat just said. So then she faces her, and approaches right in front of her.]

Starlight Glimmer: “Honest”. You want to be honest? Fine. I’ll be honest with you…do you think anybody ever takes your advice into consideration? Do you think anyone cares about what you have to say? You think you’re contributing to their efforts? Well let me tell you something…they’re not. Have you ever seen anyone try inflicting their opinions on others? No, because it’s just you. That’s what sets you apart from the rest of them. You just want to be different from everyone, but all it’s ever done is get you to be spited by them. Maybe that’s why Twilight Sparkle left; because you can’t keep your “special” thoughts to yourself like a normal person. And, getting influenced by Cinch’s repulsive need to win has made you less of a person than you have to be. And what is with your hair anyway? Two big pigtails and a hair knot? Have you ever heard of a haircut? Who are you trying to impress? I would consider braids and bangs a lot better. Seriously, are you trying to making something of yourself? No wonder you don’t have a lot of friends. Because being unique will always get you into trouble, and shrugging off every attempt for me to help has convinced me you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. Now here’s a little advice for you; quit drawing attention to yourself, you silly little fool.

[Starlight turns and walks away from Sugarcoat. Two students: Neon Lights and Royal Pin have been standing in the hall when they overheard Starlight and Sugarcoat’s conversation. They watch Starlight leave all bug-eyed, then both turn to Sugarcoat. She just stands there frozen with a shocked expression on her face and her glasses sliding slightly down on her nose.

[EXT. Courtyard-Crystal Prep Academy]

[Starlight is bizarrely taking huge steps on the lawn with a notebook in her hand.]

Starlight Glimmer: …Sixteen…Seventeen…Eighteen. Hmm, very good.

[She stops and writes her findings in her notebook.

Indigo Zap: Hey, Starlight! [She approaches Starlight, tossing a soccer ball in her hand.] I was just about to go out on the field for a few practice rounds. Wanna be goalie?

Starlight Glimmer: Gee, I’d love to, really I would. But I got some important work to do, so I--

Indigo Zap: Oh come on!

[Indigo suddenly grabs Starlight and pulls her offscreen.]

Starlight Glimmer: WHOA! [Drops her pen and notebook.]

[EXT. Soccer pitch-Crystal Prep Academy]

[Indigo Zap is doing a few kick tricks with the ball on the field, while Starlight is just standing at the goal, unamused.]

Starlight Glimmer: [grunts] Let’s get this over with.

Indigo Zap: Okay! Let’s go!

[Indigo starts kicking around and dribbling the ball toward the goal, as the unenthusiastic Starlight acts as goalie. Indigo gets close enough and sets up a big kick. The ball flies toward the goal. Then Starlight shifty sticks her arm out and catches the ball in her hand, much to Indigo’s surprise.]

Indigo Zap: WHOA!

[Starlight throws the ball back, and Indigo starts kicking the around until she got it to fly towards the goal again. But Starlight immediately reacts by moving in the way and catching it. Indigo starts getting irritating as she tries to score a goal over and over again. But Starlight reflexes are so quick; she keeps blocking and catching the ball every time. She gets annoyed at the repeated attempts.]

Starlight Glimmer: Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

[Indigo Zap tries to score again. She kicks the ball hard and it finally goes into the goal.]

Indigo Zap: I did it. I DID IT! Yes! I actually di—[She just realizes Starlight’s not there anymore.] Starlight?

[The backdoor to the school slams close, and Indigo turns after hearing the sound of it. Then she starts feeling disappointed, knowing Starlight just left.]

[EXT. Courtyard-Sunset]

[The final bell just rang, and all the other students have left for home. Starlight sticks her head out of the door and looks around to see that the coast is clear. She then walks out the door completely in her regular clothes while carrying a duffle bag. She sighs with relief on her way to the front gate. But when she faces forwards, she jumps in surprise to see Lemon Zest right in front of her, smiling.]

Starlight Glimmer: [grunts] Alright. What is it this time?

Lemon Zest [taking off her headset]: Dude, you gotta hear this sweet song. You’ll love it.

[Lemon puts her headset on Starlight’s ears, and she starts listening to the rock music Lemon like to listen to. But the music too loud and thumping, Starlight couldn’t take the sounds rupturing her eardrums.]

Lemon Zest: Pretty awesome tune, don’t you think?!

[Starlight has enough, takes the headset off, and throwing it at a distance.]

Lemon Zest: HEY! [She goes after her headset.]

Starlight Glimmer: What is wrong with you girls today?!

[Starlight continues walking while Lemon picks up her headset. She starts to feel bad as she watches Starlight leave the front gate. Starlight crosses the street and steps into an arriving bus. She sits down at one of the seats, and opens up the duffle bag with a sinister smile. She pulls out and looks upon a small circular device from her bag.]

[INT. Joe’s Donut Shop-The City-Evening]

[The local donut shop is run by the big, gruff owner Joe, serving behind the counter. He has light amber skin, light brown hair, and green eyes; and he wears a little white paper hat and a white apron with the picture of a donut with pink frosting and sprinkles. The Shadow Five are all sitting at a countered booth together. Sugarcoat is wearing a yellow sleeveless blouse and a white collar. She also has a white skirt with an image of a violet and yellow stick of dynamite on the hip. Sour Sweet wears an aqua-green dress with a pink coat, and a purple skirt that has the image of a pink and blue heart with a blue diamond. Sunny Flare is in a magenta blouse in a black jacket, a black choker collar, and a purple skirt with the brand of a sun and a rain cloud. Indigo Zap has a yellow wide-shoulder t-shirt with the picture of a dark purple cloud with a pink star in the center and a blue lightning bolt sticking out. She also has on a black tank top under her shirt and blue jeans. Lemon Zest has a pink shirt with yellow fireworks and lemon slices on it, a light blue short hoodie, and chartreuse shorts with a black leather chain.]

Indigo Zap [to Sugarcoat]: She said what?!

Sugarcoat [still shocked from talking to Starlight]: I…I don’t know what to say. Nobody’s ever talked to me like that before.

Lemon Zest: Man. That must’ve been harsh. I thought throwing away my headset was bad.

Sour Sweet: Well, I can’t believe the nerve of that girl. We were only trying to help.

Sunny Flare: Well if she doesn’t like anything that makes people different, how are we gonna make a good friend out of her?

Sour Sweet: We can’t. She’s a strange little girl, and that’s all she’ll ever be.

Lemon Zest: Come on. We can’t give up already. We don’t want to fail this girl like we failed Twilight, do we?

Indigo Zap: To be honest, Lemon. It’s like Sunny Flare said, this girl isn’t anything like Twilight. So it’s a lot more challenging than we thought.

Sugarcoat: Perhaps she was right.

Sour Sweet: What? About what she told you? Well just don’t let it bother you so much and yo—

Sugarcoat: No, not that. About everything. About being different makes it difficult to make friends. About being equal will make us happy. About trying to be the best will only make things worse.

Lemon Zest: Sugarcoat, you can’t be serious!

Sugarcoat: I know it sounds crazy, but everything Starlight said somehow makes sense. We weren’t exactly the nicest people in the world ourselves. If we have any hope of being better people, we have to start changing ourselves. Maybe if we start acting the same, we may have a chance of being better friends, and maybe Starlight will accept us.

[The five girls start to ponder about this concept, until…]

Double Diamond: You’re all talking about Starlight, aren’t you?

[They turn to see Double Diamond, Party Favor, Sugar Belle, and Night Glider approaches them.]

Sour Sweet: Hey, I know you. You’re a bunch of those students we got. I see you a lot around school.

Double Diamond: Yeah. My name is Double Diamond, and this is Party Favor, Sugar Belle, and Night Glider.

Party Favor: Is it true that you’re all trying to make friends with Starlight Glimmer?

Sunny Flare: We are. But it seems more complicated than we realized.

Night Glider: Do yourselves a favor: stay away from Starlight. She ain’t worth it.

Sunny Flare: What?!

Indigo Zap: Hold on. Why not?

Double Diamond: Trust us, if you know her like we do, you’d be well to avoid her.

Sugar Belle: I thought they put her away for good.

[The Shadow Five are shocked to hear of this.]

Sugarcoat: “Put her away”?

Party Favor: Whatever she told you, don’t buy what she’s selling.

Sour Sweet: Wait, you actually know her?

Night Glider: I never thought I’d see that face again after what she did.

Party Favor: It took forever to get my hair back the way it was.

Sugar Belle: We gave up everything for that ‘lunatic’, because we thought she was our friend.

Double Diamond: That’s right, she’s no friend. She never even gave us a chance. Don’t listen to a word she says. She’s a liar, a fraud. Everything she says about friendship is nonsense. All she does is mess with your head and take over your life. I really mean it; stay away from Starlight Glimmer.

[The four friends then turn and walk away. As for the Shadow Five; they feel scared, concerned, and confused at the same time.]

[INT. Sweet Shoppe]

[Twilight Sparkle arrives to greet her six friends at their usual sitting spot. She unzips her backpack and Spike spot. Fluttershy then takes Spike, petting him, as Twilight proceeds to sit down next to Sunset Shimmer.]

Sunset Shimmer: Hey, Twilight. So, how’s it coming along?

Twilight Sparkle: Well, it’s doing pretty well. But I feel it needs a little tweaking to be perfect.

[She reaches into her backpack and pulls the broken top half of the same device she used during the Friendship Games. Rainbow Dash notices it, and jumps a bit with fright.]

Rainbow Dash: WHOA! Is that the magic capture device you made at the Friendship Games?!

Applejack: The same device that drained the magic out of us?!

Pinkie Pie: THE ONE THAT TURNED YOU INTO A MONSTER?!

Fluttershy: Oh goodness. I can’t believe you would bring that horrible thing here.

Spike: It’s okay, guys. That thing’s perfectly harmless since Sunset broke it in half.

Twilight Sparkle: He’s right. It’s the other half of the device that had the components made to capture your magical energies. This half only has the parts to detect and track the bizarre frequencies. Sunset and I have been working on it for quite some time. When it is done, it will merely act as a spectrometer to detect magic. So if one of us ever ponies up and uses Equestrian Magic, we’ll be able to location them.

Rest of the main cast sans Sunset and Spike: Phew!

Rainbow Dash: Well that’s a relief.

Rarity: Indeed. I would hate for that little gizmo to be fully active again. I do not wish to go through the same ordeal we went through at the Friendship Games.

[Twilight begins to feel distressed about that incident. Sunset puts her hand on Twilight’s shoulder and made her feel better.]

[EXT. Show Shoppe]

[As the Humane 7 are seen through the window, a teenage girl concealed in a hoodie is seated at a table outside. As she finishes her drink and looks at her book, she puts a special earpiece in her ear under her hood, and places the small circular device from earlier against the window.]

Applejack’s voice from the earpiece: So if this half only detects the “strange energy”, where’s the other half that captures it?

Sunset Shimmer’s voice from the earpiece: It’s being kept in my locker at school. After all the trouble it caused for us at the game, I don’t want anyone to mess around with something like that.

Fluttershy’s voice from the earpiece: Well that’s reassuring.

Sunset Shimmer’s voice from the earpiece: Don’t worry. As long as it stays there, it won’t do any harm to us.

[The girl gives a small smile and gets up from her seat. She takes a look at the seven girls through the window. She begins to feel grief watching the friends talking, laughing, and enjoying each other’s company. As she walks away, Twilight gets a strange feeling and turns around to see the girl is already gone.]

Sunset Shimmer: What’s the matter, Twilight?

Twilight Sparkle: It’s nothing. Nothing at all.

[Back outside, the mystery girl steps onto a bus. As the bus takes off, the girl takes a seat. She gives a sigh a relief and pulls off her hood, revealing her to be Starlight Glimmer, giving a menacing smile.]

[INT. Starlight’s Research Room-Night]

[Starlight starts packing her duffle bag with various gadgets and tools. She talks to a video log in her laptop, while the other computer displays a description of Sunset Shimmer and Canterlot High.]

Starlight Glimmer [to her video log]: “So the parts I need are at Canterlot High. It won’t be difficult. All I have to do is break into the school, get to that Sunset girl’s locker, and get it. Shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll go tonight, and I will finally have everything I need to complete my invent—” [As she was moving things to make room in her bag, she notices her Crystal Prep uniform, still folded inside the bag. She pauses for a moment as she looks at the uniform. Then she has an epiphany, giving off another wicked smile.] “You know what? Change of plans. I’m gonna wait until tomorrow. Because now I think it’s time to get two birds with one stone.”

[She then turns off the camera.]

To Be Continued…

Yes, I brought back the Shadow Five and CHS girls to remind readers they are still part of this story. This is where the story is gonna get a bit more extreme. So be prepared for what happens next. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I apologize for the long wait.