Ah really hate to admit it, but them Sirens knew what they were doin'.

With their poisonous singin' and mind-twistin' magic, they undid a lot of the good work the Princess and her pals had done with just one song number. The varmints did this by ropin' the whole dern school into a Battle of the Bands competition and drivin' us all to be plum mean to each other. Ah mean, competition is fine and dandy, but not when the competitors are bein' rotten apples over it!

Shoot, we even betrayed the Rainbooms over it. Our sisters over it...

The longer the Sirens were left unopposed, the stronger their grip on our minds became, which made the negativity that was spread between the students only get worse. The three of us movie club girls stayed together, even as the other students tore each other apart. Our bond was, and still is, mighty strong, after all. But, as time went on, it became harder and harder for us to keep even our friendship goin'. On top of that, we could feel somethin' growin' within ourselves while we fell deeper under the Sirens' spell.

Somethin' cold, terrifyin', and familiar...

Thankfully, those magic-abusin' ingrates underestimated the Rainbooms, even when they had Trixie lock them up in a room under the stage. This poor choice gave them the chance to clean up their acts, come together, and fight back with their rockin' magical music! But, even their magic wasn't enough to stop those jerks.

Just when all hope seemed lost, when the Sirens were gettin' ready to finish their vile work, a miracle happened.

A lady with hair like fire, once an absolute meanie, took up the Princess's mic and sang like a gosh-dern angel from on high, ya'll! This act of honest bravery inspired the band to play their music alongside her. The combined power of their music and friendship created a magic so incredibly strong that it zapped the evil singin' magic right out of the Sirens! The Sonic Rainbooms saved us all from an eternity of mindless slavery and endless negativity that night. For my two best friends and Ah specifically, they saved us from the return of a nightmare. But, the girl who helped her friends when they needed her the most made it all possible. Her name was Sunset Shimmer.

The girl we once treated like a demon in disguise...

Ah once thought that somethin' like this was impossible, even after magic became a thing. But, there we were, walkin' with Sunset Shimmer herself! No animosity, no bullyin', no cruelty from anyone. We were plum afraid while we traveled the halls of our beloved school, with a certain little item carefully hidden away in my left hand. But, it was not the older lady who walked at my left side that we were afraid of that day. Nah, we were afraid of somethin' else... What was much stronger than our fear, however, was our drive to do what had to be done. With my eyes locked on the hallway before us, Ah gave Sweetie Belle, who walked to my right, a thumbs up with my right hand that was both quick and discreet. She caught what was doin' in the corner of her eye and responded in kind with her left hand. Scootaloo, who was walkin' to Sunset's left, had already given us the go-ahead earlier that day. So, Ah knew, at that moment, that it was time. On behalf of the Canterlot Movie Club, Ah did what we did best: Ah took a bold risk.

With my eyes aimed at the hall again, Ah used my fingers to move that little item around a bit, so that it was bein' held by my index finger and thumb. It poked out from my hand at bit, which was perfect for me. Ah raised my left hand to aim the item as close to Sunset's face as Ah could reach. Ah could only go as far as just below her chin, but it was enough for her to see it. We all stopped walkin' to stand in a row together. Silence crept into the hall for a few seconds before she asked with polite confusion in her voice;

"A ticket?"

If Scoots and Sweetie looked at her, Ah didn't see them do it. My gaze did not move an inch as Ah told her with a subtle mix of excitement and fear;

"Consider it a long overdue invitation."

My nerves and fear got so strong when Ah finished talkin' that Ah couldn't bring myself to see Sunset's reaction with my eyes. Ah could feel my left hand shake more intensely by the second. A familiar voice in my head, a cruel one at that, tried to lead me astray with her venomous words;

Before that evil spewer of terrible ideas could continue her rant, Sunset gently took the ticket out from my hand. That act alone encouraged me to shove that voice down into the back of mind, so that I could turn and face her. Ah caught her inspectin' each side of the ticket before she looked back at me. Oh my stars, Ah had never seen her make such a beautifully sweet smile until she fired it right at me. It was the kind of smile that could melt away anyone's worries just by existin'. It sure as hay melted mine, ah tells ya'! She sealed the deal by declarin' with friendly confidence;

"Well then, I'll see you girls tomorrow."

Ah'll never forget that smile for as long as Ah live.

Our chores were done and the homework was finished, so there would be nothin' to distract us from what we had in mind for that day. Much of our movie club decorations were moved out of the way to make room for a round wooden table in the center of the clubhouse and four wooden seats that were placed around it. Ah, myself, sat on the chair that stood in front of the clubhouse desk, with Scootaloo sittin' to my right and Sweetie Belle to my left. Standin' around on the table were four glass bottles of fizzy apple cider. Three of them were placed in front of each of us and one reserved for our incomin' guest, her empty seat in front of me on the opposite end of the table. We sat as still as statues, showin' no signs of impatience, which was especially odd for me. While Ah did have a well earned reputation for bein' too impatient to be patient, Ah made an exception for this day, for who was probably the most important guest we would have at the time. We all waited in silence for what felt to us like an eternity, even though it was only a few minutes, before a young lady's confident voice could be heard from our walkie talkie can, which was hangin' by its string on a spot on the wall to the left of the door;

"May I come in?"

Our guest, Sunset, had arrived!

Ah had never felt more nervous at that moment then Ah had ever been before then. My friends definitely felt the same way, since Ah could hear them gulp as Ah looked at each of them, their faces filled with fear. After takin' a breath to keep ourselves focused what we had to do, we got up out of our seats and walked over to the can. Ah grabbed it with my right hand, brought its business end up to my mouth, and told the girl on the other side;

"Finish this phrase and we'll let ya' in: When ya've hit rock-bottom..."

We experienced a few seconds of silence that, frankly, felt like hours to me. Before our nerves could get even more flared up, however, the guest gave her answer;

"Um... don't be afraid to climb back up?"

That answer, a pure guess if Ah ever heard one, came from a place of confusion and worry. Still, it was an honest one. My young mind could recognize that. But, Ah decided to get two more opinions. Ah looked over at Sweetie Belle to get her take on our guest's answer. She nodded her head to show her silent approval, with Scootaloo followin' suit when Ah looked at her as well. Even with their approval, Ah still felt a tad hesitant as wild thoughts born from fear popped up in my head;

Ah closed my eyes and took deep breaths to hogtie those thoughts before they could get any wilder. All was silent for about three seconds before a single memory popped into my noggin'. By Ma' and Pa's spirits, it was as simple as it was powerfully sad:

The memory of the three of us seein' a young lady cry honest tears.

Almost instantly, my eyes opened back up, allowin' me to see my two best pals in the whole world smilin' at me all big and bright-like. Seein' them bein' so supportive of me was more than enough to help me make my choice. With a big ol' grin of my own and renewed happiness in my heart, Ah returned to the can, grabbed it, and happily told the guest waitin' outside;

"Works for us! Stand aside now, we're gonna lower the ramp for ya'."

The three of us ran through the clubhouse door and stopped at a single lever outside that was set up to the left of the doorway. We gave Scootaloo the honor of pullin' it, which she did with her usual level of gusto, her large smile refusin' to leave her. Within moments, the ramp that was raised in front of the door fell down onto the ground, now positioned at an angle that allowed our amber-colored guest of honor to walk up it. She wore a black jacket made of fake leather with small white buttons decoratin' the collar, a purple shirt that displayed on the front a fiery logo which depicted a yellow and red shimmerin' sun, an orange skirt of decent length that bore two yellow and purple stripes on the sides, and tall black boots fit for kickin' someone's hide that reached up from her feet to just below her knees. Tall purple flames were painted on the front and sides of the boots, makin' them look cool and intimidatin' all at once. The girl's steps were surprisingly soft and controlled, given her choice of footwear being built for stompin' around. There was a softness in her turquoise eyes that balanced out the fierceness of her two-toned hair, which bore the same red and yellow as the logo on her shirt. Just seein' this girl as she walked over to us reminded me of some more powerful memories. Few were good, but most were plum terrible. But, Ah wasn't gonna let bad memories keep me from doin' what was right. Ah checked on Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. The determination on their faces gave my courage a good ol' boost as we did somethin' that, not too long ago, we wouldn't have dreamed of doin':

We welcomed Sunset Shimmer into our clubhouse.

As we ushered Sunset into the clubhouse itself, Ah couldn't help but notice her eyes growin' wide as she gazed at the all of the cool stuff that we owned. Authentic movie standees on the floor, movie posters, along with photos of our friends and families, linin' the walls, an old-fashioned bulky CRT TV standin' on the desk at the far end opposite of the door, a VCR and DVD player placed on top of each other to its right, a large flat-screen TV carefully placed on the wall above the CRT TV, a large locked steel safe with a combination lock sittin' on the left side of the desk, and a wooden podium with a gavel placed on it standin' proudly a few feet in front of the desk and not too far behind my seat at the table. With a growin' smile, she told us as she kept gazin' at our items, surprise made clear in her tone of voice;

"Wow. You girls really are a movie club. This stuff is awesome!"

Somethin' else caught her eye as she looked up and, land's sake, Ah could almost see the sparkles in her eyes when she did! She saw the little hand-crafted paper ponies linin' the space where the walls met the ceilin'. These little ladies were made with love in every foldin', Ah tells ya'. Each paper pony had the initials of the Wondercolt who made it written on both flanks and was given the same colors as a club member's hair. They were all lined up in a repeatin' pattern of colors: Red for me, pink and light purple for Sweetie Belle, and a deeper purple for Scootaloo, though Ah swear that hair of hers got a teeny tiny hint of red in it too! My friends and Ah looked at those beauties along with Sunset, love and gratitude swellin' in our hearts as our smiles grew wider than before. Why, just lookin' at them for a moment was enough to cheer us up, no matter how bleak things could get. We looked back at Sunset, who looked over at us at roughly the same time. A sideways smirk formed on her face, the kind that somehow smashed goodwill and confidence together in a way that didn't make her look plum arrogant. Before we could say anythin', she told us with a voice as sweet as Granny Smith's apple pie;

"The students who made these ponies would be so happy over what you've done with them."

Our hearts swelled a little bit more when we heard those words, as my mind thought back to somewhat recent history. Ever since the incident we caused with our... foolhardiness, we didn't invite anyone to our clubhouse, save for each other and our kin. So, most Wondercolts had no idea about what we had gone and done with those paper critters. After making a mental note to solve that issue later, Ah gave Sunset an affirmative nod and a thankful smile before my friends and Ah escorted her to her seat. Soon enough, we all took our seats and enjoyed some fizzy apple cider.

At first, we took swigs of our delicious drinks in silence. There was so much that Ah wanted to say to the young lady who sat opposite of me, so much that we wanted to say! But, Ah just didn't know where to begin, honestly.

Ah mean, what the hay do ya' say to a girl who had once hurt your friends and kin? The same girl ya' had hurt back?

Ah turned my head to gaze at my fellow movie buffs. Sweetie Belle, like me, looked mighty nervous when I checked on her. Scootaloo as well, given that she belted out a cough that was a bit louder than it needed to be. Silence filled the room again, but Scoots was not one to be silent for long;

"Sooooo... how are the girls?", she asked Sunset while lookin' right at her. Ah could tell from how much the hand she held her drink with shook that she was tryin' hard to keep nerves in check. It didn't help that she sounded as nervous as she looked. Sunset gave her a gentle grin when she responded happily after takin' a hearty swig of cider;

"They're doing great! Rainbow's been going to town on the guitar with these new songs we're working on."

She had the daredevil at 'Rainbow';

"That's so awesome! Rainbow Dash can ROCK with the guitar like no one's business!", exclaimed Scootaloo, her nerves soothed by her joy and excitement over anythin' involving her idol and sister-at-heart. Haha, the sugarcube even started playin' air guitar in her seat for a bit after puttin' her drink down on the table! The sight of her being so overjoyed helped Sweetie and Ah settle down into a calmer state. Ah swear, that girl was a helpful distraction from our cares sometimes. Sunset laughed a little while givin' the biggest Rainbow Dash fan in the room a look that was mighty friendly and said;

"Yeah, she does rock."

"Don't forget about Rarity!", Sweetie Belle cheerfully noted with that familiar squeak in her voice. She then held both of her hands together, moved them up to her chin, and added with a lovin' sigh, a big ol' grin, and closed eyes filled with, well, sweetness (no pun intended);

"Her keytar playing is so wonderful! She can make it play any lovely sound she wants."

"Don't ya' forget about my big sister's smoooooth bass playin' now!", Ah told them all with a heapin' helpin' of pride in my smile and heart. For good measure, Ah looked Sunset dead in the eye and told her with a happy wink;

"If ya' let her play on the acoustic guitar or banjo, Ah guarantee ya' that she'll rock the stage somethin' fierce!"

Sunset belted out a strong laugh before respondin' with a wink of her own;

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway..."

She looked around the room from her seat before makin' a mighty nice comment;

"I'll bet you girls watch all kinds of movies."

A word of warnin': If ya' ask the Canterlot Movie Club anythin' about movies, ya' better believe that we'll give ya' honest answers filled to burstin' with loud as heck excitement. Which was exactly what we gave poor, unprepared Sunset;

"Oh, yes we do!", we declared together in unison out of pure excitement, our combined joyful voices and large sparklin' eyes drivin' our guest to lean back onto her chair's backrest through sheer vocal volume. She was clearly taken aback by our response, but that didn't stop us from rantin' with glee;

"Action! Thrillers! Adventures!", Ah belted out to start with. Sweetie Belle was right behind me;

"Mysteries! Comedy! Romance!", she exclaimed before Scootaloo chimed in as well with the passion of a dozen fans at the minimum;

"Superheroes! Sci-Fi! Daring Do!"

Before we could fully explode in a fit of movie buff mania, Sunset managed to interrupt us just loudly enough to get our attention while keepin' her tone well-meanin' and polite;

"Calm down, girls! I get it, you love movies!"

She didn't lose her smile for even a moment while she spoke. Honorin' her request, we relaxed ourselves into our seats. The room turned silent for a couple of seconds before she said somethin' that made our excitement from earlier threaten to return with a vengeance;

"Well, since I'm with a movie club right now, we might as well watch a movie. After all..."

She reached into her jacket's left pocket with her right hand, rummaged around inside of it for a bit, and pulled out a certain movie ticket. With a sly smirk, she happily finished;

"I brought my ticket."

She then placed the ticket on the table, so that we could look at it. It was red and had our club logo, a capped yellow filly, drawn on it. Oh Nelly, Ah was so glad that we gave her that there ticket when we did! We looked up at her with eyes sparklin' with joy for a moment or two before Ah sharply turned my head towards Sweetie Belle and told her with lots of enthusiasm;

"Sweetie, get us the starter flicks!"

With a quick salute, she ran over to the safe, used its combination that all three of us learned by heart to unlock it, and opened it up before reachin' inside with both hands. It took her a few seconds to find what she was lookin' for and pull it out of the safe. Restin' in her hands was a stack of DVD cases, three of them to be exact. With swift and careful movement, she bumped the safe's door with her right elbow, closing it from behind her. Smilin' from ear to ear, she practically skipped back over to the table before stoppin' to place the stack right on its center. Scootaloo, once Sweetie had done her bit, took two of the cases out of the stack, leavin' the one that was at the bottom alone. She then placed each case next to it at both sides, allowin' the covers for each one to be fully displayed. Without further ado, Ah looked up at Sunset and offered her with buildin' excitement in my heart;

"Go on now, Miss Sunset: Pick a movie ya' wanna watch."

Scootaloo was too excited to contain herself at this point. She pointed at the DVD on my right and exclaimed to our honored guest;

"Oh, pick this one! It's so awesome!"

"Now hold on for a second, ya'll.", Ah calmly told to Scootaloo while givin' her my best gentle take on Applejack's 'lecture glare'. She noticed the expression Ah gave her and promptly shut up. But, Ah wanted to avoid any misunderstandin's, so Ah asked her;

"Remember Movie Club Rule #31?"

Scoots expressed a sheepish grin as she recited apologetically;

"When the club is hosting a guest, let the guest pick the movie if they want to."

"Darn tootin'.", Ah said to her with sweetness on my face and friendship in my voice. There wasn't any sense in actually lecturin' her, since she was just bein' a little more excited than sensible. Sunset's voice, once again, got our attention;

"I figured you'd have your own rules, but I didn't expect you to have so many.", she noted with a bit of surprise in her voice once again. With a quick giggle and a warm smile, Ah responded while scratchin' the back of my neck with my right hand;

"What can Ah say? We take this movie buff shtick of ours seriously."

Lookin' satisfied, Sunset switched the topic around by pointin' at the movie placed at the center of the table and askin' us;

"This film, 'The Princess Bride'... I've never seen it before. What's it about?"

Oh, sweet apple sauce, that lady had gone and done pressed a specific button for Sweetie Belle, one that Scoots and Ah knew very well! We looked over at her as she started to rapidly bounce on her seat while showin' the biggest brightest smile on her face. She bounced for about two seconds before shootin' out of her seat to stand straight up while shovin' that sucker back a bit with just her legs. She then kicked it away from behind with her right foot for good measure, pointed at the movie in question, and started to gush like she was Scootaloo in a Darin' Do convention;

"Youu've never seen The Princess Bride before?! It's my favorite movie EVER and the first one I've ever watched! It's got adventure, sword fighting, romance, revenge, some of the best characters in cinema, and so much more! Rarity showed it to me for my sixth birthday and we had so much fun watching it! We always watch it together once a year on my birthday! I love it so!"

Just to drive home the point, she grabbed the DVD case with both hands and wrapped it around her arms to hug it as if she was holdin' a teddy bear! Ah couldn't bare the thought of pokin' fun at her behavior, especially with her adorableness lightin' up the room. Sunset gushed over how cute Sweetie was bein';

"That movie must mean a lot to you and Rarity!", she exclaimed with a look of love in her eyes. Once Sweetie came back down from her Princess Bride-induced high, she returned the case to its place on the table, moved her seat back to its previous spot, and sat back down, her dopey smile stayin' strong. Sunset, after takin' a moment to think, pointed at the movie to my right and asked;

"What's this one about? I've heard a tiny bit about it in school, but I never watched it."

Now, it was Scootaloo's turn to gush wildly. Well, it was, before she somehow stopped herself all on her own with a few deep breaths, much to my amazement. She then told Sunset with the remainin' excitement that she could not hold back;

"Iron Man is a super-awesome superhero movie that tells the origin story of a genius billionaire playboy philanthropist! When he learns about the painful consequences of his way of living, he strives to do protect people using his smarts, money, and resources as the Iron Man!"

After givin' Sunset a quick synopsis of the movie, she decided to get up out of her seat and stomp around the table like a big ol' robot. Sensin' my cue, Ah began to do my best impression of a long and proud electric guitar riff with my mouth while playin' some air guitar. The riff was taken right from a certain famous metal song's introduction. Sweetie, recognizin' what was goin' on, started drumin' on the table with her fists to the rhythm of Scoots' stompin'. This was a fun little game we played whenever the Iron Man movies (and character) were referenced and we were together in one place. We didn't expect Sunset to take part in our fun, however! She did this by yellin' out with her best take on a robot voice at the correct moment during our performance;

"I A-M I-R-O-N M-A-A-A-N!"

That was it, the three of us had had enough. We just couldn't resist laughin' our hides off over the whole situation bein' so dern silly, not after seein' Sunset bein' just as silly as the rest of us! Speakin' of the lady, she was laughin' right along with us until we all calmed down enough to keep talkin'. Once Scoots had returned to her seat, we waited for our guest to make her choice. But, she was not finished with investigatin' her options, for she pointed at the movie on my left and asked;

"What about this one? I know I've seen some of Johnny Depp's work, but not this film."

My eyes grew almost as wide as a tub full of apples and my smile was as large as Big Mac's muscles! Ah slowly rose from my seat, pushed it out of the way with my legs, turned to face Sunset, and cleared my throat all dignified-like before lettin' the fan in me have some fun;

"That there's a classic swashbucklin' pirate tale full of plunderin', pillagin', scoundrels, and heroes!", Ah jumped into a sword fightin' stance and performed some pretend sword swipes and chops with my right hand as Ah went on;

"It features the noble William Turner, the courageous Elizabeth Swan, and the sly Captain Jack Sparrow as they go on an wild piratin' adventure across the sea to take on the cursed pirate crew of the Black Pearl, lead by the connivin' Captain Barbossa!"

With my synopsis delivered, Ah finished my performance, returned my seat to its place at the table, and sat back down, my smile still holdin' strong. Ah looked around to check the other girls' reactions. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo gave off knowin' smiles, while Sunset clearly found my performance enjoyable if her slight well-meanin' chuckle was any indication. Without skippin' a beat, Ah asked her with excited anticipation in my eyes;

"Okay, missy, which movie do ya' wanna watch?"

Ah reckoned that my pals were lookin' at her the same way as Ah was. She held her chin with her right index finger and thumb to think for a moment or two before she let out that sideways smirk of hers. With a sweet glare pointed at us, she gave her answer;

"I'm thinking Iron Man this time. All three of the movies sound fun, but..."

She gave the wild girl in purple hair her attention before finishin';

"Scootaloo's synopsis for that film speaks to me."

Ah looked right at Scoots to see how she would react. She did so in exactly the way Ah expected, right down to the stars in her eyes and the smile so large her mouth was wide open! She practically leaped out of her seat as she raised her hands to the roof while yellin' out with absolute joy;

"AWESOME!"

Whenever that girl got a win, it was a win for the whole dern club, Ah tells ya'.

Before we knew it, we were chillin' out on our seats, which were moved in front of the table and positioned where we could clearly see the flat-screen TV. It was already set to the proper mode that allowed for the DVD player's default screen to be displayed, its logo bouncin' about while doin' an amazin' job of avoidin' the corners of the screen. With the volume already adjusted to the perfect settin', the TV remote rested on the table behind us. Ah had in my right hand the DVD player's remote. But, Ah wasn't gonna use it that time, no way no how. That honor belonged to another. Ah looked over at Sunset, who sat to my right, with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo respectively sittin' to my left, and told her with as sweet a voice as Ah could muster;

"It is a custom in our club to let our guest control the film durin' a personal screenin'."

Ah offered the remote to her as soon as she looked back at me. At first, her face gave off surprise, only for gratitude to replace it within moments as she gently took the remote from me. Once we were all looking up at the screen, she pressed the eject button to open up the player's tray, promptin' Scoots, who held the Iron Man DVD case in her hands, to get up off of her seat. She ran over to the player, opened up the case, took the DVD out of it, and placed into the tray. She then gave the tray a gentle push to have it close automatically before runnin' back to her seat. Every move she made was filled with excitement, to the point that the hand she used to handle the DVD shook a little. With that bit of business carried out, Sunset pressed the play button, navigated through the cool-lookin' DVD menu, and started up the film proper.

The openin' riff for ACDC's Back in Black filled the clubhouse with classic rock 'n roll, encouragin' the three of us movie buffs to bob our heads to the beat in perfect unison with our arms crossed to make ourselves look cool for fun. Ah stopped bobbin' my head to check on Sunset, who was head bangin' like a wild rocker while raisin' the devil horns to the roof with her right hand. That got a hearty giggle out of me, which got her to stop and look at us with a sheepish grin before returnin' her attention to the film, her hands restin' on her lap. Ah went back to watchin' it too, just in time to catch Tony Stark talkin' with the soldiers he was ridin' with in their military-grade jeep. Now, Ah expected the movie to be enjoyable for Sunset. Why wouldn't Ah? Iron Man's a great film! But, what Ah didn't expect was how the four of us would react to two specific parts of the movie: Tony Stark's introduction as a selfish rich warmonger and how he handled the truth about the damage his business did to people.

To quote an old Apple Family sayin': Perspective can hit ya' like a horse's hoof to the gut. Now, long before we invited Sunset into our clubhouse, we watched Iron Man with our sisters. They had brought Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with them, which we didn't mind at all really. Scoots was so dern excited over Rainbow Dash havin' so many friends, let me tell ya'! She'd brag about it to anyone who would listen;

"Of course Rainbow would have lots of friends, she's that awesome!", she would say with this big ol' smile on her face. This was a couple of days after she, Sweetie Belle, and Ah first met. It was the first time we had used the clubhouse to do a movie screenin'. Sunset Shimmer would sink her teeth into the school a week later. Combine that with all of the troubles that would come after... Yeah, when we watched that movie again, this time alongside the lady, we did so with a perspective that was very much like the one Tony Stark had gotten early on in the film:

The perspective of people who had hurt people who never deserved to be hurt.

Oh Nelly, did that hit us mighty hard! Gettin' through the moments in the movie when Tony was bein' a dern fool, his kidnappin', and him finding out just how much pain his line of work had caused was tough for us kids. It reminded us of our own past foolishness... of when we didn't care...

Yeah, Ah know: the Canterlot Movie Club and not carin' don't mix none. But, it happened, and we were still payin' for it.

Ah, myself, was tempted to grab the remote from Sunset's lap and stop the film at times. But, somethin' inside of me was keepin' me from lookin' away from the screen. Ah didn't know what it was at the time, but Ah could tell that it felt like this gentle warmth in my mind and gut that was subtle and wordless, all quiet like if ya' will. Whatever it was, it was helpin', so Ah didn't see any need to fight it. It sure beat lettin' my fears win again...

Once we got passed the escape scene, Sunset paused the film and spoke up with a sad tone of voice;

"That was a brave thing Yinsen did for Tony..."

We looked over at her to find that she was shedding a tear or two while looking back at us. She wiped her tears with her right arm and smiled at us while adding with a more upbeat voice;

"We've only just started and the film is already moving me!"

We had a good laugh before she unpaused the movie. Regardless of the laughter, we remembered somethin' important about ourselves:

We did NOT like seein' Sunset Shimmer cry.

We finished watchin' the flick without any problems or further delays. Soon after, we found ourselves sittin' at the table again, the DVD cases havin' been returned to the safe. My friends and Ah listened closely to Sunset as she happily gushed over the film with pure excitement in her eyes and voice;

"I loved how Tony refused to shy away from the fact that his company profited off of war. His business partner tried to give him the whole 'We are warmongers' spew, but Tony ignored his greedy flank and used company resources to protect people instead!"

Out of restrained confusion, Ah whispered to myself so that our guest couldn't hear me;

"Flank?"

Before I could investigate Sunset's strange word choice, Scootaloo responded with equal excitement while bouncing in her seat;

"I know, right?! He's so cool! One scene I really like is the one when he flew out of his lab with his power suit on and zoomed up into the night sky like a rocket! No, a jet plane! NO, a rocket jet person!"

Sweetie Belle, with a giggle, added happily;

"I loved it when he saved those innocent people the bad guys were holding hostage by knocking the meanies out before they could fire their guns!"

Scoots and Ah looked right at her before the former noted while keepin' her big grin goin' strong;

"Yeah, and then the bad guys used this big tank to shoot Tony out of the sky. But this is Iron Man! No tank is gonna stop him! So, after it missed its second shot, he fired his own teeny tiny shell thing at it and walked away. Nothing happened for a few seconds and them BOOM!"

She quickly stretched her arms out to both sides without hitting anyone for dramatic effect before finishing;

"The tank exploded from behind him while he walked away like an action hero!"

Her smile somehow grew larger by the second as she clarified her point;

"An egghead. Blew up a tank. Like an action hero!"

Scoots' passion was so infectious, the three of us were laughin' together before we knew it. A few seconds later, we heard Sunset's joyful laughter, which prompted us to calm down enough to give her our attention. Once she stop gigglin', she told us with a happy sigh;

"Yeah, Tony Stark, as a character, is my favorite part of the movie. He goes from this uncaring jerk to a man who can't help but care about what his actions do to people."

She raised her head up to look at the ceilin', her smile as bright as her namesake, and added;

"He redeemed himself by the end."

When Ah heard those words come out of her mouth, somethin' in my mind clicked. We had so much we wanted to say to Sunset Shimmer, but right then and there, Ah knew where to begin. With a breath and a smile as bright as hers, Ah followed my heart;

"Ya' redeemed yourself too, Miss Sunset.", Ah told her as plainly as Ah could. She looked back down to see the smile Ah was givin' her. Ah figured Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were smilin' at her too. The happiness on her face grew in strength and beauty as Ah went on;

"You've become a mighty good person."

Scootaloo agreed with that sentiment and added to it with her personal brand of joyful gusto;

"Yeah! You're awesome!"

"You're kind!", noted Sweetie Belle with a voice crack filled with happiness. Ah finished off the round of compliments with one that came right from my Apple heart;

"You're honest."

All of those compliments we gave her were the honest truth. Why wouldn't they be? She showed those three traits to us, to the whole school, two days ago! While Sunset's face practically radiated with joy and love, not even that could stave off the old regret that grew inside of me after Ah spoke. My smile givin' way to a frown, Ah lowered my head to face the table below and said in a much softer voice laced with pent up sadness;

"Ah wish we had seen all of that sooner."

Ah could almost feel the sadness bein' quietly expressed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle as Ah kept my head lowered in silent shame. Why? Why didn't we see how good she could be before... before...

Ah heard the rough scraping of wood upon wood as well as rushed footsteps. Before Ah could guess as to what was goin' on, Ah heard the gentle voice of Sunset Shimmer speak to us from behind;

"Even after what happened between us, I still didn't really show much proof that I had changed. I just... kept my distance. Towed the line."

Her voice expressed a kind of regret that echoed what my friends and Ah carried inside. Feelin' bad for her while also curious, Ah asked her politely, my regret holdin' my head in place;

"What kept ya' from showin' proof before ya' and the girls beat the Sirens?"

With a sigh, she answered hesitantly;

"I was... afraid."

Now, Ah was even more curious! Not enough to move my head in Sunset's general direction, mind ya'. Apparently, Scootaloo was just as curious, for she asked her softly;

"Afraid of what?"

She answered simply after pausing for a second;

"Of hurting people again. I... couldn't bring myself to risk that happening."

Hearing that truth come out was just what Ah needed, what we needed! All three of us shot up out of our seats to stand straight for a split second before turning right around on our heels to look at Sunset while shoving our chairs out of the way, our eyes wide with surprise. What we saw on that girl's face was terrible regret mixed with a heapin' helpin' of sorrow. It was enough to make me wanna cry and not just for her. Our own regret and sorrow that was kept inside of our hearts came flowin' out from our voices as we cried out in unison;

"We're afraid of hurting people again too!"

Tears started flowin' down from my eyes as Ah explained while holdin' my hands up to my chin as if Ah was pleadin';

"We wanted to talk with ya' when we were preparin' for that Musical Showcase! We really did!"

Scootaloo chimed in while tryin' to sniff back her own tears;

"We even wanted to let you help us with our poster! But..."

Sweetie Belle, the most tear-stricken of us, finished for our awesome friend;

"We were so scared of hurting you again that we pushed you away!"

With that, my friend and Ah aimed our heads to face the ceilin' and wailed to the stars above while lettin' our arms hang from our sides;

"WE'RE SO SORRY!"

At that point, all we could do was cry our hearts out while standin' as stiff as the family barn with our eyes shut tight. As we weeped, Ah suddenly felt Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle bein' gently pressed against my arms. Ah didn't pay much attention to what was happenin', until Ah felt Sunset bring herself close to us, her head carefully placed on my right shoulder. Instinctively, Ah wrapped my arms around her waist as if Ah was holdin' my kin for dear life. It took... land's sake, Ah still don't know how long it took for us to calm down! But, when we did, Sunset told us softly, her voice as sweet as caramel apples to my ears;

"I'm sorry too."

Even with my eyes closed, Ah was sure that my two friends were holdin' her too, and Ah was dern sure that we all held her tighter after she spoke, our tears stainin' the wooden floor below us like waterfalls.

Once the hug had broken up, we noticed that Sunset was kneeling on her right knee to gaze at us at our level. That beautiful smile of hers was back and stronger than ever, chasin' away our sorrows like light wardin' away darkness. It didn't take very long for us to stop cryin' after that. Before we could talk again, however, she declared with soft anticipation in her voice;

"I've got gifts for you."

Whatever thought train our brains were on got derailed! Ah was the first kid to express our shared surprise;

"Gifts... for us?"

Sweetie Belle, true to form, went from surprised to overjoyed within moments;

"That's so sweet of you!", she exclaimed with an adorable squeak. Ah felt my own joy over gettin' something nice from Sunset grow within me, but Scootaloo sounded more nervous than anythin' as she noted while still soundin' appreciative;

"You don't have to do that for us."

"I want to, though.", Sunset said in response while keepin' that lovely grin of hers on point. She got back up to stand on her two feet while declarin';

I'm gonna go grab them real quick. I'll be back soon."

She passed us and over to the door with the three of us watching her as she moved. She stopped to turn around to look us in the eye and tell us with a wink, her smile gettin' a bit of slyness to it;

"No peaking!"

With sheepish grins and giggles, we nodded our heads in agreement. With that settled, she walked through the door and closed it behind her. We only had to wait for two-to-three minutes before she returned with a thin rectangular box held in both hands. The box was wrapped up in wrappin' paper that had a pattern of stripes that bore Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's hair colors, with my own color fillin' the background. The darn thin' even had a big pink bow on top. Our eyes grew big with excitement upon seein' this. What could that lady possibly want to give us? The guesses we were makin' in our minds were gettin' wilder by the second, Ah tells ya'! Sunset walked over to the table and placed the box on its center with an audible thud. It was long enough to reach about halfway to the table's edge at both ends. We looked at Sunset, who nodded at us while happy as can be. Before we get right to work on openin' up the package, however, someone else had entered the clubhouse. Walkin' in one at a time to stand at Sunset's left side were our big sisters: Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash! Oh Nelly, we were about ready to squeal in delight when Rainbow told us with a knowin' smirk;

"Hold on, squirts! You gotta open your gifts first, then we can hug it out."

Rarity and Applejack nodded their heads in agreement with smirks of their own. Oh, they knew us so dern well! Without further ado, the three of us kids jumped right into rippin' that wrappin' paper apart. It took us mere seconds to get enough of the stuff off to be able to lift up the lid. We gave each other warm smiles of friendship before we took the lid into our hands and opened the box as a team.

What we saw inside... give me a moment, ya'll. Ah'm gettin' teary-eyed!

Anyway, what we saw inside were three small boxes surrounded by thick bunches of old newspapers. Each one had its own color: red, lavender, and orange. So, it was easy to tell who they belonged to. We tossed the large lid aside and took them boxes into our hands, one for each of us, and saw that they had lids on top. With care, we held the boxes in our left palms and pulled the lids up with our right hands to reveal the gift we all shared. Each of us were given a pony: a paper pony made out of construction paper. These little critters were unicorns to be precise, as proven by their horns pokin' out from their foreheads. They were small enough to nicely fit in their boxes and were clearly made with the same love and care that was given to them paper ponies that were hangin' in our clubhouse, liberal use of crayons and all. What had struck us right in our hearts were the colors used to give them their appearance.

The amber coats and matching horns.

The red manes with yellow stripes.

The turquoise eyes!

It felt like we were holdin' three little Sunsets in the palms of our hands, ya'll! The cherry on top was what was written on both flanks for each paper pony, which were initials carefully written in red ink:

There was no need for anyone in that clubhouse to explain why Sunset gave us these ponies. Our hearts knew the reason, and dangnabit, we were listenin' to them more closely than ever before. That warm feelin' from earlier that Ah could not name yet came back, which helped make what were about to do just a little bit easier on me. With the utmost care, we slowly placed the lids back on the ponies' boxes and carried them over to the safe. Scootaloo, with one hand, opened it up, allowin' each of us to place those wonderful gifts inside of it. Once the safe was closed again, we darted over to Sunset quick as a flash and gave her the biggest, tightest, most lovin' hug we could muster. We felt her and our sisters wrap us up in a group hug as we all allowed smiles as bright as the sun to shine on our faces. Not a word was spoken from then until Sunset Shimmer, our friend, left the clubhouse.

No more words were needed that time.

It wasn't long before the three of us started spending time with Sunset Shimmer whenever we could. We did lots of fun things together: Hanging out at the mall with the rest of the Rainbooms, helping Apple Bloom and her sister around the farm, enjoying movies, watching Scootaloo perform tricks with Rainbow Dash, and anything else we could come up with. I guess we were making up for lost time, which was fine by me.

Sunset deserved to have a lot of fun with her friends.

Although we were finally connecting with that girl, that we were not as afraid of hurting her again as we were before, something still felt... off. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and I were talking about exactly that in the clubhouse one day. AB, as expected from our leader, was leading the discussion from her podium;

"Look ya'll, our talk with Sunset last week got me thinkin'...", she began with a serious glare. Scoots and I kept our attention locked on her as she went on;

"We wanna move forward from that foolhardy mistake we made a while back, right?"

It was a trick question and we all knew it. I nodded my head alongside Scootaloo instantly, prompting Apple Bloom to do the same and continue;

"Well, all we were doin' before last week was pushin' folks away. Not just her, but the other students too."

She groaned a little before adding out of annoyance while gritting her teeth;

"Siren magic makin' us act like fools aside!"

"We talked with our sisters though! You know, before those Dazzlings messed with our heads.", I quickly noted. She responded with a quick nod before Scootaloo chimed in happily;

"Yeah, because we love our sisters too much to push them away!"

We all smiled at the thought of the three girls who were always there for us before Apple Bloom admitted with a chuckle;

"Yeah, we were talkin' with them all right before we all turned plum crazy, our families too when we were at home. Other than that..."

Her grin gave way to a frown before declaring;

"We've been keepin' Wondercolts at arms length... too afraid of hurtin' them to give them anythin' more than small talk..."

Without warning, she slammed her right fist on top the podium, causing Scootaloo and I to back up a step out of shock! She then exclaimed with the kind of frustration that I always knew could come from her mouth;

"Well, Ah ain't movin' forward if Ah'm livin' in fear!"

Those words struck a cord in the both of us, with the orange daredevil declaring with pride and a fist pump with her right fist;

"That's right! If Sunset Shimmer can put the past behind her, why not us?"

I smiled at them both to show my support of this, but then a thought popped up in my head that I needed to express;

"Yeah, but how are we gonna do that?"

We pondered the question in silence for a good few minutes, but all we could draw from our brains were blanks. Apple Bloom, who recognized the situation, offered calmly;

"Well, with school startin' back up tomorrow, Ah reckon we've got a lot on our minds as it is. So, let's try to think of ideas today and, when we get our school work done tomorrow, we'll reconvene 'ere to discuss what we thought of and narrow thin's down."

This seemed like a good idea to me, so I told our leader;

"I second that motion!"

"Third!", exclaimed Scootaloo with an excited bounce. Looking satisfied, Apple Bloom banged her gavel to signify that the motion was passed. As we left the clubhouse to head to our homes, I couldn't help but think back to the Battle of the Bands, to Sunset choosing to stand up for her friends through song...

I mentally gushed over how wonderful her singing voice was! Such courage and sweetness mixed together in a blend of melodious beauty! Oh, and when Princess Twilight joined in, their vocal harmony was amazing! But then, I felt something in my mind and heart. It was... warm and comforting, but also... invigorating? I couldn't make heads or tales about it, but it seemed harmless, so I had let it be.

I didn't think much of it for a while, certainly not when school started the next day.

The school day was uneventful, especially when compared to the wild competition that, thanks to the beauty of scheduling, had ended just before Spring Break. The classes went through the post-break motions of getting us students back into the swing of things. This included getting one of the worst things a student could get: homework! How much of that annoyance we got varied from class to class. Thankfully, my pile was not too large overall. As luck would have it, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were on the same boat. We knew as we walked through the halls of our school together that if we put in the time and effort, we could get our homework done before dinner time. We were talking about that topic while we walked, with Apple Bloom saying excitedly;

"No math homework this time around, ya'll! Ah think Miss Cheerliee is showin' us mercy today."

Before we could giggle at the thought of that, however, we were stopped in our tracks by a large pink blur that zoomed over and stopped in front us, revealing itself to be none other than Pinkie Pie, who was smiling brightly as usual. Her antics hardly startled us due to our experience with having her as a friend. With a smile of my own, I greeted her with a wave;

"Hey there, Pinkie! What's going on?"

She responded by puffing out her chest and declaring with a serious face and a surprisingly deep voice that was laced with a hilariously bad Austrian accent;

"Come with me if you want to rock!"

She then spun around and skipped back the way she came before we could laugh over her silly Arnold voice. As tempting as it was for us to break out the movie jokes, we held them back as we followed the party planner down the hall. Like my friends, I was curious as to what she had in mind. Sunset's performance, and that strange feeling from earlier, stuck with me for a good chunk of the trip.

Pinkie led us to where the Music Room was located. I figured the rest of the Rainbooms were inside, given that this was one of the times when they would practice their songs. Only this time, we couldn't hear the muffled sounds of them playing their music from behind the door. Pinkie, with swift movement, opened the door and motioned to us to follow her inside. When we did, we saw the other band members standing together in a row, with Sunset herself standing in the middle while carrying a beautiful electric guitar. Rainbow Dash's own guitar looked about as awesome as her as she stood to Sunset's left, with Rarity rocking her keytar on the right, Fluttershy with her tambourine on Rarity's right, and Applejack holding her bass on the far left. Behind the line of musicians stood Pinkie's drum set. There was something different about the band that caught my eye that day: Sunset was sporting a new look! Her hair was still red with yellow stripes, but the colors were de-saturated a bit. They were vibrant, yes, but not extremely so. She wore a black jacket with fake leather, but this one was more subdued in style. The decorations on the collar were traded in for a large orange chevron on each sleeve. Underneath the jacket was a light blue sundress that had white frills with an orange trim at the bottom. Below the dress was a pair of plain blue pants that were somewhere between loose and tight fitting. For footwear, she wore buckled heeled boots that were grey with a black trim. They were much shorter than the flaming boots of old, since they reached halfway to her knees instead of all the way up to them. Like her jacket, each boot had an orange chevron drawn on the front. I liked Sunset's new style, it made her look more friendly, and she was already really nice!. As for Pinkie, she skipped over to the drum set, sat down on its seat, and grabbed the drumsticks that were resting on top of the bass drum to make ready. My friends and I were quite confused over what was going on, with Apple Bloom asking the band;

"Why did ya'll want us to come 'ere?"

The older girls were all smiles as Rainbow Dash, with confidence in every word she spoke, explained;

"We just finished practicing this awesome new song!"

Applejack, as honest as she was humble, added with a grin;

"We could use a fresh pair of ears to test it on before we debut it."

Rarity brought her sense of dignity to the explanation upon chiming in;

"So, we thought it would be lovely if we could play it for you little darlings!"

Our excitement went through the roof upon hearing all of this. Scootaloo was the most excited of us, her rapidly stomping her shoes on the floor being proof of this. She exclaimed with a voice loaded with anticipation;

"This is gonna be so much fun!"

Even though we were giggling at the thought of listening to a new song performed by our favorite band of all time, I had a single question to ask them before the performance could start;

"Why play your new song for us and not anyone else? All of the students would come running if they heard about this."

We waited for the girls to answer. Fluttershy was the one who did so, albeit softly and nervously;

"Well, um, we heard from Sunset about your talk with her and.... um, we figured you were still feeling a little blue."

"Sooooo, we decided to cheer you kids up with a super-amazing, spectacular, smile-creating song that you get to hear before anyone else!", exclaimed a bouncy Pinkie Pie in a rapid pace, her excitement on full display. They were not off the mark, since we still felt pretty bad about us keeping our distance from most of our peers for so long, among other things. Out of appreciation and joy, I nodded my head at the band with a smile. I figured Apple Bloom and Scootaloo did the same. Once we found some free chairs to sit on, we moved them to sit in front of the girls, got comfortable, and waited. After a quick test of their instruments, the Rainbooms got into their playing stances. Pinkie, with the biggest smile in the room, yelled out the beat while raising her drumsticks to the ceiling;

"One-two-three-four!"

The girls immediately began playing, creating the wonderful sounds of Sunset and Rainbow Dash strumming their guitars together mixed with the energetic beep-booping of Rarity's keytar and the soft shaking of Flutterhsy's tambourine, all of which were kept in rhythm by Applejack's bass guitar and Pinkie's bass drum. The resulting music that started off the song was gentle and strong all at once. They played this for about ten seconds before Sunset, much to our joy, started to sing;

The girls had our attention when they started playing, but now that attention was almost impossible to lose! Our ears heard the whole band, but our eyes were fixed on that amber-colored lady. Just hearing the first line was enough to make the three of us realize that this song was not just about anyone: it was about Sunset herself! She sang that first part with clear solemness on her face. She kept this up as she continued singing;

Her smile returned along with a sparkle in her eyes that signified a truly real kind of happiness. The kind that seeped into her singing voice;

That happiness was immediately mixed with powerfully positive pride as she belted out a chorus that Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and I would remember forever and ever:

Those words... Those beautiful, truthful words that poured out from the heart of the girl who sang them... They tugged at our heart strings in such a way that they caused certain memories to play out in our minds. Those memories all came from a dark time in the movie club's history: the time when we made the single worst mistake in our lives. I was shedding tears, but despite what was going through my head, they didn't come from sadness, anger, or regret. They came from this nameless feeling from before, but I was too focused on the song to pay much attention to such a thing. Heck, I barely noticed that I was crying! Sunset and her friends kept up their performance without skipping a beat, her solemn frown from before returning as she sang the next verse;

As if on cue, the sting of our shared mistake, of our regret, flared up from within me. It threatened to pull me away from the song, but I kept my attention on the performance regardless of the pain;

Sunset's sweet voice and revitalized smile, combined with the musical talents of the entire band, kept me grounded and focused on her words;

She then belted out the chorus once more, this time with more passion and the higher end of her vocal range brought to bare for those high notes;

At this point, my pain and regret was swept away by the music, by the vocals, by the six girls who played before us! I was shedding a whole stream of tears, but it didn't matter! I was having fun! We were having fun! I was smiling from ear to ear as the fun ended with a mighty crescendo;

The girls finished playing, allowing the last notes to smoothly fade into silence. At some point during the performance, my two friends and I had stood up from our seats. We didn't even notice we had done this until now! We stood silently while gazing at each of the band members, who looked back us expectantly. Fluttershy was the only one of the six who looked nervous. But, that nervousness melted away as she, along with the others, recognized that all three of us club members were smiling brightly at them. Still, we did not say a word. For five whole seconds, words failed us. After that, Scootaloo, exclaimed with heartfelt joy while sniffing back her own tears;

"That... was... so... awesome!"

Apple Bloom, driven by our friend's words, rushed over to Applejack to give her a big hug. She didn't even wait for her to get the bass guitar out of the way first. That Apple was hardly one to wait for very long. As for me, I made sure to wait until Rarity was ready before pouncing on her with a hug of my own that made her laugh lovingly. Scootaloo, of course, went after Rainbow Dash. We then hugged Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie before turning to face Sunset herself. She had already placed her electric guitar off to the side before getting down on her right knee to gaze at us at our level. We smiled happily at her as the leader of the Canterlot Movie Club declared to the girl who was once our enemy with love and surety;

"You're our Phoenix Friend, sugarcube! There ain't anyone or anythin' that can change that!"

Somehow, some part of me knew that she would say something like that. Frankly, I was all for it! Sunset's smile grew three sizes that day, with love and appreciation sparkling in her eyes. I could feel the sweet support the others were giving us in silence as we almost tackled the amber-colored girl with one of our movie club hugs. While wrapping us up in her arms, she told us sweetly;

"Phoenix Friend... I like it."

At that moment, the feeling I had felt in my mind and heart before came back again. I still didn't know what it was, and its return did not help with that. Still, it was not hurting me or anyone else, so I relaxed into it along with the hug without a second thought.

I found myself rolling down my neighborhood's road on my scooter alongside Rainbow Dash, who was riding her skateboard like the awesome person she was. We had our safety gear on, of course, because having to go to the hospital to get surgery was seriously lame! The two of us shredded down the road like sports stars from the 90s while doing cool tricks whenever we could. Grinding on rails, striking mid-air poses after jumping off of ramps, hopping over obstacles, and other awesome moves. I was one happy girl and so was Rainbow. Once we saw the end of the street we were on, we stopped our sick rides safely and sat down on the sidewalk to my left to get some rest. We chilled there for a few seconds before I saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, my best friends, running over to me from the right. They looked terrified and sounded it too when they cried out;

"GIRLS! THE SIRENS ARE BACK FOR REVENGE!"

Fear gripped my heart as I looked up at Rainbow with worry in my eyes. True to form, she looked back at me with one of her confident smirks that cheered me up without fail and declared with pride;

"Really, those jerks are at it again? Please, they're gonna get their butts kicked a second time!"

Her words erased my fear as my friends and fellow club members rushed over to hold my arms from my sides. I brought them close with my arms, so that we could comfort each other as we saw something that I wish we never had to see again:

The green fog. That stupid green fog that was moving over the road and towards us! Strutting out from the fog with vile grins on their faces were the Sirens, AKA: The Dazzlings. On the left was Aria Blaze, on the right was Sonata Dusk, and in the middle was their leader Adagio Dazzle. They stopped to stand in the middle of the road, the fog stopping with them. With a loud evil cackle, Adagio announced to the four of us;

"Well now, if it isn't the arrogant fool who made a song about herself! We'll make sure to humble you before making you ours."

I would not stand for my sister-at-heart and most awesome idol being insulted. Yeah, she could take it, but she didn't need to that time;

"Rainbow Danger Dash is NO ONE'S slave!", I yelled out at the trio of terror angrily. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cheered me on, with Rainbow herself giving me a quick thumbs up before returning her attention to the Sirens. Aria, with a confident smirk oozing with vile intent, asked;

"Where are those dorks you call friends, huh? Are they too good for you?"

Rainbow belted out a quick laugh before declaring confidently;

"My friends always have my back..."

Her smirk grew wide when she added;

"And they're never too far behind!"

She then pointed up at the sky with her right index finger, which drove me to look up. It took a mere second for a huge rainbow laser to come crashing down from the sky and onto the pavement between us and the Sirens! The laser stayed long enough to perform a super-cool light show before vanishing, revealing the other five members of the most awesome band of all time! With relief and joy in our hearts, my friends and I released each other from our grips to pull off a movie club high five while yelling out happily;

"THE SONIC RAINBOOMS! YAY!"

With a loud and proud chuckle, Rainbow Dash rushed over to join her friends as they stood within a few feet from the Sirens, who refused to show even a hint of fear or frustration. No, they kept their vile smiles up, even as the girls transformed into their cool as heck pony forms in awesome unison. Upon seeing this, Sonata giggled before saying sarcastically while turning her smile into one that was a twisted attempt at false innocence;

"Oh no, whatever will we do, Adagio?"

With a quick brush of her oversized hair with her right hand, the leader declared with terrible excitement;

"Let's show them!"

Just then, three glowing lights appeared on the chests of each Siren. The lights were red... a very familiar red! Before any of us could react, they disappeared, revealing their magical gemstones that they now wore around their necks. They were far from broken, a fact that Sunset noted in shock;

"You had them fixed!"

"Of course, Sunset Dimmer!", Aria responded with an annoyed grunt before Sonata added cheerfully;

"You really shouldn't have let us keep the pieces. Now, our gems are totes better than ever!"

One evil titter later, Adagio looked over at the surprised and angered Rainbooms and told them simply;

"Exhibit A."

She sharply raised her right hand at them and snapped her fingers, trapping them in a transparent magical dome before they could run or fly. My friends and I watched in shock and horror our heroes went to work on trying to bust through the dome while yelling words of encouragement to us and each other. I looked back at Adagio, who kept her smirk up while adding just as simply;

"Exhibit B."

Another finger snap was fired, which got me to look back at the dome. Suddenly, the dome was no longer transparent. Instead, it was given the same shade of green as the fog while rendering the three of us unable to see inside of it. I only managed to catch Rainbow Dash looking back at me with worry in her eyes before she was hidden from my sight. To make matters worse, that darn Siren had also sound-proofed the dome from the inside, so we couldn't heart the girls anymore!

My friends and I kept close to one another as I saw the fog spread all around us with enough speed to keep us from escaping it in time. We were trapped with three horrible bullies and our heroes were unable to help us. I didn't want to admit it out loud, but I was scared out of my wits. I could feel Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle shiver as they hugged me from my sides, so I knew they were scared too. We kept our eyes locked on the Sirens as they slowly strutted over to us, the fog moving in closer and closer from all sides as they walked. They stopped to stand within a foot or two away from us, the fog following suit from behind them. Adagio told us while looking at us with the smile of a predator getting ready to pounce;

"Now now, little Humans, we're not interested in hurting you."

"You would be so much better off under our spell than six feet under!", exclaimed Sonata while sounding much happier about the concept than anyone had the right to be.

"It's not like you'll have a choice.", noted Aria with a smirk and a knowing chuckle.

It didn't matter to me, to us, what the situation meant. The Canterlot Movie Club would not give up without a fight! With defiant glares aimed right at the villains, we yelled out at them as an awesome unit;

"They'll be always be someone who'll stand against you jerks!"

Adagio cackled once more before declaring with absolute arrogance;

"Then we'll make them ours too."

Before she could think of singing, however, something caught her eye. She pointed over to a spot behind us and revealed with a growing grin;

"Oh look, kids: our audience has arrived!"

We turned around to see what she was getting at. What we saw was about a terrifying to us as a horror movie: many of our fellow Wondercolts, including the teachers and staff, slowly walked up to us through the fog. We looked around and found that they were coming in from all directions. Their eyes glowed a green color that matched the fog and dome and their faces were filled with hatred. One of the students, Trixie Lulamoon, expressed that hatred on their behalf;

"CMCs... you embarrassed us!"

"You turned us against each other!", cried out Lyra and Bon-Bon while holding hands in unified fury. Another bunch of harsh words rang out from the group;

"Sunset weeped because of you!", yelled out a furious Flash Sentry.

As the students got closer to us, their words increased in number and rage;

"How dare you hurt so many people!"

"You did all of that for what? To get rid of one person? Shame on you!"

"You cowardly bullies should be expelled!"

"You should be sent to jail!"

Each hurtful word had cut deep into our hearts. We kept our feet planted on the ground and held each other tightly, but we could not stop our tears from streaming down from our eyes like waterfalls;

"We're so sorry, everybody!", we exclaimed to students, believing that our words would somehow break through the Sirens' control. No dice. Thankfully, the group stopped moving when they were just barely too far away to reach us with their hands. Even so, we were still surrounded by the fog, our enemies, and irate Wondercolts. I looked over at the dome to see if the Rainbooms had broken out, only to find it was still intact. Horrified, I tightened my hold on Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom while shutting my watery eyes tight. The air around the three of us suddenly turned cold as I couldn't help but beg the students in my mind;

"Please don't hurt us... we didn't mean to hurt you all!"

As if responding to my own thought, Adagio declared with venom in her voice;

"Don't worry, little ones. Life will become painless for you in just a moment. Now... adore us!"

I summoned all of my willpower, determined to resist the Sirens' magical singing long enough for the Rainbooms to save us all again. I could feel the growing chill of Winter in my mouth as I breathed erratically. But, the Sirens did not sing this time. Instead, Sonata noted out of shock;

"Girls, look at their feet!"

My eyes shot open as I looked down to see what was up. To my horror, I saw that my feet as well as Sweetie Belle's and Apple Bloom's were frozen in solid ice that was creeping up our legs at a steady pace. We tried to pry ourselves out of the ice, but it was too thick. It was cold, so unbearably cold! It made the rest of my body shiver like crazy! Since the ice was also frozen onto the ground below us, we couldn't move an inch. We glared at the Sirens, thinking that they had done this to us. But, Adagio told us the truth with horrible indifference;

"Huh, looks like Tartarus has come to claim you at last. A shame really, you would have been fine servants to us."

"Ugh, how annoying.", Aria said with a grunt and a frown. Sonata, for some reason, looked and sounded genuinely sad for us;

"If only you hadn't waited so long..."

At this point, the ice had reached our chests and covered our hearts. which kept on beating regardless. Even with the inevitable coming, the three of us kept on holding onto one another for support and comfort. We looked into each other's eyes as the students around us sent out more painful words;

"About time this happened!"

"Such is the fate of villains like them..."

"Give our regards to Grogar, you she-demons!"

That last insult, under normal circumstances, would have stung like a wasp's stinger. At this point, however, their words were like water on a stone wall: they had little to no effect. We had let the world around us fade into the background as we kept gazing into each other's eyes. There was sadness and deep regret in them, but no fear. Even now, at the very end, we would stay together as friends. As the ice moved up our necks, my last thought was of the girl who saved me long ago;

"Rainbow Dash..."

The last voice I heard before the ice covered my ears was one that shoved itself into the foreground, getting my attention with ease. It was one that belonged not to a Wondercolt, but a monstrous traitor who thought herself awesome;

"You brats deserve this.", Gilda declared with wicked hatred in her voice. My friends were the last people I saw before the ice took my vision from me.

Darkness surrounded me completely.

I saw nothing. Said nothing. Heard nothing. Thought nothing. Physically felt nothing.

I was numb in every sense of the word, completely isolated at that. I could not even move my body an inch, let alone feel it. Was this what it was like to be dead? To not be able to think or feel or do stuff? Unable to speak or care? If I could think, I would have decided that this was not for me, that even pain was better than this numbness! But then, I noticed something... It was a warm sensation, gentle yet strong. It started inside of my head as well as my gut before spreading over to my heart like a big comfy blanket falling onto my body at bedtime. It was so comforting, this warmth, so soothing. I wanted to stay focused on it, to let it keep me warm like a campfire. When it started to spread through the rest of my body, I did not fight it even a little. Suddenly, my sense of thinking had returned! Besides deciding that the numbness sucked, I thought of my friends and family, particularly of how much we loved each other. The warmth inside grew stronger, as if it was fueled by my memories of those wonderfully awesome people. Just then, my sense of smell came back, allowing me to recognize that, wherever I was, it smelled of... flowers? Strange, but not scary. Another memory came up in my mind: there were flowers where I first met Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle! Ah, the memory of our friendship's birth made my heart soar with happiness. Once again, the warmth grew in strength as my sense of hearing came back as well. The first thing I heard was this soft hum that echoed throughout my location. It was soothing to my mind, almost like a lullaby, so I had no issues with it. For some reason, I thought of the times Rainbow Dash and I pulled fun-filled pranks on people that made them laugh right along with us. Instinctively, I began to giggle softly, the warmth inside getting even stronger. This was a clear sign that my sense of speaking had returned. Surprised, I caught myself mid-laugh and exclaimed in relief;

"Woooaaah!"

My voice echoed throughout my location, which made me laugh even more because of how silly it sounded. It was then that I realized that it was that gentle warmth, spurred on by my happy memories, that was helping me regain my senses. With a confident grin, I thought of the time when my Aunt and Auntie read to me one of my Daring Do books to help me sleep. I didn't know what was more awesome, them telling me the story or the hot chocolate they had made for me. As if on cue, my sense of physical feeling was restored! The first thing I felt when it returned was the coldness of the still air around me. It wasn't freezing cold though, so it didn't do a thing to weaken my mirth or resolve. All that was left was my sight. I picked the perfect memory for the job: the memory of when I saw Sunset Shimmer, not as a bully, but as a good person, for the first time ever. It wasn't exactly a happy memory, but it was super-powerful! Like, a nine on the one-to-ten awesomeness scale.

That did the trick, I could see again! I felt like myself again, and oh boy did I feel awesome! I checked my surroundings to find that I was floating in a pitch black void. I raised my hands up to my face, only to find that, somehow, I could see them as clear as day. Feeling daring, I did a floating reverse flip just for fun. I had put a little more power into that flip than I should have, so I accidentally did several flips in one go! Thankfully, I could straighten myself back up easily enough. What I had seen at that moment, however, stopped me from celebrating further. It was a humongous light that was brilliantly bright, yet it wasn't painful for me to look at. In fact, the longer I stared at it, the calmer I became. The muscles in my body started to relax completely as I inspected the light further. It's color was the same as my eyes: a strong shade of purple. Even when putting the color aside, I felt in my heart that this light was meant for me. Without thinking about it, I floated closer and closer to the light, as if I was drawn to it. The warmth inside kept on growing, as if it was feeding off of it. I felt safe around it, with something in my mind silently telling me that everything was going to be okay. As soon as I got close enough, with a strong sense of peace in my entire being, I reached out with my right hand and touched the light. At the instant I did this, two voices sang at a slow pace from both around and within me;

My eyes grew wide in shock and my heart raced. I knew those voices like the back of my hand! Before I could respond, they sang some more;

All I could do before my body flung itself into the light was yell out in confusion;

"Mom?! Dad?!"

I awoke with a big start, my upper body shooting up straight, allowing me to sit on my bed while panting heavily. I was sweating as much as I did whenever I exercised with Rainbow Dash in the school gym! My mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts, but one thought held strong within the chaos: the song that I heard near the end of the dream. I wondered why Mom and Dad sang that to me at that moment? I felt it best to focus on the song instead of the lame nightmare that came before it. With a sigh, I slowly got up out of bed and steadied myself. Thankfully, my balance was not shot. I turned to look at my alarm clock, which rested on my nightstand. As it turned out, I woke up earlier than usual, so I had some extra time to spend before I had to get ready for school. Suddenly vibrating in front of the alarm clock was my smartphone, which I grabbed with my left hand to see that Apple Bloom was calling me. With a quick upwards swipe of the green Answer Call circle, I gave her the chance to talk with me as I moved the smartphone over to my left ear. Her first words were filled with concern;

"Scoots, did ya' have a really scary dream that had a plum weird endin' last night?", she asked in that Apple family drawl I remembered so fondly. Hearing this question surprised me, so I responded with one of my own;

"Did you have a dream like that too, AB?", I asked with just as much concern in my voice. Strange not-lame ending aside, I would not wish that dream on anyone. My friend's answer was simple and to the point;

"Eeyup."

The chaos in my head died down instantly upon hearing this. I then decided to check a detail to be sure;

"So, you dreamed of the Dazzlings sealing the Rainbooms in a dome, so that they could use the folks in CHS to mess with us before making us their slaves-."

"Only for Tartarus to freeze us in terribly cold ice, yes.", Apple Bloom finished for me with a shudder. She then added while sounding a bit more cheerful than she did a moment;

"Ah didn't scream none when Ah woke up, so my folks are still sleepin' soundly. But, give them... oh, five more minutes and we'll all be eatin' breakfast and doin' mornin' chores!"

We had a good short laugh before asked out of worry;

"Are ya' okay, Scoots?"

With a smile, I told her truthfully;

"I'm okay, AB, and thank you."

Right when we were about to say goodbye, I felt my phone vibrate again. After looking at the screen, I saw a notification saying that Sweetie Belle was trying to enter the call. With a swipe or two, I added her in. The first thing she said was understandably familiar;

"Girls, did you have a really scary-?", she asked with a concerned squeak;

"Eeyup!", we told her at the same time. Sweetie giggled sheepishly before noting;

"Me too."

Sure enough, Apple Bloom didn't have time to speak on the matter further, given when her folks were waking up. So we agreed to pick this back up during lunch hour. After saying my goodbyes and hanging up, I placed the phone back on the nightstand and went to get my clothes for the day.

Oh, this was going to be an interesting day for the three of us!

I sat on the seat of my chosen table, which was basically deserted save for me, while enjoying my lunch. It was early in lunch hour, so I expected my friends to show up very soon. Sure enough, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle came walking up to sit at the side of the table opposite me while carrying treys filled with food. Normally, AB would choose to sit with Applejack and Big Mac, who were chilling out together at a different table far to my right. But, we had club business to attend to, and this time, it had nothing to do with cinema. I stopped eating to give my two pals my full attention. Apple Bloom was the first to bring it up after chomping on her big juicy apple;

"Let's start by explainin' what happened in our dreams, so we can compare them.", she suggested while chewing on her food. Thankfully, not even the huge chunk of apple she was munching on could make her words impossible to understand, but I did still have to listen closely to catch them. Once she swallowed, she started recounting her dream to us. Once Sweetie Belle and myself had talked about ours as well, we all had the same realization that we admitted aloud;

"We had the same dream!"

Sweetie Belle clarified further while holding her chin with one hand in thought;

"Well, maybe not the exact same dream. I mean, mine started with me listening to Rarity gush over her newly made dresses while we walked down the street."

With a quick nod, Apple bloom added her side of it;

"Yeah, and mine started when Ah was enjoyin' some fizzy apple cider with Applejack while walkin' down the street."

After giving their words some thought, I noted;

"It was when we came together that our dreams became the same then. How does that work?"

Apple Bloom crossed her arms and responded with a frown;

"Sometimes, dreams can have somethin' to say. That's what Granny Smith told me this mornin', anyway."

"Yeah, but what was our dream telling us?", asked a confused Sweetie Belle.

As if guided by instinct, we looked around the cafeteria from our seats. We saw many of our fellow students eating and talking with each other, making jokes, and just having a good time before the next set of classes could start. We recognized many of them, but there was a select few who stood out for us the most. The faces of those who, at one point, we had hurt...

Their names and faces, we could never forget.

Seeing those people reminded us of the pain in our hearts so much that we looked away before it could really sting. We held our heads down to stare at our food in silence for a good few minutes. I was not feeling all that hungry at that point. I could hear that song from the dream echo in my mind and I was sure my friends heard it in theirs too;

That feeling in my head and gut drove me to look back up at my friends, who were doing the same thing. We gave each other smiles filled with cool friendship and supportive nods to keep each other going. Our sadness seemingly held at bay, Apple Bloom noted while scratching her head with her right hand;

"That song though... Somethin' about it confuses me."

We all pondered that aspect of the dream for a few seconds before Sweetie exclaimed;

"It's not finished!"

We shot our heads over to her while AB asked incredulously;

"Ah beg your pardon?"

I, however, recognized that the budding singer was on to something;

"Yeah, it sounded like the start of a song and not the whole thing!", I said to my pals while feeling proud of myself for figuring that out. From what I could tell, my words seemed to make sense to AB, who calmed down real quick. Sweets then asked;

"Yeah, but why is it asking us what to do when a heart has been-?"

She stopped herself with a sudden gasp, her eyes wide with sudden realization. It didn't take long for the rest of us to catch on. We knew, at that moment, what the song was referring to, and oh man, did it sting! This gave our sadness an opening that it took without a moment's delay, driving us to look back down at our food in shame. Sweetie Belle hesitantly brought up the other elephant in the room with a soft voice that was filled with sadness;

"Are the students still hurting over what we did?"

That squeak of hers only made her sadness more apparent as I told her without moving my head an inch;

"If they are, I don't blame them..."

Apple Bloom's voice, filled with determination mixed with regret, got our attention;

"Ah say we investigate that, see if those folks are still hurtin'. We owe them at least that much!"

I looked back up at her to find that she was looking over at the Sonic Rainbooms' table, specifically at Sunset Shimmer, before she added softly;

"We owe her at least that much."

Her determination had spread over to Sweetie and me like an awesome river that swept away our sadness, at least for a while. We nodded in agreement as AB turned her head to give us a confident glare and one of her big smiles before declaring;

"And Ah know just who to talk to about that."

There we were, sitting in front of the desk that was occupied by its owner: Principal Celestia. She was sweet and kind to her students, but knew when to be firm with trouble-makers. Given our history, we knew how firm she could be all too well. Standing to her right was her younger sister and partner, Vice-Principal Luna. She was more strict than Celestia, more willing to hand out punishments that were harsher than what her sister would deliver. But, like her sister, Luna was a fair lady, even to those who arguably didn't deserve fairness or mercy. We liked them both equally, honestly.

The two sisters gave us glares that we could not begin to figure out, while we looked at them with worry in our eyes. We had just told them the question that was on our minds and were waiting for a response. I made sure to not say a word until they spoke to us, same for Sweetie. Even Apple Bloom, as impatient as she normally was, knew better than to get annoyed with those two over having to wait. All was silent for a couple of minutes until Principal Celestia said calmly;

"Frankly, we find you asking us about this to be..."

A warm smile crept onto her face as she added with warmth;

"A pleasant surprise. One would think you all wanted to be done with that awful incident."

I shook my head before telling the two highest officials in our school truthfully;

"No, we can't be done with that mistake of ours until we know if our fellow students are still hurting over it."

I looked at them while feeling my regret flare up like fire and told them;

"I know we are..."

Their smiles were given a subtle dash of understanding as they took a moment to think. It was a longer moment than any of us kids would have liked. Before we could get anxious, however, Luna spoke up with a hint of softness in her typically calm and professional voice;

"As it happens, I looked into the matter when I was conducting a different investigation of my own."

That, I did not expect! Feeling excited, but not willing to be rude, I waited quietly as she looked over at Celestia, who looked back at her expectantly, and asked;

"If I may, sister?"

After getting a quick nod from the Principal, the Vice-Principal walked passed the desk and motioned for us to follow her, which we did so. She guided us to her office, where we sat at the large round table. Luna sat down at the end of the table opposite to us and, with a sigh, declared to us with a serious glare that could make a weak-willed troublemaker tremble in fear;

"After the Battle of the Bands, I checked in on the students involved in that ill-conceived event, my goal being to understand the damage that the Dazzlings had done to the school's student body."

Her glare became slightly soft as she went on;

"I had a hunch that their actions had also inflamed a few old wounds wrought by past incidents, so I made sure to investigate that possibility as well."

I knew in my heart that her hunch was far from wrong, at least as far the three of us were concerned.

Holding back the urge to look away out of shame, I kept my attention on Luna as she continued;

"So far, my efforts have produced some rather fascinating results, but I have yet to complete my investigation."

Before I could react, Apple Bloom asked her with anticipation in her southern drawl;

"Do ya' need help with that?"

Like her, I felt the drive to help people push me to give Luna an excited grin. A tiny smile formed on her face before she clarified;

"I appreciate your offer, girls. In fact, I'm glad you came to Celestia's office at this hour, because it gives me an opportunity."

"You want to talk to us about the Battle of the Bands?", asked a curious Sweetie Belle. She was usually the quickest of us to catch on to things. Luna, with a nod, elaborated;

"I have talked with many of the students who competed. But, I have not spoken with the three of you yet. Now that you're here, I can resolve that issue."

That contest, as a topic, was a sore spot for us at the time, but we didn't mind talking about it with trusted folks, like the lady in front of us. So, with a breath, I nodded my head while my friends did the same. Satisfied, Luna took a moment to think in silence before declaring, her serious glare returning with calm insistence;

"Good, then we can begin with this question: Obviously, the Dazzlings' magic had negatively affected your minds and thus, your behavior. Could you explain to me what the experience was like from your perspectives?"

She paused before adding;

"This is a question that you don't have to answer, if you don't want to."

As nervous as I felt over the thought of facing down what those manipulative jerks had us do, the fact that we weren't being forced to talk about it made it easier on me to do so. Of course, I needed to think of the words, which gave Apple Bloom the chance to speak first. Her voice was soft and remorseful. When I looked over at her, I could see the regret in her frown and eyes;

"At first, ma'am, we felt like ourselves, as if we were doin' what we thought was right. Yeah, we were bein' more temperamental than usual. But, that seemed like part of the competition, ya' know?"

I could feel her frustration from where I was sitting when she added with a grunt;

"But, we weren't actin' like ourselves! We weren't doin' what was right! Consarnit, it hurts that we were so dern mean to people!"

Sweetie Belle jumped in with a sorrowful squeak, prompting me to look over at her to see her on the verge of tears;

"When the Rainbooms needed us, we stood with the Sirens instead! We were so angry at the other bands, we shouted at them and insulted them, especially after we lost! We sang with skill, but there was no heart in our song! But, that's not the worst part..."

The memories of the Battle of the Bands were flowing through my mind as I listened to the girls speak their minds. One particular memory strengthened the regret inside my heart. When I saw Sweetie whimper softly to herself, I was sure she felt the same, and I guessed that Apple Bloom was on the same boat. With a heavy head that didn't feel so awesome that day, I hesitantly added for my club friends;

"The worst part is that... something was growing inside of us thanks to the Dazzlings' magic..."

I stumbled in my head as I tried to think of the best way to finish what we were saying to the attentive official who sat before us. It was Apple Bloom who did it on our behalf;

"The darkness we acquired.", she declared with sorrow oozing from her voice. I looked back at her to see that she was glaring at Luna with those big tear-stricken eyes that always showed genuine sadness. I gazed at Luna as well, my own sadness filling my eyes as the three of us told her in a way that almost came off as begging;

"Please don't make us say its name..."

We knew that darkness well. We knew what it drove us to do, where it came from, and, of course, its stupid name. Just the thought of what we had done to the school, to our sisters, to Sunset... it's no wonder we kept our distance from the others until after the Battle of the Bands: we didn't want to think about what had happened!

Well, I guess we got sick of keeping our distance, because as tempted as we were to run out of Luna's office, we kept our butts planted on our seats. The Vice-Principal's face was unreadable to me, so I couldn't get a sense of how she felt about what we just said. That was, until she allowed gentleness and sympathy to shine in her eyes. With a short nod, she respond in the calm fashion that was expected from an educator;

"It is as I suspected: you are terribly guilt-ridden over your past actions. Over the scars you've left in people. I..."

Slowly, she looked off to the right to gaze at the floor and spoke with a softer tone of voice;

"I know something about that."

Hearing that caught the three of us completely off guard! We gasped in shocked unison while feeling concerned for our Vice-Principal. But, before we could say anything in response, Luna looked back at us, the gentleness in her eyes returning to full strength, and asked calmly while we gave her our undivided attention;

"You three have been sitting with your guilt for some time now, have you?"

We nodded in unison, unwilling to lie to her when she was being so patient and understanding. She continued;

"Well, as a professional courtesy, I will refrain from revealing the details on what was told to me by the students."

This was fair, even to Apple Bloom. None of us movie buffs saw any sense in spreading people's secrets around carelessly. Luna was not done, however;

"I can safely say this though: For their own reasons, they want to move on from the past."

She then reached into her right pants pocket with her right hand while noting;

"I'm sure you do too, but getting to that point takes time and effort."

After a moment, she pulled out from the pocket a small slightly wrinkled note that was folded three times and handed it over to Apple Bloom. Luna explained while we stared at the note;

"With that said, a student who was, shall I say, directly affected by your troubling past wanted me to give you this."

After getting those awesome paper ponies from Sunset, getting anything from those who we wronged was slightly less shocking to me. I looked at her and asked with a raised right eyebrow;

"What is it?"

With a small smile, she answered;

"Consider it a chance willingly given. Whether or not you girls take it is up to you."

I looked over at Apple Bloom, who turned to face Sweetie Belle. After getting a quick nod from her, our leader turned to face me. I knew exactly what she was thinking and showed my agreement with a nod of my own. She then looked at the note and took it into her right hand. My mind was trying figure out who had sent in that note as we thanked Luna, quietly left her office, and said our goodbyes to her and Celestia before returning to the school hallway;

"Sunset giving us a chance, I get. I mean, she's awesome! But, who else would give us a chance too?", I thought to myself as I walked alongside my friends. As if on cue, a certain memory played out in my mind with enough mental volume to stop me in my tracks. This memory involved the words of Rainbow Dash herself;

Ha! Of course it would be our sisters! I mean, why wouldn't they? They're awesome too! I didn't see Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle walk ahead, so I figured they stopped too. I would find out later on that they were going through what I was experiencing at the same time. I stared down the hallway before me with wide eyes, as if I was staring off into space. My heart started to pound in my chest as the regret flared up more strongly than it did earlier. A cruel voice in my head tried to scare me with a lie;

That voice was interrupted by my memory of Rarity's words;

Even from the inside of my brain, our sisters were there to help! Up to this point, I was as stiff as a statue along with my friends. Before my heart could settle down, the lame evil voice came back for another round;

Oh, but Applejack stepped up with all the stubbornness of a cool farmer;

Right then and there, the warmth from earlier flowed into my head and gut with more strength than ever before! Clearly threatened by this, the wicked voice fired back one more time;

It was the memory of Sunset's words, heartfelt and awesomely true, that shut the liar up completely. What she said to us, my friends and I would never forget. She started by asking;

We nodded our heads in silence. There were no other thoughts in our heads, just the words of the girl who, just yesterday, became our Phoenix Friend;

Again, we nodded in agreement and waited for her response;

This time, we didn't just nod. We also declared our agreement with a simple word that we confidently spoke as one;

"Yes!"

Oh, come on! Really?! I was sure I knew what that missing word was, but my brain was not playing ball! Obviously, the other two were having the same problem. As if sensing an opportunity, the memories connected to our wrongdoing came flooding through our brains so intensely that we held our hands tight with both hands, the note Apple Bloom had taken being held between her head and right hand! I didn't want to admit it, but those memories were terrifying;

I'll be honest with you: I was about ready to break down and cry my heart out. I don't think Rainbow Dash or anyone in the school would blame me for it, but I'd still be embarrassed over it anyway. But, before a single tear could be shed, different memories appeared front and center in our minds. These were far more pleasant by comparison, enough to encourage us to move our hands back down to our sides, with AB keeping a firm grip on the note;

Experiencing those awesomely happy memories reminded us of something important. After we sided with the Dazzlings, the Rainbooms were quick to give us a chance once they kicked their butts and broke their spell. Before then, they gave us a chance after we made the worst mistake of our lives. Sunset, like her friends, forgave us.

Sunset Shimmer, the girl we had hurt the most, forgave us!

It was at that moment that I started to figure something out in my head;

"If those girls are willing to give us a chance..."

Sweetie and I turned to look at Apple Bloom in silence, who looked back at us while holding her right palm out to us, the note resting on it. I continued my thought from there;

"If the student who had this note sent to us is willing to give us a chance too..."

The warmth inside suddenly grew in intensity, but not enough to distract me from continuing my thought;

"Then, there is..."

The three of us had the same thought. The same revelation. My mind turned quieter than a silent film as the truth became clear to me. Right when we remembered the word that Sunset had used when forgiving us, we realized that it was also the name of the warm feeling that had been helping us lately. In that moment, we spoke that word, which was as simple as it was powerful, aloud together;

Something in our minds clicked at the instant we uttered that word. The warmth inside flooded our beings, which helped us come up with an idea that was so cool, so undeniably awesome, that it drove us to feel a strong sense of joy. Our mouths formed gigantic smiles as we began to walk down the hall again. Within seconds we started to run with absolute gusto while chuckling happily. The chuckles quickly became full-on laughter that rang throughout the hall as we kept on running forward. Not backwards or sideways: forward. Needless to say, my head stopped feeling so heavy!

We sat at our clubhouse table with pencils in hand and a single piece of notebook paper placed in the middle. We glared at the paper, allowing for a dramatic pause before the work to come. We had just fleshed out our shared idea and now, were about to make it official. Apple Bloom was the first to start the process. She raised her pencil to the ceiling with her right hand and made her pledge with country pride in her voice;

"Ah, Apple Bloom Apple, proud member of my family, and foundin' member of the Canterlot Movie Club hereby declare that Ah shall take part in this 'ere crusade from now until the crusade is done!"

With a smile, she lowered her pencil onto the table, moved the paper close to her with her left hand, and wrote her name on its top left corner. After that, she moved the paper back to the center, allowing Sweetie Belle to raise her pencil up and high and say the same oath with a confident squeak;

"I, Sweetie Belle, proud member of my family, and founding member of the Canterlot Movie Club hereby declare that I shall take part in this crusade from now until the crusade is done!"

With that, she grabbed the paper and wrote her name on it in the same fashion as Apple Bloom and returned it to its original spot. All that was left was me. So, I raised my pencil and declared with awesome gusto;

"I, Scootaloo, proud member of my family, and founding member of the Canterlot Movie Club hereby declare that I shall take part in this crusade from now until the crusade is done!"

I wrote my name down just below AB's and Sweets before returning the paper to the center. That was it, there was no going back now for any of us. We looked at each other with eyes filled with determination, excitement, and hope. Our smiles were beaming with anticipation of what was coming. Soon after we returned from school, we had invited the Rainbooms, all six of them, to the clubhouse for a 'super-important meeting' as Apple Bloom called it. It was to be held later that day and we had arrived a few minutes earlier than scheduled. So, all we had to do finish working on the paper and wait. Without hesitation, we did exactly that.

Upon that paper, we listed down the names of every single Wondercolt we had wronged through the terrible mistake that nearly tore the school apart. For the sake of telling an awesome story, I won't say what all of those names were yet. But, I can definitely say who was at the top of the list:

Once our list was written, we gave Sweetie Belle the honor of hanging it. She did this by carefully grabbing it with her left hand, running over to the desk, taking a few pins that were placed there in her right hand, and using them to hang the list on the wall. Right on top of the club logo. We all came together to stand in a row once Sweetie had done her bit, with her to my left and AB to my right. We silently gazed at what would become evidence of our redemption as we thought about what had led us to this point.

The dream we shared gave us two things:

1. A warning of what would happen if we waited too long to make amends.
2. A push to do what's right, in the form of a song.

Sweetie Belle was correct: the song was not finished. But now, we knew in our hearts what we could add to it. It started with a question that I sang in a pace that was slow yet sure;

Silence crept into the room for two seconds before Sweetie Belle joined her singing voice with my own to reveal our answer;

Another two seconds of silence came and Apple Bloom added a dash of Apple Family charm to our song. With growing confidence and volume, we sang as a unified force of awesomeness;

Our passion growing in strength, our voices became a loud a proud chorus as we repeated ourselves with hope in our smiles, minds, and hearts;

With that, our song was done. At least, until we could add more to it later! It was cool at this point, but it was still not complete. We took a few moments to calm down, only to a whistling sound come from the walkie-talkie can next to the clubhouse door. We ran up to it to see what was up. Apple Bloom raised its talking end up to her mouth and was about to say something when the amazing combination of voices that was the Sonic Rainbooms sang back to us through the can;

Those sneaky girls!