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!