by Perdita Finn
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
HASBRO and its logo, MY LITTLE PONY, EQUESTRIA GIRLS and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used with permission. © 2017 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.
Cover design by Véronique Lefèvre Sweet.
Cover illustration by Laura Thomas.
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Little, Brown and Company
Hachette Book Group
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First Edition: June 2017
Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Library of Congress Control Number 2017935526
ISBNs: 978-0-316-43186-6 (paper-over-board), 978-0-316-43187-3 (ebook)
E3-20170426-JV-PC
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Shimmers and Shivers
Chapter 2
Splashes and Bubbles
Chapter 3
Glimmers and Gleams
Chapter 4
Smirks and Smiles
Chapter 5
Giggles and Groans
Chapter 6
Hooves and Helping Hands
Chapter 7
Twirls and Swirls
Chapter 8
Lights, Camera, and Action
Chapter 9
Clues and Calamities
Chapter 10
Mishaps and Mysteries
Chapter 11
Dashes Chases
Chapter 12
Pudding and Pie
Chapter 13
Answers and Apologies
Chapter 14
Costumes and Credits
Chapter 15
Mirrors and Magic
Chapter 16
Wishes and Revenge
Chapter 17
Worries and Concerns
Chapter 18
Nowhere and Nothing
Chapter 19
Friends and Faults
Chapter 20
Stars and Shards
Chapter 21
Mistakes and Forgiveness
Chapter 22
Endings and… Beginnings!
For my own magical friends… Denise, Marijo, Bev, Lynn, Priscilla, Susan, and Linda.
Shimmers and Shivers
Sunset Shimmer was writing in her diary outside of Canterlot High. There was so much to tell Princess Twilight Sparkle. But her magical book was the only way to send word from the everyday world of Canterlot High to the enchanted realm of Equestria. Sunset Shimmer sighed. She needed advice from her friend. She was worried.
Dear Princess, she wrote, I can’t seem to keep my mind on anything other than our new powers and the magic that exists in this world, and how scary but exhilarating it all is.
Sunset Shimmer touched the sparkling geode that hung around her neck. It came from the crystal cave at Camp Everfree that the girls had discovered. Each of the girls wore their geodes now—and they seemed, somehow, to give the girls powers they’d never had before. Sunset Shimmer was convinced that magic was somehow seeping into the world from Equestria. But how? Why? What were they supposed to do with it?
How can we be prepared for it? she asked her friend. When will it show up again? You see the problem. I can’t seem to stop stressing when there’s nothing going on. With the weight of all Equestria on your shoulders, you must have some advice on how to
She turned the page to keep writing—but there were no more pages in her diary. She had used it all up! “Oh no, no, no, no!” She gasped.
“What’s the matter, Sunset Shimmer?” It was Pinkie Pie. She and the other girls were carrying buckets and sponges over to the parking lot. They’d organized a car wash to raise some money to repair Camp Everfree. The girls had managed to save the camp from being sold—but now they had to find a way to pay for everything that needed to be fixed, and they were determined to do so. But it was going to be a lot of work.
“I ran out of pages in my journal, that’s all,” she fretted. She was on the verge of tears.
“Chillax, SunShim,” said Rainbow Dash, patting her on the back.
“Who’s SunShim?” Fluttershy asked.
“That’s my new nickname for Sunset Shimmer. I just made it up!”
Twilight Sparkle frowned. She was particularly sensitive to how others were feeling, and noticed that her friend was more upset than she was letting on. “There’s more bothering you than just journal pages, isn’t there, Sunset Shimmer?”
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. She didn’t want to worry the others.
“C’mon!” Pinkie Pie laughed, cheerful as always. “Share your troubles. It might help soothe your stressed nerves.”
She looked at the girls, all ready for the big car wash. “I don’t want to take any of the fun out of our big event.…”
“I said spill it, SunShim!” Pinkie Pie ordered her with a giggle.
“Okay, okay.” Sunset Shimmer smiled in response. “It’s just that things have been calm around here, magic-wise.”
“And that’s a bad thing how, exactly?” Rarity was much happier to be designing fashions again than trying to save her friends from out-of-control vines, the way she had to at camp when the powerful Gaea Everfree possessed Gloriosa Daisy.
Sunset Shimmer looked up at the clear, blue sky. Students were milling about on the steps of Canterlot High after classes. Her friends looked upbeat and happy.
Still, her eyes fell on the crystal geodes that hung around each girl’s neck. They’d found them in the crystal cave at Camp Everfree. The geodes gave all of the girls special magical powers—from being able to run superfast like Rainbow Dash to creating sparkling clouds of sprinkles like Pinkie Pie. But how had those geodes become enchanted? That was what worried Sunset Shimmer. Magic was seeping into their world from Equestria—and even if they could control their own newfound powers, what if magic fell into the hands of someone who couldn’t?
“It’s just that instead of enjoying the fact that everything is calm, I’m constantly thinking about what will happen when it won’t be.”
Fluttershy smiled nervously. “It won’t?” she asked.
Sunset Shimmer sighed. “See? That’s what I’m talking about. I shouldn’t even be thinking about this stuff right now. And neither should any of you.”
Pinkie Pie dropped her bucket, and water splashed everywhere. Her eyes wide, she stared at the magic diary. “Look! Princess Twilight’s writing you back!” A swirly scrawl of words was appearing on the diary’s back cover. Pinkie Pie giggled. “Sunset’s getting an Equestritext!”
“What’s it say?” asked Applejack curiou
sly.
Sunset Shimmer was stunned. This was not what she’d expected. At all. This was big news. “Princess Twilight wants me to come to Equestria,” she told the others.
They stared at her. This was a surprise.
“But what about our car wash?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I’m sure the princess will understand if I help you out first,” Sunset Shimmer answered. “After all, that’s what a good friend would do.…”
But why would the princess need her in Equestria? Was something the matter after all?
Splashes and Bubbles
Buckets of soapy water and hoses were all over the parking lot. A huge sign was draped over the back wall of the high school. The girls were cleaning up a beat-up, old truck.
“To the right! To the right! To the left! To the left!” chanted Pinkie Pie as the girls scrubbed with their brushes.
“Now up! Now up! Bring it down and around! Wash that car like you mean it!” Pinkie Pie twirled round and round, laughing with delight.
Rainbow Dash sped from one car to another, polishing and shining each and every one. Fluttershy and Rarity were vacuuming the insides of each car carefully. Applejack happily lugged bucket after bucket filled with soapy water over to the girls. Sunset Shimmer was making sure every passing car stopped for a cleaning, and Twilight gave every vehicle a gleam and sparkle that was especially hers.
The geodes around their necks glowed, but the girls weren’t using their magic to help out. They’d had enough experiences with magic to know that they should use it carefully. It could get out of control so easily… and it had in the past.
The girls stepped back and admired their work. Rainbow Dash knocked on the window and Big Mac rolled it down. He handed Rainbow Dash a few dollars.
“Thanks!” said Rainbow Dash. She counted it out as the truck sped off. “Sweet! More cash to add to the stash!”
“Woo-hoo!” Pinkie Pie cheered and high-fived Rainbow Dash, who put the money in a pink lockbox. They’d had a really busy afternoon.
Rarity was tired. She wiped some suds off her forehead. “Yuck. How about a little break? All this sunshine and soap is doing a number on my hair.” Rarity had thought about using her diamond dome to protect her outfit while she worked, but it just didn’t seem like a good idea. Her diamond dome was only for emergencies. Anyway, weren’t you supposed to get sudsy at a car wash? She grabbed some sodas from a cooler and began handing them out to the girls.
Rainbow took a long drink. “Hey, anybody seen Twilight lately?”
“I’m here!” Twilight was sitting on the curb. She was punching the buttons on a calculator, clearly frazzled. “I was just going over the numbers again.”
“Have we raised enough to make all the repairs to Camp Everfree?” Sunset Shimmer asked.
Twilight adjusted her glasses. “We’ve only raised half. I counted the money four times just to be sure.”
It was just like the sun had gone behind the clouds. The girls frowned. They’d been working so hard.
“Hey, it’s all right.” Applejack always tried to look on the bright side of things. “We can just wash more cars. There’s gotta be some we missed.”
The girls scanned the empty parking lot. All the cars were gone. They’d all been washed.
“I think we’re going to have to come up with a new plan,” suggested Sunset Shimmer. Maybe the princess would have an idea when she went to visit her.
“But we’re running out of time!” worried Rainbow Dash. “The money is due next week and Pinkie Pie’s already hosted a bake sale. Twilight and Fluttershy had that doggie day care, and we’ve done this car wash.”
“What else can we do to raise money?” Fluttershy wondered aloud.
“I wrote to the director of the Daring Do movies,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “He went to Camp Everfree, and I thought he might help us. But I never heard from him.”
Everyone looked glum.
“Not to worry, darlings,” announced Rarity with determination. “It’s my turn to devise a plan, and I already have something amazing in mind. It will be the most profitable of all our fund-raising events! The pièce de résistance!”
Applejack clapped her hands, excited. “Now we’re talkin’! What’s your idea?”
“Meet me in the music room later this afternoon and I’ll explain everything.” Rarity smiled mysteriously.
“That gives me time to talk to Princess Twilight, too!” said Sunset Shimmer.
“Exactly,” Twilight Sparkle nodded in agreement.
The girls raced off to clean up. Thank goodness for Rarity! Now they would be sure to save Camp Everfree. But the only one who didn’t look happy was Rarity herself. She stayed frozen in the parking lot after everyone was gone. She wasn’t smiling anymore. She looked completely panicked.
Spike, Twilight Sparkle’s talking dog, looked up at her. “You got nothin’, huh?”
“How did you know?” Rarity was on the verge of tears. Everyone else had sponsored such good fund-raisers, and she wanted to do her part; she really did. But what could they possibly do to raise enough money to save Camp Everfree? She had no idea.
Glimmers and Gleams
Sunset Shimmer approached the statue of the Wondercolt. It had been a long time since she had gone back to Equestria. Timidly, she touched the colt’s hard hoof. Her hand went right through the stone. It disappeared.
Sunset Shimmer shut her eyes. She took a big breath—and she jumped. It was like being on a roller coaster that went upside down and around and around, again and again. She twisted and turned; she flipped and flopped. A moment later she hurtled out of a mirror. She skidded across the shiny surface of a marble floor and careered into a bookshelf on the opposite wall. She was in Princess Twilight’s library in the Castle of Friendship.
She shook herself off. Her ears and her tail twitched. She was a pony again, but she was too dizzy to stand up. She groaned.
The soft face of a friendly pony loomed over her. Sunset Shimmer blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus. “Princess Twilight? Is that you?” she asked.
“Nope!” came a voice. “Starlight Glimmer.”
Sunset Shimmer staggered to her hooves. “Whoa,” she whinnied. “That feels a little weird after all this time.” She wasn’t used to having four legs anymore.
She looked at the perky purple pony standing in front of her. “Starlight Glimmer,” she remembered, “you’re Twilight’s student, right?”
“Uh-huh.” Starlight Glimmer nodded. “She wanted me to give you this.”
A journal floated through the air toward Sunset Shimmer.
“She wanted to give it to you herself,” explained Starlight Glimmer.
“But I came too late!” realized Sunset Shimmer.
“No, no, no,” Starlight Glimmer rushed to reassure her. “She understood you needed to help your friends with their fund-raiser, but she was called away to solve an urgent friendship problem of her own. That happens a lot around here.”
Sunset Shimmer sighed. “So I’m probably not going to see her?”
Starlight Glimmer just shook her head apologetically. “Sorry. She just told me to give you the journal.”
Sunset Shimmer held it with her hoof. It was a relief to know she could get in touch with the princess. Still, she had really hoped to see her. “So, um, I guess I’ll be going now.” She turned back to the mirror and prepared herself to enter the portal again.
She was lifting up her leg to leap when Starlight Glimmer stopped her. “What’s it like back there?”
Sunset Shimmer whirled around happily. On Starlight Glimmer’s face was an expression of deep curiosity.
“It’s pretty different,” Sunset Shimmer told her. “And not so different at the same time. It’s kind of hard to explain.”
“Guess you kind of have to go there to really get it, huh?” Starlight Glimmer snuck a glance at the mirror. “I, uh, don’t suppose…”
Sunset Shimmer realized that she was asking to go with her to visit Canterl
ot High! “You really think Princess Twilight would be okay with that?”
Starlight Glimmer shrugged. “I don’t know for sure that she wouldn’t be okay with it.”
“That’s not really a particularly compelling argument,” Sunset Shimmer noted. She didn’t want to get in trouble with the princess.
But Starlight Glimmer rushed to offer an explanation. “She wants me to learn as much as I can about friendship. And I’m not learning a whole lot just hanging out here in her castle.”
Sunset Shimmer took in this information. It was true. There was no rule about ponies not visiting Canterlot High, after all. Also, she didn’t think there would be any awkward run-ins with Starlight Glimmer’s human counterpart. “I haven’t seen you in that world,” she said. “So chances are you aren’t going to run into yourself—”
“That’s not something you hear every day!” Starlight Glimmer interrupted, laughing.
What else could possibly go wrong? Sunset Shimmer was trying so hard to be responsible. Still, it would be nice to have someone from Equestria nearby. “Lay low,” she told Starlight Glimmer. “Don’t draw too much attention to yourself.”
“You’ll barely even notice I’m there!” Starlight Glimmer was clearly thrilled. She was going to Canterlot High. She knew it.
“Introducing you to my friends will be a nice distraction,” admitted Sunset Shimmer.
“But you’ll also totally notice I’m there and it will keep your mind off other things that might be bothering you.” Starlight Glimmer was eager to please. If only Sunset would say yes for sure. “So?” she asked expectantly. “What do you think? Can I go back with you?”
Oh, Sunset Shimmer wished she hadn’t missed Twilight Sparkle. What should she do? Would it be okay? She just didn’t know.
Smirks and Smiles
Rarity had promised her friends she had a plan to make enough money to repair Camp Everfree. So she’d gone to the mall to walk around. She was sipping a smoothie. “Oh pish,” she said to herself. “Three hours and still no ideas for a really spectacular and also lucrative last-minute fund-raiser. Usually window-shopping inspires me.”