Applejack’s eyebrows rise up to the brim of her hat, impressed, as the booth worker hands the Alicorn plushie to Sunset.
“Hey, now, just what’s your secret, Sunset? I’ve been tryin’ all day to win.”
Sunset shrugs coyly. “Practice, I guess.”
“Wow-wow-kapow!” a voice exclaims. “That is the freshest, sickest, most literally A-plus plushie I’ve ever seen!”
Sunset turns around to see none other than PostCrush!
What should Sunset do?
Give the Alicorn to Applejack and choose a different kind of festival fun. CLICK HERE.
Give the Alicorn to PostCrush. CLICK HERE.
SCIENCE!
“It’s just like magic, except with more numbers! So basically it’s magic, but better,” says Twilight Sparkle with a wink.
Sunset Shimmer’s predicament is unfortunate, sure, but it’s also a great time to test out some groundbreaking hypotheses. Who needs Starswirl Music Festival when you could be the next Star Swirl the Bearded? “Except with less beard,” Sunset suggests. Twilight nods, hardly able to contain herself.
“We’re dealing with space-time, which breaks down into two major factors: space. And time.”
Sunset smirks. “You don’t say.”
But Twilight Sparkle explains that if they were able to break one of those two elements, it would definitely have an effect on the time loop.
“The only other potential possibility is…” Twilight trails off, lost in thought.
Sunset waves in front of her face. “Hello? Sunset to Twilight.”
“Well, the only other idea is to disrupt the day’s events so much that it isn’t the same day anymore.”
“What do you mean? Like going left instead of right? Wearing green instead of orange?” Somewhere, in the distance, Rarity shrieks at the thought.
Twilight Sparkle gulps. “More like getting the music festival canceled.”
She continues. “Of course, there are limitless theories to test… but luckily we have all the time in the world! We could do experiment after experiment after experiment!” She chuckles before catching Sunset’s glare. Twilight clears her throat.
“Er, sorry, this is a very serious situation that I want to help you find a very real solution to.”
Sunset shakes her head, laughing now. “Just a little run-of-the-mill space-time disruption. But where to start?”
What should Sunset do?
Disrupt time. CLICK HERE.
Disrupt space. CLICK HERE.
Disrupt the day’s events. CLICK HERE.
SUNSET SHIMMER VEERS LEFT.
It’s a split-second decision. She grabs Rarity, and they head full speed down the path as it gets twistier and turnier. Then, suddenly, Sunset finds herself face-to-face with none other than…
… herself.
Sunset screams. Rarity peers over her shoulder and touches up Sunset’s hair a little bit.
“There, there, darling, nothing a little comb can’t fix.”
Sunset looks around. Somehow they’ve found themselves in a hall of mirrors. Rarity gleefully applies lip gloss, primping and posing for a selfie. “What stylish company we’ve found ourselves among.”
“Tee-hee-hee!”
A disembodied giggle echoes through the halls. Sunset tries to follow it, but no matter where she goes, she always runs into herself.
“I think this is a dead end, Rarity. We’d better head back out.”
But back-to-back, the girls look around, at a loss.
“All right, dear. Um, which way would that be?”
Sunset sighs. Guess they’re stuck here for the night.
CLICK HERE.
SUNSET SHIMMER’S HANDS GRIP THE GLAMPING RV’S STEERING WHEEL.
The morning sun peeks over the horizon, gleaming across her sunglasses as she speeds down the highway. She smirks and pumps the gas, going faster.
“Sunset at sunrise.”
She glances to the back of the cabin, where her friends are still sound asleep. Bummer they missed out on her awesome line. She clears her throat and says louder, “Ahem! Sunset… at sunrise!”
Pinkie Pie rouses, rubbing her eyes. “Are we… moving?”
The rest of the Mane Seven wake up, confused. Rainbow Dash stares out the back window, seeing Starswirl fade farther into the distance.
“Sunset, what are you doing? The first day of Starswirl is today!”
“You’ve gotta turn back!” Applejack cries. “We’re running out of time to get ready!”
Sunset tilts down her sunglasses, gritting her teeth and punching the gas. “I’m not running out of time… I’m outrunning it!”
Rarity leaps into the passenger seat and buckles in.
“Darling, are you feeling quite all right?”
Pinkie Pie pops her head in. “And why are you acting all action-movie-star-y? I mean, I like it, but why?”
Bang! Just like that, the RV gets a flat tire and the girls are thrown into a jumble. After making sure everyone is okay, the girls pile out of the RV.
On the side of the road, Applejack examines the flat tire. “Well,” she says as she tosses aside a nail, “there’s your problem.”
Sunset shrugs. “That’s okay. I’ll just try again tomorrow.”
But the next day, she gets another flat. And another. And another. Weeks pass and Applejack emerges from under the RV with an array of obstacles: nails, scrap metal, a screwdriver. Sunset’s lost her cool action-hero vibe. Her hair is frazzled.
One day, Applejack emerges yet again with a medieval mace. “No idea what this here mace was doing on the highway, but yep, that’s a flat.”
Sunset bursts into tears.
Her friends look to one another in concern. Pinkie Pie hugs her. “If you didn’t want to go to Starswirl, you could’ve just told us.”
Sunset wipes her eyes. She’s tried everything she could think of. There’s nothing for her to do except…“I give up.”
How much time has passed? Weeks? Months? Sunset can’t even bring herself to consider that a whole year has passed. The next morning, she watches glumly as her friends, yet again, get ready for the first day of Starswirl in the glamping RV.
Sunset mouths along as Pinkie Pie rants: “I can’t believe Starswirl day one is already so much fun, even before we’re inside the festival. Starswirl morning one for the win—wow, Sunset, you’re mouthing along with me perfectly!”
Inside the festival, her friends split up and run joyfully in every direction while Sunset glumly walks the fairgrounds. So much for her perfect festival experience. She’s seen PostCrush dozens of times; she’s won every stuffed animal there is to win. For a while, she had fun freaking out Snips and Snails by predicting their every move, but even that lost its fun after a few days.
Puffed Pastry tries to tempt her with a free sample: “If you guess my secret ingredient, I’ll give you free pastries for life!”
Without even trying it, Sunset replies, “Sunflower seeds.”
Puffed Pastry blanches. “I mean, that wasn’t a binding contract!”
Sunset walks on, sadly appraising the happy faces around her, unaware that they’ve lived this day a hundred times and in all likelihood will live it a hundred more. Sunset’s resigned to her fate. To no one, she mutters, “You could spend eternity trying to make everything perfect, and it never would be.”
“Deep,” a voice agrees. Could this be the culprit behind the time loop? But then Sandalwood steps out of the shadows. “Kinda makes me think, like, this is the first day of the rest of our lives, you know?”
Sunset sighs. “I know better than you can possibly imagine.”
THE END
SUNSET SHIMMER SHUTS HER EYES TIGHTLY AND DRIFTS OFF TO SLEEP.
What a weird dream. The best way to deal with nightmares is to sleep more, and that’s exactly what Sunset does, counting Spikes as they fly over a picket fence. Slowly, she drifts off…
Until…
“SUNSET REGINALD SHIMMER!”
Sunset opens her eyes to see Pinkie Pie, who explains, “I know that isn’t your middle name, but maybe it should be.”
Looking around in confusion, Sunset sees the sun is high in the sky and flooding the RV with light.
“It’s already lunchtime! You’ve slept all morning, but I didn’t want to miss out on seeing PostCrush with you!”
Sunset gasps and sits upright. This is really happening. She really is repeating the day.
But what should she do next?
Go see PostCrush. CLICK HERE.
Tell her friends that she needs help. CLICK HERE.
THUD.
Sunset Shimmer hits the ground.
SQUEAK.
Pinkie Pie hits the ground beside her.
The security guard slams the gate to the makeshift jail cell and rubs his jaw. “This is where we put troublemakers so they don’t keep makin’ trouble. So… don’t keep makin’ trouble.”
“Us? Trouble? More like treble.” Pinkie Pie leans over to their cellmates. “We’re in a band—it’s a music joke.”
The girls sharing their cell look at each other. “Oh yeah,” one of them says, “we’re in a band called Wild Ones, ever heard of it? We’re supposed to be playing tonight, but we lost our artist passes!”
Sunset rolls her eyes. She can’t get out of there fast enough!
But as always, tomorrow is another day. Or rather, the same day…
Maybe next time she should try Rainbow Dash’s plan or Applejack’s approach to getting past this tough guy of a security guard.
What should Sunset do?
Give this security guard a tough talking-to with Applejack. CLICK HERE.
Try to sneak past the security guard with Rainbow Dash. CLICK HERE.
“IT’S MORNING!”
Pinkie Pie yells in Sunset Shimmer’s face on yet another Starswirl day-one morning. Sunset’s eyes blearily open and then… Sunset wraps Pinkie in a tight hug!
Pinkie coughs and confetti comes out. “Are you ready for a perfect day?”
Sunset smiles. “Yep.”
Inside the festival walls, Pinkie Pie marvels, taking in Starswirl for the first time. Her excitement is infectious, and Sunset runs along with her as the confetti cannon fires.
“THERE’S A CONFETTI CANNON?!”
Just like the very, very first day, Pinkie asks, “What do you wanna do first, Sunset?”
Sunset smiles.
“What do you want to do, Pinkie Pie?”
Pinkie Pie lights up. “I’m so, so, so, so super glad you asked! I have a couple ideas, and I can’t choose. There’s a paint party that sounds pretty poppin’. But then there’s the human pinball game! Or the food-truck tasting!”
Sunset shrugs. “Why choose? Let’s do all three!” Pinkie’s eyes go wide as Sunset grabs her hand with a wink. “You only live Starswirl once!”
Pinkie’s stoked.
“All this and seeing PostCrush tonight with my best friend? Talk about a perfect day!”
CLICK HERE.
“A FASHION SHOW!”
Rarity whips out a rack of clothing from who knows where.
“The festival maze is—in a word—amazing.” She nudges Sunset Shimmer. “Get it, darling? Anyhoo, it’s exactly what I envisioned as a location for my summer lookbook.”
She puts an arm around Sunset, pointing out the lush green canopy and vibrant neon. “It’s technology meets tropical. Nature meets neon. Vacation meets business!”
“Well, I can’t argue with that. Though I am a little confused about how you were able to casually lug around a week’s worth of clothes.”
Rarity puts a finger to Sunset’s lips. “No time to explain! Couture is calling!”
Rarity twirls Sunset around, and suddenly Sunset is covered head to toe in sequins.
“Smile for the camera, darling!”
Just then, the mysterious stranger drops in on them from above.
“Did somebody say photoshoot?!”
She removes her feathered mask to reveal none other than—
“Trixie!” Sunset balks.
“Yes! It is I! The Great and Powerful Trixie! Though for Starswirl I have adopted a festival persona, and I wish to be referred to as… the Festival Fairy.”
Trixie waves her arms, trying to be mysterious. Then she corrects herself, “Er, the Great and Powerful Festival Fairy!”
Sunset points at her accusatorily.
“You! You’re the one behind all this. You somehow got ahold of the Time Twirler and are causing Starswirl day one to repeat!”
Trixie looks Sunset right in the eyes. “Am I great? Yes. Am I powerful? Yes. Do I have any idea what you’re talking about? Not at all.”
Before Sunset can process this, Rarity pushes them both out of the maze and onto a fashion runway. Snapgab influencers make up the audience, cheering and taking photos. Sunset works the runway, finding her inner fashion model. She gets to the end of the catwalk and strikes a pose. Cameras snap—FLASH!
That reminds her. She’s not any closer to figuring out who’s behind this whole mess, is she?
CLICK HERE.
SUNSET SHIMMER CAN’T BELIEVE IT.
She’s at a backstage lounge party with PostCrush. Breathing the same air as PostCrush. Nibbling the same appetizers as PostCrush.
K-Lo glances in her direction, and Sunset is so starstruck that she has to turn around. She does some quick breathing exercises, whispering to herself, “Get it together, Sunset, play it cool.”
She steels herself and saunters over toward K-Lo and Su-Z as casually as possible. Unfortunately, when she gets there, she immediately stubs her toe on K-Lo’s chaise lounge.
“Ow!”
K-Lo glances up at her, mildly confused. Sunset fights through the pain and seizes the opportunity, reaching out for a handshake.
“Hi, I’m Sunset Shimmer. Big fan of yours.”
“Oh, uh… how nice.” K-Lo takes her hand.
WHOOSH! Out of nowhere, Sunset’s powers activate. She gets an empathy flash!
Images come streaming through her mind. K-Lo found the Time Twirler when she stumbled across a mysterious portal. The first night, their show was a disaster. K-Lo points an accusing finger at Su-Z, while Su-Z blames K-Lo. They accidentally activate the Time Twirler, and a purple pulse of magic emanates from it.
WHOOSH!
Sunset gasps slightly as she snaps back to reality. K-Lo is gripping her hand tighter now. Sunset looks up to see that the Time Twirler has been styled into K-Lo’s hair along with other assorted gems. Seeing Sunset’s glance, the pop star’s eyes narrow.
“What did you say your name was?” K-Lo asks in a whisper.
Su-Z chimes in, “Yeah, I’ve never seen you in the artists’ lounge before today.”
K-Lo elbows her and looks around wildly to see if anyone heard. “Shh!” She turns back to Sunset Shimmer and gives her a once-over. “So. You’re stuck in the time loop, too, huh?”
Sunset nods wildly. “Yes! And you don’t know how relieved I am that you guys are in it, too. Maybe since you have the Time Twirler, together we can—”
But K-Lo cuts her off. “How about instead of crashing our little party, we make a deal instead? It just so happens that PostCrush is looking for a third member.”
“Hey, I didn’t know that!” objects Su-Z. K-Lo elbows her again and winks at Sunset.
“What do you say?”
What should Sunset do?
Grab the Time Twirler and put an end to all this. CLICK HERE.
Join PostCrush! CLICK HERE.
WHAT’S SUNSET SHIMMER WAITING FOR?
The clear culprits are right there, onstage, in front of her! The Dazzlings twirl as they sing their auto-tuned song.
“Need a leg up?” Pinkie Pie gives Sunset a boost, and suddenly she’s crowd-surfing right toward the stage! Pinkie isn’t far behind her. Sunset’s boots hit the stage with a thud. Adagio Dazzle’s jaw drops, and she lets out a gasp that even auto-tune can’t mask. Their backing tra
ck warbles down to nothing.
“You!” Adagio growls.
“Me.” Sunset smirks.
“Us!” yowls Pinkie Pie as the crowd tosses her onstage in a jumble.
Sunset helps Pinkie Pie up as Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk take their places at Adagio’s side.
Like an evil chorus, they say in unison, “What are you doing here?”
Sunset lunges toward them. “The Time Twirler—where is it?!”
Sonata Dusk steps forward into the spotlight and shakes the hair from her eyes. “We,” she says, “have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“A Time Twirly? What is it, like a watch?” asks Aria Blaze.
There’s an awkward silence. The microphone screeches feedback. Pinkie Pie leans over to Sunset. “Yeah, what is it exactly?”
Sunset is crestfallen, but she sets her face into a grimace to hide her disappointment. So the Dazzlings are here, but they have nothing to do with the time loop?
“Booooo!”
Sunset turns around—she totally forgot about the crowd! And they aren’t happy. A tomato hits her square in the nose. Sunset throws her arms up, exasperated.
“Okay, who brings tomatoes to a music festival?”
Adagio cuts the power to the instruments and motions for the security guard. “Get them out of here.”
Sunset looks over to see the stocky security guard stalking their way. Pinkie Pie leans over and gulps. “Uh, I think he means business.”
What should Sunset do?
Run. GO TO PAGE… Let’s be honest, there’s nowhere to run. CLICK HERE.
“I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THIS!”
Sunset Shimmer has just woken up on the first day of Starswirl. Yet again. She groans, to Pinkie Pie’s befuddlement.
Make Your Own Magic: Starswirl Do-Over Page 4