MY LITTLE PONY: EQUESTRIA GIRLS—LEGEND OF EVERFREE

Executive producers: Stephen Davis, Kirsten Newlands, Sarah Wall

Co-executive producer: Meghan McCarthy

Produced by Angela Belyea

Written by Joanna Lewis, Kristine Songco

Assistant direction by Katrina Hadley

Directed by Ishi Rudell

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Note:                The breaks between acts are somewhat arbitrary, and have been chosen so that

                each act (or the prologue plus Act One) has approximately the same running time

as a typical episode.

                All background song lyrics are in square brackets; any marked with an

exclamation point are shouted rather than sung.

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to the upper reaches of a dimly lit bedroom and tilt down slowly toward floor level. Even if the top of the sleeping Twilight Sparkle’s head were not already visible past the edge of the bed’s blankets, the furnishings would give the space away as hers in a heartbeat. Model stars and planets form a suspended mobile, astronomy-themed posters are tacked up on the ceiling, and a desk loaded with computer equipment sits in the far corner. The bed that holds Twilight is flanked by a full bookcase on one side, and a dresser with a framed picture of her dog Spike hung above it on the other. The pooch himself is curled up and snoring away atop a chest at the foot of the bed. Just above the headboard, the first rays of dawn are starting to shine in through a round window.)

(Twilight begins to stir restlessly, the bedclothes shifting enough to reveal a star-speckled pajama shirt. Her glasses are off, and her hair is tied back in a ponytail with a violet, six-pointed star scrunchie, instead of the bun and clip on her bangs she sported throughout Friendship Games.)

Twilight: (talking in sleep) No…it can’t be…it isn’t true…

Fluttershy: (from outside, muffled) Um, Twilight…  (A knock at the door; Spike wakes up and jumps off the chest.)

Rainbow Dash: (from outside, muffled) Twilight! The bus for Camp Everfree leaves in ten minutes!

(During this line, the science whiz sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and the camera zooms in to a close-up as she shifts from “drowsy” to “full panic” in record time.)

Twilight: Oh, no, no, no, no, no! (putting on glasses, leaping out of bed) I can’t believe I overslept!

(The movement exposes a darker-hued, unmarked pair of pants. Cut to the bedroom door, which Spike opens to admit her six new friends. All are dressed in typical camping/outdoor-activity gear: shorts/skirts/capri pants, tennis shoes or hiking boots, and shirts/tops/jerseys of varying detail that all sport an oval logo of a sun rising between two hills on a lake. With the exception of Rainbow, their cutie marks appear as belt buckles or designs on the hems of skirts and shorts. This end of the room sports an aquarium and a plethora of trophies and medals on display. Fluttershy stops to pet Spike.)

Sunset: Me neither. That’s not like you.

(Rainbow hurries over to a closet, where Twilight brings out and opens a suitcase, and pulls out a shirt.)

Twilight: I know! (Pinkie Pie crosses to the bed.)

Pinkie: Don’t you have a super-annoying alarm clock that goes—

(She voices a string of loud, grating buzzes to finish the thought, punctuating them with jerky, cross-eyed limb flailing, and then picks up the pillow. Underneath it is a digital alarm, showing the time as 6:04 and bouncing and buzzing in a manner that is only slightly less disagreeable. Sunset reaches into view, shuts it off, and picks up a second suitcase.)

Sunset: It’s gonna be fine. (opening it, setting it on bed) We’ll help you pack.

(Items are haphazardly thrown in, with Spike adding a chew toy and panting his approval. Rarity’s choice—the dress worn by Princess Twilight to the Fall Formal in Equestria Girls—elicits an irked sigh from Applejack.)

Applejack: We’re gonna be out in the woods. When’s she gonna need that?

Rarity: If we were going to the moon, I’d insist she packed an evening gown. One never knows, darling.

(Pan from her to the closet; Twilight is now upright, and Rainbow zips the first case shut and hefts it.)

Twilight: Let me just get changed.

(Once the jock has headed for the door with the luggage, she grabs a logo-marked shirt of her own from the closet and turns to a full-length mirror. Cut to a close-up of the glass, framing the reflection of her face—which shifts to an expression of purest shock as two purple/black wings unfurl from behind it to either side. The rest of her demonic, power-crazed alter ego, which tried to obliterate the division between this world and Equestria during Friendship Games, rises slowly into view. Zoom out quickly to frame the entire room, with this most unwelcome new arrival floating in the middle of it; the shirt drops from Twilight’s fingers.)

All others: Midnight Sparkle?!

(Recall that she was only addressed as “Twilight” during the previous film.)

Twilight: How is this possible? Sunset Shimmer helped me defeat you at the Friendship Games!

Midnight Sparkle: You and your friends can never truly defeat me!

(She cackles madly as the room darkens and begins to disintegrate into pixel-like squares that are swept away to expose a swirling pink/purple madness beyond the walls. Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity turn to static and vanish with a scream, followed by Fluttershy and Pinkie, then finally Sunset and Spike. Twilight can do nothing but back up fearfully against the mirror as that awful laughter drifts down.)

Midnight: (appearing in mirror, reaching for her; she darts away with a cry) Midnight Sparkle’s a part of you.

(The hyperventilating genius takes a few more retreating steps; cut to the patch of floor under her feet as it breaks up and she floats free.)

Midnight: (from o.s.) I’ll always be there… (rising to dwarf her; objects from the room drift randomly about) …waiting in the darkest shadows of your mind.

(She draws both hands down as she continues, leaving brief traces of fire in the not-air.)

Midnight: I’ll be back, Twilight! (flying up from behind, normal size, grabbing her shoulders) And this time, I won’t stop until I have all the magic!

(A flash, and her body has disappeared. The wings have been transferred to Twilight’s back, the horn to her forehead, and her glasses have evaporated and been replaced with glowing markings similar to the ones around Midnight’s eyes.)

Twilight: (horrified) No! STOOOP!!

(As she screams out this last word, the view dissolves to an extreme close-up of her—fully back to her normal self, wearing her glasses and the logo-marked shirt she picked from her closet. She is sitting in a seat on a bus, and Spike has climbed up to get her attention; he wears a blue baseball cap with the same insignia.)

Spike: Twilight, wake up!

(Zoom out slightly; Applejack sits ahead of her, Pinkie and Sunset behind. Pinkie leans cheerfully over the seat back toward her, while Sunset aims a very concerned look past the end. Everything up to this point has been a very bad dream.)

Pinkie: We can’t stop, silly. (Rainbow looks on from her spot next to Applejack.) We’re not there yet. (Sunset leans in.)

Sunset: Hey, are you okay?

Twilight: (chuckling weakly) I’m fine.

(Her attempt at a casual grin comes nowhere close to convincing Sunset, who starts to say something before Pinkie gets the next word in.)

Pinkie: We are gonna have so much fun. We’re gonna roast marshmallows and eat marshmallows and sleep on marshmallow pillows! (Cut to Twilight and Rainbow.)

Rainbow: Yeah, probably not gonna do that. (Back to Pinkie on the following; she holds up a jumbo bag of the treats.)

Pinkie: Maybe you’re not.

(They are promptly cuddled to her cheek like a sugary cushion. This sequence picks out the shorts Twilight now wears in place of her pajama pants.)

Principal Celestia: (from o.s.) Attention, students!

(Cut to the aisle, the camera pointing toward the front end of the bus. She and Vice-Principal Luna sit across from one another. The older sister wears a magenta dress with a sunburst design on the skirt and belt buckle, a sash of merit badges, a yellow neckerchief, and short, high-heeled magenta boots with knee-high yellow socks; the younger is in magenta shirt and dark blue shorts, with lighter blue hiking boots, knee-high pink socks, and a blue/white baseball cap with the shirts’ logo. Zoom in on them.)

Celestia: We’re almost there, but before we arrive, we just wanted to say how proud we are of you for raising enough money to go on this class field trip.

(Cut to a slow pan across the aisle as she finishes, revealing the bright pink neckerchief Luna wears, the white trim on her sleeve cuffs, and her white crescent-moon belt buckle.)

Luna: When we were your age, we made some of our favorite memories in these woods, and we’re sure you will too.

Celestia: (pumping a fist) Now who’s excited for Camp Everfree?

(A round of cheers from the busload of Wondercolts. Twilight makes as if to join in, but bites it back and allows herself a hint of a smile instead. Zoom out slowly, the view dissolving to the outside of the bus as it rocks and bounces its way down the road and the credits begin.)

OPENING CREDITS

Cheery mandolin melody with acoustic guitar accents and bass drum beats, lively 4 (C major)

Students:                Will you be lost by time or be part of history?

                        Will your story be told or remain a mystery?

                        Will they sing your song, telling all that you have done?

                        Time to make your choice, only you can be the one

Drums/tambourine in

                        Oh-h-h, oh-h

                        As you join in the legend of Everfree [Hey!]

                        Oh-h-h, oh-h

                        As you join in the legend of Everfree

[Hey! Hey! Hey!]

Tambourine out; handclaps in on the off-beats

                        Will you do something great with the time that you have here?

                        Will you make your mark? Will you conquer what you fear?

                        And when you go back home, everybody there will see

                        You were part of the legend of Everfree

Tambourine in

                        Oh-h-h, oh-h

                        As you join in the legend of Everfree [Hey!]

                        Oh-h-h, oh-h

                        As you join in the legend of Everfree [Hey!]

Tambourine out; handclaps on every fourth beat; half-time feel

                        Will you find your greatest glory?

                        Will you be a falling star?

                        Here to learn what nature teaches

                        Here to learn more who you are

A cappella with handclaps on every second beat; half-time feel ends

                        Will you be lost by time or be part of history?

                        Will your story be told or remain a mystery?

Tambourine in

                        And when you go back home, everybody there will see

                        You were part of the legend of Everfree

All other instruments in; handclaps on off-beats

                        Oh-h-h, oh-h

                        As you join in the legend of Everfree [Hey!]

                        Oh-h-h, oh-h

                        As you join in the legend of Everfree

                        [Hey!]

Song ends

(The final chorus is accompanied by the following. The bus slowly rolls past the camera, showing the seven girls and Spike each doing something a little different to pass the time. It pulls in at a campground equipped with cabins, tents, a totem pole, and facilities for assorted outdoor activities. A slow zoom out frames Camp Everfree on the shore of a lake as a wisp of sparkly pinkish magic—which has been darting here and there through the woods during this sequence—circles high above the grounds. In time with the last note, it bursts into a rain of multicolored motes and the rest of the screen goes black. These fade away a moment later.)

Act One

(Fade in to a pennant flying on a flagpole and marked with the logo from the students’ shirts and caps—the camp’s mark—and pan/tilt down as a bird loops past the bus. Everyone has gathered around it with their luggage; Applejack strains to pull hers out of one of the open cargo compartments. Her boots are a shortened, slightly re-styled version of her usual pair.)

Fluttershy: Isn’t Camp Everfree just beautiful?  I can’t wait until we have our first nature walk! (Close-up of Spike.)

Spike: I definitely want to go on one of those.

(Longer shot on the start of the next line; Fluttershy bends down toward him, and Applejack yanks her bag free and slings it up.)

Fluttershy: You want to see all the adorable woodland creatures too? (Spike again.)

Spike: Yeah! Specifically squirrels. More specifically, so I can chase ’em!

(Happy yipping and panting, followed by a huff from the o.s. Applejack; cut to her as she speaks.)

Applejack: I’m just lookin’ forward to roughin’ it. I’m gonna make my own shelter, forage for food— (Rainbow crosses behind her.)

Rainbow: Uh, you know they provide us with food and tents, right?

Applejack: Yep! Still gonna forage, though.

(On the other side of the bus, Rarity stands alongside a pile of luggage that is not much smaller than the one her pony counterpart might have brought along for a trip like this.)

Rarity: (sighing happily) I’m just after some R&R. The past year has all been a bit too much for my tastes.

Pinkie: I’ll say! (eyes briefly counter-rotating) We fought three evil Sirens who tried to hypnotize everybody with their singing, one ridiculously competitive rival school, and two demon friends!

(Only after she finishes this Mach 2 recap of the previous three films does she notice the look of mild unease on Sunset’s face, and the one of revived guilt on Twilight’s. The bespectacled girl turns toward the camera during this last to show the eight-pointed pink star she wears as a belt buckle on her purple shorts, marked with small white stars. Sunset proceeds to cock an eyebrow and send a little smirk in Pinkie’s direction.)

Pinkie: (grinning stupidly, waving it off with a giggle) Uh, no offense. (Sunset puts an arm around Twilight’s shoulders.)

Sunset: None taken. (softly, to Twilight) You’ll get used to it.

(She thumps the bookworm good-naturedly on the arm, receiving a wink and smile. Now Applejack, Fluttershy, and Spike circle around to this side of the bus.)

Applejack: Yep. Canterlot High has become a regular magic magnet. Gonna be nice gettin’ away to a place where we don’t have to worry about that kinda stuff.

(Flash Sentry runs up to Twilight, wearing one backpack and carrying a second whose color scheme and star-patterned bedroll mark it as hers.)

Flash:  Here you go, Twilight.

Twilight: Thanks! (She takes hers and puts it on.) It’s…Flash, right?

Flash: (grinning hugely) Yep, that’s me! (losing a little steam) And you’re you, and we don’t know each other very well. (Turn away; address himself.) Heh…cool story, bro.

Twilight: Right. I guess I’ll see you around.

(As he walks off sporting a shaky half-grin, she turns to Sunset with a severely confused shrug.)

Sunset: You know how there’s that girl who looks just like you when she’s here, but lives in another dimension and she’s a pony princess?

Twilight: Uh-huh.

Sunset: Flash kinda had a thing for her. (He strolls past, followed by Applejack.)

Twilight: Oh.

(An ear-splitting screech of loudspeaker feedback sends bags to the ground and hands to eardrums, followed by a female voice that can only be described as insanely chipper and much, much too perky for any hour of the day.)

Voice on speaker: Hi, everyone!

(Cut to the offending appliance, which is mounted just under the roof on one end of a cabin.)

Voice on speaker: If you could start heading to the courtyard, that would be rad! It’s time to start the best week of camp ever!

(Wipe to the entire Canterlot High School contingent now gathered in said courtyard and pan across the area. Celestia and Luna sit at a picnic table, their backs to the camera; a sundial stands nearby, and across from them is a cabin, larger than the others and decorated with window flower boxes. Next to this is a circular gazebo with open walls, its roof supported by pillars carved to resemble tree trunks with spreading branches. A bell hangs at one edge, and a well-tanned young man stands on its floor as a pink-skinned woman of about the same age crosses to him. At this distance, she—Gloriosa Daisy—can be discerned wearing a loose yellow top with yellow-green trim at collar and waist, blue denim shorts, brown moccasins with daisies at the instep and long straps wrapped around her ankles, and a garland of daisies in her long, two-tone dark reddish-pink hair. Timber Spruce, the man, wears a red shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and brown hiking boots; a knit cap keeps his untidy, two-tone dark green hair out of his eyes. Gloriosa is holding a microphone, and her voice marks her as the one who addressed the new arrivals. The seven girls have shed their various bags.)

*** The notation “on mic” is used to indicate lines that are spoken into the device and amplified by the sound system.”Off mic”: microphone in hand, but not raised to mouth.  ***

Gloriosa: (on mic) Hi, everyone.

(Close-up as she continues; her eyes are a deep green, she has freckles, and a braid hangs down among her long, loose hair. Five small crystals, each a different pastel hue—yellow, white, orange, blue, pink—are strung on a thong around her neck.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) Welcome to Camp Everfree. I’m Gloriosa Daisy, your camp director. Think of me as your friendly camp and nature guide.

(Pan slightly to frame Timber; his shirt carries the camp logo, a leather bracelet encircles each wrist, and his eyes are the same shade of green as hers. His eyebrows are considerably thicker than hers and do not match his hair color—dark brown instead of green.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) And this is my brother, Timber Spruce. (He takes the mic; brief feedback whine.)

Timber: (on mic) Think of me as that awesome guy… (Toss it overhead from one hand to the other.) …who should always be invited to fun things.

(He passes it back to Gloriosa’s waiting hand.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) We aim to please, so before we hand out our tent assignments, we’d like to hear from all of you. (Cut to the girls, then back as she continues.) You’re free to do whatever you like here.

Timber: Uh, except hike near the rock quarry. That’s off limits.

(This interjection throws her just a touch off balance, but she quickly recovers with a smile. He, though, aims a cocked-eyebrow sidewise glance at her from above crossed arms.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) Yes, but otherwise your options are wide open. So what activities will make this the very best week of your lives ever?

(She holds the microphone out to the group; Rainbow is first to wave an eager hand.)

Rainbow: Oh! Rock climbing!

Gloriosa: (on mic) Done!

Rainbow: Archery!

Gloriosa: (on mic) Of course!

Rainbow: Tetherball!

Gloriosa: (on mic) Naturally! (The blue wrist is pulled down by Sunset.)

Sunset: Rainbow, I know you’re excited, but maybe give somebody else a chance to make a suggestion.

(The camera pans quickly to follow the thumb she jerks off to one side, and stops on Bulk Biceps, Flash, and Sandalwood.)

Bulk: Arts and crafts! (Funny look from Flash.) My mom needs new potholders.

(Sandalwood just shrugs and smiles at the big guy’s candidness.)

Gloriosa: (from o.s., on mic) I’ll supply the looms! (Cut to Pinkie.)

Pinkie: Cookie decorating! (She licks her chops; back to the gazebo.)

Gloriosa: (off mic) Ooh, I do make a mean sugar cookie. (She leans toward Fluttershy.)

Fluttershy: Early-morning nature walks?

Gloriosa: (on mic) With walking sticks for everyone!

Rarity: (from o.s.) Oh, oh! (Cut to her.) Me! Oh, uh…a fashion show! (Zoom out slowly.)  Where I design the most fabulous camp looks inspired by today’s hottest trends, and have them modeled by my classmates in a gorgeous outdoor setting!

(As she gets more and more inspired, the puzzled looks coming her way turn into anticipatory little smiles.)

Gloriosa: (on mic, spreading arms wide) A camp tradition!

Timber: (aside, to her) We have literally never done that. (Brief pause; she glowers at him, then smiles to the group.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) I’ll be taking requests the rest of the time you’re here, so if there’s anything you’d like to do, anything you need, just ask.

(On the second half of this line, Timber lets his eyes flick away from her and the camera cuts to just over his shoulder. He spots Twilight and smiles, bringing a blush and smile to her face in response. Pinkie and Sunset, standing nearby, notice the wordless exchange and giggle silently to themselves. Cut to Celestia and Luna on the start of the following; Celestia now sits on the picnic table, and Luna stands leaning over it, propped on one palm, to glare at her. This shot picks out the star pattern on the younger sister’s shorts, previously hidden by camera angles.)

Celestia: What about the camp gift? That was my favorite Camp Everfree tradition.

Gloriosa: (on mic) The camp gift! Of course!

Timber: (aside, to her, exasperated) Really?

Gloriosa: (ditto, to him, covering mic) Yes, really!

Timber: Well, I just thought—

Gloriosa: Then you thought wrong. (Cut to Twilight, Pinkie, and Sunset.)

Sunset: (aside, to other two) Anyone else picking up on a little tension between Gloriosa and her brother?

Twilight, Pinkie: (shrugging) Eh…

Pinkie: Little.

Gloriosa: (on mic, addressing crowd cheerfully) Every year, campers work together to create something useful. (Her perspective; she sweeps her hand across.) A gift for future campers. Working toward this common goal is key to forming the strong bonds that will last well beyond your time here at camp.

(The fingers curl briefly into a fist on “strong bonds.” After she finishes, cut back to the siblings, both now shooting highly distrustful looks across the short distance between them. Gloriosa covers the mic with her hand again.)

Gloriosa: (aside, to him, through gritted teeth) Which is why it’s so important.

(She smiles again and raises the mic to her lips; tilt up to the roof during her next words.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) This gazebo was a gift from last year’s group.

(Cut to the upper portion of the totem pole. From the top down: sun, moon, stars, canoe on rapids, lightning.)

Gloriosa: (from o.s., on mic) Oh, oh, oh, and the totem pole— (To the sundial near Celestia and Luna.) —and the sundial were also made by campers!

Celestia: The sundial was our year’s gift.

(Luna straightens up, coughing loudly and pointedly to clear her throat.)

Luna: Even though some people thought it was a little impractical, since a sundial can’t be used at night.

(She adds air quotes on “some people.” Gloriosa is more than a bit caught out at this mild animosity, but gets back on track with an airy little laugh. This shot frames the lower section of the totem pole: a horseshoe framing mountain peaks under the lightning bolt, and a cluster of upright oars supporting this.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) You all seem like a—a really amazing group, so I’m certain you’ll come up with something inspiring to leave behind. (Cheers.)

Timber: Speaking of leaving things behind, now’s the time when we give out tent assignments, so you can leave your heavy bags behind.

(Sis shakes her head slightly at his total lack of subtlety in changing subjects and the wink he tips in Twilight’s direction, but she puts on a humoring smile and descends the gazebo steps.)

Gloriosa: (off mic) Uh, girls will be getting their assignments from Timber. (on mic; the nearest girls start past her) Guys, you’re with me!

(Across the way, all the friends except Sunset have clustered near the sundial and are soon joined by Derpy Hooves and DJ P0N-3. Timber holds up an open drawstring bag for Pinkie.)

Pinkie: (very giddy) Oh, boy!

(One pink hand plunges inside and brings out a card marked with a green gem.)

Pinkie: (bounding off) Yay! I’m in the Emerald Tent! (Rarity is up next; she gets one as well.)

Rarity: (walking off) Ooh! Me too!

(Cut to Applejack, who has drawn a blue-green one.)

Applejack: Aquamarine! (Rainbow leaps over, carrying its match.)

Rainbow: Me too!

Applejack, Rainbow: (pumping fists) Yee-hoo!/Oh, yeah! (Fluttershy steps over as they head out; her card shows a violet one.)

Fluttershy: I got Amethyst.

(And here comes DJ P0N-3, who holds up the other card; they give each other a thumbs-up with their free hands. Over by the totem pole, Sunset has drawn blue.)

Sunset: Sapphire!

Twilight: (from o.s.) Me too! (Cut to her by the gazebo; Sunset crosses to her as the drawings continue.) I mean, I’m assuming I am. (chuckling) Technically, sapphires aren’t just blue. They can be pink, purple, yellow…

(She has not noticed Timber putting down the bag of cards and stepping up behind her.)

Timber: Yeah, but they’re mostly blue. That’s why they’re named after the Latin word “sapphirus.”

(He adds air quotes for that word; she grins at the display of erudition.)

Timber: (whispering) That means “blue.”

Twilight: (ditto) I know. (giggling, holding up her card) But did you know that sapphires are just rubies without chromium?

Timber: (normal volume) No. (He plucks it away, their fingers brushing against each other; she blushes.) But did you know that Sapphire Tent is the best one?

Twilight: No. Why’s that?

Timber: Because you’re in it. (He waggles his eyebrows slyly at her; she smiles lightly.)

Twilight: (taking card back) Oh, I bet you say that to all the campers.

Timber: Not true.

(He gestures ahead of himself; zoom out to show Bulk regarding his draw with disbelief as he continues.)

Timber: You’re in the Ruby Tent? Hah! That’s the worst one.

Bulk: (crumpling card) Aw, man!

Timber: (smiling, pointing index-finger guns at him) I’m just joking, buddy. Ruby Tent is great. It’s like a sapphire, but with chromium.

(The beefed-up teen blinks two big red eyes, his tentative smile betraying his extreme confusion, and Timber realizes that his joke has fallen utterly flat as Twilight giggles softly.)

Timber: But the Ruby and Coral Tents do look an awful lot alike to the undiscerning eye. (leading Bulk away) I better show you where it is. (Zoom in on Twilight; he leans in toward her and salutes.) See you ’round.

(Off he goes again; she turns away, a silly half-smile stretching her mouth, and finds Applejack, Rainbow, Rarity, and Sunset keeping their positive reactions in check. The blue athlete is first to give voice with a snicker.)

Twilight: What?

Applejack: (chuckling) Nothin’.

Rarity: Ooh, that was adorable!

(Gloriosa crosses toward the five, blowing a whistle to bring other campers in. She has put her microphone away and is carrying a clipboard.)

Gloriosa: Okay, everyone, go get settled in. (close-up; checking notes; a car engine is heard approaching) We’ll be meeting at the docks in fifteen minutes to go over some camp safety rules. Let me know if you need anything!

(The sound of an opening door butts in at this point; cut to an overhead shot of the courtyard. A dark blue limousine has just parked on the grass, and the rear passenger door has opened to discharge this world’s Filthy Rich. Older gentleman, blue-gray business suit, white shirt, red tie marked with a dollar sign, brown shoes with gold buckles that match the one on his belt, lapel pin of three money bags. He has the same coloration as his pony counterpart, but as soon as he opens his mouth, it becomes clear that the stallion’s easygoing geniality has failed to jump the dimensional divide. As he strides toward the group, Gloriosa throws her clipboard aside and glares daggers in his general direction.)

Filthy: I need somethin’. (Gloriosa steps up and takes his elbow.)

Gloriosa: (voice dripping with fake sweetness) Filthy Rich! (pushing him back to the limo) So nice to see you. (whispering, viciously) What are you doing here? Camp is just getting started!

Filthy: Just takin’ in the scenery, Gloriosa Daisy. (He leans into her face.) It’s so… (Oily chuckle.) …relaxin’. (Back off; adjust the tie.)

Gloriosa: (normal volume) Well, you can look around when camp is over. Now if you don’t mind…

(Extreme close-up of each pair of narrowing eyes—first his, then hers—then cut to frame both again. He eyes the gold watch on his right wrist for a long moment before transferring his gaze back to her and making it one of undisguised hostility.)

Filthy: Fine.

(Into the limo he goes, shutting the door, and it glides smoothly away. Realizing that Twilight and Sunset have been standing close by and may have heard too much for comfort, Gloriosa shifts into a nervous smile and turns back toward them. Sunset has her carryall bag slung up.)

Gloriosa: (stammering a bit) Filthy Rich is, uh, an alumni [sic] of the camp.

[Error: As noted in the Friendship Games transcript, “alumni” refers to a group of graduates from a school or program. A single one would be an alumnus if male, an alumna if female.]

(Longer shot Applejack/Rainbow/Rarity are in the vicinity as well, all a bit on edge.)

Gloriosa: He likes to check on his old stomping grounds every now and again. (Pause; the others are still skeptical.) But enough about him. Find your tents and put away your things. We’ve got the best week of camp ever to begin!

(Applejack, Rainbow, and Rarity follow her away; Twilight slings up her backpack, and she and Sunset get their feet moving in the same direction. Wipe to a point several feet above ground level, the camera aimed across the expanse of treetops and a cabin roof, and zoom out as a bird chirps happily on its way through the air. Celestia and Luna are standing in front of the structure, which is at one end of a clearing, and students are finding their way to the various two-man tents set up near the other. Each is marked with a different gem on both its front flaps and a placard hung above them, matching the cards that were drawn to determine bunking assignments. In addition, flowerpots are set up to either side of every set of flaps, and the tents are built on wooden platforms. Applejack and Rarity enter the tent site, Rarity voicing a discomfited sigh; Applejack is toting her bag now.)

Rarity: I’m all for learning safety rules, but I do hope I can get started on my designs for the camp fashion show sooner rather than later.

Applejack: Heh. I still can’t believe you talked Gloriosa into havin’ a fashion show. (Both stop.) We’re in the middle of the woods, for cryin’ out loud! We’re s’posed to be roughin’ it! (They start off again.)

Rarity: It’s clear from Gloriosa’s own wardrobe that she appreciates a well-put-together look— (losing a little steam) —even if we are in the middle of the woods.

(By the time she finishes, they have stopped again; not far behind them, Rainbow is doing sit-ups while Pinkie holds her ankles to the ground. Fluttershy and DJ P0N-3 are chatting a bit as well.)

Applejack: Fair enough. (walking off) Just as long as you don’t put me in one of your fancy-pants outfits.

(A calculating little smile steals across the fashion-conscious girl’s face; right on cue, Applejack leans back into view with an accusing glare.)

Applejack: You’re gonna, aren’t you? (Away again.)

Rarity: (innocently) No… (giddily) …yes!

(She starts after the blonde with a high giggle. Cut to just inside the tent Twilight and Sunset are to share, the camera positioned to frame the latter’s side. As Spike scampers toward the open flaps, she pulls a flashlight from the bag she has set on her bunk and turns it on and off. The living space has already been outfitted with a few ceramics and pieces of wooden furniture.)

Rarity: (passing outside with Applejack, fading into distance) Don’t worry, darling. It will absolutely speak to your personal sense of style and…

(The former unicorn tests the light further by switching it on, aiming it up under her chin, and uttering a drawn-out, spooky moan as if getting ready to tell a ghost story. Satisfied, she shuts it off again and tucks it away in her bag.)

Sunset: (addressing herself across tent) That was weird back there, right?

(Cut to just behind her. She is speaking to Twilight, who has dropped her pack on the bunk at the opposite side and is sitting next to it with her mind clearly somewhere else. A footlocker rests at the end of each bunk.)

Sunset: With that…guy, Filthy Rich? (Spike trots in.)

Twilight: Huh?…Oh, I guess so.

(They both get to unpacking, Sunset hanging her spare clothing on a line strung overhead.)

Sunset: I just have this feeling that Gloriosa’s hiding something. (smiling teasingly) Her brother’s pretty cute, though, huh? (Twilight blushes and turns to her.)

Twilight: He’s okay.

Sunset: Oooooh! Now look who’s trying to hide something.

Twilight: (hastily) No, I’m not!

(The abrupt shift in tone leaves the other girl at a momentary loss.)

Sunset: Hey, you okay? You seemed a little freaked out on the bus earlier.

(Cut to Spike, resting in a basket next to Twilight’s footlocker, on the start of the next line.)

Spike: Probably had another one of her nightmares. (A pair of socks is thrown down over his face.)

Twilight: (irked) I’m fine. (smiling) I mean, what do I have to complain about? (She bounces over to Sunset’s bunk.) Ever since I transferred here, everyone from CHS has been really nice and accepting—especially considering what happened at the Friendship Games.

Sunset: That wasn’t your fault. (kneeling down alongside, touching her shoulder) Principal Cinch is the one who encouraged you to try and use all that magic to win the Games for Crystal Prep. (She rises to sit by Twilight, who looks away.) You weren’t ready to have that kind of power. (smiling) But it’s over now. And if there’s any group that’s gonna forgive you for something that happened in the past, trust me—it’s this one.

(The heart-to-heart comes to a very quick end when Rainbow peeks into the tent.)

Rainbow: You guys coming or what?

Sunset: (standing up) Be right there!

(Rainbow leaves; Twilight stands and crosses back to her side as Sunset roots in her own bag.)

Sunset: I just want to put on some sunscreen. (No dice.) Huh. I coulda sworn I packed it. (Twilight looks around, then points toward the floor.)

Twilight: Found it!

(She has indeed—and a tube of the stuff rises between the teens under its own power. There is one notable difference between this bit of levitation and that practiced by unicorns in Equestria: instead of being surrounded by a colored glow of magic, the object is only marked by a faint sparkling corona. Both girls can only boggle at this temporary abandonment of the law of gravity, but a zoom out to frame the entire interior discloses a much greater extent. Items of varying size and bulk are floating around them and not seeming to mind this change of circumstance one bit. So is a bemused Spike in his basket.)

Sunset: (breathlessly) Did you…? How is this possible?

Twilight: I can’t believe this! It’s…

Twilight, Sunset: …terrible!/…amazing!

(The influence breaks and all the items drop back as they were.)

Sunset: Are you kidding? This is great! I mean, we’ve all ponied up before, gotten the whole “ears and wings and tail” thing, shot magical rainbow lasers, but nothing like this has ever happened! How did you do it?

Twilight: I don’t know! (scared) Maybe I didn’t. Maybe it’s her!

Sunset: (touching her shoulder) “Her” who?

Twilight: (hastily, throwing hand off) Nothing. Never mind. (Big forced grin.) Can we just not talk about it? And could you please not bring this whole levitating thing up to the others?

Sunset: Why not?

Twilight: (pacing, putting socks away; Sunset sits) You heard Applejack. This is supposed to be a place where everyone can get away from magic. I don’t want them to know I brought some crazy new kind with me!

Sunset: If you really don’t want me to, I won’t say anything.

(Cut to just outside the tent’s closed flaps; Twilight emerges and stops, holding them open.)

Twilight: I really don’t. (Exit.)

Sunset: (calling after her) Okay, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

(The end of this line becomes slightly muffled when the flaps fall shut. Back to her, blue-green eyes flicking curiously down to the tube of sunscreen at her feet. Spike is in a prime position to watch her concentrate hard for a moment, then let off and release a held breath—trying to replicate her bunky’s unexpected magic surge, but with no success. A second attempt yields the same results.)

Spike: I think you’re just gonna have to pick it up.

Sunset: Aww…

(Resigning herself to the use of brute force, she stands up off her bunk, picks up the tube, and gives it an idle toss. Cut to just outside the tent as she emerges, no longer carrying it but rubbing some sunscreen onto one arm. Her failure to look where she is going leads her to bump into the passing Gloriosa. The next line is heard without anyone’s lips moving.)

Voice of Gloriosa: (irritated) …show up like that!

Sunset: What did you say?

Gloriosa: (aloud, smiling hesitantly) I didn’t say anything. (perkily) Just here to make sure everyone was headed over to the docks. Did you need something?

Sunset: Nope.

Gloriosa: Because if there is anything I can do to make this week the best week ever, you just let me know. I’ve got this!

Sunset: Thanks. I’m good.

(The director goes on her way, waving to a couple of boys, and Sunset shifts her focus to Spike sitting at her feet.)

Sunset: People that chipper make me nervous. (Pinkie bounds into view and wraps her up in a hug.)

Pinkie: This is gonna be so much fun!

Sunset: (smiling wryly) I guess not all people.

(Cut to the sun shining brilliantly over the distant treetops and mountain peaks and tilt down to frame the lakeshore on the start of the next line. Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Rarity stand looking out over the water, amid a scatter of ongoing student activities. A dock and boathouse are set up out here.)

Rarity: (sighing blissfully) It’s beautiful, isn’t it? It looks like a diamond shining in the sun. (Closer shot of the foursome on the end of this.)

Fluttershy: It is lovely out here. (A breeze toys with her hair.) The fresh air, the cool breeze… (A bird perches on an extended finger.) …the birds that land on your finger… (She nuzzles it.)

Rainbow: I think that only happens to you.

(The animal lover walks off, lost in the moment. Wipe to a slow pan across the area near the boathouse, where Gloriosa addresses a knot of students. Derpy is wearing a life jacket, and DJ P0N-3 has a fishing rod over one shoulder. Behind the group, a jacketed Twilight crosses the grass, carrying an oar.)

Gloriosa: Lake activities are available every day until sunset, so if you want to canoe, sail, windsurf, or swim, just let me know.

(Twilight steps onto the dock and moves along its length as Fluttershy sits down on one side and Applejack, in a life jacket, brings a canoe in at the end for Timber to tie up. Cut to a close-up of a duck and two of its young gathering around Fluttershy’s dangling feet to catch the crumbs she drops, then tilt up; she is feeding them bits of a sandwich.)

Fluttershy: Aren’t they just the cutest?

(As the violet girl turns to smile her acknowledgment, one of the boards cracks under her heel and sends her into a backwards tumble toward the end of the dock.)

Twilight: Whoooaaa! (Timber hooks his arms under hers to catch her.)

Timber: Whoa. (standing her up) I know I’m charming, but you don’t have to fall for me.

(They turn their faces away, but neither can resist tossing a smile and sidewise glance to the other. He removes her life jacket and drapes it over the damaged spot as Applejack, Fluttershy, and Gloriosa approach, with Celestia and Luna bringing up the rear. Flash watches silently from shore, voicing a heavy sigh before Sunset comes up to his side and offers a weak grin.)

Flash: (shrugging) Guess I can’t get too jealous, right? After all, she isn’t my Twilight. (hastily) Not that the other Twilight was mine. (Close-up; normal cadence.) But we were… (Sigh.) …you know…

Sunset: (from o.s., gently) Yeah. (Cut to frame both again; she puts a hand to his shoulder.) I get it. (Arm around both shoulders.) But your Twilight is a princess in Equestria. Hate to break it to you, but that’s where she’s gonna spend most of her time.

Flash: (scratching back of neck) So you’re saying I just need to get over her?

Sunset: Kinda, yeah.

Flash: Ouch. You’re not pulling any punches.

Sunset: (winking, thumping his arm gently) Not really my style. Sorry.

(Back to the dock; everyone clears off to dry land except Celestia, Luna, and Gloriosa. The vice-principal has knelt down and removed the life jacket Timber set over the broken plank; he and Twilight watch.)

Luna: (standing up) This is a safety hazard. I suggest we close down the dock for the remainder of the camp. (Groans and grumbles from the crowd.)

Gloriosa: Oh, I’m sure it won’t have to be for the remainder of camp. Just needs to be patched up a bit. I’ve got this! (Applejack gets an idea.)

Applejack: Huh. (crossing to her) Or maybe we do! If you ask me, this whole dock needs to go. (She kicks the end off one post with little effort.) Buildin’ a new one could be our camp gift. (Gloriosa beams.) Sure, it would benefit us— (Her perspective, panning slowly across the gathering.) —but a nice new dock would benefit future campers too.

(They break into a brief burst of excited chatter as she finishes, and the camera then cuts to Twilight and a highly dubious Timber.)

Timber: I don’t know. It’s an awful lot of work. (crossing to Gloriosa) I wouldn’t want you guys to miss out on doing other fun camp stuff because you’re so busy building a dock for future campers.

(He aims the last two words—and a very hairy eyeball—at his sister, who glares right back. Sunset gives her thumbnail a nervous nibble, but it is Rainbow who breaks the stalemate by sliding over to nudge Timber away and sidle up to him with an arm around his shoulders.)

Rainbow: I hear what you’re saying, Timber, but we’re Canterlot Wondercolts. We’ve got a reputation to uphold. (pacing) And there was no way we were gonna leave this place without contributing the most awesome camp gift ever! I’m with AJ. Building a new dock is definitely it. What do you guys think?

(They make their feelings known with a round of enthused cheering, and Gloriosa gives Timber a satisfied sidelong smirk.)

Gloriosa: Looks like it’s settled, then.

Timber: (irked, crossing arms) Looks like it. (Cut to Sunset and zoom in slowly.)

Sunset: (to herself) That’s some tension, all right.

(Dissolve to the dock, now in the process of being dismantled by Bulk; on the shore, Micro Chips stacks logs and Trixie reads a book of repair instructions. Pan to a picnic table where all seven girls have gathered around one member of Canterlot High’s “drama “clique. She draws intently on a sketch pad; cut to a close-up of Twilight looking over her shoulder, then pan to each of the next two speakers after her in turn. Applejack has shed her life jacket now.)

Twilight: We can reinforce the foundation—

Applejack: —make it nice and sturdy—

Sunset: —and we can add a wood-carved sign that says “Camp Everfree.” (Cut to Fluttershy and Rainbow on the other side.)

Fluttershy: And little boxes of food so you can feed the ducks and fishies!

Rainbow: Oh! We’ll add lanterns, so you can see at night!

(The drama girl lifts her pencil from the page for a moment’s thought, adds one last detail, and holds her pad up for inspection. Zoom in on this, showing the girls’ suggestions worked in as much as a two-dimensional representation will allow. The overall shape is that of a capital T, with the horizontal bar running along the shore and the vertical one jutting into the water; and an extra horizontal spar extends from the far end. A gasp from the now-o.s. Rarity; cut to her.)

Rarity: It’s stunning— (twirling in place) —and will make an absolutely perfect runway for my camp fashion show! (Cut to Twilight and Applejack on the start of the next line.)

Applejack: More importantly, it’ll be a great place for dockin’ canoes and feedin’ the wildlife. (Noncommittal grunt from the o.s. Rarity; back to her.)

Rarity: You say “tomato,” I say “perfect place to showcase glamorous boho-chic stylings.”  

(Longer shot of the group, now joined by Celestia and Luna.)

Twilight: What do you guys think?

Celestia: It’s going to be a lot of work, but we can do it!

Pinkie: (jumping in place) Yes! Adult supervision!

(Dissolve to the new dock under construction in the same spot as the old, which has now been cleared away altogether. As Fluttershy and Rarity paint food boxes at a picnic table, Applejack and Rainbow work on nailing down planks and Flash sets one more in place. Close-up of the sports prodigy, who drives one nail halfway in with a single blow, then cut to Applejack—now standing up and stroking her chin thoughtfully.)

Applejack: Huh. Nice hammer. Where’d you get it? (Rainbow, now also up, eyes it quizzically.)

Rainbow: Uh, duh. The toolbox? (Applejack slides over to her with a mocking look.)

Applejack: Huh. That’s cool.

(Now she holds up her own tool—which has a stone head lashed onto a shaft that is almost totally covered with extra turns of the bindings.)

Applejack: I made mine.

(Grin; point it at Rainbow; get a weary groan in response. Cut to one table at which Timber is assembling a lantern, zoom in through the surrounding bustle, and then cut to a close-up of him. On the next line, zoom out to frame Twilight standing and looking on appreciatively.)

Twilight: Making lanterns out of solar-powered garden lights! Pretty crafty there, Timber.

Timber: (gesturing with it) You think that’s crafty? You should see my macaroni art. I’m like the Picasso of noodles. (She giggles; he goes back to work.)

Celestia: (from o.s.) All right, now.

(Cut to frame her standing not far away, clipboard in hand; she addresses the area in general.)

Celestia: You’ve made a lot of progress, but it’s going to be getting dark soon. (checking notes) We can pick this up tomorrow between our other camp activities. (Pan slightly to frame Gloriosa standing next to her.)

Gloriosa: Everyone get cleaned up, and we’ll gather by the fire pit at eight to share s’mores and scary stories!

(The magic word: up pops Pinkie, clutching her bag of marshmallows from the prologue bus ride, a box of graham crackers, and a slab of chocolate.)

Pinkie: S’MORES!!

(Wipe to the forest canopy under a starry night sky and tilt down slowly, bringing the group into view on the start of the next line. They are sitting on stumps and log benches around a crackling campfire. Rarity has draped a blanket over her end of the log she is sharing with Twilight.)

Rarity: (ominously) And that’s when she looked down— (Close-up.) —and realized she was wearing purple socks with a burgundy dress!

(She punctuates the climax of her tail with a shrill scream of terror, but no one in the audience seems particularly freaked out. Least of all Pinkie, who cheerfully pops a marshmallow into her mouth from the several dozen she has roasted at once. Rarity’s theatrics peter out.)

Rarity: Purple and burgundy, darlings! The same color family!

(Another scream, this one yielding only a scattering of bored murmurs. Cut to Applejack and Rainbow.)

Applejack: (smiling mockingly) Uh, that was a terrifyin’ story.

Rainbow: (snickering, whispering) Yeah. I’m terrified she’ll try to tell it again! (Throat clearing from the o.s. Luna; zoom out to frame her seated next to them.)

Luna: Anyone else have a spooky story?

(The relative silence of the spitting sparks and an owl’s hoot is broken when Timber’s hand rises into view, on the side across from her.)

Timber: (from o.s.) I have one. (Cut to him.) But I’m warning you, you might as well hug a friend now. That’s how scary it is! (Cut to Fluttershy; she gasps softly as Spike jumps into her arms.)

Fluttershy: Oh, dear!

(Next to her, Snips throws arms around Snails’ shoulders and shivers against him; they are both promptly swept up by an equally jittery Bulk.)

Timber: It’s time I told you about the legend of Gaea Everfree.

(Tilt up into the trees as he finishes, framing the full moon among the clouds. The view dissolves to an expanse of happy, sunny sky, the edges of the screen darkening as if this view were being played from an old educational filmstrip. From here, tilt down to a man and woman setting up a tent homestead in a forest clearing.)

Timber: (voice over) Many years ago…

(He splits a piece of firewood with one swing of his ax, and she steps up next to him with loving eyes. He wears a light yellow shirt, gray pants with suspenders, and a “Smokey the Bear”-style campaign hat; the thick mustache and eyebrows have gone dark gray, and his skin is deeply tanned. She has the same hair/skin coloration as Gloriosa, in a blue dress with white collar/cuffs and apron, the last of which is marked with a ball of yarn and knitting needles. Their eyes carry the green hue of their great-grandchildren.)

Timber: (voice over) …my great-grandparents came to this forest.

(She cuddles against him; they gaze across the lake on whose shore they are standing.)

Timber: (voice over) Seeing its beauty, they decided that it would be the perfect place for a camp.

(A second image of the man carries an armload of boards across the screen, blocking the couple from view; behind him, wipe to a cabin frame being put up with help from a younger man. Pan to Mr. Spruce and another assistant ready to cut more boards.)

Timber: (voice over) But once they started building… (A sawhorse shimmers and collapses.) …strange things started to happen.

(As the two on carpentry duty stare aghast, the fallen item begins to sprout wildly waving vines. Cut to a close-up of treetops gyrating in a hard wind during the night and tilt down slowly to ground level.)

Timber: (voice over) One pitch-black night… (The camera reaches a vibrating weather vane on a rooftop.) …when the wind was howling… (A bough topples onto it.) …a tree branch crashed through the roof of their cabin!

(Zoom out quickly on this last to frame the now-completed structure; man and wife race out through the front door with a scream and stop on the lakeshore, turning to face into the forest.)

Timber: (voice over) They screamed and ran outside—

(A dark , faintly glowing silhouette, marked by branch-like growths atop the head, claw-like reaching fingers, and piercing yellow eyes, bulks up from the undergrowth. Flecks of multicolored light play around its base.)

Timber: (voice over) —only to see a giant creature rising from the earth!

(It stops when it is something more than twice their height, the light coming up to illuminate it fully. This apparition looks something like a tree whose trunk has taken on feminine contours; branches and jeweled leaves make up the “hair,” the arms are twisted brown branches, green leaves form a necklace, and the forehead and ears of the scornful face are marked with glowing violet gems. The yellow eyes are set in sockets of the deepest black, and the lower edges carry small brown markings. Gaea Everfree has just entered the tale, wisps of black energy floating from the lower end of her body and a faint glow enveloping every inch of her.)

Timber: (voice over) She had wild hair like the roots of a tree. (Murderous teeth are bared in a bone-white face.) Her mouth had jagged rock teeth. (The eyes narrow in a silent snarl.) And her eyes were pools of black tar.

(She advances slowly on the couple, leaving a long smear of boiling black slime speckled with glimmering particles.)

Timber: (voice over) But her aura shimmered like diamonds. Anywhere she went, she left a trail of gem dust in her wake. (Mrs. Spruce pleads with Gaea.) Trembling, my great-grandparents asked who she was and what she wanted. In a deep and hollow voice— (She replies, radiating silent fury.) —she told them that her name was Gaea Everfree, an ancient spirit who held domain over the forest— (Lean threateningly over them; aura goes red.) —and that my great-grandparents were trespassing on her land.

(They drop to their knees to continue their entreaty.)

Timber: (voice over) They begged her to let them stay and build their camp, to share this wonderful place with others. (She relents, her aura shifting back, but quickly aims fresh anger down at them.) Gaea Everfree finally agreed, but warned them that they would not be able to keep it forever. (She slowly retreats into the forest.) Someday she would return and reclaim the forest as her own.

(Dissolve to a close-up of him in the present.)

Timber: So if you see a trail of gem dust, you’ll know that it is… (raising arms as if to lunge) …GAEA EVERFREE!

(Tilt up to follow the emergence of a silhouette behind him. There is just enough light to pick out Gloriosa’s clothing and eyes, but the story has had the intended effect in the form of an ear-splitting scream from the listeners that rends the night. Cut to a three-way split screen of frightened campers with lungs working overtime—Twilight/Rarity/Sunset, Pinkie/Flash/Trixie, Bulk/Snips/Snails—then back to Timber’s bench. A measure of order begins to take hold again as Gloriosa emerges into the firelight with a cheery wave.)

Gloriosa: Hey, guys! (giving one girl a reassuring shoulder pat) Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.

Sunset: Then why’d you come out of the bushes?

Gloriosa: I…took the scenic route, because the forest is beautiful at night. (Long pause.) But no one else should do it without a guide, ’kay? (She crosses to the other side.) All right, everybody. Time to head to your tents.

(Most do so, but Snips stops to address her. Something is visibly caught in his buck teeth.)

Snips: Um, hey, Gloriosa, do you have extra toothbrushes? (pointing to his mouth) I forgot mine.

(Zoom in to an extreme close-up of the offending particle and the bit of saliva dribbling down from his lips, then cut to frame both again. She is noticeably repulsed by the display, but quickly pushes past it.)

Gloriosa: Sure do! I’ll get one for you. (Here comes Snails, still shivering in fear.)

Snails: I’m scared of the dark. (huddling behind her) Do you have flashlights? (Snips tries to pick the food out of his teeth.)

Gloriosa: (leading them both away) Of course! I got this!

(The seven girls are left standing around the fire pit and eating the last of their marshmallows. Fluttershy still carries Spike in her arms—perhaps a bit too tightly, judging by his squirms.)

Spike: (strangled) Fluttershy?

Fluttershy: (loosening her hold) Sorry, Spike. I guess that story got to me.

Applejack: (scoffing) Why? It can’t be real.

Rainbow: (uncertainly) I don’t know. Gaea Everfree could be some creature that got booted from Equestria and ended up in this world. That’s what happened with the Sirens.

Applejack: Eh, sounded more like somethin’ that Timber was makin’ up just to scare us. (Pinkie nods.) At least I hope it was. Last thing I want is to have camp ruined by some power-crazed magical creature.

(Cut to Twilight/Rarity/Sunset on the end of this; Rarity picks up the blanket on which she has been sitting.)

Rarity: (shuddering a bit) Hear, hear. We’ve had to deal with more than our fair share of those. At the Fall Formal, our Musical Showcase, the Friendship Ga—

(It takes her this long to fully comprehend that her summary is putting both Twilight and Sunset on edge.)

Rarity: (shifting gears quickly) I mean, you know, uh, e-everything turned out all right, of course.

(Her dopey giggle and big grin do nothing to reassure Twilight.)

Twilight: Mmm—I’m kinda tired. I’m gonna turn in. (She starts off toward the tent site.)

Sunset: (to others) Maybe lay off bringing up what happened at the Friendship Games? I think she’s still pretty sensitive about it.

(Pinkie takes a bite of marshmallow, leaving a splotch of sugary goo across her mouth.)

Pinkie: (garbled) Our lips are sealed!

(Fade to black, then immediately in to the sun rising over the mountaintops during the following morning. Zoom out slowly to frame the Sapphire Tent, then cut to Twilight asleep on her bunk and not wearing her glasses. Spike snores away in his basket on the floor, no longer wearing his cap, but his owner starts to mumble restlessly much as she did in the prologue as the camera zooms in slowly. Dissolve to a shot of her roasting a marshmallow at the previous night’s fire, the camera pointing at her from behind in the underbrush and tilted well off the horizontal. Zoom in slowly.)

Voice of Midnight: Here I am.

(Twilight looks fearfully around herself, her motions leaving faint afterimages. Close-up.)

Voice of Midnight: Over here!

(She snaps to her feet, still seeing nothing out of the ordinary until the flames blaze purple and her alter ego lunges out of them toward her.)

Midnight: I’m always here!

(Close-up of the afflicted girl on her bunk.)

Twilight: (throwing arms over face) No!

(A dream of hers, then. Across the way, Sunset wakes up and throws off her blankets in one swift motion. As soon as her feet hit the floor, she assumes a fighting stance.)

Sunset: (mumbling) What happened?

(Profile close-up of Twilight; she sits up, her entire form and the bunk both wreathed in a very faint, sparkly glow.)

Twilight: Nothing! (hand to face) Sorry, Sunset.

(The yellow-orange girl rubs the sleep from her bleary eyes and directs them upward—and reaches full, shocked consciousness a split second later.)

Sunset: Uh, Twilight? I think something happened.

(A longer shot reveals the “something” in full detail: Twilight, her bunk, and most of her gear—including the still-zonked-out Spike in his basket—are floating well off the floor. She utters a cry of fright and everything hits the ground, waking up the talking dog as the faint coronas vanish. His grunt at the sudden loss of sleep is followed by a disappointed groan.)

Spike: (circling in basket) Is it time to get up already?

(Deciding that the answer is no, he flops down to catch a few more winks.)

Sunset: Twilight, we really have to talk about this.

Twilight: (really scared) No! We don’t!

(She huddles miserably into herself. Dissolve to a long shot of Derpy and Sandalwood sailing on the lake—or at least they would be, except for the total lack of wind to propel their boat. It is later in the day. Close-up: both are wearing life jackets, and Derpy tries to get things moving by blowing air against the sail. She gives up after a moment and shrugs to Sandalwood, who just returns it with an “it’s all good” expression as the camera tilts up into the sky. A bird wings its way into view and loops down toward Fluttershy on the dock. The project is not completed, but enough is in place to give an operational structure. Twilight and Sunset approach it, side by side and fully dressed, cut to them. The tension is thick between them, due to the issue that the former refuses to discuss. Twilight is wearing her glasses. They stop after a few paces.)

Sunset: Hey. I know you don’t want to, but I really think we need to figure out what’s going on with your magic. If you could learn to control it—

Twilight: But that’s just it! I’ll never be able to control it!

(Behind her, the stalled sailboat undergoes a sudden acceleration and zooms o.s. toward the dock. A splintering crash shakes the camera; when both recover their senses and look toward the shore, they find most of the dock’s jutting walkway smashed to pieces. Derpy and Sandalwood have both been thrown into the water, Timber and a student sprawl dazedly on the intact portion, and a horrified Fluttershy looks on. Chunks of wood bob on the water all around the damaged craft. Rainbow hurries over.)

Rainbow: What happened?

Twilight: I-I didn’t mean to!

Sunset: (touching her shoulder, to Rainbow) We didn’t see anything, so we don’t know what happened.

(The jock runs toward the crash site, followed by Sunset; after a long, indecisive moment, Twilight gathers her nerve and goes after them. Rainbow helps the fallen student up, while Sunset focuses on Derpy and Sandalwood, who are now on the dock; Timber is up as well.)

Sunset: Are you okay?

Sandalwood: Yeah. It was so weird. We were stuck in the middle of the lake, with no wind. Then all of a sudden… (smacking fist into palm) …bam! (as Timber guides him away) The wind picked up, and we were pushed right into the dock!

(Pinkie, standing with Trixie, pulls in a deep gasp upon noticing Twilight on the scene.)

Pinkie: You don’t think it was the spirit, do you? (Twilight turns away, crushed.)

Twilight: (to herself, walking off) No. It was me.

Trixie: (full ham mode) Spirit! Show yourself! The Great and Powerful Trixie commands it!

(The only visible result is the disgusted hand that Pinkie claps to her own face.)

Rarity: (from o.s.) What’s that?

(Cut to her, kneeling at the water’s edge among several murmuring onlookers and pointing at a faintly shimmering pinkish runnel that snakes across the placid surface. She stands after a moment and runs onto the dock; here she finds Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Sunset looking at the wreck.)

Rainbow: (sighing angrily) Man! All our hard work, ruined! (Fluttershy watches fish leap about.)

Fluttershy: At least the fishies are eating well.

Sunset: Let’s salvage what we can out of the water. (kneeling) Maybe we can still fix this.

Rarity: We have to try! Camp Everfree needs a runway!

Applejack: (glowering) Dock.

Rarity: (lightly) Dock, yes, that’s what I meant.

(The freckled blonde rolls her eyes with no small bit of weariness. Twilight, meanwhile, glances regretfully over her shoulder toward the tableau and retreats from the lake into the woods .She finds herself standing at the base of a small waterfall.)

Melancholy string introduction with cymbal/timpani roll (B minor)

Followed by a quiet piano melody, slow 4 (D major)

Twilight:                It used to be so simple, it was a world I understood

(sitting on a log, pondering her reflection in the water)

                        I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and life seemed pretty good

Strings in (B minor)

(Midnight’s wings spread from the image’s back.)

                        But now the darkness rises

                        From somewhere deep inside of me

(She stands.)

                        Her power overtakes me

                        Can I keep this Midnight from getting free?

Music strengthens with a cymbal roll

(Her steps carry her into a series of sunbeams.)

Twilight:                If I can stay with the light, I know I’ll be free

                        And I can start to be whole, I can start to be me

Flute in; music drops back

(She sits on a log.)

                        But instead I am struggling with all that I see

(Midnight’s image superimposes itself on her reflection.)

Horns in; dramatic crescendo

                        And these friends mustn’t see the Midnight in me

(The face and body of the apparition fade away, but the wings and glowing horn remain and Twilight’s glasses turn into the markings around Midnight’s eyes. She runs a hand across the water to break up the view and fully become herself again.)

Twilight:                The Midnight in me

Music drops back sharply

(softly)                        They mustn’t see the Midnight in me

(Zoom out slowly overhead as she holds the final note.)

Song ends

(Fade to black.)

Act Two

(Fade in to Sunset, walking through the tent site and appearing a bit preoccupied. Stopping near the Sapphire Tent, she sees its flaps slightly open; cut to just inside as she enters, then to the entire interior. Twilight is not here at the moment, but Spike is, snoozing in his basket and wearing his cap.)

Spike: (talking in sleep) So many squirrels… (Sunset bends to nudge him.)

Sunset: (softly) Spike…

(He snaps awake with a cry and shivers for a moment before fully recognizing her and voicing a groan.)

Spike: (rubbing nose) Aw, man, I was having the best dream! (smiling) Wait. (jumping out, running for the exit) That dream could be a reality! (Sunset’s next words stop him.)

Sunset: Before you run off to chase squirrels, do you have any idea where Twilight could be? I really need to talk to her.

Spike: What happened? Did she do that “lifting things off the ground” thing again?

Sunset: That’s just it. I don’t know if it was her— (standing up, smacking fist into palm) —but if it was, we need to deal with it head-on.

Spike: (hunching down resolutely) I can track her down.

(He bounds for the flaps again, now all business. Cut to Twilight walking along a forest trail, fingertips to temples as if trying to massage her troubling thoughts away.)

Twilight: Keep it together. Deep breaths. (ducking under a fallen tree) You are not a monster.

(Timber appears from behind a nearby trunk; the two nearly run into one another and cry out in surprise.)

Twilight: Oh, hi! (Nervous laugh.) What are you doing here?

Timber: Uh… (pointing at her with both hands) …looking for you.

Twilight: Oh! I just…went on a nature walk and got a little lost.

Timber: Let me show you the way. (walking backwards to lead her along) I’m kind of an expert at these woods. I’ve lived here my whole life.

Twilight: That must have been nice, growing up at a camp.

Timber: Yeah, though it has its downsides. (pushing a low branch aside) When I was younger, I wished we’d sell this place so we could live in a town like normal people. (Twilight stops.)

Twilight: (smiling, intrigued) Really? (As does Timber.)

Timber: I was ten. I really wanted to hang out at the mall. (Both laugh.) I’ve never told that to anyone.

(A blush spreads across both pairs of cheeks.)

Timber: You must be special. (She smiles faintly; he reaches to the back of her head and pulls a twig loose.) And not just because you have a tree branch in your hair.

Twilight: (shuddering, then smiling) How long has that been in there?

Timber: Not long. Just the whole time we were talking.

Twilight: (laughing, thumping him) Well, why didn’t you say something?

(As they continue along the trail, the camera tilts down to Sunset and Spike taking cover behind the nearest patch of bushes to do a little eavesdropping. This new development seems to sit well with both of them.)

Sunset: (whispering) I guess we could help Twilight deal with the magic stuff a little later.

(The violet canine gives her a big grin and nod. Dissolve to a long shot of a rock climbing wall set up in a clearing and zoom in slowly. Among the students partaking of this offering are Applejack and Rarity, the latter a short distance off the ground. A rope runs from the harness she wears, up to the top of the wall’s frame, and down to terminate at a belt around Applejack’s waist. Rainbow stands waiting as Celestia addresses all three of them.)

Celestia: Rock climbing is all about perseverance and trust.

(A close-up on the end of this picks out the impatience scrawled all over the blue face, and also the helmet covering the impeccable purple locks which are bound into a ponytail.)

Celestia: Rarity, you can trust that Applejack will spot you. (She walks off.)

Rainbow: Yeah, so you can totally go faster than you’re going!

Applejack: Rainbow Dash!

Rainbow: Sorry. I’ve been waiting to do this since we got here! (Applejack smirks at her.)

Rarity: Well, you’ll have to wait a little longer, darling.

(As she shifts to higher footholds, Twilight and Timber walk up in good spirits.)

Rainbow: (relieved) Oh, good, Twilight. If you spot me, I can finally go. (running off) I’ll go get another harness!

Twilight: I-I’m not sure—

Timber: I better make sure my sister doesn’t need anything. (saluting with an index finger, walking off) See you later?

(He takes his time departing the clearing so that each can get a good clear view of the other’s contented smile. As soon as he has cleared out, Sunset arrives carrying Spike.)

Sunset: Twilight, there you are! I was looking for you.

(A tremor from o.s. cuts off whatever turns the conversation might have taken, and a few frightened cries accompany it. Cut to a long shot of the shaking clearing, then back to the girls and the dog. Twilight straightens her glasses as the disturbance subsides.)

Spike: Is that an earthquake?

Twilight: We aren’t near any fault lines.

Bulk: (from o.s.) Hey!

(Pan quickly to him, Derpy, and Flash standing over a smear of the same glittering, pinkish material that appeared on the lake surface after the boat hit the dock. This one covers a swath of the grass at their feet.)

Bulk: Who left this crystally, dusty stuff here?

(Distracted by the outburst, Rarity loses her grip on a handhold and cries out in fear, arms windmilling madly as she tries to anchor herself again. She remains at her current height, though—Applejack is doing her job as spotter—and she clutches at her harness rope as if it were a life preserver.)

Rarity: (stammering) I believe I’d like to come down now!

(Down below, the farm girl flips her a thumbs-up and tries to pay out the rope running through her own harness and bring Rarity down. It does not budge, though, and her grunting exertions do nothing to alleviate the problem.)

Applejack: Sorry! It’s a little bit stuck!

(And then, out of nowhere, her hands briefly glow a bright, sparkly yellow-orange and her next tug reels in several yards of the line. The hapless Rarity screams as she undergoes a sharp upward acceleration, nearly bashing her head on the top of the frame. Applejack inadvertently lets go, sending the climber into free fall and giving her an excuse to work her lungs again. Only the blonde’s last-second grab at the line, as it pulls free of her harness, saves Rarity from meeting the ground at an uncomfortably high speed.)

Rarity: APPLEJACK! What are you doing?!? (Celestia takes notice.)

Celestia: Is everything okay over there? (Applejack lets Rarity down safely.)

Applejack: Uh…I don’t know what happened! I didn’t even pull the rope that hard! It’s like she was light as a feather all of a sudden!

Rarity: (hyperventilating) I was scared half to death!

Applejack: It wasn’t my fault! Let me help you get your harness off.

Rarity: No, thank you!

(This last is accompanied by the formation of a huge, flat, pale blue gem, nearly as tall as Applejack; it bulldozes her across the clearing and into the woods. Applejack’s yell of fright at this unexpected propulsion is promptly followed by a loud splash. Zoom in on the spot at which she entered the bushes; she emerges and walks back, soaked from head to toe, spitting out water, and with her hat missing. She is, understandably, not at all happy at having been flung into the lake; Twilight, Rarity, Sunset, and Spike are positively aghast.)

Celestia: (rushing to her) What in the world just happened?

Rarity: (eyeing her own hands) Oh, dear! I am so sorry! (Pause) I think. (Celestia escorts Applejack back.) Did I just do…whatever that was?

Twilight: I…don’t think it was your fault. I’m gonna go get Applejack a towel. (She heads off.)

Sunset: Me too.

(She follows her tent mate, setting Spike down so he can run alongside them, and is positively ecstatic upon catching up.)

Sunset: You’re not the only one with a new kind of magic! (Both stop; the purple eyes pop.) This is great!

Twilight: No, it’s not! Rarity and Applejack could’ve really hurt each other! (hands to temples) Why is this happening? I don’t— (Enter Gloriosa, chipper as ever.)

Gloriosa: Hi, girls! Anything I can do for you?

Twilight: Uh, Applejack just fell into the lake!

Gloriosa: Oh, no! Oh, she’s gonna need warm towels! Dry clothes! (smiling) Oh, and a hot cocoa! I’ve got this!

(She runs off; zoom in on the unsettled girls, who get a whole new shock in the form of a distant rumble and an instantly recognizable cry of terror.)

Twilight, Sunset: Fluttershy?

(They and Spike run toward the cabin that stands next to the courtyard’s gazebo; cut to just inside its closed front doors as they burst in. Some foreign substance is spattered across the nearest portions of the wall, the floor, and some of the cabinets in a kitchen area.)

Sunset: What happened?

(Zoom out quickly to frame more of the interior, a dining hall. Every table and a good portion of the rest of the place are speckled with blobs of goop, as are Fluttershy and Pinkie, standing at one table. Close-up of the pink and yellow girls. Two shaker cans of sprinkles sit before Pinkie, who is completely unfazed by the baking catastrophe; one can is missing its lid.)

Fluttershy: I don’t know! (Sunset crosses to them.) We were just decorating cookies, and—

Pinkie: (excitedly, gesturing around herself) And I was all, “You need more sprinkles, and you need more sprinkles!”

Sunset: (smirking) So, standard Pinkie Pie stuff.

Pinkie: I was just tossing sprinkles to Fluttershy, when all of a sudden— (getting a pinch from the open can) —they glowed pink and exploded!

(The bit of sweet stuff changes color as described, and she tosses it to her partner in unexpected mayhem. Instead of dissipating in the air, it remains as a rough sphere, glows more brightly, and detonates to fill the screen with pink smoke. The view clears from the flash and cloud to show her grinning widely as Fluttershy stands frozen with arms up to protect her face. Magenta and pink hair have been blown almost straight back from the shock wave, and a zoom out shows that Sunset, Twilight, and Spike have fared no better. They too are now spotted with explosively redistributed cookie dough. It is the work of a moment for Pinkie to shake herself clean and un-freak her frizz.)

Pinkie: Just like that, only earlier!

Sunset: (hesitantly, crossing to her) O…kay. (smiling, lifting her hand off the table) Why don’t you lay off touching stuff for a while?

(She too is now clean and with her hair back in order, as is Fluttershy when the camera cuts to her next. Behind her, Twilight is properly sorted out except for a chunk of dough caught in her ponytail, which she picks loose.)

Fluttershy: Oh, dear. We really should clean all of this up.

(She hurries toward the kitchen area; cut to a close-up of a roll of paper towels on the uppermost level of a set of shelves. One light yellow hand strains into view toward it, then both, accompanied by her timid little grunts of exertion.)

Fluttershy: Can someone help me out?

(“Someone” turns out to be a bird that arcs into view toward the top shelf, lifts the roll, and maneuvers to drop it into her arms. She is more than a bit perplexed at receiving this unexpected bit of avian assistance, but she smiles as the bird perches on her finger.)

Fluttershy: Thank you, Mr. Bird. (It chirps to her; she cocks her head to listen, then walks off carrying it.) Why, of course I can get you a little something to—

(She freezes in her tracks with a sharp gasp as the casual nature of this exchange fully sinks in.)

Fluttershy: Did…you just…talk?

(The bird gives a short tweet in reply.)

Fluttershy: But…I don’t speak chirp. (Another one.) I don’t know if you’re the only bird I can understand. (Again; she drops the roll.) Oh, no. Please don’t call for your friends.

(As this very strange conversation takes place, Twilight and Sunset shift their attention to the cans of sprinkles, Pinkie smiles in their direction, and a now-clean Spike grins over the prospect of getting to lick the table clean. Following Fluttershy’s last words, they are beset by a veritable menagerie of winged new arrivals, all of whom waste no time in roosting on the arms she stretches out for them as the camera zooms in quickly. The bird that called them all in shifts to perch on her head, and she gives the lot a hospitable smile.)

Fluttershy: It’s…nice to meet all of you, too.

Sunset: Were you just talking to the birds?

Fluttershy: Um…yes?

(An o.s. crash scares them all away and jolts a fresh scream from her throat; cut to frame the entire area, Applejack and Rarity having just come in. Both have shed their climbing harnesses, and Rarity has taken off her helmet and unbound her hair. Applejack’s clothes are dry, but her hat is still missing in action and her hair remains damp.)

Applejack: Did you tell ’em what happened? So crazy. (flexing a bicep) I hoisted Rarity up the rock climbin’ wall like it was nothin’! Like I had way more strength than I usually do!

Rarity: And I made a diamond-y thing appear out of nowhere—which normally I’d be excited about. (getting carried away; Applejack looks at her funny) I mean, the facets were just perfect, and the— (Fluttershy is now holding the paper towels again.)

Applejack: (sharply) Rarity!

Rarity: Oh! Sorry. It knocked Applejack over, and then it disappeared!

Applejack: Speakin’ of disappearin’…has anybody seen Rainbow Dash?

(Right on cue, a rainbow streak flashes into the dining hall through the front doors, blowing her hair sideways and instantly drying it. Rainbow’s rising yell is heard with it, and both stop only when she runs headlong into a wall and knocks herself to the floor.)

Rainbow: Ow!

Applejack: (running to her, kneeling) Whoa! How’d you do that? (She helps Rainbow up.)

Rainbow: I don’t know! I started running to get the harness, and the next thing I knew, I was practically back in town!

Rarity: But if you had some sort of super speed, why were you gone for so long?

Rainbow: Because I lost it when I got far away, and then it came back when I got close to camp. (Pinkie straightens up with a gasp.)

Pinkie: Being at camp is giving us all new magical abilities! (Jitter excitedly in place.)

Sunset: Not all of us have gotten new abilities. I haven’t— (smiling) —but Twilight…

(A frantic head shake and imploring look from the eyes behind the thick lenses prompt her to shift gears very quickly.)

Sunset:  …hasn’t either.

Applejack: (sighing, sourly) So much for my theory that leavin’ CHS would mean leavin’ any new magic business behind.

Sunset: Something at the camp must be making this happen. (Behind her, Twilight cringes a bit.)

Fluttershy: (fearfully) Um…Gaea Everfree?

(The sound of the door opening leads her to cry out and clutch the bird-delivered roll of paper towels to herself for support. Cut to the closed front doors, now seen in dim light that rises as a silhouette kicks them open from outside and lumbers in. It proves to be Gloriosa, her vision blocked by the tall pile of towels in her arms; Applejack’s hat rides up top of the lot.)

Gloriosa: Applejack! I was looking for you. (She shoves the stack into Applejack’s arms.) Here, I brought you some towels and dry clothes.

(Setting the brown piece of headwear back where it belongs on the end of this, she then turns to get a look at the dining hall. Perk turns to puzzlement in a twinkling.)

Gloriosa: Uh, w-what happened in here?

Sunset: We’re kinda trying to figure that out.

Gloriosa: (smiling) Well, don’t worry about it. I got this!

(As she starts for the door, the sound of it being thrown open again stops her cold.)

Sandalwood: (from o.s.) Gloriosa! (Cut to him and Derpy at the threshold.) I kicked my beanbag into the lake!

(Both have shed the life jackets they wore during their sailing mishap. One of Gloriosa’s eyes begins to twitch warningly, but she breaks out of it and smiles.)

Gloriosa: I’ll get you another one. (Derpy holds up a handful of bent/snapped archery arrows.)

Derpy: And I’m all out of arrows!

Gloriosa: Say no more. New arrows coming right up! (Timber shoulders in between Sandalwood and Derpy.)

Timber: There you are! (aside) Filthy Rich is back. You want me to handle it?

Gloriosa: (aside) Absolutely not! (to the group, as she and Timber leave) I’ve got this!

(She touches Sunset’s forearm on her way out, and just as in Act One when they inadvertently made contact, the director’s voice is heard without the motion of lips or teeth or tongue. This time around, it lets out a frustrated yell. Behind them, Applejack has set down the towels.)

Sunset: Fluttershy, enough with the screaming! (Sound of the door closing.)

Fluttershy: I didn’t scream.

Rainbow: (scornfully) For once.

Rarity: Nobody did.

Sunset: (scratching head) Huh? (Loudspeaker crackles to life.)

Celestia: (on speaker) Attention, campers! Anyone who’s interested in making floating paper lanterns, please meet us by the picnic tables.

Applejack: I don’t know about the rest of y’all, but I’ve been lookin’ forward to comin’ here for a month. Maybe we forget about this “new magic” for a bit and just try to focus on enjoyin’ our time at camp.

(She makes air quotes with her fingers to emphasize “new magic.” On the second half of her last sentence, cut to her perspective, panning slowly across a spooked Twilight, a pensive Sunset, and Rarity’s face shifting into a smile.)

Rarity: I was oh so excited about the designs I’ve come up with for the camp fashion show. (Cut to Pinkie and Rainbow, the latter’s enthusiasm returning.)

Rainbow: And I’ve barely gotten to whup anybody in tetherball. (Slow pan across the entire group.)

Sunset: I think we should try to figure it out. But if letting it go for now is what the rest of you want…

(Close-up of Twilight, who no longer looks as if she is within an ace of bolting for the woods. However, she remains very much on edge as the others’ hearty assent to Sunset’s suggestion makes itself heard. Dissolve to an overhead shot of the picnic tables near the dock and zoom in slowly. The sun has begun to set, and the stretch damaged by the boat collision in Act One has been removed. Campers are seated at every table and working diligently on the project Celestia has suggested; Twilight and Spike are at a table alone. Celestia, Luna, and Gloriosa stand at the shore edge of the dock.)

(Cut to Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Rarity all at the same side of one table. The lanterns are cylindrical in shape, made from paper stretched over a wire frame with open ends. A different angle frames Pinkie’s own construction in the foreground—studded with white and colored marshmallows to form a flower pattern. She sets one more in place on the upper edge, but it promptly falls off to draw a concerned look from Rarity.)

Rarity: Um, Pinkie Pie, what are you doing?

Pinkie: Putting marshmallows in my lantern. Then when we light them, mine’ll be beautiful and delicious!

(Pan away from them to Twilight, morosely assembling her own lantern as Spike watches the others.)

Spike: Hey, Twilight. Why aren’t you with everyone else?

Twilight: (softly) Sunset said something at camp is causing the other girls to get new magic. I think it’s Midnight Sparkle. She’s still part of me. I-I can feel it, and I think her magic is infecting my friends!

Spike: What are we gonna do? (Zoom in slowly.)

Twilight: (softly) I don’t know what I can do.

Gloriosa: (from o.s.) Okay, everyone! (Cut to her, Celestia, and Luna.) It’s time to watch your lanterns fly!

(The campers start bringing them in as she says this, and she walks past the two sisters to lead them farther out along the dock. Twilight, at the rear of the procession, is intercepted by Timber as Spike scampers on. Stars are beginning to appear in the darkening sky.)

Timber: Hey, cool lantern! (He holds his own up in front of his head—blank blue.) Mine’s my face.

(Now he squats down slightly and rotates it 180 degrees, exposing a rough likeness of his green-haired mug. She recoils slightly, then gives a very hesitant laugh when the camera cuts to his perspective and he lowers the lantern. Back to the pair; she abandons the forced levity and goes on toward the dock, but he quickly catches up again.)

Timber: Uh, you okay?

Twilight: Mmm-hmm.

Timber: You don’t seem like yourself tonight.

(Not a word of response as they step up onto the planks. Extreme close-up of a small candle mounted on a platform within one lantern; a long lighter device is snaked in under the bottom edge of the housing to light the wick, then withdrawn. The camera then shifts to point straight up from within toward the maker—it is Twilight, the glow of the candle playing over her face and glasses. She smiles warmly down at it before the camera cuts to frame the entire crowd again, all with their lanterns now lit.)

Gloriosa: Ready? And…go!

(They are released and begin to float skyward, driven by the buoyancy created through the warming of air by the candles. All except one, that is; Pinkie’s lantern rises only a few feet before plummeting right back to the dock with a splat. Gravity has won this round.)

Pinkie: (crushed) Awww… (shrugging, instantly brightening) …oh, well! Now I get to eat it!

(A quick kneel over the remains, and she comes up with bulging cheeks and multicolored gunk smeared across fingers, nose, and mouth.)

Pinkie: (smugly) Yep. Beautiful and delicious.

(The flotilla of airworthy specimens drifts slowly toward the heavens. Dissolve to a long shot of the tent site, zooming in slowly, and cut to a close-up of Sunset asleep in her bunk. As the zoom continues, a rustling noise and a series of stealthy footsteps rouse her into sitting up with a gasp. A quick glance across the tent informs her that Twilight and Spike have cleared out.)

Sunset: Twilight?

(Outside; she puts her head through the flaps to scan the site and hears retreating footsteps. Cut to her perspective, picking out Twilight and Spike on the run from the place. She is fully dressed and wearing her backpack. Back to Sunset.)

Sunset: Twilight!

(Ducking back inside, she re-emerges almost immediately in her daytime clothes, hopping along on one booted foot as she struggles to tie the laces on the other.)

Sunset: Where is she going?

(With the footwear problem satisfactorily resolved, she sprints off into the woods after her bunky. Twilight rounds a corner, leaving Sunset at a loss until a rustle of leaves clues her in.)

Sunset: Twilight?

(The runaway stops and turns to face Sunset, barely able to meet her eyes. Spike sits by the sneakered feet.)

Sunset: What are you doing out here?

Twilight: (shakily) We’re…we’re meeting a cab to take us home. (Sunset stares quizzically down at Spike.)

Spike: She thought you’d talk her out of it.

Sunset: Because I would. (grasping Twilight’s forearm gently) Twilight, you can’t leave.

(The blue-green eyes blaze purest white, the camera zooming in quickly to an extreme close-up. Dissolve to a dazzling multicolored corona, which resolves into Pinkie and Trixie at the lakeshore just after the boat hit the dock. The swirling colors continue to play around the edges of the screen, and the next three lines reverberate slightly.)

Pinkie: You don’t think it was the spirit, do you? (Twilight turns away, crushed.)

Twilight: (to herself, walking off) No. It was me.

(A flash of white shifts the scene to a close-up of her during the lantern-making session.)

Twilight: (softly) I think it’s Midnight Sparkle. She’s still part of me. I-I can feel it, and I think her magic is infecting my friends!

(The psychedelic delve into the immediate past reverses itself, and the light fades from Sunset’s eyes as she returns fully to the here and now and jerks her hand away.)

Sunset: Twilight, there’s no Midnight Sparkle. (smiling, hand to shoulder) There’s only you.

Twilight: How did you know what I was thinking?

Sunset: When I touched your hand, I could see things. I could understand why you were leaving. (Brainstorm.) My new magic! This is my new magic! This is incredible!

Twilight: No, it’s not. I’m infecting you now!

Sunset: Twilight, you have to stop looking at this as a bad thing.

Twilight: Easy for you to say. Magic turned you into something beautiful. (pacing) The last time I tried to use it, I turned me into a monster! I’m just so afraid it’s gonna happen again. (Pan slightly to frame Sunset behind her; zoom in slowly.)

Sunset: Yes. Last time, I turned into something amazing. But I’ve let magic turn me into a monster too. (smiling gently) So if anyone understands what you’re going through, it’s me. (crossing to Twilight) I can help you, Twilight, and the rest of our friends can be there for you too—but not if you run away.

(The egghead blows out a breath and turns to face her.)

Twilight: I’ll stay. (Sunset’s smile becomes a little grin.) But I still don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be near the rest of our friends right now—not until we know why this is happening.

Sunset: (nodding) Understood.

(The crack of a twig puts them on high alert in a trice.)

Sunset: What was that?

(An axe is raised into view in the foreground, scaring a scream out of both girls; it is held by Timber, who responds with one of his own before getting himself under control.)

Timber: Wait. (He lowers it and steps toward them.) Twilight?

Twilight: Timber? (relieved) I’m so glad it’s just you! (puzzled) Wait. What are you doing out here?

Sunset: (dryly) With an axe.

(He eyes the tool, as if wondering exactly how it wound up in his grip, and reaches into the bushes with his free hand.)

Timber: (pulling a cart loaded with logs into view) I was…chopping down firewood.

Sunset: In the middle of the night?

Timber: We needed more for tomorrow night’s campfire. (sullenly) And if I didn’t take care of tonight… (He buries the blade in a log.) …it would be one more thing Gloriosa would add to her list. (imitating her) “I’ve got this!” (Twilight giggles behind her hand.) What about you two? Why are you hanging out in the woods in the middle of the night?

(Close-up of Twilight, who silently fumbles for appropriate words until Sunset’s interrupts.)

Sunset: (from o.s.) Oh! (Zoom out to frame her.) I was sleepwalking. (pulling Twilight closer) Twilight found me and was bringing me back to camp.

Twilight: (nodding) Mmm-hmm!

Timber: Come on. I’ll walk you guys back. I’ll protect you from… (ominously, waving hands) …Gaea Everfree! Everfree! Everfree! (Close-up of Sunset, smirking.)

Sunset: Come on. That’s obviously just a spooky story you made up to tell around the campfire.

Timber: (from o.s.) Oh, no. (The group again.) It’s legit. How else would you explain what happened at the docks? And that weird thing where the earth shook? (holding a hand to Twilight) Uh, come on. I know a shortcut back to the tents.

(Violet and tan palms close around each other, and they start off accompanied by the squeak of Timber’s cart. As they move o.s., Sunset aims a hard glare after them, then lets her eyes pop in disbelief at the tiny, multi-hued speckles of light that begin to waft back toward her. Cut to a close-up of Twilight and Timber, seen from behind and framed from waist to knees. The material is dribbling out of a side pocket on the young man’s cargo shorts, and is very similar to the residue found at the boat crash and the earthquake near the rock climbing wall. Zoom out quickly to show Sunset and Spike.)

Sunset: (to herself) Legit, huh? (smiling, kneeling to Spike, picking up a pinch of dust) I think we just found our Gaea Everfree.

Spike: But why would he work so hard to make us think she was real?

Sunset: You heard what he said about wishing his sister would sell this camp. If nobody wants to come here because it’s home to some angry ancient nature spirit, it sure would help his cause.

Spike: We should tell Twilight. (He starts to run after her…)

Sunset: Not yet. (…then slides to a stop.) She’s obviously going through a lot right now. (standing up) We should probably be a hundred percent sure before we tell her the guy she likes is a jerk who’s trying to run everybody out of camp.

Spike: (eagerly) Uh-huh!

(Wipe to an overhead shot of the dock, once again under construction during the following day, and pan slowly toward the shore. The other five girls are on the job, in their own ways. Applejack nails down planks, but her homemade hammer barely taps against the nail heads. Fluttershy and Pinkie, at opposite ends, are stringing up rope handrails; Pinkie’s face is clean of the previous night’s marshmallow muck. Rainbow carries in an armload of lumber, very slowly and gingerly placing each foot flat before lifting the other, as Rarity sits in a folding director’s chair to stitch a garment. The blue athlete draws a puzzled glance from Fluttershy due to her uncharacteristic hesitation; in close-up, she stops and sags on her feet in relief.)

Rainbow: Phew! (suddenly annoyed) Uh… (Zoom out; she is addressing Rarity.) …you gonna give us a hand here, Rarity?

Rarity: I would love to, but I really need to get the stitching on this poncho done if it’s going to make it into the camp fashion show. (to Applejack/Rainbow) Though at the pace you two are moving, I don’t know that the runway will ever be finished. (She stands up on the end of this.)

Applejack: (exasperated) The dock is our gift to the camp. And it’s gonna get finished—that is, if Rainbow Dash would hurry up and bring me more wood.

Rainbow: (groaning) I can’t go any faster! I don’t want to end up in the woods again!

Applejack: Don’t be silly. (Rainbow drops her freight of lumber.)

Rainbow: Really?

(She mimes Applejack’s glacial hammering pace, and the farm girl sighs and wipes her forehead.)

Applejack: I know I said we should try to forget all about this “new magic” business, but I can’t. (Another sigh.) What if I hammer the board into splinters?

(Sounds of agreement from Fluttershy/Rainbow/Rarity; next she looks around herself and stands up.)

Applejack: Aw, shoot. I’m all outta nails. (Pinkie straightens up, holding a box of them…)

Pinkie: Oh! (Close-up.) Here you go! (…and lets fly.)

Other four: PINKIE, DON’T!!

(The camera cuts briefly to frame all five during this line, Applejack momentarily paralyzed with fear as the package sails toward her. She scoots her boots toward the shore with a yell and hurls herself up to catch, but comes up short and lands in a duck-and-cover position. Dropping the poncho she has been working on, Rarity erects a set of shields around herself, identical to the one she used to shove Applejack into the lake. As Fluttershy and Rainbow cry out and topple backwards, pushed away by the barriers, the box bounces off one of these and clatters harmlessly to the dock, landing just in front of Applejack’s face. Once she realizes that it is not about to blow anyone to kingdom come, she uncovers her eyes, lets out a breath, and straightens up enough to let her throw a very funny look back at Pinkie.)

Pinkie: Whaaat? Ohh! Did you think the nails would explode like the sprinkles? Wow! Glad that didn’t happen, huh?

(Rarity, her shields down, crosses to Fluttershy and Rainbow with a worried sigh.)

Rarity: Sorry, girls. I-I didn’t mean to. (She helps them up and moans sadly.) I don’t know how to control this!

Rainbow: It’s okay.

Fluttershy: Oh, none of us do. (Cut to Sunset, stepping onto the dock, on the next line.)

Sunset: Which is why we shouldn’t pretend this isn’t happening.

Rainbow: Do you have them now too?

Sunset: It started last night. When I touch people, it’s like I can feel what they’re feeling and see their memories. (Pinkie leans eagerly toward her.)

Pinkie: Ooooh, fancy! (jittering in place) Try me, try me!

(She grabs one yellow-orange hand and slaps its palm onto her forehead. Zoom in quickly on Sunset’s eyes as they go white, then dissolve to the same tripped-out light show that marked the beginning of her dig into Twilight’s memories in the woods the previous night. A flash shifts the view to a vivid, candy-colored landscape whose inhabitants—many of whom are confection-based in their own right—cheer as she skips along a broad trail, singing merrily. A unicorn with a rainbow-striped tail gallops through the sky overhead, a giant star with impossibly long legs carries a boom box to provide the walking music, and huge cannons with peppermint wheels fire salvos of confetti into the air. Zoom in quickly to a close-up of Pinkie.)

Pinkie: Ooooh, taffy!

(She pulls a length off the head of the nearest spectator and chomps into it with gusto, smearing her cheeks. A flash, and the scene has returned to the dock; Sunset, her mind completely blown, takes her hand off the pink forehead.)

Sunset: That explains so much.

Pinkie: Yep! (She darts away.)

Sunset: (pacing) Girls, we can’t just brush these powers aside because it doesn’t seem like the ideal time to get them.

Quiet acoustic guitar melody, moderate 4 (E flat major)

Sunset: What if it turns out that they could actually make things better?

                So you have magic, and it’s not that great

(moving to each in turn, touching a shoulder)

                But when it found you, you know it was fate

Electric guitar, cymbal in

                And it might seem scary now, but it can be wonderful too

Electric bass, drums in

                So how about we embrace the magic and make the magic part of you?

(She twirls away from them, leaving motes of yellow light in the air. The screen flashes white and fades to the sun above the lake; tilt down to the dock, where several other students have joined the working party. Pinkie compresses a pinch of sprinkles between her hands, causing bright pink light to spill out through her fingers, and lets them drop onto the corner of a loose board; they burn a neat hole through it.)

Sunset:        You take a little dash of magic and you let it ignite

(She throws more sprinkles onto a pair of boards, punching holes along their length, and picks them up as Rainbow watches with hammer and nails in hand.)

                Mix things up a little bit, and it might start to go right

(The blue teen breaks into a blurring run, circling a pile of unused lumber and turning it into a finished bench in record time. It gets a paint job at the same time due to Pinkie running a brush over the whirling dervish; once the work is done, she and Rainbow trade a high five.)

                In just five seconds flat, how the story has changed

(Sunset moves off.)

                All ’cause now you’ve embraced the magic, and it just got better in every way

(A streamer of reddish energy shot through with yellow sparks snakes toward the dock and envelops her.)

Sunset:        I say embrace the magic

(She directs the flow farther along the dock, then crosses to the steps.)

                No more holding back, just let it out

                If you can take the magic

                And learn a little more what it can do, once the magic is part of you

Strings in

(A breeze toys with her hair. On the shore, Flash and another boy are struggling to raise a tall post up to vertical next to the steps. The job becomes much easier once Bulk lends a hand; right behind him comes Applejack, carrying a second post slung easily over one shoulder like a baseball bat with one hand and eating an apple in the other.)

Sunset:        What’s standing in your way that you can’t move today?

                You’ve got the strength in you to make your dreams come true

(She effortlessly plants it on the other side of the steps, drawing openmouthed stares from everyone in the vicinity. Rarity, working on an animal food box at the shore, spots a life-jacketed Derpy about to fall out of a sailboat.)

                No need to shield yourself from the magic that can help

(She conjures a shield and skips it over the water like a stone; it positions itself perfectly to catch the cross-eyed blonde, who grins sheepishly up at the girl who has been sharing the boat with her.)

                Protect from any harm that might come

All instruments out except acoustic guitar

(Sunset sits on a log next to Fluttershy, who is glumly weaving a flower garland.)

Sunset:        So you have magic, and it’s not that great

(She puts an arm around the yellow shoulders, drawing a smile.)

                But when it found you, you know it was fate

Electric guitar/bass in

(A bird lands on Fluttershy’s shoulder and chirps in her ear; she nods and allows it to airlift the garland from her hands.)

                So if you listen close, you might make a new friend

(It ends up draped beneath a sign mounted on the posts at the dock steps; this is marked with the camp logo.)

Drums/strings in; crescendo

                And together we can make it

Horns in

(Tilt down to her, now standing.)

Sunset:        I say embrace the magic

(She pulls Fluttershy upright and the two venture onto the dock.)

                No more holding back, just let it out

(One by one, the others put their work aside and follow; Rainbow is last to arrive, zipping to them.)

                If you can take the magic

                And learn a little more what it can do, once the magic is part of you

(Arm in arm, the six walk toward the far end of the now-completed dock.)

Sunset:        Once the magic is part of you

                Once the magic is part of you

(They gaze over the water, then put their backs to it as the magic that swirled about her returns to circle around the entire group before dissipating. Zoom out slowly; the bench Pinkie and Rainbow put together stands on one half of the shore end, its twin on the other.)

                Once the magic is part of you

Song ends

Rainbow: Okay. That was pretty awesome.

Sunset: And look what you managed to accomplish!

(Cut to their perspective, panning slowly across the width of the dock and the very happy campers gathered at the shore end, then back to the group.)

Rarity: (eagerly) Please, please, please can we do a run-through for the fashion show on it right this minute?

Applejack: (smirking) Thought you weren’t finished with the stitchin’ on your poncho.

(The aspiring designer snatches it up and adds one more stitch.)

Rarity: (smug singsong) I am now.

Sunset: Get started without me. (running a few steps along dock) I gotta go find Twilight. Seeing what we’ve been able to do here might make her embrace the new magic too! (catching herself) Uh, not that she has any.

(Off she goes again. Wipe to two boats on the shore as she walks into view, and pan to follow her toward the boathouse.)

Gloriosa: (from inside, muffled) I just wish you didn’t tell them that ridiculous story!

(She slips up to a closed door and cups a hand to her ear.)

Timber: (from inside, muffled) Ugh! This is all too much for you! You have to let it go!

Sunset: (softly) I knew it! He wants her to get rid of the camp!

(Gloriosa’s infuriated face advances into view within the door’s window and she storms out, throwing the door wide open so that Sunset ends up caught between it and the wall. Timber follows on her heels, not in any better spirits; once he is far enough gone, Sunset eases the door away from herself and jumps down off the boathouse porch—just in time to run flat into the passing Flash.)

Flash: Sunset Shimmer? What were you doing behind that door?

Sunset: (smiling hastily) What? Um, nothing. I, um, lost an earring. (Quick glance downward.) Uh, there it is!

(She scoops up a small pebble from the ground to backstop this story, which is rendered patently absurd by the fact that she is not wearing any earrings and never has.)

Flash: Hey, listen. I’m glad I ran into you. (Sunset pockets the stone.) I really wanted to thank you.

Sunset: For what?

Flash: (chuckling faintly) For the tough love. Telling me I should get over Twilight. I needed to hear that.

Sunset: (a bit distractedly) Sure. No problem. (She begins looking around herself.)

Flash: Is something wrong?

Sunset: What? No. Why?

Flash: (slightly vexed) Come on, Sunset. We used to date. I know when something’s bothering you.

Sunset: (sighing heavily) Okay. Here’s the deal. My friend really likes someone, but I don’t think that someone is who she thinks they are. I don’t want to upset my friend by telling her what I think because I also want to protect her, because if what I think is happening is really happening, then she deserves to know. (shrugging helplessly) You know?

Flash: (scratching back of neck) Nn-no. (smiling) But what I do know is that your friend is lucky to have someone like you to look out for them.

Sunset: (smiling) Really?

Flash: Yeah. You know, you’ve changed a lot since we went out. You’re so much…nicer.

Sunset: Thanks. I’m glad you noticed.

(In the distance, Timber runs into the woods; Flash misses the exit since his back is turned, but Sunset does not.)

Flash: Uh…look. Maybe you and me, we could start over, as…friends.

Sunset: (distractedly, patting his shoulder) Uh, uh, sounds great. (running off) I gotta go!

Flash: (calling after her) Cool! Yeah! I-I want to start over later too!

(Bravado gives way to resignation at having been shot down once again. He kicks a rock lying at his feet and chuckles humorlessly, putting a hand to his forehead, and Derpy arrives to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder. She has shed her life jacket from the near miss of going overboard.)

(Cut to within the forest. Timber strides along a path, stops briefly to make sure he is not being followed, and hurries out of sight around a bend. Sunset peeks after him from behind a tree, suspicion radiating from every curve of her face, and moves a bit farther along the path before stopping for a look around of her own. A sudden mild tremor catches her flat-footed, but she quickly composes herself and starts off in the general direction of the source. Cut to her perspective, hidden behind a mass of underbrush that she parts for a clear look at a cave whose entrance is almost totally blocked by moss-grown boulders. Pinkish light flares dimly from somewhere deep inside, accompanied by a second tremor; back to her.)

Sunset: (softly) Ah, shoot! (pulling out her cell phone, typing a text message) He’s definitely up to something.

(She backs out of sight. Cut to an overhead shot of several tents, zooming in slowly on Sapphire, and cut to Twilight and Spike inside. She sits cross-legged on her bunk and reads, while he is curled up next to her for a nap. Her phone, lying on the nightstand, sounds off to indicate an incoming message; the noise wakes Spike, and she picks it up and eyes the screen.)

Twilight: It’s Sunset. She says to meet her by the rock quarry.

Spike: I thought we weren’t supposed to hike out that far.

Twilight: She says it’s important.

(After a moment’s hesitation, she is on her feet and headed for the great outdoors. Cut to an overhead shot of the two moving along a trail through the forest, then to just behind her. Gleams of the same pinkish light that Sunset saw inside the cave slow her feet considerably.)

Twilight: What is that?

(Her momentary failure to mind the path leads to walk directly into a spider’s web that ends up stuck to her face. She scrubs madly to clear the strands away, uttering a cry of fear and revulsion that is sharply cut off when Sunset claps a hand over her mouth.)

Sunset: Shhh!  

(She pulls Twilight along, Spike scrambling to keep up. Cut to a close-up of the blocked cave entrance—in the rock quarry Timber described as being off limits, as noted by Spike—and zoom out into the bushes. All three clap eyes on it through the opening Sunset made earlier and keep their voices down for the next five lines.)

Twilight: What’s going on down there?

Sunset: I think it’s Gaea Everfree— (smiling) —or, rather, someone who wants us to think she’s back. Come on.

(She takes point as they cross the grassy clearing and slip through a gap in the boulders; cut to inside the cave. It is dark, with the only illumination coming from a few faintly glowing crystals embedded in the walls and a shaft of sparkly white light in the foreground. They advance slowly toward this as the camera zooms out to show a cluster of short white stalagmites standing within it.)

Sunset: (awestruck) Whoa… (Cut to the trio.)

Twilight: This place is beautiful.

Sunset: There’s Equestrian magic here. (Close-up of her and Twilight.) I can…I can feel it.

Spike: (from o.s., normal volume) Wait.

(All stop; cut to him as he continues. The others resume their normal speaking volume as well.)

Spike: I thought Timber was just faking there was a magical nature creature. Are you saying it’s real?

Twilight: (from o.s.) Timber? (Back to her and Sunset.) What does he have to do with any of this?

Gloriosa: (from o.s., eerily calm) Nothing.

(That word throws a real jolt into both girls; cut to just behind the director’s feet and tilt up to her head. She is leaning casually in half-shadow against one wall, and the camera cuts to a head-on view as she steps into the light.)

Gloriosa: It’s all me. (Her lips peel back in a maniacal grin; she moves a bit closer.)

Sunset: Gloriosa? But…Timber! I was sure he was the one trying to make it seem like Gaea Everfree was back. It was you who was trying to scare everyone away?

Gloriosa: (pacing past her) I would never try to scare anyone away from Camp Everfree.

(On the end of this, cut to an extreme close-up of one wrist. Sunset seizes it, setting off her memory-searching ability as with Twilight and Pinkie; once the light show ends, the view resolves into Filthy standing triumphantly before Gloriosa, who slumps in the chair behind her desk in the camp’s main office. Of note is the fact that she is not wearing her necklace of pastel-hued crystals in this flashback. Zoom in slowly. As with Twilight’s memories, all spoken lines reverberate slightly until the sequence ends.)

Filthy: My, oh, my. (half-sitting on edge of desk) You fell behind on your payments, Gloriosa. I own the land now. (Cut to her.)

Gloriosa: Please! My great-grandparents founded this place! It’s been in our family for generations! You have to let the camp stay! (Back to him on the next line.)

Filthy: (chuckling nastily, patting his pockets) Instead of turnin’ it into a spa resort that will line my pockets with more money than this camp ever could?

(He chuckles again—softer, more malevolently—and cocks an eyebrow at her.)

Filthy: I don’t think so.

Gloriosa: (voice breaking) Please! I…I…I-I-I just need a little more time!

Filthy: (straightening his lapels) Fine. I’ll give you ’til the end of the month.

(He walks off with a contemptuous little laugh as she rests her anguished face in her hands. Cut to an overhead shot of the desk and zoom out slowly to the sound of her sobbing, then flash to her sitting on a log by the waterfall that Twilight found at the end of Act One. She is still deep in her crying jag.)

Gloriosa: What’ll I do?

(These events account for her “show up like that” outburst and scream that Sunset heard in her mind the first two times she made physical contact with Gloriosa—the latter’s frustration over trying to keep Filthy at bay. One mystery explained. Close-up of her reflection in the pool. One teardrop splashes into the water, briefly disrupting the image; behind it, the glittery pink magic that roamed the woods in the opening credits streaks past, startling her back to her senses.)

Gloriosa: Huh?

(Standing up, she watches it pass over the treetops and runs to follow it. Cut to the rock quarry; the power lances neatly over the boulders that stop up the cave entrance and detonates somewhere inside to set up a steady pink glow. Stumped for any other good course of action, Gloriosa makes her way down to the tumbled stone masses. Cut to just inside the entrance as she squeezes through—it is a much tighter fit than when Twilight, Sunset, and Spike sneaked in—and loses her balance, falling to hands and knees.)

Gloriosa: Ooh!

(Coughing a puff of dust out of her lungs, she stands up and lets her eyes widen in awe.)

Gloriosa: (softly) Wow…

(Before her is the same shaft of sparkling light that the girls and their trusty canine companion discovered. The stalagmite formation stands within it, seen now from the front instead of the back; this angle picks out a cluster of multicolored crystals protruding from one broken surface at the center. Gloriosa steps cautiously toward the display and places a hand on the crystals; energy instantly begins to flash and crackle in all directions, and she gasps sharply and tries in vain to pull her arm away. After a long, tortured moment, they emit a great flash and she tumbles backwards. The sudden sprouting of a tangle of vines to form a rough chair is all that keeps her from slamming to the ground on her back. They sparkle faintly.)

(Completely bewildered, Gloriosa raises the hand she had used to touch the crystals, now balled into a fist, and uncurls the fingers. Resting on her palm are five of them—yellow, white, orange, blue, pink—and they float up to form a circle at eye level. The screen flashes white and clears to show a cabin on the campgrounds; on the start of the next line, cut to Timber in the main office inside.)

Timber: You don’t know what those things are!

(Extreme close-up of the crystals, now strung on a thong around Gloriosa’s neck and surrounded by a faint green aura; zoom out to frame her, standing behind her desk.)

Gloriosa: But I know what they can do!

(She directs one hand upward; cut to a couple of hanging plants, which start to grow wildly.)

Gloriosa: (from o.s.) I’ve been practicing!

(Back to her as she finishes; the new vines lift her laptop and pencil cup off the desk. The glow has faded.)

Gloriosa: I can control their power now!

Timber: You don’t know that for sure!

(The argument ends in a stalemate of sour looks. Timber flips his hand in an “oh, forget it” gesture and stalks off, but Gloriosa grabs his forearm before he can get out the door.)

Gloriosa: This is our camp, and it’s being taken away! If this has to be our last week here, I’m going to use whatever it takes to make it count!

(Green light flares around her closed fist before the screen flashes white. The view clears to put her on the lakeshore, watching Derpy and Sandalwood in their becalmed boat at the end of Act One. After the blonde has exhaled a fruitless lungful of air onto the sail, Gloriosa grimaces ever so slightly and gathers her power. The left hand takes hold of the crystals at her throat and glows green, while the right is held out, palm first. Responding to her influence, two vines snake up out of the water behind the boat and give it a good hard shove. She grins at her triumph, but recoils at the sound of the craft slamming into the dock. Two mysteries explained.)

(Another flash shifts the scene to Micro and Trixie walking along a path, fishing rods in hand. They stop short in surprise, the camera zooming out to show them thwarted by a dry creek bed. Gloriosa peeks surreptitiously around a tree on the opposite bank, turns away, and shades her eyes for a look into the distance. Farther upstream from this spot is a sizable pile of boulders, through which only a trickle of water is escaping—the creek has been dammed up. She aims a green-glowing palm at the obstacles, causing a mass of vines to erupt from the ground and pitch them off a nearby ridge. The resulting tremor nearly shakes Micro and Trixie off their feet—that would be the earthquake early in Act Two—and water surges to fill the creek. Three mysteries explained.)

(Another flash, and Gloriosa and Timber are standing in the boathouse.)

Timber: You were using magic all over the place! I had to tell them something to cover for you! What did you want me to do?

Gloriosa: I just wish you didn’t tell them that ridiculous story! (She turns to leave.)

Timber: Ugh! This is all too much for you! You have to let it go!

(The trip down Memory Lane comes to an end; Sunset pulls her hand back as her eyes return to normal and the reverb effect ends.)

Sunset: Timber wasn’t talking about letting go of the camp. (Twilight touches her shoulder fearfully.) He was talking about you letting go of the magical geodes!

[Error: A geode is a hollow rock formation whose interior is lined with crystalline material, not the material itself.]

(Gloriosa aims a suspicious glare at the girl and backs up slowly before her approach.)

Sunset: All those things you were doing to make this week the best week ever—

(Close-up of the surface from which Gloriosa took the first five crystals. Two are still embedded, one red and one purple. She runs into it and turns two scared eyes toward the pair.)

Sunset: (from o.s.) —every time you used magic to do them— (She and Twilight move closer.) —it caused another problem somewhere else. (A moment’s thought.) Timber was…covering for you!

Gloriosa: How do you know what I was doing with the geodes? (softly) How do you know about the magic?

Sunset: I can see things—feel things—because I have magic too. (gesturing to Twilight) And so does she, and so do our friends.

Twilight: Gloriosa, Timber wasn’t wrong. Maybe you should stop using magic. Too much of it can be dangerous if you can’t control it.

Gloriosa: (deadly confident) Oh, I got this. And I’m going to use it to save my camp. I just need more power! (She reaches toward the last two crystals.)

Twilight, Sunset: NO!!

(A spatter of green bolts from her free hand brings vines up from the floor to coil tightly around all three interlopers. The red and purple crystals float free of their mooring and into the hand held above them, which closes to a fist and carries them over to the five on Gloriosa’s necklace. Zoom in on them as they all blaze white briefly; the thong splits and goes a deep red-brown, one end wrapping around all seven to hold them in a rough star shape at her throat. The other end elongates and curls down the front of her top like a plant tendril. The cluster flickers green, and the crazed camp director drifts upward, bursts of lurid light playing up and down her form and superimposing a tangle of vines on it until one last pulse washes out the screen.)

(Snap immediately to an extreme close-up of her moccasin-clad feet being wrapped up by vines. A flash changes her footwear to long green stockings partly covered by long straps that wind their way up her legs, with daisies still set at the instep. In a similar shot, her top is transformed to a green dress with a dark red-brown, viny waistline marked by deep pink leaves and white trim; long sleeves in a lighter hue than the waistline materialize on her arms. Her hair goes blue-green with lighter glowing streaks, flowing long and free from the jeweled green band that keeps it back from her face, her skin has darkened somewhat, and the lips are colored a deep pinkish-red. Eyebrows have thickened greatly and gone a very deep blue-green above closed eyes framed by a domino mask the same shade as her original hair. The eyes open to expose pure green-glowing whites, without pupil or iris, that match the aura suffusing her body. After a moment, they fade to leave yellow points in sockets of the deepest black—matching Timber’s description in his Act One ghost story about Gaea. The legend has come to life.)

(Zoom out quickly to frame all of Gloriosa’s new physique. The dress is strapless with additional pink leaf accents; the sleeves are actually full-length gloves, and a second skirt layer is visible, green with gold trim. It stops just short of the stockings.)

Gloriosa: (floating toward Twilight, Sunset) Sorry, girls. I know what I need to do. But I feel like we’re not on the same page. So…

(The girls can only struggle against their bonds as she cruises past them.)

Twilight, Sunset: Gloriosa!

(Outside the cave, she floats serenely out into the open, through the gap in the boulders that they used to gain access. A quick gesture generates a crackling field that sprouts enough vines to wrap securely around the rocks. Cut to the girls, who find themselves in a rapidly growing shadow.)

Twilight, Sunset: NOOOOO—

(Their voices are cut off when the camera cuts to outside and zooms out, the new growths rolling the rocks together to plug the entrance. Satisfied with the job she has done, Gloriosa floats away into the woods.)

Act Three

(Cut to an overhead view of the dock. The other five girls and several more are gathered at the far end, decked out in duds that are definitely not standard camp issue. A picnic table without seats has been placed next to the steps; a gramophone has been set up here, and DJ P0N-3 stands behind it, looking through a crate of records. Talk and laughter are heard from the far end as the camera pans to it, framing a couple of logs balanced vertically on their ends that are serving as mannequins for unused ensembles. In a close-up of the group, loose-fitting tops and skirts and brightly patterned colors are seen to dominate—the “boho-chic” mood Rarity envisioned earlier.)

(She does a final touch-up on Applejack’s outfit, then darts over to inspect Lyra Heartstrings for a moment. Finding nothing amiss, she lets everyone go to get in position and peers across the water.)

Rarity: Where are Twilight and Sunset? Oh, they’re missing our dress rehearsal. (Puzzled shrugs/grunts from Applejack and Pinkie.) I suppose we can get started without them. (walking, calling toward shore) Whenever you’re ready!

(DJ P0N-3 pulls a record from her stash; cut to the amateur models as a bright electronic dance beat starts up. Pinkie leads them out onto the main straightaway of the dock, but Applejack hangs back and eyes her new threads with quiet approval.)

Rarity: Hmm. Told you you’d like it.

Applejack: (dismissively) It’s all right, I guess. (Pause; she continues eagerly.) I do get to keep it after camp, though, right?

(A nod, a smile, and a flip of the hand are all the prompting that she needs to hit the impromptu runway, with Rarity going on after her. Cut to a long shot of the office cabin, seen from across the clearing in which it stands, as Gloriosa floats slowly into view from the forest. More vines steadily grow and thicken in her wake, nearly filling the screen. At a hand pump, Snips and Snails have bent their efforts to the task of filling a bucketful of water balloons. Upon Gloriosa’s silent approach, Snips lets go of the handle and circles around to block the pump from view, putting on his best innocent smile. The ploy is completely ineffective, as the bucket sits in plain sight and Snails completely forgets to hide the one he has been holding over the spout. He remembers, too late, to get it behind his back; however, she takes no notice and continues on her way.)

Snails: She looks different.

Snips: Yeah. She looks…taller.

(Overhead shot of the dock, zooming in slowly as the girls continue to circulate, then cut to them parading past Applejack and Rarity.)

Rarity: This is only a preview. (Giggle.) I’ve got another entire line I’ll debut at the real thing.

(The music ends abruptly with a scratch of needle across vinyl.)

Rarity: (to DJ P0N-3) Why did you stop the…

(Zoom in quickly to a close-up; she gasps and Applejack stares popeyed.)

Rarity: Oh, my goodness!

(And here comes Gloriosa across the courtyard.)

Gloriosa: (scornfully) Attention, campers! (Cut to Trixie on the next line.)

Trixie: It’s Gaea Everfree!

Flash: She’s real! (Bulk cries out in fear.)

Bulk: We’re doomed! (He covers his face with his hands; Timber races up.)

Timber: Gloriosa? What are you doing?!

Applejack: That’s Gloriosa? (to Fluttershy/Rainbow/Rarity) Am I goin’ crazy, or are her feet not touchin’ the ground? (Pinkie shoves her head in from one side, several feet up.)

Pinkie: Freaky-deaky!

Gloriosa: I have an announcement to make! (Slow pan across Timber and several campers; she continues o.s.) Filthy Rich wants this to be the last session of Camp Everfree! (Back to her.) But don’t worry. (Her necklace throws out a green pulse.) I got this!

(Ten gloved fingers thrust into the ground, sending out bolts that crackle through the grass and trees. In less time than it takes to say “Miracle-Gro,” a huge mass of new vegetation thunders up to form a wall that encircles the entire courtyard, isolating it from the tent site. Panicked screams and cries rend the air as campers scramble for cover. The growth extends offshore, curving to enclose and spare the boathouse but plowing straight through the dock. DJ P0N-3 scoops up her gramophone and runs for it, but the five girls are thrown to the dirt as their project is smashed to kindling.)

Rainbow: Oh, come on! We literally just finished building that!

Sinister orchestral setting with strings/brass/percussion, urgent 4

(B minor, modulating to E minor at end of verse)

(Gloriosa stands up from a chair she has made for herself; the campers are too scared for words as the five girls gain their footing.)

Gloriosa:                I have waited for the day

                        To send this greedy wolf away

                        Now the magic is my salvation

                        Gather close in my protection

(She sends out a new pulse, thickening the new barricade further.)

                        We will

                        Stand for Everfree

(Derpy, DJ P0N-3, and Octavia show real fear as the vines start to arch overhead and blot out the sunlight. The crazed director coaxes vines to grow and cover the totem pole.)

Gentle feel; percussion out (C minor)

Gloriosa:                Behold the beauty of nature

                        In all its glory

(She caresses a girl’s chin.)

                        No need to fear the vultures at the door

Urgent feel resumes (E minor)

(The hapless teen runs for the dining hall, where Celestia and Luna are holding the doors open so students can take refuge before Gloriosa’s approach. Celestia throws her arms out to block any hostile moves, but Gloriosa simply grows a wall of brambles in front of the porch to seal them all in.)

                        Right here you have me to protect you

                        Within these walls of thorns

                        For Everfree, forevermore

(Timber glances to one side and spots the axe he was using to gather firewood in Act Two, its blade buried in a tree stump. A quick sprint across the courtyard allows him to grab it and start chopping at the dense tangles. With every stroke, though, they grow back even thicker.)

Percussion in (B minor, modulating to E minor at end of verse)

Gloriosa:                 They have come into our domain

                        Here to seal our camp in chains

(She wraps fingers around the handle and pulls it toward herself.)

                        But we have held it for generations

                        This is just a complication

(A surge of vines rises between them, dragging both the axe and him off the ground as she glides away.)

                        We will

                        Stand for Everfree

(A fresh pulse of energy adds another layer to the confining walls.)

High strings only with flute flourishes as soft background accompaniment (F minor)

Gloriosa:                 Trust in me, this is for your own good

(She coaxes new growth on the gazebo in the courtyard; Bulk, Sandalwood, and Trixie retreat in from the edges of the roof.)

                        Don’t be afraid, nature is our friend

Percussion/brass in

(A plant breaks upward through the grass and blooms into a flower with layers of gold, red, and purple petals.)

                        All of this beauty that surrounds us

                        Every lovely bloom, designed to defend

(A wave of her fingers sends it lashing toward the camera to black out the screen. Snap to the gazebo as it too becomes impenetrably surrounded by thorny greenery.)

Savagely defiant feel; flute out; full strings in

 (D flat minor, modulating to G flat minor at end of verse)

Gloriosa:                 Let them come, just let them try

(The sundial is next; she steps up onto it and is lifted high to gaze over the forest.)

                        I’m not about to say goodbye

                        This camp will be here throughout the ages

                        Written into the history pages

(floating up)                We will

                        Stand for Everfree

(One final flash from her hand touches off a frenzy of woody brambles.)

Song ends

(Snap to black at the same time.)

(Fade in to just behind Fluttershy, who is watching the whacked-out nature lover at a distance from her spot near a beached boat. She turns around to Applejack and Rarity with a deflated sigh; cut to frame all five girls hunkered down near the boathouse.)

Fluttershy: (sitting down) Why do these kinds of things always happen to us? (Cut to Applejack/Rarity.)

Rarity: What are we going to do? (Rainbow’s legs step into view before them.)

Rainbow: What we always do.

(Their perspective of her; a giddily grinning Pinkie pops up a few feet back.)

Rainbow: (extending one hand, palm down) Save the day!

(The three still on the ground trade extremely uncertain looks that shift into smiles. Overhead shot of the blue hand, with each of the others piling one of her own on top of it and adding a scramble of enthusiastic assents. The camera then cuts back to them.)

Pinkie: (jumping in place, hugging Rainbow) Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! This is gonna be so much fun! (Gasp; she pulls at Rainbow’s shirt front.) I only wish we had time to make superhero capes!

Rarity: (gasping, crossing to them) Me too!

Rainbow: (sighing impatiently) Enough about our wardrobe! (One fist socks into the other palm.) We gotta stop Gloriosa from trapping everybody in here!

(Applejack and Fluttershy nod their willingness to get in on the action. Screams and fleeing students are the order of the day in the courtyard as Gloriosa hovers high above and sets off new bumper crops of vines, several of which lever the totem pole off the turf. It begins to topple toward Bon Bon and Lyra, who scream and clutch at each other in the growing shadow—but here comes Rarity to plant herself in its path. She “ponies up”—manifesting her pony ears and hair-extension tail—and creates a wall of shields to hold the mass back. The move buys enough time for Rainbow to put on a burst of super speed and carry the pair to safety; as soon as she turns them over to Fluttershy, she ponies up as well and flies off.)

(The yellow girl looks around herself and knocks on the dirt at the edge of a hole, bringing three gophers to the surface—one from this hole, two burrowing up. She hunches down to address them.)

Fluttershy: Um, hi. Do you think you can give us a hand—uh, or paw? We could really use a way out.

(Her ears/wings/tail come in as she finishes, and the three rodents chitter and dive back into their holes. Cut to the upper portion of a sizable boulder; Rainbow’s contrail flashes back and forth around it, and in due time it rises off the ground, held aloft by Applejack as she ponies up. The farm girl heaves it straight up to a height of several yards, leaps to meet it at the peak of its flight, and throws one punch to propel it toward the thorny palisade. It smashes a hole clean through, but within seconds the plants are knitting together to re-seal the breach.)

Applejack: (angrily) Hmph!

(She pushes her sleeves back from her forearms and stalks off. Behind her, Fluttershy and Lyra are sitting expectantly at a rather large gopher hole as Bon Bon and another camper watch. Pan away from them to the other side of the wall, where a patch of earth churns up thanks to the underground digging of the three enlisted gophers—an escape tunnel. On the camp side, Fluttershy reaches to help Bon Bon climb in, but the breakout is suddenly thwarted by a new tangle of tendrils that chokes the tunnel off.)

(A flash of pink from somewhere down below grabs Gloriosa’s attention; cut to an extreme close-up of Pinkie shaking sprinkles into her palm from a can. That same glow blazes up around her fingers as soon as she closes them over the sugary bits, and she backs away for the windup and the pitch. Her pony features appear as the projectile leaves her hand, and she lands a quick series of firework-sparking hits that burn cleanly through the barrier. Applejack rushes up with a picnic table held overhead and stuffs it into one of these in order to prevent it from fully closing again. The tag-team effort does not go unnoticed by Gloriosa, who pours more power into the regenerating brambles so that they crush the table to pieces. Pinkie starts to prepare another round, but fresh vines encapsulate several other campers and knock her to the ground. Her can of sprinkles rolls free on impact; she reaches for it, but freezes upon finding herself in the shadow of another bramble onslaught. Now Applejack hurls herself across the grounds to tackle the newly grown menace, but she ends up yelling all the way to the ground as it throws her aside. A circle of vines springs up, ready to close in and constrict, but Rarity dives within their circumference and puts up a shield dome to hold them at bay. After a long moment’s struggle, she expands it enough to break their grip.)

(Seeing most of the camp’s facilities hopelessly overgrown, and most of the campers trapped in the individual cells Gloriosa is sprouting everywhere, Rainbow gets her feet in gear. She zips from one student to the next, but cannot reach any of them in time to break through the walls. Next she breaks into a sprint, dodging the brambles that Gloriosa punches up through the grass until one of them gets a grip and hoists her up. One of Pinkie’s sprinkle fastballs persuades it to change its mind and drop her, and the throwing ace takes a bow while idly tossing her can in one hand. She is not prepared for it to flare with magic, realizing that it is about to go critical, she bobbles it frantically and manages to hurl it across the courtyard. Applejack and Rarity hit the dirt and Fluttershy halts her move toward them just in time to avoid being obliterated when it hits the wall and goes off in a blinding flash. The end result is to leave a sizable hole and several charred square feet—but even this injury is easily patched up by Gloriosa’s influence.)

Applejack: This isn’t workin’! Her magic is too strong!

(And she adds a few feet to the height of the wall for good measure. Cut to a close-up of Spike in the rock quarry cave, chewing through the vines around Twilight’s ankles. He gets them loose and pants happily; in a longer shot, both his owner and Sunset are now free, Sunset sliding a loose length off one arm as Twilight picks up her dog.)

Sunset: (petting him) Nice work, Spike.

 (Both run for the entrance. Sunset is first to reach it and put her weight against one of the boulders, but she cannot shift it and turns to Twilight.)

Sunset: Twilight, you have to use your magic.

Twilight: I don’t think I can lift something that big.

Sunset: It’s our only chance of getting out of here and helping our friends!

(The bespectacled bookworm looks down uncertainly at Spike, who nods/pants encouragement, and sets him down before stepping to the blockage. With the very greatest hesitation and misgivings, she extends both palms toward it and closes her eyes. A violet light begins to glow at her hands, sparkling in the dimness and spreading to the boulder, and the grunts that escape her locked teeth tell of the punishing strain on her body and mind. Her hair begins to blow in an unseen breeze, and a spot of light kindles above the bridge of her glasses—the beginnings of Midnight’s horn. The rock mass starts to shift with agonizing slowness; cut to outside the cave as it slides away, snapping the vines Gloriosa grew to root it in place. Inside, Twilight lets herself wind down and gasps for breath; the power fades from her palms, the budding horn from her forehead, and her hair stops moving on its own. Sunset darts over to keep the dazed telekinetic from keeling over backwards and lead her out, the two trading a brief smile.)

(Cut to a stretch of woods as they and Spike hurry along a path, then tilt up to show the outer wall still growing like a weed—or a few thousand tons of them. The next shot is of Gloriosa leaping onto the smothered sundial; zoom out to ground level, framing the legs of Pinkie and Rarity in the fore.)

Gloriosa: (frustrated) Why are you fighting me? (Slow pan across Applejack/Fluttershy/Pinkie/Rarity; she continues o.s.) I’m doing this to save our camp! (Back to her.) I’m doing this for you!

Rarity: (laughing nervously) Gloriosa, let’s just think about this for a moment, shall we? I mean, I think Camp Everfree is absolutely delightful, but I just don’t know that I’m quite ready to give up my weekly trips to the spa.

Gloriosa: (mockingly) “To the spa.” (with supreme fury) TO THE SPA?!?!?

(She vents her instant rage by sending more roots and thorns toward the quartet. Rainbow, who has stayed apart from the others during this, charges in but gets severely tripped up and describes a short, graceless, yelling flight across the courtyard. She plows into the other four, knocking them down as Timber takes in the sight of nature gone way, way out of control. Gloriosa elevates herself on a pillar of vines.)

Timber: Gloriosa, this isn’t the way!

Gloriosa: I appreciate your concern, Timber…but I got this! (He is snatched up with a cry.)

Timber: No! You don’t!

(Her eyes blaze pure green, just as they did when she first assumed this form. Cut to outside the wall and tilt down to Twilight, Sunset, and Spike at its base. The former unicorn and the talking dog examine the overgrowth, while Twilight hangs back slightly. Sunset tries to force a gap open, with no luck and only a loud grunt to show for her effort.)

Sunset: Twilight, do you think you can use your magic? (Zoom in on Twilight, who turns her frightened eyes away.)

Twilight: I don’t want to use too much. Midnight Sparkle could take over!

Sunset: (pleadingly) Twilight! Our friends are in there!

(During this line, cut briefly to an extreme close-up of the clasped violet hands as the yellow-orange ones seize them. The touch sets off a pulse of glittering red magic that washes over Sunset and causes her to pony up; the sight is enough to knock Twilight’s mind into a sudden calmness.)

Twilight: Okay.

(Sunset releases her hold so that Twilight can approach the barricade. The palms are raised toward it, the magic flaring to life around every bone and joint before it permeates the area directly in front of her and starting to open a way. Cut to the courtyard, the other five girls staring up at Gloriosa on her woody high perch. Above and around them, the enclosing vines continue to grow, slowly shrinking the patch of sky still visible through the cultivated dome.)

Timber: Please, Gloriosa! (Close-up.) What you’re doing is crazy! You have to listen to me!

(On the next line, pan slightly to bring Twilight, Sunset, and Spike into view. Twilight has forced a wide opening through the wall and stands at its center to hold it open, while the other two have moved inside the perimeter.)

Sunset: (icily) That isn’t Gloriosa.

(Realizing that Midnight’s horn is starting to appear, Twilight hurriedly lets the spell drop. Her eyes briefly flash to match the demon’s as the light spot vanishes, and she moves up next to Sunset as the gap seals behind her. Of the other five, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rarity are back up from their tumble, and Fluttershy is hunched down.)

Rarity: Twilight!

Applejack: Sunset! (Fluttershy helps Rainbow up.)

Rainbow: You’re okay! (Twilight and Sunset run to Timber.)

Sunset: That isn’t your sister. It’s someone who’s been consumed by Equestrian magic. (Gloriosa grins crazily down at them.)

Timber: Whoever you are, you have to let my sister go! (eyes filling with tears) Please, Gloriosa, come back! I need you!

(Cut to his perspective, the vines thickening to hide her almost completely from view, then back to him.)

Timber: Gloriosa!

(They finish the job; Twilight reaches toward him, but Sunset drags her back. A pulse of Gloriosa’s magic travels up the central pillar she has constructed, which now encloses her totally. It flares at the apex of the now-completed dome, sending out lightning bolts that set off a new crop of vines. Sunset tows a panicked Twilight through the instant obstacle course; all of the other girls except Rarity quickly join them, Applejack up front. After a  moment’s peering ahead, she addresses herself off to one side.)

Applejack: Rarity!

(Here comes the last member of the group, who forms a dome of crystal facets around them all. The surrounding plant matter thickens to fill the screen; from here, cut to within the new construct, already starting to creak under the compressive strain even as she stretches her hands toward it.)

Rarity: I can’t keep this up forever! (Sunset grabs Twilight’s shoulders.)

Sunset: It’s up to you! You can use your magic to pull the brambles apart! (Pinkie puts her weight into the job; Fluttershy slumps down, terrified.)

Twilight: No! There’s too many of them! It would take too much magic! I can’t!

Sunset: It’s the only way! You have to embrace the magic inside you!

Twilight: But what if she takes over? What if instead of saving everyone, I turn into Midnight Sparkle and only make things worse?

Sunset: (moving closer to her) That won’t happen! (smiling) We won’t let it.

(Applejack and Rainbow, standing behind her to either side, echo the sentiment with their own expressions. Twilight stands frozen with apprehension as cracks begin to spread over the translucent surface of the group’s refuge. Finally making up her mind, she brings all her concentration to bear and lets the magic light up her hands. The long ponytail begins to wave in an ethereal wind, and Midnight’s horn begins to appear for the third time. Outside, the violet power shines through every opening it can find in the thick layer of brambles, which start to bulge in and out. The spell abruptly cuts off; inside, the fractures race from one facet to the next despite Rarity’s frantic efforts to reinforce the dome. Her energy spent, she crumples into Applejack’s arms with a grunt; pan to Twilight and Sunset.)

Sunset: Come on, Twilight! You have to be stronger than she is!

(On the end of this line, she grabs Twilight’s arms, a spark of her own magic igniting at the touch, and the camera cuts to Twilight with her proto-horn still on her forehead. In one swift instant more of it appears, her skin darkens, and her eyes go the same pure pale green as the horn. Her glasses disappear, replaced by the glowing marks of her alter ego, and the camera zooms in to an extreme close-up as the view fades to white.)

(Fade in to a long shot of a normally attired and un-transformed Twilight floating within the same pink/violet stretch of cosmic wherever that figured in her nightmare during the prologue. Zoom in slowly. As she looks around herself, hopelessly confused, the colossal, translucent face of Midnight materializes behind her and lets a wild, unhinged laugh ring out through the ether. Twilight is roughly the size of the apparition’s nose. As Midnight speaks, she slowly backs away from the camera to frame more of herself.)

Midnight: You will never control me. (glowing green, contracting into Twilight) I will always be a part of you!

(The purple/black wings sprout from the helpless girl’s back, and her glasses fall to pieces as her eyes change over inside and out. The horn is last to come in.)

Twilight: (anguished) NOOOOOO!!

Sunset: (from o.s.) Twilight!

(Twilight’s skin begins to darken. A shaft of white light blazes up behind the winged back and subsides to become her ponied-up bunky, shining red and with the whites of her eyes standing out.)

Sunset: Listen to me! (Close-up.) You are in charge!

(Pan slowly away from her as each speaker appears in a similar fashion; Rarity is tinted purple; Rainbow, sky-blue; Pinkie, pink; Applejack, orange; Fluttershy, yellow.)

Rarity: You are a light, darling! A force for good!

Rainbow: Yeah! You can kick the darkness’s butt!

Pinkie: We’re here for you, Twilight!

Applejack: And we’ll be here no matter what!

Fluttershy: We believe in you!

(They have formed a circle, with Twilight at the center and the other six facing in toward her.)

Sunset: You are not Midnight Sparkle!

(Extreme close-up of the tormented teen on the end of this. Her skin has lightened to its normal tone, and the camera zooms in on one squeezed-shut eye, which pops open to show that it too has reverted.)

Twilight: No! (Zoom out slowly.) I am… (Her glasses reform.) …Twilight Sparkle! And the magic I carry inside me is… (Wings crack, light shining from within; horn disappears.) …the magic of friendship!

(The broad pinions shatter into brilliant shrapnel. A flash of white, and the view has shifted back to the exterior of the overgrown shield dome. Magic gushes through every opening as before, this time accompanied by a growing tremor that gives the camera a good workout, and the vines disintegrate into flying shreds and splinters. Twilight shoots into the air as if shot from a cannon, having ponied up like the others and grown wings; her new tail is tied with a broad band, not quite the same color as the pink stripe in her hair. She holds her palms out toward the central pillar of brambles, slowly peeling it open to expose a disbelieving Gloriosa at the heart of it.)

Gloriosa: No! Stop!

(One final overloading flash of arcane energy causes the cluster of seven crystals to separate from her necklace and float away, breaking apart in midair to form a line. Zoom in quickly on the center purple one, then cut to all the girls but Twilight as each floats down to the hands of the one who has it as her signature color. Rarity’s shield dome has been dispelled. They marvel at the pieces before all six flash at once to fill the screen.)

(Winged gold sneakers appear on Rainbow’s feet. One of Applejack’s hands becomes sheathed in a brown leather work glove edged in a light green cuff and set with an emerald. Fluttershy’s dress redesigns itself and glows bright yellow for an instant. Pinkie’s tail gathers itself in and becomes two fluffy pigtails as the rest of her outfit becomes a sleeveless violet drum-major jacket with gold braid and belt, with matching skirt and short gloves, over a light yellow top; jeweled clips in the shape of balloons appear on shoulders, waist, and hair, and light blue beaded bracelets encircle both wrists. Rarity’s dress becomes a sleeveless, glittery number in various shades of blue, with matching wrist guards and gem accent at the belt, worn over purple tights and a short-sleeved blue top, and her hair acquires a streak of slightly lighter purple. Sunset, now clad in a sleeveless, sparkly red dress with blue-jeweled gold shoulder pads and a fiery slash running diagonally across the chest, raises her head serenely as her hair goes pure red and blows straight up. A flash returns the yellow streaks and gathers the locks to fall loosely down the back of her head, held by a gold sunburst clip. It matches the general design of her belt buckle, which shows her cutie mark at its center. A small pendant can be seen around the neck of each girl whose face is visible—that is, all but the first two in this sequence.)

(Zoom out slowly to frame all six in more detail. With the exceptions of Pinkie and Rarity, every outfit has no sleeves. Applejack: blue-green dress with Western styling down the front to resemble a work shirt; gold neckline/belt; hair tied back in a thick bunch and marked with green-apple jewel clips; brown tights; blue-green socks and knee-length gold cowboy boots; no hat. Fluttershy: loose, light green dress over a light blue under-skirt; high lace collar in light blue; white tights; three-tone pink boots with gold accents at instep; pink wrist guards; green gem clusters at each shoulder; blue/pink ones in her hair, arranged to form a trio of butterflies. Pinkie: the violet skirt of her outfit hangs open in front to expose a light yellow under-layer, the same color as her top; violet tights that stop just below the knee; short magenta/purple boots with blue balloon-gem accents. Rainbow: glittery red dress with a blue diagonal sash down the front; translucent yellow lightning bolts affixed to the open skirt front; blue tights the same length as Pinkie’s; small gold shoulder pads; hair tied back in a ponytail; orange wrist guards.  Rarity: hair clipped back by a set of blue gems styled as her cutie mark; long purple/blue boots marked by matching gems at the tops; shoulders similarly accented. Sunset: orange wrist guards edged in yellow and bright pink; black tights; gold boots with blue gems to match her shoulder pads; fiery trim continuing down to the edge of her skirt; a gold chain running over each hip and connected to the belt buckle. The feathers on the wings of both Fluttershy and Rainbow have become crystal—blue-green and bright blue, respectively—and a pendant can be seen around all six necks.)

(Twilight descends into view in the foreground, the purple crystal coming to rest before her, and one more flash gives her a split-second wardrobe change as well. She winds up in a three-layer dress with magenta/white edging down the front, glittery blue-green over glittery blue over blue-violet; dark blue tights; lighter blue wrist guards and boots, both set with her trademark pink six-pointed star; crystalline wings in light blue; hair held back by a band, shaped from pink wire, that calls to mind the tiara worn by her pony counterpart. Her glasses have been replaced by a transparent, pale violet eye shield similar to a pair of safety glasses, and her hands are covered by long violet gloves that run under the wrist guards. Like the others, she is now wearing a pendant.)

(Shafts of light in each signature color shoot upward from the seven girls, setting off a most impressive display that lances through the shield of vines in an overhead shot. The intensity builds for interminable seconds, followed by the entire assembly turning to crystal and shattering outward in an almighty flash. When the view clears, nothing is left of Gloriosa’s constructs—including the walls and prisons she created to trap campers—except a gentle rain of glowing yellow sparks and a few spots of vine fragments and torn-up earth.)

(One of the dining hall doors swings open, and Celestia, Luna, and the students who had been caught inside emerge to stare and murmur at the highly unexpected end result. An overjoyed Bulk scoops Sandalwood and Trixie up for a hug, the latter not too thrilled; next Timber sits up, rubbing his head, and looks across the courtyard to find Gloriosa prone on the grass. Her transformation has been completely reversed; cut to her, unconscious.)

Timber: (from o.s., reaching into view to touch her shoulder) Gloriosa?

(One radiant speck settles on her nose and disappears, causing her to come around. Her overly chipper tone is now gone completely, leaving the voice of a scared, confused young woman.)

Gloriosa: (sitting up) What…what happened?

Timber: It’s okay. (He gathers her into a hug.) It’s gonna be okay.

(He flips a grateful glance up to Twilight, who spots it from her hovering position and turns away bashfully. As soon as the super-powered seven touch down on the turf, they are met with a round of wild applause and cheering from their fellow campers. Spike jumps up into Twilight’s arms. This sequence reveals a cloud/lightning-bolt pin in Rainbow’s hair, not visible in previous shots due to the camera angles.)

Spike: You did it! (eyeing her neckline) Whoa.

(Extreme close-up of both his face and her pendant—purple, marked with the six-pointed star.)

Spike: Nice bling. (Cut to Applejack, fingering hers—orange, with three red apples.)

Applejack: What…what are these? (Pan past Twilight to Sunset, doing likewise.)

Sunset: I’m not sure.

(Hand down; it is red and bears a sunburst.)

Sunset: But clearly we have some kind of connection to them.

(Cut to Rarity on the next line. Hers is light blue, showing a lozenge-shaped gem.)

Rarity: I almost don’t care what they are. They are gorgeous! (Gasp.) And will totally go with the other collection I was working on for the camp fashion show!

(She trails off into a moony little laugh, but snaps back to herself as the camera zooms out to show the others giving her very funny looks.)

Rarity: That’s…probably canceled, isn’t it?

(Dissolve to the shore, where a detail of campers is on the job to clean up the aftermath of Gloriosa’s rampage and the dock’s premature demolition. The director approaches Celestia and Luna contritely.)

Gloriosa: (voice breaking) I am so sorry. I only wanted this to be the best week Camp Everfree has ever had, and instead I’ve made it the worst. (Close-up; she turns away.) Maybe it’s for the best that I’m losing the camp to Filthy Rich.

Celestia: (from o.s., grimly) No. (Cut to her and Luna.) It’s not. This camp has meant so much to so many people— (She rests a hand on Luna’s shoulder; both smile.) —my sister and me included.

Luna: Why do you think we wanted our students to come here?

Twilight: (stepping closer; she no longer holds Spike) We can’t let Filthy Rich take this place away. (The three adults again; she continues o.s.) If camp meant so much to you two—(Back to her; Applejack and Sunset are now paying serious attention.) —maybe it meant as much to the other campers who came here in years past.

(Catching her drift, Sunset smiles and rests a hand on her shoulder.)

Sunset: And maybe we can get them to help save it!

Applejack: (lifting/planting a post) Oh! Like a fundraiser? (Rarity drops the deadwood she is hauling and claps ecstatic palms to cheeks.)

Rarity: Or a ball? (Rainbow zips over.)

Rainbow: Our band could play!

Fluttershy: I could help write a new song just for the occasion!

(Other campers are quick to express their support for the idea, but Gloriosa is too far down in the dumps to join them.)

Gloriosa: (smiling weakly) Those are all good ideas, but where would we hold it?

Sunset: We could hold it in the crystal cave.

Rarity: (gasping delightedly) A Crystal Ball? (squealing) I love it!

Gloriosa: I admire everyone’s enthusiasm. Really, I do. (deflating) But I-I just don’t know how we’re going to plan a ball by tomorrow and invite everyone.

(Cut to the girls; Fluttershy is now holding Spike.)

Girls: We got this!

Bright synthesizer line, fast 4 (A flat major)

Light percussion in at start of first verse

(Fade to white, then in to an extreme close-up of seven hands piling up. Another such transition shifts the view to a close-up of Rarity’s fingers dancing across her keytar, and a longer shot and slow pan shows the Rainbooms on a stage and ready to kick it. There are seven now rather than six, as Twilight has joined them with microphone in hand. Their pony features are gone, and they have traded their new outfits for dresses and hairstyles that find a middle ground between “formal” and “ready to rock.” Twilight is wearing her glasses now, and Applejack is still not wearing her hat.)

(Fade to white, then in to her sitting under a tree and reading a book; she is now back in her regular camp attire. Zoom out to frame Timber seated next to her; he licks an envelope to seal it, one of a pile of invitations needing attention.)

Twilight:                I used to think that stories were just that

                        Set in stone, concrete as a fact

(She smiles and tosses a bit of magic overhead; zoom out to show an entire line of envelopes and cards floating below the boughs. One after another prepares and seals itself.)

                        It didn’t dawn on me

                        That I could change history

Electric guitar, bass, full drums in

(One envelope sails toward and past the camera. Behind it, the view wipes to a close-up of a book page on which Sunset marks off items—balloons, cupcakes, flowers.)

Sunset:                Now I know I’m writing my own song

(She closes the book; within the cave of the rock quarry, she directs campers here and there with equipment and supplies. Her pen is tipped with a large gold star.)

                        Fight my way to the ending that I want

                        I’ll turn a tragedy

(Snips stumbles while carrying a three-tiered cake and launches the whole thing toward her. Thinking fast, she re-opens her book and catches the three tiers one by one so that the whole thing ends up inverted on the pages. She pulls it away to keep Snips from crashing into it, and her pen plants itself on what is now the top tier. Both laugh at the result.)

Sunset, Twilight:        Into an epic fantasy

Percussion drops back; electric guitar/bass/synth out; acoustic guitar/strings in

(Flash to the stage.)

Rainbooms:                Hey, hey, hey

                        You can be a hero [hero] too

Percussion builds again

                        Oh-h-h

(Applejack and Rarity clasp hands.)

                        Take my hand, I’m here for you

Acoustic guitar/strings out; electric guitar/bass/synth in

Come away with me

(A photo of all the girls, save Rarity, and Spike falls over the scene. All are in camp clothes, he does not have his cap, and they are gathered on a rope bridge—or dangling upside down above it, in Pinkie’s case—and smiling.)

                        Be the legend you were meant to be

(Another photo: Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity in a canoe on the lake. The prim purple-haired girl, in a life jacket, cringes at the fish that has leaped out of the water on the end of her line. Twilight and Applejack find it a laugh riot, and Rainbow and Sunset wave to them from shore. Next: all seven lying on the grass in a circle, heads pointed in, and smiling up at the camera; Fluttershy is holding Spike. All three photos then drop away to return the view to the stage.)

                        You’ll always be

                        Ever free

Half-time feel

(Flash to Gloriosa standing on the remains of the dock during the day, having donned a new outfit: sleeveless white top with the camp logo, blue denim shorts, hiking boots, multicolored scarf. She regards the water as Timber comes up with a knowing grin and pulls her into a hug, causing her to smile and rest a hand on his shoulder.)

Rainbooms:                 Oh-h -ah, oh-h, ah-oh-ah, oh-h

                        Ah-oh-ah, to be the legend you were meant to be

Half-time feel ends

(Several cupcakes drop into view on a tray, filling the screen; zoom out to show Pinkie holding them inside the cave. She very carefully tips sprinkles onto them and grins until they explode in her face.)

Rainbooms:                 Oh-h-ah, oh-h, ah-oh-ah, oh-h

                        Ah-oh-ah, to be the legend you were meant to be

Electric guitar/bass out; percussion drops back

(The pyrotechnics dissipate to show a carpet being rolled out by two squirrels who are in turn being chased by a cap-wearing Spike. Fluttershy scoops him up with one hand while holding a string of lights in the other; birds arrive to pick these up and hang them from the walls.)

Fluttershy:                There was a time when fear would hold me down

                        ’Cause I let it chain me to the ground

(One passes near the camera; behind it, wipe to a patch of air above the treetops during the day. Rainbow darts into view, ponied up and in her “hero” outfit and carrying a mailbag.)

Rainbow:                Look at me now, I’m soaring high

(She zigzags her way down a street at ludicrous speed, planting an invitation in every mailbox along the way.)

                        It’s never boring in the sky

Electric guitar/bass in; percussion intensifies

(Lifting off, she lets a rain of envelopes fall past the camera. Behind them, wipe to a pan across three boys picking up rocks that increase in size, starting with Fluttershy and ending at Bulk. Applejack trumps them all by hoisting a boulder roughly as big across as she is tall.)

Applejack:                When I know I’ve got friends on my side

(The other three drop theirs and stare in utter shock as she tosses it toward the camera. All four are in the rock quarry.)

                        Whatever trials, I’ll take them all in stride

(Close-up of Rarity in the cave, eyes closed and holding her palms a short distance apart. Light flares between them and she generates a ring of elongated, pale blue gems, which float upward and assemble into a chandelier suspended among the light strings.)

Rarity:                Together we will shine so bright

                         A radiant brilliance in the night

Percussion drops back; electric guitar/bass/synth out; acoustic guitar/strings in

(The stage again.)

Rainbooms:                Hey, hey, hey

                        You can be a hero [hero] too

Percussion builds again

                        Oh-h-h

(Applejack and Rarity link hands as before.)

                        Take my hand, I’m here for you

(Out in the audience, Gloriosa and Timber are absolutely loving the whole spectacle. She wears a yellow gown whose skirt is patterned as autumn leaves on a blue under-layer, and has small sunflowers in her curled, pinned-back hair and around her neck, while he is in a suit and tie and has shed his knit cap. Lanterns hang from poles to augment the overhead light strings. Derpy and Lyra are getting down, and an elderly, green-haired, tuxedoed man with beard and ponytail is grooving a bit as well. Elsewhere, a top-hatted Snips and Snails lounge against a wall as Bulk—pink tux jacket and top hat, polka-dotted blue cummerbund and bow tie, light blue ruffled shirt, and deep pink bicycle shorts—does his own dance.)

Acoustic guitar/strings out; electric guitar/bass/synth in

Rainbooms:                Come away with me

(Three photos are tossed onto the screen in quick succession. Pinkie roasting dozens of marshmallows at once over a campfire, to Rarity’s consternation and the enjoyment of Twilight, Fluttershy, and a cap-wearing Spike…Applejack, Rainbow, and Sunset in the throes of a pillow fight…all seven girls and one dog, his cap gone, mugging for the camera.)

                        Be the legend you were meant to be

(These drop away to give a close-up of Pinkie at her drum kit; from here, cut to the entire band.)

                        You’ll always be

                        Ever free

Half-time feel

(Extreme close-ups of Applejack’s bass and Sunset’s guitar, then a pan across all.)

Rainbooms:                 Oh-ah, oh-h, ah-oh-ah, oh-h

                        Ah-oh-ah, to be the legend you were meant to be

Half-time feel ends

(Pinkie is now drumming with one hand and holding her can of sprinkles in the other. An idea occurs to her, and she proceeds to pour some of them over her tom-toms and one cymbal, which glow an intense pink as the magic takes hold. Tossing the can aside, she slams both sticks onto the skins, setting off an explosion that sends confetti and streamers raining down over the whole cave. Zoom out slowly.)

Rainbooms:                 Oh-ah, oh-h, ah-oh-ah, oh-h

                        Ah-oh-ah, to be the legend you were meant to be

Song ends

(Cheers and whoops and hoots and hollers from everyone out in front of the stage. Gloriosa steps up and takes a microphone from its stand.)

Gloriosa: (on mic) Thank you all so much for coming, and for helping us raise enough money to… (Giddy, lip-biting grin.) …save Camp Everfree!

(More jubilation all around, with one exception: a sour-faced Filthy standing at the back of the crowd. Without a word, the thwarted real estate mogul straightens his tie and strides for the exit. Gloriosa lowers her mic.)

Gloriosa: (to Rainbooms) Thank you…for everything. (sighing) If I’d just asked for help in the first place… (Rainbow chuckles faintly.)

Rainbow: Don’t sweat it. It’s kinda what we do.

(Dissolve to the area near a table set with a cash box, just outside the cave. Assorted conversations are going on here, including one between Celestia, Luna, and a visitor; the two sisters have changed back into the outfits they normally wear at Canterlot High. Cut to Twilight, seen from behind and inside the cave, and zoom in as she idly levitates a half-fallen string of lights back into position. Timber strolls up behind her. From here on in, the Rainbooms no longer have their instruments.)

Timber: Not to brag or anything, but it’s pretty cool how I saved all those campers from those Rubus fruticosus. (Knowing half-smirk.) Blackberry brambles.

Twilight: I’m familiar with the genus. (playfully) It’s just a little weird, you say you saved the campers. I thought I saved them.

Timber: Yeah, but I saved you from falling on the dock so that you could save the campers. So technically, it was all me.

Twilight: (giggling softly) I’m really glad I met you. (Mild surprise on the tanned face.)

Timber: Uh-oh.

Twilight: What?

Timber: That sounds like a goodbye. (smiling weakly, blushing, scratching back of neck) And here I was, hoping we’d still be able to hang out…maybe get dinner and catch a movie?

(Now it is her turn to blush.)

Twilight: Yeah. I’d…really like that.

Timber: Oh, good! (Light strings rise around them under her control; he gestures to them.) I was hoping that’s what this meant.

(Both pairs of cheeks flare bright red as she places one of her hands in his and rests the other on his chest. They stare into each other’s eyes, Timber closes his and leans gently down toward her for a kiss—and then Gloriosa arrives to yank him back and shatter the mood with a sledgehammer.)

Gloriosa: Oh! Uh… (Laugh.) …sorry. I need to borrow Timber. There are some donors I really want him to meet. (to him) They were good friends with Mom and Dad.

(He smiles and allows her to lead him away, but directs his next words back over his shoulder toward Twilight.)

Timber: Save me a dance, okay?

Twilight: (dreamily) Uh-huh.

(She turns off to one side, but stops short at the sound of the next voice. Zoom out as it speaks to show the rest of the gang, sans Rainbow, looking on expectantly. Fluttershy holds Spike, who has shed his cap, and Pinkie is busy stuffing her face with cupcakes.)

Rarity: (singsong) Adorable…

Sunset: He does seem like a pretty cool guy. (The missing speedster blurs up.)

Rainbow: You know what else is cool? Our awesome new superpowers!

(Racing away, she does a hairpin 180-degree turn around Bon Bon, Bulk, and Lyra and stops just short of crashing into the snack table.)

Rainbow: I handed out, like, four hundred flyers— (To the stage.) —set up the stage— (Back to the others; she now carries a pizza box.) —and still had time to pick up pizza. I love my super speed!

Sunset: About that.

(She brings her pendant out from a pocket and holds it up.)

Sunset: I think the crystals are the source of the superpowers.

Fluttershy: You’re not gonna ask us to give them up, are you?

Sunset: No! In fact, I think maybe we were meant to have them all along.

Twilight: Me too.

(Zoom out slowly as all share a laugh, then dissolve to the cave entrance. Timber kisses the back of Twilight’s hand in a gesture of farewell, and he returns inside while she walks along the carpet and past the light-wrapped boulders, carrying a cup of punch. Sunset has been lounging against one of them with a drink of her own; her cocked-eyebrow grin prompts the lovestruck teen to blush and thump her in the shoulder, and the blush spreads to the yellow-orange cheeks as both take a sip. A sudden worrying thought makes Sunset lower her cup.)

Sunset: There is one thing I’m still wondering about, though.

Twilight: What’s that?

Sunset: Where did the magic that hit this cave come from?

(Both stare skyward, the camera cutting to just behind them and tilting up past the forest canopy to stop on the full moon. The sky around it darkens somewhat, and the camera pans/tilts down to show that the location has changed to Canterlot High. It reaches the base of the Wondercolt statue that had stood on the front lawn until Midnight obliterated it in Friendship Games. The fragments of the stone hooves that had remained attached to it have been cleared away, and the view dissolves to a close-up of this surface. A prominent crack mars it, and puffs of glittering energy in assorted vivid colors emerge to veer crazily around it in the night air. Evidently the portal to/from Equestria is having a bit of difficulty keeping things on the sides where they belong. One burst zooms directly toward the camera; snap to black as it fills the screen.)

CLOSING CREDITS

Upbeat melody with acoustic guitar/banjo/violin/bass/drums; handclaps on off-beats

Fast 4 (E major)

All instruments except guitar and bass drum out at start of first verse

Underlined words are sung by all seven Rainbooms to end a line

(Fade in to an extreme close-up of the dock surface, with shimmering reflections of sunlight on the water playing through gaps in the boards. The camera roves slowly along its length, picking out assorted items that the campers either brought with them or made during their stay. Here and there, the cutie marks of the girls, Celestia, and Luna are burned into the wood, as are other symbols.)

Sunset:                Somewhere’s a book with chapters still blank inside

Rarity:                It’s the book of our lives, and the story is ours to write

Sunset:                Ours to write

Tambourine/mandolin/banjo/bass/handclaps in

Applejack:                Some pages fade, while others are black and white

Fluttershy:                And the story begins again every time we try

Applejack:                Every time we try

Full percussion in; handclaps out; double-time feel

Students:                And hope [hope] shines eternal [ah-h]

                        And friends [friends] are all I need

Pinkie, Rainbow:        All I need

Students:                And hope [hope] shines eternal [ah-h]

Twilight:                Shines eternal

Students:                And the future is always bright

When you’re here with me

Original instrumentation with tambourine for two bars; double-time feel ends

Tambourine/mandolin/guitar/banjo/drums/bass at start of next verse

(Stronger drums than first)

Twilight:                I’ve fought through the darkness and come out the other side

Rainbow:                For rain clouds will clear the way for the sunny sky

Applejack:                The way for the sunny sky

Pinkie:                I’ve been afraid and it stayed through the longest night

Twilight:                Through the longest night

Pinkie:                 But morning still comes, and with it, it brings the light

Rainbow:                Oh, it brings the light

Full percussion in; double-time feel

Students:                And hope [hope] shines eternal [ah-h]

                        And friends [friends] are all I need

Sunset:                 Friends are all I need

Students:                And hope [hope] shines eternal [ah-h]

Applejack:                Shines eternal

Students:                And the future is always bright

The future is always bright

Yeah, the future is always bright

When you’re here with me

Song ends on one final gentle chord

(The last two items to pass the camera are a compass and the daisy garland Gloriosa originally wore in her hair. The dock fades from view as the credits stop rolling to leave the final copyright notice displayed; this too fades away after a moment to black out the screen.)

(Fade in to an overhead shot of the dock, which has once again been rebuilt to the girls’ specifications, and tilt down slowly toward the shore. All seven of them, back in their camping clothes, stand looking at it, as does Spike in his cap. It is daytime.)

Rainbow: Third time’s the charm. (Close-up.) Or is it fifth? (shrugging) I’ve lost track. (Pan to Rarity.)

Rarity: All that matters is that the runway is finished.

Applejack: (slightly irked) I think you mean the dock?

Rarity: Oh, to-mah-to, to-may-to.

(Zoom out to frame them all; Pinkie is at the far end with an armload of confetti and streamers.)

Pinkie: (throwing) Let’s celebrate!

(The colored bits of paper settle to the dock—but mixed in with them are a few marshmallows that go off in a cataclysmic flash and a screenful of pink smoke due to her magic. As the view clears, the girls find themselves staring at nothing but an expanse of charred wood flotsam around the steps and floating on the water. A close-up reveals trashed hairstyles, jaws hanging wide open, and eyes ready to pop out of sockets in complete and utter shock. Not even Spike has made it through unscathed, as the bill of his cap has been flipped straight up by the blast wave. Of the eight, Rarity is the only one to make any sort of response, voicing a strangled little whine before pitching backwards to the ground in a dead faint.)

MY LITTLE PONY: EQUESTRIA GIRLS—LEGEND OF EVERFREE

Bloopers

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Note:                Each of these snippets except the last is followed by a brief blip of sound and

                a white flash.

(Fade in to Fluttershy standing near the Camp Everfree lakeshore, with Rainbow Dash walking up next to her. This moment is in Act One, shortly before Twilight Sparkle steps on a bad patch of dock planking.)

Fluttershy: It is lovely out here. (A breeze toys with her hair.) The fresh air, the cool breeze… (A bird perches on an extended finger.) …the birds that land on your finger… (She nuzzles it.)

Rainbow: I think that only happens to you.

(A blood-curdling shriek from the o.s. Rarity shatters the calm; zoom out slightly to frame her standing nearby. Nestled in her hair, and making quite a mess of it, is a rather larger avian that has no reservations about squawking out its happiness as she carries on at top volume.)

Rainbow: Or not.

*****

(Twilight and Timber Spruce are talking during the Crystal Ball fundraiser in Act Three.)

Twilight: I’m really glad I met you. (Mild surprise on the tanned face.)

Timber: Uh-oh. (He turns away from the camera.)

Twilight: What?

(When Timber swivels to face her again, he has donned a set of Groucho Marx joke glasses and adopted an exaggerated “Long Island Lockjaw” accent.)

Timber: That sounds like goodbye. And here I was, hoping we’d still be able to hang out.

(She struggles mightily not to laugh at this ridiculous performance, but gives up the fight and uncorks a guffaw.)

Twilight: Oh, you…(He waggles his eyebrows.) …stop it, you have to take it off…I can’t even, I can’t…cut!

*****

(Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stand at one of the dough-splattered tables in the dining hall, after their cookie-decorating mishap in Act Two. The two shaker cans of sprinkles stand before Pinkie, one missing its lid, but unlike the film scene, the girls are entirely clean.)

Pinkie: I was just tossing sprinkles to Fluttershy, when all of a sudden they glowed!

(She dips a hand into the open can, prompting Fluttershy to turn her head away and throw both arms up over her face. Instead of bringing up a pinch of sugary ordnance, though, the hyperactive girl stops as a thought occurs to her; the timid one relaxes a bit.)

Pinkie: Is “glowed” right? (Hand out.) Glew, glow, glow-glow-glew? (Fluttershy snickers silently and walks off.) “Glew” sounds like it could be right, but I don’t mean “glue” like it’s sticky, I mean “glew” as in the past tense of “glow.” But maybe “glowed” is right, it just sounds wrong, am I right? Glowed? Glowed? Glowed? Glowed? Glew? Glowed?

(Sunset Shimmer crosses to her, eyes brimming with tears from uncontrollable laughter.)

Sunset: (giggling) Pinkie, just tell us what happened!

*****

(Timber helps a life-jacketed Twilight to stand after the dock failure in Act One.)

Timber: I know I’m charming for y—

(He trails off into a string of gibberish and goofy facial expressions—a blown line—that leaves her trying not to laugh.)

*****

(Act Two: Sunset has caught up to Twilight in the woods during the latter’s late-night escape attempt.)

Twilight: How did you know what I was thinking?

(Her loud sniffle and throat-clearing break the tension and prompt Sunset to smirk at her.)

Twilight: Sorry for the snarf. (Embarrassed laugh.)

*****

(Act Three: students work on clearing away the fragments of the dock wrecked by Gloriosa Daisy. She is back to normal and standing with Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna.)

Luna: (chuckling a bit) Why do you think we wanted our staa— (Hiccup.) —whoo! (All laugh at the flub.)

*****

(Act One: during the first night’s campfire, Timber recounts the legend of Gaea Everfree.)

Timber: —and that my great-grandparents were trass-pess— (Silly face.) —trass-passing on her land! (Sheepish expression and exhale.)

*****

(Celestia and Luna stand amid a knot of campers outside the dining hall.)

Celestia: (laughing/whooping, jumping in place) Yes!

(Zoom in to a close-up; it takes her a moment to calm down.)

Celestia: (very embarrassed) So lonely, cheering as one person.

*****

(Act Two: Twilight sits on her bunk in the Sapphire Tent, holding her cell phone and reading Sunset’s text message. Spike is curled up on the mattress and wearing his baseball cap.)

Twilight: It’s Sunset. She says to meet her by the rock worry.

(What follows is a short string of comically unsuccessful attempts to say “rock quarry,” ending with…)

Twilight: Wow! (Spike laughs.)

Spike: (softly, snidely) Rented lips?

Twilight: (very snarky) Oh, funny! You say it. Rock quarry, wock—yeah, say that five times fast.

(Setting the phone down, she tries and fails several times to get the offending words out clearly, with perhaps one decent repetition mixed in among them.)

Twilight: Whoo! That’s a tough one.

(Followed by a quick, silly-sounding round of vocal exercises to limber up the lips and tongue.)

Twilight: Talk about a tongue twister. Rock quarry!

(The bespectacled face scrunches up as Spike just smirks.)

*****

(Applejack stands in the dining hall, shortly after the girls have begun to discover their new powers in Act Two. She has briefly lost her hat from her earlier trip into the lake.)

Applejack: So much for my theory that leavin’ CHS would mean leavin’ any new magic business behind…

(Her last couple of words slow down greatly and trail off into a near-indecipherable mumble.)

Applejack: Sorry. (Clear throat.)

*****

(Outside the boathouse during Act Two. Sunset, having just run into Flash Sentry, stands up holding the stone she picked up under the pretense of hunting for a lost earring.)

Flash: Hey, listen. I’m glad I ran into you.

(And here comes Pinkie’s stoic sister Maud to take the rock from Sunset. She is carrying a box of crackers, which she proceeds to pour over it while walking away—“feeding” it just as she did with her pet rock Boulder in Rainbow Rocks. Instead of the T-shirt and shorts she wore in that appearance, she has donned a dark bluish-gray dress and black belt that match the clothing used by her pony counterpart. Sunset can do nothing but stare at Flash in hopeless confusion and jerk a thumb after the departing Maud as if to say, “Please tell me I didn’t just see that.” His response is a shrug and weak smile; she in turn starts to find the humor in the newcomer’s very odd quirk.)

*****

(During the Crystal Ball, Pinkie sidles up to Sunset.)

Pinkie: (enticingly, extending an arm) You know you want to…

(The yellow-orange girl shrugs resignedly and wraps all ten fingers around the limb. Her eyes flare white and the camera zooms in quickly to an extreme close-up as her telepathy takes hold. The view clears to show both her and Pinkie traipsing through the candy-colored fantasy land that she saw in Pinkie’s mind during Act Two.)

Pinkie: MARSHMALLOWS!!

(Cut to an extreme close-up of Sunset’s face with eyes closed. She opens them and blinks herself back to stunned consciousness; zoom out to frame both girls again. Pinkie pulls her arm away, plucks a marshmallow from her hair, and offers it to the mindreader, whose gears have jammed solid at this vision. Sunset hesitantly takes the treat and boggles as Pinkie backs away, winking and pointing two index-finger guns at her. She glances fearfully down at it, then at the camera as the view “irises out” to black, centered on her face.)

MY LITTLE PONY: EQUESTRIA GIRLS—DANCE MAGIC

Written by Gillian M. Berrow

Produced by Angela Belyea

Directed by Ishi Rudell

Assistant direction by Katrina Hadley

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Note:                This special and the two that follow it (“Movie Magic” and “Mirror Magic”) are

                the same length as a typical episode. Unlike the episodes, a title card is displayed

                immediately after the opening credits, followed by a dissolve to the first scene of

Act One.

Prologue

(Opening shot: fade in to a close-up of a bucket filled with soapy water and standing at the edge of a parking lot. Sunset Shimmer reaches down into view to soak a sponge in the contents, having shed her leather jacket.)

Pinkie Pie: (from o.s., in rhythm)         To the right! To the right!

(Sunset dashes off; cut to the upper reaches of a side entrance to Canterlot High School, seen from ground level, and tilt down. Strung over the door is a banner depicting a squeaky-clean car amid a splash of soap, water, washing implements, and two horseshoes. It is daytime.)

                                        To the left! To the left!

(She pops up into view.)

                                        Now up! Now up!

                                        Bring it down! Spin it around!

(Cut to the front end of a mud-encrusted pickup truck as Sunset darts in to ply her sponge and Applejack works on one side.)

Pinkie: (from o.s.)                         Wash that car like you mean it! Come on!

(Now Fluttershy lifts a garden hose with a sprayer nozzle attached and lets it rip toward the truck, prompting both washers to break for cover. Once she stops rinsing, Rarity steps up, twirls a hair dryer as if it were a six-shooter, and fires it up in the truck’s direction. After a few seconds, she switches it off and Pinkie comes to the line, both hands covered by mitts made of absorbent towel cloth. A few quick swipes here and there, a final touch-up on the front grille until it gleams, and the camera zooms out to frame the entire truck, whose driver’s-side window has been lowered to show Big Macintosh at the wheel. It has clearly seen better days, judging by the dented bumper and deteriorated paint job, but it is clean from one end to the other. The five who have taken part in getting the gunk off it are gathered around, as is Rainbow Dash, who takes the money Macintosh offers her.)

Rainbow: Hah. Thanks, Big Mac!

(He starts the engine and speeds away as she waves.)

Rainbow: Sweet! More cash to add to the stash! (Pinkie pops up between her and Applejack, waving her mitts like pompoms.)

Pinkie: Woo-hoo! (Rarity wipes her forehead with a moan.)

Rarity: How about a little break? All of this sunshine and suds are doing a number on my hair.

(She pats a curl in time with general agreement from the rest of the gang, who head for the grass. Fade to black, then in to them sitting/standing around a cooler and enjoying bottles of soda. Spike is now with them, lying face-up between Fluttershy and Pinkie, who has shed her drying mitts.)

Rainbow: Hey. Anybody seen Twilight lately?

(Twilight Sparkle jogs into view almost as soon as her name is said, approaching with her back to the camera and no longer wearing her Crystal Prep Academy uniform. This angle frames a dark purple skirt with violet lace at the hem and a scattering of lighter purple stars around a copy of her pony counterpart’s cutie mark. A blue-violet belt and the hem of a deep pink vest are visible past the end of the ponytail she adopted in Legend of Everfree, and she wears purple Mary Janes with light blue knee socks.)

Twilight: I’m here!

(Head-on view, waist up as she continues. The vest has light pink collar trim and is over a short-sleeved, light blue blouse with white edging, and she wears a bow tie in the same shade of deep pink. Her hair is still bound in the six-pointed star scrunchie she wore in that earlier film, and a cash box is in her hands.)

Twilight: (adjusting glasses) I was just going over the numbers again.

Sunset: Have we raised enough to make all the repairs to Camp Everfree?

(A continuation of their short-notice fundraising efforts to keep the place running, no doubt.)

Twilight: We’ve only raised half. (opening lid briefly, looking in) I counted the money four times just to be sure. (Spike sits up; all heads droop.)

All others: Awwww…

Applejack: It’s all right. We can just wash more cars. There’s gotta be some we missed.

(Cut to her perspective, panning slowly across the lot. Except for their washing supplies and a stray tumbleweed, the place is totally barren of any signs of life. Back to her and Sunset, both properly thrown for a loop.)

Sunset: I, uh, think we’re gonna have to come up with a new plan.

Rainbow: But we’re running out of time! The camp fundraising deadline is next week! And Pinkie Pie’s already hosted a bake sale…

(On this last sentence, pan quickly to Pinkie, who fishes a cookie from her hair and eats it. The camera then moves to Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike, the last of whom gets a scratch under the chin from his owner. This shot frames the six-pointed pink/white overlaid star buckles on her shoes’ straps.)

Rainbow: (from o.s.) …Twilight and Fluttershy had that doggie day care… (Cut back to her and Sunset.) …and Sunset Shimmer and I planned this car wash.

Rarity: (from o.s.) Not to worry, darlings. (Cut to her.) It’s my turn to devise a plan, and I already have something amazing in mind. It will be the most profitable of all of our fundraising events! (twirling) The pièce de résistance!

Applejack: (removing/replacing hat) Hee-yew! Now we’re talkin’! What’s your idea?

Rarity: Meet me in the music room later this afternoon, and I will explain everything.

Rainbow: (walking past, touching her shoulder) Uh-huh.

(The rest of the girls file out past her, Pinkie voicing a giddy little giggle; Spike hangs back as Rarity waves goodbye and lets her grin deflate into a look of pure anxiety.)

Spike: (smugly) You got nothing, huh? (She sags on her feet.)

Rarity: How did you know?

(Snap to black.)

OPENING THEME

Act One

(Opening shot: dissolve from the title card to the interior of a shopping mall, the camera tilting down slowly from the upper level to frame shoppers roving here and there and a fountain near a set of escalators. This is the Canterlot Mall. From here, cut to a preoccupied Rarity walking past some of the storefronts.)

Rarity: Oh, rats! Three hours and still no ideas for a lucrative last-minute fundraiser. Usually window shopping inspires me.

(She stops upon hearing a male announcer’s voice from an overhead display monitor.)

Announcer: Are you a musician? (She turns to it…)

Rarity: Hm? (…and steps closer.)

Announcer: Do you and your friends love to dance?

Rarity: (hesitantly) Yes?

(The monitor shows a plethora of question marks, which are quickly replaced by three panels that each contain a dancer’s silhouette in various poses.)

Announcer: Are you unique, cool, stylish?

Rarity: (more confidently) Yes, yes, yes, and obviously.

Announcer: Do you want to win a cash prize?

Rarity: (beaming) Yes!

(A new background slides into place to fill the screen, and a microphone superimposes itself over a star and two sets of eighth notes slide in.)

Announcer: Then enter the Canterlot Mall “Chance to Prance” Competition!

(The entire collage rotates 180 degrees around a vertical axis at its center, becoming a pair of silhouettes against a spiral of lightning bolts—one singing, the other dancing.)

Announcer: All you need is a music video of your own original song and dance. (This dissolves to a close-up of a trophy bouncing into view.) Then you could be prancing your way to first prize. (rapid fire) Sign up now at the booth near the Aunt Orange smoothie kiosk.

(Feet kick into gear, but skid almost immediately to a stop in front of a window displaying a sleeveless, sequined dress in layers of red and pink. Cut to just inside the glass, the camera tilting up slowly along the mannequin’s length as Rarity boggles at the sheer opulence of the garment. Disbelief slowly shifts to an ear-to-ear smile of inspiration.)

Rarity: Oh, we’re certain to win!

(She hurries off. Cut to a small booth decorated with microphones, stars, and notes and rigged with a monitor advertising the competition. It is set up not far from a counter whose orange-themed design scheme pegs it as the Aunt Orange kiosk. Rarity wastes no time in finding the booth; cut to a close-up as she plucks up an application form and takes a pen from her pocket. While she is filling it out, the camera pans slightly to frame Lemon Zest, Sour Sweet, Sugarcoat, and Sunny Flare—four of Twilight’s former Crystal Prep classmates, as seen in Friendship Games—regarding her from a few yards back. Sugarcoat has a bag slung over one shoulder.)

Sour: (as all four move closer) Rarity! Oh, what a nice surprise! (aside, softly and viciously) Not. (Rarity gasps happily.)

Rarity: Sour Sweet! Sunny Flare! Why, it’s been ages!

Sugarcoat: It’s only been a few months since the Friendship Games.

Rarity: Is that all? Wow! (Airy laugh.) How is everything over at Crystal Prep Academy?

Sunny: Oh, things at CPA have never been better since Principal Cadence took over.

(The disdain she showed for Canterlot High in Friendship Games is here entirely absent—one of two key changes since then. The other is that Abacus Cinch has apparently been ousted as the principal of Crystal Prep.)

Sour: (happily) Yeah, she’s going to let us have the Spring Dance on a yacht, if we raise the money.

Rarity: Ooh, sounds divine.

Zest: Are you signing up for the “Chance to Prance” contest too?

Rarity: I am!

(With a laugh, she picks up her form and drops it into a waiting box.)

Rarity: Are you girls here to sign up for the competition?

Sugarcoat: We definitely aren’t here because we like standing in lines.

Sour: I assume you already have a video concept figured out? The competition’s going to be pretty fierce.

Rarity: Yes! It came to me as soon as I saw that gorgeous red ruffled ensemble on the way over here.

(Close-up of Sour on the end of this; the blue-violet eyes pop wide open and the freckled face rearranges itself into a cunning smile.)

Sour: Oh! Tell me more. (Pan to frame Sugarcoat and Sunny, who catch on to her vibe.)

Rarity: (fluffing a curl) Oh, well, each member of the Rainbooms is going to dance in a different style, like flamenco, hip-hop, or street ballet, and we’ll wear costumes to match each genre—designed by yours truly, of course. (Laugh; cut to Sugarcoat and Sunny, deadpan again.)

Sugarcoat: That sounds like a very good concept.

(Another smile flicks across her classmate’s face as the camera pans to Sour, who thinks fast and decides to go with the dismissive route.)

Sour: Yeah, I guess it’s okay… (softly, smiling nastily) …if you’re going for way too over-the-top.

Rarity: (completely missing this last) Thanks! So what’s your concept?

Sugarcoat: Nothing. We don’t have one yet.

(Sunny shoots her a panicked sidewise glance over this unexpected revelation; meanwhile, Sour slaps on a hasty grin.)

Sour: Oh, what she means is, it’s a surprise. But it’s amazing. It’s so original.

Rarity: Oh, well, I can’t wait to see it. (walking off, waving) Good luck!

Sour: (waving) You too!

(The green-shadowed lids half-lower over her eyes as soon as the fashionista is well out of earshot and visual range. Dissolve to one of the music practice rooms within Canterlot High, where all seven Rainbooms and Spike have gathered. Pinkie sits behind a drum kit; Applejack and Rainbow, on the risers with the cash box between them; Fluttershy and Spike, on the floor; Twilight and Sunset stand near Pinkie; Rarity stands facing the group. Sunset has donned her jacket now. Pan slowly across the tableau.)

Rarity: See? It’s a wonderful plan! We’ll write some lyrics for our new song— (Close-up.) —and we’ll choreograph some dance moves. Then our video will win the cash prize, and voilà! (Fluttershy scratches Spike’s chin.)

Applejack: You make it sound simple as pie.

Rarity: That’s because it is! The girls at Crystal Prep even agree. (Pinkie’s eyes pop.) They’re making a video too.

Twilight: They are?

Rarity: I-Is that a problem, darling? (Close-up of Twilight.)

Twilight: (shaking head faintly, scratching back of it) Oh! No, it’s not. Just haven’t heard much about my old school since I left, I guess.

Spike: (from o.s.) Well, if you ask me— (Cut to him.) —Crystal Prep has got nothing on CHS. I love it here!

(He gets a fresh round of chin scratches from Fluttershy and voices a blissful little shudder.)

Spike: See what I mean?

Rarity: Okay. Before we get started with the choreographing of our dance moves— (Brief, unintelligible mumble.) —there’s just one tiny, teeny-weensy, little thing I forgot to mention.

Sunset: What’s that?

Rarity: (shuddering fearfully) I would need to use our fundraiser money to buy costume materials for the video.

(She finishes this line in a cringe with one eye squinched tight shut, as if expecting any of the others to slug her in the other one. What she gets is a long, tense silence.)

Sunset: Hm. (Close-up.) How much is the grand prize worth? (Rarity zips over to her, all smiles again.)

Rarity: More than double what we need to fix up Camp Everfree.

Rainbow: (from o.s.) Heh. (Pan quickly to her, Applejack, and Fluttershy; she stands up.) Then of course you can use the money for costumes! (Applejack smiles and blows out a breath.)

Applejack: Oh, what the hay. (standing) Why not? (She hoists the cash box as Fluttershy gets upright, holding Spike.)

Rainbow: Sweet! (Pinkie wheels over to Rarity.)

Pinkie: Whee-hee!

(The pink arms wrap the pale girl up in a hug as Sunset gives her an “attagirl” gesture. Now Twilight brings a calculator to bear, scrutinizing the printout roll attached to it.)

Twilight: According to my calculations, if we lend Rarity the funds we’ve already raised, we stand to gain four times as much money as we have now.

(Cheers from all sides; as they die down, she adjusts her glasses for a second look.)

Twilight: But if we lose the video contest, we’ll be completely back to square one at zero dollars.

(Cut to slow pans across three of her stunned friends at a time—first Applejack/Fluttershy/Rainbow, Fluttershy still holding Spike, then Pinkie/Rarity/Sunset.)

Twilight: (from o.s.) Anyone else think this is an awfully risky endeavor? (Back to her.) I mean, um— (Chuckle.) —me neither. (Big grin.)

Rarity: All right, girls. Who’s ready to shoot our winning dance music video?

(A round of cheers, and she receives the cash box from Applejack and produces a bubbly giggle.)

Rarity: Looks like I have some fabric shopping to do!        

(A hail of blue gems drifts across the screen. Behind them, the view wipes to a long shot of the stage in the Canterlot High gym and zooms in slowly. Balloons, streamers, lantern strings, and bunting in a riot of colors hang from walls and ceiling; a runway projects out from the stage; a disco ball and an enormous blue gem hang above the end of this; columns and potted palm trees stand to either side; and the stage itself is decorated with a rainbow/shooting-star backdrop. All the girls except Rarity are onstage, having changed into new outfits; the purple-haired teen sits facing them in a director’s chair placed on the gym floor, flanked by Photo Finish with a video camera on a tripod. To one side of the stage is a DJ booth in which DJ P0N-3 has set up her gear. A large purple bow is attached to the chair’s back rest, and Spike sits at its base; gold tassels and gem-marked panels can be seen hanging from the wooden sides.)

Rarity: Let’s take it from the top one more time! (Close-up.) Rainbow Dash, don’t forget your cue. It’s when Fluttershy does her triple pirouette, okay?

(This shot picks out the chair’s lace edging and the three blue gems that decorate the front surface of the back rest. She nods toward Photo, the camera zooming out to frame the shutterbug, who responds with a thumbs-up and presses a button on her camera. DJ P0N-3 puts her thumb up next and sets the needle in place on one turntable.)

Rarity: (raising one arm) Aaaand… (lowering it quickly) …action!

(A bright dance beat starts up as Fluttershy and Sunset take the stage from opposite sides. Sunset: close-fitting, sleeveless red/yellow dress whose skirt flares out past her knees, matching high heels, gold bracelets, sunburst belt buckle, hair in a bun with a magenta rose. Fluttershy: ballet leotard/tutu/leggings in layered pink/gray/blue-green, with a short-sleeved crop top over the leotard; light green toe shoes; green/white wristbands; butterfly accents. Both start to dance in styles appropriate to their clothing—flamenco and ballet, respectively—but the result is thoroughly lacking in grace and artistry. Fluttershy’s little yelps of fear tell this story all too clearly.)

Fluttershy: Whoa!

(Accompanied by an attempted turn that only manages to kick Sunset in the back and send her stumbling away.)

Sunset: Whoa!

(She regains her balance and gestures toward Fluttershy with a grin; the yellow girl rises onto one foot and executes a pirouette. One turn later, Rainbow emerges onto the stage as a hip-hopper: magenta sneakers, sweat pants with white trim, and backwards baseball cap; sparkly blue T-shirt under a darker blue, gray-trimmed jacket with red/yellow/blue patches on both forearms and a matching lightning bolt on one lapel. She shows up in a crouching slide that barely misses Sunset, and as she stands up to dance, Rarity decides she has had quite enough.)

Rarity: CUT!! (Needle scratch; the music stops.)

Rainbow: Hey! What happened to the music?

(The aspiring director exerts a supreme effort to keep from using some entertainingly bad language and works her face around into a smile.)

Rarity: (standing up, crossing to stage) Fluttershy, it’s supposed to be a triple pirouette. (Spike yawns and stretches.)

Fluttershy: I know. It’s just that, um… (stammering a bit) …I…I-I don’t think I can do one of those!

Rarity: (patting Fluttershy’s hair down, hugging her) Darling, of course you can, darling. I believe in you.

Spike: (scratching, standing on hind legs with front paws spread) How about you try jazz paws instead?

Sunset: (patting her hair) Heh. Thanks, Spike, but all these moves are pretty hard.

Rarity: Oh, I know. But if we want to win, we have to bring our A-game!

(Now Twilight stands alongside Sunset, seen from the knees up: one-shouldered two-tone dark gold dress reminiscent of a Roman toga; violet skirt dusted with yellow stars and trimmed in dark gold at the hem; her scrunchie accented by the addition of a second pink star trailing yellow/blue ribbons.)

Twilight: Crystal Prep certainly will. They’re excellent dancers, and you know how they love to compete.

(Applejack steps up next to Rarity, also from the knees up. Red-dotted white shirt with rolled-up sleeves and an apple brooch at the dark red collar; blue/gray vest over this; denim skirt; brown belt with an apple buckle. The blonde rests a calming hand on her friend’s shoulder.)

Applejack: How ’bout we forget about the other teams and get back to dancin’?

Pinkie: (from o.s.) Great idea, Applejack!

(Pan quickly to her, at the far end of the stage. Loose, sleeveless, knee-length yellow dress with a white collar; blue leggings that match the dress’s belt; her trademark three balloons at the hem; pink, stacked-heeled shoes with blue trim; her usual blue bracelets. She is doing a dance that centers around planting each foot ahead of herself and sliding it back.)

Pinkie: It’s really fun! I haven’t stopped this whole time!

Rarity: (slightly disgusted, leaving stage) Let’s take it from Rainbow’s entrance!

(Photo restarts her camera, DJ P0N-3 adjusts a control, and Rarity—now back in her chair—sighs heavily.)

Rarity: (raising a fist) Aaaand…action!

(The music restarts, Rainbow does her sliding entrance to stop between Fluttershy and Sunset, and all three start into their respective styles. The performance goes off the rails when one of Sunset’s heels rips a gash down the side of Rainbow’s jacket. Rarity yelps in fright, and the music stops short as she dashes onto the stage to inspect the damage. It elicits a shocked gasp.)

Rarity: (hand to forehead) This is a disaster!

Sunset: Whoops. Sorry, Rarity.

Rarity: Oh…well, I can fix it. (pulling Rainbow’s jacket off) But I’ll have to run to the fabric store before it closes. Keep practicing while I’m gone!

(She runs for the wings with a cry of panic. This sequence frames Applejack’s footwear as her usual boots and Twilight’s as a pair of gold slippers with stacked heels/soles. Rainbow’s blue shirt proves to be sleeveless. Sunset shrugs helplessly at the other five dancers as the view dissolves to a row of stores within the Canterlot Mall. Zoom in on one establishment loaded with rolls of fabric; Rarity sprints out from here, bags in tow.)

Rarity: Oh, thank goodness I budgeted for backup fabric.

(She freezes in her tracks; cut to her perspective of the fountain and zoom in. Sour, Sugarcoat, and Sunny have donned dance outfits of their own and are trying out a few steps for a video camera on a tripod. Sour: sleeveless, deep yellow dress with a short ruffled skirt over a sparkly knee-length second one in light blue; platform sandals that match the dress; wide blue-green bracelet on each wrist; yellow/pink accents and a heart on the dress’s front lacings. Sugarcoat: sleeveless magenta top under a dark gray vest; short, deep pink skirt with darker stripes under a still-shorter purple layer with lighter edging, similar to a tutu; striped athletic socks with red sneakers; magenta/green wristbands. Sunny: sleeveless top striped in two shades of magenta; short, ruffled pink skirt with purple edging; pink leggings; blue-gray knee-high boots with stacked heels; broad silver bracelets. The first two are on the floor, the third on the fountain’s edge. They have a rock-oriented groove playing, and Zest somersaults into view after a moment: short-sleeved magenta sweater, two-tone yellow-green skirt with a blue under-layer and purple leggings; purple sneaker-styled boots with blue trim and stacked heels/soles. The four Shadowbolts strike a group pose, prompting Rarity to gasp and rub her eye in undiluted disbelief. Cut to her perspective of Sour, who gestures tauntingly.)

Rarity: Is that a disco-inspired look? (Pan/tilt up to Sunny, then down to Sugarcoat.) And a street ballet tutu?!? (Back to her.) I don’t believe it. They stole my brilliant idea!

(Her mouth begins to wobble as the music ends and the view fades to black.)

Act Two

(Opening shot: fade in to Rarity working assiduously at a sewing machine to fix the tear in Rainbow’s jacket. She is in her bedroom, whose overall décor is not unlike that of the upper-story workspace and living quarters in her pony self’s Carousel Boutique. Zoom in slowly, then cut to a close-up that shows her wearing her reading glasses. A knock at the closed door is her cue to stop; she removes the spectacles just in time for the gang to throw it open, all back in their usual clothes. All but Pinkie and Sunset are immediately visible, and the former adds her presence by hanging her head into view from the top of the frame.)

Pinkie: (singsong) We’re heeeere! (She retreats; the others enter, and Twilight holds up her cell phone.)

Twilight: We got your text. (Pinkie and Sunset follow them.) You said it was an emergency?

Applejack: Everythin’ all right, sugar cube? (Rarity crosses the room…)

Rarity: Well… (…and sits on a couch.) …since you asked…

(She takes a moment to brush her skirt down, then completely loses her cool.)

Rarity: (sobbing, draping herself on couch) …the answer is no! 

(Fluttershy sits on the bed and begins to pet this world’s version of Opalescence, Pony Rarity’s cat. Spike sits alongside her.)

Fluttershy: Oh, no! What happened? (Rarity raises her face, mascara running badly.)