MY LITTLE PONY: EQUESTRIA GIRLS—FRIENDSHIP GAMES

Prequel Shorts

Written by Brian Lenard, Ishi Rudell, Jayson Thiessen

Specific writing credits:

“The Science of Magic”                                        Natasha Levinger

“Pinkie Spy”                                                        Natasha Levinger

“All’s Fair in Love & Friendship Games”                        Jim Miller (storyboard)

“Photo Finished”                                                Ishi Rudell, Jayson Thiessen

“A Banner Day”                                                Timothy Packford (storyboard)

Directed by Jayson Thiessen

Co-directed by Ishi Rudell

Transcribed by Alan Back (ajback@yahoo.com)

Notes:                These shorts all occur in the human world that served as the setting for the bulk of

                Equestria Girls and Rainbow Rocks, and all characters appear as their human

versions.

                The transcripts are arranged in chronological order of the shorts’ release dates.

Although the shorts are set chronologically before Friendship Games, this set of transcripts and the ones for the films can be read independently of each other without any loss of continuity or detail.

The character of Bon Bon has also been identified as Sweetie Drops within the show itself. I have chosen to use the “Bon Bon” name in order to avoid any possibility of confusion with Sweetie Belle.

“The Science of Magic”

(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to the closed door of a Canterlot High School classroom, seen from inside. The equations on the blackboard, and the periodic table and diagram of a molecule on the wall, suggest that this is a science laboratory. The door swings open to admit the original five Rainbooms—Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity—talking animatedly among themselves with instruments slung up. They stop short after a few paces, staring ahead in sudden confusion to the sound of electrical buzzing; cut to just behind Rainbow at the front of the group. At the opposite end of the lab is Sunset Shimmer, standing before a bank of machinery and taking notes on a clipboard. Although she wears a white lab coat, the black/dark-gray boots and blue-green tights of the outfit she sported in the Rainbow Rocks encore shorts can be clearly seen. The door is heard swinging closed.)

Rainbow: Uh, I thought we were rehearsing. (Sunset glances over her shoulder toward the group, showing rolled-up sleeves.)

Sunset: Well, you are—sort of.

(Cut to frame all five musicians as she crosses to them. Pinkie is carrying a pair of cymbals.)

Sunset: Back when I was Princess Celestia’s student, I learned best by going out into the field and actually doing something. Studying ancient books is fine for some people, but I like to solve magical mysteries by rolling up my sleeves and getting my hooves—uh, hands dirty. (She sets the clipboard down, pulls on a rubber glove, and crosses past Applejack.)

Applejack: I can relate to workin’ hard outdoors, but what the hay does that have to do with us playin’ music? (Cut to Sunset, now plugging two cords together and with both hands gloved.)

Sunset: I’m trying to figure out how magic works here.

(She drops the cords; pan slowly toward Fluttershy, now standing alone in the middle of the floor.)

Sunset: Why you grow ears, tails, and wings when you pony up and what your instruments have to do with it.

Fluttershy: Um, are you sure we need to figure it out?

(The pink hair is promptly covered by a metal helmet that resembles a colander with leads attached.)

Sunset: It’ll be fun. (She buckles its chin strap.) Just start playing. (crossing to machines) You won’t even know I’m here.

(Fluttershy grimaces to herself. Wipe to her standing exactly where she was, while Sunset types at a computer keyboard. The budding scientist gives a thumbs-up, which is Fluttershy’s cue to start shaking and striking her tambourine. Nerves give way to a growing enthusiasm, and Sunset watches with interest as a signal scrolls past on a monitor. She is more than a little surprised to see it degenerate into a wild squiggle and then reform as a radiating pattern of concentric butterflies. Turning toward Fluttershy, she can only stare wide-eyed as the pink-haired girl becomes surrounded by a yellow aura and her pony features emerge. A sudden burst of energy pops the chin strap loose and propels the helmet off her head, ejecting a surge of pink butterflies as well. Sunset throws her arms up to protect her head as the overhead lights go out, leaving only a small spotlight that centers itself on her face and the butterfly that comes to rest on her nose.)

(Wipe to a close-up of Applejack playing her bass guitar. Normal lighting has been restored. A gentle yellow-orange glow wreathes her form as she floats just above the floor, and her pony ears are taking form. A zoom out frames her tail already in place and a thoroughly puzzled Sunset taking notes and watching from a few steps back. When Applejack stops playing, her feet reconnect with the floor, the energy vanishes, and her transformation reverses itself; she gives Sunset a helpless shrug—no help on this front. The investigator has just enough time for one worried glance upward before a rain of glowing apples completely buries her. One bounces away and lands neatly in Applejack’s hand; she walks off munching on it, and a truly perplexed Sunset pokes her head out of the deluge of produce.)

(Wipe to an extreme close-up of Rarity’s eyes as a suction-cup electrode is attached to the center of her forehead, then cut to her and Sunset. More connections have been made on her arms and legs, and one is even stuck to a boot. She begins to play her keytar as Sunset jots on her clipboard, and the ears and tail are quick to appear amid the blue-violet aura that emanates from every inch of her. Sunset excitedly lets her pencil fly across the paper; now Rarity finds herself being lifted clear of the floor, causing the wires attached to her electrodes to pull taut. Sunset fails to notice that one of them is looped around her ankle, and she gets her feet unceremoniously yanked out from under her. Clipboard and pencil go flying as she pitches to the floor, getting a sheepish grin from the levitating teen.)

(Wipe to Pinkie plying her sticks on her drum kit and zoom out to frame Sunset at her apparatus in the foreground. She smiles at the readings, Pinkie keeps pounding, and the pink pony ears poke out of the lengthening mass of curly magenta hair. Pink energy envelops both her and the kit as she throws herself into the riffs, and one final cymbal strike unleashes a salvo of glowing balloons from the bass drum. These hit Sunset dead center, plowing her away into the far wall, and dissipate to leave her stuck there spreadeagle amid crackles of static electricity. Her hair is splayed out as if she had just shoved a fork into a wall outlet.)

(Wipe to her sitting in a control booth that is adjacent to the lab and separated from it by a row of windows. Her hair is back in order, her rubber gloves are gone, and she types at a laptop. Rainbow stands in the center of the lab, playing her guitar; in close-up, she floats off the tiles and undergoes her transformation as her body is enveloped in blue light. Sunset stands up, beaming at this turn of events, and Rainbow’s next chord sends a string of multicolored pulses racing back along the guitar’s power cord. These stream into the point where the cord runs through the wall and into Sunset’s equipment, and her face goes slack with shock an instant before she and the control booth disappear behind a gout of rainbow-hued goop that erupts from the laptop. Fade to white.)

(Fade in to the Rainbooms toying with their instruments in the lab. All five are back to their normal selves.)

Sunset: (from o.s.) Finally after all this testing, I’ve come to a definitive conclusion.

(On the end of this, zoom out slightly to frame her arm and clipboard in the fore. There is a rip in the shoulder of her lab coat, and a couple of errant hairs stick out from the side of her head. After she lowers the clipboard, the camera cuts to a close-up of her—weary, smoking slightly, face and clothing battered, hair blown back every which way. A few multicolored sparks crackle among the flyaway tresses, and she coughs up a little rainbow that quickly dissipates in the air.)

Sunset: (woozily, tottering) I have no idea how magic works in this world.

(Putting a hand to her forehead, she utters one exhausted moan and topples backwards to the floor. Fade to black.)

“Pinkie Spy”

(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to a long overhead shot of a school campus laid out differently from that of Canterlot High. It is daytime, and the miniscule specks of a few figures can be seen on the soccer field. Zoom in slowly, then cut to a close-up of them—students in dark magenta jerseys and dark blue shorts, with lighter piping at collars, sleeve cuffs, and inseams. All are crouched down in preparation for the start of a race—a track team—and the camera pans back from them to frame their coach, who wears a track suit and cap in the same color scheme. A pair of sunglasses is perched on the cap’s bill. A blast from the whistle hanging around his neck sets the runners moving; once they have all passed o.s., zoom in quickly on an adjacent patch of woods. Rainbow drops into view, grasping a tree branch with one arm and bracing both feet against the trunk. Until otherwise noted, all of her lines are spoken in hushed tones.)

Rainbow: Crystal Prep High School. The competition.

(She releases her hold to hurtle into a nearby bush, then leaps behind another one and rolls across to a third to get closer to the action. From here, she launches herself at a new tree, pushing off from the trunk and balling up for a flip that brings her down in a three-point stance on a clear spot of turf. A quick look around, and she dives back into the last bush she vacated, with almost no time to spare before the track team runs past. Once they have gone, she risks a quick peek, takes cover behind the nearest tree, and vaults into yet another bush just before the group comes by again. Close-up of Rainbow as she parts the leaves for a better view.)

Pinkie: (from o.s.) Hey, Rainbow!

(The vivid-haired jock’s mental gears seize up as the camera zooms out to frame her schoolmate, who is also hunkered down for a bit of surveillance. In fact, the leaves Rainbow pushed aside are part of a wig she wears, and she has lifted her head slightly so that her face is clear of the greenery. Rainbow gets out a strangled little grunt and backs away a couple of steps, now upright.)

Rainbow: What are you doing?!? (Pinkie stands up.)

Pinkie: You said we needed to be sneaky while we check out the competition for the Friendship Games.

(She is summarily yanked away by Rainbow, both hiding behind a tree as the rival track team jogs by. Pinkie holds her tongue until they have passed o.s.)

Pinkie: Want to see what else I have?

(She zips away; an instant later she has shed the foliage and donned a dark gray bodysuit with matching boots that leaves only her head and hands exposed. Large green-lensed goggles hide her eyes, and a grappling hook and launcher are strapped to her belt at one hip.)

Pinkie: Cat burglar!

(An upward-angled launch, the line snaps taut, and she is hoisted away and o.s. Cut to her standing in a new spot, without the goggles, belt, and grapple.)

Pinkie: Dog burglar!

(She produces a mask of Spike’s face as a dog from behind her back, slaps it on, and quickly digs a hole deep enough to disappear into with her hands. From here, cut to her disguised as a tree, with her face showing in a knothole and two waving limbs that indicate the position of her arms. She has unmasked.)

Pinkie: Tree!

(Another cut; now she hops out from a bush, clad in a full-body rabbit costume with a plastic snout and buck teeth strapped over her nose.)

Pinkie: Bunny suit!

(Extreme close-up of her face, zooming out; she has stood up into a half-crouch, having changed into a camouflage-patterned outfit and cap in various vivid shades of pink. Her shirt displays a heart sighted in a set of crosshairs.)

Pinkie: Camouflage! (Rainbow steps out from behind her hiding tree.)

Rainbow: (pulling Pinkie’s cap off, throwing it aside) That’s, like, the opposite of camouflage! (Panicked look around.) Quick! Get down!

(Shoving her counterpart back into the bush, she takes cover before the runners come through. She is first to risk another look as several short blasts from the coach’s whistle drift faintly across; now the team is down on the turf of the soccer field, gathered near the coach.)

Rainbow: We need to get a better view.

(The sound of something inflating throws a scare into her, and the source quickly reveals itself—a mass of balloons lifting her up and out of view. A grinning Pinkie has all the strings tied around her waist and is being hauled up as well; she has changed back into her usual outfit.)

Pinkie: Best view in the house!

(The team members have now switched to push-ups, in rhythm with the coach’s whistle, and Rainbow frantically pokes at the balloons to pop them—first one at a time, then all in quick succession. With her means of support gone, she drops o.s.; her impact shakes the camera and draws a puzzled stare and whistle from the coach. One last balloon slowly rises from a bush but stops at the end of its string; cut to Pinkie and Rainbow back here, the former holding on until the latter pulls it down. Red-violet eyes glare into blue ones as Rainbow squeezes all the helium out and throws the balloon away.)

Pinkie: (sniffing) You smell like vanilla. (Rainbow claps her hands over Pinkie’s mouth.)

Rainbow: We’re trying to eavesdrop! That means they don’t hear us! (Uncover.)

Pinkie: Ooooh! I have just the thing!

(Cut to one athlete doing sit-ups as another holds his ankles down. A microphone on the end of a long pole is lowered into view above them; tilt up to frame it, then pan back to show Pinkie holding the other end and crouched behind a bush. She has donned a pair of headphones to listen in, but gets nothing but the huffing respirations of the exerciser, and a tweak at the controls buries the signal in static. Rainbow peeks up from a bush a short distance back.)

Rainbow: What are you doing?!?

(She drops out of sight, then emerges next to Pinkie.)

Rainbow: (steadily growing volume) We’re trying to spy on them! Do you even know what the word “spy” means? (grabbing/tossing microphone) It means being sneaky! It means not being seen! (standing up)  IT MEANS BEING QUIET!!

(On the end of this, the camera zooms out to show the entire team now exercising right in front of their vantage point. Rainbow’s words bring them all to a dead stop and turn every eye toward her; Pinkie, meanwhile, has seized the moment to get herself back out of sight.)

Pinkie: (from behind bush) Bush to Dash! Code red! You have been spotted! (She stands up, lifting the whole thing around herself; the headphones are gone.) RUUUUNNNN!!

(Which she proceeds to do with all speed. Rainbow peels out after her, leaving the team to stare dumbfounded as the two inept covert operatives make tracks across the parking lot. “Iris out” to black, centered on them.)

“All’s Fair in Love & Friendship Games”

(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to the front entrance of Canterlot High, seen from a short distance away. It is daytime, and the doors swing open at the sound of the school bell to release a tide of students down the steps—classes are over for the day. In close-up, Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings step out at the back of the group. Bon Bon: sleeveless white dress with ruffled blue collar and yellow edging at the shoulders, blue/yellow stripes at the hem, blue Mary Janes with knee-high white socks edged in blue, blue/yellow bow at the waist that matches the wrapped candies of her pony self’s cutie mark. Lyra: pink off-the-shoulder top, high-waisted skirt in a darker hue over blue-violet shorts, magenta boots with pale yellow socks, magenta hair band styled with a flower over each ear, gold lyre pendant on a thin chain necklace.)

Bon Bon: And then I said—

Lyra: —“It tastes like marshmallows”? (Both stop.)

Bon Bon: Yes, so that made me—

Lyra: —feel like you were on a camping trip?

Bon Bon: Yes! Just like—

Bon Bon, Lyra: —that time we went to the amusement park in eighth grade! (Bon Bon voices a soft gasp and chuckle.)

Bon Bon: You know me so well. (Lyra counters with an airy sigh.)

Lyra: You know me so well.

(Linking arms, the two girls walk off down the steps; once they have descended to the sidewalk, a male eco-kid, Sandalwood, runs up. Seen from behind for the moment, he has flesh-toned skin, wears a brown vest over a red T-shirt and a dark gray cap over his two-tone green dreadlocks, and has a dark gray band on each wrist.)

Sandalwood: Dudes!

(Head-on view; showing his green eyes and the fringes and recycling-logo button on the front of his vest.)

Sandalwood: (pulling out a flyer) The tryouts for the Friendship Games are about to start!

Bon Bon: (eyes widening) O…

Lyra: (ditto) …M… (They lean toward each other.)

Bon Bon, Lyra: …goodness! (Huge grins on both faces.)

Sandalwood: There are limited spots on the CHS team, so bring your A-game!

(He runs off laughing, and the grins on the mint-green and cream-colored faces widen a notch. Out of nowhere, though, both mouths harden into suspicious scowls and all four eyes narrow with a hard light. The camera cuts to each in turn, the view contracting to a diagonal band that frames her vicious expression. In fullscreen, they point an index finger at each other and back away warily as the view shrinks to a horizontal band.)

(The fullscreen ratio restores itself as the view dissolves to a long shot of the school soccer field. Sandalwood stands in front of a set of bleachers filled with spectators, doing a “devil sticks” routine—using two batons in his hands to juggle a third one back and forth. He launches it high overhead; in close-up, he twirls and whips his cap off to catch it. These shots frame his blue jeans and brown shoes. The students cheer and applaud, and Vice-Principal Luna jots a few notes in a small book she has brought with her.)

(The light dims, accompanied by the clunk of a switch being thrown and instantly silencing the crowd. Out on the field, Lyra has changed into a loose-fitting blouse/skirt dance ensemble and is standing in a spotlight. She breaks out a few moves to a light, energetic backing track, but stops short at the sound of a phonograph needle being yanked off a record. Pan quickly to Bon Bon, who has donned a tuxedo-styled outfit with top hat and gloves and is in a spotlight of her own. After a few seconds of rapid-fire tap dancing, she strikes a pose with the hat held out to one side; Lyra zips over and angrily snatches it out of her hand.)

(Normal lighting resumes as the boiling-mad girl crushes the formal headwear. Bon Bon’s face goes slack with shock before rearranging itself into a grimace. The two now face each other down and ready themselves to fight, standing a few paces apart and back in their original outfits. Above each girl is a low-resolution picture of her face, as well as a row of five hearts to act as a health meter in a video game. Two low-res fists slide into view from opposite sides and collide, knuckle to knuckle.)

Announcer: Compete!

(The added graphics disappear when the view cuts to Bon Bon handily defeating Bulk Biceps in an arm-wrestling match, then to Lyra delivering a leaping punch to an inflatable dummy. The two continue their face-off in a variety of bizarre ways as the camera cuts from one to the other. Bon Bon rips a telephone book in half…Lyra hoists a barbell and clamps her teeth onto the bar so she can bend it double…Bon Bon lifts a heavy log vertically and heaves it downfield, as if doing a caber toss at the Highland games…Lyra stands behind a table piled with hot dogs and chomps down one after another…Bon Bon slams a bunch of flowers neatly into a waiting vase…Lyra works a lump of clay on a pottery wheel, shaping it into a replica of the rearing-horse statue on the Canterlot High lawn…Bon Bon holds a chisel against a stone block and strikes one blow with a mallet, causing the material to crumble into a large-scale bust that exactly duplicates her crazed scowl and the threatening index finger that points from the hand still clutching the chisel.)

(Cut to an extreme close-up of a screenful of peacock feathers, arranged in two large fans. These are pulled away to either side to reveal a birdlike silhouette on a stage, and a spotlight flicks on to reveal Lyra dressed as a peacock, tail plumage and all. She spreads the feathers to full width and squawks loudly; cut to a screenful of leaves, which part like a curtain to expose a second silhouette crouched on a stage. Up come the lights to identify this one as being dressed in an owl suit and with its entire head turned 180 degrees to face the backdrop behind her. The head swivels around, showing Bon Bon’s face half-hidden behind an eye/beak mask that is a near-perfect match for the features of Owlowiscious, Twilight Sparkle’s pet owl, and she hoots. The two “flap” toward each other, voicing their birds’ cries with increasing force.)

(Fade to white, then in to the avian silhouettes against a gray background, facing each other across a short distance. Bon Bon has her wings/arms spread, while Lyra’s upper body bends slowly backward as if ducking a projectile. Cut to a male techie, Micro Chips, among the spectators in the bleachers. Pale violet skin; two-tone, dark blue-gray hair; small black eyes behind heavy glasses broken at the bridge and repaired with tape; yellow turtleneck with green collar/cuffs; white suspenders with a button attached that displays a drawing of an atom.)

Micro: Is it just me, or did things take a turn towards Weirdsville?

(On the end of this, he pulls out his cell phone and holds it up to take a picture of the whacked-out confrontation. Out on the field, Bon Bon’s foot and then Lyra’s push off from the ground in extreme close-up, leaving tendrils of dust and smoke to waft through the air in their wake. Bon Bon angles herself to extend her taloned feet for a double kick, while Lyra reaches ahead for a midair grapple, each shouting her bird’s vocalization with undiluted fury. The camera cuts back and forth between the two rage-twisted faces before shifting to a split screen of their profiles. Before things can escalate any further, a third panel inserts itself between them and Sandalwood stands up into view, stopping them cold. He has put his cap back on and stowed his devil sticks.)

Sandalwood: Aw, dudes! Vice-Principal Luna just posted the roster for the Friendship Games team!

(Fullscreen: Bon Bon and Lyra have frozen in mid-leap, and gravity reasserts itself only after he has run off. Discovering that the bleachers are now deserted except for Micro and one girl who is doing a bit of light reading, they hurry off after him. Cut to a close-up of a bulletin board on a wall in one of the halls inside and zoom out. Students are gathered here, murmuring excitedly as they look over the list tacked up at the center of the board. They quickly part to make way for Bon Bon and Lyra, the former pushing her mask up for a clear view.)

Lyra: You made the team!

Bon Bon: You made the team! (Lyra grins; Bon Bon smiles.)

Lyra: Best—

Bon Bon: —friends—

Bon Bon, Lyra: —forever!

(They break into a giggly embrace. “Iris out” to black, the aperture taking the shape of a heart and centering on their faces.)

“Photo Finished”

(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to the closed door of a room within Canterlot High, seen from the hall. Zoom in slowly.)

Luna: (from inside) Photo Finish…

(Cut to within the room, her office. She and Photo Finish sit facing each other across her desk, and a book sits open before her. Pan slowly across the area.)

Luna: …our yearbook photos this year could use a bit more…mmm, pizzazz. Would you like to take some pictures for— (Cut to Photo.)

Photo: Say no more! I, Photo Finish, will capture…

(Fishing around on the floor, she produces a camera with a gigantic telephoto lens and stands up.)

Photo: …the magics! I go!

(She whisks away, leaving only the sound of the closing office door to mark her departure. Wipe to an overhead shot of the cafeteria at lunch and pan slowly toward a table at which two rockers are eating. One has long orange hair covering his eyes, the other a red Mohawk. In close-up, the latter chokes down a bite of his food and lets his tongue loll disgustedly out of his mouth before Photo leans into view behind him.)

Photo: Stop!

(She yanks him away; cut to her and the two girls with whom she formed a band to compete in Rainbow Rocks. One holds a lamp on a pole, the other a box of equipment.)

Photo: Hold that pose!

(A snap of her fingers sends the pair running ahead. Within seconds, a spotlight has trained itself on the remaining rocker, a foggy gray backdrop has been slid in behind him, his sandwich has been replaced with a larger one, and his hair is being ruthlessly brushed and teased. Photo stands back, shutter clicking away and shifting her position to catch every angle she can.)

Photo: Ja! You are starving!

(Back to the rocker; a bit of makeup is applied to his face.)

Photo: (from o.s.) Now take a bite! (He opens his mouth, but freezes when she continues.) No! Do not bite it! (Back to her.) Yes! Yes! No! No!

(The hapless dude finds the lens being shoved practically into his face for every candid shot she can capture. Back to her after several seconds.)

Photo: (snapping fingers) Enough! I go!

(She zips away, her two assistants clearing out all the gear and themselves just as quickly. The last order of business is to whip the jumbo sandwich out of the rocker’s grip and return his original one, from which a pickle slice slithers out and plops sadly onto the table. His face falls at having had the meal upgrade snatched away.)

(Wipe to the gym, where Featherweight is dribbling a basketball in front of the goal, having changed into a T-shirt and shorts. He readies a shot.)

Photo: (from o.s.) Sports!

(That outburst throws off his concentration, and the ball goes flying off to who knows where. He aims a slightly miffed look back over his shoulder; pan in that direction to frame Photo. A snap brings the other two girls at a run; a light is set up, a fan switched on, and a small trampoline slid across the floor. This last item collides with Featherweight’s ankles, flipping him into the air so that he lands on it and starts to bounce. The pair have procured a bin full of balls as well.)

Photo: Jump, jump! (Close-up; she starts snapping pictures.) Like a beautiful grasshopper! Like a graceful gazelle!

(On the end of this, pan to the two girls, who start tossing balls toward the o.s. Featherweight.)

Photo: (from o.s.) You are striving to place the orb of desire— (Cut to him, leaping amid the barrage.) —in the net of your future!

(He manages to catch one, but another bounces against it before he can take it to the hole. Photo works her shutter and her pose to catch all the angles, then somehow manages to thrust her camera directly into Featherweight’s face at hoop level. Blinded by the flash, he loses his hold on the ball and drops like a rock.)

Photo: Enough! I go!

(Which she does. In close-up, Featherweight reaches the height of another jump and falls o.s., surprise suddenly registering on his face. A loud, camera-shaking thud tells the story even before the camera cuts to frame the whole gym: the trampoline and all the photography equipment have been spirited away. Nothing is left but the bin, a couple of loose balls, and one very puzzled B-baller wannabe half-sprawled on the hardwood.)

(Wipe to the library, where Cheerilee is re-shelving a cartload of books. Out of nowhere, one girl zooms up behind her to primp and preen at warp speed.)

Photo: (from o.s.) Yes! Read!

(Within the ensuing dust cloud, the book in her grip is replaced, and makeup and hair dryer are put to work.)

Photo: (from o.s.) You are so very intrigued by that story!

(The haze clears to show her on the library floor and working the camera; she starts off lying on her side, but quickly springs to her feet and moves closer.)

Photo: No, no! That book is out of order! It does not comply with the Dewey Decimal System!

(Close-up of Cheerilee on the end of this; she cringes before the massive lens being pushed practically into her eyes.)

Cheerilee: Shhhh! (Zoom out to frame all three students ringed around her, then cut to Photo.)

Photo: (snapping fingers) Enough! I go!

(Yet another blink-and-you-miss-it exit, followed by a cut to a long overhead shot of the thoroughly bewildered librarian and slow zoom out. She and a student at one of the computers are now the only signs of life in the area.)

(Cut to a techie taking a drink from a water fountain in the hall, then zoom out quickly to show Photo and her lackeys standing right behind, with camera and equipment to get the shot.)

Photo: Drink! Drink!

(A flash fills the screen and clears to show an athlete running down the field outside, ready to catch a pass. The three girls charge up alongside.)

Photo: Play, play!

(She keeps taking pictures even as he misses the catch and tumbles to the grass. Another flash, and the scene has shifted to a classroom in which one of the dramas is painting a picture of a winged unicorn. The telephoto lens is shoved nearly into the back of her head just before the camera zooms out to frame the trio behind her. The scare from the intrusion causes her to leave a long smudge of paint across the canvas.)

Photo: Paint it! Paint it! Yes! No! Yes! No! Enough! (Fade to white; voice over.) I go!

(Fade in to Luna’s office; vice-principal and student sit facing each other as before, with three changes. One, the book that had rested before Luna has been removed from the desk; two, she sits with crossed arms and plenty of anger in her expression; three; Photo has a bag slung over her shoulder. Pan slowly toward Luna’s side.)

Luna: Photo Finish, I have been receiving a number of complaints from students and faculty about you. Do you have anything to say for yourself?

Photo: (standing up) I say nothing. (digging in bag) Photo Finish lets her work speak for itself.

(On the end of this, she pulls out some pictures and the camera cuts to a close-up of the desk surface, panning slowly across the six full-color snapshots she tosses down. Each captures one of her subjects in a most complimentary pose, taking full advantage of the lighting setup.)

Luna: (from o.s., awestruck) These are really impressive. (Cut to frame both; she is smiling.) You may continue, but do try to be less disruptive.

(Inspiration strikes in the teen’s mind, and she holds both hands out in front of herself to frame a picture.)

Photo: Hold that pose!

(Finger snap; cut to a close-up of a wide-eyed Luna and zoom out. The other two have slipped in to either side, hair dryer and light pole in hand, and she has time for one fearful grimace before the camera cuts to just outside the closed office door. Flashes from Photo’s camera play through the tinted glass pane; zoom out slowly. The next two lines, both heard from within the office, overlap slightly.)

Photo: Ja, ja! You have the authority! Sign the waiver! Command the school!

Luna: Wait! No! Hold on! W-What is—

(She trails off into a cry of panic as the view fades to black.)

“A Banner Day”

(Opening shot: fade to black from the title card, then in to the exterior of Canterlot High during the day. Zoom in slowly.)

Luna: (from inside) I’m sure you’ll come up with the perfect sign—

(Cut to a close-up of her, standing in the gym with a clipboard under one arm.)

Luna: —that lets the Crystal Prep kids feel welcome, but also conveys that we are stiff competition.

(Zoom out on the end of this to show that she is addressing Flash Sentry, Micro, and Sandalwood, who stand amid a litter of paint cans, brushes, rolled-up banners, and other art supplies. The next three lines overlap. Micro is wearing dark gray slacks, which were not visible in “All’s Fair in Love & Friendship Games” due to the camera angles.)

Flash: Oh, yeah, sure.

Micro: One hundred percent!

Sandalwood: Totally.

Luna: (walking away) I’ll be back in an hour to see what you’ve come up with.

(Dissolve to a close-up of one blank banner spread out on the gym floor and tilt up to the three students, staring down at it and thinking very hard. Flash is first to speak up.)

Flash: I got it! (Musical notes swirl past him in the background.) We should decorate it with the sheet music to my song, “Love in a Flash.” It’ll show them we’re talented, while welcoming them in with the universal language of music.

(Cut to Micro, using his cell phone as the reflection of a double-helix DNA molecule from its screen plays across his lenses. Behind him, the background fills with sequences of the letters A, C, G, and T, symbolizing the four “base” chemicals that make up the compound.)

Micro: I was thinking we could paint a model of DNA. It shows we’re smart, but it invites them in with the very fiber of our being.

(Cut to Sandalwood, seated in a lotus position as a kaleidoscopic pattern plays behind him.)

Sandalwood: But what we should do is portray peace through art. One love, bros.

(All three gather together, relishing their individual ideas, and dive to the floor in a scrum of flying materials. Flash sketches a bit, stops briefly to play a riff on an imaginary guitar, and snaps his fingers as inspiration comes to him. An extreme close-up of his end shows the musical staff he has drawn in and the red note he is starting to place. Wipe to Micro, using a carpenter’s square to draw a razor-straight line, then to Sandalwood hunched intently over a spot. Paint has spilled from the cans standing behind him, and he wears a few splotches on his cheeks; when he straightens and raises his palms, they too are properly mucked up. Placing them together in front of his chest, he gets his vibe disrupted when Micro leans in to sprinkle glitter onto the banner from a can.)

Sandalwood: (pushing him away) Dude!

(The techie stands up, face and glasses covered with paint from Sandalwood’s palm, and voices an affronted gasp. A swing of the hand holding the glitter can sends its lid flying and the contents wafting away.)

Micro: What did you do? (Pan quickly to Flash on the receiving end; glitter settles into his hair.)

Flash: (knocking can away) Watch the hair, man!

(The open container arcs across the gym; just as Micro wipes his glasses clean, it bounces off his head. He topples toward the floor, putting out a hand to stop himself and knocking over a paint can. Sandalwood stares openmouthed as the contents—bright green—ooze over the handprint-covered peace sign he has crafted.)

Sandalwood: You’re harshing the flow! (Micro is now speckled with glitter as well.)

Micro: Hey, you did that on purpose!

(Flash takes advantage of the distraction to add some embellishment to the DNA strand that Micro has drawn in. The latter straightens up with a shocked gasp.)

Micro: My friendship algorithm! (He is quick to ply a brush on the banner.)

Flash: Hey! You just projectile-science’d all over my chorus!

Micro: Well, you guys painted all over my molecular structures! (Sandalwood’s face is now clean.)

Sandalwood: And how am I supposed to paint my spirit guide when there’s DNA and a treble clef in the way?

Flash: (very snarky) Oh, I don’t know. Ask your spirit guide!

(He makes air quotes on these last two words, after which three vertical panels slide in to fill the screen, each giving a close-up of one budding artist.)

Flash, Micro, Sandalwood: You’re ruining my design!

(The face-off is cut off by the sound of Luna clearing her throat, and the three panels slide away to show her entering the gym. The three teens scurry off to one side as she steps closer and stops short, eyes widening in considerable surprise.)

Luna: My, oh, my. (Cut to the trio, hunching down ashamedly.)

Micro: We’re really—

Luna: (from o.s.) —proud of yourselves, I hope.

(They flinch a bit, not knowing exactly what to make of this pronouncement. Cut to just behind her.)

Luna: (turning to camera, smiling) This is wonderful!

Flash: It is?

(Close-up of the banner, panning slowly from one end to the other. Flash’s music and an electric guitar; Micro’s DNA strands, another molecule, and a line graph; Sandalwood’s peace sign and handprints, a few leaves, and a handshake. Swirls and swatches of variegated colors run throughout the entire design, as do a few lines of text and equations.)

Luna: (from o.s.) It’s inspiring, but still warm and welcoming. I love how your work is literally enmeshed. (Back to her.) Truly excellent work, boys. (She makes a note on her clipboard.)

Flash: (relieved) Uh…uh, thank you! This is just what happens when you allow love to lead the way. (Micro rests a hand on his shoulder.)

Micro: With song!

Sandalwood: (crossing to them) Through the self-replicating material present in nearly all living organisms.

(All three grin as he and Flash aim an index-finger gun at each other.)

Luna: (chuckling, passing them on the way out) That’s great to hear. Now just add “Welcome Crystal Prep,” and I’d like to see five more by the end of the day. Thanks, boys.

(They slump where they stand, one at a time, as the full weight of her request sinks in. Fade to black.)