Auditorium Apology
Sunset Shimmer stood nervously in front of the microphone, very much aware of the hundreds of eyes burning into her from every direction, and found she suddenly had a greater understanding of what Fluttershy must suffer through every day. The last time she’d been up here, it was immediately after having knocked Rainbow Dash to the ground, and while the student body remained silent this time, she knew they were all waiting for just the slightest excuse to judge her. “Hello,” she began, clearing her throat before continuing.
Behind her stood her friends; Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie, and even Princess Twilight all in a row, giving her supportive smiles even if she couldn’t see them. Beyond them were Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna, their arms crossed and expressions radiating disappointment, and Sunset was thankful for their acting ability. “We would all like to apologize for, and explain, what happened last Friday.”
It had been a whole week since the Battle Of The Bands, and by now most of the students had compared notes and figured out what had really happened, crazy as it seemed. Sunset had found herself regarded with a great deal less hate, though suspicion still reigned; three years of her tyranny couldn’t be let go so easily. Regardless, everyone now had a fairly firm idea of events, and trying to rewrite that perception again would not be a simple task.
“And I personally would like to apologize, not only to you but to all my friends, as this had been my idea." Now she turned to look at her friends, and their genuine smiles warmed her heart. She turned back to the audience, emboldened. "It started out as a Senior-year prank, but we all lost control of it and nearly set the school against itself again… in hindsight, this was in truly bad taste after the Fall Formal.”
At the very top of the bleachers, sitting dejectedly and most likely not even listening, sat three girls, with orange, purple, and blue hair respectively. After nearly a whole week of understandable absence, Sunset and her friends were surprised that they’d finally shown their faces again, and debate had sprung out during lunch period over what action should be taken. Careful observation of the trio, followed by a long and difficult discussion with the Principals and a considerably easier discussion with a certain DJ, had led to this course of action, and so Sunset pushed on.
“And I apologize to Vinyl Scratch, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk for their involvement as well.” She gestured to the students in question, suppressing a frown as the Dazzlings failed to take notice of their own names. On the other hand, perhaps this was better; surprised reactions may have undermined their already-shaky story even more. “Vinyl provided a lot of the visual effects; she did a good job, but she shouldn’t have had to. And the Dazzlings… I am really, truly sorry. You are new students, and I didn’t consider how your role in this may affect perceptions of you.” At this, Adagio finally raised her head, confusion seeping in alongside misery. Addressing the student body once more, Sunset added, “I hope you can all forgive them for their role in this; none of us expected them to play the villainous part so… effectively.”
Turning back again, Sunset finished by addressing Celestia and Luna, their hard gazes boring into her. “And finally, I want to apologize to you two… prank or no, it wasn’t right to shanghai the musical showcase like we did, and we hope next year’s attempt will progress more smoothly.”
Rarity stepped forward, and Sunset handed the microphone off to her, falling in between Fluttershy and Twilight as the fashionista provided further explanation, smoothly reinterpreting the Battle of The Bands and explaining how the Rainbooms had brought all of this about, even explaining Twilight’s presence as being her version from this world, whom they had gone to great effort to ensure her cooperation. Princess Twilight, befitting her role, had to act more distant from them than she really was, grinning nervously at the crowd and shifting her weight as though wishing to escape the presence of the Rainbooms. Applejack, too, was shifting, though her discomfort was at the web of lies being spun. Still, even she had earlier conceded that this was the best thing to do.
Sunset, however, only had eyes for the Dazzlings. They were the main reason the Rainbooms were doing this, after all, and she really hoped they wouldn’t make a mistake of it. She truly had no idea how they felt about this, after all; were they in any way remorseful for their actions, or were they only so miserable because they’d lost? This was a difficult thing they were doing here, and Sunset really didn’t want that effort to have been in vain. But for now, she saw no smug grins at escaping karma; Adagio merely stared at the group on-stage in shock, while Aria and Sonata still seemed not to have noticed at all.
“Finally,” Rarity ended, “I speak on behalf of us all as we once again apologize for our actions, and implore you all to, even if you don’t forgive us, at least forgive Vinyl and the Dazzlings.” Principal Celestia strode forward, accepting the microphone from a humble Rarity, and the Rainbooms slowly filed off stage.
“Do you think it worked?” Twilight questioned once they were safely out of view. “From what I’ve seen before, they all seem rather…”
“Finnicky?” Applejack suggested.
“Volatile?” was Rarity’s contribution.
“A bunch of crazy kids who’ll unfairly judge anything without a second thought?” Rainbow said.
“…Yes.” Twilight nodded.
Sunset had been standing off to the side, but now she let out a big sigh. “I just hope it’ll be worth it. There’s no telling how the Dazzlings will react…”
Fluttershy set a comforting hand on her shoulder, her smile heart-meltingly sweet. “Either way, it was very brave of you to try to give them another chance, even if it meant your reputation is at stake again.”
Sunset shrugged, trying and failing to feign nonchalance. “I’ve been hated long enough that it doesn’t really get to me anymore… but even if they deserve it, I don’t want them to have to go through all that, too. Popularity isn’t everything, but I think we all know being a pariah isn’t exactly a walk in the park. And I hope this plan doesn’t drag you all down, too.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. Besides,” Rainbow butted in, “If people are nicer to them, then maybe they’re less likely to go all jerk-mode again if they get the chance!”
“That too.” Sunset nodded. She had been aware of that angle, and it had been how they’d finally convinced the principals to agree with lying to the whole student body, but if she was entirely honest with herself, it was the last reason she’d had in mind when she came up with this plan.
Still, she couldn’t help but look back at the stage, where Celestia and Luna were wrapping up the assembly, and wish she could keep an eye on their former rivals. She’d had to go through a long process of turnaround even after being freed of her demon-self, but with the way the Dazzlings had been defeated, they could very well remain entirely unrepentant and just use this attempt to clear their names to stir up further mischief or something equally unpleasant. At the same time, though, Sunset felt they deserved at least a chance.
After all, without a chance, where would she herself be now?
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I see what you did there.
I'm not sure if I like it, but I see it.
5087806 What did I did where?
5087822
The whole story. It was an interesting thing you did.
5087829 Ah, thank you.
(Sorry 'bout that, wasn't sure if you were referring to anything specific or not)
I do wonder how the Dazzlings can go on without their special talent. Doesn't seem fair. Their songs were the best.
I enjoyed this. That actually seems like something they would do
5087904 I think that's a question we'll all be asking for some time... though half the fun is in coming up with our own answers.
And I certainly agree that their songs were my favorites, though I can't blame the Mane Six for taking them down, what with the evilness and all. 
5087930 I'm glad you did! And yeah, I figured so as well.
Also, nice icon!
5087951
Thanks! Yours too
5087969 Denke.
This was pretty good. I liked it.
I don't really think Twilight being here was necessary, but other than that it's flawless.
5096608 Thanks!
Well, here's my logic for it:
Most of the students know that Twilight is from another dimension, and that when she showed up the first time, something crazy and magical happened. They then saw her for the Battle Of The Bands, along with another crazy and magical event. The only logical conclusion is that something crazy and magical happened again, and further, that Twilight's presence is in some way related.
The Rainbooms want to convince the students that something crazy and magical did not happen at the Battle Of The Bands, and one big hole in their story is Twilight's presence - bringing in someone from another dimension just for a prank doesn't exactly seem logical, so the cover story is that they'd instead brought in her version from this universe to play the part. That's well enough on its own, but somewhat of a weak excuse without backup. So they bring Twilight in again, (as they still know nothing about the actual Twilight from this universe) discreetly smuggling her through the mirror when nobody's looking, and have her present for the apology. Having her hop dimensions just to appear briefly at an apology would be beyond madness - thus, the only logical conclusion is that the Rainbooms are telling the truth, and she is in fact this world's native version.
Of course, when the real EQG Twi shows up for science, that'll all fall down, but the Rainbooms didn't see the after-credits scene, now did they?
Anyway, I hope that makes sense.
This was certainly a nice gesture, but I don't see it working. They might as well have explained it as the light of Venus reflecting off of a weather balloon and lighting up a patch of swamp gas. Again, though, a nice gesture. It remains to be seen whether the sirens do anything with any goodwill this might give them.
A pleasant little story. Thank you for it.
5096757
See, this is what I was thinking. It's completely unnecessary...
...But you say the fact that it's completely unnecessary is what makes it necessary.
Eh, good enough for me.
5096771
My thoughts, too.
Still, they made the effort.
As I said in my Author's notes, I left that part intentionally ambiguous, for various reasons. As far as I'm concerned, they could really go any direction with this, but that's not really the main focus of the story.
Thank you!
5096818 Such is the way of conspiracy.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. I guess I find it hard to believe that they would just lie to the school body and try to cover up what happened. (At least Applejack was uncomfortable with the situation.) Not to mention, with the way things stood at the end of the movie, I don't see much of a reason for the Dazzlings to return to school or Sunset to help them like this. (I mean, yeah, she's got a reason to be sympathetic, but to act on it...)
I dunno. The writing was good, at least!
5106889 Eh, yeah; it definitely wasn't my strongest premise; more an out-of-control plot bunny. I honestly wish people would notice my other EQG fic more...
Still, thank you!
5106927
I just read a bunch of stuff out of the Sonata Dusk group, most of which I didn't like, but your piece stood out at least in terms of being competently written. So perhaps I shall.
5106952 Sorry, didn't mean to self-promote... but thanks.
She would be in juvie.
5156679 I'm not sure whether to
or 
at that, so I'll settle for both. Well played.
Hmm. I'm not sure what to think of this one. It's an interesting concept, and I guess it falls in line with the messages of the show and movies and all that (and Sunset), so I guess it works, yeah. Not something I would've thought of as happening after the events of Rainbow Rocks, but it's certainly possible. If nothing else, I think the story was well executed, though. Nice work.
Very well-written
5493637
6614258
Why, thank you both.
6642213
You're a welcome! (it's times like this I wish there was a :fluttersmile: emoticon...)
...This is a take I don't think I've ever seen before. At least, not for Rainbow Rocks. They're basically pulling an MIB with the whole, "OK, that thing you think you saw? That's not what happened AT ALL. Instead, WHAT HAPPENED WAS..."
I liked this story.
6761813 Pretty much, yeah.
Thanks!