Sunset Shimmer still hadn't agreed to accept Rainbow Dash's band invitation. After all, she didn't have the skills to be a band guitarist in the first place, and secondly, she wasn't mentally prepared to join a small group.
Rainbow Dash expressed her understanding, telling Sunset Shimmer not to rush into a decision and saying she could give Sunset Shimmer time to think about it.
However, judging by her confident expression, as if she was certain of Sunset Shimmer's eventual acceptance, Sunset Shimmer couldn't be sure what exactly she had understood.
Sunset Shimmer watched this naturally formed group of five. Despite their vastly different personalities and lack of shared hobbies, they could hang out together without any friction. They were noisy and boisterous, yet they possessed an unspoken rapport that others couldn't help but envy.
Friendship really is a strange and unreasonable thing.
'Wait, what am I thinking?'
Realizing that she had unconsciously started to'slide' in her thinking, Sunset Shimmer quickly reined in her thoughts, once again firming her resolve to stay away from this group of friendship fanatics.
To avoid being forced into the group again because of her lack of social integration, Sunset Shimmer said goodbye to them and went backstage to find Trixie, who had been gone for a long time.
Just now, when the topic of helping out came up, Trixie ran off to check her magic props and hadn't returned since. She hoped she hadn't snuck home.
However, although Trixie had many shortcomings, she shouldn't be the type of person to shirk responsibility.
Sunset Shimmer walked through the corridor to the preparation room behind the stage. Through the window on the door, she could see the lights were still on inside, clearly indicating that Trixie was still in there.
"She isn't slacking off in there, is she?"
The preparation room had good soundproofing. Even though it was so quiet here, before opening the door, Sunset Shimmer didn't know what the person inside was doing.
However, as she pushed the door open just a crack, she heard some rather unfriendly noises coming from inside.
Trixie wasn't the only one in the preparation room; Sunset Shimmer also heard the voices of two other boys she didn't know. Judging by their tone and frequency of speaking, they seemed to be the ones being scolded.
"You... how could you mess with those things?! I didn't tell you to move them outside of here!"
"Uh... we saw you doing it that way and thought it was easy."
"But when we actually tried it, it didn't seem to be the same thing..."
"If the performance of The Great and All-Powerful Trixie could be learned by two idiots like you just by watching once, would it still be called great and omnipotent?! Look at the mess you've made!"
Hearing Trixie's near-manic tone, it seemed that in the short time they had been apart, Trixie had caused another scene. Sunset Shimmer was actually getting used to it now.
After hesitating for a moment, Sunset Shimmer pushed the door open and walked in to see what exactly had happened and if it could be remedied. After all, she had decided to take on this mess, so she couldn't just leave it alone.
Immersed in sorrow and anger, Trixie didn't notice Sunset Shimmer walking in behind her. Even though Snip and Snell, who were in front of her, were desperately signaling to her, she didn't notice.
"The Great and All-Powerful Trixie always keeps her word. Just a moment ago, I promised Sunset Shimmer that everything would go perfectly, but now because of you, everything is going to be ruined!"
"Trixie, what's going on here?"
The expression on Trixie's face changed from extreme anger to extreme panic in an instant. She turned her head stiffly, confirmed that Sunset Shimmer was indeed behind her and that she wasn't hearing things, and then quickly forced an awkward smile.
"Sunset Shimmer...? When did you get here?"
"When you were accusing these two middle schoolers of messing with your things. So, what exactly happened?"
"Nothing happened!"
Trixie instinctively argued, while taking a step back and quietly kicking a box by her feet into the corner.
"Let me introduce you, these two are Snip and Snell."
Trixie pointed to a short, chubby boy with buck teeth, and the tall, thin boy next to him with a pair of prominent ears.
"I asked them to help me move my magic props to the backstage preparation room in advance, but they were clumsy and broke... a small part... but it doesn't matter! I'll be able to fix it soon, and it definitely won't affect tomorrow night's performance!"
Sunset Shimmer frowned as she looked at Trixie, who was forcing a smile, and then looked at Snip and Snell, who were standing by looking guilty.
"Hey, what are you two still standing there for?! Go and buy the things I need!"
"Oh, oh... okay! The Great and All-Powerful Trixie, we are so sorry, we'll go right away!"
The two boys looked like they had been granted amnesty, nodded repeatedly, and scrambled out of the preparation room.
"Are all the recruited hands here? Let's go out then, hurry up and get the scene set up so we can go home early..."
Trixie continued to change the subject while trying to pull Sunset Shimmer away with her, attempting to muddle through.
"Trixie."
But Sunset Shimmer wasn't so easily fooled. She could see that Trixie was putting on a brave face. If she really followed her lead and ignored her current predicament, the magic performance tomorrow would likely be ruined.
Sunset Shimmer shook off Trixie's hand and asked with a serious expression.
"I just heard you say that what you promised is going to be ruined, and I can't just pretend I didn't hear that. You know how important this is. If you insist on hiding it, things will only get worse!"
Facing Sunset Shimmer's questioning, Trixie bit her lip, her fingers gripping her own arms tightly. She still didn't have the courage to open up to Sunset Shimmer.
Seeing her like this, Sunset Shimmer had no choice but to take matters into her own hands.
Taking advantage of Trixie's hesitation and lack of guard, she side-stepped around Trixie to check the box she used to store her magic props.
"No!"
It was too late; Trixie was powerless to stop her.
Sunset Shimmer carefully examined these magic mechanisms. Although she didn't recognize these gadgets, which were quite novel to her, she had studied similar mechanical structures out of interest when she was a pony, so she could draw parallels. Consequently, she could tell that these props were already damaged.
"Celestia—cough... Oh my god, is there really not a single one intact?"
Although she was somewhat prepared in her heart, when she actually saw this box of... trash, Sunset Shimmer couldn't help but feel faint.
"That's right, now you've seen it all. I'm finished! Everything is ruined! A magician without magic props is just a clown on stage! The Great and All-Powerful Trixie is going to lose all face tomorrow night!"
Seeing that everything had been seen by Sunset Shimmer, Trixie screamed in despair.
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