Later on, everyone came together in Pinkie Pie's bedroom in their pajamas and hung out like a normal slumber party while Twilight tried to write a spell, and where she had Atticus to help her with it.

"Status update: 'Okie-dokie-lokie'." Pinkie Pie smiled as she used Cherry's laptop while the owner looked grim and annoyed.

"Can I have my laptop back now?" Cherry begged.

Pinkie Pie giggled and gave her her laptop back. Rarity made a face as she soon took a selfie with Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, and Mo. She soon saw that they got photo-bombed by Spike. Fluttershy, Mo, and Sunset giggled to that while Rarity glared at Spike as he ate a dog biscuit. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were even playing a video game and it looked like the country girl was going to win. Rainbow Dash panicked to that, so she slammed the console.

"Hey! Ah was about to beat ya!" Applejack glared.

"She actually was." Patch said.

"I doubt it," Rainbow Dash said like a sore loser. "So, Twilight, how is that counter-spell comin'?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, good. Great," Twilight smiled as she sat with Atticus. "Thanks for letting us use your notebook, Fluttershy. I really like the song you wrote for the Rainbooms."

"Thanks," Fluttershy smiled back before sighing as she hugged the stuffed alligator. "Hopefully one day, we'll get a chance to play it."

"We sure will." Atticus said.

Rainbow Dash then laughed at Applejack, holding the controller.

"Hey!" Applejack glared.

Patch simply sighed as he went face-palm.

"Twilight, I think I speak for all of us when I say I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't come back to help us." Rarity smiled as she sat down right beside Twilight as she sat with Atticus.

"Same here." Atticus said.

Everyone else agreed. Eventually, the doorbell rang.

"Pizza's here!" Pinkie Pie beamed before zipping off.

"Awesome!" Mo cheered.

Everyone else raced to the door, but some stayed behind in the room. Twilight sighed as she looked into the notebook, feeling hopeless.

"Don't you want any pizza?" Pinkie Pie asked with her mouth full with a slice.

Twilight nodded with a small smile. Pinkie smiled back and dashed off to get some more pizza. Twilight soon joined them.

"Don't worry about it for now, let's get some pizza, you'll love it." Atticus soothed Twilight.

"Thanks, Atticus." Twilight smiled as she put the notebook away in Pinkie's drawer for right now.

And soon, everyone joined together and shared a pizza together for their slumber party before going to bed.

"I just love pizza." Patch smiled.

Cherry reached for another slice.

"Okay, I think you've had enough." Mo smiled.

"No, no, just one more," Cherry said as she ate another slice, but then groaned and looked queasy. "Oh, no, you're right... That was a bad move..."

Patch soon took the other slice.

Later that night, everybody had fallen asleep. Well, almost everybody. Twilight got out of bed and took out her notebook and made her way out.

Still not used to using her hands to write, she had the pen in her mouth and wrote with it that way as it was easier for her. She thought she had an idea, but shook her head as she hated it already, and spit the pen out. "No. That's not gonna work."

"Can't sleep either?" Atticus asked as he and Sunset came in.

"Just looking over the counter-spell," Twilight sighed to them. "We only get one shot at this. It has to be perfect."

"We really are lucky you're here." Sunset said as she opened the fridge as it was filled with cans of whipped cream.

"And we know that your spell will be perfect." Atticus said.

"Who could possibly need this much whipped cream?" Sunset muttered as she stared in the fridge. "Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems... Instead of waiting for you to cause a problem."

"Just because everyone expects something from you doesn't mean it's guaranteed to happen." Twilight advised.

"True that." Atticus nodded.

"Well, that doesn't stop them from expecting it." Sunset added.

"Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is-" Twilight said before finishing with Sunset. "Let everybody down."

They were both surprised with each other and smiled as Sunset closed the fridge, but let out a yelp as a girl came into the kitchen from nowhere.

"Boulder was hungry..." Maud said as she opened a cupboard and took out a box of crackers for her pet rock.

'I didn't even hear her come in.' Atticus thought to himself.

Maud soon left while feeding Boulder, mysterious as Cherry would.

"I still can't get over the fact that she's related to Pinkie Pie." Sunset whispered to Twilight and Atticus.

"You and me both!" Twilight replied.

"You said it." Atticus added.

"I better get some sleep," Sunset said with a yawn as she decided to leave. "Good luck with the counter-spell. Not that you'll need it. This must be nothing compared with the stuff you're expected to deal with as a princess in Equestria."

"Yeah, this should be easy for you." Atticus said.

"Sunset Shimmer?" Twilight called.

Sunset looked back at her before she went back in the bedroom.

Twilight took a long look and soon sighed in defeat. "...Never mind. It's not important."

Sunset gave a small smile and then went to go back to sleep. Atticus soon stayed behind as he already knew something was up.

"No, I have to be able to do this. I have to." Twilight told herself.

"Twilight, you okay?" Atticus asked.

"I-I'll be fine, you go back with the others." Twilight told him.

"You sure?" Atticus asked.

Twilight looked at him and looked down. "What if I can't do this?" she then asked him in defeat. "I mean... You saw what happened in Equestria. I even got my house burnt down thanks to Tirek."

"Twilight, even with the princesses' magic, neither of us could stop him alone without our friends." Atticus said.

"I still can't believe what happened to the library..." Twilight said in depression from memories of that event. "What if I can't do this either and stop The Sirens?"

"Of course you can." Atticus said.

"Do you really think so?" Twilight bit her lip, a bit anxiously.

"I know so, especially with our friends by our side." Atticus said.

Twilight gave a small smile. Atticus then smiled back to her.

"You always know what to say," Twilight smiled. "You really are a great brother figure since Shining Armor and I don't live together anymore since he lives in Canterlot with Cadence."

"True that." Atticus nodded.

Twilight soon hugged Atticus suddenly, surprising him, but he smiled to her. Cherry soon came out and looked surprised to them.

"Nothing happened," Atticus told her quickly. "We were just hugging!"

"Um, okay?" Cherry said out of confusion of why he said that quickly.

"Don't you ever sleep at night?" Atticus smirked to lighten the mood.

"Not a lot really." Cherry smirked back.

"Oh." Atticus said.

Cherry soon opened the fridge door, then took out a can of whipped cream and some sprayed into her face. "Mmf..." she then muffled as that tasted very good and she wiped her mouth. "I meant to do that."

"Uh-huh, sure." Atticus smirked.

Cherry soon went back to the room with a small yawn.

"I guess we should go to sleep now ourselves." Twilight suggested.

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

Twilight then walked with Atticus to go back to sleep.

Atticus came beside Mo with Patch in the middle and smiled as he fell asleep beside them, and where the rest of the night was peaceful.

'I'll be back for you, Atticus, the time will come soon...' King Sombra's voice told Atticus in his sleep.

"Go away!" Atticus muffled in his sleep. "Just go away!"

Cherry soon looked to Atticus, waking up and looked concerned for him.

Eventually, the next morning came and everyone went to school.

"Hey, Atticus, you alright?" Cherry asked.

"Hmm?" Atticus looked to her. "Oh... Yeah..."

"You saw Sombra in your sleep, didn't you?" Cherry guessed.

"Yeah." Atticus sighed.

"I know you're worried about him..." Cherry said before she looked a little scared herself. "In fact, he's quite intimidating... But, uh, you don't have to worry about him for a long time. H-He's taken care of..."

"You really think that he's gone?" Atticus asked.

"I'm sure of it..." Cherry replied. "What could possibly happen?"

Atticus smiled and then walked off ahead of her.

"Oh, please let me be right about that..." Cherry begged as Sombra scared her to death as he hated her the most for teaching Atticus the true magic of friendship when they were kids. "Please, please, please, please, please."

They soon practiced with the song with Twilight singing, but it sounded rather awkward and terrible. "Hey, hey, listen, We've got a message for you, We're not all alike, But our friendship is true, Yeah, we're really different, But we still get along, So hey, hey, listen to our song, You may think you're in control, But we're here to prove you wrong, With our friendship and our music, With the power of our song, Gonna stomp our feet, clap our hands, With the magic of friendship, Gonna stop your evil plan~"

"Make it stop!" Cherry begged.

Granny Smith even had to put apple cores in her ears.

"Eh, that sounded... Way better than the last... Five times you've played it." Spike smiled nervously.

"Nope." Big Mac commented as he walked by, carrying a barrel of apples.

"Not helping!" Patch told him.

"I think it's pretty obvious what's going on with this counter-spell." Rainbow Dash said to the others.

"You're turnin' what should be the chorus into a five-minute guitar solo?" Applejack glared.

"I have to pick up the slack somehow!" Rainbow Dash glared back. "Are you guys even trying?!"

"Trying?!" Mo glared back. "How is you doing a five-minute guitar solo helping with the counter-spell at all?!"

"It's fine," Twilight laughed nervously. "It'll be fine. One more time from the top!"

However, nobody did anything.

"Or, perhaps we could take a short break, try on some of the wardrobe choices I've put together?" Rarity suggested, bringing over a collection of new outfits and put on what looked like a marching band coat covered in glitter. "I'm particularly fond of this one."

"Rarity, is now really a good time for wardrobe?" Atticus asked.

"There's always a good time for a wardrobe, darling!" Rarity smiled.

"We're tryin' to save our school here," Applejack scolded the fashionista. "Enough with the costumes!"

"Oh, you can never have enough costumes!" Rarity replied in a golden outfit with a helmet with diamonds on the glass.

"Listen, Darth Fashion, there isn't much time about this, so you guys go ahead and handle it, and I'll catch up with you later, because, um, I have a doctor's appointment." Cherry said.

"Where are you really going?" Mo asked as she blocked her path.

"I told you, the doctor." Cherry smiled nervously, trying to move, but Mo just followed her.

"I'm not moving until you tell me." Mo said.

Cherry looked at her, then soon shoved her aside and ran out of the farm.

"Get her!" Atticus told the group before they piled on top of Cherry.

Cherry kept running, then grunted as Applejack threw a rope at her and tied her up and she was squashed. "Get... Off..." she muffled as she poked her head out, feeling stuck.

"Not until you tell us where you're really going." Atticus said.

"Let me go!" Cherry cried out, trying to get free, but grunted and struggled. "Why are you all so heavy?!"

"Cherry!" They all called to her.

Cherry soon sighed in defeat. "Okay... The truth is that I'm working at the animal shelter, and I need the money to-"

"Wait, if that's true, then why didn't you just tell us?" Mo asked.

"I didn't want you guys to think I was soft." Cherry said.

"We wouldn't think you were soft." Atticus said.

"Please get off of me." Cherry muttered.

They all soon got off of her.

Cherry then stood up and cracked her back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I gotta go to the animal shelter... Alone... With no one else..." she then told them.

"Alright." Patch said.

Cherry then zipped away rather quickly.

"Ever solve the mystery of her yet?" Patch asked.

"I think it's a riddle for the ages." Atticus said.

"Wow." Patch said.

"We'll worry about her later," Atticus said. "We have some Dazzlings to beat."

"Come on then." Mo agreed.

"And no fighting, okay?" Patch warned the other girls.

The girls just mumbled slightly.

"Please try." Patch begged.

"Besides, we don't have time for any of this!" Sunset added. "You're supposed to check in at the Battle of the Bands in fifteen minutes!"

This made the others instantly panic. "Oh, no!"

"What? But it's not ready!" Twilight freaked out. "If we play our counter-spell in the first round and it doesn't work, the sirens will know what we're up to and make sure we don't get a chance to play it again!"

"Then we'll have to play a different song." Atticus said.

"We'll buy ourselves some time so you can keep workin' on it." Applejack added.

"But how do you propose we do that?" Rarity asked.

"We compete in the Battle of the Bands for real! I take over lead vocals again and we stay alive until the finals! We unleash the counter-spell then!" Rainbow Dash replied before looking at Atticus and Twilight. "You'll have figured it out by finals, right?"

"Right." Atticus said.

"Of course they will, especially Twilight," Spike smiled. "Twilight Sparkle's never met a problem she couldn't solve. Right, Twilight?"

"...Right." Twilight replied, though not as confidently as Atticus.

"Then let's go win us a Battle of the Bands!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

"Um, okay." Mo said.

They soon did what they could do to get ready until they would go back to school for the big event. Atticus soon looked to Twilight. Twilight looked very scared and overwhelmed about this whole thing even though Spike kept telling everyone that she could do it. Atticus could tell that Twilight was scared and overwhelmed.