Equestria Girls: Infiltration

[b]Equestria Girls,

Comin' atch ya from

Another world!

What lies beyond the mirror?

What will we see?

Come on,

Take my haaand,

Stick with me,

And I'll show you a whole new land!

It's a different world!

Just call us the "E-quest-ria Girls!"

The rules are different here

It's a brand-new ball game

(Hi! I'm Sunset Shimmer!

What's your name?)

EQUESTRIA GIRLS

INFILTRATION

Story I

Mish Mash Melee

Arcee and Rainbow Dash discover an alternate world where the ponies are humans! And if they don't get out of there soon...they will be too!

At the imperial castle of Canterlot, the Elements of Harmony lay in their vault. These peace-keeping artifacts had been lost for some time, and only rediscovered around a year or two ago, and had been crucial, not just in defending Equestria from threats long since passed, but also purging the Cybertronian God of Chaos from one of their own wearers.

It was mid-day, yet the shadowy figure, hidden beneath a fetching grayish black cloak, had no trouble gliding from tower top to tower top until she was in the vault. She was an unusual entity, though the cloak couldn't hide her gender, her thin hips, her long tail...but it was the strangest thing. She had wings, like a pony. Well, more like a Decepticon, really, but that's beside the point. She had a tail, like a pony...but her body almost seemed human.

Crashing through the sunlit window without any concern for the glass getting onto her flesh, she landed skillfully on the royal red carpet.

The doors swung open, and two Guards came charging in. The room was not soundproof, and they heard the crash.

"You there!" One Guard accused, pointing his hoof. "Halt where you are!"

The figure turned to face them, and arched a red claw at them. The claw lit up green with magic, and the Guards grimaced, thinking they were dealing with a Changeling. Whether they were or weren't, the intruder blasted them both, knocking them out.

The interruption into her plan dealt with, the intruder smiled a toothy smile inside the shadow of her cloak. She approached the door to the vault proper. Painted with the blue and pink of Celestia's mane, and adorned with a stylized sun that mixed the sun with the six-pointed star symbol for magic.

Despite the thousands of enchantments cast upon the door, reinforcing each other as metaphysical iron, the intruder was able to shove her claws into the door and force it open.

Each Element was placed beautifully on a velvet purple pillow atop a stone pedestal. Each one shone beautifully, even without the sun reflecting into the room.

Her eyes, though hidden, lit up like a firework on the fourth of July. She eyed each Element hungrily, boldly walking into the room, taking her time. It was quite defiant of her to do this, as she wasn't supposed to even be so much as near the castle grounds. Each one called out to her, as if saying "Pick me!" but she was only imagining it. They would never speak to one such as herself.

"Who goes there-!?" She heard a Guard shot, and tossed another green fireball over her shoulder at him, taking him out without even trying.

She swung around, her tail billowing. She had never seen the Elements herself, only heard of them.

"I need to get the right one, but whiccch one isss the right one?" She hissed. "Missstresss will be ssso upssset if I pick the wrong one..."

She saw the Element of Loyalty. The one with the thunderbolt shaped jewel. She knew thunder, in general terms, meant power, so she choose to snag it, quickly whipping it off its pedestal. She hissed happily to herself, holding the Element in both her claws. She didn't let go, even as it attempted to harness its own power to burn her flesh and make her release what did not belong to her.

Cackling gleefully, sometimes interrupted by little gasps of pain from the Element's searing of her flesh, she flew out the castle as undetected as she flew in.

A few hours later, the prestigious, two purples Twilight Sparkle and her esteemed friends were taking their other friends – crimson Optimus Prime and his respected Team Prime of the shape-shifting Autobots- on their first tour of the 'Native Equestrian locale of The Crystal Empire', as Optimus liked to refer to it by. The lovely pink Princess Cadence was with them, offering her vast knowledge of the Empire to the Autobots. Twilight tried to keep up with Cadence with her own knowledge gleaned through intensive study, but it was almost like Cadence had actually been a Crystal Pony all her life.

Yellow, middle-sized Bumblebee, bulky, well, Bulkhead, and tiny, lithe silver and blue Arcee found it boring. Ratchet was interested, but unsure of what practical knowledge it would be for him to know their history. Optimus had the same unquenchable hunger for knowledge that Twilight herself did, though he hid it very well, always keeping his emotions in check.

"If you'll look over there..." Cadence said. "You'll see the Crystal Fountain, which has some of the purest water in all of Equestria...and the statue of me an overenthusiastic peasant spent his time trying to create..." Cadence put her hoof over her eyes and sighed. "Some ponies take their worshiping of royalty so seriously..."

"Aw, dude!" Rainbow Dash, who was colored as the name suggests, exclaimed. "I wish I had ponies willing to build statues of me..."

"Stained glass in Celestia's palace isn't enough for you?" Arcee playfully teased.

Rainbow Dash thought about for a moment before shaking her head. "No. Hey..."

Rainbow Dash looked upwards, noticing a cloaked figure flying in the Crystal skylines on large red wings that resembled a bat's, a pony's tail peeking out from the bottom of the cloak.

"What's that?" Rainbow Dash pointed upwards, and everypony else around did the same.

"It appears to be a humanoid figure with wings and a pony's tail." Optimus stoically observed. "Perhaps some as yet undiscovered form of Equestrian chimera."

"If we are to engage in speculation, Optimus," Ratchet retorted, "I would like to offer the possibility of humans attempting to splice genetics."

"An excellent suggestion, old friend." Optimus assured him. He took another look at the figure. Twilight and Cadence became alarmed when Optimus' expression became serious. His face was always serious, but when suspecting or engaging an enemy, it became noticeably more determined.

Rainbow Dash felt a weight in her heart, causing her to clutch at her chest. She looked up again, and saw a familiar shimmer in the mystery's figure's claw.

"Whatever it is, its got my Element!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

The figure flew towards them, fascinated and intimidated by the Autobots. "Missstresss sssaid nothing of ponies having metal giantsss for proteccction!"

As was his talent, Optimus took command of the situation. If Autobots could have Cutie Marks, his would no doubt one representative of leadership. Or perhaps altruism. He pointed at the figure. "Please, introduce yourself, and explain what is you intend do with the Element of Loyalty." Optimus brought his arm in front of his chest and bowed. "If you are troubled, we would be more than willing to aid in your plight."

The demon held the Element possessively in her claws. "Claimed Element for my misstress!"

Optimus stared at her with a bored expression, not very keen on the idea of his educational trip taking a back seat so they could fight. But if he and his Autobots had to fight to keep the Element where it belonged, then fight they shall!

"We came here for an educational trip..." Ratchet gritted, turning his arms into blades. "But please, allow us to teach you a lesson!"

"Something to end the boredom!" Bulkhead exclaimed happily, priming his blaster. The Autobots opened fire on the thief, firing a barrage of blue plasma energy at her. She nimbly moved left and right to dodge their lasers, knowing she didn't want to be touched by them. She shrieked, and her shrieked echoed like a falcon's caw, before she threw a green fireball into Optimus' eyeball.

"Agh!" Optimus came as close as he would allow himself to scream in pain, stepping backwards as he covered his now burnt optic. He would not allow himself to be seen as weak, yet, there was no denying he just took a fireball to his eye.

"Optimus!" Arcee yelped.

"I've got him!" Ratchet declared, grabbing Optimus and holding him steady with his arms. Ratchet pulled out a small blue-tipped device from whatever pocket of subspace Cybertronians kept their on person belongings, and raised it to Optimus' face. Ratchet brushed Optimus' hand off his face and clicked the device, waving at Optimus' smoking optic. "Follow the light."

The shrouded figure dived downwards and flew inside the Crystal Palace, baring her claws to scare anypony in her way into backing off as she ran through and tore the door open.

"Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash snarled, galloping after the crook. "Come on, Arcee!"

Arcee nodded, and transformed into her motorcycle vehicular mode. She was the only Autobot small enough to fit inside through the door. Rainbow Dash, even though she preferred flying, leaped up into the air and somersaulted onto Arcee's seat and wrapped the ankles of her hooves around Arcee's handlebars.

"Please be careful not to break anything of value while you're in there!" Cadence screamed after them with concern.

"Yeah, yeah."

"We'll do our best, Your Majesty!"

"Are you sure you don't want us with you!?" Twilight shouted in addition.

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "We'll be fine! You stay here and finish up the tour! Arcee and I can handle this on our own!"

Bulkhead grumbled about them getting to leave the tour early, while the rest of them had to stay here and slog through the experience he found most boring.

"Are you sure about that, Rainbow Dash?" Arcee understandably inquired.

"I'm sure I can." Rainbow answered, self-sure of herself. "Are you?"

"Is that a challenge?"

Rainbow Dash grinned, and revved Arcee's handlebars. Arcee sped through the straight, rocketing straight into the open door, startling a poor Crystal Pony waiter who had been on the other side who had just been scared by thief flying ahead of them.

"Is- is it legal to bring an Autobot inside here?" The waiter wondered aloud.

The flying thief looked over her shoulder at her pursuers, and flew up the nearest set of complex Crystal stairs. Arcee popped her blasters out from the sides of her vehicle modes and opened fire. A stray laser not only the missed the thief, but also blasted an expensive looking decorated vase off its pedestal, where it fell to the floor and shattered.

"Aw, shoot!" Rainbow Dash grimaced. "Cadence asked us not to destroy anything of value!"

"Well, in that case, you're fine." A passer Crystal Pony civilian assured them. "That vase didn't mean anything."

"Really?"

"No. It's that dusty, old, broken one over that has irreplaceable sentimental value." The civilian pointed at another pedestal where a much less nicer looking dusty brown vase lay. "Oh, and that thing you were chasing is still going up the stairs."

Rainbow Dash looked up, and the thief was standing there at the top of the stairs, taunting them by twirling the Element in her claws.

"Can't get up the ssstairs with that pieecce of metal you have there, can you?" The thief taunted, a wicked smile showing from her hood.

Rainbow Dash bared her teeth and snarled. She revved Arcee up a little more. Arcee's engine growled, like itself was angered at the thief's arrogance, even though it was an inanimate object inside an animate machine.

Popping a wheelie, Rainbow Dash and Arcee jumped onto the guide rail of the stairs and accelerated towards the thief. The thief's eyes widened, and she quickly turned her tail to them and fled, flying further up the next set of stairs. Rainbow Dash and Arcee continued their pursuit up those stairs, gliding on the guide rail again. They continued this pattern of the thief flying over the stairs and Arcee driving the guide rails until they reached the second highest level of the palace, where the thief suddenly turned into a hallway.

Arcee accelerated after her, refusing to relent on their chase until they had caught the suspect and retrieved their rightful belongings from her.

The thief stopped and turned, opening a door and closing it behind her as she entered the room. Arcee swerved around the hallway, her tires leaving skid marks all along the beautifully carved hallway. She didn't have the time to mourn the defilement though, and she charged through the door, throwing it off its hinges.

Inside the dimly lit closet room, they could make out the thief standing in front of a large mirror. The thief noticed them, and waved the Element at them mockingly. Arcee fired her blaster at the thief's head, narrowly missing her face, but burning her hood up. The light from the laser allowed them but a fleeting glance at her face, but it was enough to make out. She had light red skin, not like a human. More like a demon. Of course, her hair being black fire and her eyes being green irises inside black holes in her head help seal the deal.

Taking a moment to recover from nearly having her face burned off by a laser, she waved at them again and jumped into the mirror, which shimmered at her touch and rippled like water being disturbed by children throwing rocks across its surface.

Undaunted, Arcee revved herself and charged through the mirror with no visible trace of fear.

Going through the obviously magical mirror wasn't an unfamiliar feeling. It was kind of like going through the Autobots' GroundBridge system, meant to warp the Autobot militias quickly from one area to another. Rainbow Dash and Arcee quickly figured that since it felt like a GroundBridge, it must have done the same as a GroundBridge, only with Equestrian magic instead of Cybertronian science.

Coming out on the other side, Rainbow Dash briefly caught a glimpse of a closet room near identical to the one they just left, only oriented in the opposite direction. It was only a glimpse, though, as Arcee charged ahead and tackled through the closet door.

Rainbow Dash barely registered what was in front of and around them, and Arcee could barely do the same in time to her breaks and avoid a tragedy. The inertia of the abrupt stop threw Rainbow Dash forward, slamming her chest into Arcee's windshield. "Oof!"

Recovering quickly enough, Rainbow Dash pushed herself up to take in her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was that she appeared to be in a school hallway, with lockers and teenaged humans looking at her oddly. The second thing she noticed was that right before them was some sort of human with discolored skin and hair that made her think of Snips, a young foal back on her home world with Snips' Cutie Mark realized as a tattoo on his cheek, stuck between Arcee and a locker. If Arcee had stopped a split-second later, this human Snips would've been a nice gore-tastic decoration on those lockers by now.

"Ah!" The human threw his hands in the air, yelling and pleading for his life in a voice that sounded just like Snips.

"What the...?" Rainbow Dash oohed, looking around and seeing a variety of students that had the same resemblance to ponies she knew as this Snips look-alike did.

Arcee accentuated the positives of their situation."Well, we've gone through a magical mirror that leads to an alternate world, we have no idea where we are, and it looks like we're about to run over and murder a high school student. Any more brilliant ideas?"

"Yeah." Dash nodded. "A few."

Arcee sighed, the Autobot logo on her HUD contorting to make an expression. "I was afraid you'd say that."

Rainbow Dash turned Arcee's handlebars to the right, towards the school exit. She revved Arcee's engine as a warning to the assembled crowd of students. "Move or lose it, people! ...And by it, I mean your legs!"

The students stared, not understanding what she meant.

"Cause-Cause I'm gonna run over them if you don't wise up and get out of my way." Dash clarified, her pride deflating almost painfully as she spoke. "N-no? Okay."

Raising Arcee's front into the air to give the students' one last warning to get the scrap of their way, Arcee made a noise that was more a like horse's whinny than any sound Rainbow Dash herself had ever made, and they bolted for the entrance. The students around finally got that this wasn't a game and flattened themselves against the lockers.

Arcee burst through the door, the school-quality glass and wood no match for her alien steel.

"Scrap!" Arcee swore.

"What?"

"Rainbow Dash, you are about to discover why a school entrance is a motorcycle's worst enemy."

Rainbow Dash paused for thought. "Teachers on the other side?"

"No. Stairs!"

As soon Arcee answered Dash's question, Arcee reached the dreaded outside stairs and began to spin out of control, her metals flying off in scrapes as she swirled down from one flight of stairs to the another. The world around them turned into constantly roving seizure-inducing blurs of color. Rainbow Dash's teeth chattered, imagining she'd be thrown off Arcee's seat and crushed under the toppled over Autobot's vehicle mode, turning them both into bloody messes.

Sparks flew off the bike until she finally skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs. Rainbow Dash and Arcee both released deep breaths when they stopped, realizing they survived that experience.

Rainbow Dash carefully stepped off Arcee's seat and rubbed her head. "Whew! That was something."

"Whoa!"

Rainbow Dash turned around to meet not just another two humans with the same skin discolorations as that Snips clone, but one of them looked like herself, rainbow mane, er, hair, and all! She was wearing a leather coat and a skirt over some slacks. The other one had a skin color that was more normal for humans, and long hair with alternating red and yellow in it, like the shimmering of a fading sunset into the horizon. She was clutching a book in her arms and shivering fearfully.

"That was awesome!" her human counterpart exclaimed. "You just came flying out of the school on that motorcycle, and you look like me as some sort of horse!"

Rainbow Dash squinted at her, not trusting anything around her. "Watch it, pal." She raised her hoof to show she was willing to fight at the drop of a dime if provoked. "From where I'm standing, you look like me as a human!"

"Excuse you!" Somepony shouted at them.

"Uh-oh." The Dash look-alike muttered. "That's Vice-Principal Luna, and boy, does she looked ticked!"

Rainbow Dash looked up the stairs, not believing it. But amidst the skids mark Arcee left behind from their mishap, a very angry woman with skin like Luna's coat, and the same billowing mane of stars dressed up in a snazzy business suit was stomping down the stairs towards them. She had the same stern, disapproving glare as the Night Princess Dash knew.

"Princess Luna?" Dash questioned.

"Vice-Principal Luna." Principal Luna corrected. "And you! You think just because you're some sort of- talking horse you can take your bicycle and run rampant through the school grounds?"

"No." Dash answered starkly. "I think I can take my Autobot and run rampant because we're chasing a thief who stole something very important to me and we have no idea where in The Pit we are!"

"Do your parents know where you are and what you've been up to?" Principal Luna grilled her.

"I live on my own...?" Rainbow Dash confusedly answered, everything about this confrontation being just too weird for her.

"Hmph." The human Luna seemed unconcerned by Rainbow's confusion. She grabbed one of Arcee's handles. "I'm confiscating your motorcycle. Maybe it will teach you some responsibility."

"Oi oi oi hey!" Arcee jerked her front, yanking the handlebar out of Principal Luna's hand. "I don't like ponies I don't know touching the leather."

Luna glared at Arcee, then to Rainbow Dash, who only chuckled nervously.

"Very funny." Luna quipped. She applied her hand to Dash's chest and pushed Rainbow Dash away from Arcee so she could investigate it. "What do you have here?" Luna bent over to examine the bike. "A recorder? GPS?"

Arcee had enough of the Principal's touchy-feeling, and converted to her robot mode, slamming her fist into the ground behind the Principal, alarming the school officer.

"Giant transforming robot." Rainbow Dash haughtily informed the Principal.

"Look," Arcee said, fed up with the Principal's high horse . "We are looking for a thief, and I'm not talking some petty mugger who took off with our purse. I'm sorry about your school damage, but either help us figure out where that thief went..." Arcee reverted back to her vehicular mode and growled. "Or back off."

Principal Luna narrowed her eyes. "You two aren't from around here, are you?"

Arcee and Rainbow Dash did a collective roll of the optics. "Gee, whatever gave you that idea?" Rainbow Dash said dryly.

Luna clapped her hands, making a sharp noise that caught attention, and turning to the other humans next to them. "Roxanne! Sunset Shimmer!"

The addressed humans saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Y-y-yes, Vice-P-Principal?" The one Dash figured was Sunset Shimmer stuttered. Dash was eerily reminded of Fluttershy's behavior.

"As you two seem so impressed by their wild-riding, you can take this pony and her..." The Principal hesitated, as if unsure she should use the name Rainbow Dash had. "Autobot and show them how life is around here. You two can stay with Sunset Shimmer while you work on finding your thief."

The Principal raised a finger at them.

"And if I catch you breaking rules again, there will be consequences, attendance or not!"

She turned and stormed off towards the school, rubbing her head and muttering about how much it would cost to get the skid marks on the stairs removed.

"Awesome!" Roxanne swung her fist through the air. "Looks like you're bunking with us for awhile!"

"I-if t-that's okay..." Sunset Shimmer muttered.

"No, not awesome!" Arcee snapped. "Every minute we've spent here is more the thief had to get away!"

"Arcee," Rainbow Dash wrapped a hoof around Arcee's handlebars comfortingly. "She's probably gone by now anyway."

Arcee made an indistinct noise of frustration, before resigning herself to the fact Rainbow Dash was right.

"S-so, uh." Sunset Shimmer stuttered, constantly fiddling to keep her lone book from dropping. "Where are you from, and what are your names?"

"Rainbow Dash." Dash patted Arcee's seat. "And this is Arcee. I'm from Equestria. She's from Cybertron."

No one noticed Sunset's eyes widen the mention of Equestria, while Roxanne continued to be amazed. "Cool! So you're like aliens?"

Dash said nothing, only nodding with a self-satisfied smile, allowing Roxanne to be awed on her own merits.

"Suh-weet!" Roxanne turned to her companion Sunset. "Can you believe it, Sunset? Aliens, and they get to bunk with us!"

As they walked, Arcee couldn't help but notice that, even though they were humans, they had more a of a pony's reaction to things like aliens and transforming robots like herself. A human would panic and flail and struggle to come to terms with it, while a pony would just roll with it and see if they could make a new friend out of the deal. They dealt with things like dragons and manticores all the time, so alien robots from space? No big deal. Some of them waved to Sunset, and whispered about Rainbow Dash, but none of them commented on her out loud.

Rainbow Dash pushed Arcee to conserve on her Energon. They doubted the pony-humans here know of Energon and how to procure it, let alone convert it into a usable form for Arcee to use.

"Hey!" A male voice greeted. An attractive young man with spiky blue hair that made Rainbow think of a cartoon ran up to them. Sunset Shimmer dropped her shyness and lovingly hugged him. "How do you do, sweetie?"

"Just fine." Sunset answered. She cleared her throat. "Ahem..Rainbow Dash, Arcee, this is my boyfriend, Flash Sentry."

"Hmm. Nice to meet you." Rainbow Dash said without fanfare, not really interested in making friends right this instant.

"I'd love for you stay and get to know each other," Sunset said to her boyfriend. "But I'm sure Rainbow Dash and Arcee are tired from their trip here."

Dash missed, thinking Sunset's confidence was more just from having her boyfriend nearby, but Arcee began to be suspicious of Sunset's flip in behavior.

"Bye!" Sunset waved at Sentry as he left them, waving back.

"If you need me, I''ll be at my apartment!" Flash assured them. Once he was gone, Sunset's shyness returned in full.

"Well...l-let's get these two to our house, Roxanne." Sunset said to Roxanne.

After a long walk around to the town block, over and through sidewalks, they at last came upon a quaint little house. Its bricks were a mucky green color, and its shape indicated it was trying to be an older building from an older time, even though it was obviously built using modern construction techniques and equipment.

"I can't wait to introduce you to everyone!" Roxanne said, clapping her hands together. "I mean, Abigail is gonna flip out!"

"Abigail, huh..." Rainbow Dash noted, looking over the rooftops in vain hopes of catching sight of the mystery thief. Even the chance of finding the thief that easily, perhaps she could find a clue of some sort. A loose tail hair, a dropped piece of clothing, something!

Roxanne waltzed up and knocked on the door. "Hey! Hey, girls, come on out here, I want you to meet someone!"

After hearing her intention to introduce them to someone new, the door swung open rapidly.

"Where is she, where is she where is she!?" A high-pitched voice Rainbow thought she recognized squeaked.

"Is this her!?"

"Whoa!"

"The computer frag!?" Arcee swore, transforming automatically from fright and turned to face a human version of Pinkie, dressed in what else but a baker's uniform.

The human Pinkie was wowed by the sight of Arcee. "Are you a Transformer?"

Arcee laughed. "Well, that's the human word for it. I prefer "Autobot" - hey, how did you know?"

"She's Pinkie." Rainbow Dash concluded. "Don't try to question Pinkie, don't try to question her."

"My name's not Pinkie, it's Diane!"

Rainbow Dash winced, hearing Pinkie Pie's middle name. She knew Pinkie didn't like it when ponies used her middle name. Most ponies didn't like their middle name being used, but Pinkie, it reminded her tearfully of her old home on the rock farm.

More people came out of the house. Rainbow Dash counted Applejack's, Rarity's, and Fluttershy's counterpart in this bizarre alternate world amongst them. Rainbow unknowingly relaxed.

"Well, it's good to see Twilight doesn't have a counterpart among all of you!"

"Who's Twilight?"

Rainbow Dash's heart sank like a stone into the water of her stomach's natural acids. She hesitated, not wanting to face the reality of the possibility, then whipped around to see a girl with Twilight's hair colors and Cutie Mark on her cheek. Rainbow Dash pointed at her and blubbered, her mind unable to focus on anything except all the terrible things that would happen if her Twilight met this Twilight, as her Twilight had acquired an intense distaste for humans. She'd probably go on a rampage of some kind and burn every building in sight to the ground.

"Uh...Twilight is a friend of mine." Rainbow Dash answered. "You are?"

"Eve." Eve offered her hand for Rainbow Dash to shake. Rainbow Dash warily took it, giving a hoof-to-hand shake to the humanized form of her librarian friend.

"Where are you two from?"

"Equestria and Cybertron, respectively."

"Y-you're a-awfully big..." Fluttershy's human counterpart stammered at the sight of Arcee. "A-are we sure she won't hurt us?"

"You think I'm big?" Arcee questioned. "You should see the others."

"N-now, n-now, F-Flurrie..." Sunset Shimmer stuttered. "They've had a rough day. Something important was stolen from Rainbow Dash, they had narrowly avoided Principal Luna punishing them, and nearly ran over poor Snips..." Sunset sadly shook her head. "They need some space and some time to relax."

"O-oh, um, okay..." Flurrie mumbled. Rainbow Dash was amused at how similar Sunset and Flurrie seemed to be.

Seeing that she was too big to fit into the house, even in her motorcycle mode, Eve invited Rainbow Dash to park Arcee into their garage. Simply lying on her tailpipe inside the garage obviously did not sit well with Arcee, but she resigned herself to it, realizing she couldn't waste her Energon on things like pointless chit-chat with these human-pony hybrids until there were sure they could get some more fuel.

Sunset Shimmer walked Rainbow Dash inside the building. It was a sparsely decorated with green carpets and greenish-gray walls, but quite spacious home. They were introduced to Rarity's counterpart, Vanity who was quite interested at the prospect of having a pony counterpart, wondering if Rarity in that world was as 'fabulous' as in this one. Rainbow Dash assured her they were equals in the fabulosity department, though Vanity said Arcee was 'an unflattering shade of dark blue' for Rainbow Dash to be riding. After getting her accustomed to the layout of the house and maneuvering inside a human home, Sunset Shimmer brought Rainbow Dash to a flat room with a pile of carpets and rugs on it, a pillow lying ahead of them.

"This is your...bed." Sunset admitted. "I'm sorry it's not as good as it could be. I didn't have much time."

Rainbow Dash felt bad that Sunset was beating herself up over it so much. "Hey." Dash put a hoof on Sunset's shoulder. "It's fine." Rainbow Dash remembered back when she had to sleep on a pile of hay in a demeaning horse's stable in the Auto-base. While far from a 5-star hotel suite with room service, it was definitely an improvement over a stable.

Throughout the day, Sunset helped Rainbow Dash and her human friends open to each other. They sat the table and exchanged stories from their different worlds with one another. The humans seemed quite impressed by how causally Rainbow Dash described the difficulties of making tornadoes in Equestria happen, and happen on time, and were quite confused when Dash described Twilight's hatred for them.

"-Yeah, if Twilight found out about you, Eve, she'd probably slag you on the spot."

"Slag?" Eve questioned.

Vanity gasped. "Why, that means-"

"Something completely different to Cybertronians!" Rainbow Dash quickly told them, having experienced the difference between the same word having different meanings to humans and Cybertronians before. "It basically means she'd tear you apart limb from limb."

"Oh my." Sunset and Flurrie stammered in unison.

"What happened to make her hate humans so much?"

Rainbow Dash looked down, bottle of clear soda Sunset so graciously offered her hung loosely in her fetlock. "A...bunch of things."

Before long, it was evening, and Sunset was ushering Rainbow Dash into her excuse for a bed, as they had to get up in the morning and prepare for school, for Vice-Principal Luna would chew them out, give them detentions, and make them recite lectures for younger students. Rainbow Dash didn't like the sound of V.P Luna's methods of punishments. Princess Luna would have just chained them up and gave 'em a good lashing or two. Maybe a lightning bolt if they really botched something up.

Rainbow Dash stomped her hooves in place on the carpet bed, doing the animal thing of testing her place of rest out by stepping on it for any potential disturbances like weak snapping twigs or a shallow pit that was hidden by enticingly comfy looking leaves. Why she did this thing, when nothing that caused this kind of behavior in the wild could be found in Sunset Shimmer's carpet, she didn't know.

What she did know was that tomorrow, she and Arcee would be rested up and would tear the town upside down to find that weird...thing that stole her Element necklace.

In the garage, Arcee did the same as Rainbow Dash, falling into power-down with the thought of hunting down the thief ringing in her cranial module. But that night, something really strange happened.

Arcee had a dream, something she found quite odd. She didn't think Cybertronians could get proper organic 'dreams' per se.

Hmm... feeling groggily conscious of the fact she was in a dream, Arcee raised her hands up to see them. Funny. What do organics call this?

When they're in a dream, but they know they're in a dream?

Her musing were cut short when she saw something in front of her. Rainbow Dash's Element, shining practically in front of her face, a white light bathing the necklace in radiance behind it.

Rainbow's Element!

Forgetting she was in a dream and that anything she did would have no lasting impact on the real world, Arcee reached out to snatch it for Rainbow Dash, having promised to get it back, only to feel a stinging pain in her servos.

Aaaagh!

Arcee held her hands out to see what wound had been inflicted on her. She was horrified to discover tat they were smoking, and slowly starting to melt, even though there was no heat source nearby strong enough to smelt Cybertronian mesh. Unless maybe it was the light from behind the Element?

What's...happening...to me?

Her hands began melting, their metal dripping off her wrists in heated, smoldering drips. But what happened next was even more bizarre than anything that happened, even more bizarre than a human Rainbow Dash, weirder than a she-demon stealing a priceless relic, was that as her hands continued to drip to the invisible void below her...revealed smaller organic hands underneath. They were soft-looking, peachy pink, as well quite elongated with pointed nails.

Arcee couldn't have been happier to have woken up when she did. She was not interested in seeing where that dream was going to go, had its progress not been impeded. Blinking her optics open, Arcee found she didn't hear the usual sound of whirring whenever a robot moved any of their joints.

Mmmh. That's strange... Arcee thought to herself. Her vision wasn't showing her vital signs and targeting systems. At first, she thought it would was just because her Energon had somehow gotten low despite all her efforts at conservation. If it was that, though, her UI interface would have shown that her Energon was low.

Twitching her fingers, Arcee began to worry a little, as she distinctly remembered being in vehicular mode when she powered off.

"Arcee!" Rainbow Dash's voice snapped with agitation, and she could hear Dash's footsteps thudding outside in the hallway and into the garage. "We have a problem!"

Arcee raised her hand to cover her eyes from the morning sunlight streaming in through the window. "Can't it wait five minutes, Rainbow Dash?" Arcee squinted through the solar rays in her face, and saw Roxanne standing over her. "Roxanne?"

"No." The woman standing over Arcee answered. She kicked Arcee in the side, sending the Autobot tumbling through the floor, making her vision turn upside down and up and down in a nauseating fashion until a desk stopped her rolling. Arcee was too stunned Roxanne/Rainbow had kicked her to realize that the impact of soft feet against her metal chassis had actually hurt.

Arcee pushed herself up and rubbed her head, having bumped it into the desk. She looked up and saw whoever it was bothering leaning down on her knees and glaring at her. "Your remember that problem I mentioned, like, two seconds and eight words ago?" She wiggled her hand.

"I don't see a problem-" Arcee raised her hand to show she didn't see anything wrong, but then she saw exactly what was wrong.

Her hand had been turned into the long, peachy-pink hand she had seen in her dream, covered with some sort of bike padding she presumed was meant to emulate her Cybertronian's form armor.

Looking down, she had her hands weren't the only thing to receive the treatment. Her chest was covered by a plate that was a separate piece from her chest, rather than being one whole part. There was a silver wrestling belt on her waist to replace the black parts between her abdomen and chest piece, and her entire lithe form was covered in bicycle gear and leather straps, including her head, which had a helmet on it she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed. Feeling around the helmet, she found it had two fins and a bejeweled crest like her Cybertronian head. She tried to adjust her shoulders, feeling a strange thing on her back- a heavily customized backpack to replace her shoulder wing-lets.

Sunset Shimmer and her gal pals were sitting at the table, enjoying breakfast, engaging in gossip about Flash Sentry, and just being teenage girls.

"Come on, Sunset!" Abigail teased, smiling deviously. "Tell us what the strangest thing Flash did for ya..."

"Oh, g-girls..." Sunset stuttered, waving her hand in front of her face to try to cool her forming blush. "That's n-not really my place to say..."

"Oh, pish-posh, darling. Did you make out in his car?"

Before Eve could scold Vanity about how this was a much larger invasion of privacy than anything Abigail had said, Arcee and Rainbow Dash came charging into the room. Arcee picked Sunset Shimmer up by the shoulders, lifting her up from her chair, before pinning her against the wall. Arcee was relived to discover she had some leftover Cybertronian strength. She was far from the toughest of Autobots, easily outclassed by most Wreckers or Dinobots, but translated into a human body, she was quite strong relatively.

"Arcee!" All the teens exclaimed in fright, partially at her being a human, mostly at her rough-handling of their friend.

"Talk!" Arcee growled at Sunset Shimmer, raising her fist to strike her. "What did you do!?"

"I-I-I d-d-don't...u-understand." Being pinned to the wall by a woman taller than she was made Sunset Shimmer stammer even more than usual.

"Don't play dumb with us!" Rainbow Dash shouted, slamming her new fists into the table, making the silverware clatter. The more tidy of the group tried to keep the china and glasses from falling off and shattering.

In Arcee's professional opinion, it was extremely irritating to have to explain to a suspect what they were being interrogated for, when they should know themselves, having done it. Sometimes it was necessary. "We're humans now. We weren't last night. The common separating factor...is you. So you know something, don't you?"

"I understand you're upset you somehow got turned to humans," Eve said, standing up, "but that's no reason to treat Sunset Shimmer like that-!"

Sunset raised her hand, no longer speaking timidly. "Actually, girls...if Arcee will let me down, I wouldn't mind telling Arcee and Rainbow Dash what I do know. Alone."

Arcee raised an eyebrow.

The girls around exchanged a bout of worried glances, thinking that left alone, Arcee would probably get in more punches than answers from Sunset Shimmer, but conceding that Sunset was their leader, more or less, they all got up and left the room.

Arcee slowly dragged Sunset down from the wall until her feet were touching the ground, making sure to emphasize with her grip that while she may be a human now, there was no way that dampened her fighting instincts.

Sunset walked over to the table and scooted out a chair, waving for Arcee and Dash to sit as well. Arcee and Dash did so hesitantly, not entirely sure to trust Sunset after their conversion.

Sunset sighed and put a hand to her head. "I...I'm not sure what happened to you. I came here from Equestria as well."

Rainbow Dash and Arcee weren't expecting that.

"You're from Equestria? But you're a human!"

"So," Arcee sulked, crossing her arms. "Does that mean there are humans on Equestria?"

Sunset shook her head. "No. I was a pony. Unicorn, to be precise. One day, I stepped through the mirror, and I started...making friends." Sunset smiled. "Wonderful friends. I didn't want to leave them, so I stayed." Sunset pointed to the cup on Arcee's side of the table. It took Arcee a moment figure out what she meant, but she did and handed the cup to her. Sunset took a sip before resuming her story. "Over time, I turned into a human. My Cutie Mark went to my cheek. My mane turned into hair. My tail hairs fell out. My front hooves became atrophied stubs, before being atrophied stubs with lumps, before finally, turning into hands."

"Wait." Arcee pointed out. "You say it happened to you over time, but we changed overnight. How did that happen?"

Sunset shook her head again. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..." Sunset collapsed into the table, covering her eyes with her arms, the former of which were becoming soggy. "I wish I could do more to help!" She wailed, her voice breaking as it entered high pitches that would cause most animals discomfort.

Rainbow Dash and Arcee looked to each other, at a loss for any potential words of comfort to Sunset. Arcee's frustration with Sunset faded substantially at Sunset's story, and her frustration at being helpless to help them.

After giving Sunset some time to empty her tear ducts, Sunset walked them to the bathroom to look at themselves in the mirror and help get more accustomed to their human forms.

Looking at her human form, Arcee came to a conclusion she was grateful for; however she had been … transmogrified, it made her new human body correspond to her Cybertronian age, rather than her human equivalent. She appeared to be a woman who was more or less V.P Luna's age, her Cybertronian age. Her equivalent in human years would have made her body too old to move. In place of a Cutie Mark, she had an Autobot insignia tattooed to her cheek.

Arcee rubbed at her fleshy eyeballs. "So this is what having actual eyelids feels like..."

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, was a carbon copy of Roxanne. Rainbow Dash, looking at herself in the mirror, whimpered, feeling the need to walk on all four of her hooves, yet knowing she didn't have hooves any more. She gave in to her natural instinct and dropped to the floor, walking around on her hand and knees like young human children did when they pretended to be dogs.

"Nnnnngh!" Rainbow Dash squealed, trying to reach her leg over and scratch her ear like it was still a hind leg.

"Um..." Rainbow Dash and Arcee caught sight as Sunset Shimmer appeared in the mirror, holding up a small bottle of lavender something. They turned away from the reflection to look at the real Sunset.

"Make-up?"

Rainbow Dash was instantly against this idea, but Arcee had no familiarity with the idea, so her curiosity was provoked.

"No!"

"Wait a minute..." Arcee took the bottle and examined it. "What does it do?"

"Do? Uh, well, it's, uh...it's make-up. You put it on on your face."

Arcee nodded for Sunset to continue. "And?"

"And? Well, that's-that's it. You put on your face and it makes you look pretty."

"That's it!?" Arcee exclaimed, holding the vial tightly, in disbelief such a useless device could even exist. She knew humans sometimes made products of questionable worth, but this was a bit much.

Rainbow Dash scratched her head, wondering how to put it into Cybertronian terms. "Think of it like getting a new paint job on your chassis to attract a passing mech, Arcee."

Arcee raised her eyebrow at Rainbow Dash, understanding the make-up's purpose, but still questioning its functional value. She tossed the vial back to Sunset Shimmer before turning back to the mirror. For a minute, Arcee realized that while she had been more 'nerfed' from her transformation into a human, Rainbow Dash had it worse than her. At least Arcee had some understanding of how to operate a two-legged body. Rainbow Dash walked on four legs before this morning.

Sunset Shimmer draped one of her arms around each of their shoulders, giving them an inviting smile. "How about we take you out to understand what being a human is like?"

"Only if we look for clues for where that she-thing went while we're at it." Arcee growled. She wanted to catch that thief, and make her pay for being the catalyst that kicked this adventure off.

"Don't worry, we'll find her." Sunset assured her.

"Hey..." Rainbow Dash began to pick up on Sunset's change in demeanor. "You're not stammering or stuttering anymore! At all!"

Sunset giggled, something Arcee couldn't deny she found cute. "Well... what you two need right now is a friend who understands what you're going through, and like it or not, that's me."

"Hold on." Arcee raised a finger. "Do we even know if this is permanent?"

"Well, I still know a few spells..." Sunset murmured. "I think we can work on undoing it after we get your Element back."

"Wha- we never told you what it was!" Arcee snapped, suspicious roused.

"Well, she did say she's from Equestria." Rainbow Dash reminded her, gesturing with her hand. The inexperience she had with standing on two legs made her fall over after doing so.

"Come on, come on!" Sunset squeezed their shoulders, excitement at teaching Rainbow Dash and Arcee how to be humans showing through like a burnt ant on a UV lamp bulb. "Let's go!"

Sunset began ushering them out the door before they could protest. Once they got the doorway, Sunset shouted a brief summary of events to her friends.

"It's okay, girls! Just a little misunderstanding. I'm taking Arcee and Dash out for a good time!"

Arcee turned her head away and grumbled. Having a good time was the last thing on her mind. She wanted to find that thief, and she wanted to beat somepony over the head. Sunset didn't notice her discontent, and resumed pushing them out the door while her friends came of their hiding places to watch them go.

"Aww!" Vanity's put her hands over her chest, cooing. "Sunset's finally opened up to them!"

"Yeah...now if they'll just do the same." Abigail muttered.

Suddenly their phone rang. After an exchange of confused words - "Who could that be?" "I wasn't expecting anyone to call" - Roxanne walked over to the table and picked it up, slumping her arm against the wall as she put the phone to her ear.

"Roxanne and friends. Can I help you?"

The other girls watched with bated breath as a long moment of silence passed, punctuated only by the indistinct chattering coming of the other line.

"What!?" Roxanne snarled, slamming her fist into the table. "You-! How did you screw this up!?" Roxanne shook her head and sighed. "It doesn't matter now. Listen, she's out right now with those two. Knowing her, it'll be either getting their nails done or getting ice cream."

Roxanne took the phone away from her ear. She didn't need it to be that close for what she was about to scream at the caller.

"Get out there and fix your mess!"

Roxanne slammed the phone into its charger, huffing and rubbed her temples. She whipped out her cell phone and began to dial a number.

Roxanne, whoever she had been talking to, was absolutely right about Sunset. Sunset quickly realized, given their reaction to make-up at her home, talking Rainbow Dash and Arcee into getting their nails done would be a fruitless endeavor. So she took them instead to the nearest passing ice cream truck, meaning for them to gorge until they had aches in their stomachs and heads.

"Ooh! Now this I like!" Rainbow Dash rubbed her hands together, already knowing what ice cream was from outings with Scootaloo. Arcee wasn't as excited, not knowing the purpose the cow-colored truck they were approaching.

"I don't get it. We're...here for a cow-truck?"

Sunset giggled at her lack of knowledge. "It's an ice cream truck. You get ice cream from it."

"And then?"

"You eat it."

"Oh. I think I understand..."

Sunset breezily walked up to the truck and knocked on the window shutters. The shutters instantly pulled up, revealing what Rainbow Dash recognized as Donut Joe in human form. Would that make him Ice Cream Joe?

"Heey, Sunset Shimmer!" Joe whistled. "How's everyone's favorite organizer today, eh?"

"Fine." Sunset answered, reaching into her pocket and pulling a plastic card while she rested her elbow on the windowsill. "Two ice creams from my friends here."

"Oh!" Joe squealed. "New friends? Names?"

"Arcee and Rainbow Dash."

"Rainbow Dash and Arcee." Rainbow Dash corrected. Arcee scoffed at Dash's ego.

"Those are funny names..." Joe muttered.

Sunset smiled, looking at them charmingly. "They're...not from around here."

"So, two ice creams huh? What flavor?"

"Chocolate." Sunset guessed using her knowledge of Roxanne's taste, pointing at Rainbow Dash. Dash nodded, confirming they were one and the same. "And...let's go with chocolate mint swirl for Arcee."

"Uh. Sunset, are you sure that's a good idea?" Rainbow Dash asked. "There's ice cream on Equestria, but Arcee wasn't even an organic."

"Yep!" Sunset assured her. "This could be a once in lifetime opportunity for her, Dash! I'm not going to let it go to waste by getting her something plain and flavorless like vanilla."

"Oh..." Rainbow Dash nodded, totally respecting Sunset's motives. "Okay! That's...actually pretty rocking of you, Sunny." Sunset giggled at her new nickname.

"That'll be 4. 56." Joe informed Sunset as he handed her two ice cream cones. Sunset took them into her hand, passed them to Dash and Arcee, and then flippantly offered Joe the card she pulled out. Joe took it and slid it through the cash register. The register produced a ding in response and spat out Sunset's receipt.

"What's that?" Dash asked, pointing to the card as Joe handed it back. "Doesn't look like a bit or paper money..."

Sunset looked horrified. "Wha-really, Rainbow Dash? All these years, and Equestria still hasn't invented credit cards? I swear..." Sunset shook her head. "How do you ponies last this long?"

"Sheer determination and dumb luck!" Dash answered proudly, beating her hand against her chest. Unfortunately, it was the hand with her ice cream, causing it to splatter against her clothes and give her a shiver. "Egu!"

Arcee looked at her ice cream curiously as though it were a poison of some kind. "Hmmm."

"Go on, Arcee. Just lick it."

"Lick it?"

"Use your tongue...you do know what a tongue is don't you? It's in your mouth..."

Arcee tried to feel around her mouth to gauge where this 'tongue' was. After a minute, she realized the piece of saliva-coated muscle that she was moving to find her tongue was her tongue. Once she got the hang of using it, she stuck her tongue out and hesitated about putting to her ice cream, despite Sunset Shimmer's encouragement.

"Go on, go on! Taste it! Taste it, Arcee!" For a moment, Rainbow Dash thought Sunset was getting carried away, only to find herself doing the same, pumping her fists into the air and chanting like a cheerleader.

"Taste it! Taste it! Taste it!"

Finally, after a few more rounds of cheering, Arcee took the plunge, closed her eyes, and moved her head forward, putting her tongue to her ice cream. Her eyes went wide open as she realized that whatever this ice cream thing was, it was not going to kill her slowly. She eventually began to get the grasp of the idea, licking it multiple times in a row before withdrawing her tongue and swallowing what it had gathered.

"Yes!" Sunset pumped her fist in the air and offered to Rainbow Dash for a fist bump.

"So, Sunset..." Rainbow Dash said as they watched Arcee come to grips with enjoying her ice cream. "Why does Joe like you so much?"

Sunset laughed airily. "Uh, funny story, actually. Everyone likes me." Sunset smirked. "I'm very well-known and well-liked in our community."

Rainbow Dash's eyebrow raised. "Really? How did that happen?"

"Oh, you know, same old, same old..." Sunset waved her hand through the air. "You helped a friend with a favor, and then she recommends you to her friend, who recommends you to her friend, and before you know it, you're on the school board, the town council, and are a junior headmistress of the local girl scouts."

Dash's jaw dropped. "When do you get time to sleep!?"

Sunset threw her hands into the air, her beaming smile never faltering. "I don't know, but somehow I manage!"

An annoying beeping came out of Sunset's pocket.

Sunset raised a finger at Dash and smiled forcefully. "Excuse me, I have to take this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell-phone. The cell-phone had been customized to her, being orange with a nice bright rendition of her Cutie Mark on it.

"Yes, this is Sunset Shimmer." Sunset turned away from Dash and spoke in a hushed voice. Dash thought it was a little weird, but she had no reason to accuse Sunset of anything. She had been nothing but helpful.

"You what!? Arg, okay, just- I know you did, or they wouldn't be here!" Sunset grasped at her forehead with her palm, messaging herself to keep from losing her temper. "Just meet me at the school later this afternoon, okay?" Sunset closed the phone and muttered angrily to herself. "Dunderhead! Why must I do everything myself?" She turned back to Rainbow Dash, resuming her cheerful demeanor on the dime. "So sorry about that."

"It's cool."

Arcee finished her mint ice cream. Once she did, she held the cone in her hand, confused as to what to do with it. Sunset grabbed Arcee's hand and lowed the cone to her mouth. Sunset took a bite out of it to show Arcee what to do, before letting Arcee's hand go. Arcee followed her tutorial, and the cone was soon gone from her hands. Arcee rubbed said hands together to clear them of crumbs, and placed her hands on her hips.

"So we did that." Arcee turned around and began to stomp off. "Now, let's go find something to track down the thief. We already wasted enough time...ahh!" Arcee fell to her knees on the grass, clutching at her thighs.

"Arcee!" Rainbow Dash and Sunset rushed over to their fallen friend, picking her up by the shoulders.

"Are you all right?"

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"I don't know." Arcee admitted. "I was just walking, and of a sudden, I had a weird tingle in between my thighs..." Arcee's hand trailed down to her thigh, feeling around for any sort of disturbance. She grimaced and started jumping up and down, legs crossed. "And it's still there!"

Rainbow Dash started trying to comfort her, while Sunset examined her motions curiously. "Don't worry, Arcee! We're gonna get you through this!"

"Arcee..." Sunset asked. "Do you feel...uncomfortable?"

"YES!"

"Okay, just checking before I said anything."

"What!?" Dash yelped. "What were you going to say?"

"Well..." Sunset raised her hands out for them to be calm. "Try not to panic on me, but I think...I think you need to use the bathroom, Arcee."

"Great!" Arcee said, voice dry from all the sarcasm dripping off it. "How do I do that? And more importantly, where do we find one? This isn't going to be one of those 'prove your inner worth' quests, is it?"

Sunset chuckled. "No, no." Sunset pointed at house down the street. "Come on. Flash Sentry's house is right over there. I'm sure he won't mind if we visit and ask to use his."

"Don't worry, Arcee!" Rainbow Dash yelled, holding Arcee's shoulders tightly. "It's gonna be okay, solider!"

"Rainbow Dash, she just needs to go to the bathroom. It's not like she's giving birth or something."

Rainbow Dash smiled bashfully and took her palms off Arcee's shoulders. "I know that."

Rainbow Dash and Sunset kept Arcee steady on her one foot as they walked her towards Flash Sentry's house down the block. Sunset knocked on the door, and Flash Sentry opened it.

"Oh! Hey, sweetheart." Flash whispered at Sunset. "Who are your new friends?"

"You've met them already. Um, can we use your bathroom?"

"Of course." Flash moved to let them in. Flash noticed Sunset was staying with Arcee as they approached his bathroom down the hall. "Um, Sunset? Aren't you gonna let her go in peace?"

"She's...never used a toilet before."

Flash blinked, trying to figure out how that worked. An adult woman, who's never used a bathroom?

"I used to be a robot before I woke up in Sunset's garage!" Arcee quickly informed, wanting to let him know there was nothing out of the ordinary going on that was the cause of her ignorance. Like robots being turned into humans in his girlfriend's garage. That was fine, that was perfectly normal.

"You know, that makes me think..." Sunset muttered while Arcee went into the room. "Sure you don't need to go while we're here, Rainbow Dash?"

"Uh...well, I've used a bathroom before, but not a human one." Dash muttered.

"Right." Sunset closed the door.

Flash Sentry and Rainbow Dash stood there in awkward silence. For Flash, it was weird that his girlfriend was teaching a grown woman how to use a latrine in his house. For Dash, she just didn't know what to say to him.

"You're...handsome, I guess." Dash muttered.

"Easy, tiger." Flash held his hands out in a stop sign. "I'm spoken for."

"Yeah, so am I...just trying to make small talk."

Flash perked up. "Oh? Have a boyfriend back home?"

"Uh, yeah. Well, not really. It's a long-distance relationship."

"Oh, man! I know those can be tough, dude. Hang in there! What's he like?"

"He's a horse." Dash's answer was flat.

Flash blinked again. "Like, from Equestria?"

"Oh, no, no, he's a human-bred – hey, how do you know about Equestria?" Rainbow Dash pointed her finger at him, not in the mood for riddles and suspicious of who and what Sunset Shimmer told.

"Easy, easy." Flash tried to calm her. "Sunset tells all her closest friends about it. Eve, Abigail, Roxanne...me and them are the only ones that know. I guess you do too, huh?"

"Yeah..." Dash muttered, arms crossed. "I came from the same place."

"Really? Cool! Has it changed much since Sunset was there? I know she's been gone for a really long time..."

"Couldn't tell ya." Rainbow Dash answered, deciding to claim Flash's living room couch. Flash anxiously sat down next to her, his hands on his knees.

"She misses it sometimes." Flash said suddenly, startling Rainbow Dash. "She says she doesn't want to leave her friends here, but late at night, I see her looking into my mirror and murmuring things."

"Mm. Make out anything interesting? Any names, or...?"

Flash raised his hand. "Actually, that you mention it, yeah. There's this one name. Whenever she says it, she sounds really sad about it, or angry. She flip-flops."

"Women are complicated." Rainbow Dash said flatly.

Flash was amused. "Ha! You would know, wouldn't you?"

"I always thought myself as one of the boys." Dash retorted to him sharply. "You said there was a name. What was it?"

Flash opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, they heard the sounds of the latrine flushing.

"Okay, now what?" They heard Arcee questioning.

"Now, you take this and...no, no. Arcee, I understand eating is a new and strange experience to you, but we don't eat the toilet paper."

"Oh, good! It tastes terrible."

Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentry were fairly confident the exasperated thwack they heard was the sound of Sunset burying her face into her palm.

"Okay, now we do that...all right, now just do what I did, but in reverse...okay. Good, good. Make sure you use the hot water...yay! You did it, Arcee! You have officially used the bathroom!"

"Officially? Do I get a certificate or something?"

Mercifully, the bathroom door opened.

Rainbow Dash slapped herself on the knees as she got up. "Okay! I think I'll go too, just to be on the safe side."

Sunset put her fingers together, her caring concern and limitless generosity showing in her eyes. "Will you be okay? Or do you want me to help you too?"

"I'll be fine..." Dash assured her with a causal wave. "I understand clothes, and I understand toilets. I should be good to go."

Dash went into the bathroom and closed the door. While in there, she mused on how similar Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy seemed to be, while counting off the differences in their heads. Both of them were incredibly shy, yet quite open once they got to know you. Fluttershy cared for everypony, so did Sunset. Fluttershy...loved animals. Dash didn't know if Sunset loved animals, too, but it wouldn't surprise her at this point.

Yet, there was also the difference between them. Sunset was bold, always pursuing new goals (like making sure Arcee had a good flavor for her first time eating ice cream) while Fluttershy was tame and passive.

Rainbow Dash came out of the bathroom, and she felt like she arrived just before a fight was about to start.

"Can we finally look for something to find that thief with now?" Arcee growled. It was obvious from her body language she was getting impatient.

"Yes." Sunset Shimmer assured her with a nod. "Wait!" Sunset held up her finger. "I'm thinking...we should go to the school."

Arcee scoffed, rolling her eyes. "So that Princess Luna knock-off can keep trying rip me a new tailpipe? Thanks, but no thanks."

"Now, now, hang on." Sunset spoke reassuringly. "I've got a good gut feeling about this."

"Gut feeling?" Arcee snarled, leaning down to intimidate Sunset. "Listen, I don't need your gut feelings; I need something to find out where that thing might have hid Rainbow Dash's Element!"

"Uh, Arcee?" Flash Sentry hesitated to speak, as he knew it was dangerous to voice his thoughts in the presence of an angered woman. "Usually, when Sunset Shimmer gets a gut feeling, they're pretty spot-on."

"Spot-on?" Arcee glared at him. "You don't know the meaning of word." She turned back to Sunset Shimmer. "Do you know what I am, Sunset Shimmer? I'm a Sniper. You know what that means? It means either you help me get a clear shot, or you get out of my way. And between the ice cream, coming here to see your boyfriend, it really doesn't seem like you're helping with the first one." Arcee narrowed her eyes to let her meaning sink in.

"Whoo!" Flash cheered. "Cat fight! Cat fight!"

"What!? Oh no no no no." Rainbow Dash shook her head at him. She needed to break any mention of that notion from him, or this could get real ugly real quick. "Flash, if this goes on, it's not gonna be a cat-fight, it's gonna be a curb-stomp."

Rainbow Dash tried to squeeze herself in and push Arcee and Sunset Shimmer away from each other before they went into blows.

"Hey, Arcee? Why don't we go into another room?" Rainbow Dash offered politely, taking her hand off Sunset and using it to push Arcee backwards.

Arcee continued glaring at Sunset Shimmer all the while, but she didn't try to resist Dash's pushing. Dash took her hands off Arcee once they were both comfortably inside another room, sealed off from both Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry. It would make sure that the lovely couple wasn't disturbed by any argument from Rainbow Dash and Arcee. That would be such a pity, to bring a downer on them so abruptly.

"Okay, Arcee..." Rainbow Dash turned upon closing the door. "What is going on? Sunset Shimmer's done nothing but help us!"

"You sure about that?" Arcee countered. "Going for the ice cream, having to stop here at her boyfriend's...it's just..." Arcee turned and began to pace around the room. She put her hands on her head. "I...aaaagh!" Arcee raised her hands to the air, clawing them in her frustration. "I want to help you get your Element back!"

"So do I!" Dash shouted. "But that doesn't mean you can just up and bully Sunset-"

Arcee cut her off. "I said I'd get it back for you, and I haven't. I feel...like I've let you down, and after letting two partners down, I'm not sure I could stand to do it to a third."

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and glared back at Arcee with as much, if not more intent and force than Arcee had used on Sunset. "That's what this is about? You feel bad for letting me down?"

"Yes!" Arcee shrieked, still making motions and gestures like claws with her hands. "You default towards me more than the bots, so by process of elimination, that makes you, as far as 'the Autobot Pony Division' is concerned, my partner!"

"Jack is your partner too. You haven't let him down yet."

Arcee's eyes widened, and she blinked. For a second, Rainbow Dash thought she may have gone too far. Sure, she was all for dealing a low blow if it got what she wanted, but how low was too low? Before Dash could decided whether or not that warranted an apology, Arcee stood up tall.

"Don't remind me."

Rainbow Dash raised her finger to say something, but Arcee struck her along the cheek, knocking her to the floor. Arcee reached for the doorknob as causally as nothing happened. Dash was not cool with this. Hitting her was one thing, but playing it off? Not cool.

Dash leaped up and wrapped her arms around Arcee's legs. Arce looked down, snarled, and kicked her off with a single swing, sending her flying into a pile of cardboard boxes. She wasn't made of metal anymore, but she was still good with her legs.

"You want to fight?" Rainbow Dash barked as she pulled herself free of the cardboard. "Well, come on! Yaah!"

Rainbow Dash charged forward with arms outstretched, but Arcee had more experience fighting in a human(oid) form, and effortlessly disabled her with a punch to Rainbow's windpipe. Rainbow Dash fell to the ground, and this time, Dash decided she wasn't going to be stupid enough to get up and try that again.

"Want to try that again?" Arcee growled.

"Not really..." Rainbow Dash muttered.

Arcee swept her eyes over Rainbow Dash, then rolled said eyes with a frustrated noise. Arcee got down on the floor with Dash and gripped Rainbow Dash's shoulders. They locked eyes, but neither of them said anything.

"Sorry." Arcee spat out at last, and Rainbow Dash could tell she had been really struggling to force that binding gag of a word of her throat. "I just...when I think I've let my partner down in one way, my mind always starts to think about how I might let them down in other ways."

"Apology accepted." Rainbow Dash assured, putting her hand on Arcee's shoulders. "And you've never let me down. Granted, you're not nearly as awesome as I am-" Arcee chuckled. "But that's totally different." Dash clutched at her throat, wincing and speaking hoarsely, still recovering from the blow Arcee dealt her. "But seriously, though, let's not do that again?"

"Deal."

Arcee got to her feet, then helped Rainbow Dash up, before opening the door and returning to the living room, where Sunset was lying on top of Flash, muttering -presumably sweet- nothings to each other.

"I know, sweetie. I tried, but-"

"Hush!" Sunset instructed him as Dash and Arcee came into view. "Hello, girls! Got everything sorted out?"

"Yeah...and maybe a little more." Rainbow Dash said, looking to Arcee. Arcee rested her arm on the corner of the hallway.

"So, Sunset...I take it we're going back to school?"

Sunset and Flash Sentry were quite chipper on the group's way to the school. Flash excused himself, saying he needed to get his band practice, and ran ahead of them. Sunset quietly informed them of her intent to give them a proper welcome to the school.

Once they got there, they saw the skid marks Arcee had left behind when they arrived were still there on the stairs. Rainbow Dash a little embarrassed to see the destruction she had unwittingly caused was still there, while Arcee was uncaring to the sidewalk's distress.

"Huh." Sunset said. "Funny. Given what Vice-Principal Luna is like, I thought they would have been at least partway fixed." She walked ahead of Arcee and Dash towards the bottom of the stairs. She cleared her throat and put her hand on her chest. "Rainbow Dash. Arcee. Allow me, Sunset Shimmer, to officially welcome you to..."

Sunset Shimmer threw her hands up in the air like she proclaiming the presence of a god before them. Not that that would faze them any if she was.

"CANTERLOT HIGH!"

Neither Dash nor Arcee really understood her energetic announcement.

"It's a school." Arcee said plainly, tilting her head.

"Give me a C!" Sunset cheered, shaking her fists in the air and wiggling her rump. "Give me an 'A'! Give an 'N'!"

Sunset noticed the unamused looks Rainbow Dash and Arcee were giving her, and stopped her little chant while blushing shyly.

"What, are you on the cheerleader's committee too?" Rainbow Dash snarked.

"Well, I was, but I gave my position up so Vanity could have it." Sunset answered. Dash blinked in disbelief. "Come on." Sunset flexed her hand at them for them to follow as she climbed up the stairs. Arcee and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, shrugged, then marched up the stairs and into the building.

Right on the other side of the entrance, like, literally just as they entered, they saw Vice-Principal Luna again. She was scolding what must have been Snails' counterpart for something. Something stupid that he did, no doubt.

"Let's see if a few hours banging together erasers will make it stick that you shouldn't interfere with Chef Smith's cooking." Luna snarled at him, before noticing Sunset Shimmer and company entering the building. She turned to them with a self-satisfied smile. "Ah, Sunset Shimmer. Did you get that Autobot rabble and her pony friend to behave?"

"Rabble?" Rainbow Dash growled, taking up a fighting stance. She quickly dropped it, as though she doubted the fighting abilities of this human Luna, she wasn't sure she could adjust her own battle tactics to a human body. Arcee narrowed her eyes and snorted.

"Uh, Vice-Principal?" Sunset said. "These are that Autobot and her pony. They were turned into humans like us somehow."

Luna's eyes shot wide open, before she smiled. There was something about said smile that just made Arcee want to clock her lights out. Princess Luna was never this infuriatingly smug, was she?

Out of nowhere, appearing like a speeding bullet from a fired gun, Snips came running down the hallway for his partner in crime. "Snails! Snails!" He cried in his shrieked voice. "Outside! Now!"

Before Vice-Principal Luna could grab Snips and scold him for running in the halls, both boys slipped out from her grasp and slid out the double doors.

"What's got them so worked up?"

"Let's go find out!"

Luna, Dash, Arcee, and Sunset Shimmer rushed out the door, and Luna couldn't wrap her poor head around what she was looking at.

It was the demon that stole the Element yesterday, heading for the school. Her pony tail whipped about irritably, slapping herself on the hips. The Element was clenched firmly to her chest, her claws hissing as the Element attempted to burn itself free of her. Passing students either screamed or whimpered, but whichever they chose for their first reaction, their second reaction was always the same one; to run away in fear. Some of them dropped their books, and it was a divide whether or not they went back for their paper tomes.

"There!" Rainbow Dash pointed boldly, fearless in the face of the demon's approach. "That's the thief who stole my El- my necklace!"

No one noticed Sunset Shimmer softly curling into a scowl in the natural shadows of the school entrance's corners.

Snips and Snails rushed to the demon, and bowed at her feet.

"Mistress!" Snips exclaimed, sounding distressed.

"How can we be of service?" Snails questioned with his obliviousness showing like a bad rash.

"I'll  tell you what you can do..." The She-Demon whispered at them softly, before Arcee ran down the stairs and kicked herself in the air, landing just a few feet away from them on the sidewalk. She still had her talent for long jumps.

"You can drop that Element and give it back." Arcee snarled, putting up her dukes.

The She-Demon screeched softly to herself, shaking her head in disapproval of Arcee's insistence. "Let me tell you how this works. I do what I want. Ssometimes, thesse lovely young boys- " Snips and Snails swooned at being complimented so. "-help me out with it, and everyone elsse? Everyone else backs away becaussse they're afraid they'll get hurt."

Arcee jerked her head. "Yeah, all right. Well, I've got news for you. That's not how it's going to work this time. This time, you're going to drop the Element and back away slowly...or else." Arcee punch-jabbed the air as a warning.

The She-Demon hissed.

"O-oh my..." Sunset Shimmer murmured, sliding her hand on the glass of the door, her stutter having mysteriously returned. "This-this looks awfully serious...I-I'm g-going to go hide i-inside the s-school if that's okay..." Sunset pushed open the door and ran inside. Luna and Rainbow Dash were surprised to see her so fearful.

The She-Demon looked up, noticing Sunset's departure with a shimmer in her black, black eye. She flew up, pointing her claw at Arcee. Arcee reached her hand up to grab the Demon's leg as the Demon whizzed by, but missed. Arcee turned to give chase, but found unwelcome weights suddenly added to her legs. She saw the weights were Snips and Snails. The Demon pointing at her made a lot more sense; she was giving them their orders, to stall Arcee.

"Halt!" Luna shouted at the demon, but the Demon pushed her and Rainbow Dash aside, throwing them against the corners of the building.

Arcee jerked her legs, and both infatuated teens came flying off, getting a much-deserved face full of dirt. Rainbow Dash and Luna pulled themselves up, and Arcee came running up the stairs in pursuit of the thief.

"Wait!" Luna grabbed Arcee's arm. "You can't just run in the halls all you like!"

Arcee gritted her teeth, really fed up with Vice-Principal Luna and how she thought she could enforce the rules even outside of the school.

"I get an exception." Arcee coolly informed the Vice-Principal...before punching her in the face and knocking her lights out. Arcee looked down at the fallen Vice-Principal. Arcee tapped at the Autobot tattoo on her cheek.

"Police business."

"Arcee? Do Autobots really count as a police?"

"I don't know...don't we?"

"You're more of a military."

"And military doesn't have the same rights to incapacitate a civilian if they interfere with operations?" Arcee questioned dryly.

"Well..." Dash pursed her lips, getting a naughty smile. "Honestly, I don't know, but she so had that coming. Now let's go!" Dash burst through the door. "I'm pretty sure that thing is after Sunset Shimmer!"

Arcee realized Rainbow Dash was probably quite right and followed her through the openly swinging doors.

Sunset Shimmer was running down the hallway, huffing and out of breath already. She must not have a lot of stamina. The terrified grimace on her face suggested she was quite aware the She-Demon was chasing after her. Students of all the colors were lining up the lockers, afraid of the she-demon, but they were all gazing at Sunset Shimmer with concern.

Arcee prepped herself, and leaped into the air, tackling the flying She-Demon from the back, forcing her to the ground.

Sunset Shimmer stopped and looked at Arcee with worry.

Arcee gazed up at her. "Go! Hide! I'll be fine."

Sunset nodded, and resumed running down the hallway.

The She-Demon hissed and screeched, not at all pleased that Sunset Shimmer was getting away, or that Arcee was on top of and pinning her down.

"Not so tough when someone has the brass bearings to fight back, are ya!?"

The Demon flailed about, trying to get her off. Arcee responded in turn. For a moment, there was little more than a twisting mess of flailing limbs as they grappled at each, searching aimlessly for weak spots without a clue, but eventually, Arcee was triumphant when she slammed her elbow into the Demon's back, causing a high amount of pain even to the Demon's toughened hide. The She-Demon let out a very high pained wail and rested on the floor.

Arcee smirked, confident in her victory. Getting up, Arcee kept pressing her foot on the Demon's back, to keep at bay from the Demon's mind any thoughts of continuing this fight.

"Now, give me Rainbow Dash's Element, and I won't hurt you... as badly."

The Demon grumbled unintelligibly. Likely a few choice unkind words about Arcee and her parents, the demon not knowing Arcee didn't have parents in the traditional sense. The Demon reluctantly pulled the necklace off her neck, and lifted it up to the air.

"Yes!" Arcee reached out to grab the Element, but then a blur of grayish opal came flying at her and knocked her off the Demon, sending the Element cutting through the air like a Cybertanium blade on Earth grass.

"No!" Rainbow Dash reached her hand out, frozen for a moment as she thought about how, if she still had her wings, this setback wouldn't be a problem. As things stood, that Element was getting some serious air-time. Rainbow Dash and Arcee were too distracted with figuring out what that blur was to notice as a student came out of the boys' bathroom and barely dodged the magical-amulet-turned-Frisbee flew past his head and into the bathroom stalls.

"Snails!" Rainbow Dash snarled, recognizing the blur as it unfolded. She stomped forward, ready to give him a boot, if not a spanking, when she jumped backwards as large wings like the ones on the She-Demon unfurled from Snails' back. The She-Demon took the distraction and took off, streaking down the hall with her wings outstretched.

"What the-!?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, backing away at the sight of the demonic Snails. He had the same claws, the same pony-haired tail, as the Demon. Suspecting as much, Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder, to see Snips sneaking up on her, having gone through a similar transformation.

"Yeah, we're demons, just like our boss, eh?" Snips informed her, speaking with a laxness about himself Rainbow Dash wouldn't expect from a monster. She would expect it from dull-witted Snips, though. Regathering her confidence, Rainbow Dash brought her leg up and kicked the demon Snips in the chin, knocking him backwards into the floor. She was about to stomp on him, when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." Arcee instructed. "Go make sure Sunset Shimmer is okay, and look for your Element. I'll deal with these clowns."

"You sure you can take them?"

"Ha." Arcee winked, something Dash didn't know her for doing. "While taking a stasis nap. With a hand tied behind my back."

As Snips got up, Rainbow Dash chided herself. They were demons, sure, but they were still Snips and Snails. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe she thought for a second Snips and Snails could handle a trained Autobot like Arcee. Rainbow Dash ran down the hall, following the Demon's path.

Despite Rainbow Dash's confidence in Arcee, Snips was able to get the jump on her and give her a good slash across the cheek, giving her a nice open cut and making her bleed. Arcee's head hung linply, like a stuffed doll on a shelf. Snips stroked his ego and presumed it was the shock of him being able to hit her like that.

"Yeah!" Snips cheered himself on.

"You go, Snips!" Snails yelled.

Arcee panted, then looked at them again with a disturbingly gleeful smile. "You know, there are a lot new human things I've been experiencing today that are really unfamiliar to me, that I'm not too proud to admit I don't understand...but this." Arcee gestured to her cut. She trailed her finger along the cut, and looked up at her now bloody finger.

Arcee felt absolutely relished to feel something as familiar as leaking from her wounds after all the weird things she had to do today. Arcee smelled the scent of blood from her finger, and becoming curious, licked the blood off.

"This I understand perfectly."

She looked at Snips and Snails. She cricked her neck, jerked her shoulders, and cracked her knuckles.

Snips and Snails realized they might have been out of their league against Arcee.

Arcee grabbed Snips by the throat and picked him up with ease. She threw him into the nearest locker, then slammed her fist into his stomach, before giving a shattering uppercut to him. Snips slid down from the locker.

Arcee basked in her victory, before hearing the sound of footsteps pattering. Whipping around, she copied a trick she had seen June perform on Jack and pinched Snails' ear.

"Aah aah aah!" Snails yelled in pain. He had been dragged by the Vice-Principal so many times his ear was sore from it. Arcee, pitiless, worked on giving him the same treatment to him as she gave Snips.

Arcee ran down the hallway after where she saw Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer, and the She-Demon go.

Up ahead, Rainbow Dash was still running through the hallway when she bumped into someone taller than her. "Ow! Sorry about that." She looked up at her victim's face, and immediately picked up on several familiar things about it. Her face was a pure white like snow, her hair was like sherbet, and she had this eternal, indescribable beauty about her.

"Princ-" Rainbow Dash began before stopping and correcting herself. "Let me guess, Principal Celestia?"

The address Principal Celestia gave Rainbow Dash a confused look. "Roxanne, you should know who I am. You come to school here every day."

Rainbow Dash chortled nervously. "Uh, no, I don't. Not Roxanne. I'm, her, uh, cousin from out of town." Even though this was technically the esteemed Princess Celestia, Rainbow Dash was really eager for her to get of the way. "Now, do you mind? I'm chasing a thief, and I kinda left my sniper rifle at home."

Principal Celestia chuckled. "Sniper rifle? You teenagers have such active imaginations."

This time, it was Rainbow Dash's turn to look confused.

"Y-you're serious? You really did leave your sniper rifle at home?" Celestia questioned, sounding floor. "Okaay!" The Principal threw her hands up in the air and scooted aside to give Rainbow Dash access to the hall. "I can see you are not one to be trifled with, so I will leave you to your business."

Celestia walked down the other end of the hall, and Rainbow Dash resumed her sprint. It wasn't long before a passing blue blur came by Rainbow Dash and asked for a status update.

"Arcee!"

"Have you found Sunset Shimmer?"

"That's a negative. How did you deal with Snips and Snails?"

Arcee smiled mischievously. "Oh, you know, same old, same old."

Elsewhere, the other students in the hall were confused by the presence of the demonic Snips and Snails with their wings and pony tails tucked painfully under various lockers next to each other.

Rainbow Dash and Arcee kept running down the hall, only stopping when they suddenly heard the sound of soulful, soothing guitar.

"Rainbow Dash." Arcee grabbed Dash to stop before she got too far away. "You hear that?"

"How could I not? What of it? I mean, sure, it's a pretty rocking tune, but..."

"Flash Sentry said he had band practice today." Arcee reminded her. "And Flash Sentry is Sunset's boyfriend."

Rainbow Dash stared, not grasping what Arcee was hinting at.

"Think, Rainbow Dash! Sunset was scared. Where do girls turn to for comfort when they're scared?"

"Their boyfriends!" Rainbow Dash slammed her fist into her palm. "Of course!"

Bursting through the door, Rainbow Dash and Arcee were pleasantly surprised to see Arcee's guess had been right on the money. It was a school arena, with equipment and furniture for all sorts of activities, such as basketball, dancing, and what they were here for, music.

Sunset Shimmer was sitting in a folder chair, right before stage. On the stage, Flash Sentry was strumming a guitar, playing the soulful tune they heard, and a mint-green student was to his left doing drums, and to his right, there was a white one with blue hair doing base.

"Your music is so relaxing, Flash." Sunset murmured.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Flash said, clicking his tongue at her.

For all her seeming cold spark, even Arcee found Flash telling Sunset it was all on behalf of her was rather cute.

"There you are!"

Arcee and Rainbow Dash looked up to see the She-Demon flying above, looking right at Sunset Shimmer.

"I've been looking all over for you!" The She-Demon shouted, her fangs flashing from her mouth as she spoke. She divebombed towards Sunset Shimmer.

"Give me a boost, R.D." Arcee instructed. Rainbow Dash got down on her knees and lifted her fists. Arcee put her foot on Dash's hands, using them as a springboard to do one of her signature air leaps. Arcee tackled the She-Demon mid-air, repeating her earlier take-down of the creature. They started grappling with each other again, but this time, the She-Demon kicked Arcee off and stood up. Arcee punched the floor to keep her shoes from sliding on the polished until squeaky floor. The She-Demon bared her fangs and charged, and they exchanged blows, alternating punching and kicking at each other.

"I'll give you one warning..." Arcee hissed softly. "I was in the top 30 of the Cybertron All Fembot Kickboxing circuit."

"Ccyybertron? The name means nothing to me."

"No," Arcee admitted. "No, it doesn't. But by the end of today, my name will."

Arcee attempted to slam her arms into her opponent's shoulders, forgetting she didn't have her arm-blades. The Demon grabbed Arcee's wrists, hissing and growling the whole time. Arcee snarled in response.

"Well, it worked on Rainbow Dash earlier..." Arcee muttered to herself, an idea coming to mind. She jerked her wrist from the Demon's claw, then punched her in the windpipe. It definitely hurt, but nowhere as much effectiveness as it was on Rainbow Dash.

"Geez, Arcee! Think you could go a little easier on her?" Flash Sentry questioned.

"I'm a Sniper, Flash." Arcee retorted. "I'm trained to go for the soft spots."

From the very relative safety of his performing stage, Flash Sentry observed the fight. He looked to his band mates, whose smiles suggested they were thinking the same thing he was.

"All right, guys! I feel a bit of musical inspiration coming on!"

Flash and his band began playing, making up a song on the spot about Arcee and the She-Demon's fight.

Look out, everyone!

Look alive!

It's a genuine, bona-fide girl fight!

The wire is live tonight!

"Uh, dude?" Rainbow Dash said. "It's the middle of the day."

Flash blinked, before improvising on the spot.

Look out, everyone!

Get out of their way!

It's a a real-life girl fight!

The wire is live today!

"Think you could stop singing and actually help?" Arcee questioned Flash.

"This IS me helping!"

"Lazy little-!"

She's having to fight a she-Demons, Snips, and Snails,

But our gal Arcee is tough as nails!

I don't mean to gloat

But I heard that she's a Sniper;

That she goes for the throat

The she-witch in question

Stole something from the Equestria Nation

And now Arcee is here to keep the demons from taking it

To whatever is their destination

You can see the resentment

As they try to beat each other

Using school equipment

Arcee was something else prior to this morning

So something tells me that punch to the cheek was only just a warning.

You can see the sweat

As it collects

In beads

But neither will stop

Til the other is on their knees.

It's a girl fight!

It's a girl fight!

They're gonna fight through the halls,

They're gonna break through the walls,

And neither of them is stopping until the other falls!

It's a girl fight!

It's a girl fight!

I say that, you think pulling out hair

But let me tell you

You won't find that here

No, this is a solider

Ready to power through this smoking demon's smolder

And now, excuse me ending this song so abruptly thus

"But I'm pretty she' pointing that big fireball at us!"

Flash Sentry and his band mates threw down their instruments and ran off the stage as the Demon threw a green fireball from her claw at their stage, causing an explosion that startled Sunset Shimmer, but only got a measly '2' on Rainbow Dash's scale.

Seeing Flash Sentry's abandoned guitar lying there, not yet touched by the flames, Rainbow Dash had an idea. Doubting the fire's ability to catch up to and hurt her, Rainbow Dash ran the stage's entrance and picked up the guitar. Then, she aimed at Arcee and the she-beast. Raising the guitar over her like a war hammer, Rainbow Dash jumped off the stage and slammed the guitar onto the She-Demon's head.

"Oooh..." The She-Demon groaned, putting a claw to her forehead. "Quick Draw! Why therefore you do me this dirty treeck?"

Rainbow Dash covered her face with her palm, then raised the guitar again.

"Wrong reference, you dolt! That was El Kabong!" Anger at the Demon's inability to tell her cartoon equines apart (hey, wait a second... cartoon equines?) mounting, Rainbow Dash raised the guitar and slammed it on the She-Demon's head again.

"Arcee, go find my Element!" Dash barked, raising the guitar for another blow. "I got this!"

Arcee nodded, and dashed out the entrance, the doors swinging wildly as she shoved past them with her sheer velocity.

Dash brought the guitar down again, but this time, the She-Demon was ready for it and grabbed the guitar's neck with her claws. She jerked the guitar out of Dash's hand, then jabbed the base into Dash's stomach. Dash clutched at her stomach and fell onto her knees in pain.

"Or...maybe I don't." Dash muttered to herself, looking up with one eye at the Demon smiling maliciously at her.

In the hallway, Arcee ran through the crowd, nimbly avoiding passing students by merely shifting her fleet feet by a slight angle. She furiously scanned over every locker, looking for any sign of the Dash's Element anywhere.

Just as she was passing it, a door to Arcee's right and a student came out. Arcee stopped in her tracks and looked at the door, trying to determine whether or not the Element would be in there. She decided she might as well give it a shot and went inside.

The room the door led into smelled terrible, causing Arcee to cover her nose. She sighed when she realized that if she kept protecting her nose, she'd be limited to only one arm for defense, so she took in a deep breath and removed her hand.

Walking along the rather small room, Arcee was fascinated by the mirrors on the wall, mounted just above these bizarre porcelain bowls. She was so fascinated by them she bumped into a student.

"Oh! Sorry. Didn't see you there."

"It's cool." The student assured her, water filling up the bowl he was at. At first, he seemed calm, but then something about her appearance seemed to alarm him.

"Uh...miss? You do know this is the boys' restroom, right?"

"Uh, well," Arcee forced a nervous chuckle. "Please try to understand. I'm actually an alien robot from outer space, so...I have no idea what that means."

"Uh-huh." The student nodded his head, worried over how crazy this woman – who looked perfectly fine, except for her weird Cutie Mark on her cheek- had to be think she was a robot. "You look normal enough to me."

"Well..." Arcee raised her hand to talk, but she noticed a shimmer come off the student's other hand. "What do you have in your hand?"

"This?" The student questioned, raising his hand, revealing it to be Rainbow Dash's Element! "It was there in the sink when I came out of the stall."

Arcee put her hands together. "Could I please have that? It belongs to a friend of mine, and she kinda needs it back."

"Oh...okay, I guess."

The student handed her the necklace without any complaints.

"Yes! Thank you!" Arcee eagerly snatched the necklace from him, figuring that now that she had the Element, she could get Rainbow Dash and then Sunset could work on turning them back to their true forms.

The Element begin to shimmer and glow in Arcee's hand.

"Wha-!?"

Rainbow Dash looked up bitterly at the She-Demon, waiting for the creature to raise the guitar and hit Rainbow Dash on the head with it like Dash had done her. From her seat, Sunset Shimmer was hyperventilating from the all the excitement and danger.

"Well? Let's get it over with..." Dash grumbled.

The She-Demon made a pleased hiss, then raised the guitar up high. Both she and Rainbow Dash were confused when they heard what sounded like a revving engine. They both turned to the door, expecting something would soon be coming through.

Something was.

A dark blue motorcycle with pink highlights came roaring through the door and did an impossible jump onto the She-Demon, bringing its rear wheel onto the She-Demon's face as its weight forced her to the ground. The motorcycle spun its tire on the Demon's face, leaving a skid mark and causing the Demon a great deal of pain.

"Oooh!" The motorcycle moaned. "This feels so satisfying!"

"Arcee!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Arcee stopped her rear tire, transformed, and held up Rainbow Dash's Element. "I think you lost this?" Arcee tossed Rainbow Dash the necklace. The She-Demon shrieked and flew up to intercept, but Arcee primed her blaster and shot the beast down. The Element flew freely into Dash's waiting palm, where it shimmered brightly upon reconnecting with its true master.

Arcee would've liked to relax, but it wasn't the time. Now was the time for payback.

Turning her attention back on the She-Beast, Arcee stomped it into the ground, stomping onto its stomach until all of her breath had been forced out of her. Once she finished doing that, Arcee bent over and picked the demon up, then threw her into the basketball hoop on the side of the room. The She-Demon landed in the net, dazed. Arcee walked over to a stray basketball, then walked up to the hoop and began bouncing the ball into the Demon's face, her metal hand giving the ball enough momentum to easily give the Demon a black(er) eye.

"This is fun." Arcee mused, pounding the ball mercilessly. She stopped and tossed the ball over her shoulder, then readied her arm-mounted ski blades, which she used to slice thin, vertical holes in the Demon's wings. It caused little pain, but the holes meant the air wouldn't travel accurately, so the Demon was ground. Arcee picked her up and tossed her to the floor.

The Demon slid across the smooth surface of the floor, and was confused when a skirt, a pair of slacks, a shirt, and a dark blue jacket suddenly fell in front of her face. Then a dark cyan hoof slammed onto the clothes.

The Demon looked up see Rainbow Dash – a pony again – looking down at her.

"So, you can't fly anymore...and I can." Dash informed her, a cruel idea forming in her mind. Dash picked up the Demon up, then flew all around the room, slamming herself into various parts of the ceiling, the floor, and the walls, using the Demon as a crash shield every time, which not only kept Dash from getting dizzy, but really hurt the Demon.

Deciding after slamming her opponent into the ceiling that it was getting boring, Dash tossed the Demon to the ground. Arcee walked over and crossed her arms.

"All right." Arcee put her foot on the Demon to pin her. "Talk. Who sent you to steal the Element of Loyalty?"

The Demon blinked. "Loyalty? I wasss told to sssteal the mosst powerful Element. I thought that wasss it ssssince it had a cool thunderbolt on it."

Dash stroked her ego, looking at her Element and noting its resemblance to her Cutie Mark. "Yeah, my Cutie Mark – like everything about me- is pretty awesome."

Arcee was not satsified, and she began to apply more pressure to the She-Demon's stomach. "That still doesn't explain why you-"

The Demon shot Arcee a glare, then snapped her fingers and burst into green flames. Arcee quickly removed her foot, and when the fire was gone, there was a leftover pile of ash where the Demon was supposed to be.

"Teleported..."Arcee grumbled.

"Oh well." Dash shrugged. "A least we got the Element back, right?"

Dash and Arcee turned to leave, but they saw Sunset Shimmer still holding her seat, her breath slowly but surely coming back to a healthy pace.

Arcee and Dash looked at each other. Rainbow Dash flew towards Sunset, landing next to her.

"Hey...Sunset? You helped us out a lot today, at least until that thing showed up."

"Yeah...I...did." Sunset admitted.

Dash draped a foreleg around Sunset's shoulder. "How would you like to meet Optimus Prime?"

"I- I don't know...you haven't told me about him yet."

Dash rolled her eyes. "I'm gonna take that as a yes."

Outside the Crystal Empire, Twilight's group and the rest of Team Prime were waiting anxiously. Despite Cadence's assurance her Crystal Guards would find them, Arcee, Dash, and the thief had seemingly vanished from the Crystal Castle with out even leaving a trace of evidence they were there at all, and Arcee hadn't tried to use their comms in over twenty-four hours. They had camped out here all night. Celestia even showed up in minutes when they reported to her what happened.

"You think they're all right?" Fluttershy feebly muttered.

"Of course they're all right!" Applejack snapped. "They have to be! They're tough..."

"They could have just run into a...minor setback." Ratchet offered, trying to make Fluttershy feel better.

A Guard suddenly threw open the door. "Princess Cadence! Arcee and Rainbow Dash have returned, and they have a guest!"

Everyone exchanged looks and murmurs.

"Guest?"

The Guard moved aside, and Rainbow Dash came out of the door, riding Arcee, a funny-looking human in a blazer with almost seemed like a Cutie Mark on her cheek.

"Everypony, I'd like you to meet Sunset Shimmer!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, gesturing as Sunset got off Arcee's seat. "There was this funny mirror in the castle that took us to another world, and Sunset helped me and Arcee out while we were there!"

Sunset Shimmer was immediately crowed by all of Rainbow Dash's friends asking her all sorts of questions, if they weren't giving thanks.

"Darling, how do you get your mane so vivid? Don't tell me those are your natural colors!"

"Um, t-thank you so much for helping our friends, Sunset Shimmer!"

"Normally, I don't like humans...but I guess you since you helped, I'll add you to my small list of exceptions."

Sunset Shimmer felt overwhelmed by the all smiling, talking faces, so she tried to look away, only for her gaze to fall upon each of the Autobots in turn. To her, Bumblebee looked cute, Bulkhead must have been a heavyweight champion, Ratchet actually looked...kind of funny, honestly. However, it took all of her composure not to faint at the towering sight of Optimus.

"Hello." Optimus said to her warmly. Sunset nervously waved her fingers back at him, just like June did when she first met Optimus.

"Enough, everypony! Please, give her some space." Celestia boomed at them, though her tone never ceased be caring. Twilight's friends backed away from Sunset somewhat, and Celestia approached her.

"Hello, Sunset Shimmer." Celestia bowed her neck. "I am Princess Celestia, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to...Equest...ira."

Celestia and Sunset locked eyes, and from their gazes, it was like they had found long-lost sisters.

"Princess Celestia?"

"Sunset Shimmer?"

They both blinked, making sure they were really looking at what they thought they were seeing, before crying and embracing each other.

"Princess!"

"Sunset!" Celestia wrapped her front legs tightly around Sunset, pressing Sunset up against her chest. "It's been so long...when Rainbow Dash said your name, I dispelled the notion it was you and not just someone who happened to have the same name!"

"But it is me, Princess!"

Twilight looked between her mentor and Sunset, utterly bewildered. "I don't understand. What's going on!?"

Celestia cleared her throat, and undid her and Sunset's embrace. "Sunset Shimmer was a student of mine. In fact, she started her studies around the same time you did, Twilight Sparkle... I looked forward to spending time with her...she was so young and inquisitive. But then one day, she disappeared..." Celestia looked at Sunset. "I hoped she would come back one day and tell me where she went, but as the years went by, I realized I'd never see her again."

"Well..." Sunset said shyly. "I guess one day is today!"

"Wait..." Ratchet stepped forward, and Sunset, not used to hearing a Cybertronian's footsteps, nearly had a heart attack. "That does that mean there are native humans on Equestria!?"

"Actually, Sunset was a unicorn." Celestia answered starkly, before raising an eyebrow at Sunset.

"What can I say?" Sunset shrugged. "I...don't really know how to explain myself."

"It doesn't matter now." Celestia said, and in a rare occurrence, Twilight found that she disagreed.

"It does matter..."

"All that matters is that you're here with us again." Celestia told Sunset. "Come. We have much to discuss. Much has changed since I last saw you."

"I...gathered." Sunset stammered, looking at Optimus.

It was late at night on Earth. Arcee had been bridged back to her 'owner's' Jack's house, and was resting in the garage, idling her engine and looking forward to a power down where she didn't run the risk of waking up as a human.

"Hey, Arcee!" Jack said, coming downstairs to see his partner. "Heard you had a pretty rough day."

"Yes."

Jack noticed something odd. A little square was rested up on Arcee's kickstand. He bent over and picked it up to examine it. "What's this?"

"My certificate."

"Certifacte?" Jack spat, more than a little surprised to learn Cybertronians could even get certificates. "For what?"

"Potty training."

Jack blinked. There was no way he heard what he just though he heard. "You, uh, you want to explain that to me?"

Arcee adjusted her front at him, her headlights glaring at Jack like a sleep-deprived, cranky cyclops. "I've had a long day, Jack. I don't want to talk about it right now."

"Okay...maybe tomorrow?" Jack asked politely as he set the certificate back down.

It was also late at night on the other side of the mirror. The human side. The Earth that was like an Equestria.

The She-Demon was returning to the now abandoned school. No student would want to be there any longer than they had to be, so it was as desolate as the next ghost town over. Walking up to the school entrance, she found Snips, Snails...and Flash Sentry.

"Well...she's not gonna be happy." Flash said with a weary sigh. There was agreement all around him.

"No, eh?"

"Nope."

"We have failed the Missstressss..."

Taking in deep breaths, Flash opened the door for them. They began walking through the halls, a specific classroom in mind. With all her accomplishments, Sunset Shimmer had no problems from the teachers for asking a classroom be open for her usage at times of night.

Flash, Snips, Snails, and the She-Demon all stopped when they came across the right door. Classroom 10 (9) 74.

They all hesitated, knowing what was on the other side.

"Well, one of us needs to go in there..."

"I'm not going in there first! You go in there first!"

"No, why don't you go in there first!?"

The door opened for them, and Eve was standing there, glaring at them.

"Well?" Eve gestured for them to come inside. "Come on. Making her wait will only make her angrier."

The four of them gulped, before entering the classroom.

Flurrie, Roxanne, Diane, and Vanity were all sitting or standing at various corners of the room. Sunset Shimmer herself was sitting on the teacher's desk with her hands to her hips like a voluminous temptress.

The She-Demon, Snips, Snails, and Flash, all took up seats in the classroom, nervously awaiting what Sunset had in store for them.

"Let's talk." Sunset spat at them, eyes alight with tranquil demonic fury that made the She-Demon seemed like a kid in a costume by comparison. Sunset hopped down from the teacher's desk and slammed her hands on the student desk of the seat the Demon sat in. "What did I tell you to do?"

The She-Demon sighed, her black burning hair seemingly it was about to give up the ghost and put itself out. "Go to the sstoreroom. Ssteal the moosst powerful Element of Harmony. Don't let anypony sseeee me."

"Uh-huh. Very good!" Sunset nodded, complimenting the Demon like a dog. "And what did you end up doing that I did not tell you to do?"

The Demon put her claw over her face to mask her shame. "I let sssomepony sseee me, and...I brought that wretched Autobot Sssniper along!"

"That's right!" Sunset growled in a mocking tone.

"Sunset, sweetie..." Flash Sentry said, hoping his affection for her could calm her down before her punishments got too severe.

"Don't you, 'Sunset, sweetie' me!" Sunset shouted at him before walking up to the chalkboard.

"Uh, Sunset Shimmer?" Eve said. Sunset glared.

"What!?"

"Well, maybe it's a good thing your demonette messed up the mission..." Eve said, nervously twiddling her fingers, aware of Sunset's wrath if angered. "Because now we know about the Autobots. If we tried our old plan to use the Element of Magic to brainwash a bunch of teenagers to take over Equestria, and all of a sudden, whoop, surprise! They have Autobots! ...Our army would get slaughtered."

"I supossse you're right." Sunset hissed, complimenting Eve and insulting her demon servant at the same time. She raised up her hand, which became aglow in light blue magic like a unicorn's horn.

"But..."

Sunset made a sound even Pinkie Pie would never able to compete with in its raw shrilness, slashing her fingernails and dragging them across the chalkboard, causing a screech and yellow friction sparks like when Cybertronians fought with each other.

Everyone covered their eyes while waiting for Sunset to finish venting her frustrations out on the chalkboard. Sunset finished and turned around, taking a scan across the room to make sure everyone in the room was paying attention.

"EIGHTEEN YEARS!" Sunset bellowed at them. "Eighteen years I spent, going back and forth through that mirror, shifting between pony and human forms...practicing my magic, until finally..." Sunset raised her glowing hand again. "I could do my unicorn magic in my human form! I could disable and enable the mirror's effect at my will and leisure! I could turn others into humans with ease! And I kept practicing, until finally, one day, my shape-shifting abilities reached that of DISCORD HIMSELF!"

Sunset snorted.

"I've come too far. I've waited too long, for my revenge against Celestia...to let something like Optimus Prime, " Sunset sneered the Prime's name, having no respect for his position of power, "and his band of merry mechs to stop me NOW!"

Sunset huffed and puffed, panting from her outburst, while everyone – her friends...her servants cowered before her anger.

Next Time on Equestria Girls: Infiltration...

Shockwave pointed his finger. "I have taken great pains to ensure my alliance with the Equestria goverment. Pains I will not see undone by your incompetence, Starscream."

"Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, I'm confining you to base. We cannot allow your enmity to give this radical pro-human, anti-pony movement to gain ground."

"It was only the..."

"Shockwave, don't you dare say log-"

"Logical progression in response to your claims, General."

Twilight blinked, disbelieving, but before her, guarding the double doors of Shockwave's throne room, were Canterlot guards in armor customized to match the ideal Decepticon aesthetic.