"Well, Miss Shimmer," the grating voice asked. "What do you choose?"

"I-I," she heard herself stammer.

"Sunset," a new voice said, uncertain, hurt, and practically begging. "Sunset, please don't do this."

Cruel laughter echoed through her mind. "I apologize, my dear. It seems as if your friend has made a decision much wiser than yours."

"S-Sunset?"

"Twilight, I'm sorry, but . . . " She had to get out of there. She had to move, run, be struck by lightning; she had to do anything except answer. The laughter just kept getting louder and louder, threatening to tear her sanity to ribbons. Hot tears threatened to stream down her face. The harsh, icy magic swirled in her blood. A terrible scream rang out.

"Sunset!"

Sunset Shimmer didn't jolt awake; nightmares were nothing new to her. Everything else was, though. Her headache felt like somepony had driven in a railway spike into her forehead, and the rest of her body got hit by the train. However, lifting her hoof to inspect her horn for damage, the former unicorn discovered that both had vanished. Well, technically only her horn had vanished while her hoof had transformed into a split tentacle thing. It was still surprising to say the least.

With shocked eyes, Sunset scanned her surroundings. She was lying on a pile of blankets on a tile floor. Light from a blood red sky poured in from two shattered windows. A rotten wooden door desperately clung to its hinges. Old, rusted blood was splattered everywhereThe room was empty except for her makeshift bed, a few bunches of smashed wood and strings that could have once passed for instruments, and the hateful graffiti covering every inch of the once white walls.

SFR = Some Friendless Rejects!
Shut Up. Stay Silent.
Musicians are SCUM!

Sunset stood up and all the blood rushed from her head. The whole world started spinning, not helped by the fact that she had double the height and half the stability. After a couple of shaky steps, Sunset stumbled headlong into the wall, barely managing to catch herself with her elongated forelegs. She looked down at her new body. From the few locks that fell over her shoulder, she could tell that her mane was unchanged, as was her skin, still bearing the combination of warm hues that she was named for. However, the clothes were new: a two-toned shirt with a golden-red sun, a tough leather jacket, a pair of ripped dark-wash jeans, and some beat-up purple sneakers with a black flame design. No complaints there at least.

Before she could wonder how she ended up in this room, the door creaked open. In stepped a pale girl with soft pink hair tied back by a butterfly-patterned green bandanna. Her loose fitting tank top was a darker shade of kale. Add that to the tattered cargo shorts and flip flops, and you end up one tambourine short of a hippie. Both jumped back upon seeing the other, the new girl giving a surprised squeak. Sunset Shimmer, keeping one hand on the wall, tried to blast her back. She braced herself for the usual pain that using dark magic brought, but nothing came. Like a fish out of water, she was suddenly deprived of the element that had been the basis of her entire life. Sunset hadn't just lost a limb; she lost a heart.

"Ummm . . . hi?" The timid girl said with uncertainty.

"Who are you?" Sunset demanded. "And where are we?"

"Um. My name is Fluttershy, and . . . " Her voice trailed off as she backed away from the defensive girl.

"Speak up!"

Fluttershy cringed as she tried to continue. "I said that my is Fluttershy and we're in the old high school building . . . "

Sunset rolled her eyes and groaned. Jeez! She thought. I haven't seen somepony this socially inept since Twi. . . Oh Lord. The screaming rang in her ears again. Taking a few difficult, remorseful steps back, she struggled to find the right words. "Hey, I'm sorry," she said cautiously. "T-thank you?" The phrase was so unfamiliar, it came out as a question. "For bringing me here, I mean." She paused. "You did bring me here, right? I don't remember how I ended up in this room."

Fluttershy gave a small smile. "It's fine. Everybody is a little jumpy nowadays." She sat down on the makeshift bed and started rummaging through her backpack. A muffled jingling came out of it. "If anything, I should be thanking you."

Sunset managed to sit beside her without looking too clumsy. "Why's that?"

The girl looked worried. "Oh dear. You must have been hurt worse than I thought." She pulled out a plastic bag filled with white pills. Sunset gave her a confused look. "It's just over-the-counter painkillers. You can still find them in pharmacies if you know where to look." She dropped two in her hand. "These won't do much if you have a concussion, but they should help with the pain."

Hoping that healing magic existed in this world, she swallowed the tablets. Nope, she thought. Still in pain. To the other girl's credit, her headache did die down a tad. As some of the pain ebbed away, a few memories were unveiled. A flash of multicolored light, stumbling out of the portal, crashing into those guys. "I ran into some thugs," she said. Fluttershy nodded encouragingly. "They barked out a bunch of questions," she continued with hesitation. "But I think I was too dazed to answer. Next thing I know, they just started swinging." The throbbing bruises on her skin were the same dark tones as her shoes.

"Those Siren Squads can be pretty brutal." She sighed and brushed the hair out of her face. Taking a closer look, Sunset noticed a light purple ring just below her eye. "When they caught me, I thought I was finally done for. Then, you showed up out of nowhere! After what you did, helping you recover for a few days was the least I could do."

"Days! How long have I been unconscious?" Sunset asked.

"Three days," Fluttershy responded. "Your memories are coming back, though," she added when she saw the panic on Sunset's face.
"Your injuries can't be too serious."

"Three days," Sunset repeated. Her mouth hung open with shock. Glancing over her body again, she noted freshly cleaned bandages. Even her forehead sported a small compress. A weird sensation filled her chest. Gratitude, perhaps? Gee, haven't felt like this in a while. Don't tell me we're going soft, Sunny. Inner snarking aside, Sunset Shimmer couldn't deny one thing: this was the second nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. Let's be honest, it's also the second nice thing anyone has ever done for us . . . still pretty unbelievable though.

While Sunset came to grips with how to respond to her altruism, Fluttershy was trying to think of a way to break the silence that had stretched on for six minutes at that point. "If you don't mind me asking," she ventured. "Who's Twilight Sparkle? You kept saying her name while you were out."

She looked as if Fluttershy had slapped her across the face. "Twilight! She's a . . . she's," she struggled to find something to say. After everything that had happened, what could she say? Finally, some words started to form. "Twilight is . . . well, she was my friend. I don't think I ever said that out loud before, I definitely never thought of it, but it doesn't matter now." She turned over her hands and saw that her scars carried over. "I'm as far away from her as possible, and if we did manage to met up again; I don't think she would want to see me." Fighting back tears, she drew a shaky breath.

Fluttershy placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, but Sunset instinctively jerked away. She was unphased. "I'm sorry to hear that." She looked around at the stained walls. "I lost at lot of my friends when the Squads raided this place a few years ago. Somebody found out that it was a hideout for Siren-Free Radio." She wiped away a tear. "You- you can guess what happened after that." Her voice grew even quieter. "Only a few of us made it out."

Visions of burning villages crowded the edge of her mind. Shadowy legions marched across ashen fields. She didn't know who these Sirens were, familiar as the name seemed, but if they were anything like Sombra, then she could imagine what came next. Can't there be at least one world not ruled by psychotic tyrants?

"If you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy probed. "What's your name?

Her first instinct was to run. Her second was to lie. Don't panic, she told herself. No one knows who you are or what you did. You can trust this girl.

Don't be stupid, a harsher voice countered. You've seen what trust does. Nothing good happens when you trust other ponies, Sunset; and, nothing good has happened to anypony who trusted you.

She took a deep, decisive breath. "Sunset," she said. "My name Sunset Shimmer."

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

She considered it. "No. Let's just say I'm about as new to this town as possible."

"Well, where are you from?" Fluttershy asked. "Canterlot might have connections to your part of the resistance."

"Wait, what? No, you've got this all wrong. I'm not part of any resistance."

Now, it was Fluttershy's turn to look confused. "B-but you're not under their control. How have you avoided the spell on your own for so long?"

Lie! Lie! Lie! Lie! Lie! Lie! "Ummm," Sunset nervously laughed. "I've just been lucky, I guess."

The timid girl raised a skeptical eyebrow. Without taking her dark blue eyes off of the strange teenager, she reached into her bag and pulled out a weird object. It was a wooden circle covered in patchy canvas like a drum, but ringed with dull brass bells. For a while, Sunset just stared at it. Finally, a faded memory tugged at her brain. She was at home. There was a gathering in the middle of the village. No, "gathering" was too formal. She couldn't remember the word that conveyed the joy she had that time, but she did remember the sweet sounds that drifted through the air. "Is that an instrument?" she asked reverently.

Fluttershy nodded. "A tambourine. Most people would have just smashed it," she explained. "Even if they weren't under the spell." She gently placed it back in the bag. "A lot of them aren't willing to take the risk. Just being around a musician can have . . . consequences."

Her home was being attacked. Soldiers were heading from door to door. Her screaming parents were dragged out. Sunset knew the consequences of defiance. And yet, here I am.

"Sunset Shimmer," Fluttershy said sincerely. "There's always room for another person back at the station. If you want to be alone, I can't stop you. If you want to be around more free people, if you want to help them stay safe, if you want to hear real music again," She stood up and walked to the middle of the room. "Then join us." She waited for a response, then started to go out the door.

"Wait!" Sunset jumped up. "I don't know much about this whole situation, but I know that you saved me," she asserted. "In my book, that means I owe you." Besides, she rationalized. I need to find out more about this world, and there's safety in numbers. Once I get my bearings, I'll leave. After that . . . I'll figure something out.

As their steps echoed through the defaced, abandoned halls, Sunset grinned. She was getting the hang of this whole biped thing. Though, Spike had made it look so easy. I wonder how the little guy is doing? Before a single tear could come to her eyes, she tried to distract herself. "So, Fluttershy right? Where is this station of yours?"

"Oh it's just outside-"

"You!" They both turned to face the voice. An unhinged boy about their age stood at the other end of the hallway. A cracked bat hung loosely from his right hand. His blue hair was limp against yellow-orange skin. His jeans and black t-shirt were disheveled. Every part of him reflected the same sick, unhinged light that shone in his eyes.

"Flash?" Fluttershy called out.

If he heard her, the boy didn't show it. All he did was raise his bat, charge, and scream at the top of his lungs.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed the first look at the human world. I'll be posting the next chapter soon, hopefully. Please tell me what you think about the story, style, or anything else you want to comment on. As always, thank you for reading.