The Black Ball Room

Chapters

1. An Incident
2. Close Encounter
3. Mile High Club
4. Intermission
5. The Red Menace
6. New Friends Are Appearing
7. The Stuff
8. Double Trouble
9. The Metamorphosis
10. Divergence
11. Conflict
12. Put Away Wet
14. Squashed Like Bugs
15. Home Run!
16. Bad, Bad Blood
17. Out Of The Frying Pan
18. Tying Up Loose Ends
19. Plan To Erradicate The Vampires
20. Farewell For Today
21. Masquerade
22. Quadruped Onslaught
23. A Shattered Memory
13. Midnight Blue Prophecy

1. An Incident

"Ah just think a relationship between Flash and Twi would not last that long!" Applejack said as she and her friends left the main building of Canterlot High; Applejack and Rainbow Dash led the group, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Sunset Shimmer, walking past three young girls who were kicking a ball around, giggling and having fun.

"Whatever are you talking about, darling?" Rarity asked while typing a quick text message on her phone. "I think those two are lovely together."

"But isn't she, like, royalty or something? She's also some horse-thing, too. Wouldn't that make it weird?" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Oh, you can look past small details like that when you're in love!"

"What 'bout her doggie? Lil' fella seemed really into you. Can you look past that small detail?" Applejack poked her friend, a cocky smirk plastered on her face.

"Why do you always have to exaggerate everything, Applejack?" Rarity puffed out her cheeks and blushed lightly, remembering that one night they were having a sleepover at Pinkie's. She woke up in the middle of the night, only to find out that the purple dog was shamelessly humping her leg, and the fact that she wasn't wearing her socks only made it much worse. Her high-pitched scream immediately woke all of her friends up - Pinkie's sister even kicked the door down while armed with a baseball bat.

"It's too bad you rejected him, Rarity!" Pinkie grabbed Rarity's shoulders. "I had already planed the wedding party and everything. Wanna see the wedding gown I made for the bride?" the party girl then dangled a white knee high with a frilly hem stitched to the cuff in front of Rarity's face.

"Can we just not speak of that... Unfortunate event ever again?" Rarity said between gritted teeth. She slapped the sock away from her as the other girls laughed.

"And what about you, Sunset Shimmer?" Rainbow Dash asked without looking back at her friend. "What's your opinion about the Flash Sentry/Twilight Sparkle situation?"

"Rainbow Dash!" the fashionista called. "Don't you know how rude what you just said was?"

"What are you talking abo--" it finally hit her. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Yeaaaaah, my bad!"

Sunset Shimmer sighed. "I told you a million times already: I. Don't. Mind! Flash can date whoever he wants, we're done."

"Uh, forgive me if I'm being too intrusive, and you don't have to answer if you don't have to, but..." Fluttershy looked around, as if making sure that no one else but them would hear. "Why did the two of you broke up? You never told us. You never told anybody."

Sunset Shimmer froze in place; that question definitely caught her by surprise. All the other girls stopped and turned to look at her.

"L-Like I said, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"It's not that I don't want to, I just... I don't..."

The blonde/redhead girl never hid anything from her friends, but there was one secret that she never shared with anybody except Flash Sentry, and only because they shared the same predicament: they suffered from memory loss, and forgot everything about their alleged relationship. The only reason they knew they were a couple was because their classmates kept pestering them about it, asking why they were no longer hanging out, sitting together or even talking to each other. They decided to check with each other what this was all about, but they were both clueless about everything, thus ending the relationship they never knew they had.

But before Sunset Shimmer could come clean, she saw the ball the girls were playing with bounce past them and come to a halt in the middle of the street. The five girls were looking at her, so she was the only one who saw it.

"Scootaloo, why'd you kick it so hard?" Sweetie Belle complained.

"You kicked it, so you go get it back!" Apple Bloom ordered as she crossed her arms.

"Fine, fine, I'm going." Scootaloo said as she ran toward the ball, completely ignoring that old advice about looking both ways before crossing the street. She didn't see the white car coming toward her, and the driver, a businesswoman who was too busy yelling at her lawyer through her cellphone, did not see the girl either. But Sunset Shimmer did! Pinkie Pie and Applejack were blocking her path, but she immediately pushed them aside and sprinted toward the pre-teen girl. Sunset would have yelled at her to get out of the way, but the car was too fast and Scootaloo wouldn't react fast enough, so the only thing she could do was push her out of the street.

Scootaloo and her ball safely landed on the grass, but Sunset Shimmer wasn't as lucky; her body dented the hood of the white car and her face smashed the windshield. Startled, the driver stomped on the brake, sending Sunset's limp body flying, which then landed in the bushes in front of the horseshoe sign on the front lawn of Canterlot High. Rarity screamed in terror and Fluttershy fainted in Pinkie's arm, who just stared in shock at the scene. Applejack ran toward the place where Sunset Shimmer fell while Rainbow Dash crossed the street to check on Scootaloo.

"You ok, squirt?" she asked while looking for any injuries on her body.

"Y-Yes, I-I'm fine."

Applejack checked the bushes and the immediate area around the horseshoe sign, but scratched her head in confusion.

"What in tarnation...?"

The still shaky Rarity and Pinkie, who was now carrying the unconscious Fluttershy on her back, approached her.

"I-Is she ok?" Rarity asked.

"That's the problem: Ah don't know! Ah'm darn sure she fell here, but now she's gone!"

Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked around, and it was just as the farmer girl said: Sunset Shimmer had vanished.

* * *

Sunset Shimmer's eyes fluttered open. Her vision was still a little blurry, but she could feel that she was laying on a cold wooden floor. As she slowly rose to her feet, she could make out her surroundings little by little: she was in the living room of a small and very simple apartment with two closed doors on the left side, two glass windows that allowed them to look at the street several storeys down below, and one empty open small room and a hallway with a turn leading to the front door behind her. It was already dark outside, but the ceiling lights of the room were on. The room would be completely empty if it weren't for the five other people and the first thing that truly caught her attention: a black sphere with a diameter of roughly 4 ft standing next to the wall on the other side of the room.

Sunset Shimmer looked around at the five people in the room: one boy with short blue hair, a girl with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, another girl with reddish-rose hair wearing thick glasses, the three of them appearing to be around her age, a man with short golden hair wearing thin glasses, a very expensive-looking white suit and black tie, and a girl not much younger than her - though still pretty young - with long black hair that covered most of her face wearing very dirty and old clothes that were barely wearable thanks to some poorly made stitches that were keeping the pieces together. The clothes of the man and the girl were eye-catching, but the outfit the three other people were wearing stood out: they were all wearing a black skin-tight bodysuit that only left their heads exposed. The black suits also had metallic rings or caps with their centers filled with a blue gel, which were embedded in key areas of the body: the side of the arms, wrists, chin, collarbones, nape, behind the ears, shoulder blades, lower back, abdomen, waist, the side of the knees and the shaft of the suit's boots.

"Uh, can someone please explain what's going on here?" she asked the group.

"If we knew what's going on, do you think we would just be standing here, doing nothing?" the man said with a very harsh tone.

The blue-haired boy and the blonde girl started to chuckle. Sunset and the man looked at them, who were whispering among themselves.

"Can I say it this time? Please?" the boy asked.

"You won't leave me alone until I say 'yes', will you?" there was a hint of annoyance in the blonde's tone, but her smile suggested otherwise. "Fine, knock yourself out."

The boy cheered with a quick fist pump, then turned to address the people inside the room:

"Attention all bitches!" he then spread his arms. "Welcome to hell."

Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow while the man stared at him with an unamused expression. Sunset gasped in surprise when she felt something touch her waist, then looked back to see that the younger girl was hiding behind her.

The smile disappeared from the blue-haired boy's face. "Fuck it!" he then crossed his arms and pressed his back to a wall. "How come it only works when you do it?"

All of a sudden, a very upbeat tune filled the entire apartment. It didn't took look for them to figure out it was coming from within the black sphere.

"You are so young
And you are so free
But you're aimless
And I can't help but see
That you don't know what you really need
Are we there yet? A-A-Are we there yet?
You've done it all
From A to Z
Are you trying
To find your destiny?
One day you'll know who you wanna be
Are we there yet? A-A-Are we there yet?"

"And there we go." the ponytail girl said with a smile.

"Oh, great!" the man said as he removed his glasses and rubbed the bidge of his nose. "First, cosplayers. Now, karaoke. If I knew I was going to end up locked in a room with a bunch of weebs I wouldn't have gotten out of bed today."

The redheaded girl crossed her arms and rolled her eyes behind her glasses, but decided to not say anything, instead opting to keep looking at the black sphere; the others soon joined them as soon as words started to appear on it. For some unknown reason, the letters "S" and and "E" were backwards, but the message was still entirely legible:

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

"Wait, what?" Sunset asked. "What is this, some kind of joke?"

The blonde motioned for Sunset Shimmer to quiet down without looking away from the black ball. Slowly, the text got replaced by a different text, the letters "E" and "S" still backwards, but this time it was accompanied by the picture of a round creature covered in milky pink fur, big blue eyes and an innocent smile.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
FURBALL ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: BOUNCY, FLUFFY
LIKES: HUGS, BOUNCING
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Boing!"

"Alright, you guys see this?" the boy asked, pointing at the picture of the Furball Alien. "In a few moments we will be taken outside. Our job is to kill it before time is up, okay? Okay!"

"But mister!" the blonde called, speaking in a tone that made it obvious that she was feigning ignorance. "How are we supposed to do that? We'll have to wrestle them with our bare hands?"

"Great question,my dear! And the answer is 'no'! Well, unless that's what you want to do."

Racks popped out from both sides and the backside of the black ball like drawers, startling Sunset Shimmer, the man and the girl. The left and right rack had what looked like futuristic weapons stored in them. Some of the smaller ones were similar to revolvers, but bulkier, while others looked like pistols, but with three barrels instead of one. The larger guns looked like sniper rifles but, like the revolver-looking ones, much bulkier. All of them were just as dark as the ball itself.

The duo walked toward the rack on the back, which had white plastic briefcases. The girl picked one of them up.

"Which one of you is Sunset Shimmer?" confused, Sunset Shimmer raised her hand. "Think fast!" she threw the briefcase to her, who managed to grab it in time. The boy passed a briefcase to the man, and the girl threw the last at the girl behind Sunset Shimmer, who just stared at it without budging.

"Are you serious?" the man asked. The briefcase with his name was now lying on the ground, open and empty, and the man was holding a black suit similar to the ones the other three were wearing. "Tell me you're not serious!"

"Wear it or don't wear it, I don't give a fuck." the boy said with a shrug. "But if you don't, you're gonna die."

"I'm not some cosplay freak like you!" he said as he threw the suit on the ground. "If the doors weren't locked, I would've left this shithole long ago. I have a very important meeting tomorrow, and I should be getting ready, not wasting my damn time!"

Sunset Shimmer finally opened the suitcase and, as expected, there was a black suit in there. She looked at the blonde girl, who pointed at the corridor.

"If you want to change in private, that's your only option."

Sunset nodded and walked down the corridor. There was another turn at the end, perfect to hide from Peeping Toms. She took a deep breath, then removed her leather jacket and her shirt. She was about to unhook her black bra when she realized she wasn't alone anymore; the black-haired girl was also there, holding her own briefcase.

~ ~ ~

Both Sunset and the little girl were now wearing their suits, which fit them so perfectly that it was like they were custom-made specially for them. The older man still refused to wear the suit. While the others wore the suit and nothing else, Sunset Shimmer decided to keep her jacket on.

"This here is what we call the Gib Gun!" the blue-haired boy said while holding the revolver-looking weapon. "We call it that because, just like in videogames, it 'gibs' whatever you shoot with it!" Sunset Shimmer played enough games with Rainbow Dash to know that "gibbing" someone means reducing them to a pile of body parts. The boy then threw it to her, who accepted without complaining. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that the weapon had two triggers instead of only one. "The first trigger is for locking on the target, and the second is for shooting. Remember that, it comes in handy in many ways."

"This one is the Web Gun!" the blonde said while presenting the pistol-looking weapon. "Like the name suggests, it shoots a web that binds the target. This one comes with three triggers, though. Like the Gib Gun, the first trigger is for locking on target and the second is for shooting, but the third is for-- You know what? Why ruin the surprise? See for yourselves!" She threw the gun to the golden-haired man, but he just threw it back at her.

"I don't want your toys, thanks."

She shrugged and placed the gun back in the weapon rack.

"You're not taking it?" Sunset asked.

"Nope!" the boy said. "We like fast-paced action! This..." they both picked up the rifle-looking weapons. "...is all we need!"

"Those are the Gib Rifles!" the girl explained. "It's just like the Gib Guns, but the range is much longer." she pointed the rifle and the wall while loking through the scope. "It's pretty badass."

Sunset noticed what looked like a screen on the back of the gun. She looked around the room through it, noticing that she could see the skeleton of the people she pointed the gun at. But when she pointed the gun at the blonde, she kicked the weapon out of her hands, then kicked Sunset Shimmer in the face, sending her flying to the other side of them room. The young girl yelped.

"Point that shit at me again and I'll shove it up your cunt and shoot." she said, her friendly demeanor completely gone and replaced by an icy, emotionless stare.

Sunset got up, surprised by the fact that a kick from that thin girl not only sent her flying several feet away, but didn't hurt at all.

"Surprised?" the boy asked with a smile. "That's the power of the suit. Superhuman strength, and the resistance of a goddamn cockroach!"

The profile of their target on the screen of the black ball disappeared and was replaced by a countdown.

PLEASE WAIT
00:59:56

"One hour, that's the time limit!" he then started to disappear, from the top of his head and working the way down at a steady pace.

Sunset Shimmer's eyes widened. "Wh-What's going on?"

"How do you think you got inside this room? Through the front door? By the way, you should pick that up." he pointed at the Gib Gun lying next to her on the floor. "If you go unarmed, you'll definitely regret it." he turned to wink at the blonde girl. "I'll wait for ya, babe!"

Once the blue-haired boy was completely gone, Sunset's little "admirer" was next. The stubborn man was the one after her, followed by the blonde and the quiet girl with reddish-rose hair. Finally, it was Sunset Shimmer's turn to be taken.

* * *

"I'm leaving, and a bunch of brats is no going to stop me!"

"I'm not trying to stop you, I'm just saying. If you try to leave, you die."

"Is this supposed to be a threat?"

"No, it's a friendly warning. But if you won't listen to me, then fuck you, old man!"

"You're lucky you're just a brat, otherwise I would have knocked you out cold the moment you gave me back talk."

Sunset Shimmer arrived just in time to witness the two men of the team arguing. It didn't took long for the older man to turn around and walk away. The boy then picked a device that looked like a small cellphone, but with some gadgets attached to it, as well as a metallic bracelet used to attach the device itself to a person's wrist. He then proceeded to follow the man in the white suit while looking down at it. The others, having nowhere else to go, followed them.

"Why are you following me?" he inquired.

"I'm using you as an example." the boy answered.

"Whatever!"

After a couple of minutes of walking, the boy motioned for the others to stop.

"Tired of following me already?"

"Nope! It's just that this is the limit." he turned around and showed the device to the others. "This here is the Controller! It comes with a map that allows us to track our target, each other, and know the limit of where you can go."

"And turn off that damn phone!" the man yelled. "Your ringtone is fucking annoying!"

He smirked. "That's not a ringtone. Ladies and... Well, ladies, pay attention to that man. He is a deserter. A quitter! And you know what the Black Ball does to quitters?"

The redheaded girl clicked her tongue, crossed her arms and turned her head with her eyes closed. The man's head swelled for a second then popped like a water balloon, bits and pieces of his skull and brain flying in all directions, leaving only his lower jaw still attached to the rest of his body. Sunset Shimmer covered her mouth with both hands in shock to prevent herself from screaming, and the girl once again hid behind her.

"They receive the death penalty!"

Author's Note

It begins!
You have no idea how much effort I put into planning this. The "script" is over 40 pages long. Just for the sake of comparison, the "script" of Twisted Metal: Equestria was 15 pages long!
I just hope it turns out to be just as good as I wish it to be, I don't want to read it again in a few years and think "What the hell was I thinking? This sucks!"
Anyway, this won't require lots of source material knowledge to follow, though I heavily suggest that you read Gantz because I think it's really good! (though I still think the anime wasn't that great and the movies were "meh")

And to use as reference, here's the Gib Gun (official name is X-Gun):

The Web Gun (official name is Y-Gun):

And the Gib Rifle (official name is X-Rifle):

(With names so boring like that, it's no surprise that I decided to add some spice to them!)

The Suit:

The Controller:

And the Black Ball itself:

2. Close Encounter

Sunset Shimmer, in an attempt to calm the youngest of the group down, placed her hands on the black-haired girl's shoulders, who was hugging Sunset's legs while shivering.

"Well, now that that's over with, we can focus on what's important." the boy rested the Gib Rifle on his shoulder while looking down at the Controller.

"You're just going to shrug that off?!" Sunset called out. "A man just died in front of us. In front of a little girl!"

"Well, if you want to survive, then get used to it." the blonde said. "The sooner, the better."

Sunset glared at them while still trying to calm the girl down. They just ignored her and focused their attention on the map displayed on the Controller.

"Which way?" she asked.

"Well, if we're all huddled in this corner of the area, then..." he tapped a few dots on the map a few blocks away from the dots that represented the group. The boy then pointed at the street that led to their destination. "That's the way to go!"

The couple readied their Gib Rifles and ran in that direction, followed closely by the redheaded girl.

"They're sick!" Sunset shimmer said. "But, on the other hand, they also seem to know what's going on here, so..." Sunset Shimmer held the girl's hand and they walked together in the same direction the group went. "So, care to tell me your name?" she smiled when the girl looked up at her, but she only looked down again, hiding her face behind her black hair. The older girl raised an eyebrow. "Not a girl of many words, huh?" still no response. Sunset sighed and decided not to ask the little girl more questions. For now.

While walking down the silent street, they heard what sounded like a tennis ball hitting the ground repeatedly, which was soon accompanied by a voice that sounded like a little child, but something they couldn't quite put their finger on made it possible to realize that it didn't belong to a human child. At least not a human one.

"Boing!" the voice would say as they heard the sound of the bouncing ball. "Boing! Boing! Boing!"

The source of the noise finally revealed itself: the Furball Alien the black sphere showed them before came bouncing from one of the adjacent streets. The pink creature noticed the pair of girls standing in the middle of the street and bounced closer to them. Deceived by its innocent face, they didn't attempt to run or defend themselves.

The girl extended her arms, allowing the furry ball to land on them.

"Boing!" it said. The girl giggled and hugged the creature. Sunset smiled at the scene.

Her smiled quickly turned into a look of terror when the furball suddenly shifted into something else, straight out of a horror story: the soft pink fur turned into very thin and sharp purple spikes, the bright blue eyes became blood red and the childish smile twisted itself into a hole filled with dozens of sharp white teeth that would probably shred anything that was swallowed by that nightmarish monster. The girl screamed when the alien swallowed her entire forearm in one bite.

Without thinking twice, Sunset grabbed the ball of spikes and yanked it off her with some difficult, then threw as far as she could. Unable to bounce now that its body was covered in hardened spikes, the ball monster rolled back toward them. Running out of options, Sunset Shimmer grabbed the Gib Gun on the holster located on the thigh of the suit and pointed at the creature.

"Stay where you are or I'll shoot." she threatened. "I swear, I'll shoot." but the ball monster either couldn't understand her or just didn't care. Sunset looked at the girl standing behind her. "Don't look!" the girl immediately covered her eyes with both hands. Sunset aimed at the creature and closed her eyes before squeezing both triggers, making the muzzle flash in a way that made it look like she had snapped a picture with it. She waited for something to happen but, when she didn't heard anything out of the ordinary, she opened her eyes again, only to see the spike ball still rolling toward her. She looked at the gun in disbelief. "So it's really just a toy after a--"

She covered her face with both arms when the ground near the spike ball exploded, sending pieces of asphalt flying in all directions, but also pushing the alien ball closer to her. Her jaw dropped when she saw the 2 ft long hole in the part of the ground where she had been aiming at.

"Holy crap!" she said before noticing that the target of the black ball was dangerously close to her. She once again pointed the Gib Gun at it, but this time she didn't close her eyes. "You attacked first." Sunset then pulled both triggers again.

The Furball Alien was ready to bite her shin, but Sunset Shimmer kicked it away from her. The ball was sent flying, but what came back down was a rain of bits and pieces of what once was a spike ball creature from outer space. Sunset looked at her gun again, this time not in disbelief, but in amazement. She felt a small hand tap her thigh and looked at the girl trying to have her attention. Sunset looked at where the girl was pointing: the roof of a house. Her eyes widened when she saw more pink Furball Aliens looking at them and, one by one, they turned into purple spike balls.

"Stay behind me!" Sunset ordered as she pushed the girl back and pointed the gun at the group of creatures. "Don't come any closer. Do it and I'll shoot!"

"If you keep doing that, you're gonna die." Sunset raised her eyebrow and looked around, confused. It was the voice of the blonde girl, but she couldn't see her anywhere. She heard the sound of electricity and saw sparks appear in midair next to her. Sunset noticed a transparent, humanoid shape in the middle of the sparks; the transparent shape then turned visible, revealing itself to be the blonde.

"H-How...?"

She smiled as she presented her own Controller. "This shit can do miracles!" she then turned her attention to the balls that were now rolling toward them. "But like I said, this self-defense crap is not gonna cut it in here. You either shoot or get shot, bitten, squashed, raped, burned, stomped or whatever else those filthy aliens can possibly do. Here, let me show you how it's done!" the girl pointed her Rifle at one Furball Alien, then pressed the first trigger before aiming at another, repeating the process a few times. She then pointed the Gib Rifle up and yawned as she pressed the second trigger. In just a few moments, over half of the aliens exploded, coating the survivors with their remains. "See this? This is the sort of attitude you'll need if you want to live another day. Now, less talking and more shooting!"

Sunset aimed the Gib Gun at the first alien and pulled the first trigger, repeating the process with the other five left. She took a deeep breath before pulling the second trigger, effectively destroying the remaining aliens. She felt two hands touch her shoulders, one belonging to the blonde and the other belonging to the blue-haired boy, who apparently had been there all along, but invisible like his girlfriend.

"I'm so proud of you!" the girl said with a big smile.

"Is... Is that all? Is everything over now?" Sunset asked.

"Not quite!" the boy explained. "Usually, the picture we see at the start of each mission is bait. Our real target appears once we're done with the small fry."

"We call them the 'Big Bosses'!" the blonde added.

As if on cue, a green Furball Alien the size of a small house with magenta eyes fell right in front of them, making the ground shake a bit. Its big gleaming eyes wandered around, looking at the remaining of its fallen comrades and their executioners. The magenta eyes turned dark purple, the green fur turned into dark green spikes and the smile turned into a giant hole with sharp razor-like teeth.

"Alright, now the fun starts!" the boy pointed his Gib Rifle at the alien but the green spiky ball shot a barrage of smaller spikes before he could pull the trigger. They all were hit, but suffered no damage. The blond looked at the black-haired girl.

"She should get out of here." she suggested.

"Huh? Why?" Sunset asked.

"Look! Her suit is 'broken'." Sunset Shimmer looked at the younger girl and noticed that blue gel was leaking out of the caps of the suit. "The suit is great when it works, but it has a limit. If it suffers enough damage, the suit 'breaks' and you might as well be naked."

"Then I guess we should get out of here." Sunset grabbed the girl's arm. "Let's go!"

While they ran away from the fight, the alien shot more spikes. The girl screamed as spikes pierced her left thigh and forearm.

"Crap crap crap!" Sunset picked her up and ran faster, hiding behind a house. She sat down and rested the crying girl's head on her lap while trying to calm her down. "It's ok, you're gonna be fine, everything will be fine!"

Meanwhile, the couple kept fighting the giant green spike ball. The spikes that covered its body were thick, and they were the only parts of the alien damaged by the shots of the Gib Rifles. But little by little they were exposing the Big Boss's body and, once there was enough flesh not covered by spikes, the boy crouched, his legs suddenly getting buffed. In actuality, his legs weren't really growing bigger, only the leg parts of the black suit, but the results were clear: the blue-haired boy jumped higher and faster than any Olympic medalist, then falling on the part of the giant's body without spikes. This time his arm muscles grew stronger and he used the Gib Rifle to pierce the monster's skin. Once the muzzle of his weapon was buried deep inside their target, the boy pulled both triggers several times before jumping off. After landing on the ground, he stood with his back turned to the alien and Gib Rifle resting on his shoulder. As expected, the big alien behind him exploded as his girlfriend clapped and cheered. The girl resting on Sunset's lap started to disappear, the same way when they were transported from the room to outside.

* * *

The girl with reddish-rose hair was the last to arrive in the room, still looking as unamused as always while adjusting her glasses. Sunset and the little girl were impressed by the fact that she no longer had any injuries.

"That's another thing the Black Ball does!" the boy said. "If you're alive by the time the mission is over, you come back with everything in place. You can be missing limbs or your guts can be spilled all over the floor, but if you're alive you come back with nothing missing!"

They all looked at the Black Ball, which now presented a new text:

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

That text then got replaced by a picture that looked like a cartoonish version of the blue haired boy's upper body.

ROCKSTAR WANNABE
18 PTS / TOTAL 71 PTS
ONLY 29 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Points?" Sunset Shimmer asked. "Why are we receiving points?"

"Tell you in a minute!" the blond said. The next points were hers and, just like the previous one, was accompanied by a cartoonish picture of her.

JAIL BAIT
20 PTS / TOTAL 69 PTS
ONLY 31 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Awesome!" she pumped her fist in the air before poking her boyfriend's cheek. "I beat you this time!"

"I still have more total points, sugarlips." he said with a cocky smirk.

The next person awarded with points was the quiet redhead girl.

THIRD WHEEL
3 PTS / TOTAL 28 PTS
ONLY 72 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

She reacted the same way she reacted to everything else: groaning and rolling her eyes. The little girl with black hair was next.

PIPSQUEAK
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS
NO WILL
ZERO CONFIDENCE
HIDES TOO MUCH

"BB likes to fuck with those who can't score points." the boy explained.

Sunset Shimmer was the last to receive points.

MEAN BITCH
(subjected to change)
7 PTS / TOTAL 7 PTS
ONLY 93 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

Sunset tilted her head and crossed her arms. "What do you mean by that?"

The boy chuckled and patted her on the back. "I think BB doesn't like you!"

"About the points..." the girl explained. "We don't really know what happens when you get 100 points, but we think you're freed from the game."

"'Freed'?" Sunset inquired.

"Yep! It will take a few days, maybe even a few weeks, but we'll be back here. And when we're back, we'll fight more aliens. This will keep happening until you either die or get those hundred points. We're free to go home now, but we'll meet again soon." she and her boyfriend waved at them before leaving. "Bye!"

"Oh, and one more thing: you better not tell anyone about this room or what happens here." the boy warned. "BB likes to be kept a secret so, if you spill the beans, our friend who is no longer among us was a pretty clear example! And don't show anybody the guns either. The suit is free game, though! Just don't flaunt its capabilities around, or BB will fuck you up."

Sunset nodded. A few moments later they heard the sound of the front door opening, then closing. The redhead saw this as her signal to go.

"Then I guess I'll see you next--" the girl shoved her aside and groaned. "...time? Wow, rude much?"

Sunset and the girl followed her, and blushed bright red when they saw her standing naked in front of them, her suit folded on the cabinet next to the door.

"Uh, I-I..."

Her face made it clear that she was angry. The girl pushed Sunset Shimmer.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she yelled.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't meant to--"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU JERK! I HATE YOU!"

Sunset and her little friend went back to the main room of the apartment. She sat down with her arms crossed. "And I thought Rarity overreacted to anything..."

When she heard the sound of the door slamming shut, she got up and walked to the front door. All that was left on top of the cabinet were her clothes and the little girl's tattered rags.

"So, are you gonna keep your suit on or...?" she picked up the torn and stained beige dress that was probably white a long time ago, accidently undoing a few stitches. "Uh, sorry about that!"

The girl shook her head and hugged herself, so Sunset assumed that she wanted to keep the suit. Sunset shrugged and took hers off, then placed it on top of the cabinet as she put on her everyday clothes. She nearly cheered when she turned the doorknob and the door succesfully opened.

"Do you know where you live?" Sunset asked as she held the little girl's hand and they both left the apartment. She did not reply. "If you don't talk to me then I can't take you back to your parents!"

The girl immediately stopped walking and pulled Sunset Shimmer's arm with both her hands, trying to force her to stop.

"Huh? Is there a problem?"

"D... Don't..." those were the first words Sunset heard the girl say. "Don't. Please. Don't."

"You don't want me to take you back to your parents?" she shook her head vigorously. With a concerned look, Sunset kneeled and placed both her hands in the little girl's shoulders while looking her in the eyes. "Do you want to tell me something?"

The little girl looked down, then started to explain:

"Mommy was sick!" she said. "She was very, very, very sick. Then mommy died. Daddy was mad, saying it was my fault. Then daddy started hitting me. One day I tried cooking him dinner to make daddy happy, but I broke all his bottles of grown up drink. Daddy was sooo mad. He hit me more and more and more... Then I woke up in that room with everybody else."

Sunset Shimmer pulled the girl to a hug.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through this. I'm so, so sorry!" the girl hugged her back. "My name is Sunset Shimmer. What's your name?"

"Hopewell." she said. "But mommy liked to call me Hope. You can call me Hope if you want!"

"Alright then, Hope. Would you like to come with me?"

Author's Note

A blue-haired boy, his blonde girlfriend... No, no, they're not JoJo and Erina!

Anyway, now that the tutorial mission is over and all the exposition is done with, we can move on to the cooler stuff. Like violence, and sex, and alien hunting, and more violence, and gore, and...

3. Mile High Club

"I already told you, I'm fine!" Sunset Shimmer said for the nth time. Her friends were surprised when she showed up in school the day after getting hit by a car, and not covered in bandages, casted or in a wheelchair.

"How can you be fine, darling?" Rarity asked. "Do you know how over the speed limit that crazy lady was? You should have at least a broken leg."

"You should totally sue her sorry butt!" Rainbow suggested. "We're witnesses. You could get a gazillion dollars in compensation!"

"I don't want to sue anybody. And you know I'm a magical creature from Equestria. I can probably heal faster in here or something. It's totally plausible!"

"Have you talked to Twilight about this?" Fluttershy asked.

"Of course!" Sunset lied. "She said she would look into it."

"One last time, just to be sure." Applejack said. "Yer entirely sure yer fine?"

She sighed. "Yes, Applejack. Yes, I am."

Applejack chose to believe her friend, but she decided to keep an eye on her anyway. As the human counterpart of the Element of Honesty, it was her duty to know when people were lying or just not telling the whole truth; and that's exactly what Sunset Shimmer was doing.

"But, darling, where did you go after that?" Rarity asked. "We were looking for you everywhere but--"

"Oh, shoot, look at the time!" Sunset Shimmer interrupted her, staring at her phone screen, pretending to be looking at the clock. "I need to, uh, do the thing in the, eh, place with the... Person! Gotta go, bye!" Sunset Shimmer dashed out of there.

"Tell the person that I'd like to talk to them about the stuff we'll do that day!" Pinkie yelled before Sunset Shimmer disappeared in a corner.

* * *

"I hate lying to my friends." Sunset commented while styling Hope's hair. "But hiding the truth is better than straight up dying, right?" Hope nodded, but only slightly so that the movement wouldn't mess Sunset's work.

"Mommy used to say that lying is bad when it hurts people, but ok when you do it to protect the ones you love." she said before frowning. "But she lied when she got sick, telling us she was fine..."

"Maybe your mom just wanted you to smile for a little longer before she could tell you."

"I guess..."

"Alright, it's done!" Sunset Shimmer said, getting up from the chair she was sitting while styling Hope's hair, then guiding her to the nearest mirror. "Ta-daaa~!"

Hope gasped in surprise. Her long black hair was now braided into cute pigtails. She touched them with the tip of her fingers and smile.

"It looks so pretty!" she said while hugging Sunset's legs.

"Thanks. My friend Rarity taught me how to do that. It's not really my style, but it suits you just fine!"

Suddenly they felt a shiver run down their spine. Sunset rubbed her nape.

"You felt that, too?" Hope asked, sounding concerned.

"Y-Yeah. Weird!" she noticed the little girl trying to conceal a yawn. "Well, it looks like it was a sign for you to got to bed."

"But I'm not sleepy..."

"Sleepy or not, girls your age are supposed to sleep eight hours every night. Time to brush your teeth and jump in bed."

"Fiiiiine..."

~ ~ ~

Sunset Shimmer, now wearing her pink pajamas, sat on her bed and smiled at the sound asleep little girl, wearing the light orange pajamas with a cute little teddy bears all over them, one of the clothing sets she had bought for her young houseguest to wear.

"Heh, so is this how it's like to be a mother?" she mumbled to herself before lifting the covers so that she could lie down beside her adoptive sister/daughter/guest, wrapping her arms around her for comfort.

She was drifting off into sleep when she suddenly felt the bed growing colder. Not only colder, but harder too. Her surroundings were also growing brighter. She opened her eyes and gasped: Sunset and Hope were lying together on the wooden floor of the Black Ball Room. She sat up and looked around; the couple and redheaded girl were there, already wearing their suits. There was also a bald old man wearing an hospital gown and a skinny young man with black and white hair that appeared to be in his early twenties.

"Looks like someone chose to ignore the warning!" the boy teased.

"Warning?" Sunset asked. "What warning? We didn't receive any warning!"

"She's a greenhorn, sweetie, remember?" the blonde girl said.

"Ohhhh, that's right. Yeah, there's a warning. Do you remember feeling a chill or something like that?"

"Yes, but--"

"Well, that's the warning!" the girl interrupted. "Every time you feel a chill, hurry up and put the suit on."

"Uh, forgive me for interrupting but..." the young man said. "What's going on here? Where are we?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" the blue-haired boy asked.

"I was having a smoke break on the roof of the company I work for, but then I felt someone push me. Next thing I know, I'm here. And then you people started appearing out of thin air."

"Oh, yeah. The thing is, you died and this is your second chance." the boy said, not even attempting to sugarcoat the shocking news. "All you do now is accept it and follow our lead if you want to survive."

"Why are we back here?" Hope, who was awoken by the ruckus, asked. "Am I dreaming?"

"Sorry, Hope." Sunset Shimmer said. "That's not a dream. We're back here."

"Back too soon, if you ask me." the blonde girl crossed her arms. "Back then we would receive one mission every couple of months. Now we only have weeks worth of rest. And it's been like, what? Nine days since the Furball business? Give me a fucking break..."

"Maybe there are more aliens now than there were before." the boy theorized. "But is it really something bad? If we have more missions, then we receive more points, thus gaining 100 and, by extension, our freedom much faster."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right."

A beam of light suddenly appeared from the Black Ball, pointing at a spot in the middle of the room. Little by little, the light worked its way up, forming two teenage girls who were hugging each other. They looked around in confusion.

"H-Huh? What's going on?" the girl with auburn hair asked.

"What happened to the fire? Are we safe?" the other girl, who had dark brown hair with light brown streaks, asked.

"Four newcomers? Feeling generous tonight, BB?" the boy tapped the Black Ball.

"I-I'm scared, Pearl." the girl with auburn hair said, hugging her friend tightly.

"M-Me too, Clap!" the brown-haired girl said.

The boy shrugged. "Ain't nobody here but us chickens. We're all harmless, I promise. The real threat will be presented in a few moments."

A new beam of light shot out of the Black Ball, this one forming a teenage boy with light purple hair.

"I-Is this the real threat?" the girl called Pearl asked.

"Nyeh, probably not."

The girls jumped, caught by surprise when the sphere started playing the same song it played last time Sunset was in that room:

The old man chuckled after the Black Ball finished playing the song. "My granddaughter sang this to me once. This bring back memories..."

The same message that appeared the first time Sunset was called to the room appeared again:

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

"That's... Ominous!" the young man pointed out. The words then got replaced by different ones and the mugshot of a beautiful woman with pale white skin, long golden hair and piercing blue eyes. She would look almost human if it weren't for the clear pair of little pink wings on the sides of her head protruding from under her hair.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
HARPY ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: SLENDER, SEDUCTIVE
LIKES: MEN, FLYING
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Keeeeeaaaaarrr!"

"Finish off? You mean, like, kill her?" he yelped, surprised when the ball suddenly opened up.

"That's the theory, anyways!" the blue-haired boy joked as he picked up two Gib Rifles and tossed one to his partner.

"You still haven't told us what's going on." the girl called Clap said. "What's this ball? What's that thing it's showing? Who are you guys? And why did that guy appeared out of nowhere?"

"All of your questions will be answered in due time." the blonde girl explained before tossing her a brieface with the name Clapperboard written on it. "For now, wear this." she then tossed the briefcase with the name Black Pearl to the other girl.

The girl named Clapperboard opened the briefcase and picked up the black suit. She raised an eyebrow. "You want us to strip naked in front of you?"

"No, you can strip naked in the corridor. No one can see you there."

she dropped the suit back in the briefcase and crossed her arms. "No thank you."

"Are you sure about that? This suit can save your life."

"You didn't even explained to us what's going on here, and now you want us to wear some kinky bodysuit? I repeat: no thank you."

"No thank you!" Black Pearl repeated, crossing her arms to mimic her friend. Together, they walked down the corridor.

"Give them a minute." the blonde said.

Pearl and Clap returned moments after that.

"What the fuck, why are we locked in here?" Clap asked.

"It's the way things are." the blonde girl said with a shrug.

"Controller Roller?" the blue-haired boy called. "Who's Controller Roller?" the purple-haired boy raised his hand. The veteran threw him a briefcase with his name on it. Roller opened the briefcase, took the suit and walked to the corridor.

"Wait, you actually believe them?" Clap asked.

"The last thing I remember was dying." the purple-haired boy said. "Then I appeared here without a single scratch. If a strange guy tells me to wear a suit that can probably save my life, you bet your sweet ass I'll listen." without further ado, he disappeared in the turn of the corridor.

"And where's your suit?" the blonde asked, pointing at Sunset Shimmer and Hopewell.

"I left it here last time. Hope took her suit home."

"Then you're safe." she passed Sunset the briefcase with her name. "But you, little girl, you're most likely fucked!"

"Don't talk to a little kid like that." Sunset Shimmer scolded her.

"I'm not that little." Hope said, pouting and crossing her arms. After all, she heard her father saying much worse words and thought nothing of them, even though she barely knew what half of them meant.

"Doesn't really matter, she won't survive this round."

"And why not?"

"See for yourself!" she passed the briefcase with the name Hopewell to them. Sunset noticed that it felt much lighter than her own. She opened it fearing the worst, only to find out that Hope's suit was missing. "Understand now? You can take your suit with you, but if you leave it behind, it will stay behind."

"Shit!" Sunset Shimmer cursed.

"And don't even think about taking someone else's suit. Even if you do, it won't work. Well, have fun running around like a headless chicken."

Controller Roller returned to the room, already wearing his black suit. Sunset Shimmer lightly squeezed Hope's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Hope. I promise I will protect you!" Hope nodded as Sunset ran to the corridor to put her suit on.

"What about the two of you?" the blue-haired boy asked. "Not gonna wear yours?"

"Don't you think it's a little... Shameful?" the young man asked, trying to ignore the bulges in the crotch area of the two other young men of the team.

"You get used to it after a couple of missions." he said.

"I-I'll pass, thanks!"

"And what about you, gramps?"

"I'm a little too old to play with you kids." the bald elder explained. "I just want to go back to my hospital room. I have a surgery scheduled for tomorrow."

Sunset Shimmer returned, already wearing her suit, then picked up her trusty Gib Gun, but dropped it when she noticed one thing she didn't notice during the last mission because she did not approach the Black Ball:

"Wh-Wh-Why is there a guy in there?"

The other newcomers approached the ball out of curiosity and there was indeed someone inside it; it was a naked man sitting down in the center of the sphere and hugging his knees; he also had a breathing mask strapped to his face and suction cups attached to his bald head.

"Our savior!" the blonde said. "He's the guy who gave us another chance to live by bringing us here. But he's not very interactive, he just sits there, doing nothing."

Sunset Shimmer was curious, but decided to postpone her investigation when Hope stood beside her and held her hand; right now ,she had different priorities. Sunset picked the gun she dropped and holstered it. The two suitless girls then started screaming when the blonde girl started disappearing.

"Calm down, that's normal." she said before the lower half of her head disappeared, soon followed by the rest of her body. The old man was next, followed by the purple-haired boy, Hope and Sunset, the two girls, the quiet girl with glasses and the young man with black and white hair.

* * *

"So, is that it? Can we go home now?" Clap asked.

"Not yet." the blonde explained. "Remember that thing we saw on the ball back in the room? We have to hunt it down and kill it, as well as anything otherworldly that comes our way."

"How do I shoot?" Controller Roller asked, looking from all angles at the Gib Rifle he picked up.

"Easy peasy!" the blue-haired boy pointed at the triggers. "Upper one locks on target, lower one shoots. There's a short delay, but the results are guaranteed!"

"That's--"

Before Roller could finish that sentence, a pair of talons clutched his shoulders. For a split second, all of them could see that the talons belonged to the alien shown by the Black Ball. She had a naked humanoid body, completely exposing herself to the group; she also had talons instead of feet and forearms, her thighs were covered in pink feathers and her arms had long wings attached to them, granting her the ability of flight. Three other Harpies also captured the blue-haired boy, the young man and the bald old man. Sunset Shimmer had the intention of protecting Hope at all costs, so she immediately shot the closest Harpy, which was the one holding Controller Roller hostage. The four Harpies flew away while doing random turns in midair to make it more difficult for the girls to shoot at them. The Harpy carrying Roller didn't make it very far, dropping him after her torso exploded.

"GIVE MY BOYFRIEND BACK!" the blonde yelled before running after them, Sunset and the others following her.

"Are you ok?" Pearl asked, helping the boy up. "That was a nasty fall."

"Surprisingly so, yes!" he replied. "They weren't bullshitting when they said this suit is great."

The Harpies led the group to the outskirts of Canterlot Town, where an abandoned transmission tower sat with several large bird nests built between the steel beams. The three Harpies they were following started flying around the tower.

"Keeeeeaaaaarrr!" they screamed, sounding like a human trying to mimic the cry of a hawk. Suddenly, several more Harpies came out of the bird nests and started circling the structure while the first three carried their prey to the biggest nest, which was located on the peak of the transmission tower.

The suit strengthened the blonde's leg, allowing her to jump much higher than any human ever could. "I TOLD YOU TO GIVE BACK MY--" one of the winged women intercepted her, wrapping her arms around the blonde and completely stopping her in midair, pressing her face between her ample exposed breasts. The blonde tried to struggle, but the bird woman was strong. "Let me go, you whore!" she was about to use the power of the suit to force the Harpy's arms open, but the Alien started spinning before she could do that. She then threw the girl at the transmission tower, her body denting the steel beam before she fell to the ground.

"YOU BITCHES! YOU GODDAMN BITCHEEEEEES!" the blonde yelled as she started shooting at the Alien Harpies with her Gib Rifle. She missed most of the shots since her targets were quick to dodge in midair, but she successfully killed a couple of them. Controller Roller and Sunset Shimmer soon joined them, shooting at the flying monster girls.

* * *

The three other males of the team were dropped in the biggest nest on the highest spot of the transmission tower, where three more Harpies were waiting for them. Those three were different from the others, though; they were nearly twice their size, their claws were much longer and sharper, each of them had a different hairstyle - one had long, crimson red hair, the other had a shoulder-lenght brown hair, and the last had short, spiky, vibrant blue hair - and they all wore a golden spiky armor. As soon as they locked eyes with their prey, the females smiled.

"Nope! I'm outta here." the young man said before crawling toward the edge of the nest. But he did not went far, as the Harpie with blue hair grabbed him by the ankle. He immediately stopped moving when he felt her claws pierce his skin and draw blood. She pulled him closer and grabbed his crotch area. He gulped. "I-I-I'm sorry for trying to escape. Pl-Please, don't do what I think you're going to do."

But contrary to his expectations, all she did was rip a hole in his trousers, exposing his genitals. Yelping in surprise, he tried crossing his legs to hide his shame, but she forced his legs open and shot him an icy glare, making him gulp again. Pleased with his cooperation, she crouched between his legs and pressed her tongue against his flaccid member.

"Wh-What the hell?" he mumbled, blushing profusely.

Her gentle touch was enough for him to become excited enough for the Harpy's purpose. Pleased with the erecton in front of her face, she stood up, removed her armor and straddled him, gently guiding him inside her vagina, chirping softly while doing so. Meanwhile, the crimson-haired Harpy gave the old man the same treatment, but with no results.

"Sorry, missy." the old man said. "The old pistol is jammed."

She got up with a frown and grabbed the elder by the neck, then throwing him off the nest and to his death. She then sat down with her arms crossed and started cheeping at the blue-haired Harpy, but all she did was let out a loud hawk-like scream mixed with a moan.

"I-I can't... I... I--" the young man tried to speak, but was silenced by the blue-haired Harpy's lips. That was all it took for him to stop trying to hold back and fill her alien womb with his human seed. She got up and sighed in bliss. "Wh-Whoa... That was--" he was silenced again, but not by having his mouth shut, but by her talons slitting his throat. She patted her belly with a smile on her face, happy because she was now ready to lay more eggs. But her happiness wasn't shared by her comrade with red hair, who started to chirp angrily at her for ruining her chance of getting impregnated with her own eggs.

While the other two were arguing, the third kept doing was she'd been doing all this time: angrily trying to rip a hole in the boy's black suit and claim her prize. During all this time, the blue-haired boy kept quiet, afraid that if he tried to do anything to the female in front of him, the others would attack. After all, he had dropped his Gib Rifle after one particularly risky stunt pulled by the Harpy that carried him there. But now that they were too busy to worry about them, he could finally act out his plan:

The boy activated his suit's superhuman strength and wrapped his legs around the brown-haired Harpy's torso, then used the enhanced strength of his arms to pull himself out of the nest, dragging the bird woman with him. While falling, he wrapped his hands around the winged brunette's neck and squeezed as hard as the suit allowed him. The snap noise followed by her body going limp brought a smile to his face before he finally landed on his back.

"Alright! One down, no pun intended, two to go." he said after getting up and dusting himself. While looking around he saw the body of the old man lying next to him; he had landed head first on the ground and his skull got cracked open. "If only he had a blue pill..."

"Keeeeeaaaaarrr!" he looked around and saw a flock of Harpies swarming one area.

"The fuck is going on there? They're handing over free bird seed?" he mumbled. He noticed that two of them got their heads blown off and realization hit him. "Ohhh. Yep, they're fucked!"

Sunset Shimmer was lying on top of Hope, who had lost her right forearm during the attack, trying to protect her with her own body. Pearl was lying on the grass in shock; Clap had been torn in half by two Harpy Aliens and she was covered in her best friend's blood, and to add insult to the injury - though not on purpose - the Harpies dropped both torn halves on top of her, forcing Pearl to stare deep into her dead friend's eyes. Controller Roller was still fighting, the blonde was hiding behind him because of her broken suit, but shooting at the Harpies every once in a while, but the redheaded girl was just trying to protect her face with her arms, so she kept getting hit by all the attacks until the Harpies managed to break her suit. She fell on the ground, right beside Sunset Shimmer.

"Just lie down, then won't--"

"Shut up, I don't want any advice from you!" the girl yelled, her glasses hanging from only one of her ears.

Sunset frowned. "Why are you so rude all the time?"

"Rude? Me, rude? Oh, look who's talking, Miss 'I'm Too Pretty And Important To Give A Fuck About Others'!"

"Wh-What?"

"Oh, so you don't remember? Fucking great! I wish I'd never have to see you again! Why'd you have to--" but the girl's unnecessary shouting were her demise, for they caught the attention of one of the Harpies, who sunk her talons on the girl's back, then pulling out her spine, some of her organs coming out with it. Her death was instantaneous, and so was the Harpy's, shot moments before by the blonde girl.

Roller and the girl were breathing heavily. Together they took care of all the Harpies, even though Roller did most of the killing since his suit still worked.

"Heads up, guys!" the blue-haired boy yelled as he ran toward the group. They looked up and saw two bigger Harpies chasing him, one with red hair and the other with blue hair, both of them wearing golden armor.

"Spread!" the blonde commanded, running to the left while the purple-haired boy ran to the right, the blue-haired boy walked ran past them, but Sunset stayed there, still protecting Hope and, by extension, Black Pearl. The two Harpies landed in front of her with their arms crossed. Sunset stood up and pointed her Gib Gun at them. The first Harpy slapped the gun away while the second Harpy kicked Sunset Shimmer, who to the ground. The blue-haired Harpy picked Hope up and hovered her claws above the little girl's stomach before her legs got blown off, shot by Roller who was hiding behind one of the steel beams of the transmission tower. The left shoulder of the other Harpy exploded soon after. Sunset Shimmer picked up her Gib Gun and repeatedly shot the fallen bird women.

"Don't!" she said as she pulled the trigger. "You!" another shot. "Touch!" another shot. "Hope!" shot. "Ever!" shot. "Again!" shot. The entire upper torso of the duo exploded, coating Sunset in alien bird blood. "She's my reponsibility."

Sunset Shimmer was the first to be transferred back to the Black Ball Room.

Author's Note

"L-Lewd..."

This mission is the proof you needed that I'm a Yu-Gi-Oh! maniac (even though my deck is not a Harpie Lady Deck)!
But fuck Synchro Summon, fuck Pendulum Summon and fuck the Forbidden & Limited List. Traditional Format FTW!

And judging by the votes, people like gore and people like sex, but have mixed feelings when the two are mixed together. Except sick bastards like me. Or you! :pinkiecrazy:
Well, it matters not! I'm not writing this to get popular, I just write fanfics to have fun. Heavy-duty fun, given the size of the script, but fun nonetheless.

Until next chapter, Hunters!

4. Intermission

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

"Points?" Controller Roller asked.

"You receive points based on how many aliens you killed during the mission." Sunset explained while making sure there was nothing wrong with Hope's reformed arm. "At least that's how I think it works."

"What are they used for?"

"Hopefully, we'll find out tonight." the blue-haired boy said with a smile.

The first person to receive points was the new guy.

CAMPER
40 PTS / TOTAL 40 PTS
ONLY 60 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Daaaaamn!" the boy said while patting Roller on the back. "If the new guy got that many points, a veteran like myself surely will--"

ROCKSTAR WANNABE
15 PTS / TOTAL 86 PTS
ONLY 14 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

He blinked, a look of disbelief on his face. "Fuck you, BB." he kicked the ball in frustration. "Fuck you!"

PIPSQUEAK
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS
HIDES TOO MUCH
GETS HURT TOO OFTEN

"Don't worry, Hope." Sunset said, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. "In my opinion, you did great."

"But I didn't do anything." Hope said, crossing her arms in frustration.

JAIL BAIT
20 PTS / TOTAL 89 PTS
ONLY 11 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"This is your fault, Treble." the blonde said, crossing her arms. "If you hadn't been captured, I could have focused on killing aliens instead of saving your sorry ass."

"I almost got raped just a few moments ago, Goldie. I'm really not in the mood!"

"Wait, what?"

MOMMA SUNNY
45 PTS / TOTAL 52 PTS
ONLY 48 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

She cocked her head. "'Momma'?"

"Not bad, greenhorn. Not bad." the blonde girl called Goldie commended.

TWEEDLEDUM
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS
CRIES TOO MUCH
LACKS WILL

"Oh, right, you're still here." Goldie said, turning around to look at the girl sitting on a corner, staring at her feet.

"M-My best friend is dead..." she mumbled.

"Hey, at least you're still alive." Treble said. "Be thankful for that!"

"By the way, I just realized we barely know each other." Goldie pointed out. "We gotta work together if we wish to survive this mess, and calling you guys 'you guys' isn't gonna help much." she cleared her throat and placed her hand on her chest. "I am Goldielocks, but I'd rather be called Goldie."

"Treble's the name, the best guitar player in town!" Treble, the blue-haired boy, said while pointing at his chest with his thumb.

"Sunset Shimmer. And this here is Hope."

"Nice to meet you!" Hope said with a big smile.

"You already know my name is Controller Roller, but everyone just calls me Roll."

"And you there?" Goldie called. "What's your name?"

"P-P... Pearl... Black Pearl..." she mumbled.

"So, what now?" Roll asked.

"Now we go home. The door's unlocked." Treble explained. "You can take your suit if you want. We take ours every time! But you can leave it here, it really doesn't make a difference."

"We take ours just for fun." Goldie added with a shrug.

"I think I'll leave mine here." Sunset said. "And when you get yours back, we'll leave it here, too."

Hope nodded. "Okay!"

"Yeah, there's also that. Don't leave your suit at home, that's a big deal. You get teleported back, but if your suit is not with you, it will stay where it is!" Treble told Roll.

"And don't forget the biggest deal: you tell anyone about this, you're dead. BB doesn't like snitches." Goldie looked at Pearl. "Same goes for you."

Pearl nodded.

"Anyway, time to go home. I got shit to do and not enough time." Treble then walked toward the corridor.

"Wait!" Sunset Shimmer called. "That girl with the glasses. What was her name?"

Treble and Goldie looked at each other, then back at Sunset and shrugged.

"Dunno." Treble said.

"Never bothered to ask, she always just sort of stood there." Goldie added. "Anyway, why do you care? She's dust now."

"It's just--" she sighed. "No, nothing. Nevermind that. I was just curious."

Treble and Goldielocks left the room, this time without being stopped, followed by Roll.

"You're gonna be ok?" Sunset asked Pearl.

"Sincerely? I-I don't know... Clap was... We were friends since kindergarten and now she's just... Gone. Poof, just like that. What am I gonna tell her parents?"

Sunset squatted in front of her. "You want me to walk you home?"

"No. No, thanks. I just need... I just need a moment."

Sunset patted her shoulder and got up. "Hope you get better soon. Take care!"

Sunset Shimmer and Hope left, leaving Pearl alone with her thoughts.

Hope's black suit was stuffed in a box inside Sunset Shimmer's closet, but she took it out, folded it and placed it on the bedside table. She looked at Hope, sound asleep on the bed. She looked so small, so weak, so helpless... She looked at the girl's forearm and sighed.

"What happens if I'm not there to protect you anymore?" she mumbled. "Will someone take care of you in my place? Or will they just leave you behind to die? Or worse?" Sunset sat on the bed and gently caressed Hope's face. "I don't want to teach you how to fight, but you need to learn how to take care of yourself. What should I do?" she laid down beside her, then hugged her. "I wish there was an easy answer to that..." she fell asleep soon after.

* * *

Sunset Shimmer didn't want to talk about the infamous car accident, and their friends respected her wish. But there was one thing that was never brought up, thus no one ever promised to never speak of it, and Rarity was feeling a little curious, but since jumping straight to the question was never her style, she decided to work her way up to the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question with smaller questions:

"Say, Sunset Shimmer, dear, what were you doing in the shopping mall yesterday?" Rarity asked. "Or, more specifically, at the Thread & Needle Clothes Store?"

Sunset's heart skipped a beat. Rarity was proud of her work and, seeing how she tended to overreact to basically anything, she feared what would happen if she told her she was buying clothes there.

Rainbow Dash nearly choked on her drink. She wasn't very fond of seeing her friends fighting, but a little bit of Rarity Drama was always welcome. All the other girls dropped what they were doing and stared intensely at Sunset Shimmer. After a quick glance around, the blonde/redhead noticed that a few of the students at the cafeteria who knew of Rarity's work were also looking their way, interested in knowing the reason behind Sunset Shimmer's "betrayal".

"first and foremost, I want you to know that I'm not mad at you or anything." Rarity's statement was enough for most of the eavesdroppers to lose interest in the conversation. "I just want to know why you'd go to such an unsophist--" she cleaned her throat. "I mean, unappreciated place. You know I would never turn you down!"

"I know, Rarity, I know. But... Well... It's just that... You don't exactly have what I needed."

"Oh, nonsense, darling! If I don't have what you want, then I'll have it in no time. Now tell me, what was it?"

"I... Uh... You see..."

"Is it related to that little girl?"

"Little girl?" all the others asked at the same time, surprised.

Sunset knew her friends would find out about Hope eventually. But was she supposed to tell the truth about her being a runaway or come up with something?

"I-I-I'm... Babysitting." was the excuse she fabricated. "A couple that lives in the same building asked me to take care of her for a few weeks while they're away on a business trip."

"And you wanted to keep that a secret because...?" Applejack inquired.

"I-It's not that I wanted to keep a secret, it's just... Well... I wanted it to be a... Surprise?"

The awkward silence that followed was broken by Pinkie Pie.

"Can we go meet her? Huh? Can we, can we? No, wait, even better! Can I throw her a party? A 'Have-Fun-With-Sunset-Shimmer-While-Your-Parents-Are-Away-On-A-Business-Trip-Because-They-Probably-Have-Very-Important-Jobs' party?"

Sunset smiled. "Pinkie Pie, you have the best ideas."

"Yeah, so I'm told!"

* * *

"SURPRISE!" the girls all shouted at the same time when Sunset Shimmer and Hopewell opened the front door and entered the apartment. The place had a few party decorations, such as balloons tied to everything Pinkie could find, but the most prominent decoration was the banner on the wall with the words Hope's Have-Fun-With-Sunset-Shimmer-Whil.

"Forgive me, darling, but it's been a busy month and I haven't had the time to replenish my fabric stock." Rarity said when she saw Sunset looking at said banner.

"It's ok, Rarity. What matters is that we're going to have lots of fun today, aren't we, Hope?"

"YES!" she yelled with a smile on her face and her arms up in the air.

Rainbow Dash immediately ran straight to the shelf stereo and turned it on; one of her favorite and most upbeat songs started playing.

"Then let's not waste another moment and get this party started!" she cheered.

~ ~ ~

The party was wild enough for all the girls to have fun, but also tame enough for the neighbors to not find a reason to complain or call the police. By the time the sun was setting and the party was dying down, Hope had already crashed on the sofa and fainted of exhaustion, but with a huge grin from ear to ear and a look of satisfaction on her face.

"Quite a lil' party animal, ain't she?" Applejack commented.

"It's like she haven't had that much fun in a long time." Rarity pointed out.

"No one knows true fun until they experienced one of Pinkie Pie's parties!" Rainbow Dash patted her cotton-haired friend on the back.

"Thank you so much for that, girls." Sunset Shimmer said. "We really needed that."

"Anywhere, anytime, partner!" Pinkie Pie said as the four girls left the apartment.

"And now, it's off to bed with you." Sunset said as she gently picked the girl up and carried her to the bedroom and carefully laid her on the bed. She was about to turn around and leave the room when she heard Hope call:

"Sunset Shimmer?"

"Yes?"

"I had lots of fun today. Thank you!"

Sunset Shimmer bent down and kissed the little girl's forehead.

"So did I, pipsqueak. So did I." leaving Hope to have a good night's sleep, she left the room, closed the door and sat on the couch. "I beg you, Black Ball. Today's been a great day so, please, don't summon us tonight. Please!" Sunset Shimmer fell asleep on the couch while watching some old movie she didn't even bother to learn the title.

Sunset Shimmer had a nightmare that night. In this nightmare, Sunset Shimmer was on the passenger seat of a car that looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't see the face of the driver, though she could see his blue hair. It was night, it was raining and she couldn't see the road clearly, but she saw someone standing in the middle of it, though the only reason she could see them was because the person was dangerously close to the headlights. The driver steered to the left, successfully avoiding a collision, but only by mere inches. Sunset looked at them, noticing that the person was a girl with reddish-rose hair, thick glasses and wearing the Black Ball's suit. She muttered one simple phrase:

"Sincerely, I don't give a fuck."

Sunset Shimmer woke up covered in sweat. She walked to the bathroom to wash her face on the sink. Her face dripping wet with clear water, she stared at herself in the mirror for a moment.

"She really hated me." she thought. "And I don't even know why. I don't even know her name. What happened between us?"

They were called back to the room two weeks later. Pearl, Roll and a few newcomers were already there, Treble and Goldie arrived soon after with some more newcomers. After explaining the situation the best way they could, the song that signalized the beginning of the mission started playing.

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

Author's Note

This entire chapter is based on a couple of lines on the bottom of the 6th page from the handwritten script. Only 38 more and I'm done!

And here's a little bit of trivia: By the time I publish a chapter of The Black Ball Room, the next already has at least 2,000 words written. I like this style, I think I'll start using it from now on.

5. The Red Menace

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
IMP ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: SMALL, MISCHIEVOUS
LIKES: EATING, SLEEPING
FAVORITE QUOTE: "FUCK YOU!"

"Rude!" Goldie said.

The screen of the Black Ball had the mugshot of a red-skinned humanoid creature with piercing yellow eyes, a big hook nose, pointy chin and a tuft of dark brown hair on top of its egg-shaped head. The ball opened up and Sunset and Pearl, the only members of the team not wearing their suits, picked the briefcases with their names on them and changed themselves together on the corridor to save time.

"How are you holding up?" Sunset asked as she unhooked her bra and placed it on top of the cabinet.

"Better. Not good, but better." Pearl answered as she removed her jeans and panties.

"What about the police? Came knocking on your door yet?"

She nodded after putting on the upper part of her suit, which covered her neck, shoulders, arms and chest. "Uh-huh. I told them the last time I saw her was at the club." she then wore the gloves of the suit.

"Yeah, I was going to ask you about that." Sunset said as she put on the lower half of the suit, covering her legs, hips, abdomen and back. "When you first arrived, you mentioned something about a fire. What was that all about?"

"We were dancing in a club. We used to go every once in a while just to have a good time." she sat down to put on the boots of the suit. "But then there was an accident, probably backstage, and the whole thing caught on fire. Clap and I locked ourselves in the girl's bathroom and, next thing we know, we're here."

"I'm really sorry for your loss. Losing a close friend must be horrible." Sunset said as she wore her leather jacket over her black suit, thinking about how it would feel to lose one of her dear friends.

"It is. It definitely is."

They went back to the main room, where Treble and Goldie tried to explain the benefits of the suits. A few of the newcomers chose to listen, but most paid no heed to their warnings. One of the suitless newcomers was transferred first.

PLEASE WAIT
00:59:58

"Hope?" Sunset Shimmer called.

"Yes?" she looked up at the girl who "adopted" her.

Sunset Shimmer looked at her for a few moments and took a deep breath, then squatted beside Hopewell and placed a Gib Gun on her hand. "You point this at the bad guys, then pull this first button. If the skeleton of the bad guy is showing on this screen on the back, you pull the second button, alright?"

She looked in awe at the weapon she was holding. Sunset Shimmer never prohibited her from using any of the guns, but knowing that she trusted her enough to give her one herself was thrilling, and made her feel special. She looked at her, smiled and nodded. Sunset grabbed Hope's shoulders.

"But only on the bad guy, you hear me? If you pull the first trigger and a person who is not the bad guy is on the screen, you let go of that button immediately!"

Hope nodded again before she started to disappear, as she was the next person being transferred.

* * *

"I'm free!" the man said as soon as he realized he was no longer in that small apartment, but back outside. "If I double time my way home, I can still hit the clubs tonight."

While walking down the street, he heard some unusual noises coming from an alley. Normally he would just ignore it and keep walking, but this time there was a trail of blood leading to said alley. A normal person would run as fast as possible from the vicinity, but his curiosity was stronger than his common sense; he followed the trail and found the creature he previously saw on the black sphere.

The Imp Alien couldn't be over 2 ft tall when standing. He was a chubby little creature with no clothes on, exposing his buttocks and short spaded tail to the world. He was also punching a pile of gore in front of him and, judging by the remains, it used to be a dog.

"Fuck you." the Imp muttered to himself in a raspy voice as he kept beating the bloody meat to a pulp. "Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you."

After seeing that disgusting scene, he turned around, kneeled and threw up on the sidewalk, then proceeded to cough. That startled the imp, who immediately jumped on the young man.

"FUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" the imp yelled as he sat on the man's back and proceeded to punch the back of his head with a strength that seemed improbable for someone his size.

The sight of the man being beaten to a pulp by their target was the first thing Hope saw when transferred there. She immediately pointed the Gib Gun at him, but didn't immediately pulled the trigger. The imp stood up, revealing to the young girl that all that it was left of the guy's head was a pool of blood and chunks of what used to be his skull and brain. The alien turned around and sprinted toward her.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Hope screamed and pulled both triggers before falling on her rump. The red monster jumped toward her, but exploded in midair before coming too close. Goldie was the next person to be transferred.

"You did this?" she asked, pointing at the chubby red arm lying next to them. Hope, still shaking a little, nodded. Goldie patted her head. "Good girl, good girl."

"FUCK YOU!"

They looked back and saw a small group of imps running toward them. Goldie pressed a button on her Controller, turning invisible.

"You're finally becoming a Hunter like us, I won't stand in your way and halt the progress. Have fun!"

"Wait wait wait wait!" Hope begged, but Goldie had already left and the Imp Aliens were getting closer.

When Sunset was finally transferred, the first thing she did was look around for Hope.

"Hope, where are you?" she called, but did not obtained an answer. Fearing the worst, she ran around calling for her. Fortunately she met the little girl soon after, who ran out of an alley to hug her.

"I did it!" she said, pointing at where she came from. "Look, look, I did it."

Looking at where Hope was pointing, Sunset saw the remains of Imp Aliens, all of them finished by the little girl and her new gun.

"They wanted to hurt people, so I hurt them first. I did good, right?" she asked with a huge smile. "Right?"

Sunset Shimmer, surprised with the progress the young girl made, stared at the results with her mouth agape.

"Good work, Hope." she praised, almost not believing that she dispacted all those aliens all by herself in such short span of time.

One of the Imp Aliens tried to jump on Treble from behind, but landed face first on the paved street when the blue-haired boy stepped out of the way. He then kicked the naked creature toward a pile of dead Imps.

"Put on some clothes, fucker." he said. "I don't wanna see your red junk." he pointed his Gib Rifle at the survivor, but raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the little monster was scooping up the remainings of his fallen comrades and shoving them in his mouth. "What the fuck...?"

The little devil kept eating, even when his stomach had swelled to a point that it appeared to be about to burst. Suddenly the alien's legs grew bigger and longer than the rest of the body they belonged to but, instead of the chubby legs they were before, they now looked like the legs of an athlete, extremely ripped with bulging muscles. The upper body also grew bigger and stronger, even though his stomach was still bloated, and his face now looked more intimidating, with a bigger mouth and long, sharp teeth with four giant fangs that couldn't fit inside his mouth.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Treble cursed as he repeatedly shot the now 8 ft tall monstrosity.

The grown Imp Alien slowly walked toward Treble, still adjusting himself to his new body; the shots caused him some damage, but so small that could barely be considered "damage" seeing as they only caused small ruptures on his skin. After understanding more or less how his evolved body worked, the alien started to pick up the pace, walking toward Treble at a much faster speed.

"Nope!" Treble said as he turned around and ran.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" the Imp Alien yelled - his voice now much deeper - before chasing the blue-haired boy.

Roll and Pearl were working together against the Imps, Pearl using her Web Gun to hold them in place while Roll shot them with his Gib Rifle. During this combat, Pearl discovered exactly how the Web Gun worked: the first trigger was used to lock on target, as expected. The second trigger shot three small missiles connected by a triangle-shaped energy rope out of the barrels of the gun, which wrapped themselves around the target; after the target was bound, the missiles flew to the ground, burying themselves and completely immobilizing the target. Only then the third trigger would become available, and the result was instantaneous: the alien bound by the Web Gun was transferred away, but not to the room or another location; once an alien is transferred by the Web Gun, it never comes back.

"Not bad for a newcomer." Roll said with a wink.

"Who are you calling a newcomer? We entered this at the same time." she said as she shot at the last Imp Alien, which was then finished by Roll.

"But you made zero points last time, so this counts as your first mission."

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Startled by the sudden scream, they looked around for its source, finally noticing Treble running toward them with a tall and brawny Imp Alien getting closer and closer to the boy. Before he could scream for help, the monster kicked him on the back, making Treble not only kiss the ground, but slide several feet away, leaving behind a long ditch on the paved street, and finally stopping after crashing against a building. He got up soon after, but noticed that the blue gel was leaking from the caps of his suit. Knowing that another direct hit would mean his demise, Treble hid inside the building.

Realizing the danger, Pearl immediately shot him with her Web Gun, successfully binding the giant Imp. Roll tried shooting at it, but the damage was still mininum.

"What the fuck? Why isn't it working?" after a couple more shots, Roll gave up. "Ok, you try it."

But before Pearl could press the third trigger, the red devil used sheer brute strength to free himself from the binds.

"FUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Roll and Pearl screamed.

Goldie watched in disgust as dozens of Imp Aliens fought amongst themselves, slaughtering each other and devouring their corpses. That disgust turned into terror when she saw the Imps growing bigger and stronger in mere seconds. She tried shooting them with her Gib Rifle, but the results were not very satisfactory. Realizing that this was a fist fight, she threw her Gib Rifle on the ground and cracked her joints.

"A little blonde cutie from Earth against a gang of budybuilders from outer space with the biggest cocks I've seen in my entire life? Can't say the odds are in my favor..." she thought out loud before assuming a kung fu fighting stance. "But you bet your sweet asses I'll try!"

Goldie's suit's strength enhancer activated immediately, and she charged toward the group of beefed up Imp Aliens. They tried punching and kicking her, but while Goldie had problems avoiding fast blows like the ones she received from the Harpy Aliens during the previous mission, dodging attacks from a bunch a big bad and slow brutes was too easy. She tried attacking them, but their muscles were just too tough for even the suit to cause much damage, so most of the aliens ended up hitting each other while trying to hit the blonde girl in the middle of the group.

She discovered their weakness by accident: after missing another hit, one of the giant Imp Aliens accidently punched his buddy in the stomach. At first it didn't look like a big deal, but the one who received the blow puked out all the Imp meat he ate not long ago, soon returning to his previous, feeble form. Goldie immediately jumped on the creature, killing it by smashing his skull. But that one moment of distraction cost her the victory, for one Imp Alien punched her from behind, throwing her dozens of meters away; she then crash-landed inside a closed convenience store. Sunset Shimmer and Hope, who were in the general vicinity, followed the noise and found her lying under toppled shelves, her suit broken and leaking the blue gel.

"Th-Th-The stomach..." she managed to said. "H-Hit the... The stom..." she passed out before finishing the sentence.

"What--" before Sunset could finish sharing her thoughts with Hope, they heard what sounded like a herd of bulls approaching them; it wasn't an actual herd of bulls, but the sound of several Big Imp Aliens running together was very similar. They dug up Goldie and ran, Sunset carrying the blonde on her back. They then jumped on top of a fast food restaurant, where they could catch their breath.

"FUCK YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!" they all yelled in unison.

"What do we do?" Hope asked.

"You stay here with her." Sunset ordered. "I have a plan!"

"What are you going to do?"

Roll and Pearl were hiding under cars in a parking lot, praying that the Big Imp Alien wouldn't think of looking there. They heard several aliens yelling "fuck you" in the distance, and that appeared to have caught the monster's attention, for he soon gave up on his chase and followed the noise. They crawled out of their hiding spots soon after.

"Where do you think he's going?" Roll asked.

"Do you really want to know?" Pearl asked, still shaking in fear of the thing that followed them down several blocks with an erection that would surely give her either nightmares or wet dreams for weeks.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Let's go!" he grabbed Pearl's hand and dragged her along, running toward the same direction the creature went.

"Are you insane? Did you even hear that? How many of them do you think were screaming? If a bunch of basketball player-sized heavyweight boxers tell you to go fuck yourself you just sit there and say 'fuck you' back?"

"I might!" Pearl groaned. When they reached their destination they hid behind a wall, peeking at the scene taking place not many meters away from them:

Sunset Shimmer was running in the middle of a group of Big Imp Aliens and, every time she saw an oportunity, would either kick, punch or elbow the stomach of one of them, forcing them to throw up and shrink. Sometimes she would deal with the little aliens herself but, most of the time, it was Hope who took care of them, shooting at them from the roof of the fast food restaurant with Goldie's Gib Rifle.

"Wow!" Pearl said. "Now that's a girl who knows how to kick ass."

"And here I thought she was just another wimp because all she did last time was steal my kills." he clapped his hands. "Bravo, Sunset Shimmer. Bra-fucking-vo!"

The last of the Imp Aliens was dispatched by Sunset Shimmer herself, who kicked him so hard that his head crashed through the wall of the restaurant, but his body stood in place, only falling to the ground a few seconds later. The targets were also apparently the Big Bosses of the mission, because Goldie was transferred soon after Sunset Shimmer killed the last of the Imps.

* * *

"That! Was! Awesome!" Pearl jumped on Sunset Shimmer, hugging her as tightly as possible.

Sunset Shimmer blushed lightly. "It wasn't a big deal, really."

"Not a big deal? You were brawling monsters nearly twice your size. That was amazing."

"I couldn't have done it without Hope or Goldie."

"Huh, you're actually giving me credit?" Goldie asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Of course! After all, you're the one who discovered their weakness all by yourself. You did great, Goldie!"

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Goldie said with a smug smile.

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

PIPSQUEAK
24 PTS / TOTAL 24 PTS
ONLY 76 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

Hope jumped up and down in happiness. Sunset Shimmer clapped her hands.

TWEEDLEDUM
6 PTS / TOTAL 6 PTS
ONLY 94 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

Pearl rolled her eyes. "Could you not call me that, please?"

CAMPER
9 PTS / TOTAL 49 PTS
ONLY 51 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

They all gathered around the Black Ball when the next points were awarded, all of them looking at it in awe.

JAIL BAIT
15 PTS / TOTAL 104 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

Sunset Shimmer was the first to applaud, soon followed by Hope and all the others, cheering and complimenting her. Goldie jumped on Treble's arms and kissed him deeply.

"I made it." she said, her eyes moist with tears. "I fucking made it, Treble!"

"Yes, I can see that. Job well done, sugarlips!"

"Guys, guys, look at this!" Roll called. They all looked back at the Black Ball, which was now showing a different text:

100 POINTS MENU
1. YOU WILL BE FREED ALONG WITH YOUR MEMORIES ERASED
2. YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL WEAPON
3. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REVIVE A HUMAN BEING FROM THE MEMORY

"We... We have options?" Treble asked, surprised.

"Looks like it, yes." Pearl said.

"What does it matter now, love? I'm sure you made 100 points too, we're free now."

"Yes, I suppose."

"But... It also says that I'll lose my memory. Does... Does that mean I'll forget you?"

Treble pondered for a few moments. "Tell you what, you go grab your phone and write down a reminder for us to meet at... Hm... That cafe you love so much, how about that?"

"That sounds perfect!" she ran to the corner of the room where she usually dropped her clothes after arriving there and dug out her phone. After tapping on it for a few moments, she wore her clothes and kissed Treble another time. "See you there, handsome!"

"I miss you already."

She then turned to the black sphere and squatted in front of it. "BB, I choose the first option. Get me the fuck out of here!"

The Black Ball granted her wish and started transferring her but, instead of starting from the head and going down, this time BB started by transferring her feet and going up. It didn't took long for her to be completely gone.

ROCKSTAR WANNABE
21 PTS / TOTAL 107 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

"Now we can finally be together, my love." he said.

"That's good, right?" Sunset Shimmer patted him on the back. "You and Goldie can now be together forever, and you don't need to fight or fear for your life anymore."

"What? Goldielocks?" he bursted into laughter. "Fuck that dumb bitch."

That last statement caught all of them by surprise.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"I mean every word of what I said: Fuck! That! Dumb! Bitch!"

"But aren't you her boyfr--"

"Her boyfriend? That was just an act to stay on her good side. That girl was psycho! You never met the real Goldielocks because I was always there to keep her at bay. Do you even know what happened between us? Back when we first entered the game, I had another girlfriend, her name was Midnight Glow. One night, Goldielocks was in trouble so I helped her, and that was the biggest mistake of my entire life. Ever since then she never left me alone, despite the fact that my girlfriend couldn't stand her and was always telling her to fuck off. But on the very next mission she did the unthinkable: as soon as my girlfriend's suit broke, she shot her. I shit you not, she shot her in cold fucking blood!

"That was so unnerving that our entire crew lost focus on the mission and ended up getting killed by the aliens, except Goldielocks and I. She confessed her feelings and threatened to do the same to me if I didn't accepted her as my girlfriend. I wanted to live, so I took the only sane option!" he then looked at the Black Ball, which was now showing the same 100 Points Menu from before. "But then, Lady Destiny decided to be on my side for once. First BB chose to show her points before mine, and then she actually left. And not only that, but look at the third option. I can revive someone. I can bring my one true love back to life!" Treble kneeled and placed his hand on the Black Ball. "But just to be sure... BB, show me the human beings you have in the memory."

The text was then replaced by a wall of pictures, but not the cartoonish versions of themselves that were shown when they receive the points, but actual mugshots of the people who died and were sent to the room. Looking at the bottom, they saw a few faces they recognized, like Clapperboard. The nicknames Black Ball game them could also be seen under their faces and, as Sunset Shimmer had theorized in her mind, Clapperboard was called "Tweedledee". They also noticed that their own faces were also there, in order of arrival.

Sunset Shimmer found it weird when she noticed that her face was nowhere near Hope's, considering that they arrived during the same mission. Her face was actually higher on the wall of mugshots, and she was sure it was her when she saw that the picture was labeled as "Momma Sunny".

"Look, Sunset, I found you!" Hope said, pointing at one of the pictures on the first row.

"What do you mean? I'm--" her heart nearly skipped a beat when she saw that Hope wasn't mistaken and her picture was indeed on the first row of pictures. "No, that can't be right. I'm down there, look!" she pointed at the general direction of the picture she found first, while still looking at the picture on the first row. She then noticed that this Other Sunset Shimmer had a different name. "'Killer Queen'?"

"Unless you're actually a blue-haired boy who looks like a total faggot disguised as some hottie with delicious-looking bacon hair, I don't think that's you." Pearl said.

"What are you talking abWHAT?!" the shock of her discovery made Sunset Shimmer fall on her rump. She wasn't pointing at her picture, but instead at the picture right beside hers. "Th-Th-That's Flash Sentry!"

Author's Note

When apart from each other, Goldielocks still has a degree in badassery while Treble is a little pussy when he doesn't have a suit to hide inside. If I keep empowering women and degrading men like that people will start thinking that I'm a feminist! But let's be honest, FiM was always about girl power and trophy husbands.

Only people who know Gantz will understand what I'm talking about so, if you for some strange reason haven't read it yet, go read the manga, then come back here. Seriously, the Y-Gun is the second most OP weapon in the game, only losing to the Z-Gun, which is SUPPOSED to be OP. How come Kato is the only one using it? Well, I have no right to talk about this since Pearl is the only one using it, but my point stands.

P.S.: I've been uploading a new chapter every two days because this was my week off from college. Don't expect me to be so generous from now on, because I probably won't!

6. New Friends Are Appearing

"BB, I want you to bring Midnight Glow back." Treble ordered. All of them gave room to the person the Black Ball was now transferring.

Midnight Glow was a pale girl with violet hair, which was tied in a ponytail, with a fringe covering the right side of her face, while the hair that would cover the left side was held in place by a skull hair clip. Like all the others, she was wearing the black suit provided by the Black Ball.

"No no no no, wait WAIT!" Sunset Shimmer begged as the pictures on the screen disappeared, being replaced by her cartoonish version and her score:

MOMMA SUNNY
18 PTS / TOTAL 70 PTS
ONLY 30 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Who are these--" Midnight Glow started, but was interrupted by Treble, who immediately hugged and kissed her.

"Welcome back, my love." he said before getting hit by an uppercut, hitting the ceiling and landing on his back.

"What did I told you about kissing me in public?" she said, glaring at him and crossing her arms as soon as the swelling caused by her suit being activated disappearing.

"Sorry, love, sorry." he apologized as he got up and dusted himself. "I'm just so happy to see you again. It's been so long."

"What do you mean, so long?" she looked around at the other members again. "Shit. Don't tell me I...? Shit!"

"But I finally got 100 points and brought you back. Now nothing can stand between us. Not Goldielocks, not anybody."

"Whatever happened to Goldielocks? Did she die? Please, tell me she's dead."

"Unfortunately, she didn't. She got 100 points and left the game. Hopefully, for good!"

"Yes, and let's keep it that way."

"Alright, everybody." Treble was now addressing the other members of the team. "This is my magnificent girlfriend, Midnight Glow."

"Please, call me Midna. 'Midnight Glow' is a mouthful."

"And these are Controller Roller, a.k.a. Roll, Black Pearl, Hope and Sunset Shimmer."

"Nice to meet you, miss." Hope smiled at her.

"And what's her problem?" Midna asked, pointing at Sunset Shimmer, who was still staring at the Black Ball's screen, which had faded to black long ago.

"She saw a few familiar faces and apparently isn't taking it very well." Pearl said.

"It's ok. I'm ok." Sunset said while getting up. "I was just... Suprised, that's all. Let's go home, Hope."

Hope nodded as they walked to the corridor, where they changed back into their everyday clothes and left.

"For how long I've been dead?" Midna asked.

"Exactly five months and eight." Treble answered. "I've been counting."

"Fuck! What do I do now? Just walk through the front door and tell my family I didn't mean to be gone for that long?"

He patted her on the back. "We'll think of something."

* * *

The next day in school, Sunset Shimmer was quieter than usual, completely neglecting her lunch while lost in thought.

"So, are you just going to stare at him all day or will you say something, darling?" Rarity asked.

"What?" Sunset asked back, snapping out of her daze.

"Since you sat there you've done nothing but stare at Flash Sentry without even blinking. Do you want to tell him something or...?"

"N-No, it's just..."

Just remember that Twilight will be super-duper-suuuuuuper sad if you try anything!" Pinkie Pie added with a wink.

"It's not that!" she said with a blush. "I.... Bathroom!" she got up and ran to the bathroom, locking herself in a stall and sitting on the closed lid of the toilet seat. She then sighed.

"What does it mean?" she thought out loud. "Why was he there? Who's Killer Queen? I have so many questions."

"Trixie, too, has many questions." a voice coming from the stall to her left said. "Like, why is there a girl monologuing in the other bathroom stall and making the Great and Powerful Trixie lose her concentration, making the Great and Powerul Trixie not able to finish her business?"

"S-Sorry, Trixie." she said before walking out of the bathroom.

"The nerve of some people..."

She walked back to the cafeteria but, instead of going back to the table were her friends were sitting at, she pondered going to the table where Flash and his friends were having lunch. She wanted to ask him a few things, but that could be a huge mistake and BB could kill her for spilling the beans. She decided to leave the area and go outside, then sitting on the grass with her back pressed to the horse statue.

"I wish I could tell them, Princess Twilight." she whispered while gently placing her hand on the portal. "I really do. But if they get involved, either I die or they die. What can I do?"

* * *

"We haven't been working together for too long, so I can't say much about their skills." Treble drank the rest of the cappuccino he ordered and placed the empty cup on the table. "But what I can say is that two of them appear to be above average. Roll has the marksmanship of a war veteran, and Sunset Shimmer is a very determined person, as long as she has a goal."

Midna hummed as she took another sip of her tea. "Tell me more about them."

"Roll had a head start because he was open minded from the very beginning, accepting the instructions as fact and geared up as soon as we were done explaining. It appears that he formed some sort of alliance with Pearl, because they're now working together. He could just be using her, though, since he is the one getting most of the kills. Sunset Shimmer isn't so different. Chill from the start, she put the suit on her first time around, too. She also has a mission partner, but her relationship with the little girl is more intimate than Roll and Pearl's. She protects her like a mother, and immediately drops everything to take care of her if she gets injuried."

"Um... Excuse me?" a third voice joined the conversation, one that belonged to a girl with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. "This may seem weird but... Are you the person I'm looking for?"

"What do you mean?" Treble asked.

"It's this reminder in my phone. It tells me to come here and meet up with the boy with blue hair. You're the only one with blue hair here, so I wanted to check if it was you."

Treble shook his head. "Sorry, luv. You got the wrong guy."

"Oh. Then forgive me for the inconvenience." the blonde walked away, mumbling to herself. "I bet it's another one of that bitch's pranks. If it's war that you want, it's war that you'll get."

"So is this why you want to meet me here?" Midna asked, pointing at Goldielocks.

"Mostly! I wanted to make sure BB meant it when he said he was going to wipe her memory. And now that it's confirmed, I can proudly say that the psycho bitch is officially out of my life."

"I still can't believe you dated her after she murdered me."

"Hey, that little pretending game is what brought you back to life. You should be thankful I cheated on you after you died."

"I can't even being to describe how awful that statement was."

"You do that after we leave." he got up and placed some money on the table. "I don't want her to come back and ask more questions."

She finished drinking her tea and got up as well. "With that I can agree!"

* * *

Sunset Shimmer and Hopewell were sitting on the couch, watching the news on TV.

"Big tragedy in Canterlot Town." the anchorman announced. "Earlier this day, there was a train derailment in the south district of the city, causing 67 deaths and injuring over 400 people. The causes of the accident are still being investigated."

"Do you think they'll show up in the room?" Hope asked, looking at Sunset Shimmer.

"Some of them, probably." Sunset said before feeling a chill down her spine. "Talk about timing! It looks like we're going to find out soon."

It took about half an hour for the Black Ball to finally transfer the two of them back to the room, which had more people than usual; it was uncomfrotably full, but they could still move around by squeezing their way past each other.

"Excuse me, everybody. Hello? Please, listen." Sunset Shimmer tried to draw their attention, but they were too busy chatting amongst themselves to pay any attention to the veterans.

"Sunset? Sunset Shimmer?" a male voice called. After inspecting her surroundings, she saw two familiar faces from Canterlot High: the boy waving at her had maroon, almost brown hair, which he kept tucked under a beanie. He was accompanied by another boy, this one with shoulder-lenght bright red hair and a white scarf hanging from his shoulders.

"You two!" she said, surprised to see people she knew in there.

"Who are they?" Hope asked.

"Those two are Nolan North and Normal Norman. We go to the same school." she explained.

"What are you doing here?" Nolan asked.

"In fact, what are we doing here?" Norman asked. "What is this place?"

"Where was the last place you remember being before coming here?" she asked.

"The train." Norman explained. "We spent the afternoon hanging out at the commercial centre. We were riding the train back home when we suddenly heard a BOOM! Next thing we know, we're here."

"Oh, the train accident..." She muttered.

"Excuse me? Accident?" Nolan raised an eyebrow.

"There's no easy way to break the news so I'll just say it." she placed her hand on their chests. "Nolan, Norman, you're dead. We all are!"

"I mean what?!" Norman asked.

"Dead? The fuck are you talking about?" Nolan asked, his eyebrow still raised.

"I know it's hard to believe, but this is a place where some dead people are taken to."

"This is crazy. It's impossible!"

"Normal Norman, you study at CHS and you still use the word 'impossible'?"

He silently rubbed his chin for a moment. "You have a point. Damn shapeshifting alien horse women turning my world upside down!" Nolan punched his arm. "Ow, what the hell, bro?"

"We still breath, my heart still beats, and Norman still feels pain." Nolan explained. "Explain again how this is supposed to mean that we're dead."

"Well, technically we died. But we were put back together in here. See this as some sort of second chance."

Nolan crossed his arms. "And care to explain how you know all this?"

"Have you heard the rumor of how I got hit by a car and just walked back in school the next day?"

"Yes, the silly rumor those three freshmen were spreading, what about it?"

"It wasn't a rumor. I really did got hit by a car that day, and came back to school the next day. What they don't know is what happened in between those two moments."

"Let me guess: you came here?"

She nodded. "Yes, that's basically it."

Nolan snorted and rolled his eyes. "Now that's a fat load of bullshit."

"Yes, keep denying it. It's the first stage." a fourth person joined the conversation.

A girl was standing behind Sunset Shimmer throughout most of the conversation, but with her back turned to her and a hoodie concealing her identity.

Sunset's eyes widened. "Th... That voice..."

"Like she said, you're from Canterlot High School. Shouldn't you be used to weird by now?"

Norman took a step back. "Wh-Who are you?"

She removed her hoodie, exposing her curly, orange hair for everyone to see; it was a surprise that she managed to keep all that hair tucked under that hood, seeing as it was enough to cover her entire back. She placed her right hand on her hip and slowly turned around, glaring coldly at Sunset Shimmer with her mangenta eyes.

"Long time no see, Sunset Shimmer." she greeted.

Sunset Shimmer couldn't believe her own eyes. "A-A-Adagio..."

"Sure!" Norman said, throwing his arms up in the air. "Bring me more horse women, why don'tcha?"

"If you keep screaming like that, people will think that you're either crazy or a racist dick." Nolan North warned.

"I've been around here for over three millenia, only to die in a stupid train wreck." Adagio complained before sighing. "I miss the Middle Ages..."

"Where have you been all this time?" Sunset asked. "We looked for you three everywhere, but you just vanished."

She huffed and looked away. "Like it's any of your business."

"We wanted to help you, but--"

"Help us? You destroyed the only thing we had left of our true, perfect bodies, and now we're just powerless nobodies stuck inside perishable flesh suits. Is that what you call helping?"

"You brainwashed the entire school, someone had to stop you."

"Hello, pot. My name is kettle. Pardon me if I sound rude, but you're black!"

"Look, I know we had our differences in the past but, if we want to survive this, we have to work together."

"Wait, survive?" Nolan interrupted. "I thought you said we were dead. The dead don't need to survive!"

"I told you, we're not exactly dead, this is like a second chance. But we have to work for it."

Nolan rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Woman, you just keep making less and less sense. Do you really know what's actually--"

"In a few moments the song 'Crusader' will start playing." she interrupted him.

"Now you're just being silly."

"Just give it a moment."

Nolan kept his eyes focused on Sunset Shimmer's, who stared back at him with the hint of a smile on the corner of her mouth. A few minutes later, her prediction became reality:

Nolan's eyes widened. "Okay, that was--"

"No, wait. There's more." she cleared her throat. "Your lives have ended. How you use your new lives is entirely up to me. That's the theory, anyways."

"I think she went full psycho." Norman whispered to his friend.

"Go on. Approach the ball. Please, I insist." she moved to behind the two boys and pushed them toward the Black Ball, Adagio following them out of curiosity. As expected, the dark sphere was showing those exact same words.

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

"Okay, okay, fine. I believe you!" Nolan said as he turned around and moved Sunset's hand away. "What do you want us to do?"

"See that thing?" she pointed at the screen of the ball, which was showing the mugshot of a humanoid creature with milky pink skin, eyes and hair that looked more like a goo splatter; its gender wasn't identifiable, since the alien had a very androgynous look.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
SLIME ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: SLIMY, SQUISHY
LIKES: STRAWBERRY JUICE
FAVORITE QUOTE: "I like your face."

"Yes, what about that crazy internet fetish?" Normal Norman asked.

"That's our target. We have to kill it and any other alien that shows up in less than an hour. If we do, the survivors can go back home."

"Sounds like a deal!"

"How do we kill it? Wrestling it to death?" Nolan inquired.

"Give the Black Ball a moment." Sunset said. As if on cue, the sphere opened up, startling most of the newcomers. Sunset Shimmer moved to the back. "Alright, everybody, listen up. In a few minutes we'll be sent outside to hunt this monster you see on the screen of the ball. If you want to have a better chance of survival, pick up a weapon and the briefcase with your name on it, then wear the outfit you will find inside it. We don't have much time!"

As expected, most of the people in the room ignored her, and the few who payed attention dismissed her as just some junkie having an episode. She looked at Nolan and Norman, who hesitated at first, but hurried to where she was and dug up the briefcases with their names as soon as she shot them a mean glare. She then led them to the corridor, where they could change clothes.

"This feels... Surprisingly comfortable!" Norman pointed out. "Almost like--"

"Like it was made for you, right?" Sunset finished his sentence with a grin.

"I was gonna say 'like I have a latex fetish', but I guess that works too."

Her composure faltered, but she managed to keep her cool. Barely. "A-Anyway, people will start disappearing soon. Don't freak out."

Sunset and Hope walked down the corridor to get changed but someone was already there, and she was done wearing the black suit.

"I see that you decided to trust me." Sunset said with a smile while leaning forward with both hands on her hips.

"Don't get the wrong idea, I don't trust you!" Adagio said. "But I do trust my instincts, and they're telling me to listen to the crazy girl praching about how we need to wear a gimp suit and kill monsters."

It didn't took long for them to finish gearing up. The people in the room started being transferred after a while, signaling the start of the mission.

PLEASE WAIT
01:00:00

* * *

"Heh. Monsters. Give me a break." one of the people not wearing the suit said as he walked down the street toward the metro station located a few blocks away from the drop-off point.

The station was completely empty due to the time, but he was still in time to catch the last train. He sat down to wait, and that's when he heard a sloshing sound not too far away from there. Thinking nothing of it for a while, he just tried to ignore it entirely, but the sound was getting louder and more annoying to his ears; he decided to get up and investigate so he could find the source and move away from it, but he was forced back on his seat by a pair of milky pink, semitransparent and gooey arms belonging to something that was behind him. He opened his mouth to speak, but it was covered by one of the dripping jelly arms.

"I like your face." the slime creature of ambiguous gender whispered in his ear as its gelatinous body wrapped itself around his firm fleshy body. "I'll be taking it for myself, thank you very much."

A few moments after completely swallowing him with its body, the Slime Alien slid away from the bench, leaving behind a pile of melted bones. Its pink body slowly turned lime yellow, the same color of its victim's skin. The goo creature soon morphed into an exact copy of the person those bones used to be; same height, colors, face, hairstyle and clothes.

"Let's see how many other faces I can steal tonight." its voice was also a perfect copy of the deceased man's.

Author's Note

Yay, a Trixie cameo! Is she going to come back some day? Who knows? :trixieshiftright:
And did you really expect me to write an Equestria Girls fanfic without Adagio Dazzle in it? Who do you think I am? :rainbowwild:

And I just noticed that the initials of my two favorite Equestria Boys are N.N., and that gives me flashbacks to the Los Angeles B.B. Murder Cases. If you know Death Note, then you most likely already read it, but if you somehow didn't, do it now. It's a very interesting novel, I bet you'll like it!

Oh, and while I don't really care about upvotes or downvotes, leaving a comment is always appreciated. Share your thoughts, I love reading them! They are to me what money is to people with a Patreon.

7. The Stuff

Twilight Sparkle woke up in the middle of the night, covered in sweat again. The insomnia was usually accompanied by a pouding headache, but this time it felt much worse than ever before. She sat up and tried massaging her temples to soothe the pain, but it didn't seem to be working - in fact, Twilight could swear that it was worsening the headache.

She threw her covers away, got up and slowly walked toward the closed window, leaning against the wall to make sure she wouldn't fall and hurt herself. Successfully unlocking the window and opening it, she allowed the cool night breeze to touch her topless body, alleviating the burning heat she felt. Twilight could care less if a random passerby could just look up and see her exposing her A-cups to the neighborhood, the cold wind gently caressing her skin was all she wanted to think about for the moment.

After the heat and the headache were more bearable, Twilight left her bedroom and went straight to the bathroom, inteding on taking a bath to rid herself of the sweat coating her body. She removed her panties, the only article of cothing she still wore when going to bed, then stood under the shower head and turned the valve, sighing in relief when she felt the cold water running down her skin.

She stepped out of the shower stall a few minutes later, sure that all the sweat was gone. But before drying herself with her favorite purple towel, Twilight stood naked in front of the mirror and turned around, checking the eczemas on her shoulder blades. Sighing again, she opened the medicine cabinet, grabbed the ointment bottle her doctor prescribed and rubbed the medicine on the bat-wings-shaped marks. They appeared soon after the headaches and insomnia started, and even though the ointment alleviated the itch, the marks only appeared to be growing bigger and darker.

Twilight lived by herself, so there was no risk of getting caught naked in the kitchen with a towel on her head - which was exactly what she was doing. She opened the fridge to pour herself a glass of cold water, and that's when she saw a slip of paper sitting on top of her table. Twilight Sparkle was a neat freak, so a piece of paper just laying somewhere was a rare sight near her, especially inside her own house. She placed the glass of water on the table and picked up the paper, which was in fact an advertising postcard of some nightclub she never heard about - not that she knew many, but she recognized the names of the most popular ones due to conversations she would accidently overhear in the bus on her way to Crystal Prep Academy.

She almost threw the postcard on the trash can, but she decided to check the back of the card first, and that subtle and seemingly insignificant movement changed everything for the girl with glasses; the back of the card was completely blank, save for a few words written with red ink:

"No doctor can cure the headache
No ointment can heal the marks
No cold drink can beat the heat
But we have the cure. Come to this address
any time and we'll make the pain go away"

Twilight Sparkle held the card under her nose and sniffed it; it had a very metallic smell, but buried underneath it was a very sweet scent that made her mouth water. It took all of her willpower to not lick the paper clean and wipe the address written on the bottom of the card. That smell not only increased her appetite, but also reduced the constant pouding inside her head enough for her to feel a difference. She wanted to just bolt out of her home and run straight to the club, but after realizing that she couldn't go outside wearing her birthday suit, she looked at the wall clock, and it was already past 4 AM, the standard closing time for most clubs in Crystalline City, Twilight's current residence.

* * *

Unbeknownst to the girl with midnight blue hair, a few hours before she woke up in that same night, people were fighting goo creatures from outer space in the neighboring town of Canterlot.

Pearl did her best to keep all of the non-suit wearing people in a single place where she could keep them safe, this place being a plaza; all that empty space made them an easy target, but she could spot any threat coming from a mile away. Holding her Web Gun close to her at all times, she kept her eyes peeled for any slimy threat coming from any direction. The only direction she forgot to look was down, and that caused the demise of the group.

The civilians were standing dangerously close to a manhole, and a giant pink tendril sent the metal cover flying. A group of Slime Aliens crawled out of the tendril and attacked the humans, who tried to escape, but the tentacle-like creature formed a ring around them. Pearl tried using her Web Gun on the creatures, but the energy rope went straight through to monsters' bodies, as if they weren't even there. She did all she could, but Pearl's group was consumed by the goo creatures in mere moments, leaving only a pile of melted bones behind. She gasped when she saw the Slimes morphing into the people they just devoured, then ran in order to warn someone of their ability, bumping into Roll soon after.

"Roll! Thank goodness, I found you."

"What happened?"

"It's the slimes! They can transform into people."

"Seriously? Well, if that's the case, then we can't trust anyone we see. In fact, how do I know you're who you say you are?"

"Uh... Oh, I know! You can ask me a question. Go on, ask me anything only we know."

"Alright, here comes my question." he then placed a hand on her shoulder. "Can I have your face?"

"W... What?"

Suddenly, Roll's fingers stretched and wrapped themselves around Pearl's arm. She finally noticed Roll's eyes were golden instead of bright yellow, and his hair was darker than usual. She mentally scolded herself for falling for such an obvious trap before trying to escape, but the disguised Slime had a strong grip on her.

"You're not going anywhere except my core." it said, its voice no longer sounding like the purple-haired boy's.

Pearl tried punching his face, but all that accomplished was getting her hand stuck inside the monster's head. She tried kicking his leg, successfully breaking it in half with the help of the suit's strength enhancing ability, but the leg grew back almost immediately. The shapeshifter reversed to its real form and wrapped itself around Pearl.

"It's no use, meat." it said. "The flesh is weaker than the ooze."

Pearl knew her suit was broken because she felt her arm slowly being consumed. She expected excruciating pain, but her entire body felt numb. She closed her eyes, accepting her fate, when she suddenly felt air inside her lungs once again. She opened her eyes, surprised to see that she was no longer stuck inside the pink creature, but being placed on the ground by a newcomer; he was wearing not only the black suit, but also a green beanie.

"You ok there, miss?" Norman asked.

"Y... Yes, I... I'll live." she tried to sit up, but realized that her right forearm was gone. She looked at her other hand, which had two fingers missing: the pinky and the ring finger.

"Does that hurt?"

"Not really. But it's ok, we just have to survive this and the ball will fix me."

"So, my friend is fighting that thing that was eating you, so I gotta help him. Are you sure you're gonna be ok?"

"If I need any help, I'll just scream."

"Right. Great plan." Norman then ran back to where Nolan was shooting at the Slime, but as soon as he thought he was done, the creature just grew back its missing parts.

"This is so fucking unfair!" he said as he kept shooting the Slime Alien with his Gib Gun.

"Maybe double the damage will do it." Norman said as he pointed his own Gib Gun at the Slime and started shooting, but the results were basically the same.

They kept shooting and failing, but Nolan noticed something that made him raise an eyebrow.

"Hey, did you see that?" he asked.

"See what?"

"Right there, look. Pay close attention."

Norman looked at where Nolan was pointing, and saw that the pink ooze lying on the ground was slowly crawling toward a pile of goo of medium size, which Nolan shot at. A person would easily miss that if they didn't had a keen eye for detail like Nolan or weren't paying close attention like Norman but, when the pile of ooze attracting the rest of the slime exploded, a transparent, tennis ball-sized sphere with a blue string and a red string inside it rolled away, already attracting more of the remains of the Slime Alien lying on the street it.

"Ah, I see it, I see it." Norman said before dashing toward the ball, grabbing it and bringing it back to Nolan. "It must be its core thing, right? Like the monster from the Water Temple level."

"Most likely. And you know what we have to do, right?"

"Do I!" Norman said with a smile before squeezing the alien's nucleus with both hands until it burst. The pink ooze coating the street immediately stopped moving.

"Aw yeah, high five!" Norman raised his hand. Nolan did not left his friend hanging.

"Boys, I need help over here, and I need it fast."

The duo turned around to look at Pearl and saw a group of Slime Aliens approaching the girl, who was trying to drag herself away from them using her only good elbow. They nodded at each other before running toward the injuried senior while shooting at the invaders.

* * *

Adagio groaned and stopped walking. "I would appreciate if you stopped stalking me."

Adagio was transferred before Sunset Shimmer, so the first thing she did after being transferred was look for her former foe. She located her moments later and tried to follow her in secret, but even though she was great at sneaking around other people, the siren was just more alert and observant than the average human. Realizing that her cover was blown, Sunset left her hiding spot and approached the newcomer.

"What do you want from me?" she asked.

"I want to know what happened to you after the Battle Of The Bands incident. I wanted to talk to you all, but you just disappeared off the face of the Earth. I was... I was worried."

"You? Worried about us?" Adagio laughed, but stopped abruptly. "But seriously, you're not very good with jokes."

"It's not a joke. You're sirens, right? After I realized that you were doing what you were because it's what your species does to feed, I was afraid you were going to starve to death. Fearing the worst, I watched the news everyday, even read the obituary as often as possible."

"Just because we feed off negative energy, it doesn't mean that's all we eat. Human food can keep us alive."

"Yes, and it's great to know that you're fine."

"You have a very sick definition of 'fine', right? Remember that part where I died?"

"Don't worry, you just have to survive this mission and you can go back home. Oh, and by the way, how are the other two?"

Adagio groaned. "You won't leave me alone unless I talk, will you?"

"Nope!"

She sighed. "They're still adapting. Aria just locks herself in her room for most of the day and Sonata is... Sonata, so it was up to me to go outside, get a job and give them at least some comfort." Sunset giggled. "What's so funny?"

"It's just that back then you three acted like strangers with a common goal, but now I see that you really care about them."

Adagio crossed her arms and looked away, blushing. "D-Don't get me wrong. I-I just... I take care of them because I have to, alright? Don't ask why!"

They stopped talking when they heard the sound of footsteps approaching them. Sunset Shimmer smiled when she recognized those dark pigtails, then kneeled with her arms open. "There you are, Hope." Hope jumped, and she was about to land on Sunset's arms when Adagio puched the blonde/redhead girl out of the way. She glared at the siren. "Why did you do--"

Before she could finish the sentence, Adagio pointed the Gib Gun at Hope and pulled both triggers several times. Sunset's eyes widened, so she got up and lifted Adagio by the "collar" of the suit.

"HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HER, YOU--"

Hope's entire upper torso exploded, sending pink goo flying in all directions. When she realized what just happened, Sunset let go of her.

"I-I... I'm sor--"

"You're welcome." Adagio said, holstering the Gib Gun.

"How did you know it wasn't really her?"

"Didn't you see her hair? It was dark blue, not black, and I know for a fact that humans can't change hair colors in a matter of minutes."

"You noticed her hair color was slightly different in the middle of the night and in a poorly lit street. I am officially impressed!"

After a few more minutes of walking, they heard shouts and yells mixed with the sounds of explosions. Following the noise, they finally found the rest of the group:

Nolan and Norman were lying on the ground, severely injuried, but still breathing. Pearl, even with half an arm gone and a few fingers missing, could still shoot at the pink ooze monsters as long as she used what was left of her right arm as a suport for the barrel, trying to protect the fallen duo as best as she could. Roll had teamed up with Midna and Treble, and together they were handling the situation pretty well. Sunset looked around for Hope, finally realizing that she was standing right in front of them, and pointing a Gib Gun at her face.

"Identify yourselves!" Hope commanded.

"Hope, it's me, Sun--"

Hope pulled both triggers, but missing on purpose. A branch of the tree behind them exploded.

"I mean say something only the real Sunset would know!"

"Okay, okay, let me think... A while back at the party, the banner was too small because Rarity didn't had enough fabric, remember?"

Hope hugged Sunset Shimmer's legs.

"I'm sorry for doubting you, but the last three Sunset Shimmers I met tried to hurt me."

"It's ok, Hope. You did the right thing. I'm proud of you."

"Not trying to ruin the mood or anything, but shit is getting real over there." Adagio reminded them while pointing her Gib Gun at the mob of Slime Aliens.

"You're right." Sunset prepared her own Gib Gun. "Shoot them dead!"

"There's a catch!" Hope warned. "They can't die after just being shot, you have to destroy their weak point."

"And where is that weak point?"

"A transparent ball with red and blue thingies inside. It's in their bellies."

Heeding Hope's warning, the two gals focused their shots on the stomach of the blob monsters. One shot was never enough to destroy the core, and it was hard to know when the Slime was dead or not, but they never gave up and kept fighting for their lives.

Humankind triumphed that night, for they had destroyed all the Slime Aliens except one. Midna tried shooting the last alien, but that one was smarter than its fallen comrades and shot its nucleus out of its body.

"Look around, the core has no legs so it can't have gone too far." Treble said.

But before they could even start looking around, all the pink ooze lying on the street started sliding into open manholes and storm drains. They tried shooting at it, but all the Gib Guns and Rifles did was slow down the process. Mere minutes later the street was clean as a whistle.

"Keep on your guard." Midna ordered.

Pink tendrils came out of the drains and tried grabbing the alien hunters, but they managed to avoid all of them. The tendrils then started wrapping themselves around each other, forming a massive pile of pink slime in the middle of the street. They tried shooting at it several times, but it could regenerate itself at an astounding rate.

"Shit, this one's tough!" Midna pointed out the obvious. "How are we supposed to kill it?"

Understanding that simply shooting at it without a plan wasn't helping them at all, Adagio stopped to assess the situation. Focusing her eyes on the blob monster, she concocted a plan in her head. Hope and Pearl carried the injuried boys away, moments before the alien created more tendrils on its body. Since Adagio was paying close attention to the monster, she noticed it in time to escape; unfortunately, Sunset, Treble and Midna, who were too busy shooting at it to pay attention at what the massive Slime Alien was doing, were grabbed and pulled inside its body, where they couldn't even move a finger.

"We have to help them." Hope said while tugging at the sleeve of Adagio's suit. "What do we do, miss?"

"I'm thinking!" she said while looking at the helpless trio stuck inside the blob. Her eyes widened when she finally located the missing core, standing still right in front of Sunset Shimmer, only noticeable thanks to the girl's dark suit, which gave the transparent core a slightly different color in the middle of that sea of pink.

Adagio rubbed her temples, trying to come up with a plan. She snapped her fingers, making no sound because of the gloves; an idea finally popped up in her head. She stretched her legs for a moment before running at full speed toward the Big Slime Alien. The strength enhancers activated, allowing her to run much faster and easily dodge the pink tentacles. When she was close enough to the main body, Adagio jumped; her speed was so high that she pierced the pink mostrosity like a bullet. She then wrapped her arms around Sunset Shimmer and both came out of the other side of the titanic monster.

Sunset took deep breaths, glad that she could breathe once again. It was then that she noticed that Adagio not only saved her from certain death, but was also hugging her very thigtly, which made her blush. The faint smell of vanilla coming from her orange hair gave Sunset Shimmer a sense of calmness.

"Th-Thank you for... Saving me..." she whispered, slowly moving her arms with the intention of returning the hug.

"Sure, whatever!" Adagio said as she grabbed the nucleus stuck between their pressed bellies, then letting go of the girl. "But I was actually trying to get this out of there."

Sunset Shimmer didn't understood why that made her feel frustrated and a little angry, but that's how she felt, so she crossed her arms and frowned at Adagio.

"What?" Adagio asked, noticing the frown. Piles of pink ooze were already swirling around the two, but she crushed the final core before they could come any closer, effectively killing the Big Boss of the Slime Aliens.

Author's Note

Look! It's Human Twilight! Is she going to play a big role in this story? :pinkiecrazy:

Also, in my headcanon, Canterlot High School is located near the edge of Canterlot Town, and Crystal Prep Academy is from its neighboring town, Crystalline City, hence why the Friendship Games are so important: it's a battle between the most praised schools from both cities!

A little bit of trivia: the Slime Aliens can turn into an exact copy of their victims after swallowing them, but they can also transform without gobbling them up, though the disguise will have a few imperfections.

This was a troublesome weekend, because a shitton of people from my country were doing a national test, and I was one of them. Hopefully I did good! Anyway, back to writing. But yeah, like I said, chapters won't come out every couple of days anymore. Excusez-Moi!

8. Double Trouble

"I don't think I'll ever get used to this teleporting business." Norman said while checking his body for wounds, but not finding any.

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

TWEEDLEDUM
16 PTS / TOTAL 22 PTS
ONLY 78 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MISS MIDNA
40 PTS / TOTAL 40 PTS
ONLY 60 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Good." Midna said. "But not great. I think I'm still a little rusty."

CAMPER
16 PTS / TOTAL 65 PTS
ONLY 35 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

SAINTS BRO
16 PTS / TOTAL 16 PTS
ONLY 84 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"'Saints Bro'?" Sunset asked. "What does that mean?"

"I-I don't want to talk about it." Nolan looked away with a hint of pink on his cheeks.

"It's his childhood nickname!" Norman said with a huge grin. "He always got pissed when people called him that."

BACKGROUND BOY
8 PTS / TOTAL 8 PTS
ONLY 92 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"And what's that about?" she asked.

"It's his current nickname!" Nolan gave emphasis to the word current, looking at Norman with a smug smile. "Because people think he's so boring that he just fades in the background."

Normal Norman flipped the Black Ball off.

ROCKSTAR WANNABE
24 PTS / TOTAL 31 PTS
ONLY 69 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Ha! Sixty-nine." Norman backed down when he realized no one else in the room found that entertaining. "It's... It's funny..." he muttered.

PIPSQUEAK
8 PTS / TOTAL 32 PTS
ONLY 68 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MERBITCH
48 PTS / TOTAL 48 PTS
ONLY 52 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Ho! Ly! Shit!" Treble said. "This girl is AWESOME!" he felt his blood run cold when he heard his girlfriend clean her throat behind him. "Uh... Uh... I mean..."

"You did great, Adagio." Sunset praised. "And on your first time!"

"Yes. I am awesome." she said with a cocky smirk.

MOMMA SUNNY
32 PTS / TOTAL 102 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

Midna whistled.

"What does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean?" Norman inquired.

100 POINTS MENU
1. YOU WILL BE FREED ALONG WITH YOUR MEMORIES ERASED
2. YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL WEAPON
3. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REVIVE A HUMAN BEING FROM THE MEMORY

Sunset Shimmer stared in awe and disbelief at the screen. She could almost swear it was all a dream, but everything looked and felt too real. She touched the Black Ball and it was indeed there, offering her the three options every participant desires.

Hope held her hand and smiled at her friend. "You can go home now, Sunset. Isn't that wonderful?"

Sunset Shimmer looked around; Pearl, Roll, Nolan and Norman were looking at her expectantly. Treble and Midna were whispering something only they could hear - though the content of the conversation wasn't hard to guess since the girl looked absolutely livid and the boy looked desperate. Adagio had her eyes closed and her arms crossed. Hope looked up at her with a smile. Sunset Shimmer wanted to leave, but...

"I can't!" she said.

Hope's smile was replaced by a look of confusion. "Why?"

The little girl would probably blame herself if Sunset told she didn't want to abadon her, so she decided to omit that fact. Besides, she already had something else in mind.

"I want to use those points for something else."

"Oh? Are you choosing a new gun? Please, tell me you're choosing a new gun!" Roll said with a sparkle in his eye.

"BB, can you show me the human beings in the memory?"

The text was replaced by a wall of pictures of people. Norman and Nolan stared at it in awe.

"Her." Sunset Shimmer pointed at the Sunset Shimmer nicknamed Killer Queen by the Black Ball. "I can't stop thinking about her. If I don't figure out who she is, I'm going to lose my mind."

"Seriously?" Midna asked. "You're using your 100 points to revive someone you don't even know? Psh..."

"BB, please revive this Killer Queen girl."

Her red and yellow hair was the first thing to appear, followed by a pair of cyan eyes. She scowled before the bottom half of her face was even visible. When her mouth finally appeared, she said her first words:

"Who the fuck are you?"

"We are--" Treble started to talk.

"FUCK!" she yelled, interrupting him. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUUUUUCK!"

The finally realized why she was so mad: her score was being displayed on the screen.

KILLER QUEEN
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS

"I was so close! 92 points. Ninety-fucking-two! I died, didn't I? Why did I had to die? WHY?!"

"C-Calm down, we--" Sunset Shimmer tried to speak.

"Bitch, don't tell me what to do!" she was about to punch Sunset Shimmer, when she finally realized what the girl she was about to hit looked like. "Wh... What the fuck?"

"So, regretting your decision already?" Midna asked the original Sunset Shimmer.

"Equestria!" Sunset Shimmer suddenly said. "You know what that means?"

"The fuck is Equestria? The fuck are you? Why am I talking to myself?"

"If you don't know Equestria, then that means we're not the same person."

"Seriously, what the fuck is going on here?"

"Yeah, if you look closely, they look different." Adagio said, inspecting the new girl. "This one looks more... Mature!"

Now that the entire body of the newcomer had been brought back, they could take a good look at her; she looked exactly like the girl who revived her, except that she was a few centimeters taller, her hair was a couple of inches longer, her facial features were more mature and her breasts were at least two cup sizes bigger.

"I am not some zoo critter being exposed for your entertainment, stop looking at me like a bunch of hungry animals."

"Well, no other explanation left." Sunset Shimmer said. "Princess Twilight says our friends are counterparts of ponies she knows back in Equestria, so you must be my own counterpart." Sunset Shimmer immediately held her hands. "And direct contact isn't destroying our particles, so we are allowed to coexist in the same dimension. My theory was correct after all!"

"Lay off the drugs." she said while pulling her hands back and away from Sunset Shimmer.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just really excited to finally meet my own human counterpart."

"If you creep me out any further I'm going to have to punch you in the mouth."

"Anyway, welcome to the team." Sunset offered her hand to her counterpart. "I hope we can get along and receive lots of points together."

Instead of shaking the hand, the other Sunset Shimmer crossed her arms and looked around. The original Sunset used that hand to scratch her head.

"You don't really look that big a deal, just a bunch of kids." she said with a shrug. "But you did bring me back to life, so I owe you one. How can I repay my debt? I don't like owing anything to anyone."

"You look like a veteran. Maybe you can teach us what you know?" Norman suggested.

"Good thinking. I agree!" Sunset Shimmer said.

"Uh, hello?" Treble called. "You already have a veteran. Two, actually."

"As soon as the mission started, you just left everyone behind." Nolan pointed out. "Sunset Shimmer was the only one who tried to show us the ropes. We need veterans who will at least try to teach us something, not just leave us to fend for ourselves in such harsh environment."

"Well, and guess who taught Sunset Shimmer all she knows?"

"Wait, your name is Sunset Shimmer too?" Sunset Shimmer number two asked. "Fuck, this is getting confusing."

"I'll just call you Sunset..." Norman said, pointing at the younger Sunset Shimmer, then pointed at the more mature one. "...And you'll be Shimmer."

"Works for me." Adagio said.

"We're not on first name basis anyway." Shimmer said. "Fine, I'll teach you a thing or two."

"I don't think there's anything left for us to learn." Midna said.

"Really? Let's test that. First question: do you know how to ride the bike?"

"And knowing how to ride a bike is proof of being a veteran because...?"

Shimmer raised an eyebrow, but then burst into laughter. "No way. No fucking way! You're serious? Oh my fucking God, this is priceless!"

"I missed the joke."

"You are the joke! You call yourselves veterans, but you're just a couple of dweebs trying to act like cool kids in front of the newbies." Shimmer wiped her face with the palm of her hand - she laughed so hard that tears were appearing on the corner of her eyes. "Oh, my sides!"

"You're playing with fire here, you bitch." Midna threatened.

Still chuckling, Shimmer placed her hand on Midna's shoulder. "Kid, you're lucky you're hilarious, otherwise I would have kicked your ass before you even knew what happened." she suddenly grabbed Midna's face and pulled her closer, locking eyes with her and giving her an icy glare. "I don't know how things worked here, but now that I'm back, I'm the one calling the shots. You're just a worthless freshman, so learn your fucking place. Disrespect me like that again and I'll squash your head like a rotten apple. Understood?"

Midna was a tough girl, but Shimmer gave her a taste of what terror is like. Unable to speak due to the hand covering her mouth, she just nodded. Shimmer place her foot behind Midna's legs and pushed her as she let go of her face, tripping the violet-haired girl up, who fell on her rump.

"Are you ok, pumpkin?" Treble asked while helping her up.

"H-Her eyes..." she stuttered while shaking a little and clinging to Treble. "Sh-She has the eyes of... Of a killer..."

"What date is today?" the new girl asked while turning her head to look at the rest of the group.

"November 9, 2014." Pearl answered.

"What?! Shiiiiiiit..." Shimmer facepalmed. "I was dead for a long time, they probably already declared me dead by now."

"So, what are you going to do?" Sunset asked.

~ ~ ~

"You said you're a high schooler?" Shimmer asked as she sat on the couch and crossed her legs. "Since when can high schoolers afford a place this nice?"

"Well, I--" Sunset started, but was soon interrupted.

"Whatever, I don't care. Where's the shower?"

"That way." Shimmer followed her instructions, leaving Sunset and Hope alone in the living room.

"Why is she living with us? She's mean..." Hope whispered.

"I was the one who brought her back, Hope." Sunset explained. "So, until she can get back on track, she's my responsibility."

"Sunset, where do you keep the conditioner?" Shimmer yelled from the bathroom. "Nevermind, found it!"

"Might take a while..."

"You're so nice, Sunset!"

"Sometimes I wonder if that's a good thing..."

"Do you have shaving gel?" she yelled again. "Nevermind, found it!"

* * *

Shimmer was slightly taller than Sunset, but some of her clothes had the perfect size, and since Shimmer wasn't very fond of the idea of wearing her black suit 24/7, she accepted the outfit Sunset offered her, even though it wasn't her style; Shimmer now wore a very short aquamarine dress with a semitransparent yellow hem, a pair of jeans that was a little tight, but not enough to be painful or uncomfortable, a short black leather jacket with a golden stripe on each sleeve and a pair of black boots with similar stripes.

A knock on Sunset's door. Since it wasn't a school day, she knew exactly who it was; as soon as she opened the door she welcomed Nolan North, Normal Norman, Controller Roller and Black Pearl; the fact that Treble and Midna weren't there did not surprised her at all, but the lack of a certain orange-haired girl on her doorstep saddened her a little. She was about to close the door when a purple high heel boot stopped her from doing so. Her eyes slowly climbed the leg of the person blocking the door, soon discovering that it belonged to her former rival.

"Closing the door on me? That's not a nice thing to do." Adagio said with her hands on her hips.

"I-I'm sorry, Adagio. I thought you--" Sunset said.

"Thought I wasn't coming, huh?" Adagio forced the door open, an easy task considering that Sunset wasn't trying to close it anymore. She walked in and went straight to the living room, where all the others had gethered.

Sunset sat on the couch, where Hope and Shimmer were waiting for her. She had placed some chairs in the living room, but since she only had four, Adagio had to stand - Pearl offered her seat, but the Siren refused.

"Alright, let's start the Q&A." Shimmer said while crossing her legs. "What do you want from me?"

"Information." Nolan said.

"Fair enough."

"Do you know what that black ball is? Or anything about the game in general? Or even why we were chosen?"

She chuckled. "Cutting to the chase from the start? I like you, kid." she took a deep breath and looked at Sunset. "You have anything with internet access?"

Sunset nodded and got up, running straight to her bedroom where she kept her laptop. When she returned, she saw that Adagio had taken her spot on the sofa and was smirking at her. Thinking nothing of it, she passed the laptop to Shimmer and sat on the wooden floor.

"Care to tell why you need internet to answer my question?" Nolan inquired.

"Patience, kid." Shimmer started typing without even looking at the keyboard, opting to look at the group instead. "Now, tell me: how many of you know anything about the Deep Web?" everyone except Pearl and Hope raised their hands.

"What's a Deep Web?" Hope asked.

"To put it simply, it's another part of the internet." Sunset explained. "But no one knows who's who, so people do lots of shady stuff in there."

"But to be fair, there's also lots of cool stuff, too!" Norman added. "An online friend of mine from the Middle East uses it to read books forbidden in his country."

"The only relevant parts about the Deep Web that I want to lampshade right now are two:" Shimmer raised one finger. "Anonymity..." she raised another finger. "...and untraceability. And those two are what allow this to exist."

Shimmer turned the laptop around, releaving the screen to the others. The website she was showing looked like a regular forum with a simple black background and white letters; the title of the page was The Dark Sphere.

"Is... Is this...?" Roll asked.

Shimmer nodded. "A forum used by people like us, summoned by the Black Ball."

"You mean there's more?" Adagio asked.

"One apartment for almost every city in the entire world, as far as I can tell. Forget what movies keep telling you, America isn't so special that it's the only place aliens try to invade. This forum is mainly used to share information, tips and new discoveries, but most people use it to share Selfies they take on top of dead Big Bosses or tell stories about how some newcomer fucked up really bad. We can do or say basically any fucking thing we want, because technically we're not revealing the Black Ball's secrets, but we're not allowed to reveal our real names or where we're from, since some nosy reporter might track us down, and then everything would go to shit."

"What kind of information do they have?" Nolan asked.

"It's not really much, but we have a list of alien species, trivia, and even a blacklist."

"A blacklist?" Pearl asked. "What's that for?"

"You are a very chill group, but you must remember one thing: the Black Ball does not 'choose' the participants, it just randomly picks people who died, which means that sometimes you may come across some people who are not iterested in anything but killing." an image of Goldielocks flashed in Sunset's mind. "And not only aliens, but normal people outside the missions and even other Hunters. So that blacklist was created to post profiles of people who are not only endangering other players, but the secrecy of our job, because until the Sphere responsible for the person decides that enough is enough, it might be too late. The profiles contain as much information as possible, though it's rarely more than a picture of the target, the nickname given by the Sphere and city of origin."

"Wow, everything is actually more organized than I thought." Sunset pointed out.

"Yes, but the existance of this website is not exactly common knowledge." Shimmer explained as she turned the laptop back to her. "We haven't even reached the 500,000 users milestone yet. And I doubt your 'veterans' know about it either." she used air quotes when saying the word veterans.

"What about the trivia you mentioned earlier?" Adagio asked.

Shimmer smirked. "Well, it's not a very developed section of the website, but..." Shimmer clicked on a link, then turned the screen around again, making the Hunters gasp; the link led to a single picture of the inside of a huge factory with extensive assembly lines, all of which were assembling black spheres exactly like the one they already knew so well. "...did you know that the Black Ball that summons us and all that alien-hunting game is man-made?"

Author's Note

THE PLOT CHICKENS! I mean...
Anyway, what happens next? Even I'm curious to know, and I wrote the damn script! It's just that I wrote this earlier parts so long ago that I nearly forgot most of the things I planned for TBBR.

And we from the LDS Crew would like to wish you a happy, happy Halloween! (Silver Shamrock)

Easter Egg: November 9, 2014 was the date Rainbow Rocks was released in my country. Good times!

9. The Metamorphosis

Sunset dedicated all her free time during the next few days to studying the Dark Sphere website. From all the information she could gather, she came to the conclusion that the factory was located somewhere in Europe, though the moderators kept the exact location a secret for an unknown reason. The information she had access to also explained that while all the equipment utilized during the missions were manufactured on Earth, the aliens were real invaders from outer space, and it was their duty to keep them off their planet. She suddenly closed her laptop when she heard a knock on the door - Hope was watching TV and Shimmer was most likely fast asleep, so it couldn't be any of them. When she answered the door, she discovered that her visitor was one of her friends from Canterlot High, Rainbow Dash.

"Hey!" the sportswoman greeted her.

"Hey." Sunset greeted back.

"I was in the vicinity, so the gals asked me to come and check up on you." she explained. "So, are you still sick? Need something from the store? You'll have to provide the money, though; I'm broke!"

"Yes, I feel much better now, Dash." Sunset explained. She had lied when she texted her friends, saying she was sick; in truth, she decided to take the week off from school to study the website Shimmer told her about. She did not need to study to have good grades, since she had already graduated back in Equestria and, despite the fact that she was a genius, Equestrian knowledge and Human knowledge weren't that different from one another, and even the things that were different she had already studied about during her constant visits to the library after she first moved to the Human World. "In fact, I think I'll be good to go back tomorrow."

"Sunset, where's the--" Sunset immediately closed the door when she heard Shimmer's voice coming from behind her. The sudden loud noise made Shimmer lose focus and not finish her sentence.

"Ow, what the hell, Sunset?" Dash asked. "You almost broke my face."

"What happened?" Shimmer asked. Sunset signalized for her to be quiet and leave the area. Shimmer just shrugged and walked away. Sunset sighed and opened the door again.

"Sorry, Dash. My, uh, hand slipped."

"Who was that?" she asked while trying to look over Sunset's shoulder.

"Who was who?"

"I couldn't get a good look, but I'm pretty sure I saw a girl in there."

"I-I-It was probably Hope walking past--"

"No, she was much too tall to be Ho-- Wait..." she suddenly gasped. "No way!"

"No what?"

Rainbow Dash was now grinning from ear to ear. "There's only one type of girl a girl hides from other girls." she poked her friend on the chest. "And that's a girlfriend!"

"Wh-What?!" Sunset was now flushing bright red.

"You don't need to hide it from me, Sunset, you know I'm cool with that sort of stuff. I think all the girls are. Well, AJ might think you had ulterior reasons when you joined her in that skinny dipping session last camping trip, but that won't bother her much. In fact, she might even feel flattered!"

"Y-You're imagining things again, Dash."

Rainbow Dash nudged her. "If you don't feel like coming out yet, then I won't rush it. But you have my full support! Anyway, gotta dash!" she then jumped on her skateboard and skated away.

"Y-YOU GOT IT ALL WROOOOONG!" Sunset yelled, but all she heard was Rainbow Dash's distant laughter.

* * *

As pomised, Rainbow Dash didn't reveal her "secret" to anyone, but having to see her smirk growing every time they locked eyes was probably worse than all her friends saying that it was ok for her to be something she wasn't. Or at least she believed she wasn't. She just tried to ignore her and focus on something else but, unfortunately for her, she focused her gaze on Flash Sentry once again.

"Why was the Black Ball showing his face? And why so next to mine? Were we--" she thought.

"Alright, enough is enough." Rarity said as she stood up, interrupting her train of thought. She then grabbed Sunset by the arm and dragged her out of the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" Sunset said as Rarity let go of her in the corridor.

"You! Wait! Here!" Rarity said, poking her on the chest with each word. She went back into the cafeteria and returned dragging another person - a certain blue-haired guitar player. "Alright. Talk! I don't care about what, just talk, for goodness' sake." she then returned to the cafeteria and slammed the door shut.

"Hi." Flash greeted.

"Uh... Hi."

"Mind telling me what just happened?"

"Just Rarity doing what Rarity does."

"And what exactly Rarity does?"

"If only I knew the answer..."

"Well, apparently she wants us to talk. What are we supposed to talk about?"

"I... Don't know."

"If that's the case, I'll go walk around for a couple of minutes and return to my table. If she asks, we talked about guitar picks and amplifiers."

"Sounds like a plan."

"It was nice seeing you again, Sunset. Take care!"

"Y-You too..."

Flash turned around and started to walk away. Sunset Shimmer bit her lip; she probably wasn't going to get another opportunity so she decided to finally ask:

"Flash, wait!"

He stopped and turned around. "Yes?"

She walked up to him and, after looking around to make sure they were indeed alone, she spoke:

"About the time we were dating..." Flash Sentry raised an eyebrow. After they "broke up" she was the one who told him they were never supposed to speak of this ever again. "You may find this question weird but... Do you remember anything odd that happened during that time? Anything at all?"

Flash Sentry rubbed his chin for a moment, but then finally shrugged.

"Sorry, nothing comes to mind, I can't help you with that."

"Oh. Alright, then. Sorry I bothered you."

"Not a problem."

Flash walked back toward the cafeteria. He stopped in front of the door, placed his hand on it and, turning his head to look at her, he asked:

"And, uh, Sunset Shimmer? Can we not talk about... That anymore? I kinda... Y'know..."

"I know." she said without turning around to face him. "Princess Twilight, right?"

"Y-Yeah..."

"I understand. She's an awesome girl and you're a great guy. She's lucky she has you."

"Well, we're not exactly a thing yet. It's... Complicated, to say the least!"

"It's funny, though." she turned around and flashed Flash a smile. "How come all the pony girls seem to fall for you?"

Flash Sentry then scratched his head. "Well, when you put it like this..."

She chuckled. "I'm just kidding, you dummy."

He let out a nervous laughter. "I'm sure you were."

She entered the girl's bathroom as he went back to the cafeteria. It was only after he closed the door that realization finally hit him.

"Wait, did she just...?"

* * *

Twilight Sparkle's condition was getting worse. Every time she stepped outside her eyes would hurt like they were set on fire, so she went to school that day wearing sunglasses. At first people found that a little odd but, after she explained the situation to Dean Cadance, she was allowed to attend class with sunglasses on. Twilight never dared to not pay attention to class, even though she already knew most of the subjects they were teaching but, this time, she couldn't help heself but daydream about what she was going to find at the address written on the advertising postcard she kept in her pocket.

Once classes were over, Twilight Sparkle picked up her backpack and ran out of the school building. Some of her classmates looked at each other and shrugged in confusion - Twilight was usually one of the last to leave school. The address led her to the other end of Crystalline City, but she didn't felt tired at all. She wasn't even panting, which was odd considering that she just ran several miles nonstop for over an hour.

At first glance, Twilight couldn't make out what the building was; she just assumed it was a house, because all it had was a metal door, no windows and no identification, thought it also had no mailbox. She knocked on it a few times and was answered moments laters by a woman with beautiful long pink hair and piercing orange eyes. She also noticed she was wearing a black business suit.

"Can I help you, dear?" she asked with a warm and inviting smile.

"Yes. It's about this!" Twilight said as she pulled the card from her pocket and presented it to her. The woman chuckled for a bit and opened the door, inviting her in. Twilight walked in and followed the woman, who led her to some sort of classroom; a few people were already there, sitting on the chairs and waiting for them. Before leaving, the woman motioned for Twilight to take a seat, and that's exactly what she did.

"You too, huh?" a boy sitting on the chair beside hers asked. "Let me guess: marks on your back, headaches, heat...?"

Twilight nodded slightly as she took off her sunglasses and put on her eyeglasses with thick black frame. "And now sunlight hurts my eyes."

"Yeah, that sucks." he then extended his hand toward Twilight. "Troy Thunderclap."

She shook his hand. "Twilight Sparkle." She took a moment to analyze the appearance of the person she was talking to; Thunderclap had a vibrant yellow spiky hair and blue eyes, and his clothes suggested that he was part of a sports team.

"Well, it looks like you're all we're getting for now." the woman from before said as she returned to the room. "My name is Dahlia Pinnata. Before you start, I'd like to ask you all for a favor: don't speak, just listen closely. When I'm finished speaking, you can ask any questions you may have but, for now, just make yourselves comfortable and pay attention."

Twilight and her "classmates" adjusted themselves in the most comfortable position they could in order to hear what was most likely going to be a lecture.

Dahlia nodded. "First, let me tell you that what is causing those changes in your bodies. Spoiler alert, it's not puberty!" a few of the people chuckled at her joke. "Seriously, though. First, let's talk about nanotechnology. You know what that is, right? Those tiny machines far too small to be seen with the naked eye? Well, guess what? You have been chosen by them. As we speak, they are coursing through your veins, slowly consuming several of your cells and replacing them."

One of the people was about to speak up, but Dahlia raised a finger. "Nuh-uh-uh! Let me finish. The nanomachines are like a virus, entering your body undetected and wreaking havoc in there. And not just humans, any living organism can be infected by the nanomachines at some point in life, though all it does to animals is make them more violent. Like, a lot more violent! I once heard a story about a chimp who tore off his owner's face with his bare hands.

"Anywho, the notion of nanomachines deconstructing your body from the inside may sound ominous, but it's actually quite beneficial; you may have noticed that your body is more resistant, both to injuries and diseases, you're getting stronger, and 'imperfections' are being corrected, such as minor deformities, eyesight problems, et cetera."

Twilight unconsciously rubbed one of her eyes; she had noticed that her eyeseight had gotten a little better, but the changes were so small that she still had to wear glasses.

"Sadly, the nanomachines are far from perfect, so they too have their flaws. Flaw number 1, they require fuel. Of course, you don't need to pump gas inside your bloodstream; in fact, its fuel is already inside your bloodstream. The nanomachines consume your blood in order to keep functioning. But they won't drink all your blood until you run dry and die, no. If they consume too much blood straight from the source, they will simply shut off and pile up next to your shoulder blades. We can survive by eating normal human food, but the headaches will never stop. We can fix this, though."

Dahlia Pinnata retrieved a glass vial filled with a red liquid from one of her pockets and presented it to her "class".

"We can ingest fuel to keep the nanomachines running, and that will give us abilities beyond what any human being is capable of. And how do we do that? By drinking human blood." she removed the cork; as soon as Twilight caught a whiff of the red liquid, she nearly pounced on her 'teacher' and took the vial for herself. Dahlia noticed the expression on their faces and smirked. "A nickname was given to us due to the fact that this is our main source of nourishment. That's right, kids: we are what people are calling Vampires!"

She placed the open vial on the table and resumed her explanation:

"And here's flaw number 2: the nanomachines are extremely sensitive to sunlight. If they are working at full capacity and your skin gets in contact with UV rays, they short circuit and start absorbing blood past the threshold, then move to any other liquid they can find in your body. It all happens so fast that you can be reduced to a pile of dust in a mere second. Of course, this only happens when the nanomachines are working at full capacity, so people like you who have yet to ingest human blood are safe. I, too, can walk in broad daylight but, to do that, I would need one of two things:

"Option number 1, stop drinking blood. In a week or so the nanomachines inside my own body would shut off, but... Well... After that first big gulp of blood, imagine yourself as a junkie who is addicted to heroin. Your body will demand more, and it doesn't stop demanding, no matter how long it's been since the last time you drank blood! And option number 2 may sound simple, but it's not." she pulled a small lotion bottle from another pocket and placed it on the table. "This is a sunscreen. Who would have thought that Vampires can put sunscreen to good use, am I right? But this sunscreen is not a cheap one that you can get in that drug store down the street; if you want one, you have to cough up more than just a few coins. And you need to order them from a special shop from overseas, so it can get even pricier."

"Before we can wrap this up, there's one last thing I must talk about: our natural enemies. Yes, even us Vampires need to deal with pests every now and then. Miss, could you turn off the lights, please?" Twilight nodded and pressed the lightswitch next to the door, plunging the room into darkness - it didn't bothered them that much since, at that point, all of them had developed great night vision.

Dahlia then pressed a button on a remote control, turning on the projector mounted on the ceiling. The first image they saw was of a person they never met before; it was a man wearing a black suit that covered his entire body except the head. The suit had grey caps all over it, all of them with a blue center. The picture was a little blurry, as if it had been taken with a cellphone in the middle of a fight, but they could see what she wanted them to see.

"These people are what we call 'Hunters'. Not much is known about them, except that they kill us every time they have a chance. Like us, they too have superhuman abilities, but they are only common humans who have access to advanced technology, so taking them down is rather easy once you know how to do it. Our mission is to erradicate every single one of them so that our race may live in peace."

Pinnata sat down on a chair with her arms and legs crossed. "And that's about it. If you want to walk out of that door and never come back, it's your choice. We will never bother you again. But be aware that, if the Hunters make you their next target, we will not help you. You will be on your own. But if you want to fight back and protect your brothers and sisters who share the same blood destiny, wait here for the others to leave."

Twilight Sparkle and Troy Thunderclap watched as the other people in the room got up and left. They could hear some of them mutter words like "crazy" or "stupid" on their way out. Dahlia pouted.

"Only five? Well, I guess it was to be expected. I'm not as good at convincing people as my partner." Dahlia Pinnata got up and turned on the lights herself. "But it's better than nothing, I guess. Follow me!"

The five Vampires who stayed behind followed her down the corridor and to a room filled with several fridges. She opened one, revealing that it contained nothing but blood bags; lots of them. She picked up five of them and threw one at each person.

"If you have any questions, now is the time to ask them."

"What happens after we drink it?" Troy asked.

Dahlia smirked. "Everything changes! The sun becomes your enemy, your body turns into a time bomb and you'll stop seeing humans as equals, only as prey. But, on the bright side, you'll be faster and stronger than any athlete you heard of, and you'll feel better than you ever felt in your entire life."

Troy looked at the bag for a few moments, then removed the cap that kept the small plastic tube closed.

"Fuck it!" he said as he started drinking from it like a straw - the other three following the example. Twilight was the only one left who hadn't started drinking from her blood bag. She looked at Dahlia, who smiled at her, her teeth reddened due to the blood she was drinking from her own bag.

"Go on, dear." she said.

Twilight's head throbbed once again. She decided to stop fighting the urge, so she removed the cap and started drinking it, too.

* * *

Flash Sentry was driving back home. He had spent the day at a friend's house and completely lost track of time, so he decided to take a shortcut. He only realised that the street where the motel where Sunset Shimmer lived was located was part of the shortcut when he was driving there. He stomped on the brake when he finally located her place.

"What am I doing?" he muttered to himself as he stepped out of his car and walked to her door. He knew it was rude to knock on someone else's door that late at night, but a few lights were still on, so she was probably still awake. Still unsure of why he was there at that time, there was something he wanted to tell her, and he was about to knock on the door when he heard voices coming from the back.

Flash walked around the building to see what was going on back there, but all he found was an open window. Memories of his childhood came back in one big wave, making Flash Sentry blush in embarrassment; when he and his friends were still young and carefree, they would sneak out of their houses late at night and peek at open windows, trying to catch glimpses of the ladies in the neighborhood changing into their nightgowns. He promised himself he would never do that again after the first time they got caught, but the urge to relive those memories was so big that he couldn't stop himself.

"I am the worst type of human being." he whispered to himself as he slowly moved closer to the window with his back pressed to the wall. With a serious expression and a blush on his cheeks, he looked around to make sure no passerby would catch him commiting a crime. After he was sure that he was alone, he slowly turned his head while approaching it to the window, inch by inch, and saw something he wasn't prepared to see:

Sunset Shimmer was indeed there, but something was missing, and that something was her head. Slowly, her neck also began to disappear, followed by her torso. Not knowing what to do, Flash Sentry did what any other sane person would do if they found themselves in that same situation: snap a picture with his phone. His heart nearly stopped beating when he realized that his ex-girlfriend wasn't alone in the bedroom; a little girl with black pigtails was also there, and she was looking straight at him with a confused expression on her face, but before he could run or try to explain himself, she also started to disappear. Once they were both completely gone. Flash sat on the ground, looking at the picture of Sunset Shimmer without the upper half of her body.

"You wanted something odd? Well, I just found the oddest of all things."

* * *

Hope was the last person to arrive. All the other members were already there, as well as some newcomers. She immediately ran to Sunset and started tugging at her sleeve.

"Sunset, Sunset, Sunset." she called.

"What is it, Hope?" she asked.

"A man. There was a man on the window looking at us!"

Sunset shivered. "S-Say what?"

"He had spiky hair and was taking pictures with his phone. Do you think he's a burglar?"

"We'll find out when we go back."

"Wow, dodged a bullet there, huh?" Normal Norman said.

"You said he was snapping pictures?" Shimmer asked. She chuckled when Hope nodded at her. "Then there's no need to worry." she pointed a finger at the Black Ball. "It will take care of the problem."

"What do you mean?" Pearl asked.

A wicked smile spread across her face. "You'll see!"

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

Author's Note

I haven't watched South Park in years and, when I finally do, it's an episode about Yaoi. You can see its influence at the beginning of the chapter! :rainbowkiss:

Time to take a gander at the importance of Flash Sentry to the plot. You know why I like underdeveloped characters with little to no personality? It gives us fanfic writers a blank sheet to work with, and filling it with our own twisted and sick ideas is just lots of fun~!

I took some poetic license here; in the original story, the Vampires were just a plot device to kill characters and create more conflicts, so the author didn't gave them much attention and then just gave up on them. Well, this is my fanfic, so I'll come up with as many explanations for them as I possibly can. Time to drown TBBR in headcanons!

And here's a fun story: it's not uncommon for me to wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason; I just get up, wash my face and go back to bed. But this one time, the first words that came to mind when I opened my eyes were "I have to write TBBR"! So here I was, typing like a maniac at 2 AM. I got over 1,500 words done.

P.S.: Go Team Kafka!

10. Divergence

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
MERCENARY ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: SILENT, DETERMINED
LIKES: GUNS, FIRE
FAVORITE QUOTE: N/A

The Black Ball was showing the mugshot of a humanoid creature wearing a full face gas mask made of what appeared to be metal. Instead of two eyepieces for each eye, the mask only had one big eyepiece in the middle that apparently also worked as a flashlight due to its ominous yellow glow. The Mercenary Alien also had strapped to its head what appeared to be a conical hat made out of triangular metal plates welded to each other. As soon as the sphere opened up and revealed its arsenal, Shimmer grabbed a Gib Gun and a Web Gun, then placed them on her thigh holsters, then strapped a Gib Rifle to her back with the help of a belt that she brought with her.

"She can't complain about not having enough guns." Norman commented.

"It's always good to be prepared." Shimmer said. "You never know what you might have to fight."

Once she had everything the Black Ball had to offer, Shimmer moved to one of the side rooms - the one closest to the ball - and placed her hand on the doorknob. Before she had a chance to twist the knob, Midna burst into laughter.

"Wow, what a great veteran you have there, guys. She doesn't even know that all the rooms are lock--"

Shimmer looked at Midna while holding that door open. "You were saying?"

"Wh-What the fuck?"

"After the ball opens up, this door is unlocked. Just a little detail that every true veteran knows." Midna stomped her foot, clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. Shimmer simply rolled her eyes as she entered the Secret Room. "Amateurs..."

Save for Treble, Midna and the newcomers, all the others rushed inside the room after Shimmer. It was just a simple room, as bare as any other part of the apartment, but its content is what surprised the Hunters: scattered across the room were several sword hilts, all of them with the blade missing; they were all made of the same black material the guns were made. Sunset whistled at the sight of the two other items that stood out: two massive black wheels, each with a seat in the middle with handlebars, a very advanced-looking engine on the front and another seat on the back, though it was turned around so that whoever sat on it would be facing the other way.

"So this was here all along? Boy, do I feel stupid!" Sunset said as she sat on the seat inside the wheel.

"This is the bike I mentioned last time." Shimmer said as she picked up one of the hilts. "It works just like a normal motorcycle."

"Well, it's a good thing I have a license, then." Sunset placed her hands on the handlebars.

"The heck is this?" Nolan asked while picking up one of the black hilts.

Shimmer swung her own hilt, making the missing blade suddenly materialize; it was just as dark as the other weapons, but still looked very sharp.

"Holy shit, it's a Katana!" Norman said in awe as he picked up a hilt of his own. He tried swinging it but nothing happened. "Mine is broken."

"No, it's not." the veteran explained. "This weapon is not 'press a button and shit happens' like all the others; the Katana depends on your will. You have to wish for the blade to work."

Norman held the hilt with both hands in front of his face and focused his eyes on it. Slowly, the curved tip of the blade started "growing" from the hilt, and that brought a smile to his face. He stopped when the blade was long enough to pass up as a dagger.

"I did it!"

Shimmer nodded. "As you get used to it, you'll be able to make it work faster. And when you truly master the way of the blade..." she pointed her sword forward, suddenly making it grow so lengthy that it was poking the wall on the other end of the room, which was 14 feet away from her position.

Norman, with a sparkle in his eyes and a smile on his lips, looked at Nolan who sighed and contorted his lips into a faint smile.

"Like old times, huh?"

"Old times?" Pearl asked the boys.

Nolan nodded. "Back when we were kids, an old Asian guy moved into the neighborhood. One day he saw us playing on the street with sticks and decided to teach us how to swing them properly."

Norman bowed while holding the dagger with both hands. "We are forever grateful for your teachings, Karasuma-sensei. May your soul rest forever in peace."

Nolan's Katana suddenly grew to an average size and he swung it at Norman, who blocked it with his dagger-sized blade. He smirked at his friend and allowed his own Katana to grow. They were now sword fighting in the middle of the room, but each and every attack was blocked by the other.

"What are you doing? Stop, STOP!" Pearl begged.

"I see you're still sharp, Little Norm." Nolan said with a smile.

"And you still swing with the strength of a bull." Norman grinned and both started to laugh.

Shimmer returned to the main room and walked straight to the Black Ball. She kneeled beside it and stuck her index finger inside the ear of the man curled up in the sphere.

"What are you doing?" Sunset asked as she followed her back there.

She smirked. "Hey, dude. You know the drill; send me first."

The man inside the Black Ball heard her request, and she immediately started to disappear.

"Early bird gets the worm." Shimmer said as she waved at them before her arm also started to be transferred.

* * *

The Mercenary Alien walked down an empty, dark street while carrying his trusty flamethrower. The built-in HUD he had in his mask guided him through the city as he hunted down his targets. He was slowed down by the heavy armor he wore but, considering the extra layers of protection it granted him, it was a fair trade. Besides, creatures from his homeplanet were never very fond of jogging, always prefering to do things at their own pace. He was no different. Red dots on his HUD map started beeping; finally his targets started to show up. A few of them were already on the move, but most decided to stay on the same spot, creating two possibilities:

Possibility number 1: they were trying to ambush him.

Possibility number 2: he was getting paid too much for a rather easy job.

Given the human knowledge he had gathered since he was sent to this backwater planet, the second possibility was most likely to be truth. But even if he was wrong and they were waiting for him so they could team up against him, they would still lose; he wasn't among the "Top 10 Mercenaries Of The Universe", but he had a good reputation.

The Mercenary Alien finally reached his destination, where a small group of natives had gathered. Most of them looked frightened, and only a few of them were wearing the black suit that was mentioned in the job description, but if his HUD has targeted the others, then he would have to dispose of them a well.

Two of the suit-wearing females started shooting at him, but he had crossed paths with that technology before and, even though he came out victorious, the damage was far too great to be ignored. He wasn't the type of person who makes the same mistake twice, and his new armor was equipped to contain explosive damage caused by that particular type of weapon.

It worked. The females looked at each other, unsure of what to do now that it was confirmed that their attacks were not effective against him, when a third human female used a different gun against him, one that wasn't used to cause him damage, but bind him in place. They cheered for a moment, and no longer than a moment, for he had the technology to escape this predicament. Teleportation devices were very expensive, so the one the Mercenary possessed was of a cheaper brand, that only allowed him short-range teleportation, but it was enough. Free from his energy chains, he proceeded with the termination; the suit-wearing people did their best to protect the suitless targets, but his flames were too powerful, reducing most of his targets to a pile of charred corpses.

The survivors - all of them suited up - appeared to be yelling at him. The Mercenary Alien was capable of understanding their language but he chose to ignore the words spoken; they were most likely begging for their lives, shouting profanities at him or trying to persuade him into cancelling his contract - many targets tried that one before, but it never worked; he always finished a job he started.

He tried to shoot flames at them again, but nothing happened. He looked at his equipment and felt disappointment. Not at his targets, but at himself; how could he forget to bring a weapon that was capable of sustaining the same type of damage his armor could? His preference for this type of weapon had put him on a tight spot once again. Of course, the Mercenary Alien was not unprepared and raised his left arm; he lost all of his limbs after his last encounter with the people in black suit, even though he successfully terminated every single one of them, so now what helped him move around were automotive armored prostheses. But since he liked to take advantage of anything he could, he customized his left arm and turned it into a machine gun. He sprayed bullets at the surviving targets, catching most of them by surprise. A few of the survivors among the previous ones had a blue gel-like substance leaking out of their suits, and he knew that meant they were ready to die. Unfortunately for him, he did not had infinite ammo, so he had no more bullets to shoot.

He took a moment to reload his machine gun arm, but he was distracted by a red dot on his HUD map moving to his position at a very high velocity. Unsure of how a native could move at such high speed, he turned around to check with his very own eyes. A vehicle, of course! They finally exploited his lack of mobility and ran over him with a vehicle that possessed one single wheel with enough size to crush him.

"You got him good, Sunset!" he heard one of the people cheer as he laid on the ground.

Sunset? Considering the time displayed on native clocks and color of the sky, he was sure this was what they called 'nighttime'. He chose to not focus his thoughts on this and did his best to get up. Another female of the species - this one with fire-colored hair - tried to attack him, but what caught him by surprise was the fact that she wielded a blade. He considered the possibility of them being adepts of melee attacks, but he expected blunt objects or even their fists, and that's why he had metal plates embedded in his armor; he failed to consider the possibility of long blade. This was partially his employers' fault, since they failed to mention this in the list of weapons his targets wield, but he knew it was mostly his fault for not being prepared for this. But what was he supposed to do? If he wore an armor that would protect him from projectiles, explosive damage, physical attacks and precise blade attacks, his mobility would be close to zero. Of all the options, he chose to neglect this one, and what a poor choice that was. He should have chosen projectiles.

The Mercenary Alien was worried about the human in the vehicle, but the driver apparently wasn't trying to attack him anymore. His hypothesis was that as long as there was another human close to him, they would not attempt to harm him in such reckless way in fear of harming one of their own. For now, he would try to keep the female close while blocking her blows with the metal plates on the palm of his hands. He soon regretted another decision, for the human with fire hair appeared to be more skilled than he first assumed, since he was now doing his best to keep up with her swinging speed, and she only seemed to be moving faster as time went by.

"I missed this so much!" he heard her say. Was she a mercenary like him who had just came out of retirement? She sure had the skills to be one.

A burning pain. He knew she had been successful and landed several hits on him already, but this was the first one to hit a spot without metal plating. Was this the result of pure skill or a mere stroke of luck? The female had a wicked grin on her face; not many creatures were capable of turning an otherwise mundane expression into a weapon of fear, but this peculiar creature knew how to do it. The Mercenary Alien was barely fazed by it, since he had encountered far more fearsome creatures in his travels, but he knew a chilling creature when he saw one.

If it wasn't for the tracheal tube the Mercenary Alien had inside his throat, he would have screamed in pain; two blades were sticking out of his body, one protruding from his chest and the other from his gut. The female with fiery hair had a surprised expression on her face covered in specks of his turquoise blue blood, so she was caught off guard as much as he was. He turned his head before the people who attacked him from behind moved their blades and sliced him in three different pieces to try and identify them: they were both native males, one with bright red hair and the other with most of his hair concealed under a greenish headwear.

The Mercenary Alien despised those who couldn't face their enemies and resource to sneak attacks like this one. But the female wasn't like that. She was strong, fierce, intimidating, maybe even beautiful, considering her species. That creature was one he could respect. He wished for her to land the finishing blow, but darkness came to him before her weapon did; his conical hat slid off his head and covered his visor, assuring that the face of that fascinating native with flame hair was the last thing he saw. But still...

The Mercenary Alien had an unsatisfying death.

"Yes. Dead. I guess the challenge was a little too much for him." Dahlia Pinnata was standing on the roof of a building, talking on her cellphone while watching the Hunters being transferred back to their secret headquarters. "It's like I say, if you want a job well done, don't pay people to do it for you. No no no, don't bother with that! I believe the trainees can handle this one. Don't underestimate them, I'm their instructor, remember?"

* * *

"Riding that motorcycle was fun, but I think walking is more my style." Sunset said as they waited for the Black Ball to display their score.

BACKGROUND BOY
20 PTS / TOTAL 28 PTS
ONLY 72 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

SAINTS BRO
20 PTS / TOTAL 36 PTS
ONLY 64 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"We did it, comrade!" Norman said while high-fiving his best friend.

KILLER QUEEN
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS
TOO SLOW

"You shit-eating ball-licking piss-drinking crotch-sniffing splooge-swallowing MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLES!" Shimmer yelled at Norman and Nolan. Sunset covered Hope's ears halfway through Shimmer's cursing session and, once she was done, the room went completely quiet.

"Wow." Treble's eyes widened in both surprise and amazement. "She's got a real mouth on her, eh?"

"Uh... What?" Nolan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That was my kill!" she said while pointing her sword at them. "And you little bitches stole my kill!"

"You looked like you were in trouble, so we decided to help." Norman explained.

"Help? Help, yes. Do I look like the type of person who needs any kind of help?"

"Well, you are acting like a person who needs serious mental help, I know that much." Nolan pointed out.

She pressed her sword to his throat, but he didn't even flinch. "You watch your mouth, you filthy pig, or I'll gut you where you stand."

Nolan chuckled, grabbed the sword and pressed it to his neck. "I'd love to see you try."

They were all holding their breaths, afraid of what could happen right there in the middle of the room; if they started a fight, who knows what kind of damage they would all suffer? Shimmer looked ready to strike and Nolan looked ready to strike back, when something unexpected drew their attention:

"Wh-What's going on?" Pearl asked. "I thought the mission was over, whis is it starting over?"

Shimmer smirked as she "sheathed" her Katana.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:

Sunset covered her mouth with both hands to prevent a gasp from escaping, Adagio raised an eyebrow, Nolan North's jaw dropped, Normal Norman pointed at the ball with an expression of disbelief and Hope pulled Sunset's hand.

"Look, Sunset, look! It's the man on the window." she explained.

FLASH SENTRY
CHARACTERISTICS: PLAYS GUITAR, NOT VERY INTERESTING
LIKES: GUITARS AND CARS, TWILIGHTS AND SUNSETS
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Watch the hair, man!"

"Twilights and sunsets? I never knew Flashy was so poetic." Norman said.

"I don't think that's what the ball meant." Nolan told his friend.

"Alright, you heard BB." Shimmer gripped the hilt of the Katana with both hands. "Time to send a peeping tom to the grave!" she moved to the side of the dark sphere and stuck her finger inside the bald man's ear. "You know what to--"

"BB, send me first. Me!"

Shimmer looked up and saw Sunset on the other side of the ball, with her index finger inside the man's other ear. Since she was the first to finish the request, she was also the first to be transferred.

"You are not going to kill Flash Sentry."

* * *

Flash Sentry walked out of the 24-hour fast food restaurant carrying a paper bag. He sat on the front seat of his car and pulled out a burger; nothing too fancy, just something to keep him satisfied during the last stretch of his trip back home. He threw the bag on the trash when he was done eating his burger but, before he could start his car once again, he saw something on the road that caught his attention: a woman with long red and yellow hair wearing a black full body suit and holding what looked like a sword. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that wasn't some hallucination and, as expected, she was gone. Suddenly, sparks appeared in midair right in front of his car, and from those sparks the same woman appeared in a way that reminded him of a chameleon changing colors. He finally recognized her:

"Sunset Shimmer?" he called. "How did you get here? And what's with that outfit? Is... Is that a sword?"

Shimmer was surrounded; all the others were doing their best to block her path and she just stood there with her arms crossed.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked.

"We are not going to let you kill our friend." Norman said while holding his Katana in a defensive position.

"Do you even know what you're doing? How can you even be sure he's not an alien?"

"Are you joking? We grew up with him. Flash is an ok guy and 100% human!"

"If Sunset wants to protect him, then so will I." Hope said.

"Protect him? What makes you think she didn't just ran ahead to kill him before someone else did?"

"That's not how she is." Pearl said. "Sunset is a good person. She would never kill another human."

"You're a bunch of hypocrites." she said as she looked at Adagio. "And what's your story? I thought you two hated each other."

"Don't get me wrong, I don't care about any of this." she pointed her two Gib Guns at her. "But you sure lack a thing called respect, and someone needs to make you understand that this is a team, not a hierarchy."

"Foolish fools spouting foolish foolishness, just as expected from a foolish foolhardy group of fools such as this one." she muttered as she shook her head. "Do you nitwits even know what happens if the timer counts down to zero and there are still targets left alive? Well, then allow me to explain: WE DIE!"

"No, we don't." Treble interrupted. "Don't listen to her, she's lying. If an alien survives the hunt, our score goes back to zero and that's it."

"A very steep price to pay, but I'd do anything to see you lose your cool again." Midna said with a smirk.

"So that's what this is about, huh? You're siding with them because you want to give me a hard time?"

"You mess with us, we mess with you." Treble said.

"And how convenient, you ommited the best part of what happens when we fail a mission." Shimmer said. "Sure, I lied, our points do go back to zero, but you know what happens next? Those who failed the previous mission must face a penalty. What kind of penalty? We must receive a certain amount of points the next mission, and if you can't make it, then you die. And I know what you're going to say next: 'we'll just do our best to get all the points we need to survive', correct? But we don't know how many points each alien is worth. What if you get injuried and can't fight anymore? Also, what makes you so sure that the next mission will have enough aliens for everybody to get all the points we all need? Sure, a few of us can make it, but will all of you survive the mission? Are you ready to call that bet?"

The Hunters looked at each other in confusion, uncertain of which path was the correct path. Roll then pointed his Gib Rifle at Nolan North's head.

"Fuck it, I changed my mind." he said. "Saving one asshole isn't worth risking my life for."

Shimmer clapped her hands. "Now that's a good boy."

Following suit, Treble pointed his own Gib Rifle at Pearl and Midna pointed hers at Adagio, who immediately pointed her guns back.

"This is going to be fun." Shimmer said as she turned invisible.

"I-I just can't understand." Flash said. He was still inside his car, but now Sunset was sitting on the passenger seat. "So you're telling me that you're part of this secret group that kills aliens at night, but this black thing that gives you the mission wants me dead for no apparent reason?"

Sunset nodded. "Pretty much, yes."

"But if you can't tell other people, why are you telling me this now?"

"I just assumed that now that you're part of the mission, maybe BB wouldn't punish me for telling you the truth. It was a shot in the dark, really!"

"Ok, let's say I buy that. What do you want me to do?"

"Don't trust anyone." she ordered. "If you see someone wearing a suit like mine, you run. We just have to survive for one hour and you'll be safe. Stay close to me at all costs, I can protect you."

"Why?"

"Pardon me?"

"Why are you doing this for me?"

She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Because you're my friend, Flash. Besides, if I let you die, Princess Twilight would be so sad. I don't want to see her sad!"

"Heh! You're making me wonder which one of us likes her more."

Sunset crossed her arms and looked away, blushing. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. I-I'm not into that sort of thing, ok?" she then peered out the window. "Strange. I thought at least someone would have found us by now. Can... Can you drive around for a bit? I'm getting worried about someone."

"Sure thing!" Flash Sentry finally started the car.

Only five Hunters were left standing: Adagio and Pearl for the Pro-Sunset team, with Hope hiding behind them, and Roll and Midna representing the Anti-Flash team - none of them had a still-working suit anymore.

"Not bad." Midna said while panting. "You're a natural at this, Adagio Dazzle."

"Yes, my mentor wasn't half bad." she said.

"Why are you doing this, Roll?" Pearl asked, tears streaming down her eyes. "We were friends from the get-go. Why are you trying to hurt us?"

"I'm not a gambler. I don't want to let luck decide if I survive the next mission or not. In this place, is kill or be killed. Forgive me for this, Pearl."

She shook her head. "No, I can't. I can't forgive you, Roll."

"I liked you, Pearls. I really, really liked you."

She looked down. "Sorry, Roll, but I couldn't possibly like someone like you..."

"Then forget what I said, I'm not sorry." he said as he pulled both triggers of his Rifle.

Author's Note

Here's a picture of the Gantz Bike:

And for the heck of it, here's the Katana:

And holy shit, I wasn't planning on making the Mercenary Alien Mission to be from the perspective of the alien himself, but I was glad I did it. It was so fucking fun!

Now, do you want Flash Sentry to live or to die? Not that it really matters, the next chapter is almost done anyway.

11. Conflict

Roll fell to the ground, missing the shot. He looked down at what made him trip and saw Norman holding one of his feet - the boy's right arm was missing, but that didn't stop him since he was ambidextrous. Roll tried kicking him off, but Norman had a strong grip and an equally strong determination.

"Let me go, you loser." Roll pointed his Rifle at his face, but Pearl stomped on his forearm before he could pull the triggers. The pain made the purple-haired boy let go of it, so Pearl picked it up and took a few steps back before pointing it at him.

"S-S-Stop this nonsense right now!" she commanded.

Roll scowled. "Don't you understand? This fight is pointless. We should all be going after the blue-haired nobody and be done with this."

"He's a human who haven't done nothing wrong. We are heroes, not murderers."

"'Heroes', she says. What a load of bullshit!" he rolled his eyes. "We're here because some fucked up billionaire from God-knows-where had just too much money to throw away. Remember that factory? We are not heroes, we are just disposable characters in a fucking game!"

Distracted by Roll's speech, she didn't notice Adagio and Midna approaching from behind; they lost their weapons a while ago and were now engaged in a fist fight. Midna bumped on Pearl, and both were distracted by this, giving Adagio and Roll a chance to act. Since Norman had lowered his guard due to the fact that Pearl had the upper hand in the situation, he loosened his grip on Roll's leg, who jumped at the chance to break free; he kicked him in the face, got up and sprinted toward the distracted Pearl. She tried shooting at him, but missed due to the fact that she wasn't used to this type of weapon. The boy headbutted her chest and retrieved his weapon.

At the same time, Adagio's fist successfully connected with Midna's chin. The blow was so strong that she could feel the violet-haired girl's jaw rupturing.

"Don't you ever point a gun at me again." she said while rubbing her sore fist.

Finally realizing that they were face to face with an enemy, Roll pointed his Gib Rifle at Adagio, who immediately ducked, wrapped her arms around both his legs and pulled them, making him lose balance, fall and hit his head, making him dizzy. She wanted to finish him off right then and there, but she finally realized something: Shimmer was missing since this fighting broke out.

"That bitch." she muttered, then looked at Hope, who was holding a Gib Gun with shaky hands and had her back pressed against a wall. "Hey, pipsqueak! You make sure these assholes don't leave the area, ok?"

Hope didn't like fighting aliens, but she did it anyway because she thought she was helping not only her friends, but all of the world, but seeing her friends fight each other made the girl so nervous that she could barely stand on her own. She knew she wasn't up to the task, but she nodded anyway because she didn't want to disappoint anyone.

"Great!" she picked up two Gib Guns lying on the floor and ran. She cursed under her breath, irritated with the fact that she didn't bring a Controller. Adagio decided to follow the main road - the Black Ball did mention that Flash liked cars - which proved to be the best option, since a black Camaro with lightning streaks painted on the sides and a blue shield with a lightning streak painted on the hood parked a few meters ahead of her. She approached it, but once she got too close the passenger door opened up and Sunset stepped outside, pointing her Gib Gun at her.

"Drop them!" she ordered.

Adagio rolled her eyes, raised her hands and dropped both Gib Guns to the ground. "Seriously? That's how you treat someone who is only trying to help?"

Given that Adagio did as she was told, Sunset also lowered her weapon.

"S-Sorry. I just don't know who to trust here."

"Well, I have a list of people you can't trust, but most of them are already out of comission. Treble is knocked out, Roll is under watch and I'm pretty sure I broke Midna's jaw. The problem is that Shimmer girl. I lost sight of her a while ago, so she could be anywhere right now."

"Huh? Isn't that...? What is she doing here?" Flash asked.

"Stay in the car, Flash, it's not safe out here." Sunset ordered, then turned back to Adagio. "What about the others?"

"I left the pipsqueak taking care of them. The boys have serious injuries, but I think they can make it until time runs out."

"But... Why?"

"They are stronger than they look, I know--"

"No, I mean... Why are you helping me? Helping us? Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful for it, but... I thought you hated me!"

Adagio seemed lost in thought, but then just shrugged. "No particular reason. The other you just pissed me off with that Alpha Bitch attitude, that's all."

"Well, if that's--"

Adagio saw something out of the corner of her eye and rushed to the car, immediately closing the passenger door with a loud Thud!, which exploded just a moment later. Sunset noticed Shimmer hiding behind a tree next to a house with a Gib Rifle in hands and immediately jumped on the roof of the car.

"Drive, drive, drive!" she yelled. Without thinking twice, Flash stepped on the accelerator and peeled out of there. Adagio reached for the Gib Guns she dropped, but both her arms were blown to pieces before she could take hold of them. Shimmer running past her was the last thing she saw before passing out.

~ ~ ~

Flash did his best to avoid all of Shimmer's shots, who managed to keep up with him thanks to the strength enhancers of her suit, and while he did a good job so far, his rear bumper and trunk lid were gone and his rear windshield had shattered. At some point Sunset jumped back inside the car through the broken windshield and was now shooting at Shimmer from the rear seat, and while she did manage to not miss a few shots, she still needed a few more to finally break her suit. Unfortunately Flash Sentry couldn't dodge her shots forever; one of the tires got blown up and he crashed his car into a lamppost.

Sunset got out of the car and helped the injuried driver get out as well. "Run as far as you can, I'll hold her back."

Flash nodded as he limped down an alley, leaning against a wall so he wouldn't lose balance and fall. He had hit his face against the steering wheel and now feared that his dizziness would make him lose consciousness.

"Move." Shimmer ordered.

"You are not going to kill my friend, give up."

"If we don't kill him, we all suffer the consequences. Can't you just pull your head out of your ass and think about this for a moment? What about you? What about your friends? What about that little girl? If they die, it's all your fault for not letting me pass."

"I... I know, but... We-We were all supposed to be dead, anyway! Flash Sentry is not dead, he still has a whole life ahead of him. If that's the way it's supposed to be, then so be it."

"You're an hypocritical idiot."

"And you're a cold-blooded murderer."

"I do what I have to do to survive. Unlike you, I am grateful for the second chance BB gave me, so if he says I have to kill a person in order to keep my life, you bet your sweet ass I'll kill the hell out of that person."

"But that's not right!"

"You think I give a shit about what's right or what's wrong?" she charged at Sunset with Katana in hands. The younger girl grabbed the blade, successfully stopping it, but Shimmer kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying. 'I'm a walking corpse, for fuck's sake!" she extended her sword and attacked again. This last blow would have sliced Sunset in half, but since her suit still worked, she survived. "Now stand still and be quiet, it will be over soon."

Sunset was lying on the ground, panting, while a puddle of blue gel leaking out of her broken suit appeared underneath her. She wanted to get up and help Flash Sentry. She was willing to die in order to save him, but she couldn't move.

"S... Sorry, P-Princess Twilight..." she said while tears streamed down her face and mixed with the blue gel. "I... I failed you..." she covered her face with one arm and kept crying.

Flash Sentry was in so much pain that he couldn't walk anymore, so sat between two dumpsters, hoping that no one would find him there. Unfortunately for him, Shimmer had a Controller with a map that gave away his location.

"Nothing personal." she said as she raised her Katana. "Just following orders."

Flash nodded closed his eyes. He still had so many things he wanted to do and so many questions that he wanted answers to, but the end had arrived for him so he simply decided to accept it.

* * *

Miraculously, none of the Hunters died after that mission and were all transferred back to the room. Norman got up and looked around.

"We won?" he asked.

"N-N-No..." Sunset, who was sitting on the floor, muttered while wiping away the tears with the sleeve of her jacket.

KILLER QUEEN
50 PTS / TOTAL 50 PTS
ONLY 50 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

The room was silent. Hope approached Sunset and placed her small hand on her friend's back.

"L... Let's go home, Hope." the little girl nodded as she helped her up. As they walked toward the corridor, she turned her head around and looked at Shimmer. "Are you coming?"

"Really?" Adagio asked. "After all this, you're just going to take her home like a stray dog? How stupid are you, Sunset Shimmer?" the look in Sunset's eyes made her shut her mouth immediately. She wasn't angry or sad, she just looked empty. Sunset, Hope and Shimmer wore their normal clothes over their black suits then left the room and walked back to Sunset's apartment - not a single word was uttered on their walk back home. When they stood in front of the locked door as Sunset reached for the keys in her pocket, Shimmer finally broke the silence:

"Why?" she asked. "Why are you being so nice to me after I killed your friend? Yell at me, kick me out of your house, do something!"

Sunset did something: she wrapped her arms around Shimmer and cried on her chest. Unsure of how to react, Shimmer just patted her counterpart's back.

"This is so unfair!" she said between sobs. "It's all that stupid ball's fault. Why bring us back to life if it's only going to make us wish we were dead?"

"It's just the way it is, kiddo." Shimmer said as she grabbed the key and passed it to Hope, who unlocked the door for them, then guided Sunset to the bedroom. She placed the pony girl on her bed, who immediately curled up in a ball, still sobbing uncontrollably. Shimmer covered her with a blanket and squeezed her shoulder. "Rest now. You'll feel better in the morning, trust me." she said before leaving the room and closing the door.

"I can never face Princess Twilight ever again..." she whispered moments before falling asleep.

* * *

Missing posters of Flash Sentry were all over town. Many people suspected that his disappearance was somehow related to that fact that his father was a competent police officer very well-known in Canterlot Town. This was the original hypothesis, but the lack of thugs demanding a ransom made the case even more complicated. His car was located and the forensic scientists were doing their best to figure out what could have caused the damages it suffered. Several students from CHS were interrogated by detectives, but priority was given to people closer to him, like his band members, his friends, and even his ex-girlfriend. Sunset wanted to tell them the truth, reveal everything she knew, but that wouldn't accomplish a thing, so she hid the truth just like she hid her tears. She had to be strong.

Sunset never forgave Shimmer for what she did, but she at least understood why she did it. Deciding that being angry at her would result in absolutely nothing, Sunset decided not to ostracize her from their group - at first her teammates questioned her judgement, but decided to respect her decision.

Roll and Pearl stopped showing up to their weekly meetings at Sunset's but, once the brown-haired girl was informed that he too had abandoned the group, she soon returned. They used those meetings to hone their skills with the weapons, Katanas and suits, but they spent most of the time working on strategies and battle formations. One day, Shimmer showed up late to their meeting at an abandoned warehouse looking at her recently-bought phone and cursing:

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUUUUUCK!" she yelled.

"Someone's grumpy!" Norman joked.

"Not the time, jackass." she said. "Something bad is going down!" they all dropped what they were doing and approached Shimmer to better understand the situation. "My contacts from the country are dying. No, scratch that, they are getting slaughtered by them."

"Them?" Nolan asked. "Stop playing the fucking pronoun game and just say it."

"They are a gang of people wearing black suits."

"You mean black suits like ours?" Sunset asked.

"No, black suits like formal clothes. Pants, shoes, suits, ties, shirts, the whole package."

"You seem to know them. Who are they?" Adagio asked.

"I don't know if they still call them that, and most of the people who survived the encounter and reported their appearance never encountered them before, but back in my day we used to call them 'Vampires'."

Norman burst into laughter. "Vampires? You're kidding me, right?"

"Do I look like a clown to you? I fought them before, they only move at night and they drink blood, so we call them Vampires. If you have a better name, share it with nobody and go fuck yourself."

"Shit, this is serious business." Nolan said. "What do we do?"

"Nobody knows where they hide and they are good at hiding their tracks, so we can't hunt them down." Shimmer said. "For now, let's lay low and not draw attention to ourselves. If someone wearing black formal clothes approaches you, either get the fuck out of there or rip their fucking heads off. Those bastards are sneaky!" Shimmer cracked her joints. "Alright, change of plans! Today you'll be learning how to fight Vampires. The first thing you need to know is that those motherfuckers are weak to UV rays. Which means that sunlight is not the only thing that can hurt them, if you have the right type of light bulb you can turn them into a pile of dead shit. I recommend changing the ones you have at your houses, just to be safe. I'll give you a list of best brands later.

"Second, don't underestimate them. Not only are they super fast and really strong, but they can catch you off guard with their weapons. They have guns and swords, but you won't see them carrying them around, because they hide their stuff inside their bodies. I don't know how it works, but it's what they do, so keep those eyes peeled if you have to fight them."

"Third, don't lower your guard even if it's still light outside; some of them can handle sunlight, and they will go after you if they know your face. I don't know how they do that either, but those ones are a rare breed."

"And fourth, they can see us. I shit you not, if they know where a mission is taking place, they will show up there and try to fuck with us. From what I heard, they have special glasses or contact lens or some shit like that. If they appear, fuck with them before they can fuck with you! And no matter what happens, don't let them get behind you. Seriously, don't! They know how to deactivate the suit so, even if your suit is at full capacity, they will break it.

"Got all that?" they all nodded. "Good. You better memorize everything, otherwise you're as good as dead. And from now on, I want you all to wear your suits all the time - when going to school, when staying at home and, if it's not too uncomfortable to you, leave it on even when you're sleeping. We never know when we might be ambushed!"

Author's Note

And to make things clear, Sunset & Shimmer live in a motel. Nothing too fancy, but nothing cheap either. I may have messed this up at some point, saying it was something else, but no. Just a motel. Sorry about that!

12. Put Away Wet

In the Black Ball room, Roll, Midna and Treble did their best to avoid talking to any of the people who were against them during the Flash Sentry mission, while Pearl did her best to avoid Roll. Sunset tried to warn them about the Vampires, but they turned their backs to her whenever she got close.

"Fuck them!" Shimmer said while pulling her away from the three. "If they don't want to listen, then don't waste your breath."

"And off we go!" Norman said.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
MERMAID ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: PRETTY, ALLURING
LIKES: SWIMMING, PICK UP LINES
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Come closer, sailor."

The Mermaid Alien was a humanoid female with pale blue skin, a long and flowing sapphire-blue hair, fins instead of ears, gills or the sides of her torso and a pair of shells covering her ample breasts.

"We have to hunt Adagio this time, then?" Norman joked before she pressed his face against the screen of the Black Ball.

"I'd be careful if I was you because you're treading on really thin ice here, young lad." she warned.

"Yo-You're right, my bad. I just noticed the difference. Her breasts are bigger than--"

She let go of his head, but this time used her foot to smash his head against the screen.

"REALLY THIN ICE!"

Sunset did her best to pull the siren away from him.

"And then you whine because you're still a virgin." Nolan said while helping his friend up.

"It's not my fault they can't take a joke..."

They were transferred to the inside of a transparent tunnel underwater, where they could see many fishes swimming in crystal clear waters illuminated by the full moon outside. Adagio immediately glued her face to the glass, looking at everything in awe.

"I know this place." Nolan said. "It's the Canterlot Town Pier Aquarium. My dad used to bring me here all the time."

"Why? To teach you the correct way of sending people to go sleep with the fishes?" Norman joked.

"You're sharp today, aren't you? Now take it down a notch before I take you down."

"Geez Louise, you're all so easily offended. I had a very stressful motherfucking day, I'm just trying to relax the only way I can think of!"

"Really? You of all people had a stressful day? Would you care to elaborate?"

"I spent the best part of the day at the police station. Flash Sentry was at my place before he 'disappeared', remember? I'm still a prime suspect, and they didn't even try to sugarcoat that fact. Do you have any idea how bad it feels to be treated like a criminal?"

"Yes." Nolan said with crossed arms. "The 'Saints Bro' knows very well how it feels to be treated like a criminal."

Norman rubbed the back of his head. "Y-Yeah. Sorry about all that. I had no idea how awful it feels."

"And for your information, my dad is a marine biologist."

"I had no idea Canterlot Town has a place like this." Adagio said while still looking at the fishes. "I would have brought Aria and Sonata here long ago."

"Maybe I can bring you here someday." Sunset offered with a warm smile.

Adagio smiled as well, but then turned around to look and her and cocked an eyebrow. "What are you suggesting?"

"Uh... I... Y'know, show you where this place is so you can bring them here yourself. Just that, nothing else!"

"Hm... Yes, I guess I would appreciate that."

"Um... Not to be a bother or anything, but I'm pretty sure we have an alien to hunt." Pearl said once she realized Treble, Shimmer, Roll and Midna had left long ago.

"Shit, you're right." Adagio said while grabbing her Dual Gib Guns. "Just try not to fuck up the place too bad, I don't want them to be closed for repairs!"

Adagio, Hope and Sunset followed the south path of the tunnel while Nolan, Pearl and Norman followed the north path until they were out of the tunnel and in a dark corridor. The beanie-wearing boy suddenly stopped when he heard a faint singing coming from a corridor; Nolan and Pearl only realized he was missing when the redhead boy found the switch and turned the lights on.

"Fuckin' A." Nolan groaned. "I know his sense of direction is not great, but I never expected him to get lost in a straight corridor."

"Should we look for him?" Pearl asked.

"Nah, whatever crosses his path, he can handle it." he flashed her a smile. "We may show a certain degree of animosity toward each other but, at the end of the day, he's still my friend and I believe in his strength."

"If that's how it is, why don't you show your respect for each other more often?"

"It's a man thing, you wouldn't understand."

The singing got louder as Norman approached the source. The music guided him upstairs and outside the main building, and then he saw her: like the name suggested, she was a half-fish, half-human creature. She was sitting on the opposing edge of a water tank, singing a beautiful tune while gently tapping her caudal fin on the surface of the water. When she noticed the unexpected audience, the Mermaid Alien stopped singing and smiled at him, then jumped in the water and swam to his side of the tank. Norman kneeled to look closer at the beautiful face mere inches under the surface.

"You are so pretty..." he said, as if in a trance.

Her head slowly emerged from the water. The Mermaid Alien cupped his cheeks and slowly pulled his face closer while approaching her own face to his. When the space between their lips was almost nonexistent, she immediately wrapped her arms and pulled him to the depths of the water tank. Finally realizing the trouble he was in, Norman tried to struggle, but his strength was severely reduced due to the fact that they were underwater. After a quick glance around, he realized that he was surrounded by anthropomorphic aquatic creatures of four different species: scrawny fish people, tall shark men with giant muscles, lithe octopus women with several arms and squid children with tentacles instead of hair.

"I can't fight here." Norman thought as he reached for his Gib Gun. "Not right now." Norman pointed his gun at the glass and pulled both triggers. He had no idea if the suit would also protect him from drowning, but he wasn't prepared to test it, and his lungs were at their limit. The glass shattered, flooding the corridors with crystal clear water and aquatic monsters, giving Norman an opportunity to escape from the target's grasp. Standing at a safe distance from the menagerie of aliens, Norman proceeded to shoot at them with his Gib Gun, killing a few and injuring others.

One of the unhurt shark men managed to escape from the pile of aliens, avoid Norman's shots and grab his arm. The brawny shark lifted the boy and started hitting him on the floor until his suit broke, then bit his left leg. Screaming in agony, Norman tried to force the alien's mouth open with his bare hands, but the shark's jaw muscles were stronger than his arms. Seeing no other way out of this situation, he used his Katana to cut his own leg off. The shark man didn't seem to notice, for he kept on chewing on the severed leg.

Still sore after that beating, Norman tried to crawl away. The shark finally noticed that the rest of his victim was gone and tried to attack him once again, but his head exploded and his body landed a few feet behind the green beanie boy. The rest of the water aliens in the corridor were also dealt with, but the Mermaid Alien managed to escape.

"It's okay, I got you." Sunset said as she used pieces of his ripped suit as makeshift tourniquet in order to stop the bleeding. "I got you. You're not going to die. No one is going to die. I won't let anyone else die!"

* * *

Following the singing, Roll, Midna and Treble located the Mermaid Alien, who was surrounded by more fish-like creatures, listening closely to her beautiful song. After noticing the three Hunters, she stopped and pointed a finger at them. Her minions immediately turned around and ran at the trio with murderous intentions as Roll readied his Gib Rifle.

"Alright, we can do it, guys." he looked around, realizing that he was alone. "Guys?"

Roll tried to fight the aliens, successfully killing a few of them, but an octopus woman constricted him with her many arms, allowing a shark man to repeatedly punch him and the squid kids to spray him with ink. Meanwhile, Midna and Treble were shooting at them from a safe distance - they were planning on using Roll as bait from the start, and everything worked according to plan. After all the aliens that did not ran away from the slaughter were dealt with, the couple approached the bruised and battered young man lying on the ground.

"You think he's a goner?" Treble asked.

"Better use science to see if he's dead." Midna said as she kicked him in the face. Since there was no immediate reaction she shrugged and walked away, followed by her boyfriend. "Yup, he's dead!"

The Mermaid Alien watched from behind a map board as the killing duo left. She motioned for her remaning followers to get out of the water, which they did - all she had left were one shark man, three octopus women, eight fish people and five squid kids. The fish aliens followed their leader around, finally coming across another human. After looking around to make sure that one was alone, the Mermaid pointed at the woman with bright red and gold hair, commanding them to attack.

"You think you got me?" Shimmer asked while couting how many enemies surrounded her. "It's quite the opposite, actually." she spreaded her arms out, holding a Gib Gun with one hand and a Gib Rifle with the other. "It is I, Sunset Shimmer, who got all of you!"

Shimmer started to spin while pulling the upper trigger several times. The aliens tried to attack her, but she just kept dodging and jumping every time they tried to tackle her, constrict her or spray her with ink. After she was done, she jumped on top of a fountain with the statue of a swordfish and pulled the lower triggers. Mere moments later, the group of aquatic monsters exploded into a giant puddle of gore. Aware that she had no living minion left on the planet, the Mermaid Alien turned around and tried to crawl away to safety, until a black blade pierced her back and pinned her to the ground.

"Three is a good number of singing beauties living in one planet, four is just overkill. That means you have to go." Adagio grabbed the caudal fin of the mermaid and pulled with all her strength; the Katana piercing her back wouldn't budge due to the fact that a large portion of its blade was stuck in the ground, allowing Adagio to easily cut the upper half of the Mermaid Alien's body in two and throw her lifeless corpse in a water tank.

"This mission made me hungry for sushi." Shimmer metioned while rubbing her stomach.

Meanwhile, inside the main building, Nolan and Pearl were looking around with their guns ready to shoot. The boy then motioned for her to stop.

"I heard something." he said while they tiptoed their way to the main hall. After arriving there, they found something they already expected to see, but were surprised to see anyway: a giant white octupus with glowing blue eyes and dozens of tentacles coming from below its body was in front of the main hallway that led to the underwater corridors of the aquarium. The octopus, which was most likely the Big Boss of the mission, noticed them as well, and lunged its many tentacles at them. Having seen enough hentai to know where this was going, Nolan North grabbed Black Pearl's hand and tried to flee from there.

"The mission should be over by now." Sunset, who was taking care of the barely conscious Norman lying on a bench, said. "Why are we still here?"

"Maybe the Big Boss is not dead yet?" Pearl, who was sitting on the edge of the nearby fountain with her bare feet inside the water, suggested.

"I suppose. But making sure Norman makes it is our priority now. The others will take care of it."

They heard the sound of something crashing through a concrete wall and looked around for the source of the noise, finally noticing the giant hole in a wall of the main building. Pearl ran out of the hole and toward Nolan, who was lying on the ground, covered in plaster dust and black ink. Sunset immediately dashed toward them.

"What happened?" she asked.

"D-D-D-D-D-don't l-l-l-let th-th-the in-k-k-k-k to-touch your s-s-s-skin... It p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pa-paralyzes your m-m-musc-cles." he did his best to convey the message.

Sunset noticed that most of his black suit had been ripped apart, exposing his skin to the touch of the black substance.

"OH, COME ON!" Adagio yelled as she and Shimmer finally arrived at the scene. "I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL AND NOT FUCK UP THE PLACE!"

"The Big Boss is in there." Pearl warned. "It threw Nolan and he crashed through the wall."

"Watch out for the ink, Nolan is a living example that it's bad news." Sunset warned.

"Noted!" Shimmer said as she and Adagio entered through the hole.

"YOU'RE DEAD, FUCKSTICK!" Adagio yelled.

"Help me carry him." Pearl nodded and helped Sunset carry the paralyzed boy to the fountain, where they did their best to wash away the ink.

"Man, you got romped!" Norman joked with a weak voice.

"L-L-L-L-L-Look who's t-t-talking, C-Captain Ahab."

"You're strong, you should go help them, Sunset." Pearl said while listening to the sound of explosions coming from the building. "Don't worry, I'll take care of them."

Sunset hesitated for a moment but soon decided that she could trust Black Pearl to nurse them, so she nodded and ran back to the battlefield.

"Wait for me!" Hope said as she ran after Sunset. Meanwhile, in the distance, two people wearing black business suits approached the area.

~ ~ ~

While they were away, Treble and Midna also joined the battle. Things weren't going very well, since the Big Boss's skin was really tough despite its gelatinous look; the Gib Guns barely caused any damage, the Katanas couldn't cut very deep and since the giant octopus was on the entrance of the hallway, the projectiles of the Web Gun couldn't wrap themselves around its body. The monster's tentacles were many, but luckily they were also very slim, so it was easy for Sunset to cut them when they tried to wrap themselves around Hope.

The octopus sprayed ink at Midna, but she dodged at the last second - unfortunately for Treble, he was right behind her and, since the suit did not covered his head, the paralysis effect was very effective.

"Sorry, babe!" Midna apologized with a playful smile.

"I wanted to visit this place." Adagio said as she grabbed the tentacles that the octopus lunged at her. "But it appears that I'll have to wait AT LEAST a month. Thank you!" she pulled the tentacles with all her might, which was increased by the power of her suit. "Thank you VERY MUCH!"

The Big Boss came out of the tunnel like the cork of a bottle being removed - even the sound was similar. Adagio swung it around, smashing the octopus against the walls and floor. After realizing that she only caused more damage to the place she wanted to leave intact, she took a very deep breath and yelled:

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Not wanting to waste the chance, Shimmer shot at the alien with her Web Gun, this time successfully binding it. Once their target was secured and ready to go, she pressed the third trigger, sending it "up" and to an unknown destination.

"This isn't nearly as hard as I expected it to be." Troy Thunderclap, Twilight Sparkle's teammate, noted as he realoaded his handgun. "Which begs the question: are we just to good or this gal just sucks?"

Pearl's body was riddled with bullet holes but she was still standing, though not for long, for she tripped on the fountain and fell in the water, its crystal clear water slowly being tainted by her crimson blood.

"Awww, look at what you did!" he whined. "You shouldn't waste blood like that. If you don't want it, at least save it for someone who does."

Twilight Sparkle approached the dying girl, who looked scared, angry and filled with determination at the same. She raised her right arm and the tip of a blade appeared on the palm of her hand, which slowly grew in lenght. In just a few seconds, a sword came out of Twilight's hand, which she used to pierce Pearl's throat. The girl wanted to cry, scream and curse, but the blade damaged her trachea, so all she could do was wait and see if she would choke to death or die of blood loss.

"Alright, I'll deal with the beanie guy, you take the other one out." Twilight nodded and stood beside Nolan, who was lying down on the ground, looking at her in shock.

"Y-Y-Y-You... You a-are..." he tried to speak.

"You're next." Twilight raised her sword and was about to bring it down and behead him, but the sound of explosion coming from behind distracted her. When she turned around to see what just happened, Twilight saw her partner Troy fall to the ground with a huge hole where his right shoulder used to be and his arm fall next to her feet. She looked around and saw a boy with purple hair covered in bruises pointing his Gib Rifle at her. He pulled the triggers, but she dodged the shot and, in no time at all, was standing right in front of him. He tried to react in time, but she stabbed Roll in the stomach.

Roll chuckled when he realized that he was already being transferred, so that wound meant absolutely nothing to him anymore. After he disappeared, Twilight went back to where her other targets were, only to find out they were all already gone, except the girl with brown hair, whose lifeless body was still lying on the fountain. She picked Troy Thunderclap up and walked away.

* * *

"We did it!" Hope said cheerfully.

"Good job, everyone." Sunset said as she looked around the room, but then raised an eyebrow. "Where's Pearl?"

"They... They killed her." Normal Norman said, crestfallen. "Those motherfuckers in black suits killed Pearls!"

"Shit, the Vampires found us?" Shimmer said.

"Tell me that's not real." Sunset said, placing her hands on Norman's shoulders. "Please, tell me you're joking!" he shook his head. She bit her trembling lower lip while tears appeared on the corners of her eyes. Saddened by those news, Hope hugged Sunset's waist and cried.

"And to add insult to the injury..." Nolan clenched his fists. "The one who offed her was Twilight."

"Tw-Twlight?" Sunset's eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "Y-You mean P-P-Princess Twilight Sparkle?"

"Who?" Shimmer asked.

"You mean goody two shoes Twilight Sparkle?" Adagio asked. "Are you sure we're talking about the same person?"

"I may not be one of her friends, but I know what Twilight Sparkle looks like, and I'm telling you that was Twilight motherfucking Sparkle!"

All those shocking news being thrown at her almost at the same time were too much for Sunset Shimmer, who fainted.

Author's Note

They used Roll as bait because they were fighting fish people! Get it? Get it? Mx. Reader, do you get it?

And how much do you wanna bet that at least half of those downvotes came from people thinking "Oh, oh, oh, a fanfic with sex AND gore? Must be some kinky shit I'm not into. Downvote!" That thought cracks me up every time! :rainbowlaugh:

14. Squashed Like Bugs

This time they were transferred to the woods located near the northern city limits of Canterlot Town. The area was quiet, despite the many species of animals that lived there; they knew an unwanted species had entered their turf and their instincts told them to run away as fast as possible. Some weren't that lucky and were caught by the invaders, thus explaining why the area reeked of blood. Sunset covered her nose with one hand and crouched next to the severed head of a deer.

"Fluttershy will freak out if-- No, when she hears of this." she muttered.

They heard the sound of rustling leaves coming from nearby. The group looked around, searching for the source of the noise, when they finally realized it was coming from above.

Dozens and dozens of giant insects were hanging from the branches or standing on them - the smaller ones were the size of puppies while the larger ones were taller than the average adult human. Even though they were noticed, the insects just stood there, watching them.

"Shit shit shit shit!" Shimmer said as she dropped her Pile Driver, picked up a Gib Rifle and pointed it at the giant insects.

"What the hell?" Roll said in disbelief. "Why did you drop your best weapon?"

"I can't use it here." Shimmer answered. "There are too many trees."

"Too many-- Seriously?! I can't believe you of all people are one of those fucking tree huggers."

"Trees are important to the world, okay?"

"For fuck's sake, why did this had to happen to me? If we die because of your enviromentally friendly bullshit, I swear to Christ I will torment you forever in the afterlife."

"I was there. There is no afterlife."

"Sure, whatever, Lorax."

"Heads-up, everybody!" Sunset warned. She could hear the sound of something stepping on dry leaves and twigs. Something big. Soon enough the group was approached by what appeared to be a 8 ft tall cockroach, but walking on two legs instead of six, and munching on the corpse of a dead fox, which it held with two of the four remaining legs. It didn't look dangerous, just curious.

"EW! KILL IT! KILL IT!" Norman yelled as he grabbed a Gib Gun and shot it repeatedly. The giant cockroach exploded and he sighed in relief. "Fuck me, I hate those things..."

After witnessing their comrade being murdered in cold blood, the other crawlers approached the group, but this time with murderous intentions. Treble immediately hid behind Nolan as soon as he saw a group of spiders the size of dogs.

"Don't be a pansy, you have a gun!" Nolan reminded him.

"Huh, yes, you're right." Treble pointed his Gib Rifle at the largest of the spiders. "It's your turn to fear me, spiders!"

"That's the spirit!" Nolan cheered as he readied his Katana.

The entire group fought fiercely, completely slaughtering the group of invaders. Obviously, the aliens didn't just stood there waiting to die, they fought back. The spiders tried to bind the hunters with their sticky web, but it was not match for the sharp edge of their Katanas. The winged ones tried to carry a few of them away from the battlefield so that they could fight them solo, but all of them died trying. It was up to the insects with multiple limbs to try and punch the hunters into submission, but they all failed miserably. The only one who had a decent fight was a giant mantis. With its strong front legs, the mantis was capable of blocking the sword attacks, and with its above average speed, it was also capable of avoiding Gib Gun shots by hiding behind rocks and trees. It took a considerable amount of effort to take it down, but Norman and Nolan worked together and killed it.

"Wow." Shimmer said while wiping her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand. "That fight was surprisingly tough."

"I agree with that." Sunset said, sitting down on the trunk of a fallen tree. "They just wouldn't stop coming, it's like BB transferred us right to the middle of their hive or something."

"You think it's over already?" Norman asked. "Maybe the mantis thing was the Big Boss?"

"No, the mantis was just above average when compared to the others. Besides, BB isn't calling us back, so it's not over yet."

"Help!" the entire group heard a very high-pitched voice calling from nearby. After inspecting the area, Midna smirked when she located their target, curled up and hiding behind bushes; it was very small, barely the size of a chameleon. "H-Help!"

She pointed her Gib Rifle at the Bug Alien. "Arrivederci, motherfu--"

Before she could either pull the trigger or finish that sentence, she was thrown away by a powerful kick to the face, flying a few feet away and rolling a few feet more before crashing against a tree stump. The group is surprised by the fact that the creature who kicked Midna looked mostly human; the foe was a very tall and bulky bald man. If it weren't for his feet which only contained two toes each and the rhinoceros beetle horn located on his forehead, he could easily pass up as a human being.

The man was soon joined by two others, who also looked very similar to humans; the first was another man, also tall but with not nearly as many muscles. He was very handsome with long golden hair, a pair of butterfly wings on his back and antennae on his forehead. The third and final foe was female, who had long and wavy pink hair and a scorpion tail wrapped around her torso and midriff.

"These guys look like trouble." Adagio said as she pointed her Dual Gib Guns at the butterfly man and the scorpion lady at the same time.

Treble helped Midna up then readied his Gib Rifle. "I'll take a wild guess and say those are the Big Bosses."

"Then what are we waiting for? Shoot to kill!" she ordered.

Midna and Treble shot at the trio. Since he stood in place, they successfully destroyed the rhinoceros beetle man's right arm off, but the scorpion and the butterfly managed to avoid the attack.

"Shit." Treble said. "I should have focused my shots on him, not the butterflyggot."

His torso was suddenly pierced by a giant scorpion tail. He turned his head to look at his assailant, who was standing right behind him with her arms crossed.

"B-B-But..." he managed to say. "M... My suit..." she bent her tail and pierced his throat before he could say anything else.

Before Midna could react, the butterfly man flew over her, grabbed her by the hair and carried her away. Without dropping Treble's body to the ground, she went back to the bushes, picked up the Bug Alien hidden in there and ran to the same direction the butterfly man went.

"What... The... Fuck?" Roll mumbled.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Sunset asked. "Midna needs our help!"

"But what about that?" Norman pointed at the rhinoceros beetle man standing a couple of meters away from them, who was inspecting his wound.

Shimmer pointed at Nolan, Roll and Norman. "You, you and you stay here and kill that thing. We'll go after the others!"

Adagio, Shimmer, Hope and Sunset run past the horned man while Roll pointed his Rifle at him and Nolan and Norman readied their swords.

"Oh, so you're actually going to listen to her?" Norman asked.

"I'm not doing this for her, I'm doing this for me." Roll explained. "One killed Treble and the other kidnapped Midna. I respect one and don't want to stop the other. Besides, this one is injuried and ready to die. If she asked me to go, I would have stayed here anyway!"

"Wow, you're more of a pussy than Treble." Nolan pointed out.

"Fuck you, let's kill that thing and be done with it!"

* * *

Midna struggled, but the bug man's grip on her hair wasn't getting any looser and all she accomplished was a sharp pain on her scalp. She wanted to shoot it, but she accidently dropped her Gib Rifle when she was grabbed by the monster, and since her suit was broken when she got kicked by the other bug man, all she could do was hang in there, enduring the pain of being dragged away by her hair.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the girls were still chasing the kidnappers. The butterfly man noticed this and started waving his antennae in a certain pattern; the most powerful of the Bug Alien race had the ability to share their thoughts with other bugs that were weaker than them or shared similar strength, and he used this ability to warn the scorpion woman about the approaching group. Deciding to let him handle the situation on his own, she placed the Bug Alien on top of her head. Now that both her arms were free, the butterfly dropped Midna. The scorpion jumped and grabbed the girl before she hit the ground, then resumed her run.

"What are they doing?" Hope asked.

"He's coming this way!" Adagio stopped and readied her Duel Gib Guns. Following suit, Sunset grabbed her Gib Rifle and Hope pointed her Web Gun at him.

"You keep him busy, I'll go after the other." Shimmer said without stopping.

The butterfly man graciously landed on the ground in front of the three ladies. Adagio shot first.

* * *

Despite his size, the beetle man wasn't slow at all. Using his horn as a melee weapon, he fought Nolan, who could only defend his attacks with his Katana. He dodged most shots but Roll managed to land a few, and even though part of his chest was gone, the bug man could still fight like nothing was wrong. Norman, who was hiding and waiting for the perfect opportunity, finally decided to strike: jumping from a branch, he tried to bury his sword on the monster's back, but nothing happened - like an actual Earth beetle, the monster had chitin protecting his back, and it was hard as a rock. Spinning quickly, he knocked Norman away with his horn and kicked Nolan's ribs, sending both Hunters flying.

"Well, fuck." Nolan said to himself as he sat up. "We can't attack him directly because he'll see us coming and either block or dodge. And we can't attack him from behind because his back has a fucking armor." he finally noticed that the blue gel inside the caps of his suit was leaking. "Shit..."

"I'm not giving up!" Roll said as he kept shooting. The beetle man turned his back to him, blocking all of the shots. Not even the explosive shots of the Gib Rifle were enough to break it. It was then that Norman noticed a small detail.

"Alright, let's do this!" he grabbed his Katana and sprinted toward his target. "LEEROOOOOOOOY JEN--"

Before he could land a hit, the rhinoceros beetle man raised his left arm and grabbed him by the neck. Even though his suit was broken, Nolan grabbed his sword and rushed to save his friend.

"Neck..." Norman managed to say. "Neck..."

"Yes, he's choking you, I see that, let me--"

"N-No..." he slowly lifted his arm and pointed at the beetle man. "Neck..."

Nolan finally noticed it too: the alien's chitin protected his back and his head, but a small portion of his nape was exposed to allow mobility. Their foe then threw Norman as far away as he could, giving Nolan the perfect opportunity to cut his head off and finally kill the beast.

* * *

Shimmer lost sight of the Bug Alien and its protector, the scorpion woman. Instead, she located Midna, sitting on a clearing in front of a large tree.

"Getting dragged away by the hair like that like a Barbie doll must've been really embarrassing, huh?" she joked. "But you managed to get away on your own, so I guess that's worth a few respect points back."

But Midna didn't reply. She just sat there, sprawled, unmoving. That made Shimmer raise an eyebrow.

"Hey, are you ok? Did you pass out or something? Or... Are you...?" after looking around to make sure that wasn't a trap, she cautiously approached the girl with violet hair and shook her shoulder gently. "Hey, are-- Whoa!" thanks to that small movement, gravity made Midna lower her head, exposing the hole on the back of her head and the little Bug Alien inside it, devouring the dead girl's brain. "That's sick on so many levels." she raised her Gib Gun and pointed it at the corpse's head, but a giant scorpion tail wrapped itself around her arm before she could pull the triggers.

The scorpion lady had returned, and she was eating a leg that most likely used to belong to Treble. She swung her tail, throwing the Hunter away before she could react. Taking the opportunity, the Bug Alien crawled away from the clearing and into the bushes, once again disappearing in the darkness of the woods.

"Ok, so this one favors close range combat. Long range weapons won't do shit right now." she muttered as she holstered her Gib Gun and unsheathed her Katana. "Bring it on."

The scorpion lady dropped the leg she was munching on, deciding to save it for later, crossed her arms and thrusted her tail at Shimmer, who easily blocked with her Katana. After a couple more of failed attempts, she smirked, deciding that it was worth to put some effort into fighting this foe, and gradually raised her thrusting speed, trying to attack from all kinds of angles. Fortunately for the human girl, her fighting skills far surpassed her shooting skills, which were already on an elite rank.

The scorpion woman scowled; wasting time and energy were some of the things she hated the most, so she decided to cut to the chase and land the finishing blow. Recoiling her tail, she thrusted again with superhuman strength and speed that most humans couldn't even see, much less act in time to defend themselves, but Shimmer was not like most humans; acting fast, she ducked and swung her sword, cutting off the monster's tail and spilling yellow blood and purple venom on the grass. After letting out a screech of pain and anger, the scorpion tried to punch Shimmer, who pressed her Gib Gun to the alien's chin, then pulled both triggers. She still tried to fight, but Shimmer just jumped out of her reach and went after the little bug that escaped - the scorpion lady's head exploded before she could go after her.

Shimmer checked the map on her Controller, immediately identifying what each white dot represented: she could see Nolan, Roll and Norman already killed their target and were now running toward her general direction. Meanwhile, Adagio, Hope and Sunset were still fighting the butterfly man. She could also see herself looking around for the oversized caterpillar, but the dot representing the Bug Alien was nowhere to be seen. After a while looking around, she finally located it; the Bug Alien hid itself in the trees and had wrapped a silk cocoon around itself.

She tried shooting the cocoon with both the Gib Gun and Gib Rifle, but they were completely ineffective. She then tried the Web Gun, but the energy ropes ended up getting tangled in the thick silk lines, also rendering that weapon useless. The Katana was also not the best option, since the cocoon was surprisingly resistant. She took a deep breath and pointed the Pile Driver at it.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Tree." she was about to shoot when she realized that the cocoon was growing bigger; when she found it it was barely larger than the Bug Alien itself, but now it was the size of an adult cat, and still growing. When it reached the size of a human being, the cocoon started to rupture. Smirking, Shimmer readied her sword once again.

* * *

The butterfly man held Hope hostage; every time he fluttered his wings they released small golden spores that could paralyze any living creature once it inhaled a certain amount. Since Hope was the youngest and smallest, the amount needed to affect her was considerably smaller than the amount needed to affect Sunset or Adagio. After realizing what the spores were capable of, they covered their faces and now had to fight him with only one hand each. The butterfly man picked Hope up as soon as she fell down and now carried her on his shoulder, ready to use her as a human shield if needed.

"Alright, we need a plan." Sunset asked.

"I--" Adagio started.

"One that does not involve Hope getting hurt deliberately."

"Who do you think I am?"

"Just to make sure."

The butterfly man smirked internally; taking the smallest one hostage would guarantee his survival. Since the two others were too busy discussing something he took the chance to spread his wings and take off.

"Wait, come back here, you fucking coward!" Adagio pointed her Gib Gun at him.

"NO!" Sunset yelled as she slapped the gun away from her hand. "What if you hit Hope?"

"Her suit isn't broken yet."

"I'm not taking any chances! Let's follow him and see where he goes while we think of something to do."

He knew those foes were strong. He watched as they slaughtered their soldiers, and that's why he decided to opt for a sneak attack. He couldn't face them. Not alone. But what he felt just moments ago was exactly what he'd been expecting for a long time: a new Queen was born. With her around, there was no way he would be killed by--

He started to fall. For some reason he couldn't flap his wings anymore. He looked down and realized that his wings, torso and left arm were bound by some sort of glowing rope. He looked at his hostage and saw she had snapped out of his induced daze and attacked him with her rope-shooting gun. Of course, how could he forget? Without constant exposure, the effect of his spores only lasted a couple of minutes, just enough for him to run away and call for backup.

Hope pulled the third trigger of her Web Gun and her captor slowly started to disappear. He disappeared completely before falling on the tree on which Hope landed. After climbing down, she found Adagio and Sunset were already there, waiting for her.

"Great job up there, pipsqueak!" Adagio ruffled her hair.

"You did great, Hope!" Sunset hugged her.

"But we need to move on, though." Adagio said while looking at her Controller. "I thought this was the last, but it appears that Shimmer is having trouble with the one she went after."

Sunset and Hope nodded and the three dashed toward the direction of the dot in Adagio's Controller that represented Shimmer and her foe.

* * *

Shimmer was hiding behind a tree, breathing heavily. Her suit was broken, she was covered in bruises, her left leg was swollen and her right arm was probably broken. She tried to keep her respiration steady so that she wouldn't give away her position, but no matter how much she tried, she just couldn't calm herself down.

"What is that thing?" she thought. "Why is it s strong? It was just a little piece of shit just a while ago, but now..."

"Look, there she is." Norman, who was standing a few meters away with Nolan and Roll, pointed out. He then yelled: "HEY, SHIMMER! Or maybe it's Sunset? ARE YOU SHIMMER OR SUNSET?"

If it wasn't for the broken arm she would have facepalmed, and if it wasn't for the swollen leg she would have dashed toward Norman and strangled him. But now all she could do was scream:

"IDIOTS, GET DOWN!"

As soon as she warned them, a big portion of the ground below her erupted, sending her, earth, rocks and trees flying everywhere. Nolan and Norman immediately readied their Katanas and Roll looked through the scope of his Gib Rifle. They all gasped in surprise when they finally saw what the Big Boss of the mission looked like: it was Midna. A few differences here and there, but it was basically Midna. The key differences were her eyes, that were now completely black, the pair of antennae poking from under her long, violet hair - which was no longer tied up in a ponytail - the thick white fur that completely covered her legs and wrists and the pair of transparent insect wings on her back.

"Y'know..." Norman said as he inspected her naked body, her perky breasts and the patch of violet pubic her above her exposed vulva. "...I'm not gonna lie, I always thought Midna was hot and wanted to see her naked ever since I first laid eyes on her. But now that I have..." he sighed. "...it's just not what I expected."

"Less ogling, more killing!" Roll said as he shot at her. She looked at her abdomen moments before it exploded, sending yellow blood and guts. They expected her to die, or at least scream, but all she did was stare at the hole. It didn't took long for the hole to start closing itself, and in just a couple of seconds it was like there never was a hole there to begin with.

"Fuck, this one regenerates." Nolan muttered to himself while trying to come up with a plan.

"So you're already here." Adagio said as she and her two companions approached the group. "What's the situation?"

"We're fighting that thing that looks like Midna." Norman explained. "But she can regenerate and I'm pretty sure she killed either Sunset or Shimmer."

"She what?!" Sunset yelled.

"Well, since you're reacting like that, I'm guessing you're Sunset."

"Not to bother or anything but WE GOTTA KILL THIS FUCKING THING!" Roll warned them as he kept shooting the Midna-looking alien, who just kept regenerating all the damage caused to her. She finally decided that enough was enough and pointed a finger at Roll. At first he was confused by this, but understood what she did as soon as the ground underneath him started shaking. Roll tried to run, but he was caught in the blast. The others weren't that far from ground zero, but the damage was reduced significantly due to the fact that the explosion was focused on a point, so the area around that point was less affected.

The alien fluttered her wings and graciously flew closer to the group, landing a few feet away from Norman. She started to raise her arm, but Norman jumped and cut it off before she could explode the ground once again.

"Hah! Take that." he gloated. "You can close a few wounds, big deal. Let me see you regenerate an entire limb." to his surprise, that's exactly what she did: a new limb appeared in place of the previous one like it was pushed out of her wound. The Midna-looking Bug Alien then turned and pointed her recently regenerated finger at him. "Well, I'll be damned." she suddenly moved her finger from pointing at him to pointing down. Thinking that she was trying to show him something, he looked down only to see the ground beneath him explode.

"ATTACK!" Adagio commanded, then proceeded to shoot at her with her Dual Gib Guns. Sunset picked up Roll's Gib Rifle and started shooting as well. Hope shot at her with the Web Gun, binding her in place. Just to make sure, Nolan cut her in half. The two halves of the alien then exploded, leaving just an arm intact.

"We did it?" Hope asked. "We won?"

But it wasn't time for celebration yet, for Midna Alien regenerated herself from that arm in just a few seconds.

"SECOND TRY!" Adagio yelled, but before they could shoot just a single time, the Big Boss flapped her wings and flew at her with extreme speed, headbutting her in the face and sending her flying several feet away. She quickly turned around and smacked Sunset in the face with the back of her hand, making the girl spin a couple of times and smash against a tree, breaking it.

Nolan was the next, getting punched in the stomach. He bowed down in pain, clutching his stomach, and ended up getting kneed in the face. He flew a few feet up in the air and landed on his back, barely conscious. Hope was the last, grabbed by the hair, spinned around and thrown like an Olymic hammer.

Adagio limped back to the battlefield. Her suit and a few ribs were broken, and while she clutched her side with one hand, she could still shoot with the other. It didn't help much and she just ended up getting punched in the chest. She coughed blood and fell to the ground like a ragdoll.

The pain was nearly unbearable, so opening her eyes was a nearly impossible task for Hopewell. When she did, though, the first things she managed to recognize was the gun BB gave Shimmer lying just a couple of meters away from her. Crawling with the help of the only arm she could move, it took her a few minutes to reach her goal. Hope had no idea how it worked, but judging by the two triggers she just assumed it worked just like the other guns. She used it to help herself sit up, then placed the Pile Driver between her legs, pointing it at the alien that looked like Midna, who was flying toward her. She wanted to scream, she wanted to run, she wanted to cry, but her body refused to let her do any of those things, instead opting to make her squeeze the triggers she had her fingers on.

As if something big and heavy had fallen on top of her, Midna Alien was suddenly pushed to the ground, where a 5 inches deep perfect circle appeared. The Bug Alien was gone, and in her place was now a pool of thick yellow blood that filled the hole Hope had just created with the help of the Pile Driver. Panting, she waited for the monster to regenerate, which never happened. With a smile, Hope laid on her back. She was transferred back to the apartment just a few moments later.

Author's Note

What do you mean this reminds you of Hunter X Hunter? I don't know what you're talking about! Not at all!

Also, sorry for releasing this chapter early and leave it there for 3 hours. My bad! This is the real thing, though.

15. Home Run!

Sunset's heart was about to explode. She was transferred back to the room along with Hope and Norman; she knew Midna and Treble weren't coming back, but Shimmer, Adagio, Nolan and Roll were taking too long to be sent back to the room by BB. She let out a breath she was holding when BB started transferring someone, but immediately held it again when she recognized the person's purple hair. She was truly glad Roll had survived, but he wasn't the one she was waiting for.

BB transferred another person. The red hair got Sunset's hopes up, but the owner of that hair was Nolan North. Normal Norman immediately jumped on his friend and hugged him.

"Stop being gay." Nolan said while pushing Norman off him.

She was breathing heavily by now, so when Shimmer was the next in line, she nearly exploded into a cloud of joy. Before her lower half was completely transferred back, she was already being hugged by her double.

"I'm so glad you're alive!" she said. "When Norman said you were attacked by that thing I was so worried, I..."

"Psh! You really thought that low level scum could beat me?" Shimmer boasted.

"You looked pretty fucked up when we found you." Roll pointed out.

She glared at him. "Shut up, you little snitch."

Sunset's heart skipped a beat when she heard the sound of BB transferring someone else. Her back was turned, but the poofy orange hair with yellow streaks was all she needed to see before pulling her into the group hug.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Adagio asked, sounding a little annoyed but not even attempting to escape from the hug.

"I'm just glad you two didn't bit the dust."

After looking around to make sure Midna and Treble were gone for good, Roll crossed his arms and smiled.

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

They all gathered around the Black Ball, excited to see how many points they got this time.

"I killed a bunch of aliens this time!" Norman said. "I bet I got 100 points."

BACKGROUND BOY
31 PTS / TOTAL 95 PTS
ONLY 5 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Are you fucking with me?" he sighed. "You're serious, aren't you?" he took a deep breath, walked away and sat in a corner of the room, hugging his legs and lost in thought.

KILLER QUEEN
38 PTS / TOTAL 38 PTS
ONLY 62 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

CAMPER
32 PTS / TOTAL 105 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

"Finally! Wonderful!" he said. "There's no need to show me the options, you already know I want that new gun."

MOMMA SUNNY
30 PTS / TOTAL 58 PTS
ONLY 42 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MERBITCH
26 PTS / TOTAL 102 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

"Awesome! You did it." Sunset cheered.

"Yes, I did, didn't I?" Adagio said with a cocky grin.

"So, I guess this is goodbye, then?"

"What? No, you can't leave!" Shimmer said. "We're at war, we need all the strength we have to offer. You can't just step out and leave us. If any of you decides to leave, I'm finding you and kicking your ass, and it will be great because you won't even remember me or know why I'm kicking you ass."

Adagio placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, don't get your panties in a twist, I never said I was going to leave."

"No? But what about your friends?" Sunset asked. "They need you there."

"When you had the chance to step out you decided to stay, and you too have friends who need you, so why can't I do the same? Besides, you need me more than they do."

"Then that means you're choosing a better weap--" Shimmer started.

"Alright, BB, here's the thing." Adagio interrupted. "I want you to bring back that guitar player with the blue hair you sent us to kill. Hm... What's his name again?"

"Flash Sentry?" Sunset asked. "Why would you bring Flash Sentry back?"

"No, that's not the question. The question is, why are you bringing him back to life instead of choosing a better gun? We need firepower!"

"But we also need manpower. What's the point of having the most bitching killing machine if no one is there to use it? And we already have two Pile Drivers, I think that's good enough for now."

Shimmer sighed. "Okay, okay, I see your point. I'll let you off this time. But no more bringing people back to life until our business with the necksuckers is settled, understood?"

"What's taking so long, BB?" Adagio asked. "I told you to bring Flash Sentry back."

BB complied with her request and transferred Flash Sentry back to the room.

"You... You're back..." Sunset said in disbelief.

"Yes, I am." he said, scratching his chin. "Which is weird. I'm pretty sure I got 100 points and asked BB to erase my memories and get me out of here."

"Huh? 100 points? What do you mean?"

The screen on the dark sphere now displayed Flash Sentry's information:

TOOL
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS

"What the hell? Where are my points?" he asked.

Sunset Shimmer gasped and her eyes widened. Memories started flooding her head, but memories of events she couldn't recall experiencing.

~ ~ ~

A long time ago, back when Sunset Shimmer had just recently arrived in the human world, she was walking down a street at night and experiencing one of the many differences between the magical land of Equestria and this magicless new world: the weather was not scheduled. She wanted to run and take cover somewhere, but she still wasn't used to walking in two legs instead of four, meaning that she would probably slip in the puddles of rain water, fall and get hurt, so she decided to just accept her fate and go home completely drenched. While she was fantasizing about taking a long, hot shower, a car parked right beside her and the driver lowered the window. She immediately recognized him as one of the most popular guys from school, Flash Sentry. She knew his name because she was one of the options of students she could get close to, instantly raising her popularity rate and making her goal of taking over the school much easier.

"Hey, I know you." he said. "You're the new girl! Sun-something, right? Sun... Sunlight? Sunlight Yellow?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sunset Shimmer."

"Yes, that. My bad. So, what are you doing out here so late, and in the middle of a downpour?"

"Getting wet. What do yoou think I'm doing here."

He chuckled. "Yes, I get grumpy when I forget my umbrella, too. Hey, why don't you come in? I can give you a ride."

She crossed her arms. "Ok, what's the catch?"

"Catch?"

"Yes, no one invites a person they barely know into they car unless they're planning on murdering them or at least taking them to a secret gang rape party. Which one is it, Mr. Nice Guy?"

This time Flash burts into laughter. "Ok, no one told me that one before. I just want to give you a ride, that's all. I promise, if I try to touch you you are free to use your pepper spray on me, shock me with your taser or whatever you girls carry in your purses nowadays."

She still wasn't sure about it, but decided to accept his offer anyway. When she opened the door he immediately pulled a plastic seat cover and placed it on the passenger seat. She shrugged, got in and closed the door before Flash drove away. She then opened her bag and pulled out a switchblade.

"Uh... What's that for?" he asked, now having second thoughts about giving her a ride.

"Protection." Sunset said as she placed the blade on her lap. He sighed, relieved that she wasn't going to try and steal his car. "Personally, I think pepper spray and tasers are for pussies. Where I'm from, if anyone tries anything funny, you just blow them away."

Back in Equestria, "blow away" was a slang for using offensive magic against somepony else, but since magic was not heard of in that world Flash Sentry assumed she used to live in a place where everybody needed to be packing heat in order to go to school or to work safely.

"So, do you still... Blow people away?"

"Not anymore." she said while rubbing her forehead, both to wipe the rain water and in reminiscence of her horn. "My... Tools of the trade were taken away from me."

They spent the next few minutes in complete silence for completely different reasons: while Sunset pondered if leaving Equestria was really a good idea, Flash was trying to come up with a good pick up line - as time went on, Flash Sentry developed a taste for nice and gentle women, but back back then he had a soft spot for bad girls, and Sunset Shimmer was right down his alley.

"They should have warned us about the rain..." she muttered.

"That's weather forecast, alright; as unreliable as ever."

"I wish the weather was scheduled."

Flash laughed again. "You say the craziest things." she frowned. "You know, people in school say you are grumpy and maybe a little mean, but after this talk I think you're just silly."

She gently tapped the switchblade on her lap. "This is for self defense, but nothing is stopping me from using it for... Other purposes."

"I apologize."

"Call me 'silly' again and your teeth will get very intimate with the steering wheel, got that memorized?" he nodded. "Good."

He clicked his tongue as the rain turned into a storm. "Crap, here comes the traffic jams." he then turned to look at her and smiled. "Bet you're glad you're in here instead of out there, huh?"

"SENTRY, THE ROAD!" she yelled.

Flash turned his head for a brief moment and that's all it took for a person to try and cross the street without looking at both sides. He tired to brake and turn the steering wheel, but the wet road made him spin, crash through the guard rail, roll down the steep slope and fall into the ocean floor.

Sunset Shimmer coughed and opened her eyes. When she looked around, she realized she wasn't in the ocean floor, but in a mostly empty apartment with some other people and a black ball.

~ ~ ~

As Sunset was transferred back to the room, she saw Flash Sentry kneeling in front of the Black Ball, bawling like a child. She looked around and realized that most of their teammates were dead, except for a girl with reddish-rose hair and glasses with thick black rims. She snuck up on him and kicked his butt, making him lose balance and fall flat on his face.

"Stop crying, you little pussy." she said. He got up and looked at her in disbelief and amazement.

"You... You're alive..."

"Of course I am. I'm not going to be some monster's bitch. You get in my way, you get dead."

Flash grabbed her shoulders and kissed her deeply and passionately. Sunset rolled her eyes but decided to humour him. After all she had nothing to lose for dating one of the top 10 most popular guys from Canterlot High, but she had a lot to gain.

~ ~ ~

100 POINTS MENU
1. YOU WILL BE FREED ALONG WITH YOUR MEMORIES ERASED
2. YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL WEAPON
3. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REVIVE A HUMAN BEING FROM THE MEMORY

"Meet you out there, beautiful?" Flash asked.

"Of course..." Sunset said with a bright smile.

"BB, I choose option number 1. Get me out of here!" Flash's feet started to disappear, followed by his legs, torso and finally his head.

She frowned. "...not! BB was right for calling you a tool. I played you like a violin and you never even realized it. But you already served your purpose, I have Canterlot High under my thumb, I win!

THIRD WHEEL
2 PTS / TOTAL 5 PTS
ONLY 95 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

The girl took a deep breath, but smiled either way. Two points were meaningless to most people, but to her it was an accomplishment to be celebrated.

MEAN BITCH
18 PTS / TOTAL 104 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

Sunset Shimmer laughed. "Oh, this is pure gold. I get rid of him AND get out of here, all in the same day? And it's not even my birthday!"

"Y... You're leaving?" the girl asked.

"Oh, you're still here? Yes, I'm out!"

"B-B-But if you go I'll be b-b-by myself."

Sunset smiled, shook her head and shrugged. "Sincerely, I don't give a fuck."

The girl was on the verge of tears. "P-Please, don't go. I-I-I'll do anything you want just please, please don't leave me alone!"

"You look so pathetic right now. Goodbye. BB, I choose option number one. And good riddance!" the last thing she saw was the girl on her knees, crying with her face buried in her hands.

~ ~ ~

SAINTS BRO
28 PTS / TOTAL 84 PTS
ONLY 16 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"I... I was a monster..." Sunset muttered.

"Beg your pardon?" Adagio asked.

" I just remembered, I... I've been here before. With Flash. And that girl..."

"You're not making sense right now, you know that, right?"

"I got 100 points and asked for BB to free me, leaving her all alone. No wonder she hated me so much. The old me was awful..."

Flash wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to a hug. "It's ok, Sunset, everything will be just fine now."

Flash Sentry puckered his lips and approached his face to Sunset's. The first thing that came to mind was her best friend, Twilight Sparkle, so she immediately pushed him away from her.

"D-Dear?"

"I-I'm sorry, Flash, but it looks like you don't have any memories from the events that took place after we left this place, but... We moved on. Understand?"

"Wait. You're breaking up with me?"

"Flash, we broke up a long time ago. Well, not really broke up, we just forgot everything then drifted apart."

"Then it's not too late to make things right again, right?"

"No, Flash, we can't. You... You have Twilight Sparkle now. I'm not the one you're looking for."

"Twi-who?"

Norman patted his shoulder. "It's all true, man. You should just let it go while it's still early, it's less painful that way. Believe me, I've been there."

Flash Sentry sighed, crestfallen. "If that's what you want, Sunset..."

"Anyway, are you done?" Shimmer asked. "Because if you are, you should come and see this!"

"WHAT THE HELL?" Flash Sentry yelled, looking at Shimmer, then back and Sunset, then back at Shimmer. "TWO?"

"I know what you're thinking, pretty boy, and the answer is no. You're so not my type!"

"Oh..."

They all gathered around the Black Ball to see what Shimmer was talking about: Hope's score.

PIPSQUEAK
75 PTS / TOTAL 118 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

"Amazing, pipsqueak!" Adagio said while once again ruffling her hair.

Sunset picked her up and hugged her. "Hope, you're incredible! You got 100 points! I'm so so SO proud of you!"

"So, what do I do? What do I do?"

"My suggestion? You get that new weapon and use the hell out of it." Shimmer said.

"Ok, I--"

"Wait!" Sunset stopped her.

"What?"

"I... I think you should choose the third option, Hope."

"Oh, shit..." Shimmer facepalmed. "I don't think any of you numbskulls ever listen to me. Remember the 'we're at war' part of my speech or did you just ignore that, too?"

"Yes, Shimmer, I know, but... We almost died today."

"But the girl you're trying to send away is also the girl who landed the finishing blow."

"That's part of the problem. I don't want her to grow up in this place. She needs to grow up like normal kids in a place for normal kids, not this warzone. The sooner she leaves, the better."

"I... I don't want to leave. I want to be with you forever! Please, don't send me away." Hope pleaded.

"I'm not sending you away, Hope. I promise, when we get out of here, I'll find you and bring you back some so that we can be a family again." she wiped away Hope's tears. "How does that sound?"

"You... You promise?"

"I promise."

"Pinkie Promise?"

She chuckled. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Hope nodded and turned around to look at the Black Ball. "Mr. BB, I want to leave."

Hope suddenly opened her eyes and looked around; she was lying down on a wooden bench in a park. She had no idea how she ran away from home, but she managed to escape from her father, and that's all she cared about for now. When she got up she realized she was wearing a very pretty yellow dress and sandals instead of the dirty old rags she used to wear. Deciding she was going to worry about that later, she kept her walk toward an unknown destination. After around half an hour of walking, she started to hear footsteps that didn't belong to her. Hope turned around and saw a woman she'd never seen before following her. She wore a very expensive-looking suit and had a very pretty dark blue hair with pink and purple streaks.

"C-Can I help you?" Hope asked as the woman got closer.

* * *

Everyone had already left the room, except for Sunset, who was still standing in the same spot she was when Hope asked for BB to free her, and Adagio.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Adagio asked.

"Yes." Sunset finally turned around and both went to the corridor, where they changed back into their everyday clothes together. "Thanks for that. You know, reviving Flash Sentry."

"Uh huh." Adagio said without really paying attention to what she was saying because she was too busy stealing glances at her naked body.

"His friends and family will be so happy to see him again, and it's all thanks to you."

"Whatever you say."

"There's one thing I don't understand, though. I thought you hated me and was only siding with me out of need. Why did you do that for me?"

"I dunno. Just because, I guess."

"Really? Either way, thank you very much. That was very altruistic of you." Adagio's heart almost burst out of her chest when Sunset bent down to pull up her panties, giving the siren the best view possible of her posterior. When she was done getting dressed, she turned around and flashed her a smile. "If there's ever anything I can do for you in return, just tell me, ok?" she then noticed that the only piece of clothing Adagio had put back on were her leggings. "Do you need help?"

"N-No, I... I was just distracted, I can handle this."

Sunset opened the door after Adagio was done getting dressed, but the girl grabbed her wrist, spun her around and pressed her against a wall.

"A-Adagio?"

"You know, now that I think of it, there is something you can do to return the favor." with her right hand, Adagio gently caressed Sunset's right inner thigh, slowly moving her hand up and lifting her skirt. "I was too busy trying to brainwash every student in Canterlot High to pay attention to looks, but now that I had the chance to take a good look at you, it's safe to say that you're the hottest girl I came across in a long while. You're very good at shooting and swinging, so why don't you take me home and show me what else those smooth hands of yours can make?"

"Y-You're... I... I don't..." there were so many things that Sunset wanted to say, but Adagio's face was so close to hers that she couldn't focus on her thoughts and say anything coherent.

"Don't what? You don't swing that way?" this time Adagio slipped her left hand under Sunset's shirt and bra and started to fondle her breast and playfully nibble on her neck. "Believe me, the amount of straight girls I converted is bigger than the number of people you've met in your entire life. Now, are you ready to lead the way or do I have to give you a hickey that is going to be hard to explain to your friends?"

Sunset was breathing and blushing heavily. She wasn't sure of what to do, but as soon as she felt Adagio's index and middle finger touch her labia through her cotton panties, she knew exactly what to do.

* * *

Shimmer was sitting on the couch, watching TV. She was so tired and the programs were so boring that she was about to fall asleep, but the sound of the door being opened woke her up. She didn't gave much thought to the fact that she could hear two pairs of footsteps, but then it hit her: if Hope had left the team, who was the other person? She turned around just in time to see Adagio and Sunset enter the bedroom and close the door.

"About damn time." she said as she focused her attention on the TV once again.

Sunset had no idea what to do next. The portion of her brain responsible for sexual urges had taken over all the way back home, but now the portion responsible for coherent thought was leading once again.

"Th-Th-This is my first... Y'know..."

"So we're popping a cherry here, then?" Adagio's eyes were gleaming in excitement.

"Well, more or less. I already did... It before, just not with another girl. How...? Can you...?"

"Oh, so you want me to lead and show you how it's done? Good, because I really love being the dominant one!"

"Then what do you want me to do first."

"Strip, of course. But don't go straight to the point, do it slowly. I want to..." Adagio licked her lips. "...enjoy the view."

The siren sat on the bed with her legs and arms crossed. Sunset started by slowly taking of her leather jacket and dropping it to the floor. Her skirt was the next to go, and Sunset made sure to bend over as much as possible as she removed it. Feeling much more confident now, Sunset pushed Adagio down then straddled her, then proceeded to remover her shirt in the sexiest way possible, showing off her midriff and only teasing her with small peeks at her bra, and judging by her companion's smile, she was really enjoying it.

Sunset was now standing on all fours on top of her, but she had to move one hand in order to unclasp the hook of her bra. She gasped in surprise when she felt Adagio press her leg against her crotch, but that didn't slow down her rhythm. As soon as her bra was gone, the siren once again started to fondle her breasts with one hand while rubbing her hips with the other. Sunset tried to keep quiet to not bother Shimmer, but Adagio was so good at caressing that she couldn't help but let out a moan. She wanted to make Adagio feel good too, so she placed a finger on the girl's sternum, and slowly moved it down her body, but as soon as her finger was about to touch the girl's most private area, Adagio closed her legs, successfully trapping Sunset's hand.

"That's as far as youre going." she said. Adagio suddenly rolled to the side, and now she was the one on top. "I said I was going to dominate you..." she closed her index and middle fingers around her nipple and started to massage it gently, making Sunset moan. "...and I meant it!"

Adagio spent the next few minutes exploring Sunset's body, locating all the young woman's sweet spots - though considering how experienced and skilled she was, Sunset's entire body was a sweet spot. She touched every part of her body, except for her vagina. She wanted the girl to beg for it, and the expression on her face was a clear message that it wouldn't take much longer.

"P-Please..." she managed to say. "I... I want... Please..."

"You want what exactly?" she feigned ignorance like a pro.

"T-Touch me... Please..."

"But I'm already touching you."

"N-No... Touch me... Th-There..."

"Where?" she approached her mouth to her ear. "I can't possibly know what you want me to touch if you don't tell me." she licked her earlobe as soon as she was done with that sentence.

"P... P... Pussy... Touch my... Pussy... Please..."

Adagio smirked. "See? It wasn't so hard. Well, here I come." she licked Sunset's pubis while carefully removing her panties. "Are you sure you're not a virgin? You look so pink, tight and pretty."

Adagio was about to plant a kiss on her companion's clit when the bedroom door suddenly opened, making Sunset groan in frustration.

"Hello Shimmy-Shammy, need something?" Adagio asked.

Shimmer dropped her aquamarine dress to the ground, standing completely naked in front of the "couple".

"I tried to respect your space. I tried to give you some privacy. But your moans are so fucking hot, you're making me so fucking horny!"

Adagio looked at Sunset. "So, are you ok with this? I know I am."

"Well..." Adagio thought 5 seconds of pondering was too long, so she decided to speed up the process by suckling on her clitoris. "YES YES YES YES! YES!"

"Well, you heard the lady. Welcome aboard!"

Not willing to waste another second, Shimmer immediately jumped on the bed and kneeled behind Adagio, then proceeded to remove her pink bolero. Once that was out of the way, she slipped her hands under her tank top, rubbing her stomach with one hand and kneading her breast with the other. Meanwhile, Adagio used her tongue to peel back the hood of Sunset's clitoris, maximizing the levels of pleasure she could receive. Shimmer started to pull down Adagio's shorts, leggings and panties, so the siren kicked off her boots ir order to allow the human girl to remove her clothes completely. Once those pieces of clothing were a pile on the floor, she spread Adagio's buttcheeks and took a moment to admire her goods.

"Looks like someone is even hornier than I am." Adagio's only reply was a moan after Shimmer buried her face in her behind and stuck her tongue inside her vaginal entrance. The pleasure she was feeling was immeasurable, but she managed to keep focused on the task at hand: dominate Sunset.

Sunset crossed her legs behind Adagio's head; she was on the verge of orgasm, so she wanted to make sure her partner wasn't going to stop at the last second just to tease her. A few licks later and she couldn't hold it back any longer, splashing her face with love nectar.

"A squirter, huh?" Adagio used her fingers to scoop up some of the liquid running down her face and licked it with gusto. "Haven't seen one in... Hah... In a while... Yes, right there..." she scooped up some more and offered it to the person it came from. "Here, try... Hah... Try some."

She was a little skeptical at first, considering those were her own body fluids, but she eventually gave in and put Adagio's fingers in her mouth; it wasn't the tastiest treat she had ever tried out, but it wasn't that bad either. After all, nothing could be worse than the cupcakes Applejack tried to bake after days without sleeping because of the test she was studying for.

Deciding to play with her pet for a little longer, Adagio started to massage Sunset's tongue with the fingers that were still inside her mouth, which brought the pony girl a strange sense of pleasure as she suckled on those fingers. Once she was sure her fingers were wet enough, she removed them from her mouth and stuck them inside her pussy. For the girl with fiery hair, that was pure bliss. The siren started masturbating her companion, varying in speed, strength and depth: sometimes she would only go halfway through at moderate speed and strength, other times she would go knuckles deep with the strength and speed of a piston, only stopping for a brief moment as Shimmer's skilled tongue gave her an orgasm.

"Ok, enough warming up." Adagio said as she sat up. She spread Sunset's legs as far as possible and pressed her own pussy against hers. Sunset bit her lower lips; this was beyond pure bliss. This was paradise. Adagio hugged her leg and started to hump like her life depended on it, but unlike Sunset, who tried as hard as she could to keep quiet, the siren wasn't afraid to let out lustful moans.

"You're not leaving me out of the fun." Shimmer circled the bed, trying to decide what to do to make this enjoyable for the three of them. "Hey, Sunset..." she called as she got back up on the bed. "...if you're not going to scream profanities as electricities courses through your body when a powerful orgasm hits you..." she suddenly lowered her butt on Sunset's face. "...then at least put it to good use!"

Sunset nodded and wrapped her arms around Shimmer's thighs before starting to lick her outer lips and love button. The intense lovemaking continued for a long time until the three of them were too exhausted to continue, so they decided to lie down and rest; Sunset laid down in the middle with an orgasmic smile on her face, Shimmer was lying down on one side of the bed with her eyes closed and hugging Sunset, and Adagio was lying down on the other side of the bed, holding Sunset's hand with both her hands, admiring her job well done.

"I thought one Sunset Shimmer was going to be fun, but two Sunset Shimmers was just mind-blowing." she said.

"So, what does that make us?" Sunset asked. "A threesome? A harem?"

Shimmer kissed her cheek before getting up. "No, it's ok, I just came here looking for booty. You can keep the girl!" she grabbed her dress lying on the ground and winked at them before leaving the room. "Expect me to come back, though. I'm looking forward to the next time the three of us will share a bed again!"

* * *

Adagio suddenly got up the next morning when the alarm clock rang.

"Crap, what time is it?" she asked while looking around before finally locating the source of the sound. "SEVEN? Shit shit shit..."

"Something wrong, Dagi?" Sunset asked as she yawned and stretched.

"I forgot to text the girls and tell them I wasn't going home last night." she explained as she dressed herself in a hurry. "They must be worried sick."

"I understand." she looked to the ground and noticed a pair of panties that didn't belong to her lying there, so she picked it up and showed it to her companion. "Aren't you going to wear those?"

"No, it's a gift!" she winked. "Use it to remember of last night when I'm not here to keep you company." Sunset blushed, smiled and nodded. Adagio then presented a pair of panties that used to belong to Sunset. "Besides, I'm taking this little souvenir with me, so it's only fair, don't you think?" she finished dressing herself and was ready to go. "By the way, are you free this saturday night? I was thinking, maybe we should go someplace nice and get to know each other a little better. Just the two of us this time. What do you think?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'm free. And I'd love to!"

"Great. I'll text you the details later today, but now I really have to go." she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's neck and gave her a very passionate and deep kiss, which was pretty chaste when compared to the stuff they did the night prior - Sunset swore she could still taste her own love juices at the tip of Adagio's tongue. "See you this saturday. Until then!"

"Until." Sunset wanted to go back to sleep and dream about the previous night, but she really needed to take a shower. She was also planning on skipping school to go look for Hope.

Author's Note

This is the chapter I've been looking forward the most no write. Not because of the Sunsagio smut - although I enjoyed doing that quite a lot, too (after all, Gantz is all about gore and sex and this fanfic is a lacking a bit on the "sex" department) despite being my first time working with erotic literature of that level - but because I really wanted to explore Sunset and Flash Sentry's past a little. MORE OF MY HEADCANONS SHOVED IN YOUR PRETTY SMOOTH FACES!

And I'm not gonna lie to you, I was postponing writing the previous chapters because I started playing Fallout 3 and just couldn't stop. I still have a shitton of games that need to be played, like BioShock, Deus Ex and Borderlands, but after watching that ending I chose for my Vault Dweller I just want to relax a little bit, stay away from shooters and try not to cry. Also, I was so eager to write this that I stayed up until 3 AM writing it. I finished the whole thing in less than 24 hours. That's a personal record!

And just a fun fact, I chose Killer Queen to be Shimmer's nickname for two reasons:
Reason #1: she the veteran of the team, thus a "queen", and she kills without thinking twice.
Reason #2: The way Kira Yoshikage says "Killer Queen" (skip video to 0:15) is just too cool, so it gives me more opportunities to say "Kirā Kuīn" when I'm proofreading the chapter out loud to make sure the mistakes are as few as possible.

But the song is nice, too. My current favorite Queen song. Sorry, Bites The Dust!
(And Sunset be like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75OryIKDxE)

16. Bad, Bad Blood

Roll knew he was being followed for a while now, and they were everywhere; peeking out of windows, around street corners, looking over their magazines while sitting on park benches... Since he got out of work after sunset, his stalkers, whose true indentity were not a mystery to him, would follow him all the way back home. He thought about attacking them before they had the chance to ambush him, but Roller had no way of knowing how many followed him each night, so killing one could result in half a dozen persecutors jumping on him from behind. In fact, that was probably their plan: he could always identify one or two that were barely trying to hide themselves from view, but he could also feel like there were more watching him from other places he couldn't see.

This night was different, though. They usually stopped following him at least one block before he arrived at home, but this time they followed him all the way. Not only that, but they also stepped out of the shadows, holding guns and swords. It was finally ambush night! Luckily Roll always wore his suit under his normal clothes and carried a Gib Gun is his backpack in case of emergencies like this one. It was eight against one, Roll had a clear disadvantage, but he wasn't planning on giving up; if he was going down, he was taking with him as many of those bastards as possible.

* * *

They never noticed her, but Twilight was there. She was always there. After failing to kill all of them at the aquarium, the least she could do to compensate for that was describe them to an artist, who made perfect sketches of Nolan and Controller Roller. Unfortunately Troy couldn't remember Norman's face very well since he was injuried before he could take a good look at him, but they knew the faces of two Hunters, and that was good enough. They wanted to locate and kill them both immediately, but Twilight had a better plan: if they allowed them to live there was a chance they would lead them to the other Hunters as well so they could get rid of all of them instead of just two. Twilight Sparkle volunteered to keep an eye on them while the sun was still up, so they offered her a bottle of that expensive sunscreen that protected the Vampires from the effects of sunlight.

Roll wasn't very active during the day, so Twilight only had to focus on Nolan while other Vampires watched Roll at night, which proved to be a waste of time considering he had severed ties with all the other Hunters outside the missions, so it was up to Twilight to track the others down, and she hit jackpot; just a couple of days after she started to follow him he met up with other Hunters for a training session. Of course, she wasn't going to challenge an entire group on her own - she was skilled, but the chances of survival against six Hunters were too low for her to risk it.

For the next few days she followed all of them around individually, eventually locating all of their houses. One thing bothered her, though: they were just people. Now that she was a Vampire, an alleged "superior species", her instincts were shouting at her that they were nothing but prey, but she couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong with this whole operation. Why track down and kill people who weren't even bothering them in the first place? Dahlia never gave an explanation other than 'they are our natural enemies'. Sure, Troy's injury was no laughing matter, but they did attack first; it was a case of self-defense. She was instructed to give away the location of their hideout(s) as soon as she figured out where they hid, but Twilight decided to act on her own for a while. Biologically, she was no longer human, but she still had the soul of a scientist, and she wanted to observe and study them a little longer before their imminent demise.

She was there when the blue-haired prophet approached Sunset Shimmer. She was there when two of the Hunters were slaughtered by the scorpion lady and the brain-eating caterpillar. She was there when Hope used the new gun to obliterate the most powerful of the Bug Aliens. She was there when Sunset led Adagio home, where they got intimate. She was there when Adagio's purple-haired friend scolded her for spending the night away from home without warning. And she was there when Hope woke up on that bench, looking lost and confused, and a little fearful when she approached her.

"C-Can I help you?" she asked.

"I only wanted to ask what you're doing here." Twilight said. After all, it was uncommon for her to not be accompanied by the girl with red and yellow hair, so being in that park so far away from the girl's home was nothing less than strange.

"I-I don't know, really. I was at home with my daddy, but now I'm here."

"Your... 'Daddy'?" Twilight knew for a fact that all the residents of that house were the twin girls, so this was also strange.

Hope nodded. "Yes, daddy. He's big and bald and scary!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, wondering if those girls had kidnapped her. "Do you want me to take you back home?"

"NO!" she grabbed Twilight's arm. "Please, don't take me back there. Daddy will be mad at me and he will hurt me again. I don't want to go back home."

Twilight could tell right away when a child was lying, but nothing in this girl's behavior or body language suggested that she was making any of this up, which led to one conclusion: she had somehow lost all memories related to the Hunters, meaning that she had her value as a source of information reduced to zero. She could just turn around and walk away but, even though her instincts told her she was just an unripe fruit, she couldn't help but feel bad for the little girl, like she was a lost puppy alone in the streets for the first time. And just like a lost puppy, it was just a matter of time until she got hit by a car or something worse.

"You look hungry." she said as she turned around and walked away. "Come with me, I'll get you something to eat."

Hope wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but her hunger was stronger than her common sense, so she ran after Twilight Sparkle and held her hand so they could walk side by side.

* * *

Twilight was sitting down on a chair in a dark room. Three vampires stood behind her with their weapons ready while Dahlia stood in front of her.

"So, my dearest Twily." she said. "It's been a while since you were instructed to track down the Hunter scum, but so far you haven't brought us any results. No names, no pictures, no addresses, no nothing. You're not an amateur and, despite being one of the freshest of freshmen around here, your loyalty to the Nest is hard to be contested. It's unthinkable to imagine you're holding back information from us! But it's been too long, so I had to ask: what's going on?"

"Why do we fight?" Twilight asked. "Them, I mean. You say they are our natural enemies but, from what I could observe, they are not coming after us or even looking for us. It's the other way around! If we just stop this and leave them alone, won't they leave us alone, too?"

Dahlia Pinnata chuckled. "Oh, Twily, Twily, Twily. You couldn't possibly understand how deep this operation goes. This is bigger than you. Bigger than me. Bigger than all of us combined! You'd do best to just sit down with your pretty smooth legs crossed, listen to what we say and do as you're told." she touched the tip of Twilight Sparkle's nose with her index finger. "Understood?"

"But--"

"No more buts, Twilight Sparkle. You either understand it or you don't! Pick one and you walk out of here, pick other and you crawl out of here with no legs. Which one is it going to be? The choice is yours."

Twilight was clenching her fists, but took a deep breath and relaxed her hands.

"I understand, Ms. Pinnata..." she muttered.

Dahlia nodded at her henchmen, who left the room, soon followed by Dahlia herself.

"Just remember that there are consequences for betraying the Nest, Twilight Sparkle." she warned. "I truly hope you are not planning anything extreme."

Twilight stood up a few moments later and left the room as well.

* * *

Both Shimmer and Adagio were trying to console Sunset, who was lying in bed with her head on Adagio's lap, sobbing uncontrollably with a terrified expression on her face.

"I-I-I don't unders-stand... I searched for h-her everywh-where bu-but I..."

"You already did everything you could, Sunny." Adagio said as she petted her girlfriend.

"But, sometimes, things don't go exactly as planned." Shimmed added as she rubbed her back in a comforting manned.

"Wh-What if someth-thing happened to her? Sh-She could have been... Could have been..."

"I'm sure she's fine." Adagio said. "Someone could have found her before you did and is now taking good care of her. You don't have to assume the worse! Remember, she's a tough girl." she then offered her a tissue. Sunset thanked her before blowing her nose.

The three of them felt a shiver run down their spine. Shimmer and Adagio looked at each other and nodded. Shimmer got up and left the room while Adagio helped Sunset up.

"Come, let's get you in your suit. Don't want to go back unprepared, do you?" Sunset shook her head. Adagio smiled and opened a drawer, where her suit was stored. Adagio, who never left home without hers, was already wearing her suit under her clothes, except for the gloves and boots, which were inside her purse. She helped Sunset undress, doing her best to massage her body in the process, making sure her muscles were relaxed. Ever since Hope left the team they did all they could to look for her, but with no success, and that made her very anxious. The last thing she wanted was for the girl she loved to lose focus on a mission and wind up dead.

BB appeared to be in a hurry because Adagio was transferred soon after, but moments before her eyes disappeared from the room she saw a girl in black suit with dark blue hair crash through the window. She tried to reach for her Dual Gib Guns, but her head was completely transferred back to the black ball room. She could try and shoot blindly, but she didn't want to risk shooting Sunset. After all, she hadn't had the time to put on her suit. She sighed in relief when she saw the top of Sunset's head being transferred to the room, but immediately drew her weapons when the top of the other girl's head appeared right behind Sunset's.

Sunset was naked, but using the black suit to cover herself. The other girl, the Twilight Sparkle from this universe, had her arms wrapped around her and a sword pressed against her throat.

"Lower your weapons and I'll let her go." Twilight said.

"Like hell you will." Shimmer said, still pointing a Gib Rifle at Twilight's head. "I don't trust your kind. I never did and I never will!"

"I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk."

"Talk, huh? Is that why you're holding Sunset hostage?" Adagio asked.

"I apologize for this, but it's a necessary evil; I needed her to come here and to make sure you wouldn't shoot me on sight. Believe me, I don't want to fight. Lower your weapons and I'll free this girl."

"Don't listen to her." Roll said. "I was ambushed by a group of Vampires right outside my house. I took care of them because I'm hardcore, but I'm positive she had something to do with that."

"I'll explain everything as soon as you lower your weapons."

"You killed Pearl." Norman said. "You killed her in cold blood. And now you want us to trust you?"

"That... That was a mistake. I mistake that will never happen again, as soon as you lower your weapons. I'll tell you everything you want to know and, in return you tell me everything I need to know. Deal?"

"And what do you want to know?" Adagio asked.

"I just want to understand why. Why are we enemies? Why do we have to mindlessly slaughter each other? I need to understand. Help me understand!"

After pondering for a moment, Adagio lowered her Dual Gib Guns.

"Really?" Shimmer asked.

"By now she could have killed Sunset and attacked us while we were distracted. She had one thousand and one opportunities to do that, but she didn't. Let's give her a chance."

Shimmer sighed and lowered her weapon. The others followed suit. Twilight Sparkle let go of Sunset and took a step back. Once Adagio made sure her girlfriend was safe, Shimmer pointed her Gib Rifle at the Vampire again.

"Wrong move!" just as she was about to pull the trigger, Adagio grabbed the weapon and pointed it to the ceiling, making her miss the shot. "What the fuck, Adagio? It was our chance!"

"Don't you get it? Sunset is alive and she's not attacking anyone. Can't you give her the benefit of the doubt?"

Shimmer let go of the weapon and Adagio gave it back to her, so Shimmer strapped it to her back. "You've gone soft, Adagio Dazzle."

"She said she's willing to share information. Do you really want to waste that opportunity?"

"And how can we trust her?"

"I will tell you nothing but the truth if you promise to do the same for me." Twilight said.

"I have no idea what the hell is going on here." Flash Sentry said.

"We'll discuss that after the mission." Shimmer said. "That is, if you survive."

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

BB's screen displayed what appeared to be a reptile with light green scales and golden eyes.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
LIZARD ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: FAST, FIERY
LIKES: ROASTED MEAT
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Ushaaaaa!"

Author's Note

A lot of the stuff that takes place in this chapter should have taken place in chapter 13, but since I'm a big dummy who can't even read my own script, you only get to see it now. Yayzers!

Also, while talking on Skype about this fanfic with my friend John, I realized I missed a great joke for the longest time:

"DOUBLE SUNSET POWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!!!"

Also, this:

And I'm going to stay out of internet for a week, maybe more. Family road trip and stuff like that. So take your time reading this one.

17. Out Of The Frying Pan

Shimmer, as usual, was the first. The drop-off point this time was a very unexpected place: Canterlot Town was a coastal town, meaning that it had a few islands a few hundreds of meters away from it that were also considered part of it, and that's exactly where the Hunters were transferred to.

"Hey, I always wanted to visit this place!" Norman said while admiring the scenery. "But I was always postponing it because it would be such a bother. Now I don't need to swim all the way here or spend money to rent a boat. Sweet!"

"Why would you want to come to this place?" Flash asked while inspecting a boulder. "It's so... Dull!" he took a step back when a rather big spider crawled from under it.

"I may look like a very relaxed and laid back guy, but I'm quite the explorer. This place was always taunting me, practically whispering 'come visit me, Norman. I am uncharted territory'. Well, I am here now!" he then stomped on the sand. "I have conquered you, island!"

"Considering how close it is to Canterlot Town, I'm 95% sure this is not uncharted territory." Flash said while checking his Controller.

"And I don't give a rat's ass. The point is, I'm here now, and I have things to explore." Norman said while walking away. "See ya!"

"Have you lost your goddamn mind?" Nolan asked while going after him. "We're not here on vacation, we're hunting aliens, and you're going to wander off just to see a large rock with overgrown seaweed on top? What's your motherfucking problem?"

"As long as can count on you watching my back, everything will be fine! You're watching my back, right?"

Nolan sighed but readied his Katana anyway. "Why am I friends with you?"

Norman smiled and readied his Katana. "'Caaaaause I'm awesome!"

While they walked away, the ones who stayed behind were trying to decide what to do about the "intruder" in their midst.

"No matter what she says, she's still a necksucker. I say we blow her fucking head off and be done with it." Shimmer said with her arms crossed. "The only reason she's not attacking us is because she's outnumbered. I bet her plan is to wait for us to go our separate ways so she can off us one by one."

"My mission was to locate and exterminate you all." Twilight said. "I've known for a while where every single one of you live. If that's what I wanted, don't you think I would have done it long ago?"

"So you've been following us around, you whore?" she was about to point her Rifle at her again, but Sunset grabbed her wrist. "Oh, come one, not you too."

If this was any other person Sunset wouldn't react the way she did, but this person was Twilight Sparkle. Not her friend Princess Twilight Sparkle, but every time she looked at her she couldn't not think of her, and the thought of someone so similar to her friend getting killed right in front of her made her feel sick to the stomach. She wanted to believe that all Vampires were bad people, but she also didn't want to believe that Princess Twilight's counterpart would be a bad person.

"So we reached a stalemate." Roll said. "Shimmer and I want her dead, Adagio and Sunset want her alive, the new guy is staying out of this and Nolan and Norman went to the bushes to fuck each other or some shit like that."

"We just have to keep an eye on her." Sunset suggested. "Two people escort her around, one who wants her dead, and one who doesn't. How about that?"

"Hm. Yes, I like that." Roll said. "Ok, I offer myself to make sure she's not going to cause trouble!"

Flash placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm not doubting your capability or anything, but why not leave this to Shimmer? You know, since she and Sunset are basically the same person, they will most likely judge the same criteria and decide if she's trustworthy or not in the fairest way possible. They are the best choice, I'm sure of that!"

"Try as much as you want, pretty boy, flattery still won't get me to drop my panties for you."

Flash blushed and removed his hand from Roll's shoulder so he could scratch his head. "Th-That's not why I..."

"But I like your idea, though. Sunset, you're with me. And keep your eyes peeled, we don't know when she's going to show her true colors."

Sunset unconsciously rubbed her neck, remembering how the girl she was trying to protect held her hostage barely a few moments ago. Sure, she said she had no intentions of harming her, but still... She almost damned the fact that she respected Princess Twilight so much that she would forgive the killer of her friend just because they were physically the same.

"So, I guess it's just the three of us, then." Flash said as he readied his Gib Gun. "So, are we ready to kick some alien butt?"

Adagio chuckled. "You said 'three'?" she unholstered her Dual Gib Guns as she walked away. "I can see why Sunset dated you, you're a funny little man."

He sighed. "Yes, dated. Past tense."

"Don't worry, though." she winked at him. "I'll take good care of her for you, alright?"

"What do you--" he blinked. "No way! Is she... You... Are you... And she...?"

Adagio disappeared behind the trees of the island, leaving Flash Sentry with his mouth hanging open.

"She's banging your ex." Roll pointed out the obvious.

"I don't know if that's hot or sad."

"I think it's both: had. Just like you had her, but not anymore!"

"Very funny." Flash said as he turned around and walked in the opposite direction she went.

"Oh, don't be like that, I'm sure she still thinks about you when they're fucking in the same bed you used to fuck her." Roll teased as he walked after Flash. "Things like 'oh my God she's so much better at this than that other guy'!"

"Don't you have anything better to do? Like hunt aliens and stuff?"

Roll presented him the Pile Driver. "I already got what I wanted and I'm in no rush to get more points, especially now that I'm back to single digit points. I have nothing better to do right now so why not kick a man when he's down?"

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

* * *

"What. The Fuck?" Nolan asked while looking at their target; it was a 3 ft long plump snake-like alien with green scales, bright golden eyes and a pair of wings on its back.

"D'awww, look at it, it's so cute!" Norman said. The big eyes combined with the smile on its face were enough to make Norman reach out his hand to pet it. He was about to touch its head when the Lizard Alien burped a fireball at his face.

"No no no no NO!" Norman threw his flaming beanie to the ground and started to stomp on it to put out the fire. He put it back on despite the huge hole it now had and pointed his Katana at the alien. "Get that motherfucker!"

Nolan and Norman attacked the Lizard Alien at the same time, but it dodged with no difficulty. They kept trying to slash it, but the winged reptile was fast despite its size. Unfortunately for the alien, Lady Luck was on Nolan's side, for he accidently swung his blade in the right spot at the right time, successfully slashing it open. North was about to finish it off as it slowly tried to crawl to safety when the creature opened its mouth and screamed:

"Ushaaaaa!" it managed to say before Nolan cut its head clean off.

A new pair of aliens suddenly appeared; they looked very similar to the one they had just disposed of, except much bigger with larger wings and big fangs. The boys managed to run and hide behind trees before the two dragon-like aliens started breathing fire at them.

"You think those are the parents?" Norman asked.

"Does it matter? Get ready to attack." Nolan North grabbed a Gib Gun. Normal Norman followed suit.

Meanwhile, Shimmer, Sunset and Twilight were having trouble. They, too, were fighting two aliens, but they were almost as big as cars and had a very thick and tough spiky shell covering their bodies, which could withstand Gib Gun/Rifle shots, Katana attacks, cut Web Gun ropes and even protect them against the unparalleled power of the Pile Driver.

"What the hell, I thought this was supposed to be the gun of all guns!" Sunset inquired.

Shimmer just smirked as she dropped the 100 points weapon and picked up her sword.

"Having an endgame weapon is nice, but a good challenge is appreciated every now and then, don't you think?"

While the older girl with red and blonde hair fought, Twilight Sparkle observed the alien's behavior. Once she was sure of the pattern, she yelled:

"They are protecting their undersides. Flip them over!"

Shimmer decided to ignore the intruder, but Sunset did as she was told; she grabbed the monster's tail with both hands and, using all the strength the suit could grant her, jumped over the dinosaur-like alien, making it hit its face on the ground, then roll and land on its back. The alien waved its legs like a bug, trying to get back on its feet, but Twilight jumped over it and, using her own sword, cut its stomach open. The big lizard still tried to turn around, but its life ended before it could do that.

Shimmer missed that since she was busy with the other alien, but she already had her own strategy. She was standing dangerously closed to the alien's head, who tried to bite her with its long and sharp fangs, but as soon as the dinosaur-like monstrosity opened its mouth she shoved her Gib Rifle in it and pressed the upper trigger several times over, destroying most of the alien's insides.

"I wonder which kill was gorier." Sunset said while looking at both alien corpses.

"You're not so bad." Shimmer told Twilight. "For a necksucker."

"What can I do to earn your trust?" Twilight asked.

"What else? Prove that you really are on our side and keep killing aliens. Once you get 100 points we can have another conversation about trust issues."

Not too far from there, Roll and Flash Sentry were also busy fighting, though the two aliens they were up against looked more like dragons than common lizards, both with a wingspan of 8 ft. The battle seemed very one-sided, considering that all the two Hunters could do was use their Katanas to defend themselves against the dragons' claws, never having an opportunity to pick up a weapon and fight back. Roll saw his chance when the dragon he was fighting backed away to prepare for a stronger assault and he took it; when the alien dragon attacked, Roll lived up to his nickname and rolled away from them, picked up the Pile Driver lying on the ground a few meters away and used it to slay one dragon. Distracted by the death of its comrade, the other dragon became an easy target for Flash Sentry, who disposed of it with a quick decapitation.

"Alright, what next?" Flash asked as he looked at his Controller.

Following the map, they were lead to a cliff, where Norman and Nolan were fighting a dragon head with a long neck coming out of the water: Nolan was inside the creature's mouth, using the power of the suit to keep its mouth open so he wouldn't be swallowed, and Norman was still on the ground, trying to aim at the neck with his Gib Gun, but his suit was broken and he had hit his head against a rock moments prior, so he was dizzy and bleeding. Flash placed his hand on Norman's weapon, forcing him to lower it.

"You don't want to shoot Nolan by accident, do you?" he asked. "Rest for a bit, we can handle this."

"You mean I can handle this." Roll pointed his Pile Driver at the water and shot at it, creating a large crater that was soon filled with more water, blood, the part of the alien that was above surface and Nolan, who surfaced soon after. "I love this gun."

Nolan swimmed to shore, returned to the cliff and helped Norman walk since he was still dizzy. The Hunters and Twilight Sparkle regrouped in a clearing, hoping that one of them had a clue of the Boss's whereabouts, but they were all clueless.

"Well, if the boss is dead shouldn't the mission be over?" Flash asked.

"Maybe not as dead as you think." Adagio said while looking at her Controller; a new dot had just appeared. She then pointed at the trees behind Roll. "Coming from that direction. And fast!"

They all turned around, pointed their weapons at that direction and waited.

"Almost here..." Adagio said, holding a Gib Gun with one hand and the Controller with the other. "Getting closer... It's--"

A shadow covered the moonlight that illuminated the clearing, making all the hunters look up just in time to see something falling toward them. Something gigantic. Shimmer managed to jump out of there in time and Twilight almost escaped, but the impact sent her flying, causing her to break an arm. When the sand settled, Shimmer could take a good look at what they had to kill: a dragon. Its muzzle was longer than her body and its teeth were as big as her forearm, and she could only imagine the damage they could cause.

Shimmer Sunset and Twilight Sparkle managed to not be stomped on, but the others weren't so lucky; Flash Sentry, Nolan North, Sunset Shimmer and Controller Roller had their suits broken. The dragon flapped its wings and took off, but Shimmer jumped and grabbed onto one of its claws. Twilight Sparkle runned to the crater made when it landed to make sure they were alive - they all were, but some looked better than others:

"Hang in there, pal." Nolan, who was kneeling beside Norman, said. Most of the beanie boy's bones were crushed and he was but a twitching mass being kept alive solely by his willpower. "We're gonna kill that thing, you'll be sent back to the room and be good as new, you hear me?"

Norman moved his eyes to look at his friend and tried to say something, but the only sound to come out of his mouth was a gargling noise.

"If you don't want to choke on your own blood, don't move, don't talk, don't do anything." Twilight Sparkle warned. "If we want to save him, we have to act quickly."

"Don't give in to the beast within." the Vampire thought to herself. The smell of blood was making Twilight thirsty, and her broken arm, which required consumption of blood to heal, only caused it to grow more unbearable. For her own sake, she had to endure. "Don't give in to the beast within. Don't give in to the beast within."

"It looks like someone wasn't paying attention when I said that betraying the Nest would warrant severe consequences." if Twilight's blood was still flowing, it would have ran cold in that exact moment. She immediately turned her head to see Dahlia Pinnata and her three henchmen standing on the edge of the crater.

"M-M-Ms. Pinnata..." she muttered.

"Indeed. I instructed you to get rid of the Hunter scum, but instead you decided to befriend them. That was a stupid move, Twily. And here I thought you were a genius. Guess I was wrong." she snapped her fingers and her henchmen raised their arms, forcing their swords out of their bodies. "I would deal with you myself but, unfortunately, I have business to take care of that are more important than punishing some rogue little fledgling. But that's why I brought my associates with me." she turned around and walked away while dialing a number on her phone. "They're all yours."

The Boss of the mission was flying in circles with a speed that seemed impossible for a creature that big, so Shimmer was having a hard time climbing it. So far she managed to reach the thigh of the creature and was now struggling to reach its back. She was sure things would get much easier once she could grab onto the spines the alien had on its back; unfortunately for her the dragon decided to do a barrel roll when she let go of its scales and tried to crawl to its back. She was almost sure she would fall to the ground and have to do it all over again, but she was a lucky woman and ended falling on the monster's back as it finished doing the aerial maneuver, right between two of its spines. She pumped her fist, celebrating that accomplishment, and immediately started crawling toward its head again.

On the ground, Twilight was fighting one of the Vampires despite her broken arm, Nolan fought the other and Sunset fought the third one, all of them using swords. Adagio, Flash Sentry and Roller helped from a distance, trying to shoot at the Vampires. Those three Vampires, like Twilight Sparkle and her ex-partner Troy Thunderclap, were trained by Dahlia Pinnata herself, so their fighting skills were no laughing matter, meaning that they could fight and dodge the shots at the same time with no problems whatsoever.

"Enough of this playing safe bullshit!" Roll said as he dropped his Gib Rifle and picked up his Pile Driver. "I'm getting rid of every single one of them at once!"

"Are you insane?!" Adagio pushed him to the ground just as he pressed the trigger of the big gun. He missed the shot, causing a crater to appear a few meters away from the battlefield. "Were you really about to kill our friends just to get rid of those things?"

"Friends? Are you nuts?" Roll asked. "The last people I considered my friends used me as bait, so be glad I even consider you my teammates."

The three Vampires looked at each other and nodded - that Hunter wielded a very dangerous weapon, so he needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. They all stopped fighting and sprinted toward him. Noticing this, Adagio tried to shoot at them with her Dual Gib Guns, but the three of them buried their swords in Roll's stomach, chest and skull at the same time. Before they could get up and resume their their assault, Flash picked up the Pile Driver that belonged to Shimmer and crushed them all, Roll included. All of the Hunters turned to look at him.

"What? He was already dead."

"And the fact that he was teasing you earlier had nothing to do with this?" Adagio asked.

"Absolutely n-- Wait, how did you know he was teasing me? You had already left at that point! Unless... Were you eavesdropping on us?"

"We don't have time for this." Sunset said. "The alien is coming back!"

They all looked up and saw that the dragon appeared to be flying toward them, but it was in fact falling; Shimmer had severely damaged one of its wings, causing it to lose control of its flight. Shimmer lost her grip on the alien due to the air resistance and ended up falling in the middle of the ocean, far away from the island but still safely inside the boundaries of the Black Ball's arena. When the dragon fell, the impact raised an enormous cloud of sand that could possibly be seen from the main land. The Hunters managed to take cover before the collision, but Flash Sentry forgot to bring any of the Pile Drivers with him, which were now buried beneath the sand.

The alien dragon thrashed and swung, flapped its wings and spewed fire, trying everything it could do to keep the Hunters away during its weakened state. The Hunters were apprehensive about approaching the vicious creature, considering none of them still had a working suit. The only thing left to do was shoot it. The Gib weapons caused little to no damage, but there was still one person who was not afraid to get up close and personal:

Twilight Sparkle held her sword with her undamaged arm and studied the movements of the alien, looking for an opportunity to strike. She noticed that every time the alien swung its tail it would also raise its head a little, so she dashed toward it when she had the chance. Twilight tried to cut its throat open, but the scales were too tough - not as tough as the armored aliens from before, but still tough enough to sustain a great deal of damage. The alien tried to headbutt Twilight, bite her and roast her, but even with an unusable arm she was still good at dodging. With weapons seemingly useless against that behemoth, all the others could do was watch.

"We're such cowards, aren't we?" Flash said. "Without the suits for us to duck and hide, we're nothing more than a bunch of bystanders."

"I... I'm going there!" Sunset said as he picked up a sword, but Adagio grabbed her arm.

"Don't be stupid." Adagio said. "I know you can kick some major butt, especially when it comes to defeating magical beings, but..." she pointed at the dragon. "...that? Waaaaay out of your league! Without your suit, you'll be swatted like a parasprite."

"What's a parasprite?" Flash Sentry asked.

Twilight Sparkle fought fiercely, she and the creature were toe-to-toe, the outcome of the battle could go either way. Even injuried, both warriors still had enough strength to take the other down and still cause some damage.

"I wonder who Shimmer would root for, the alien or the vampire?" Adagio asked.

"In my opinion, she would root against the alien." Sunset said as she placed her hand on top of Adagio's, which was still on her shoulder, prompting Flash Sentry to frown at the scene.

Twilight's foot got stuck in the sand. She still got it out with ease, but that delayed her reaction, making her unable to escape the alien's final attack: a bite that only failed to engulf her left leg, which fell and rolled down a small pile of sand. Sunset's eyes widened.

"Shit. We gotta get outta here!" Flash Sentry said. "Where's Shimmer? Her suit is still working, right? She can handle this."

But before any of them could leave the scene, the monster started making choking noises. After attempting to roar one last time, its throat was ripped open; Twilight used her sword to wound the alien from the inside, and it worked perfectly. She kept slicing, making a cut that started in the middle of dragon's neck and ended very close to its chest. She jumped out and tried to land on her feet, but she forgot that her leg was missing and ended up faceplanting on the sand. Nolan North was the first to be transferred back to the room.

Author's Note

It was a fun break away from civilization. I played the shit out of Dragon Ball Xenoverse, watched the shit out of Öban Star-Racers, had some fun watching Ben 10... But now I'm here again, so it's back to work for me!

And boy, oh, boy, oh boy, was I out of juice when making this one. Every day I came back here and tried to come up with something new, but after writing a line or two, maybe a whole paragraph, I would just get distracted by something like a fly on my wall and do something else. I sincerely apologize!

18. Tying Up Loose Ends

"Bring him back, you asshole!" was the first thing Shimmer heard as she was transferred back to the room, followed by the sound of Nolan kicking BB. "I know he's still alive, now stop stalling and bring Norman back. Bring! Norman! Back!"

He turned around when he felt a hand touching his shoulder, which belonged the Flash Sentry. The guitar player shook his head. Nolan North wanted to punch him for that, but he was too angry at the ball to be angry at anything or anyone else.

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

"No, no, no. No! NO! He's not dead, your hear me? He's not dead!" using the power of the suit, Nolan focused all his strength on his right arm and punched the dark sphere, but it didn't budge. He kneeled in front of it. "Give me back my friend..."

SAINTS BRO
25 PTS / TOTAL 109 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

He looked at it in disbelief, an expression that slowly shifted into a smile. He stood up, repeated his wish and turned around to watch as Normal Norman was brought back to life. Adagio looked at Shimmer, already expecting an outburst, but all she did was sigh.

"I just don't give a shit anymore..." she muttered. "When the necksuckers ambush you and you don't have the equipment to fight back all I ask of you is that you use your last breath to apologize to me, alright?"

"So, what did I miss?" was all Norman was able to say before Nolan's fist blocked his vision. The impact sent him flying, but didn't cause any damage due to the suit he was still wearing. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"That's for getting yourself killed, shit-for-brains."

"Huh? Killed?" Norman looked at the ball.

BACKGROUND BOY
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS

"YOU FUCKED ME!" Norman yelled while pointing at the screen. "I WAS FIVE POINTS AWAY FROM VICTORY AND YOU FUCKED ME!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a loser both of us would have new weapons now. Instead I had to waste my points to bring your sorry ass back! You owe me 100 points, bitch."

"I really can't understand that guy." Adagio whispered. "Just a moment ago he was on the verge of tears, but as soon as he brings the other guy back the first thing he does is give him shit. What gives?"

Nolan had crossed his arms and turned around. Sunset smiled when she saw a faint hint of a smile on the corner of Nolan's mouth. "It's just the way he is, don't worry about it."

"I wasn't worried. Just curious, is all!"

MOMMA SUNNY
28 PTS / TOTAL 86 PTS
ONLY 14 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

TOOL
33 PTS / TOTAL 33 PTS
ONLY 67 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

Flash sighed. "I wouldn't complain if I could at least remember what happened during the time I was free. It's so unfair!"

MERBITCH
48 PTS / TOTAL 50 PTS
ONLY 50 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

KILLER QUEEN
51 PTS / TOTAL 89 PTS
ONLY 11 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Good!" Shimmer said as she crossed her arms. "So next mission I'll probably have enough WHAT THE FUCK?!"

HOSTESS SAMURAI
101 PTS / TOTAL 101 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

They all turned around to look at the girl standing behind all of them: Twilight Sparkle.

"I have fulfilled your request." Twilight said while looking at Shimmer. "When can we have another conversation about trust issues?"

"She beat your record." Adagio said with a cocky smirk. "100 points in three missions? You're so slow!"

"SHUT UP!" she then stared at Twilight for a few moments. "You're cheating, aren't you? How did you do that?"

"If my memory is trustworthy - and believe me, it is - you were also accused of cheating when you bested someone. What words did you say back then? 'Don't accuse others of cheating just because you're not as good as them' or something like that, correct?"

Shimmer glared at Adagio while grinding her teeth.

"SHE'S A VAMPIRE!"

"And you are a racist."

"I wish to see the humans contained in your memory." everyone was too busy watching Shimmer and Adagio to realize that Twilight walked past all of them and was now crouching in front of BB. "I can see that just the score was not enough to change your friend's mind so, as an apology gift, I shall use my points to bring back to life the one I killed."

"That's... Very noble of you!" Sunset said.

"Tweedledum, correct? I don't know why, but I can't seem too forget her face. Black Ball, I wish you to bring--" she suddenly stopped speaking.

"Her real name is Black Pearl, though." Normal Norman pointed out. He waited for a moment, but she did not finish the sentence she started. "Hey, are you listening?"

The vampire slowly raised her hand and touched the screen. At first they were a little confused, but Sunset noticed her index finger was touching one particular mughsot: the one of the girl she abandoned so long ago, and the same girl who died right in front of her just a few missions prior; the girl whose nickname given by the dark sphere was "Third Wheel".

"You... You know her?" she asked.

Twilight nodded. "We went to school together when we were little, then my family moved to Crystalline City and I lost contact with her. Neither of us were very sociable people, so we eventually got close to each other. Our conversations were always related to school, assignments or homework, but..." she placed her hand on her chest. "...I never thought about it before but I guess she was the closest thing to a friend I ever had."

The room fell silent as the people within it looked at each other, not sure of what do do or say next. Twilight turned her head and looked at each of them before turning back to look at the ball.

"Forgive me." she said. "I know I said I would bring Tweedledum back but... I just... I'm sorry! Black Ball, I want you to bring her back to life. Bring back... Moondancer!"

Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes, listening to the sound of a person being transferred back to the room by the Black Ball. When the sound stopped, she stood up and slowly turned around; Moondancer was standing there, looking at her in both confusion and awe.

"Tw... Twilight... Sparkle?" she asked.

"It's been so long, Moondancer."

THIRD WHEEL (subjected to change)
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS

Moondancer was about to open her arms and hug the person she admired so much and hadn't seen in years, but she suddenly stopped, turned around and crossed them.

"Who are these people? I don't recognize any of--" she noticed Sunset standing just a few feet away and Shimmer not too far from her. "There's two now?! Oh, fuck no." she walked toward the front door of the apartment and left the room. Naturally, Twilight followed her.

"Is something wrong, Moondancer?"

"No, everything is just peachy."

"Then why are you walking away?"

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe because the person I hate the most somehow cloned herself? That's a good reason to walk away, right?"

"But that's not everything, I can tell. We haven't seen each other in so long, I expected you to..."

"To what? Hug you, shower you in kisses then cry while telling you how much I missed you? I don't have time for this buffoonery."

"Moondancer, I--"

"You walked away on me all those years ago, didn't you? Now it's my turn to walk away on you, it's only fair."

"I didn't have a choice. My parents suddenly told me we were moving and we were so caught in packing things up that we had little to no time to do anything else. We were so distracted that they almost forgot to transfer me and my brother to Crystal Prep!"

"You don't need to come up with an explanation, I came to terms with that a long time ago. I'm going to walk that way, you're going to walk the other way, and you'll leave me alone for the rest of my life. Deal?"

Twilight's instincts were screaming at her to not bother with explanations, kill that person, drink her blood and appease her thirst, but she didn't want to hurt anyone else, especially this person who she shared so many years with, when she was still human. She wanted to care about her. She wanted to be forgiven by her. She wanted to be human again - or, at least, the closest to being human a vampire could get. But now was not the time; she decided to give Moondancer time to think so she pulled one of the pens and the small notepad she kept in her pocket at all times and wrote an address on it. She removed the page from the notepad, folded it and gave it to the other girl.

"In case you change your mind. Just come after sundown, alright? I'll explain to you later."

Moondancer huffed and crumpled the piece of paper, but did not threw it away. She tried to put it inside her pocket when she finally realized the black suit was the only thing she was wearing.

"Crap, my clothes! If someone sees me wearing this shameful thing outside..." using her hands to cover herself as if she were butt naked, Moondancer ran off.

* * *

Moondancer knocked on the door. It was 3 in the morning, but she figured it was never too late to come home. After over 20 minutes knocking on the door at regular intervals, someone finally answered: a green-haired woman wearing a bathrobe who looked sleepy and grumpy.

"Do you know what time it is? What the fuck do you want?" she asked.

Moondancer raised an eyebrow; she expected her sister to answer the door, not a complete stranger. Maybe this was one of her sister's friends who was spending the night there? After all, her sister was always the social butterfly of the family.

"Is my sister awake?" Moondancer asked while trying to look past the woman. "I need to talk to her."

She sighed in annoyance. "You knocked on the wrong door, I live here by myself!"

"Wh-What?" she looked at the house number; it was 95, the correct number. "No, that can't be right. This is the right street and the right number, this is my sister's house."

"Well, I moved here recently, so I guess your sister is the previous owner."

"Previous? She moved away? No, that... That can't be right!"

"Look, all I know is that someone lived here before me, and now they don't. Talk to one of the neighbors if you want to know what happened, now get off my porch and don't bother me ever again."

"I-I'm sorry for--"

"Yeah, whatever, four-eyes. Just get out." she slammed the door on Moondancer's face. Who walked away and sat on the sidewalk. She had no idea what to do, when she finally remembered the crumbled piece of paper in her closed hand. She recognized the street name, it was not too far from the school where she and Twilight met. After a 40 minutes walk to school, she finally reached her destination.

"What the...? This can't be the place." she looked at the paper, the street name and the house number again; a perfect match. "Why would Twilight Sparkle be hanging out in an abandoned house?" still unsure if Twilight gave her the right address, Moondancer knocked on the door. To her surprise, her childhood classmate did answer the door. "H-Hello..."

"I didn't expect to see you back so soon." Twilight said.

"Can... Can I spend the night here?"

Twilight stepped aside and motioned for her to come in, then closed the door as soon as Moondancer entered the building. From the outside, the house looked like it was about to collapse, but the inside was surprisingly tidy and cozy. There was no electricity, so there were lit candles placed in key areas of the house. The windows were boarded from the outside, so Moondancer imagined that the candles were the primary light source of the entire place at all times. The vampire led the visitor to the bedroom, where a little girl was sleeping in one of the two beds.

"Who is that?" she whispered

"That's Hopewell. Though she prefers to be called Hope. I'm her protector."

"What do you mean?"

"We can talk about that tomorrow. You need to sleep now."

"On the bed? But where are you going to sleep?"

"I don't. Again, I'll explain tomorrow." she opened one of the drawers and tossed her a nightgown. "You can wear this. That suit doesn't look like a very comfortable pajama. Good night, Moondancer."

"Good night, I guess."

"It's good to see you again." Twilight said as she closed the bedroom door.

* * *

"Norman and Nolan, you two need to work on your aim. I know you're both more efficient with the Katanas, but relying on a single weapon most of the time will eventually be your demise." Shimmer explained. "And Adagio, you are very skilled with the Dual Guns, but you need to be prepared in case the fight gets too close to you. The three of you should try a few training sessions together, you have a lot to learn from each other. And Sunset, you're with me. I want to try some tag team strategies with you. Are you up for it?"

Sunset nodded. They were walking together to a more secluded area of the abandoned werehouse they used as training ground when Flash Sentry blocked their path with a big smile on his face.

"What about me? What do you think I can do to be a better alien killer?"

"Shit, you're still here?" she cleared her throat. "Well, I mean, you can... Uh..." the sound of someone knocking on the metal door of the warehouse echoed throughout the mostly empty building. "You can answer the door! If it's the church or the govenment, shoot on sight." she blinked. "Wait, did someone really just knock on the door?"

The place went quiet as Shimmer quietly approached the door. With a Gib Gun in hand, she slowly opened the metal door, only to find a little girl standing there. She was relieved, but did not drop her guard or holstered her weapon.

"Sorry, kid, we don't have money here. Go sell your cookies somewhere else!"

"I have a message from Twilight Sparkle." she said.

If Sunset was still a pony, her ear would have twitched. "That voice..." she approached the door and looked over Shimmer's shoulder, almost gasping when she recognized the girl with black pigtails. She wanted to call out her name, hug her, cover her in kisses, but she felt Shimmer's hand pushing her away.

"Can you give us a second?" Shimmer didn't wait for a reply before closing the door.

"Shimmer, she--"

"I know who she is." Shimmer interrupted her. "And that is exactly why I want you to behave. If you suddenly jump on her out of the blue she might get spooked and never approach you again. And since she's no longer a player, if you explain to her where you know her from BB will permaban you from life. Do you want that?" Sunset shook her head. "That's what I thought. Now take a step back and let me do the talking. If you want to we can talk to Sparkle about that later." Sunset nodded and moved away from the door. Shimmer opened it again. "Sorry about that. Now, what message do you have?"

Hope gave her a small envelope. "This is our address. She wants to talk about your enemy in common and how to deal with them. You can go anytime, but preferably after sundown."

Shimmer picked up the envelope. Sunset pushed her aside and kneeled in front of Hope.

"Did you come here on your own?" she asked, very concerned. "That's dangerous!"

"I didn't, actually." she turned around to look at the girl with rosy hair and glasses peeking from behind a crate, who hid behind it as soon as she was spotted. "Miss Moondancer brought me here, but she doesn't want to get too close and she won't tell me why!"

Shimmer pulled Sunset back inside by the collar of her suit and opened the envelope. After inspecting the address and pondering for a moment, she passed the paper to Flash Sentry.

"Alright, tell her I'll be there tonight." she turned around to address her teammates. "Anyone else feel like visiting Twilight Sparkle?"

"Why not? I want to know what we're getting ourselves into." Adagio said with crossed arms.

"See you there." Nolan said.

"I expect tea and cookies!" Norman demanded.

"You bet I'm going." Sunset said while glancing at the little girl.

"I--" Flash started.

"Then tell her we'll all be there tonight." Shimmer said. Hope nodded and left.

"Don't forget the tea and cookies!" Norman yelled as Hope skipped away and Shimmer closed the door.

"I found her..." Sunset whispered with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. "I finally found her..."

Author's Note

I WISH I COULD WRITE FASTER BECAUSE THERE ARE THREE MORE MISSIONS BEFORE MY FAVORITE ONE, AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!
My editor (a.k.a. yours truly) says I should cut this short, but there's too much plot to be lost there, and I don't want to lose plot! It just wouldn't be fair.

And a bit of trivia: TBBR and TMMDW take place in different universes, but the layout of both Canterlot Towns are the same, meaning that the abandoned warehouse where the Hunters train is also the same abandoned warehouse where the Maidens were taken to after being kidnapped. What a coincidence, non?

Anyway, now that all the OCs are dead or out of the game, things are going to get interesting. Until I bring more OCs into the mix, that is!

19. Plan To Erradicate The Vampires

Like Moondancer, Sunset was also unsure if that address was correct due to the outer appearance of the building, but Twilight Sparkle herself opened the door after she knocked, with her sword in hand.

"Sorry about this." Sparkle said as she lowered her weapon. "But I don't want to be caught off guard."

"It's ok, it's not like we came unprepared ourselves." she presented her Gib Gun before placing it back in her bag. Followed by the other Hunters, Sunset entered the building and looked around. "Not what you would expect when looking at it from the outside."

"That's the point." she explained. "It's best to not draw attention to myself while on the run, so a humble place like this is the best option."

"Let's cut to the chase, shall we?" Shimmer interrupted the conversation. "Your messenger said you wanted to talk about our enemy in common. What do you know about the aliens that we don't?"

"I never said anything about aliens." Twilight lead them to the living room, where Moondancer was already waiting with cookies, a teapot and a few cups.

"Sweet!" Norman said as he sat on one of the woonden chairs and poured himself a cup of tea.

Twilight sat down on another chair and picked up a cup. "I called you here because I want to talk about the vampires."

"And why would you do that?" Nolan asked.

"Because they are a threat, I expected this to be common knowledge by now." she took a sip of her drink. "But I believe you want me to be more specific, correct?" he nodded and she placed her cup back on the table. "Very well. For starters, they now view me as an enemy. Dahlia Pinnata already knows that her executioners have been anihilated and I am her prime suspect, meaning that she will come after me sooner or later.

"Second, she is planning a raid in search of Hunters, meaning that when the day comes they will kill anyone who crosses their path. Fortunately I haven't disclosed the location of your houses, so your families will be temporarily safe. But the same can't be said about civilians from Canterlot Town, Crystalline City or any other neighboring town; it will be a slaughter, followed by war!

"Vampires are exceptional warriors created to kill and destroy. They would eventually lose the war, but a big percentage of this country's population would surely die. But that's just a guess based on their current numbers. If they go the smart route and start converting people to their side, there's no telling who would win. And if they emerge victorious I doubt they would stop there; they would hunt down all the Hunters from every single country. This, combined with the constant silent alien invaders you push back, could bring forth the destruction of this planet!"

"Well, we could fig--" Flash started.

"No, you couldn't." Twilight interrupted. "The brief encounter I had with your leader, the Black Ball, combined with the information Moondancer shared with me, told me enough: he does not view our species as a threat. If you are seen fighting them, the explosives in your heads would go off, and they would win."

"Not necessarily." Norman pointed out with a mouthful of cookies. "I can't be wrong when I say you don't know our equipment is not only man-made, but mass produced, right?"

"If the creators of the Black Ball wanted the weapons to be used by the military, don't you think they would already be using it?" Sunset asked. "Besides, even if they are eventually pressured into giving them away for humanity to fight back, how many people worldwide would have to die until they decide that? Tens, hundreds of housands? Millions? I agree with Twilight, we should strike before things get ugly. Besides, we are their goal, right? If we end up failing and dying there..."

"Don't be naïve, Sunny." Adagio said. "Remember, there are Hunters in virtually every city of this planet, and newcomers are always appearing. Do you think they'd be satisfied with killing one generation of Hunters from one city, even if we knock on their door and surrender? If you want to protect mankind, failure is not an option! This martyr bullshit ain't gonna cut it!"

"Something's been bothering me: you severed connections with your nest, right?" Shimmer inquired. "Then how do you know all this information? This all sound like top secret shit and they would do anything to prevent outsiders from overhearing, right?"

"You are right. But I have an ace up my sleeve, and it appears that none of you have considered that possibility."

"Which is...?" Shimmer raised an eyebrow.

"I have an intel guy on the inside feeding me information." she reached for the cup she had put down moments ago, but it was no longer there. At the same time, Norman started coughing and spitting.

"What the hell kind of tea is this?" Norman asked while looking at the liquid inside the cup he drank from, which was also the same cup Twilght was drinking from. "Yours looked different so I decided to try it, but fuck me, it's disgusting! How can you like something so awful?"

"That's not tea." Twilight explained while taking the cup back from his hands and taking another sip. "It's human blood." Norman covered his mouth with his hands and rushed to what he assumed was the bathroom.

"Blood, huh?" Shimmer slowly reached for the Gib Gun in her bag. "Care to tell us what's the source?"

"The blood bank of St. Faust General Hospital." she explained. "I cut a deal with the receptionist: I buy blood packs from him, he asks no questions nor report anything to his employers and co-workers and walks out with a pocket full of cash."

"You're stealing blood that could be used to save lives!" Flash Sentry accused.

"It's better than killing innocent people." Twilight replied. "I don't want to starve to death, so if you want me killing humans instead of buying blood packs, I hope you're ready to deal with the consequences."

"Just shut up and let the adults do the talking." Shimmer said, addressing Flash Sentry. "If you don't behave, I'm going to donate your blood to her. All of it!"

"So you're on her side now?" Adagio asked.

"Not at all!" she pointed at Flash with her thumb. "But that guy really pisses me off."

Flash was angry, but instead of lashing out he just crossed his arms and pressed his back to a wall, frowning at the ground.

"She has a point. By drinking blood packs instead of murdering people she's not only keeping herself fed but out of our blacklist!" Sunset said with a smile. "Very smart! You really are Princess Twilight's counterpart!"

"Princess what?" Twilight asked.

"Uh, um, I... N-Nevermind! What were you saying about intel?"

Twilight decided to ignore Sunset's previous comment for now. "I met him long before they outcast me and, like myself, he's not really interested in fighting. For the past few weeks he's been studying the place and eavesdropping on any conversation he comes across. Together we were coming up with a plan to destroy them from the inside, but your cooperation will definitely speed things up. So, are you willing to help me take them out?"

"You don't need to ask." Shimmer clenched her fist. "The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy, but we can work together in pursue of a certain goal. And if taking them out for good is this goal, you bet your sweet ass I'm in!"

They all agreed, including Flash Sentry, Moondancer and Normal Norman, who had just returned from his trip to the bathroom.

"Then we'll strike tomorrow morning." Twilight explained. "I still have enough sunscreen that protects me from sunlight left to last more or less 12 hours, so the sooner the better."

"And what does your intel guy looks like? You know, so that we won't kill him by mistake." Sunset asked.

"Don't worry, I'll contact him and tell him to leave immediately. Once we're in, kill everything in sight."

Shimmer smirked. "I love this plan!"

* * *

Adagio was sitting on a stool in front of Sunset's bed. Sunset was sitting on the bed itself, brushing her girlfriend's long and wavy hair. Both girls were wearing Sunset's pink pajamas.

"Tomorrow is gonna be a big day, huh?" Sunset broke the silence.

"I suppose. Are you scared?" Adagio asked.

"I was just wondering if we can really do this. I mean, we're half a dozen of misfits marching into a nest filled with creatures whose greatest wish is to kill every last one of us. And how many of them are there, do we even know that? Three dozens? Four? A hundred? I feel like we're heavily unprepared for this."

"Preparation is not everything. Remember when we went to your school and tried to steal your magic? The girls and I spent several days working on a plan until we were satisfied with what we had. As expected, everything worked just fine! That is, until you picked up that microphone."

"Those were some crazy times."

"Seriously, if someone back then told me we would end up together, I would have punch that person in the teeth!"

"Wow, you really hated me that much back then?"

"Hate? I despised you! For weeks I couldn't think about anything other than you and how to make you suffer."

"Ouch! You're very blunt when you want to be, aren't you?"

"When I got a job my priorities changed, but you were always my first thought when I woke up and my last thought before I fell asleep."

Sunset chuckled. "Are you sure you weren't in love with me even back than?"

Adagio rubbed her chin. "In hindsight, I guess my anger was just to mask the fact that I admired you."

"Why would you admire the woman who stripped you of your powers?"

"That's exactly the point: you beat me. You were better than me! In my entire life, I had never before felt like I was at someone's mercy. For a brief moment, you were a shining goddess and I was a dirty peasant. I was so overwhelmed by your presence! If I had to lick your boots for you to spare my life, I would've thanked you as I licked them."

"Ok, you're starting to creep me out now."

Adagio stood up and turned around with a wicked grin on her face. "But the past is in the past. Things have changed now. I don't hate you, nor do I seek revenge, but one thing I'm certain of." the siren pushed her down and straddled her girlfriend. "No one is going to be above me ever again. Not you, not the other you, not the pony princess, not anybody. I may admire you more than anyone in this world or back in Equestria but, within these four walls, you are my pet!"

Sunset's face was so hot it felt like she was burning. "A-Adagi--"

Adagio used her right index finger to silence Sunset and her left hand to slowly lift the pony girl's shirt. Sunset had no idea how to react to this after that strange speech, so she simply allowed Adagio Dazzle to have her way with her with no resistance. The couple did not went beyond heavy petting that night, but Sunset Shimmer still had lots to learn - for each orgasm she gave Adagio, the seductress had already given her three or four. After a prolonged kiss on the lips with a little bit of tongue added near the end, they hugged while looking in each other's eyes. The fiery-headed girl blushed in embarrassment when her stomach growled.

"Sooooo, want to order a pizza?" Sunset asked.

"Sure! I want pepperoni." the ex-pony's eyes widened. "What?"

"Y-You eat meat?"

"Sirens are omnivore creatures, toots." she kissed the tip of Sunset's nose. "And so are humans. I bet you'd love if you tried!"

* * *

"In another few minutes the sun will rise." Twilight said as she finished applying the sunscreen. "They tend to lower their guard in the morning, since the club only opens after 10 PM. They keep a couple of guards patrolling the area, but that's it. Most of them are minding their own business and some rare few are sleeping. If we sneak around and don't cause a commotion, we can catch many of them by surprise."

"No muss, no fuss." Nolan muttered as he checked his equipment one last time.

"'Algolagnia Night Club', huh?" Shimmer read the sign above the back door of the club, located in the alley they were in. "I'll give them that, this would not be the first place I would look for a vampire nest. Fuck, it's not even on my top 10 list!"

"The time has come." Twilight said as the first sunrays reached their position. The fact that she was not reduced to a pile of clothes and ashes was enough proof that the sunscreen was effective. At the same time Sunset gave them a thumbs up, signaling that she was done picking the lock.

"It's good to see you're not a One Trick Pony." Adagio praised.

"Hah! It's funny 'cause she's a pony!" Norman said.

"What do you mean?" Shimmer asked.

"Long story, you don't want to hear it." Sunset tried to avoid the subject.

"In fact, I do. Tell me! Do you enjoy pony play, is that it?" Shimmer's eyes were shimmering. The prospect of someone close to her having an unusual fetish was exhilarating.

"The clock is ticking, we don't have time to waste." Twilight tried to bring them back to reality.

"You're wrong, actually." Norman interrupted her. "The sun is literally rising as we speak. We have about 12 hours to waste. Sure, we would have to run like hell if we wasted that much sunlight, but my point stands: we can afford to waste time for the time being."

"You do have a point, but so does she." Nolan said. "We should hurry. The sooner they're dead, the better!"

"Alright, alright." Shimmer placed her hand on the doorknob. "But when we're done slaughtering those damn leeches I want to hear all about your pony play fetish." she turned the doorknob and opened the door.

Author's Note

I am not proud of the next chapter. No, I don't think it's shoddy or poorly written, but... Well, you'll see. It's... You'll see! I'm sorry, I'm not going to spoil anything, just be patient.

20. Farewell For Today

They were surrounded, that they were sure of. After opening the door and reaching the empty, silent and dark dance floor, they soon realized that the area was only silent and dark, but not as empty as they had assumed; standing right in the middle of the room were three different people: a woman with pink hair, a young man with spiky blond hair and a boy around Hope's age with shoulder length, violet hair. Dahlia Pinnata, the pink-haired woman, had one hand on the boy's shoulder and another in her pocket. The spiky haired vampire was holding a sword with his left arm - the only arm he had - and pressing it to the young one's neck.

"I'm sorry, Twilight..." the youngster muttered. "She was interrogating me when you..."

Dahlia removed her hand from her pocket, showing the little vampire's cellphone and the message Twilight sent him the previous night. "Talk about bad timing, Twily! But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't surprised." Dahlia said, squeezing the boy's shoulder. "You kill three of my best men, escape in one piece and plot against me with help from the inside? Well done, Twily. Well done! And, for impressing me like that, I will give you one last chance to repent:

"Help us get rid of this filth then pick up their entrails with your mouth and wipe the floors with your tongue before the club's opening time. Then, after a week or two in the torture chamber, we can just pretend none of this ever happened and you'll be part of the family once again. It's a fair deal, don't you think?"

There was no way in heaven or hell that Twilight Sparkle would accept those terms, but they were holding her ally hostage, if she refused he would most likely die.

"So, what's it gonna be, Twi?" Twilight's former and armless partner, Troy Thunderclap, asked. He slowly moved his sword along the young vampire's neck, cutting it a little. Vampires couldn't cry but, judging by the young one's expression, he really wanted to.

"I'll grant you some time to think about it. How about... Fifteen? No, ten seconds should be enough."

Twilight Sparkle bit her lip.

"Nine..."

She glared at Troy Thunderclap and his stupid shit-eating grin.

"Eight..."

She looked at Dahlia, who looked just as calm and composed as ever, and her lips covered in expensive pink lipstick as they slowly moved to speak the next number on the countdown:

"Seven..."

She looked at her young partner and the desperation in his eyes.

"Six..."

She thought about everything she had to do in order to gain the trust of the Hunters (or, at least, the benefit of the doubt).

"Five..."

She thought of all the trouble she caused them, but despite everything they still allowed her to live.

"Four..."

She immediately regretted thinking about her chances of survival if she betrayed the small trust she had just earned.

"Three..."

While thinking about everything around her, Twilight tried to come up with a plan inside her head in which she saved the little vampire and killed his two captors, but all of them would result in either her death, his death or the death of her allies.

"Two..."

Finally, she thought about Moondancer and Hopewell.

"One..." Dahlia smirked.

Growing desperate, all she could do was shout:

"WAIT!"

"TOO LATE!" Troy shouted back before cutting his head clean off.

Before her unnamed ally's head even hit the floor she had already rushed toward Troy and clashed swords with him.

"You are nothing but a sad little traitor." he taunted but she kept quiet; she wasn't going to waste precious fighting time with pointless name-calling.

"Shoot to kill!" Shimmer ordered, but Dahlia was no longer on the spot she previously was. "What the--"

"Let me tell you why that's a bad idea." Dahlia whispered in Shimmer's ear. The girl tried to point her Gib Gun over her shoulder to shoot at the woman but another vampire quickly jumped out of the shadows, slapped the gun away from her hand then disappeared once again in the darkness of the room. Dahlia then touched the caps of her suit located on Shimmer's cheekbones and chin.

"You know what will happen if I apply some pressure into these very special places, right? That's one reason. Another reason is, every single one of my underlings is hidden somewhere in this room, watching us. No matter what you try to do, one of them will realize what you're up to and stop you before you can do it." she turned her head to look at the other Hunters pointing their weapons at her.

"Same goes to all of you. You'll lose your fingers before you even think about squeezing those triggers, so you better point those weapons somewhere else."

"Shit." Adagio cursed before pointing her Dual Gib Guns upwards.

"Smart move. Now, would you kindly--" Adagio chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"You just said your vampires were watching us and ready to move when they see us doing anything suspicious. What a load of shit!" Adagio pulled both triggers several times, causing the blacked-out windows to shatter and let sunlight in. Ashes rained down on the dance floor, meaning that several vampires that were hanging from the ceiling were now dead.

The ceiling was relatively tall, the windows weren't very close to the floor and, due to the position of the sun, the sunrays were shining on the other wall - this wouldn't affect the vampires on the ground but now they couldn't jump too high to avoid their attacks. The extra light also helped them see better, so now they could see where all of their foes were hidden.

Dahlia clicked her tongue; a single woman had just wiped out a big chunk of her underlings in just a couple of seconds; they were not the majority, but it was still a big number.

"N-No matter." her calm and collected façade was faltering. "Numbers is not what matters, it's the skill. And that, we still have plenty left!"

Noticing that she was distracted, Shimmer managed to slap Dahlia's hands away from the weakness of her suits. Now free, Shimmer did a cartwheel, picking her gun up from the floor in the process. While still upside down Shimmer disposed of two vampires with two well-aimed shots, then three more once she was back on her feet.

"Don't just stand there, you dumbasses, attack!" Shimmer ordered. Her teammates started fighting the vampires in the room. She pointed her Gib Gun at where Dahlia once was but, like before, she was already gone.

Vampires who were aware that someone was pointing a gun at them were hard to hit, so most of the Hunters favored their Katanas during the fight - Flash decided to keep using his Gib Gun so he could shoot the Vampires engaging the Hunters in sword fighting who were not paying attention to their surroundings.

Despite not having his right arm, Troy was a formidable fighter. Twilight could easily dispose of him, but she had a reason not to. He suddenly ducked, avoiding being decapitated by Nolan.

"You go after the boss!" he ordered. "I have unfinished business with this one." Twilight nodded and left Nolan to take care of Troy. "Remember me?"

"You got lucky last time." Troy said. "But no knight in black armor is going to save you now!"

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much."

Dahlia was overseeing the battle from a distance. Twilight tried to attack her from above but she blocked her attack, drawing her sword from within her body in a split second.

"Biting the hand that feeds you. That takes guts, Twily." Pinnata said.

"And I'm gonna tear the entire arm off, too!" she replied.

"Feisty!"

Adagio was worried. She always pretended to not care about her teammates, but every once in a while she would watch them from the shadows, to make sure they were doing alright. But right now she couldn't see anybody; no matter where she looked she would see only Vampires. Suddenly she caught a glimpse of red and yellow hair and immediately dashed toward the person it belonged to. She couldn't tell from that angle if that person was her official girlfriend or just their fuck-buddy, but she could tell that a Vampire was about to ambush her.

She intercepted the attacker, slicing his head clean off but, by catching that vampire off guard, she was also caught off guard - a vampire wrapped her fingers around Adagio's neck and ruptured the caps located on her chin and cheekbones, rendering her suit completely useless. She tried to slice that one in half, but without the suit she only had enough strength to do half the job, incapable of cutting the vampire's spine. Luckily for her Sunset was there to help her - she kicked the sword with enough strength to finish the job Adagio started.

"Thanks, babe!" Adagio was sure this one was her official girlfriend due to the breast size.

"Your suit is broken." Sunset pointed out, noticing the liquid oozing out of the caps. "Want me to escort you out?"

"Hell no! This is the fight of our lives, nothing you can possibly say or do will convince me to back off!"

"Promise me you'll be careful?"

"I pr--" they heard a gunshot. One of the vampires noticed the two of them were distracted and decided not to waste the opportunity and shot at them. Flash Sentry noticed him and shot at him with his Gib Gun, reducing his upper half to a pile of bloodstained limbs.

"Bastard can't even aim right." Sunset said. "But that's our cue to go back to fighting. Prepare yourself, Adagio." but there was no response. "Adagio?"

Adagio was lying on the ground, a pool of blood forming under her - turns out the vampire was good at aiming and the bullet pierced the siren's neck. She could see her girlfriend panicking, but she couldn't focus on what she was saying. All she could hear was the distant sound of sword fighting that was slowly fading, just like her vision.

"Dying because of a throat wound." she thought. "What an ironic way for a siren to go."

At first Sunset didn't know how to react. She thought she was going to cry, but the tears wouldn't come out. Her sadness morphed into rage; she picked up Adagio's Katana and used both weapons to slice and dice anything that crossed her path. Blinded by hatred, Sunset almost attacked Shimmer and Norman, but they managed to avoid her. She disappeared in a corridor, killing anything unfortunate enough to stand in front of her. But something made her stop:

She heard the sobs of a little girl coming from behind a closed door. Memories of the times she spent with Hope cleared her vision. Looking back, she saw the bodies of dead and dying vampires on the ground, almost unable to believe she was the one responsible.

"Hello?" she called while slowly opening the door. The room was mostly empty, save for a little girl with blond pigtails wearing a red dress sitting on one corner of the room, hugging her knees.

"N-Not anymore... P-Please, no... I don't wanna..." she managed to mutter between sobs. Feeling sorry for her, Sunset entered the room and kneeled in front of her. The little girl raised her face covered in dirt. "Y-Y-You're not Dahlia..."

"No, I'm not. I'm here with my friends and we're going to make sure she will never hurt you again."

"For... For real?"

"Yes, for real." Sunset smiled. The girl smiled back. The older girl stood up and turned around. "Now you stay here, ok? When everything is over I'll come back for you."

The little girl's cute smile turned into a wicked one. She jumped on Sunset's back and pierced the caps with her tiny fingers, disabling Sunset's suit.

* * *

"That... Was for... Pearl..." Nolan said, clearly exhausted, before kicking Troy's disembodied head. He looked around, noticing that there were not many vampires left. "Good, because I don't think I would be able to hang on much longer." he looked at the blue slime leaving the caps of his badly damaged suit. He then saw his friend Norman was in trouble, fighting two vampires at the same time, and ran toward them with his sword ready for some more action.

"Not bad, Twily." Dahlia said, panting. "You took everything I taught you and morphed it into a style of your own, prefect for blocking and countering me."

"Your biggest mistake was teaching me everything you know. I just had to reverse-engineer and study everything. You tried to make a perfect underling but ended up creating the tool of your demise."

"Heheheheh... In hindsight, I should have kept an Ace up my sleeve, just in case someone went rogue." Dahlia slowly walked away from Twilight, who followed her at the same pace. "My overconfidence betrayed me, just like you!"

"Speak your final words."

"Hey, hey, hey, let's not do anything extreme. Can't we, you know, talk about this, maybe reach an agreem--" a small arm suddenly burst out of her chest, holding Dahlia's still beating heart. After dropping it to the floor, another arm appeared from the same hole the first one did. The arms started pushing in different directions until Dahlia Pinnata's torso was split in half, revealing her killer: a little girl with blond pigtails, wearing a red dress. She was coated in blood, especially around her mouth.

"Worthless." the little girl said. "She stopped being useful the moment she started begging for her life. A shame, too. I really thought she was better than the usual trash I have to deal with." the Hunters failed to notice, but the little girl entered the room dragging Sunset's corpse by the hair.

"Who... Who the fuck is that?" Shimmer asked.

The little girl smiled. "Hello! My name is Eva! It's so nice to meet all of you!"

"It's you." Twilight said. "Dahlia once mentioned that she was just the middleman. You're the one calling the shots, right?"

"Meeeeeeeee? But I'm only seven!"

"For how long have you been seven?"

"Ummmm... Ninety-four years?"

Twilight swung her sword, but her target was no longer there. That's when she noticed a hole on her stomach. She turned her head and saw Eva holding what appeared to be a rope. Upon closer inspection, though, she realized that what the girl was holding was actually an intestine - her intestine. She fell flat on her face.

"GET AWAT FROM HER!" Nolan ordered. All the Hunters left alive heed his warning and stepped back.

"Where are you going? I thought you were here to play! Don't you want to play with me?"

"You are a m--" before Flash Sentry could finish that sentence Eva had already picked up the sword that once belonged to Dahlia and threw it at him. Flash coughed blood and lost consciousness due to the sword lodged in his stomach.

"I must be getting rusty." Eva muttered while flexing her arm. "I wanted to pierce the heart."

"Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, SHOOT!" Norman yelled and that's what they did. But faster than their eyes could see, Eva picked up corpses of vampires from the ground and used them as a shield. The corpses exploded and, after the cloud of red mist dissipated, little Eva was gone once again. "Am I the only one who thinks we're fighting a losing battle here?"

"I think we should retreat." Nolan said while looking around, trying to locate Eva.

"Sunset is dead. Adagio is dead. Flash and Twilight are dying and you want to retreat?" Shimmer asked. "Fine. Go. Leave. Be a bitch! But I'm staying and killing that little demon."

"Or die trying..." she thought.

Shimmer closed her eyes. When fighting vampires, trusting your senses was not the smartest option. Vision, hearing, smell, they were all essentially useless. All she could trust was her Hunter instinct. She swung her sword, but Eva dodged it by leaning backwards slightly.

"Not bad, not bad."

"Wh-When did she get there?" Norman asked.

Shimmer kept swinging her Katana, but Eva easily evaded every move - she even yawned just to taunt the Hunter. Eva then frowned and grabbed her wrist.

"Bored now!" with a twist and a snap, little Eva broke Shimmer's forearm then tossed her aside. Directing her attention to Normal Norman and Nolan North, she smiled. "Who wants to play now?"

Every step she took toward them, they took a step away from her. She only stopped when arms were wrapped around her upper arms and torso. Eva rolled her eyes.

"I thought you were dead. What gives?"

"I... Did something I'm not proud of." Twilight Sparkle said. In order to heal herself, the lavender-skinned vampire girl licked the pool of blood on the floor underneath Adagio.

"You should've played dead. Maybe I wouldn't have figured out you were still alive so you could run away. Then I would hunt you down and everything would be so much more fun, wouldn't you agree? You just wasted an opportunity, and now you're gonna die."

"If I live or if I die, that does not concern me. I came here to exterminate you all, even if I have to exterminate myself in the process. You're all that's left!"

"Even if you weren't completely exhausted, what makes you think you have enough strength to beat me? I was around since long before your human self was born, I have way more experience than you."

"That's true, but you still have the body of a child. Experienced or not, you still have less physical strength than an average vampire, so you rely on your speed. Or are you gonna tell me that I'm still holding you because you're letting me?"

Eva rolled her eyes. "But you need to let go of me if you want to finish me. And the moment you do that I'll rip your head off."

"Who says I'm planning on letting you go?" Twilight looked up.

Eva looked up as well. "Sunlight? Don't be foolish. You'd die as well!"

"Not necessarily. Remember the sunscreen?"

"Idiot, you're sweating bullets. The sunscreen was probably washed off by it already."

"I said it moments ago and I'll say it again: life or death is meaningless to me right now. It's just you, me and that burning star in the sky!"

"Cease this foolishness immediately!"

"Boys, take Flash Sentry and Shimmer to the hospital, they need help." they nodded. Norman helped Sunset up while Nolan carried Flash Sentry on his arms. "It was a pleasure working alongside you. Again, I am truly sorry about Black Pearl."

"Likewise." Nolan said. Twilight then jumped.

"DON'T--" Eva burst into a cloud of dust when the morning sunlight touched her pale skin.

Author's Note

First of all, I'm sorry for taking this long. We were cleaning up the house and I misplaced the script of TBBR, but finally found it (it was in a box behind the bookshelf - don't ask me how it got there, I have no answers).
Second, I still don't like this chapter. But it had to happen! No one in the room lives forever!

Also the reference in the title sums up my feelings about this chapter perfectly. I'm going to break the rules here and explain this one:

In this situation I am Shinji, my computer is EVA-01, Adagio is Asuka, Sunset is EVA-03, the script is the Dummy System, the vampires are Bardiel and you, reader, are either Maya or Rei.
To this day, Evangelion is the only anime featuring giant robots that I could stomach.

21. Masquerade

With a brown backpack on her back, Shimmer stood on the sidewalk, staring at the massive building known as Canterlot High.

"That is actually bigger than I expected. Impressive!" she said to no one in particular, seeing as she was the only person standing there; all the other students were already inside. It was her first day of school and she was already late, but Shimmer was in no rush. "Why did I agree to this in the first place?" she sighed and reluctantly walked toward the school; her determination to go back to high school was so low that she was dragging her feet in hopes that it would somehow get stuck in something, preventing her from entering that dreadful place.

~ ~ ~

"I must have said that a thousand times already: the answer is 'no'!" Shimmer said as she tried to shut the door with her shoulder, but both Nolan and Norman did their best to keep it from closing all the way.

"Holy fuck, this girl is strong." Norman said while using all his strength to push that door.

"This is not a suggestion!" Nolan said. "You have to attend classes in her stead, otherwise her friends will suspect something is amiss."

"Like I give a fuck! Let them find out their friend is dead, that the world is not perfect and that bad shit happens. It will help them grow tougher!"

"You don't understand. Sunset has some powerful friends." Norman tried to explain. "And I don't mean politically or financially, but magically. Also they're stubborn as mules and incredibly nosy."

"First, magic doesn't exist. Second, why should I care?"

"Yeah, remember the aliens? They don't exist either." Nolan pointed out. "That doesn't stop them from secretly invading our planet every few weeks or us from killing them, does it?"

"And I already told you why you should care: they are stubborn as mules and incredibly nosy. If we let them roam free they will eventually reach you, and once they reach you it's just a matter of time until they figure out the whole thing about the room! Do you really want that?"

After a brief moment of silence, Shimmer opened the door; Norman fell on the ground and Nolan fell on top of Norman.

"I'm listening." she said.

~ ~ ~

"I hope you have a good excuse for your tardiness, Sunset Shimmer." the teacher, miss Cheerilee, scolded. "And no, I will not accept 'I helped a senior citizen carry her groceries' as an excuse this time around."

"Whatever..." Shimmer rolled her eyes and sat on a vacant chair next to Nolan and Norman.

"Um, you're supposed to--" Norman tried to whisper to her.

"Fuck off." she interrupted him.

Norman flinched, muttered a "sorry" and focused his attention on the teacher. Meanwhile, five girls with a vacant seat next to them looked at each other, puzzled.

"Maybe she stubbed her toe after getting out of bed!" Pinkie Pie theorized.

"She's lookin' like a bull with a red flag gettin' waved in front of it." Applejack said.

"We'll ask her during lunch time." Rarity suggested.

"Maybe she just has a lot on her mind and needs to cool down." Fluttershy said.

"Then drop a bucket of ice on her, because that girl is fuming!" Rainbow Dash said.

* * *

Shimmer was sitting by herself, eating a ham sandwich. She instantly frowned when she saw a group of girls approaching.

"What's up, Sunse--" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "Is that ham?"

"Mm-hm." she said without really focusing her attention on any of them.

"I thought you were vegetarian, darling." Rarity pointed out.

"Changed my mind." she said before swallowing. "Vegetarianism is stupid!"

Fluttershy gasped.

"Now, now, darling, there's no need to be rude. You know Fluttershy is--"

"Whatever." she finished her sandwich before getting up.

"Where are ya goin'? We're talkin' to ya!" Applejack called.

"Exactly. You're talking, not me. I'm not even supposed to be here. I have stuff to do!"

"Maybe we can hel--" Fluttershy tried to speak.

"I just need some me-time, alright? I don't need any of you tagging along during my me-time. And don't follow me!"

"Well, someone must have eaten a rotten apple this mornin'." angry Applejack said with her arms crossed.

"I am worried about her." Rarity said. "If something bothers she usually talks about it with us, but now it's like she's turning back into her former self."

"Fret not, girls!" Pinkie Pie said before putting on a deerstalker cap. "Detective Pie is on it!" as she was about to stalk Shimmer, Applejack grabbed her by the shirt.

"Ah reckon we should just give the gal some space." the farmer suggested. "Once she's feelin' more chatty, we'll try again."

* * *

"You..." Norman poked her on the shoulder with a finger. "...fucked..." he poked again. "...up!" and again.

"Whatthefuckever." Shimmer slapped his hand away. "Now they know that their friend is alive and well, right? I don't need to go back there ever again!"

Nolan facepalmed. "You really don't have a clue..."

"No, it's you guys who don't have a clue!" she interrupted. "I was against that from the beginning, I was basically forced to agree because you said the secrecy of our group could be jeopardized. I don't like school! In fact, I hate school! I don't know how to make that statement any clearer."

"Well, then why don't you try to explain it instead of fucking around? You want us to understand? We are willing, it is you who is not!"

"Fuck off!" Shimmer pushed the duo out of Sunset's house, slammed the door shut and locked it. She pressed her back against the door then sat on the ground. Nolan knocked on the door for a few minutes, but eventually gave up and left with Norman. "It's none of your business... It's no one's business other than my own..."

* * *

Despite still being against it, Shimmer kept going to school pretending to be the late Sunset. The five students still kept trying to approach her, but she just shot them down every time they tried until they eventually stopped trying. At least Shimmer thought they did. The only people she would communicate with in Canterlot High were Nolan, Norman and, occasionally, Flash Sentry. The other students and even some employees thought that was an odd behavior even for the former queen bee.

One day, after school, she saw two girls she wasn't familar with talking to the students leaving the main building. They were showing them what appeared to be a piece of paper, but most of the students either were rude to them or downright ignored them. She tried to do the same, but one of them pointed at her and shouted:

"Hey, you!"

She took a deep breath and walked faster, but they chased her. It was like they wanted to talk to her more than anyone else.

"You're not getting away from me!" the girl with purple and green hair tied up in twin ponytails said. She tackled Shimmer to the ground, straddled her and pinned her arms to the ground.

"Where is she? What did you do to her?" she angrily asked.

"Just what in the name of fuck do you think you're doing, you psycho?" the girl tried to twist Shimmer's arm behind her back, but she felt nothing due to the fact that she was wearing the suit under her clothes.

"Stop screwing around and tell me where she is!"

"Who the fuck are you, what the fuck do you want, who the fuck are you talking about and just who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"

"Where's Adagio?"

"What, you're one of her acquaintances or something?"

She tried to twist her arm but, again, with no satisfactory results. "I will fucking end you if you don't stop pretending. I saw you two together, but when I was going to confront her about it she just vanished. Now tell me what you've done to her before I get violent."

Shimmer lost her patience. She got up with the help of the suit and threw the purple-haired girl at some bushes.

"I don't know what you're talking about and, honestly, I really don't care. But if you ever lay a finger on me again the one who is going to get violent is me, capisci?"

The second girl, one with light blue hair tied up in a ponytail, rushed to her aid and helped her up as Shimmer walked away. But before walking away for good she glanced back at them and saw the blue-haired girl on her knees, bawling her eyes out, and the purple-haired girl crouched beside her, rubbing her back.

"Now, now, Sonata, there's no need for that. I know Adagio is ok, she must be just lost somewhere."

"Bu-But Aria, she... She... She..."

"We'll find her, so stop crying, alright?"

Shimmer took a deep breath before looking forward again and walking away.

* * *

Shimmer was the first to be transferred to the room, so she sat on top of the Black Ball with her legs crossed to wait for her colleagues. The first to show up was a new member: an older man with a pencil mustache who appeared to be in his late 50s/early 60s. He was wearing a purple suit, purple platform shoes, a purple hat with an aquamarine feather attached to the black and yellow band with a zebra-like pattern and sunglasses with thick, white frame. He also had plenty of necklaces, rings and a cane that appeared to be made of pure gold. Shimmer smirked.

"Well, this is going to be interesting."

"Hello there, young missy!" he greeted as he looked around. "Care to explain what kind of place is this?"

"In a minute, in a minute. I want to see what kind of people BB is going to bring here tonight. And seeing as how the first was someone like you, I doubt I'm going to be disappointed!"

"Oh, do you know who I am, then?" the man striked a pose while leaning on his golden cane.

"I have no idea who you are, but your clothes give away what you are."

"In that case, the name is Slick Diamonds, but you can..." he furrowed his brow. "What's with the kinky suit?"

"Quiet down, here comes another one!"

Slick Diamonds watched in awe as another person appeared in the room out of nowhere. Starting with bright red hair soon followed by emerald green eyes, the boy was wearing the same kind of suit the girl was wearing.

"First, what in the fuck was that? Second, what's with the weird black suit? Is this a new trend I'm not aware of?"

"You'll get used to it eventually." Nolan said as he crossed his arms and pressed his back to a wall. "If you survive long enough, that is."

Twilight Sparkle was the next to be brought back to the room, only making Slick Diamonds more confused.

"Still alive, eh?" Nolan said.

"Apologies for not making contact sooner, I was... Out of comission." she explained herself. "Moondancer and Hopewell were nursing me back to health. I wasn't at 100%, but..." Twilight stretched her arms. "...the Black Ball appears to have fixed me. Wish I had some fresh blood bags, though; my supplier got arrested for drug dealing and the new receptionist of the blood bank is some cranky old nun."

"Huh, never thought I'd hear you talking like that." Nolan said. "I mean, I wouldn't bat an eye if anyone else said it but, coming from you, it just sounds... Vulgar!"

"That's because I'm fucking THIRSTY!"

"Kids nowadays have strange conversations..." Diamonds muttered.

"Back off, old timer, or I'm turning you into my dinner!" Twilight poked him in the chest while flashing him her fangs. Slick Diamonds reached for his belt, but realized that his gun holster was empty.

Moondancer was next, but she didn't say anything, just sat on the floor next to the closed door containing the motorcycles and Katanas.

"Holy crap, that's a cool-looking suit!" was the first thing Norman said as soon as his mouth was visible.

While Slick Diamonds was distracted, a new woman was brought to the room; she had long, curly red hair wrapped with a yellow headwrap with cherries embroidered on it, a beauty mark under her left pistachio green eye, and wearing a fancy frilly crimson and cream dress. She tried to leave the apartment the moment she laid eyes on Diamonds, who was still talking to Normal Norman - or, rather, being bombarded with questions - but the door was locked like it always is before the mission is over.

The next Hunter was another newcomer, but this one wore a police officer uniform, a bullet proof vest and sunglasses. Like the woman from before, he acted as soon as he saw Slick Diamonds, but instead of running and hiding he tried to draw first; accentuating "tried", since his gun was also missing from his holster. Luckily his handcuffs and baton were still on his belt.

"Slick Diamonds, you are under arrest!" the police officer tried to knock the purple suit man out with his baton, but Slick Diamonds defended himself with his golden cane.

"You think an old man can't fight?" he said while blocking all of the cop's attacks. "I've been doing this shit since before you were even a trainee, boy, I'm not being taken down by someone fresh out of cop school."

Nolan and Norman managed to break up the fight by pulling the two men away from each other; they struggled, but they were unable to overpower the suits.

Flash Sentry was the last to be transferred to the room, but got angry as soon as he saw the man in uniform.

"You!"

The policeman immediately stopped struggling and focused his attention on the blue-haired boy. His anger was also replaced by surprise.

"Flash?"

"You two know each other?" Norman, the one holding the policeman, asked.

Flash Sentry sighed. "This man, he... He's my father."

"Say what?" Nolan raised an eyebrow.

"Ohhhh, so that's why you looked so familar." Norman said.

"Officer Flash Sentry, at your service." the man introduced himself.

"Did you just Flash Sentry?" Shimmer asked. "I thought the boy was Flash Sentry, not the man!"

"Flash Sentry Junior." the younger Sentry said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. "The one thing I have in common with this clown, and that's one too many."

"Do I sense some bad blood?" Shimmer grinned.

"Sure, use the B-word when I'm dying of thirst here, why don't you?" Twilight said.

"You're damn right there's some bad blood going on here." Flash said.

"Oh, fuck you!" Twilight cursed.

"Look, I'll be simple and blunt: I. Hate. This. Man."

"Oh, yes!" Shimmer closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if smelling the trouble in the air. "This gonna be good."

Author's Note

Originally, Slick Diamonds was going to be an old war veteran named Carbine Calibre who died in the hospital due to a heart attack. But mere hours before writing this chapter I thought "hey, maybe a guy who is prone to heart attacks wouldn't last as much as I want him to", so I scrapped him! Sorry, One Gramps Army, but this is the alternate timeline in which the Black Ball did not choose you. But let's be real, a veteran fashion pimp is a much more entertaining choice, don't you think?

And the cop guy was just going to be just that: a cop guy. But then I was browsing some random pictures on Derpibooru, found this gem and decided "fuck it, I'll roll with it"!

Pootang Mang, yall!

And you probably noticed the font change in the cover art. I tried to make it similar to the manga, but it just wasn't working. Looks less awful now!

22. Quadruped Onslaught

"And that's essentially it." Norman finished his brief explanation about the black ball room. "In a few moments a song will start playing and we'll be off."

"I still can't believe I was killed in that shootout." Officer Sentry, who was sitting with his back pressed against a wall, said. "It just sounds so... Wrong!"

"I am not happy about it either, but you don't see me getting all weepy, do you?" Slick asked. "Suck it up and move on!"

"You were one of the targets when we raided your gang's HQ, I would finish the job but my gun is not here."

"Want to solve the issue with fists then, tough guy?"

"Alright, no one is arresting anyone in here." Nolan stood between them before another fight started. "We're supposed to work as a team in order to survive so, until the end of the mission, this room is neutral zone, ok?"

Officer Sentry grunted. "I can't believe I'm being bossed around by those kids. I'm a police officer, you know?"

Shimmer grabbed him by the sides of his vest and raised him high enough so that his feet weren't touching the ground anymore.

"Now you listen here and you listen good, lieutenant fuck nugget; when we're in here, forget about anything you are out there. In this room there are no men, women, kids, adults, criminals or law enforcers, only Hunters. All that matters here is if you can handle yourself in a fight. You don't know jack shit about this place. If you want to go out there on your own and get yourself killed, be my guest. But if you want a chance to survive this hellhole then you will be quiet and listen to your seniors, and you're gonna like it! Got it, chump?"

"Y-Y-Yes, ma'am..."

"Hear my advice and respect your elders." Diamonds warned.

"You want some too, old man?" Shimmer threatened.

"I may be old but I'm not insane, boss; I was talking to the copper."

"'Boss', eh?" Shimmer dropped the police officer. "I respect those who respect my authority. You just got on my good side, old man."

Soon after Shimmer let go of the policeman, BB stated playing that familiar tune:

Flash Sentry Sr. and Slick Diamonds approached the Black Ball to take a better look at the words that were appearing on it. The woman was curious too, but she did not get out of the corridor.

YOUR LIVES HAVE ENDED
HOW YOU USE YOUR NEW LIVES
IS ENTIRELY UP TO ME
THAT'S THE THEORY, ANYWAYS

The words were replaced by the mugshot of a creature wearing a metal helmet, the face hidden behind a metal mask shaped like a bearded man's face.

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
HORSEMAN ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: QUICK, STRONG
LIKES: FIGHTING, BREEDING
FAVORITE QUOTE: "CHAAAAARGE!"

"Is that it? That's what we're supposed to kill?" the elder asked.

"Yes, but don't be fooled." Nolan explained as he walked toward the room containing the swords, motorcycles and Pile Drivers. "It's probably not alone and there's a high probability that something much stronger will come after it. Be well-armed and on your guard."

Norman picked up three briefcases. "Slick Diamonds..." he gave the pimp the briefcase with his name on it. "...Flash Sentry..." he dropped the cop's briefcase on his lap since he was sitting on the floor, still looking at the picture on the screen of the ball. "...and Cherry Jubilee?" he looked around, finally noticing the woman in a frilly dress standing on the corridor, trying to hide behind a wall. "Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't see you there!" Norman walked toward the woman and gave her the briefcase with her name.

"What? The bitch is in here, too?" Slick Diamonds said, finlly noticing the woman who was trying to hide from him. "If you'll excuse me, boys and girls, I have some misplaced merchandising that needs to be taught a lesson."

Diamonds was about to confront her, but Officer Sentry grabbed him by the shoulder.

"This room is neutral zone, remember?" he said. "If I must abide by the rules, then so must you."

He grunted and pointed at her. "And don't even try to run away after we're done, bitch, we're going to have a long talk before we go home."

After getting dressed, Jubilee was the only one of the three newcomers who didn't keep a piece of clothing over the outfit; Officer Sentry kept his bulletproof vest, police cap and sunglasses and Slick kept his entire outfit.

"We'll be transferred anytime now. Don't freak out and don't forget about the limited area we're supposed to stay in."

Flash Sentry Sr. looked at his son, who was glaring at him but looked away as soon as his father noticed. He was also the first to be transferred.

PLEASE WAIT
00:59:59

* * *

Flash Jr. wandered the area by himself, still unsure about how to feel about his father's demise and the fact that they had to work together from now on. He despised that man since the day his parents announced they were getting a divorce because his half-assed excuse for a father couldn't keep his dick in his pants and ended up impregnating one of his colleagues. Eventually he found out that she tricked her husband into believing the kid was his and, despite Flash's wish to make his father pay for what he did and tell the cheated man the whole truth, he decided to not ruin the poor man's life; it wasn't his fault his wife was a weak-minded cheating whore targeted by Mr. Dad-Of-The-Fucking-Year.

Flash Sentry tightened his grip on the handle of his Gib Gun, gritted his teeth, pointed the weapon at a wall and shot multiple times.

"DAD YOU ASSHOLE!!!" he yelled before being blown away by the explosion. He coughed as he got up, wiping the plaster dust covering his hair. "Shit..." he cursed as he noticed the big gaping hole he left on the side of the building he shot at. "Someone is in for a surprise when they show up for work in the morning..."

A large shadow loomed over Flash Sentry. He slowly turned around and whistled when he noticed the 20 ft tall centaur in full body armor looking down at him. Just like the mugshot shown by BB, the centaur also had a mask shaped like a bearded man's face.

"Now aren't you a tall bastard..." Flash said as he pointed his Gib Gun at it. The tall armored centaur lifted the spiked mace he had on his right hand above his head and brought it down on Flash, who managed to jump out of the way. He swung the mace again, hitting the building and loosening the hole Flash had created. "And the surprise is now a BIG surprise!" Flash Sentry aimed at the alien again and shot several times, causing small cracks to appear on the metallic armor. He wasn't expecting to kill the thing in one hit - BB's sick game was never that easy - but he at least expected to cause significant damage to his armor. Distracted by his underwhelming accomplishment, he didn't react in time and got hit by the Horseman's mace. It didn't kill him, but the impact sent him flying.

* * *

"Uhhh... What the hell is that thing?" Diamonds asked, pointing his Gib Rifle at the centaur looking at them and pawing at the ground.

"When BB called it a 'Horseman' I expected a knight or a horse rider, not a literal horse man." Nolan confessed.

"Go for it!" Norman said as he pushed Shimmer. "You're the same race, aren't you? Maybe you can convince him to surrender or something."

"And just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Shimmer asked.

"Wrong Sunset Shimmer, you dork!" Nolan helped him realize his mistake.

"Leave the chatting for later, kids." Officer Sentry warned. "Here it comes!"

"CHAAAAARGE!" the alien screamed with a deep, manly voice as he ran at full speed toward the group, but all of them managed to dodge just in time. They tried shooting at it, but the armor resisted the damage.

"What is that armor made of? Adamantium?" Norman inquired before ditching his Gib Gun and grabbing his Katana. Nolan followed suit.

"We gonna need something big to bring down that fucker. You gonna pick up that big fucking gun or what?" the purple pimp asked, referring to the Pile Driver strapped to Shimmer's back. The girl did just that, pointed at the alien and pulled the triggers, causing a strong, invisible force to smash to creature to the ground. Unfortunately, all it seemed to do was create indentations on the armor on the back of the alien. Shimmer angrily threw her weapon to the ground.

"You're supposed to be fucking epic, what the hell is your problem?!" she picked two Gib Guns, mimicking Adagio's Duo Gib Gun shooting style. "Plan B!"

"Now that's one hell of an armor." Slick Diamonds praised as he inspected the alien from afar with the sight of his Gib Rifle. "Even the joints are covered. That shit is top quality!"

"Could you please stop eulogizing the enemy and--" Officer Sentry started.

"Hush, boy!" Diamonds interrupted his rival. "Unlike you, I'm actually doing something useful here."

"He's right, you know?" Shimmer said before sighing and shrugging. "Like father, like son, I guess..."

"Move, people, he's coming again!" Nolan warned and all of them jumped out of the way when the Horseman charged at them again. Norman was caught by surprise when he was grabbed in midair by another centaur running at them from another direction.

"FUCK!" he shouted before being thrown at a building. He was about to crash through it when he was grabbed in midair once again, this time by Moondancer, and gently placed on the ground. "Nice catch!"

Distracted by Moondancer's sudden appearance, the centaur didn't see Twilight jumping on his back, lifting the loose metal plate covering the back of its neck and severing his spine with her sword. When the colossal creature fell to the ground, Twilight licked her her blade and immediately started coughing and spitting.

"Alien blood looks tasty, but it actually tastes like shit, ugh..."

"We need to get her some blood soon." Norman said. "The withdrawal is killing her, and if we don't fix that she is going to kill us!"

"We'll deal with that later." Moondancer said. "For now, let's focus on the threat right in front of us. Guns are essentially useless against the big guys, so you'll have to get close to use your swords. The plates covering the joints are loose to allow mobility, so you just have to lift them. Any joint is a good spot, but I suggest going for the one on the back of the neck."

"Fine by me." Nolan said, raising his Katana.

"Fine by us!" Norman added, crossing his sword with his best friend's.

"Don't make it gay, Norman." Nolan said.

"What, since when a guy crossing swords with another guy started being considered 'gay'?"

Nolan smirked, amused by his remark, and pointed his sword at the Horseman who was getting ready to charge at them again. "Let's just kill that thing and be done with it."

"Don't need to say it twice."

With their swords ready to slice, the two boys ran toward the tall alien. Nolan distracted him by going for the joints on his legs while Norman climbed on his back and attacked the weak spot located behind his head, taking down the behemoth.

"Nice hit, Little Norm." the red headed boy praised.

"Mi wo sutetemo, myouri wa sutezu." Norman said while striking a pose with his sword, mimicking the way their deceased sensei used to speak his favorite quote.

"Leave the flirting for later, guys!" Twilight said. "We're surrounded."

Just like she said, an entire herd of armored Horseman Aliens had surrounded the group, all of them armed with a different kind of blunt object and ready to strike. The larger one, possibly their leader, rushed toward the group and was soon followed by the othes, causing a small earthquake on that part of town.

Led by Shimmer, the group also charged at the enemies with the exception of Jubilee, who was still amazed by the entire situation to the point that all she could do was stare or run, and Officer Sentry, who stayed behind to protect her. Nolan and Norman, as usual, worked together to take down the aliens while turning it into a competition to see who could land the finishing blow first; Nolan, like always, had the upper hand.

Moondancer tried to help Twilight, but it was like the vampire girl had completely lost it and, with a frenzied look on her face, slaughtered all the Horsemen who crossed her path. The girl with glasses couldn't do much but stare at her childhood friend killing giant aliens and worry about her mental health. She tried to hide it as best as she could but, truth is, deep down, Moondancer still cared about her. A lot!

Diamonds didn't bring a sword with him, but he was very nimble for a man of advanced age - though most of the strength that allowed him to move like that came from the black suit he wore under his purple suit - and that was more than enough: all he had to do was get close to the joints and shoot them point blank with his Gib Rifle. His strategy consisted of crippling the aliens by shooting the joints of their legs, then moving for the kill once their mobility was mostly denied.

Distracted by the fight, Officer Sentry and Cherry Jubilee didn't notice the lone Horseman Alien sneaking up on them; he was about to strike them with a giant club when a flying mace struck him in the face. The noise of him falling to the ground startled the pair. Flash Sentry Jr., then one who threw the mace, stood on top of the fallen colossus to confirm if it was dead - which it was. Not far from there was another dead Horseman, previous owner of that mace.

"You... You saved us." the policeman said with a smile. "Thanks a lot, son."

"Get off your high horse, old man." Flash said. "I did this to save the lady. Don't expect me to move a muscle if you're alone next time you find yourself in this situation." after saying that, he joined the others in their fight against the outer space monsters.

Shimmer stood on top of the last remaining Horseman Alien, who kicked and thrashed, trying to make her fall off. Unfortunately for him, she had a strong grip on its armor. She had lost her sword during the struggle, but she still had one powerful weapon: her fist. She broke his spine with a mean punch to the back of the neck, rendering him unconscious. She motioned for Slick Diamonds to throw his Rifle to her, which he did, and she finished the last of the targets with several shots to the exposed nape. The explosion was so violent that it covered her upper front in alien blood, and she smiled as the warm liquid trickled down her face. The transfer back to the room started with Moondancer.

* * *

TIME TO SHARE THE POINTS
00:00:00

"Points?" the purple pimp asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, BB awards you points based on your performance." Norman explained. "Then, when you get 100, you can exchange them for an awesome prize, like in one of those rigged games in amusement parks!"

A cartoonish picture of Moondancer appeared on screen, accompanied by her score:

THIRD WHEEL
(subjected to change)
5 PTS / TOTAL 5 PTS
ONLY 95 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

BACKGROUND BOY
10 PTS / TOTAL 10 PTS
ONLY 90 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"You had no points before the mission, huh?" Diamonds pointed out. "Does that mean you got 100 last time?"

"L-Long story..." Norman looked away, scratching his nose.

A cartoonish picture of Cherry Jubilee was the next:

MILF
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS
STARES TOO MUCH
HIDES TOO MUCH

TOOL
10 PTS / TOTAL 43 PTS
ONLY 57 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

Flash Sentry's picture was replaced by the picture of a man with a purple hat; obviously those points belonged to Slick Diamonds.

BIG DADDY
20 PTS / TOTAL 20 PTS
ONLY 80 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Not bad, old man." Shimmer praised. "For a rookie."

"This ain't my first rodeo, boss!" he said. "I have plenty of combat experience."

The next picture was of another man, this one with sunglasses and a police cap.

BAD DADDY
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS
VERY DEFENSIVE
LACKS INITIATIVE
AWFUL PARENT

Flash Sentry Jr. burst into laughter.

"Even BB gets it right sometimes." he said.

Officer Sentry frowned.

SAINTS BRO
20 PTS / TOTAL 29 PTS
ONLY 71 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

HOSTESS SAMURAI
25 PTS / TOTAL 26 PTS
ONLY 74 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

KILLER QUEEN
35 PTS / TOTAL 124 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

100 POINTS MENU
1. YOU WILL BE FREED ALONG WITH YOUR MEMORIES ERASED
2. YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL WEAPON
3. YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REVIVE A HUMAN BEING FROM THE MEMORY

"Those are the 'prizes' you talked about, then?" Slick Diamonds asked.

"Uh huh!" Norman confirmed with a nod.

"I suppose you'll be wishing for another better gun?" Nolan asked, but Shimmer just stared at the screen. He raised an eyebrow.

"The vampires aren't a problem anymore." she said. "At least for the time being. So, for now, I guess I can break my own rules."

"You're leaving, then?" Norman asked.

"You're already a bitch, don't go the extra mile and be a dumb bitch." she insulted him. "BB, remember Adagio, the Merbitch? I want her back. That's my choice!"

Nolan just shrugged before BB transferred a tenth person to the room.

Adagio looked around, slightly confused.

"I'm back here? What happened to the club?" Adagio's eyes widened when she saw her picture, nickname and score on the screen of the Black Ball.

MERBITCH
0 PTS / TOTAL 0 PTS

"I died, didn't I?" she sighed. "Back to square one, then. Again!" she then smirked and looked around. "Well, I bet Sunny missed me a lot. There's no shame in admitting you're addicted to me." her smirk was replaced by a look of confusion. "Sunny? Where's Sunny?"

"She... Didn't make it out of the club either."

The room went quiet for a moment as Adagio absorbed the news about her loved one's demise. Her facial expression made it clear that she was sad, and maybe she would have cried under different circumstances, but...

"Well, at least now I have a reason to look forward to those 100 points, right?" she said with a smile. "But why did... Who brought me back?" Shimmer raised her hand. "Why? I thought you only cared about guns, guns and more guns."

Shimmer patted her shoulder. "Your friends are worried sick. Go tell them you're alive and well."

"That's... Actually strange coming from you! I'm not complaining, far from that, but... It seems... I don't know, out of character?"

"Just get the fuck out of here before I regret wasting my hard-earned points bringing a slutty bitch like you back to life."

"Now that's more like it!"

"This place is fucked up." Slick noted. "Dead people are alive, alive people are dead, aliens are real, I'm cooperating with police..."

"Hold your horses!" Officer Sentry called, pointing at Shimmer.

"We didn't hold them, we killed them all!" Norman joked, but no one paid attention to him.

"I thought you looked familiar, but couldn't remember where from. But now that I saw the other one, everything is clear: the Algolagnia Night Club incident. You two were among the casualties. That means the people in this room are connected to that mass murder!"

"It wasn't me per se, but you're right." Shimmer said. "We went in there and killed everybody!"

"Well, thank you for confessing." he grabbed her wrist. "You are under arrest for the massacre of--"

Shimmer swung Officer Sentry and smashed him against the floor.

"You better just drop it." Nolan explained, crouching beside the fallen policeman. "If you bring the police into this, nothing good will come out of it." he pointed his thumb at the dark sphere behind him. "BB will make sure of it. So take my advice and forget all about that place. It's for your and your co-workers' good."

"All you need to know is that all the people who died in there were all bad people who got what they deserved." Norman complemented.

Officer Sentry couldn't do much but watch as they left the room.

"You heard the youngsters: that shit's need-to-know, and you don't." Diamonds said.

"And remember, be quiet about everything you saw here." Norman warned not only him, but all three newcomers. "BB hates snitches!"

* * *

Sonata yawned and rubbed her eyes. Still wearing her pajamas, she slowly dragged her feet toward the front door and opened it.

"It's too early and Aria is still asleep, come back in a few hours and she will gladly yell at you that she isn't interested in buying anything..."

"Don't worry, I'm not here to sell anything."

Sonata stopped rubbing her eyes when she recognized that voice. Her vision was still a little blurry, so she rubbed them one more time.

"Is... Is this a dream?" the blue-haired siren asked.

"Not at all." Adagio answered. "I'm as real as I can get."

"Aria." she said, then turned around. "Aria Aria ARIA ARIAAAAAA!!!" the girl she was calling appeared moments later; she was wearing the upper half of her pajamas but forgot to put the lower half back on; she was wearing striped blue boxer shorts instead.

"You're going to catch a cold if you keep walking around the house pantless."

"A... Adagio? Is that... Really you?" she asked, as surprised as Sonata.

"In the flesh!"

Aria ran toward her and slapped her in the face. Hard!

"First, ow." Adagio said. "Second, I guess I deserved that. Kinda!"

"You stupid, idiot, bitch, jerk, jackass, dick, heartless and soulless monster!" Aria said angrily. "Where have you been? We were worried sick!"

"Aria, you were worried about me? That's sweet!" Adagio teased.

"Shut up, you dick!" Adagio prepared herself to be hit one more time, but all she got was a hug. "Don't you ever do that again or you're gonna regret it." Sonata joined in on the group hug. Adagio hugged them back. "And what is this shit you're wearing?"

Adagio looked at her suit-covered forearm and sighed.

"There's so much I want to tell you, but..." she muttered.

"You don't need to tell us anything you don't want to, we're just glad you're back with us." Sonata said. "Just pomise you'll never do that again!"

Adagio smiled again as she closed the front door with her foot.

Author's Note

In case you haven't realized yet, Slick Diamonds is a mix between A Pimp Named Slickback and Zimos. I had to! Expect lots of quotes in the near future.

And before you rush to Google and forget to leave a comment for me to read, Normal Norman says something like "you may give up on your body, but you must preserve your honor".
It's an ancient quote spoken by the famous swordman Miyamoto Musashi.
Key words: cherry, milf, kakyoin, rero.

23. A Shattered Memory

Sunset's motel room. Shimmer and Adagio were sitting on the couch, watching the news. Both looked like they wanted to say something, but none wanted to be the one to break the ice.

"--after evading arrest for over twenty years, the criminal known as Slick Diamonds was finally caught. He was wanted for, among other things, human trafficking, pimping and tax evasion. Thanks to the efforts of the local police--" that was the only thing the anchorwoman said that they truly paid attention to.

"So the Flash-man actually did it." Shimmer said. "I can't wait to see his face when we go back to the room. I bet 10 bucks he's gonna scream." she looked at Adagio, who was looking at the floor, not paying attention. "Hey, Earth to Adagio. Are you still there?"

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Adagio, no longer lost in thought, looked at her.

"Thinking about her, I presume?"

"Yes. It doesn't feel right to be in her house when she... Isn't. It's not the same, you know?"

"I know how you feel. I had no idea she had so many responsibilities, pretending to be Sunset is fucking hard."

Adagio glared at her, but sighed and looked at the floor once again. "Clearly we have different thoughts on the matter at hand."

"Hey, don't get me wrong, it pisses me off that she's gone too, but do you have any idea how busy Sunset was? And despite everything, she still could spend time with her friends and you. I am impressed!"

"What do you mean?"

"She has to wake up every morning, and go to school, but that's where things get complicated. Do you know where Sunset's money comes from, even though she doesn't have a job?"

"Now that you mentioned it..."

"Well, turns out she is part of a special government project for gifted students; she receives an 'allowance' as long as she keeps getting good grades in all subjects and files an expense report every monday."

"Wow, for real?"

"For real."

"And let me guess, you're having trouble with the good grades part, correct?"

"Fuck you, who do you think I am? Let me answer that for you: I'm Sunset fucking Shimmer. I am a genius!"

Adagio chuckled. "It's amazing how you two can be so alike..." she paused to yawn. "...but so different at the same time."

"Tired?"

"A little bit..."

"It's kinda late. Do you want to, y'know... Spend the night?"

Adagio got up and stretched. "Yeah, you're probably feeling a little lonely, aren't you? Ok, I'll keep you company tonight."

"Shut up, I'm just being polite." she patted Shimmer on the shoulder before going toward the bedroom. "Are you still sleeping on the couch?"

"Like hell!" Shimmer got up and followed her. "She's not here to complain, anyway."

"I'll ask her after we bring her back if she minds you sleeping on her bed."

"Probably not."

"I don't mind sharing but I'm beat so please, no groping. I'm really not in the mood."

"I'm not a perverted slut like some people."

"Who was the one who barged in on two people making love and begged to join? Here's a hint: it wasn't me!"

"Sh-Shut up! I had a reason AND there was a context."

"Then please, enlighten me."

"I thought you wanted to go to sleep. Why don't you go do that and stop pestering me?"

"What, the big bad Killer Queen can't take a little bit of teasing?"

"I usually handle these things with a punch to the face. I think you're ok so I'm holding myself back, but don't push your luck."

"Gee, ok, forget I said anything."

Adagio closed the door, but when Shimmer tried to open it, it was locked.

"Oh, come on, open up."

"And risk getting punched in the face? It's couch night for you, missy."

Shimmer groaned. "Bitch."

"That's Merbitch for you."

* * *

Adagio was woken up by a pair of lips touching her cheek. She tried to cover her face with the blanket.

"Five more minutes..." she muttered, still half asleep.

"If you want to sleep in, that's your business. I don't think your employer will be happy, though."

"Fine, fine, I'm up, I'm up." she sat up, yawned and stretched. She looked at the woman with red and yellow hair for exactly 5 seconds until she realized something. "How did you get in here?"

"This is my bedroom inside my house, I can be here if I so wish."

"'Your house', yeah, right."

"Well aren't you grumpy this morning, huh?"

"But seriously, did you pick the lock?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Forget it, I'm going to make breakfast." she got up and took off Sunset's pink pajamas she always wore every time she spent the night there.

"Really? Since when do you make breakfast?"

"Because if I don't then you won't, and we'll starve to death." Adagio explained as she wore Sunset's bathrobe.

She pressed her hand to Adagio's forehead. "Are you sick? Maybe you really shouldn't go to work today."

"Now what are you talking about?"

The bedroom door opened and another woman with red and yellow hair walked in.

"Hey Sunset, the bacon is burning."

"Crap, I came to wake you up and you distracted me!" Sunset then ran back to the kitchen.

Adagio was baffled. "Wh... What... What's going on here?"

"You were being a bitch and Sunset burned the bacon." Shimmer explained, nonchalantly.

"But... How?"

"With the frying pan, duh!"

"No, I mean... She's dead! She's supposed to be dead! How is she still alive?"

"Ouch! Now you're wishing your girlfriend was dead? That's cold."

"No, that's not-- Do you remember the vampires?"

"Yes, we wiped them out and celebrated all night long. Then you got drunk and they kicked you out of the bar for harassing other customers."

"But... I... We... She... Something's not right here."

"And that something is probably you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm so hungry that burned bacon actually sounds appetizing right now." Shimmer closed the door, leaving a confused and dumbfounded Adagio alone in the bedroom.

* * *

"Here, eat up!" Sunset said as she placed a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs on the table in front of Adagio. "I changed the recipe a little bit, so if it tastes funny just tell me and I'll go back to the old recipe, alright?"

"Since when do you like meat?" Adagio asked as she lifted the bacon with her fork.

"Well, I decided to follow your advice and try a more omnivore diet. And guess what? You were right, meat is actually quite delicious! And since the creatures here aren't sentient like back in Equestria I don't actually feel bad about eating them. Well, I mean, maybe a little bit, but it's the circle of life and all that jazz, right?"

"This is bullshit." Adagio muttered.

"Pardon me?"

The siren grabbed the plate and threw it on the floor, shattering it into a hundred pieces. "THIS IS BULLSHIT!"

"Wh-What's wrong, Adagio?" Sunset sounded truly frightened.

"Why are you asking like all of this is normal?! Sunset is supposed to be dead, not making breakfast with a smile on her face. The vampires killed you. They killed us! If you were still alive then that fucking ball would have brought you back to the room, but it didn't, so what the fuck are you doing here?"

"A-Ada--"

"I know! This is a dream, right? It's all a dream. Yes, all of this is just my brain trying to make me feel even worse than I already do. Well, guess what, brain? I'm going back to the room, I'm scoring 100 points and I'm bringing her back to life, and then you'll--"

Everything went dark after that.

~ ~ ~

When she opened her eyes, Adagio was once again lying in bed, but when she tried to get up she realized that her hands were tied to the headboard bars with the belt of the bathrobe she was still wearing.

"So, are we calm now?" Shimmer, who was standing in front of the door, asked.

"I'm sorry, when I finally realized what had happened she had already knocked you unconscious." Sunset explained.

"Well, my head hurts like a bitch, so I guess this isn't a dream..." Adagio muttered.

"And about that; what happened back there? You suddenly snapped, saying things about this being a dream and me being... Dead?"

"You honestly do not remember what happened to us back at the night club?"

"Yes; we got in, killed a bunch of vampires, got out, celebrated, then you got drunk and--"

"See, there's the problem; that's not how I remember. You and me were killed that night, then Shimmer resurrected me and--"

"Why the fuck would I resurrect you?" Shimmer interrupted.

"Maybe you just had a bad dream?" Sunset placed her hand on Adagio's forehead again. "I think you may have a fever, your head is hotter than usual."

"I... But... It all felt so real, I don't... I can't--"

Sunset interrupted her with a kiss. "There! Was that real enough to you or do you still have doubts?"

Adagio smiled. "I don't know, I'm still unsure. Maybe a few more will help me decide?" Sunset giggled. "So, think you can untie me now?"

* * *

It was late at night. Sunset and Adagio went on a date and now the siren was leading her down an unfamiliar street. Sunset then hugged her arm and placed her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" she asked.

"Maybe, I think." the siren answered.

"'Maybe', followed by 'I think'? You really are not sure, huh?"

"I guess..."

"We can postpone this, you know?"

"No, we can't. I've been postponing this for far too long, they deserve to know." she chuckled. "Also they think I can't hear them whispering that they think I'm whoring myself out."

"That's mean!"

"Yeah, we have a very love/hate relationship."

After a few more minutes of walking, they stopped on the front porch of a very simple-looking house with all the lights off.

"Well, I guess they're asleep." Sunset said.

"Shame. So, want to spend the night? We can surprise them in the morning. Or..." she kissed her. "...maybe we can make some noise, wake them up and surprise them anyway!"

She punched her in the arm and laughed. "You're such a pig!"

Adagio unlocked the door with her key and poked her head in. "Aria? Sonata? You guys asleep yet?"

No response.

"I guess that's a 'no'." Sunset said after poking her head in as well, below Adagio's head.

Adagio opened the door all the way, allowing both to enter. Sunset entered first but, as soon as she step a foot inside, something came out of the house and slammed her. The pony girl was sent flying across the street and crashed against a pole. Without looking at her girlfriend's assailant, she rushed to her aid.

"Holy shit, are you--" Adagio started to ask, but before she could finish the sentence Sunset screamed as a blade perfurated her stomach. Looking up at the person who stabbed her girlfriend, she recognized the blue hair with purple and pink streaks; Sunset Shimmer had just been stabbed by Twilight Sparkle.

"Wh... What?!" she yelled. "Why did you do that?!"

* * *

Adagio gasped as she opened her eyes. She looked around, finding herself in the bedroom of the house she shared with two more sirens. She immediately rushed to the window, not bothering to cover her bare chest. She felt a little relieved when she didn't see a body nor a police tape on the street.

"Was it... All a dream?" relieved that her lover wasn't killed by one of her allies but saddened by the fact that the time they spent together was not real either, she put on a shirt and left her room, hoping to find breakfast ready - after all, it was Aria's turn to cook.

When she got downstairs the breakfast was indeed ready, but the girl cooking it wasn't Aria at all.

"And there she comes." Sunset announced. "I told you the smell would wake her up for sure."

"Mohninf, Afahio!" Sonata waved at her vigorously with a mouthful of bacon.

"Her scrambled eggs with bacon are freaking good." Aria praised with a hint of a smile in the corner of her mouth. "This one is a keeper."

"I must be going insane..." Adagio muttered as she rubbed her aching forehead.

Sunset raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later. So, you guys are ok with us, y'know, dating?"

"'Okay'? Are you freaking kidding me?" Aria asked. "I was a little weirded out at first, maybe a little angry, but after getting to know her a little better and after tasting her food I swear to you: if you break up with her I will never forgive you! Then I'll track her down and keep her for myself afterwards."

Sunset chuckled. "You're a sweetie, Aria."

"Aria? A 'sweetie'? Did you fell down the stairs and hit your head a little too hard, Sunset?" with a smile, Adagio sat down and was soon served breakfast by her lover. The five girls chatted, laughed, traded stories, overall had a good time that morning.

Suddenly, Aria and Sonata were no longer around, but Shimmer and Twilight were. Shimmer tackled Adagio to the ground and held her in place with the annoyed look she had most of the time while Twilight pressed Sunset against the wall, wrapped her hands around her neck and startled strangling her. Adagio tried to break free to try and save her loved one, but she was overpowered. She saw Shimmer's lips moving, but no sound came out of her mouth.

* * *

This time she screamed when she opened her eyes, startling the girl sitting beside her. Adagio looked around and realized that, this time, they were in a drive-in theater, inside an unfamiliar car; she was sitting on the passenger's seat.

"Can't handle horror films?" Sunset teased. "Wouldn't expect that from you."

"What happened?"

"Don't tell me you fell asleep." she sighed. "The girl was hiding near the pumpkin field when--"

"No, no, I mean... How did we get here? Whose car is this?"

Sunset placed her hand on Adagio's forehead. "I should take you to the hospital, your fever is--"

"Just answer, please."

"I drove us here and this is Rainbow Dash's car. Are you feeling ok?"

"No, I... I don't know what's happening but I keep blacking out and waking up hours later."

"That sounds serious, we really should--"

"Listen to me! Moments before blacking out I see... I see you dying. It happened twice already!"

"You're probably ha--"

"Don't you dare say I'm hallucinating! You're not even supposed to be alive, you were killed by the vampires. Then suddenly you're alive again like this is some fucking sci-fi romance bullshit, now I keep seeing you die over and over again and I can't even--"

She was interrupted by the windshield shattering. She looked outside and saw Shimmer again - this time wearing the black suit - pointing the Gib Rifle at Sunset. She tried jumping in front of her girlfriend to protect her with her own body but it was too late: Shimmer had already squeezed both triggers.

* * *

"Am I dead?" Adagio was sitting on the edge of Sunset's bed with her face buried in her hands. "Did I die in my sleep? Is this what Tartarus looks like in this world? No, the locals call it 'Hell'. Is this Hell?"

"The blackouts again?" Sunset asked, sitting down beside her and gently placing her hand on her back.

"They keep getting shorter." she said. "The first time it lasted an entire day. The second, only a few hours. The last one only lasted minutes! I'm afraid this time we--"

A black Katana crashed through the window, stabbing Sunset in the heart.

* * *

Twilight beheaded Sunset.

Shimmer shot at Sunset's face with the Gib Gun at point blank.

"..ap...ou...t"

Twilight held Adagio in place as Shimmer brutally punched Sunset.

Adagio was holding Sunset down, squeezing her neck with both hands.

"Maybe this..."

Adagio stabbed Sunset repeatedly with a kitchen knife.

"...will stop if..."

"...nap...out...it"

Adagio ran Sunset over with Rainbow Dash's car.

"...I kill you..."

She cried as she held Sunset's lifeless corpse while pointing a Gib Gun at her own head.

"...myself."

She pulled both triggers.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

* * *

Adagio opened her eyes again but, at this point, she only wanted to die. Something was different, though; she no longer had a pounding headache or a burning fever, only a mild migraine. She was lying on the cold asphalt and wearing the suit given to her by BB when she first came to the room. The first thing she saw was the full moon. The second was a humongous jellyfish-like monster floating above them with hundreds of tentacles wriggling below it. The third thing she saw was Sunset Shimmer.

"Please... Stop... No more..."

"Get a hold of yourself. Freeing you from that thing's grasp without accidently killing you was hard enough, we can deal with your head issues later."

"I can't... Take it... Please, just... Let me die..."

"Let her at least rest for a moment." Cherry Jubilee said while helping Adagio sit up. "Whatever that thing did to her, it must have been awful..."

"What are you talking about?" Adagio's head felt much clearer now.

"You were killing those things left and right, but the big one got you by surprise." the woman explained. "You went completely limp when it slapped your forehead with a tentacle, at the time we thought you had died, but then you started screaming when they attacked the monster. Your friends did their best to free you."

The siren started remembering things. As she was getting ready to go to bed she felt a shiver on the back of her neck, meaning that another mission would soon start. When they arrived in the room, BB sent them to kill an alien that looked like a jellyfish. Eager to get points and revive Sunset, Adagio carelessly slaughtered any alien-looking creature that crossed her path, but was eventually caught off-guard by the tentacles of the massive alien hovering above them which wrapped themselves around her whole body. She struggled but, when the suckers on the tentacle the alien wrapped around her head touched her skin, she lost consciousness and the nightmares began.

"Right. I remember now. Thanks."

"Here, you'll need this." Jubilee said, offering Adagio her trademark Dual Gib Guns. "You dropped them. I tried using them, but... I know it's self-defense but killing things still doesn't feel right to me..."

"You eventually get used to it." she twirled her guns around her trigger fingers before dashing toward where her teammates were fighting the tentacled beast.

"About bloody time!" Shimmer said as she sliced several tentacles at once. "They keep growing back, it's annoying as hell! It's impossible to reach the core." she pointed her sword at a shimmering orb attached to the underside of the main body protected by the jungle of struggling tendrils.

Adagio inspected the surrounding area and noticed a crashed motorcycle with its deceased driver beneath it. She had an idea.

"Cover me!" was what the four sword-wielding Hunters heard before they saw Adagio jumping back into the alien's deadly embrace.

"The bitch is crazy!" Slick Diamonds commented before they noticed she was wearing the dead biker's helmet. "Fuck that, the bitch is smart as hell!"

Shimmer, Norman, Twilight and Nolan didn't even glanced at each other for confirmation, all of them simply followed Adagio's command, clearing any tentacles that blocked her path or tried to restrain her.

"I was happy." she said as she blew away a tentacle that wrapped itself around her left ankle. "I had everything I needed." Twilight sliced a tentacle that tried to grab her by the long orange hair that couldn't be contained inside the helmet, accidently cutting off most of her hair as well. "But those were all lies you shoved inside my head." several tentacles tried to hypnotize her again, but the helmet blocked all of them. They then aimed at different targets: Adagio's bodyguards. All four of them fought bravely, but eventually were all caught.

Adagio was mere feet away from the core when she was grabbed by the waist, right wrist and neck. At some point during the fight her suit broke and she could feel her bones and windpipe being crushed. "Now... You... D..." the tentacle around her neck stopped her from completing the sentence, but with the last of her strength she pointed the Gib Gun she had on her left hand at the core and pulled both triggers. Even if that last struggle had been in vain, she had at least had her revenge.

* * *

BIG DADDY
18 PTS / TOTAL 38 PTS
ONLY 62 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MOON MOON
9 PTS / TOTAL 14 PTS
ONLY 86 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"I can't believe you're calling me Moon Moon again." Moondancer complained while glaring at the black ball with her arms crossed. "It hasn't grown on me, I hated it then and I still hate it now."

"Maybe that's the point." Norman theorized. "Maybe he messes with you because he knows he's going to get a reaction!"

She rolled her eyes and groaned.

BACKGROUND BOY
9 PTS / TOTAL 19 PTS
ONLY 81 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

BAD DADDY
9 PTS / TOTAL 9 PTS
ONLY 91 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

HOSTESS SAMURAI
14 PTS / TOTAL 40 PTS
ONLY 60 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MILF
6 PTS / TOTAL 6 PTS
ONLY 91 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

TOOL
15 PTS / TOTAL 58 PTS
ONLY 42 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

SAINTS BRO
12 PTS / TOTAL 41 PTS
ONLY 59 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

KILLER QUEEN
6 PTS / TOTAL 41 PTS
ONLY 59 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Yeah, I was wondering about that." Nolan said. "What happened to you tonight? You were just as fierce as ever, but when it came to fnishing off the aliens you were... Faltering? It was like you were restraining yourself."

"It was just your imagination." Shimmer crossed her eyes as well, but avoided any eye contact.

"Well, clearly it wasn't!" he pointed at her score on BB's screen, which was soon replaced by Adagio's.

MERBITCH
27 PTS / TOTAL 27 PTS
ONLY 73 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"That's... Underwhelming." Norman said. "That boss wasn't worth much, was it?"

Adagio looked at Shimmer; she may not had paid much attention to Shimmer that night but for the woman nicknamed "Killer Queen" to have one of the lowest scores of the night was not normal. Something was amiss, and she would find out what.

Author's Note

Sorry if I haven't updated TBBR is ages, but I started working on a non-MLP original story, and so far I like what I have! There's space travels, robot deathmatches, evil dicta-- Well, why spoil the surprise? Maybe one day I'll turn it into a book and publish it, then people will pay to read my stuff! :trollestia:

By the way, Gantz:O, that awesome-looking CG movie adaptation of the Osaka mission came out last month (I've known about the movie for a while, but only recently found out about Gantz:G, the spinoff manga that's been around since November 2015. I love it already, by the way [despite most of the cast being composed of despicable bitches, but the main character is lovable and her friend is adorable and that's enough compensation]) and I haven't watched it yet. Are you excited for Gantz:O? According to the trailers the movie didn't cut out any of the parts I want to see, and that gets me all tingly inside. I WANNA WATCH IT!
~~(Too bad Izumi and Kurono aren't alive during that part, I wanted to see them there. Maybe they'll show up at the beginning?)~~

13. Midnight Blue Prophecy

CAMPER
8 PTS / TOTAL 73 PTS
ONLY 27 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"And I would have gotten more of some people helped me when I needed." he glared at his "partners". Treble shrugged.

SAINTS BRO
20 PTS / TOTAL 56 PTS
ONLY 44 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

PIPSQUEAK
11 PTS / TOTAL 43 PTS
ONLY 57 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

ROCKSTAR WANNABE
18 PTS / TOTAL 49 PTS
ONLY 51 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MOMMA SUNNY
26 PTS / TOTAL 28 PTS
ONLY 72 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

BACKGROUND BOY
36 PTS / TOTAL 64 PTS
ONLY 36 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

"Holy shit!" Treble's eyes widened. "When did you had the time?"

Norman just adjusted his beanie, as if saying "I'm awesome and I know it".

MERBITCH
26 PTS / TOTAL 76 PTS
ONLY 24 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

MIDNA
22 PTS / TOTAL 62 PTS
ONLY 46 MORE AND YOU'RE DONE

KILLER QUEEN
50 PTS / TOTAL 100 PTS
PLEASE CHOOSE FROM THE 100 POINTS MENU

"What the fuck?!" Midna yelled. "You got 100 points in two missions?! Fucking TWO?!"

"Three, technically." Adagio corrected.

"Shut up, I don't give a shit. How did you do that? Do you know cheat codes? Wait, that's it! That's what happens when you stick your finger in BB's ear, right? You're cheating! You're motherfucking cheating, you bitch."

Sunset grabbed the girl's chin, forcing her to shut her mouth.

"I play this game fair and square." Shimmer said. "Don't go accusing others of cheating just because you're not good enough, a'ight?" she dropped Midna to the ground once again, then turned to the Black Ball. "Remember, kids: we're at war right now, so we need as much firepower as we can get. We don't have the luxury to revive people or drop out anymore."

"At war? With who? The suit people?" Roll asked.

"Precisely. So, if you get 100 points, ask BB for a better gun!"

"That was my plan for the start!"

"So, without further ado..." Shimmer stood in front of the dark sphere. "BB, I choose the second option. I want my Pile Driver ready for the next mission."

"'Pile Driver'?" Nolan inquired.

Shimmer smirked. "You'll see."

* * *

Sunset woke up on her bed. Hope apparently stood beside her all night, for she was sitting on a chair but sleeping with her head and arms on the bed. With last night's events still fresh in her mind, she stayed in bed a little longer before standing up and opening the windows - it was morning already, but she didn't felt like getting ready for school.

"Maybe she found out Flash is dead because of me?" she shook her head. "No, what a silly idea, Sunset Shimmer. Even if she did found out, she would never murder people in a fit of rage... she looked around until she noticed the special book sitting on her shelf, the magical book from Equestria she used to communicate with her royal friend. "Would she?"

She picked it up her book and opened it up on the last page she wrote. After reading the last few lines of their last conversation - a very scientific debate about why measuring the position of an electron changes its momentum and vice versa - she picked up a pen and wrote:

Hey, are you there?

Sunset waited for a few minutes, growing more and more fearful and paranoid as time went by. She received a reply after around 12 minutes, and that put her mind at ease.

Yes, I am. Do you need anything, Sunset Shimmer?

She thought about using the old excuse "sorry, wrong number", but this wouldn't work in this case for obvious reasons.

No, forgive me for bothering you, I just needed to confirm something.

Confirm what, exactly?
Oh, have you finally found my human counterpart Pinkie Pie mentioned? :D

More or less.

That's so exciting!
I'll be there in five minutes. ;)

Sunset's face went pale.

WAIT!

What? Is there something wrong?

Sunset wrote without thinking about what to say next, and now she had to come up with something quick, otherwise Princess Twilight would be suspicious and go to the human world anyway.

I don't want to scare her.
If she sees another Twilight Sparkle walking up to her she'll probabably lose it!

I see your point.
Besides, who knows what would happen if I met my human counterpart?
Maybe direct contact would destroy our particles or something.

Sunset chuckled, remembering how they used to make theories and theories about how the multiverse would react to two of the same meeting each other. Fortunately, she already solved that mystery. Once again Sunset Shimmer wrote without thinking:

Don't worry, I already tested that, it's safe.

You did? Really? How?

Her eyes widened. Now she had to come up with an explanation for this, too.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid..." she muttered while facepalming repeatedly.

I met my own counterpart.

REALLY???
Wow, that's so interesting!
What about this one? Can I meet her?

I'm sorry, but not yet.
Don't worry, when they're ready to meet you, I'll send you a message.

Oh.
Alright, then.
I'll be waiting!

Until then!

Sunset closed the book and sighed in relief. It was confirmed that her friend was still in Equestria and would stay there for as long as needed. She walked up to Hope and shook her gently.

"Wakey, wakey!" she said in a sing-song tone.

"G'morning, Sunset..." Hope said before yawning. "Is breakfast ready?"

Shimmer joined them a while later, during breakfast. After they were done, Hope rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth so she could go watch TV, since it was Shimmer's and Sunset's turn to clean the table and wash the dishes.

"So, what did I miss last night after I... You know." she asked.

"I made 100 points." Shimmer answered while inspecting a mug closely to make sure it was clean.

"You what?"

"Uh huh. And I asked for a better gun."

"You're kidding me, right? How can a person get 100 points in two missions?"

"I'm awesome, that's how!"

"Well... Why a better gun, though? Don't you wish to be free? Or isn't there someone from your generation you wish to revive?"

"I have nowhere else to go, remember? Choosing freedom would be basically choosing to be homeless - thanks for letting me stay here, by the way! And not really; all my previous 'co-workers' were decent fighters, but they were all a bunch of insubordinate monkeys who got themselves killed because they didn't know the meaning of the word 'teamwork'. I'm glad I don't have that problem with you guys."

"You could have... You know... Revived Pearl. Or Flash."

Shimmer placed her damp hand on Sunset's shoulder.

"Like I said yesterday to the others, we're at war. For now, we need more guns. Once we eradicate those filthy human-sized leeches you can revive every person in BB's memory if you feel like it but, for now, we need to fight for our lives. And trust me when I say this: the 100 points guns are amazing!"

Sunset took a deep breath. "Ok, Shimmer, I'll... I'll trust you."

Shimmer patted her cheek and went back to washing the dishes. "That's my girl!"

* * *

It was a sunny day in Canterlot Town, so the girls decided to go shopping in the afternoon. Most of them were carrying two or maybe three bags but, as usual, Rarity overdid it so Rainbow Dash, Sunset and Applejack had to help her carry everything.

"Do you really need that much fabric, Rarity?" Dash asked.

"Better have too much than not enough, don't you think, darling?" Rarity said with a wink.

Hope, who volunteered to carry one of Rarity's bags, noticed a very peculiar person in an alley. She couldn't see their face clearly since the person was wearing a hooded robe, but she did noticed locks of midnight blue hair poking from under the hood. The only person she knew about who had that color of hair was the person Shimmer told them to kill on sight, so she tugged at Sunset's sleeve.

"Yes, Hope?" the younger girl motioned for Sunset to come closer, so she kneeled beside her, who whispered something in her ear. Sunset's eyes widened, but her expression slowly shifted from shocked to angry. They placed the bags they were carrying on the ground and ran toward the alley, Sunset reaching for the Gib Gun she kept hidden in her purse at all times.

"Sunset, what's wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"They're ditching us. Get them!" Dash said before dropping the bags she was carrying and running after the duo. Applejack did the same.

"No, wait, don't go, WAAAAAIT!" Rarity called, but to no avail.

The alley the hooded figure was gone, but that didn't stop Sunset from giving chase, so it didn't took long for them to find the person they were running after. She then pointer her Gib Gun at the person without taking it out of her purse.

"Take off that hood and turn around slowly." she ordered. The person, who had their back turned to Hope and Sunset, complied with her request and took off her hood. The person's hair was indeed long and midnight blue, but the lack of pink and purple hair strands confused the Equestrian girl.

"There's no need to threaten me with a weapon, my child, I mean no harm." the person said with a clearly female voice. As requested by Sunset, she turned around slowly; the woman was very beautiful, probably around her mid-thirties. Her skin was pale blue and she had scars around her eyes, which were milky white.

"You're not--"

"...the one you're looking for, that's correct." she interruped and finished her sentence. "The one who dwells in the shadows and hides behind the face of a loved one."

"How do y--"

"The 'how' is not important, my child." she interrupted again. "And now that we are here, we can begin."

The mysterious woman took a step closer toward her and Sunset took a step back, tightening her hand around the grip of the gun.

"Like I said, my child, I mean no harm. You have a very peculiar aura, and I would like to inspect it a little closer."

"What are you, a medium or something?"

"Ever since I lost my eyesight, I was capable of perceive things normal humans cannot. But people around town call me a fortune teller, so that's what I go by."

"And why did you had to lure me to this alley to do this?"

"The auras around your friends suggest that they care a lot about you, meaning that they could get in the way. You and your little friend here seem more... Open-minded, let's say."

Sunset thought about it for a moment, but then gave her purse to Hope. "Any funny moves and you know what to do!" Hope nodded.

The woman placed her hands on Sunset's cheeks and pressed her forehead to hers. Sunset felt like her personal space was being invaded, but decided to just close her eyes and cooperate.

"I see..." she muttered. "I see..."

"And what do you see?" the teen asked.

"The sky bleeds, staining the earth. The world cries for help. There's nothing you can do on your own. Friends will leave and enemies will join. You must work together." she let go of Sunset. "Fight side by side and mankind shall live to see another sunrise."

"There y'all are!" Applejack called. "The hay was that all about?"

"Uh, sorry, it's just... Hope really needed to go to the bathroom."

"The shopping mall was two blocks behind us!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Uhhh..."

"That's my cue to leave." the woman said, placing a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Farewell, Sunset Shimmer." the woman put on her hood once again, walked past Applejack and Rainbow Dash and disappeared in the crowd of people on the main street.

"Who was that?" Dash pointed her thumb at the direction the woman went.

"She was... A fortune teller."

"Uh, a teensy-weeny-tiny help here, guys?" Pinkie Pie called. She and Fluttershy were helping Rarity carry the bags they left behind.

* * *

YOU GUYS ARE NOW GOING TO FINISH THIS THING OFF:
BUG ALIEN
CHARACTERISTICS: FEEBLE, DEPENDANT
LIKES: EATING, SLEEPING
FAVORITE QUOTE: "Help!"

The Black Ball showed what appeared to be a pale green caterpillar with big, round, gleaming yellow eyes.

"Heh. I wonder what the Big Boss will look like." Midna said while picking up a Gib Rifle.

"Hopefully not a spider." Treble said. "I don't like spiders."

"Don't be a wuss!" Midna nudged him in the ribs. "Mosquitoes are far worse than spiders. And spiders eat mosquitoes. Spiders are a blessing!"

While the couple argued about which tiny creature was worse, Shimmer entered the adjacent room, followed by Sunset and the others.

"There it is." Shimmer picked up a gun that wasn't there the last time they entered the room. "She's a beauty, isn't she?"

The weapon was the one labeled by Shimmer as Pile Driver; it was black like all the other weapons provided by BB, but much bigger. Composed of two large rectangular barrels, the upper one roughly the same size as Shimmer's arm, and the lower one slightly bigger than her forearm, both with cables connected to them, they were linked to each other by a large trigger guard next to the muzzle and a grip with two triggers a few inches behind it. But, unlike the other weapons, there was no opening in the muzzle, but several circles, forming a pattern in which each circle was inside a bigger one.

"Ohhhhh, what does that do?" Norman asked.

"Wait for the mission to start, then I'll show you." Shimmer left the room, walked past Treble and Midna who were still arguing about spiders and mosquitoes, crouched beside the dark sphere and stuck her index finger inside the man's ear.

Author's Note

Ok, new laptop here, Steam games installed, already spent a few hours playing Fallout 3, Borderlands and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines... Yeah, I'm good to go! Back to TBBR!

And yes, I know the chapter was a little weak considering all the time it took me to upload it, but I was sick when I wrote most of it, so forgive me this time, ok? I promise next chapter will be many times better!

But since we're on the subject of games, you can add me on Steam if you feel like it, I am Nani Sore (but PM me first, I explained why in a blog post).

And here's a picture of the Pile Driver, weapon formerly known as Z-Gun (Canon name. Fanon name is H-Gun) in Gantz:

Kickass, huh?