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!