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?

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!