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.

"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?"

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!

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!