Equestria Girls: The Empowered World

by KrspaceT

Rating: teen
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Main 7 (EqG), Adventure, Human, Alternate Universe, Comedy, Equestria Girls
Length: 52824

Following an explosion in the sky one night, a version of the Elements of Harmony appear in Canterlot City. The explosion releases an energy wave that grants power to several in the city, requiring former friends to reunite

Taking place before the start of Equestria Girls in canon time, and replacing it in and it's follow ups, this story follows the Humane 5, split apart by the manipulations of Sunset Shimmer, find themselves having to reunite.

Following a mysterious event one night, six mysterious lights have fallen upon Canterlot City. Following these lights came a burst of energy that granted several in the city superhuman abilities. Among them are the Humane 5, who find themselves in conflict with a repowered Sunset Shimmer for possession of these lights. And as this conflict reigns, other interested parties find themselves drawn into the conflict.

Story beta edited by Hidden Master at the current time.

Published 2016-02-20 02:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-26 04:28:14 UTC

Year Zero, Weekend One

Saturday Morning found a half awake Rarity fumbling in front of her mirror, trying to find her toothbrush while she wasn't even fully functional yet.

Fun fact about discovering one's own brand new superhuman abilities: the shock absolutely ruined one's beauty sleep.

Reaching for what she was sure was her toothbrush, Rarity instead found herself holding her hairbrush in front of her mouth as if planning to brush her teeth with it.

As she did not have a beard or mustache, there was no reason for her to have it anywhere near her well cared for teeth. So, with a bit more force than was strictly necessary, she slammed the brush back on her private bathroom counter to be used later.

The resulting impact caused one of her beauty products to be knocked off her table and into the garbage can. Specifically, her toothbrush.

Rarity stared at the garbage can. The garbage can she had not emptied in over a week. The garbage can full of repulsive refuse that her wonderful, soft tipped, custom made imported toothbrush had just fallen into.

Rarity did the only logical action for this scenario.

"This is the! Worst! Possible! Thing!....." Rarity wailed, loud and dramatically complete with exaggerated and tragic hand gestures over the fall of her sacred toothbrush,only for purple light to form in he hands and take the form of a nearly identical toothbrush.

Rarity eyed the brush for a moment, before holding it over the sink with one hand. With her other, Rarity reached for her toothpaste, and squeezed.

The minty freshness within was promptly deposited on the energy construct bristles as if it were a legitimate plastic tooth scrubber.

"Well, I suppose I did need to replace that old thing anyway" Rarity nonchalantly shrugged as she began brushing as if she had not just been shouting about her poor brush.

....

It hadn't been much when Sunset found it all those years ago.

It was just an old warehouse, only distinct among its kin for having once been a factory at some point in the distant past, and for having a functional combination of a clock, some light fixtures, and a roof that was comparatively lacking in holes.

In her time she had added a few things here and there, found either abandoned, for cheap, or obtained via thievery and trickery.

Sunset's gaze slowly trailed over the faded factory walls until her eyes alighted on one of her few prized possessions and couldn't help a small grin: her motorcycle, propped up against the wall. She had found it rusted and abandoned in a junkyard; several months of summer later, she'd restored it to its former glory, and it had become an instant part of her image.

Over a dozen old tables of various make, from wood to plastic and metal, lined the walls. Covering them were boxes filled with a variety of books and miscellaneous things.

Some of the more dusty ones held the very first ones Sunset had obtained: paired with journals with which she had translated the alphabet she had used in the past to the one used here.

It was somewhat a lasting shame to Sunset's pride how much she owed to a book called 'The Hungry Caterpillar'.

Of course, Sunset had expanded her abilities vastly since she had learned the ways of this city, and not just when it came to reading the Latin alphabet.

A blue haze formed over one of the smaller holes in the roof. The haze spun, energy slowly coalescing in the air before solidifying into a solid patch.

Sunset gritted her teeth over the sloppiness of the spell.

She was supposed to be better than this.

She was a master of magics, a mage with few peers who were not immortal. And she was, rusty.

Unbelievably, frustratingly, maddeningly, rusty.

She was rustier than her door, and she could probably study tetanus from the oxidized piece of junk!

A hand, was no where near as focused a medium like, say, a horn for channeling power, as she was used to.

It didn't help that she had two of them. Sunset had determined that she could in fact channel magic through either hand as she could once her horn, but it was far easier to do so through her dominant hand.

Sunset wasn't sure if that was something she could fix. The entire 'dominant hand' thing had always confused her, she knew that people could train themselves to use both, but how long would that take?

Would it just be more economic to cut off her less dominant hand, or was the issue not a case of her magic being divided along two possible paths but an inferior channeling body part and cutting her hand off wouldn't help her in any way and only draw unnecessary attention to her.

Teenage girls missing hands were kind of an oddity in these parts.

Given how much progress she had made in just a few hours, perhaps these limits could be overcome with hard work and training.

Then again, would she really need that much more power than she currently had?

Assuming she wasn't going to get into duels with tanks, what in this world could threaten someone of her caliber?

GRUMBLE

.......Other than hunger, perhaps. She still had those apples in that stolen mini-fridge, right?

So, food, then some more practice to get her magic back to something respectable, bed; a perfectly productive Saturday.

And probably Sunday too.

....

Rarity placed two plates piled high with the pinnacle of breakfast foods: delicious, fluffy blueberry pancakes. Humming slightly to herself, Rarity measured put a dollop of butter on both pancakes, and then carefully poured just the perfect volume of maple syrup (not that cheap watered down stuff, either: the real concentrated sugary goodness people steal for) first onto one set of pancakes, then the other: just enough to bring an explosion of flavor once the pancakes had absorbed the syrup, but not enough to risk the structural integrity of pancakes under a deluge of maple syrup that would reduce them to nothing so much as an unappetizing mush. With a small smile, Rarity went about chopping up several fresh strawberries to go with her masterpiece.

"Can I come in yet?" Sweetie Belle asked, muffled behind the kitchen's closed door.

"Now now Sweetie, you know you can't rush perfection," Rarity said, flicking discarded leaves into the trash.

"But why can't I be in there? I like watching you cook."

"Sweetie, you do remember what the Fire Department said last time?"

"Oh come on! It was only a little explosion..."

"Well, it was enough to put us on a watch list, dear. Just a few more moments patience, alright?" Rarity said.

There was nothing but silence for a few moments. "Fine..."

Finally done, Rarity put the bowl of chopped strawberries at the center of her modest table. With a smile, she undid the deadbolt locking the door and opened it.

Rarity nearly stumbled as her sister did her absolutely best to break the sound barrier and all but lunged for the pancakes her sister had so artfully created.

Rarity's eye twitched as Sweetie Belle upended the oh so expensive maple syrup onto her pancakes in a deluge of concentrated sugar, but she kept the smile on her face. After all, everything could be on fire. Besides, after this breakfast for two, the day-an entire, glorious, wonderful, and, er- nice day would be all hers.

Well, after she took Sweetie Belle shopping. That could only end so well.

....

Of course, as long as she checked her grocery cart for anything too expensive she might have tried to sneak in between the pancake mix and the paper towels, and she didn't try and buy any clothing from the racks of the mega-chain store, it shouldn't be too much trouble.

"Rarity....."

She didn't even need to look at her sister to know what she was going to ask "You have your gift cards, you can pick a game up for yourself. However, I reserve the right to veto any sort of M-rated, ultra-violent, over-sexualized material you might try to get for some inexplicable reason."

"Hey, this game's not sexualized! It's just thirty six hours of solid zombie ninja chainsaw mass-ac-res..." Sweetie Belle slowed down, slowly realizing what she said as Rarity raise an eyebrow. "Eh-hehe, I'll just go pick something else now."

"Fine" Sweetie mock whined, muttering something along the lines of, "Who needs chainsaws and zombie ninjas anyway." As her younger sister wandered off, Rarity's eyes wandered across the displayed titles, though her mind was less on them and more on the predecessors she had played long ago.....

Mario Kart 8

"Come on, come on, come on.......AHH! Alright, who used that shell on my Wart! Applejack!"

"Wasn' me Rainbow, Rosalina's ridin' this race cleaner than Big Mac's plate after harvest."

From her vantage point on the bed as her friends held out their wiimotes, Rarity rose a well manicured eyebrow as Fluttershy seemed to be slightly giggling to herself.

Marvel vs Capcom 4

"Why do you always pick to play as the Mane-iac? There are far better looking playable characters whose combos actually make some sort of logical sense" Rarity questioned Pinkie as the two held controller in hand, Rarity herself having chosen a character named Dante to play as, in no small part due to such...delightfully open attire or the relative elegance of his moveset..

"What fun is making sense? Plus, if I play as her, no one knows what she'll do next, she's just like me!"

"You do realize that is a bad thing, right?"

Super Smash Brothers

"FALCON...."

The bear with the bird in its backpack, coming from a game that Rarity herself had never heard of, formed a shield as the fighter charged up the flaming fist attack in the neat little game their cute little purple console was runnng.

"Punch....hey!"

"Sorry Applejack, but I just figured out how to do that. Now, take this!"

With a uppercut, the bear knocked away the fist fighter, depleting the last of Applejack's lives.

"GAME!"

"Ha ha, Rainbow Dash, champion of the universe!"

Elegant face contorted into an uncharacteristic frown, Rarity tore her gaze from the harsh reminder of her former friendships to a row of figurines.

As her gaze shifted by figurine after figurine, each memory of its own, Rarity's frown deepened and her heart felt just a little bit heavier

Electric mice and fiery dragons from battles long past, green swordsman and space faring foxes from adventures long ended. Plumbers and dinosaurs from challenges long surpassed, and bears who smashed alongside birds and that was all she knew of their history.

Not even the figures she did not remember made her feel any different, for the life forms with paint guns made her think of summers spent witnessing the orange and the blue due battle with water guns.

When Sweetie came back from the bowels of the electronics section with a game featuring a pink round life-form, Rarity's eyes were hidden underneath her hair, which cast a long, melancholy shadow across her face.

She didn't talk much at all for the rest of the shopping trip, no matter how much Sweetie pestered her.

....

"It's not like I miss them. I don't......"

"......"

"They betrayed me first!"

"...."

"I don't know what you are implying. I do not get depressed when I hear sports teams, see butterflies, attend parties, or taste apples!"

"...."

".....Okay, that one time didn't count! I had something in my eye.....for hours.......and I had allergies at that one point and that one point only...."

"....."

"Rarity, are you talking to Opal like she's a therapist again?" Sweetie shouted from across the house, too busy with her new game to enter Rarity's room.

Rarity raised her head from the purple energy shrink couch, even as Opal glared at the back of her head through the shrink-esc glasses formed on her face "No......"

"Right........" Sweetie did not sound convinced, but didn't burst in. Past experiences had taught her that such things never worked out well for either of them. Plus, new video games were far more important, and safer for her mental health.

With a heavy sigh Rarity got off her created couch, the furnishing vanishing into purple dust along with Opal's glasses as she walked towards her window, her face retaining a heavy frown.

"Why do I still miss them?" Rarity asked no one in particular about her former friends. Opal, having followed her to the window merely rubbed herself against Rarity's leg with some purring.

Rarity's face adopted a sad smile at this gesture, "Aren't you sweet."

Opal smirked back at her before the sound of her garage door began to reverberate through the house, shaking it to the core.

"......took them long enough" Rarity muttered to herself in regards to her returned parents with more than a hint of annoyance at them. Something glittering caught her attention out of the corner of her eye.

It looked metallic, like it had slipped out of the gutters or some other part of her roof.

A purple sphere formed around the falling mystery object and flew into Rarity's outstretched hand.

Holding the sphere like one might a capsule of untold riches, Rarity frowned when she noticed that it held a locket inside.

One covered in dirt and gunk and.....other things that clogged gutters.

Thankfully, she had a bathroom with cleansing, running water.

And soap. Lots and lots of beautiful, life-saving, soap.

So, with a quick washing the gunk was revealed a locket made of gold, with a purple diamond in the center.

"Oh my........" Rarity said in amazement "Why, how ever did you end up on my roof?"

The locket proved itself less talkative than Opal, but Rarity didn't mind as she made for putting it on.

Fantasies of showing off the beautiful pendant to her peers at school came crashing down by Reality. She highly doubted her parents would even entertain the story that she just found a gold locket on the roof. With a sigh, she slipped the locket into a pocked...at least, until she could get a reasonable explanation for it."

....

Sunday night found Canterlot City police sirens blaring, swarmed in front of a warehouse. Half a dozen police vehicles were parked outside, making enough noise to rouse anyone from slumber.

One might think they have discovered the lair of a mysterious teenage mage with no records to her name, but that lair would be on the other end of town. Questionable warehouses could be found in many parts of any city after all.

No, these men in uniform had been called here, to a most unusual sight.

Dozens of gang members.

No, that wasn't it. The police had run into dozens of gang members before. Most of the time they were armed and resisting arrest.

What was unusual, however, was that the gang members were all unconscious.. Usually immobile gang members the police came across were dead or high.

Kneeling in front of one of the unconscious gang members, an officer was checking for identifying marks "Captain Armor, they're the Garble Dragons."

The lead officer in question, a pale graduate of one of the city's highest ranked private academies, rose an eyebrow in surprise "The Dragons?"

"Yes sir."

"Captain, we've done a sweep of the warehouse, it's filled with that new drug we were warned about! Phoenix eggshells, I think they call it!"

"Understood. Call precinct for additional transport, and get everything in this place marked down. I want to get that garbage, and the peddlers of it, off the street! Also, restrain them so if any of them get back up, they won't try anything funny."

"Sir!" as his men began darting past him with cameras, tape, and handcuffs in hand, Officer Armor had a thoughtful frown mar his features.

"First the Windigos, then the Hydras, now the Dragons.....one every night since Friday, and that's not even getting into the complaints coming in from Sweet Apple Acres in that same period of time. This can't be.....no, it isn't a coincidence.....but what is it then? Are we dealing with some new gang who doesn't want competition and has some odd morality to them who have something against fruit, or is there a vigilante in Canterlot City?" as he wondered this, his eyes wandered up to the ceiling, only to freeze when he caught motion.

Something had been up there, a darkly dressed something. The color looked purple and black from what he could tell, a full body suit perhaps, with a dark cape and a large purple hat.

What he saw was gone just as quickly, causing the officer to hope he really hadn't seen something.

Because as much fun as it would be to prove to Twily that one could study comic books productively, he really didn't want to end up being Commissioner Gordon.

.....

"So, for some reason the events of Friday were not picked up by a majority of the planet, living or technological. The possibility of it evading human senses is not what we find hard to believe, there are after all forms of light and decibels of sounds even we cannot pick up."

"However, the fact that all technology designed to pick up unusual phenomena such as this failed to do so is both surprising and concerning."

The voice that was communicating this message was not physically present by the entrance to Canterlot High School, originating from a radio frequency. It was male and sounded serious, all the while tinted with genuine concern over what had happened over the last few days.

"This is not the first time that strange energy has been detected in this single portion of Canterlot City. The cause of these energy readings has been something we've longed been interested to research further, though the logistics of openly investigating it within a highly populated and scrutinized area have long prevented it. What you have observed, as well as your fellow members of The City, is something completely different."

"Human-Beings affected by these strange energies, to the point of gaining unique abilities. While we have witnessed similar phenomenon in the past, it has never originated from the energy connected to Canterlot City before, though different forms of foreign energies have had similar effects on Humans and some of the other forms of flora and fauna found here. We can only assume that this phenomenal is a result of the nature of Humanity and the other species native to this planet as Chaos Lifeforms, which makes them far more susceptible to such mutations."

"Where this energy came from, the extent of the impact on mankind, and what the affected plan to do with their abilities is the most important quandary we must strive to answer. Our surveillance has managed to determine that several students at this school are among the affected. Your mission is thus, to observe them and report back to us if they display any unexpected side effects, or choose to use their powers for nefarious and harmful reasons. Should that come to rise, then we will be forced to take actions to spare humanity from a very real threat."

The receiver of the communication shook her head, as if not being particularly fond of the idea of being responsible for the 'containment' of a fellow classmate.

"You know that I do not say these things lightly my friend. I will be the first to say I have often hesitated to act in the defense of this planet for far too long many times, yet I also take note that I have stopped more threats to this world with kind words and guidance than with my guns. Sadly, sometimes the guns are necessary. I believe strongly in the potential of humanity to chose the right thing, and many times I have been proven right. I hope to be proven right this time."

"Now, I must end this transmission. I have been requested to observe a new experiment ongoing in the Garden. We have high hopes for it, though I must also be ready in case it detonates violently. I leave you with this however: first of all be on the lookout. If you were able to pick up the unknown energy, it is very likely that They are also able to see it. We may wish to engage Them to stop their cruelties as soon as possible, but none of us wish to draw in more of the innocent into such a conflict than is absolutely necessary".

"Secondly, you may inform Octavia of your mission, to whatever degree you see fit."

As the message ended with the speaker giving his name and signing out, the audio waves that were playing across a pair of purple shades died away.

Leaning against a statue of a proud looking horse, a blue haired girl in white pushed herself off the statue and turned for home, to prepare for school tomorrow.

A frown never left her expression all the way.

Author's Note

More points then

1: They and Them, as the group is called, currently do not have a name that Vinyl's group knows of. It isn't one of those cases where speaking the name summons their attention like an evil god or something.

2: Yes, I am aware that no game of the Marvel vs Capcom series has ever been on a Nintendo Platform. I have taken creative liberties with this alternative universe, and I am biased. I also took some liberty with game rosters, titles, ownership histories, and Amiibo.
2A: By the way, the game Sweetie originally wanted to get plays similarly to Dynasty Warriors, case you were wondering.

3: I am aware that the Elements of Harmony in Equestria are not lockets. I just think they'd fit in a bit better than a crown and 5 ornate necklaces. I have no fashion sense, but I feel if the Elements appeared as they did in Equestria in the human world, they'd look like Pharaoh era fashion on a human.

4: Griffin based gangs have been done to death in Equestria Girls fics. So, Gilda is off the hook for now.

Human Zoo

A pupil who wanted to learn would always arrive to their class early.

It was a sign of respect that the student would always get in before the scheduled meeting. It was a moral that Sunset had noted was shared between many (but not all) Humans and Equestrians.

Of course Sunset did not particularly hold a lot of respect for her classes. She had learned quite a lot in her time as the personal student of Princess Celestia, and Equestrians had learned the same make up of chemical and mathematical formulas.

There was little she really had to learn here, in those fields at least. She could pass the classes with barely any effort, though she had noted a few concepts in this years textbook that she had not encountered before.

Perhaps it was something that had not been discovered yet in Equestria when she had left, or perhaps humans were pushing ahead in the race for topping the molecular understandings of all things.

It was a interesting question, actually: were these new topics were the product of the time since she had exited the tutelage of the real Celestia or the product of seeking these questions out with the lens of science instead of magic. It was somewhat similar to other questions she'd had since coming to this world, like how being a different species with different aging patterns on a planet with different day and year lengths affected her age mentally and physiology

Of course, she wasn't here to learn those things. No, if she wanted to figure out that, she'd go bully a nerd who specialized in extreme sci-fi nonsense to go calculate it for her, and she still hadn't determined a way to do that that would not get her sent to Area 51.

Instead, she was taking advantage of the empty classroom and it's chalkboard to test a spell she had only just remembered.

With a glowing pencil, she tapped a spare notebook and sketched out the latin letter A.

Without delay, the same letter appeared on the chalkboard.

The grin on Sunset's face could probably give a Freshman a nightmare.

.....

There were few aspects of school that remotely challenged her.

History was one of them.

History seemed to be one of the very few things that was not parallel between her world and this one. Commander Hurricane and Princess Platinum, the union of tribes and the age of Discord, humanity did not live through events that were even remotely akin to them.

Despite being one race undivided by evolutionary origin, diet, magic, wings, or size, mankind was divided in their histories between seemingly hundreds of different varieties of themselves. Trying to keep Egyptians, Greeks, Mayans, Carthaginians, Norsemen, Romans, Japanese, Mongolians, Aboriginals, Incan, and the rest of them separate and distinct took at least 60% of the brainpower Sunset devoted to educational pursuits in this world.

She had once gotten into a argument with a librarian about how different a single race in Equestria could be. How a Griffin from one city could differ so grandly from another, or a Earth Pony between Appleloosa and Manehattan.

Sunset at the time did not think a race with the same bodies and abilities could ever be that different, yet humanity had proven that librarian correct.

It irritated Sunset to no end that the librarian was right. Fortunately, the old hag was probably dead.

Of course, when Sunset did manage to straighten out who was from where and built what when, she couldn't help but be impressed at what humans did manage to pull off without a single, united government, and their tendency to kill each other.

They could willingly go to the moon and return from it, built structures far older than than many of Equestria's ruins that withstood the ravages of time surprisingly well (though how odd so many of them were pyramids), and did it all without magic.

"....The third and final Emperor of Germany Wilheim the Second was known for his impatient and arrogant attitude. Known for his irritability, issues with his mother, and his desire to make himself seem tougher than he actually was due to sustaining several disabilities as a child, the Emperor was obsessed with giving his people 'a place in the sun'. As a result, he alienated the other nations of the world, plotted several plans that had no realistic chance of succeeding, and eventually drew the world into one of it's most brutal and pointless wars ever....."

Sunset sighed. What was the point? The monuments were somewhat interesting, but in what possible way could a long dead alien (for her at least) teach her anything remotely useful

.....

School.

A necessary evil: long and tedious but to simply not do it was unheard of. One could never get anywhere without a proper education.
To succeed in life, one needed to survive High School, brave the unknown realm that was College, and slay the six headed evil that was student loans. That is how one lived.

Rarity did well enough in school. Honor Roll every semester, and easily in the top 20%. Harvard would snub its prestigious nose at her, but she could probably get into almost any college she wanted.

Of course college was already looming over her Junior head. Much like the grim reaper, but armed with scholarship bribery and mascot idolatry.

Still, something about school seemed to be....missing.

It felt like someone had made a brilliant dress, but didn't add that final lair of edge lacing. The dress was still functional, but each and every time one looked at it she could just see something was missing.

It was vexing really. On the tip of one's tongue, a persistent feeling that wouldn't leave her all day.

".......What do you mean you can't come over?!"

Sweetie Belle's voice pierced the silence in the way only she could, just as Rarity was preparing to get to the bus.

Normally Sweetie would follow her, with a conversation resulting that was 20% bickering, 30% talking about her day, and 50% wishing Rarity had her driver's license already so they could drive to school.

Sadly parental signatures were a requirement and her parents were always busy with something or another.

"Ah told ya: ah gotta stay home" Apple Bloom moped.

"Rats, you grounded or something?" Scootaloo questioned sympathetically as Rarity continued to listen in.

Now, it was hardly ladylike to do so, but Rarity’s inner gossip latched on and listened in on the conversation for any and all juicy tid-bits. Granted, this was partly out of self interest, given that Sweetie would likely complain about this all the way home, and it would give Rarity some forewarning about it.

And part because Rarity happened to be rather fond of Sweetie's friends. They were charming in their own special way, and were not too annoying. Sure, she did not get along with their elder sisters anymore, but there was an unspoken agreement between them not to cause problems with the younger girls friendship.

"Nahh, it ain't that. See, there's been somethin' hitting the apple orchards at night."

Rarity frowned. She was well aware of how the loss of even a single apple tree could be problematic for them, let alone multiple trees.

"Are you guys gonna be okay? I mean, you have apple insurance or something, right?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah don' know. It's the strangest thin'.....whatever's been drainin' the apples like some sort a vampire, later in the day the apples just, come back. Like they hadn' been ruined at all."

"Witchcraft!" Sweetie shouted in shock, although a slight smile hinted she wasn’t all that serious.

"....Granny would agree with ya'. Whatever it is, we want to figure it all out. It's been happenin' ever since Friday".

Since Friday?

Rarity's eyes widened with realization as she recalled the strange light and her new powe Was whatever was happening to Applejack's farm related?!

'Like it is your problem. You and Applejack aren't friends anymore, if she has some sort of really vegetarian Edward Cullen attacking her trees it isn't of any concern to you.' She could almost visualize her negative emotions, her shoulder devil if you will, commenting about how she had no reason to get involved in this.

'Just because you and Applejack are no longer friends, doesn't mean you wouldn't help her in case of a disaster. Plus, if whatever is going on is connected to whatever happened to you, you may be the only person who can make it right. It's the generous thing to do,' her conscience, her shoulder angel if one continued with the earlier analogy, countered.

She could even see them: purple constructs miming their conversation on her shoulder. One with horns and bat wings, the other with a halo and angel wings. One dressed in dark leather, the other in white robes.

Or at least as much as those colors could be seen in the purple sheen. Strangely, both figures’ figure’s fashion was absolutely fabulous, if she did say so herself.

Looking around rapidly for anyone who might have seen this, she quickly swatted the projections of her struggle away as she decided to make her decision in only the most logical way she had.

One quick read through her daily planner reminded her of no upcoming assignments due, and thus she had a mission for tonight.

However, Rarity was not the only one who had been listening in on the trio's issues.

.....

Hidden from view and leaning against the wall with crossed arms, Sunset Shimmer had a thoughtful look as she listened in

It was only mildly unsettling from an outsider's perspective, meaning the poor sophomore whose locker she was leaning near was only slightly terrified for his life.

Something unknown was attacking the Sweet Apple Acre orchards?

Since the exact day she regained her own abilities?

This could not be coincidence.

. While she didn’t know if what was going on was magical in nature and a threat, there was no way in Cerberus’s nine balls she would risk ignoring it and losing her magic as a result after it inevitably came to bite her in the flank. She did not want to lose her magic because she ignored something hidden on a apple farm of all things.

Besides, she was rather curious, and, if anything remotely magical in this magic-less void the humans called home was around, even if it was just a magical raccoon, she wanted to check it out. Moreover, this might be a chance to obtain some real power. She wouldn’t forgive herself if she passed up the opportunity to obtain something powerful, useful, or even just intriguing. Heck, even if it only ended up being some magical animal, she could always use a pet. She’d could name it Tiberius.

A threat, a boon, or just a magically mutated raccoon. She wouldn't know until she went and checked it out.

The locker beside her slam shut. Sunset absently listened to nameless sophomore number 12 whose name she hadn’t bothered to learn practically flee down the hall before she turned to get going herself.

Only to find someone in her way.

Where the locker had once obstructed her vision stood an athlete. A certain underachieving student, never found without her signature blue jacket on.

Rainbow Dash.

"What do you want?" Sunset demanded as Rainbow glared at her.

Now Rainbow Dash and glaring were nothing new. In fact, they were practically old friends!

However, the glare she was giving Sunset was a new level of intensity. It was the 'I loath you with all my being' glare, sprinkled with a extra helping of confidence and belief in her own success.

Which was saying something coming from Rainbow.

"I've been looking for you Shimmer."

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “Really? And it only took you until the end of the day? My, what a good job Rainbow. I’d give you a dog treat, but sadly I ran out."

Rainbow didn’t react to Sunset’s insult other than to deepen her glare.

“It’s over Shimmer,” Rainbow said in a low and dangerous tone.

Sunset burst out laughing.

"Oh really? Did someone win the Fall Formal when I wasn't looking? Or did I get knocked off my ranking as the smartest student in the school? I know you definitely didn't take either of those titles, so don't kid yourself."

"I'm not kidding around." Rainbow continued, clenching her fist.

Sunset narrowed her eyes. This could be a problem.

Power over others was something that was created greatly by image and actions. Building her power up took a long time, and a lot of work.

But a single beat down, perhaps even a single punch to the face she did not avenge ten-fold, could make it all tumble down.

She once heard a quote. She didn't know where it had come from: book, cinema, legend...but it went something like this.

"If you could make God bleed, people would cease to believe in Him."

Sunset was not a God, she had been denied that. However, that could easily be replaced with the following quote.

"If you could make the Princess bleed, people would cease to fear her.", Sunset Shimmer circa today

Rainbow Dash was certainly able to hurt her. She was on a short-list of people in this building who could do that to her, alongside Applejack and her older brother.

Sunset was not physically incompetent, but she was nowhere near Rainbow's physical fitness. Rainbow could easily beat her senseless if she ever got properly motivated to do so (and didn't fear the consequences).

There was a very good reason that Sunset had removed 4 very good reasons for her to do a while back.

Of course, even if Rainbow wasn't a complete dunce, she didn't know about all of Sunset's cards.

"And just whose going to stop me, you?" Sunset mockingly asked, her eyes flashing blue.

"Hell yeah I will!" Rainbow countered, her multi-colored hair seeming even brighter than normal.

Their electric confrontation had gathered a bit of a crowd, meaning that Sunset had even more reasons to ensure that she did not lose. Even if she'd have to deal with certain ramifications that would be a massive pain...

"And just what do you two think you're doing?"

The tension and anticipation that had been building between the two immediately died down the moment that voice spoke up.

The gathered crowd around the two parted, revealing a female figure who averted the near uniformity of the female skirt wearers. Her hair was also the only rival to Rainbow's hair in the color pallet competition.

Principal Celestia. Looking as unsettling as ever, and now somewhat cross with both her and Rainbow.

"I take it you were just going your separate ways, back home perhaps?" she offered them a way out, an eyebrow raised in a tone that suggested that they very well should take it.

Given that the only other option was detention most likely, possibly suspension, neither she nor Rainbow could follow.

However, assuming that her adventure tonight did not end with her death by magically mutated raccoon, this interrupted fight would resume at some later point.

Perhaps not-Celestia thought they could talk it out later when their heads were cooler. But that was a silly idea.

Rainbow Dash never had a cool head, and Sunset…

Well, she never held herself as a saint of forgiveness.
....

The moon was rising as she herself was preparing for her quest.

Rarity took a deep breath as she waved her hand to form a large, purple carpet in front of her.

Even without taking a form originating from her own mind, the words of her shoulder devil still rang in her ears.

A part of her still felt like she'd be right to ignore the Apple's plight. That she shouldn't care what happened to them.

However, Rarity could ignore that little nagging feeling. Not only could, she would ignore it.

This was an act of generosity, of good will, of being the better person. It was a virtue she was taught, that she believed all should hold themselves to.

A virtue she believed in with the very fiber of her being.

A glittering light flashed in her room, a bright purple. Rarity turned her gaze towards the source of the light, which just so happened to be the locket lying unworn on her bedside table.

She could just hear her inner voice shout 'IDEA', as purple light formed underneath the locket. The light soon sprung up in the air like a spring-loaded platform from an old cartoon, sending the locket into the air and into the palm of her hand.

Sometimes clothing and accessories spoke to a girl, telling her that today was the day to wear them. This case, it was quite literally speaking to her.

It would be a crime to ignore it now. Really.

So standing on her purple carpet, the construct floated into the air before speeding off through the air.

All that was missing now, was a song about a whole new world. And maybe a hot guy flying with her with exposed abs. That would be nice.

....

Flying through the night, Rarity observed dozens of cars flowing beneath her, two pairs of glowing lights and a murky body in the gloom of the night.

She flew unseen, like a specter. Perhaps her purple was invisible in the nightly blue, or perhaps no one was looking up. Either was possible.

She flew by several advertisement billboards as she went, catching only tidbits here and there.

Donut Joe's, the best place....

Do you ever dream of being thinner, taller, faster, or even stronger......

Come on by Flim and Flam......

Blueblood for President.....

At that last one Rarity could not resist stopping her flight by that particular billboard, and with a glowing cookie cutter larger than her homeroom made an, adjustment.

And so she flew on away, the billboard amended to saying a better, much more...fitting message.

DON'T VOTE Blueblood for President......

With that generous act for the people, she continued her flight onward to the Apple Family Farm.

.....

Lying back on the branches of a thick tree in the orchard, Sunset took a large bite from an apple that had been growing on it just moments before as if she hadn't had dinner.

That was true of course, but she would prefer to not mention that aloud if she could.

Smacking her lips, Sunset sighed in contentment. For a family of hicks, they grew fairly good apples.

Cider still tasted like trash in this world, but the base apples were wonderful. Perhaps she should take a few of them for the road.

Or, she'd just eat another one. That would work too.

And soon 3 apple cores littered the tree base, even as Sunset tried to water her mouth.

"Pleh......I need something to drink...." she summoned a fourth apple to her hand and held it above her mouth before focusing some more magic at it.

The apple quickly liquidated, forming a stream of amber liquid that entered her mouth in a trickle.

Swishing it in her mouth a bit to first make her mouth feel less like a desert, she quickly spat it out as the taste of the cider registered.

"Bah, disgusting Earth Cider....." the fact that liquefying the apple without peel or process might not be how one makes a good apple beverage did not cross Sunset's mind. "Now, where was I...oh yes...." with a burst of blue light, she teleported to another tree.

"Now where oh where is that mystery beast?

Teleport.

"Are you some kind of monster?"

Bamf.

"Might you grant me unlimited power?"

Shrosh.

"May I name you Tiberius and use you to guard me as I sleep at night and extort people in the day?"

Vrosh.

Landing in the crutch of another tree, Sunset noted the apples here were green. What were those called again, Granny something apples, probably not Smith.

She was taken out of her musings though, as she noticed what was going on in front of her.

....

Flying in between the massive and all named trees of the orchard, Rarity looked left and right for anything that seemed strange, horrifying, or out of place.

So unless she saw Applejack's fashion sense, than it would in all probability be the mystery creature/culprit.

There were a multitude of lures and traps known to hunters throughout history, ranging from simple decoys to false calls and of course bait. These tools of the trade all shared a kind of practicality, a common function that hunters worldwide could identify at a glance to veteran hunters. Rarity wasn't a hunter. In fact, she had little clue what went into "Hunting", and was forced to rely on what little experience she had with animals: namely, her precious fluffykins and beloved kitty Opal. Opal, on the rare days she felt up to playing, loved a feather tipped cat toy. Lacking other options, Rarity had created a copy of Opal's favorite feather cat toy and was shaking it around in the vain hope that mysterious monsters worked like kitties.

"Come out, come out, whatever horrible monster you are," Rarity called out wondering if she could create some jingly bells to use for her purposes "Why don't you stop stealing apples and expand your horizons somewhere else. I mean, I'm sure there is a family named after some other kind of fruit somewhere you could be bothering. Or maybe a family named after celery, yes yes. Why don't you go raid the Celery family farm now, you mysterious creature...."

"Who?"

Her carpet freezing mid-flight, Rarity felt a shiver slide down her spine. Her toy turning into a purple glowing flashlight, she slowly turned around, moving the purple high beam towards the source of the sound.

The mysterious, haunting, possibly lethal sound.

"Who?"

And found herself face to face with an owl.

She let out a deep sigh of relief, "Oh, good, an owl. You don't eat apples do you?"

"Who"

"Say, have you seen anything strange in these fields recently?"

"Who-Who?"

"......That isn't Granny Smith or Applejack?" Or that was what she assumed the bird was saying. She wasn't Fluttershy, she didn't speak owl.

"Who....." apparently that was the only strange thing it had seen around recently.

"Oh, too bad...." Rarity supposed there was a genuine question of why she was asking an owl for help here. "Say, what kind of owl are you? I always mix up Barn Owls and Barred Owls, and you don't have horns so you aren't a Great Horned Owl. Eastern Screech perhaps?"

Letting out an alarmed screech, the owl suddenly flew off. Rarity wondered if that was the owl saying 'yes, I am a Eastern Screech Owl', before she heard rustling behind her.

A tree branch then creaked as something landed on it.

Turning right back around, Rarity's beam of purple light caught several apple cores impacting the ground before exploding into mush that looked nothing so much as a dropped "mystery" meat casserole served at the School cafeteria.

Trembling, she brought her light source up into the tree, where a hiss emerged. It sounded like some horrible median sound between human and bat.

Rarity saw the creature, and her mind crashed to a halt, incidentally causing her carpet to flicker out of existence.

It was Fluttershy. Fluttershy was perched on a branch across from her messily devouring apples.

No, this Fluttershy seemed to have an odd brown coloration to her skin, glowing red eyes, and large ears that looked almost batlike. Her hands were oddly enlarged and had sizeable talons, as did her barren feet. Her arms now had a large, thin membrane from her arm to her torso, that looked rather like a bat's wing. Her clothing looked somewhat ragged and worn, as if she had not changed out of them in days.

"Well, no wonder I felt something was missing....." Rarity frowned under her breath. Fluttershy hadn't been at school today it would seem. Could....could she have quite possibly been like this for days?

But forget that....what on earth happened to her!? Was it the same thing that happened to her?

Was she going to suddenly grow horrible claws next!?

Shrieking loudly at her, Fluttershy looked upon her with animalistic rage, before swooping at her with those sharp and horribly ungroomed nails of hers.

In an instant, Rarity formed a glowing net, attached to two different trees. The apparently feral Fluttershy was caught up in the net, struggling to escape.

"Now Fluttershy, why don't you just calm down and...." Rarity began in a deceptively calm tone that she most certainly did not feel only for Fluttershy's body began to shift, her form seemingly dissolving and reforming. Where once she had bat wings, ears, and horrible claws her body was now covered in harsh looking brown scales, all sticking up from her body like miniature knives. New claws emerged from her hands, and a large, scaled tail of all things emerged from under her skirt. Her hair had also been replaced by similarly colored scales.

She began to thrash once more, and this time her scales were able to cut through the net like it was mere string.

"So, you can do that.....whatever it is you just did," Rarity noted in a slow, scared tone of voice. Once Fluttershy had freed herself, she narrowed her eyes at Rarity, before her form shifted once again.

She was now mostly human-looking, but with a pair of cat-like ears with long, black tufts at the end of them and whiskers coming out from side of her face. She was covered in brown fur, and her legs looked stronger than before.

She then leapt at her, moving faster at her than Rainbow Dash could run in a sprint.

And quite possibly faster than a car in a 25 MPH speed limit.

Rarity formed purple armor around herself, without even time to make it look good, before Fluttershy slammed into her, her claws immediately trying to pierce Rarity's chest cavity. The armor there held, as did the parts protecting her neck as Fluttershy bit her.

She responded with an explosion of purple light that blew Fluttershy off of her, before forming a purple stockade that slammed harshly down on Fluttershy, resisting her movements.

"That is quite enough Fluttershy!" Rarity exclaimed rather crossly. "You can skip school, turn into a monster, and attack Applejack's apples all you want, but I cross the line when you try to bite my neck! Honestly, were you trying to kill me!?"

Fluttershy responded with her body shimmering into a dark red scale covering with no hair or visible ears, followed by Fluttershy spitting at her.

Rarity blocked the spat with a glowing umbrella, that promptly began to hiss as some sort of acid melted away it at.

"Okay, I don't watch Animal Planet much, let alone since it started focusing on gold and treehouses, but even I know that no snake spits venom like that!"

SPAT!

"What, do you turn into some sort of super-animal-human-thing or something?"

SPAT!

"Or is it like that Ben 10 show after the first one......what was it called again? That was always more Sweetie's thing than mine...."

SPAT!

Lifting up her now Swiss energy umbrella to her face and dissolving it, Rarity snapped her fingers as a purple energy mask formed around Fluttershy's face and left eye.

"That is quite enough Fluttershy! Now, I don't know what on earth I'm going to have to do, but you are going to go back to normal now, or at least get housebroken...."

Fluttershy shimmered again, as the visible parts of her changed from scales to some sort of shiny, hard looking skin. Spines grew on her legs and back, and her mouth extended outwards, causing her mask to bulge unnaturally.

Fluttershy then pushed with her legs, throwing her into the air and shattering the stockade and mask, before shifting again into a black haired, large armed, and flat nosed creature.

Rarity knew this one at least: for coming down from above now came Flutter-Gorilla. Or perhaps Flutterilla: naming things was not her strong suit.

Rarity gritted her teeth, wondering what on earth would make Fluttershy stop trying to attack her, when her locket glowed.

Unsure of what else would be an option here, Rarity reached for the locket and aimed it right at Fluttershy.

The locket fired a purple beam of light, right into Flutterilla.

Power Error. Rarity blinked and looked around. Ability uncontrollable at present form, instincts and underlying emotions dominating logic and higher emotions. Initiating further power advancement.

A voice emanated from the light, even as it slowed down Fluttershy mid-lunge. The light caused Flutterilla to roar, clutching her head instead of having her arms out in a 'pummel Rarity' sort of way.

The gorilla parts began to dissolve away, leaving only regular, not part-animal Fluttershy.

Power repaired.

The light died down, even as Fluttershy dropped to the earth below.

Quickly forming a purple cushion, Fluttershy was caught mid-fall, and began to stir just as Rarity ran over to her.

"Fluttershy, Fluttershy!"

Groaning a bit, Fluttershy rose herself off the cushion somewhat dizzily, before noticing Rarity.

"Rarity? What....what happened?"

"You've been stealing Applejack's fruit like a vampire, tried to kill me, and routinely turned your skin all scaly and unpleasant; you tell me" Rarity questioned with some harshness to her voice. Fluttershy flinched, before frowning.

"I....I don't remember. I remember walking home from the animal shelter on Friday....there was this loud explosion, and a blue ring....and then everything just goes dark....sorry....."

"The same as with me...." Rarity noted "But I didn't turn into some monstrous freak...."

"Eep...."

Rarity realized what she had just said.

"Sorry Fluttershy......" and of course no one would notice Fluttershy being missing all weekend. Among her old friends there were only a few good parental figures among them, and two of them were dead. Did Fluttershy's parents even realize she had been missing?

"So........" Rarity began, not sure exactly what she should say here. Fluttershy was seemingly back to normal, or at least back to her senses, but what now?

"Well well, that was certainly entertaining" A familiar voice neither girl was happy to hear rang out through the orchard. As Fluttershy whimpered, Rarity turned harshly towards the origin of the sound, even as her locket glowed blue.

It rose over her head, before flying off into a nearby tree, where it quickly landed around a finger. Said finger promptly twirled it around.

The owner of the finger looked back at them in frank shock, but quickly regained her characteristic smug grin from up top a tree branch, sitting as if she had been watching a sports game.

"Well, this was certainly more exiting then I thought. I thought all I might find is a crazy raccoon, but here I find something even more interesting."

It was Sunset Shimmer, and she had Rarity's locket. At this point she had stopped twirling it around and now had it lying limp from her hand. The center purple diamond was flashing purple, sort of like what one saw in a electronic device with low battery.

"That is my locket, you thief!" Rarity shouted in a rage. Sunset merely rose an eyebrow, before pointing at the locket.

"Something like this......no, I don't think it is yours. I don't know how something like it is here....but between you and I, I'd say I'm the only one who has any right to it".

Sunset promptly flashed blue, before vanishing as she had never been sitting in the tree.

OMAKE

NON CANON

Character Role Auditions 1, or 'the Writer's been listening to a trailer so often he's been mongreening'

KrspaceTFiM studios, a subsidy of CENSORED Studios of Fanfiction.net, had many things going on and about.

It had sets to place, research to do, and lawyers to point in only the directions one wants them in.

Setting up character roles for the current production was another major issue, and that in turn led to auditioning.

That was always a length process, and it took a while to find the good talent hidden among the bad.

"Next!"

Princess Twilight Sparkle's voice shouted out, even as a duo of wrapping human boys got upset.

"But hey, we're just getting started"

"Next!"

"We need to show ourselves as potential characters, with the ages set up the author could just retcon us out as a bunch of green freshmen instead of the important and loved antagonist...."

"Security!"

"Yeahhh!"

As the two were dragged off by a large man with loud vocal tones, Twilight turned to Spike the Dragon, who had the master list for today.

"So, whose next? Trixie? Chrysalis? Tirek? Serpentor?"

"Why would he be on the list?" Spike questioned as he double checked for the guy just in case "What would he have to gain from this production?"

"We did have that Dalek earlier".

"Yeah, but people just generally assume that Doctor Who is canon to MLP series 4 and role with it thanks to Doctor Whooves. If we put Serpentor in this story we'd have to put a crossover label up".

"Is that really so bad?" Twilight questioned as the lighting suddenly went out.

"......Ah, the lights! The big guy isn't getting enough likes to stroke his ego and the entire production is going dark!"

".....Spike, he figured out how to see the bookshelf list, he can stroke his ego with that. Obviously this is a part of some audition...probably the Great and Powerful....."

"I've got no strings, To hold me down" the ominous music began to play in the darkness, as Spike's eyes widened.

"Oh no, a villain song! That never ends well for anyone!"

"So what, this is Chrysalis or Starlight's audition then?" Twilight noted how most of the other villains did not sing.

"To make me fret, or make me frown"

"Yep, Starlight......" Twilight declared as her horn began to glow threatening "You are way down on the list of two-parter bad guys to use Starlight, so why don't you just come on out and stop with the Pinnochio references....."

Red, flashing eyes glowed in response, as the song verse ended.

"I'm heartstrings......but now I'm free"

The red lights glowed bright as a sun, temporarily blinding the two, before the light dimmed to reveal the perpetrator of the audition.

It was Lyra Heartstrings, wearing a metal, ant like helmet with glowing red-eyes.

"What do you think?" The Canterlot High student asked excitedly "Do I get the part?"

Author's Note

1: Heads up, I've never read and IDW comics, and I have heard a lot of things about them. Let's just say what I have heard reminds me a bit of the Star Wars E.U pre Disney: a series with good stories in it, but faulted by a tendency to repeat previously told stories. It's where a certain Anon-A-Miss story came from in my opinion. As the quality is unstable and I have never read any, unless anything from them is mentioned (like Tiberius being referenced) do not assume they are in the pool of useability.

2: That was Owlicious. Not sure if he'll return or not.

3: Fluttershy's species for today are Evolutionary Accelerated Fruit Bats, Tree Pangolin, Caracal, Red Spitting Cobra, Flea, Gorilla

4: The Omakes, keep or not?

Conferences

"I don't understand....why do you let those nobles question you like that? You know so much, how could they possibly think they know better than you"

Her voice back then had been high and childish, a squeak closer to that of one of the freshman trio (who she had forgotten to punish, though given the circumstances since she'd let them off the hook for now) than her current voice. As much as it pained her to admit, her younger voice suited her filly form quite nicely.

Her mentor, reclined on the ground, listened to her juvenile questions with her seemingly limitless patience. A part of her felt rather proud for managing to strain said patience, but that wasn't here or now.

"I know so much, Sunset, because I've had years to learn. I've lived for many centuries, and I've learned much during that time. Often the hard way. However, no one can ever truly know everything."

Her mentor's horn glowed, causing dozens of glowing symbols to appear around the two, dancing as if performing a ballet of sorts. A spatula and a plow, a dance shoe and a boat wheel, a hammer and a snowflake; they and many others danced to their own little tune.

"Knowledge is gained through the life one lives, just as much as one gains beliefs and dreams. One can read all one wants about sailing, but only a sailor who has braved the seas for years can truly say they know everything about it, and even they will be proven wrong when one fishes out a giant squid."

"Giant squid?"

"Yes Sunset, a giant squid. I can show you the newspaper articles tonight if you like." And she did. They were rather interesting.

"Of course, encountering unknown denizens of the deep is very rare, so most of the time the sailor will always known more about the waters than I could over hope to if I didn't take a sabbatical for a while to experience it myself. Sadly, I cannot, so there will always be ponies who know more about crucial parts of Equestria than I do. I need to listen to their advice when I make any decisions that would impact farmers, construction workers, or pastry chefs in order to make the wisest decisions."

"Oh....." Sunset mused, thinking about that for a bit, before her wide eyes blinked in confusion.

"Then, why do the nobles think they can tell you what to do? What do they know how to do that you don't?"

"Bureaucracy and mindless paperwork."

....For more recent thoughts entered the mind of Sunset Shimmer, currently lying on her mattress with a locket in hand.

"Now, I'm the lucky sailor who stumbled upon a giant squid," she mused silently as she watched the locket move back and forth, dangling above her face like a pendulum.

For just when she thought she had figured out this place well enough (Democracy, bipedal movement, human bodily functions, advanced technologies, wild weather patterns, etc), it threw a curveball right at her.

Several in fact.

In the span of only four days she had regained her magic because of some sort of explosion, (never mind how that had even happened in the first place), found two of her classmates gained powers as well, and found what looked very much like an Element of Harmony.

Of course it wasn't anything like what she had read about them, but then again Celestia was hardly a perfect cut and paste so why should the magical artifacts of ultimate power be any more alike between worlds?

And now she had one: a key to ultimate power was now in her hands.

Of course, it wasn't THE element. She remembered the colors mentioned in Celestia's lessons, and this wasn't the element of magic.

It was just generosity. Nothing special at all, especially when compared to magic.

But she supposed that without it, the set wouldn't be complete and the full power could not be used.

It was also a start. She had one, and now she just had to find the other five.

There was the....elephant in the room though, (that was the phrase, right? It wasn't some other earth-exclusive giant herbivore?)

Rarity and Fluttershy had shown power as well, and it wasn't magic. Magic did not create constructs like that, nor did it allow you to turn into hybrid creatures.

Did they get those powers when she got her magic back?

She had assumed that she was the only one affected: that she would be the only one in the world with powers. But now she was outnumbered by two people she regularly tormented.....

That could only end in so many ways, none of them good for her.

Did they know about the Elements? Would they seek their power as well? Was she going to have to try and find the other five in a race with a girl who could probably literally turn herself into a dog and sniff them out?

Of course, when there was a dog, there were ways of throwing it off the trail.

....

Fortunately, humans wrote books. In fact, the sheer quantity and variety they wrote rivaled her own kind. Including books on how to stop dogs, snakes, giant squid, and all matters of creatures that her potential foe, once the local pushover, could turn into to attack her.

And they had bookstores, very large bookstores. Filled with so many, many books, made by hundreds of authors with multiple perspectives and thoughts on the subject

These bookstores did not have night guards, or cameras for girls who teleported .

Sunset launched herself off her bed. By the time she landed, she had appeared on the carpeted floor of a local bookstore.

Was it Barnes and Noble? Probably.

Clapping her hands together, Sunset was began her shopping trip.

...

"Seriously? How to Keep Your Homicidal Bunny Happy and Not Murdery Who would even buy this? Back on the shelf you go."

...

"Dogs 101: Types, Temperaments, and Training.....potentially useful, if only just to make Rainbow go away."

...

The Venom of the Cobra: How to avoid being bitten, and how to avoid dying after being bitten? Well, I suppose the answer to the second question is 'don't get bitten in the first place. But, given that I am pretty sure these are the snakes that spit....."

....

"Penguins, the Complete History; Why not?"

.....

"How to Kill Giant Squids in 8 Easy Steps-Huh. That's...convenient. Eh....feeling nostalgic enough I suppose."

.....

"The Dragons of Komodo?! Wait, humans actually have dragons among them? Not sure what this giant lizard thing is, but I can't ignore this"

....

"The Heart of the Capybara: the South American Powerhouse. Okay, what exactly is a Capybara? Huh...well it probably eats meat or has claws or something so better take this with me."

....

And so Sunset continued on her merry little way, taking a copy of any book she found that has at least a sensible title in reference to the animal kingdom of this world.

These books would be invaluable in forming counter measures to keep Fluttershy from stopping her master plan.....and Sunset could not believe such a thought would ever enter her mind. Fluttershy, the meekest poster child for doormats world wide; stopping her?

Well, this world was crazy enough that perhaps even that made some sort of sense.

Eventually she had roughly 200 books, and she had to teleport off to get herself a shopping cart from the local giant soulless megastore to carry them all.

It was also a nice place to hold the fizzy drink she had also picked up while shopping.

Having reached the children's section, Sunset felt her trip was now complete. She no longer needed help figuring out the written language, so no more help from caterpillars.

Turning her cart around for one final check through the store, Sunset idly noted the covers to some of the books she passed: romance, vampire romance, dystopian romance, dystopian vampire romance, some guy with giant glowing constructs of energy......

She abruptly stopped, several books in her cart tumbling as she did so. Entering the aisle Sunset found herself faced to face with several books, paper and hardbacked, with various men, and other lifeforms she could not identify other that what appeared to be a squirrel, in green and black. All of whom were forming constructs much like Rarity did.

The books had a phrase, a title shared between them all: Green Lantern.

"....Not quite the right color...." Sunset noted, picking one up and rapidly flipping through the pages of one book titled 'Sinestro Corps War' quickly "But this green is....fairly well drawn. Never read one of these things before....but the resemblance......how uncanny....."

She quickly threw the book about some Sinister Corps into her cart, followed by the glowing forms of over half a dozen other books titled Green Lantern.

Once she had a copy of every book, she then noticed some of the other books dotting the shelves around it.

Batman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle, Teen Titans, Nightwing, Icon, Static, Animal Man, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Aquaman.....dozens of named 'Superheroes' if she recalled correctly, all dotted this shelf, all labeled with the same logo as the Green Lantern.

DC.

If Rarity had the powers of just one of these heroes......would others show up with similar powers?

While it was somewhat unlikely that she'd run into, say, Bon Bon of all people dressed in some sort of armored leotard colored like a flag, would it hurt to at least be prepared for such a issue?

In the end, the fact that she wouldn't be paying for any of these books won out, and so they joined the cart and soon departed the store with her.

....

The next day saw Fluttershy walking to school, a smile on her face.

The sort of smile that had been a rarity on her for quite a while now.

It had been a somewhat....awkward magical carpet construct ride back to her place.

Then again, two super-powered beings who just happened to be former friends had just fought each other only for one to snap the other (her) out of feral delusions, then the bully showed up who just also happened to have super powers stole Rarity's new locket that had restored her sanity and then teleported away.

They then had to skedaddle when they heard the barking of Winona nearby. While Fluttershy adored the dog and said dog would likely not attack them, it would alert the Apples.

Things would have gotten weird if they had to explain what happened to their apples.

".......So...you can make things now?" She had asked Rarity, who frowned.

"I've always been making things, now they just happen to be glowing purple".

"And Sunset.....Sunset can take things without touching them, and teleport, and who knows what else. It's like, she's a witch or something."

"Well, she always did act like a Slytherin...." Rarity mused, a slight smile on her face. Perhaps the comparison was amusing, or maybe it was just her fondness for the books.

"......Do you think that she could come back and get us?"

"Do we have school tomorrow?" Rarity replied dryly.

"Um, I think so?"

"Than yes, she probably will come for us then." Rarity looked like she was already mentally preparing herself for it.

"Fluttershy," she said after a few moments of thought, sounding somewhat nervous to bring the idea up "I was, just thinking. Perhaps we could....form a, shall we call it, alliance of sorts?"

"Alliance?"

"Yes. An alliance. Sunset is likely going to end up in our business, now that she knows that we have these....abilities, and we know she does. She might even be able to seriously hurt you or I one on one. But two against one...."

"So, what you're saying is that you want to be together as a mutually beneficial duo who share our own personal abilities and observations in order to better both of our lives?" Fluttershy translated.

"I suppose so."

"So, you're asking if we can be, friends?"

When everything had fallen apart, Rarity and Fluttershy had not been at odds. While their friendship had not survived, it was not through Rarity lying to her.

Perhaps because of that, they could possibly, maybe.......

"I suppose we could.....try it out once more" Rarity sounded hesitant, but rather hopeful about the whole thing "I mean, we can't take back the past, but perhaps, maybe, we can just ignore it for a while. Focus on other things, like our resident witch with a big old B."

Fluttershy, now imaging Sunset dressed like the horrible and wicked Bellatrix, whimpered a bit "Can we...talk about anything else than Sunset the Death Eater?"

"....You have something in mind?" Rarity asked.

".....I did get a coupon for a two for one at that shoe store on Bell Boulevard. Maybe....you can tell me when the best time to go, my coupon only expires at New Years...."

"That cute little place, but of course! Now, it really depends on if you want new boots, or new sneakers because if you want the best brands, then you really should go...."

Fluttershy had felt, light, almost breathy as they talked. They fell into conversation so easily, like nothing had ever happened. All through their talk, Fluttershy had trouble identifying what this feeling in her heart was, or why it felt as if the world was a bit brighter. Then she remembered:

She was happy, but in a way that did not involve the love of an animal or an elder. A friend her own age, something she had once had, but lost....

It had been so long.....

"Fluttershy? Dear, are you crying?"

Fluttershy was startled out of her own thoughts by Rarity's concerned tone. She brought a finger to her eyes and found tears flowing freely. This realization brought on a round of sniffles. Concerned, Rarity comfortingly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Darling, what's wrong?"

What did she even say to that? Why had she turned into some feral monster? Why did she barely remember what happiness was happiness was. How did she even begin on explaining why smiling-once such a familiar concept-actually hurt after so long. Why had everyone important to her turned on her and one another?

Instead, she asked a question.

"Rarity...why'd we stop being friends?"

Rarity was taken aback. "I...I don't know. We used to be so close, but after the fighting, we just...stopped, I think."

Fluttershy was quiet for a moment. "I'm glad you're back."

Rarity blinked, but gave her a small yet brilliant smile. "So am I."

"Oh, Fluttershy! So good to see you!"

Fluttershy stopped, both in step and in thought, as the sound of a motorbike approached her from behind. Turning, she was met with the familiar sight: a policeman with black and bronze with a white helmet, blue shades, and a brown mustache riding the motorbike that matched his dress uniform.

His name was Officer Wyatt, and he was a very nice man.

"I didn't see you yesterday, I admit I was worried about you." He greeted as his motorbike paused, moving to the curb as to not block traffic. Fluttershy bowed her head slightly, a bit ashamed.

"I didn't mean to worry you like that. You must be so busy and all....."

"Think nothing of it" Wyatt waved her concern away "You are never a bother to me. In fact, it's people as kind as you that makes me glad to be alive. Who wants to live in a world with only the cruel?"

"No one?"

"Exactly! That's how everyone should live, making sure that the world is a less cruel every day! That's why I'm always on the prowl for the cruel, and why you help out at the animal shelter so often!"

"Everyone deserves a little kindness."

Smiling, he turned his attention back to the forward traffic, restarting his machine.

"That they do Fluttershy, that they do.."

The cop took off, and Fluttershy continued to school.

...

As expected of the industrial level production factory that is the High School classroom, surprised murmurs arose when Rarity and Fluttershy sat together, but lecture quickly took attention off the two.

For English Class was required, difficult, and today featured something vaguely interesting.

Today, instead of trying to determine what The Catcher in the Rye is truly about, or trying to understand Hamlet, they were going over myths.

"Many myths could be considered universal: stories that were repeated and retold across many distinct cultures separated by immense geography. The myth of the dragons, the flood, the mermaid, and the lost cities, all of these myths are found all over the world among even the most distinct of cultures."

It might have just been Rarity, but it seemed that the moment 'cities' were mentioned Vinyl actually looked briefly interested in anything but the loss of her music. Until then, she had mostly looking at Fluttershy with unusual focus. Perhaps Vinyl had only just realized she had been absent yesterday?

"Many of these myths differ greatly: see no other example than the dragon. Dragons are depicted either as guardians of wisdom as they are in China and Japan, or villains as they are in the myths of Christendom. Similarly the details of the lost cities differ between cultures: with Christians believing the kingdom of Prester John to be a lost kingdom of hidden Christians, hidden among the pagans and Muslims, while cities like Camelot and Atlantis were spoken of in past tense, as great civilizations lost to time itself. Some, like El Dorado, were believed to be hidden in the jungles, while others like Shambhala were said to exist inside the earth."

"Ohh! Ohh! Miss Yearling, don't you mean Shangri-La, and isn't that in the mountains of Tibet or Nepal or......Bootan? Bootah? Booyah?"

The English teacher shook her head in exasperation as a certain exuberant student interrupted her lecture, as loud as ever. "You mean Bhutan, Pinkie, and Shangri-La originates from a novel in the 1930's, James Hilton's Lost Horizon. It is based on ancient stories from Tibet about similar cities, and may in fact be inspired by Shambhala."

"Oh....."

".....Beyond characters myths also share many similar stories. Stories of great heroes are extremely common, as are stories of great floods. Greek, Norse, Native American, Biblical.....these stories are nearly universal."

"So, does that mean there was actually a flood?" Fluttershy whispered in a terrified tone of voice, as if imagining such a flood happening now.

"Perhaps: at the end of the ice age water levels did rise drastically as the glaciers melted away. The stories may be referring to such events that had passed down through oral histories. Or perhaps humans understand the destructive forces of floods and imagined their worst case scenarios".

Frowning, Rarity leaned to the latter theory. Worrying was something she doubted was new in humanity.

"Some stories in myth are written in part to link them to more contemporary works. For example, when Christians were converting the Norse they noted the stories of the Nordic end of the world and used the rebirth of humanity in tandem with their own stories of Adam and Eve. In doing so, they were able to convert Northern Europe. Other stories connections are more likely coincidental: several recent archaeological findings by the Doctor Edward Auguter finds mention of stories, written at similar times by people as far apart as the Olmec, the early Roman Empire, the British Celts, the Scythians, and Han China talk of similar stories that all originated from the same time: of warriors clad in shimmering light battling threats described in a variety of ways, but all in the same manner: a battle with inhuman creatures. These tales are not uncommon in mythology: see the Minotaur or Grendel. Yet the fact that very similar stories all emerged from the same periods in history....it makes you think doesn't it?"

Class quickly entered the more classically boring part, where every student was told to write a full page about why things like Dragons and lost cities were so universal, partners allowed for brainstorming, etc.

It was frankly amazing, Rarity thought to herself, how easy and frankly fun this activity had become. Typically, she'd be forced to partner up with someone she didn't know or wanted in her pants, and the entire process would be grueling at best, day in and day out. But, today partnered with Fluttershy, they blazed through it: her organizational skills and Fluttershy's attentiveness to detail regarding mythological creatures and particularly animals combined together into one engine of perfection that had the entire project done with time to spare. Finished so early, Rarity beamed a bright smile at Fluttershy and engaged in one of her absolute favorite past times: gossip.

Pinkie, barely a quarter of the way through her own project, glanced at Rarity and Fluttershy with a smaller smile than she usually had. Fluttershy leaned forward and Rarity whispered something in her ear, prompting a small fit of giggles from the former. After a moment, Pinkie shook her head and went back to her work, but couldn't help glancing every so often at the reunited pair, each time the smile on her face fading away until, near the end of class, all that remained was a frown.

....

Eyeing the recently reunited duo with a frown on her face, Sunset darted her eyes back into her locker as she began to shuffle her books around.

Some books were deposited, no longer needed for the day's classes. Others were taken up for upcoming sessions.

She also had to switch out her 'I am superior to you underpaid teacher and already did your assignment in class' reading material: last class really ate up her page count. Luckily she had more than enough material to keep her busy, even if she didn't bring her recently obtained books to school on account of the recent police call.

The school's library had a rather deep selection of fascinating literature: The Lord of the Flies, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hobbit. In the past, Sunset would have scoffed at such books as pointless, but...she was bored. Few of the classes remotely challenged her, and fewer still of her classmates were any academic competition worth any attention. Hence the reason why she was getting started on a curious book called Dracula.

Of course, books older than any human did not cause her to ignore her other problems. Namely, the fact that she was outnumbered, and there was no easy way to fix that.

Arranging something to break the two apart now would be too suspicious. It was unfortunate, but there was no way to separate the two at this present time.

Well...no. Nothing she'd be willing to violate her admittedly sketchy morals over at the very least.

"When you can't fix a problem, you've just got to live with it. You can take the two of them, and neither has the charisma to unite the school in song and dance against you. You have bigger things to deal with at the moment."

Wait, where had that thought come from? Who would unite the school through song and dance against someone when it'd be so much easier with blackmail and sledge hammers?

Sunset blinked, and looked below her locker's door to notice a familiar set of blue skinned legs, shorts, practically audible seething fury. Unless she was vastly mistaken, Rainbow Dash, presumably waiting to ambush and taunt her over something insignificant and pointless.
There were two ways she could handle this. She could close her locker door, come face to face with Rainbow Dash, and presumably have a shouting match. Or she could keep the door open and busy herself with the first few pages of Dracula and either wait for Rainbow to lose it and leave or slam the door shut. Either result would piss Rainbow off, so it was a win-win.

A full two minutes later, she heard what could only be described as a growl and Rainbow slammed the locker shut.

"You know, I really appreciate you closing that for me-it took you what, a 120 seconds with me just standing here ? Anyway, I really appreciate the effort but I'm afraid it just won't work between us-you see, I'm a beautiful prodigy and your nothing but a rabid mutt, so please kindly buck off."

Her dry comment did nothing to make her go away.

"We have some unfinished business Shimmer."

Rainbow apparently had not forgotten their near fight yesterday, interrupted only by a certain Principal.

But she wasn't here now to stop it.

Sighing, Sunset dropped her books. If Rainbow was this insistent on challenging her like this, then she was going to have to learn to deal with the consequences of such.

The question remained: would Rainbow have to invest in a wig, or whatever it was humans used for facial hair?

"You really shouldn't drop your books Sunset. I know that algebra is boring and the textbook is like a brick, but no reason to treat it that way. Bricks are nasty for the janitor to clean up after...."

And just like before, the fight was prevented from even starting, as Principal Celestia showed up behind her, startling Sunset.

"Now, you're going to pick those up and be on your way, right? Same to you Rainbow, class is starting soon isn't it?"

The look that Rainbow gave her as she left suggested that this was not going to be merely a two-off event.

....

Thursday morning found Rainbow Dash fumbling at her locker, complaining.

"I mean really Scoots, what is it with Celestia showing up whenever I'm about to teach Sunset a lesson! Does she stalk me or something!?"

Scoots, or Scootaloo as she was better known, shrugged "I don't know....but isn't there some old saying about twice being coincidence, three times being coincidence...."

"And five times makes me think Celestia can freakin' teleport," grumbling, Rainbow opened her locker, as a paper out of place swung out of it.

Now, Rainbow's locker normally had many things out of place. It was madness to try and describe the interior, and some odd molds may be growing deep within.

However, this paper had much nicer handwriting on it that any of Rainbow's scribble.....Sunset Shimmer's handwriting.

Scootaloo managed to grab the paper before it hit the floor or flew into someone's face, the two tomboys looking it over in surprise.

Rainbow Dash,

Look, you want to fight, I want to shut you up, and if we keep this up your way both of us are going to find the bottom of Principal Celestia's patience.

Meet me Saturday afternoon at the Junk Yard, we will fight there.

If you don't show up, you chickening out will be spread through the school.

If you are unable to read this, then congratulations you are illiterate. Here is a map of where I expect you to be.

Sunset Shimmer

Below her signature was a crude and rather mocking cartoon map of Canterlot with a dotted line from school to the junkyard.

Ripping the paper in half, Rainbow seethed in fury.

.....

Late at night in Canterlot, the unmarked and plain truck came to a stop in a fading lot well off the beaten path of the average citizen, or the police.

The headlights pierced the darkness in the lot, revealing a narrow band of decrepit asphalt and concrete wall of a nearby building in the otherwise pitch black night. Two burly men exited the side doors, dressed in all black suits that spoke of either secret agents or hideously conspicuous mob thugs.

They were talking rather casually, despite the situation.

".....So, did you catch the game last night?" One man that might have been ruggedly handsome before he'd fought and lost a battle with a concrete wall said casually, even as he scanned the surrounding area.

"Couldn't. Kid wanted to catch that new Daring Do Movie, again, and the wife got on my case to drive her there. How many more of them are there, really? They started getting old after the first two: now they're just a pain."

"As many of there as there are books and profits from adapting the books. Although, I'll admit that series is getting ridiculous. I mean really, who ever heard of book adaptions being good enough to do the entire series in full?"

"Well there are the Harry Potter films, and the Lord of the Rings....."

"Besides them."

"...Then why did they mess up the one with the dragon in it, or the one with the Greek stuff?"

"A lack of dedication, authorial oversight, and terrible actors."

The larger man checked his phone.".....Shouldn't the guy have gotten here by now?" the conversation had reverted to serious business. "I mean really, these steroids aren't going to sell themselves."

"Relax, you know how those upper class types are like. They hate when us 'lowly street urchins' are late, but they take their merry time. But they always bring the big money."

"Yeah, and maybe this time they might actually pay us enough that I can just put my kid through college so she can make the money to see her own damn movie...."

"Your kid's 12."

Any more complaining about movie and college was quickly silenced however when a thunderous crash split the night, startling them as a massive crack split the solid concrete wall illuminated in the headlights

The two men slowly turned to one another, white as sheets.

".....Maybe it's the Crystal Prep guys testing out the 'roids?"

"Or...Oh god. Denny was right." The shorter thug said, backing away as imaged of every single comic book he'd ever read flashed through his mind.

"No." One said, a crazed determination in his eyes. "Denny is a drugged up crazy bastard. This is reality. I refuse to accept that something as ridiculous as a costumed hero in tights is going to...."

The air promptly filled with the shriek of metal being torn apart by sheer physical force. A distant shout arose about someone tearing apart their imported Ferrari rang through the air.

The two minions promptly ran for their truck and high tailed it.

....

".......Go to Canterlot, my ma says. Crime here is low, she tells me. You won't die like you would back home, she implores. Ha ha ha ha ha....."

"Please stop freaking out: I'm driving and I suddenly want to get back to my kid and her Daring Do obsession."

As the minor criminal minion who was freaking out tried to calm himself, he looked out the window to enjoy the comforting, sweet familiar sight of the bad parts of downtown Canterlot (also known as middle of the road for his home city).

Then he looked at the side mirror, and it promptly had the opposite effect.

A masked woman in purple and black, adorned with a giant hat, chasing their speeding vehicle...at eighty miles an hour.

On foot. While carrying a beat up, rich looking person who they were meant to sell their drugs to.

And gaining speed.

There was only one obvious conclusion.

"........Darkwing Duck is chasing us man, Darkwing Bleeding Duck!"

"Did you get into the supply while I wasn't looking again?...." the driver complained about his partner's hysterical rantings. A quick glance out the window revealed nothing, let alone any sort of duck. "Look, if you are having a panic attack, I totally understand that. We're fleeing from some drugged up crazy, and nothing's gone right today. Tell you what, let's just drive for a while, and then we can get a nice drink....."

Then the sound of metal being burst apart rang out, right from behind them.

The roof of the trailer burst as something ripped through it.

"Oh god, I was right! Sweet lord why did I have to be right?"

....

One beat down later found the two knocked out, bruised, and laid out in the trailer of their vehicle with their steroids. Their buyer lay with them, his Crystal Pep shirt clearly visible.

The masked vigilante snorted at them. The fighter turned, ready to leave, when a gleam caught her eye.

Something was glittering under the steroids. Without much effort the vigilante lifted the boxes up, revealing a golden locket on the ground.

Using her foot to drag it out, the vigilante picked it up and looked at it for a few moments.

The vigilante then crouched, before leaping out the hole she made in the trailer earlier, locket now in hand.

And the recording stopped.

Six individuals who had attentively been watching all frowned, deep in thought as the recording ended.

Five of them were mere images on a monitor, their faces and voices obscured for security sake, labeled only with code names: C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5. The sixth individual, however, was physically present.

"...It appears we can declare her as fact, rather than mere rumor, Enforcer. Someone's playing superhero." C1 observed.

"The question is, who created this hero? One of our competitors perhaps?" C2 questioned with interest.

"Hard to say, I generally leave a signature on my subjects, and most scientist capable of human augmentation would do the same, so a dissection should reveal the ones behind it. Unless...possibly someone is trying to remain anonymous" C3 stated with clinical interest, as if dissecting a human was something casual.

"It is possible this is not the work of a earthly force. We should observe." C5 spoke with caution.

"Regardless of who or what made her, our little masked crusader is an asset we should obtain or destroy before it become a threat." C4 had a vaguely military edge to his tone.

"While I enjoy massive manhunts as much as the next guy, I admit going in without a plan of attack would be reckless at the present time. You can hardly call yourselves a secret society if you go tear a city apart house by house looking for our Clark in the Haystack after all." The Enforcer pointed out.

"So what, we just leave the superhero alone. How wise is that?" C2 exclaimed in clear concern.

"We could......or we could make use of this."

The Enforcer turned to C1 as he made this point, brow raised curiously.

"This girl wants to play hero, right? Then, why don't we use that. I've long asked myself how it is we can really see how our own superhumans fare in proper combat, particularly as the age of the super soldier comes at last. Can merely putting them in battle with testing robots and average humans really show their strengths and weaknesses. Only a proper battle can reveal that. This superhero, shall become our quality tester. At the same time, how better to show off our mass producible superhuman products than a live demonstration, in the middle of a city. It leaves such a better impression on our customers than the well worn desert, no?"

"So, what, we basically use her as our test monkey, and our commercial? Amusing...." C3 sounded eager to see the results.

"Yes, amusing.....and traceable. Whose to say that they won't follow the trail of superhumans back to us, specifically me!" C2 demanded.

"Be discrete: your a businessman. I'm sure you have plenty of experience dodging investigations, just don't use anyone who can be traced to your company." C5 sagely explained.

"....Regardless of where this superhero comes from, the fact that she's shown up now is somewhat concernng, if you recall the recent trends on our moon base." The enforcer reminded them before they could start arguing about costs again.

"Yes, things have been rather nasty in the last two years haven't they. I do appreciate all the samples you've sent to Angolomois as a result." C3 stated rather begrudgingly.

"Not a problem, who doesn't love killing aliens? Though I must admit, the side effects from that blood transfusion have been an even greater prize than the sheer thrill of battle." The Enforcer laughed. "But, as enjoyable as it is, you don't pay me to just kill aliens, do you?" Waving his hand, the enforcer brought up several holographic screens, most displaying a series of alien text with a translation below them. A few screens showed various images of aliens: a menagerie of shapes and sizes, colors and sheen, some looking like something from earth made alien, and others truly, bizarrely, eldritch unknowns to humanity.

A larger holoscreen appeared behind the enforcer, showing a rather blank galactic map labeled with several of the galaxy's larger features revealed to it, as well as where the earth was in it, before shifting and being updated with a series of alien star maps adding information to it to reveal several hundred more planets, what appeared to be massive borders of multi-system governments, and a lot of overlaid confusion as data overlapped with multiple alien languages and interpretations, before solidifying into a more clean, organized piece of data with English.

"Over the last few months, through liberal use of my masters in astrology, liberal torture of important individuals both human and extraterrestrial, exceedingly easy manipulation of spineless morons, and lots of bodies, I've obtained all the information I need to present you the Milky Way."

"Welcome to the Galaxy, you mean," C2 quipped. No on responded to his joke, which seemed to upset him.

"As you can clearly see," The enforcer noted the map without any sign of delay "Earth seems to be somewhat remote from the main hubs of intelligence in the galaxy. We exist in the Orion Arm, yet the closet sentient worlds known to these aliens appear in the upper reaches of the Sagittarius. It is possible that they simply have not explored it enough, but given that the northern end of the galaxy is similarly sparse the possibility that the entire southern expanse of the Orion, Perseus, and Cygnus arms are humanities is a strong possibility."

"Yes, I can see that most of the worlds known are closer to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy...." C1 observed, before narrowing his eyes at the single world in the northern half, a world that seemed to be exactly opposite of Earth "The World where the Star and Satellite Don't Move Right?"

"The species I was able to make our own Rosetta Stone out of are a very literal people. They called themselves, in their own tongue, The Ones with 5 Nostrils Who Think. They described everything this way: their star ships translated to 'the transports across space' as it was. So, while I was able to decipher terminology that we know of, like food or asteroid belts, the names of these races are not known. However, they do have descriptions for what I can only guess to be five major powers, and I have managed to translate some other races descriptions for them with some effort, though they retain the shared issue ."

He first noted the center of the galaxy, where three of these powers lied. Each held large chunks of the core and neighboring regions: the largest spread out from the upper-center like a great fan that looked like it was invading the two below it, the second occupied the western section and appeared to be suffering from both extreme fragmentation from attacks by the northern group and from simultaneous, almost spotty incursions west and south, and the third, the smallest, occupying a rather solid territory that seemed to form a barrier in the direct expansion of either of the others south to Earth.

"The northern entity seems to be called, in various translations: the Empire of Brutalities, of Deceptions, of Death, the Exterminators of 10,000 Worlds, and the Bringers of Armageddon. They are said to have lost their homeworld due to a civil war, and seek to rule the universe."

"That....is embarrassingly cliche."

"But admirable C3." C4 noted.

"The second is known as the Judges of Madness, the Sphere, the Traders of Deceit, the Great Forgers, the Squids that Hide, and the Creators of Servitude. From what I can tell, unlike the first empire they do not conquer their victims, but instead trap them in servitude via treaties and manipulation."

"So, more like the Japanese or Dutch than say, the Russians." C2 observed.

"Correct. We have the most complete astrology of this territory, and the worlds of the empire that they appear to have taken from this group. Most of the aliens that have shown up to give us this information, and their biological data after their deaths and analysis."

"Yes, yes I did." C2 was rather smug sounding about it.

"The third world has....frankly, nicer names to it. The Republic of Friends, the Alliance, the People of Democracy, and the Resilient. This appears to be a, Galactic Republic of sorts."

"Well damn, I hate the Prequels." C5 complained.

"I did not read anything about space knights, so I doubt it is that republic. This group appears to be a pretty determined group, with a lot of guts. They are fighting both groups, mostly under what I suspect to be a truthful desire to liberate brutalized worlds from nasty conquerors. They are struggling though."

"Good guys never do win, do they." C1 snarked.

"Oh, you never know." C3 commented, but laughed 0.3 seconds afterwards.

"No, no they don't," the enforcer noted the two other groups, one off to the east of the Empire and the Republic, and another to the northwest of the empire, the sides of the empire forming a bit of a road between the empire and just short of Earth's opposite in the galaxy.

"We know less of these two: apparently they are not actively involved in the wars yet, though if I was a betting man I would say the Empire will likely confront them in the future. The first is known as an Imperium, but beyond that I have found no descriptions. This implies it is also an empire, though how it ranks against the other is a question I cannot answer. The second is a group with more descriptions to it, and are known as, The Others, Those Without Mass, Those Marked by V, and The Enlightened Swarm."

"Sounds Lovecraftian." C4 noted, "How pretentious."

"If you rule star systems, I think you can afford to be so." C5 pointed out.

The enforcer paused, as if listening to something only he could here before he snorted in annoyance. "Excuse me. There's something I need to take care of."

"Did...Did the Enforcer just walk out on us?" C4 asked.

"Yes." C3 said, sounding rather bored.

"So, we're not going to acknowledge this blatant act of disobedience?" C4 asked.

"Oh, we all know he has a random, disrespectful asshole tendency that pops up every now and then, but the point is he gets the job done, one way or another, brutish methods be damned." C5 said.

Sensing a lull in the conversation, C4 changed the subject.

"Aliens, superhumans, I still think we would be better served with creating better weapons instead of just messing with their DNA. There is no point in creating our own army of Supermen if we don't have a gun that can kill him first." C4 growled as C3 laughed.

"You want better guns to kill people with, do you? I mean really, have you ever heard of that annoying trash people spout, that guns don't kill people but people kill people. Well, it is because of me that that is now true: people can kill people so much better than with a mere machine gun now."

"I created the technique." C2 stated petulantly.

"And who perfected it?"

"With half you budgets I managed to create a gun that kills virtually everything you two Frankensteins have made with your corpses and mad science."

C1 loudly cleared his throat, silencing his feuding trio of underlings.

"Puh, mortals." C5 scoffed.

The all stopped and listened attentively as a distant roar reverberated through the space that was even picked up by the speakers, followed immediately by another, somewhat more human sounding roar. There was one, two, three meaty thumps, another roar that soon turned into a whimper that was in turn followed by the high pitched and pained yelp that ended abruptly with a shockingly loud "snap".

Several moments later, the enforcer returned, clothing noticeably the worse for wear.

"Your shirt." C1 commented as the man smirked, his features now more visible.

He was a massive man, a temple to musculature and height. The man stood near 7 feet tall, and growing as of his alien blood transfusion. His mohawk and beard were snow white, but not from age.

His garb was a black muscle shirt and pants, adorned with a silver belt and arm bands made of metal. Around his neck was a silver collar, with a T framed by a pair of large bull horns set in between his collar bone on the jewelry.

Below the collar was the claw marks that had sliced through his shirt, but failed to break his skin.

"My apologies," the enforcer spoke in a deep voice "There was a six hundred pound brown bear outside, breaking into my trash" He scratched his chin in thought. "Do any of you know a good taxidermist? He was met with silence before C2 cheerfully spoke up.

"Do send me the fleshy leftovers, I have some ideas of what to do with fresh Grizzly Bear DNA." C2 sounded rather interested in the prospect "Now, as to the first product line to test.....I have just the one in mind."

Author's Note

1: As with Nintendo, I reserve some A.U rights in this universe. While nothing that was written in our world changed much (That means that Cry for Justice still was written and the same major things happened, though the characters involved may be different), D.C comics has some different characters given spotlight when they didn't in the past. Also Milestone was more fully integrated into D.C, a la Quality, Charlton, or Fawcett.

2: that was not Darkwing Duck. Darkwing Duck is fictional in this universe.

3: Yes, the Enforcer is exactly who you think he is. If it isn't obvious, read his description a few times and think about it.

Rainbow Dash v Sunset Shimmer: Dawn of Motives

Mornings.....

Bleh.....

Lying in a heap under her covers, a semi-coherent mass lay dormant, unlikely to be disturbed by any natural phenomenon.

Her room was a unintentional shrine to chaos, a messy floor with three mostly distinct regions of identity seemingly in conflict with each other for what held influence with her.

The first area featured shelves decorated with trophies, medals, and other sorts of athletic achievement awards from a variety of sports: Soccer, Softball, Volleyball, Track and Field, Wrestling and Field Hockey. Several signed memorabilia decorated it, including signed soccer balls, footballs, hockey pucks, and even some that originated from the Olympics. Several official looking letters lay on the desk, most of them from nearby universities offering insane amounts of of sports scholarships.

The second area was, in a word, a nest. In particular, it was a gamer's nest. A large TV served as a central hub for a variety of gaming necessities, including multiple generations of consoles, a veritable mountain of assorted video game cases, scattered but lovingly placed figurines, most notably a Blue Knight with a shovel facing off against a cartoon duck with a large purple hat, and a red plumber standing on top of a humanoid blue hedgehog.

The third area was mostly filled with boxes of comic books, piles of comic book compiled novels, and at least 20 different posing figures, including a man dressed like a bat, a mighty blue hero with a cape, a beautiful woman with black hair, and a man in red posed as if running. Several books of a more traditional sense were scattered among them, the majority of them Daring do in some way, shape, or form.

How the sports, the video games, and the heroes did not come to life like a group of armless statues at night and attack either their owner or one another was a mystery. It was not a mystery, of course, to assume that if the unconscious mass was still friends with a certain fashionista, that the clashing colors and overall mess in this room would make the girl have a complete and utter meltdown that would either lead to total conscious shutdown in an effort to protect itself from eldritch messes or a murderous rampage against the atrocities in her sight

The mass snored on, perfectly emulating any number of monstrous cave dwelling monsters. When.....

EEE

EEE

EEE

EEE

EE....

Click.

With a groan, Rainbow began to shake and rise up, absently rubbing at her eyes as she let out a massive yawn.

"Ergh....."

Lacking higher brain function, Rainbow said the only thing that came to mind.,

"Rainbow Dash, the day will come when you have to make a choice"

Memories, however, were perfectly clear in her head, even as the blob began to slink towards a nearby shower.

Rainbow flinched as the memory came unbidden to mind as she trudged towards her shower.

Aunt Spitfire…if there ever was someone to feel conflicted about, it was her.

On one hand, she was a veteran pilot and officer with years of Air Force service under her belt who practically screamed “cool aunt”, and was a member of the Blue Angels to boot. She’d also taken Rainbow to arcades, sports games, and played with Rainbow whenever given the opportunity and overall made Rainbow Dash's childhood even more awesome than it would be otherwise..

On the other hand, she may or may not have taken part in an operation that wiped entire innocent villages off the map.

Rainbow was…conflicted, to say the least. It didn’t help she’d never find the truth now, either.

What would Aunt Spitfire think of her now? Rainbow thought as she threw her shirt and panties in the clothes basket and switched the hot water in her show up to the max and stepped in.

Would she be proud of her? Rainbow was certainly doing enough with her life, half or more of the sports teams at school, sports scholarships piling up before she’d even graduated High School.

Actually, it wasn’t even a question. Spitfire would be proud of that part of her life. It was…everything else she’d question.

Spitfire firmly believed in the system, that it’d eventually triumph. At least, that’s what her father said.

For the longest time, Rainbow had wanted to believe that, too. The police were always good, military was always fighting for their freedom, yada yada.

But…Spitfire believed that, and it had gotten her nowhere. Heck, if rumors were to be believed (and Rainbow would knock anyone out who actively spread these rumors), Spitfire had done more than just “defend freedom”, often at the orders of her own superiors.

Rainbow didn’t know. All she knew was that order and structure of such institutions often screwed things up, made things murky when they should have been simple.

See the bad guy. Beat the bad guy. Rinse and repeat.

Organization-whether its government, police, almost anything really, blurred such a clear, pristine goal. Rainbow stepped out of her shower scantily clad in a towel and opened her closet. A purple glove and hat lay partially exposed to the world. She hastily slammed the closet closed when she heard footsteps in the hall outside her bedroom, remembered she kept her clothes in there, open the closet and snatched a shirt and shorts before slamming it shut once more.

Spitfire probably wouldn’t be proud of her new nightly activities. Probably because of something dumb, like they’re “dangerous” or “illegal”, but Rainbow knew better.

She’d been given a gift, a one in a million chance to be something more, to make a difference like few else could.

There was no way she wasn’t going pass it up.
....

Mornings......

What was a lady to do in them but her routines.

Brush her teeth with her energy construct toothbrush.

Floss.

Shower.

Dress.

Check her news feed.

Say hello to the winged girl flying outside her window.

Prepare to make breakfast and hope the scent wakes Sweetie rather than spending twenty minutes trying gently before threatening her with ice wat-.

Wait, what?

Rarity very calmly set her phone down, noted to look back at her news-feed later, turned to her window, and stared.

Fluttershy smiled and waved.

Fluttershy smiled, waved, while flying.

With giant wings coming out of her back, flapping to retain her altitude.

"Hello Rarity!" She greeted kindly, as if what she was doing was completely normal.

"Flu...flu....Fluttershy?" Oh god, was she going to turn feral again?!

She flew into her window, her wings retracting as she squeezed on in rather limberly.

"You are....certainly limber." Rarity observed nervously as Fluttershy grinned.

"Oh yes, yes I am. See, a lot of animals have very flexible bodies, including Opal."

"So....you used your powers to fit through the window?" Rarity slowly stated, even as she panned over Fluttershy for signs of fur, scales, claws, or venom sacks. "But, you don't look like your using it?"

"Oh...." Fluttershy ticked her head, even as a pair of cat ears jutted out of her head "Is this better?" At Rarity's shocked expression, Fluttershy continued.

"I just figured it out yesterday. You see, I can use my powers without changing my appearance, though what I am able to do when I'm not altered is lesser. But what I can do....oh Rarity is is wonderful. I can see so many brilliant colors, I can make myself warmer or colder, I can even be awake and sleep at the same time. Birds can turn half their brain off to sleep while they are flying, and I can do my homework with my other half of the brain and feel refreshed afterwards!"

"You can......"

"So, mind if I stay for breakfast, I'm out of pop-tarts? I mean, if it isn't any trouble....."

"No no...It's fine...perfectly fine. I'm sure Sweetie will be a perfect angel. You, um, might want to ditch the ears though, Sweetie might fondle them, and Opal does not like other cats....."

"Purrrr......."

"....Of course, apparently catgirls don't count as 'other cats'." Apparently Opal was just as fond of catgirls as an anime fan was.

....

"Achoo......!"

"....."

"A'm fine Mac......a'm fine.......someone prob'ly just talkin' 'bout me behind my back. I reckon I know who....."

"You Know Who?"

"Close Apple Bloom, close."

.....

"Huh.......they aren't nearly as frightening as they sounded. Really, all a Capybara is is a over...over....ACHOO!"

Frowning, she wiped her book clean with magic and continued to read one of her proliferated books with only one snarky comment.

"I need to dust this place one of thee days....."

.....

Sunset smirked as she slowly closed her locker, a distant rainbow blur racing towards here.

What to do, what to do? Well, she could set her hair on fire. But...while that would certainly be fun and make her entire day, she really didn't want that kind of public attention right now. Hmm, a little thermal tampering and aquamancy and she could coalesce the moisture in air and make a nice, slick surface for Rainbow to fall flat on in front of all her peers.

Still, while humiliating Rainbow would be fun, Rainbow's confrontations were getting old. It was time for a show of force to end this silly trend.

Subtle, almost unseen sparks at her finger tips, Sunset's mind went into overdrive, calculating the exact components of the spell she needed to even as Rainbow all but charged in, fist clenched for one, powerful punch...

"Hello Sunset," Celestia said warmly.

"Oh, Hi Celesti-ahhh!" Sunset shouted as Celestia practically materialized by her side. Rainbow jumped back as well, blinking repeatedly at the sight.

"Personally, I prefer a simple 'tia' at the end of "Celest", a bit too much emphasis on the 'a' there." Sunset stared. Rainbow blinked. Celestia sighed and turned to Rainbow and raised an eyebrow. "Don't you two have classes to be?"

Mood utterly broken, Rainbow stomped off after one last glare in Sunset's direction. For her part, Sunset lingered a moment longer.
"You're doing this on purpose," she stated.

"My, I have no idea what you're on about. Why would I, a principal with decades of experience with moody teenagers and children notice when two teens shoot each other glares and blatantly obvious aggression at every opportunity?" Celestia shook her head, smiling with mirth.
"This was a lovely little chat Sunset, but I really must be going. Have a nice day," Celestia said and walked off.

Sunset seethed and ground her teeth together.

No matter the time, place, or even damn dimension, Celestia still had the uncanny ability to be impossibly aggravating

Scowling, Sunset walked off in search of something, anything, to get her mind off of Celestia's infuriating interruptions...

"Don't move, you monetary collecting machines! Trixie has business with you!"

Sunset grinned. Cue her needed distraction.

Normally Trixie meant annoyance. But while Rainbow was a loud dog that could bite, this one was just....a loud dog.

A very loud, but ultimately harmless dog. Like a Pomeranians? Maybe a Chihuahua? Eh, she didn't know: that was Fluttershy's thing to know the difference between useless mutts. They probably just looked the same, different only by ear angles or some nonsense.

Thankfully, loud and harmless dogs could be very amusing, given the right prompting.

A subtle blue enveloping her hand, Sunset tapped the machine and typed 106 with her other hand.

"Peanut butter cracker,s peanut butter crackers....." the girl sang to herself as she got near "Trixie's going to get herself some peanut butter and...."

Crunch

The skipping stopped as Sunset took a large bite out of her own packet of peanut butter crackers.

Trixie dully looked at her, looking rather cross. She then looked at the vending machine, and got even more cross.

"That....was the last packet of peanut butter crackers, wasn't it?"

In response, Sunset just swallowed the last of it. Nothing more needed to be said.

"Trixie.....dislikes you. Trixie dislikes you, a lot."

....

There was....a palpably dark feeling radiating off Sweetie all day, and Rarity was now starting to get worried even as the two arrived home.

It had lasted all day, and it wasn't what Rarity had previously seen of her. It wasn't her being cranky, or her feeling depressed because of a grade or a social flop.

It was....self loathing?

"Sweetie, are you alright?" it was the best thing Rarity could ask her at this point. What was she supposed to do or could say that didn't boil down to; 'Sweetie are you on the verge of writing gothic poetry', or 'Sweetie, are you getting vulgar text messages that will require me to introduce some nasty creatin' to a glowing energy mallet'?

"......" Sweetie didn't answer her. Perhaps she would have to ensure she wasn't on the verge of doing something incredibly stupid......

"Rarity, am I a good person?"

That.....was not what Rarity was expecting her to ask.

"Why Sweetie....what on earth would make you ask such a thing!? You are a perfectly wonderful, kind girl. Sure, you can be vexing, but that doesn't mean you don't do your chores, say please and thank you, and hold the door open for people. Did you run into one of those fire and brimstone preachers and actually listen to them as they went on and on about how mixing fabrics and mixing love will send you to hell? Because if that's the case, allow me to assure you that I'll be in hell with you, and I'll make it fabulous, with all the mixed fabrics!"

"That's not it......" Sweetie sighed, drooping over lethargically.

Drat. Rarity honestly thought that hell thing would at least perk her up. Or was she the only one who thought that was funny?

"Is someone troubling you then? If it was Sunset Shimmer then I assure you Sweetie...."

"No....she hasn't done anything, not since she nearly ran over Applebloom while we were trying to prove a stoplight sentient" Sweetie rolled over, now doing a very good impression of a rather upset Opal even as Rarity tried to process the stoplight thing.

"It's......Fluttershy." she admitted after about 10 seconds, which did not make Rarity any less confused.

"Fluttershy? I can't imagine what could possibly be the matter with her....you got along fine this morning."

"That's not it."

"Oh.......well....." Rarity was now at a loss to figure out how Fluttershy could possibly annoy someone.

She rarely smelled like her animal friends, she didn't swear, and she didn't advocate for giving chimpanzees voting rights (Okay, she'd finally dropped that one, but only after the chimpanzee ate the voting ticket). Perhaps her nervousness could possibly be the matter, but Fluttershy had not had a panic attack this morning and had only eeped 3 times on the way to school.

Okay the second time had been her. Why did chubby, hairy man have to always wear tank tops?

"It's.....just.......you and her are friends again....."

"Oh.....Sweetie do you think I'm going to ignore you for her or something?" Rarity hoped that Sweetie would never assume something so rash. The last thing Fluttershy needed was for Sweetie and her friends to come up with some hair brained, ill thought scheme to make her pay less attention to Fluttershy, possibly involving some nasty internet thing.

Or explosives. Stars above help them if they got hold of explosives again.

Rarity really did not want to think what something like that would do to the poor girl, or her sister being capable of such a dastardly thing.

"No...that's not it......it's just........I guess.....why?"

"Why? I don't get what you mean by that."

"......Why Fluttershy? Why, of all your friends.....former friends.....did you become friends with her again? Why not.....Applejack or Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash? Why on earth would Sweetie want her to be friends again with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's dreadful and ....

Oh.....

Oh dear. No wonder Sweetie seemed down.

"Sweetie..." Rarity moved over to put an arm around her moping sister, "I get why you feel that way. I'm sure it would be easier for you and your friends if....certain things had never been said. But you can't really control what fate throws at you, and fate threw Fluttershy and me back together."

Well fate, Flutterbat/something/something/snake/something, some purple energy constructs, and Sunset 'Slytherin' Shimmer. But that was somewhat complicated and did not warrant repeating.

"The way you say that, am I going to end up with an Aunt or something?" Sweetie, still somewhat depressed feeling, but sounding somewhat better.

"Sweetie, the correct term you are looking for is 'sister-in-law'......." Rarity blushed horribly, just as realized what she had just been lured into "....and do recall how I called you vexing earlier, right? Well, allow me to reiterate: you are very vexing."

"You didn't say no....." Should she tolerate Sweetie slowly perking up with these quips of hers, or should Rarity force the girl into plad as punishment for her impertinence?

Choices choices.

.....

The Junkyard.

Saturday.

The place where she would finally make Rainbow Dash shut up.

It....smelled.

Bad.

Really, if she'd had a considerable income and couldn't find use for refurbishing this stuff she'd never come here.

Even now, some of it still boggled her.

Yanking out what appeared to be a pair of giant, furry dice from a wrecked car, Sunset couldn't make heads or tails of them.

"All these years, and I still don't understand them. Why make these things?" tossing them back into the wreck, she turned and walked through the monuments to decay and waste, idly checking the time with magic every so often.

Still an hour until Rainbow showed up, but Sunset felt like getting here early. Might as well ensure she had all the energy she needed to scare Rainbow into proper behavior.....

VROOM

VROOM

The sound of a loud truck entering the area caught Sunset's attention and her gaze rapidly shifted towards the front gate.

Oh the for love of magic, a drop off!

Sunset kicked the rusted wreck of an old car. She didn't want nor need witnesses, but the universe felt like throwing them at her today, it seems.

Sunset's eyes widened.

If those bastards messed with her bike...

Sunset took a deep breath. Maybe if she was lucky they'd leave quickly enough.

If she was unlucky...

Well, she had never been adverse to teaching harsh lessons to delightfully attentive and likely bound idiots.

While Sunset didn't think it would take that much magic to make Rainbow heel, she'd prefer to have more magic than less on hand for when the eyesore showed up.

....

A bit of running found Sunset at the wide open gate to the junk yard, wide enough for a truck to drive through.

One in fact had, though it was not quite the normal sort of truck that came here.

It was that kind of truck, the name of which she could care less about, that hauled a lot of stuff in a secondary trailer to and from places. The truck itself was red, and the trailer a metallic silver.

Thankfully it was far away from her bike, carefully hidden inside a small alcove in a mountain of junk and covered by a tarp.

Not quite sure what the truck was doing here, Sunset eyed it warily, even as the front door opened out and a man stepped out.

The man was aged looking, though he wasn't as ancient looking as the Apple family hag. He was in good shape, a imposing looking man in a red jacket with a blue undershirt and jeans.

He also had a mustache on his face, a fashion statement Sunset had never quite grasped. It looked odd no matter the species.

He, despite the fact that Sunset thought she was rather well hidden, seemed to be looking right at her.

"Hello there miss, would you mind telling me where the interstate is. I am on my way to Griffon Rock you see, and I took a wrong turn somewhere either in Mission or Paw Paw. "

Directions? He went to the junkyard, for directions?

Popping out, figuring that hiding wasn't going to do her any good, she approached him.

"Sorry, but I really couldn't tell you how to get anywhere outside of Canterlot, never left this city since I started walking." Trotting was a different story.

"Oh, that is a shame.........." he looked at her ponderously before continuing "Say, what is a girl like you doing out here?"

"I don't think that is any of your business." she replied tersely.

"Oh....well I suppose it was a bit rude of me to ask you out out of nowhere like that. Very well, my name is Orion. Orion Peace, what is your name?"

Orion Peace, the trucker? Huh, odd name. She'd expect, Smokestack or Wheeler or something.

"Sunset, Sunset Shimmer, and what I'm doing is none of your business."

"I see......" he walked forward, idly looking around the junk yard like he was surveying a garden, moving in a way that was well practiced, long done, and somehow didn't dirty his boots much.

It was a walking style she had only witnessed once, and said walker used it to get her cake, avoid nobles, and be incredibly aggravating.

"This is a quiet place, rarely watched by others. Are you planning to do something you should not? If so, I can empathize. As a young man I did many things I was not encouraged to do by those with authority over me. I learned many thing from those individuals deemed dis-respectable ....."

"If this is your way of asking me if I'm doing drugs out here, then you don't have to worry yourself." Sunset felt a growing wave of irritation sweep over her. What in the world did a random trucker expect patronizing her with useless advice like this?

Who did he think he was?

"Ah, that is good. One can put many things into themselves. First knowledge, experience, friendship, and joy. Cruelty, greed, pain: one should save that for last, and delay it for as long as one can."

Sunset tried tuning the man out, she really did, but every word out of his mouth brought back flashbacks of all the "go make friends" lectures Celestia loved to give.

"Now that you've assured your conscience that the teenager you randomly met one day isn't a druggie, why don't you just go back on the road and find Griffin Rock, wherever that is. You've got two choices in highway direction, why don't you just pick one and go."

Her snappy response did not phase the man, who merely looked at her in contemplation. It wasn't in the way a teenage boy would look at her, and she'd honestly she'd prefer if he did look at her that way.

Instead, he seemed to be.....observing her, in a deeper way than just her female anatomy's size.

"In my time, I have met many people. As you can well imagine, I have seen countless miles in my time, and with them countless people. I have seen all sorts of eyes young Sunset.....and I must say I have seen your eyes before."

"I knew a good friend with those eyes. Your eyes are not as intense as his were, you lack his drive to go to the end for his ideals. Pray that your eyes never gain that intensity. I can see much potential in you, I can only hope that you do not squander it as he did."

With that, he turned and walked back to truck, even as a flabbergasted Sunset tried to comprehend the.....whatever it was he just said.

"What in the name of the freakin' sun......what about my eyes? I don't know what crazy place you went to, but no one has eyes like mine. You could never have met someone with my eyes! And what do you mean I lack drive, I have plenty of drive!"

Before entering his vehicle, he acknowledged her sputtering with one more phrase.

"You do Sunset, you do. I just hope you use it for good reasons, before it is too late."

He promptly backed out with his truck, and drove off into the distance.

Sunset just stared after him, quite annoyed.

"Just great, that is all I need in my life: getting a lecture from the bad mustached trucker Celestia!" Sunset stomped with a low growl before she checked the time. "Rainbow better get here soon, I need something to vent on!"

....

Thankfully Rainbow was punctual.

Sunset crossed her arms and watched the girl approach from the opposite end of a clearing within the metal jungle.

"So, you didn't get lost. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised: sniffing this place out can't that hard for someone like you."

"Yeah yeah, keep calling me a dog Sunset: that'll make it so much better when I introduce you to the ground. Repeatedly, if possible," Rainbow cheekily replied.

Sunset rolled her eyes "Heh, Cute. Hopefully you bring something of worth to this duel of ours, or I'm just going to be the only one laughing"

"A Duel? Seriously? Who even says that?" Rainbow flicked her hair and shot Sunset a smirk."Or maybe you've realized how outclassed you really are and you're challenging me to a card game or something instead? Gotta say, I'm surprised there's more to your personality than just "Queen Bitch".

Sunset pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. She glared at Rainbow "I...words do not have the power necessary to explain how much I hate you right now."

"Oh you know me, your majesty. Eternal pain in your ass, at your service," Rainbow said with a flourish.

"That's it. I'm done," Sunset said, arcane sparks at her fingertips as her hand shot up. The wrecks and skeletons of old cars shuddered with a screech of metal on metal and shifting debris and shot high into the air. Then, they spun around in a spiraling dance even as an astonished Rainbow Dash looked on.

"Rainbow, Rainbow..." Sunset tsked, shaking her head. "You seem to be under the impression that you're some sort of threat, that you can put a stop to me." The cars spread into a figure eight, before forming a crude caricature of a middle finger. "As cute as that bark of yours is, for all you're strength, in all actuality, you're really nothing to me."

The dance of the floating cars continued, as they posed mid-air in the shape of a star, before forming a single stack and slowly descending to the ground in a orderly fashion.

The blue glow vanished, leaving only a perfectly aligned stack of cards on Rainbow's left.

"So.....still feeling like picking a fight? Or perhaps, you'll do the smart thing, go home, eat that pint of ice cream I'm sure you have, and pretend this never happened and stop bothering me. After all, what could you possible do to someone like me, kick a soccer ball at my face?"

Satisfied, Sunset turned and walked away. While a primal part of her wanted nothing more than to beat Rainbow into the ground, the cold, logical part of herself knew she might not be able to bring herself to stop. Really, it was for the best; after all, even a moron like Rainbow Dash would know better than to keep bothering her after, right

CREECH-Ka-THOOM!

Sunset blinked. A car went sailing overhead, and slammed into a nearby pile of garbage, visible, physics defying sparks of electricity dancing upon it for a few moments before dissipating, She turned and saw Rainbow with a smug smirk.

Correction.....

Sunset saw Rainbow Dash, surrounded by a glowing rainbow light, lifting her stack of cars, and throwing them into the air.

They flew across the junk in multiple directions, before loudly slamming down and shattering anything they struck on impact.

"You know, when you told me to come here, I was actually worried. I mean, I thought I was the only one who had superpowers, and, as much as you royally suck, it'd be like punching Sweetie Belle. I mean, sure, it'd be satisfying to put you in your place, but fairness would come nowhere near that fight," Rainbow grinned, the sort of mad little grin seen only on individuals about to deliver the beat down to end all beat downs "But now.......you have powers too. That means that not only can Ikick your ass, I don't even have to feel bad about it."

First Rarity and Fluttershy, and now Rainbow Dash.

Idly, Sunset wondered if there was a pattern. First Rarity and Fluttershy, and now Rainbow Dash. She made a mental note to herself to look into this later.

"Oh yeah, and one more thing Sunset."

A whoosh of air was Sunset's only warning as Rainbow appeared right in front of her, crossing a distance larger than that of the school's gymnasium in a single second.

"Hitting hard isn't the only thing I can do."

A shimmering blue aura enveloped her body and promptly cracked as Rainbow punched her in the gut.

Even with that protection, getting punched through a mountain of junk still hurt.

A lot.

....

Well, Sunset Shimmer has super powers.

That sucks.

But, that really didn't matter nearly as much punching Sunset through a pile of filthy junk. Scratch that off her bucket list, revised since last Friday when she first found herself with a set of kickass powers.

Punch Sunset Shimmer through a pile of something nasty, check.

Now all she had left was to graduate high school, not flunk out of college, run to North Korea and remove their nuclear weapons (and prank the living hell out of Kim Jong whoever), and some less challenging goals of hers.

A bright glow filled up the hole. Quickly running through several scenarios in her head, Rainbow wisely stepped to the side as a powerful blast of light rocketed out of the hole as Sunset stepped out; said jerk looking surprisingly well for being hit with enough force to total a car, though her hair was now frazzled looking and her clothes, barring her signature jacket probably needed some stitching.Well, that and dark stains of...something, all over Sunset and her clothes.

Considering she had no idea what the full extent of Sunset's powers were, it would probably be a poor idea to taunt Sunset. On the other hand, another voice told her it'd be hilarious.

"Word of advice: bright, obvious glows are pretty good stereotypical tells for 'powerful energy blast coming this way'. Might want to work on that."

Sunset swept a hand over the side of face and flicked a bit of attached slime away with disgust before shooting Rainbow a deadly glare.

"Noted, and congratulations. You can hit harder. What a life changing accomplishment you dim-wit." Sunset said, sarcasm dripping with every word.

You can only make perfection more perfect." Rainbow said with a laugh.

"Well, when I see perfection I'll be sure to tell it that." Sunset conjured a ball of blue energy in each hand and threw them at Rainbow, rapid fire.

A long history of Zelda games told Rainbow exactly what to do in response, and so with a glowing arm she reflected the ball right back at Sunset.

Sunset vanished before it hit her, but she seemed rather annoyed by her mad skills regardless.

"Nice tricks Sunset, but no amount of....whatever it is you are doing can beat meeeeeee!"

Rainbow promptly lost control of herself when she started to glow blue, along with her own amazing rainbow colors, and started spinning like a mad top.

Sunset lazily flapped a glowing hand around in motion to her spinning, merely walked over to her with a infuriating grin.

"Oh yes I believe I can."

Rainbow promptly stopped spinning as Sunset stopped moving her hand, but a thrust of Sunset's hand right in her face got herself sent flying backwards into a junk pile, hitting it with a loud crunch.

"Doesn't feel so good does it Dashy?" Sunset questioned mockingly, even as Rainbow struggled out of her trash entombment.

Dashy.....

Oh hell no! No was anyone allowed to call her that anymore.

Especially not Sunset Shimmer!

Grabbing a nearby engine block with some effort as she burst out of the pile Rainbow threw it right at the girl, just as a blue barrier formed in front of her.

While the engine block shattered on impact with it, Sunset was still knocked to the ground, likely leaving some nice, deep, ugly stains on her precious leather jacket.

Oh how gratifying that was to imagine.

So gratifying in fact the next engine block she picked up seemed to be far easier to lift and throw at the girl.

Apparently not wanting to have to go through the impact of an engine block again Sunset blew the engine block up with a ball of blue light, before snapping her fingers.

Suddenly the trash heap behind her caught fire.

So did every other heap of trash around them, forming a ring of fire around the two of them, covering every piece of trash within at least 500 feet.

"You set the......are you freaking insane!?" Rainbow demanded as Sunset narrowed her eyes at her.

"You threw a....whatever that freakin' thing was at me! Twice! Of course I'm a little furious!"

"That is not what I meant!"

"Then, articulate better!"

Growling, and hoping nothing in this dump was explosive or anything, Rainbow glared at Sunset before speaking, harshly.

"Telekinesis, barriers, freaking pyromancy!? How many powers did you freakin' get!?"

Sunset snapped her fingers petunately, and Rainbow's face started to itch. Rubbing it, the athlete found herself, horrifyingly, with a thick covering of pitch-black facial hair.

"The best one. Now...." with another snap of her fingers Rainbow's writs and ankles suddenly slammed together as blue energy cuffs formed around them, causing the now facial haired girl to hit the ground with a loud oomph.

"Give up."

"Never. I'd die before I ever surrendered to you." Rainbow growled, trying not to ingest any of her facial hair. How did men live like this?!

"You want me to......what sort a.......what kind of....." Sunset seemed aghast at the idea of delivering a lethal blow, Rainbow had to admit she was surprised.

Was it so hard for her to just, set her on fire or something? Did Sunset Shimmer have a boundary she wouldn't cross?!

Who'd have thought the resident cold hearted bitch of Canterlot High had any limits?

Glowing blue once more Rainbow was yanked right up into Sunset's face, her immobilized form now standing up and right in front of the bully.

"Well if you won't yield....." Sunset mused darkly, even as her gaze was turned to Rainbow's neck.

Rainbow suddenly had the horrifying image of Sunset biting her neck like some sort of vampire, but thankfully that didn't end up being the case.

No, a new glow formed around the locket she had found the other day while dealing with criminals, snapping it off her neck as it flew right towards Sunset.

"Hey! I found that!"

"Well, so did I, and now I get another one of these....."

Sunset stopped talking, on account of the overwhelming urge to drop to clutch her head as she screamed in agony.

....

Just as the Element entered her grasp, Sunset felt everything.

Every synapse, every nerve, every hair screaming, as if electrified.

It hurt, it hurt like a moon banishment spell to the face, in daytime.

Screaming loudly and collapsing to the ground, Sunset dropped the locket to the ground as she rapidly flailed the hand that first touched around, as if trying to extinguish a fire gnawing at her flesh.

As the pain ceased, Sunset noted her hand that served as ground zero. It was covered in a nasty red looking coloration, looking like someone had burned Rainbow's little logo she had on everything, like some imitation cutie mark, into her palm.

Thankfully it didn't look like it would scar into that shape (she did not need to be branded like that), but it still was not going to be fun to do anything with that hand until it healed.

The boot to her face, showed that her binding spell on Rainbow had not survived contact with the element, though her intact teeth showed her guard spell was still in effect.

She was still hit with enough force to send her rolling several feet. Dazed, she blinked, a seething Rainbow Dash over her cracking her knuckles, the element around her neck, her last few spells no longer affecting her.

Meaning the girl was no longer bound, or mustached.

"Well, I wish I could say I planned that, but I have no idea what just happened. But, I think I'll enjoy this next part quite a bit. Did you think my feet were the only parts of me I could move fast? So can my fists!"

One aspect of Sunset could move faster than Rainbow's fist: thought. And, for all her multitude of thoughts, Sunset could only think one thing: That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone say.

On the other hand, her body was barely responsive from the shock, and Sunset could do nothing as she was promptly pounded by fist after fist from Rainbow Dash. All the glowing fists were moving faster than anything shy of a Wonderbolt performance back in Equestria, and spell or not it was painful.

However, as the barrage went on into minutes her human form finally responded, and let loose a blue magical burst.

Childish, but it was enough to force Rainbow off her and allow Sunset to get back on her feet.

She was quite unsteady on them though.

"This, ends, now!" Sunset snarled, even as she channeled every last bit of magical energy she had left into her left hand. A giant blue ball of magic, enough repulsing magic to sent Rainbow flying through the fire wall so fast she wouldn't get singed, and send her right into Canterlot's west wing, was ready to strike the damn girl once and for all, and end this fight!

Rainbow saw her challenge, and responded with her own glowing fist, doing its best to have more colors than most noble gardens. It didn't look at intense as her own magical attack, but she suspected it would hurt quite a lot if it hit her.

"For once Shimmer, I agree with you!"

And so Rainbow's fist collided with all of Sunset's magic.

The result.

Explosive.

....

"Rainbow? Rainbow?"

"........"

Someone poked her in the face.

Opening her eyes, Rainbow realized two things.

One, she was suddenly lying in a rather smashed up part of the local park, where she looked like she had been the meteor that had laid waste to all around her.

Two, Scootaloo was hovering over her, and had been the one to poke her.

"So, I take it Sunset Shimmer was a bit harder than you thought?" Her sister observed.

"Heh, a bit sis, a bit. Turns out, I'm not the only super around. Of course, I knocked Sunset just as hard as she knocked me, and I doubt she has a cool little sis to find her afterwards, so I'm going to say I won that one."

Scootaloo nodded in affirmative as she extended a helpful hand, helping Rainbow back onto her feet.

....

The unconscious body of Sunset Shimmer had landed into a suburban backyard some distance away from the dump, her guard spell finally flickering away as it spared her many, many cripplings today.

Her landing had been observed however, and her observer had dashed out of her house to see the crashed teenage girl.

Her dog accompanied her.

"Spike," the 4-eyed girl in a lab-coat stated in amazement at the sight of the girl."Remind me, what laws forbid human abduction for the sake of science?"

"Wuf!" Spike the dog happily reminded her.

"Hmm, you are right, aren't you? Well, I'll just have to weigh the cost and benefits. On one hand, I could call an ambulance and get her to a hospital where she'd assuredly be taken care of by professionals." Twilight tapped a finger on her chin.

"On the other hand, this is a genuine enhanced human in my backyard if her, "Twilight peered closer at Sunset's slowly rising chest and promptly blushed when she realized just how little of the girl's shirt remained to guard her modesty, "uh-hmm, continued breathing is any indication, she clearly survived a tremendous impact into my backyard.. If I take her to my lab, I get a chance to add to my samples, conduct tests, and further science far more than any High School class will ever manage." Twilight brightened. "Oh, and I finally get to put my first aid training to use!"

"Woof." Spike stoically commented.

"Don't give me that. Besides, I'm sure she doesn't want authorities snooping around her or that terrible hospital food. But...yeah, first aid definitely comes first." Twilight blinked and suddenly looked around, painfully aware of the possibility of nosy neighbors. "Quick, Spike, help me get her inside!"

"Wuf!"

....

A pair of teenage girls walked down a dark, somewhat seedy street in a somewhat rough looking city, both dressed in impeccable black suits as if they had just been playing a high-end musical event, or were training to be members of the secret service.

Given that the black haired one was pretty thin looking and lacked muscle-tone or menacing black shades, and the blue haired one had purple menacing shades instead of black menacing shades, very unprofessional hair, and was lugging a large instrument case as if it were nothing, one should lean the musical route.

"You know, I never understand the thought process of naming cities. I mean really, who in their right mind thought naming a place Rundown City would be a good idea?" the dark haired one questioned, her voice heavily accented as if from across the pond. Her companion shrugged, not voicing any opinion of why it was named Rundown City.

".....Oh, yes.....well I suppose I should thank you, again, for coming out with me tonight. I know that the concerts I'm asked to play can be a little...boring for you Vinyl, if more for the company than the music itself."

Vinyl's facial expression morphed a bit, including her shades which moved in a somewhat abnormal manner, creating an expression that clearly read 'Only the parts without you in it are boring, Octavia'.

Octavia blushed, but managed to get herself recomposed and continued "So, seeing as I should expect a nice big check in my account box tomorrow, perhaps we should eat out. Rundown City is known for many things, but it's restaurant reputation is apparently just as high as it's crime rate. I recall seeing a German place while we were on the train, as well as a seafood place and an Italian restaurant. Anything you'd prefer?"

Octavia gestured to her, pointing at her suit. Octavia blinked in realization.

"Oh yes, I see your point. The Italian place would have a lot of sauces and I'd hate to get a stain. So, guess it's between strudel and salmon then...."

"Alright you two, hands up!"

Both girls stopped walking and turned around, only to find a dirty dressed thug with wild blond hair pointing a gun at them.

"Give me your money."

The two girls exchanged looks, and not the panicked ones that one would expect.

"Odd, I was told I only had a 30% chance of being mugged. Well, I suppose I gambled wrong."

"Quit your chit-chat and hand me your money!"

Vinyl looked at the man as one would an eyesore. Knowing what was going through her head right now, Octavia reached for and took hold of her cello, noticeably losing her balance briefly as she took hold of the heavy instrument.

"Oh, an instrument....well I guess I can sell that thing for some good cash.....now give it here girly. I'll shoot your pretty little friend there if you refuse...."

"Do deal with him Vinyl, would you dear?"

"Ha ha.....'deal with me'. Really, what do you they teach you back home, to talk back....."

He was silenced when Vinyl punched him in the face, sending the man falling to the sidewalk, clutching his nose in pain.

"Ahh!"

His gun clattered to the ground at Vinyl's feet. She bent it over to pick it up, even as the thug got back up, though still clutching his now bleeding nose.

"My nose.....you broke my......a girl can't hit that hard! Tell me, are you one of those cross-dressin' men...."

He was silenced by Vinyl showing him his pistol, one of her hands on the muzzle and the other on the grip.

She promptly twisted her wrists, snapping the gun in half like it was a twig.

As the broken weapon fell to the pavement at her feet, the knave got wise and ran for it, still clutching his broken nose and stumbling a bit as he did so.

Octavia handed Vinyl the case, which she took back without noticeable issue from the sudden increase in load.

"Impressive dear, I'm surprised you showed restraint on him."

Vinyl's expression read something along the lines of 'Had he been bolder he would have warranted 'no restraint'. Octavia tried no think what that would have looked like.

"So, where were we.....oh yes German or Seafood....but now that I think it about it I did notice a Mexican place as well...."

OMAKE

NON CANON

EVEN WORSE USE OF SUNSET'S POWERS

"Telekinesis, barriers, freaking pyromancy!? How many powers did you freakin' get!?"

Sunset snapped her fingers petunately, and Rainbow's face started to itch. Rubbing it, the athlete found herself, horrifyingly, with a thick covering of pitch-black facial hair.

"The best one. Now...." with another snap of her fingers Rainbow's writs and ankles suddenly slammed together as blue energy cuffs formed around them, causing the now facial haired girl to hit the ground with a loud oomph.

"Give up."

"Never. I'd die before I ever surrendered to you." Rainbow growled, trying not to ingest any of her facial hair. How did men live like this?!

"You want me to......what sort a.......what kind of....." Sunset seemed aghast at the idea of delivering a lethal blow, Rainbow had to admit she was surprised.

Was it so hard for her to just, set her on fire or something? Did Sunset Shimmer have a boundary she wouldn't cross?!

Who'd have thought the girl had any limits?

Glowing blue once more Rainbow was yanked right up into Sunset's face, her immobilized form now standing up and right in front of the bully.

"Well if you won't yield....." Sunset mused darkly, even as a glowing hand was placed harshly on Rainbow's forehead, flashing brightly.

As she removed it, Rainbow glared at her.

"Oh, what the bloody hell was that supposed to do, ya twit!"

Rainbow blinked in confusion, not sure why was talking like a Harry Potter character.

"Now will you give up?" Sunset demanded.

"Sod off!"

"....I have no idea what you just said but I think it was an insult. Perhaps I should have read more about that mouth-removing spell instead...."

Author's Note

1: In our world, Disney Infinity Figures was originally going to have Darkwing Duck as a character, though Olaf took his spot in the end. He is on the short list to appear later though, and in a recent poll conducted by the guys in charge of it had him second only to Mabel Pines. So it's likely he'll be in either an update if they keep 3.0 going for a while, or in 4.0, but here he was made into a figure and Rainbow picked him up for her collection despite probably not owning Disney Infinity.

2: Ever hear a Dodongo? Yeah, that's what Rainbow sounds like when she sleeps.

3: I'm American by the way. I also happen to have had family members serve and know guys in high school who are now preparing to serve. I even live close to New York City and did so even back in 2001. So yeah...the political part is something I have all the right to say

4: Yes, I did have to put that bashing in of the Holiday Special. That thing has inspired far too many Suicide attempts in fics, and I am honestly surprised I have not seen some dark fic where Sunset did kill herself over it and the Humane CMC ended up causing a inter-world diplomatic disaster. First contact should not involve an alien monarch taking 3 teenage girls to her world for trial for cyberbullying a former student of hers to death.

5: This is important. Before anyone flames or hits the dislike button, the moral implications of the fight this chapter will be looked at next chapter. So, relax...the beta won't let me get away with not addressing it there.

6: The Omake Rainbow Dash, after Sunset's actions, now talks with her G3 voice. And that's terrible

7: Fluttershy's animal powers for today include Evolutionary Accelerated Arctic Tern, Domestic Cats

Menace of the Mind and Nanosecond

"....So after I was done with her spell, I introduced her to my fists. Repeatably. 20% faster than fast! Man, that was cathartic!"

Sitting in her room later that night, a pair of controllers in hand and a active game of Super Mario 3D World ongoing (That last green star had to be somewhere dammit!), the two sisters were going over the fight with the camouflage of jolly jazz soundtracks to not spill the beans to the parental units.

She could understand why some heroes would come clean to their parents, like Jaime Reyes, but Rainbow didn't feel quite ready to do that. The last awkward conversation she had with them had been bad enough, and she still wasn't sure if them 'knowing it already' would help or make it all that much worse.

"That's pretty cool, but... don't you think it's kind of scary?" Scootaloo admitted nervously even as she idly stomped on a few goombas.

"Huh?" Rainbow blinked, Scootaloo's tone bringing her up short a missing star on her score count.

"Well, Sunset's always been kind of scary, even without powers. Now that she has them, well..."

"Please," Rainbow chuckled, patting Scootaloo on the back. "It's not like this is anything to worry about Scoots, Sunset knows that I'm just as powerful, if not more so, than she is."

"Yeah, but the idea that someone like Sunset can do all of that, and take punches from you like they were nothing...It's kind of scary."

Rainbow opened her mouth, ready to tell her that Sunset did not take punches like she could, and froze.

She saw the fight again, clear as day. Her blood was hot, her heartbeat echoing in her own ears. Deep within, she drew on something ephemeral yet immense, constantly under the surface. It resonated, and her skin tingled as her entire body was infused with power.

The world slowed down, her fist clenched, and she moved.

Opposite her stood Sunset Shimmer, but something was wrong. Before, she had seen Sunset as she always was: a condescending bitch.This time, however Sunset seemed....panicked? Her expression seemed off, yet something primal in her recognized it, and she made frantic motions with a glowing hand. Right before Rainbow's sparking fist hit her with twice the power she'd used to flip the cars, a shimmering blue aura manifested as Rainbow delivered the first true attack of their entire fight.

Sunset's eyes bothered her.

Sunset's eyes always irritated Rainbow. They were smug, arrogant, always filled with a gleam that said, "I'm better than you, and I always will be. And there's nothing you can do about it." It had always taken enormous restraint on Rainbow's part to not deck Sunset at every opportunity, but there, Sunset's eyes were different. They were tiny cyan pin pricks, fully dilated. Furthermore, Sunset's expression was anything but the confident look she always wore, rather it seemed like it was...

Fear.

Not the startled "oh that surprised me," or the usual "Oh god that's a spider kill it kill it!", but something Rainbow almost didn't recognize simply because she'd never truly experienced it and only had media as a guide. It was true, mind numbing, blood curdling fear for one's life.

But...why? Sure, Rainbow was going to beat Sunset up, and sure it would leave plenty of bruises (and, if she was honest with herself, she'd overreacted to thinking Sunset was going to kill her, but then again this was Demon Bitch Sunset Shimmer, so who knows), but she'd never intended to kill her. Just beat her up, okay a lot, and sense she was a super too, it made sense to not hold anything back-if movies and games had taught her anything, holding back in this situation never helped. So, why the primal fear? Unless...

Rainbow's heart froze as images flashed through her mind: Sunset's aura shield, made split seconds before the punch, her panic, the fear in her eyes.

Rainbow has assumed Sunset was super durable. After all, why wouldn't she? It only made sense that, if they got their powers at the same time like it seemed, they might have some similarities (granted Sunset lucked out in the power variety department). Besides, it was a standard super power in super heroes and villains all over, so why wouldn't Sunset have it?

...blue aura shield manifested a split second before her punch...

Sunset wouldn't have been afraid for her life if she knew she could take the punch. The rest of the fight, she'd been enveloped in the blue aura, but not before.

Rainbow has assumed. She has assumed Sunset could naturally take super powered punches, that her bones wouldn't shatter and organs rupture from one measly little super punch. But, it was obvious now Sunset had to focus, spend time to get her shield up. If that was the case, if she'd been just one second faster...

Oh...

Oh god.

"Rainbow.....earth to Rainbow......"

Scootaloo snapped her out of it after a few moments, at which she realized she was pretty sure she had a power up the last time she checked.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that Scoots. Was just wondering if I had forgotten any homework. Those damn online assignments always get me."

She laughed that last one awkwardly, and tried to drown out her worries with some Mario, but the thoughts still lingered.

Even the other omnipresent worry of 'did I have enough digital only math assignment' didn't manage to overcome it.

.....

With a bit of humming, a bowl of popcorn was prepared.

With a bit of humming, a soda was removed from its chilling tomb.

With a bit of humming, the DVDs and imported figurines were adjusted back to perfect.

"Excellent! Trixie is now nearly ready for Toonami!"

The blue wearing master of performance plopped down on her bedside, ready for the best of late night dubbed anime.

The best kind of anime. No subtitles, little censorship, and all hosted by a C.G.I robot voiced by Steve Blum.

What more could Trixie want?

Oh wait, she knew exactly what would make this night even better: she still had to open up her KRate!

Rubbing her hands together in eager anticipation, she opened it with a grand, sufficiently hammy display.

Fittingly the first thing she pulled out of the box was a collectible figurine depicting a darkly dressed youth holding a odd helmet.

"Yes! Now I have all the important figurines from Code Geass!" Finally, she could use them to act out all of the pairings!

The next thing she pulled was a T-shirt, showing a crazed looking muscular blond hitting someone with a steamroller. Trixie chuckled, briefly imagining a certain peanut butter cracker thief at the end of her roller

What followed next were mostly minor things: a pen labeled as being property of Honnouji Academy, a 9000+ sticker, a keychain featuring a a flaming skull with sharp shades, a bumper sticker that said 'Awesomeness has been passed my family line for generations (complete with sparkles), and a poster of a short, chubby man in white, frozen in preserved perfection as he gave one of the greatest speeches even spoken by a sinister seeker of being slain in suitably supreme conflict.

But she was satisfied with them, yes very much so. Definately more so than last month, which was entirely themed around Moe titles.

Shiver.....

She prepared to get off up the bed and put her new treasures where they belonged, when she noticed the box wasn't yet empty.

"Huh?"

Reaching into the box, she pulled out something peculiar.

A clear crystal, no larger than her T.V remote, and she could not tell what it was made of.

DIamond? Glass? Quartz? Trixie didn't know what it was, or why it was in her KRate?

"What are you based on?" Trixie asked the crystal, not expecting an answer.

The flashing the crystal did, a blue glow deep within the crystal: initially erratic but slowly stabilizing as if a heart had been restarted, did not answer her question.

It did, however, alarm the girl to a point she nearly dropped the crystal to the ground.

Nearly.....

A sudden urge swept over her, as the anime fan managed to catch the gem before it hit the ground: holding it tight to her chest.

The light within continuing to dimly pulse, like a heart. It flashed like it throughout the Toonami nightly showing.

And all through the night after it concluded.

....

As Rainbow was not an anime fan herself, or at least not one who'd stay up to midnight to watch it, she was asleep.

In fact, she was dreaming of school. No tests or underwear though.

Though said girl might have prefered there to have been some.

"Congratulations Rainbow! Ya' really did something wonderful today." Dream Applejack said, patting her friend-like on her back in a way she hadn't in years.

"It was simply marvelous darling, marvelous! In fact, I feel the need to design an entire fashion ensemble devoted to you for your deed!" Rarity beamed.

"We'll have a party!" Dream Pinkie was about as easy to figure out as her real self had been: i.e requiring context.

"But before that, we'll be having a assembly so all the students can bask in your glory and herald you for your actions on Saturday." Principal Celestia told her, smiling at her as she offered a delicious looking cake. "I've even taken the liberty of passing you for all your classes until you graduate preemptively. B's of course, you need to actually earn an A."

Fluttershy just kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh yeah, I'm totally awesome." Rainbow stated nervously, not entirely sure what was going on, "So, mind reminding me what I did that was so awesome."

"Don't you remember silly? We're going to give you the bestest "Congratulations you're a brutal murderer" party that's ever been had!" Pinkie said jubulantly, hopping in place and throwing red and pink streamers everywhere as she unfurled a massive picture of a blood stained Sunset Shimmer lying in the dump, a gaping hole in her gut and intestines spilled everywhere.

"W-What?" Rainbow asked disbelievingly.

"Why, you killed Sunset Shimmer. You killed her to death." Fluttershy stated simply "Now, give me a big old kiss you killer."

Fluttershy did not say that in a 'you monster' sort of way. No, she said that as if to imply that she wanted to....

Rainbow's eyes shot open as she broke out of the dream, barely avoiding screaming. Her entire body felt cold and sweaty, the dream still haunting her even as she began to really take it in.

"Oh god....oh god.......oh god....."

She honestly wondered if she'd have preferred to have dreamed she had gotten arrested instead. That dream....

Was that reality.....was that real......

"I never thought I'd say this about Sunset of all people... " Rainbow admitted, her eyes staying wide open without a single hint of sleep to them, "But please, be alive in school on Monday."

....

Consciousness slowly returned to Sunset.

And...

Ow.

Why did she feel like she volunteered to be the floor at a Minotaur dance hall?

Oh wait, Rainbow Dash.

That bitch.

She remembered finishing the fight with one big blast.....but now the question was where was she?

Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself not in the dump, nor back in her own little place.

Instead she found herself in what looked like a.....laboratory or something. Computers, beakers, graphs, giant posters of the periodic table (honestly it was impressive humanity had found so many elements) and that Einstein guy on the walls.

Said poster suggested that this wasn't a government or nefarious organization laboratory. Most nefarious laboratories lacked posters, at least in theory.

The sound of a twirling nob got her attention, causing her gaze to slowly turn towards a set of expensive looking microscopes (probably all more advanced than anything found in Equestria and would remain so for at least another three decades if she had to guess), where someone was looking at something.

The someone was dressed as one might assume a scientist was (a white lab coat. Did they have a dress code or something? Could you get them for cheap at crazy science mart?). The human had frazzled hair, the likes of which would probably make Rarity have a conniption. A pair of large glasses were at the side of the telescope, which said human was looking into.

This activity ended as the human turned her way, revealing a teenage girl with dark hair with pink highlights. Briefly squinting at her, she reached for her glasses and placed them back on her face before speaking.

"Your hair is fascinating." she stated, catching Sunset a little off guard.

"My....hair...."

"Oh yes, it's very fascinating. It has a unique appearance when viewed under a microscope. If I had to offer a hypothesis, it is likely because of your powers, barring an unrelated mutation. I saw you land with them active, but I had never suspected it could also affect your hair. It's quite interesting."

"Uh...."

"Also, did you know your blood is Type K. Was that the case pre or post empowering....or were you born with powers?" the girl was starting to get more and more exited as the questions began to build up.

"I'm...not sure." Blood drives were something that had not been invented in Equestria yet, and blood transfusions were not done. Supposedly. (Sunset recalled a positively fascinating book in the forbidden section at the archives that that promised power if one "blended" one's blood with that of a powerful soul, and brought it back into the body. Of course, Sunset discarded it instantly, because blood is icky).

"Your molars are unusually strong, while your canine and incisor teeth are unusually weak and dull at their tips." the girl was now starting to invade her personal space. "Also, I noticed your teeth were unusually new looking for a teenager.....do you possess shark like qualities to regrow teeth?"

This was starting to get a little invasive.

"Can we not talk about my teeth for a moment...." she noticed the girl was about to speak again "or my blood, or my toenails, or anything else."

"Drat, I forgot to examine your keratin. I knew I forgot something."

She's ignore that one, just for the sake of her sanity.

"....I don't know who you are, or where I am."

"Oh. Well, this is Canterlot City, my basement. I could tell you the street number, it's relative location with major landmarks, or it's latitude and longitudinal coordinates, but you aren't really in any position to move right now." And there's the pain she's been expecting, oh oh yes, that's, that's definitely heavy bruising. "My name is Twilight Sparkle."

So, did she not respond to the nut's question, or did she? On one hand, nothing good could come of revealing her identity. On the other hand, she was in massive pain and locked in this girl's basement and at her mercy. The answer was obvious.

"Sunset Shimmer."

"So, how long have you had your abilities? Were you born with them, or did you recently suffer a genetic mutation? If you did suffer a mutation, what sort of activity were you exposed to? I have maps of every area in Canterlot with possible industrial contamination, each path and trip of radioactive material through here....."

Sunset wasn't sure how to respond to her questions as she kept asking them without seemingly a need to breath. After all, not only was she talking faster than a caffine high Pinkie Pie (why did she think that was a good idea?), but she was also asking questions with a lot of complicated answers.

After all, would it really be a good idea to tell this girl she was an alien? She liked her organs inside her body, thank you very much.

".....Have you experienced any unusual behavior, like suddenly bursting into song, flames, or...."

"Singing while on fire? No, I've pretty much kept quite good there." Sunset interrupted her before she could continue,avoiding the question of how long she had her powers.

After all, she wasn't sure if she had gained new magics, or just got her magic back after a hiatus.

"Do you know of any others like you?....."

"Nope." Sunset said very quickly.

"Really?" Twilight stated, not looking quite convinced "Your injuries are severe enough that I cannot see how you got them unless you...."

"Believe me, you're never going to meet someone like me." The best lies were the ones that were true, from a certain point of view. After all, how many other Equestrians in human form were up and about?

"Oh.....I see what you mean.

Looking absently around the lab, she noticed a poster for something called 'Griffin Rock University'. Noting her eyes, Twilight's eyes beamed.

"Oh, you know about GRU. It is only the best college in the world, leading the world in so many advanced sciences, and they're already looking my way! The best and brightest all went there: Ezra Greene, Emmet Benton, Issac Sumdac, Lucy Suzuki, Anna Baranova...."

All names Sunset did not know, or frankly cared for. One thing she had noticed about humans is that there were two distinct naming patterns they seemed to use. Names that sounded like pony names, and those that didn't.

Sunset suspected that she would not find a Pony named Ezra Greene.

She vaguely recalled history classes mentioning something about why that was. Something about a movement against 'sinful names and names that rob from the glory of God and His Chosen'.....but she really didn't care. It didn't show up on the test, so it just slipped away.

Also, given that Trucker Celestia was going there, she wanted nothing to do with Griffin Rock, human faith movements or no human faith movements.

".....I know that Principal Cinch wants me to do Everton and the colleges that fund it, but Griffin Rock has always been my dream. You understand my conundrum, right?"

"Oh....oh yeah.....follow your dreams. Don't let your dreams be dreams."

Celestia preachy lesson number 9. She was pretty sure no human had ever said anything like that.

Continuing to gaze around the room, Sunset's eyes eventually rested on something quite unexpected.

It was a locket, much like the one she took from Rarity, and the one that she tried to take from Rainbow. However, given that she hadn't brought Generosity with her.....

"Oh, that." Twilight caught her gaze and noted the device with some interest, "Yeah, that is a little conundrum there. Found that after a odd meteorological phenomenon some time ago, my dog Spike brought it to me from a bush: Pokeweed I think. It has a strange energy signature....but for the life of me I have yet to figure it out."

The immediate response in Sunset's mind was to get up and grab it, however bar the bruises there was another issues at hand.

The fact that the last time she had grabbed one of those things, it had hurt. A lot.

Why did that happen? Rarity's hadn't hurt. The locket didn't hurt Rainbow when she had it, and this girl wasn't looking at it like it was a pain device.

They certainly didn't have a one person per use lock: if that was the case she'd have Rarity's trio of diamonds burned into her skin just like Rainbow's little logo (she hoped that faded away).

Or would it do something else? If she took a Element Harmony from Twilight Sparkle, could it do something other than burn like dark magic?

She'd need to figure this out a bit...

And here she had someone who had touched that thing safely, was intelligent, and most of all was probably not at her level in cunning and wile.

Raw brain power....Twilight was probably be as close as any human to her, but there was more to life than just smarts. It was how you could apply them.

"Say, I actually found one just like that one the other day." Found, took from a fashionista wannabe, same thing.

"You did." Twilight sounded just as interested as she had been when discussing her various odd body parts.

"Yes. Now, what about this: when I'm able to move I can bring it here and you and I can try and figure it out." Given that Twilight had more resources than she did, while she actually had a semi idea of what these were.

"That's great! We can unlock something incredible. Just imagine it......we could solve the energy crisis! You and me, killers of Big Oil!"

Sure, whatever floated her boat.

"So, deal partner?" Sunset grinned momentarily before pain returned, even as Twilight eagerly shook her hand in affirmation.

.....

Sunday found a dark figure crouching on the roofs of Canterlot, occasionally leaping between buildings in a search for justice.

At least, that is how it would look on the surface. In reality, Rainbow Dash, dark dressed mystery woman, was in contemplation.

'If I killed her, what does that make me?'

'Can I be a hero, if I killed someone?'

'Even if it was Sunset Shimmer, she was still a person. It's not my place to pass that judgement'.

'Am I really that different from Aunt Spitfire after all?'

These thoughts lingered in her mind, even as an orange blur moved through town.

Speeder? That was dangerous, she should probably.....

A sudden image of her punching a car, causing the inside of it to explode in fiery death rang through her mind like a tsunami.

She shuddered. Maybe she'd let the cops handle it.

The orange blur came by, and Rainbow realized she could not make out the car's model, or it's license plate.

She could however see what it looked like.....

"Can't catch me coppers!"

And cars, at least ones that weren't from Pixar, could not talk back.

She tensed, ready to move as the blur came to a stop in an alleyway just below her, coming into focus in the form of a black and orange suited person. The suit, which was spandex and looked more comicbook than she did, covered all but the lower face, which revealed a very large, pointy chin. Purple tinted goggles protected the person's eyes, making it impossible for Rainbow to see what this guy had for hair color.

"Huh huh huh...suckers. Left old Shining Armpit all the way back at that Walmart." chuckling to himself, the man reached into his spandex and pulled out a large wad of cash.

"I don't know who designed this suit with an interior pouch, but the fact I don't have to spend any of this cash on ointment is wonderful."

Disgust welled up in Rainbow. T.M.I, she thought.

"Plus, I hardly think that anyone is going to object to Wal-Mart losing a few Benjamin Franklins, don't you think? "he said while looking up right at her.

Damn, she was spotted.

Annoyed she jumped down from above, landing with a good wumph in front of the orange speedster, though this was no Barry, Wally, Bart, or Jay.

This guy was more a Zoom. A Supervillain.

....A Supervillain? Already? Well, she was ready for this!

"Well, I heard some talk in the bars between this little town and that pay-for-prisoner prison I was stuck in until now about some superhero. I thought it was a bit farfetched, even with the new tricks..."

Man, his voice was nasally. Was he related to Snips and Snails?

"So, now that I know that you aren't just some urban legend...is it the same with you?" he asked as she frowned behind her cowl.

"The same what?" she growled.

"Well I wasn't always this fast." the criminal stated, before darting off and returning to her with a ice cream sandwich. Rainbow scowled as she heard a child begin to cry In the distance.

"Yeah, one day I was being transferred from one private prison to another, a merger or something I really don't follow that stuff...and I got knocked out. I woke up and I had this neat, surprisingly stain proof suit..." he sped off and returned again, this time with a Newspaper he flipped through.

"No! Now how will I ever find my news?" an elderly voice called out.

"The internet buddy," Mr. Spandex called out.

"The hell is that?" the old man called out.

Mr. Spandex was quiet for a moment. "Buddy, are you in for a shock once someone actually shows you. Just stay away from Tumblr, you are too old to hashtag," he called out.

"Anyway, as I was saying, this speed, and an open door. So tell me, you the same?"

"What? No. I am not a criminal and I've never been to prison!" though this did raise a lot of questions. She'd try and remember them and write it all down later.

"Hey, I'm only a lowly Detroit pickpocket! I'm not a real criminal, though I suppose now I have to change that. Hardly going to get back to college after this....but who cares? I'm too fast for college! Plus, I think with this new me, I need a new name. What about.....Nanosecond?! Yeah....that's the stuff..."

He sped back off and once again began eating a stolen ice cream bar.

"That's it, buddy, steal my child's ice cream one more time, and see what happens!" a very pissed off mother called out, followed by the pumping of what sounded suspiciously like a shotgun shotgun.

Rainbow and Nanosecond stopped for a second. While much of his face was concealed, Rainbow couldn't help but delight in his moderately worried look. She also had a sudden, if mild burst of fear about this neighborhood if the average mother had a shotgun on hand.

It occurred to her that he wasn't really paying attention to her.

"So's this by the way!"

She'd think about this quite possibly Young Justice shit later. First, she'd grab this guy.

After all, she was fast too!

Darting forward suddenly, she reached for Mr. Sandwich, ready to grab him and make him pay for his crimes....

'Oh yeah, and one more thing Sunset.'

'Hitting hard isn't the only thing I can do.'

The comments she gave to Sunset shortly before she started hitting her flashed through her mind, even as she felt herself slow down mid lunge.

Nanosecond saw this, and rapidly backpedaled out into the streets, even as she crashed into the nearby wall.

"Whoa! Well, I'll say this: you are fastest thing I've had attack me since I started moving! Well, maybe not as fast as those Cheetah I stole, well not stole really because when some legit criminal guy has two in a cage I doubt they were legal and I'm sure that Zoo that has them now happy and healthy is going to give them back, but still decently fast. But not enough to catch Nanosecond!"

And with a deliberate sound effect to mimic a certain cartoon roadrunner, he sped off. Leaving Rainbow in a hole in the wall, hurt in both pride, and various bruises.

....

"Ring ring ring..."

Rainbow pushed herself out of the wall with a groan. After a moment, she reached into her costume and took her phone. She jumped as far as she could go from the exposed streets to the protected rooftops. Once she was suitably isolated, she removed her mask and answered the call.

"Y'ello?" She drawled.

"So, I see you are having some trouble Rainbow Dash." An unknown voice spoke from the other end of the line, sounding somewhat off. Not drunk or mad or anything, but something about how this person talked just set her off.

"Who is this?!" Rainbow questioned, "Did mom set me up with some phone tutoring service again?"

"If you need help in astronomy or mechanics perhaps I can be of some help, but I am no tutor. I am merely an observer who has noted your first encounter with the one called Nanosecond."

Rainbow lowered the phone, looking somewhat apprehensive. What on earth....

Did someone already know her secret identity!? Man, she sucked as a hero is that was true.

"Look, I don't know who you are, so why should I listen to you?" she questioned the voice.

"My name is a secret, but you may call me by my code name: Stoplight."

"Stoplight?" Rainbow deadpanned.

"Stoplight." The voice said the name completely seriously.

"So what, do you have a buddy named Yield Sign somewhere?"

"Nope."

So, a strange person named Stoplight wasn't a part of some strange organization with street themed naming huh? Odd....

Rainbow noticed that she was close to that odd stoplight Scootaloo told her about a while back. The one said to be used as a monitoring device by someone.

Was that it?

"Now, my code name aside, I have some interesting data for you that you may find useful." Stoplight the mysterious voice began to explain, "Your powers, for example, are generated from a interior energy core that was formed from an exposure to alien energies of unknown origin that my group has detected in this city for years."

"Aliens huh...." Rainbow honestly wasn't surprised. That was a logical explanation for what had happened to her.

"You sound more convinced than the people on the History Channel, and I don't know if I should call that good or not," The Stoplight deadpanned, "Anyway, based upon the analysis by those a lot smarter than I am...." great, so Stoplight had friends, "...your powers have a few quirks. I could explain how it is tied into your metabolism, but really minus a onset of something like anorexia it won't be a problem for your health. However, your emotional state does impact how you perform."

"Um, that is normal you know. I've always performed worse when I am not at my best in the heart." the fact that after everything with her former friends went to hell she was off her game for a month was proof of that.

"You did the part where you lost speed and power mid attack against Nanosecond because of something in your head, right?" Stoplight deadpanned as Rainbow pinched her lips.

"Your powers won't flow right if you are dwelling on negatives. If you want to be effective, you have to be positive. You have a highly evolved mammalian brain, use it. When you are positive, your powers will do what you need them to. The City is interested in the potential of people like you Rainbow Dash, so why don't you show us the same person people see on the sports field?"

Okay, so he was part of some vaguely sinister sounding organization, the City, that had her on their radar. Good to know....

"Nanosecond is 10 blocks up robbing up some offices. I'd go and stop him, after all you are the only human who can." with that Stoplight hung up on her.

"Sure....because our local alien is taking an nap and the local sewer ninjas are on a pizza run." Rainbow snarked, before she ran for the side of the roof.

She then, with a great grin, leaped across from one roof to another. Because she could.

No matter who Stoplight was, he did have a point. She was the only one who could stop Nanosecond.

It was her duty.

...

"Man, these offices sure have a ton of these things." Nanosecond quipped as he kicked a empty plastic water jug through a glass window.

The window shattered, opening the way to the office inside.

"Do they have camels working in the cubicles?" His snark unappreciated, the speedster entered the office and looked at the various culturally diverse knives hanging on the wall.

"...Camels in the cubicles, and apparently Steven Seagel in the head honchos chair...." Nanosecond spoke in a tone that made him sound vaguely uncomfortable, "...where are these things even from? Oman? Slovenia? Kyrgyzstan?"

"No, Kickistan!"

"My name isn't Stan...." Nanosecond replied in reflex, only to be struck in the face by the dark dressed superhero from earlier, "Also, that was a fist."

....

"Punchistan isn't nearly as quippy." Rainbow snapped back, even as she looked at her fist.

The last time she had hit someone like that, it had been a lot messier. But this time....

"My face!"

He looked hurt, but he didn't look like she had put him in a hospital. It was only a brawl level bruise.

"Okay there girly, you are a bit faster than you were just before? Let me guess, you stretched this time? No matter...." darting forward, he punched her in the face and sent her flying back out of the head office and into the regular one, pushing up dust from the carpet as she flew.

"I can still hit you faster!" he was above her in seconds, a empty office water cooler in hand with the aim to whack her with.

"Debatable!" she blocked the water container with her head, shattering the plastic and continuing her headbutt attack right at him.

His evasion was high though, so her momentum only caused her to stumble awkwardly momentarily as she retook her balance.

"I see...you are fast and tough and can hit like a city bus. You might even be able to fly." Nanosecond mused in a lull in the action inaccurately. She could not fly, she'd tried. "however, I can still move faster than you. It doesn't if you can move fast, I'm faster! If it takes you 2 minutes to run over and get actual Chinese food, I'd have already been there for 30 seconds!"

None of them were that fast, but point taken. He was faster.

However, there was more to a race than speed. Yeah, that had thrown her off when she had found that out back when.

"Now I could continue to fight, but that's not going to accomplish so much so......later!" he sped towards the door, ready to vanish into the wind. Or to Detroit, whatever was more poetic.

She spotted another of those corporate water dispensers (seriously, why were so many empty ones here?).

She briefly considered kicking it right at him, but it was probably safer not to hit him directly.

No, she just kicked it up and high.

As Nanosecond darted towards the door, the dispenser bottle flew over him and landed right in front of him. Too close to react, Nanosecond tripped over the container and skidded right out the door.

She was quick to follow, with one of her crime fighting essentials she had on hand.

Rope.

"Hey!" He struggled as she pinned him on the ground, his face in the carpet, as she bound his limbs. His feet and hands were now restrained, and this knot would hold.

"Let me tell ya' somethin', this knot can hold ev'n a buckin' bull!" she heard Applejack drawl in her ear as she finished off the apple family favored knot.

"Can it hold your bull though?" she whispered to herself as she stood over the struggling speedster.

The approaching sound of sirens was growing louder.

"Well, I'd stay and chat, but you've got a date with the justice system, and actual handcuffs. Sadly they aren't in my budget. Goodbye!" she ran off towards the back of the building, leaving the struggling Nanosecond behind.

"Damn it! Let me go you....this isn't funny! I am not some animal to be abused by some circus! I hate the circus, it's filled with clowns!"

.....

However as she ran off, she had no idea what was going on.

For ever since Nanosecond had began to speed around, he had been followed discretely by a stealth drone. It observed his every move and sound with HD visuals, and while it had not gotten any images of his opponent when Nanosecond wasn't speeding about she had gotten quite a lot of shots.

She also became effective marketing.

So, the field test of the first commercially available superhuman, Speedster 1, is a success I'd say. Certainly a longer active time would have been nice, but you can't argue with what he accomplished.

And look at that other one, Model Unknown. Who made her, America? Do you want to be left out in the new age of war?

Look what happened to those without horses? Guns? Blitzkrieg?

So, whose interested in obtaining the Speedster 1 powerset? Ship a expendable soldier to a to be revealed location and get back a superhuman? The price starts of 17 million.

Kim J: Intriguing......

King A. F, King of Kings: I have money for such a soldier. I can afford dozens.

Attinger: Hmmm, impressive. I'll be following the production line, though I must admit I'd prefer something more suited for industrial actions.

F. Rich: I must agree. A speedster is an effective soldier, but not an investment I am willing to make as a businessman.

.....

A highway deep in the American Interior had a blue car pulled off at a rest area.

It was one of many cars in America today, and it was a typical blue no one would bat an eye at. However, the conversation inside was nothing so typical.

Nor was the government issue laptop currently watching the business dealings that had sprung up as the attack ended. And how, from F. Rich, more and more names kept coming up.

Truly, they had liked this test

"......Yeah, I just managed to get up here to Yellowstone country from the border. It's the same here as it was down there, well except for a few things, and not counting what you and I are seeing down in the dark net."

"Elaborate." a powerful voice came out of a blue tooth device clipped to the car interior.

"Well up here I had to spent far too much time convincing 3 different ranchers that their unexplained and now classified cattle killings were not the work of wolves, though why they think wolves are capable of projecting Bond-level lasers is beyond me, I feel that whoever is responsible for this is not the same as whoever was using some kind of Force power to throw border crossers into the Grande. Both actions are extreme, but it's more of a crazy left thing to kill rancher cattle to protect wolves. It's a crazy right thing to chuck people over the border."

"Do you think this is a group effort....."

"No Sir. I am pretty sure both incidents are lone wolves, if you'll forgive the pun. The both of us are seeing the aftermath of the Nanosecond presentation, or Speedster 1 as they are dehumanizing him as, and if you count his challenger we now know of 4 very definite cases of empowered people running around the country, and you know what sir? I very much doubt that they are the only ones."

There was a noted silence in the car for a few moments, as the man at the other end thought about it a bit.

"So far, we have only gotten reports domestically from the Lower 48 states, but I would not be surprised if we start to see Canadians and Mexicans affected. Who knows how long until this super empowering spreads worldwide, particularly the ones who aren't being made by our mysterious organization currently testing interest in despots and big business. The President and I agreed that there are countries and organizations who will certainly take advantage of these people, and that was before we saw Kim Jong decide that he wants more than firecrackers."

"I'd bet my star-spangled shorts that Russia will soon follow. I'm honest to god shocked that no V. Putins or Bear Wrestler P's are on this talk page of nightmares."

"I'm honestly more worried about a terrorist organization than an actual state. No one needs a IRA or Boko Haram Superman. For that reason, I've begun discussion with the President and all other necessary individuals...."

"By that you mean, you are ignoring Congress."

"...That was highly implied, for the creation of a task force meant to be an official response unit to superhuman actions. I've already begun looking for skilled military men to form the back bone of the operation as a basic structure; I'm looking to tap an old friend of yours for the job: Duke I believe you called him out in the field."

"Good man."

"That he is. However normal men are not whom the focus on this team should be on. For that, I'm changing your assignment slightly Fowler; keep investigating reported superhumans, but your no longer just reporting it back to me and the president. If you believe the superhuman in question is recruitable, I task you to do so."

"So, not the immigrant minuteman or the eco-terrorist then."

"Correct. In fact, once you have recruited a few and gotten them in working order I'd prefer you go after both of them. No priority of course: starting a secret government team of superhumans is problematic enough without adding political bias to it."

"Got it sir.....so got any ideas where I might find some sane super-people? I'm a little bit away from Canterlot after all, and you are going to do something about that, right."

"I've already sent a message to the commissioner of Canterlot to hold Nanosecond and not blow up about it. It helps I doubt any officer can prove what happened and be seen as sane. I've already sent Duke to up Nanosecond from them, perhaps we can recruit him. In the likely chance he thumbs his nose at the offer, I do have a lead about a possible superhuman in the mountain town of Griffonstone for you to investigate......"

....

BZZZZ

The buzzing irration of a phone retrieving a text woke Rainbow Dash.

At 4 in the morning.

She glared at the phone momentarily, briefly considering breaking it, but she was pretty sure that would violate her phone plan

So she grabbed it, and prepared for the inevitable frustration when she found out that Snails wanted someone to team up in Overwatch, and she'd once again have to remind him she didn't care for Overwatch's gameplay and to go bother someone else

However the text was not of Snails.

The text message was from someone else entirely.

I am Pleased. The long delayed age has begun at last.

U.t.W

Well, there went her ability to fall back asleep.

What was with her days recently? Early Monday she had a bizarre person text her, Sunday she had a legit supervillian and secret agent Stoplight, and Saturday she and Sunset....

A cold shiver ran down her spine, like the one one felt when you realized a test was today.

Oh yeah, Sunset. It was time to see if she had that bitch's blood on her hands.

Or at least, it was many hours before she'd see it anyway, but that only made her dread the clock more.

....

'Please let Sunset be alive, please let Sunset be alive....' Rainbow chanted in her mind as she walked into school many restless hours later, scanning the school uneasily for any sign of the infamous bacon haired monster.

Nothing, nothing, no...

OOMPH

Rainbow looked up, hoping that she had bumped into old leather jacket and be relieved, but she found another large ego before her instead.

"Trixie knows that her mere presence is blinding to lesser beings, but if you could be so kind as to watch where you going?" Trixie drawled, looking much as she ever did, bar the new necklace.

A clear crystal with a faint blue center was it's main feature. Rainbow wasn't a certain obsessed former friend of hers, so she had no idea what it was supposed to be, probably some anime thing.

"Do you dare look at Trixie's stunning new necklace!?" Trixie demanded as Rainbow shook her head.

"Good. This is Trixie's crystal." As Rainbow could have sworn the crystal's center beat like a heart at the last declaration the girl huffed off, probably aiming to go and improve her 3rd person in front of a mirror or something.

As she left, Rainbow saw a familiar bacon haired foe staring at her from across the hall.

The two stared at one another, neither making a move.

Noticing a slight err in Sunset's stance she had seen in many sports injuries a feeling of shame washed through her. Though seeing her not look at her best also made part of Rainbow's self soar with great joy.

The feelings were contradictory, and if they persisted in equal methods Rainbow may require a shrink.

However before that became necessary a familiar interruption appeared in front of her, blocking Sunset from sight.

Rainbow liked to think she had not given any indication she and Sunset had been in an all holds bared fight, so she didn't know why the Principal had searched her out. Principal Celestia did not look amused, though she didn't look angry either. That was a good thing...probably.

"Good morning Rainbow Dash: have you seen Pinkie Pie anywhere by any chance?"

"No. Why?" She hadn't seen Sugar Rush Princess anywhere recently. Her ears had appreciated it.

"Because she's been missing since she finished her shift at work after school on Friday." Pricipal Celestia stated in a tone that was now filled with concern.

What?

"Now, I know that you and her used to be friends with Pinkie: is she at your home? I know she and her family are very....different, but I cannot say I have ever see any signs that it was a problem..."

"She's not at my house." Rainbow stated bluntly. Like she'd let that traitor stay with her.

The moment that thought finished another replaced it: the image of a crying, beaten Pinkie Pie at her door, looking like she had just escaped from hell and wanting somewhere safe to be, eyes glistening in desperation and fear.

That..was not an easy image to push aside. So, maybe she would let that traitor stay with her, if she looked like that.

Or was missing a limb. Something drastic.

Principal Celestia seemed to believe her, and shook her head

"Sorry to bother you then. If you have any information, do tell me and I'll bring it to the police's attention. I can only hope she'd alright."

Celestia promptly peered down the hall, where an infamous stetson was perched upon a head of lies, probably to see if she knew where Pinkie had gotten to.

'Hope you'll alright Pinkie' Rainbow thought to herself, unsure of how worried she should be of her former friend.

She was erratic, but this was odd even for her. Just up and vanishing was more out of character for her than Fluttershy swearing.

Well, she couldn't got far. After all, how far could Pinkie get in a few days?

Boston: Time Unknown, ??

A city built upon history and the future at the same, what had once been founded by Puritans had since been forged into a great city of the modern age: familiar with the past but embracing the future with arms wide open.

On the lower level history sparkled; buildings older than the nation itself long preserved and respected. A place of tourists, school groups, and rather good beer.

But look up, and the brick becomes shining steel. Rings of progress standing above it, glittering with the glow of the modern era and housing sky piercing buildings and great highways where the machines of man move faster than the pigeons who fluttered below.

In a few places flags flew. Some bore the mark of red socks, others of a guided B. But a few flags were most notable: a light blue flag with a large central star, orbited by smaller ones.

The stars looked akin to those who often came with stripes, though such a flag flew no more. It was long dead.

The death was long enough ago that few remembered it, and those who do said good riddance. In such a time where that had flown cultures clashed and brought pain and suffering to all. This city had been the heart of a people who had their foot on the gas pedal, and the others ones who had it on the break.

Now the opposing culture was not bound to them. It was an enemy, and they could move towards their own viewpoints free of it. But perhaps they had forgotten how to use the brake since then, or saw it as wrong entirely.

"Attention Citizens. Attention Citizens. A Class Cadance news announcement is about to be aired in 2 minutes. Please access or gain viewing of a public news outlet, or a private one with streaming capabilities." a voice announced seemingly everywhere.

At the mention of the word Cadance, many began to murmur in terror. At least one Duck boat braked so suddenly a young child's ice cream lobbed into the head of an old man, and the old man complained not.

Another duck was in an accident when a jogger rapidly stopped in shock at the announcement, and tripped on a mallard.

Duck related issues aside, many hundreds of thousands of Bostonians dashed for any place with a T.V, a streamable device, or a computer: all looking on in dread.

For such a name to them, was a name that heralded the greatest loss of life the nation had ever experienced. A veteran of world conflicts that had long since gotten too numerous, yet a single name brought upon a sense of fear and hatred that it would be hard to find even during the hay day of Balkan Brutalities before the First World War.

As the two minutes came to a close, every device found itself with a grim looking newscaster on it. In Boston, she was a aging blond.

In Pittsburgh, he was a black with a strong chin.

In the heavily reinforced Potomac Militarized Zone he was a grim faced General without his left hand.

In Detroit, she was a young brunette with pointed ears.

Regardless of where or who spoke it, with what specific words or tones, the message was much the same at it's heart.

"The Benevolence Society has recently discovered and attempted to handle a unprecedented incursion by the enemies of humanity into the New England Federation. These two, representing the forces currently committing unspeakable crimes against humanity in Europe, broke into New York and caused millions in damages and put several Benevolence Society in the hospital. For reasons unknown they damaged a sewer tunnel with a large blasted hole and strange crystals of unknown origins and toxic incarnation radiation, nearly destroyed precious Bosnian, Slovenian, and Hungarian artifacts at the Memorial Museum of Europe, severely damaged 3 streets, and attempted to link up with underground Purification for Earthly Renewal terrorists, all of whom were promptly faith-stripped and arrested. However, the initial intruders of our security remain at large and are no longer within New York city limits."

"One of the New York intruders is none other than the infamous Pinkie Pie," each news giver now had an image of a poofy haired girl with wild and confused eyes on screen, "It is unknown how she has managed it, but she has changed her appearance to try and be a facsimile of a regular teenage girl. She may seem harmless, but she has developed a psuedo-incarnate ability to teleport herself, others, and even her limbs by an unknown method. Yes, we are not kidding: Pinkie Pie can now appear behind you at any time and...."

What the news announcers were describing across the land were drowned out by terrified screams of many: parents, lovers, benevolent bosses, and others. Many others expressed the fear of this revelation in other ways: the newscasters all looked like they could see Pinkie Pie committing the unthinkable to their loved ones and were visibly shaking, while the general grabbed where his hand had once been as if he could see it happening again

"With her is an unknown individual on whom data is still limited," the news continued, with some like the pointy eared Detroit newscaster requiring a few more seconds to recompose themselves, before showing an image of another, older woman, "This individual has been dubbed a class 0 Incarnate type, possessing a power level rare among all lifeforms. She defeated Thomas Thumb the Trainman in one on one combat and displayed unaltered magic levels not seen in New England since Cadence."

That made many, especially those in the city where said fiend was defeated, New York, tremble in fear.

"Why she has not appeared before now is unknown, but we do have a name for this individual: Sunset Shimmer. If you encounter these two, do not engage. Alert the Benevolence Society immediately, and run. Run for your life."

Author's Note

1: KRate: like Loot Crate, but in this universe.

2: yeah, development with these chapters has been kind of off, in part because I wrote this for a bit, started another chapter and changed the order of it, and the started working on this one again. Sorry about that.

3: Nanosecond isn't an O.C, just slightly renamed upon beta suggestion

4: Why are Pinkie and Sunset on the lamb? Find out later....if I ever finish their Annual up. It's freaking long. Also kind of nuts. It may come up next chapter, or several ones down the line.

Annual #1: Pinkie in Manhattan(?)

Teleporting is really annoying.

You don't get to pose for it, or even plan it, or even make a Star Trek reference.

It just happens at random.

I mean really, you can just be out walking after a long day of working at Sugar Cube Corner and BAM! Suddenly everyone is talking in Welsh, and my Welsh is easily my weakest of the languages of the United Kingdom.

I can speak Irish and Scottish and British English as good as anyone, but I've never quite gotten the hang of my Welsh. It really makes it hard for me to do Welsh Parties, which I really need to work on.

I mean I've researched, and on a couple occasions have done, English Parties, French Parties, French-Canadian Parties, Swahili Parties, Japanese Parties, and Mongolian Parties, and I am ready to do about 47 other languages, but my Welsh......

Welsh Pinkie, who otherwise looks just like me but with a different voice in a different language, can speak it fine, but I can't. It's sad really.

Oh, but enough about THAT universe that I randomly got stuck in.

Time to worry about this one!

.....

"......Oh my Sugary God, the Dump just explo....." Pinkie's train of thought crashed the moment she found herself randomly on top of a building.

Tapping the steel structure with her foot, she turned back to see a giant, golden orb surrounded by rings, with a large blue oval with the words ToPMag inscribed in it. Many other shiny looking buildings surrounded it, though smaller than said building....with what looked like an upper layer of buildings and highways above it.
Looking down, she saw that there was in fact a third layer of the city below this one.

Turning back and looking into the city, she spotted several buildings and landmarks that she knew from her extensive studies on making New York City parties: the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Metlife Building, Central Park, and the World Trade Centers she had only seen in pictures. They looked a little off though: a little nagging feeling you got when you saw something familiar, but you were quite sure that there was just a couple of little things off about them.

it was somewhat obvious with the Metlife Building, given that it was instead called the 'New England Plane and Blimp Airline Building', and the Twin Towers being.....well, there.

They were also surrounded by tiers, one of which had a blue and gray train zoom by with a 'Metro N.E' logo instead of a Metro-North Logo as it was supposed to be.

Pinkie promptly dropped on her knees and shouted.

"Oh come on! Again with the alternate universe teleportation! Why does this keep happening to me!?"

A sudden chill wafted on by, snapping Pinkie out of her Rarity-style freak-out (they were fun! No wonder she always did them), and snapping her back to...this reality.

"Well, better get down from here!" and in a pink burst of light, she vanished.

...

As she intended to do that, she reappeared at her destination with a planned spin and pose.

"Ta da!"

The Canada Goose that was in front of her just hissed her way and swam off in the water. Pinkie rolled her eyes in response.

"Everyone's a critic....and this universe has Canada Geese in it? That's annoying: are Canadian Geese a scourge on all realities? Am I going to end up in a world controlled by them one of these days? Also, you looked a little dull in your feathers there Mister Goose, are you feeling all..."

Pinkie trailed off as she got a look at her own reflection.

"Oh sweet Crayola!"

Her skin wasn't pink anymore! Neither was her hair! Her clothes even seemed a little duller in color!

Her skin was instead pasty and white, looking more like a sickly Rarity coloration. Her hair was a unvibrant, unpopping, unultrapoofy red.

Her dull red, halfheartedly poofy hair.

Pinkie just stared at herself in shock and horror, gaping in terror at a universe that seemed to have an entirely different coloring pallet!

She didn't even realize universes did that!

What was next, a universe where everyone was just black and white like an old movie!? Well, if she could have some fun with the old-fashioned 'effects without sound' and the zaniness of it all that might not be be so bad...

.....

But this.

This.....

THIS.....was very bad.

Oh, not the large poster that was placed on the side of the mobile book selling mobile, nor the book selling mobile itself. People should read more.

No, it was what on the poster that was worth a Rarity level freak out.

Apparently like Canadian Geese, Harry Potter was also a cross-universe wonder. One that didn't menace small children beyond nightmare fuel about evil pink toads and slightly less evil K.K.K wizards.

But it was.....wrong.

Just....wrong.

"Hermione, Puckle?" Pinkie mouthed to herself as she saw the name labeled under the famous witch in-between children swarming it out of view, "Gary Thomas, and why is he so prominent along with Theodore Nott? Pyrites, Mafalda Weasley? Why is the Half-Blood Prince the second book, and the last one is Harry Potter and the Elder Wand? And why is Harry holding the Philosophers Stone, like he's Nathan Drake? I DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

Yeah, kind of have to agree with you there," the a green and tan dressed young adult with the silly hat and even sillier tri-pronged goatee told her as he walked up to the book truck, "I've never quite understood this series either, but it's well written and it actually has good movies coming out. Now, Kaede needs a replacement for Books 3 and 4 still after the Battle....hopefully they didn't already sell out already...." he mumbled it to himself as Pinkie shook her hand.

"Come on, please be charged up now...."

It was how her powers worked, really. They'd randomly teleport her somewhere, and while she was there she could actually use them. She could go anywhere in that anywhere she was at.

However, she could only go home if she managed to charge herself enough to do so, and sadly she did not come with a charging gauge.

For she was not ROBO-PINKIE-BOT 4000, with GYRO-SCOPE and GPS TRACKING!

Although, that would be nice. Just imagining the built in party cannon made her drool.
....

So, the Harry Potter thing was rather shocking, on top of the general shockingness of the universe in general.

But now.....

Taking a deep breath, Pinkie plopped down on the grass, and saw the clouds move across the sky in this alternate Central Park.

....perhaps, it wasn't so odd after all. After all, the clouds were just as interesting to look at here as they were back home.

HEY! That one looked like a Urgal.

And that one a Kneazle (were they even called that here?).

Oh, and Grover Cleveland too!

"......Did you here about what the Danes did?" she overheard two men talking amongst themselves, sitting a bit away from her on the grass with a couple of bagged lunches (from what she could see by bending her neck and looking over towards them).

"Oh yeah, such a shame. I love paprika-based food. Can't believe they've all been lost."

The first man who talked gave an annoyed sigh, "No Gaeton, that's Hungarian. You really need to stop mixing up Denmark and Hungary."

"What's the difference Brandon?"

"....A lot. Anyway, apparently the Danish King put all of them on a boat, and left."

"....Must have been a big boat." Gaeton voiced Pinkie's thoughts exactly. Putting 5 million people on a boat must have been tricky.

"Not as big as you might think: I suppose someone in the Danish Government must have wanted to thank WW7 for shrinking the population enough they only needed a really big boat." Wait, what about World War: the Force Awakens?!

"Apparently they're coming over here: I'm told they made a deal with the military to settle down in one of the parts of Virginia the army managed to de-Gluestick and de-Confederate, though I'm told that the gluesticks did most of the de-confederating." Gaeton joked as Brandon the not-Gaeton gave him a sour look.

"Confederates are idiots, but they didn't deserve that. Sure, they probably deserve being kicked out of their homes by Danes, I'd rather eat tin cookies than grits any-day of the week, but they don't deserve being turned into Salt-lickers."

Gluesticks and Salt-lickers? That's a curious euphemism for something. And Confederate.....did they mean 'declare independence for slavery, die for slavery, then claim it was totally not about slavery and it was instead all about state's rights (to slavery) later' confederates, or some other sort of Confederate?

"You're family didn't fight in the wars Brandon, mine did, (I'm a Quaker Gaeton, we don't do wars). I've heard more about the Delaware War than they tell in schools. Confederates are nasty creatures, the likes of which we only see in the remote parts of the Appalachians where they grow illegal tobacco, inbreed to sterility and madness, and think they don't have to send their children to school to learn anything that doesn't involve that dead Palestinian and firearms. Heck, they might be considered the liberals down there from what I've heard."

Well Gaeton seems....pleasant.

"I was taught, and I believe, that we are all humans in the end," Brandon stated with some finality as he loudly crumbled his lunch bag in a sign of anger, "Federate, Confederate, Danish, Hungarian.....we've spent far too much time, and lost too much everything, fighting each other. Especially now: why fight amongst ourselves when we have the damn Salt-lickers to deal with?"

"Why indeed." Gaeton stood up, scowling, "It's not like the Salt-lickers are the only inhuman menaces running about. The day of the normal person is over Brandon: don't act like we're safe either way. If we don't all drinking the happy juice and licking sat, we're going to be run by freaks."

With little explanation for her as to what he meant, Gaeton stormed off the opposite direction. Brandon shook his head in dismay, before pulling out a company-issue water bottle (Studio Tartakovsky) and taking several deep gulps from it, before walking off, seeming a tad depressed. Apparently he had not expected the conversation with his quite-possibly ex-friend to go that way.

Pinkie calmly listened to their conversation, twirled a blade of grass in her fingers as the ex-friend walked off, promptly concluded she had no idea what they were talking about.

She glanced back at the Harry Potter/essence of Nathan Drake injected poster.

This world was weird.

....

Her stomach growled.

Still unable to go home, Pinkie was quickly coming to realize something.

She was hungry.

She was also rather parched, but water fountains were a wonderful thing, so she could get free water without braving a fight with the trans-universal threat of Canada Geese.

However, despite being in a place with so many high-class dining options even Rarity couldn't complain, she quickly realized that even the act of buying things would run into a serious, unavoidable problem.

"I'll take two ice creams!" amidst the jingle of the ice-cream cart she was currently spying on, a dark haired, quite thin teenage male with violet eyes the color of Rarity's hair (and come to think of it, the only person she had seen with eyes that color in this universe that lacked color) and a chessboard folded up and under the arm farthest from her, ordered in such a dramatic tone of voice she wondered what else he shared with her.

"Sure kid, what kind?"

"Oh, I'll have a Vanilla cup, and my brother will have a Chocolate sugar cone." A younger, brown haired girl in a wheelchair next to him chimed in, sounding adorable. She was the second person Pinkie noted in this universe to have the odd eye color.

"Okay, that will be 6 bucks."

And her problem was promptly shown when the older brother handed over a duo of purple bills.

She had green bills: and she was pretty sure the monetary exchange wouldn't help.

She watched the brother push the sister down the path before her, both cheerfully licking away without a care in the world.

Cute, but watching the two only made her hungrier.

....

"Get back here!"

A bit later, even as her hunger coma was starting to loom, Pinkie perked up from her grassy location as a brown haired man with hair so fuzzy she just wanted to rub it, and a blond haired woman whose hair was so straight she could probably use it as a ruler, who was holding onto a oddly stained metal briefcase.

Of course she'd need a ruler to first mark the inches on her hair to do so, so such a use really was rather pointless.

Both were oddly dressed: each was dressed up in a fly costume with large, red, compounded goggles on top of their head, proboscis trunks, multiple sticky limbs, and thin wings on the back Pinkie assumed were not functional.

The cop behind them was mostly normal: he just looked old with glasses.

"Will you two just give it up already!" The old cop shouted after them, keeping a surprisingly fast (but not quite fast enough) run for someone his age. Was it just her, or was his hand inching (while running?) towards his holster-no wait, his hand was definitely inching towards his holster Maybe she shouldn't be sitting here?

"Ho ho! Really Officer Munch (Detective Munch, for the fifth time!), you think we'd stop running now?! We've been running for decades, no one can catch Issac and Miria!" the fuzzy haired bug guy declared.

Pinkie thought about it a bit as the three shouted back and fourth. She could move and get out of whatever harm's way, but that might also entail missing out on the only significant entertainment she might get in this weirdo world-it wasn't as if she could go online with her phone, after all.Pinkie raised a finger to her chin in thought. " Hmm. Decisions decisions."

"That's right!" The girl smiled back, waving without a care at the police officer, "We've avoided being captured by the Benevolence Society, the Dominions of Canada and California, Interpol, the KGB, and the Confederate States! We're a little hard to catch."

Watch and be entertained by this confrontation that she kind of wished she was a part of, or seek the safety of a nearby trashcan? Decisions decisions.

"Yes, and we're just as clever as we are slippery!" Isaac continued, still outpacing the man who was probably as old as them, but in much worse condition. The two must use some real killer moisturizer or something. "Why do you think we dressed up like this!?"

"We heard all about how one of the local criminal gangs had hidden thirteen million in the Horse Stables, guarded by fearsome horses, so we dressed as-Miria look out!" Issac shouted as Munch drew a gun of a model of which Pinkie had never seen in any of her father's NRA magazines and opened fire, all in one practiced motion that took less than a second.

Though instead of bullets, a tranquilizer dart flew out.

Miria heard the dart shoot out, and swung her 13 million carrying case to block it. The dart was knocked off course, and was sent flying right at ....

"EEP!"

Pinkie teleported out of the way of the dart, hoping to get anywhere away from the line of fire.

....

Goodbye Central Park, hello......somewhere.

That somewhere was quickly made apparent when she found herself in a bar. Location, unknown.

And no, she couldn't just ask someone: the bar was completely empty and was extremely dusty.

Sliding a finger down the old but well maintained bar counter-top, inches of dust was dislodged.

"Well.....this place certainly isn't a party. No one's been here in forever, and even if it got dusted, this place seems a little low-key. I mean, even with the clearly visible places they used to keep T.V's above the bar that are now fallen, this place just lacks a hook. Nothing that gives this place some personality, some pizazz, some...."

Turning to look around the boring abandoned bar, her words were quickly taken aback when she was confronted by a giant taxidermy....something staring her down.

It was big, reaching near the top of the bar's roof. It had giant claws, a dark color, and clearly unnatural cool glasses and a beer mug that were clearly not naturally part of it.

It wasn't a bear though: it wasn't as hunched, and was also larger.

"Okay....now I see the pizazz. Now, if only I knew what that thing was?" Looking around for any sort of hint, all she found were dusty booths, a old jukebox that probably didn't work anymore, one of those old cigarette machines, and a single wooden door with a hole through the middle, illuminating the bar with a single beam of light.

Well, there was probably going to be a sign for this place outside.

Walking to and opening the old door, it creaked with disuse, before falling to the ground with a thump.

Walking into the light, she briefly noted the name of the bar (The Sloth Slough), but that quickly exited her mental priority list as she got a good view of where she had teleported to.

A ruined town, filled with buildings that had been smashed, broken, or just decaying. Mountains loomed in the distance, peaks she had a sneaking suspicion were probably the Appalachians based on her geography parties past.

Minus the mountains of course, the town looked almost like.....

".....I'm in the Walking Dead. Oh my lord I am in the Walking Dead. An actual Walking Dead world, they do exist. And now I'm in it....."

Her gaze shot rapidly, moving form one decaying street to a mildly different decaying street.

"Are the Walkers nearby, are they going to start swarming me. Oh no, I don't want to die.....I have so much still to bake! and I haven't even gotten started on the perfect Welsh parties...."

A horrified look crossed her face, the fridge horror setting in.

"Wait, if this is the Walking Dead Universe........that means I'm infected! I can never go back home, or I'll spread the virus to another Earth! I'm going to have to sacrifice myself for the good of everyone: Mom and Dad, Maud and Mr and Mrs. Cake, Pound and Pumpkin, those random hobos on the corner of....."

The expression of terror promptly left her face.

"Wait, New York was perfectly fine, and I still lack color so this is still the same universe. That means this isn't the walking dead, and I'm not a plague infected biological ticking time bomb!"

Pinkie promptly bounced up and down in eager relief, glad to be free of that fear.

Now, was anyone still around here? Because if this wasn't the Walking Dead, where were the Walking Living?

....

The abandoned houses clearly had been damaged prior to their abandoners leaving them.

Sure, they were all falling apart, seemed to have broken doors (some as if someone broke it down from within, others from outside), and they clearly needed a date with a power washer (fun times, fun times....if only that one time....), but there was more.

A few for example looked like something had broken in from above. Like, if Ninja Turkeys had emerged from the forest and broke into peoples homes to avenge their fallen brethren, or something like that.

Pretty big turkeys though, she'd have said Ninja Ostriches if the size and continent was more appropriate. Possibly Ninja Rhea, but that'll be a stretch.

But.....could Turkeys break down doors? Or even break through roofs?

The roofs were hardly made of straw after all, and it didn't seem like the theoretical turkey ninjas had explosives to help do it. She didn't see any signs of such force being used, and she was well aware of what explosions looked like.

The house damage that had occurred after the possible Boom Boom Turkey Ninja attacks, as evidenced by the several homes that had utterly collapsed in on themselves, made her somewhat hesitant to go inside one. However, like all towns in and around Appalachia, particularly what she suspected to be this town's half of Appalachia, there was always going to be one really solid building to look in.

A stone monument to God: the Church.

...

Today Is Christ, Tomorrow is Dominion, Everyday is For the Lord Eternal for he is Divine

Was what she was pretty sure the ever changing yet oddly enjoyable church sign (though this one was not really that good) had said back in the old days. Now, it just said

d is C o r D i s d E a D

All the other letters had fallen off to the ravages of time, weather, and squirrels-one of which she saw scurrying off somewhere with a letter in its mouth. So, at the bare minimum she could theorize squirrels may have taken over the world. Pinkie touched a finger to her chin thoughtfully.

Nah. They'd never be able to decide on an unified plan of world domination.

Sure, when she walked inside the carpets were a total wreck, looking like someone had herded goats through it in mass, but for a ruined church it was surprisingly good in the upholstery department.

Not so good in the water fountain department, but a church in a dead society area could only have semi-tolerable upholstery, or water in the pipes.

It was in the heart of the church that things really looked odd.

A stain-glass window with the traditional, quite inaccurate portrayal of White Jesus was smashed through, as if the Ninja Turkeys (or possibly Ninja Goats given the damage to the carpet, though how they managed to get up to the window was beyond her. Jetpack-Ninjutsu Goats perhaps?) had broken through, and the benches were overturned.

They were all knocked back, and had been for some time. They were covered in dust, their former content spilled about.

And that content.....

Torn up, shredded, stomped on, and abandoned.

Dozens of bibles were lying on the ground, looking like they had been tap-danced on and ripped apart, with teeth. It was rather unsettling.

Though it did put a kibosh on the Ninja Turkeys: they lacked teeth.

Walking down the aisle of the ruined church, trying to avoid stepping on broken bibles even as light came through damaged and undamaged windows alike, it was rather creepy.

Heck, if this universe was actually The Walking Dead, a Walker would probably make things less creepy. At least she'd be focusing on it and not the......this.

Crunch

The sound of glass breaking under her shoe snapped her attention: and a glance to the left had her too far from the window to really explain it by the torso and headless White Jessus.

In fact, now that she looked again, there was a lot of broken glass far too far from the window to really make sense for a Church.

Looking around rapidly for any sort of clue, she spotted something lying in the curved bottom (supposed to be the back) of a bench, something that did not belong.

For it was purple, and that didn't go well with church colors.

Stepping on some more glass, Pinkie walked over to the purple and picked it up, revealing itself to be a glass flask of purple liquid.

The bottle was labeled, but it was in a script she could not read. The script......she had never seen it before, it wasn't made of Arabic or Chinese characters.

Was this the same kind of glass that littered the floor around here?

Pinkie briefly thought about throwing it on the ground, but she wasn't a glass expert and that wouldn't really solve anything and would probably just get glass in her knee.

.....

The streets of Abandoned Town, Somewhere Appalachia continued to show nothing to indicate what had happened here.

Turkey, Squirrel, Goat, or Zombie Apocalypse, everything seemed utterly voiceless to answer what had happened here.

Perhaps nature had the answer. Maybe if she listened to the woods, they'd give her an answer.

Silence, silence, silence.....

This was boring.

Silence, silence....

EEK, EEK

Oh, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Did that help?

Silence, silence.....

Coo Coo Coo Coo

Huh, a Mourning Dove. Still not helping

Keho Keho Keho

She....had no idea what sound was. It wasn't like any bird that she had ever seen around any of Fluttershy's bird feeders....

YOWL!

The hairs on the back of Pinkie's neck stood up as some sort of inhuman shriek let loose through the forest, quickly joined by the sounds of at least a dozen others like it.

It made Coyote song sound angelic. Hell, it made Sunset's voice sound angelic. That sound just made her want to teleport to somewhere safe, like Detroit.

Did this universe have a Detroit though? More importantly, did she want to possibly have to overnight in an alternate version of Detroit if it meant staying here one more minute?

....She'd brave the mystery howlers.

"Damn it!" it was faint, but she heard someone shout in the distance.

Another human, and someone who might know what happened to this place, and what that horrible yowling was from? Sure, a rather annoyed, angry sounding human, but she'd welcome even a jerk at this point.

Breaking into a run, Pinkie immediately zeroed in on the sound of the other person, eager to see any friendly or sort of friendly face.

Even if it was one of those creepy hill people with moonshine and beards longer than her hair, she was sure that the person would be at least approachable and friendly. And jerks...well, she'd never found one she couldn't befriend eventually...barring her old friends...and Sunset Shimmer...and that one guy who now has a restraining order against her...and his girlfriend...and her cousin. Maybe her track record wasn't as good as she thought?

Bounding through a ruined front yard, avoiding a wall of gnome statues, and vaunting over a brier patch Pinkie skidded into what she was pretty sure had been at one time or another a high school football field, complete with a collapsed scoreboard and bleachers.

The football lines were no longer visible though, and the grass was certainly no longer regulation height.

Her mystery human, a red head with sunstreaked hair, had her back to her. She was dressed oddly, familiarly actually.

Sure, the jacket was a bit more Indiana Jones/Nathan Drake than Principal, and the pants appeared to be jeans, but even muted the color was very similar to that of Principal Celestia's general getup, and her legs were unmistakable.

The hair was even the same style, if a different color. Then again, Celestia's hair color probably did not exist here, though she wasn't sure why it was red of all things.

The woman kicked at the ground and folded her arms. "Can't believe they followed me all the way out here..."

Pinkie tilted her head, the woman's voice oddly familiar to her. Well, no time like the present for surprise hello's!

"Helllooo!" Pinkie greeted with every ounce of her usual cheer and friendliness she could muster at the moment.

The figure tensed, and whirled her way. As she did, the Principal Celestianess became ever more clear.....at least until her face came into focus.

Then, everything just got weird.

"Oh, a human? I didn't think any were still in these mountains this far south." The Principal Celestia redeco with Sunset Shimmer's face asked in astonishment.

It took her mind a few seconds to process what she was seeing.

"Um, miss? Is something wrong...." Sunlestia Shimmer asked in a concerned tone that did not sound right coming from Sunset's mouth.

"Oh, you wouldn't get how wrong this is!" Pinkie declared with sudden volume, pointing at the now baffled looking woman.

"......I didn't forget to wear cloths today, did I?" Sunlestia asked with a tone of honesty that suggested that could have been it. She patted herself as she herself checked that.

"No, not that. You, looking like Principal Celestia! That is wrong, wronger than I can even put into words Sunset!"

"Principal Celestia?" She seemed most baffled by the Principal part, before putting a thoughtful hand to her chin, "You know, that actually would work for her. Now, can we maybe have this talk somewhere else...." she darted her eyes nervously towards the forest, before darting back to her, "Wait, how exactly do you know my name?"

"Why wouldn't I know it!? At least this time you aren't Welsh, though a Welsh version of me, Pinkie Pie, is much weirder than a Welsh you...."

"Pinkie Pie?"

Pinkie nodded at the unspoken question, before she felt her body suddenly seize up, a blue aura surrounding her and binding her limbs.

She was pulled to Sunlestia's palm, which was covering her forehead. She was no looking her odd combination of friendly, confused, and worried, but this time she had an expression Pinkie had rarely seen.

She could think of a few times she had seen this sort of expression, in the eyes of people like Maud, Big Mac, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.

She figured that Celestia would have a similar expression, if she was dealing with someone who had hurt Vice-Principal Luna.

"So, I get to finally meet one of you. I must admit, you aren't quite looking like what I expected you to, and you are talking some odd nonsense, but I can finally have a nice little, chat, with you." She sounded angry with a hint of 'I will hurt you', but it sounded a lot different than what Sunset normally sounded like.

"I don't know what nonsense you put in my sister's head, but the way she'd acting is completely wrong! What the Tartarus did you put in my sister's head!?"

Wha? What was going on here.......since when did Sunset have a sister!?

She felt an odd pressure on her head, as a blue tinted dome began to spread from her mind and surround the two.

Darting her eyes around Sunset's palm, she saw....her home?

Her school?

Her former friends?

Her Sunset Shimmer?

Wait, was this her mind? Was Sunlestia's making her mind play around them like some sort of surround-screen IMAX movie?!

Sunset's 'Older Sibling Anger Mode' expression began to be replaced by one of confusion as the images played, before removing her palm. The viewings of her life ended, and she fell to the ground.

"Ow!"

"....What are you......" Sunset asked in a shaken tone, "What in the name of Discord's Pantry are you!?"

Interesting swear word.

"My name is Pinkie Pie, I thought I already said that." Pinkie repeated, as a horrible smell wafted through the abandoned sporting field.

It was like someone had taken the worst smelling things in nature, and put them in a blender with bark and raw deer meat.

"Horsefeathers." Sunset possibly swore, she wasn't quite sure about these alternate universe swear words.

"Um, Horses have feathers?" Pinkie felt the need to have the joke explained to her, as dark shaped began to form all around them. As they took shape, they were shown to be really large, and slightly humanoid.

They gained focus, and as Pinkie saw them up close her eyes went wide.

The beings surrounding them were hairy, hairier than Big Mac could ever hope to be. They had giant feet. They were scowling at the both of them....and all of them had guns, sashes of ammunition, and what looked like massive tomahawks strapped to their backs that would make Cloud Strife envious.

She, and an alternate universe version of Sunset Shimmer who looked like Principal Celestia, were surrounded by armed Sasquatch.

....That was an odd sentence.

"So........who are you friends? Let me guess, the one with the cool scar on his lips is Patterson, right?" Pinkie loudly asked as the scarred lip Sasquatch pointed at her in a way that just demanded an OBJECTION.

"My name is Kälû human fledgling, and we are no friends of this criminal."

It took Pinkie's find 10 seconds to register that the voice that was deeper than Big Mac if he went through 3 more puberties, was not only female but came from the Sasquatch

"Wait, you can talk!?" Since when could Sasquatch talk?! Where was that part of the Patterson-Gimlin film?

"Pinkie, please stop...." Sunlestia hissed at her.

Kälû growled at her, and several of the other Sasquatch exchanged looks. She didn't quite catch their faces, and what she did catch was kind of garbled for not being human, but she was getting a 'what a dumb human' vibe from it.

"Yes, we can in fact, talk. Did you think Humans, and their spawn, are the only creatures from this world who can talk?"

Yes, actually. Horses didn't really talk back to you much after all.

A thought came to her as she got a better look at the heavily armed not-Wookies.

"Wait, I've got it! All this time, I've thought that everyone one was killed by zombies or turkeys or squirrels or goats, but it really you guys! This place had a Bigfoot Apocalypse! It's so original, Hollywood really should get on it, and if not an aspiring author!"

The air was silent after her declaration. She noticed a few of the Sasquatch looking at their feet nervously, as if wondering if they really had that large pairs of feet.

"No.......I don't know what made you come to that conclusion, but we did not do this. We killed all the humans in the place your kind called California, and we're currently trying to kill off the Mormons." She muttered a word that Pinkie didn't quite catch, she suspected it was a Sasquatch term like 'God' or something, "Those humans are aggravating to kill, they just don't seem to die. Do you have a word for something that is supposed to be squishy and weak, but somehow won't just die?"

"Twinkies?" Pinkie impulsively stated, even as her eyes widened and mind raced with the fact the She-squatch just told her. The idea that everyone in California, 39 odd million people, were killed by Bigfoot. She had trouble grasping it.

"Yes, that works. Mormons are Human Twinkies, but no, we have not decimated any population centers in these mountains. Sure, we did kill a few hundred humans on the way here, but it's not like there were many left here in the Confederacy anyway-the rogue livestock handled the rest.

So, the Goats were still the leading bringers of the end then?

"Also, what was this Hollywood you mentioned?" Another Sasquatch scratched the top of his head, "I have never heard of that place."

So Hollywood didn't exist then? Was it a lesser figure in the multiverse than geese and Harry Potter and quite possibly twinkies?

So, where was the movie industry based here? Paris? London? Cleveland?

"Enough! Human, whoever you are, you stand next to a vile criminal-the Two scented Sunset Shimmer! She dared to attempt to release the God of Destruction from its stone prison in the capital, and she must be punished for her attempt to sink the world further into the dark than it already is!"

"I was not trying to release that thing! Cerberus's nine balls, I am not that stupid! I thought that thing was something from my home: a being named Discord!" Sunset insisted as one might when denying murder. Again, Pinkie was struck by the odd curse word, and the oddly familiar name in Discord.

Why did that ring a bell in her head?

"Your intent is irrelevant. You will be punished." Kälû declared, before changing her glare's target from Sunlestia to Pinkie, "And you! Normally I'd kill you for the crime of humanity, but your provided a new term to describe those *****...." She again used a word that Pinkie did not know the meaning of but she suspected was not complementary, "......Mormons amused me. I will let you live, provided you tell all humans you find that the mountains of this continent are Sasquatch property. All humans will vacate them, or die. Spread this message, and you will not die by my hands."

"I don't know about that, Kälû" another Sasquatch offered his own two cents on the question of sparing her, "My sister was serving with the human eradication forces in the Northern Mountains. She spoke of the death of her commanding officer, Thymilph, to a human whom she described as looking a lot like this one here. The human blew up Thymilph with a punch, and now wears his foot like a trophy."

Okay.....the possible her apparently had some interesting fashion views. A Sasquatch foot keychain? She didn't think that would be approved by Rarity. Or Fluttershy. Or her for that matter.

She could sort of see Applejack or Rainbow with one, assuming Winnona did not eat it.

"Um, that wasn't me. I've never been Canada, at least I think you are talking about Canada because you certainly aren't taking about Mexico which I haven't been too either in case you were wondering, let alone blown anyone up with a punch. How do you even do that if you aren't bald? Oh, maybe it would help if I just introduce myself then: My name is Pinkie Pie!"

She said it with a big smile with the dearest hope the California destroying not actually cryptids would not hurt her.

Her smile faded when she noticed all of them were looking at her nervously, as if they expected her to suddenly lunge at them with a flamethrower (she'd say knife, but could you knife a Sasquatch? They were really hairy after all).

"Pinkie Pie...."

"It can't be...."

"Well, better a naked ape than some domestic animal gone mad after all...."

Hey! She did not eat that much.....and wasn't a coward......insert insult involving Goats here.

"One of the Six Criminals, second only to Celestia, in being feared by humanity and the singular destroyers of entire nations each, alongside Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Twilight Sparkle?" who and what!?

Sunlestia moved to speak, as if to possibly explain what the hell that meant, but a bullet fired from a Sasquatch that took a few hairs off the side of her head silenced her.

"I rescind my decision to spare you: your weapons may devastate humans, but your kind is no friend to Sasquatch kind either. We'll have to war when you finish with the Old World, but I see no reason to strike now. Die, Scourge of Croats and Buster of Budapest."

It all happened in seconds: Kälû clicked the trigger of her gun, Sunlestia moving to protect her, realizing that she was not either capable of blowing people up with fists, or....whatever the hell she just said she was.

She didn't like the odds, and she wanted to get out of here. Even Cleveland had to be better than this place.

And she didn't feel good leaving behind anyone to die by the hands of Sasquatch forces, even if they did look like Sunset Shimmer.

So she grabbed Sunset's hand, and teleported away, hoping she could take passengers.

The microsecond before the bullet fired, her theory was confirmed and She and Sunset vanished from Appalachia and it's militant Sasquatch S.A.S.

....

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

Or in this case: away from the armed Saquatch, and right smack back in the middle of a New York City Street with cars blaring at them.

Thankfully though, New York Drivers were also being held at bay by their natural enemy: the red light. So, they were at the moment, not roadkill.

"What is this place...." Sunset asked, her head darting around as if she had never seen this place before, or even been in a city this size.

"It's New York miss, it's the greatest city on Earth: if not before than certainly after that monster devastated all the rival cities for that spot." the answer in fact came from the bearded man she had met by the book truck. She also noted the Ice Cream Siblings on the opposite side of the street: the brother still at the handles of his little sister's wheelchair, and said adorable little sister waving at her in a friendly way.

"I mean really, of them all I am pretty sure only London and Berlin are in any acceptable state, and neither have long to live. But enough about that, you two really should get out of the street."

"Negative." A new voice stated, swearing come from the nearby car lanes suggesting that someone had extended the red light. From about there a woman appeared out of nowhere.

Pinkie realized with a start that she had probably just teleported over herself, and thus she could probably do it voluntarily.

Lucky!

.....She hoped the woman tutored.

The woman appeared Asian, and like everyone in this universe had dull coloration. Her skin was pale, to a point Pinkie wasn't quite sure the woman was even made of flesh. Her hair was dark, done in a bun with dark eyes hidden by a pair of smart looking spectacles.

Her dressing style could only be described with a single word: Secretary. That was all that was needed: she could describe her to even someone as unimaginative as Applejack and she could picture the cloths perfectly.

She looked them over, as if she was taking in every detail.

"The Theron Benevolence Society reserves the right to have every emerged Incarnate Human examined. Normally this is a fully voluntary decision....." the woman spoke in a cool, almost robotic voice. It certainly caught Sunset off guard, who looked she had never heard that tone of voice before.

"...Of course I do! I had my own little talk with you guys back in the day!" the bearded man who was apparently a member of this group responded. He sounded indignant about it, as if hurt she had not recognized him.

"...Kotetsu T. Kaburagi: third generation immigrant to the New England Federation from the Japanese Empire as part of the Benevolence Society's Potential Acquisition Operation and current member of the Tri-State Reserve Defense Force." the Secretary noted, as if reading off a file from her head, "You're knowledge of the Benevolence Society is acknowledged, but you are not the target of my statements. The unknown woman possessing Class 5 Incarnation: Teleportation, is the target of the reminding statement: detecting of faint Equestrian energy residue around her suggests long-term exposure to an Equestrian dominated area, likely suggesting she is ignorant of current measures."

Equestrian? As in, a horse rider? Did they think she was from Kentucky?

....Then again, she had no idea where the mailing address to the Sloth Slough was, so maybe she had just been there.

"You will come with me to Benevolence Headquarters Tower: Manhattan 3rd tier, where you and your fellow will be debriefed and...." the robotic woman stopped, pausing as if she had just noticed something.

Pinkie somehow doubted she just had a boogie up her nose.

"I have scanned both of you fifty-six times, and my self diagnostic has concluded my sensors are not damaged-the Equestrian energy around you two is not residue: it is coming from inside you akin to an Incarnate Core."

The gathered crowds began to murmur incessantly. And it was not a good murmuring. Suddenly curious stares had become extremely fearful of them, or filled with hate and anger. She noticed the bearded man tense at her, as if expecting her to suddenly attack him, or to attack her before she could do the same to others. He was also, for some reason, glowing blue and looked a bit more muscular.

The wheelchair girl's eyes went wide with horror, like she was about to see something horrible happen again and she'd be the cause of it. Her brother made a move to comfort her, while his eyes were glaring at her with a hatred that was like they held everyone back home's view of Sunset Shimmer (the not Celestia-like one), but upped to 15.

Pinkie's eyes dilated to pin pricks and her heart froze as the woman's eyes glowed red, even as she looked at her with decidedly more emotion in her eyes than she'd had a few moments ago, and Pinkie, if she'd been more cognizant and not frozen in fear, could have sworn her eyes were glowing, but it might have been her imagination.

"You two are not human. You two are not a human-derivated sentient. You two are not natives of this world. You are the enemies of humanity, disguised as us. You are to be terminated, as part of the terms of the war between the nations of Earth and those of Equestria!"

The last part was said with a palpable loathing. The secretary then adjusted her spectacles, in doing so unleashing laser vision!?

Sunset quickly made a move to form some sort of blue energy shield to block it, but the lasers continued to fly through.

Kotetsu the beaded glowing man lunged at them, looking like he was going to punch them.

Not wanting to deal with that, Pinkie quickly grabbed Sunlestia and teleported away

....
The two landed in a heap somewhere officey, at least if the knocked over cubicle was of any indication.

Though the cubicle wasn't the normal dull gray color, but a more dull yellow one. Did they come in different dull colors, or was that a 'this universe' thing.

More important than cubicle factoids though....

"What the Hershey was that about!? I am very human, and I am certainly of Earth, or at least some Earth........"

"Yes, yes you are: it's your powers that aren't." Sunlestia steadied herself up with the aide of a cubicle that had not fallen over....until it did so, revealing a smiling cartoon logo catfish with captions.

NEW ENGLAND AQUACULTURE ASSOCIATION
(Formerly the American Fish Culture Company)

ECO-FRIENDLY, SUSTAINABLE, AFFORDABLE, DELICIOUS AQUACULTURE PRODUCTION FOR NEW ENGLAND

HUDSON, HOUSATONIC, THAMES, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE AND MORE

"....Bah, I forgot humans were omnivores." Sunset muttered to herself, looking a bit green. The words ticked in Pinkie's head to the beat of the Gar shaped clock in the corner, before she exploded.

"Wait, YOU'RE an alien! But wait, you don't have a large head, or a glowing finger, or a bizarre word arrangement, and you have yet to say 'this makes me very angry'!"

"......Why would I be any of those things?" Sunlestia asked in an exasperated tone.

"Isn't that what aliens do?"

"No. Aliens sing and dance and learn about morality just like humans do." Sunset deadpanned, "We don't.....do whatever it is you suggested we do."

"So, do you have a spaceship with lasers and warp drives and red shirts and robot butlers with built in cupholders? Because all aliens have..."

"I have not had any of those."

"Oh.....what about a energy construct ring."

"Uh... I've never worn a ring, period, nevertheless an 'energy construct ring'. I know some others back home who liked regular rings, but it was never really my thing, it's humans who went crazy with them."

"Can you at least communicate with grass?"

"Before I got stuck in this body, I ate grass 4 times a week; twice on Wednesday."

"......" Pinkie had no response to that last one.

"My race, and I reiterate that last part because I am not sure that they even exist in your reality, are known as Equestrians. Yes, the are the ones who the people here hate, as well as the Sasquatch. And the have good reason to hate them, though I cannot explain why my kind are acting this way. It's as if....in the last 10 years they have all gone mad."

Sunset's face twisted into a grimace of confusion and some phantom pain. It kind of reminded Pinkie of those televised shots of the parents of serial killers on trial wondering why little Jimmy cut up people.

Pinkie moved to pass on kind and heartlfiting words, if the secretary didn't pop up in between them with eyes glowing so red you'd think she was about to shoot Omega Beams.

"Enemies located: commencing termination." she promptly fired the not-Omega-Beams-but-still-probably-painful lasers right at her.

Thankfully cubicles were one time only laser blockers!

Two glowing cubicles then slammed into her, probably the doing of Sunset. However, a dual pair of energy shields formed on either side, preventing the impact from striking doom secretary mark something.

"Escape is futile." She declared.

"Oh yeah, tell that to my teleporting! I may not be able to make myself go to the exact place I want to go, but I can still make me go far! Now, see you in CHINA!" grabbing Sunset, Pinkie teleported, hopefully to China.

.....

She felt like she hit her head against something, like the top of a funhouse. Not painful, never ever, but still noticeable.

....

Pinkie then landed butt first in someone's traditional dish in a Chinatown restaurant.

The intended consumer of said dish was making strange hand gestures and facial expressions at her. It wasn't rude, it was more a 'what in Hades Hickory Handbaskets just happened' sort of way.

She had seen it many times when she first met people, including three of her own aunts and four uncles.

Sunset fared better, only knocking over a table and spilling salt everywhere.

Priorities took hold, Pinkie immediately reached behind her and immediately through some salt over her shoulder.

....

Another teleportation round, another feeling like she was hitting the top of the bounce house again.

....

This time the two landed in the middle of a grassy field adorned with chalk lines, sand mounds, and littered with famous symbols.
"Yankee Stadium?" Pinkie stated similarly to how the term as one one would say when forced to describe 'Mussolini's sock drawer'.

Sunset looked up and over the stadium, seeing buildings and tiers and none the less the exact same New York City.
"Shouldn't we have gotten out of this place by now?"

"I'm just amazed we didn't end up smack in the middle of a game: that's is how this gag usually works." Pinkie noted the lack of pitchers and drunken fans. "Okay, this time I'll try and think of somewhere definitely not New York, and go there. Say, have you ever parked your car in Harvard Yard?"

"Uh, why did you just talk in that strange..." Sunset questioned before Pinkie grabbed her and teleported to the polar opposite of Yankee stadium.

....

BOOP

...

She once again landed on someone's eating table, though this time she just catapulted what looked like tortellini into the air and hit a waiter in the face with it.

As the poor guy ran around, screaming in Italian she found a old man dressed in shabby clothing looking at her incredulously, before sniffing her.

Um....

Sunset regained her footing, before looking around in confusion, "Um, this is the opposite of Yankee Stadium?"

"....I was trying for Boston...Boston is a thing here right?" Pinkie admitted as the old man stood from his seat dramatically, and with more vigor than she expected in an old person.

"Hmmm, so the Anti-Teleportation Net is active huh.....I thought I smelled something weird." he growled, even as he sniffed her again.

Please stop doing that, it is rather creepy.

"I remember this smell....."

Would backing away dramatically be a good idea, or would that just make him get to the likely end result of trying to hurt her faster?

".....Your smell,I will always remember that damn scent...the scent of the one who killed King Romulus. Pinkie Pie...." the old man said as he began to... bulk out?"

His muscles began to rapidly grow, like he was about to start a really long scream and blasting fest with glowing blond hair and final forms. However, as he got larger his body began to grow hairier.

Okay, now was the time to back away dramatically....

Darting over the upturned table, she didn't see what was going on with the old man now, even as she reached to get her and Sunset out of here. But she did hear him.

"I am Canus Dire. Tell me, do you remember me?" Canus stretched out a hand and flexed his arm, corded muscles already doubled in size even as his bones twisted and audibly broke and reformed, transforming into a vicious look set of claws."

Heheh, I guess it doesn't really matter if you remember me, but I I certainly remember you. I bet you had fun destroying what little we werewolves had, obliterating my race's last true hope with the royal family while you were having your fun wiping out Greece." With lightning reflexes, he literally backhanded the table in front of her out and through the restaurant's window with a resounding crash.

"You know, I remember hearing you were obsessed with "fun", huh? Well, let me tell you, this is going to be fun!" With that, he howled, practically doubling in size instantly and fur growing to cover his massive body in seconds as he completed his transformation.

When a Werewolf declared his desire to get vengeance on you, there was only one option....

...

BOOP

...

The two were now surrounded by a flock of hissing Canada Geese in the middle of Central Park.

Well, at least this was just normal behavior. And a vast improvement over the angry werewolf.

"Like I said, you cannot escape." Doom Secretary told them as she appeared behind the army of geese. "Canus Dire's statement to you was quite correct. Your teleportation is blocked the moment you try and leave New York City. All you're doing is wasting your inefficiently used energy."

"Yeah, yeah, everyone says I don't use my energy properly. Tell me something the educators and my father haven't." Pinkie snarked. The secretary moved to attack, but a goose hissed at her causing her to pause.

"Error." She stated, before leaving via a teleportation. Still surrounded, Pinkie shrugged,

"Well, I guess Canada Geese are her kryptonite. Who knew?"

"If you are saying 'that is her weakness', I don't think that is the case." Sunlestia observed.

She was proven correct when she returned with a brown haired man in a jean jacket and khakis. The man probably had a shirt too, but the jacket was buttoned up.

The man eyed the geese for a moment, before coughing to warm his voice up.

"Disperse." He declared. The geese immediately stopped their hiss off and waddled away, leaving the four of them to battle.

"There, you will no longer be at risk for violating the Indigenous Animal Protection Act....now I have places to be. The Central Park Zoo recently obtained a breeding pair of Appalachian Ground Sloths and I have to make sure they are comfortable with their habitats. Leader of the New England Zoological Society and all....." he looked at Pinkie, scrutinizing her a bit, "Now, try not to render anything extinct today, would you miss Pie?"

As he wandered off from the building fight scene, Pinkie wondered what crime she wasn't going to be accused of today.

She made a move to teleport away, but before she could she found herself in a glowing energy cage, by Sunset.

"Hey!"

"It's not worth it if you keep teleporting us around: we need to take her out first if we want to have any hope of peace."

"The entire Benevolence Society has been warned of you, you will have no peace until you are put down." the Secretary declared before she fired laser vision.

With glowing hands Sunset blocked it, before throwing a energy sphere at the secretary.

She blocked it with a energy shield, but she was pushed back a bit.

"As long as they can't teleport, I think we'll be fine." Sunset declared.

"If that is what you think, you are mistaken. Then again, you're kind made the mistake of thinking they could destroy New England."

Lasers collided with energy blasts, as the two began to compete with who is the more powerful laser person.

The match lasted 20 seconds, Pinkie counted, before Sunset overpowered the secretary and blasted her across the water behind them, startling a few Geese before landing on the other side.

"Impressive." Pinkie stated as Sunset waved her cage away. A frown soon came upon the freed girl's face.

"She's not...."

"She's still alive. Killing is more of a human thing after all...no offense." Sunset added the last part a few seconds after, "I've had a few centuries of practice to ensure that I will never take a life with my power."

"Oh that's cool.....wait, centuries?!?"

Sunset nodded.

"So, that means you're from a race of Space Clams?"

Sunset blinked at her, as if unable to process her deduction.

"......No."

"Space Tortoises?"

"I'm a mammal." Sunset stated in a deadpan tone that was so dead that it could revive the dead.

This may not be the world of the Walking Dead (where the living are more dangerous), but after the Werewolf nothing would surprise her.

.....

"You know, I've just had the best idea!" Pinkie declared, even as Sunset looked at her like she was expecting her to suggest solving their problems by overpowering reality's limitations with their femininity and a drill.

"Dare I ask?"

"This is New York, right?"

"....Yes"

"Which means this place has sewers, filled with miles of piping that can hide ninjas!"

"....I have no idea what a Ninja is, but sure. That does make sense." Sunset still wasn't sure what Pinkie was getting at.

"So, if we can't teleport out of the city, we teleport into it's underbelly, and hide there until we can figure out a way out of here!"

".....Sure, if you can aim I guess. Though....what's a sewer exactly?"

....

Sunset's answer came upon the two entering a large, probably impractically so, tunnel with two concrete sidewalks and a single central river of questionable fluid.

"Gah......"

She was now gagging.

"Oh come on, it's just a Sewer." Pinkie stated unfazed by the smell of it all.

"Humans....actually make these disgusting, nauseating...." Sunset was continuing to make odd gagging noises.

"Sure: it's hygienic. Sewers move human waste out of cities in a concentrated and expediant way as to limit the spread of disease. Without them cities would never have grown as large, as clean, or as important. Don't you have sewers on your planet?"

"No...."

"Oh.....well your cities must be filthy and ridden with space cholera." Pinkie stated that last one as Sunset glared at the wall of the sewer like it was her only hope.

"I have no idea what cholera is! Now....stand aside....."

Sunset promptly cast Bombarada; or at least she would have if she was Harry Potter, give or take the Nathan Drake. The sewer sidewalk promptly got a new gaping hole, no tax money required.

Sunset promptly started making her way towards the hole, eager to get as far away from the sewer as possible.....

"Wait a minute, can't you use use some sort of bubble to make the air around you clear, or even just make the air down here smell better all together."

Sunlestia froze in her tracks, and promptly slapped herself for not thinking about that and defaulting to explosions.

However before she could rectify her oversight, the bombed out hole cracked open larger, and promptly turned into a massive sinkhole.

The only good news: the sewage didn't fall down into the black abyss with them.

....

As she fell down, and down, and down......questions ran through Pinkie's mind.

When would she stop falling?

Could she try and teleport while doing this, or would that just make things worse?

The hole was dark, she couldn't see Sunset. Where was she?

If she died, was God the same across all timelines, or did each universe have it's own God?

If not, would she cause a conflict of ownership between God and God?

What if this hole led to Hell? Would the Devil argue with the Devil and God and God over her?

These questions were interesting: if she ever met a priest who liked to expand the canon she'd have to ask him.

Suddenly blue light shot through the darkness, and from nothing, came a royal looking mattress.

She promptly hit it, and after recovering from the shock (ow....), she still couldn't see Sunset, even if the mattress had to be her doing.

"Okay.....where are you? Please touch me in a non-sexual way if possible so I can get us out of here. I mean, sure, this hole is probably a good place to hide, but I'd get bored very quickly, and when I get bored I start singing and....."

Bored?

A voice rang through the earth, a voice deeper and more menacing than any Pinkie had ever heard. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and then stood up some more beyond standing up in fear.

A glowing hand a bit away from her revealed Sunlestia, who too looked like she was freaking out.

"Who are you?! Show yourself!" She demanded.

I don't see why I should. This is perfectly fine

The top of the pit began to shake, even as purple took the role of black in the pit.

The earth up top turned into purple crystal. Something in Pinkie's stomach churned at seeing the crystal, and her head just felt...off, in a decidedly not-good way. It began to slink on down, like oil running spreading in a puddle.

As the light of the purple crystals got closer, Sunset's glowing hand began to lose it's intensity. Her face began to sweat, as if merely being down here was like being an creepy sauna.

Her legs began to shake, and her eyes dulled rapidly in the purple light.

"What......" She asked, before collapsing to the mattress.

"Sunset!" Pinkie cried out, and under other circumstance, would have been astonished for the level of concern she felt for a Sunset Shimmer as the purple crystals reached the pit's bottom.

So, an Order creature has come before me. The fact she still breaths is remarkable. Then again, she has a nice chaos casing. Tell me your name

"P...Pinkie Pie, your scary cavvy-ness. Um, so what's your name? You haven't given it."

My name? A lowly creature asks me for my name? Very well, though I will state it only once. My name is....

The pit promptly spoke in an ancient language that she could never have repeated with her own tongue. Oddly she detected a hint of techno in it.

"Um, I didn't get any of that. Can I call you something that's a snazzy Undertale reference instead?"

No

Aw....

I am an ancient being, older than creation itself. I am a being strung across universes, a part of me existing in every timeline at this exact moment, yet not. I am an individual segment of a larger grand whole, unique but the same.

"Oh..." Pinkie nodded, even on the inside she screamed that made no sense at all.

I exist in the core of this planet, which formed around my sleeping self. I exist in your own universe traveler, and yes I know of your origins just by your presence here, though I know not if I am your world, or I dwell outside of it.

Please don't exist in the center of my planet. I like my Earth minus Cthulhu in it.

I have been stirred by the arrival of the tainted Order upon me. It irritates me. Should it spread far, I will destroy it.

Oh, that can only be a good....

And awaken, shaking off the dust that has covered me for eons.

Oh, that's not good. She was pretty sure a version of her lived on that dust.

However, I am content to wait unless that Order irritant comes to this location. Humanity here has fought many more wars of cruelty and violence than your own world did, and the chaos is delicious. The chaos of this world fueled myself in 5 alternate timelines, to meet my goals. In one such world, myself met a Pinkie Pie. She had a fondness for cupcakes that was most unusual.

Okay....a version of her liked cupcakes so much it impressed a scary cave entity. Neat......

Though she wondered what a cave entity's goals were? She doubted it was harmless bat collecting.

Pinkie stumbled, grasping her head as the room started to get spinny.

I see: you are tainted by the powers of Order. You cannot stand me for long, though not as much as one born to Order. Tell me, would you like to go home? I can help you with that.

A glowing orange light formed in front of her, somehow clear even with the spinning room.

Bear this symbol apon yourself, marked upon your very body, and become my herald. You will gain access to all that is with no drawbacks. Your powers as they stand are weak and glitched. With my power, nothing will be beyond you.

"Yeah....my Granny Pie told me to never take offers or get tattoos from scary caves, so gotta go, by!"

Grabbing Sunlestia after tripping in the dizzy cavern, she teleported them out even as the cave entity growled in primal rage.

This is not the last we will meet. And the myself you meet, will not so be generous

Author's Note

1: Welcome to New York City of Earth 2! It's like our New York, but better! For those familiar with an anime called Tiger and Bunny, you can sort of imagine it taking inspiration from it's titular Sternbild City, just minus the Superhuman reality T.V. Reality T.V is not a thing on Earth 2.

2: I thought it over: Earth 1 has the canon coloration. Earth 2 has real world coloration.

3: All of the differences in Harry Potter mentioned are in fact ideas J.K Rowling had in our own world. This includes the Potters stealing the Stone of Book 1, Theodore Nott and Dean Thomas having large roles, Hermione having a younger, muggle sister and being named Puckle instead of Granger, and Sirius being adopted by a dog lover instead of living in a Cave Book 4.

4: Canada Goose is the proper term for them. I had an Ornithology Class.

5: Anyone who sounds familiar in this world is probably that way for a reason. If anyone recognizes anyone, do free to comment about it. I am fond of doing this, but Earth 1 would not fit the anime inspired cameos I was planning here.

6: Ground Sloths are still a thing in this universe. Because Ground Sloths are the greatest extinct mammal.

The Once and Future Punch

"Wow! your farm is big! I mean really, I could totally get lost here!"

Pinkie Pie's first (of many) reactions to her home rang through Applejack's mind, against her own will, as she walked through town. It was an off season for the farm where she was not needed yet and she needed some time to think without the urge to go and work that she could never avoid when at home.

She had once been amusing. Then after their friendships all went to hell it became aggravating.

Now Pinkie Pie was missing, and now it was neither. It was just...depressing.

Where did Pinkie go? Did she just vanish of her own accord, or was something more sinister in the works?

She came to a stop at the street's edge as she saw a site as welcome as Hog Sign: Sunset Shimmer.

Oddly enough Sunset was moving a bit stiffly.

Whoever did that deserved a tip of her hat and a glass of cider. Given it wasn't her or Big Mac, the next likely case was Rainbow Dash.

Perhaps just cider in that case then.

Thinking of one former friend led to back to another, not helped by a constant vibration in her pocket.

Reaching for it, she took out the offending device, and held it in front of her eye.

The golden locket with a nice apple in the middle was vibrating, pointing in Sunset's direction like a Log Pose. It was also mumbling something ,almost chanting, "Lies.Lies.Lies," over and over again.

The locket did that around Sunset a lot: the strange locket Winona had brought her after that odd light show a few weeks back reacted to anyone who tried to lie around her. Oddly enough, it was one of the least strange things that happened to her since then.

When around Sunset it kept going on about lies, like Sunset was made of lies instead of Flesh and Blood or something like that. She had no trouble believing that: the day Sunset was truthful about anything was the day she started growing Pawpaw.

Was Sunset worth following? Between Sunset's limp, her muscles, and the truth locket of hers she could probably get Sunset to spill if she did anything to Pinkie Pie.

Case solved, Sunset in jail. A good ending, that.

With a clear street she could walk on over and get Sunset to squeal like a pig; she was even going into an alleyway right now so she could have a good place to...

*TWING*

A bright light flashed in front of her eyes, like a camera flash magnified a ton.

In pain she clenched her eyes, unable to see Sunset mirror her action.

Thankfully she did not stumble in her resulting blindness into traffic. That would just ruin her day, being hit by a car.

However when she was done with her stumbling and got her sight back, she found herself in an alleyway, without a Sunset Shimmer to shake down.

"Ha ha! And they said it couldn't be done! Sure I lack physical mass, but the 13th principle of magic assures me I'll get it back when the transport spell is done."

No, instead she just was facing some sort of holographic wizard.

At least, that was what one had to call a see through fellow about Big Mac's age with large glasses, side burns, and dressed in a gray lab coat with a large staff in hand and a oversized floppy hat like one of Applebloom's get ups.

Said hat had something sketched into it: a single horn like thing in a crossed out sign with 12 tally marks next to it. Applejack didn't get what that was supposed to be, some sort of carrot competition?

"....Sure, I'll have to cross through the Dead Universe Space-Time Flux again, but the speed is so great I don't feel any trauma, and if I can't be any further traumatized we should all be fine! Operation Ark is so ago I can already feel the..." he only then seemed to notice her, stopping his conversation with himself and stopping the exposition train in its tracks.

"....Do you speak my language?" he slowly spoke, as if he expected her to suddenly start speaking Namekian.

"Ya, I do." she drawled. Oddly as she spoke his face scrunched up, as if her accent was repulsive to him.

"Oh great, a Confed. That's only a mild improvement from the 'Questries."

"Excuse me?" Was Confed supposed to be a jab at her accent? And what was a Questrie? Questry? Whatever the singular for Questries was.

"Well, I guess I might as well see if you can be of any productive help to us, it would be a first for your kind anywhere. Okay, so I am going to tell you something very important. Do remember it." he stated the last part in the slowest, most condescending way possible.

"And why shouldn't I just turn around and walk away?" Applejack challenged as the wizard eyed her darkly.

"Because Madisonite, I bring warning of humanities greatest threat, and my spell was set to put me before a person of great importance to the world. If it's before you, I can only assume, for some horrible twist of faith, that you have the potential to save the world."

Applejack didn't respond to his declaration, and so he continued with a wave of his hand, forming several images around him: a orange and red mask with fangs and green eyes that did not seem to fit a human face, a round blue key with a half a silver sun in the middle, and a metallic meteorite with glowing red energy inside it like a red lamp.

"I am Tridens, a Wizard of the New England Federation of the year 2146, as you should know we are the morally superior section of the brief United States of America that left after your kind brought us into a disastrous war we had no business being in. We suffered for your kinds greed, and so we left and improved ourselves without you Confed's weighing us down. We managed to advance to the peak of humanity's potential in technology, morality, secularity, tolerance, environmentalism, equality, health, literature, video games, comic books, and sorcery among other great aspects of man. "

He was gesturing as hammily as his commentary was offensive to her family. That was to say, a lot.

"We in New England represent the fullest expression of humanity's potential, but at the same time we were always well aware we were not the only species with sentience, even on the Earth. However we never had much knowledge of what existed in the stars beyond, before they came. Humanity's natural enemy."

"So you're sayin'..." Applejack was lost for most of Tridens spewl in her annoyance, but she picked up the last bit.

"Humanities natural enemy exists in the stars, our antithesis. A race that represents a fixed destiny, burnt upon their very flesh, vs the unfixed potential of every human. They walk with a single goal, against the beautiful and all encompassing chaos of our voice. They claimed to have found perfection and stayed there, we never did and chased it in our never ending quest to perfect ourselves. They are born with fixed limits, we are not."

"They are coming Dixie; your people are good at killing things if they can be pointed at them. Watch the stars, anything with a horn must die, and anything with a horn and wings can kill gods." and with that, the holographic wizard vanished as if he had never been there.
...

Sunset remained frozen in place for a few minutes, the image of what she had seen after a strange TWING refusing to leave her.

THAT MAGICIAN REALLY THOUGHT HE COULD CROSS THE DEAD UNIVERSE AND BE UNNOTICED?! MY REALM?! TRULY HUMANITY IS JUST AS DELUDED AS THEY COME, AS IT HAS FORGOTTEN WHAT HAPPENED THE LAST TIME WE BATTLED!

Sunset was floating in a dark abyss, the darkness broken only by strange roots that came from nowhere, and snaked along into seemingly endless directions, covered in blister like purple flowers.

Through the place however, rang a voice. A dark, evil voice.

One so deep that it would make the Canterlot Royal Voice but a whisper.

Dangerous Reality Detected The Element of Generosity noted as she felt it vibrate in her jacket pocket. Life unable to be properly sustained, attempting to shield user. Error, user is insufficiently generous, will take energy from ones magical power to help fuel it. Remaining in universe for too long will result in use of one's own life force to sustain protections. I'd suggest avoiding that if you can.

A dark, humanoid shape formed in front of her, with claws and horns. The shape stood out from the darkness of the void, by being even darker than darkness with glowing purple eyes of evil fire.

It was looking right at her.

AND WHAT OF YOU, LITTLE HUMAN? ARE YOU WITH THAT FOOL? NO, YOUR SOMETHING ELSE AREN'T YOU? YOUR NOT LIKE THE MAGICIAN. REGARDLESS OF WHAT YOU ARE, YOU ARE BUT NOTHING BEFORE THE DEAD UNIVERSE! I AM WHAT GODS FEAR AND LIFE KNOWS IS ITS END. YOUR KIND IS BUT FOR ME TO BE FEED UPON, AS IS ALL LIFE!

The being reached towards her with a claw made of pure blackness, but she was snapped out of it just before it tapped her forehead

The moment Sunset regained the ability to move, she clenched her face and shivered like Fluttershy for a good few minutes.

She'd later be grateful that she had been in an alleyway when this happened.
.....

Later

.....

The dark that was the night had swept the city, leaving only the moon to provide a natural light.

Streetlamps had rendered that mostly moot though, but it was still nice.

With a brush in both hands Fluttershy swept the place up, humming to herself as she did this mundane task.

With a set of tentacles coming out of her side simultaneously spraying air freshener, jingling kitty toys for the currently free cats, and talking on her cell phone sure, but who was watching her who'd mind her having the extra arms?

"Yes-I know it's late Rarity-sorry but I said I'd try and do a few things that we are falling behind on here-and I just need to think a bit-I'll go to bed so don't you worry-bye."

The cellphone was pocketed and after five minutes the broom and freshener returned to the closet. She shifted the cat toys into her hands, and retracted her tentacles inside of her

With a tired sigh Fluttershy took a seat at the front desk, quickly joined by several free roaming cats. A pitbull whose owners had called to inform a pickup tomorrow curled up at her feet as well.

"Aren't you all the sweetest things." Fluttershy smiled as the cats purred in unison. Still, her thoughts were still lingering on the simple, unpleasant truth.

"Pinkie Pie missing? Why, I had no idea?" Rarity had said all that needed to be said, she was quite skilled that way.

"I'm afraid so...if you know anything please tell me or the police as soon as you can." Principal Celestia had told them both earlier today.

Pinkie....of all her former friends (now former friends and her current only friend), she and her had been the most opposites.

Sure, Rainbow Dash had an ego to end all egos and Applejack was a farmer who willingly sold her cute and adorable animals for meat, but she had always gotten along with them better than Pinkie.

She was loud, had no tact, made Rainbow Dash look considerate of others, and scared small animals.

But she had been her friend once, and now she was gone.

Was she okay?

The door to the shelter suddenly burst wide open, as a stranger burst in.

The cats didn't disperse, though they did look at the newcomer with unease. Gauger the friendly Pittbull barked a welcome, even as the man stumbled through the place.

"Um, sir..." she spoke, even as the man turned her way. He was dressed in raggy, brown clothing, the sort that existed in Rarity's nightmares. The epic battles in which she turned hobos into well dressed gentlemen. It was an odd sort of dream in Fluttershy's opinion, but he did look a lot like what Rarity had described. He even had the wild beard with strange stains in it.

The man ignored her and stumbled into the room where the sink was.

Fourty seconds of water guzzling ensued. The water eventually turned back off as he returned to the room, looking somewhat less unhinged than before.

"Oh, someone's here? Well, that explains the door." he stated obliviously as Fluttershy blinked in surprise.

"Oh, um, hello then. I don't really mind letting people drink from my faucet, but you could have asked for a cup. Also, um, can you tell me why you're, um, here?"

"Oh yes, it was quite good. It has just enough copper in it to be flavored without it overpowering the water. Faucets are the superior source of water, don't you agree?" He spoke quickly.

"Well, it is more environmentally friendly than plastic bottles. Also, sorry, but that's not really what I asked."

"Yes yes yes. Now then....while I'm here I do have something I want to do." he stated, once again quite quickly, as he removed his hands from his old clothing, along with a newer looking ringed notebook and a pen.

"Oh, do you want to adopt? Or do you just want to scratch Rusty here?"

"No no, I need to continue my research!" He stated as he outstretched his left hand.

Before she could react, the hand touched her in the forehead.

Grinning widely Principal Celestia found herself alone in a well to do kitchen, one that she couldn't really tell the origin of but was probably her own. With a cake.

A very large cake she could clearly see however, the sort that generally appeared in Rarity's description of a wedding. Multiple levels, good coloration, figurines on top, the works.

She was....oddly dressed, as in she was dressed in white sweat pants and a bra, and had a large fork and knife in her hand. She was licking her lips at the cakes, oddly in a way that was quite Pinkie ish.

Before she'd see something that could only be removed with extensive therapy, she was removed from the scene and returned to the shelter, where the man was writing in his book.

"....Attractive woman eating cake. Huh.....not useful....." The man mumbled to himself before touching her head again.

Canterlot High was without light.

It was spooky, eerie, and it felt sinister.

She was looking nervously from side to side, expecting someone to lunge at her.

So was Applejack, who was looking around uneasily. Unlike her though, and come to think of it Celestia, she was somewhat see through.

The tension was building....

"BOO!"

Apple Bloom and her friends burst out of a nearby closet with scary masks, causing Applejack to fall to the ground while shouting in fright. Oddly enough the Scootaloo in this vision ran right through her before dogpiling on Applejack, with all three of them laughing, eventually joined by Applejack,

The vision again ended, as the odd man was now looking annoyed.

"Twice fail huh....well maybe three times...."

With a heroic hiss, Rusty lunged at the man before he did anything else, but he just knocked him away, causing the animals to glare at him, before he snarled back and scared them still.

"Bah, you aren't of any help. I need humans!" Again, before she could get away he placed his entire palm on her forehead, though not before that last tidbit came about.

He needed humans.....

The City was burning.

With wide eyes Fluttershy saw what looked like the end of the world, where everyone was attacking each other.

Everyone was glowing red, and they all were making demented, angry sounds. The shouting of the mad.

The screeches of the damned.

"Please stop, I'm beggin' ya!"

Fluttershy's eyes went wide with horror as she saw someone who wasn't mad backing away from one who was.

It was Apple Bloom, her eyes wide in terror.

The man was Big Mac. Glowing red, and with a demented grin that was at least 12 degrees of wrong.

"Gharrahh!" He garbled, before trying to punch her.

Whimpering in terror Apple Bloom barely managed to avoid being punched.

"Stop!" Fluttershy shouted, running at the crazed Big Mac, only to run right through him.

Shocked, she turned to the crazed Red Big Mac attempt to grab his terrified little sister, only for him to get a giant glowing fist in the side.

He was blown away, even as Rarity and someone else ran towards the crying Apple Bloom.

The unknown someone who was with Rarity was a teenage girl who lay on the sensual side of dress and body size. She looked like nightmare fuel to all with girlfriends, though her hair was oddly orange and Pinkie Pie like. A red crystal dominated her neck, held by a choker.

Rarity oddly enough was dressed oddly: she had a pink dress that didn't cover her right shoulder, with a black belt embedded in diamonds and a similar but larger diamond fixed on a the lower part of the dress below said belt. She had pink and blue stockings below them, and oddly enough looked like she had come out of Rainbow's comic book collection.

Apple Bloom, still crying in fear, ran to hug Rarity: sobbing into her clothes. Rarity didn't react to this, quite a good show of how serious this was.

The little girl did eventually notice Rarity's companion, and looked at her in fright.

"What the hell is she doing here?!"

Apple Bloom, language!

The puffy haired one rolled her eyes, "Well, I'm trying to find a way to fix things, and yet I'm being pulled out to help little brats. Don't ask me why?"

Rarity gave her a look at that.

"Aren' ya responsible for all of this?! You eat hate!" Apple Bloom snapped at the girl with an odd comment. Eating hate?

Well if she took the hate from people and consumed it, that made this girl sound like a model citizen whom could do so much good for the world.....

"....Hardly. Oh, don't get wrong when this started up I thought it was going to be a all you can eat buffet," the girl admitted with a shrug, even as a mad Snips and Snails ran at them. Rarity nonchalantly sealed them in a glowing hamster ball and sent them rolling away, "Sonata tried...she started glowing red soon after, bit Aria, and last I heard of those two they were babbling something mad about beating some chick named Gilda with a rubber chicken. They weren't making sense, more so than usual anyway."

"So....you ain't any help?"

The wonderful woman who eats hate leveled a glare at the girl, "I'm more help than you, little girl."

"Ladies, please, the world is ending and this is not the time to settle a grudge." Rarity tried to settle things.

"Yes, yes it is. The world is ending, and before she starting seeing red our favorite runaway Pony got the portals sealed both here and in the City so we can't just leave."

"Wha' abou' the one that Baron Ironblood built? I can operate it." Apple Bloom countered as the puffy haired girl blinked at her in surprise, even as Rarity springboarded a glowing red Crystal Heart student away with one construct, and swept two more away with another.

"You can?"

"I can. Sari taugh me how after the Perfection incident"

"Really?"

"Yep. Ah once teleported me n' Celestia to Zamojin, where she somehow managed to eat one of the native cakes."

".....Okay then, points to the shrimp. We go there, then get a ride, and find someone who might know to stop the....."

Before a name was spoken the vision ended, she was removed from it, even as the odd man was writing it down rapidly.

"Yes, yes......potential future data......important...this is the second time I've seen a future with red hatred as a plague, the probability is now at 5.35% or something higher than minuscule! Oh, and someone else with powers....two someones! Fascinating......I must test my own abilities on them..."

"I won't let you do that." Fluttershy declared as the man looked at her oddly.

"You? You stop I, the great and mighty Timepunch?! In my left hand is every future that may be, and in my right is the definite past! Here, let me show you why you can't stop me...."

This time he touched her with his right forehead, and she saw in one eye Rainbow Dash taking a 3rd grade math test.

In her other eye however, she was still seeing things as they were here and now.

"Wha....why I am I only seeing this from one eye? Granted it's lackluster data, but it's odd...and why is your face fuzzy and orange!?

Fluttershy's unaffected half of her face grinned, covered in orange fur with black stripes and side burns. Fangs were barred.

"Because, I'm now half-tiger. Now, do you know what it's like to be punched by one?"

"Um, no. No future or past I've seen has ever shown me what that's....." he took it in stride, though given that he was the 'great and mighty Timepunch whose left hand is every future that may be, and his right the definite past', he was in no position to be surprised by another.

He was however, sent flying by the punching strength of a tiger-human cross, and as he flew out the door scrambled on the streets and skedaddled.

Shaking her head as Rainbow Dash struggling to do sevens faded along with her fur Rusty limped back to her, while the other animals expressed sadness for being scared.

"It's no matter....that man was creepy. Now, I'm going to get something for Rusty so behave and you'll all get a treat....god knows I need a treat after seeing all that."

Indeed, as much as the Celestia thing had been odd, the one with the red hate wouldn't leave her. Chocolate did not banish it.

....

"....Tune in next week for another episode of, As the Kitchen Sinks"

"No, I want it now! Release on Netflix all at once why won't you!?"

Rarity's anguished cries over a cliffhanger were interrupted as her cell phone buzzed beside her.

"Hello?"

"It's me.....can I come over? Something happened...."

"Something? Something!? Fluttershy, are you alright!? Did something happen? Oh, if it was that Sunset Shimmer...."

"No, it wasn't her. I'm heading over now."

Bursting off her the couch in an energetic burst, running up her steps to change into the proper clothes for what could only be a horrible, horrible tragedy.

She briefly stopped at the door of her only fellow occupant of the house tonight, reaching into her pocket and leaving a 20.

A little white hand pulled it under, and a potential tattle was dealt with before it could be taled.

Tuesday Morning

"What!? A creepy person tried to attack you at the animal shelter!?" Sweetie Belle squeaked, her pancakes ignored momentarily.

Fluttershy nodded, quieter than normal. Such a feet was surprising, but doable. The difference was minute enough that only the most intense of fanatics would pick it up.

"He didn't do anything really bad...Rusty isn't even limping." Fluttershy took a small bite of her pancake as Rarity finished off a strawberry.

"Well don't you worry, either of you. Anyone that crazy is bound to picked off the street within a week. I have faith in the ability of the police to find someone like that and throw him in a cell where he belongs."

As Sweetie had not been ignoring her pancakes until Fluttershy had finished her story, the little girl had finished her plate clean, and quickly excused herself to gather her belongings, leaving behind her plate and a 20 dollar bill.

"Well, glad to see that Sweetie Belle is that well mannered. I can only assume that Applebloom is somehow responsible for it." Rarity repocketed her bribe money.

"So...this 'Timepunch' as he calls himself...he's like ourselves and Sunset Shimmer." Rarity's question was rhetorical.

"Yes. He said something about his hands and definite pasts and possible futures...he wasn't making a lot of sense." Fluttershy shivered.

"Crazy people normally don't, it's why they generally stick to radio. Sigh....and here I was hoping only one Sociopath got powers."

Author's Note

1: Fluttershy's creature selections today are Common Octopus , Tiger probably Siberian

Yeah...been a while hasn't it?

Well, been busy with other commitments, interests, and life. In fact, I'm honestly thinking about retooling and rebooting this project. While I waffle on doing so, I thought I'd at least publish what I could of what has been created in the meantime, if cut a bit of some bits that hadn't been finished.

To those who are fans of this, thanks. So these last two chapters are for you.

A Night Unlike Any Other

In all of Canterlot City, there existed a single, odd stoplight, unique from all its kin.

The stoplight stood from a post in the concrete, facing one end of a busy city street that hit another street perpendicularly.

As that street ran along without heed east to west, the street the odd stoplight guarded instead moved north to south starting from, or ending at depending on how one looks at it, this very point.

This stoplight was known for its odd ability to react to the present situation in ways most streetlights did not. Unlike most mechanically timed, systematic stoplights, this machine seemed to turn red and green at the most optimal times: it was green whenever approaching vehicles had a clear path, and would turn red as best to seemingly save the lives of both the drivers, and the jaywalkers who often crossed the street here .

There existed many theories as to why it acted this way. Some suspected the streetlight was being manipulated by someone in the nearby apartment buildings, a shut in who connected with machine more than man. The fact a intelligent girl was known to live in an apartment here as a recluse lent weight to this theory.

Another theory was that the stoplight was an experiment by a scientist, sanity debatable and varied by the gossiper, who was experimenting with artificial intelligence with the hopes of either creating partners for humanity, or a force destined to destroy it.

One teenage girl thought the stoplight was an alien robot created by a race of surprisingly sentient magical horses. This teenage girl of course was known for her eccentric nature and was generally laughed off whenever she had this idea.

Said rumor of course, was why a trio of extremely fresh freshman not even a full week into high school, were standing in the middle of the street patiently.

“….Ah don’ know ‘bout this” the red head of the group began as the palest of the three smiled.

“Oh come on Apple Bloom, this is a brilliant idea! If we can prove that this stoplight is sentient, we’ll be famous! We could stop some evil scientist planning to overthrow the human race!”

“Or the evil scientists realizes we’re on to him and doesn’t change it” the third among them, dressed far more tomboyishly, pointed out as the pale one looked rather surprised.

“Oh….that is a good point. I hadn’t thought of that”

The trio then heard the oncoming sound of an approaching motor bike. And moving fast, probably faster than the speed limit was.

“Quickly, out of the street!” Apple Bloom shouted as the trio started to run to the sidewalk.

Unfortunately, they chose to run to the right, meaning they ended up walking right into the path of the incoming vehicle.

It would be a riddle for the ages what started first: the stoplight that had lured the trio here turning to red, or the driver of the motorbike hitting the brakes.

After a few loud moments filled with only the screeching of braking tires and the scared shouting of her friends, Apple Bloom opened her eyes and uncrossed her arms, finding herself not injured in any way.

The front wheel of the black motorbike was only inches from her body, and the smell of rubber was overwhelming to the intelligent farmgirl.

“Oh, ah’m sorry Mister, ah didn’ see ya comin…..” Apple Bloom began to apologize to the biker that she had nearly been hit by, before she realized two things.

One, that the biker was female, and thus calling her Mister was an incredible insult.

And two, that the biker was a leather jacket wearing junior from the very same highschool she and her friends attended, and one whose name was spoken with distrust, fear, and anger by many who attended it.

Sunset Shimmer.

The brutal queen bee seemed to at first be unable to really comprehend what just happened. She looked at the still motionless Apple Bloom, then to the street light. She stared at it for a moment as realization crossed her face, quickly swapped out by an dumbfounded expression over the sheer idiocy of what the three had been doing.

The confusion quickly passed however, and her more default emotion came up in full force.

"Get out of my way, now!"

As surprise gave way to anger, the trio of Freshman followed their instincts as the lowest on the food chain and promptly skedaddled away as fast as their little feet could carry them.

Watching them leave like a predator watching fleeing prey, the bully began to debate what rumor would have to be waiting for those three annoyances for school once the weekend was though, before turning her incredulous gaze ot the

“You’re supposed to be some sort of magic stoplight, right?” Sunset questioned the red light in a sarcastic tone, as if the idea of anything on this world being magical was the silliest thing she had ever heard, though there was also a bit of frustration laced in her voice over that very concept “What do you think those three idiots should come back to school to find: a frame-up for some of my untapped dirt on the football team, or should I tear their friendship apart?”

The stoplight didn’t answer, which was a point to the argument that this stoplight could not think, or at least speak.

The fact that the stoplight seemed to take unusually long to turn green again, which combined with the city’s recent law change over turning on red and the police motorbikes that always seemed to go just as she was planning to turn, was almost enough to earn it a point in the it can think category.

…..

Between nearly hitting some idiot freshman and the stoplight that took forever to change, Sunset was late to get to her destination. So late that it was already dark out.

This put her in a foul mood.

Perhaps that was not the most descriptive of terms, for Sunset Shimmer was not known for her sunny disposition.

A better term was thus likely 'very foul' mood.

Supremely irritated also worked.

As her motorbike illuminated the desolate and abandoned warehouse she had driven up to, Sunset eyed the aged structure with an unreadable expression, before reaching for the key.

With a turn of the key, the engine deactivated. As light faded away from the area, Sunset reached to pocket her keys, putting her bike's stand up, and got off the bike ready to get to her.....

BOOM

Sunset's eyes widened as a sonic boom split the silence. Sunset's looked around, seeking the source of the disturbance until her eyes slowly trailed up.

A giant, blue ring of energy was moving across the sky, growing larger and larger and larger as it moved from the epicenter outwards like a ripple in water.

Simultaneously from around where the growing energy ripple originated, six glittering lights had fallen, twinkling towards the earth below like snowflakes.

Sunset however, did not really catch that all that well, for as the energy flew across the sky Sunset's eyes rolled back, and the high school junior found herself falling to the ground, unconscious.

....

Meanwhile in Canterlot Park a teenage girl dressed in royal purple sweatpants with three blue diamonds on the side and a white exercise T-Shirt with a thread thimble and needle on the front of it was jogging.

A pair of light blue ear buds were in her ears, and she was just about at the end of the song.

Good thing to, because the girl was getting rather winded.

The song eventually ended with a strong, final chord as the teenager ceased her jog, breathing heavily.

"Well....that....was.....painful as ever, but as they say no pain, no gain," the girl breathed, hints of an accent that made her sound unique to all around her.

It was an accent that neither of her parents had, nor her little sister.

It was a ongoing debate in school as to why this the case. Some suggested she was adopted, others suggested she was trying to sound smarter than she actually was. A certain girl had suggested she was a time traveler with an unrecognizable accent like that.

That certain girl of course had a lot of silly ideas.

And really, it was not unrecognizable. Honestly people would just sooner assume she had a British accent like some ignoramus, thank god for an actual British person being in her school's orchestra.

It did not help when she was out of town, of course, but at least at home she got a break from all the jokes about her cooking.

Sadly, Sweetie Belle had a reputation with food that certainly didn't help with the rampant stereotyping.

Taking a sip from a bottle of water in hand, the young woman found herself gazing at a fountain of a marble white, featureless human, water coming out of its vague hands and eyes.

It was a monument to conformity and anti-individualism, as commissioned by a now defunct Protestant group that sprung out during the 1800's that saw conformity as the best way to convey their faith to God: she was interested in the arts, but that message just didn't appeal to her.

After all, what was life worth if everything was the same?

Different people meant different styles.

Different ideas.

Different hopes.

Different dreams.

All together, they created a far more brilliant picture than if everything was exactly the same. When these different ideas combined and collided, it created the most brilliant ideas and made everyone better for it.

If one couldn't handle people being different, she'd never have been friends with.....them.

That thought, of course, made the young woman look rather cross.

She could almost feel the statue look over her as that thought came to mind, as if she just proved the point of it's makers.

It didn't of course. A few bad apples, pun fully intended, did not disprove all nonconformity.

Feeling some energy return to her, the girl closed the top of her bottle and was ready to jog on home....

BOOM

A loud, quiet shattering bang slew the silence of the night like a blade.

Rarity looked up at the sky and gasped as a blue ring of energy rippled across the sky. She only had a few seconds to take in the majestic, impossible sight before her eyes rolled up and she collapsed. All the while, her earbuds happily played song after song with only the silent Earth to listen..

...

"....Battery low..."

An unladylike groan came from the teenage girl.

"...Battery low..."

A pale hand reached out to the complaining device, and switched it off. The hand fumbled as it did so, clearly somewhat disoriented.

Unsteadily, the girl got back on her feet, holding her head which was now feeling rather sore.

"What in heaven just happened...." she asked herself as she reached into her pocket for her cellphone.

What caused that loud noise?

Did something explode?

Was her family alright?

How long had she been lying on the ground getting covered in dirt and just asking for someone to pickpocket her, at best!?!

With a groan, Rarity fumbled with the phone a bit longer and unlocked it. Her eyes went wide at the time. It was 6:00 p.m. It was supposed to be 5:00 p.m. It was not 5:00 p.m.

A quick glance at her surroundings revealed the sun was clearly further down than it should be. All of this amounted to a flat and very confused, "What?" from the fashionista.

Absently, Rarity noticed her text message.

Rarity

Are you still running? Really, you aren't fat

Hoops is an jerk

Mom and Dad haven't come back home, I won't say anything if you get me some food

Sweetie Belle

It was not just because of that jock from two years ago, she ran because....

Wait...

Rarity reread the text once more, sure she must have missed something.

She was out for an hour, after a giant explosion rang out across the sky, and Sweetie only thought she was being self-conscious?

Quickly toggling her phone to her internet browser, Rarity quickly went to the news.

Elections.

International tension involving Russia or China.

North Korea threatening to blow A through Z up.

This was just regular news.......

Nothing about anything going on here in Canterlot City.

A worried look on her face, Rarity quickly hit the search engine with an inquisition about local Canterlot News.

No article dated for today had anything about explosions.

Pocketing her phone, Rarity took up a thoughtful pose as she began to wonder.

"I didn't just imagine that, did I?" she shook her head "No, not unless I just fainted for no reason. And that can't be the case. I eat well, I take care of myself, I don't just fall asleep at random......"

Rarity's eyes widened as the sound of something scurrying nearby reached her ears. Nerves already frayed, she swung rapidly to the statue and tensed.

"Whoever's out there, I'll have you know I took karate!" she warned, Her stance shifted, adopting a center of gravity lower to the ground. While her pose superficially resembled a true karate stance and even held some evidence of actual training, it was noticeably sloppy, likely from lack of practice.

Purple light began to glow around her hands before crystallizing into a pair of stylish purple gloves protecting her hands in case of a fist fight.

A cat's yowling behind the statue and further scurrying answered and solved that problem, though that did leave one thing.

Namely the fact that purple light was glowing around her hands like gloves.

"What in the world?" Rarity questioned as she looked at her hands. The lights flickered away as she did so, leaving her with more questions than answers.

Trying to process what just happened left her completely still for a few moments. Slowly, she extended her hand, fingers splayed out.

Making a gripping motion, the purple light began to reform, eventually taking the form of a sword made of purple light.

She rotated her hand as to have the sword blade facing up, and thought of a large mallet (or was it hammer? Whatever it was called, Rarity had a clear picture of it in her mind). The lights shimmered, as the hilt of the purple energy sword extended downwards, impacting the ground with an actual oomph.

The sword thinned out as well, extended further up before fattening up at the end into a perfect cylinder, the sort one would use at a carnival game.

Rarity let go of the mallet and jumped back a few feet.

The mallet fell over to the ground like a real hammer would, and did not fade the moment her grip was released from it.

In a situation like this, there was only one thing a person could do.

The strength in her legs giving out, Rarity began falling as if to faint, only to be caught on something.

A glowing purple couch. Perfectly sized for dramatic fainting. Rather comfortable too.

"This is......convenient" Rarity observed in a shocked tone, though somewhat glad she didn't collapse to the ground again as she had done enough of that tonight.

....

With unsteady limbs, Sunset was back on her feet, feeling like she had just gotten a blow to the head, from inside it.

Feeling around, Sunset couldn't feel anything out of place, and her motor bike was still here.

How long was she out anyway? A few minutes? An hour?

And where was her key?!

Squinting in the dimming light, Sunset eventually spotted her key.

It was 10 feet away from her.

How did it even get that far?

Growling to herself Sunset walked over to the oddly distant key. She hunched over to grab the damn thing and froze. Just before contact, a blue glow enveloped her hand.

The same blue as her eyes.

The key itself glowed the same color, and flew into her hand.

Shocked, Sunset stared, and nervously swallowed. Slowly, Sunset's grip tightened before she hurled the key at the warehouse with all the force of a professional pitcher. Instantly, some would say naturally, she stretched out her other senses like she had done so long ago, and reached out..

Her hand glowed once more, as did the key. Before it even hit the wall it was once more surrounded by a blue aura and was floating back to her outstretched, glowing hand.

The key came back to Sunset once more. It froze in mid-air as Sunset focused, held only by the aura.

With a slow, deliberate motion Sunset rose a single finger up, causing the key to mirror her.

She did the same with the same finger, but going down.

If anyone had been here this night, they'd have seen a most rare sight: the eyes of the most feared student in Canterlot High filled with tears.

The tears were accompanied by a smile, but unlike any smile her fellow students had seen on her.

A smile of pure, genuine happiness.

Author's Note

Okay, so time to clear some things up before I get too far in.

1: I have no idea if I'm going to keep the Pony esc colors of the characters. I notice some authors retain them, some not doing so, and I'm not sure what approach is better or worse.

2: Yes, the Humane 5 and Sunset are going to be Juniors. Superpowers and college prep never mix, so adding in an extra year is me being merciful so they can figure out what they want to do with them and get the hiccups done with. Plus, I am pretty sure Big Mac is still in school, and his stick is being an older brother, eyup.

3: I kind of suck at categorizing things and I am much more used to doing fanfics on Fanfiction.net. I'd appreciate advice on how to best do them here, particularly with labeling.

4: This is not an adaption of Power Ponies. Only Rarity retains her Power Ponies powerset, simply because it fits that well.

5: I am not sure of any shipping at the moment. So, me doing so or not is completely up to fate