The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer

by ratedoni

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Equestria Girls, Science Fiction, Main 7 (EqG), Adventure, Twilight Sparkle (EqG), Crossover, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 294133

The rules of the game have changed; now, the multiverse has been born, but it is in danger of being extinguished. One spark can create a storm and one Sun is the key to survival.

Part of The Destiny of the Ancients

When one door opens another closes down, but what happens behind those closed doors? What if you could find out what other surprises destiny had for you behind them?

My name is The Observer, I have existed even before Celestia and Luna, I have found an anomaly and that one is Sunset Shimmer, the first of pony kind to not only travel and reside in another universe, but also a being that has always been shaping and molding destiny around her, a being full of mysteries and danger.

The rules of the game have changed and the multiverse as they know goes beyond anyone's expectation.

I was the one who created them all.

From Celestia and Luna, to the ones who record the story Observer and Keeper.

So many lives and destinies across hundreds of universes, all showing that no matter what could happen, destiny is always fixed, except for one creature.

Sunset was born without a destiny and across the multiverse she has taken many roles; from mentor to guardian, from nightmare to savior. This is her curse and blessing at the same time.

From the scientific bases in Phobos and Deimos, to the frozen mountains of Skyrim. She is a protector of Konohagakure, a fighter wearing the sacred Cloth of the Phoenix, she is the Avatar, she is a singer known as Jem and many, many more adventures.

All of that is found inside this multiverse.

But a darkness that infects all is aproaching and will soon strike with only a few beings aware of the danger he represents to existance in general.

And what's this about a mysterious guest and a tea party?

Published 2016-04-17 08:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2021-06-04 17:42:37 UTC

Rosario+Pony 01

Author's Note

What? You want to keep on seeing that dimension?

Come on, there are literally dozens of other dimensions, you can only go back to that one if you want to know more, but what this other door? Hm?

This one has monsters, schools, cute girls, and a lot of romance for our own fiery girl, she is quite popular with the ladies in here, not to mention finding a new old power, what do you say?

Want to know more?

Rosario+Pony 01

Rosario + Pony: Chapter 01

After her difficult days in the human world, Sunset Shimmer was more than used to public transport. At first it was a novel idea, hundreds of people every day in the city moving through a couple dozen big cars, it was cheap and practically anonymous considering every other student in Canterlot High had someone to take them to school so she grew used to it.

With time she picked up other habits, getting her bike for once and also gaining good friends that helped her move around in their cars, like Vinyl and her crazy moving rave party, they did some wild things with it… and in the back seat too.

But here she was, once again riding the public transport, but this time in a different setting, the driver was different, the bus itself was different too, even the view outside of the window was so different, of course that should have been expected since she wasn’t in Canterlot right now.

“Well, who would have thought? A little pony from another world getting the opportunity to get big on this one, guess it isn’t so bad in Japan… it has only been three days and I already miss them.” she said aloud in her native language of Equestrian which was identical to this world’s English, she and Twilight (the human one) had done some studies about it and their findings were amazing, it seemed that the portals had linked both worlds and subconsciously several technology and knowledge lines had been parallel due to that, like language in both Equestria and England where the portal was originally placed.

“You don’t see many students from other countries coming to study here.” Sunset stopped her remembrance and turned to watch the driver, he seemed a little creepy but after fighting and befriending a lot of different magical creatures it didn’t even make her blink.

“Yeah, well, it was an invitation, how could I say no? I mean, new country, new things to learn.” she said while shrugging making the driver smile. Seems that those Japanese lessons with Fluttershy had worked since she was capable of communicating with a native speaker, one for the biggest genius of Canterlot High, okay, maybe it was a place shared but it was the same.

“Well, I suppose there is always that, but you better prepare, after coming out of this long tunnel we’ll be right in front of your new school, Youkai Academy.” For a moment Sunset stood looking at the driver not quite comprehending what she had been told, then all chaos started.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOUKAI ACADEMY!”

(Half an hour before)

The weather was different, the streets were different, the people were different, even the smells were different and Sunset loved it all.
Here she was, once a pony that had thrown her life away in search of power, now here she was again changing her whole world but with a new focus and a new purpose, to learn everything she could and become an even better person.

Sunset smiled at what had happened at the competition, seeing Twilight’s face at realizing she hadn’t won was heart breaking, thankfully they were capable of patching things up a couple of minutes later when it came time to the celebration for the win. Sunset knew that it had hurt, Twilight was after all as academically focused as herself, but their friendship was more important, even if they never had time or the courage to search for something deeper, maybe it was for the best, it wasn’t worthy putting their friendship on the line for romance.

Sunset had been so deep into her thought that she had crashed against someone else, opening her eyes after that she found herself in front of another High School student, with quick apologies from each other and an obvious gawking on the part of the boy (alongside a very obvious nose bleed, some guys were just perverts) both of them went on their own way never realizing it that, after picking up the papers they had both thrown to the floor after the crash, the instructions for the respective schools had been switched.

“You don’t understand, I’m not supposed to be on this bus! I’m supposed to go to another school! This was a mistake!”

“I’m sorry missy, but there is no way I can take you back through the tunnel, if you need help I suggest you to go into the school, maybe they will help you there, even though you are a human” the weird driver said before going back into the tunnel leaving Sunset completely perplexed”

“Well… I’m… not really a human… oh screw it, great job Sunset, what a way to screw things up, now not only I’m not in the place I’m supposed to be but also made someone else lose time, I wonder if that guy is okay… weird, this place reminds me of the Everfree, spooky but cool,” Sunset said to herself looking at the group of bats while raising an eyebrow at the rather distasteful graves “somebody went through a lot of trouble to make this place look like a haunted place.”

A couple of minutes later and several tries to get a signal on her new flip cellphone she finally gave up in her attempts of getting in contact with the outside world, checking that her back pack was secured and everything was where it should have been she then started her trek towards this supposed Youkai Academy, the only thing stopping her was the sound of wings, turning up she then saw a weird looking bat with a goofy smile, it then surprised the hell out of her when the bat suddenly said aloud that it was indeed a bat.

“Okay, this is official, this place is the weirdest one on this world; Rainbow and Pinkie would be having a blast, not to mention that Fluttershy would be ecstatic of finding another animal that could talk.” This was her last coherent thought before a flying bike complete with rider suddenly plunged against her left side, if it weren’t’ because of her honed reflexes and that she used her arm in a block attempt she would have probably been seriously hurt, but thanks to that and because both rider and Sunset started to roll around after the collision both of them were more or less intact.

Shaking the stars out of her head Sunset tried to put a hand on the ground to get some balance, instead she found out in contact with warm and soft skin, quickly opening her eyes Sunset found that her had was now in contact with a yet unknown girl’s thigh (Great Sunset, first day, not even your school and found yourself molesting a girl, just perfect) quickly retiring her hand she saw the other girl finally open her eyes, a small breeze moving he hair backwards and sparkles started to appear around the girl’s face, although Sunset would swear that it was due to a concussion.

‘Wow, the hair, the face, the calm expression, if I didn’t know she was back in Canterlot I could swear this was Fluttershy’ “Hey, are you alright?”

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry for that, is just that lately I have been anemic.” the sweet voice made Sunset blink again in surprise, this was practically a doppelganger of Fluttershy, hell, she even had the wonderful legs, no, bad Sunset.

“Is okay, I have suffered worst things, ouch.” Sunset’s left cheek began to sting, a quick inspection with her finger revealed that she had a cut, she was about to clean her finger with blood on it when she saw the other girl taking a handkerchief to clean her up.

“I’m sorry, this is all my fault, now you are… bleeding… blood,” usually Sunset only saw that kind of dopey expression in Fluttershy’s New Age friend Treehugger, but it went even further into Weirdland when the girl suddenly put her hand on her cheek “I just cannot control myself.” she had been in situations like this before but this was ridiculous, Japanese girls were really forward, but instead of a kiss the girl went for her neck and she felt a quick sting ‘IS SHE BITING ME!?’

The girl quickly disengaged from Sunset’s neck with a blissful look in her face, it would have been angelical if it weren’t so creepy after drinking her blood.

“It… it tasted so delicious… it tasted better than anything else I have tasted before.”

“You… you’re a vampire.” Sunset quickly checked the place where she had been bitten finding that the canine holes were closing, seems that she still had the side effects of that night. At Sunset’s voice the other girl’s face became chagrined and embarrassed no questions about why.

“I’m so sorry, is just that I haven’t been eating much… do you… do you hate vampires?” she said in a voice and mannerism that she had seen before.

“Nah, I don’t hate them… a friend of mine… kind of had the same… blood problems after all." just remembering that night when Fluttershy had been bitten send shivers through her spine, Flutterbat had been a pain to corral and turn back to human, it didn’t help that Fluttershy ended up having some weird vampire side effects. Besides, there was no way that Sunset could have told her she hated vampires, how could you say something like that to a face like hers.

Both went up and began to walk in the direction of the school, a huge Victorian style building, on the meantime they started to talk about the girl, Moka, and her being a vampire.

“So, I won’t turn into a vampire if I’m bitten?”

“Oh, no, there is no danger for you if you give blood to a vampire; however, there are some side effects if a vampire injects blood to you but you don’t have to worry about it” Moka said with a huge smile on her “just, please, don’t tell the other students that I’m a vampire.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I can just imagine what their reaction will be.” ‘Well, they will first laugh and then they will send me to a nuthouse, or back home, whichever of the two is bad’.

“No kidding, we are all supposed to stay in our human forms.”

“Absolutely… wait, what?”

“Well, I can see why you could have problems miss-”

“Oh, my name is… Kirameki Yuya,” Sunset had felt that since she would be studying in Japan it would be a good idea to have a local version of her name, it would make it easier to say, so with that in mind she searched for different words to translate her name, it was pretty simple in fact and also badass according to Rainbow Dash “look, nothing against your school but I made a mistake, I took the wrong bus, besides, I already had an agreement with the other school.”

“Oh, then is no problem we will soon help you get back to the human world… that is of course you are not a Youkai and instead you are a human, after all, if a human had suddenly got into this school it would have to be killed… probably.” the young woman with cat ears and glasses said with a very feline smile, not that it made Sunset feel better, in fact it just made her sweat even more.

“N-n-n-n-no way, I’m not human.” ‘I’m not lying after all! Please whatever deity exist in this place, let her believe it!’

“Really? Well, then it is a shame that you won’t stay in our school, but taking you back will take some time, why don’t you stay until tomorrow? I was going to be your homeroom teacher! At least you would be able to learn how to pass as a human being.”

“Oh, I have a lot of experience doing that, but… okay, why not… maybe I can talk with Moka a little more.”

‘I do wonder what kind of pervert created this uniform, I mean, I don’t mind the color or the style but this stupid skirt is so damn short’ Sunset thought while she looked around the classroom, after all, everyone seemed completely human but she knew better than to judge a book by its cover, at least it was more interesting than listen to the cat-eared teacher repeat what she had already heard yesterday ‘is a good thing that I’m leaving today after class, this place is way too dangerous for me.

“Why should we hide? We are stronger than them, we could kill all the men and then molest the women.” Sunset felt nauseated by the words of the brunette haired idiot, he looked like an idiot too, it just reaffirmed what she had already decided.

“But you shouldn’t do that, after all everyone in this school is a monster, the special barrier around the school doesn’t let humans enter” ‘Well, I think your barriers has serious defects because I went through alright, although probably it really didn’t detect me as human after all, I would have liked to see how that supposed barrier was constructed, alas I am saying goodbye to this place.

“Now that you mention it, I detect a human smell right now…” the same idiot said making Sunset smirk.

“Maybe you should have taken a bath if you reek like that” She was a smartass, there was no doubt about it. Seeing the idiot flinch and recoil in anger was good enough payment for her but before the two could get on with the bickering (sadly) the door of the classroom was slide (another strange thing in Japan’s classroom according to Sunset) and a beautiful pink haired girl went inside.

“I’m sorry for being late!”

“Oh, and you would be?”

“I’m Akashiya Moka” she said standing in front of the classroom and the reaction was the one Sunset expected from someone like Moka, a complete chaos and jubilation by the male (and more than a few female) students, but all changed when Moka’s eyes met her own and next thing Sunset knew she was the victim of a jumping glomp that would have made Pinkie Pie proud “Is you Yuya! I’m so glad that we are in the same classroom!”

‘Well, there goes any semblance of peace for today’

She had grown used to looks and leers walking through Canterlot High, but it was nothing compared to walking on a private school with the prettiest girl in the whole school apparently because everyone was turning around to gawk at both of them, it also didn’t help that Moka was grinning a storm and cuddling against Sunset’s arm, but the weirdest thing of all was that Moka wasn’t the only one being ogled, by the looks of the lost and heart shaped eyes on the boys of the school she was also part of their ogling. Sure, it boosted her self-esteem but this was beyond ridiculous.

“Geez, you would think that those guys have never seen pretty girls in their whole life” Sunset said a little tired after all that but her tone and delivery made Moka giggle cutely at her.

“I don’t mind, they cannot make me any less happy”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I’m spending my first day of classes with a good friend”

‘Geez, is this girl really a vampire? She is way too cute’

“So, you are Akashiya Moka” Sunset almost chocked on the coffee Moka and her had bought from the vending machine.

“Great, mister big and dumb has just appeared” Sunset said before being hauled up by the idiot, Sunset had barely seen him move, this was ridiculous.

“Yuya!”

“You are cute but you are in no way close to Moka’s league, why don’t you get lost while Moka and I have some fun?”

“What do you want? For Moka to teach you the abecedary? Or maybe you already forgot your potty training?” Sunset felt extremely vicious right now, next thing she knew she was sailing through the air and striking the vending machine “uh, what a way to handle a girl, seems like your mommy didn’t give you enough spanks as a kid” Sunset responded while at the same time being quite surprised that the hit didn’t even bother her, seems that all that time fighting monsters and magical creatures had worked for something.

“Yuya, are you alright?”

“You damn woman, you better know when to shut your mouth like a good girl, now, why don’t you and I spend some time Akashiya?”

“I prefer to spend time with Kirameki” Moka said shrugging off the doofus and helping Sunset stand up, a couple of minutes later they were both standing in one of the rooftop views, neither then saw how the guy used his extra-large tongue to destroy a can “that was scary, are you alright Yuya?”

“Me? Sure, I’ve been hit worst, but that guy really has some strength on him” ‘Still, that guy surprised me, if it weren’t because I’m tougher than normal human being I would have been in trouble'

“But you didn’t even get hurt, what kind of monster are you?”

“Well… that is… you see…”

“Oh, right, I forgot” Moka said putting both hands over her mouth in a move that made Sunset remember Fluttershy once again “we are not supposed to say that to others”

“Well, too bad you already told me what you were” Sunset said smirking a little making Moka blush at what she had done before.

“I wasn’t aware of the rule yet, don’t tease me” Moka said making Sunset laugh at the antics, it felt good to laugh with a friend once again but then she remembered what was going to happen later on so better to tell her now.

“Moka… I have something to tell you, I… I wasn’t supposed to be in this school” she said avoiding Moka’s confused face “I took a bus to Youkai Academy by mistake, my directions got mixed with another guy and ended up here by mistake”

“But… you can just switch schools… right?”

“Moka… is not that simple, I had already made a deal, and I think it is pretty obvious that I’m not from this country”

“What does that have to do with this? Can’t you just… stay here?” Seeing Moka’s eyes being filled by tears was breaking Sunset’s heart.

“I’m sorry, I made a promise with my adoptive mother, she is the one that got me a permission to stay in this country to study, and if she finds out that I changed schools without her input I’ll be called back… I’m sorry but there is no other way”

“I see… then I guess I can at least keep you company until then” Moka tried to smile but Sunset knew it wasn’t very convincing.

“Yeah, why not?”

“So, this is it then?” Moka said with her hands behind her back, Sunset simply put her backpack in place and smiled softly at her friend.

“Yeah, it has been quite an experience even if I did only stay for a day… take care Moka”

“You too Yuya, write me okay?”

“I’ll try, well, this is my bus… goodbye” she finally said before getting into said transport and slowly it went into the dark tunnel leaving behind the school for monsters. This time the tunnel seemed to be even longer than usual or maybe it was that Sunset didn’t feel well, maybe it had something to do with the friend she have left behind “I wonder what Twilight would say about all this, well, why don’t I tell her?” Sunset said before rummaging through her bag for the magical diary before her fingers touched something, an old photo of her friends posing in front of the school, even both sets of Twilight and Spike appeared in the movie alongside the six Rainbooms and Celestia and Luna, her friends back in Canterlot, a place that seemed so far away, friends she have left behind… just like Moka.

Sunset stopped her thoughts at that, her heart had hurt, it wasn’t a good feeling and she knew why. Meanwhile, the bus had gone through the tunnel and into the ordinary world, although ordinary was subjective to Sunset after everything she had lived… maybe what she needed was something extraordinary.

“Hey! Bus driver!”

“Yes kid?”

“Could you do me a favor?”

Moka was scared, this was not what she expected at the end of her day, not only did she have to say goodbye to her only friend in the school but now this crazy monster was trying to molest her, and she was completely scared. But it was too late, Saizou had had grabbed her by the leg and thrown her against one of the graves knocking the air out of her lungs.

“Well, what are you waiting Moka? Come on, transform!” but before he could get an answer a rock sailed through the air and struck him in the forehead, Saizou simply turned around to see a red haired girl in uniform stand up arrogantly at the border of the forest.

“Yu-Yuya? How?”

“You again? Well, that means I can get two girls for the price of one”

“Geez, keep dreaming you pervert” Sunset simply said before ducking under the tongue and with a quick stride close the gap before hitting him right in the jaw with her fist, the punch was strong enough to make him turn a little but before she could react she was struck by a massive claw sending her flying through the air.

“Yuya, are you alright?” Moka asked once she kneeled at Sunset’s side, this one coughed once while smiling to her friend.

“Well, that guy hits like a freight train but besides that, yeah” Moka’s smile was more than good enough payment for receiving that hit.

“I thought you have left”

“I did, but only until I was out of the barrier range, seems that it makes all cellphones lose connection… I had a talk with my adoptive mother, she is the director of my old school, and I just wanted to tell her that I had found a better school"

“Is it true?”

“You won’t be able to get rid of me that easily now” the beauteous smile she received quickly turned sour.

“Do you really want to be friends with a vampire? I mean, we end up hurting others, the only thing worthy of us is our strength, in the end the only thing I’ll bring you will be misfortune and pain” Moka said almost crying but Sunset merely laughed.

“Damn, end up hurting others? Girl, we should exchange notes, believe me when I say that I know all about that, but I also know about redemption and friendship, maybe I can give you a couple of lessons, now help me get up I still want to kick Saizou’s ass” Sunset said, sadly their plans were stopped abruptly after hearing something break, in this case the Rosario chain that Moka used “ah, is that bad?”

“Oh no, this isn’t a normal rosario, this one was made to seal my power and the real me! This is the only thing that stop me from being a monster!”

“So yes, bad” Sunset said before being blinded by the light, Saizou, who this time he had spent thinking on ways to use both females had to raise his hands to not be blinded, next thing he knew Moka’s hair had changed to white and the kindness and happiness that usually was found in her eyes were changed by pure frost, even the skies had sensed the changed and they were as black as the darkest night.

“What’s with her? She feels completely different now, this power is enormous, those red eyes, the silver hair, that’s the S-class monster! A vampire!” Saizou was right now trembling in fear and awe.

“So you are the idiot who woke me up then?”

“What am I doing? Stop shaking, I can take her!” but Moka simply yawned while looking at him.

“You should realize your own place” She said before getting ready to fight, but in that moment both monsters went completely still, even Moka, an S-grade monster felt another presence.

“Wait right there… he is still my opponent” Sunset said slowly getting up, a strange aura surrounding her “well, seems that I didn’t realize it this whole day, it is so simple” Sunset said before finally raising her head, her eyes turning black and red “this whole place is protected by a huge magical barrier, it is always emitting energy, most monsters wouldn’t notice it… but I guess after everything in my life I’m not like most”

“This power… this is nothing like I have ever felt before!” If Saizou had been scared, by now he was terrified, he had just picked a fight with two extremely powerful monsters and on Moka’s side, well, the feeling that Sunset’s aura gave made her remember something she had read once long time ago.

“This is not the precense of a monster, this is something else, Sunset... she is something from out of this world” she was capable of saying before fire engulfed Sunset, making her skin take a red hue, her hands grow claws, become taller and finally as if by magic, two huge red wings grew on her back “she is a demon”

“What was it that you said Moka? Oh right, you should know your own place!” she screamed before practically disappear and at the next second a red hand struck Saizou right in the jaw sending him flying, destroying several trees in the process and making sure that he wouldn’t get up any time soon.

After the dust settled down both the vampire and the demon stood looking at each other.

“Moka… I…” Was all Sunset could say before falling asleep.

The Mystery Shack 01

Author's Note

Seems that Sunset will spend time in lovely company, hope she survives all the attention, but for now, let's go on and find out what is behind the next door.

Ah, yes, the one filled with monsters and creatures beyond your imagination... and an evil that knows no boundaries, hopefully Sunset and her family will be ready to protect the town of Gravity Falls.

The Mystery Shack 01

The Mystery Shack 01

Can you smell that? Is the smell of summer and freedom, when kids can play without pressures of school and be free to do whatever their hearts want to do, yeah, that kind of summer? I don’t have it. Because right now instead of spending time in my room or doing whatever else I would like I am being chased by a giant monster alongside my sister while driving a golf cart… don’t worry, mom taught me how to drive one, just… don’t ask, story for another time.

So, introduction time everybody, I’m Dipper, the one at my side that is about to barf is my sister Mabel and right now is not exactly the best moment of the year but I’ll try to explain what is going on.

Okay, my family and I used to live somewhere else but Mom simply packed our things, threw them inside the car, literally threw them inside, and then drove us all the way north here to Gravity Falls Oregon to live with our great uncle Stan, for what I know there is no blood relationship between us but apparently great uncle took care of Mom when she was our age so they are really close, and he also owns a tourist trap called The Mystery Shack. Mom had a huge grin when she saw the cabin, apparently she lived here too.

So I already told you about my family, the only one that isn’t here is Dad… he died long time ago, I don’t even remember him, we don’t even have photos of him, that’s okay I suppose, we DO have Mom and she is great.

So talking about The Mystery Shack, yep, Mom decided that it would be a good idea to work alongside our Great Uncle and in the process get some pocket money, meanwhile Mom keeps avoiding the question of why we moved here but keeps dancing around it, maybe one day she will answer… and it all started with Mabel starting her whole Crazy About Boys shenanigans, make emphasis on Crazy.

“Are the runts okay here?”

“Don’t worry Stan, the kids are resilient”

“Yeah, they take after their Mom” the older guy said smiling at the woman at his side, he could be a conman, a liar, a thief and many other things but if there was one person who could drag out the best parts of him it would be Sunset, she had always had that ability since he found her when she was just a kid, it seemed like a lifetime ago, now she was back on Gravity Falls alongside her kids “never really told them about why you came back?”

“I don’t think is time, but Dipper is noticing something” Sunset told her almost father, she was now wearing faded jeans and a long blue t-shirt saying Mystery Shack on it, long gone were the days of the leather jacket, she had said she felt weird using it being a mom.

“What is that?”

“He feels someone is watching him” She was worried about that, it had happened a lot when she was a kid, of course, back then she was a moody and enraged teenager, only after letting it all that rage out in the middle of the forest was she capable of having a normal life, but the feeling of being observed never left her “do you think is the Society?”

“Nah, they know better than to make you mad, they cannot wipe your memory so it probably won’t affect Dipper and Mabel”

“Still, I am more than a little worried, if Twilight is right then something wrong will happen here”

“Which Twilight?”

“The magical one”

“Ahhh” it felt weird for Sunset to be talking about her old friends, each of them going their own ways after the dilemmas of High School “anyway, enough of worried, what do you plan to do Stan?”

“I just want to put more signs, nothing dangerous”

‘Nothing dangerous he says, like sending one of my kids alone into the forest is not dangerous, if I didn’t love that old fool I would hit him with my old golf club’ Sunset thought while helping her little boy put up the signs to the shack.

She was always surprised by how much like herself Dipper was, the same kind of attitude and intelligence all surrounded by a maturity that made him act older than he was, thankfully he also had his childish tics.

Sunset was proud of how well Dipper took their moving to Gravity Falls, she knew it had come out of nowhere but neither kid had complained or seemed to have problems, maybe because both kids didn’t leave many things behind, they had the same problems she had herself at their age when it came to making friends but hopefully things would change in here.

“Nobody believes anything I say”

“It all depends in the way you say it, that’s why your Grunkle is so good at what he does”

“Con people out of their money?”

“Exactly” Sunset said with a big grin making Dipper roll his eyes, sometimes his Mom was like any other mother, the ones he saw in TV and his old now ex-classmates, but sometimes she was just so… weird, like his sister or himself, there was no denying the mental AND physical similarities between mother and children, his own copper hair was a deeper color than his Mom’s bright red and yellow “Dip, you probably think that it is lame to have a tourist trap store but believe me when I tell you that it does pay the bills, heck, he had enough money to send me to study into another city, University included”

“Wow, and he just did that? No tricks?”

“He loves money, but I think you will find out that sometimes for Stan, there are more precious things than money”

“If you say so Mom” Dipper could only say obviously not quite believing that, he quickly took another nail and tried to pin it to the tree but instead of going in only a metallic clank was heard.

“Wait… did that came from the tree?” Sunset’s voice was showing how confused she was right now.

“It… seems so?” Dipper was also confused and after checking the bark he found out a secret compartment inside the false tree “what is this?”

“It looks like some kind of remote control and very old by the way, whoever made this didn’t come back in a long time”

“Do you think it still works?”

“It looks like short range, so anything it is supposed to work with must be close” Sunset said before Dipper started to move the different small levers until a door on the ground opened up scaring the goat “Sorry RUBY!” Sunset said to the goat, it was the descendant of another goat that had lived in the shack; it was kind of like the mascot.

“What the… a book?”

“Dip, don’t touch it” Dipper turned around to look at his Mom, that tone usually corresponded to times when he and Mabel were in danger, taking a stride she picked up the book from the compartment and after blowing on the cover they saw the number 3 written on it.

“Is it dangerous?”

“I’m not sure, but I guess you can look with me… so far everything in here is a mixture of conspiracy theories and supernatural stuff, it even has diagrams” Sunset was impressed, whoever have done this must have took extreme care in compiling all the information.

“Hey Mom, hey Dipping sauce! What are you doing? Is that a book?”

“Mabel, is good that you are here”

“It is?” Although not the most inquisitive of the twins, Mabel had a great quality, she was the most positive kind she had ever known, and Sunset was friend with Pinkie, she also seemed to take more on her auntie Pinkie than herself considering her permanent grin and beyond logical antics.

“Yes… kids, do you remember your auntie Twilight?”

“Which one?” both twins said making Sunset sigh at what was by now a family gag.

“The non-scientist”

“Ahhh, the one that acts like auntie Pinkie whenever we give her books on Christmas?”

“Yes, that one Mabel”

“Does this have anything to do with why we moved here?”

“Sometimes you are too smart for your own good Dip, but yes… you see, there have been problems where your auntie lives. There is a… man called Discord, he thinks that whatever is happening there has to do with something here”

“So you think that the book is the key to find out what is going on”

“I don’t know Dip, but I know something big will happen here and this book will keep us prepared”

The Glass Wizard 01

Author's Note

You know, seeing all these different Sunsets you might think that everything she does is adventure after adventure, but sometimes life can be a little harsh on each of us, what we might need from time to time is someone to listen, to see the small detail and help us when we need it.

Why don't we see the next door? Let's see into the world of the Bartender, the world of the Glass Wizard.

The Glass Wizard 01

The Glass Wizard 01

In the middle of the city, when the sun comes down and night starts one may think that everybody goes back to their homes, and that may be true in her home back in Equestria, but human kind never stopped.

Bright lights and neon signs dominated the streets while the lone purple haired woman walked through it, watching humans celebrate, meet friends and loved ones and on occasion raise their glasses for something or another, but instead of stopping and join them in her usual human interaction observations this time she had a specific place in mind.

Among the street lights, a heavy glass and oak door stood with a plaque that showed the name of the place; a pristine, well cared for and inviting entrance to The Unicorn’s Glade Bar.

With a heavy push the door let her enter into this carefully lighted building and Twilight took in the sense of calm and for some reason she felt as if the whole bar had welcomed her back, as if she was an old friend, but the feeling was probably due to the one behind the counter.

With her long crimson and yellow hair on a low ponytail and in the combination of a striking white button shirt, a black vest, bowtie and simple but well-tailored black slacks stood Sunset Shimmer, a friend that Twilight Sparkle haven’t seen in what seemed like eons but knew that it had been close to 4 years.

“Welcome Princess to my new bar, The Unicorn’s Glade, what is your heart’s menu for this night?” Sunset said slightly bowing in Twilight’s direction, the princess in return slightly blushed at that kind of reception, even after all the time in which she had been part of the Equestrian government and royalty she was still uncomfortable with that kind of treatment, Sunset must have noticed how she was feeling because she simply gave her usual smirk and shrugged her shoulders “sorry Twy, guess I went all out on you there” Sunset said with the same relaxed and confident manner that Twilight remembered very well.

“Is okay, you just took me by surprise” she said finally stepping fully inside the bar and noticing all the little details in the decoration, from the polished stone flooring making it look as if she really was walking in dark grass, the soft cream walls with beautiful frames holding paintings that represented forests and landscapes, that alongside the clear lights and bar stools made her feel as if indeed she had entered a glade “now I understand why Rarity sounded so happy when she told me how impressed she was about this place, this place is fantastic” she said sitting down on the stool directly in front of Sunset.

“Thanks Twy, your opinions mean a lot to me, if I impressed Miss Socialite herself and also a true Princess then it means I did a superb job” it was obvious how proud Sunset was right now from Twilight’s words and it made the princess giggle at the reaction “so what’s the occasion?”

“There is none, I just wanted to see you again, I mean, we talked through the diary but… it wasn’t the same, everybody in this world was so busy with their lives and with you being gone for so long”

“Yeah, sorry about that, is just that… there was so much to learn in Europe” Sunset said with a face clearly indicating how much she had enjoyed that learning.

“Isn’t it bartending just serving drinks?” Twilight immediately put her hands over her mouth after saying that, she had just blurted those words without realizing it but Sunset simply chuckled at the words.

“Don’t worry Twy, serving drinks IS part of the job, but there are other things that I do… Twilight, what’s behind me?” Sunset spread her arms indicating the whole wall behind her and Twilight put her whole attention on the myriad of bottles of every shape and form, of different colors and interesting labels, all of them arranged in a haphazard but strangely pleasing way.

“A lot of bottles”

“That’s right, and every bottle is their own unique liquor, each with their own properties and flavors, their own way to be drink and not only that, but they also have partners to which they can be mixed, so, do you stir them or you shake them? Do you serve them straight or in layers? Hot or cold? Should you serve them with a solid ice cube or shaved ice? And finally, what kind of glass will they prefer to be served?” Twilight at that point had realized all the possibilities for each kind of bottle, just to remember all the name of them must have taken a while, but to think of the combinations and all the presentations? That was mind boggling even for the Princess of Friendship.

“Wow… no wonder they call you ‘The Glass Wizard” Now it was time for Sunset to blush intensely at that name.

“Oh Celestia, who told you that?” she asked in a highly embarrassed tone of voice.

“Rarity told me a couple of hours ago when I had lunch with her and some co-workers of her” Twilight said remembering the smiles of the other women accompanying the highly successful fashion designer, it was obvious they had visited The Unicorn’s Glade before.

“Leave it to Rarity to spread that stupid name around; I cannot believe she can say that with a straight face” Sunset said wanting to hide her face under the counter but she wasn’t Fluttershy; she will keep her head high against the embarrassment.

“Why would she call you that?”

“Do you remember that Rarity spend most of her apprenticeship in Paris? Well, we found out each other since at the time I was working on a high class bar lounge in the city”

“Really? That sounds amazing” Twilight said quickly forgetting what was the real reason she came to the human world looking for Sunset, and quickly got absorbed by the tale.

“Yeah, you can imagine our surprise when Rarity sat down with her date and I was left in charge of the counter” Sunset said remembering Rusty Nail and how much like a doting grandfather he usually behaved with his employees “anyway, after the whole plethora of hellos and all I was ready to get their orders, sadly, the poor boy that was Rarity’s date have never went into a bar before and didn’t know what to order and said the first thing he remembered from a movie, a Martini!” she said smiling at the faux pas “that cocktail can be a little dry and strong for someone not used to liqueurs so I did what I do best and changed his order, apparently both of them were so impressed with what I did that Rarity called me the Glass Wizard, saying that I have worked my magic to make that night perfect”

“That sounds amazing, what happened to them?”

“Well, for what Rarity told me they later on decided to keep being friends since Rarity finished her apprenticeship and she had to come back to the States, last I knew he asked the big question to his new girlfriend two months ago, all in that same bar” she said with a huge smile on her face knowing well her hand at creating special memories linked to Rusty Nail’s bar.

“That is quite unbelievable! But how did you know which drink to serve him? Not only that, but why did you change it? I mean, I’m not an expert and the closest pony that I know that knows about liqueur is Berry Punch, so, isn’t it the bartender’s job to give the client his exact order?”

“I suppose you can think that, but what I have seen in many bars is that when you think about a client is not ‘What drink does he or she wants’ but ‘Which drink he or she needs’” Sunset said looking directly at Twilight once again with the calm look on her face like when she first arrived “will you let me show you Twilight?”

“I… have never drank anything alcoholic before, I mean, even Applejack’s cider was non-alcoholic”

“Like I said, let me give you the drink you need right now” Sunset said effortlessly moving around behind the counter quickly grabbing bottles, glass, and just a couple of seconds there it was. A glass filled with a drink that was yellow at the top and became darker at the bottom becoming orange and finishing it all was a pure red cherry inside the drink “hope you enjoy your heart’s menu” Sunset said presenting Twilight with the glass.

The Princess stood watching the beverage with a slightly nervous look in her face, but watching the serenity in Sunset’s she took the glass on her hand and put it on her mouth, a second later Twilight’s eyes became rounder as if surprised by the flavor.

At that moment, Twilight could remember vividly the times she had spent with Princess Celestia drinking tea and talking about nothing important, just relaxing with each other away from the pressure of their jobs; she could remember the days she spent on the Golden Oak library’s balcony, a good book in front of her and a tall glass of lemonade prepared by Spike at her side.

It was as if the stress that she had felt all week had disappeared replaced by the feeling of summer, as if the bubbly liquid had washed them away.

“How?” she said almost in tears to the woman behind the counter.

“The bags under your eyes, how frizzed your hair is even thought you tried to keep it under control, how you were playing with the napkin while we talked, it was obvious the kind of stress you have been lately”

“But how? I mean, the flavor, it taste like…”

“Like the lemon on Princess Celestia’s tea whenever she takes time to unwind, like summer when all we wanted to do was to sit outside with a book in our hooves and enjoy peace and quiet, I changed the recipe slightly, I put lemonade alongside the ginger ale” now Twilight’s tears were falling down her cheeks, a smile playing on her face “this is a Shirley Temple, it is a non-alcoholic beverage, it was named after one of the greatest actresses in this country’s history, she started acting when she was young but instead of disappearing or becoming a mess she grew up to become not only a great actress, but also a politician, an ambassador, she battled cancer and won… and just like her, you have been the recipient of so many responsibilities since you were young, but you never gave up, not even now, you have become an inspiration for many ponies, including me” she said with a huge smile.

“She was right… you truly are the Glass Wizard” this time Sunset didn’t feel embarrassed, she just felt proud at making her friend feel better, at that moment the heavy door was once again pushed and three men in suits quickly came inside the bar.

“Welcome to the Unicorn’s Glade, what is your heart’s menu this day?” she said in the well-practiced line making Twilight smile even more seeing Sunset take on her role as a bartender.

“Ah my dear Sunset, I will let you choose for us this night” the man with a grey suit said before the three of them took a seat not too far from Twilight, they all seemed so formal, so stoic, it reminded Twilight of Fancy Pants.

“Of course, just wait a moment” and just like that Sunset began to work mixing and preparing everything for this group of businessmen quickly finishing the last touches and presenting everyone with a different glass with varied colors “for Hard Numbers an Old Fashioned, for Stock Market his preferred Whiskey Sour and for the man of the night, mister Closed Deal, a Manhattan, congratulations on the contract” the three men stood frozen, surprised at Sunset’s words ”last time you were here you all talked about what had happened at work, how close the deal you all wanted was, but you all had lines of worry. Today you all seem as if a huge weight had been lifted, so that’s why I brought you all these whiskey based cocktails, a little bit of class and a little bit of life, the best liquor to celebrate this night” Sunset told them before all pretense of seriousness was thrown aside as the three obvious good friends raised their glasses and laughed loud and long.

Twilight and Sunset’s eyes met and a smile found their place on each face, the night had barely started for the Unicorn’s Glade, but the magic had already found its way inside, so tell me, what’s in your heart’s menu for tonight? Maybe a strong flavor to give you strength for tomorrow or maybe a mellow liquor to make you think of the good times. Either way, you can be sure that The Glass Wizard will be there for you behind the counter.

The One Dragons Fear 01

Author's Note

So I guess that was good enough for you?

A little bit of pace hcanging is always good, but let's go on.

Ah, this is a good one, tell me, do you like tales of magic and dragons? If you do then this must be a good one for you.

The One Dragons Fear 01

The One Dragons Fear 01

Everypony in the room knew something was up when with a loud pop and flash Twilight Sparkle and Rarity appeared on the middle of it accompanied not by one but by two dragons, all looking as if the end of the world was near.

“Twilight, what is going on? Did you find out what was happening with Spike? And… who is your other companion?”

“Celestia, you are still here?”

“Well, Luna and I thought that it would be good if I stayed to find out sooner, she flew back to Canterlot to take over court for today, but tell me, what is going on?” At that moment, the other dragon finally stood up, her face showing sadness and rage, at what? The pony princess had no idea.

“Please, allow me to tell you, Twilight says that you are the ruler of ponies” she said with aplomb and enough confidence that it was clear she had been born with power.

“Both my sister and I have been in power for almost as long as Equestria existed, but what does this have to do with Spike?”

“I am Ember, my father is… was the Dragonlord, it was my father that called every single young dragon to participate on his gauntlet, whoever dragon retrieved the Bloodstone Scepter would have become the next Dragonlord… but something went wrong” she said trying to hide her shame about the way they had lost.

“The dragon that had bullied Spikey-Wikey last time, Garble, he… he used Spike, telling us that he would kill him if we didn’t give up the scepter" Rarity said trying to contain her tears hugging Spike close to her, it had been too close for all of them.

“I suppose that could be bad, someone as inexperienced and immature could have problems with power”

“It is worse than that Celestia… he immediately declared war against all pony kind” Twilight told her old mentor feeling already the pressure of all Equestria in her shoulders, for her part, the older princess took a deep breath and maintained her usual calm in the exterior, in the inside meanwhile she was cursing a storm, she was old enough to remember all wars in Equestria, both against invaders and civil ones, it was a tragedy every single one of them.

“I see… guess I will have to tell the news to Luna and prepare our country for this tragedy, seems like the peaceful days are over” she said showing sadness and regret on her face.

“I’m so sorry Celestia, it is our fault, if we had helped Spike none of this would have happened”

“Sometimes we can do our bests and still fail, it has happened to me, now it happened to you all, this is not the first time that Equestria goes to war, although never against dragon kind, I will not lie Twilight, it will be hard, you know very well how hard it is to hurt a dragon with magic” All this time, while the adults in the room had been discussing and planning the next few days, Spike had been crying; he felt worse than the rest because he was the one who had the scepter in his hands and had failed, he also knew that everything that was going to happen would give him nightmares.

“Is not fair” he said to himself.

“What was that Spike?” or maybe it wasn’t that quiet because Rarity heard him.

“I said that it isn’t fair”

“Sometimes life isn’t fair, I’m so sorry Spike” Celestia walked closer to the little dragon, her heart was breaking just looking at him, he was like a son to her just like Twilight, she had seen both grow up, it was like Spike said, not fair.

“I know that, now they are all going to die!” they all turned to see each other, what was the reason for that outburst?”

“What are you talking about Spike?” Twilight asked being worried about her number 1 assistant; this adventure might have been too much for him.

“The dragons, they are all gonna die!”

“Why would you say that?” this time Spike left the little sanctuary he had amid Rarity’s fur to look straight to Twilight.

“Because I know it, this was the plan you had with Celestia! You are going to call her back to Equestria and kill all the dragons! Is what she does!” at those words the three ponies stood rooted while their eyebrows went beyond their mane line, they all remembered who he was talking about.

They had forgotten about that option in all the chaos that the news had brought.

“Do you… do you think it is okay Celestia? I mean, she IS good at what she does and has the forces to repeal an attack but…”

“But it won’t be easy, I know Twilight, she is one fickle ally you made beyond the mirror, but she will be the solution that we need if we are to minimize casualties on our side, I’m sorry Miss Ember, but what we are about to do will not be good for your kind”

“Is alright, the new Dragonlord saw it fit to declare me exiled, it was only because Twilight here teleported me along them that I am alive, besides, dragons do not believe in friendship”

“Except this dragon”

“And now me, thank you Spike, but they all decided on following Garble’s command, I know they think it will be a piece of cake, just coming here and scare some ponies, but Garble will want to destroy, maybe even kill and made ponies suffer… you all extended a claw in friendship to me so… I guess you have to do what is good for your own people, but please, I just want to know, what’s this plan you keep talking about?” the uncomfortable eyes in all the ponies said more than their words could.

“It is an old student of mine; she decided to leave this world and now resides in an alternate world, she is Sunset Shimmer, and judgment day will arrive for all dragon kind with her arrival."

Garble could feel it in the air, the mighty of the dragon army flying towards their enemy, of course, he would have feel that or at least be awed if the power and the idea of making all ponies suffer haven’t gone straight to his head.

If he had thought a little he would have found weird that there hasn’t been any sight of ponies while they had flew in search of combat, but it was of no matter to him, he had only one target, Ponyville, he will finally be able to make that stupid little runt suffer, he and his little ponies will know what happened when you humiliated Dragonlord Garble.

“Dragonlord, we have reached the village” one dragon in armor said before Garble dismissed him, he didn’t even remember his name, he was unimportant.

“Alright, everyone, have some fun, att…” he never had a chance to finish the word.

“FIRE!” the order came from the ground, close to that weird crystal castle that looked yummy enough, but in one second the world around them changed, balls of fire flew and hit his soldiers, a thunderous explosion shocked more, a hail of arrows struck everywhere no matter if they had hide or armor and they fell, all of them fell to the ground.

The moment Garble opened his eyes he couldn’t believe it, it was an image directly from one of his nightmares, dozens of his kin splayed on the ground, charred to cinder, others being felt by arrows that apparently were stronger than dragon scale, others had spikes made of ice impaling them and the others had arcs of lighting shake their muscles even if they were already dead.

And then… then he felt pain and fear like he had never felt before.

“JOOR-ZAH-FRUL” a scream came and with it pain and confusion, the Dragonlord had been hit and he was unable to fly, he struck the ground and felt several of his bones snap.

The dragons that hadn’t been hurt by the first wave of attacks were in confusion and fear, none of them had lived through something like this, their leader struck down as if it were nothing, by a simple female scream, they all fell a wave of fear like no other, as if someone had an incredible power over them.

And then, they all saw it, a figure like no other walking in the direction of the fallen leader, her long red hair falling along her back, and there was no mistake, that could only be a female, her armor the darkest of all blacks, the very sight of her made them all move backwards and those flying felt like if this was a good moment to run.

“Well, when Twilight told me what you decided to do I couldn’t believe it, I mean, such a perfect little gift to little ol’ me, the only thing missing was a bow” she said grinning and showing a long line of pearly white teeth making Garble shiver in fear and pain.

“Come on Sunset, finish with that varmint, I still have things to do back at the farm” another female said with a deep grey steel armor with fur on it, a hornet helmet on her head and a long two handed sword over her shoulder.

“Geez AJ, this is her home turf, let her do what she wants, besides, a little gloating is nothing bad” the other female had long multi colored hair spilling under her steel helmet with a weird Mohawk on the top, her armor was grey too but with touches of red, a shield on her back and a bow on her hands.

“I must said that is true, just like our little Sunset here when we all finally backed Trixie up on a corner in Winterhold” the woman with deep indigo hair said, she, unlike her companions, was not wearing armor but instead robes of the purest white, a circlet on her head and heeled boots.

“Well, it would be nice if we could all go back now” the soft pink haired woman said behind them, like her friend she was not in armor but instead of a simple yet pretty dress, what was really impressive was the fire, ice and storm atronach protecting her.

“But still, this is an amazing opportunity to study another type of dragons… I wonder if Sunset would allow me to take one of the corpses for study back to the College” the girl said looking closely to one of said dragon corpses among the battlefield; she, unlike the other combatants was wearing what seemed to be the most simple of all robes, this time of color purple but they seemed more utilitarian than a fashion statement, that alongside the hair bun and glasses confirmed her as completely focused on studies.

“I don’t know, that one was funny… and ironic, I mean, she killed Trixie the same way she killed Sombra, by shouting! I mean, I usually annoy people and wake people up when I start shouting but I suppose Sunset’s shouting is much more annoying” the last of the warriors said taking off her black and read coal, that alongside the very clingy leather suit made everyone admit that if it weren’t because her usual antics she would have no problems getting a date.

“Will the peanut gallery finally quiet down? I’m still in the middle of something” Sunset turned around to look at them before sending a kick to the fallen red dragon, this one was trying to get a cheap shot but instead was send back down to the ground with several teeth missing this time “okay, look buddy, I didn’t even present myself, I am Sunset Shimmer, the Dovahkiin, but since you are probably stupid enough to not know what that means, is very simple, I hunt dragons, you are a dragon, guess what happens next” she said unsheathing a knife that seemed to pulse with a purple energy on it.

“Wait, wait! I learned my lesson, okay? You win!”

“Oh, really? What if I say I still don’t think of this as victory? What would you offer me then?” she said making him get to his knees”

“Anything! I just want you… to die!” Garble said expelling his flame right in the face of Sunset but next thing he knew he was back on his back with star on his eyes.

“Guess we should have told him that Sunset is like, completely immune to fire by now” the rainbow haired warrior said to the rest of the girls making them grumble in acknowledgement.

“You just don’t get it, there is only one thing I want, your soul!” she said before plunging her knife right into the chest of Garble and this one didn’t felt pain… it would never feel pain again. Meanwhile, a dark energy seemed to have left garble and resided now in one of Sunset’s pockets “well, seems like Equestria’s dragons don’t have souls like those back home” she said checking her new filled black soul gem.

“Is everything okay Dragonlord Ember?”

“Please, do not call me by that title Twilight, I do not feel worthy of it, your friend won it by combat, she should be the one leading the other dragons right now… although I’m curious, how was she capable of using an artifact that can only react to dragons?”

“Sunset is a woman with many abilities, but I think she should tell you herself, how’s everything out there?” Twilight said turning to the doors of the throne room where a tired Sunset walked in their directions.

“They are fine, seems both the pony and human versions are taking some time to get to know each other… you don’t seem so well Ember, although considering what just happened is understandable” the warrior said sitting down in one of the thrones, her two legged form seemed perfect for them.

“That’s right, this is not the first time I have seen death, my own father had to beat other dragons that wanted his title of Dragonlord but this was beyond any experience I could have had before”

“I know what you mean, I was part of a war not too long ago and it never gets easy” Sunset wanted to put her hand on the shoulders of the small dragon but knew that she shouldn’t invade her personal space.

“Thank you for your words, it seems that Spike was right about all this deal about friendship”

“Don’t I know it? I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for those six crazy gals out there, they helped me become who I am right now” Sunset said with a smile on her face.

“That has to be quite the story, something about a parallel universe? How does that one go?” If there was one thing Ember was, was a sucker for a good story, she horded those as much as good jewels and gold.

“It has to do with the continent of Tamriel and the country in which everything started, a country that was in the midst of civil war, Skyrim”

The Gourmet World 01

Author's Note

A new door always open and we never know where it will guide us, why don't we go ahead with the next one?

Ah, I remember this one, I hope you are not hungry because we are about to enter the Toriko world, the Gourmet Era is upon us now!

The Gourmet World 01

The Gourmet World 01

Imagine a green meadow where creatures are capable of running without any fear of predators, imagine boars in that meadow who were born without hair and whose meat was so tender that it could melt on your mouth; The Butter Boar!

Imagine a natural spring whose filtering and rocks gave it a carbonated treatment, where fruit trees growing around the different pools full of rich and colorful harvest, and each and every fruit fell upon the springs, where the flavor and juice of the fruit mixed with the carbonated springs creating a new type of beverage; The Soda Springs!

This is that kind of world, where your imagination was being left behind due to the reality of ingredients that every day people found at every corner of the world. Now, humanity has stopped knowing hunger and it has reached a new age, where amazing ingredients could be found in every plate and the greatest richest of the world was found out in kitchens and markets, this is that kind of era, The Gourmet Era!

But some ingredients, especially the best ones are dangerous to collect, be it from plants or animal, most of these ingredients were found in places hard to reach or defended by dangerous creatures, or the ingredients themselves were dangerous creatures; for this reason, the Equestrian Gourmet Federation had people specialized in hunting down these ingredients, the Gourmet Hunters.

Usually hired by companies or wealthy individuals, these hunters had the not very enviable job of going places where no other human beings could go and collect these exquisite ingredients sometimes costing them their lives, but among them there are several high ranked Gourmet Hunters, those that have enough power and experience to be called by even the EGF, just like in this case.

With the blue sky over her head and a nice bottle of carbonated cider from Sweet Apple Acres on one hand Sunset felt herself relax in the company of so much peace, it was a nice feeling, especially these last few days with everyone in markets talking about a huge celebration from part of the EGF with the birth of the EGF North President’s daughter, Flurry Heart.

Now everyone was speculating about what kind of dishes will be served, who would be the cooks, what would be the ingredients, and most importantly, from whom will they buy them or who will hunt those ingredients down; according to Pinkie Pie the speculation was so exciting that her sister Maud Pie was even more excited than her, which probably meant that Maud’s head was slightly more tilted to the right and her eyes slightly widened than usual.

With all that information back on civilization Sunset simply decided to take some time for her and simply enjoy peace and quiet for a chance, which was as rare and valuable than Draconequus tail these days. Sighing, Sunset closed her eyes tired at seeing the roof of the dome that was painted as the sky, it was bad for her to get into her little daydreaming habit and imagine as if she was out of this supposedly impenetrable prison, but that was life and her choices had brought her right into the jail door, nothing to do but to go along with it.

But just as she thought that she heard a very peculiar sound, the multiple locks and security measures behind the gigantic cell vault door that separated her from the rest of the world, this day seemed better by the second now. So there were people that wanted to visit her and Sunset quickly arrived to two different hypotheses, someone was visiting her for a job or someone was trying to ASSASSINATE her, either way it would be fun.

Instead of the practice she would have gained from the second hypothesis someone very familiar to Sunset entered the huge jail cell wearing the standard uniform of the EGF Elite Corps, her white hair looking as if it were made of feathers and the usual glare brought some bizarre comfort to Sunset.

“Hey Gilda! What brought you to my humble abode?” Sunset said with her usual smirk back in place at seeing her favorite member of the EGF; in turn, the tall girl smirked back looking as menacing as ever.

“Hey Suns, you got yourself a dweeb directly from headquarters here to see you” Once upon a time Sunset would have told that someone to get lost… with much more cursing of course, but these days any kind of change on her routine was welcome.

Who came behind Gilda took her by surprise; after all, meeting the version that lived in your current home world from your best friend was something that left you blinking several times at least.

“Miss Sunset Shimmer, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m here as the representative of the EGF to offer you a job, due to your ample list of achievements… alongside crimes, you have been chosen as the perfect Gourmet Hunter to get the items in the list I brought with me” the no-nonsense voice, the violet and magenta hair, the same lithe and probably with less than zero muscle in her frame, this was without a doubt Twilight Sparkle, or at least the human one.

“Well, seems like business like usual, see you later Gilda, want me to bring you anything?” Sunset said to the Prison Warden.

“If you find anything that can be turned into liquor you can wrap it up as present” she said letting Sunset out of her custom made cell.

“So where are we going Miss Sparkle?” the redhead said changing her prison uniform for the comfort of her hunting attire, the usual light blue blouse and jacket combination that she had used for years since she met Rarity and the rest.

“We need to go to the Everfree Swamp in search of a series of items that will be served at the EGF celebration on Flurry Heart's birth; it has been organized by President Celestia”

“Of course she did, and let me guess, she was the one that ‘suggested’ I would be a good candidate to search for those items?” This Twilight was as easy to read as the pony Twilight since her face showed surprise and shock of Sunset realizing what was happening.

“W-well, yes, President Celestia had you in mind for this mission, alongside someone else” Twilight said before going out of the Special Gourmet Prison 07, and there, in front of both stood the last member of the expedition, a woman with soft pink hair that fell over her shoulder and a beautiful smile that seemed to make that early summer morning even better for Sunset.

“Hello Flutters” Sunset was capable of saying before the young woman was hug tackled by the aforementioned Fluttershy.

The very eclectic trio saw through the windows of the helicopter loaned to them by the EGF, each of them excited in a way about this travel.

“So, let me see if I undertood this, they want a full Cragadile for the banquet? They are not exactly big enough to give enough meat to the whole list of guests Celestia usually has at a party” Sunset said watching the list of ingredients she was required to gather this time, it wasn’t that ludicrous, in fact, some seemed rather normal for the place they would go to, but really? A single Cragadile?

“Oh no, this is not a normal Cragadile” the happy looking girl at Sunset’s side said.

“What do you mean by that Fluttershy?”

“Well, Cragadiles are a very long lived species, is just that between fights among members of the same species or falling prey to other animals they usually don’t live longer than 50 years, but this one it seems to have lived for over 400, so you can imagine the size and quality of the meat under all those rocks” Fluttershy seemed even more excited about the idea of hunting down the Cragadile, or maybe she was just happy about going in an excursion with Sunset once again.

“Whoa there Flutters, if you start vibrating harder in your seat you will be a carbon copy of Pinkie Pie”

“I’m sorry, is just that this is so… nice… we are finally going together in search of ingredients again, this is so exciting that I could scream” and by scream she meant something beyond a whisper, that one was something that Sunset have seen enough times.

“So I understand why you came with me, what I don’t is why SHE came with us” she said pointing to a shaking Twilight fully dressed as if she was going to a Safari, she even had that stupid looking pit helmet on her.

“P-p-president Celestia said that… that I should accompany you in this travel” She said clenching the armrests at her sides due to how nervous she was.

“Wait, she what? Celestia just told you to go into a dangerous zone just like that? I mean, sure, Flutters isn’t a fighter, she is a chef and she lets me handle the dangerous part of the job, but really? Just like that? What do you do in EGF?”

“I’m a researcher, but President Celestia said that if I wanted to get ahead on my studies I needed field experience and… well, she practically threw me into the helicopter” she said with an embarrassed smile while Fluttershy lightly giggled and Sunset rolled her eyes, President Celestia was as bad as her Princess counterpart in meddling in other’s businesses.

“We are right on top of the Swamp, I don’t think I can give you a perfect landing zone but this looks relatively safe for you all” the voice from the pilot interrupted the talk as the three expedition members got everything ready on their part.

“Thanks for the ride Firefly, hope we get to see you soon” Sunset said to her usual pilot while this one gave her a thumbs up.

“Sure we will, have some fun down there and good hunting girls” she said before the three hunters took turns going down the long ladder that had been dispatched from the side of the helicopter.

The hunt of the 400 years old Cragadile was afoot.

The Gourmet World 02

The Gourmet World 02

To call the office big would be an understatement; it was after all the most important office in the modern world, even higher than any country or faction in what was known of the human world, this was the office of President Celestia of the Equestria Gourmet Federation so in a world that focused entirely in food and how to obtain said food you can bet anything you have that this woman seating down behind a dark oak table was important.

Right now she was overseeing several papers that one of her most promising researchers had brought her, something about a permission to study specimens like Rocket Iguana and TNTangerine, all of them forbidden from entering the market and constantly being monitored due to the hallucinogenic and extreme addictive properties of both ingredients.

Looking at the obviously nervous Twilight Sparkle in front of her, Celestia had a bad feeling concerning the young researcher, not because she thought she could misuse the findings or take advantage of getting close to the ingredients to get high as a kite, but because she was still too naïve and too fresh to jump right into the dangerous part of the Gourmet Era they lived through.

Twilight Sparkle was brilliant; there was no denying it, after all she was the one that discovered the medical uses for the Red Wave Algae, she had a bright future in the EGF but there were things she still missed. Experience was the obvious one, she had spent her whole career inside a laboratory and compared to most researchers she still had very little time working, but in opinion of Celestia, what she truly was missing was the most important part of the EGF ethic: love and respect for the food.

Celestia herself knew exactly how out of touch some of the researchers down at the labs were, more worried about ‘how’ they could do something instead of ‘why’ should they do it, it was a dangerous mindset that she had tried to stomp with various degrees of success and she wanted to make Twilight learn before it became a problem.

Looking at her side, inside her cupboard she saw a bottle she hold dear to her heart, a black glass bottle with a moon imprint, that was the first ingredient her sister had discovered and quickly found a way to artificially grow the flower, since then it had become kind of like the product everyone in the world remembered Luna Dijon these days. The bottle had been a gift, the very first deluxe edition of the Moon Flower Brandy.

Thinking about ingredients made Celestia find a possible solution; if what Twilight needed were experience and understanding about ingredients and what it meant to other people, then she needed to go where the ingredients were… and there was only one person she could trust to give that lesson to Twilight, and fortunately she had all the right to call for her help, well, more like Sunset was forced to go along with Celestia’s decisions.

“I see that you plan on moving to bigger ingredients, I suppose your research is going well Twilight”

“Yes President Celestia, so, do you think it will be possible for me to start investigating the ingredient list I gave you?” Twilight said; she was basically shaking on place due to how nervous she felt.

“I suppose I could give you access to the ingredient you ask” Twilight’s smile appeared “but first I have something in mind for you, EGF’s celebration for Flurry Heart’s birth is being prepared and they do need some ingredients for the Crystalling, and I believe you are perfect for that” and the smile was gone in an instant.

“Wait, what? But Miss President, I am a scientist, I don’t do field research! Or hunt for ingredients!”

“Oh, I know that, that’s why I have the perfect team to accompany you, well, it is more like a couple right now, I am giving the order to accompany you to Sunset Shimmer” at hearing that name Twilight’s neck hair stood up in fear; she, like the rest of the Human World, knew exactly who Celestia was talking about, one of the greatest Gourmet Hunters in the known world but also one of the most dangerous.
Sunset Shimmer right now was in a specially made prison called Gourmet Prison 7, constantly monitored and with the highest security of all known prisons in the Human World, why was she being paired with that kind of monster?

“But… but… she is…”

“I know, Sunset Shimmer was found guilty of the ASSASSINATION of every member of the criminal organization Honey Trap, but you won’t be going alone Twilight, I also know someone that will keep Sunset under control all the time” Celestia said knowing how well behaved Sunset was when she worked with Fluttershy.

Thinking about it now Twilight got the impression that she was better off not asking about any kind of permission, her job until now had been slightly boring but it was the safest place for her, just herself and the machines, now looking at the trees hiding ridiculously dangerous animals and things that would poison her and eat her in one bite Twilight wanted to go back running into her bed and hug Smarty Pants until everything was fine.

She then screamed when a bizarre form jumped out at her from one bush, closing her eyes she waited for death but nothing happened, tentatively she opened her eyes to watch Sunset Shimmer stepping on the new obviously dead human sized frog.

“Check it out, a Feast Frog, I thought this guys didn’t even attack things that were their size” She said holding the beast with one hand as if it were made of foam; the frog itself was a deep red with green splotches everywhere, it’s mouth full of serrated teeth that made Twilight gulp; in her opinion that had been too close.

“That is so nice” Fluttershy then said checking the catch and checking for anything weird “oh poor one, this one was so hungry, no wonder it attacked Twilight”

“What do you mean by that? This thing is huge!”

“Well, their teeth are in fact not very strong, they break easily and they usually use them to munch on the big insects that grow in this swamp” Fluttershy said thinking about what she knew about the creature.

“But that’s the thing, they tend to live in the center of the swamp, this one here was way away from home” Sunset said feeling as if their job had suddenly become harder just by meeting this low level animal.

“So what you are telling me is that this frog was in no way dangerous?”

“Not at all, it was probably due to hunger that it decided to risk it all for food, but is not bad, the meat of this species is excellent, it may not be as rare as other meats but it can be used for many different recipes” Fluttershy said thinking on ways that she could prepare such a catch.

“I suppose that is something that a chef like you would think about Miss Fluttershy”

“I’m surprised you know about her Twilight, you seem a little…” Sunset tried to say while continuing walking, the Feast Frog on her shoulder as the catch of the day, the other two women quickly following her, knowing well that the presence of Sunset deterred most monsters and those that would like to attack would find a very quick death.

“I look too much like an egghead? Is okay, I know I’m not very fashionable… either way, how could I not know of Miss Fluttershy? She is the head chef of my family’s favorite restaurant ‘Paradise Hall’”

“Velvet and Night Light are loyal patrons and I was capable of seeing when Shining Armor asked Cadence to marry him” Fluttershy said remembering that dinner date at her restaurant. Soon both Fluttershy and Twilight spend their time talking among them while Sunset tracked down the monster they came to hunt.

Soon the thick mass of foliage started to change and the road became bigger, tracks of huge beasts were found around but there was something that picked Sunset’s curiosity; all the tracks that they had found were moving away from the center of the swamp, as if a mass exodus of creatures had occurred overnight. Whatever type of monster made all this happen it meant that it had become the top predator.

After a couple of hours and a few beast being encountered, including a Mushroom Tapir and several Red Water Snakes that left Twilight hanging for dear life on a tree branch, they soon reached a clearing on the swamp with what seemed an hidden lake. Both the researcher and the chef were astonished at what was present in the river, half of its body lying on the ground while the rest was still in the lake.

“That’s a Deep River Lobster! That is a high level capture ingredient!” Fluttershy, the one who had recognized the dead lobster, was surprised at the size of the chuck missing from the lobster’s side; its powerful shell was so hard that even Gourmet Hunters had difficulties piercing.

“I think we found where the Cragadile has ben living! Be careful, we don’t know if it is still close!”

“That bite seems recent; I think we just interrupted its meal” Twilight said before a long shadow appeared on the lake, the next second a torrent of water was splashed everywhere as a gargantuan mass of rock and meat, for a second, the three humans were left in darkness under the shadow of that monster as the size seemed to hide the sun.

The creature hit the ground shaking the whole place. Twilight, being the least experienced member on the expedition fell backwards, Fluttershy quickly going to her side to help her get back and away from the huge Cragadile, they both needed to get to a safe distance, she knew how much Sunset worried when the pink haired chef was in the line of fire whenever they found out a dangerous creature.

For her part Sunset hadn’t moved, she had simply watched the way the Cragadile had moved, the way the rock-like scales seemed to warp around to make the huge alligator be able to move at a speed you did not expect from a creature that size.

“So you are the reason why we saw all those creatures and birds leave the center of the swamp, you are quite the big guy” she said before having to dodge a lunge from the Cragadile, the huge jaws of the animal seemed to graze Sunset as this one dodged right into the tail of the Cragadile sending her flying. Sunset rolled and got back into her feet looking uninjured after the attack ‘this thing is not only strong but fast, but still doesn’t explain how it was capable of catching a Deep River Lobster, or why its body was on solid ground, Cragadiles take their prey into the water and eat them there.

That’s when Sunset put attention to the place where the lobster was left and the different holes around the corpse, but by then it was too late, from under Sunset something had sprung and took hold of her limbs, at the end of each vine there was a big mouth-like protuberance like a Venus Fly Trap.

“I see, that’s how you got the lobster and the rest of your meals, you use White Evervines for your hunt, carrion plants that eat the remains of your food, you two have become partners after so many decades that even now, without even having a real brain, they just attack everything around you for food” for all answer the Cragadile seemed ready to lunge once again while Twilight was close to bite her nails off.

“She is going to get killed!”

“No, she isn’t, she now knows the limits of her enemy, is the Cragadile that is in trouble” Fluttershy said knowing well the outcome that the fight would have; the Cragadile for its part had no idea of what was happening, it is said after all, that animals have a kind of sixth sense that let them know when danger is close; the Cragadile, after 400 years had become an incredible creature but since it had become the top predator in the swamp had forgotten all about dangers, its ignorance at sensing danger was the one thing that didn’t make him turn around and run away.

“So, great Cragadile, after all this time, your meat under all those rocks must be amazing, so now, let me show you my gratitude to the meal you will bring us” Sunset said before giving a terrible grin to the creature and at that moment, Twilight realized that the true predator in all the swamp was none other than Sunset as the aura around her seemed to harden, creating a figure made of pure fire, as if suddenly a demon had materialized in the world “let me show you my own weapons, Flame Spores!” she said before the veins appeared to have been cut by an invisible force but looking closely one could see small particles flying around Sunset.

The Cragadile suddenly jumped in the air with the intention of eating Sunset, but this one never stopped grinning; she raised an arm and all the red particles began to spin at high speed around it “take this, Flame Execution!” Sunset screamed bringing down her arm as a flame-like sword appeared and was thrown into the Cragadile; the impact was so powerful that send the beast spinning through the air before colliding behind Sunset due to the momentum “thank you for the food” Sunset simply said placing her hands together.

Night had fallen quickly on the swamp but the three girls were as comfortable as if they were in a restaurant back in Canterlot City, the swamp itself had also lost the sense of danger and apprehension, it was clear that without the Cragadile the ecosystem of the swamp would be able to recover and grow into the same fountain of good ingredient it had been before. Right now both Sunset and Twilight were relaxing and waiting for the moment Chef Fluttershy would put the finishing touches on their dinner.

“Are you all sure that we can eat part of the Cragadile? I mean, the meat is supposed to be used in the EGF party”

“Twilight, is okay, this thing is huge enough that everybody will be able to eat, besides, you are telling me you want to miss on Fluttershy’s cooking?” Sunset said obviously enjoying the night sky; finally she was capable of watching the stars.

“Well, when you put it like that, how could I say no to a 6 star chef’s cooking?” Twilight said being infected by the redhead’s good humor and also relaxed against a tree turn while they watched Fluttershy work and passed the time with small talk. A couple of minutes later and it seemed that everything was ready.

“I hope everything is okay, this is the first time that I work with some of these ingredients” she said but both Twilight and Sunset weren’t sure if what Fluttershy had said was just modesty, it just looked so amazing “first we have a creamy Deep River Lobster tail; I used the insides of the White Evervines and mashed them, that way they had a flavor similar to cream cheese” she said pointing to a plate where the lobster’s meat was put on top of a white thick cream “also, I used the Feast Frog and made a stew with some of the mushrooms that we got form the Mushroom Tapir” this time there was a big bowl with a thick broth of meat and big mushrooms inside it, the smell alone could turn people crazy with the meat cooked just to the point of being soft to the mouth and the mushrooms adding enough flavor to make it mouthwatering “and finally, here we have the Cragadile Steak; I took one of the stones from the Cragadile and after heating it, the stone was perfect as a natural stove to cook it”

The meat that was presented to them was something spectacular. The meat juices filled the plate and almost sparkled with the light coming from the fire they had made, there was a thin line of marbled fat that seemed to accentuate the color; it was as if the meat and its juice were mirroring the light from the fire.

“Wow, all these dishes look incredible!” Twilight said before taking a sip of the Feast Frog stew, immediately she felt a rush of flavors all around her body, the flavor of the soup itself after being boiled with the meat was amazing but the meat alongside the mushrooms were tasty and smooth to her mouth, this was something that Fluttershy had made in the middle of a camp site? The lobster was rich too, the cream heating her up inside while being light enough that she wanted to taste more, and the Cragadile Steak… it was basically melting on her mouth, it was strong but almost buttery and soft, never before had Twilight been as satisfied with a meal as that moment.

“You truly went all out this time Flutters!” Sunset all but screamed after the meal just as she took Fluttershy by the waist and put the usually shy chef on her lap much to the delight of the girl who immediately hugged Sunset.

“You two seem to… have a good relationship” the researched said watching the interaction between both the Gourmet Hunter and the chef.

“Well, I do hope so, after all we are married” Fluttershy’s answer was more than enough to surprise Twilight and leave her wordless.

“Believe me, it is quite the tale” Looking at both spouses made Twilight recover from the surprise and smile back at them, after the excitement of the hunt and the more than good meal she had all but forgotten the real reason why she accepted coming to this adventure, in fact, she couldn’t even remember why she wanted to start researching those dangerous ingredients.

“You know what… I would love to hear the story” Twilight said before both Sunset and Fluttershy began the story, each one interjecting on it with their own tidbits much to Twilight’s delight.

President Celestia.

I haven’t done one of these reports in such a long time now but I think this is the perfect opportunity for something like this.
We have concluded the hunt of the Cragadile and I hope everything goes well in the celebration of my niece; the three of us are alright and have returned to Canterlot City. I guess the only bad thing that came from this travel was to see Sunset returning to her jail cell and being separated from Fluttershy once again.

In regards to my petition to be allowed to research dangerous narcotic ingredients I find myself in the embarrassing situation of asking you to forget it and in its place, would it be too much of a stretch to ask for a small favor? If there is any ingredient that the EGF is looking for I believe it could be quite useful to maintain the current team which I’m part of, the results that were brought in seem quite good but we will need to do more field research to find out if the same kind of results could be found.

P.S. With the letter you will find a bottle of Red Water Snake Liquor, who would have thought that a snake’s blood could be made into a very good alcoholic beverage?

P.S.S. There was enough for 5 bottles but one is with me to study, another with Chef Fluttershy as a cooking aid, another one in Sunset’s cell and the other one was a gift to the Prison Ward Gilda; hope you and Vice-President Luna enjoy it.

Both Celestia and Luna read the letter once more while they raised their glasses filled with red liquor as a toast; it seemed that the future of the Gourmet Age was brighter than ever, a new team had been created and adventures awaited them.

Author's Note

Were you guys capable of finding the hint about the next world?

Also, I find myself in the need of editors for these stories, with me thinking about new worlds and following different ideas forces me to write faster than usual so I do need a lot of help to find all the mistakes and errors that I do.

The Creed of the Knife 01

The Creed of the Knife 01

I could feel the wind on my face, a chilling breeze that invigorated me as I jumped from rooftop to rooftop and for the first time in days I truly felt at home in the city build at the side of a mountain; a city that I had left behind so long ago it seemed, a city with its secrets, its darkness, its lives that had been pushed aside by the corruption and pettiness of the so called nobles. Not even once since I studied here I could stand their sights, and it didn’t help that Celestia wanted me to make friends with them, well, guess who got the last laugh?

I did not move through the streets, my real road was found in here; in the rooftops that nopony ever put attention to, a place where I was invisible and could do whatever I wanted.

If only others could see what I see now, the sun peeking through the mountains as the light moved through the land like a blanket, embracing everypony equally; it had took me so long to realize that, but it was too late, I wasn’t a denizen of the light as all the ponies celebrating already on the streets, I couldn’t take that risk because I could see them, dark specs hidden in the mountain ready to fall upon the streets and prey upon every pony… if I had to be shadow that would prevent that disaster so be it.

Jumping upon a tower of Canterlot Castle I quickly landed inside it, the vibrant red carpet in the hall muting my landing while I used the wall as platform to reach a chandelier. I had to remain immobile as a pair of guards did their rounds upon the hall, neither of them looking up.

I know I shouldn’t laugh at their total ineptitude so the only thing I did was smirk and continue my way. Right now neither Celestia nor I knew the exact amount of bugs that had infiltrated the city so I had to be extremely careful of not letting myself be seen by anyone and by the look of the security leading to the wedding hall nothing had changed upon Canterlot Castle.

For a moment I missed my own Canterlot, the city where I had turned into what I am today, the city that had shaped me and prepared me for a life Celestia never thought possible. Getting lost in remembrance was too dangerous; I had to remain focused while I moved through corridors in preparation for what I had to do.

Quickly finding another window I jumped through it and took hold of the window still before shimming to another hoof hold and beginning my ascension to the tallest part of this tower, it could be quite the look for somepony in the streets or a pegasus flying to find a unicorn dressed from hoof to haunches in white.

Finally the tallest window was on my reach and I quickly jumped inside with one final goal, reach the wedding hall in time. For what I had seen Twilight and Cadence would get free and reach the hall in a couple of minutes so I had to get ready for the climax of this beautiful wedding.

This time I did laugh quietly, after all, I was getting myself ready to crash Cadence’s wedding, or at least a doppelganger, scratch one thing from my bucket list.

So moving stealthily across the attic I had reached through the window I began to get closer to the insides of the hall where Celestia was already officiating the wedding; I’ve gotta say, the hall looked perfect with flowers everywhere, sadly the dress was being wasted in such a bug, but lo and behold, just as I had reached the perfect watching spot among the rafters the doors of the hall were opened and there came the guests of honor.

I’ll be completely honest, crying did not belong in Cadence’s face and I had to contain myself watching that creature be a complete drama queen, and I DO know drama queens; but the look in the bug’s face was priceless when Cadence got into the hall, I swear, this was better than Rainbow’s soap operas… and yes, Rainbow watched soap operas, she blamed Rarity for getting her addicted but now it was quite the bonding experience between them.

I could hear the buzzing starting, I could sense the hundreds of soldiers gathering the skies of Canterlot at the other side of the shield, an army made of nightmares that would crush this city without even blinking and I knew in that moment that I couldn’t fail; I swore to myself that while the fake Cadence began to change, becoming something truly alien and any doubts I had for what I was about to do disappeared watching the giant bug laugh and taunt those present.

Apparently Celestia was ready to get into action, what a miracle, and she got ready to throw spells everywhere to get rid of the bug, I would have suggested a giant fly swat but then she smartly decided on a good ol’ war-o-beam with predictable results, Celestia flying through the air and crashing upon the marble flooring.

The bug laughed, she laughed loud and hard, I swear I could feel my muscles tensing just hearing that annoying sound, as if she had already won just by sending Celestia to the floor, but I knew this was practically scripted, Celestia had put her pride on the line for the perfect moment, always the chess master.

I barely had to move to get into position, after all, I only had one chance to make this work, this was what I had come here, this one chance, this one second where everything stopped and the adrenaline began, where the world became a slow motion film and I finally let go of the ground, the moment where my hooves left the rafters and my body sailed through the air as I extended my hooves to the side, the leap of faith they called it, it had never been so fitting.

You know, I wonder what went through the mind of those that had seen someone or somepony like me and knew that it was the last second of their lives; did they cursed? Did they ask forgiveness to whatever deity they had or maybe it was only fear? I hope it is the last, because I wanted this bug’s last second to be filled with terror so that the image she would have in Tartarus as she was tortured for all eternity was of me falling through the air with clothes of white as my blade impaled her on the head.

I’ll never know.

Truly Outrageous 01

Truly Outrageous 01

“Does this situation look familiar to anybody?” the voice of Rainbow Dash took Sunset’s attention away from the tuning of her guitar, right now she had been seating on her favorite spot, the one she had been using for years now in Canterlot High, the place where she used to sit down to listen to the Rainbooms before she became an official member.

“What, you mean Rarity being late for band practice, in which case Applejack would say that she was preparing to make a grand entrance and then Rarity would exactly that?” the words were fired quickly by Sunset going back to the tuning not paying attention to Rainbow’s frown “nope, is in no way familiar, it has never happened before” she finally zinged Rainbow much to the pleasure of the other members of the group, even getting a high five form Pinkie at the joke.

“Well, I don’t know about Miss Smartass over here, but I do believe this is old by now, I mean, aren’t we graduating soon?” Applejack’s southern twang was now so ingrained in the brains of the Rainbooms that they would miss to hear it daily, although considering that the six of them had been accepted by Canterlot University they would still continue seeing each other, just not that regularly.

“Maybe she wanted to do it for old time sake; I mean, I did set off a couple of party cannons this week, professor Cranky started crying, maybe he will miss me more than I thought” all the others simply shook their heads at Pinkie’s antics, and at that precise moment Rarity appeared through the doors, thankfully this time without a grand piano, just her with her white laptop.

“Sorry everyone, I do know how late I was but I bring great and exciting news!” She said looking extremely happy for some reason and that usually meant more shenanigans.

“So, what do you have there Rares?” Applejack asked getting closer to the screen, it was simply showing a sound file, probably an old recording of them? The blonde bassist had no idea.

“Well, do you recall that small reunion we had a couple of weeks ago?”

“You mean the one that we had at Fluttershy’s uncle cottage?” the rainbow haired guitarist asked remembering how fun that afternoon was and all the games they played.

“That one precisely; does all of you also remember when we played truth or dare that same night?”

“The one where you were finally capable of getting Applejack in a fancy dress and the whole nine yards? Sure” Sunset answered her remembering that crazy night of dares and embarrassing information being given.

“Please, don’t ever talk about that thing, I think it took me 3 make up remover bottles just to get all that gunk outta my face” Applejack said remembering that humiliation, specially the embarrassing moment when her family saw her and the way they reacted, thankfully her mom had enough makeup remover and helped her get rid of it… taking enough photos of her to fill an album “Rares, if you tell me that you uploaded those photos I will…”

“Do not fear my dear, I did no such thing, no matter that it could open the doors to modeling for you and how much of an impact you would create on a runway this is something related to a dare specifically thrown at Sunset” she said pointing a dainty finger to the jacket wearing girl.

“Me? Wait, is this about that song I had to sing?” the bacon haired pony/human girl asked remembering the dare from Rainbow “I still cannot believe she dared me to sing a pop song” she said, although the experience hadn’t been humiliating or traumatizing, in fact, it had been kind of fun.

“Never thought you could go that high with your voice” Rainbow said remembering that fun moment.

“One of the things that have been found is that there is no such thing as a deaf tone pony, besides, I have always been a prodigy in everything I try”

“Leave the bragging to Rainbow Dash” Applejack said while Rainbow nodded to her words.

“That’s right… hey!” Rainbow finally caught on, recognizing the zing at her while the two had a mock fight.

“Leaving those hooligans aside I was about to say that the song you sang that night, all courtesy of our dear Fluttershy here, have to admit, those are gorgeous lyrics” the words were enough to make the less shy member but still easily flustered girl blush pretty at the words “and I was, shall we say, intrigued by your vocal capabilities Sunset, so I went to a mutual friend and started working on the song, after all that was just a capella version”

“Wait, you went to Vinyl?”

“How did you know it was her?”

“Pretty damn simply, who else in here would be capable of mixing a tune for the song?”

“Touché Sunset, but anyway, I digress; so I went to Vinyl and we started working on a ‘tune’ as you said and we created something pretty nice if I say so myself”

“So you are here to tell us the result of what you did which will either be a great song or it will be too much of dubstep and only select few fans of electronic will like it as if it were a cover song or a remix from a cartoon series?” even Applejack and Rainbow Dash stopped to look at the hyperactive girl.

“Pinkie, what have been telling you about going into 4-chan?”

“To never do it because it would destroy any semblance of rationality and will corrupt and deteriorate my brain”

“Well, before I was interrupted in such a rude fashion, yes, I am here to show you the fruits of our work… just, not in the way you think” Rarity said trying not to look directly at Sunset.

“Rares, what did you do?” Sunset knew what it meant when Rarity didn’t want to look at her, she have done something by impulse.

“Well, I might have been overly excited about Vinyl’s work and I… may have uploaded the track to MyStable” she said as she started playing with the ends of her hair.

“It doesn’t sound so bad, so what did they say?” Sunset asked Rarity with most of the nerves that had assaulted her vanishing.

“The response was very positive, I mean, there were tons of comments about the track, there was just one little thing; it seems that one of my followers put the song on… uhm… YouTube, of course giving all credits to me and Vinyl”

“And?” the five other teenagers were practically hanging on Rarity’s words and what it meant.

“Well, that happened yesterday… the song has gone viral since then” Rarity said not knowing if to show embarrassment or a huge grin.

“HOW viral?” Sunset was an expert by this point of things going viral on social media after the life she had led.

“It… hit 5 million views two hours ago” the fashionista finally let out making every single member of the band start hyperventilating, get surprised and many other variants of those reactions.

“Wait, you mean the song has reached 5 million views? What the hell did you do?” Sunset was so surprised that she couldn’t even scream; on the other hand Rainbow was practically jumping up and down at that piece of news.

“Who the hell cares, I mean, is 5 million, this is so awesome!”

“Rainbow, do you really want people to connect you with a pop song?” Applejack’s reality check was enough for Rainbow Dash dread that information.

“Oh crap, now we are pop sensations… THIS IS HORRIBLE!”

“What a Drama Queen… why are you all looking me like that? But anyway, do not be afraid my dear, I know how much you detest pop so I didn’t put the name of the Rainbooms on it and since I know Sunset enjoys her little piece of anonymity I didn’t put her as the singer on the credits either”

“Wait, what? Then who the hell did you put as the singer? Yourself?” This had been quite the roller coaster in emotions for Rainbow.

“I do have an ego Rainbow Dash, but it would never reach yours, I put a pseudonym, sadly the one I wanted was already taken so I had to change a letter but I have to admit it is so fitting for a reason; now, ladies, I present you, Jem!” Rarity said hitting play and the synth-pop song reverberated through the room, the six girls smiling without realizing they were doing it while enjoying the highly catchy tune and the harmonious voice of Sunset… well, Jem according to the internet.

“Well, call me a biscuit and put butter on me, you two did magic on that, no wonder it reached those numbers” Applejack said looking at the huge number of votes up and comments saying how much they enjoyed the song, asking who was Jem and if she was going to release more singles or even a CD.

“That was such a cool song! I mean, it made me happy and I’m usually happy but it put me in a happier mood which Limestone says is impossible but if it got me even happier imagine what it did to people that were not happy I mean it probably made sad people into happy people!”

“So everybody is now asking about Jem? So what are we gonna do? I mean, there is no Jem” Fluttershy said still extremely happy that her lyrics had reached such a huge number of views. For her part, Sunset Shimmer simply couldn’t believe it, the recording was only something that she had done due to a dare, but now Rarity was telling them that it had become a sensation in a single day? But then a spark lead to an idea, an idea to a plan and Sunset knew what to do.

“What if… what if Jem came to life? What if Jem was real? I mean, what if she could appear and sing more songs?”

“Sunset, what do you mean?” Rarity said now turning off her laptop now that she had shown them the video.

“Twilight and I… we've been working on something this last year, I mean, before she went to MIT” Sunset said still missing her science partner, but she knew she was having the time of her life surrounded by all that technology “I think I know how we can bring Jem to life!” She said starting to run out of the room, the rest of the Rainbooms following her.

Neither of them knew at the moment, but the birth of one of the most iconic and successful bands in the history of that Earth was about to get born, all thanks to a duo of intelligent girls and a game of truth or dare, it was the moment where Jem and the Holograms was born.

Author's Note

Why I did this?

Because I watched the hell out of that cartoon series and also because I wanted to rub it in Unviersal's face that even I, a simple denizen of the internet could do a better job than them with the world of Jem.

Truly Outrageous 02

Truly Outrageous 02

The houses passed by while the two cars drove on under a perfect afternoon sun with few clouds on top, although the perfect weather was practically wasted for six girls that were divided between a rather non-descriptive sedan owned by Igneous Rock right now being used by Pinkie Pie and a classic yellow Volkswagen beetle owned by Fluttershy, it was so well taken care off that it looked the same as the day it came out of the assembly line.

Five out of the six had many questions and they all had to do with their destination and why Sunset Shimmer was taking them to her apartment block; it had all started with the surprising news of Rarity going the whole nine yards with the dare record and now becoming a hit on internet, but how was Sunset going to bring Jem to life?

She had gone mute on them and refused to talk, although that was probably because she was busy thinking about it and making plans, after all, what she wanted to show her friends was technically an ongoing project and there were still many doubts in her mind.

It had started as a spark of inspiration, just a little something that had to do with the whole ‘Jem’ thing, she still didn’t know why she wanted to bring her to life, to make her real, and it was illogical. Was it because it meant fame? Not really, she answered quickly to herself; Sunset was done with the whole power and fame thing after the whole fall Formal debacle, so why?

Maybe because people found joy on the song and she wanted to bring more joy to them? Probably; it sounded like a plausible excuse but it still didn’t hit the nail on the head, there was still something fluttering inside her after hearing her own voice singing ‘Truly Outrageous’; mind you, she had to modify her voice a little and make it higher, just a little trick that she had picked along the way as Celestia’s student, now that same voice had brought a whole persona to become some kind of ‘Social Media Celebrity’, maybe Sunset thought that Jem deserved to exist because of that?

Whatever the reasons she could have all of them quickly reached her apartment block, and after parking the cars in the parking lot they all followed Sunset inside. None of them had spent much time at her place since they all became friends; usually they did their reunions at Applejack’s house in the country or Pinkie Pie’s house so this was definitely a special occasion, ‘Jem’ non-withstanding.

“So, how many people live in here too?” Applejack asked watching around the main hall noticing the new coat of painting in the wall and the rustic but nice looking furniture around it.

“Nobody, I own the building” Sunset said walking to the elevator and the rest of the girls were both surprised about the ample metal box and the whole ‘Sunset owns a whole building’

“Care to repeat that darling?” Rarity asked not believing her ears.

“It… was my idea; Princess Twilight has been giving me a stipend since I was reinstated as a Baroness; between that and me playing the market a little, well… I decided to buy the whole apartment block and renovate it, I was the only one living here after all” She said shrugging her shoulders still focusing on her plan for Jem.

“That is nice and good Sunset, but I think what we wanted to know is… why?” Rainbow was confused about why somebody would buy a whole building just like that.

“I… because there are already five apartments ready for each one of you when we start studying at Canterlot University later this year” Sunset answered deciding to tell them her plan.

“Wait... what?” Even Pinkie was confused about that.

“Look… Canterlot U’s campus is four blocks south of here and I thought that it would be a good idea to start this next step with a new perspective, I mean, this way we won’t have to worry about having to keep on living everywhere and I already talked with your parents and they all thought that it would be a nice life experience if we could all stay in the same building and we wouldn’t have to worry about expenses since there is a bank account taking care of that and now I’m just rambling!” Sunset said quickly closing her mouth while being worried about the reaction of her friends.

Whatever worries she had were destroyed when she felt five pair of arms encircling her in a warm group hug.

“Sunset, thank you so much for this, this is one of the greatest gifts that you have given us, hell, is so big that I’m ready to offer you a whole year of free fizzy cider just due to this” Applejack told her while the rest of Sunset’s friends nodded or smiled at her, all of them overjoyed with the idea of all of them living close to each other.

“You know what this calls for?” it was obvious who said that.

“Ah, shouldn’t we go back to why we were all here in the first place?… I mean, if you want to that is”

“Fluttershy is right, so, let’s go on with surprise number two” Sunset said when the elevator stopped at the basement floor “Synergy, access to the brain room please” Sunset said aloud making the rest of the girls look at each other in confusion before the elevator began to move again, this time instead of moving up or down it was rotating horizontally taking them by surprise.

“What in tarnation?” that and many other expressions were said aloud before the elevator stopped and the doors opened up, none of them knowing what to think about the strange secret room they were in, it seemed something taken out of The Matrix. It was a white circular room with a massive pillar of cables, circuits and crystal parts in the middle.

“Welcome everyone to the brain room or as I like to call it, ‘Synergy’s house’” Their host said extending her arms.

“I must say, it looks like something out of one of Rainbow Dash’s comic, but somehow has a nice atmosphere, quite beautiful on itself, this is marvelous”

“Thank you” a voice that none of them had ever heard before reverberated around the room making everyone look around finally finding the source of the voice at their side “I also like your hair” the small child said pointing at Rarity’s coiffure while they all stood there gaping at the kid.

She was wearing what seemed like purple and pink leotard that seemed taken right from the 80’s, she was also shoeless and had the most spectacular, long, flowing and gravity defying hair style that they had even seen before.

“Well… thank you, I also love your hair” Rarity could be in the greatest danger or in the weirdest situations but fashion and fabulosity always came first in her book “if you don’t mind me asking darling, who are you and what are you doing here?”

“My name is Synergy and this is my brain, well, not really, is complicated, Pops can explain it better than me” the small child said before starting to float around the room making Fluttershy almost faint in surprise.

“Yeah… she IS Synergy, or at least the form she likes to take; what you see before you is the most advanced AI ever created on both universes. Twilight and I have been working for a couple of years on her “

“Wow… just wow, I knew you and Twilight were hardcore eggheads, but an AI? Damn, am I happy that you two are on the good side because if you ever go mad scientist the world is doomed” the rainbow haired girl said following Synergy with her eyes while this one continued floating around as if playing.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence Rainbow… anyway, this project was possible by mixing both Equestrian crystal technology and silicon based human electronics which resulted in… a fully rational cognitive intelligence, for all purposes she is alive” Sunset said before Synergy’s avatar landed at her side grinning like crazy at the Rainbooms.

“So… have any other surprises that you want to spring on us Sunset? Maybe a shrinking ray that would make Sweet Apple Acres fit on the palm of my hand?”

“No, that is still in process”

“You realize that I was joking”

“So was I” Sunset answered with her bad girl smirk in position finally making everyone in the room laugh and release the tension they have been bottling up since they arrived at the apartment block “but yes, there are a couple of surprises and part of my master plan for Jem”

“Wait, you mean that Jem song in YouTube?”

“You know about that one Synergy?”

“Are you crazy Pops? I’ve been hearing it nonstop all day!” Synergy could still be an AI but sometimes it reminded Sunset of a preteen girl, sometimes she wondered if it was that hectic for the Princess when she was that age.

“Why does she call you Pops?” asked a now calm Fluttershy, besides, such a cute kid was in front of her and she wanted to hug her but she contained herself due to not knowing if it was a real body or just a hologram, it wouldn’t surprise her after watching so much advanced technology in the room.

“Apparently she considers me and Twilight her parents”

“Yep, she is Pops and Momma is all the way east on Bostrot but I can talk with her on Skype all the time, I’m not permitted to materialize on her lab”

“If you ever do that there’s going to be uproar on the world”

“Geez Pops, I get it, I like to be alive and complete, thank you very much”

“Let’s go back on track here, Synergy is not only an AI but she has many functions, some of them she has barely found about them, why don’t you show them your favorite?” Sunset said talking to her computer kid while this one grinned and suddenly, there were digital crystals appearing at one side of Sunset and a perfect replica of the sun haired girl appeared “hard light holograms thanks to laser technology and crystals directly from the Crystal Empire castle, I also believe there are traces of a powerful artifact’s signature energy called Crystal Heart on it… you can touch it, it is solid”

“Not only that but I am capable of remote controlling it so it can mimic anyone” the double Sunset said making everyone blink at the impressive show, all except for one pink haired girl who was jumping up and down in excitement.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Do me! Do me! Do me!” she kept on saying making Synergy look at Pinkie Pie.

“I can do something better, I can make everyone you!” she said before every single Rainbooms member except for Sunset became the exact image of Pinkie Pie.

“Oh... my!”

“My goodness!”

“This is so AWESOME!”

“I think I had a nightmare like this one once”

“Ah… I’m confused now; would the real Pinkie Pie please stand up?” Sunset didn’t know if to be proud of what Synergy was capable of doing or terrified at the pink horde in front of her “Synergy, I think one Pinkie is sometimes too much Pinkie, can you turn them back?” and soon all of them went back to their normal form.

“That was too much poofiness, thank you for returning me to my usual fabulosity”

“So let me get this straight, this girl that looks Apple Bloom’s age can create light clones of anyone and make you look like anyone?”

“That and several other things, but THIS is the ability that could bring Jem to life” Sunset said taking a star shaped earring from the main central console.

“Isn’t that Princess Twilight’s symbol?” Applejack continued talking with Sunset being the one that had recovered faster than the others.

“Yep, these are special projectors that are linked with Synergy’s main console so no matter where one is she can use her mimic abilities… this way Jem can be alive and we can bring her music to everyone, is SHOWTIME!” Sunset said touching the earring and her figure changed.

Instead of the usual red and yellow hair, this time it was bright pink and reaching down to her knees, her combination of thighs, blouse and skirt was changed for a pink mini dress with thigh boots with heels, the dress having long sleeve for the right arm while the left was off shoulder and with no sleeve at all; Sunset’s skin had also changed with fair skin, beautiful face features, soft blue eyes and pink eye shadow forming a star.

Jem was finally alive and ready to rock.

Author's Note

So... what do you say? Want me to continue Jem and the Holograms? Wanna see the whole band?

Truly Outrageous 03

Truly Outrageous 03

Somewhere, it doesn’t matter in which place, there was a television turned on in which news were being presented by people in suits talking about important stuff and several things that could probably fly over the head of many people. It was at that moment that the news that truly mattered for us readers was about to be presented.

“Thank you Hard Hit for the weather forecast; now, let’s go with Spot Light with some news concerning our own city Canterlot and the future of entertainment” the man with the dark suit said sitting behind the desk while the camera then focused on a beautiful woman in a black dress with a monitor behind her.

“Thank you Flash News; so what’s been happening these last few days? Well, unless you decided to stop login in to any Social Media page or receive any news you probably won’t know about the latest craze on internet.

It all started 2 days ago when a simple MyStable post caused the site to crash due to the traffic it produced, later on it was found that the reason for the crash had been a song uploaded by a Canterlot High student; that same day a follower of the girl put the song on YouTube where in less than 24 hours later reached five million views.

The song, ‘Truly Outrageous’, quickly became the trending topic on Twitter and the singer, Jem, the most searched word on Goggle that same day; so who is this Jem? The answer was that nobody knew and there was no information about her. No label or recording studio raised their hands to say that this new singer worked for them or was working on a project, so who is this Jem and why did she become so popular this quickly?

Both Countess Coloratura and Sapphire Shores were interviewed by E entertainment about Jem and why her song was received so well. Both of them had similar answers which boiled down to sincerity and going back to the basics of music, using a sound that was both familiar and at the same time a fresh breeze in a genre of music that had become stale.

Both singers know all about it since Coloratura’s last album, right after dropping both her manager and the royalty title, reached platinum being a country album while Sapphire Shores is having huge success in her latest tour with R&B songs that takes people back to the 90s.

So what does this mean for the industry in general? Not much beyond having some success as a one-hit wonder, but that all changed three days after the original video was uploaded. This time there was an official Jem channel created on YouTube, followed by a Twitter, Facebook and Instagram account, all of them followed by this video” she said turning around to the screen behind her to watch a video filmed by a mobile phone due to the quality. The one who was holding the phone ended up being a young woman with pink long hair and 80s style pink makeup.

“Hello denizens of the internet, Jem is my name and I want to thank everyone for all your support and nice comments; I’m doing this video because a friend of mine, Rarity Belle, who was also the one who uploaded the song, convinced me to finally make an appearance” she said while walking around what seemed an apartment complex, the camera then moved to show a girl with indigo hair and a white dress busy drawing something on a sketch board, the girl noticed the camera recording and send a half lidded look at Jem.

“Yeah, sorry, she is right now a little busy with a project of hers; anyway, I wanted to do this video to tell you all what’s going on; so, first of all, the original writer of ‘Truly Outrageous’ is working alongside my new manager and friend in more songs” she said refocusing the camera on a pair of girls sitting down on a sofa with several sheets of paper, pencils and color markers, one with pink hair of a less variant than Jem and the other one with deep red and yellow hair wearing a jacket with chevrons at the sides; both girls were busy checking and writing what seemed to be new lyrics.

“Did you told them about the plans for a band?” the red haired girl said still paying attention to the pages in front of her and Jem seemed to be quite surprised about that.

“I was about to Sunset… I have never understood how she could do that” Jem said shrugging her shoulders completely bewildered by Sunset’s antics “so, like my good manager reminded me of is that I am in the middle of creating a band and if any of you are interested of being a part of it you can send your applications to the link at the description of the video, hopefully if everything goes right and Sunset works her magic we will have a chance, so don’t go anywhere because the next few weeks will be truly outrageous! Jem out!”

The screen then changed and Spot Light was the focus for the camera as she turned around to finish her report on what had been happening.
“Well, as you can see the young woman has dropped a bomb on the music industry; if she does indeed creates her band and starts working on material and the chance to get a contract you can bet your money that there will be a huge war among labels to get Jem to sign for them; so far the official webpage for Jem’s band project had received several thousand applications and one has to wonder how many there will be before Jem starts making new songs for all of us. This has been Spot Light, thank you for listening” and like that the television was turned off as six girls that had been watching the news turned to watch each other with huge grins.

“That! Was! Epic!” the party girl among them screamed jumping up and down while the rest of the girls celebrated their success and first appearance of Jem on national television, for some reason the Jem project truly seemed to come to life after the coverage they had received.

“I cannot believe it worked, I mean, this still feels completely surreal” Applejack said aloud still not believing everything that happened the last few days.

“Yeah, that part with you as Jem and a hologram of yourself in the same shot was definitely mind boggling since we know Jem and Sunset are the same person” Rarity said checking her cell phone and the amount of new followers that the Twitter account for Jem seemed to have amassed.

“I know, but by putting both Sunset and Jem at the same time everybody will take us as two separate entities and I can work on all the details of job applications and label contracts that are being sent to us”

“Good luck with that, the applications are still coming, hell, we even got an email from Sapphire Shores asking Jem if she would like to appear as a feature on a future single” Rainbow said with eyes glued to Rarity’s laptop and the mountain of emails that were being filtered thanks to Synergy.

“Well, seems like I have my job cut out for me” Sunset said laughing aloud at the current events “still not wanting to be part of the band Rainbow?”

“Oh hell no, I would love to get some popularity and appear on TV but not with this kind of music, besides I won’t have much time with trials for the Canterlot U soccer team” Rainbow said knowing well that her true passion would always be sports.

“Don’t worry Sunset, I’m sure we will find good band members” Rarity said putting a hand over Sunset’s shoulders, they knew that from now on they would be under the lights of the media and fans and things would get even more hectic.

“So that will be our immediate future then? A road full of glamour and glitter?” Sunset said joking making everyone giggle around the room.

“Don’t forget the passion and fame apparently” Applejack joked back as they all were prepared for the future of Jem and the most ironic name for a band. Seriously, Jem and the Holograms? Sunset didn’t know if the name was weirdly fitting or if it had came out of a cartoon show.

Author's Note

Well, this was so fun to do and for now the first Jem arc has been completed so stay tuned to another door opening or... you can go and follow the official place for Sunset Shimmer and the Holograms here:

Official Story for Sunset Shimmer and the Holograms

Ship Girl Collection 01

Ship Girl Collection: 01

The soft breeze that moved the trees across the shore plus the warm rays of the sun in the sky made this a perfect day of summer for everyone out of school; but Sunset didn’t have time to enjoy it, right now she was spitting out the sea water on her mouth and dragging herself out of the water before crashing on the sand.

With the strength she had left she pushed with one hand until she was capable of turning around, her back now on the sand and for the first time in minutes she could breathe easily, even though the simple action made her chest hurt and her throat burn.

Sunset had been barely capable of regaining her breath before another sound besides the waves appeared on the beach, in this case a blonde girl that had lost her Stetson in the open sea; opening her eyes with difficulty Sunset saw Applejack drag herself to her side before simply crashing in the sand.

“Ah can tell you, farm work doesn’t prepare you for having to fight for your life on the sea” Applejack said barely able to breathe and Sunset knew well how the farm girl was feeling.

“Neither building computers and machines it seems… what happened to the rest of the crew?” Sunset didn’t remember well what happened after the explosion and her falling to the water.

“Rares and the rest got into the boats and Ah hope they are alright… Ah saw one of the cabin boys floating face down… is a good thing Ah didn’t see his face” Applejack answered knowing that she would have nightmares for months.

“So besides some passangers we probably won’t see many survivors, great” Sunset said in a whisper, her body had lost all strength and she could feel sleep closing down on her. The last thing she saw was the face of a small child looking at her.

Sunset woke up and her body sprung up; looking around her she found herself inside a room made out of wood, the way it was made and the furniture around it seemed alien to her; looking down at herself and hound herself in some kind of white robe, even the bed was weird considering that it wasn’t a bed but what seemed more like a bedroll.

To say that Sunset was confused was an understatement considering everything that had happened… who know how long since she had been knocked out by sheer exhaustion; thankfully she was interrupted from her thoughts by someone coming into the room by sliding one of the doors.

“Oh, okita desu” the face of a man that seemed to have lived on the sea his whole life entered the room, immediately Sunset caught up on the language used, but usage of that language was centered around just one country, how was that possible?

“Yeah, I… woke up just now” Sunset said thankful that she had learned several languages when she was Celestia’s student, among them Neighponese, although she was sure it wasn’t called that way in here. Answering on his language seemed like a good idea after the man threw his head backwards and started to laugh as if he had something extremely entertaining.

“Well, I am glad to see you well, you should have seen how surprised my granddaughter was when she found you on the beach, saying that she had found two spirits of the sea, after all, is not every day we get visitors from other countries in here” the man said making Sunset even more confused about her situation, and when she heard what the man said about her friend made her worried return; it must have been very obvious because the man continued talking “don’t worry, your friend is alright, she just woke up before you and we all ended up in quite a situation. You see, no one in the town knows how to communicate with your friend” he said shrugging his shoulders and Sunset could imagine how flustered and enraging could it be for AJ not being capable of understand everyone.

The man helped Sunset up and he helped her walk outside of the room, after all, unlike Applejack who was always working her muscles, Sunset had let herself go a little bit while researching new things with Twilight, after all this she swore that she would get back in shape.

Going outside she was received by the lights of the sun; according to the man, who had introduced himself as Tadao, both Applejack and herself had been asleep for a whole day; and talking about Applejack, Sunset found her in front of the house of their host while the girl Sunset remembered seeing before blacking out was talking a mile a second. The look in Applejack’s face said it all and Sunset felt bad about her and the situation.

“Sunset! Oh boy, am Ah glad to see you up! Do you have any idea of what the heck is she saying?” Applejack said pointing down at the little girl who was smiling a storm; she had the same type of tan as her grandfather, no question of how much time she spends outside in the beach.

“She is saying that she likes you hair and that if you want to play Daruma with her, is basically green light, red light” she said still feeling extremely confused about what they were doing miles and miles away from home and in the wrong sea.

The girl, Megumi, left to play with other kids after Sunset promised that they would play with her later on but they had to talk with her grandfather, the three then entered the house and went to the living room as Tadao’s wife prepared tea for them much to Applejack’s confusion at the language, customs and feeing like the proverbial fish out of water.

“So girls, please tell me, how did two foreign girls ended up at our shores?”

“Would you believe us if we told you we have no idea? We were on a cruise ship on the Bahamas with the rest of our friends when suddenly the sky turned black with thick dark clouds and then… then the cruise started to sink” Sunset told their story, still remembering how happy Rarity had been when they found out that Fluttershy had won a prize from one of the restaurants around Canterlot, being a 6 people trip through the Bahamas. Who would have thought darkness would have followed them?

“Ah, yes, the dark storms” Tadao told them with a grimace “we know of those dark clouds, they only bring destruction and disasters” he said taking the ceramic cup and blowing on it “those storms are not natural, they come and go as they please… and what arrives with them is the stuff of nightmares, I am happy to see you survived them, but to be able to change seas in an instant? That is quite curious”

“Can you help us reach the main island? Or at least get in contact with our friends?”

“I could try and see if your friends survived; maybe they were also transported to another place and are already looking for you, but to help you leave the island… I’m afraid it is impossible” Tadao said making Sunset worried about he had said but Tadao simply raised a hand showing he had more to say “you have to understand, I’m not telling you that so you could be a prisoner in this place… but leaving the shore and going into open sea… well, you must have seen what kind of monsters lurk under those dark waters by now”

Sunset relied what she had been said and both high school girls weren’t very happy with the news, but both couldn’t contain the shiver through their body remembering the glimpse of what they would swear was the number one reason for the ship to sink and the pair of red eyes that may or may not have been under the water.

“I can see it in your face that you know what I am talking about… monsters that look like human beings, we have seen them several times, with skin as hard as steel and with oil instead of blood, they are aberrations” Tadao said almost spitting that word, it was obvious the hate he had for those creatures.

“Does anyone know where do they come from?”

“No, they appeared out of nowhere, neither machine nor human, they attack everyone in the sea, the government tries to keep under the lid but if they attacked you in the Caribbean then the world is not safe”

“How does he know so much about those things?” Applejack said once Sunset finished translating and it was a good question, fortunately for them Tadao had no problem answering all their questions.

“Is simple, my son works alongside the Navy, he is one of the engineers in charge of studying these monsters but no matter what they do they haven’t been able to find a weak spot, normal weapons are ineffective and radars cannot pick them up, these are truly troublesome times for humanity” Tadao said making Sunset feel the silent despair that he felt; for a man that seemed at home at sea as him it must truly feel like a nightmare to be banned from it.

“Shire-kan” It was something that she heard for only a second but Sunset could swear it was a young voice; she quickly raised her head and tried to look around but she couldn’t see anyone that could fit the voice, maybe there was a TV on?

“Are you alright Sunset?”

“I… did you hear a voice Applejack? It was young girl’s voice” Applejack simply shook her head, she haven’t heard a thing but Sunset was sure that it wasn’t her imagination and the face of Tadao when she asked him if he had heard a voice was of someone that knew at least a bit of what she was talking about.

“So you can hear it, I guess it wasn’t a simple coincidence that you arrived here, come with me both of you” Tadao said standing up making the situation even more confusing for both girls.

Their steps echoed across the metallic construction making them feel as if they were I another place instead of an island.

“Well Ah’ll be damn, this thing is huge, and Ah can’t believe it hasn’t been used since World War II” Applejack said while looking at the hangar and the great condition of it, there were no structural damage or even dust accumulating in the whole place.

“Tadao… he told me that no one comes here except for his son and his son-in-law and that was several years ago, no one comes and cleans this place, it just… stays like this”

“You mean like magic?”

“I think so, I can even feel some kind of resonance in this place, but is not equestrian magic” Sunset said closing her eyes trying to pin down where she felt the pull of magic, one that didn’t feel like the energy coming from the portal back in Canterlot; the energy there seemed happy, like a kid skipping along but this one felt more raw, as if it was filled with emotions like rage and sadness but also of hope and love, and in the background, as if trying to hear something imbedded in the static there was a call.

"Shire-kan” She could finally hear clearly the voice that was calling for her. Sunset started to run in the direction the magic was pointing her with Applejack right on her heels, running through the corridors of the building until the stopped in front of 5 curious metal constructions in the middle of the floor.

“What in tarnation? Those things look like riggings of a destroyer” Applejack said looking at the five constructs.

“A what now?”

“Well, kind of, you can see the chimney in one of them, reminds me of a Destroyer chimney, also the communication antenna in some of them” she continued saying pointing at several parts of the (supposedly) riggings until Sunset finally caught on.

“Right, I forgot for a second that you knew a lot of ships”

“Well, comes with the family, almost every generation of the Apples have been in the army or the navy; Grandpa Smith fought in World War II and he told me a lot about his ship, the Missouri”

“So, what do you think about these things?”

“Like Ah said, they remind me of parts of a destroyer, but Ah don’t understand what are they?”

“These are the riggings that are waiting their rightful owner” a small voice came from somewhere around Sunset and Applejack putting them in alert, of course, once they saw who have talked both stood watching in complete surprise. Right there, on top of a box stood a diminutive person with a small smile on its face, it looked vaguely female with the long hair and was also wearing a lab coat “we have seen people who have been able to hear her voice, but so far none could make her return to this world”

“Who are you?”

“Like you, Sunset Shimmer, I am a creature that belongs to two different worlds, but you can call me Fairy if you like”

“Wait a minute, a Fairy? This makes no sense at all” Applejack was at her wit’s end with the revelation of this creature “what is going on here?”

“I thought you might have that kind of reaction but after all the different adventures you have had you cannot say I’m the weirdest thing you have seen” both Sunset and Applejack turned to look at each other after hearing that and after a few seconds of consideration they had to agree on that.

“So, what are you doing here then?”

“The same reason why you are right here Sunset Shimmer, destiny has plans for all of us” the Fairy said making Sunset flinch at that word.

“I don’t have a destiny; I threw that one away years ago” it still hurt to think about that image reflected on the mirror, no matter how many years that had been, it will forever serve as a reminder of her mistakes.

“It was never your destiny; it was only your desires reflected in a mirror”

“How do you know that?”

“Is like I told you, as a Fairy I’m part of the human world and the spirit one, just like you belong in this and the world of the sun” the Fairy said in a voice that left no chance to debate, it (maybe she?) sounded as if what she was saying was set on stone like 2+2.

“So Sunset’s destiny wasn’t to be a princess, what does that have to do with everything that is going on?”

“Applejack”

“What?”

“How did you understand her? She is speaking in Japanese” Sunset said making Applejack blink at that piece of information.

“The magic that you both have is working, without it you wouldn’t even be able to see me; the boys that came here before heard the voices but they never had the ability to see us, they never had the powers of two worlds”

“Because we are human beings… but have magic from Equestria, is that why Applejack can understand you and why we can see you? Because we are of two different worlds?”

“That’s right, is because of that that both of you could meet the five girls” she said pointing at the riggings on the floor “they have been waiting for the moment they could continue doing their job since the moment the Abyssal appeared on the sea”

“Abyssal? You mean those crazy things that destroyed the boat?”

“Not to mention your hat”

“Ah have enough replacements back home, believe me, there’s enough to fill a whole closet, but what are those abyssal thingies?”

“Have you heard the term ‘Tsukumogami’?”

“Isn’t that from that story Cherilee made us read?”

“Yes, they come from the Japanese folklore; they are objects that after a long time become alive”

“Indeed, the Abyssal are like them, Tsukumogami that have resided on what once were warships, tainted with rage and hate; but it has taken too many souls, they have become monsters with no real drive besides spreading the hate and rage they feel to wherever they go”

“Tadao told us they were immune to human weapons, is it because they are in part spirits? That’s why creatures like the Sirens or Discord couldn’t be hurt with simple weapons, they were never alive as humans or ponies, they were in part spirits, so how can this Abyssal be defeated?”

“By calling upon the power of those souls, to make them see that there is someone out there guiding them to the surface and granting them a body and voice once again, to be the commander of the fleet, their admiral” the Fairy said making Sunset understand the purpose of the voice.

“Shire-kan… commander”

“I cannot bring them to this world, I can only function as help to armament and weapons, a sort of helper and crew, we need someone in a similar position as ours to complete the ritual” Sunset nodded at the words of the Fairy before walking closer to the middle rigging and with every step it started to shake as if it couldn’t contain itself and just as Sunset touched it a bright light filled the hangar. Both girls blinked several times trying to regain their vision and once the spots finally disappeared from their eyes they just couldn’t believe what was in front of them.

A young girl, barely reaching Sunset’s chest, stood up giving Sunset a military salute; the girl seemed to be wearing a standard Japanese high school uniform and had a short pony tail, but the smile that she was giving to Sunset was full of happiness.

“Nice to meet you Shire-kan, I’m Fubuki, thank you for having me”

Author's Note

Yes, I had to do a Kantai Collection cross, I just love those girls.

The Legend of Celestia 01

I’ve had this dream before.

I’ve had it for weeks.

It always starts the same.

It is Canterlot but at the same time it isn’t.

A majestic castle where Princess Celestia rules over the whole country, but she isn’t the ruler, she is just the Princess, one who gives hope to everypony… everyone? The words scramble whenever I try to pay close attention.

It is Canterlot Castle, but is not build at the side of a mountain but in the middle of a huge field, surrounded by forests and lakes, a big mountain full of peril in the horizon and a desert full of great warriors.

At the beginning it is beautiful and peaceful, people everywhere talking, walking and buying stuff in the market; it always starts peaceful, but then the shadows appear and then the screams.

Everyone starts running from the shadows and the darkness that want to consume the whole world and rule over it; I never let it advance and hurt others, I stand in front of it ready to blast it away just like many times before when fighting against evil, but this time I find myself completely defenseless against the darkness, my magic completely gone and with no way to stop the darkness approaching.

For a second I hold my breath seeing the darkness stop completely, but the next my heart starts to beat in fear because from the shadows appear a creature standing on two legs, a huge sword on his hands and a smirk of superiority on his face. The creature reminded me of Sombra, but this creature always blew the Shadow King out of the waters in terms of height and intimidation, right now I felt lost and vulnerable, it was a feeling few times I felt before.

The creature, he just watched me tremble and raising his sword over his head he was ready to kill me, to end it all, to finally reign supreme on this world, but someone was always to stop the hit. A girl, a little older than me, wearing robes of green, a blue and silver shield over her head stopping the sword, but the one thing that I always remember are the pair of blue eyes and the hair as red and beautiful as a Sunset.

The shadows and darkness that covered Canterlot seemed to evaporate whenever she arrived, as if her mere presence defeated darkness and evil, and just as she smiled at me I felt the real world calling me, leaving behind this woman.

There, on my bed, just as I was waking up from my dream I cried, already missing her.

I guess the effect the dream had on me was stronger than I thought since Spike got worried about me; ended up talking about him about the dream, we ended up talking about it through the entire breakfast and he insisted of talking about it with Princess Celestia. I knew that I could talk with her about everything, even more now considering my new wings.

Spike finally convinced me to send a letter to tell her about my dream, after all, who knew? Maybe it was a message from the Elements of Harmony? I mean, we still didn’t know everything about them and they could hold abilities and powers we still haven’t discovered, or maybe it was just mind playing tricks on me.

But my letter was soon followed by a response with just one line, ‘Come to the castle’, and there I went to the train station and an hour later there it was, Canterlot Castle, this one on the mountain side just where it belonged.

If before, when I was just Princess Celestia’s student I could walk everywhere without problems now there were ponies bowing down at me, talking to me in deference; it has been a week and it was as embarrassing and awkward as the day I became a princess, none of that helped my state of mind.

Finally I got into the castle and thanks to the guards stationed everywhere in it I wasn’t bothered until I reached the throne room and doing the exercise that Cadence taught me I was ready to see Celestia.

And there she was, as radiant as always, but after being with her for so many years I could see the lines of worry and… guilt? Pain? I don’t know; I have never seen that kind of reaction from Princess Celestia before.

“Twilight, thank you for coming, I hope you are well” thankfully her demeanor improved after seeing me arrive.

“Yes Princess”

“You don’t have to call me by my title Twilight, not anymore”

“Sorry Celestia, but after studying with you I think it will take me some time to get used to it, so, why did you summon me?” And once again the worried look assaulted her face.

“Please Twilight, tell me about this dream you had, tell me about the one you saw”

“Well, I couldn’t really see her at all, but I’m sure it was female, she never talks on my dream, and she just simply appears and saves me”

“Tell me Twilight, what color is her hair, her eyes” there was something akin to desperation in Celestia and I tried to remember everything I could about the girl with the shield.

“She… she has deep blue eyes, she is smiling at me… and her hair… is red with yellow highlights, it… it reminds me of the sun when the day is ending”

“As if looking at her you were watching a constant sunset” Celestia said making me look at her in surprise.

“Yes, but… how?” And the pain that found its way to Celestia’s face made my heart clench, it was so raw like everything she talked about Luna and the mistakes she did before the Nightmare.

“Because I know who you talk about, she is Sunset Shimmer, and she was my student before you Twilight”

“What… what happened to her?”

“Come with me, I guess you have the right to know” she said standing up and starting to walk in the direction of the sealed vaults; I remembered when Celestia had talked to me about these sealed storages, how they were full of dangerous artifacts and magic that had to be monitored due to their properties and history; opening one we went into it and there was only one thing in the vault, a tall mirror “this here is not just a mirror Twilight, it is portal that sends you to another world”

“Another world? What kind of world?”

“I’m not sure; I just know that the pony that goes through it never returns”

“Sunset Shimmer traveled to this other world?”

“Yes… right after I threw Sunset Shimmer out of the castle”

“You did what?! But why?” I was shocked, never have I ever heard of Celestia doing something like that.

“Sunset Shimmer was a brilliant pony, but her ego and pride made her look for more knowledge, the one that could transform her into an Alicorn, she even went into the forbidden part of the library just to look for information about ascension. When I found out I… I lost my head; I denounced her and banned her from the castle”

“So you just threw her out? You didn’t try to talk with her?”

“I had talked with her many times before about it… but in the end it didn’t matter, I threw her out of the only home she have ever known and in her desperation she fled through the mirror into another world” The guilt that Celestia was feeling was obvious on her face, it truly hurt to remember Sunset and the hand she had on her departure, but just as Celestia told me the story, the mirror began to shine with golden light “this is impossible, the mirror only activates every 100 moons and it is not yet time!” if Celestia was surprised then it meant this was serious.
After a few seconds both Celestia and I could see that an image was forming on the surface of the mirror, it was a golden triangle formed from three smaller ones, for some reason it didn’t feel like a normal symbol, it was like watching the Elements of Harmony for the first time.

“Celestia, what does this mean?” I saw the princess open her mouth to answer before another voice interrupted her.

“It is the symbol of a powerful source, it is old, even older than us” turning to the doors of the vault came walking Princess Luna, as serious and focused as ever “I do not know who made the symbol but is purpose is clear, it forced open the gate to this other world, and just like you Twilight Sparkle I have seen the darkness that will soon start corrupting that world, it is asking for help, maybe to save it or most probable to find this Sunset Shimmer” Luna said and I felt that she was right, I haven’t met Sunset Shimmer before but something inside me told me she was important.

I put a hoof on the surface of the mirror and watched it ripple as if it was the surface of a bathtub; looking one last time to the Diarchy of Equestria I gathered my courage and jumped straight into this other world, not knowing the adventure I was about to be part of.

The Legend of Celestia: Crystal Sunset

The Legend of Celestia 02

The Legend of Celestia 02

The world around became a vortex of colors and speed, I didn’t know which way was up or what was going on, was I traveling or was I trapped inside the mirror? But before the terror could set in I felt myself being thrown through the air and land hard on my back as the world tried to stop spinning around me.

Once the world stopped and I recognized the sky on top of me as daytime I tried to get up, but something felt wrong, as in out of place, looking at where my hoof should have been was enough to send me into full panic mode.

Just watching the alien appendages that I had I was ready to scream but I contained myself, and a few seconds later I calmed down enough to recognize the things I had instead of hooves, they were hands, like those of a minotaur, dexterous and strong enough to work many tools even better than a pony, but putting my hands on top of my head I found no horns like a minotaur, not even my horn.

The mirror must have had a transformation spell on it, I wouldn’t put it past Starswirl to use something like it; anyway, with a few seconds used to get any semblance of balance on my new legs, I quickly checked myself for anything missing, and beyond my horn and cutiemark I could recognize myself on the stream that was close by, my face features seemed rearranged a little since I had no muzzle and instead I had a simple mouth, peachy skin with no fur and only my mane surviving, I think the species of this world had more in common with primates and equines, fascinating.

With the review of my body and what seemed like a simple vest and breaches I put my attention to where I have landed finding myself in what could only be this world’s version of the Everfree Castle, or at least the entrance, this time having a statue of what seemed a female holding up an harp skywards and in the base it was clear, obviously being the source of this world’s portal.

I could have continued my observations on the eroded castle in front of me but I was caught unaware by sounds coming from between the trees not too far away from where I was, and then I saw them; red creatures holding rudimentary weapons like clubs and spears appearing on the meadow and soon forming a semicircle around me, I was quite certain that these creatures weren’t here as a welcome committee like Pinkie but were instead going to try and rob me, thankfully I had my magic to protect myself… or so I thought feeling my own magic lethargic and slow as if there was no way to use or release it from my body. I guess the creatures sensed my problems because they were slowly closing on me.

But then something happened, just like my dream, because another set of footsteps signaled the arrival of somepony (do the creatures in this world use the word pony to reference others?) arrived to the meadow and I had to contain my excitement.

Dressed in a cyan shirt and cream pants was a girl with fiery red hair arrived with a wooden shield on her left hand and a short sword on the other, it seemed much more crude and less imposing as the one she used in my dreams, but just watching her arriving was enough to make me more than happy.

The monsters also had seen her arrive and some of them seemed… scared maybe? Two of the 6 immediately charged against her but with movements denoting practice she sidestepped one before knocking away the club of another with her shield, afterwards cutting away the monsters but instead of blood and guts they simply vanished in a puff of black smoke (thank Celestia) and one by one the monsters disappeared, the only thing remaining from them were a couple of what seemed amulets with ceramic skulls on them and several green gems which Sunset took and put on a bag at her waist.

It was then that the girl finally noticed that there was someone else in the meadow too because she got a surprised look on her face when she turned around to look at me. After several seconds it had become more than a little awkward so I decided to cut the tension present.

“Ah… hello?” great intro Twilight “um, thank you for saving me, um, my name is Twilight Sparkle and yours is?” I told her trying to be friendly, I mean, I have become a princess thanks to my knowledge in friendship, this should have been easy; sadly it wasn’t since she simply stood looking at me and then turning to the statue as if she already knew where I came from.

Thankfully the awkwardness was broken when another entered the meadow, one who had a simple dress and somehow made it look even better in a combination of adorableness and beauty; it was none other than Sweetie Belle.

“Sunset, I’m sorry, but you just took so long and I was getting worried and… and you found it!” she said once Sunset turned around and took an amulet from the ones she had collected, this one looking different; it had a gold thin chain and the same kind of golden triangle I had seen before, the one who was made from three smaller triangles; it seemed to have great value to this Sweetie Belle because she graciously accepted it from Sunset and hugged it close to her chest “thank you Sunset, I don’t know what would I have done if I lost it, not to mention I would have heard Rarity screaming at me for the next three years” she finished laughing at her own joke while Sunset simply smiled at her before her sight was put firmly on me and her expression changed to a frown.

She turned her back at me and started to walk away so I had to take a chance since I was in what seemed a parallel world if the presence of Sweetie Belle could function as clue to that; taking one step in the direction of Sunset I was prepared to speak to her when Sweetie turned around finally noticing me and her eyes opened up in recognition.

“Oh Goddess, Lady Twilight?” She said bowing at me, giving me another proof that this was a parallel world; Sunset just rolled her eyes and continued walking with Sweetie right behind her “so, what are you doing here? I mean, there is nothing important in Kakariko Village to visit it”

“Well, is quite a long story, but tell me, what is your name?”

“I’m Sweetie Belle” the same dose of sugar and happiness that was associated with the Sweetie Belle of my world was definitely present in this one “and she is Sunset Shimmer” the aforementioned girl simply glared at Sweetie Belle while this one didn’t even notice.

“Well, pleasure to meet you Sweetie Belle, and thank you for helping me back there Sunset” I said trying to start a conversation with the girl that was the reason why I jumped into this world, but she simple raised a hand in greeting and continued walking; Sweetie Belle must have seen my face because she quickly continued talking.

“Don’t think wrong of her miss Twilight, she hasn’t been able to talk since my dad found her in the woods” Sweetie said while Sunset tilted her head to the right and pulled down her shirt and I was finally capable of seeing the scar that went from her throat to the collarbone and I had to flinch at the sight, I guess that answered me why she didn’t want to talk with me, it was because she couldn’t, was this the reason why she didn’t come back to Equestria?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize, I hope I didn’t offend you”

“Don’t worry miss Twilight, she is grumpy with everybody, is her natural state” she said before ducking the dope slap from Sunset and began to run in the direction of what I supposed to be the Kakariko Village while laughing aloud; for her part, Sunset Shimmer simply held a little smile and it made me wonder what kind of relationship those two had “Sunset!” Sweetie’s scream made us both start to run into the clearing and then I saw something that made my blood freeze “what is that?”

Right there on the sky, dark clouds were moving at an impossible speed.

The Legend of Celestia 03

The Legend of Celestia 03

When you see dark clouds moving at an unnatural speed you get a little worried, but when you see those same clouds moving in the direction of another settlement then that worry is not that big; sure, they seemed to gather around Canterlot but that meant very little to me.

The one thing that was important was the purple haired girl that had followed Sweetie Belle and me all the way to Kakariko, one who was an important retinue to royalty in Canterlot but I was pretty sure that it wasn't that version who was walking with us; no, it was even worse than that. It was moments like this when I wished for my voice again, just so I could lose it with all the screaming I would do.

After so many years Celestia was sending someone? Well, it was that or the idiot stumbled upon the mirror by mistake and seeing the nonexistent muscles the girl had it was more probable that than to think Celestia send her to drag me back to Equestria.

Not only that, but she was paying too much attention to me so it was obvious she knew who I was, that or she was disgusted about my scar, everyone that went to Master Coals had the same reaction with my scar, the face they made were extremely entertaining.

Twilight seemed ready to start talking, maybe ask me where did I come from or something like that when she was interrupted by my greatest headache and entertainment all rolled up in one, the Kakariko Crusaders.

“Sweetie Belle, did you get it back?” The tallest of the trio said, she was wearing her farm clothes so it was clear she was already done with her chores at Sweet Apple Acres; meanwhile the other girl was still wearing her thin shirt and shorts, who wants to bet that she haven't even started on the chores Master Coals had for her?

“Of course I did, Sunset helped me, there was no way I wouldn't recover it”

“That's good, Ah swear those stupid Bokoblins will one day bite more than they can chew”

“Nah, once I get good enough with the sword I'm going to smack them all” Scootaloo said the same bravado as always so I only gave her a dope slap over her head much to the entertainment of her friends “hey! What was that for?”

“Ah think she is trying to tell you that you first gotta beat her”

“Is not my fault that she is taller, she has an advantage over me!”

“I think the Bokoblins are taller than you so how are you going to beat them?” Sweetie Belle finished the discussion in her own way making Scootaloo pout in indignation before I pointed to the blacksmith, thankfully Scootaloo understood the sign.

“Come on, doing chores is stupid, can't you just teach me how to use a sword instead?” For all answer I took her ear between my fingers and began to walk in the direction of work not paying attention to Scootaloo's yelps and complaints.

“Is she always like that?” I heard the voice of Twilight and I swear my mood began to sour.

“She is always like that when it comes to Scootaloo trying to get out of her responsibilities”

“Yeah, Ah swear, if Ah tried to do that Dad would tan mah hide; hey! Aren't you one of those... whatcha call it? Restrainer?”

“Is retainer, she is Lady Twilight, a retainer of Princess Celestia” Oh, there is another name that can make my day go downhill faster than an invasion of skulltulas, it was just my luck that the portal brought me to a world with another Princess Celestia, thankfully her power seemed more ceremonial than anything, just imagining the face of the Princess Celestia from the other side when she found out that shift in power on this side was enough to brighten my day.

“Oh, so why is she here?” I would like to know that too Apple Bloom, and apparently Twilight wasn't expecting that question.

“Well... you see... I was going to start researching the temple outside the town! Yes, that!” that lie was so bad that it made me cringe, but of course the kids fell for it; either way once we reached the blacksmith a mountain of a man was already tending to the fire before his scowl settled on Scootaloo, thankfully it changed to a smile when he looked at me.

“So there you were, thank you for bringing her back Sunset, now, I want you to start working on the new plow for Big Mac while I see that my daughter starts her chores this time” he said making Scootaloo sheepishly grin before the crusaders were shepherded by Live Coals leaving me in charge of the forge and after a few moments, which I spend checking my tools and the stoked fire, I heard a throat being cleaned and I remembered that I still had a headache to deal with; so, without turning around I grabbed my mini-blackboard (a gift from the local teacher Cherilee) and wrote her a small message.

You got the Portable Blackboard

“Oh, that's a great idea, it says... 'Go back to Equestria'... so I guess it was obvious for you, isn't it?” I wish I still had my voice so I could give a sarcastic remark… or a remark at all, but I settled on an eyebrow cocked, I found out it works in the same way; isn’t it amazing how much attention people put to someone’s body language when they knew you were mute? “Yeah… I… ah”

‘Today Princess’ I wrote on the blackboard just to annoy her, I mean, she looked so dainty that she was either another member of Celestia’s annoying noble circle or she was just another bureaucrat or a scholar, sadly I never saw coming her answer.

“How did you know I was a Princess?” Her shocked face was probably the exact same reaction that I had in my face because there was no way that was true… Celestia ascended her… the fucking bitch had ascended her! I felt the old rage start crawling over my body, I felt it tense up and it was so bad that my hand holding a hammer was shaking. I think I scared her because she had taken a step back so I began to breathe in and out just like I’ve seen Rarity do whenever Sweetie and the others did something stupid; sure, I wanted to murder the girl in front of me but since she looked like Princess Celestia’s retainer in this world I would probably get into too many problems.

I finally felt the darkness fall back and once again my mind was free; I swear, I haven’t had an attack like this one since the first year I stayed in Kakariko; this was too much so I turned around and began working on the almost finished plow for the Apples, maybe if I ignore my problem it will go away and let me live in peace, maybe it will make me forget how much it hurt to hear her say she was a princess.

“I’m… I’m sorry, even though I don’t know why but I made you mad, so I’m sorry” and she was still there, great; I left the hammer on the anvil, better to leave it there or I would be tempted to throw it at her head, then I pointed at her and immediately in the direction of the Kakariko Woods, maybe if she knew I wanted her away from here then she will finally leave me alone and I would go back to my life “Look, I didn’t come here to fight or to antagonize you, and I don’t know why you got so mad at me being a Princess but, and this may sound stupid, I’ve been having dreams all month, you were there in all of them”

‘And?’

“And that was before I even knew you existed” okay, I’ll take that answer at face value and not think it was an attack against me but I was tempted to hit her over the head with my board.

‘Prophetic?’

“That’s what Princess Celestia thinks so, that’s why I came here, I mean, even the portal activated out of time” so that’s why she was here, damn, that must have been the work of some powerful magic, well, too bad for her “Sunset, do you know of any kind of power from this world that is represented by three triangles making a bigger one?” Oh… ohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohnoohno.

Running into the house I quickly grabbed the sketch book I used whenever there was a custom order and started to rummage through the drawings until I found the one I wanted, then went outside and presented the drawing to Twilight who’s eyes went wide enough to confirm my theory; the one responsible for this had been the triforce, so the Goddesses were involved in all this. It was going to suck.

Thankfully the mayor’s office was open to everybody in the town so we both could get to his office quickly enough, and after showing him the drawing and Twilight’s dream, well, Mayor Wisdom sighed; for some reason the Mayor’s eyebrows always reminded me of an owl, random thought I guess.

“So it has come to this; if you have told me that Sunset or anyone else on the town I would have laughed and said that they have read too much, but that one of Princess Celestia’s retainer had the dream, someone connected in a way with the Royal Bloodline? That's another thing; also, those dark clouds forming over Canterlot also signal great danger, so a message from the Goddesses is not out of the question”

“I’m sorry for bringing you bad news Mayor” oh, wasn’t she such a perfect little Princess?

“Oh, don’t worry my dear, it is better to know and prepare than to not know and find ourselves with our backs against the wall, but to be sure of what is going on in Hyrule, Sunset, I want you and Miss Twilight here to check on Kakariko’s Cathedral” I think my face said it all when the major said that because before I was ready to jump over his desk and throttle his neck he raised one hand “You appeared in her dream and came specifically here to find you, that means you are connected to all of this Sunset, besides, the day Magnum found you outside of Kakariko's Cathedral he saw the triforce shining on the back of your hand, from that day we knew your destiny was bigger than simply working the rest of your life as a blacksmith” I finally let out a silent sigh and turned around to glare at a nervous Twilight, then I raised my blackboard for one last message.

‘If anything happens, I blame you’

Fist of the Red Sunset 01

Fist of the Red Sunset 01

Fluttershy once asked me if I missed the fields of Equestria, if I missed the fresh air or the hills full of green and I still have the same answer for that, I cannot even remember Equestria; the arid world I live in and the destruction around me has made it impossible to remember anything about the world I was born into.

The only thing that I remember is the face of Celestia, the moment she saw me with the book, the moment she understood how much I have fallen and then… I guess I think of her disappointment in me, of how much time lost in someone like me.

So I can only walk, this endless desert the only witness to what I am and sometimes I find myself in situations like this, people in trouble, people taking advantage of others, the same everywhere, people trying to survive and create a new society and then those who believe that is time for the jungle law, that the strong gets everything; sure, as if I would let vermin like them feel as if they could anything they wanted.

So there I was once again in the middle of everyone’s problems, everywhere the same but this time I suppose it can be a little different, with me almost dehydrated and with no idea where to go or what to do, I suppose I was ready to let myself go and end it all, but I guess you continue looking out for me, right Fluttershy? Still not letting me go to the place where you are.

And here I am, with no idea where I am and behind bars, I suppose is a big advantage that I still have my clothes, last time I found someone trying to take my pants off I was surprised with how much blood you could take from a person without killing them.

After a glass of water I found myself without much to do in the cell, besides nothing much to do to pass my time I was alone on it so there was no one to talk or to annoy whatever the case may be, I just enjoy doing that to people from time to time. Guess it was time to play the waiting game from now on. Thankfully I was saved by the presence of a blonde girl looking at me as if I was a weird bug, maybe I am after all.

“Is there a problem officer?” Like I said, I like to annoy people.

“I don’t get it” she said looking at me “I don’t get it, you are not wearing any of the usual gang’s items so why are you here?”

“Okay, that sentence made no sense at all.”

“You are a woman.”

“I feel the need to say, ‘well, duh’ at this point of the conversation.”

“Well, excuse me for being surprised for seeing a woman that was found alone in the desert with no signs of torture or anything like that beyond dehydration, so that can only mean you are a gang's whore,” well, that was definitely way out, there was no choice but to laugh loud and hard at her.

“You think I prostitute myself for protection? Oh boy, that was a good joke, what if I told you I need no one to protect me? What if I told you I can do it myself?”

“I’ll say you are lying.”

“Well, that’s so sad; no wonder every single one of you is a tasty morsel to the wolves outside.”

“Care to repeat that?”

“Like I said, all of you live their lives in such fear of everything outside your little walls that you become fully paranoid, is like the story of the cavemen being scared of the shadows on the wall thinking they are monsters when is just another person with a fire pit, I bet sooner or later someone inside this village is going to betray you.”

“Applejack, why are you still here?” another voice, this one younger, came from the jail’s door; it is weird to find a kid these days, everything is so hectic and dangerous.

“Sweetie Belle, don’t come to this place, it is dangerous, wait… why are you bringing food to the prisoner?” so her name was Sweetie Belle.

“I’m not going to let someone die from hunger just because you and Rainbow think everyone that arrives is a monster,” the bicolored kid said before putting a tray with a couple of vegetables and bread outside of the cell for me to get to the food, seems like someone has some manners in this place “here you go, I’m sorry about this, but there is not much I can do about it, the village leader can be such a scaredy cat.”

“Is okay kid, these days everybody starts thinking about themselves first,” I said putting one of the sliced carrots on my mouth, it felt nice to eat something fresh or semi fresh for the first time in who knows how long “so your name is Sweetie Belle?”

“Yup, so what’s yours?”

“… Wow… I don’t remember the last time someone asked me that, but is Sunset Shimmer kiddo, thanks for the food,” I said enjoying the crispiness of the vegetables to the max trying not to see the reaction of Applejack, it would probably sour them.

“Are you sure this is alright? I mean, we are talking about the Zeed gang here.”

“Who else would be involved? I swear to you, this girl will leave this village and peace will be ensured.”

“But what if she has nothing to do with them?”

“It doesn’t matter, it isn’t be the first, it won’t be the last; the only thing that matters is our security.”

There have been so few instances in the last year that I have found the time to properly rest, although this isn’t exactly a five star hotel I have been able to recover sleeping time at least and the best part was that nothing out of Sweetie Belle visiting me or giving me my meals has happened.

But I suppose my vacations had to end someday because I heard something metallic being dragged so that meant that the doors of this village were being opened, guess there were trouble closing in.

There were indeed problems arriving at the small village and it was being followed by the rumble of motorcycles and the dust of the desert making every civilian be scared for their lives; the leader was obvious, it was always the biggest man in the group that gave the orders and took the biggest pillage.

Rainbow was able to find him among the group so she maintained her crossbow aimed at him, one false move and he was dead.

“Well well well, you guys have certainly created a nice haven in here, it would be such a shame if something happened to it,” the man said grinning while getting down from the jeep he was riding while the village leader, a man with a bald head and a big belly, got close to him.

“There is no need for that; we will bring you back your woman.”

“Our woman?

“Yes, we found her in the desert, we will bring her to you so you can leave us alone” but the mountain of a man simply laughed at those words.

“What the fuck are you talking about you idiot? You guys found a woman outside and thought she was a slave? I don’t give a damn who she belongs to but sure, bring her to us.”

“She was telling the truth,” Applejack said at her side and Rainbow felt like a fool, it seems that the woman in the cell was right about many things.

“Then… then take her and leave us alone,” the village leader said making both Rainbow and Applejack be surprised and enraged at the same time.

“What in tarnation? Did he just said what I think he said?”

“You mean offering a slave to those damn monsters so they will leave us alone? Then yes, he did,” Rainbow was so tempted to just shoot at that moment.

“No, I think me and my boys have a better idea, instead of your usual tribute we will simply take everything you have. Don’t think wrong, we love your usual tributes, that last girl, the one with the purple hair? We sold her for a lot of food,” the man said making the two girls’ blood freeze at the declaration, and one little girl reacted even worst.

“Purple hair… Rarity… you told me she had run away! That she had abandoned me… but you sold her to them?!” Sweetie would have killed the man she had once trusted but she was stopped by a huge hand that grabbed her by the neck.

“Tough luck kid, adults always lie, don’t you get it? Is kill or be killed, and seems that he used you like lambs so he will keep on living, but no more, if anybody wants to be a hero and stop us from getting what is rightfully ours I’m going to break her neck! You hear me?” he said squeezing tighter on Sweetie’s neck making Rainbow shake on rage.

“SUNSET!” Just as Rainbow recognized the name Sweetie had screamed as the one of the woman in jail she heard a loud crash and saw the jail door being thrown into the air and a woman wearing blue plants and jacket alongside metal shoulder pads walking in the direction of the huge man, the same woman that was supposedly behind bars.

“I said don’t try to be a hero, so be a good girl and stay there, you hear me? We will play with you later on.”

“You know, I used to hate little kids; that was the case until I met Fluttershy; do you wanna know what I promised to her before she died? I promised her that I wouldn’t let a kid suffer,” Sunset said, her usual smirk completely removed from her face, instead of it there was a dangerous scowl that promised great amounts of pain “Hokuto Shin Ken technique, hundred rending fists,” she calmly said before her arms became a blur, sending hit after hit against the huge man, the sheer speed and power of the attack even made the monstrous man start to float in midair before the last hit send him flying to the ground.

Just as calmly as she had started her attack she put up her arms catching Sweetie Belle and get her to safety, then Sunset turned around and began walking on the direction of the crowd, meanwhile the bandit had rose to his feet.

“Is that supposed to be an attack? It felt more like a fly was flying in front of my face, now I’m gonna have to break you in a thousand pieces!”

“You don’t get it, do you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You are already dead,” Sunset said with her smirk back on place before the bandit couldn’t comprehend her words, but then his body began to convulse, his muscles grew out of proportion. His head looked like a pumpkin before his whole body exploded in a rain of blood, organs and bones as if a bomb had exploded from the inside of his body “now, before you have the same destiny as your boss I suggest you to run.” she said without turning around, next thing that happened was that the rest of the gang got into their bikes and escaped as fast as their machines let them.

“Sunset… thank you… but Rarity… my sister.”

“Hey kid, grab food and water for us.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? We’re going to get your sister back,” Sunset said with the intention of following on the promise that she made to Fluttershy years ago.

A Pony in Hogwarts 01

A Pony in Hogwarts 01

Sunset Shimmer was sure that her teacher and mother figure had way too much fun when it came to her situation, the way she perused the stores among the bizarrely adorned stores said it all in her opinion. Everything seemed so… old fashioned in this world, or at least the parts of the world that were supposed to be magical, the rest showed a level of technology that surpassed everything back home, so why the magical users lived like they were still in the middle ages? Thank Celestia that these magical monkeys had bathrooms.

Sunset left behind those thoughts or she would begin foaming at her mouth and turned to a window to check her appearance once again; the flat face had taken her back the first time she noticed it but then it became a normal thing, probably a filter spell mixed with a species changing spell brought by the mirror to make the transition between universes smoother, she couldn't put it pass Starswirl to put something like that on a portal that opened a door to other universes.

Sighing once again Sunset watched Princess Celestia talking with the store owner about the properties of cauldrons, she had to admit, it was an interesting topic but Sunset was ready to throw the towel after the time spend on other stores; she enjoyed the first few, especially because of their contents, and Sunset already promised herself she would visit once again that bookstore, but this was maddening, was there some way she could have fun? Well, maybe she could, she thought to herself after catching with her eye a most interesting pair, one a young boy that seemed even younger than her with clothes that seemed too big for him and a mountain of a stallion... wait, no, it was man on this side.

–

If Sunset ever met Harry's so-called family she was going to make them her experiment subjects in pain threshold, who in the name of her teacher put a kid under the stairs and make them live there? And she thought the nobles back home were stupid!

Family issues aside she had to admit she had fun talking with Harry which was by itself a surprise, the boy was likable if a little over-whelmed by the place, it seems it was his first time visiting Diagon Alley... and Sunset used to make fun of Pony's proclivity of horse puns, after all, diagonally? Really? She hoped there were no more puns in the future.

“Yes, yer parents went to Gryffindor, I believe ya will do a great Gryffindor too”

“What’s the point about houses?” Sunset still haven’t understood that point about Hogwarts, why they were separated in different dorms like that? What was the point?

“Is the house that represent you, the talking hat always finds out the best house for you depending on your personality”

“Wait, you mean people can judge you depending on what house you get put on by a damn talking hat?” She asked making the giant, whose name was Hagrid, a little uneasy about the question; thankfully he was saved by the arrival of Celestia.

“Sorry that I took so long, it was really interesting how much a potion can change by the material of the cauldron” the tall and elegantly dressed woman said standing at one side of Sunset while Harry stood watching the alicorn princess turned human as if it was a goddess, although taking in consideration her duties back home it wasn't that far from the truth “did I miss anything?”

“Nothing much ‘mom’” Sunset used the word knowing that Celestia still felt a little out of place every time she said it “I was just talking with Hagrid about Hogwart’s houses”

“Yes, I have heard about it, it is a tradition that has been inplace since the creation of the school, basically you are grouped alongside other students with similar personalities or goals as you, it may seem a little antiquated by now, but I suppose they show results”

“Which was your house Miss?” both Celestia and Sunset turned their head to the bespectacled boy with a porcupine for hair and he slightly blushed at being the focus of attention.

“Oh no, I didn’t go to Hogwarts, mister…”

“I’m Harry Potter, so if you didn’t go to Hogwarts how do you know so much about it?”

“Everyone that has magic on this world knows about Hogwarts, but if I ever went to Hogwarts I believe I would have enjoyed going to Slytherin” Celestia said with a playful smile on her face and Sunset had to give it to her, she would have been in paradise with so many people trying to manipulate each other, it would have been child’s play to Celestia and she would have let her inner troublemaker free. It seemed that Hagrid didn’t take that information well but Harry on the other hand just watched Celestia attentively as if she had given him important information.

–

And here she was, waiting at a station for Harry to get everything in order and Sunset stood watching him get a little worried and fidgety while looking for the secret entrance only for wizards, it was strangely funny even though Celestia kept looking at her as if she had done something wrong for enjoying the spectacle; it wasn't her fault nobody was capable of seeing the obvious signs of a charming spell put on the wall, it was frustrating how blind these humans were when it came to magic.

Sunset didn't know why she accepted Celestia's idea of staying on this world and study among their magic users; she was sure she had accepted just so they could both get some time away from each other, she loved Celestia but lately they have been getting into dumb arguments, maybe with this tempers will be able to cool down by the end of the school year, not that Sunset thought it possible, they had sun cutie marks for a reason so fiery tempers were a given.

While Sunset waited for the right time to get to platform 9¾ Sunset stood in the open watching Harry look around completely lost and with no direction, probably wondering himself how to get to the so called magic platform, and Sunset was having fun watching. But what happened next took the cake of the idiosyncrasies that these stupid monkeys did all the time.

“So tell me, your kids go to Hogwarts too right?” she said to the redheaded woman accompanied by more redheaded morons, Sunset hoped she wasn't compared to them in school.

“Of course, all of my children have gone there” Molly Weasley said with a hint of pride while Celestia simply put a hand over her face knowing exactly where this was going.

“So why are you asking people, people without magic by the way, where a magic platform is located? Is like you were trying to call for attention or something like that, I don’t get it!” Leave it to Sunset to say something like that, and if that was just before Sunset got into school Celestia was happy she will not be here to see the repercussions of a pony in Hogwarts.

Author's Note

Yes, in my mind I think Celestia would have been a perfect fit in Slytherin.

A Pony in Hogwarts 02

A Pony in Hogwarts 02

“So why was she practically shouting where the platform was? I mean, it was obvious it was between 9 and 10, it was a huge door connecting both non-magical side and the wizard one, I just don’t get it, why are people strange?” Sunset said after placing all the objects in place on the train cabin that Harry, Sunset and the other redheaded kid that had followed them choose. Sunset had to be sincere on one thing, this train was as luxurious as the one Celestia used whenever she had to travel with entourage, not like that classless Friendship Express, she was sure it was designed by a color blind pony, it looked more like a toy than a real train.

“Maybe mom was confused”

“If your mom was confused because of this oh boy do I worry about your family” Sunset said getting on a roll and Harry had to contain a laughter at seeing the way she was going at it, it was like his aunt Petunia’s tirades but these ones were funny and basically asking why was something happening instead of just complaining.

“Well, we are seven kids plus mom and dad, she has a lot to do, by the way, I’m Ron Weasley”

“Sunset Miroiter” why oh why did she not put attention to Celestia when she was filling the papers? Really, she didn’t know why the princess used the french version of her name; It was or extremely tacky or ingenious in its own way.

“I’m Harry Potter”

“Wow, you are Harry Potter? And you have the… you know… the scar?”

“Oh, yeah” the dark haired boy said before moving his hair to let the other two occupants see the infamous scar on his forehead making Ron be in awe and Sunset to simply stare not knowing what was all about.

“So, is there a reason why you have a rune on your head?” she asked noticing the flabbergasted look on Ron “what did I said?”

“You really don’t know?”

“Well, considering that I’m not from around here I suppose that would be a no” Sunset said knowing that just by saying she was from Equestria would cause so many problems even though these people were used to the bizarre, but a pony dimensional traveler would probably be a little too much for them.

“I defeated a dark wizard when I was a baby and I was left with this scar, my parents died that night to that same dark wizard” Harry said repeating the words Hagrid had told him still feeling as if it had come from a fairy tale, really, he defeated a bad wizard when he was just a baby? And Sunset must have been thinking the same thing because she had a confused look on her face.

“So how exactly did you defeated a dark wizard that was apparently powerful enough to defeat your parents? I’m sorry by the way; I know how it feels to not have parents” Sunset said raised her hands to show she wasn’t trying to be hurtful “and I say it again, people are strange” Sunset finished knowing that sooner or later she will be using so much that it would become her signature phrase.

Harry and Ron had to nod their heads at the words of the female redhead, her opinion of people being strange; they knew it very well with the people they lived with, so with no more talk about scars and family they all settled down until there was someone on the door and it ended up being a lady with a snack cart and after seeing the kind of lunch Ron had (Sunset would swear the bag contained primordial soup) Harry took out enough golden coins to buy the entire stock of candies and snacks, cart not included which was a shame on Sunset’s mind.

The variety was outstanding, every flavor beans, which according to Ron it meant EVERY imaginable flavor, including healthy things and gross stuff, if there was a hay flavor Sunset was all for it; there were also sponge cakes that tasted divine, small chocolate cauldrons with a nice filling but Sunset knew it could be better; and there were the guys favorites apparently, frog chocolates that had wizard cards inside, it seemed like a nice idea, Sunset was a sucker for everything that was collectable so this was right up her alley.

“So what did you get?” Ron asked munching on what seemed a hand sized apple jelly… in the form of an apple, how quaint.

“I got Dumbledore” Harry said obviously impressed about the old wizard, although in the opinion of Sunset he seemed like if he hit the floor he was going to break like glass.

“Well, I have several of him, and you Sunset?” She quickly torn open the box and quickly caught the frog in mid-air, like tartarus she was going to let it escape.

“I got… you can’t be serious” she said looking at the woman with long light pink flowing hair and white dress smiling at her that was printed on the card.

“Doesn’t she look like your mom?” Harry said also looking at the card in her hands, and it was impossible not to see the resemblance, it WAS Celestia, there was no other way, even the name! Celeste Eclat, how much more did you need? She quickly turned the card looking at the information and bio of the witch.

“Age of birth and death unknown, Celeste is one of the founders of Beauxbatons academy in France, she was a powerful witch that is said knew the four founders of Hogwarts Academy, some researchers even claim that she was directly related to the great wizard Merlin” Sunset could only stay looking at the card for almost a full minute without knowing what exactly was happening and why didn’t Celestia told her about something like that.

“So I guess your mom is important” Ron said impressed about the information of Celeste and finally Sunset understood why her papers said that Celestia was from France, the cheeky alicorn!

“Yeah, well, she works on the government, but I wouldn’t mess with her, I have never seen her use her full power” and Sunset was curious about what were Celestia’s limitations in this world, although considering how easy it was for Sunset to find the mana lanes on this world she had an hypothesis about both Celestia and her having an advantage over humans in magic power.

Any talk about her family simply stopped when the door of their cabin was opened once more by a girl wearing the most impressive hairdo in Sunset’s mind, and she had seen noble’s hairstyles.

“Have any of you seen a frog? One of the boys lost his pet and we are looking for it” the girl said but Sunset simply stood watching at her in amazement.

“One question; is it natural or do you do something with your hair? I mean, don’t take me wrong, I like it, I just think by its mere existence there are several laws of physics being destroyed… what? Was it something I said?”

Author's Note

Yeah, Sunset is... peculiar, take in consideration that this Sunset has never been touched by the Elements of Harmony and is the most caustic version of her I used, she is also slightly based on the Sunset from the fic Sunset Shimmer is MAD about everything, so expect tons of lampshade hanging.

And about Celestia, well... the name translated means Celestial Radiance, a little reference to another Celly.

One last thing, which house do you want Sunset to be in? I will listen to your suggestions about that little point because I have plan for Sunset depending on which House she is drafted.

A Pony in Hogwarts 03

A Pony in Hogwarts 03: The first ride is pretty bumpy

“You… you like my hair?” years later Hermione Granger would facepalm anytime Sunset reminded her of their first interaction, but right now one could be forgiven considering that the mousy haired girl had not yet defeated her longtime nemesis known as her hair, so hearing a girl that by all accounts had gorgeous red hair with golden highlights say something non-sarcastic or even insulting about her hair was certainly mind blowing.

“Yeah, I mean, look at it, I’m sure no one in Hogwarts will have hair like that”

“Fortunately, AUGH!” The jibe was soon punished by Sunset’s quick hand making contact with Ron’s head “what was that for?”

“Ron, quick advice, never insult a girl’s look or the next seven years will be very painful and not by my hand” she said looking directly at Ron but while those two continued arguing Harry tuned them out and put his attention on the girl still standing.

“Don’t pay them attention, I think they are always like this” Harry said enjoying the day, so far he had made a couple of friends who didn’t care who he was, well, mostly, Ron treated him like a friend but Sunset wasn’t even amazed by his story, it was great, she just treated him as Harry Potter and not The Boy Who Lived like the rest of the wizards he met back at Diagon Alley.

“Is alright, are you excited about going to Hogwarts? I read the latest edition of Hogwarts: The History” that called Sunset’s attention from her entertaining argument with the other redhead.

“Wait… you already read it?” she asked to the girl who was about to get into a rant about the foundation unknowingly saving Harry and Ron.

“Yes, once Professor McGonagall arrived at my house and gave us all the information about me studying in Hogwarts I got the book and read it so I would know everything important” the brunette seemed so proud of what she had done that Sunset had half a mind of screaming ‘nerd’ at the top of her lungs but Ron’s comment saved her from committing that faux-pas.

“The professor went to your house? You’re a muggle-born?”

“A what now? What’s muggle-born?” Sunset’s confusion was obvious to Ron but thankfully instead of receiving a tactless answer that would have ended in him having a black eye Hermione was the one who answered.

“It means that while I am a witch my parents are muggles, what about you all?”

“I’m a Weasley, basically everyone in the family is a wizard” Ron said remembering the long list of family members that were written in his parent’s books, he didn’t know much about his mom’s side of the family and whenever he asked his mom went all quiet, it made him sad so he stopped asking.

“My parents were wizards too”

“I have no idea whatsoever and I don’t care” Sunset said with so much aplomb that they were all in awe at that declaration “so, anyone knows a game or we are just going to be talking about nothing until we reach Hogwarts?” and with that Ron searched through his bag and pulled a deck of cards teaching about a game called Exploding Snap, they quickly found out that Sunset’s agility and eye to hand coordination left them on the dust.

Finally after several rounds of the game, more debauchery involving huge amounts of candy that no sane parent will let their kids be involved into (much to the horror of Hermione remembering all the lessons she received from her parents about dental care), talks about their own lives and before all that one last round of introductions (Hermione was really amazed of meeting Harry after she had read about him in a book that talked about important wizards and witches of the last century) the train finally stopped and they got their things in order after they split the candy left over among them.

Once they were down Hermione found the boy that had lost his toad who was now clutching said toad on his hands.

“So this is it? They’re making us walk to the castle?” thankfully, before Sunset could get starting a voice powerful enough to be heard by everyone started.

“All first years over here!” both Harry and Sunset smiled at each other when they recognized the voice and quickly found Hagrid standing among the other first years; it was almost comical to see such a guy towering over so many children and at the same time be so careful around them, it was obvious why first year students were left on his care.

So after a little greeting by the half-giant they all got into boats that had no one rowing but they still moved; it was interesting for about five seconds before Sunset put her attention on a long squid tentacle rising from the waters to the amazement of all the other kids.

“Just to warn you, I’m starting to like sushi” Sunset said noticing how quickly the tentacle returned under the water.

So without anything else happening everyone was left on the entrance of the huge medieval castle watching the amount of statues, armors and paintings that moved in complete astonishment, even Sunset had to be sincere, she was amazed about the place, but for different reasons.

“Wow, if this is only the entrance then the rest of the castle is a gigantic kid trap, I mean, sets of armors everywhere? Is like they said, well, we have a bunch of eleven years old in the castle, what will be the safest thing that kids will never play with and will never hurt themselves when playing with them? I know, sets of armor made of metal with dangerous and pointy weapons with them” she said sending Harry on a fit of giggles that lasted until a stern woman with her dark hair on a bun received them and herded them to the mess hall where the rest of the students were reunited, or better said, separated by houses and quickly explained them how they were going to be sorted into the four houses of Hogwarts.

“I knew my brothers were lying when they said I had to fight a troll” Sunset refrained from saying something about Ron, being gullible and the absence of a brain.

“What if the hat sorts us on the wrong house or says we don’t belong in Hogwarts?” she barely heard Hermione mumbling about that and Sunset finally had enough.

“Okay, look, if they had used that dumb hat for who knows how long I’m pretty sure they have a lot of trust on it, and besides, who cares what house you get send to? I mean, if any of us is send to a different house than the others, will you stop talking to him or her?”

“Yes if they are send to Slytherin” Ron said showing his distaste for those of green and silver making Sunset groan at those words.

“See? That’s what I was talking about!”

“Sunset is right, what if I get send to Slytherin? Will you stop talking to me Ron?”

“But Harry, your parents were in Gryffindor”

“So what? That was them, this is our life, we can choose what we want and what we like” Sunset said huffing once more before getting ready to the spectacle that will be the house sorting.

War never changes 01

War Never Changes 01

She said that I took the easy path by running away; she said that I had run away from my responsibility to my world when I turned my back on Princess Celestia in search of power; you know what I answered back to the so-called Princess? That she knew nothing about my decision, saying that I was coward? She haven’t seen what I’ve seen, she haven’t walked among rubble and ruins and think about the time when they were still intact and functional.

Every time we found out a new place in this lonely place that was once a budding city I feel the loneliness and pain of what have this world become, of what a simple decision could cause and how many souls suffer from the madness of few.

The old flag had been torn down by the ravage of radiation and time, but I have also seen that same flag being put back on its place by the brave few that lived on newly made towns, signaling that civilization was back and no matter what kind of raider band or crazy government lunatic appeared they will stay here.

It all started so long ago; when countries around the world began to see that their dependence on oil was bringing them to the point of no return there was a shift on renewable energy, but companies that had made a fortune selling oil and many of its products saw the danger to their way of life and quickly searched for another product, quickly going back to the energies that were found before, nuclear power.

That research was a curse in disguise.

Blinded by the opportunities that brought nuclear power and its subsequent transformation into fusion cells Earth reached a new golden age. But it didn’t last long; soon everybody saw that this was not an eternal source of power and they were just putting a blindfold to the world and every problem that they had before was now even greater.

Tensions reached a point of no return and with just a couple of buttons being pressed around the globe, Earth ceased to exist in matter of minutes. War like never seen before raged through the surface of the world destroying everything on its wake.

Those lucky enough were saved from nuclear annihilation thanks to huge shelters called Vaults; these Vaults allowed people to survive underground until the time it was deemed safe for them to return to the surface. In time these vaults opened to a new and bizarre landscape, they soon began their own tribes expanding across the country and creating a new society among the destruction of the last.

But not all Vaults were safe, what people didn’t know is that the Vaults weren’t created to save humanity but to study them and research them, with each Vault being a completely different experiment. Some put drugs on their water just to see what would happen; another separated the survivors into two groups and filled them with so much paranoia until they broke and began attacking the other side.

I was lucky, Vault 47 was an experiment focused on mass stasis; I could still remember the day I went inside the metal monster, with other citizens of Canterlot flooding the entrance waiting to be saved from the incoming salvo of nuclear missiles.

The only ones I could recognize were the Stetson wearing girl with her family with her, the fashionista looking for her little sister and an annoying girl with rainbow colored hair. All of us were being herded to a massive hall telling us that we were going to be decontaminated, I should have known something was wrong because the next moment there was a flash and then a feeling of floating in the void, where there were no time or suffering, it was a weird feeling that lasted forever and just for a second.

What we discovered, was that after almost 200 years in use the machines finally malfunctioned and the stasis field was lifted freeing all the Canterlot citizens in what, seconds ago from our perspective, had been immaculate halls, now only rusty walls and empty halls welcomed us.

We were an experiment, one that had been abandoned, just like the people in charge of the machines had been; in the end we found out the bodies of those that had been in charge sprawled among the halls, now turned into skeletons; they have killed each other, some trying to leave the vault and others following the rules imposed by Vault Tec.

In the end, one worker had survived, only to die due to bloodloss right in front of the vault door; many of us didn’t like each other, in fact, I was sure AJ and the rest would have thrown me from a cliff but we understood something the precise moment we left the vault… the people we were before the end were death, only together could we survive on this cruel and devastated land.

And it had been hard, oh so hard.

Our own little village had been attacked by insects the size of a small car, by crazy junkies in search of supplies and by what seemed to be zombies out of a horror movie but were humans so contaminated with radiation that since that moment we did everything we could to avoid it.

I don’t know how we survived the first months, but between AJ’s family knowledge of plants we soon had food, Rainbow and others volunteered themselves as the village’s guards and with me and a rather dorky girl by the name of Twilight we got the machines inside the Vault functioning again so medicines and supplies were not a problem anymore.

But soon it was not enough, there was a desire in me growing incessantly every time I watched the horizon, the desire of knowing what was beyond the walls we have created, and would you believe it? I wasn’t the only one, because those three girls that I once bullied felt the same thing, and with a hug to their family and sisters we all geared up in search of the rest of their old friends, to finally put their ghosts to rest, to find their fate among the Canterlot Wasteland.

So here we were, hearing the sound of machine guns being fired and bandits screaming either in rage or pain; a bullet went flying at my side before the bandit that had been shutting at me had his head exploded in bits of meat and bone all thanks to Treacle’s sniper rifle.

It was quite the surprise for all of us to find among the rubble and ruins of Canterlot City a new town that had become quite the beacon of hope among the bleak Wasteland; its name? Pie Town, could you believe it? Pinkie Pie’s message of smile, hope and happiness infected everyone inside Vault 52 and until this day they still lived every day with a true smile. Treacle Tart was the direct descendant of Pinkie and the other three girls took an instant liking to her, it was hard not to, she was so peppy and cheery, just looking at her smile and yellow curls put you on a happy mood.

A loud bang and I watch AJ put down a bandit with her Cowboy Repeater, the same with Rarity and her Plasma Rifle; looking at my side I nodded to Rainbow Dash, she inmediately covered me with a salvo of bullets from her SMG, I guess we had fought together so much that we didn’t need to talk.

Without even needing to say anything I feel a prickle on my skin and immediately the world seems to have slowed down; it was my own invention, one that I was proud of, a combination of chemicals that when injected had this reaction, so far and after making test with animals it was found that the only being that could not get addicted to it was me, probably something to do with my own blood considering I come from another world.

Quickly leaving my cover I aim my modified Gauss Rifle to a bandit and press the trigger, then once again and a final one before the effect of Turbo finished and three heads are separated from their body, then I feel a bullet graze my arm, is nothing serious and I know Fluttershy will immediately start working on any damage.

Fluttershy… poor Fluttershy. The quiet and demure girl had found herself in another Vault away from her friends and her problems had just started; one of the scientist in charge of Vault 51 had fallen in love with Fluttershy, or better said, he was obsessed with her to the point of using her for the real experiment behind the Vault, the birth of a new type of AI using a human brain.

For two hundred years Fluttershy had lived inside a computer with the scientist transferring his mind into a Brain Bot model; by the time we found the Vault he had gone beyond insane, saying over and over that Fluttershy and he had been destined to spend eternity together; I swear, making a brain go splat had never been so satisfying.

It was sad the reunion of friends but Fluttershy had survived the situation with aplomb, spending huge amount of times in a state of energy saving so she didn’t live through much, but what she did was upload herself upon my newly acquired Stealth Suit; I swear, hearing the suit talk was a surprise on itself.

Anyways, all the bandits taken care of and everyone on our side alive, we put our attentions on the one reason we attacked the bandits, a girl that looked just like Twilight back in our village, but immediately I could see that this girl was not only terrified, but that she didn’t belong in here.

I have met her once, hundreds of years ago, when I was still the bully, when I had left Princess Celestia and Equestria behind, I don’t know what effect the radiation had on the portal but seeing her here was proof that the times between dimension were screwed, but also that it was still working.

There was only one thing going through my mind the moment I extended my hand to the fallen girl to help her get up.

War, war never changes.

But you know what?

Ponies do.

Author's Note

Next time on the Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer:

"Hell, is about time" she said while the doors of the hangar opened for her.

Wings of Liberty 01

Author's Note

I've decided to hold onto the 'Hell' scene for next chapter and leave you the foundations of this dimension for now.

In the next episode:

Let's go! Rider Kick!

Wings of Liberty 01

Wings of Liberty 01

Watching the humongous laser do its work against the massive doors build against the cliff wall wasn’t exactly the most interesting view for those around the digging site, but of course Sunset Shimmer have had to entertain herself with worst things, like the news network everything they talked about the empress, now THAT was boring and irritating at the same time.

So what was the pony turned human doing in the middle of a weird planet pulling a Daring Do on the ruins? Very simple, cold hard cash that she needed for much more important things like say, save the known galaxy from overgrown insects and also crazy megalomaniac and egotistical tyrants.

Taking that in consideration Sunset once more began to check the diagnosis in the monitor to see how long until the three doors would be melted knowing well that it was a slow process.

“Eh, Sugarcube” came the voice through their communicators making Sunset groan in annoyance, not with the heavy accented voice, but the news that it would deliver.

“Let me guess, there’s a wave coming”

“Eeyup, there’s just one small thing, there’s an archon with them” with that piece of news Sunset re-checked her rifle knowing very well the combat capabilities of that Protoss unit, she have seen it in action several times through her years in this dimension and they were not easy to fight, but before there could be any action there was only a big explosion and what seemed like a rain of confetti falling through the air “never mind, she took care of them” Applejack gave her report while Sunset simply put the rifle back on its place against the ledge.

With her eyes focusing on the monitor she heard several heavy steps getting closer to her before she saw the heavily modified marine armor of her friend; she turned around to look directly at the almost eagle-like eyes of her friend.

“Is it okay if I say your cannoneer scares me to death?” Gilda asked her pointing down to the weird neon pink siege tank currently stationed close to the drilling laser; if one paid close attention to it they could hear some kind of music coming from the inside.

“Believe me when I say this, Pinkie Pie can be the greatest siege and demolition expert in the team but we have reached a conclusion, whenever Pinkie does something just let her do it and run the other way before everything explodes” Sunset said laughing quietly at the antics of the pink haired woman.

“I’ll keep that in mind”

“Can I ask you a question in return Gilda?”

“Sure you can”

“Why are we here searching for a Protoss relic that is heavily guarded by a clearly fanatical cult?”

“Is like I told you, the guys that helped me are really into Protoss history and a supposed super weapon against the Zerg, but about the cult, well, I’m as confused as you are, I thought you were the Protoss expert in here”

“Not even close, the Protoss are like us, they are not a unified force, many factions were expelled centuries ago so these guys could be considered criminals for the Protoss of Aiur, that’s why I was asking, they are weird and they practically form a single line when it comes to dying for whatever is inside” Sunset complained aloud before the monitor began to blink quickly, the last door was close to being melted.

Sadly, and this was Sunset knew very well, there was always a final assault in this kind of mission and this was no exception.

“Sunset! Multiple targets are quickly approaching your location, and they have a Colossus with them!”

“Great, why not? It totally makes my day” Sunset adjusting her own custom marine armor, one that had been a gift from someone special a little time ago, it resembled the ghost armor but it was way thicker than it looked at first sight; she then put her modified rifle against the rail as support and with a quick pull of the trigger she saw the head of a Protoss explode, her bullet bypassed its force field as if it didn’t exist.

But then she saw a huge construct, the one called Colossus, and it deserved its name for it towered over everything Sunset and her team currently had at their disposition; she was about to type orders to the drilling laser before a huge barrage of missiles appeared out of nowhere hitting the Colossus directly and after a few seconds this one exploded; the rest of the ground forces from the Tal’darim were easy prey to Pinkie Pie’s ‘Party Cannons’

Breathing easily and with the third door finally down she watched the dozen of flying constructs de-cloak in midair and she knew exactly who had control over that force.

“Hey bacon head, heard you were having trouble with some lame guys and decided to drop by”

“Rainbow Dash! Where have you been? Fluttershy has been asking about you constantly” Sunset said responding to her communicator knowing exactly that rainbow’s confident smile was present on the other girl’s face.

“Sorry for leaving you for a while boss, I just had to get these babies ready, not only that but guess who also wanted to come?”

“It wasn’t exactly a tough choice newbie”

“Spitfire? What are you doing here?”

“I never liked the direction this whole empire thing was leading to, I’m loyal to the people of the confederacy, not to its ruler” said the voice of the veteran flier making Sunset smile at how angry it sounded when she mentioned Starlight.

“Well, glad to have you here, but we’re gonna need transport to get the artifact”

“Already on it Sugarcube” the dependable voice said and Sunset knew that the artifact would soon be aboard their ship; she still didn’t know what these things were supposed to do and trying to get that information from Gilda would be next to impossible considering she didn’t know either but if these stones were the key to save the galaxy then she was all for it.

“Soon Twilight, I’ll save you soon”

Let's Go Rider Kick 01

Rider Kick! 01

For many teenagers the idea of even stepping close to a museum in a weekend was the stuff of nightmares, but for a certain trio it was a dream come true, so here they were, a redheaded girl and a duo of girls so similar to each other than the employees and visitors to the Canterlot History Museum would swear they were twins although the truth was far crazier.

Princess Twilight found herself at home away from home when she stepped through the portal and immediately hugged her friends. Yes, they were alternate versions of her friends back in Ponyville but their friendship meant a lot for the princess for different reasons and she would never think that she liked them for that single reason; they were unique and had quirks that separated from the other elements of harmony.

She was also really interested in the way the Twilight of that dimension could be so similar to her and at the same time have her own personality, likes and fears, just like how much the girl loved sci-fi movies and books, it was a fun experience every time they met and compared notes about different projects. But the biggest surprise after all this time had been Sunset Shimmer.

Starlight had been surprised that she wasn’t the first unicorn that gave Twilight trouble, she already met one and had become close friends with Trixie, but that there was a unicorn of great power, and that basically had the same (unofficial) ranking as Twilight when it came to saving worlds and magical adventures was eye opening. And twilight had to admit that it was true, that unlike Starlight, Twilight didn’t turn Sunset into her student, all this time Twilight had seen Sunset as an equal, it was a humbling experience really to not only stay in contact with another student of Celestia but a pony that could go hoof on hoof with her in every subject and magical theory.

So with those two members of the Humane Seven (phrase coined by Pinkie of course), the trio decided to spend time on a new exposition at the local museum, a place that the human Twilight knew like the back of her hand, with Sunset also knowing about several expositions, mainly those that she found interesting.

And what an exposition it was, full of artifacts and art from hundreds of years ago.

“Well, you gotta admit, this is quite interesting” Sunset said watching one of the stones and the figures on it “they still don’t know who made them or what they represent”

“I read that one theory is that they tell some kind of story, but they’re not sure from what period or even who made them” the bespectacled girl told the other resident of Canterlot.

“That sounds bad, do you think Starswirl had anything to do with this Princess?” the aforementioned pony princess didn’t mind being referred as that, having two Twilights could make things a little confusing.

“I don’t know, I don’t recognize any of these drawings, but considering that Starswirl send the sirens to this dimension is not unrealistic to think he used this dimension as a prison for more creatures”

“Well, considering these things were done hundreds of years ago I think they are bones by now” Sunset said trying to disperse any feeling of unease her companions could have, so with that round of questions complete they began to check the rest of the exhibition but there was something that caught their attention, something blinking on Sunset’s chevron jacket.

Taking the round object out of her pocket she found out that the compass-style radar form the machine was functional once again.

“Wait… is that my magic container?” Twilight asked surprised to see her friend with that had caused so much trouble.

“I found it after the celebrations for winning the Friendship Games, well, it was more like a tie, but I found it close to the remnants of the Wondercolt Statue” hearing that place made Twilight wince slightly “I decided to keep it, who knows what would happen if somebody else found it and began playing with it?”

“I think it was a wise choice, magic by itself can be dangerous, both of you were lucky that it had no lasting effect in either” the princess told them in a tone of voice that showed how serious the situation at the Friendship Games had been.

But after receiving the opinion of the princess the trio began following the radar until they found themselves in front of a rectangular block that had a very familiar symbol on it, one that surprised the three girls.

“My cutie mark” the princess exclaimed seeing the symbol on the stone; it was definitely not something Sunset was expecting to see that day and considering the readings from the containing unit it definitely held equestrian magic.

“Well, mystery solved, Starswirl definitely had something to do with this”

“That name really do brings memories back” a cultured and calm voice said right behind them making them almost jump; quickly turning around they found a man with a three piece and gold rimmed glasses watching the stone with a content smile on his face.

While most women would agree that the man was incredibly handsome there was something in him that made the three girls weary of him, he was putting them on edge by his mere presence and it seemed that the man had realized that.

“Now, please, do not be alarmed, I’m not here to cause a commotion, although… well, I cannot say the same about my companions” he said with the same calm demeanor before Sunset saw one of the guards of the exhibition being send flying by a mountain of a man while a guy with wild blonde hair got close to a pair of statues and with a simple touch of his hand they changed color to green, he had effectively brought back to life the statues.

In seconds the exhibition hall became chaos, the statues brought to life began to attack security while the suited man joined his companions.

“Now please, we do not need to make quite this chaos yet, we came here for our old power, no need to get ahead of things my good friends” he said taking on his hand a trio of pendants before he turned to the statues “get rid of the witnesses and then destroy the stone” he said before he and the other two men began to shine and simply vanished.

“They know teleportation!”

“That’s the first thing that comes to your mind princess?!” Sunset said trying to process what had happened while avoiding the panicked civilians that were trying to escape from the monsters “you heard what they said, they want to destroy the stone, which means...”

“That the stone has properties to defeat them!” the princess said before taking the glass covering the stone taking the stone on her hands turning to the statues, then she began to concentrate her magic but the stone didn’t react to it “is not working!” and like that one of the statues backhanded her on the face sending her flying through the air before crashing against a wall.

“Twilight!” at that moment Sunset saw red, she haven’t felt this angry before in such a long time, not since when twilight put her friends on danger with her reckless use of the same device she had on her hands, remembering that gave her an idea “I don’t know what the hell you are, but nobody hurts my friends!” she said opening the device to see if she could drain whatever magic they had but something went wrong, or right depending on which side of the fight you were.

Instead of draining something happened, energy began to pour from the device quickly finding a target, the stone that had been send to the floor and once it made contact with it the stone began to float on the air before a flash blinded everyone inside the exhibition for a second.
When Sunset opened her eyes the stone was floating in front of her but instead of grey stone it had become something new, taking it on her hands she saw that it was now shiny and white, almost like plastic but sturdy like steel; it had an oblong form, completely white with a round space inside shown by a clear circle and as if her hand was being moved by itself Sunset put the object on her waist, instantly two long and thin extensions appeared to fasten the now obvious belt to her waist.

Then she saw the magic device that Twilight had created and saw that it had transformed as well, now being pure white with her own cutie mark found in the center, the size was perfect for the part in the belt; knowing what to do now she pressed a part on top of the belt and the left part of the belt, the one directly around the clear display opened up like a claw and she put the device inside just as a voice inside was heard.

“Core Ready!” the voice told her as she raised her hand pointing at the sky, looking directly at the statues who hadn’t moved in fear or surprise, Sunset didn’t care, she only had one thing on her mind, destroy them.

“HENSHIN!” she screamed not knowing from where the words had come from but she felt a surge of power as she put her hand down closing the claw around the core.

“Element Installed!” and like that she changed, a beautiful white armor with red highlights appeared around her body, her face hidden behind a helmet with two big red eyes that had lighted up as the transformation was complete; something resembling a unicorn horn was present on the helmet as the around the eyes there were red marks resembling those she had when she became Daydream, but she wasn’t that pseudo-alicorn, no, she was something more, the name appeared on her mind.

She was Kamen Rider Yujo.

Author's Note

Yep, she was her own Rider.

Next on The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer:

"Hey Sunset, do you copy?"

"Loud and clear Shinning" Sunset said not quite believing how it was possible, but it seemed like Phobos Base had found itself on Hell.

Doom 01

Doom 01

The dark room contained everything that a Union Aerospace Corporation employee could ever need while they resided on their installations so far away from home; from light reading to the most modern entertainment was found and possible on the recreational room. This was also the room where Twilight Sparkle was dragged to by a surprised woman known as Sunset Shimmer.

“Okay, start talking, why are you here? Is pretty clear that you are not of this world since I know the Twilight Sparkle of this dimension” the redheaded woman said keeping her hand over Twilight’s throat and the princess could feel the kind of power behind the skin, for someone that had fought against hordes of changelings and other magical creatures it was quite the scary situation.

“I had no other choice; the mirror in Equestria began to malfunction”

“Nice try kid, the mirror is back home on Earth so who are you and what are you doing here? Start talking before I decide to bring you to the Security Chief. Considering that you are disguised as his little sister I don’t think he will be in a good mood in the interrogation” the woman said making Twilight gulp at her grin.

“I’m saying the truth, I was at the Crystal Kingdom when the mirror activated”

“Wait, Crystal Kingdom? That thing disappeared hundreds of years ago”

“it came back, alongside King Sombra, thankfully we found the Crystal Heart and the citizens of the kingdom defeated him” hearing those words Sunset relented on her hold, after all, only someone from Equestria could have given her that kind of information, it was too detailed and with information concerning an obscure part of Equestria’s history that there was no way this girl was from this side of the portal.

“Okay, say I believe you. What are you doing here then little pony? You are a long way from home”

“I told you, the portal activated while my friends and I were on the Crystal Kingdom, then something came out of the portal, something that even scared Princess Celestia, the only time I saw her this worried was when Discord escaped” she said making Sunset wonder how many things she had missed since abandoning Equestria for this place.

“And what else happened? I’m losing my patience here”

“It was… what came through the portal was horrendous, red skin and full of teeth and… and, it threw fire balls, it killed seven guards before the Princesses could subdue it, and even then the creature fought back, they had to kill it”

“And what does that have to do with me? Did the bitch started to blame me for that?”

“No, she… she was worried that you could be in trouble”

“So she sends you to deal with a problem she didn’t have time or didn’t care enough to do it herself, what a surprise, well, you can go back and tell her that it was probably somepony playing god or maybe it just led you to a dimension full of karma, I don’t give a fuck” Sunset said releasing Twilight and starting to walk away.

“But why was the creature there? How it could gain access to Equestria? That’s why I decided to come here, but everything seems… normal and at the same time off” Twilight said starting to think that coming here was a terrible mistake, especially taking in consideration how Celestia’s previous student looked and acted.

“How should I know? If you haven’t realized by now there’s very little opportunities to gain access to Equestria since we are in another planet and in one of its moons to make it even harder” she said pointing at one of the windows giving a view to the whole place and Twilight followed the finger of the older woman before feeling as if her jaw had hit the floor.

Red and metal was the full range of things outside, the alien topography of the place screamed another world, it was fascinating and scary at the same time, to find herself in another planet even in a different dimension was something that no pony excepting Princess Luna could tell about, and here she was where no pony had ever been before, well, excepting Sunset Shimmer.

But just as either pony turned human could say anything there was a huge light appearing from the farthest tower and the ground began to shake as if responding to an earthquake, and just when it stopped Sunset’s communicator picked up a call.

“Sunset, are you there?”

“Right here Armor, what was that?”

“It came from the Argentum Tower; listen, I’ve been trying to get in contact with the marines stationed close to it but there was only interference, what’s more, I cannot pick any signal from the tower”

“Well, seems like we have a situation now” Sunset said already walking to the bunker in search of her equipment; so much for having the day off, behind her Twilight began to follow her not having any idea of what was going on except for the chatter between Sunset and someone else, the voice sounded like her brother.

“That’s not the worst part… Sunset, this may sound weird but there are… creatures, really weird creatures; I don’t know if they are natives of Phobos or if the scientist did some really weird experiment lately but they are not docile” Shining told her making Sunset think back on what Twilight had already told her.

“Hey Armor, tell me, were these creatures red with a lot of teeth and could throw fire?”

“Yes, they looked exactly like that, how?”

“An encounter you may say, so what now?”

“I’m trapped on the communication tower, once I got in the creatures didn’t follow me up, I guess they got bored or simply wanted something else; right now you are the only marine I could get in contact” Shining Armor told her making Sunset sigh at what was asked of her.

“Let me guess, you want me to find out what happened at Argentum Tower while cleaning out whatever hostile I could find in the way”

“Got it on the first try” the good humored voice was the only answer she got before she took her helmet on her hands, the Praetor Armor fitting perfectly, she then took her trusty pistol since it was the only weapon the security was permitted to carry while not on duty, later on she was sure she could find better things.

“So, Twilight, still sure you want to stay here?” she said behind the helmet seeing how Twilight’s knees were shaking.

“I have a duty to Equestria, besides, maybe you could need me” she said with a very feeble smile but Sunset didn’t care; with one last look at her equipment she began to move in the direction of the Argentum Tower.

It was time to Rip and Tear.

Author's Note

And that's it, with this dimension I have finished what I call The First Wave of doors, now I will start doing more chapters of the already stablished doors or I will do what I call Packages. What do I mean? Well, later on I will do a video explaining all of these things and my next plans for The Many Destinies and stories linked to it.

See ya soon guys.

Interlude 02: The Key and The Letter

Interlude 02: The Key and The Letter

Sunset had always found the invention of the elevator as a great advancement not only in physics and practical science but also as an indispensable tool whenever she felt stairs were too much of a hassle for her.

In this case she found out the elevator as the perfect mode of transportation considering the size of the place she was residing, it was a must due to the size of the manor and that it existed through different dimensions and times; so at every floor there was all kinds of nonsense going on like a room that was completely upside down, a pool the size of a house, a library that seemed to have no end, a music room that looked like a concert hall. It was an adventure itself just looking through these wonderful places but also a little tiring.

Without a doubt, the biggest mystery was the reason for all the doors that were processed through the main hall; a multitude of colored doors all magically linking to somewhere else it seemed, all of them leading to different world and realities, all of them leading her to a new place where thing had gone wrong or right, where a simple choice could have devastating consequences.

Sunset’s scientific mind was always awoke when it came time to open up these doors, to take a peek into the life of another herself, as weird as that sounded, but it was fascinating, to see her adapt to new situations and not only survive but to thrive on it, become better, stronger, to see that despite the mistakes all Sunsets have made they could find a way to make a new path for themselves.

It was awe inspiring, and a little ego boost really, to see it all, but there were still so many doors, probably with many different worlds still to discover, and all thanks to the man at her side.

If one were to look at him they would find him too normal with his suits, his glasses and the ever present umbrella at his side; he seemed like the classical English Gentleman, and he was really a gentleman, always with the manners, the joy for tea and quick dry humor to accompany it, and Sunset trusted completely in him.

Since the moment she accepted his invitation that was the moment she found herself in the middle of this observation mission as she liked to call it, watching the multitude of Sunsets while she studied their reactions and worlds, although she wasn’t quite sure of why she had to do it but something told her the answer was close and she wouldn’t like it. Just like she was sure she wouldn’t like the invitation he had received.

“So are you finally going to tell me what does the invitation says?”

“It is like I told you, a tea party invitation, and nice reference by the way”

“I never liked the fox song, but hey, at least I tried” Sunset said smiling a bit before the Observer took a letter out of his pocket and a small key “What’s that?”

“This is the next step of what I have planned” he said looking at the key on his hand “you see, the tea party is not something everyone can go to, or want to go to, it is a dangerous situation where many people could AND loses their lives”

“Why go then?”

“Because the consequences of not going are even worse than whatever could happen at it”

“You are not exactly making me feel better about that party” she said wondering what kind of dangers a tea party could have.

“That was my intention, the dangers found in it will destroy unprepared people; Featherine is a sorcerer you have to be careful of all the time, is true that her abilities and mine cancel each other but for you… well, you are right now a wild card, I guess that’s why we recieved the invitation, she is probably wondering what kind of chaos you will cause; but enough of this dark talk, I have a mission for you” the suited man said reaching into his suit jacket and pulling two objects.

“So, no more opening doors and watching another me do crazy stuff?” she said with a small smile, she had been having fun but she wanted to do something for a chance.

“Not this time, we will check your other versions but for now I need you to give yourself a little visit” The Observer said placing the two objects on Sunset’s hand. Looking at them Sunset noticed that it was a letter and a key, one that seemed a little weird to her eye.

“I have never seen a key like that before”

“Oh yes, this one is quite special, it opens the way to a school, unlike any other, it is important for something that I have planned”

“Does it have to do with that great evil you have been mentioning lately?”

“Indeed, my dear Sunset, another you is an important part of what we are doing, sadly she was never capable of getting to the school this key is part of, so I need you to nudge not so quietly or with subtlety, the part that she will play will definitely affect other doors so I need to be sure she goes to the correct destination”

“So… what do you want me to do?”

“Why did I ask?” Sunset said to herself sighing while watching at the building and its doors. After entering the manor and meeting her new teacher she didn’t think she wouldl find her way back to Canterlot High so fast, but anything could happen apparently.

With one final nod she went into the school waving and saying hello to all the students that she knew very well but that were not the versions she became friends of, she wondered if that’s how both Twilights felt when they arrived at the school.

Knowing the route she had to take considering she had walked it many times before she found herself standing in front of the music room where she and the rest of the Rainbooms practiced their songs, and to be sincere, Sunset was feeling slightly giddy about the situation.

Opening the door and stepping inside Sunset was met with different reactions, from incredulous to shock and she had to contain her laughter, she just let her usual confident smirk show.

“I see it but I can’t believe it” the usual posh voice of Rarity said externalizing the opinion of the group.

“Okay, am Ah the only one that feels a little bit of Déjà vu here?”

“Oh my goodness! Is the Sunset from this dimension that has come to visit after learning of our Sunset and is probably going to mean that there will be a new adventure in our world that will probably mean a new enemy for us to defeat so it won’t destroy the whole universe!” Do I really have to point who said all that?

“Almost, but no cigar”

“Why would I want a cigar?”

“Well, I can definitely say Pinkie Pie will continue to be Pinkie Pie no matter the universe” she said fondly looking at the party girl.

“Wait, you said dimension… you are not the me from this world?”

“Not even close, I'm Sunset Shimmer but I come from another dimension… wow, this is weird, this is the first time I can talk with another version of myself, usually I just watch their adventures”

“What do you mean another version?”

“I… have a mission of sorts, there is something coming that will affect multiple versions of ourselves, that’s why I came here” Sunset said remembering the reason why she crossed the door for the first time.

“Uhm, is it going to be dangerous? Because, I don’t like it when things become dangerous, not after everything that has happen in the school lately”

“Don’t worry Fluttershy; if anything wants to get into our turf we’ll kick its butt”

“Wish I could be as optimistic as you Rainbow” Sunset said knowing that things would get pretty serious soon enough “there is someone that has been keeping an eye on us… all of us… he wants us to survive so he has been making contingency plans, and we are part of it”

“So what do you want me to do? I mean, I’m not a princess or even an alicorn, what can I do?”

“You feel as if you are not as important as Twilight, I know how you feel. I have felt it too, but that’s okay, maybe we couldn’t become an alicorn princess but our destinies are always pointing in different directions, we are Sunset Shimmer and we will always fight, never forget that” one Sunset said to the other before placing a letter and a key on the other’s hand “we have the power to change our destinies, so go ahead and show Celestia how amazing we are”

“Sure, no pressure” the local Sunset said with a thankful smile in her face, it felt nice to hear those words, especially considering that they came from another version of herself; with that said Sunset walked out of the room much to the other girls’ surprise.

“And you are just going to let her walk away? Just like that?”

“Something tells me I’m going to see her soon, so that was just a goodbye for now” Sunset said remembering those same words being said by Princess Twilight. Getting out of her ruminations she then focused on the letter and the weird key it came with. It had the face of a girl with one eye hidden by her hair at the top while the part to open the door seemed to be made of an E and an A.

Taking her eyes away from the key Sunset and the rest of the band put their attention to the letter and what it contained; their eyes growing bigger and bigger at the content until Sunset couldn’t contain herself anymore.

“How in the sun was I accepted in this school? I mean, Ever After High?”

Author's Note

If you heven't seen Ever After High, it is made by Mattel and is a spin-off of Monster High, and is way superior to the other series since its main topic is about destiny, free will, nature vs nurture and many other things, it is a well written series with cool stuff and cool characters, give it a try.

An Ever After Tale 01

Author's Note

The red voice is the male narrator from Ever After High while the blue voice is the female on.

Also, the new attire of Sunset is based upon the illustration of John R. Neill depicting Dorothy Gale, which is the version most fans of Wizard of Oz take as canon.

An Ever After Tale 01

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, a young unicorn fought against the teachings of her guardian and in a last show of defiance jumped into a powerful portal that brought her to a new land, where even her own body had changed.

After years of gaining power she was then defeated by a powerful princess; left behind, the unicorn made friends and with them she grew up to be a guardian instead of a villain.

“Was it really necessary to say that story again? I’m pretty sure they all know it considering they are reading about the destiny of Sunset Shimmer”

“It is always nice to start from the beginning when telling the story”

“But the readers already now the beginning, you could have just started the moment she got the key”

Would you two please shut up? This story doesn’t need this many narrators.

“What?”

“How?”

Why are you looking at me like that? Is like if you have never seen a narrator before; either way, you two are irrelevant for now, this story is not the same Ever After, things are going to change this time around.

“But the story has to be the same, which is the whole point of Ever After High”

“Not since Raven Queen became a rebel”

“That has nothing to do with it, at the end of the day Raven Queen will become part of the Snow White tale and fulfill her destiny”

Who cares about that crap?

“Excuse me?”

Like I said, who cares about that? Royal or Rebel, that’s not important this time around, the only thing I care this time is to tell the story of Sunset Shimmer and how it will affect this world.

“Of course is importa

“What… what did you do?”

What I should have done before either of you started talking: take you out of the picture, or Story Book if we have to start using fairy tale related puns. Okay, sorry for that but the narrators would started spinning the tale around the two different factions in this school and even thought is really interesting to see it, or in this case read it, there’s more important points to focus on this time around.

So, let’s start with some explanations, my name is Rated Oni and until now I was content to simply talk to you from the author notes but I see that will NOT be possible anymore considering the trouble those two narrators make on a daily basis on their respective world so they left me no other choice but to directly intervene.

Continuing on, welcome to the world of Ever After High, where the descendants of the original fairy tale characters come to learn their respective roles in those stories so they could one day be able to recreate them. Every time they do it the story changes a little bit taking in consideration that different people with different personalities are the ones doing the recreation.

Mind you, that’s probably why the stories have never been quite consistent through the ages, something to remember I suppose.

So, what does this have to do with us? Everything, but as one archeologist said, ‘spoilers’, so I cannot tell you everything but I can tell you this, what this Sunset will do in this school may or may not affect every single living world in the multiverse; I said may or may not because unlike the offspring of our two Ever After High narrators I don’t interfere, I may give a nudge or two but I will not guide the actions of these creatures, I simply write about them.

Either way, the sun kissed girl we all loved and adored… I know she isn’t blond but I had to do the pun, you got it? Sun cutie mark? Oh fine, no more puns. So there she was, standing in front of the statue with all her bags at her feet being in the center of a group hug from her friends.

“Oh, I hope you didn’t forget something, what if you forgot your charger or your laptop, then there is no way you can talk with us, or what if…”

“Is okay Fluttershy, Sparky helped me with my bags” Sunset told her friend while the rest of the human elements let her go.

“Do you really have to go darling? I’m not saying it just because we will miss you but all this about a school for fairy tales seems a little…”

“Fucked up?”

“I was going to say convoluted; there was no need for that kind of language Rainbow”

“Hey! I call it as I see it! This is too weird… but I know you Sunset, you just love the kind of puzzles that give me a headache all the time”

“But even Tetris gives you a headache Dashie”

“Not helping Pinkie”

“I know guys but… you all read the letter” I think she is referring to the second letter coming with the acceptance letter “that other me… she… she is going to need my help”

“But is it necessary for ya to be so far away? We have all become like family and Ah don’t want to see this family be separated”

“If what it says here is right then we will still communicate with each other through emails and chat; I’m not going to take a long time to come back girls.”

“But what about your grades? I mean, I don’t know if that school has the same curriculum”

“I talked with Principal Celestia; apparently she was really interested about this other world”

“Is anyone surprised about that one? Ah swear those two sisters have taken this whole ‘Parallel Universes’ business like Rainbow to Zap Apple Cider” the aforementioned girl had to contain her drool at the simple mention of those words.

“As I was saying, we talked and she decided that my knowledge of sciences… and basically all the other courses in the school are comparable to a graduating student so she will take my time at Ever After High as extra credits for when I return”

“Like I said, I just wish you wouldn’t leave us for so long”

“I will miss all of you, the school, everything really, but I believe this important, not just for me, but for everyone in the multiverse… better get going. I will admit this though, I’m excited about seeing this other world” she said before placing the tip of her new key on the surface and in clear words she began the enchantment.

“Mirror, mirror
On the wall
Quickly take me
To this new world”

She said and like magic the portal brightly activated and in the next second, once their eyes recovered from the flash, the six other girls found that not even the bags had been left behind. With deep sighs the girls took a look at each other knowing well that they will miss Sunset but something told them that they will see Sunset very soon and who know, maybe alongside anyone she would meet at the other side of her figurative rainbow.

Just as the girls were preparing to return to their respective houses Sunset found herself in a very familiar place, a vortex that felt more like an amusement park attraction with its fondness for turns and loops, and just like that, she found herself once more breathing air that seemed so familiar and alien at the same time.

Sunset took a couple of seconds to re-orient and get back her bearings, but mostly her sight and balance since this time her whole body wasn’t transformed from a biped to a quadruped.

“Well, at least that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about this time” she said to herself before standing up to see if anything had changed, and change it did, her whole attire had seemed to adjust in ways she found interesting.

Her usual low heeled boots, low in comparison to others like those used by Rarity, were now high heeled silver shoes, her usual teal shirt and jeans had become into white thighs with a long red strip on them and a long white shirt with a bow in a sailor style, it reminded her of the old British school uniform she had seen on the internet. But the one thing that changed in a way she liked was her jacket, this time becoming a long white and red jacket, pulling it off she saw her cutie mark on the back bringing a smile on her face to be wearing once again that part of her old pony life.

She also put attention to her hair and skin, the first becoming even longer and wavier with the golden highlights becoming thicker now making her look more like a blonde than a redhead; the latter was now a soft cream color with a light tan reflecting the time she spent outside doing different activities with her friends.

“Wow, I can’t believe that other Twilight can go through the statue every time she visits” a voice coming from way down almost made Sunset jump out of her skin, a second later she looked down finding a small purple dog staring at her with a smile “hey Sunset”

“Spike… what are you doing here?”

“Meh, Twilight told me to keep an eye on you in case anything happened, although between you and me I think she is expecting me to tell her about stuff in this universe and help her do some remote experiments” the canine said showing his brand new sense of humor.

“Well, whatever the reason I… well, thank you Spike, guess we are on a new adventure, ready for it boy?”

“You can bet a box of doggy treats, talking about them, do you have any Sunset?”

“Tell you this, let’s find the school and we will both have a late lunch”

“Now, you’re talking” Sunset laughed at the enthusiasm the small dog was showing before rising a hand ready to take hold of her bags before it began to glow and the bags started to levitate as if by…

“Magic… this world has magic, guess I shouldn’t be surprised if this is the land of fairy tales”

“Guess Twilight will not be the only one curious about this world” Spike said recognizing the face Sunset was making; after all, it was the same Twilight had anytime magic was involved.

An Ever After Tale 02

I suppose stories need to start with a Once Upon a Time; it is a tradition in this place, or it will become, I have the times a little confused in here, trying to write while at the same time narrate can be quite distracting now that I think about it.

Either way, what you see in front of your eyes is none other than the land of fairy tales; where the next generation of those same characters arrives at school to learn about their roles and gain useful abilities and knowledge about their future jobs… except Damsel-in-Distressing, that class is useless in so many levels.

Usually this would be the time to show you the stories of a royal and a rebel but instead of that, let me show you the Story of a Guardian: Sunset Shimmer.

With that in mind let’s go back to the present, where Sunset Shimmer and her canine companion had finally reached the scholastic building they had been searching for, finding that they weren’t the only ones at its doors; teenagers with hair and clothes similar to hers were milling around without any kind of worry, some of them talking, other using their phones and tablets and Sunset felt strangely relieved to see the usage of technology in this other world.

For someone that had originally come from a world with few technological wonders, the usage of internet and computers have become a daily thing, so much that many hours had been spend playing with codes and wires in search of new usages so the clear indication of similar technology to the one found in CH was a relief.

That relief was soon exchanged by surprise when giant pair of legs walked around without any of the other students batting an eye to the situation.

“Well, I suppose Jack and the Beanstalk is part of this school” Sunset said to Spike while both continued to gawk around the main hall, seeing how similar and yet bizarre this school was compared to their previous one, where to start?

Some girls and boys were seen wearing crowns on their heads, obviously princesses and princes of fairy tales, there were a trio of anthropomorphic pigs walking around, a girl with a flock of sheep, a guy that had transformed into a frog and did she already mention a giant?

“Spike, I’ve a feeling we are not in Canterlot anymore” Sunset said not really sure of where that phrase came from but found it in a way soothing in this place full of wonders and stuff literally taken from a fairy tale.

“Considering that the only place I usually went to before talking were Crystal Prep and the Canterlot City Public Library I’ll take the amazing to the mundane” Spike said in his own doggy wisdom making the young girl smile once again in confidence; quickly deciding that staying there in the middle of the hall would not bring any change or knowledge to the girl they soon began their search for the main office before one of the pigs got very excited about something.

“Is Apple White!” he said, at least Sunset thought it was a he, before falling over making every other student look at the doors; there stood two girls, one a brunette that completely looked like a party girl and the other… was some sort of walking blonde doll that had doves transporting her luggage.

“Who in the yellow brick road is that?” Sunset asked more to herself once more finding a strange phrase come naturally to her; deciding to let that go for now she focused on the girl and found herself a little overwhelmed by the bright colors and how much everyone around her were practically calling for her attention; fortunately the other girl took most of the attention away when she began to socialize letting the blonde girl walk in Sunset’s direction.

Seeing something like that happen Sunset took a look around and saw what she thought was the real target for this Apple White, a blonde boy wearing a crown and a royal jacket reminiscent to those letter jackets Sunset saw at school back home; if you asked Sunset what she thought of those two together she would have probably laughed at how clichéd they looked as the obvious popular kids from a teenage show.

“But your smile is so charming” she heard the girl say and Sunset had to contain her gag, the sugar practically oozed from that voice and Sunset basically felt her teeth rot with so much sweetness.

“Well, you know” that is until that boy finally smiled letting out such a sudden flash of light that let Sunset seeing spots just being capable of hearing the huge crash from the giant boy falling behind her.

“Dude, careful with those, you could leave someone blind” She heard Spike say while blinking her eyes to recover the full usage of her eyes; once they were clear of spots she found out both teenagers gawking downwards at Spike “seriously? You have giants, magic and walking pigs, and you get surprised by a talking dog?” The canine said making Sunsetlaugh at both how much déjà vu it brought her but by how ‘Spike’ the comment was and the sheer incredulity of the other Ever After high students’ reaction to it.

“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t quite expecting that but is so nice to see such a cute dog in the school” Apple said recovering faster than her companion before kneeling down to pet Spike on his head making him give her a doggy grin “I’ve never seen either of you at school before”

“Well, that will be obvious since we are new here” the girl either ignored her comment or didn’t hear the sarcasm in her voice.

“That is so spelltacular! We haven’t had new students here since the Wonderland High students arrived, I am Apple White, daughter of Snow White” the girl said making Sunset shudder for some reason, it was simply involuntary, the girl had been really courteous and warm so why did she feel so much aversion to her? Maybe due to the massive amount of sugar, glitter and peppiness, Sunset hated peppiness “and this is Daring Charming”

“Pleasure to meet you” the boy said about to grin before Sunset’s hand closed his mouth “oh right, too bright, I’ll try to remember not to smile, but is so hard considering this face” he said taking out a hand mirror from out of nowhere. Just as Sunset was wondering the sheer ridiculousness of this first impression another blonde girl arrived, this one holding up a tablet and wearing a blue and white dress with cartoon bears on it.

“Apple White, Daring, is so good to see you, who is your friend?”

“Blondie Locks, I present you a new student in Ever After High, Sunset Shimmer” Apple White said in a voice and mannerisms that reminded Sunset of a British TV series where the host introduced people in a party back in the Victorian era.

“Ah… a pleasure to meet you?” Sunset said feeling a little overwhelmed from all the new faces she have met so far.

“This is going to be hexcellent for my Mirrorcast show; can you tell us what's your role? Talk to the mirror” she said before literally shoving the mirror on her face making Sunset a little uncomfortable with the attention.

“Well, I am, uhm, Dorothy Gale” Sunset said remembering the letter and what role she would have in a retelling according to it; she was quite surprised by the reactions of the other teenagers when they suddenly gasped.

“This is amazing! There hasn’t been an Oz character since forever after!” Blondie said obviously excited by the way she was practically jumping up and down.

“In fact, there hasn’t been any OZ character; this is going to be the best year in Ever After High” Apple said before taking Daring’s arm and walking with him in search of someplace called castleteria, was that how they called the school’s cafeteria? This was definitely weird.

“Oh Good Witch of the South, is this how every day is going to be here?” Sunset said waving a hand over her head in the hopes that whatever glitter and sugar was left behind by that girl will dissipate before she got diabetes, it was ridiculous. Although what was ridiculous were the words she had said before “wait… yellow brick road, good witch of the south, all of those are references to the Wizard of Oz, am I going to be saying those kind of things all the time while I’m here?” she said looking downwards to her animal companion.

“Probably, but look at it on the bright side, at least we’re going to get a lot of material to make fun of” Spike said making Sunset laugh at his showing devious side, he was right, things won’t be very boring if everyone was like the future Fairest of Them All; but just as she and Spike were going to walk in the direction of this called castleteria there was a bolt of dark magic passing by her head before one of the little pigs announced the arrival of another student.

“Is Raven Queen! Run!”

“She is evil!”

“Run everyone!” another student said before there was a literal stampede and suddenly the hallway was deserted with only three humans and a dog were the only ones left. Sunset stood watching the way the dark haired teenager seemed to deflate when it was all over, it just made something hurt inside Sunset to watch that reaction, it reminded her of herself just after the Spring Fling back at CH.

“See, they love you” the other girl, this one having one of the weirdest combinations of hair color, said making her companion further deflate; before Sunset could say a thing the clock of the girl suddenly sprung loose sending gears everywhere before she took out a complete tea set, table and chair out of her own hat, sitting down alongside a small mouse as if nothing was out of the ordinary “YAY! Tea time!”

Sunset knew there was something in the universe, there was no way that after traveling to another universe, one based on fairy tales of all things, she was still capable of finding a girl as random and weird as Pinkie Pie, was it an ability of hers or what?

“Maddie is… a little hard to understand at first, well, a little hard to understand any day of the year really” the dark haired girl said making Sunset come out of her ruminations; she was finally capable of taking on the appearance of the other girl and it seemed so… dark and gothic combined with classic elegance in all the right ways.

“Don’t worry; she just reminded me of a friend of mine back home, just that instead of tea change it for pastries, cupcakes and party paraphernalia”

“I have some problems trying to imagine someone like Maddie”

“Believe me, until arriving here I thought it would be impossible to meet someone like Pinkie Pie; I’m Sunset Shimmer by the way”

“I’m Raven Queen” she said with a sincere smile on her face.

“Yeah, I know, the future barbeque screamed your name, what’s with all that?” Sunset said while she and Raven began to walk in the direction of the castleteria.

“It has always happened since I’m the daughter of the Evil Queen” she said obviously not very proud of her heritage.

“Wait, the Evil Queen from Snow White? Damn, I feel some pity for you, I just met your fairy tale partner and I must say, all that sugar and glitter can kill somebody” she said still reeling from that kind of introduction to Ever After High; obviously Raven Queen didn’t expect that kind of answer.

“Yeah, destiny truly has some problems”

“Problems? Girl, let me tell you about destinies” Sunset said while Spike continued to sit down across Earl Grey the mouse while he continued to hold up his tea cup obviously enjoying the craziness of the school; looking at the way Sunset kept on walking alongside her new friend Spike felt that interesting days and adventures would follow them on this school.

Author's Note

Hasbro beat me to the whole Sunset Shimmer/Dorothy Gale thing, if you don't know about that go look at the cover of the next MLP comic cover with Sunset and Trixie on it.

Call me Beep me 02: Queen of Strong Style

Sunset Shimmer closed the door with a smile on her face knowing well that her ‘sister’ of sorts would be alright at Ever After High, although something told her that the rest of the students should prepare for the insanity that always seemed to cling to Sunset wherever she went no matter the universe.

Turning around to look at her host-slash-guardian-friend she went back to her seat that had a perfect view to outer space and what she thought was the Crab Nebula; her good mood even improved when a teacup was filled with great care for her making her smile even more remembering Maddie Hatter.

“Well, I suppose it was a truly entertaining experience this time” the bespectacled man said with his usual carefree smile while he degusted his own cup of tea.

“You can say it, is kind of hard to believe there is a me that is not in the middle of a fight”

“It is a well-known fact by now that you do tend to get in the middle of trouble no matter what happens and your other versions seem to follow that rule” he said making Sunset roll her eyes at the words, not that they weren’t correct, she DID get into a lot of trouble without even meaning to “but I suppose there are times when the situation you find yourself into can get more dramatic than action packed and for that I am grateful, after all, so much adrenaline can get boring or bad for your body in some cases”

“I know, I was ready to crash just from finishing the Friendship Games, I don’t want to know how some of my sisters feel after their fights” taking a cookie from a platter she enjoyed the luxury of tea time with the Observer.

“They do have some problems with that specific dilemma, thankfully they have their own ways to de-stress; I believe your counterpart in the Gourmet World finds nothing better to relax than to rest her head on her dear wife’s lap after a meal” he said watching the way Sunset’s face went almost pure red remembering what pairing he was referring to.

“I still cannot take that out of my head, but hey, if one of my sisters can find happiness then good for her so don’t make any jokes about me and Fluttershy”

“I would never offend you in that way my dear, but like I was saying, they all have their own ways to relax… but sometimes is not you who relax but help others with their burden” he said in his own sage-like voice making Sunset feel a little curious about what he meant with that.
She then realized he meant for her to open another door and without even thinking twice she finished her cup and jogged to a door he had opened before and have become curious about the strange friendship her sister had found herself into.

Call me Beep Me 02

Sunset Shimmer was known for being acerbic, curt, rude and extremely hot, but what other people didn’t know was that the fiery redhead could become bored very quickly, and a bored Sunset was a danger for everyone.

With school being mostly a drag most of the times Sunset found herself with ample time to observe and learn about all the different monkeys known as students of Middleton High and she had learned a lot.

She quickly listed all the different groups in the cutthroat world of high school social ladder; there were the usual geeks and misfits at the bottom which Sunset had to be sincere about one thing, she enjoyed spending time with some of them. It was quite fun to spend time with Big Mike, Junior and Vinny, the trio perpetually living in detention and helping them escape was always fun; and she also had a raid party for Everlot who got together every so often.

So if the bottom of the social ladder wasn’t the problem, the one that was resided at the top, meaning the cheerleaders and the football players, were the problem for her and the rest of the school and boy did Sunset enjoyed making them run in terror from her.

The loss of her leather jacket had been painful but nothing like the pain Brick felt afterwards; thankfully humans had nice dry cleaning services and there were no permanent damage to her most precious garment. It had been weird to step out into another world with a new body and new clothes on top of it but Sunset quickly how important clothes were for humans; having no fur and with their genitals on display due to their biped nature they needed something to protect themselves; that they used them also as an expression of fashion and individuality was a plus for her once she got used to the mini skirt plus leather jacket combination.

Going back to her original line of thinking, Brick was one of the top echelon being part of the football team and really, football or polo either species always put too much attention to high school sports; but he wasn’t that bad now that he learned the lesson of never messing with the Shimmer, it was his on and off girlfriend that was the problem, Miss Bonnie Rockwaller, grade S bitch wannabe queen who believed herself superior to every student out there, and it was just a fraud.

Sunset laughed to herself remembering how easy was to get information about the teenager, where she lived, who was her family and her friends and what she got was simply gold; apparently Bonnie was the Cinderella of the family, the runt of the litter and forever shunned by her sisters, forever compared to them by her parents, just mentioning them was a sure enough berserker button for the brunette that Sunset loved to push just to see her seethe.

There was also Hope in the cheerleaders but even thought she was vain there was nothing dangerous about her, the same with Crystal and she had to admit she kind of got along with them; there was also Tara who was partially responsible for Sunset throwing her original plans for school domination to the trash, since no matter how much she tried to start bullying the blonde she basically felt sick before she started, it was impossible, she was so nice and sugary that Sunset felt her rage and evilness simply melt when she met the blonde for the first, not that Sunset simply became a goodie two shoes just like that, nope, she left that to her worst headache and fellow redhead: Kim Possible.

If there was one that could make Sunset lose all her patience was none other than the overachiever, messiah complex, American sweetheart, straight A, teen hero Kimberly Ann Possible, how she wanted to punch her in the face, and she did that now that she remembered it, although technically it was in a sparring match but still, it did count.

So why the two of them began to have such a bad relationship? Mainly because their personalities clashed all the time and Sunset was also an overachiever, meeting another girl that had so many similarities and differences was disconcerting and more times than not it was Sunset’s fault that the two of them couldn’t see eye to eye. It was also because Kim Possible was the one that truly derailed any idea Sunset could have of governing Middleton High with an iron hoof... hand, whatever.

But Sunset knew that beyond the acerbic words and cold war they usually had among them they could work pretty well, all those pair projects they had to do for different class all thanks to Mr. Barkin each redhead had some respect for the other in academic situations; but the place where their silly arguments and slings at each other took a backseat was on the fighting mats.

Sunset had never been a very active unicorn before entering this world but there was something in her current body that captivated her, the gracefulness and power that each muscle had on the human body was awe inspiring after watching a demonstration of martial arts at the last Middleton Cultural Expo made her fall in love with kung fu and other arts, so much that she had spent so much of her spare time to not only learn them but also to practice and train her body to the point she was sure she would look like an earth pony back home; in fact, it had taken her just a couple of months to get to that point so maybe there was something bizarre on her body because she was sure it wasn’t normal to get that amount of mass and muscle in such a short time but gave a damn.

Sunset took one last deep breath and stretched her body over her bed feeling as if she were a cat, and she was as relaxed as one this Sunday morning as she enjoyed the peace and quiet of the apartment she resided, until four chimes took her out of the zone she have been, then the tone repeated itself and Sunset knew exactly what was the guilty party for breaking her relaxing time.

The redhead rummaged through her backpack until she came up with a blue square with monitor and camera on it, now, how did the other redhead usually answered this thing?

“Hey Wade, what’s the sitch?” she said after pressing the blinking button on the device as the dark skinned boy appeared on the monitor typing something on the multitude of computers that he had on the desk.

“Hey Kim, there is a… you are not Kim” the young boy was only capable of saying that while looking at the current holder of the kimmunicator.

“Wow, great detective work there Mister Load, but sorry Miss Kimberly Ann Possible is right now talking with the board of directors, but if you leave your personal info I’ll see that Miss Possible gets in contact with you”

“Very funny Sunset”

“I try”

“When did you take her communicator?”

“This Saturday, we had to prepare a presentation on Middleton history, I didn’t know her family's history went back so much, she also never noticed when I borrowed this thing” she said with a huge grin in response to Wade’s facepalm “I suggest putting a tracking device on this thing, it could be useful to find Kim if something goes wrong on a mission”

“I’ve been planning a couple of upgrades for the kimmunicator”

“Oh please, don’t tell me she named it like that”

“In fact, it was Ron who started calling it that, before it was just ‘the com’, it just stuck after that”

“Meh, should have known, anyway, there is too much wasted space inside this thing, you could even put a Bluetooth device to make it even more useful out there, heck, even a mini usb port on it”

“Please don’t tell me you started to play around with it”

“Hey, I was bored, so why were you looking for miss perfect?”

“You know she hates it when you call her that”

“Well, it is the most PG rated nickname that I have for her, I usually call her Panty Flasher” Wade blinked a couple of times before a small blush appeared on his face and Sunset was sure Wade had the image on his head, she also felt a little bad for starting the corruption of a minor but since the boy was also a confirmed hacker he probably had done worst things than think about his employer’s undies.

“I see why you call her that then, but I wanted to tell Kim that there has been a hit on the page, now I have to get in contact with her trough her computer”

“You mean, hack her Skype and then talk with her through that? Look, is Sunday, I have nothing to do and probably miss perfect needs a rest like all us plebeians, let me take care of it”

“What? Look, I know you’ve been giving Kim a workout on your spars but Kim and Ron have been doing this for a long time”

“Oh Wade, I didn’t know you cared for me” the plump boy understood how was Sunset capable of getting under Kim’s skin so easily, in a way it reminded him of Shego with the way she treated Kimberly “now, seriously, when was the last time Kim had a whole weekend with no mission and she was capable of relaxing?”

“Well…”

“That you had to think about it shows how long that was”

“Okay, but if anything happens I’m calling Kim and Ron”

“There won’t be a need for it”

“Hey Sunset… can I ask you a question?” Sunset was about to finish the call but something on Wade’s voice made her put her give him her full attention.

“Well, sure”

“Why are you doing this? I mean, you and Kim are not exactly close friends”

“Look, she… helped me get an A+ on my last history exam; I’m just returning the favor” she said once again preparing to finish the call before an idea came to her mind “hey Wade, one last thing, can you hack into any system?”

“Sure, I mean, the guy that you are going to take care of, Dementor? I can hack his system on seconds, why?”

“I have an idea, I mean, this will be my debut, I need to do it with style” she said with such a feral grin on her face that Wade felt a little pity for Dementor and his men for what will crash their base.

If there was one thing that most villains of Kim Possible knew was that no matter how much they took care of keeping their plans secret, sooner or later team possible would arrive at their base, they will fight and once gain they will find themselves behind bars, but not for long.
So when the lights of Dementor’s latest lair went off the diminutive mad scientist knew that there was something new on the formula this time and for some reason it made him shiver in fear, he just knew that whatever was going to happen were bad news for him.

Then the music began and everything turned surreal; the sound of a guitar and the violin made everyone on the lair look at the silhouette that appeared on a wall at the second floor; then the lights returned showing the redhead, but this wasn’t the one they were used to, this one had a huge grin on her face as she finished her entrance wearing dark jeans, boots, a tight shirt with a yin yang in the form of the sun and a leather jacket on top.

“Now everybody, let me introduce myself, I am Sunset Shimmer and today I’ll be your host to the most painful match of your lives” Sunset said as every minion stood watching her not knowing what to do.

“What are you doing? Go get her!” the screams of the diminutive genius restarted the brains of the minions as they began to run directly at Sunset while this one rolled her eyes; next thing the minions knew Sunset had jumped from the second floor and as she landed on several uniformed bad guys she hit another one with her forearm instantly knocking him out; Sunset quickly got back to her feet just to duck under a stunning baton and answering back with a left roundhouse kick sending the guy to the floor.

Seeing the carnage that this new girl was creating from his best men Dementor knew one thing, he had terrible luck with redheads.

After several minutes Sunset took a breather seating down on the small hill of knocked out minions, she also remembered to say thank you to Monique for introducing her to wrestling, since then she was dying to do her own entrance as cheesy as that sounded, so scratch one more to her book.

The next morning, Kim Possible was about to open her locker before she felt someone behind her finding Sunset Shimmer smiling at her while placing her kimmunicator on her hand, then she winked at Kim and walked away.

The cheerleader stood rooted for several seconds before opening her locker activating the monitor inside; something told her Wade knew more about what was that all about.

Author's Note

The theme song is for Shinsuke Nakamura, nicknamed King of Strong Style due to his multitude of kicks and knee strikes, I always imagined this Sunset knowing how to fight with holds and close strikes just to counter Kim's cheerleading-kind of fighting with lots of jumps.

The Princess of Lordran 01

It was done, it was over. Once again the Elements of Harmony were victorious, this time not against a powerful monster bent on the destruction of Equestria, but a young girl that had been influenced by the dark side of magic.

Sighing once, the young princess landed and with one last look to her new friends walked in the direction of the small crater left behind by the powerful artifact that was once again on top of her head; she knew what she had to do. Offer a hand in friendship. It was what they have done before and she knew it was the right choice.

But what she found inside left her cold and senseless. Instead of a young girl there was nothing but rocks and dirt; that couldn’t be. Never before had the elements reduced her enemies into nothing.

Quickly moving her gaze from the crater to the large satellite in the sky, Princess Twilight Sparkle almost prayed for the visage of a pony in the surface of the moon. It was wrong of her to think like that, but everything would be better to the other possibility. But the moon was not the answer this time; its surface devoid of any figure, just a plain face like any other time she had looked at it since arriving to this world.

The other students watched the way Princess Twilight crumbled and began to cry, they then soon got closer to observe the reason why and they all understood the reason.

Sunset Shimmer was dead, and it was at their hands.

She may have not been a welcomed presence at school, maybe they had secretly wished she would disappear or die, but it was simply simple wishing. Being witness of the fact that the teenager indeed was destroyed by magic was another; none of them felt like celebrating.

Twilight sat for a long time crying at the steps of the school. Some students tried going back to the gym to continue the festivities, but none of them felt any desire to party; the rest simply started their journey home not quite sure of what to say while five girls accompanied Twilight outside school, all of them with their own thoughts.

“You shouldn’t feel bad my dear, none of us could have seen something of this magnitude happening. Magic in general is not quite our forte.” Rarity tried to console her new friend even though a deep feeling of shame and regret began to bloom inside her heart. Something like a feud about a high school dance and election seemed childish now considering the other party involved had been killed with your help.

“But that’s not how the Elements work! They never kill, they always try to find the good in someone and bring it to the surface. The most they have done is turn a chaotic creature into stone and Sunset was no chaotic creature!” Twilight said still feeling a little bit of the hysteria that had invaded her not too long ago.

“Ah don’t really know much about this fancy magic that ya can use, but Ah can tell you this. All the bad things Sunset said she would do at the end, she was just bluffing. She never had intention to do it”

"How are you so sure Applejack?" the fashionista asked her old friend, to which Applejack simply shrugged.

"Ah don't know, it just feels like it. It’s a gut instinct if ya ask me"

“I believe you Applejack. I could see it in her eyes when she put on the crown; it was painful for her to transform, she wasn’t in control at the end,” Twilight said with her head on her hands, knowing that the responsibility landed squarely on her shoulders.

“Everyone… there’s something happening to the statue,” the usually quiet voice of Fluttershy resounded around the front gates taking the trio of girls out of their ruminations. They ran in the direction of the shy girl knowing that whatever was happening must have been serious.
And then they saw it. The side that contained the portal back home to Twilight was shimmering and twisting, as if the magic itself was being molded. In a panic the princess tried to reach out for the portal but an invisible force pushed back sending her flying into the grass much to the surprise of the rest of the girls.

Rainbow and Pinkie helped the pony turned human to her feet as the rest of the Elements of Harmony watched the portal become stable once again, but instead of a clear surface, this time it began to reflect something else.

“Is that… a hallway?” Rarity asked noticing the stone walls and torches lighting up the long corridor. The girls then flinched back at the thin body of a corpse leaning against one wall, then they all took a step back in fright when the corpse began to move now clearly showing that it was alive.

“The portal is now… some kind of scrying mirror. This is amazing!” the princess exclaimed making everyone even more amazed at what was going on.

“You don’t think that this mirror is trying to find Sunset?” the, so far quiet, pink haired girl said surprising everyone. She hadn’t talked or did anything except support the others. It was a start, they thought.

“I… I’m not sure. I never really looked deep into that kind of magic, but it is a possibility,” Twilight said, peering deeper into the mirror which began to focus on the end of the hallway past more walking corpses. Finally, the end of the hallway was shown and inside the last cell door they were able to see a lone figure, wearing a long hood and robe. Its hands looked thin and frail, the face had its eyes sunken and seemed more dead than alive, but there was no doubt, this creature was Sunset Shimmer.

She was very tired, and felt herself nearly losing the last vestiges of her sanity. She didn’t know how long she had been inside the cell, if it had been mere days, or if she had been inside for months. Time here seemed something without meaning. The usually cocky and confident girl had been ripped apart by both the elements of harmony and complete isolation. She didn’t know if she was even alive anymore; she hadn’t felt hungry or thirsty since she appeared inside this cell. Maybe it was all part of some eternal and unusual punishments by Harmony.

Just as this thought had went through her head she heard a noise, something different than the usual rumbling steps and groaning. It was as if something had been dragged and as that something fell into her cell she understood what was going on.

Looking upwards Sunset saw a figure in full metal armor looking down at her before disappearing from sight, only leaving behind the corpse which Sunset began to inspect. Inside its rags she only found two things; the remnants of what was once a sword and a key, the latter making a smile appear on her face, though it was not a nice sight for the five girls watching from another universe. Seeing the ghoul-like Sunset Shimmer smile brought some deep fear from them considering the near zombie like features of the once beautiful girl.

Not knowing that her steps were being monitored Sunset opened her cell, and with one step she finally found herself free without realizing that her long pilgrimage was just merely beginning; not knowing that this was just the first step for the future Princess of Lordran.

The Princess of Lordran 02

All the girls standing in front of the statue felt their heartbeats increase watching Sunset use the rusted key and step out of her cell. The dark corridor and the bodies looking like corpses were the only welcome that the redhead had. It was a desolate feeling that she had as she took short steps along the stone floor, being wary of the rest of the inmates.

For their part, the girls watching the mirror flinched at the spectacle in front of them; how the few creatures residing on that nightmarish place looked empty and hollow, not knowing how important that last word was in the world Sunset set foot on.

“I hope Sunset wasn’t teleported into one of those movies Dashie loves!” the so far quiet and taciturn Pinkie Pie said surprising the rest of the girls. It had been proof of how much depression, guilt and despair the six girls had been feeling over the possible death of the defeated bully that none of the others had even reacted to Pinkie’s now straight hair.

“Ah hope not, she may have been a pain in the ass but Ah don’t wish that kind of fate to Sunset,” the farm girl answered back without taking her eyes from the screen. Seeing Sunset turn her face to one of the broken bars and the body impaled on them, then they all saw what had caused the impalement.

Sunset gasped in fear and put as much distance as she could to the open window, her back now getting cooled by the stone as her eyes widened at the spectacle mere feet from her. The rest of the girls saw the creature too and couldn’t blame Sunset for reacting in that way. After all, a monster of those proportions would scare everyone. It was a demon; there was no other name to call it. A winged demon as tall as a building and holding a hammer that would crush anyone either by an attack or due to sheer size and weight.

“Okay, it’s official, she is not in a zombie movie,” Rainbow Dash said holding a frightened and whimpering Fluttershy as they all observed the abomination walking circles in its small chamber. Then Sunset began to move once again in search of an exit or anything at all.

“You don’t think that we… sent her to hell?” A nervous Rarity asked to her friends, but they didn’t have an answer, afraid of the truth if indeed that was the destination of Sunset. Thankfully, Twilight Sparkle answered their doubts without moving her eyes from the scrying mirror.

“She wasn’t sent to Tartarus. She’s obviously in another world. I don’t think this Hell of yours has buildings of that kind. Besides, we already saw that Knight so it’s probably a world more in tune with mine.” Twilight only told them her hypothesis to calm them down because she had no way of knowing if it was true, but at least she knew that Sunset wasn’t destroyed. They just had to see more to be sure of it.

Sunset for her part wasted little time on walking away from that corridor and began to ascend up a ladder, hopefully close to an exit, but the only thing that appeared to welcome her was an empty courtyard with a sword in the middle and ashes around it. There was something beckoning Sunset to it and as she got closer she felt better, as if life finally throbbed through her veins. With that quick rest she found two doors, one made of metal on the right but seemed to be locked, and a huge set of doors at the north that made her way.

“Do you think that’s the exit?”

“Ah think whoever made that building didn’t make those doors just for decoration,” Applejack answered back just as Sunset began to push with all of her strength on the doors, finally getting enough space to get inside another courtyard. The sight before her however was a big letdown. She finally thought she had escaped that nightmarish place, only to be greeted by another set of doors; this one even bigger than the set she had just opened.

Sunset slowly trudged to the doors, but unfortunately something else had another idea in mind. A shadow descended over the open room, followed by a creature crashing with enough strength to shake the whole place. Gasps of terror resounded throughout the girls as they took in the sight of the creature; a demon that they had the unpleasantry of bearing witness to just a few minutes ago.

“It’s the same demon!” Fluttershy screamed in terror, while inwardly thankful that she was only just looking at it through the screen. She would’ve fainted if she ever saw the demon in real life.

“No, this one’s smaller, not that it makes a difference.” Twilight continued watching the confrontation, feeling apprehension at the sight of the minuscule Sunset having to fight against that monster.

For her part Sunset knew that the only weapon that she had was a broken hilt. It would barely scratch the skin of that creature, let alone doing any actual damage. She needed to think of a plan fast. Unfortunately the demon wouldn’t allow her that and began its assault. She barely had time to roll back to avoid the first hammer strike, but couldn’t avoid the next attack, sending her crashing against the stone pillars; her scream resonating through the room and constricting the hearts of those who hours ago had condemned her to that reality.

Sunset felt as if her ribs - scratch that, as if her whole torso - was shattered by the power behind the hammer. She began to lose consciousness, barely making out the form of the demon as it closed in. Even if Sunset had found the energy to get back up after such a hit, she wouldn’t have been able to avoid her imminent death. The demon took its hammer and, after raising it above its head, slammed it down upon Sunset, the hit strong enough to shake the foundations of the Asylum. Blood was splattered in all directions, with nothing more than a pile of blood and guts staining the area where Sunset was in her final moments. The sight of such gruesome display was enough to make Fluttershy scream and Rarity faint.

“No… she’s dead… that demon killed her,” Twilight could only whisper while Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack simply stared in silence at the remains of the redhead. They knew the girl had to pay for all those years of bullying, but this was too much. It was beyond excessive, and they were the ones responsible for this cruelty.

Then a gasp from both Twilight and the other side of the mirror took them from their thoughts, and upon seeing the sight Twilight saw, reacted in the same manner. There, sitting up at the previous bonfire, was Sunset Shimmer, once again complete... and still looking like death, but very much alive and no injury present.

“I’m… I’m back, but… he killed me,” Sunset said in complete surprise before getting up and taking a look at the other side of the doors. The demon was still there, wandering around the room as if searching for Sunset Shimmer, who now having more time saw what could be the only way to avoid another confrontation with the demon; a human sized door on the left wall. Preparing herself, she then took off in a mad dash in the direction of the door, hearing one stone pillar crumble into pieces behind her as the demon missed its target. Without looking backwards Sunset jumped through the door before a metal gate fell down behind her, making it impossible for anyone to follow her.

Taking a few seconds to recover her breath, Sunset finally began to walk through the dark corridors, making sure to light up another bonfire as she continued to make her way through this forsakened prison. She was sure that her miraculous recovery was product of these strange things.

Taking a turn through a corner she saw an arrow strike the wall just inches from her face. The guilty party was another walking corpse shooting arrows and guarding the only walkway. A quick look later and Sunset saw a destroyed cell and made a run for it, barely dodging an arrow much to the relief of the other girls, who had no idea of how Sunset could be walking again. Maybe it had something to do with her new look.

Sunset found another dead body inside the cell, but this one was not empty handed. It had what Sunset could only call the remains of an old wood shield, but it was better than nothing. Carefully moving out of the cell with the shield up, she felt the sharp head of the arrow bounce back on her shield, the impact shaking her arm. The creature then turned around and began running away, as if knowing its attacks were useless now. Sunset began to chase the creature, then she saw another body in the floor, this one holding something that made Sunset grin. She then threw away the useless weapon she had and in exchange she was the proud owner of a beautiful hand axe.

Walking up the stairs in the next room she quickly showed the archer how much she liked being armed. Watching the way the redhead was using that hand axe made the girls flashback to Sunset using the sledgehammer with ease. Looking at the creature being hit directly in the head, practically breaking in half its head, they were really happy that Sunset never found axes interesting in the past.

Author's Note

In the next episode: Sunset meets Oscar, the rematch with the Asylum Demon, some answers for the girls and Rarity faints some more.

What do you say? Should I keep a Death Score for Sunset in this dimension?

The Princess of Lordran 03

Sunset put one foot on the kneeling corpse and with a mighty push she dislodged her axe from its skull. The contents, a mass of rotten goo that left the girls in another world gagging at the display, began to gather on the stone floor much to the curiosity of the warrior. She didn’t know she had it in her to be able to hit with that much strength.

Shrugging her shoulders she then took notice of the bizarre fog that seemed to be gathering in the threshold of what could possibly be an important part of the building where she had been imprisoned.

“Well, I died once, what’s one more… hopefully it wasn’t a weird one time deal. Here goes nothing,” Sunset said under her hood before slowly walking inside, and like that the fog dispersed and she found herself at the top floor of the room with the first bonfire she had lighted.

Scanning around the floor, she found two different staircases. One going up and another down, possibly directing to the same metal door she had found in the lower level. Knowing that the only way she hasn’t seen yet was up, she then took a step on the stairs and then she stopped.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the mirror, the girls had helped Rarity wake up after the gory view of Sunset being flattened by a hammer. The fashionista would swear that she would dream with that image. But right now, unlike the other girls, she was not confused by the actions of the redhead. She had always had eye for details and hidden things and understood perfectly why Sunset had stopped at the first step.

“That’s a trap,” she simply said while the others turned their heads on her direction. Thankfully she was more than used to being the center of attention from time to time and she simply pointed at the top of the stairs. “Don’t you see that huge ball? I’m sure that once Sunset goes up the ball will come down and… well, we all saw what happened last time with Sunset,” she said shivering at mentioning that moment.

“Like that time in Daring Do, when she was escaping the Zebrican Jungle Temple,” Rainbow said with all present knowing how much she enjoyed those adventure books and accepting the comparison. Meanwhile Twilight was pleasantly surprised that this Rainbow was as much of a fan of Daring Do as the one of her universe.

As one they all then put their attention to the image of Sunset finally beginning to ascend the stairs, cautiously placing one foot after the other, until the movement of the ball signaled for Sunset to roll to the right, quickly aligning herself in the right direction to avoid any unnecessary damage. The sound of the heavy ball impacting and subsequently destroying the wall was the only thing of importance. Something inside her told her to check the small room that had been opened by the rock, and thus went to investigate.

Inside the moldy and wet room Sunset gasped at what was inside; a person wearing a very familiar set of armor lying down on what seemed rubble from the destroyed roof. The knight must have been smashed through the roof. Was that why that huge demon fell from the sky? Was it fighting this knight on the roof?

Not wasting any time Sunset walked to his side and this one turned his head in her direction, his face hidden beneath the heavy helmet.

“Oh, you... You're no Hollow, eh? Thank goodness,” he said, with some degree of relief present in his voice

“Hollow?” Sunset questioned. “What’s that? I just know that when I woke up I was already in a cell.”

“You don’t know what you are? Then you truly have bad luck my child… This place is the Undead Asylum, and only the dead walk through its halls. Those that were found with the Dark Sign on them are hauled and dump in this forsaken place… I’m so sorry, one as young as you should not have to suffer due to it,” the knight said making Sunset gulp, suddenly very weak and at the same time very awake now understanding more of her current situation.

Meanwhile, the six girls were dumbstruck by the declaration of the knight about the current form of Sunset Shimmer. Pinkie would have pumped her fist up while saying that she was right, Sunset WAS a zombie, but after tonight she would have found that reaction infuriating considering that a person she knew was suffering, and to be honest, Pinkie herself was starting to feel pity of the victim of such state.

“I see… so that’s why I survived… I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

“And I am Oscar of Astora. Under other conditions this would have been an honor, but alas, my time has come. Soon I will die and become a hollow, just like the rest in the Asylum. You should leave soon. I don’t want to see you hurt because of me.”

“I’m sorry… and thank you for saving me.”

“It was nothing, I saw the way you suffered inside your cell and noticed that despite your appearance, there was still hope for you… Before you leave, would you hear me out, for one final request, Sunset Shimmer?” Oscar asked her and without a doubt Sunset nodded at his request. Once upon a time, before being transported to this place, Sunset would have laughed at the situation of the knight. Now she could do nothing but help lessen the suffering of someone that had helped her in the midst of the darkness.

“Of course. If I can help you, please let me do it,” the redhead said while the knight took something from a bag at his side.

“Regrettably, I have failed in my mission... But perhaps you can keep the torch lit... There is an old saying in my family... Thou who art Undead, art chosen... In thine exodus from the Undead Asylum, maketh pilgrimage to the land of Ancient Lords... When thou ringeth the Bell of Awakening, the fate of the Undead thou shalt know... Well, now you know.”

“The Bell of Awakening… if I find it once I get out of here I will do it” she said, then she tried to stand up before Oscar’s hand took her by the arm.

“Wait, before you go, you should take this. It’s called an Estus Flask, an undead favorite if I have my information right… Also, take my key. It will help you get back to the bonfire below.”

“Yeah, I saw the door before. Thank you Oscar.”

“Don’t thank me yet Sunset Shimmer. That demon may be powerful, but the road ahead of you is even more dangerous… I see that you are ill equipped. Tell me, where did you found that sorry excuse of a shield?”

“I found it on a body. I don’t seem to have the luxury of being picky at the moment, though this thing looks like it’ll break at any time.”

“That is not good… Here, take my shield. I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore,” he said, taking the crescent blue shield on his arm and presenting it to a jaw-slacked Sunset. She took it in both hands while throwing aside the cracked wood shield and, with the Crest shield on her left arm, she somehow felt almost complete. It was an odd sensation.

“Thank you Oscar… I will find the Bell for you,” Sunset said before getting up this time and walking out of the hole. At the first step of the stairs she heard a sound that chilled her bones; the sound of a sword stabbing something and then a body hitting the floor. She, like the girls watching, felt pain at the loss of a human life, someone that she had barely met and just like that had to say goodbye.

“Sunset… you were truly cleansed by the elements, now you feel kindness. I don’t know if this is a test or something like that, but you didn’t deserve this suffering,” Princess Twilight Sparkle whispered in a low voice, not wanting to interrupt the mourning of her friends. It was weird too, to feel pain and to mourn the death of someone you have never met but you knew that it was important to do it because that person was once alive.

Meanwhile, Sunset was not mourning. On the contrary, she was furious. She was beyond mad. This had now become personal for her. Ascending the stairs, she found herself face to face with the culprit of the boulder. She then blocked the slow strike by the hollow and struck it down with her axe. She found herself surprised at the ease in which she was capable of using the shield alongside her axe.

She then quickly dispatched of the next two hollows that tried to attack her in the next open hallway and dodged a slow arrow by another archer. She then quickly got behind it and with two smashes of her axe it went tumbling to the floor. Sunset ignored the fog wall and instead walked into the next room, finding a new type of hollow, this one with what truly resembled armor, shield and a functional sword.

“Well, seems that you won’t be that easy to deal with,” Sunset said to herself before getting ready to combat, but just as the hollow trusted his sword at her she did a quick sweep with her left arm completely countering the sword and apparently shocking the undead. She then used the opening to quickly strike down the hollow with two quick smashes of her axe into his side, “.... or not… I even surprised myself.”

Sunset didn’t feel ready. She probably wouldn’t be ready if she waited a lifetime, but this was something she needed to do. If not for her then for the knight that had given her freedom she said to herself mentally before walking through the fog door, ending up on a small balcony, and there it was. Right beneath her feet was the demon that caused the death of Oscar.

“You killed me once and you killed him…never again you fatass!” Sunset all but screamed the last word while she jumped over the small balcony, both hands doing a vertical strike with the axe. What was most surprisingly, however, was that the blade of the weapon seemed to be radiating small red particles, as if it was feeding on Sunset’s rage.

Sunset falling through the air caused the six girls to hold their breath until the moment the axe made contact with the head of the Asylum Demon, striking him with great power, and causing equal amount of damage apparently due to the scream and howls that the creature released, before grabbing Sunset with one hand and sending her flying against the farthest wall.

Rolling around and recovering after her daredevil maneuver, Sunset stood to her feet seeing the demon covering his head, striking wildly in his blindness. Sunset knew this would be her only chance. Gripping her axe with both hands she began to run in the direction of the demon, rolled under a hammer strike and slashed the belly of the monster finally sending it to the floor where it turned into particles of light. The only thing remaining was a key of peculiar shape.

The victorious warrior then felt something warm come to her and paradoxically she found a weirdly shaped object floating on the palm of her hand. It looked as if someone had slashed reality and the black infinite void could be seen through it. Curious indeed.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash were the ones that screamed the loudest of the six as they all celebrated the victory of Sunset while they continued watching how the axe warrior opened the heavy doors of the Asylum and was finally free, just to feel once again dragged down by what they all saw; nothing but mountains in all directions. No road, no exit… until a crow, black as the night, flew in suddenly grabbing Sunset by its shoulders and taking her to the place she was needed the most.

The Land of the Ancient Lords.
The place where the chosen undead was destined to fight for and conquer.
The kingdom that will one day rival Equestria in power and greatness.
The kingdom of the Princess of Lordran.

Author's Note

Continued in The Princess of Lordran.

You might be asking yourselves, what's with the splintered stories? Why were they separated and put into their own places? Because they are important on the overall story, you will see why I say this, but for now the only thing I can tell you is that all of them (Hogwarts, Jem and now Dark Souls) will converge at one point and it WILL MAKE SENSE, trust me on that one.

Also, from now on I'll be updating two times every day, one with the MMDS, which means this story (new acronym) and then later on the day another of the splintered stories, hopefully I'll be able to follow my own crazy schedule.

See ya around guys.

War never changes 02

Sunset Shimmer kept on watching at the gun she had on her hands, looking how black it was and how it shine, how well kept it was considering the age of the weapon. She did all that just so she wouldn’t think about what she had done.

She had shot once and the bullet had went through the back of the head, as simple as that, no screaming, no groaning or cursing out from the victim, he just felt and didn’t get up again, it was disheartening, surprising and oh so shocking. So shocking that Sunset has been sitting down front of what used to be one of the favorite stores of kids before the war.

Sunset could only stare at the gun so she wouldn’t stare at the empty eye of the bandit, and she did mean one eye since the bullet had destroyed the other eye and part of its face leaving behind a husk of what once was a living being.

She knew she should be feeling sick, that she should be raging or screaming or crying… but the only thing she felt right now was relief knowing that the bandit would hurt no one after this, was she a bad person for thinking that? Was something wrong with her?

Her sight and mind never put attention to the oncoming reinforcements; thankfully those same reinforcements were on her side.

Consisting of Applejack, Quick Trigger and Chrome Shield, the three had guns ready and were looking around before meeting with the other person besides Sunset and AJ all but threw herself at his arms.

“Pa, never scare me like this again” the usual tough farm girl all but bawled at seeing her father alive while this one gladly returned the hug, they maintained the hug for several seconds before they separated. Applejack turned her head to the sitting girl not too far from them and her face changed from relief to annoyance “so, in what kind of trouble did you got my father this time?”

“AJ, that’s enough”

“But Pa, she…”

“I said enough” Red Barn had a voice of command that made everyone stay straight when he talked, probably due to his past in the army before the bombs, nowadays people could forget that until he started to get serious, and this was one of those times “I don’t know what kind of grudge you two have, but I won’t have my own daughter talk that way to an innocent girl”

“Sure, an innocent, which Sunset isn’t, don’t you remember how she was before we all went down into that damn Vault?”

“I sure do, but this is a different time, we all changed because of that, now look at her, does she look like that bully?”

“No, but… what is she doing?”

“She went into shock… I hate to think that I wasn’t capable of defending myself but… Sunset saved my life killing the last bandit; I thought this zone was safe once again and wanted to scout for a little bit, thankfully miss Shimmer here followed me, I heard her say that she wanted to find a clean holotape, no idea what she wanted to do with it” Barn said knowing full well that all any explanation about the technology that had been created due to the atom craziness would always fly over his head.

“Then we found three bandits, new kids, probably couldn’t get into any big band and decided to go solo, one of them had me under his sight before I could react and if it weren’t because of her I wouldn’t be here right now”

“But why is she like that?”

“Because she had to kill, not everyone react the same way after something like this happens” he said sitting down at Sunset’s side, then he took the 10mm from her hands and the teenager finally turned around to look at him with vacant eyes; red Barn almost cursed seeing such a young girl have to live with the consequences of taking a man’s life.

“Is it wrong?”

“What is wrong?”

“That I am feeling relieved that he is dead?” she simply asked before the tears began to fall from her eyes; Barn had no answer to her question, the only thing he could do was hug the teenager until she stopped crying.

Author's Note

Sometimes in all the excitement of Fallout we forget something, that it is a cruel world out there, one where you have no chance to remain innocent, it is truly a tragedy.

The Devil of Canterlot High 01

Author's Note

This goes to Diablo4000 who gave me the idea.

The Devil of Canterlot High 01

You were right Stick, all this time you were right. Telling me that my road would only lead to suffering and pain, I should have listened to you but then I let my own arrogance and ego guide me into the hole that I am now.

Guess I brought this upon myself, some kind of karma or maybe a cosmic joke. What are the chances that something like this would happen on any day? That a truck containing barrels of waste would be moving inside the city? Thankfully I was there at the right moment, better me than Fluttershy.

I remember when I opened my eyes at the hospital -just as they took away the bandages- I realized how scary darkness could be, but then something amazing happened, the world became something else, a place of infinite opportunities.

It wasn’t as if my eyes were functioning, oh no, the doctors have told me that my eyes were useless now, that the chemicals have simply burned my nerves and there was no way for me to see again.

Fluttershy was nice, if a little suffocating in her attentions, constantly being at the side of my bed, telling me about the happenings in Canterlot High, how the Principal and her sister were working on something for me to continue attending the school, how the kids that had been cheering my condition were beaten up by an enraged Rainbow Dash. Apparently she got a week suspension but the others had even worst luck once their parents knew the reason of the ass kicking, they all but went to their knees when they apologized in person.

But among all the sadness of never being able to watch the world, Sunset didn’t fall into the darkness like last time, remembering the old man she have met once she arrived at this world, he was blind and still capable of so many things. Sunset had went back to find him after she was released from the hospital, she had to make sense of what was happening to her.

Her sight might have been gone but her other sense had gone out of control; the doctors –those hired by Principal Celestia once she found out Sunset had no medical care- told her that her senses would work extra hard in the absence of her sight, in compensation they said, but even though they were working perfectly Sunset knew there was something wrong with them.

Just take what happened the day after her release, when she went to talk with Principal Celestia about her studies and how the school pitched in to allow Sunset not only the ability to return, but the materials and equipment necessary for her to return. She still didn’t know if the football had been aimed at her or Fluttershy and she was sure the guy had received an earful from the rest of the team, but Sunset didn’t listen, she only focused on the way she had stretched her hand at the right moment to catch the ball in midair to grab it and protect Fluttershy.

Since that moment Sunset experimented as much as she could while she learned how to read Braille. Her senses might have been compensating in some way but nothing could have prepared her for the way her own body seemed to create a 3d map of everything around her.

Sunset didn’t know if it was eco-location like a bat or something more mysterious, although she quickly decided that like magic, this was not something so easily understood. That didn’t stop her from using her abilities every chance she could, from hearing what others were saying around her to the way she could sense every single dodge ball in the air, almost if suspended in the air before calculating where everything would hit and in what order.

During rush hour of students leaving their classes and moving to the next one, Sunset used the human wave coming at her and relished the experience of not only feeling every single individual, but to be able to dodge, avoid and move around them so quickly and smoothly that some people thought that she was faking her illness. Sunset just had to take off her new red sunglasses –courtesy of Rarity of course- and all of those that dared to suggest Sunset was lying quickly changed their tunes after witnessing the scars around the places where the toxic waste have landed.

So here she was, trying not to feel bad about herself and her situation, trying not to think of her future or what she would have to do now that these so-called Friendship Games were about to start, thinking what she could possibly do to help, to understand the way she could see the world without her eyes.

But she knew the answer to that; she knew what she had to do to make this city -this world- worth living for. She had asked Applejack to read her the news about the outcome of the hearings against the company that in the end had left her blind. She knew that the blonde girl would never be able to lie and would give her the full information.

In the end it was useless, the driver was sentenced to 10 years in prison and the CEO of the company where the toxic waste had originated from only got a fine, basically pocket change to him. It infuriated the redhead the way the system could simply forgive a man who had the gall to do something like that.

Maybe it was true that she had left behind the days of conquering and dark magic, but maybe it was true what they said. Maybe she was still a demon, Sunset thought while lightly touching the mask and the two horns on top of it.

An Ever After Tale 03

Sunset knew many things, like every rule of magic that was impossible to break. Take for example time traveling, which she knew that a unicorn could only travel once to the past without help from a powerful artifact or tapping directly into a magic leylane. She also knew that the usage of dark magic was heavily addictive and there was a whole 12 steps program back in Equestria about it.

She also knew many things about technology, just like how to program and create hardware out of junk parts. The face of Princess Twilight Sparkle whenever she started to talk about a new application or an upgrade she have completed was worth the royal treasury considering how flabbergasted and confused she looked. It was a proud moment for the redhead to make the usually confident egghead girl feel like a fish out of water for once.

Sunset also knew one new thing since arriving in Ever After High, one very important thing. Headmaster Grimm’s mustache was the most interesting thing in the office. Sunset Shimmer had found the man dry and uninteresting after meeting him for the first time and it was not a nice feeling to have after finally getting to know some of the students in the school. Students that seemed to ooze charisma -and in some cases be able to give enough sugar to kill a diabetic- but the headmaster seemed like such a normal person for the school that she wondered if his ‘normal’ personality was in fact what made him weird in the school.

The redhead -more like blonde now- continued to walk in the direction of the castleteria by following the signs. While walking Sunset used the time to observe the way the school was decorated, reminding her more of a castle out of a fairytale, which was quite fitting considering the usage it had. The windows were tall and elegant with beautiful curtains, vases and portraits everywhere. Sunset knew that if she sends a photo to Rarity, this one would find the way to break through the portal and visit the school.

With that idea on her head she finally opened the doors to the castleteria and prepared herself for the onslaught of weirdness. What happened in the end was absolutely nothing since the castleteria was as normal as the cafeteria back in Canterlot High. People sitting down with friends, others were waiting in line to be served and a grumpy lady behind the counter putting food on the plates, although back home they had Granny Smith and not a troll.

Of course, the décor and arrangement reminded everyone that they were in a school for royalty, heroes and wicked villains, with a big marble staircase leading to a second floor that seemed equally well decorated to the amusement of Sunset.

Taking some food for herself, noticing also the quality of the stuff, she searched for a table and found one that was occupied by just one person, and that one was Raven Queen. She didn’t take long to decide where she would sit and Sunset took her tray and took a seat opposite to Raven.

“Anything new on your side?” the blonde Sunset Shimmer asked to the gothic looking girl making her smile in a peculiar way.

“Are you sure you want to sit down with the future Evil Queen?” she said obviously seeing some humor in the question and situation. At least Raven Queen seemed to use her future destiny in ways that would entertain her.

“I come from a school that has been reminded time and time again one thing. The most important part of our lives is friendship, if you want to sit down with your friends at lunch then do it. So that’s why I’m here” She answered taking a bite out of her steak and promptly understood one thing. If food would always taste that good then she would not mind staying at the school for the whole year.

“That’s a nice view of the world you guys have. Thank you Sunset Shimmer” Raven said and in her eyes Sunset could see how grateful she was about not he words said by Sunset but by her actions sitting down with her.

As Sunset began to dig in into her food she noticed a nervous boy wearing a crown and getting closer to them. He seemed a little nerdy and shy and his eyes seemed to be focused in the other teenager at the table much to Sunset’s amusement.

“Hey Raven, uh, you look gor- I mean, great, I don’t even know what gor is” it was quite funny to see a guy like him stumble across his words when talking with a girl that caught his fancy.

“Oh don’t worry, I know what gor means” Sunset said with his teasing smirk that she tended to use only with Twilight and Flash. In response the boy flushed slightly at the implication in Sunset’s word.

“So a prince and a heroine want to sit with the villain, you two must be pretty Dar-” a flash of light took the three by surprise as the three turned their heads to the staircase. Coming down arm to arm were none other than Apple White and the aforementioned Daring “ing”

“No, I’m Dexter, Dexterous Charming, Daring is my” once again the flash came and Sunset wanted to slap the blonde boy behind its head remembering that she told him to avoid flashing others “brother… oh gor” at least Dexter had found a good use to his new created word.

“Raven, Sunset, how’s every enchanted thing” the smiling princess said to both while they met as a group in the middle of the castleteria.

“Apple White, good to see you”

“You two are friends?” A slightly confused Sunset asked to the two main characters of Snow White.

“Of course we are, she is my villain, and there is no one more important than her in my story” Apple said confusing Sunset even more by how happy she sounded mentioning Raven. Curiouser and curiouser Sunset had in her mind looking at both girls and the easy going way in which they interacted.

“Hey Daring”

“I have to warn you Raven, don’t stare at the teeth, I just got a whitening” then the prince seemed to have remembered Sunset’s words because he turned away from them to smile. Following the flash of incandescent light she started to laugh. The three little pigs were sitting at the adjacent table and while two of them had the bright idea to bring sunglasses, the third one, the one she had nicknamed Walking Barbeque had an apple on his mouth. The sight of a slightly burned pig with the apple on his muzzle was hilarious.

“Alright, if I ever use a grill outside you are the man I’m calling” she said while Daring pointed at her with both index fingers.

“Anything for a beautiful damsel” Before they could continue their shenanigans a bell began to ring signaling the ending of lunch for the students.

“Oh, there’s the bell, time for Good Kingdom Management, Raven, what’s your next class?”

“Ah, History of Evil Spells” the dark haired teenager said not quite as happy as her friend, but Sunset had to admit she was quite interested in that class, from the scientific point of view of course, to see what differences dark magic had in the user compare to Equestria. Just before they could all separate and leave for their respective classes there was one last thing happening.

“Did she just growl at Daring?” Definitely, Sunset would not get bored at this school.

Author's Note

Just two things.

In the next episodes of An Ever After Tale I woould stop following the canon episodes and things would get out of scripts.

Second, this is not a Dexter/Raven story.

Rosario+Pony 02

Author's Note

A little bit more of Sunset's abilities are hinted and the real changes to the plot begin.

Rosario+Pony 02

Sunset Shimmer put the final touches to the bow at the front of her shirt in front of the mirror with great care to avoid any problem with its position, then when she was finally satisfied with the way it looked she took one last look at her whole attire. Knee high socks followed by a green tartan skirt that barely reached her tights and a combination of a white shirt and a blue suit jacket finished the ensemble.

Looking at the reflection Sunset had to smile at how well she looked in the slightly perverted version of a normal high school uniform. If she ever found out the guy that decided to use such a short skirt then she would feed him to piranhas, or she could transform once again and run him through.

Remembering what had happened Sunset lost all good humor she had that morning while walking in the direction of the school. Since her redemption at the fight against the sirens and her fight with the dark version of Twilight, she’d never had a callback to her own dark version; it should have been destroyed by the elements. And yet, there it was, Satan Sunset once again appeared on her life although with Sunset in full control of her actions.

The situations in which her darker form made an appearance were like day and night. The first was fueled by her desires of more power and own darkness. The second -although fueled by her desires again- came from her wish to help her friend. Her fight with that asshole has shown that even though she wasn’t a slouch in the physical department, her own strength was not up to notch with a school populated by monsters.

Knowing that she didn’t have enough information to create a hypothesis for her sudden transformation, Sunset finally put attention to the road and how every single pair of eyes was placed upon her. Students were looking at her, some in awe and others with obvious heart shaped eyes.

The attention was nothing new. Back home she was always at the center of the rumor mill, but never before had she been the target of so much adoration. Well, except for that time tree Hugger’s strange new age club thought she was the Second Coming, with Sunset having no idea what was that.

Just as Sunset was getting a little restless more gasps could be heard and she could see why every boy –and some females- were acting like that. Moka was practically shinning and her hair and smile seemed to be strong enough to bounce back whatever sunrays they had that morning to create the glitter effect.

The beautiful vampire then smiled even wider as she saw her friend and with quick steps latched upon the redhead’s arm much to the enjoyment of the male students. They were a little jealous of the way both girls got along but the simple fact of seeing two beautiful girls in the morning was enough for them to feel joy.

Although apparently others had different ideas with being jealous of one of the two girls, and others going into the complete opposite direction. It was until Sunset faintly hear someone say the word yuri when she wondered if fate was playing with her.

Thankfully classes at Youkai Academy were not too heavy, mostly consisting of things she had already studied. Although considering the kind of material she and Twilight tended to read she could probably go for Tokyo University already.

Once they had some time to relax among themselves Sunset and Moka took a walk away from the masses, finally finding a place where the two could talk about what had just happened the other day.

“So all your power is usually sealed?”

“Yes, I use the rosary to keep it contained; is not a problem and the chain is supposed to be extremely hard to break, it is a seal after all”

“Maybe it got damaged when you were fighting Saizou, maybe it was something else. Did you try to get a hold of your family? Maybe they have some ideas”

“I couldn’t get in contact with them; besides, I wouldn’t want my family to find out of the rosary breaking, I could get into bigger problems” Moka said slightly shivering at the idea of her family -specially her sisters- finding out of the inner Moka coming to the surface.

“Well, seems like the only thing we can do is to keep on going, hopefully it was just a onetime deal” Sunset said holding out a hand to help Moka sit up. The vampire girl took the offered hand and she heaved herself up, and in the action she took a whiff of Sunset’s aroma; a delightful combination of cinnamon and spices, but beyond that there was the most beautiful smell. So beautiful that she threw herself at Sunset’s neck and began her breakfast.

Sunset’s reaction was pretty predictable, quickly jumping back from Moka’s fangs and placing a hand over the two small holes in her neck.

“Moka! What the heck?!”

“I’m sorry Yuya, but you smell so nice and you taste so well, I just cannot help myself, I think I just became addicted to your blood” She said with a dreamy smile on her angelic face, but instead of making Sunset feel better then only thing it did was infuriate the redhead even more.

“I am not you blood pack! I understand that as a vampire you need blood, but dammit, you could have asked me first!” Sunset huffed before turning around, starting to walk in the direction of the forest. She needed time to control herself, the idea of screaming at her friend hurt her but it was necessary if Moka wanted to get control over her instincts.

Taking a deep breath Sunset took a look around the creepy and dark forest; maybe she would have been scared of the scenery but considering the adventures and place she was the forest was practically normal compared to them. With this last idea bringing a smile to her face she then decided to walk back to the building.

“Someone, p-please help. I just suddenly started to feel ill” a weak voice came from somewhere close to Sunset. Quickly searching for the source the redhead found a short blue haired girl kneeling down not too far away from her.

Helping her up Sunset found out how light the other girl was as she put one of her arms over her shoulder to help her walk up. With the way she had been kneeling before Sunset hadn’t realized the girl had an hourglass figure that was obvious with the way her uniform clung to her body. Sunset also found out how blessed the girl was in the chest department as this one seemed to be pushing her breast into Sunset’s side.

“Thank you, I’ve always had a weak body” The girl said and Sunset knew that the girl was making her feel her breasts on purpose. There was no way the girl could be so naïve or not notice how much she was rubbing against Sunset’s body.

“Is alright, does anything hurt?”

“Yes, my chest just starts hurting all of a sudden, it feels at it would burst, would you held me tight?” The girl said and went from a weak hurt girl to full seducing mode with eyes that were inviting Sunset. She then felt an aura, something emanating from the other girl. Something that felt dark and seductive.

Then Sunset blinked and her eyes changed, her sclera becoming black and her iris turning into teal slits. Her body growing in strength as the energy seemed to not only be absorbed, but reversed back into the original source.

Kurumu felt herself grow weaker the longer she looked into Sunset’s dark eyes, her legs were shaking and she would have fallen to the ground if she hadn’t been clinging onto the other girl’s jacket. She could feel herself falling deeper and deeper into those eyes.

Sunset’s eyes returned to normal once she heard a soft gasp not too far away from her. It ended up being Moka who was looking up at Sunset and the girl; with a look downward she could see why the vampire was so surprised; the blue haired girl seemed to have an iron grasp on Sunset’s jacket while looking completely flustered. Maybe she wasn’t lying about feeling bad.

“Look miss, if you continue feeling bad you should check on the infirmary, I’m sure they will be able to help you” Sunset told her and the smaller girl simply nodded letting the redhead go. Seeing this Sunset then walked to Moka “so why did you come looking for me?”

“I… I wanted to apologize. I suppose I let my hunger get out of control and I can see why it got you so mad” seeing the downcast eyes of someone who usually seemed so vibrant felt wrong to Sunset.

“I’m not mad, just remember to ask me for permission to bite me… wow, that sounded so wrong” she said while both girls began to laugh at the way those words could be taken out of context.

Meanwhile, back in the forest clearing, one young succubus went into her knees while clenching her sweater’s front with both hands feeling how her heart was beating at such a speed that it scared her. Never before in her life Kurumu had felt like this and it was at the same time intoxicating and terrifying.

Her plan had failed. Originally she had planned to make Sunset look like a pervert in front of her friend, that way both will separate and create strife among them; then she would jump in and gain the number one position among the male students in the school and initiate her plan to turn everyone into her male harem.

Now the plan was all but ruined due to one thing that Kurumu hadn’t planned for. Kirameki Yuya was not only immune to her succubus abilities, she could counter them. It seemed that those rumors of Sunset being not only a demon, but one of high rank were confirmed.
Kurumu knew she wasn’t the strongest monster in the academy and there was no possible way she could go against a high ranking demon and a pure blood vampire.

Kurumu stood up feeling a little lost now that she had recovered slightly from the effects of her own charm. Just thinking on how easy she had fallen into the trance was humiliating; she had become the prey so suddenly that she was sure that if Sunset had asked her to do something she would have done it in an instant. She then shivered at some rather raunchy images of what Sunset could have done to her and then had to shake her head to get out of the daydreaming.

Kurumu was sure her mother would be disappointed on her if she ever found out the results of her ill-fated plan. With one last sigh she decided to start anew in her planning against Moka and Yuya, but first she needed to change her underwear.

The Curse of the Avatar Spirit 01

It hurt so much.

Every bone in her body hurt like never before.

Katara once knew the way the world worked. Fire Nation were the evil guys and she alongside her brother would help the Avatar save the world. Now everything was just screwed up beyond measure as she tried to crawl in the direction of Sokka whose eyes were wide open, unmoving.

The young girl tried not to whimper at the empty look on her brother’s face, knowing that he would never smile back at her in his usual goofy way. But now the eyes were empty, just like mother. Now she was alone.

That’s when she heard the laughter, it was quiet and controlled. The scariest thing was the laughter, it send shivers through her spine. It was a sound that scared her to the core, as if she were an animal being hunted and the only thing left was to run; sadly there was nowhere to run.
It had started so simply; a man with regal deep blue robes had appeared at their camp and asked for their help. Aang was the first one to jump up and say he would help. That’s when the nightmare began.

The man simply smiled softly before the air around them seemed to shift, to thicken and make it almost impossible for her to breathe. Then they felt pain and next second Sokka was already dead on his back and Aang was hanging on the air, with the man’s hand on his neck strangling the young child.

“Do you have any idea how long I was looking out for you? Quite the little rascal, with your adventures and your oh so important mission to save the world, such a shame that the Avatar chose such a naïve boy as a vessel. But no more” the man said before placing his free hand over Aang’s arrow and then pulled. Aang’s screams would probably be heard around the forest they had landed on.

As the man pulled Katara would swear there was a second Aang, one made out of energy. It seemed to be exactly what the man was looking for because his smile grew into a savage grin.

“To think that the protector of this world has nothing better to do than to lie asleep as the world suffers around it. Hiding behind a little kid? Is that what you do these days?” the man said calmly as the energy Aang was completely pulled out of the flesh and bone. He then released Aang and this one felt into the ground.

Katara didn’t know much about spirits and the Avatar, but she would swear from this day onwards that what was in that man’s hands was the Spirit of the Avatar itself. And I decide that this will be no more.

He is not the right vessel and I won’t let him do what he wants in one of my worlds. And with that the Spirit of the Avatar begins to blur, almost like if it were glitching much to the shock of the dangerous man.

“No, no! I was so close! You cannot take this away from me!”

But I already did. And just like that the world blinked out. Katara opened her eyes and she saw that everything was back to what it was before the man. But not everything was the same. At her sides Aang and Sokka began to cough as they were capable of breathing once again.

“What did just happen?” the ponytailed warrior tried to remember why he felt so tired and out of breath.

“We died” Aang answered back. His voice had noting of his usual exuberance and he seemed as sad and angry as the day they found his old master’s body “he killed us”

“Aang, what are you talking about?”

“We died Katara, I saw him… I don’t know what was that helped but… he told me he had to do something but the corruption already started”

“What corruption, Aang, you need to tell us everything you know” Sokka said in one of his moments of complete seriousness.

“I was in the Spirit Realm. Or maybe it wasn’t, I don’t know. But there was this presence, and it told me the guy’s name. He is Noche”

“What kind of name is Noche?”

“He is from far away, and he is some kind of… parasite, he feeds on the energy of others and then corrupts them, infects them with something”

“Then we will defeat him; you can do it Aang, you are the Avatar”

“Not anymore” the pure distress and pain in Aang’s voice made Katara’s blood turn into ice.

“What do you mean?!”

“Noche wanted the power of the Avatar Spirit, that’s why he attacked us… this presence, it couldn’t defeat him, just push him away, says that my body was infected by Noche, that he had to send the Avatar Spirit to someone Noche could never infect or take the power from”

“We are doomed, we are just doomed!”

“Sokka!”

“What? You heard Aang! Before starting this trip I had never seen or heard about spirits, now we cannot go one week without tripping over some kind of man-eating monster! And now you tell me there is a guy out there that can take someone else bending?! Not only that, but apparently we need to find this person that is supposed to be the new Avatar or something like that?”

“There is something else”

“Oh great, what now?”

“That… presence said you wouldn’t like it Katara, that the person he found would not be nice to you”

“Please don’t tell me is Prince Zuko”

“No” he said making Katara sigh in relief, sadly it didn’t last when Aang gave her the rest of my instructions “but she is a firebender” at another time I would enjoyed listening to Katara rage like that but now is not the time.

Now I can only witness what HE can do, and what will happen if he is allowed to run free. I just wish Sunset will one day forgive me.

Author's Note

I'm sorry

I'm so sorry.

I couldn't stop him in time.

Interlude 03: Noche

This was the first time where Sunset didn’t close carefully a door. In fact, she had all but slammed the door in all but rage and fear of what had just happened. Sunset knew that what just went on at the other side of the door was not something that was planned or even thought of.

She knew what kind of dimension the door was; she had seen several episodes alongside Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who apparently were fans. And Sunset had to admit that she had enjoyed the story and the characters, but from what she remembered there was no death or people getting their souls practically torn aside from their living bodies.

She wanted to ask her host for more information about what had just happened, but seeing his cup of tea untouched and his head on his hands just took all the wind from her sails. If Observer was as freaked out as her then it meant that it was a real crisis.

As she was about to open her mouth to say something or maybe ask for confirmation, a weird thing happened on top of everything else. A tear in the middle of air appeared and from it came a man wearing what Sunset knew as a martial arts gi in red and black, holding on one hand a golden claw and in another a blue dragon statue.

“Alert! Alert! Bad things are going to… I guess you already know” He said calming down instantly while watching at Observer and his raised eyebrow.

“Yes, well, I think you arrived a little late but thanks for the warning” the bespectacled man said standing up from his usual chair and starting to walk in Sunset’s direction “care to tell me how everything simply derailed?”

“Hey, don’t look at me, I had nothing to do with it... this time, I thought you were keeping an eye on him!”

“In his future version, yes. We both know what will happen but that is only one outcome and we both know everything is still in the air”

“Excuse me; can someone please explain what is going on?”

“I’m sorry my dear, I suppose in the excitement of everything I just left you in the dark. My… comrade at my side is Keeper”

“Geez, try to sound colder, maybe next time you will freeze space”

“Do not be so melodramatic. You see Sunset, both of us have a really important job in the multiverse. Keeper is in charge placing several factors or key changes in a timeline. This changes allow for a chain reaction that allow for histories to remain their courses”

“Just like placing all of Twilight Sparkle’s friendship reports in one place so Celestia can send them back so they can stop Discord. One of my proudest moments” he said mimicking shooting with his index fingers before getting slapped on the back of his head by Observer.

“Quite, anyway, my job is to maintain everything under observation so I could interfere in small doses and keep the multiverse in order” The gentleman explained, obviously not as proud of what he did like Keeper, and Sunset understood why. So far Observer was content with just watching and keeping things in order, she didn’t want to know what other things he had to do on his long life.

“Like giving me the Ever After Key”

“Like that, which allowed a version of you to be on a place where she will be useful”

“Useful for what?” Sunset had never really understood why they send Sunset to the other school. She first thought that maybe it was because she was going to be happier at Ever After or that she would learn more about friendship. After watching the way Aang had been manhandled and all but tortured she was beginning to think there was something else behind it all.

“Useful to maintain under control the monster you just saw” Observer said looking at this side and realizing that his partner was right now stuffing his mouth with cookies “a monster neither Keeper nor I wanted you to meet yet”

“So this guy, is he not from the Avatar world?”

“Oh no, he is worse than that and is very funny that you question his origins. You may notice a certain naming similarities between him and another of Equestria’s enemies”

“Who… Sombra! Wait, are you saying that guy’s an Umbrum?!”

“Not just one Umbrum, THE Umbrum. What your princesses fought a millennium ago was an Umbrum born again as a pony and even then it took the princesses their power and that of the Crystal Heart to seal him away because there is no real method to defeat an Umbrum”

“The problem with this crazy one is that he is the original Umbrum, who escaped from his prison, then he was defeated by his son and others and then… well, he went away”

“How do you know all that?” Sunset asked at the words of this Keeper, as if that story was common knowledge.

“Because it used to be common knowledge before Discord destroyed the books and ponies forgot the past. Now, only few books reference that period and must of them are found in the Crystal Kingdom”

“So what’s the story? How was he defeated last time?”

“He wasn’t” The Observer told her reclaiming his chair and trying to salvage some of the leftover treats that Keeper wasn’t munching on “last time he was in Equestria he was banished thanks to the Elements of Unity”

“The what? Don’t you mean Harmony?”

“Oh my sweet child, the Elements of Harmony may be the most stable powers thanks to the creation of the Tree of Harmony, but they haven’t been the first one. I think there is a door that will lead you to the world of Broken Horn where everything happened”

“Thankfully not everything was lost and you were capable of kicking Noche out of Avatar before he could get its powers” Keeper said placing the dragon statue on the table. The craftsmanship was impeccable but something on it made Sunset’s skin crawl as if at any moment it would jump and attack her.

“What do you mean? I thought you were the one who kicked Noche out of the Avatar’s world”

“Woah, you know I have no powers like that”

“Neither do I”

“Wait, so you want to tell me that everything that just happened had nothing to do with either of you?” Sunset asked both interdimensional beings with round eyes.

“It seems so. Sunset, you were the only one that was watching directly, what did you saw?”

“I… I don’t know, one moment Noche had the Avatar on his hands and then everything, I don’t know, glitched somehow. Then everything went back to normal and they were alive” just watching Keeper and Observer as lost as she was feeling was not a good thing.

“Well, seems like there are things not even us can explain. What do you think my dear? Want to see in what kind of mess your counterpart will find herself as the Avatar?”

The Curse of the Avatar Spirit 02

Author's Note

I found it funny how many people thought that Sunset would be a firebender.

There is no Avatar Cycle anymore, and is not a wrong thing, not in this universe.

Also, this story will be dark, even darker than Korra, for the reason that while Korra was dark, they were healing form a war. In this one the war will take a rather dark tone. there is no White vs Black sides in here, some people are bad, some are good, while others just want to survive.

And about this Sunset... well, she and Azula would probably get along if they didn't try to kill each other. This is no hero, at most she is a Villain Protagonist.

The Curse of the Avatar Spirit 02

It had been a week that neither of them could ever forget. First knowing that at one point they had been dead but that for some reason the while world had returned them to life. Everything for the last few days felt like something out of a nightmare but neither of them could wake up.

Sokka was the one that came out of it with the less scars. Sure, he had died and suddenly woke up once again in the mortal realm with no injuries or lasting effects. He had the fortune of not remembering anything that had happened while he was ‘lying down’ as Aang would put it, but he wished he could remember just so he could help the others.

Katara’s hands showed weird marks since then. They seemed like dark clouds and whenever other people commented on them they always thought that they were marks or tattoos. The dark skinned girl wished they were something so simple, because now, every time she tried to bend, the marks began to glow and made her feel as if needles were being inserted into her bones.

Aang was the worst. Not because he was being despondent or brattish, he just grew quiet, and that on itself scared Sokka to the core. They were used to a kid that seemed to be on a perpetual sugar rush, who had problems concentrating or relaxing. Aang always seemed to be on the move, always thinking new ways to have fun. Now he barely talked as they asked about a redheaded woman.

Thankfully for them, red was not a color of hair that was seen very much and they were capable of following the trail of the woman up to this town, where Sokka once again cursed their luck. The young warrior let out words that he was sure would cause his Gran to slap him in the back of the head for even thinking about them. Looking at the girl sitting behind bars in chains was a good enough reason to curse aloud in Sokka’s opinion.

Apparently the girl had been living in town the last two month; she had been as friendly as a cranky porcupine-bear but didn’t cause trouble. Quick at work at the bar, never started a fight but knew how to end one and an avid scroll reader so she was a constant presence at the local temple.

Everything changed when the son of the local trader had seen her create a flame above a candle. It was a surprise for the girl who had repeatedly said that she wasn’t a bender as they put her on chains and waited for the execution. The way Aang and Katara had frozen at hearing that the young girl haven’t had a hearing and was found guilty immediately send them on a rampage.

The local guard captain looked pale enough to be confused with a ghost, and Sokka could understand the reaction as the man finally understood that the person he had behind bars was none other than the Avatar herself. Not that she was really the Avatar but Aang didn’t tell them the whole truth.

And boy, was the woman infuriated when they finally let her free. Not in the usual ‘I am going rip your heart out’, but more in the ‘I’m going to get my revenge and you won’t like it’ type of way that made Sokka’s hairs behind his neck to stand up. And she did get her revenge.

Once people saw that the girl they had called firebender only two days ago was free they began to scream and try to get the guard to kill her in the spot. It sickened Sokka how easily the people of the town could change from being peaceful and amiable into a hateful mob; and it sickened Sokka because he knew that if they didn’t know that the girl was now the new Avatar he and his sister would be alongside the crowd. He hated the Fire nation, he hated them because of what they had done to their people, but especially to their Mother.

Sokka knew he would never forget the man who killed the most important woman in his life, like he would never forget the man who commanded this senseless war. But he couldn’t hate a single person who wanted nothing to do with the war apparently.

It was comical how everyone stopped and basically threw everything they were doing to bow down in front of their savior. Apparently the word of two Southern Water tribe members and an Air Monk were good enough to convince them. It was comical, in a pathetic and nightmarish way.

But it wasn’t over, the smile on the girl called Sunset told him that. She opened her mouth and the town listened to her story. It wasn’t much of a story, more like a couple of questions for the town. Nobody wondered why the father of the kid had sent her to the jail and pushed for her execution since she was the Avatar? Who was the one who was most invested in her death? Has nobody wondered why his family was so rich? From where did the money come from?

Sokka understood that what the woman had said was nothing more than lies but everyone suddenly began to think and they all reached the same conclusion. That the family worked under the orders of the Fire Nation, that they were spies and that they wanted the Avatar dead.

Katara and Aang were furious at what Sunset had done but the girl didn’t even feel guilty. And this was supposed to be the hope of the world until they could put things in order. Sokka didn’t know what to think, but he knew one thing. Sokka was completely scared of this girl and the way she talked as if she didn’t care about the world.

She only wanted to learn how to control her new abilities, but what she would do after their arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, Sokka didn’t know. She could become the savior and stop the Fire Lord, she could say goodbye and walk away, or she could simply join the Fire Nation and burn everything. Sokka didn’t know what she would do and it scared him.

Sunset had told them that she hadn’t been a bender, that she wasn’t even from THIS world. Sokka would have said one day that the girl was insane but after dying once and returning to live didn’t change your perspective on the world, nothing did. So the girl was not from their world, the Avatar cycle was screwed beyond recognition, they were running against the clock and they had to convince the new Avatar to save the world.

Definitely, things couldn’t get worse than this.

One day Sokka would have to learn how to keep his mouth shut.

The Sunset of the Food Duels 01

She had to admit it. The school that was barely visible at the end of the road and at the top of the mountain was definitely not something you would see every day. But that wasn’t what amazed her, no, it was the way clouds and darkness engulfed the place from this far away that amazed her. Whoever was the one who build the school definitely knew how to add drama to the location.

The other thing that truly surprised Sunset was the amount of luxurious cars everywhere and the number of black suits accompanying young teenagers. Just the sight of them fired up alarm bells in her head due to the concentration of money in a small place. Sunset was told that this school was the best culinary school in the world. This was an elite school where only 10% of the students graduated.

When she had heard for the first time she had been confused, then amused at the way things could be handled there so of course she decided to listen to Principal Celestia and go for the challenge.

All the rich boys made her feel out of place for some reason. Maybe it was the way they strutted around as if the world was not worthy of them and in a way made her remember the way she used to be just a year ago. And apparently, the only guy who didn’t seem to be born in silk and gold had the same reaction. The way the boy manhandled one of the rich guys was hilarious, apparently because he wasn’t a millionaire or heir to an important company or restaurant chain he wasn’t worth their time. Knocking out the two bodyguards of the kid she took a step besides the boy, at the least it would be funny to see him interact with everyone.

The boy, named Soma, seemed to be burning with indignation of the way the rich boy talked about his family restaurant. Not that Sunset could understand since she had no idea how she would feel is someone badmouthed the place she worked, but came to the conclusion that she would have done something even worse.

It was also quite hilarious the way everyone was looking at her in fear, almost as if they already knew her and her temper. Sunset was sure she hadn’t hit those two guys hard enough to merit this welcome but at least nobody would mess with her in this school.
Arriving at the welcoming center among the other teenagers she quickly found out why everyone was looking at her as if they already knew her. In a way they did, even though she was sure her hair was red instead of blonde to be confused with the girl in front of her wearing a school uniform.

“Greetings, transfer applicants, I am Nakiri Erina and I have been assigned to judge today’s transfer exam” the girl said with the aplomb of someone used to situations like this. But Sunset didn’t care very much about it because what was surprising was the way the girl and her looked alike. It was so disconcerting that several applicants were looking at the two of them with fear “that won’t do” Erina said to her companion about the way the application was supposed to be done “bring the kitchen work table here”

“So it seems this will be only practical” Sunset said to the only boy who wasn’t intimidated by her double’s appearance and mannerism.

“That will be just perfect” Maybe the reason she felt a bond with the boy was due to his deep red hair that seemed to be alight in flames like hers.

“The main ingredient will be the egg” she said holding up the white ingredient for everyone to see “Make one dish and I’ll allow those whose creation impress my palate to transfer into the academy” okay, it seemed harsh but fair, after all this was supposed to be an elite cooking school “furthermore, I’ll allow you all one minute to withdraw your applications to the academy” the girl said with a smirk she had seen many times in the mirror, it was just strange to see someone with blonde hair do it in her opinion.

The next second both Soma and herself were in the middle of what can only be called a human stampede as every applicant began to run away in fear. Soma quickly caught one of the screaming guys and Sunset had to be amused at the catch of the day since it was the same boy Soma had been strangling before all this.

Apparently the girl was someone they called ‘God’s Palate’ and she was really important in the food business. If your dishes were not to her liking then you had the worst of time and your career would go to the trash. It was very interesting -and also hilarious- how everyone seemed to be so scared of her, it made Sunset remember her days at Canterlot Junior High.

Already taking her decision she began to walk in the direction of the kitchens following the signs on the walls. Sunset turned around to talk directly with her blonde look-a-like before she was stopped by the sheer amount of flowers and glitter floating around Erina and her assistant. It seems that they thought everyone had run away and were on their own world.

“Hey, pair of lilies!” her words made the two of them separate and just looking at their eyes she knew they were also surprised at her looks “I’m going to the kitchen to prepare something in advance, and I’m also sure that guy will be very interested in doing your exam” Sunset said already enjoying Erina’s look of confusion and bewilderment at the idea of two people taking her exam.

Walking in the direction of the place she didn’t thought she would have an interest in a year ago, Sunset began to check her mental cooking book in search of something that could take Erina for a spin. Then it clicked and she remembered the time she read about the dish. It was not going to be conventional but if something could work it was definitely THAT dish.

Author's Note

Now Sunset finds herself in the world of Shokugeki no Soma, and let me tell you, next chapter will be something that took me a LOOOONG time to prepare for, I had to do so much research about food. So next time it is Sunset who will cook and present something for the extremely picky Erina.

The Pony of the Majesty 01

The peaceful days that Sunset Shimmer had enjoyed for a long time with her friends were over. She had used them all while trying to be happy and use the opportunity to understand friendship and magic in this world, but she knew that this would happen sooner or later. She couldn’t escape her sins or the fact that she was a creature from another dimension.

It had started with a tug on her heart, pointing somewhere deep into the east as if there was something calling for her, asking her to find it. Sunset could feel something inside her responding to the call and it scared her because she was feeding on it. Just last week she had seen proof of her theory when without even trying she had been able to avoid every single dodgeball thrown at her at gym. It was pretty obvious something had happened to her when she even disarmed a mugger before he could even react.

Sunset knew that it was a bad idea to keep the gun with her but something inside of her told her that it was better that the magic of friendship would not be enough in the next few days. The Sig Pro 2022 was a nice weapon and she had grown strangely attached to it once she knew how to correctly use it much to her surprise.

But a single weapon couldn’t save her or her friends now that Sunset knew what to look for. People walking around the city and the school was not an enough reason to feel worried, but the way they walked and kept looking at certain points just made her feel on edge. At first sight there was nothing bizarre on new people arriving to the city, but she hadn’t become one of the greatest unicorns in the history of Equestria just because she was good at academic topics, she was also a little paranoid and seeing all these people made bells go off in her brain.

At the end she had relented, knowing that all of this was because of her and like Tartarus she would let her friends be hurt. She knew what was going to happen and she texted each and every one of her friends, saying goodbye to them and that maybe one day she will see them again. She had already ‘forgotten’ the journal at Fluttershy’s house so there would be no way that magical object could fall in the wrong hands, now the only thing she could do was wait.

Then she heard the van stop in front of her apartment and Sunset knew what she had to do. Standing up and walking to the van Sunset presented her hands feeling then the cold metal of the handcuffs. None of the men were surprised to find Sunset waiting for them or if they did they were capable of hiding it.

Canterlot was left behind and even if Sunset couldn’t see where they were going she still heard the roar of the plane as they traveled across the ocean and into another continent, leaving behind everything she had known. She was now as lost as she was when she arrived at the human world but she wasn’t afraid, she just wanted to know what would happen to her. Would she be used for experiments? Would they kill her and dissect her like in those silly movies? Or worst yet, will they try to get all the information she had about Equestria? Whatever may come Sunset knew that not even Princess Twilight would be able to save her from this.

The moment she arrived at whatever place they landed she was immediately put into a van without knowing anything, seeing nothing from the back of the van as streets flew by. Next thing she knew she was on a laboratory and soon the experiments began; first her blood, her physical capacities but never questions about who she was or where she came from. No torture or pain beyond the discomfort of the needle that took her blood.

Whoever they were they seemed to have a lot of money and equipment so that could only mean one thing. What could the British government want with her? Not that the whole ‘being from another dimension’ wouldn’t be a great target on Sunset, but beyond that there was nothing of value on her, magic wasn’t something that could be used or weaponized so then what?

Her answers came once she was in her own little crystal clear prison cell. Sunset was not uncomfortable, she had been at worst places than that but it was the series of cameras and equipment that made Sunset raise an eyebrow in wonder, what was the reason to keep her contained and monitored all the time?

The woman walking closer to her cell was all she needed to know that she in serious problems without even knowing the reasons. The portly older woman radiated authority and no-nonsense so strongly that Sunset felt herself stood straight without even realizing it.

“Ten years ago a young girl and her parents found themselves in the middle of a terrorist attack. The three died there so imagine the surprise of the government when that same girl who should be dead was not only walking around but apparently acing every test and competition she was involved in” the woman said showing Sunset a couple of photographs and Sunset had to blush at how stupid it was of her to be appearing in those considering she was supposed to be hiding not putting neon signs over her head.

The woman didn’t even blink at Sunset’s facepalm and continued talking in a completely professional voice. The redhead was extremely impressed by the way the woman acted and talked, it was as if feelings were something optional when she was born.

“Then -as if by magic- sudden spikes of energy readings began to appear on the United States and lo and behold, you were not only present but were part of. Our experts were baffled by the amount of energy and the repercussions it had on the world. Apparently the whole reality began to tear apart with only you capable of fixing the damage to our world.” The woman then showed her several photos of Sunset’s transformed state and her fight with the nicknamed Midnight Sparkle. How much of a fool she was, apparently they all thought that nobody had known what had happened that day but it was obvious several governments were very interested in them.

“I suppose you want me to tell you what happened that day.”

“Oh indeed, but that is not why we brought you in Miss Shimmer -if that is your name- we want you here because there is a situation around the world that has to do with the energy that was shown that day. A week ago we, as well as the CIA, lost several of our agents in the middle of an investigation about another energy signature similar to yours.”

“What do you mean another energy signature? Is that what’s going on? You think I have anything to do with it?”

“What we think or not does not affect the end results. What we do know is that the energy signature seems to be planned to be used as a weapon by this man.” She said showing Sunset the photo of someone that reminded Sunset of a story Princess Twilight had told her about the Crystal Heart “his name is Sombra; he is an extremist who sells weapons to all kinds of groups. Whatever he found seems to have caught the attention of many groups that have little to no interest in peace and order. Sadly, four days ago the signature disappeared and our researchers theorize that he found a way to shield its emissions in such a way to avoid detection or any way for us to track him down. We were about to send one of our agents but with so little information it would be practically impossible to find Sombra, that is until one of our researchers found a certain similarity between you and the weapon.”

“So let me guess, you want to use me as a living radar”

“Indeed, because what could happen to the world if someone is capable of harnessing the same power that almost destroyed the world, well, I do not want to think that kind of power in the hands of a madman”

“I’m pretty sure you are not ‘asking’ me to help you”

“Sunset Shimmer, this is not a favor. You do not exist, you are a ghost and as one you technically have no rights in this world, we can keep you in here indefinitely but I’m giving you an alternative. Find Sombra alongside my agent, neutralize this menace and not only will you be released but also you will finally have an identity and legal papers as a British citizen.” The woman said with the same aplomb but Sunset saw the bait that was being dangled in front of her. They could keep her there in the laboratory and become their guinea pig for all eternity -or at least until Princess Twilight brought the place down- but they were scared of what could happen; it was obvious by the extremely good deal they gave her. The woman knew she already had her in her hand and Sunset was in no mood to reject it no matter how much it smelled like a trap.

“You got yourself a deal”

“Good, my men will return your things and also give you all you need for the mission. You obviously don't know this but in MI6 we tend to give our agents codenames, usually in the form of letter or numbers. The man you will be working with has the number of 007. You on the other hand, as an external agent would simply be called Phoenix… maybe one day you will be able to earn your number”

Author's Note

Yeah, I watched a couple of Bond movies lately.

The Devil of Canterlot High 02

Rarity loved Sunset just like she loved Sweetie Belle. They both sometimes made her want to pull her hair with their antics –not that she would ever do that to her precious hair- but at the end of the day she couldn’t imagine a world without them. So you could imagine how scared she was the day when she got a call by a hysterical Fluttershy. Rainbow would have been green with envy by the speed in which she arrived to the General Hospital.

Every time she saw the scars around Sunset’s eyes her heart broke in two and it wasn’t because she was horrified or scared of them. Rarity knew the pain of losing sight, and even though her situation had been different –a flash and an explosion from something Sweetie and her friends had build once- and that she had recovered after a week, she knew the struggle and how void the world seemed. Now Sunset would never be able to escape that darkness and all because she was a hero.

Her friends tried to do what they could to help Sunset around and Rarity also pitched with several anwers to problems the redhead had on her daily activities just like helping her coordinate new clothes or getting her now trademark red sunglasses, but she still felt that her contributions were minimal compared what Rainbow or Fluttershy did daily. She knew it wasn’t a competition but she wondered if maybe there was something she could do to help their friend, and now that she had the chance she felt that maybe she was way over her head.

“You want to infiltrate the company!?” Rarity all but screamed when she heard Sunset’s plan alongside Twilight. The bespectacled girl at her side had her hair on a very charming high-ponytail and was deep in thought after hearing Sunset’s plan.

“Look, the authorities are not going to do anything against that guy. Sure, he wasn’t the guy that almost killed Fluttershy but it was his decisions and orders that left me like this and Sun knows how many others could have suffered from something like that.” The redhead said articulating wildly as she practiced some kind of kata that looked extremely difficult but Sunset moved so fluently from move to move that it was mesmerizing.

“So what do you plan to do? Find the guy that did it and punish him?”

“Oh goodness no!” Sunset answered stopping her exercise giving her completely attention to Rarity. If it weren’t because she knew that her eyes didn’t work Rarity would have swear that Sunset could see. The redhead had explained that since the accident she was capable of seeing the world in a different way, almost as if the entire world had no walls. If what Rarity understood it even let her feel things on the air and their trajectories, something that allowed her to calculate the exact pattern she should take to avoid everything around her. It was mind blowing “I want to find information, like why did that guy wanted to transport those containers in a city? Why did he even have those wastes? Is there something bigger on this? Damn it Rarity, the least I could do is find this guy and make sure he would not place anyone in danger again!”

“My dear, what you plan to do is not only against the law but also way too dangerous, you are not a comic superhero.”

“I don’t plan to be, but if that’s what is needed then yes, I suppose I will have to become one, I already have the powers it seem.” Sunset said drying the sweat on her face while Rarity took a look at the spacious basement turned into a weird mixture of training center and working space full of wires and computers. Apparently this was the place Sunset used to create her apps and gadgets.

“And how do you plan to do that then?”

“That’s why she called us.” The so far silent girl turned to look at Rarity and the fashionista was surprised and confused at Twilight’s words “I… may not be as good as you when it comes to reading other people Rarity, but I’m sure that Sunset plans to do the infiltration even if we don’t want her to.”

“Got it in one Sparky… look girls, I may be stronger and faster that I used to be thanks to whatever these chemicals did in conjunction with my inherent magic, but I know I cannot do this alone. I need your help guys.”

“And why us per say? Wouldn’t Rainbow or Applejack be more into this ‘vigilante’ thing?”

“I cannot call them Rarity; you are the only ones that could help with what I’m planning to do. Rainbow would want to be a part of it and would even try to infiltrate the company with me, but sadly, I don’t think stealth is one of her abilities. Applejack would not be able to help me in the ways that I need, besides, her own honesty would backfire on us. I need you two because you are the only ones that can help me this time.” Sunset said with so much raw feeling in those words that Rarity understood what Sunset was thinking. This would be dangerous and she could put all three in peril, but she also knew that whatever she was planning was worth the risk, but she couldn’t do it alone.

“Fine, tell us then the rest of your reasons.”

“I need your eye to details Rarity, because, well, let’s be frank.” Sunset said waving a hand in front of her face understanding immediately how much Sunset needed their eyes now that hers didn’t work “I need someone that can not only see, but that could pick up small details and things out of place and there is no one I know that is better at that than you Rarity.”

“Well, that does make sense I suppose.” The fashionista said primping a little at the words of Sunset.

“Sparky, what I’m going to do will require a lot of law breaking. I need to enter a highly secured building full of locked doors and cameras and if I have any chance to do that I need someone at my back that could not only help me deactivate them but make sure that there is no clues left behind, do you think you can help me with that?”

“I… I haven’t been with you girls for long… but I cannot forgive that monster for what he did! I’ll be with you to the end Sunset” the usually nervous girl said with so much aplomb and determination that made Sunset smile in response.

“Well, seems that we are all in the middle of something that could very well send us several years to prison. Always knew you were quite the daredevil Sunset.”

“…what did you said?”

“That you were always a daredevil? I mean, how else would you have enjoyed motorcycles so much even though you cannot see the dangers coming… why are you smiling in that fashion Sunset? You make me quite nervous.”

“Oh, nothing Rarity, you just gave me an idea.”

Author's Note

I think you already see the differences between both Daredevils (Sunset and Marvel). Matt is someone that believes in justice and the right thing while Sunset is much more cynic in a way and is on this because she wants justice for Fluttershy and herself.

Matt is also someone without many resources and who truly feels law to be his calling. Sunset in the other half is a tech genius, capable of creating a computer basically from nothing and do impresive applications (that's where she gets her money on the books) so of course she is going to use more gadgets than the Marvel DD, not to mention that she has Twilight at her side who is also a tech genius.

Between these two I think the batcave will look like an old full room computer compared to whatever they could create.

The Pony of the Majesty 02

Besides the monitoring and sporadic testing that Sunset had to go through as the gust of the British secret service she was bored. Usually if she felt bored she began to read or work on one of her projects, but being inside a clear plastic cell was not something conductive to her current mood. She had to be thankful that everything was resolved quickly and beyond some uncomfortable parts –the handcuffs were a bother- it wasn’t as unpleasant as she might have thought from watching old sci-fi movies.

Thankfully her mood began to change when she saw the leader of MI6 accompanied by an interesting man at her side. The plump, severe woman was a scold as always but it seemed as if the man was cut out directly from an iceberg. His cold blue eyes made the temperature drop at least ten degrees at least.

Seeing M walk to the front of her little prison made Sunset a little weary of what her future would bring. From being an almost normal teenager girl that went to high School and sometimes fixed a magical mischief to a forced agent of one of the biggest secret agencies of the world in search of an extremist and terrorist to save the world. If she survived this she was sure no one would believe her.

“Your time to start working with MI6 begins now Phoenix, you are free to leave your cell.” the woman said making Sunset raise an eyebrow in surprise. Did the woman already knew what she had done already or was she reading her wrong? By the look of impatience that the woman had Sunset realized that she had been busted.

Without another word Sunset quickly took off her handcuffs with ease and simply pushed the door of her plastic cell to open it. Just watching the face of the other researchers and operatives of MI6 was worth a lot more than her simple freedom right now.

“How… no, WHEN did you know?” Sunset asked M leaving the now useless handcuffs in the palm of the stretched hand of M as this one simply looked at her like a mother who just caught her kid lying.

“Since the moment you were brought into MI6 you never showed worry or fear and after checking some of your belongings it was clear that you knew more about escaping that one might thought. In fact, the only time you showed any kind of worry was when we took a sample of your blood. Care to enlighten us in your abilities Phoenix?”

“Is not that big of a deal, I just watched a guy do that in TV and researched how to do it.” Sunset said blushing a bit at the way the other people in the room were looking at her.

“And the door of your cell?” One of the guards asked still baffled at the ease in which Sunset opened a cell door that could withstand the impact of an automatic weapon.

“You guys didn’t check very well.” Sunset said before taking something from inside her long and wavy hair. The small square device seemed to be some kind of Bluetooth wireless that left most people surprised “I used it to hack onto the main door to deactivate the alarms and lock.” she said getting redder and redder as the second passed and her explanation left her guards with a sense of shame and pride for some reasons. To think that someone so young could not only maintain her calm but be able to do something like that in the middle of what could be a hostile zone if she was found really took guts and brains.

“And where pray tell did you found something like this? Nowhere in our records show you as a hacker.” M said wanting to know more about her newest agent. Meanwhile, the cold man haven’t talked, he just simply watched Sunset with a neutral expression on his face.

“I made it myself with the help of a friend.”

“Would that friend be Twilight Sparkle?”

“Yeah, she… was being a little paranoid after the whole fiasco at the Friendship Games and convinced me to create a smaller version of her device. I ended up creating a wireless transmitter that could jam signals. Guess Twilight was properly paranoid this time.” Sunset said nervously smiling at what could be her new boss but M simply arched an eyebrow.

“Indeed, and I give thanks that you are not on the other side. It would have been a shame to see your abilities and cunning used by terrorist or worst people.” not to mention that Sunset was sure now that if she had went on with her plans of world domination, the last thing she would have seen would have been the crosshair of an MI6 weapon “In any case, this is the man you will working with, agent 007”

“Double zero?”

“It means that I have a license to kill” the man with a voice that seemed as cold as his appearance. Sunset could only imagine what it must feel to meet this man in the wrong circumstances, like with him holding a gun to your head.

“So I should just call you 007? Is that your name?” Sunset asked still awed by the man’s presence.

“My name is Bond, James Bond.” For some reason the redhead felt as if that line had been practiced for a long time but it was still quite the introduction in her opinion.

“If you are quite done with introductions then we can talk about something really interesting that we found in your apartment before my agents left Canterlot” One of the researchers then opened up a silver briefcase and inside Sunset found one thing that she had found extremely beautiful and useful. Her Sig Pro 2022.

Rarity had basically screamed at her when she took it home and much to her distaste Applejack and Rainbow were head over heels in excitement at the handgun. Rainbow because she thought it was an awesome weapon, not that she wanted to touch it or get close to it until she knew how to handle a gun, say what you want about Rainbow but she wasn’t stupid enough to gamble with her life. Meanwhile, Applejack knew all about guns considering her grandfather was an army veteran and her dad usually took her on hunting trips from time to time.

“Care to explain us why we found this thing in your apartment?” M’s voice was stoic as ever and she seemed to be only asking how the weapon came to her hands instead of why she even had it considering Canterlot’s rather strict law in handguns. Hunting rifles were one thing but to be able to get her hand on a gun like that it wasn’t normal.

“Two months ago a guy tried to rob me after one of my friend’s party. My neighborhood wasn’t the nicest but there had been no assaults so it took me by surprise. The guy suddenly found himself empty handed” Sunset had found that day that under really stressful situations she was capable of teleporting objects “he was captured a few days later when he began to scream about witchcraft and aliens in the city.”

Whatever the case may have been the three then walked to the shooting range once the agents found out that Sunset had little to no training in shooting. She was capable of taking care of a gun, which was obvious considering the good conditions of the gun.

After watching James use his Walther PPK on the unarmed paper silhouette, Sunset found herself intrigued by the way the man moved and never flinched after every shot, always looking at the front as if he was looking at someone before he put a bullet through the person.

Then came her turn and she was quite amazed by these people considering they were giving her a license to be armed. It was clear how much they were relying on her and giving her the tools to not only help them save the world but probably find a home in this place. If that was the plan then she had to say M was as good as her when it came to planning.

After putting several holes in a new paper target she quickly took the magazine off of her weapon and the bullet on the chamber for safety reasons just like James had done before her. One of the agents in charge of the shooting range seemed to be quite amazed at her shooting ability.

“You look about the same age as my daughter and you can shoot as well as any of our agents Miss…” the agent said obviously wanting to know the name of the redhead.

“Shimmer, Sunset Shimmer.” she said while M simply glared at the man at her side as if already blaming him for that phrase.

“She not only took your introduction but she also mimicked the way you shoot. I shudder to think she will mimic the way you go about missions too 007.” Fir his part, James could only smirk at her boss’ reaction.

Sunset Bebop 01

“Are you watching that pony show again?” The lady with the purple hairdo asked just after entering the room. The cowboy music playing form the TV was the only thing she needed to know that the only other person in the living room was watching that atrocious program.

“Of course I am; they always have more info on criminals and bounties. And they have ponies! How could I not love them?” the pink bubble gum hair girl said with her usual grin and childish voice without taking her eyes from the screen. Rarity simply sighed at the antics of a woman that had the same age as her and wondered once again how it was possible that she was still alive in a world as screwed as theirs.

That the crazy girl could still exist probably had to do with the man currently working on the engine of one of the smaller spacecrafts currently in the hangar. His hair loss and constant frown mad him look as anti-social as he usually was but inside that acid exterior there was a man who knew how to live and help other live. Maybe he was the only reason Pinkie Pie still could exist on the world due to her naivety.

“Looking for the girl?” He said without even turning around form his work. It was pretty obvious that he heard the sound of her stiletto heels on the floor and rarity was more than used to his ‘short and to the point’ questions.

“Come on Cranky, do you truly believe that I would only talk with you because I need Sunset?” The gorgeous woman said while the older man continued repairing the ship.

“If there is something that I know about you is that when a bounty becomes hard to find you immediately go to Pinkie but when is hard to Catch then you for Sunset.”

“Well, I suppose you know me well, so have you heard anything?” The woman said finally letting the hard edge of her bounty persona go. If there was a place where she could finally relax was on the strange bounty hunter hub that Sunset had unknowingly created alongside her friends.

Of course, nothing was perfect in this strange little space they shared, their personalities and hobbies clashed too many times. But they still persevered every day, as if what happened yesterday was only a small bump that they all went over and continued their journey to nowhere fast. Still, Rarity enjoyed it all.

“Last thing she told was that she had been thinking about eagles and went out. Knowing her she is in the middle of something dangerous and stupid.”

“When is that not true? Think she will be okay out there?” Rarity said still a little peeved that there were no extra tips to go along. Seems that she will have to do things the hard way now and do field work for a while, bounty hunting was definitely not the easiest job out there.

“Not in the slightest, this is Sunset we are talking about. She is always in trouble.”

And apparently that was her destiny for all eternity as she continued to run across the rooftop while a couple of the guards she had been at continued to chase her. It was quite amazing the amount of work those guys put into their jobs. Something quite interesting were the automatic weapons they were using since she didn’t think a simple pharmaceutics company had such impressive projects that they hired guys with heavy weapons, ballistic armor and riot gear.

With a hop, a skip and a jump Sunset left behind the guards and once more began to run with many thoughts in her head. She was also wondering why the disguise didn’t work? Maybe those guys didn’t hired girls. But of course that was null and void once she ducked under the fist of a girl wearing the same type of uniform that Sunset had stolen.

“Hey Gilda.” Sunset said stepping back and dodging a fist that would have left her in the floor. IN front of her the tall and imposing white haired girl simply growled before attacking once again “Well, with the way you are now someone would think that you are not happy to see me.”

“I wonder why? I mean, is not like if suddenly found a snitch in my job! Oh no, wait, is even worst! A fucking bounty hunter is at the office!” Gilda all but screamed her words while Sunset continued to dodge kicks and punches.

This was definitely life Sunset thought as she answered Gilda with a sweeping kick sending the taller woman to the floor. Life of a bounty hunter was never boring.

Author's Note

Yeah.

Also, The Pony of the Majesty is now its own story.

Saint Sunset 02

“Let me show you what I have remembered! Fiery Phoenix!” Unlike the dark aura of Alecto a phoenix made out of fire seemed to be projected behind Sunset, while she released her energy in a torrent of fire and wind not only stopping the attack of Alecto but slowly pushing it backwards, both energies clashing in a show of light and power so great that pushed everyone in the grounds back.

“How… I have the power of the element of harmony!”

“You fool, you represent everything that harmony is not, there is no way you could use that kind of power. Do you think it would help someone with a heart as dark as yours? Now, go back to Tartarus where you belong!” Sunset seemed to shine as bright as her name as the column of magic and fire destroyed the Unrelenting Rage, hitting the Fury right in the chest. The blast so powerful that at the moment of contact it destroyed every part of Alecto’s armor, then the woman under it until there was nothing but ashes in the air.

It was a storm of fire and magic like never seen before by Twilight who had been present in magic duels before, but this one just simply left all previous experiences to shame. There it was, in front of her, a girl who had sacrificed her life for theirs and who had come back from death itself once more to help them.

A girl who calmly turned to look at them and gave Twilight the brightest smile she had ever seen from anyone since she arrived to this world.

“So… what did I miss?” Sunset simply said before the weird armor left her body and re-arranged itself into the form of a bird. It was also at that moment where Sunset was swarmed by the other five girls around Twilight.

Every single student that had been present for the tremendous fight seemed to be present at the gym as they all witnessed the miraculous redemption, sacrifice and victory of Sunset Shimmer. All of that in just a couple of seconds which wasn’t a simple thing to do. They could not believe the things that had happened just a few minutes ago and while a couple would like to be skeptical on the whole ‘demon possession’ of Sunset, there was the building damage as proof and -most importantly- Sunset’s new bird-like armor that was right now secured inside an odd looking square box depicting a phoenix.

Even though it had been a party not too long ago, the music and lights had been forgotten and the DJ in charge of it -which was none other than Vinyl like every time there was a party- turned off the disco lights and put back the utilitarian ones from the gym. Having Sunset explain things while having party lights on seemed disrespectful to Vinyl.

Meanwhile, the girl who apparently not even death could keep down was silently drinking a simple glass of water presented to her by Rarity. An action as simple as drinking water seemed to send the known bully into tears and more than one felt guilt for thinking of Sunset –THIS Sunset- as a bully after hearing Alecto’s explanations.

“I don’t think I’ll take water for granted anymore.” Sunset said after drinking her fill of the clear liquid trying to contain the tears gathering at her eyes.

“Pinkie dear, do you think you can sit down with us? I’m sure you are bothering Sunset.” Were the words from Rarity to their party friend.

“No way, no how. There is a ton of hours lost in terms of hugs not given.” The pink haired maniac said with so much conviction that even surprised the students present who already knew her. The pink haired maniac was also right now draped on Sunset’s back with her arms around the redhead like a draped pink sweater.

“Is okay Rarity, after… well, several years of not feeling anything is not so bad to get a hug.” The phoenix saint said enjoying every second of contact she had after being a prisoner in her own mind for three years.

“Well, I suppose that after something like that even I would want one.” Rarity answered having half a mind of joining Pinkie on her endeavors, it was only her memories of the past Fall Formal election and the kind of public shaming she received that made her hesitant. Fluttershy had no such thing as she sat up and engulfed Sunset on the biggest hug she could give.

“Rainbow, Ah don’t think is a good idea to go snooping around other people things, no matter how ‘awesome’ they look.”

“Come on AJ, don’t you want to see this thing again?”

“Applejack is right, I don’t recommend you touching the-“

“YEOUCH!”

“-armor” Sunset was not quick enough in giving her warning as Rainbow Dash began to blow on her right hand as she could still feel the sting of being scalded from touching the box.

“This thing is still hot!”

“Is not hot, its protecting itself. It doesn’t let other besides its owner to touch it or wear it without its permission.”

“Sheesh, you talk about it as if it were alive.”

“It… kind of is? Is hard to explain.” Sunset said to the incredulous look of everyone.

“Really powerful artifacts sometimes can gain a low kind of sentience due to the concentration of power in them. It is fascinating on itself but what I am more curious about is if what Alecto said.” The Princess questioned Sunset making the last one flinch remembering the Fury.

“I suppose I owe you the truth Princess.”

“Please, no need to be formal with me, you can call me Twilight.”

“Are you sure?”

“After saving my life like that? Is the least I could do.”

“Alright then. Well, everything started three years ago and you guys may not know this but I’m not from this dimension-” And Sunset went on, telling the students, teachers and workers of Canterlot High the way she had been possessed by the Fury and how she had become a prisoner on her own mind, unable to act or be heard. At the end of her tale there were more than a few tear-stained faces, and several times she felt Fluttershy tighten her hug before relaxing.

The raw emotions and still present pain in the face of Sunset convinced everyone and after it there was no soul in the gym who hadn’t not only forgiven Sunset but also swore to make Sunset feel as welcome as they could in Canterlot High.

“So all the times she was pushing people around, and basically making everyone’s lives a living hell… you could do nothing about it” The blonde cowgirl said with her hat hiding her eyes trying not to imagine how it must have felt to live that long in that situation.

“That’s right, and let me tell you, it changes your perspective on life like you can’t believe it” Sunset said leaning into Fluttershy, feeling the nightmares vanish on the arms of the quiet girl.

“Then what now? You finally beat Alecto and you are free”

“Is not that… easy Twilight. Alecto is only the first and the energy she was looking for was already harvested and there are two entities about to wake up”

“And I am pretty sure that both of them will not be waking up just to take a look at the world before leaving”

“Quite right Rarity and I’m not sure who the bad guy Alecto was working for, but I know this, we will not be unprotected. When I died I heard a voice, it felt full of love and hope and I’m going to help her once she wakes up, which will be soon”

“Help her in what? Fight those monsters? Because that looked incredibly scary.” The chiffon haired girl said still holding unto Sunset before this one gave her a smile.

“But I won’t be alone in that, because there are other armors out there and I will find their owners. It is time for one more Holy War, that’s what she told me, is time for Athena’s saints to gather once more”

The Sunset of the Food Duels 03 - Rainbow's Birthday

Starting the phone call while looking at the streets down below from the hotel window was a new experience to the unicorn turned human. Besides a couple of trips to the beach of a camp, never before had Sunset traveled so far from her adopted home, not alone like now. The feelings of homesickness truly surprised her due to how hard it made her think about Canterlot and her friends.

The sound of the phone being picked up at the other side of the phone made Sunset stop her ruminations waiting for the voice to start the conversation.

“Good morning Sunset.” The redhead heard and had to contain her laughter at the words uttered by the shy girl on another continent.

“Is already night on here Fluttershy, how’s everything on Canterlot?” The once bully had truly changed if one of her usual targets could greet her through the phone with so much happiness.

“Well, everything is fine. Rainbow is really excited about getting into High School that she had problems yesterday getting to sleep,” Sunset could already see the athlete completely wired up and basically bouncing on the walls “how is everything back there? Did you have any trouble with the people on that school?” the worry was evident on the shy girl.

“Now that you mention it, yeah, there was a problem. There was a girl who looked like me but with blonde hair that had some problems with me and another guys. She was ready to deny me access to the school just because of her pride, you should have seen her face when her grandfather –who is the director by the way- came in and accepted the guy I was doing the exam with and told her I was already on the school.”

“Sunset, please tell me you didn’t laugh in her face.”

“Well, just a little bit.” Sunset said with a grin on her face while Fluttershy simply sighed if the sound of air being exhaled aloud was any indication.

Talking with Fluttershy really did help the way she felt right now and it eradicated the feelings of homesickness. Well, almost all of it, because Sunset would still miss Canterlot for a long time, but she also knew this was for the best if she wanted to use this bizarre ability of hers.

She could see it on her mind the day she knew there was something weird on the way she saw dishes and ingredients, and it was quite the surprise for her friends. It had all started a couple of months ago in Rainbow’s birthday.

If someone was from Canterlot, more like than not they had the best birthday parties ever, all courtesy of a young girl who seemed to have been born to create those kinds of parties. And it was now rainbow’s turn to receive one, even though the young football player knew that it was not possible for her.

Since she had met Pinkie Pie in elementary school she had a Pinkie Pie Birthday Bash, one every year except this one and she knew why. They weren’t friends anymore. Sure, the rumors had been squashed pretty fast by the one person who had apparently started them but the damage was already done. Sighing once again, Rainbow went back home after kicking the ball for a while in the park.

And in just a second, her gloomy cloud was dispersed once she saw how her backyard was decorated with fake palm trees, tiki statues and even a small pool filled with floaters in the form of lemon and orange slices.

The shocked young girl was pulled out of her stupor by her parents who grinned wildly just like the rest of her friends standing behind them with similar grins, several of them with cellphones out taking photos of her flabbergasted expression.

“But… how… I mean… what?” The way Rainbow was affected by the surprise made the other four girls smile before rushing in her direction and embracing their friend in the biggest hug they could. Their laughter made both Rainbow Blitz and his wife sigh in relief watching their daughter smile once again. With that out of the way they went back to the kitchen where their other guest put everything in order for the best part of the birthday party.

“What? You thought I wouldn’t give you your own Birthday Bash? Silly Dashie, there is no way in both heaven and hell that this Pie would miss such a humongous opportunity to show you how important you are in our lives.” The pink menace said with the same kind of positive energy as they remembered her. The same kind of voice they had missed in some sort of way once they began their little quarrel.

“As our dear Pinkie Pie said, there was no way we would miss the opportunity to celebrate with you darling, after all, you don’t celebrate15 every day.”

“You couldn’t have keep me out of this place even if ya called Granny telling her Ah haven’t done my chores back home.”

“You were always there at every one of my birthdays Rainbow, it was only natural I would be here celebrating with you.” at the words of her oldest friend Rainbow put her arms around them –even if the action of embracing all four was a little tiring to her arms- and did her best to not cry at their words.

It was the sound of the door that made her release them, not wanting her parents to see her being mushy, but instead of her parents the one that came outside of the door was the one girl Rainbow was not happy to see. A certain lying friendship-destroyer redhead. Before she could do something both Pinkie and Fluttershy took a hold of her arms to stop her from making anything rash.

“What is she doing here?” her words made Sunset wince slightly, it was clear that the young athlete was still mad at her, not that she didn’t have a reason for it.

“She was the one who prepared all this.” Rainbow felt Rarity’s hand on her shoulder while she explained that which didn’t make sense to the birthday girl.

“But why? I mean… you-”

“I began all the problems… I know.”

“Then why do all this? And don’t tell that is because you are sorry.” Maybe Rainbow didn’t feel as angry as she felt almost a year ago when everything started, but that didn’t stop her from feeling animosity for the redhead.

“Partly… but also because, well… I know how important birthdays are for you girls so I wanted to do my part.” Sunset simply said going back into the kitchen as Rainbow stood there not knowing how to take those words.

“Uh, can somebody explain what just happened?”

“Well, Sunset has been working at my uncle’s restaurant so she had the idea of making the food for Rainbow’s party.” Fluttershy said and all her friends put their attention on her.

“She is been working with your uncle? As what? Dish washer?” Rainbow was obviously trying to make a joke; at least Fluttershy hoped it was a joke.

“Oh no, that was only the first few days, now she is one of the chefs inside the restaurant.” Fluttershy said with a big smile on her face at Sunset’s good luck in her new part time job.

“Wait, what? Fluttershy, how long has Sunset been working with your uncle?” Rarity asked still quite surprised about that news.

“I believe it has been two months.” before anyone could comment on that short amount of time before becoming one of the chefs Sunset went out holding a large covered tray while Rainbow’s mom put several pitchers of some kind of red juice in the backyard table. It was obvious this was the food for the party and even though Rainbow was not too picky when it came to food, she was still wary of what Sunset had done. And with one flick of her hand Sunset removed the spherical cover letting all five girls see the steaming hot dogs in front of them. The smell of spices and meat filled their nostrils and without noticing, all seven –including Rainbow Blitz and his wife who were also intrigued about Sunset’s culinary work- started to salivate automatically.

“Why it smells so nice? I mean, those things have pineapple!” Rainbow would have screamed in fury at Sunset’s sin of destroying a simple hot dog by putting pineapple in them, but instead she could feel herself being pulled to them. As one the seven took one hot dog each and after a second they all took a bite of the simple looking food and as one they all reacted.

Rainbow’s mouth was filled with so many flavors that traveled through her whole body. It was sweet but also spicy, it was an experience like none other; she could feel a slight crunchiness inside it followed by the meaty delicacy of the sausage, alongside the savory sweet and spicy combination of pineapple and some combination of sauces.

The next moment Rainbow opened her eyes she wasn’t on the backyard of her house back in Canterlot. This time she was wearing her one piece swimsuit, under the warm sun and standing in front of the bluest sea she have ever seen. The sound of the waves and the sand under her feet filled her with so much peace and happiness. At the next blink she was back home but the image had been so vivid.

“Oh my sweet lord! I have never tasted something as good as this!” Even the always-ladylike Rarity was enjoying a huge bite of her hot dog with a huge smile on her face. Looking around Rainbow found even her parents in rapport at the creation of Sunset Shimmer.

“What did you put in them? That tasted like no hot dog I have ever eaten!” Rainbow asked still surprised by the amount of flavors that were packed in such a simple thing as a hot dog.

“It was something that came to mind when Pinkie said she wanted to use a Hawaiian style for your party and your mom was thinking about making hot dogs. So I put those two together and I created this, I call them the Tiki Hot Dogs!” Sunset said with pride that everyone present knew she deserved after doing them.

“So what’s in them? I felt the pineapple on them but besides that I don’t know how you created them.” Rainbow’s Mother –ironically also named Rainbow Dash since basically the first woman of her family was named like that- asked Sunset still surprised at the culinary abilities of the young teenager.

“It is simple to see the ingredients but I’ll try to explain.” Sunset said taking one of the hot dogs before taking a bite “first of all, the sausage is a special one made by me. It is a combination of both lamb and beef meat with a little bit of anise and garlic so it will be very savory once I grilled them”

“Where did ya have the idea to mix those two?”

“Is not that bizarre Applejack.”

“Ya can call me AJ after letting me eat something like this.” The blonde girl said with a huge smile before going back to devouring her hot dog.

“Thank you, so, would you believe me if I tell you this is something really normal? Well, unless you are from Finland, apparently they love hot dogs a lot over there. So, that’s the sausage, but I rolled a slice of bacon around them that I left marinating in a combination of pineapple and orange juice for a while.” Just imagining the juice and the way the bacon would have absorbed the flavor was enough to make them keep eating.

“But what about the pineapple and this strange sauce on top of it?” Rainbow Blitz was simply in love with what he was eating and he was really thankful to have listened to both Pinkie and Fluttershy about letting the redhead cook for them.

“Well, what I did was put pineapple on a pan and I sprinkled some salt, allspice, nutmeg and powdered Chile Ancho; it is a Mexican chili that is not really spicy but gives great flavor. For the glazing sauce I put pineapple juice, rum, some ginger beer, finely chopped ginger and palm sugar and cooked it.”

“Palm sugar?” asked Fluttershy completely enthralled with Sunset’s explanation about the food, it was like watching one of the cooking shows her mom liked to watch from time to time but even better.

“It is made from different types of palm and is usually used in sauces and confectionery. I used it because it has a much more creamier flavor than regular sugar so it went well with the glaze. Finally, I let it simmer and put a coat of the glaze on top of the pineapple on the bun.”

“And what’s with this deep fried thingy? I mean, this is not corn or potato. Potato, that’s a funny word.”

“It is Taro Root,” Sunset said quickly before Pinkie started on her usual tirades “it is a root that is used a lot on Africa, Oceania and several islands, including Hawaii. I shredded it so it would be easier to deep fry it. I put it on top of the hot dog so it would give it a very nice crunchy feeling to it. And finally I put some Mexican crema on top so it would cut some of the spiciness and let all the flavors coalesce once you bite on it.” Sunset finished making everyone want even more to eat these incredible hot dogs.

Rainbow herself was already on her second one before she took a look at the juice pitchers, for some reason they seemed familiar to her.

“And what’s with the juice?”

“Oh, those? Well, I talked with your mom while I was cooking them and she told me how much you liked Hawaiian Punch when you were a kid, but then stopped drinking it when you started to train and play football. I suppose it was obvious considering all the sugar and preservatives it has.” Rainbow sighed remembering how much she loved the beverage and how she used to drink it with Fluttershy on one of their play dates when they were younger.

“Don’t tell me you bought Hawaiian Punch for Rainbow.” Rarity was very surprised at the way Sunset prepared herself for Rainbow’s birthday.

“Of course now… I recreated it with real juice.” The redhead said with a huge smile enjoying the look of surprise on the teenagers.

“Wait, what?” they all asked at the same time.

“Yeah, I mixed pineapple juice that I didn’t use, orange and apple juice alongside apricot and mango nectar. I also put some sugar and strawberry juice for flavor and to give it a deep red color, so what do you think?” she asked as Rainbow quickly filled a plastic cup to the brim and after the first sip she was once again capable of watching the beach from before, but this time accompanied by her family and friends.

Next thing Sunset knew she was being hugged by Rainbow as the redhead stood in complete surprise at their action. Just tasting the usual flavor of the punch was enough to send Rainbow into another world and she wanted to convey her emotions to Sunset. Then Sunset’s hand was grabbed by Rainbow Blitz who had a completely serious look on his face.

“Would you marry my daughter?” he said shocking everyone present on the backyard. Applejack then laughed knowing well that if her family had been present her granny would have been asking the same question to Sunset. That’s how Sunset’s culinary adventure began, and with nobody noticing in the elite of cooking, a firestorm was started and it would burn through the world.

Who you gonna call? 01

Students visiting the college library were not a weird sight even at the digital age. No matter how much technology evolved through the years and how easy it was to search for information, articles and research material, there will always be hundreds of ancient and modern tomes that one would only be able to find on a library. That was the case for many students who simply wanted to finish an essay or dive for more information in a research of them.

What was happening that day in front of Canterlot University wasn’t that bizarre since there were three students very interested on what could be found inside the place. What was surprising is that none of those three young ladies were studying in the University but in Canterlot High School and they were not looking for reading material, well, not all of them.

Twilight Sparkle tried hard not to start salivating in front of the building filled to the brim with knowledge and instead took a look at the girl at her side -who by all means had the least amount of interest in places like this- and asked what they were all thinking.

“So, are you sure that what they said is true?” Of course, she was beat to the punch by none other than the other girl who Twilight knew would be as excited as her at the idea of visiting Canterlot U library “don’t take me wrong, I wanted to take a look at this place for some time, but, the whole ghost thing seems a little sketchy.”

“Yeah, I thought the same thing, but I swear there is a real ghost in there! Some people say that the old librarian was so into her job that when she died she continued doing her job. And now, at every summer break she appears to put books in order and read when no student will bother her.”

“Then, shouldn’t we leave her alone? I mean, if she is not hurting anyone then that means she is not evil, right?”

“It doesn’t work like that Sparky, because back in Equestria ghosts are kind of a big thing”

“Really? Why’s that?” Rainbow asked her friend with real curiosity. It was quite the day when Sunset finally talked about her old home dimension so it was quite a big deal to hear more stuff about magical ponies.

“Ghosts and the like are not that weird on Equestria, the problem with them is that the longer they remain on the mortal plane they start losing cohesion.”

“Okay, what? I have no idea what you mean.”

“Ghosts are usually created with energy that is always in flux, that’s why they seem see-through; I suppose you can call it ectoplasm since your sci-fi movies call it that. The point is, the longer they spend in the mortal plane they lose ectoplasm and the more they lose the faster they start losing their reasoning until-“

“Until they become horror movie ghosts?”

“… yeah, let’s go with that.” Sunset said remembering some of the stuff she had read back in Equestria about ghosts losing their minds and attacking their families and anyone with bad luck around them. She wasn’t sure if things would work like that in here but it was better to keep in mind some of that stuff.

With the Equestrian information in their minds, the three teenagers went inside the old building with a mission on their hands. Find out any proof about the supposed ghost and then confirm if it was benign or if it was in need of some exorcism.

And there, among several rows of bookcases, silently perusing a book about radioactivity, there was a woman with a tight bun and non-descript dress who was also floating in mid-air as the three girls stood gawking at the obvious ghost in front of them.

Twilight Sparkle watched the readings of her old radar while trying to contain her glee at what they had found. It was true that her pendant was a stronger version of the handheld radar she was currently using but after the whole Friendship Games fiasco she went back to the bulkier version. This time it worked even better since the apparatus with the two weird ‘antennae’ at the sides was capable of reading a bigger range of energy unlike the old one, who focused more in the ‘Magic of Friendship’ according to Sunset.

No matter the case, what they had in front of them was something that could revolutionize the way everyone saw death and spirits. If ghosts were real -and apparently had a huge amount of energy in them- then what else could they learn from this kind of situations.

Just as she and Rainbow Dash were becoming even more excited about the possibilities -just like science project or appearing in many magazines- they felt a hand holding one ear of each girls as they were hauled to the side. In front of them was a rather surprised Sunset too, but one who had better control about her reactions and who also seemed worried.

“Okay, so the ghost was real, does anyone have a plan?” Watching the way both girls didn’t want to meet Sunset’s eyes she then realized what was happening “so let me guess, beyond finding it there was no plan.” With the way Sunset was looking at them both Twilight and Rainbow felt a little silly for just going ahead without a plan “well, perfect. So what are we going to do? Just go ahead and talk with her?”

“Well-“

“Sparky, there are a thousand reasons why that’s a dumb idea and you know all of them- wait, where’s Rainbow?”

“Hey, Miss Librarian, how ya doin’?” The raspy voice of Rainbow took the other two girls by surprise and a quick glance showed the athletic girl standing in front of the ghost. Next thing they know, they are being chased by a demonic looking librarian through the empty corridors of the library.

It was quite the experience for Sunset Shimmer who was running alongside her two friends. She wasn’t so much afraid as she worried about their situation, she liked alive and unhurt thank you very much. Taking a quick turn Sunset then saw the library doors approaching, but then their freedom passage was blocked when the doors slammed shut and the three almost slammed against the wood barricade. Sunset threw the backpack she was wearing to the floor and began to rummage through it. Seeing her actions Rainbow screamed at her.

“Sunset! If you tell you are looking for a mirror to check if you won’t die with your make-up ruined I WILL kill you!”

“Who do you think I am, Rarity?! No, I’m working on us not dying!” Sunset said before taking a strange device from the inside that connected through a hose with something else also inside the backpack “Now, I’m not sure if this is going to work, but is better than nothing! Hey, idiot, try this for a change!” she said pressing a button on the device and an orange beam was shot impacting the ghost on the chest and stopping her in mid-air. It seemed to be working even though Sunset was having trouble controlling the beam and the ghost at the same time.

Watching this Twilight had an idea. If what Sunset had said then ghosts were some kind of energy in Equestria. What if what they had in front of them was also feeding on energy similar to the magic from Equestria? With that idea on mind Twilight searched through her own backpack and took out a very familiar circular device. Opening the latch the device worked like always and began to absorb the energy of the beam and the ghost all at the same time. With a couple of seconds the ghost found itself inside the device and Twilight had to let it go before she burned her hands.

“Sparky, are you alright?”

“Yeah, is just that it began to overheat” Twilight said as both teenagers took a look at the smoking device on the floor. For her part Rainbow stood mesmerized by what had just happened.

“That. Was. AWESOME! You guys caught a real to deal ghost! What the hell did you do Sunset?”

“Well, when you called us saying there was a high probability of a ghost I put together something similar to what guards use in Equestria against spirits, is kind of complicated, but I didn’t thought it would work in a human ghost.” Sunset said worried about what it could mean.

“Well, my device could capture like it did with Equestrian magic, what if more ghosts start appearing because of the energy?”

“Wait, you mean this could not be the only ghost appearing? Awesome!”

“Rainbow, how could you think any of this is awesome?”

“Come on Twilight, think about it, if more ghosts appear then we are the only ones that could deal with them, we will be some kind of… Ghostbusters! Yeah, we could even be heroes!” At those words Sunset groaned knowing that even crazier stuff would happen in the next days.

Author's Note

So, tell me the truth, who did it better? Sony or me?

88 Miles per Hour 01

Author's Note

Another 80s movie for the nostalgia!

88 Miles per Hour 01

The strong riff persisted as Sunset Shimmer quickly and elegantly moved her fingers across the guitar’s neck. The sound seemed almost punkish in the rhythm and intensity which fit perfectly Fluttershy’s song talking about freedom of speech and finally saying what one thought. Although Sunset was sure that Fluttershy wanted the song to be much mellower, Sunset and Pinkie’s performance had turned it into a rendition of Anarchy in the UK for some reason. Alongside them Applejack continued to pluck her bass following their rhythm and was enjoying the song as much as them.

Rainbow also was head banging alongside the song while Rarity and Fluttershy enjoyed the performance in a much sedated way. Twilight Sparkle -who didn’t know exactly how to react to the fast and furious playing- simply watched them play. She had never been much of an audiophile like her brother and his 80s and 90s’ Vinyl collection so she was in quite the cultural shock so to say. What she did know it was that the song and music was fun to hear and in some way revitalizing.

Once the final accord of the song was played, the three musicians finally relaxed and let out a laughter knowing that they did it perfectly. The other four girls clapped in delight at the performance.

“Okay, that was a pretty damn sweet song we did right there” Applejack said readjusting her hat while placing her bass on its case. Meanwhile the other girls gave the performers a water bottle much to their appreciation.

“No question about it. Sorry Fluttershy, I think we just had fun with it”

“Oh, there is no problem Sunset, I quite liked the way you played the song, it sounds so happy!”

“Well, Punk usually sounds like that. Man, talk about having bad luck” Rainbow said looking down at her left hand who had been bandaged tightly.

“Don’t worry Rainbow, we won’t let you down” Sunset said after finishing her own bottle of water.

“Yeah, I know you won’t, I just wish I could play with you girls for the new Battle of the Bands” it was quite surprising for those in the school to know that the school had been thinking about making the plan of the Sirens into an actual school activity. It had taken them by surprise but they were all very happy. Except for Rainbow Dash, who had received a hand injury playing football with other students a couple of days ago. Talk about bad luck.

At the moment the girls were placing the instruments on their place Sunset’s phone began to ring much to their surprise. It was weird for Sunset to receive a call since most of the time if someone wanted her help they came to her personally. Checking the number Sunset arched an eyebrow at the name on it.

“Hey Doc, what is it?”

“Hello Sunset Shimmer, I just wanted to see if you could help me with something, well, more like help me test something I have on the works” the British accented man said through the phone and Sunset rolled her eyes in good nature.

“Sure Doc, just give me the address okay?”

“So who was it?” Pinkie’s usual perkiness returned after placing all the drums… somewhere, Sunset tried not to think how they disappeared and appeared every time.

“That was just Doctor Time Turner asking me if I could help him with something he is doing” the redhead said placing her guitar case on her back while the other girls simply watched her with curiosity.

“Wait, you mean Professor Turner? Sunset dear, don’t tell me you are having an affair with a teacher” the violet haired fashionista said with a voice that was quite ready to go to Drama Queen levels.

“What?! Of course not, what are- oh, you were joking” Sunset said watching the full grin on the girl as the other began to laugh too at her reaction “is nothing bad I swear, and besides, he prefers Doctor since he DID finish his doctorate”

“So what do you do with him?” The only girl that was as much of an egghead –or even more than Sunset- asked her friend.

“Sometimes he works on some physics formulas, new household products, it varies. I swear, the guy works in so many things at the same time that he probably forgets half of those projects” Sunset said before saying goodbye to her friends and going to the parking lot. Placing her bike helmet over her head Sunset turned on her motocross bike –a little gift from the Canterlot High staff for doing so well on the Friendship Games, not to mention saving the whole universe- and took off in the direction the Doc had given her.

After a few minutes she found herself in the parking lot of the newest mall in Canterlot. Canterlot Hills Mall had enough stores to find out everything a person could need and Sunset didn’t know how Ponykind hadn’t been able to recreate them on that side. Maybe next time she visits Princess Twilight she could talk about some human inventions and how to recreate them at the other side of the mirror.

With those thoughts in her mind Sunset quickly parked her bike and saw the van of the doctor alongside some weird machines and among them a large construction under a big cloth hiding what could be and the man in question reading something in a monitor.

“Hey Doc!”

“Sunset, fantastic, I was waiting for you, is so good you came because I will need your help.” The brown haired man said wearing his usual dark blue suit that showed how skinny he was and a pair of red Converse. The teenager never understood the man’s fascination with those things but apparently he had always used the brand, at least according to his daughter Derpy.

“So what is it this time? An equation? A new type of microwave?”

“Oh please don’t remind me, Dinky was still angry with me after we accidentally made her miss her cartoons”

“Yeah, a homemade microwave is not a good idea” Sunset said remembering how they had accidentally made the microwave into an EMP device in an accident.

“No, what I need you here for, is so you could record everything that happens. I swear, I’ve never been able to understand those bloody things you call cell phones” The British man said in his usual scatterbrained way.

“So, what’s the surprise?” Sunset said turning on the camera function knowing that whatever the Doc was doing would be an eye opener.

“Prepare your eyes for this Sunset” he said taking off the grey cloth form the now very distinctive vehicle under it while Sunset stood watching not quite understanding what was going on.

“Doc… is that a DeLorean?”

88 Miles per Hour 02

“Oh yes, yes indeed” The man said with rather childish grin full of glee and excitement that Sunset had seen many times before things went wrong. Sunset was so used to seeing it that she practically flinched at what could happen with the crazy antics of the supposedly ‘Adult’ of the duo.

“Why is that a DeLorean?”

“Because I found it on a sale at an auction at the next town” Doctor said somehow really proud of that. No wonder since the man was crazy about auctions and Flea Markets, a love that he shared with his two daughters.

“Of course, why not? But seriously, what the hell did you do with this thing? Attach rockets to it?” Sunset was feeling the dread already creeping on her and had to remember to remain calm, the Doc was excited for the two of them.

“No, well, I had half a mind to turn the car into a spaceship; I always wanted to visit the moon. For some reason some times I have a dream of me being barefoot in the moon. But no, what you see in front of you Sunset Shimmer is a Time Machine!”

“Wait, hold on. You made a time machine out of a DeLorean?!”

“Well, I thought to myself, why build a simple time machine like in those silly Telly programs? All square and what not, let’s travel in style!” The man said checking something in a monitor as Sunset began to feel the beginning of a headache due to the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. She didn’t doubt the physics teacher claim that he had built a time machine since she knew he was a genius in quantum and basically every area of physics. But it was the way he acted daily that simply tired Sunset more than it should, no wonder Derpy was as strange with a father like him.

“So, how do you plan to use this? I mean, no offense but you don’t even know how to drive stick!” for all answer the man then showed her a console control as if it answered everything and it kind of did “Remote control?”

“Well, it was that or nothing, now, let me show how this thing works” he said opening one door of the machine while Sunset continued recording “see that thing on the back?” The Doctor asked pointing at a peculiar part that was right now lighted. It was a bizarre Y made out of plastic and encased on a metal and bullet proof glass that was feeding energy onto the rest of the machines plugged onto the car apparently.

“I have never seen something like this in your laboratory Doc” Sunset said surprised and even amazed at the ingenuity that the scatterbrained man showed from time to time.

“Well, it was a side project. I guess with the date getting closer I found myself working on anything related with time” Time Turner said with Sunset quickly understanding what the man was thinking about. In a couple of weeks it would be the day when his wife passed away due to a brain tumor. Sunset didn’t have the whole story but apparently the tumor was impossible to remove.

“I’m sorry Doc”

“Is alright, some days are worse than others but I still have you all” he said ruffling Sunset’s hair showing once again his usual grin signaling that there would be no sadness this time “now, let me show you how it works” he said showing Sunset the different dials and monitors at the side of the steering wheel “see this line? It says the time in which you currently are, next line says the time you came from and the last one says what your destination is” Time Turner pointed each column to Sunset showing all the current date.

“Gotta say, all of this look really incredible” Sunset said with a lot of respect on her voice. She knew the man could do amazing things when he wanted and this was the greatest so far.

“Thank you, so, what do you say? Want to see it in action?” He said while pointing at the clock inside the car “see how my clock and this one are synchronized?” He said pointing at both digital clocks, one on his hand and the other on the car “if everything goes right then we will see a change on this experiment” Time Turner said as he changed the last column to several minutes in the future.

The two moved back as the doctor remote controlled the car to a line he had apparently painted on the empty parking lot, then with a switch the car began to gain speed until lines of energy began to travel around the car and in one blink there was nothing but a twin trail of fire across the lot as Sunset stood there with her jaw basically on the floor and a cheering Time Turner began to jump in jubilation at what had occurred to the car.

“I can’t believe it… you did Doc! You build a real Time Traveling Machine!” Both student and teacher hugged each other as a couple of seconds later the car reappeared as if nothing had happened. Time Turned opened the door and Sunset focused her cell’s camera on the watch. One minute behind the one the doctor had on his hands.

“See? Exactly one minute, the car disappeared in front of us and then reappeared one minute later as it opened a gate across time and space into this precise moment” Time Turner said finally calming down from his euphoria after his success.

“So, what makes it possible? Because I don’t have a clue to how it can open a time vortex like that”

“It is funny you know, I think I have always known about the flux capacitor. That’s what makes it possible to travel through time and space by the way. I remember having dreams about it, as if it were a jigsaw that was being solved piece by piece by every experiment I did, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I think I do, so now what?”

“I’m not sure… do you fancy a trip?” he said while adjusting the destination in the console, the date apparently was thirty years in the past.

“Why that date?”

“Yeah… that was the day my wife’s family moved to Canterlot, mind you I wasn’t here yet, I arrived almost ten years later but I always thought… what if I had met her before and helped with her sickness back then? Bah, listen to me talking like an old man with past regrets. Let’s choose something else, how about the day when the Declaration of Independence was signed?” But before the Doctor could change the date there was something weird happening not too far away from them “how about that, seems we are not the only ones that wanted to use the parking lot, I wonder why?” and just as Time Turner said that a man came out of a non-descript black van alongside a young woman that Sunset recognized instantly.

She had never met her, or at least the pony version of the woman and it simply shocked her. It was none other than the human version of Starlight Glimmer.

“Good night Doctor Turner, is so nice of you to finish a project like this, now if you don’t mind we will take it out of your hands” she said with a sadistic tone that made both scientist frown. Of course, Starlight and time travel seemed so fitting for some reason. Twilight’s student seemed as crazy as before being taken under the Princess’ wing and Sunset could only push the man she saw as family into the open DeLorean as the man beside Starlight began to shoot.

Sunset simply put her foot on the pedal making the wheels on the parking lot spin and gain speed. Behind them the van began to follow them as the man continued to shoot from an automatic rifle. Sunset was not the greatest car driver but at least she could shift gears and gain some distance from the thieves although Sunset was sure there was something deeper than just mere thieves. As both Doctor and student gained more and more speed the clear signals of the time travel apparatus on the car activated and in a second they disappeared into the past.

Author's Note

I'll be sincere, I thought I wouldn't be able to write this day, but seems like I can even surprise myself.

The Sunset of the Food Duels 04 - Daikon and Katsuobushi

Author's Note

You guys have no idea how much I have researched for this specific universe. I get to one thing and then immediately I'm being pulled to another topic or ingredient and just like that I start reading about techniques and toold, or about the importance of a certain type of fish over another. It is insane!

And also, Sunset is the Devil's Palate for a reason. Remember that this Sunset changed most of her attitude by herself and someone's dish so she still has some problems with power. But now it has been replaced for the desire of more knowledge. Sadly, or thankfully (I'm still not sure) there is still a certain dark part of Sunset that can take control or maybe help Sunset to become better. A certain red and winged part of her.

The Sunset of the Food Duels 04 - Daikon and Katsuobushi

Stifling one more yawn, Sunset continued her walk among the stands and beautiful products among the open market. The several fluffy clouds lazily traveled on the vast expanse of the blue sky as a slightly chilly wind carried on that early morning as the graduated student from Canterlot Junior High continued walking among the Japanese open market, still with no idea of what she was doing there.

After a long plane trip and an admission exam -that Sunset had masterfully trolled- the redhead was still feeling the devastating effects of the bane of travellers all over the world known as Jet-Lag. Her body still felt a little sluggish and her mind was clearly telling Sunset she needed more rest but in the other hand she still felt pumped enough to stay out of the really plush bed back at her hotel.

Sunset lazily walked enjoying the morning air and the different sights that Japan offered to as she moved on. Her decision to travel had seemed bizarre to some, but to the group of friends Sunset had made back home it was the clear step in search of something that was pushing and pulling inside the pony-turned-human girl.

The moment everything started was not something she could forget any day soon. The way that man with a goatee had appeared at Sunset’s old job back in Canterlot was one that she would not forget or forgive. It was due to him that she was right now in another country and in a path she still did not understand. It was something that seemed like a calling in the words of her old boss and in a way it had changed her way of living and how she saw life and her relationship with others.

Remembering what had happened almost half a year ago made Sunset wonder how her life could have changed so much in such a short time. It felt like such a drastic change that it had left her old bullying targets as lost as she herself felt. To change from a power-hungry teenager with no real path or plan beyond maintaining an iron fist on everyone in the school into a -supposedly- master in the kitchen was something coming out of her wildest dreams or nightmares. Seeing her past behavior now made Sunset feel small and pathetic, how lost and full of anger and pain she had been those days that it truly felt as if she had left that person behind.

At the end of all that what did it matter? Who she was rebelling against? Princess Celestia? She was in another world and had obviously replaced her with a filly that would be the perfect student and the perfect alicorn princess. That was a life better left behind unless she wanted to keep on wallowing on misery. At least the great Japanese morning was helping her in finding her way.

Being invited to transfer to another school to follow the path of the kitchen was something that she –alongside Principal Celestia- embraced fully, knowing that whatever abilities she had awoken back at Canterlot and the Dragon Sauce restaurant owned by Fluttershy’s uncle. It simply boggled her mind thinking about all the different things that could exist in the kitchen and the amount of work and dedication one needed to barely be able to work in a place as busy as that. It was an arduous few months but it truly paved the way to this decision.

Ingredients, tools and dishes called for her attention at every moment, at every corner where she found a restaurant or street vendor. She simply couldn’t stop her feet until she tasted whatever product they had and simply understood the way it was made, or what spices they used, or how long it took for it to be prepared. It had become so finely tuned that she could even see the mistakes done and little by little she could see paths forming. They all showed her what route to take to make them better, how long to boil something or what other spices and ingredients to use to make it as delicious as they could.

It was frightening in a way but Sunset welcomed the chance with open arms, all to stop thinking about Princess Celestia and Equestria in general. She knew that sooner or later Sunset had to cross over the mirror and face the consequences of her actions, but when the time would came Sunset would be ready to show Celestia the new Sunset and all that she had learned to become a top notch chef. Tartarus, she could even open a restaurant someday. With those thoughts Sunset walked into the open market.

Being close to the Totsuki Culinary Academy meant that a lot of places around the city revolved around food and what it meant to be a chef, so ingredients and tools were always at hand so to say. Sunset had learned so much just from accompanying her old boss on his walks around the market back in Canterlot and how important fresh ingredients and the relationship between restaurants and shopkeepers were. Now that she found herself in a new city -scratch that, whole new continent- she needed to get herself acquainted with new ingredients just like condiments and vegetables.

Walking around the open stalls she could see some ingredients she had already seen back home like leeks or several lettuces, but there were some strange things that truly baffled her, just like a huge radish looking vegetable. Getting closer to the vegetable stand she began to peruse the things that seemed interesting or she hasn’t seen before. As someone who had no professional training or haven’t been years in the kitchen she still felt a little out of place in a gigantic place like Totsuki so she felt she needed to know more about all the food in Japan to even have a chance to survive.

The woman in charge of the stand took a look at Sunset and smiled at the attention the teenager was giving to her merchandise.

“Let me guess my dear, new student?” the jovial smile on the woman’s smile put Sunset at ease and she was grateful that being at a new school basically made her capable of starting anew with everyone.

“I suppose that a teenager being by herself at this hour while looking around at an open market is a good sign of that.” She said bowing at the woman “I’m Sunset and I was watching all these ingredients, they are truly interesting, I mean, I have never seen something like this before.”

“I think not since there are few stores outside of Japan that sell many vegetables from here. You seem to be very interested in the daikon.”

“Daikon?”

“Yes, they are the radish that is used in our cuisine, it is a very special ingredient that is used in many different ways and dishes.” The woman said while Sunset kept seeing the strange white elongated radish as she felt ideas float on her head, wondering about its properties and what it could be used for. But just as she bought a couple of them as well as other vegetables, she began walking in the direction of her hotel when a smell caught her by surprise.

For a second her sclera became completely black and she felt as if her heartbeats turned into earthquakes. Looking at her right she put her complete attention to what they were selling and she smiled. She had been talking about some basics of Japanese cuisine with the stall owner -which was good for Sunset who was thinking about fresh product- and she had remembered something.

Those were the special fish flakes known as katsuobushi and the tuna smell and flavor permeated the air, or at least for Sunset whose sense of smell and taste seemed to have remained untouched by the magic of the mirror. She could basically taste the strong flavor of the fish flakes being prepared in front of her.

Taking a look at the information that was given to her about her dorm -she couldn’t keep on living on a hotel after all- she then grinned, knowing very well what she would do to be accepted. The Polar Star Dorm wouldn’t know what hit it.

The Sunset of the Food Duels 05 - Reception at Polar Star

The quiet Japanese morning continued for Sunset once she went back to her new school. The fine breeze of spring was as revitalizing as Sunset continued her trek through the immense fields of Totsuki Cooking Academy.

Once more the redhead wondered how it was possible for a school to have the size of a small city on itself. Wherever she looked at she found more and more interesting buildings cropping everywhere. If what she had read correctly most of those buildings were either clubs or cooking buildings designed for something in specific. So it was one more show of power and money that was focused in the art of cooking so one day the students and alumni could make strides upon their fields and bring more amazing recipes, ingredients and techniques.

Whatever the case may be, Sunset knew that in less than a month her new life as a chef-in-training so to say, would start, but before she could do that she had to get into her assigned dorm and prepare everything. People back at the offices were certainly surprised at the name of her new dorm. She thought the name was nice at least.

Looking at the building now she had to admit that it was indeed an impressive building. It reminded her of old chateaus she had seen on photos of Europe with its great walls and climbing plants growing everywhere. The dorm had an almost spooky look that was quite endearing to her, or maybe her tastes were too crooked for a human/pony chef.

Whatever the case Sunset had to admit that she could see herself living in such a place for several years, it was after all far away from other dorms so only the people living there would take the street connecting to the building. Not only that, but the dorm seemed to have been built in a place that made her inner Equestrian to breathe and smile in peace looking at all the nature and trees around. She may have been a Canterlot pony but there was something about nature that just relaxed her and let her breathe in peace.

Taking her eyes away from the building she once again took the information given to her by the people at the offices. Apparently, there were some weird rules before she could even start living at the dorm. She had to show the dorm mother her cooking skills by preparing something and then she had to say it was good enough to be allowed to live in the dorm. It seemed a little extreme but maybe what she wanted was to get the best students –maybe the elite of the students- to be present at the dorms.

Having this information on her head, Sunset took her bags from the back of her motorcycle and began to walk to the door. One thing Sunset had been sure to get was a driver license to be able to drive her custom bike. The thing hadn’t been cheap but it was more than worthy after driving a couple of times.

Sunset didn’t even knocked on the wooden door, thinking that maybe whoever lived in the place would be either on their rooms or eating breakfast so it would be a little hard to hear someone knocking in the door. Instead Sunset simply turned the knob and pushed the old style double door to finally get into the Polar Star Dorm.

Inside she found a very beautiful foyer arranged in a European style. The big windows let enough light enter the foyer illuminating it making it look grand but at the same cozy in a way that made Sunset smile knowing full well that she would enjoy her stay at this place. She then followed the sound of voices and cutlery being used quickly realizing that she had arrived at the right time.

There were nine people sitting down around a table, all of them with chopsticks, plates and dishes and they seemed to have been enjoying breakfast, but the moment she got close to them they all simply stood gawking at Sunset, one of the girls even dropping her chopsticks in surprise.

Sunset blinked at that kind of reception before quickly arriving at the conclusion of why they all reacted in the same way. Besides her hair and eyes she had a twin in the school and her name was Erina. The cocky brat had been truly humiliated by Sunset’s antics and if what her secretary was right Erina was very important of the school. Seeing them all blinking owlishly in her direction made a certain part of Sunset want to mess around with them.

“Is this the kind of reception that I am worthy of in this dorm?” She said trying to mimic the voice and half-lidded look of Erina, which seemed to have worked with the way the other residents of the dorm jumped up in surprise and basically felt down on their knees at her presence. It was so comical that Sunset couldn’t contain her laughter and had to hold her stomach with how loud she was laughing at the way she had scared them. It was at those moments that Sunset let herself go and let her inner troublemaker free. The only ones that didn’t seem scared or confused were an older woman and a boy that seemed slightly older than the other students, maybe due to his rather enigmatic smile.

“Seems that we have a new student in this place, it was quite the surprise to see that face on this dorm, but you are not Erina, who are you?” the woman asked her while Sunset showed her bag full of groceries.

“I am Sunset Shimmer and I am going to be a Polar Star member right now” she said feeling her usual smirk be back in place.

Author's Note

Next on The Sunset of the Food Duels!

Be prepared for what Sunset would do to be able to live at the Dorm. What will be her ingredients and dishes? Don't miss the fun... and lunch in the next episode.

The Sunset of the Food Duels 06: The Bounty of Japan

Dish 06: The Bounty of Japan: Entrance to the Polar Star

Looking at the gawking teenagers around the table made Sunset even better about her introduction. If there was something that had been missing from her life after starting the road of the kitchen was those small moments when she was capable of leaving others completely awestruck or so utterly terrified that they could do nothing. For what she had been told by the school by a very supportive Principal Celestia, she would be able to do both of those things so many times that it would look like routine –and all without breaking the law which was a plus.

Leaving everyone behind, Sunset walked into the very modern looking kitchen of the dorm. For a place that seemed out of a Victorian Drama from the BBC the kitchen was almost out of place completely but she understood exactly the reason for that. All the people living here not only had a passion for cooking, it was their whole lives so it was only logical that they needed a place where they could show that passion.

The redhead heard movement behind her as she put her grocery bags in the counter. Turning around, Sunset observed the different members of the dorm still gawking at her as if she was an apparition, which wasn’t that far from the truth considering her doppelganger somewhere in the school. Sunset had to contain her giggles just remembering the shocked face of Erina; thankfully she had a photo of that in her cellphone.

In another building not too far away from there, the blonde girl known as the God’s Palate sneezed just as the moment she was about to taste another horrible attempt to impress her . The liquid from the soup went flying from the spoon due to the sneeze impacting against the face of the Soup RS making him cry in pain. Erina didn’t even glanced at the boy currently rolling on the floor due to pain; she only wondered who was talking and making fun of her at the moment.

Sunset -meanwhile- watched the teenagers in detail, noticing their hairstyles and how striking in appearance they were in comparison with most members of the school she had met, which seemed so bland and uninteresting for some reason. Sunset decided that it was just like in Canterlot High where her five friends back home seemed also extremely weird in comparison with others. Maybe it was a curse on Sunset, to meet people as bizarre as her.

“So you think that you will be part of this dorm? You won’t be the first one to feel confident enough to say something like that neither the last. Now you have to back that attitude.” The older woman told Sunset returning the same kind of smirk the redhead had at the moment. It was a challenge written in that expression and Sunset was eager to accept it.

Turning around to her ingredients she began to put everything in order before thinking deeply about what she could do. Meanwhile, the rest of the Polar Star inhabitants peered closer at Sunset and her bags.

“Can someone please tell me that I’m not dreaming?” the young girl with her hair in two buns exclaimed still surprised at the entrance of the redheaded girl. It had come as a the worst kind of surprise to see someone looking so much like Erina that it shook her to the core. At her side, the taller girl put a hand on her shoulder.

“You were not the only one, she also scared me.”

“To think that there is another woman that looks like Erina-sama is not something that I thought I would see.” One of the buffed guys said to his friend who was equally buffed. If both of them didn’t have different hair color someone would have thought that they were part of the same family.

“Not only that, but she seems to be eager to take Fumio-san’s test.” The boy with hair covering his eyes peered closer at Sunset’s cooking station as she began to wash different products for her acceptance test into Polar Star. At his side, the boy wearing glasses also put all his attention to what the redhead was currently doing trying to see what she was preparing. Meanwhile, none of the watched the short blue haired cute girl stay on the back completely terrified due to the presence of Sunset and the attitude she was showing.

From all of them, the man who seemed to have perpetual closed eyes continued smiling at what was going on. He loved the idea of more people coming to live to Polar Star, the idea of all those students sharing the passion of youth together, and just like Fumio, he was interested in the assorted number of vegetables that the girl was using.

So far he couldn’t see even the hint of meat in whatever the girl was preparing. He saw onions, leek, daikon and eggs but so far no meat. Nothing beyond a bag of commercial Katsuobushi that seemed to be used for dashi but Satoshi knew that with that amount of confidence she would not prepare a simple dish like miso. Fumio had been the mother den of the dorm for decades and she had seen some of the greatest cooks on the world grow up and be nurtured in front of her. She had tasted great cooking so the redhead wouldn’t gain access to Polar Dorm with simple dishes.

Satoshi, alongside the other members of the dorm paid close attention to the way Sunset worked around the kitchen, how she seemed to move with amazing flow around the skillet and pots. Soon a great array of aromas permeated the kitchen letting everyone remember that their breakfast had been interrupted, but by the looks of it there would be enough food for all of them. Was that Sunset’s plan from the beginning? Then she turned around with the same smirk on her face.

“Do you guys have a torch?” She asked to Fumio making Satoshi finally open his eyes knowing why she was asked for that tool. The kitchen torch was the tool used by chefs for the well-known technique of Gratin. Delicately burning the surface of the dish it created a brown crust that added another layer of flavor and texture to many recipes. Gratin de Pommes de Terre among other dishes asked for that kind of finish.

As Sunset got her hands on the small torch she began to gratin the top of the dish and the moment the flame made contact with the surface of her dish they all were assaulted by a storm. The smell of cheese and vegetables hit them all at the same time making their stomachs grumble in hunger. If Sunset wanted to create the best scenario for her dish then it was the perfect strategy to use such a strong attack by focusing their sense of smell.

“Well, dig in.” Sunset said placing four different things in front of Fumio who was sitting already in a clear display of how impatient she was to begin the tasting. Satoshi himself was also impressed by the array in display. He knew that it seemed rather ordinary what Fumio-san was about to taste but by the different aromas coming from them he knew that there were lots of secrets in it.

In front of Fumio there were a plate, a bowl, a deep dish and a cup of tea all waiting for her judging and decision. One was the target of Sunset’s usage of a torch due to its crispy cheese surface. Next to it a combination of shredded vegetables like a salad accompanied by a bowl of miso soup and tea.

First she tested how crunchy was the surface of the gratin dish from Sunset but she found out that besides the satisfying crunch of the melted cheese Fumio found out how elastic the inside were. Taking a bit of the dish Fumio was shocked at the amount of flavor that was present. It was the right amount of chewy with a great combination of flavors, all being surrounded by the cheese. The ‘Madonna’ of the Polar Star dorm then took a sip of the miso soup and the salad well beyond its simple look in terms of flavor and complexity.

When Fumio opened her eyes after enjoying the flavors presented to her she found herself far away from the Polar Star dorm. She was standing on a hill, the green plains extended far beyond her eyes as the majestic presence of Mount Fuji reigned over all. At the next blink Fumio came back to the kitchen being completely stunned by the amount of flavor and complexity in the dishes.

“How did you… how were you capable of adding so much flavor to a breakfast that looks so simple?” Fumio asked at the stunned look of the rest of the Totsuki students present stood with their mouths salivating at the display of food.

“Is rather simple, you can call it Mochi au Gratin,” she said stunning everyone in the kitchen.

“You are telling me you used mochi in the main dish?!” Sunset wasn’t sure who have been the one that had asked her that question, but she was ready to explain the dishes she had prepared.

“I used mochi after slightly browning it, and then I grated daikon, put nori alongside eggs and cooked them with soy sauce, ponzu and sake. Finally I topped them with cheese and I used the torch to melt it.” The girl with the two buns then pointed at the bowl.

“What about the soup? Isn’t that just miso?”

“Well, it started as miso. I made stock based upon tuna, the one you call dashi in Japan,” Sunset said explaining the miso soup that Fumio-san was currently enjoying in silence while the rest of the students continued watching the scene “then in a skillet I grilled leeks, onions and shiitake mushrooms with some soy sauce. I then put them all alongside the juices with some miso in the mix and boiled an egg and daikon slices to finalize it. I suppose it has more in common with Udon than with Miso at that point.” Sunset said surprising everyone present more and more.

“What about the vegetables?”

“Oh, that’s daikon, jicama and carrots sliced with a vinaigrette made with tomato, soy sauce, ginger and some of the leftover juice from the grilled leeks, onion and shiitake mushrooms. Finally, is daikon tea with a dash of peppermint as a final touch. What can I say? Is just one more to the grill.”

Satoshi was more than amazed at the dishes the young redhead had made, but even more so with the theme she had created. From the daikon, mochi, leeks and the sauces, everything used by Sunset had been Japanese ingredients, as if showing her respect to the country and its cuisine. It was no surprise when Fumio laughed aloud and congratulated Sunset into being accepted into Polar Star. They all celebrated even harder when Sunset showed them that she had made more of everything, enough to feed the other residents in the dorm much to their joy.

The seventh seat of the Student Council knew that this was just the beginning and that there would even more chefs with incredible abilities in the school. There was something telling Satoshi that a revolution in Totsuki would soon start and Sunset would be at the center of it all.

Author's Note

If you guys don't understand an ingredient you cna ask me, I'm enjoying myself tremendously reading and researching all of those things for some reason.

Also, the story has its own space now!

Food Wars! The Advent of Sunset Shimmer!

The Girl of Steel 01

The liquid dripping across her fingers and the glass pieces falling to the ground were the only sounds everyone on the room could hear as they all watched in silence at Sunset’s hand. The redhead simply sighed at what had happened and got up from her chair to clean her hand from the liquid.

Fluttershy intercepted the other teenager and grabbed the hand of Sunset as this one simply didn’t fought and let the kindhearted girl check on any injuries the other girl had sustained. She tenderly checked the skin of Sunset’s palm but she gasped at what she saw. Completely unblemished skin with no cuts or damage present.

Sunset sighed once again at the reaction of Fluttershy and took a hold of a few napkins and began to clean her hand as Applejack and Pinkie took a broom and dust pan to clean the living room of the Apples of any glass shards. They all remained silence as the girls cleaned up but they still watched Sunset in silence. The redhead rolled her eyes at the clear signals of confusion and curiosity.

“Alright, start asking, I can even hear the gears turning in your head… or burning in the case of Rainbow Dash”

“Hey!” the usage of humor finally cracked the tension in the room as the seven close friends began to laugh at the joke, even the aforementioned girl didn’t feel insulted at what was clearly a joke in an attempt to break the ice after what they just saw.

“Well, I suppose the question we are having right now -with the exception of our dear Twilight, which I’m sure will start having more specific questions for you- is, how?”

“How what Rarity?”

“Ah think what she wants to say, is how did ya not get hurt from breaking a crystal glass?” the stetson wearing girl asked her friend watching the perfectly healthy hand and how Sunset was focusing very hard on it.

“I’m not sure, I just… don’t get hurt that easily” She answered back shrugging her shoulders as if nothing had happened “maybe it has something to do with the magic already present on Canterlot”

“Oh please, if that were the case I wouldn’t have cut my finger on a paper yesterday” Rainbow said showing the still visible cut on the closed injury, it was a thin line that showed where the skin had been slashed “why does Miss Yearling still makes us do assignments on paper? Haven’t she heard of the internet?”

“As cathartic as it would be to hear you complain about a topic that I’m 100% behind you, we should all focus on our dear friend Sunset”

“Rarity is right, I mean, this phenomenon could have a serious impact on our daily lives” Twilight said already with her phone out ready to take notes of what she could find about Sunset’s situation “do you remember when you started to notice a difference whenever you got hurt? Maybe a lack of sensation or even situations when you knew you were supposed to get hurt but nothing happened?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that and what I remember when I wanted to test the girls Harmony magic”

“I remember that day! It was pretty fun, with all those butterflies and balloons and apples flying around, oh oh oh, and also a rainbow splash attacking Sunset!”

“Is Pinkie right? You never really got into specifics when you mention that time.”

“Yeah, I mean, I was trying to get all scientific and try to find some order on our magic but then I discovered that it doesn’t work as linear like Equestrian magic. It was quite the adventure.”

“Now that you mention it,” Fluttershy said not even batting an eye when all her friends turned to watch her. Long ago was the time where she crumbled under social anxiety, it had truly been a great therapy for her to be part of a rock band “I remember that you were hit a lot that day, even got hit by electricity but… you never got any lasting injuries from that day”

“Hey, you are right Shy. Hell, even after she had been hit by everything she was up in less than an hour” Rainbow said remembering that day and even though it had been funny to see Sunset being bombarded by all kind of things, she had been slightly worried about the kind of punishment the redhead had sustained.

“I noticed that we all have gained some level of toughness, but they all came after each of us pony up. Is in that state that we gain more power but… thing started to change for me after… well”

“After the Friendship Games, right?” Twilight said what Sunset was thinking. Yes, it still hurt to remember the demon she had turned into after being absorbed by all that magic, but day by day she was getting better thanks to her friends. Now one of those friends was going through some changes and it was her responsibility to see that nothing wrong happened to her “what have you noticed?”

“Oh, some crazy stuff that is not that crazy but still… they are all adding up. It was after the Friendship Games that I noticed I was getting tired less and less as if I had more resistance or something, also it was getting easier to lift things”

“How easier?” Twilight asked typing all the information down.

“Well, I was vacuuming my apartment a couple of days ago when I got to my bedroom and…” she said remembering that day but still not sure if she should tell her friends.

“And what else? What happened darling?”

“I lifted my bed without noticing, bed frame and all” she said making all of them blink in stunned silence at what Sunset had said. They had all seen the bed Sunset had and they knew it was not an easy thing to move. Last time they had a slumber party there it had taken the combined effort of Applejack, Rainbow and Sunset to move it so they could fit in the bedroom, and that was before the Friendship Games. To say that they were all surprised and intrigued would be an understatement of the century. So Sunset now was getting tougher and more powerful and they all wondered if those would be the only changes. And that’s when all of the girls heard the scream.

The Rainbooms haven’t been the only ones to come to the old Sweet Apple Acres farm at the outskirts of Canterlot. The family farm now was being work by Apple fritter and her parents now that Applejack and her own side of the family focused on the Fizzy Cider brand. Now, as something of an escapee, the seven girls went to the farm, but they weren’t the only ones that had accompanied them.

Since that terrible time known as the Anon-A-Miss Debacle, the girls’ parents didn’t want to leave the Canterlot Motley Crew alone or without supervision and after hearing that the girls would visit the Apple family farm they all came to the conclusion that the still under punishment trio could work some of their assigned time in the farm as price for what they did, and much to their grumbling they were all carted alongside the older girls.

Sunset should have known that the three girls trying to work or do anything together could only end in disaster and this time it was not the exception apparently. Applejack had told them that there was always something weird on the farm, namely the barns since they always had the proclivity of falling down and the rest of the family usually got together at least once every month had to rebuild the farm all the time.

This time the girls seemed to have done something or they were at the wrong place at the wrong time because they all saw from the window that the red barn was falling down and right there on the ground, the white dress and signature curls made it clear that Sweetie Belle had fallen to the ground and one of the walls of the barn was about to fall on top of her.

Rarity had barely started to scream in fear when one of them was already on the move. Her body barely a blur with how fast she had took off. Seeing the terrified face of Sweetie Belle had made something in her resonate and made her move. In the blink of an eye she found herself in front of Sweetie Belle holding up the red barn wall while Sweetie Belle looked with round eyes at the girl that had saved her from very serious injuries.

Sunset felt the wall be as light as Styrofoam for some reason and that was a clear sign that something weird was happening to her body because when she looked at her side she saw the rest of her friends and the CMC with their mouths opened and a shocked look in their faces.

“Well… let’s add super speed and flight to the list, shall we?” Twilight words made Sunset look down and see that her feet were not touching the floor.

I Am Iron Heart 01

Author's Note

Yes, two superhero universes, which won't be the last ones.

Prepare for the Sunset Society!

I Am Iron Heart 01

The metal doors made somewhat of a grating noise much to Rarity’s distaste. The woman was right now wearing one of her own creations, a number of black and silver and it had been a complete success in her latest show, but this time she was not going to a runway or even a business dinner. This time was more personal and it had to do with a certain redhead that hasn’t been answering her calls.

From the outside it may have look like an abandoned warehouse but that’s what Sunset made it look like. Inside there was a plethora of security systems that could make any government green with envy -and Rarity truly disliked green- and enough reinforcements that the warehouse could probably survive a direct hit form a nuclear blast. And it was at this place that she knew she would find her old friend.

All of the girls had changed after graduating from High School and then College. Some remained in Ponyville to keep on doing what they did while others looked more opportunities out in the wide world, among them Rarity and the Science Duo as Rainbow used to call the smartest girls in the group.

Now the redhead was the legit owner of a growing technology enterprise and gave Twilight Sparkle -not the princess one of course- a Blanche card when it came to her discoveries. It was a partnership made in heaven but they all saw how much pressure felt upon Sunset’s shoulders as her business grew and the government began to hound her for military designs. It was at those moments that the girl retreated back to her safe zone to think and work.

As Rarity walked into the highly secured zone she was quickly scanned and recognized by the multitude of systems, but the woman simply continued walking in the direction of her friend. And she found her working on some doodad or another and Rarity had to stop at the way the redhead looked. Rarity may be completely assured of her sexuality, only dating men after a rather catastrophic attempt to see if she found the other gender appealing, but even she had to admit that Sunset was one female specimen that could even make Rarity doubt of her sexuality.

With her long hair in a high ponytail like the one Twilight tended to use the redhead looked relaxed. But it was the way she had unzipped the top part of her jumpsuit and tied it around her waist that let Rarity see a rather strained black sports bra and the hints of abs on her friend’s body. It was then that the busy redheaded woman then finally noticed the slightly red face of her longtime friend and finally smiled.

“What are you doing here Rarity?”

“Well, I’ve been trying to contact you since the afternoon but you haven’t been answering my calls.”

“Yeah, sorry about that Rarity, but this place is a dead zone when it comes to signals, well, beyond TV.” She said scratching the back of her head slightly, a tic that the girl had acquired back at High School.

“Is alright my dear, you are a very busy woman and sometimes we just need some quiet time to unwind… how are you doing darling?”

“I… is been hard lately, I mean, I’ve been so busy lately with the business and research and all that and-“

“And you haven’t had time for yourself, don’t worry, I know all about that. Maybe we don’t work on the same things –and none of us understand a word when you and Twilight start geeking out as Rainbow would say- but as a business woman like you I understand the pressures of holding a company together.” Rarity said placing a hand over Sunset’s shoulder in an action that was as comforting today as it had been years ago, and one that Sunset truly appreciated.

“Thank you Rarity, it is nice to know someone can relate to all the daily craziness. I swear, if someone comes to me one more time about a problem someone down the line could have resolved I will scream.”

“Indeed darling, sometime being one of the best in the field can have its downsides” Rarity said remembering all the shenanigans that happened all the time at her boutique “but I’m sure you are not this stressed out just because of that. I know you very well Sunset Shimmer.”

“Yeah, you all do. Sparks also mentioned something like that, that’s why I came here… there’s guys that have been using my technology to create weapons.” she said with a deep sigh making Rarity worry.

“Wait, what do you mean by that? Haven’t you said multiple times that you will never create weapons?”

“Yeah, but apparently a couple of extremist groups were found with missiles made with my technology.”

“Oh my dear, that is horrible, tell me those haven’t been used.”

“Unfortunately yeah, is kind of hush hush right now but… apparently the government is trying to put the blame on me saying that since I didn’t want to deal with the government it was clear then that I was doing business with other groups.”

“But that is completely stupid, pardon my French, you are a pacifist, there is no way you would work with weapons.”

“That’s what I told them but they do not believe me.”

“What are you going to do? Is it going to affect your business?”

“If the guys that did this are not found then yes, I need to find evidence that my technology was stolen in some way and find the person who did it. That’s why I came here, it helps me think” she said motioning to her personal workshop while Rarity nodded.

The fashionista and Sunset talked a couple of minutes more before the woman got a promise from Sunset that would lunch together tomorrow before walking out of the hangar. Sunset then grabbed the strange glowing apparatus she had been fiddling with as she started to talk.

“Is Rarity out?” she said as a robotic voice answered back.

“Yes Ma’am, Miss Rarity is out of the premises and her vehicle is driving away in the direction of her house.”

“Thank you Jarvis.” the redhead said before walking to the hangar portion of her workshop before the voice started the conversation again.

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about your plan with your friends? I thought all of you were very close.”

“I can’t do that Jarvis, this is too risky for any of them to get involved with.” She said before pressing several buttons on a console making a platform appeared from beneath the floor, to which Sunset stood upon “I need to do this alone.” she said as robotic arms began to take pieces of metal colored red and yellow as the genius girl’s hair. Each piece was then was placed upon Sunset’s body, all of the pieces fitting perfectly as an armor began to assemble around Sunset.

Two final pieces were placed as a helmet and then the circular creation Sunset had been working now being used as the battery for the armor. Finally, a golden mask fell on place and inside multiple screens and information activated for Sunset.

“Try not to be killed Ma’am, I would hate to be an AI without job.”

“You are pure love Jarvis.” the woman said as rockets activated on her hands and legs as she began to fly away from a tunnel hidden in the workshop. It was time for the world to meet the new Iron Heart.

A Lost Crystal Gem 02

The sound of waves crashing against the shore and the permanent smell of salt on the air made Sunset return to days where the only thing she had to worry about was what she would have for lunch. Back when the only thing she needed in her to feel perfectly fine was the hand of a pink haired woman on her shoulder. Back then it was the only thing Sunset needed to know that the future was as bright as Rose Quartz's smile.

Sunset sighed at the memories assaulting her as she continued to look at the shore and the way it never changed. The sea was unchanging as the other members of her family. Or at least that was what she once thought, before Rose Quartz had the brilliant idea of creating new life. It had ended so well for everyone living on the temple in front of the sea.

The redhead knew that returning home was a gamble after bottling up so many of her feelings. It was a volatile mixture of good and bad memories conglomerating themselves on her head that left a sour sweet flavor on her mouth. It was the mixture of every good memory she had of her family and of Steven growing up -his first steps, his first words, how much he enjoyed taking a bath and how much he loved to throw himself into mud before those same baths- that Sunset didn't even need to take the photo albums that she personally compiled so long ago from the bookcase. Every memory was inserted on her mind in a way in which she would never forget those moments, not the people on them or the situations. But on the other side of the coin she also remembered every bad moment she had in the temple.

She remembered the last time she gazed upon those star filled eyes and how much it hurt to say goodbye. All the moments where she had to held Pearl those first few years in which the thin gem took a look at the portrait of Rose Quartz, how she crumbled down to her knees and began to bawl her eyes out. Of how many times Amethyst took a hold of her while she was faking sleep just so she wouldn't be alone. Of the many talks that she had with Garnet -and even Ruby and Sapphire on occasion- and how in the end the fusion and the lost girl ended up being the pillars of the Crystal Gems. Sunset snorted at the memory, she herself one of the leaders of the Crystal Gems, a lost girl with no home or idea of what she was suddenly taking the reins of a dysfunctional family.

It took everyone so long to adapt to a world without Rose Quartz in it, so much that the first missions they had ended up being complete failures. Every single one of those missions ended with Pearl and Amethyst screaming at each other. It was so bad that Sunset had forced both gems to hold Steven and show them one more reason to protect the world, and who would have thought? It had worked so well that it had surprised Sunset, but she was sure Garnet had seen that coming -damn Future Vision- and simply gave her usual thumbs up.

Even now her heart ached for the loss of the woman she had grown up to call mother, but now she felt that same longing had become bittersweet and that maybe one day she will gaze into those star filled eyes once more, hopefully not soon. In the meantime, she will keep her eyes on her very crazy and strange family and will keep on protecting it to the end. And at the end she still ran away, just like she did from Equestria, all because she wanted Earth education and a degree. Even to this day she wondered if she had taken the right choice by taking that path, of changing the day to day gem hunting for the halls of Canterlot High. The redhead wondered if Rose Quartz felt disappointed for leaving the city.

Sure, it was only three years, but still felt as if she had run away from the pressure of constantly fighting and the stress of thinking about Equestria after living for so long in Earth. In the end, she caved and finally took the last step into opening the portal alongside her friends back in Canterlot High and take the plunge onto the last part of her old life, and lo and behold, first person she had met was none other than her ‘almost’ cousin Mi Amore Cadenza.

After several misunderstandings -and proof that her gem could work in another dimension- the worst was over and Sunset decided to go back home at last. The last surprise came with the decision of the newest princess -and boy, did that sentence hurt- asking Sunset to explore and research her new home. Sunset may have said no but just one look at those eyes full of wonder and excitement, Sunset felt like every time Steven used those same eyes on her. In the end she said yes and now she was back on her turf. Back at Beach City with its old town feeling and calm harbor that always helped Sunset relax.

The redhead had already taken a tour around several stores, just like The Big Donut shop in which she found Lars and Sadie working there now. Although she wasn’t against sugar and everything frosty like Pearl who basically counted every calorie that Steven ingested -she was sure that haven’t changed since she left- Sunset herself was more in favor of the salty snack variety and there was nothing like a good cheese ball while watching the waves and the beautiful sky. So it was at this point were both Steven and Twilight found her, sitting down at a conjured chair with her feet on the railing at the harbor.

“So let me guess; Pearl gave you the whole ‘Petal Dance’ back at her room?” the redhead said throwing another cheese ball into the air before munching on it when it came down.

“Yep.”

“And Amethyst was ‘oh you don’t need to practice’ and simply summoned her whip?”

“Yep.”

“And you also got the whole, ‘gather the power of the universe’ thingy from Garnet?”

“Yep.” The completely lost eyes of the chubby little boy made Sunset sigh knowing exactly how his mind had simply exploded trying to comprehend all the crazy stuff from the rest of their family. Looking at his side was the princess trying to write with her mouth as if she were an Earth Pony, although thinking about it, it probably was logical since she didn’t know how to write like a human.

“Well, I want you to forget everything that they told you”

“Done.” He said without even a second of delay making Sunset laugh at how similar he had acted to her own experience trying to summon her weapon.

“It was quite an experience isn’t it Steven?”

“It reminded me of how Princess Celestia used to guide me when I was learning how to control my own magic… although I’m pretty sure she also did that with you.” The princess said immediately blushing at the small faux-pas she had committed but Sunset simply smiled at the other girl.

“Wait, is she also a unicorn?”

“Yes Steven, she comes from my home dimension.”

“That is so cool! Can she transform like you?”

“Transform?”

“No Steven, she is a regular human being in here.” Sunset said placing her cheese balls’ container on Twilight hands before stretching her arms ready to show Steven her own weapon “Steven, what you have to understand is that every gem is different, we all have different ideas and tastes, that affects the way we look at the world around us and also our own abilities,” she said taking off her black leather jacket, she loved the thing and didn’t want to see it transform, after all, all of her clothes except the jacket were gem constructs “Our weapons and abilities are tied to what we feel, to what we want, what makes us… well, US, that’s why what they told you is right, that’s how they summon their weapons.”

“Ohhh, so that’s why I couldn’t summon my weapon like that, I had to do it my own way… but, how do you summon your own weapon?” She knew he was going to ask her that, cute little boy he was, just as curious as her.

“Let me show you” Sunset said extending her arms at her sides and slowly moving them up and down as if a slow wave traveled through her body, her hips moving along the rhythm in her head. Soon she was moving her feet and hands in a dance that seemed to be contagious by how Steven was nodding his head in rhythm with her. And just like that her mini skirt and spaghetti strap blouse changed to a full body black, red and yellow leotard with several stars on her chest as if they were moving at high speed through space.

The leotard went up to her hands completely encasing every finger except the middle and index. A choker necklace with a yellow star appeared around her neck to connect with the leotard as it left her shoulders and neck exposed and in top of them a black and neon red biker jacket with Sunset’s cutiemark stamped on the back. But the most striking thing were the thigh high metal boots that seemed to have made of metal plaques and moved as if they were leather instead of metal “I haven’t danced in a while but still got it.” Sunset said fixing the collar of her jacket as Steven grinned with the usual stars appearing on his eyes. At his side, Princess Twilight stood with her mouth open and her face completely burgundy due to her skin being naturally purple. Yeah, she still got it.

A Lost Crystal Gem 03

Dancing seemed to have been injected into her DNA now with the amount of happiness and peace that the action gave to Sunset. The amount of times Sunset lost herself to the music and let her body move on its own accord, simply following the rhythm inside her heart was very well known around Canterlot High. Pinkie simply loved when Sunset ‘owned’ the dance floor, at least according to the cotton candy haired girl. Even Rainbow Dash was left on the dust time and time again on their weekly ‘dance offs’ and that was one of the most athletic gifted girls on the city. Rainbow simply didn’t know when to give up, although Sunset had to give it to her; she looked less like a chicken doing a weird mating call every time they danced together. Sunset wanted to see how far she could push the girl into accepting to do Tango with her; she just wanted to see how long Rainbow could dance with her before quitting due to embarrassment.

Sunset began to check her own little attire change still amazed every time she did it. The difference in the way the material -or what could be called as material since it was made out of hard light- was clinging to her skin becoming a second layer of protection. It was eye catching, upfront and right in your face, just like Sunset when she was accepted by Rose Quartz and the rest of the family. It felt good to show her Crystal Gem battle mode once again.

The look on Steven’s face told her everything she needed to know; that she had entertained her little brother immensely and that he was a moment away from jumping up and down. It was a sight she had missed, especially after missions and chores. Although, now that she thought about it, Pearl was all ready to send her into another Gem Hunt so maybe she would have to shake some rust since she haven’t had to fight anyone seriously for some time. Having to show Gilda who was boss barely counted considering Sunset was used to fight monsters several times bigger than her.

“So, what do you think?”

“You changed your clothes!” Princess Twilight Sparkle said truly impressed by what Sunset had just done “I’m still quite surprised all the abilities this ‘humans’ can display.”

“Oh no princess, I haven’t been a human in a long time.” Sunset said remembering well the last few moments as a human she had spent and how much that hurt in the end, no matter all the benefits she got from dying that time.

“The jacket and the design is new” Steven said looking at the new jacket as he was wearing Sunset’s old leather jacket, looking both ridiculous and adorable at the same time in Sunset’s opinion.

“Yeah, I was ready for a change; you should have seen how those three looked before they changed their own forms.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, wow, were they all fashion disasters! Especially Amethyst, and don’t let me start with Pearl, do you know she has been using those shorts for decades?!” Just thinking about that made Sunset imagine Rarity fainting at the mere notion of wearing those things. If the teenager ever found her way into beach City she was sure the fashion battle would be one the Crystal gems had no hope of winning.

“How did you do it? I mean, I’m sure those are true clothes but the way you summoned them still eludes me. I saw the other… gems?” Twilight asked referring to the other girls back at the temple and Sunset nodded indicating that she was correct “I saw them get their weapons through the light of the gems lodged on different body parts. But how does it exactly work with you?”

“Oh boy, that’s a rather long story Princess and most of that story you wouldn’t even believe it.” The redhead said feeling quite comfortable in her battle leotard, she then decided to keep the change instead of returning to her school clothes. She wondered how much of an impact she would create appearing like that on school. The possible aneurysm she would give to parents and other adults would be quite entertaining.

“Is she a princess? So that means you are her knight?”

“Oh boy, isn’t that also a rather hard to answer question.” She said in response to Steven’s comment. She loved the boy but the way he looked at the world as if it were a big adventure book simply surprised her every time “tell you what kiddo, I’ll tell you what kind of things I have been doing in Canterlot City today and later on I’ll explain more about my original dimension, okay?”

“I’ll take that deal for now Miss Shimmer.” He said with his eyes closed and chest pumped almost like a businessman closing a deal. In response Sunset messed his head with a hand while grinning at the boy.

“You little rascal, have you been watching Lil’ Butler?”

“Not really, dad and Amethyst like to watch the show together so I don’t want to bother them.” Steven said as the two began to walk in the direction of the temple at the beach, leaving the pony turned human behind.

“What about Pearl and Greg?” She asked her only source of completely trustful answers in Beach City.

“They… are still working on their relationship; at least they started talking to each other.” The redhead knew that it was a huge step considering how bitter Pearl was for years after Rose and the human began to date and ultimately marry each other. Sunset had tried to help both in their recovery after losing such an important part of their lives but it was so hard sometimes.

“That’s nice, I just wish Pearl would finally get past her jealousy, is not healthy. Also, Princess, you can stop looking at my flank” Sunset said receiving only a squeak of embarrassment from the other girl. The redhead grinned from ear to ear knowing exactly the kind of effect she had in others, especially using such tight battle leotard.

Of course, things weren’t perfect as Sunset should have remembered, knowing that a perfect day was impossible back home as the three watched a huge centipede -or better said Centipeetle- erupt from the sand and began climbing the face of the mountain temple.

“I should have known” Sunset simply said watching the trio of Crystal Gems jump out of the house and prepare themselves to fight the Centipeetle. But just as they began to dodge the acid vomit of the huge monster, it turned its head in Sunset and Twilight’s direction. At least the redhead was thankful that Steven had listened to her and ran inside the house. He may have realized what it took to summon gem weapons but he was not ready yet for a fight like this “well, this isn’t good, look out princess!” Sunset could only say to the young girl as an acid torrent was poured in their direction. It seems that the girl was so focused on writing about the encounter that she hasn’t left Sunset’s side so the redhead had to take her on her arms before kneeling on the sand, dragging a scared looking teenager with her.

Instead of turning into a puddle on the sand, a section of her left boot detached as a small light began to create a complete circle in front of them. When the acid shot crashed against the circle Twilight quickly understood that Sunset had created a light shield in front of them.

“Well, nothing like an actual battle to remove all the rust from my system. Eat this you overgrown bug!” Sunset screamed as she began to do a middle kick with her right leg, just at that moment another section of the boot separated as a long chain made out of red metal shot out and with the momentum of the kick it impacted against the Centipeetle’s head stunning it for a second.

“Quick, now that Spinel gave us a chance!” Garnet said as the four Crystal Gems jumped and in a second the huge Centipeetle ceased to exist leaving only a small gem in its place. All in all, a very normal day in Beach City.

Author's Note

Whatcha think of Spinel/Sunset? You can ask me about the dimension and I will try to answer back without spoilers.

A Lost Crystal Gem 04: One Shard

Author's Note

And we find ourselves once more in the world of Spinel, but this time we go way back in time to the point in time when she got her gem... or better said, shard.

Also, check out the incredibly cool Fanart made by GPIzano!

Sunset Shimmer/Spinel

A Lost Crystal Gem 04: One Shard

Everything was dark at the beginning. An endless void of black ink that took everything on its path and hid it in the deepest corner of Sunset’s mind and let her float among the dark sea she was in now. No ideas or fears, no recriminations or guilt that could weight her down or make her doubt her place on her new home.

It was that last sentence that made Sunset slightly move in reaction. She had a home, she was sure of that. But it wasn’t Canterlot or even Equestria, there was something else out there that she called home, but what was it? She was sure there was a place for her, or was that also a lie? A dream that she constructed in her mind to keep herself sane? A simple lie she told herself to survive the cold of the night? She was exiled from Canterlot; at least she knew that much, but where was home now?

Sunset tried to bring the memories back but the darkness didn’t want to give up, as if she was its prisoner and any thought of escaping was forbidden. If there was one thing Sunset was not was a pony that followed the rules so she fought back with every ounce of energy she had to remember the place she called home, and there it was. The huge temple carved at the side of a mountain just in front of the sea.

She could almost smell the sea breeze with its saltiness that reinvigorated Sunset every time she took a walk along the shore, then she remembered where she was, where her home was. Sunset finally opened her eyes and took a long breathe coming back to the real world with no idea what she was doing at the beach and why everything hurting on her body.

“Thank goodness you are awake,” the soft and melodic voice of the woman at her left took Sunset from her ruminations. She was also very impressed that she hadn’t seen Rose Quartz at her side, the woman was kind of hard to ‘not’ see considering the size and girth she had, not to mention the amount of hair that Rose Quartz had.

“What-” Sunset tried to talk but her throat felt parched and even moving her jaw was painful for some reason. The teenager tried to make a fist just to see how much energy she had but her movements were lethargic for some reason “what just happened?”

“Please, don’t try to move too much, I may not know all that much about human biology but even I know that you should rest.” The usually calm and collected woman said with real worry on her voice which in turn made Sunset worry. Something must have been very serious for the leader of the Crystal Gems to react that way and Sunset groaned knowing that it must have been something related to her. Just her luck.

“Rose, tell me I didn’t lose a leg or something like that” Sunset said half seriously knowing that anything could happen at Beach City, crazy stuff was part of its appeal.

“Well, no, you didn’t lose a leg.” Rose answered back making Sunset feel a little less worried, still not to the point of being perfectly fine but it was better “you lose something else?”

“Please don’t say that I lost my dignity, that is usually Amethyst’s job.” Sunset tried to joke but it didn’t make Rose giggle like every time she tried humor in a situation. This was definitely not a good thing in the opinion of Sunset who have never seen Rose this worried before, although it was true that she had met the quartet of crazy aliens just a year ago so she lacked knowledge about space rocks.

“It was a little worse than that.” Another voice told Sunset as a tall dark skinned woman with an afro walked in their direction. If Garnet was the one saying that then it TRULY was bad. Making an effort to see how bad the damage was Sunset tried to rise up but her body was still too tired for some reason and it took longer than she wanted to even move. After a couple tries she finally saw something that left her feeling even worst, because her favorite shirt -she only had four since she arrived at this dimension- had a hole on it that made her blink several times in surprise.

The position of the hole was what made Sunset whimper in fear and worry since it was directly where her heart was… or used to be, Sunset had no idea of what had happened.

“Rose… what's going on?” She asked to the giant woman in a voice that made Rose Quartz want to hug the young girl in front of her until everything was alright, but she knew she had to be sincere and couldn’t cuddle her no matter how much she wanted. Maybe later tonight.

“There was a… monster attack, it was very fast and you were hurt.”

“Hurt how? I don’t even remember what just happened! Besides, I’m not stupid enough to get in the way of one of your fights!” Sunset almost screamed but she quickly regretted that action as the world began to spin around her. Garnet -thankfully- helped Sunset by letting her lean on her which made the nausea disappear quickly.

“It wasn’t your fault, you were hurt being a hero.” Sunset groaned once again at the usage of one of her forbidden words.

“Oh, don’t use that word, you are gonna make me barf.”

“Please don’t.” The fusion helping her said making Sunset feel a little light thanks to their mutual joking. It was a great antidepressant after all.

“So what else? I know I won’t like the ending anyway.” The redhead said preparing herself mentally for the dark news.

“There were a couple of people around the harbor and they were going to be attacked by the gem monster out of control. Its gem was cracked and was acting recklessly.”

“And? Rose, don’t make the story longer than necessary.”

“It pierced you with its tail.” Rose said with tears on her eyes remembering that horrible moment when the appendage went through Sunset’s body. It had been a scene that Rose would not forget any day soon. Just remembering that she had lost the redhead for a moment filled her with sadness so deep that even she was surprised. Sunset had become a part of their little family so quickly that made Rose be thankful that she had started the rebellion so long ago, just so she could meet people like Sunset, who even thought had a lot of baggage, it was nothing compared to the rest of the Crystal Gems.

“Wait… what? You mean-” Sunset tried to finish the sentence but she had problems trying to think what it meant. Thankfully Garnet finished for her.

“That’s right; it pierced your heart, basically obliterating it.” Garnet never pulled her punches and this time was not the moment to break her consistency. Meanwhile, Sunset simply whimpered just thinking about the repercussions… and most importantly, HOW IN THE WORLD WAS SHE EVEN ALIVE THEN?!

Looking down at the hole in her shirt she also saw something gleaming with the moonlight and had to blink several times to focus her eyes on the small object currently growing around her skin.

“Did you… heal me with your tears?” Sunset had seen it two times, both having to do with Amethyst and her reckless behavior but with a single tear her gem was good as new, so maybe that’s what the tall woman had did? Looking at her still somber mother-figure Sunset knew that it was even worst what happened.

“Sunset... Rose’s ability only works on gems; there is no way for any of us to heal an organic being like you.” Garnet told the redhead making her even more worried about what just happened.

“Then what just happened?”

“The gem monster… went back into its gem when it attacked you. The harbor broke down and both of you felt into the water. Garnet and I found you alongside the gem of the monster; sadly it broke apart after falling into the water. When we took you out we found out something incredible.” Rose said regaining her smile “one of the shards of the gem touched your skin and began to heal itself with its help.”

“Wait, what? Hold on a moment, are you telling me that I got healed thanks to a shard? From one of the corrupted gems? How is that even possible?! Ugh, I don’t feel fine.” Sunset said visible exhausted by her latest outburst.

“Is okay Sunset, we might not know what it means now but I can promise you that we will find the answer all together” Rose said giving her million watt smile, the one that made Sunset feel happy and at peace.

“So that means that the Grinch just got herself a heart?” Sunset joked making the fusion currently helping her up smile too.

“That’s right, and I'm sure that it will grow three times its size.” The dark skinned woman said joking alongside Sunset, happy that she didn’t have to say goodbye to someone she had grown close to so soon. The three then began to walk in the direction of the temple –although Sunset was more half dragged- before Sunset was engulfed by two different gems. Amethyst was clinging to her waist in a second while Pearl was more controlled; the redhead put her arms around the other two gems while all of them ignored the quiet sniffing from Pearl.

Once Pearl and Amethyst helped Sunset back into the temple to rest after being a hero, Garnet took Rose Quartz apart since she was curious about something.

“The shard growing on Sunset’s chest is not the same from the cracked gem.” The three eyed gem said while Rose sighed once more, knowing well that she could not keep Garnet in the dark, sometimes Future Vision was a pain.

“It isn’t, her body was using the shard to heal itself.”

“Then what shard did you use?”

“One that could be the difference between extinction for Earth and change for Homeworld.”

“Homeworld? Rose, what are you planning?”

“For now just helping Sunset grow and truly find herself on this world. Something tells me that the shard will grow beyond that small size.”

“Do you mean… Sunset will become a hybrid?”

“What does your vision tell you?”

“Absolutely nothing; I cannot see Sunset with my Vision, maybe because she is from another universe. Is strangely comforting spending time with her, there is no noise on my head when I focus on her.”

“Is quite possible, even after all the time traveling through space gems never really thought about the possibility of other universes. So what do you think? Would it be quartz?”

“Sunset’s gem? No, I think it would have a spinel structure, so Spinel maybe?” Either way, Sunset’s future changed in one heroic act. And like that, our favorite redhead began her road to becoming a fully-fledged Crystal Gem.

But that’s a story for another time.

Sunny's Bizarre Adventure: Mirrored Destiny

The sizzling contents on the pan never failed to make Sunset smile at the irony of what she was doing. As a member of a mostly vegetarian race the idea of eating meat almost daily was certainly an interesting way of life that the redhead had become more than used to, getting to the point in which she not only ate it alongside her friends but also enjoyed by herself.

Watching the bacon get crispy Sunset knew that Rainbow Dash or Applejack would have several jabs for Sunset comparing her hair to those pieces of delicious heaven, but she had heard almost everything under the sun after her fall out of grace at the hands of Princess Twilight; and taking in consideration what happened with Anon-A-Miss none of her friends even had the heart to make a pun or a joke around her.

Sunset knew that it was not healthy the way her friends were acting after what had happened in the winter and even thought she was grateful that her friends showed her that they were sorry, but the extremes in which they -and the rest of the school- acted was getting a little too much.

Leaving those thoughts behind, Sunset heard the bread slices being pop out of the toaster and put her breakfast in a plate. Sitting down at her cozy dining room she then turned on the TV to hear what had happened in Canterlot. While she may not be someone who enjoyed reading the news like others she still put attention to the ongoing events in the city and the nation on a whole. You never know when something magically influenced could happen. The last time it had brought the Sirens to their door and with something like the Friendship Games -which her friends were very preoccupied with for some reason- it was better to be prepared for what could happen.

Taking a bite from one of the toasted slices of bread she put attention to one of the anchors telling about an accident yesterday. Apparently it was about a young girl that had been part of an accident. Sunset was surprised since she recognized her as one of the Canterlot Motley Crew friends that was ignoring them like the rest of the school. Apparently Dinky was hit by a falling tree and if it weren’t because she had jumped out of the way she had been killed. Right now she was in the hospital with a broken leg.

According to the report the tree was not an old one and in fact, it seemed as if it had been hit with enough power to break it. This was the third case of a young girl being in the middle of an accident. It was truly something to be curious about, although, really, who would want to hurt little girls? If it was truly someone behind those accidents then it was someone very wrong on the head.

Sunset took her bag, knowing that whatever could happen was for now beyond her capabilities and it would be better to let the proper authorities check upon the accidents. If it was something magical in nature then she would know about it in some way. With that she then locked her apartment and began her trip to Canterlot High ready for more shenanigans among the students. Sadly that was her last quiet morning because it was at that morning where everything changed for the pony turned human girl.

Alongside her, there was another family living close by, their kid also attending Canterlot junior High. She had never really talked with them but she knew the kid; she was a little awkward but a nice girl and also a longtime friend of Applebloom, even before she and the others got together as the CMC. Twist also was one of the few who didn’t think Sunset was Anon-A-Miss and was incredibly disappointed on Applebloom, to the point that those two haven’t talked since last year.

Waving a hello to her fellow redhead, Twist grinned and -after watching both sides- began to cross the street to walk alongside the older girl. That’s when things began to get weird, because just as she was watching the girl start walking Sunset also saw something completely out of this world. First it was the way the ground lightly rumbled beneath her and then what could only be called a rolling boulder came out of nowhere along the street just at the right moment to strike a van right on its side.

It was just a second but Sunset would swear that it was the longest second in her life because she could see it all happening at bullet time just at it started. The rolling boulder struck the van with enough force to make it skid to its right into Twist who had stopped in fear at what was coming her way. Sunset knew that this would possibly be most horrifying thing she would ever see. A young innocent girl was about to be killed in front of her and she could do nothing. She had neither magic nor the speed necessary to save Twist. She was only a human being now, completely useless in a situation where a horn or a pair of wings could be the difference.

She hated that. She hated being so weak, so useless in comparison with people like Rainbow or Applejack who had the speed and power to run and make the save. She was not Princess Twilight who was the true bearer of the Element of Magic, once the strongest unicorn alive and now a Princess. Sunset was nothing compared to them, without strength or magic… not now… not ever.

NEVER AGAIN!

Just as her desire to reach Twist came to the front Sunset extended the hand that was holding her old coffee thermos in the direction of Twist. It was then that she felt the change inside of her, as if something had woken up and a part extended out of her own body. In a blink everything was over and instead of her thermos there was Twist in her arms and her thermos was the one in middle air before it was hit by the skidding van and sent flying.

Neither redhead was sure what happened but the boulder that had attacked the van had disappeared without a trace. Sunset just knew that something weird… something bizarre had just happened.

“Just what I needed, another Bizarre Adventure.”

Author's Note

Please, everybody.

STRIKE A POSE!

Sunny's Bizarre Adventure Chapter 02

Sunset continued to look at her hand the entire trek from the accident to the school; it might have been normal to see a teenager paying more attention to her hand than the road if she had had her cellphone on it, but this was not a normal situation. Sunset knew that there was something going on and it involved her in some way or another because it made her core tingle. It was different than the magical tingle she felt years back when she was still a unicorn learning under the tutelage of Princess Celestia but a tingle none the less.

The redhead tried to think back about what she had done just mere minutes ago but she came up empty, and that was not a feeling Sunset liked. To know that what she had just done was beyond explanations was not a nice feeling to have for Sunset. It was a mystery that felt too important to leave as just a coincidence or a ‘stray’ effect of Equestrian Magic. It was true that after the Battle of the Bands Sunset had shown some kind of affinity with Harmony Magic -which she still had no idea how it was possible since she wasn’t one of the bearers- but to simply make use of it in a burst like that, it felt too farfetched.

Sunset knew that the way magic felt on her body was truly different to the one she felt when she saved Twist, but it felt too similar, as if they were connected somehow but it eluded the redhead what kind of connection they could have.

She went back to the basics of what she knew about her new ability -and she was sure it was a new ability since there was no other explanation to what had happened- and maybe she would be able to find a conclusion to the whole mystery. First of all, it had something to do with the way her coffee thermos and Twist had simply exchanged places in an instant. Sunset remembered having that thermos on her right hand and once she extended it had disappeared in midair, as if some force had taken both objects and exchanged their locations. At least she knew that much, but what about that strange rolling boulder?

By what she had heard from the others, nobody had even seen the boulder going through the street and hitting the van on its side, as if it had been invisible to all except to Sunset. She knew she didn’t imagine it, after all, Sunset saw the damage on the van’s side so it must have been real. The only way that Sunset could even think about for something to that to happen would be as if… as if whatever power she now couldn’t even control had something to do with that boulder too. So if that was true, then by logic that boulder was someone else ability? Could someone be controlling that giant boulder? But then, for what reason?

Was it trying to escape something? Or maybe it wanted to destroy the van? But if that was its true purpose why just hit hard enough to move it? And then that’s when it finally clicked for Sunset, several pieces of the puzzle falling into their place forming a picture, which frankly, Sunset hoped it was incorrect.

What if the true target wasn’t the van, but the person that would be hit by the van? Sunset had already seen in the news about other kids being hurt in accidents, especially the last one that got hurt. If Sunset could remember, Dinky was hurt when a tree felt upon her, as if the tree had been hit by some kind of invisible force… like the rolling boulder. It was a shot in the dark but it seriously scared Sunset to think that it could be possible, it just fit.

To think that there were some strange things happening in Canterlot once again and that people were getting hurt was not good. Last time it was three girls that had immediately shown themselves and that helped immensely considering they didn’t have to waste time searching for the source, but if things were different this time and the enemy was hiding itself just sending that ‘magic construct’ alone to do its dirty job then the situation had changed and could grow beyond Sunset’s control.

It seemed, that after all the debacle of Anon-A-Miss, Sunset would once again have to call Twilight for help in a situation. But there was something more than left Sunset thinking, specifically, her ability and the reason why no one had seen the boulder; would any of that be related in some way?

Sunset left those questions for later once she got into range of a Pinkie Pie Patented Glomp that sent her to the ground. After dusting herself and joining the rest of her friends Sunset walked into the learning center known as Canterlot High. It was quickly becoming a routine to be welcomed by Pinkie and having Fluttershy practically fixed to her arm. After what had happened a couple of months ago it helped to heal the trust that the girls had among them. Sadly it could not be the same as the CMC continued to be treated as the pariahs of the school. Sunset wanted to help them but she still didn’t know how to help them.

Things had become a little awkward at lunch time, considering that the names of people that had send embarrassing information about others had been released. The amount of drama and tearful confessions had been enough to make Rarity feel tired of it all. So now Sunset had to watch several tables full of people still reeling from the damage caused by Anon-A-Miss. Thankfully, the only good thing that seemed to have come from the accident in the morning was Applebloom running in the direction of Twist and tearfully ask if the little redhead was okay. It was a start for forgiveness when the two hug each other.

Sadly, it wasn’t as well received for everyone, as one person among the students almost broke its fork at the scene. It seemed that its plan had failed, but soon, everyone will be hurt just like they had hurt her, it was only a matter of time. The person thought this before leaving the dinner hall, ready to plan the next target of its ‘Justice Road’.

While this was happening, Sunset began to tell the other girls on the table about what had just happened that morning. After listening to the questions she had already seen coming she quickly detailed the way in which Twist had been saved.

“Well, you have to admit that we have become quite used to magical stuff happening all the time, just look at the way we grow ears and the most luxurious braids.” At her word the other had to nod at Rarity’s words, or at least to the first part.

“Yeah, I mean, if we were capable of beating the Sirens then we will be able to do this too.”

“I’m not sure if that would be so easy Rainbow, I mean, there are so many things that are still a mystery, especially if I had something to do with what happened this morning.”

“You mean, the way you made Twist appear and disappear? Ah’m pretty sure that you saved her life right there.”

“Is not that… the question is, how?” Sunset said before her mind went back to the moment of the accident; how much she wanted to save Twist, of how much she wanted to have the power to do something like that, it was maddening not knowing how she did that; Sunset thought just as she crumbled a napkin on her hand. It was at that moment when Pinkie, trying to get a cupcake that was lost among the infinite bag that was also known as her hair, knocked Applejack’s Fizzy Cider bottle and just as it began to fall Sunset concentrated on the bottle, on the way it was falling and about to break on the ground, and in an instant she felt that rush of energy once again.

Next time they blinked the girls noticed the bottle of Fizzy Cider currently on Sunset’s hand as the napkin fell to the floor. Even more importantly they all noticed a hand that seemed to have golden metal gloves with a heart symbol in every knuckle also being on top of the bottle. Following the arm they all noticed how inhuman the face of the creature was, with her eyes being only crosses, the dark red hair falling up to her back and how it seemed to be coming out of Sunset’s back.

“Well… this is definitely different alright.” Sunset could only say at the apparition at her side.

Sunny's Bizarre Adventure Chapter 03

The small practice room would have been full of rhythm and music, with instruments being played by the group of friends that liked to spend their free time together. It was their way to enjoy time among themselves now that they had found the Magic of Friendship and its power not so long ago, but today was not one of those times. Instead of music that would have been muffled by the walls, the group of girls instead was sitting around the room trying to digest what had just happened.

Pinkie was the only one who was using her instrument but instead of a chaotic barrage of sound that was known as her style, this time she was simply following a simple rhythm. Applejack and Rainbow were sitting down, each one using the others back as support as they each tuned their instruments but it was clear that their minds were not on the guitar and bass. Meanwhile, Rarity sat upon an easy chair that she had dragged one day after the Battle of the Bands saying the room needed some class; of course, everyone knew that the reason for it was that Rarity refused to use any kind of folding chair. Rarity seemed to be on the zone if the sketch book on her hands was any indication. They all knew exactly what she was doing with it and soon they will either see it or the creations that she will create with it.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was sitting at Sunset’s side with her head on the redhead’s shoulder. They were both on top of the old piano none of the Rainbooms moved after the time the Diamond Dogs -as other students have nicknamed them- pushed it inside. It had become an unofficial Sunset-only place to sit for some reason. The redhead took a look at the girl at her side and smiled a bit at the comfort it brought her. Fluttershy had been the one that had been feeling the worst after the Anon-a-Miss fiasco due to the crushing guilt the soft-hearted girl inflicted upon herself. A hug here and there, a nice word from time to time and usually sitting close to Sunset were some of the ways Fluttershy showed how sorry she felt beyond mere words. It helped Sunset heal from those dark days and had become such an important interaction that made Sunset wonder how she had been able to survive by herself and with no close relationships for so long.

Sunset knew this was not the time to simply rest, there was something important they had to do, and it had to do with what they just saw a couple of hours ago. The strange human figure that had appeared from her back was something that Sunset had never heard or seen before and she had read about almost every single branch of magic, even some than Princess Twilight probably didn’t know about.

“So, everybody was capable of seeing... her, right?” the rest of the Rainbooms nodded at Sunset’s words. It was one thing to gain ears and hair extensions due to magic, but it was another thing to get a whole new being due to it “but apparently we were the only ones that saw it in the cafeteria.”

“With her appearing out of thin air, you can bet all you have that the folks ‘round here would have posted about it on MyStable.” The southern girl said putting her bass aside signaling that it was time to focus on the problem.

“I don’t like to talk bad about others, but even with two different magical accidents they would not have reacted that well.” Rarity said still sketching without rest.

“Yeah, I mean, if they saw her too they would all have started screaming and running everywhere as if it were a fire drill… I wonder when we would have another one, I like screaming and running too.”

“Pinkie being Pinkie aside, do you think this has anything to do with what happened with the Sirens?”

“I’m not sure Rainbow, I mean, that was what, almost two weeks away? It has been too long for this to be some kind of weird side-effect from the time we all used Harmony magic; and I’m still not quite sure how it was possible for me to use that kind of magic, not even the Princesses have an idea.”

“Yeah, but we can’t just say it has nothing to do with them, what if they put a curse on you before they were defeated?”

“It sounds a little too convoluted, even though those ruffians did all they could to outsmart us. No, I’m with Sunset in this, maybe it has to do with something else.”

“And that is not taking in consideration what happened this morning.” Sunset said quickly explaining the encounter before arriving at school and how close Twist had come to be hit by the van.

“My dear, you are not saying that the so called ‘boulder’ is like your own apparition.”

“Powers that cannot be seen by most people and that can do strange stuff? I’m not one hundred percent sure but they are somewhat connected; in what level? I’m not sure but I know it will appear.”

“What do you mean Sunny?”

“Pinkie, don’t call me Sunny please; but I’m sure it will try again, or if not with her, then another student at Canterlot Junior High.”

“Oh, like in those cop series, the culprit always returns to the crime scene.” Rainbow said before she was slapped in the back of her head.

“Don’t be an idiot, those shows are completely unrealistic, and mah uncle has nothing good to say about those considering he IS a cop.” Although watching the antics of Applejack and Rainbow was fun, Sunset still felt that things were barely beginning for them. It was at that moment when she felt the shy girl at her side pull on her battered leather jacket. Now that she thought about it, maybe it was time to get another.

“Uhm, I’m not sure if it could work but, I think there is a way to get more information about what just happened.” Fluttershy said making all the other girls stop what they were doing.

“Wait, really? How are you going to do that?” Sunset was more than a little surprised about the other girl’s words; was there really an easier way to get information?

“Well, I’m not sure, but I think that I read something about sudden human-like apparitions and strange things happening several years ago in Egypt.” She said making even Rarity put down her sketch book to hear that “my family has a… well, a foundation that does research about stuff like this.”

“Oh yeah, almost forgot how loaded your family is.” Rainbow said remembering the first time she went to Fluttershy’s house and how she almost got lost just walking from the front gate to the house itself.

“Well, my great grandfather, well, several great, is the one that started the foundation but my parents still work occasionally with them, I’m sure they will be able to help you Sunset.” Fluttershy said with great conviction.

“Wait; let me see if I got this right, are you saying that something like this has happened already on this world?”

“Apparently yes, don’t worry Sunset, this time I will help you with your problem, I will not abandon you; I swear this in the Speedwagon name.” Fluttershy said with full conviction of never letting her friends down.

Somewhere in the city, the figure sitting down on its velvet cushioned chair watched the streets of Canterlot through the old building window. It didn’t smile or blink, it simply watched as it played with two crystal balls on its hand. It was starting, it was sure of that, just like so long ago; after all, it was the curse of those that had a Stand. No matter what one did, how far you walked or much you tried, those with Stands will gather in one place, Stand called a Stand.

Behind the figure, the purple haired girl continued kneeling on the carpeted floor; her long twin tails draping across her back and the floor as she waited for instructions.

“So our little boy found out someone else with a Stand, take Styx with you and investigate this new Stand user and if it is necessary get rid of it.” For a second, Aria’s eyes flashed purple after hearing her orders before she went up and walked away.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

You knew I had to end the chapter in that way.

Sunny's Bizarre Adventure Chapter 04

“It happened more than ten years ago… no, to be sincere, it all began more than a hundred years ago” The thin man wearing suit pants and a button up shirt said while looking through the window of his office. The afternoon sun illuminated the beautiful portion of the garden that the window had access to. It was a great view and it was obvious that the man enjoyed it every day, but this time the man was not watching the garden; no, his mind was somewhere far away, taking Sunset also for a trip.

It was a very interesting day so far, first saving Twist, later on finding she had some kind of spirit with her and now here, on an ancient looking mansion. Sunset knew that this part of the city had many expensive houses but never would she have guessed that Fluttershy lived in one of those. It was the second biggest surprise on the day, and seriously, Sunset knew she would get many surprises before the day was over, that was the feeling she had.

The six girls had decided to go to Fluttershy’s house after school with the intention of getting more information about Sunset’s ability. If she was right, then they would find something specific about her condition and with it meant. Once they arrived at the house they were immediately received by Fluttershy’s parents, and after a couple of seconds of gawking Sunset was quickly pulled into Fluttershy’s dad office. It was there that the girl had met the thin pink haired man and his joviality had disappeared once Fluttershy explained what she had seen and asked him if he had any information about it. He politely asked his daughter to leave and Sunset was soon alone alongside the man who began his story with a grave tone.

Sunset could hear an old clock ticking away on one corner of the office as the sweet smell of a cigar filled her nostrils. The man named Rain Essence O. Speedwagon waved his hand to put off the match on his hand as he took a sit on a very plush office chair, next he exhaled the smoke and the trail floated lazily up into the ceiling.

“More than a hundred years ago, my own great grandfather met the man who changed his life. You could say that the man was indirectly responsible for the creation of our Foundation. My grandfather was something of a street thug, but he became a better person once he met Jonathan Joestar. Sadly, that good man passed away, killed by a monster named Dio Brando. I’ll make the story short, suffice to say that this Dio found the way to cheat death and became an immortal due to a special mask.” Rain continued with the tale while Sunset became absorbed with the story; it was quite interesting to hear something that could come right out of a fantasy book, but she knew that crazy stuff seemed to thrive on the human world. Sunset knew that it probably had to do with Star Swirl since apparently the old pony used the mirror as a prison without even caring if anyone on the other side could be hurt. Now that she thought about it, maybe she should send a letter to the Princess and ask her if she knew of anything else that was send through the mirror like the Sirens.

“What happened to this Dio?”

“Well, he was released from the bottom of the ocean fourteen years ago; thankfully the grandson of Jonathan Joestar, Joseph, and his grandson followed his trail and destroyed him.”

“Fluttershy said that what happened to me had something to do with what happened in Cairo, how is that even possible?”

“What you have to understand, is that this man, Dio Brando, had found a way to create something special. According to the reports of the team that researched on this monster’s house back in Cairo, he was capable of awaken something inside living things. An image that represents the mental fortitude and potential of every single living being on the planet, always appearing from the back of its host, only being perceived by those that also have awakened their spirit.” At each of Rain’s words Sunset understood a little bit more of what she had seen the morning before school, how it was impossible for others to see the rolling boulder.

“Is it dangerous?”

“For others, maybe, but it will never hurt the user, for you see Sunset Shimmer, they will always protect its owner. What you believe to be a spirit or an apparition is all your potential and abilities and it will always stand by your side, that’s why they are called Stands.” Rain said finishing his explanation to what had happened to Sunset, although she was sure that she would have many more things to learn if she wanted to fully understand this power “but there is something definitely weird about yours Sunset, for you see, the only ones capable of gaining a stand are those of the Joestar bloodline, or those who Dio Brando himself awoke, so why was it possible that you woke one?”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll have a better idea considering I have never even heard of things like this; I’m a magical and technological genius, but this… even I feel this thing is beyond me, I’m not even sure what is going on around the city these days.”

“So what will you do then Sunset Shimmer? What you need is someone that will help you understand how to control your Stand; sadly I’m not the one who will be capable of that. What I can do is to get in contact with someone with a more… ‘Hands on’ approach to Stands, sadly it will take several days for him to come to Canterlot considering how busy he is these days, after all, I heard that he is finally getting his Ph.D.” Rain said accompanying Sunset into the lobby where the rest of her friends were waiting for her.

Five of them then left the house as each of them went in the direction of their respective places. After a couple of streets it was only Rainbow Dash and Sunset the ones that were still together when it happened. Sunset didn’t know why but she felt a presence and then a feeling on the back of her head, almost as if something tried to warn her. Sunset simply acted, pushing Rainbow out of the way as something metallic flew through the air and struck Sunset on the shoulder. If she hadn’t moved Rainbow then it would have gone through her first.

The blood seeped out of the hole in her shoulder while Rainbow scrambled up, soon both friends saw the only possible culprit of what had just happened. Standing in the middle of the lonely street was what seemed a metal mannequin with no eyes and instead a visor.

“STAND USER FOUND… INITIATING COMBAT PROTOCOLS” Was what it said in an extremely distorted voice. Sunset just knew that her life in Canterlot had become very dangerous.

Author's Note

See what I did there? try to guess the name of that Stand.

Who you gonna call? 02

They haven’t seen their redheaded friend in several days alongside the bespectacled girl they knew as Twilight Sparkle, or at least the human version of Twilight since Rarity and Fluttershy were accompanied by the Equestrian version. The three had met in front of the address Pinkie had given them; apparently being the current location of their friend Sunset Shimmer.

The three girls looked at each other not quite sure if the address was correct considering that they were in front of an abandoned firefighter station. Rarity and Fluttershy knew the place had been abandoned since the 80’s but apparently it had been inhabited once again because they saw lights flashing behind the windows and could even hear music and other sounds being muted behind the raucous rock song being played.

They all shrugged before knocking on the massive doors but then one section of the door opened up showing a smaller entrance in the middle of the massive one. Immediately they were assaulted by the noise of a radio and the sound of something emitting a lot of sparks inside the main area of the station. After a couple of seconds the girls already inside the place stopped what they were doing to join their friends.

Rainbow Dash jumped down from a scaffold and it was obvious she was painting due to the one piece overall she was wearing and the brush on her hand. The half-finished wall behind her showed how amateur she was at painting but that Rainbow Dash was doing manual labor surprised the girls considering that the only arduous thing she ever did was training for different sports. Meanwhile, Twilight and Sunset took off their soldering goggles and joined the other girls who by now were wondering what was going on.

“Hey girls; didn’t know you were coming, but is okay, Pinkie went for pizza and she always buys more than necessary.” Sunset said while others examined the place and noticed how well maintained the station was despite being abandoned for more than twenty years.

“Oh well, this was mostly a last minute thing my dear, the princess wanted to see what you all were doing and we decided to come with her.”

“Well, it was a little bit curiosity and also an official visit.” Princess Twilight said trying not to maintain visual contact with her human doppelganger. Even after all their adventures she still felt out of sorts in the company of the other girl and she was sure it was reciprocated by the way the other girl also reacted in her presence.

“What do you mean by that Twilight?” Sunset asked really curious about the words of her friend. So far every visit of the princess was just so she could escape from the daily life stress she had since she was recognized as a fully-fledged Princess of Equestria. Since then visitors and problems seemed to swarm her daily life and Twilight enjoyed a day off by being around her human friends; but never before had she come to visit them in an official matter.

“I received your message about the alarming rate in which ectoplasm apparitions had been sighted on this side of the mirror and that is worrying.”

“Yes we know; they are being sighted on an alarming rate. Some of them have even made it to television, although most people seem to think they are nothing more than a hoax or a publicity stunt.” The native Twilight Sparkle said checking on her smartphone for a second before showing the others the article from the web version of the newspaper.

“And that’s the main reason why I was being sent from Equestria. I’m sorry Sunset, but I had to tell Princess Celestia about your findings since this is the first time the mirror has acted upon the inherent magic field on this world.”

“Translation for those that are not originally ponies?” Rainbow dash put her hand up after getting lost on the words from Princess Twilight.

“Basically, they don’t know if the magic from the mirror made this world also have ghosts like in Equestria. Now give me the bad news Twilight.”

“I’m sorry, but if it is found that the mirror is the one responsible for the anomalies then… Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have decided that before things get worst they will have to close the connection of the mirror… permanently.” Twilight said not feeling very proud of giving that kind of news to her friends.

“Wait, you mean that the mirror will cease to work? But what about Sunset?” The lovely soft pink haired girl asked immediately worried about her good friend.

“Is okay Fluttershy, even if the Princesses find any evidence then the only thing I have to do is catch every single ghost that appears on this side of the mirror.” Sunset said with her usual bravado and confidence while all the girls cheered at those words.

“Then I can tell them that you are on the case. Are those what I think they are?” The Princess asked walking to the working table where several machines were stacked.

“Yeah, those are ectoplasm linkers, heavily modified since we have access to better technology on this side.” Sunset said showing one of the machines that had two straps at each side so it could be used almost like a backpack “had to modify most of the machine so it could be easier to handle and it won’t take as much energy as the original back in Equestria.”

“Sunset and I also worked on the catching device based upon my original magical compass. We also had to install a handle since it becomes overheated after a successful capture.” Twilight said showing the apparatus they already knew but with a handle at the end looking much more impressive.

“Meanwhile I’ve been doing renovations on this place, can you believe Sunset used to live in here? Hell, she even owns the place.”

“It is alarmingly easy the way I got this station considering the city practically forgot it existed.”

“So what are you going to do in here? Are you seriously thinking about making this ghost hunting your business?” Rarity asked a little surprised about how much work the girls were putting into this adventure.

“Well, the way I see it, we are doing scientific work, keeping the city protected and probably gaining money from it, what’s not to love?” Both Sunset and Rainbow high fived while Twilight simply sighed at the way her coworkers acted.

Before the talk could continue they heard a car stopping outside of the station. Thinking that it was weird for someone to park, they all went out just to see a grinning Pinkie on top of a long car right in front of the station.

“Pinkie, where in the name of the Sun and Moon did you get this car?”

“Well, that’s one funny story, well, not really in the ha-ha kind of story but is still a nice story. So you guys remember that my dad finally went back to check the old family farm?”

“Isn’t that the one where your grandfather found oil underneath it?” Rainbow asked since she remembered the story Maud Pie had told them once one day they visited the pink party girl.

“That one, so apparently daddy found this old car in the garage and decided to bring it home. It took some work but it was finally finished but my dad thought, now that I have the car what am I going to do with it? So it stayed in our house for two months before I remembered, weren’t you, Twi and Dashie working on your ghost busting business? Wouldn’t it be nice for you to have your own transport? I mean, you guys will probably have to drive around the city so what better gift than your own company car?” Pinkie said without even stopping for air making every single girl blink at what had just happened.

“So let me get this straight? Your dad is giving us a car?” Sunset was not quite sure how to take the sudden news that they had their own car now.

“Well, once I told them what you wanted to do my mom and dad simply nodded and gave me the keys so yeah, you guys have a new car!”

“That’s all good and dandy, but what’s this car and who left it in your house?” Rainbow said checking every single side of the car with a huge grin on her face just thinking what they could do with the car to make it look cooler.

“Well, apparently one guy didn’t have money to pay my grandpappy and gave him this car but in the end left it in the garage; and it is a 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac.”

“Wait, are you telling us that this… ‘thing’ is a Cadillac?”

“Oh, come on Rarity, with some mods this thing will be the coolest thing on wheels.” The talk could have continued but a phone ringing stopped everyone. Rarity quickly checked on her bag and took out her own smartphone quickly answering the call.

“Hello? Oh Bon-Bon, it is a pleasure to hear from you, how are you?... I see… Well, is true, she is starting to look on these accidents… don’t worry, I will tell her, they will be there shortly. So apparently Bon-Bon and Lyra swear that there is some kind of green flying blob haunting their new apartment and they want Sunset and company to check out if it is true.”

“Oh wow, we aren’t even open yet and we get our first call? This is so awesome!” Just as the girls were being all excited or worried about what this could mean a new figure appeared on the station looking a little lost.

“Excuse me… is this where you are hiring extra help?” The girl said not quite sure how to take the surprised looks from the redhead and one of the apparent twins. Was it something she had said?

“Starlight Glimmer?” One of the twins said making the purple haired girl frown in confusion.

“Yeah, how did you know my name?”

“Doesn’t matter! Rainbow, get the proton packs -and yes, that’s how Sparky wanted to call them- and you, Starlight, come with us, if after what happens today doesn’t make you run away in fright then the job is yours and you get a raise!” Sunset said quickly giving instructions as she, Rainbow, Twilight and Starlight got inside the car and began to drive in search of a new ghost to capture.

As the car began to move farther away the other four girls took a look at each other and simply shrugging went back into the station with several pizza containers in their hands. Someone had to keep an eye on the headquarters as the others took the first step as the city’s Ghostbusters.

Author's Note

So you got the whole team now.

The Wheeled Warriors 01

One thing that Spike was used to was the ability to walk and hold things on his claws, something that only some ponies could -mainly the unicorns- so he got used to it quickly considering how much Twilight ended up needing him and his ability to order things and write things. Now he was seriously thinking about exchanging the short legs he had for four legs considering how fast his pony friends were on land. Thankfully for the baby dragon his wish came true once he jumped through the mirror allocated inside the Friendship Castle and his body was transformed from a scaled little dragon to a furry dog.

The first time it happened he found himself as lost as Twilight, but unlike her his body came with lots of little hints; the whispers of instinct as Fluttershy had explained to him once he told her of his adventure as a canine. Thanks to that the body transformation was smoother for him than for Twilight and he was quicker to get a hold of himself and reorient himself with the change of perspective. Just like he wished, the species change granted him quicker speed and he put it to practice as he went out like a rocket up the stairs into Canterlot High School.

The halls with students still in them were no problem for Spike who already knew most of the school and the layout; after all, if he was capable of living in the Friendship Castle without getting lost once then he was sure he would be able to find his way anywhere.

Thankfully he was capable of finding a person that could help him complete his mission, none other than the soft pink haired girl who was right now holding a bunny on her arms as she accompanied the most beautiful girl on that side of the mirror. Spike quickly shook his head realizing that this was not the time to ogle Rarity.

“So, Fluttershy, do you think the red dress is better than the green one?” She asked holding up two different dresses for the other girl to inspect. Said girl focused her eyes into the two dresses carefully considering her answer.

“I think that one fits better into your line, besides, the cut is much more in vogue these days.”

“I believe you are right, even though I prefer to be a trend-setter, but fashion sometimes is not about risks but what is beautiful. Oh my! Is that you Spike?!” The fashionista quickly changed the talk once she saw the small dog looking everywhere on the room the Rainbooms used to practice.

“Where is Sunset? I need to talk with her!” Spike said obviously affected by something because neither girl had ever heard him so desperate, not even on their most dangerous moments when they battled darkness.

“Sunset is not here, she is helping Applejack and Rainbow Dash with a project they had; I think they are at Applejack’s house. Are you alright Spike?” To an animal lover like Fluttershy, to see the way Spike was acting put her on high alert, not only because he was a small dog but also because he was usually so calm and collected.

“No I’m not and Equestria won’t either unless I find Sunset.” Well, that explained why he was so scared, there was definitely something wrong going on in Equestria. Without another word Rarity put the dresses on the clothes rack left behind after the Friendship Games just before she and Fluttershy closed the room, then they quickly ran outside the school and used the fashionista’s car in their search of the elusive redhead.

Said redhead was right now busy fixing the interior of the car she was currently inside of. The dashboard had been removed and the electrical parts had been revised and fixed in the last couple of minutes thanks to Sunset’s expertise with everything electrical in the human world. Cleaning the sweat accumulated on her forehead with the back of her hand Sunset took a deep breath after finishing the last touches. She was sure that after all the work on cars she had accumulated in the last two days she could open up her own car shop, maybe even one of those fancy ones that made custom parts.

Opening the door after placing the dashboard back on its place Sunset was careful not to step on Applejack in her way out from the old Buick. The blonde student was right now checking something under the car so Sunset had to maneuver around her friend to get to the refreshments. If there was one thing that all the Rainbooms loved was Granny Smith’s lemonade every time they arrived at Applejack’s house. After taking a long sip of her almost frosted glass she turned around to talk with the other girls in the garage.

“Okay, would you please explain to me why you have so many cars in your family’s garage? I mean, where did you even get them?” She asked pointing at the five cars in various states of fixing. It had taken Sunset almost a full afternoon to make the Charger L-body work again after who knew how many years of being abandoned in the garage.

“Ah swear to you that Ah have no idea sugarcube.” The blonde said finally coming out from under the car; she then accepted Sunset’s hand and got up “The only thing Pa told me about them was that some Apple family members leave their cars behind on this garage after they stop working. Apparently some thought that it was too much of a hassle to repair them and then just got another car.”

“That doesn’t sound like the Apples I met at the last party.”

“That’s because they were from Pa’s side, if you wanna meet the ones that filled this garage here then go and meet my Ma’s side, those Oranges could even give Rarity a run for her money at being so frou-frou. A little bit more and they would start speaking in fancy.” The way Applejack was so down to earth that she considered French like that spoke a lot about her friend. After laughing a bit about Applejack’s family for a few seconds they were finally accompanied in the garage by Rainbow Dash who had a box of sparkplugs in her hand.

“Next time we need to find something in your house is your turn to search for it.” The rainbow haired girl said with part of her bangs still smoking for some reason.

“Rainbow, what happened to you?” Sunset asked visibly worried about her friend as this one kept on walking in the direction of the old first generation Ram pickup that she was working on since two days ago.

“Apparently Apple Bloom and her friends want to become master pyrotechnicians. I swear, first it was Snails and Snips with their magic show and now those three. Next time I see Trixie I’ll punch her on the nose.” Rainbow said mimicking the action as the other two girls rolled their eyes at her antics.

“Rainbow, ya can’t just beat all your problems away.”

“You can watch me try.” The two began to bicker in their almost scripted way as the trio went back to work. In a way it was relaxing working alongside the others for Sunset who was becoming engrossed in the whole idea of fixing every car in the garage so the ones without transportation would have a way to get to school. But just as she imagined arriving at school in a 1992 Corvette ZR-1 the sound of a car and several doors opening and closing took them from their own job. Next thing Sunset knew was a purple blur knocking her into the floor. After a couple of blinks she finally noticed the small dog in her lap that was holding some sort of pendant on his mouth.

“Wait, Spike? What are you doing here?”

“Sunset, I need your help! Twilight is in trouble and I cannot get in contact with her! There is something really bad going on in Equestria right now and there’s no time to lose!”

“What are you talking about?” To say that Sunset was beyond confused by what Spike was telling her was obvious but instead Spike put the pendant he was holding into Sunset’s hand and things truly turned bizarre.

In a flash Sunset felt a sensation not too dissimilar to the one she felt every time she stepped through the mirror portal but instead of being stretched and transformed this time it was… smoother? Next thing she knew she was standing outside Twilight’s castle back in Ponyville. Sunset then heard a gasp of surprise and she noticed that the other six members of the Rainbooms were standing close to her too, including Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle… all of them still human.

“Alright, that was the weirdest trip I have ever been a part of, and I was riding shotgun when Limestone was practicing for her driving license.” Sunset had never seen Pinkie that dazed before but thankfully Twilight was faring better.

“What’s going on? One minute I was playing with Spike in the backyard and now… now we are in Equestria?” the scientific mind of the glasses wearing girl was flying a mile a second as the other purple dog began to look at the new land he found himself in.

“Hey, check it out; I’m not a dog anymore.” Said the other Spike who was now still small but in his more scaled version of himself.

“Okay, this is beyond weird, can somebody please explain to me why we are suddenly in horse land and what is going on?” Rainbow said as confused as the rest of the other girls

“I can provide some answers to your questions Rainbow Dash.” Said a voice that was very familiar to the other girls and then they saw the most majestic horse -or pony in this case- that they have ever seen. She had a long ethereal mane that seemed to hold a complete galaxy in its interior, a dark purple shiny coat and the most extravagant black jewelry.

“Vice Principal Luna?” The six girls asked making the other half of the Diarchy giggle behind her hoof.

“Not quite so, although Princess Twilight Sparkle had mentioned the similarities between both universes, although the differences in hierarchy between my double on the other side of the mirror and myself still perplexes me. Nay my little… humans; I am Princess Luna. Excuse me for meeting you in this abrupt manner but there is something dark in the horizon for our world” The dark alicorn with a grave voice as the seven girls got worried by the second.

Meanwhile Spike stretched after having his legs once more; he didn't mind so much the transformation that he had across the mirror, but nothing could beat his original form. He then stopped as every single pair of eyes turned to look at him at that moment “what? Oh right, grave danger. Sunset, you need to help me, Twilight is in danger!”

“What young Spike says is true but goes beyond that. Not only Princess Twilight is in peril but also my sister and former teacher of yours Sunset Shimmer.”

“Princess Celestia.”

“Indeed; apparently my sister and Princess Twilight began to investigate strange plants appearing over the Everfree Forest; plants that were capable of resisting any kind of magic performed on them, including the Rainbow Power.”

“Rainbow Power?”

“Something like our ‘Pony-Up’ energy Applejack. What happened then Princess?”

“I don’t have the full information since I wasn’t present at the time. I had traveled to Griffonstone to investigate about rumors of strange vehicles terrorizing the nation. Sadly the day I left for the now prosperous city was the last I spoke with my sister. I’m sure young Spike knows more since he accompanied Princess Twilight.”

“Twilight and Princess Celestia went into the Everfree and we found out what was causing the plants to get out of control. It was a monster and he called himself Saw Boss and there were more like him.”

“Apparently it was these monsters the ones that attacked Griffonstone and they are… very similar to those artifacts behind you.” The Princess said making everyone turn around at the different cars and pickup truck around them; in fact, all the cars that they had been working on were now in Equestria.

“Wait, are you saying that cars being used by plants attacked you?”

“No Rainbow Dash, I was attacked by plants that turned into these cars as you call them.”

“Yeah, I was as surprised as Twilight when we found out these things can turn into cars, but not like on Earth. These things can grow weapons and for some reason not even Princess Celestia could hurt them, until Twilight got to the Tree of Harmony.”

“What was Twilight doing at the Tree of Harmony? Oh right, her cutie mark is in the trunk, of course she can interact with the tree.”

“Wait, you know about the tree?” Spike asked surprised about that news from Sunset Shimmer.

“Sure, Princess Celestia told me about it and even took me to its location in the Everfree Forest. Once I got my cutie mark and we both saw I wasn’t the pony selected by the tree things became a little… you know.” Sunset said clearly still hurting from those days.

“Well, the tree had two things there, two pendants; one was for Twilight and the other one was for you, see? It even has your cutiemark behind it. Twilight wanted to go look for you through the portal but the monsters found us, next thing I know I was back in the castle after Twilight teleported me.”

“Sadly that was the last we heard from both my sister and her student. With this new threat we had no other choice but to follow the tree’s hint and I allowed young Spike through the mirror in search of you.”

“So you basically teleported us all into this universe once you found her?” Twilight was busy recording everything she could through her cellphone wanting to get as much information as she could.

“That was not my doing; it seems that the Tree of Harmony holds powers neither my sister nor I could access on our days as the Element Bearers. Sunset Shimmer, your destiny may not have been the one my sister dreamed about once but it does seem that the Tree of Harmony had plans for you.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do with this thing? Throw it to those monsters?” Sunset said before the amulet began to shine as bright as when they were teleported but instead of them being affected this time the cars that had been brought alongside them began to glow and reshape them. The four cars and pickup had been transformed into sci-fi versions full with weapons, all in silver and gold leaving them with their mouths in the floor “I just had to ask, isn’t it?”

Author's Note

What can I say? I love 80's cartoons.

Defender of the Crystal Castle 01

It was the worst possible situation for Equestria now. Bad enough that not even Princess Celestia knew what to do and she was the one with the most experience with crisis and disasters, but this time it was different. Usually she was the one who knew a small detail or something that she had planned beforehoof helped Twilight and the others in survive and defeat the enemy and there were very few instances when even Princess Celestia was caught by surprise. One of them had been with the changelings and how much they had infiltrated Canterlot, but this time it was even worst.

It all started when the sky had become black due to the massive ship arriving at Equestria. It was a situation right out of one of a sci-fi movie or a comic, not something that could happen on a normal day. No matter how ridiculous it could sound, the truth was that the ship soon descended upon Equestria with their intentions clear once it landed and released machines that opened fire upon the city of Baltimare, reducing the city to rubble in the matter of hours. The guards and the police force were no match for their power and soon Celestia had no other choice but to call Princess Twilight and her friends so with their power they would repel the invaders.

It was in vain since not even the Rainbow Power granted by the Tree of Harmony could save the day. The ray of energy that could even strip the stolen magic from Tirek did indeed stop the robotic invaders but soon they were shot down form the air by monsters from the ship. Thankfully the girls could escape but now that the enemy knew the power the ponies commanded it would be capable of dealing with them next time.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were worried about the future of Equestria and that once more peace will disappear on their land, but what else could they do? What came was a week of constant fighting as the invaders kept pushing the front line until they were at Ponyville, the last stronghold before Canterlot. If the quaint town felt then there was nothing stopping the invaders for taking control of Equestria.

The diarchy had even brought Princess Cadence and the power she and her husband commanded to create a powerful shield around the town but they knew time was ticking down. It was so desperate that Princess Twilight had called for help beyond the realm and soon Princess Celestia found her past student in front of her. It was definitely not how she envisioned meeting her former student again in a situation like that but there was very little time for private conversation.

Sunset Shimmer and the rest of her human friends -who know found themselves in the strange situations of not only being ponies but meeting their counterparts on that side of the mirror- had been talking with Twilight and the rest of the group in charge of the defense of Ponyville. Maybe the powers that the six girls commanded as the Earth Elements of Harmony would be enough to finally stop their enemy, but they didn’t have enough time as the enemy was already at their doors.

The sound of mortars being fired and crashing against the shield took everyone by surprise, making the reunion break apart as they all took positions outside the Friendship Castle -which Sunset still rolled her eyes every time she heard the name- and began to observe the machines taking positions and constantly firing against the shield.

For his part, Shining Armor struggled against the powerful attacks and even with the help of his wife the strain was becoming too much. Sooner or later the shield would crumble and the future of the planet would be decided on a miracle.

While the ponies and their transformed human friends got ready for the battle, inside the castle something weird happened. In a flash of light two figures appeared in the central chamber of the castle, the Cutie Map and the thrones the only witnesses to the apparition. The figures quickly got to work checking the cutie Map seeking something.

As the man took something from the backpack he was wearing once he found out what he was looking for, the redheaded girl accompanying him took a look at what was happening outside. She sighed watching the struggles on the town and how the robotic army was getting closer and closer to break the shield protecting the ponies.

“I know what you are thinking, and no, we cannot help them in that way Sunset Shimmer.” The aforementioned redhead sighed once more turning around to the man that had teleported her to that dimension.

“I know, I know… I just wish I could help them. This is not my dimension but I still wanna do something.”

“And you are doing that, just not directly.” The Keeper said placing the white sword he had been hauling around on top of the table “Look, I know it is difficult for you to just watch and maybe give some hints to other versions of you but that’s the way that things should be. It is probably killing you since you are used to hands-on approach to being a hero.” The Keeper said finally putting everything in place.

“Where did you exactly got that sword? It looks familiar.” Sunset said checking that no one had walked inside the castle.

“Well, you see, there are some guys that can travel to the human world and they sell magical items to people.”

“What’s so bizarre about them? I know that there are people that sell magic items to humans, although sometimes they don’t know that the items are magical to begin with.”

“Yes, but the problem is that they know they are magical and most of the time dangerous items; they sell it to human beings saying that they are only props for costumes and the like. The bad part is that those items transform a normal human being into the original owner of the item and then transport them to Equestria.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Because they are assholes that want to spread chaos, so my job is to find those guys, send them to jail and then confiscate those dangerous items. Sometimes those things can be useful, like in this case. The original sword from this dimension was destroyed in a fight thousands of years ago, so the only thing we are doing is introduce a new version of the sword from another reality and with everything on its place this world will be saved.”

“How we will know?” Sunset asked Keeper before another flash of light made them blink, next time they opened their eyes the sword had been absorbed by the cutie map.

“I think that was a very clear hint, now let’s get out of here before someone sees us.” Keeper said as both simply faded from that universe and went back to the space home of Observer.

As all this happened inside the castle, outside it the barrier finally went down in a resounding boom, scattering the ponies everywhere as the robotic white army began to march inside the town as pony guards tried to stop them.

The four princesses went up alongside their friends and got ready to use the powers they had to defend their town before one of them noticed something weird as they all got up.

“Where is Sunset?” Twilight asked as her Equestrian counterpart stood gawking at the place where their friend had been standing before the barrier came down. All the others began to look around but they couldn’t find her. Sadly they had something much more urgent right now coming to them to search for her.

Unbeknownst to them Sunset as nowhere near the battlefield right now, instead she found herself on an open field not knowing how she got there or why she was right now on her human form. Looking around she finally found something familiar, the castle belonging to Princess Twilight and began to run in its direction, but there was something weird about it, it didn’t look quite the same, it seemed bigger and then she realized that the castle was not the same since it had a big golden tower growing in the middle.

“What you are looking for is not here Sunset Shimmer.” The redhead heard a voice and turned around to find a blonde woman with a red and white leotard standing close to her. “It is the castle but not the version you know.”

“Where am I? Who are you?”

“It will take some time to explain everything to you and sadly you don’t have the time to listen to everything I have to say considering the enemy attacking your world.”

“Okay then, how do I get back? My friends need my help.”

“Well, that is something a little easier, but before that happens, you need to understand that the enemy you have is not something that will be defeat with normal weapons and magic, you need something stronger. You need the power of your castle.”

“Castle? I have no castle, only Princess Twilight.”

“Oh no, Twilight only lives on the castle while she works alongside the Tree of Harmony to protect Equestria, but she has no access to the powers contained inside of it, that’s why you are here. Only the protectors of the castle. Only people chosen by the castle can enter this reality, we are outside time and space; you will find all the protectors in this world even if they are dead, almost like memories.”

“Then that means-“

“My time of fighting was a long time ago, but don’t worry, I’ll tell you later on, the only thing you need to know right now is how to access the power you were always born to use, just take the sword.”

“What sword?”

“The one already on your back.” The woman said before Sunset finally put attention to the sword scabbard already strapped on her back “that is the Sword of Protection; if you want to help your friends and save Equestria you need to know this. My name is Adora, fabulous secrets were revealed to me the day I held aloft my sword and said, well, you know the words.” The blonde woman said as Sunset took the white sword out of its scabbard mimicking her.

“I do now… FOR THE HONOR OF GREYSKULL!” The power ran through Sunset’s body as her attire changed becoming the one that she had used as Daydream Shimmer but now a golden winged crown was materialized on top of her head and a red cape finished the outfit. With a blink she was once again in Equestria alongside her friends who were amazed at the way Sunset looked and the power emanating from her “I am She-Ra! And I will never let you take my home!”

Author's Note

After watching Friendship games I always saw Daydream Shimmer's attire as either something from Madoka or She-Ra, I mean, seriously. So what do you think of our little redhead becoming that 80's hero, but there more. Let's say that those ears they gain, are not pony ears, but cat ears.

Let the 80's stories continue!

Feel the Magic, Hear the Roar 01

“There is something that I still don’t understand.” Twilight said looking at the crown on her hands that she had just recovered an hour ago. Alongside her were the human versions of her friends which had also become close friends with her.

“And what is it Twi?” The blonde girl at her side brought some strange sense of comfort that was so familiar to the purple haired girl, just like hearing Rarity’s posh voice or Pinkie going on in a tangent, there was something magical about hearing her friends, no matter the dimension.

“Is just that, both the versions of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on my world are Pegasus; so we all have wings in Equestria, I still don’t understand why we didn’t gain them.” Twilight said still wondering the reason why it happened that way considering the magic they used had given them Equestrian magic.

“Wait, are you saying that Flutters and I can fly in your world? Oh come one, that isn’t fair!”

“Well, if it went like that then you and Rarity would have gained a horn too, right?”

“Oh I hope not Applejack, not that I am against that kind of things but, just imagine how much I would have to work alongside that kind of enhancement, just to think about new attires or hats to go with something like that.”

“And there she goes, cannot believe Ah missed spending time with you all gals.”

“I was just joking my dear; but going back to our friend’s question, maybe things work differently on this side, maybe Applejack has some right in saying that maybe some things are lost on translation.”

“Yeah, maybe both of our worlds are different but maybe that’s okay since having both worlds be similar would be boring, I mean, duh! Just imagine that, if you went through the portal and both worlds were the same, which would so boring!”

“Leaving Pinkie being Pinkie aside, it has some value what she said, which is a surprise by itself.”

“You would be surprised by how often Pinkie reveals some big truth on a daily basis, but still, maybe you are right, maybe I am overthinking this.”

“Oh, it is alright, I think the ears were fine, they were so fluffy” Apparently Fluttershy was the one who enjoyed the most of that transformation.

“Whatever the case may be I am glad I met you girls, but I have to go now, the portal is going to close and-“

“Is okay Twi, we understand, you have responsibilities on the other side, just say hello to ourselves in the other side okay?” Applejack said placing a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. It did hurt a bit to get a new friend like Twilight and then suddenly have to say goodbye, but they all understood, it still hurt but they understood.

“Thank you Applejack and please, help Sunset Shimmer, everyone deserves a second chance and I know she saw the error on her way.”

“No promises, aw! Okay, okay, I’ll try to help.” The rainbow haired girl said after receiving a fierce elbow to her sternum from Fluttershy who was right now glaring at her in her own peculiar way. It seems that the nice quiet girl truly wanted to give Sunset a chance.

With one last wave Spike and Twilight Sparkle walked through the portal just as the last glimmers of energy went through it. As one last ditch to keep her on the world or maybe just to see the other side, Pinkie Pie tried to jump through the portal too but just crashed against the concrete to the amusement of her friends.

It had been several months since that occurrence and still mysteries were present in the everyday life of Canterlot High, just like the way Sunset Shimmer seemed to isolate herself from anyone that wasn’t Applejack and company, and much to the displeasure of many students that wanted to take revenge on the humiliated girl, they found themselves in the opposite end of pranks.

At first, people had been suspicious of both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash -both expert pranksters and who had been feared before Sunset came to the school- but after seeing them suffer the same result after they also tried to prank Sunset, they all realized that there was probably magic involved and simply abandoned their plans for revenge.

What everybody didn’t realize was that, although magic was involved, it had nothing to do with Sunset. It was a presence that had been revealed to Sunset Shimmer and she was at the same time annoyed and exhilarated after meeting the apparition.

“So, are you sure they decided to stop?”

“Oh yes, after the last unfortunate event of the hot sauce -I still cannot believe humans can ingest those things- and the way Rainbow became completely red they just swore off their revenge.” The blue phantom flying alongside Sunset said obviously satisfied with his work.

“I don’t know why you are doing this, I mean, what’s the point? Is not like it will stop them from hating me.”

“Sunset, you have already gone through your own awakening through pain and suffering, there is no gain for them to continue this way of life. It will be much more constructive if they forgot their petty resentment and try to forge new relationships.”

“That kind of words coming from the great Starswirl the Bearded? The pony renowned for giving his back to friendship?”

“It has been so long and I suffered a great deal for thinking in that way. Take it from someone that took a road similar to yours, don’t walk away from people that offer you a hand in friendship, if only I could have done the same for dear Luna maybe things would have been different in Equestria, but alas, we are prisoners of our own decisions.”

“So you just decided to leave Equestria and die in this dimension? How does that work? Because, believe me, I still cannot comprehend that.” She said to the phantom of the old unicorn genius that had suddenly appeared on her room some time ago. It had been such a surprise that had sent Sunset to the floor, thankfully she didn’t faint but it was still quite a surprise to find a blue translucent spirit that called himself the late Starswirl the Bearded. Those first few days had been awkward as Tartarus, but in the end it had helped Sunset vent her pain and frustrations to someone that listened to her closely and gave her his own perspective.

“Isn’t that the million dollar question as humans would say, but the truth is that I was tired of it all, alongside a heaping amount of self-loathing and survivor’s guilt. There I was; the strongest unicorn in history and I was completely alone. Luna was gone and trapped in the moon and would not be set free until my body became dust. My own dear Clover who I loved as a daughter was taken by the Grim reaper too soon and Celestia… well; she also was hit hard by Luna’s fall into darkness. We used to be friends but her constant abuse of the mirror’s power sent me to edge.

I think that deep inside I hated the mirror the most and what I did with it, sending criminals through it and exiling others. It just made me so bitter than in the end I decided to leave Equestria behind, dying shortly after and becoming a ghost for some reason. I don’t mind since I saw of what these humans were capable of. Their worst and their best, and even after all that I never found another Equestrian, until you arrived.”

“You must have been so mad at me.”

“No my dear, I was mad at myself because I was not capable of helping you, to give you a guiding hand to sort your anger. Celestia’s desire to recover her sister did more hurt than good, first by pushing away the girl that loved her once she realized she wasn’t the destined pony, and then by molding twilight into the perfect student without taking in consideration the damage she did to her.”

“Oh, come on, how could he have hurt Twilight? She is the best student she had, she is perfect.”

“Exactly, perfect as a student but not as an equal. Unlike you, Twilight practically venerates Celestia and turning her into an Alicorn was done in such a way that will bite her back in a bad way, you can be sure of my words Sunset Shimmer.”

“Geez, when you put it that way it was good for me to leave too.”

“More than you imagine because I feel that your part on the story is only barely unfolding, you can be sure of that. Changing this dreary topic for one much more interesting, how are Gilda and Lightning coming along in their tutoring?”

“Better than I expected, once Gilda realized how important math was to someone that wanted to be in the air force she started to focus better. Also, Lightning surprised me, she is really good at literature but she thought it was only for nerds but once she found out Flitter and Cloudchaser were avid readers too she started to talk with them about it; she is now on good terms with them on the Track and Field team.”

“You’ve done great Sunset Shimmer, not only helping others but creating new friendships along the way.”

“Yeah two among dozens, that is so helpful.”

“Do not see it that way, have faith Sunset Shimmer, something will appear that will allow you to gain the trust of the school.”

“Yeah right, I swear, you put too much attention to my school life; we need to find someone else that can see you so you can talk with them.”

“Well, that was weird.” Was the only thing Sunset could say after meeting such a bizarre trio.

“Sunset Shimmer, do you remember how I said that something could appear?”

“Yeah, what about it? Oh no, don’t tell me-“

“Indeed, the trio that you just met is one that I also met hundreds of years ago. You just had the pleasure of meeting Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk.”

“The Sirens, just what the school needed, more magic weirdoes, I thought it was enough with me in here.”

And things just went from back to worst, first by being incapable of helping her friends –Twilight included- use their powers or do well enough in the Battle of the Bands selection, and now by not being strong enough to help them once they fought against them. Yes, she had been the one to rally her friends back up much to the pleasure and pride of Starswirl but things just went downhill once the Sirens simply ditched the singing contest and went all out trying to kill her friends.

Sunset barely had time to jump and tackle Vinyl out of her turntable station/car just at the moment a scream from one of the sirens made it explode. The redhead had never seen the mute girl that mad before. Looking around Sunset noticed how every one of the Rainbooms had been scattered across the hill, their instruments either destroyed or barely staying together. Sunset knew that they had won, but she couldn’t accept it, she knew this couldn’t be the end, she just couldn’t leave her friends be defeated by monsters like those three.

She went up with fire on her eyes, ready to fight hand to hand if that was needed just so her friends would be alright. At her side, Starswirl smiled knowing that the redhead was ready.

“If you want to engage the Sirens in battle, I believe it is fitting for you to have a weapon as powerful as your heart Sunset Shimmer. You wanted to know what I did all those years I spend as a ghost. I searched far and wide the difference in magic between Equestria and Earth and finally found the source but I could do nothing to interact with it. Apparently, long ago, I wasn’t the only one that visited this planet, others did too and left behind a power that morphed the energy in this place. They had a great source of power and a great sword to rally the group behind.”

“Starswirl, make it quick because I’m about to bust some sirens right now.”

“Oh, don’t worry my friend, I believe here comes the power you need to do just that.” The ghost said as a red light fell from the sky right into her hands. The energy then became a small dagger with a red eye on its center. Sunset now knew what to do and as she moved the sword it began to grow, the fire inside her alongside it. She had the words on her mind, the words to rally her friends and allies on this battle.

“Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats, HOOOOO!” the sword grew to its full size just as a light came from the handle turning into a red signal in the sky. The black cat head seemed almost alive as a couple of people among the hypnotized audience finally blinked out of the control and felt a tug in their hearts. Both Gilda and Lightning Dust alongside the human members of the Rainbooms became energized, ears growing and eyes turning black and red slits. Next thing the Sirens knew was that they had gone from being the most powerful magic users to being simply prey to a bunch of magically enhanced cat eared teenagers.

With the speed that Lightning and Rainbow had gained alongside the strength of Gilda and Applejack, Rarity and the rest of her friends were capable of beating back the Siren’s avatars before Sunset used her sword’s power to send a ray of energy in the direction of the weakened Sirens. The power of each of her friends seemed to flow right through Sunset’s body before being transferred to the sword, doing enough to not just destroy the giant Sirens but destroying the amulets that the flesh and bone used around their necks.

Once the dust had settled every single student of Canterlot high were celebrating the victory of the new protectors of mankind.

“Seems that the Sword of Omens had chosen well, Thundercat Lord, or should it be Lady? Well, only time will say.”

Author's Note

So the idea of using the Thundercats and the whole ears look like a cat came from another Sunset fic (I don't remember which one, sorry) in which Principal Celestia tells the gils that she always thought that the ears they gained seemed more like a cat than a horse, which is kind of true really.

The 80's continue with anotehr adventure of Sunset and company, but this time they go under the sea, something out of a COMIC STRIP if you want. For those of you that know what I'm talking about, a digital cookie for you.

Canned Laughter - Noche's Madness

As many people know, the Earth has a very small mass land in comparison with other places and planets, but what if… wait… something’s wrong… this is not the dimension I wanted to show you and I have a bad feeling about this.

So let’s see where we are, shall we? First of all we got ourselves a very gothic looking city, is currently night and several police blimps are patrolling the cities as people in fine suits and dresses concur the streets in this lovely evening. I don’t know about you but I feel that there is something very familiar about this scene.

Maybe it has to do with the long shadows across the buildings as if they were painted with a long brush full of ink, with enough darkness and light mixing together to create the atmosphere of old Noir films. In this city you could find the best people in the world, being capable of great compassion and love but also the amount of darkness that could be found in some people’s souls could throw you into the oblivion that is pure madness.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you to Gotham City, home of the caped crusader and his outstanding gallery of rogues. Maybe call it outstanding is a little too much considering that from all of those maybe only half a dozen deserve redemption. Among them, a scientist with a cold heart, a woman with a green thumb and a certain jester.

Now, don’t get all excited here, this was not the target for today’s look at one of Sunset’s Many Destinies; I never planned to show you a Gotham City based Sunset, in fact there is no Sunset in this dimension that works on Gotham, she is on Coast City right now so why was the story hijacked again… oh no, please tell me that it was one of Keeper’s crazy antics or maybe Observer doing something drastic, everything except HIM.

Either way, standing and sitting around right now will not help us find an answer to this situation; and look at it in a positive way, we are in Gotham City this time, the house of Batman, Azrael and even The Huntress so I’m positive we will find something interesting to see so let’s go on.

Well, would you look at that, there is something going on right now at one red brick building close to the harbor and non-other than a certain white faced green haired psycho that we know and… well, love is too strong of a word considering the kind of man this is. Seeing the way he looks I must say that we are in a Batman the Animated Series universe. Right now The Joker seems to be on one of his rants about Batman and what he plans to do with him and the city, at his side several guys dressed in non-descriptive clothing, obviously only muscle for whatever operation The Joker planned to do; and of course, we have the red and black garbed woman known as Harley Quinn looking at the psychopath as if he were the amazing thing in the universe. I gotta say, sometimes she sickens me; sadly she haven’t had the chance to wake up like the Harley in the comics.

“Come on Mr. J, you’ll find the way to kill Batman.” Well, seems like we got here in the middle of a conversation, or more like a rant considering the villain. It seems that joker didn’t like her words since he grabbed her face with one of his hands and pulled her to him. Is a good thing she uses white paint because that would definitely leave bruises.

“Is not about killing Batman you idiot! Where’s the fun in a world without the rat? No, this is more than just a killing game; after all, killing doesn’t pay the bills, right guys?” The Joker said with a jovial smile directed to the other men who began to whistle and cheer at the Joker’s words, obviously with the Joker due to a paycheck and fear more than any kind of loyalty. I swear, the only kind of people that can install some sense of loyalty in the common thug are The Penguin and Ra’s al Ghul, and don’t make me start with that last name.

“No, but you have to admit it is a powerful weapon when used correctly.” I knew it, I just knew it. It seems that the Joker and company were as surprised as myself when they turned and saw a man sitting down at the villain’s chair and apparently reading The Gotham Times as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

Look, I’m the writer of this story and not even I know how he does this kind of things alright? But there he was, the man known simply as Noche wearing his long dark hair in a simple low ponytail, his half-moon glasses perched upon his regal nose and the sense of calmness and nobility practically oozed out of him. To say that the villain in the building was beyond enraged at this man suddenly usurping his place so he quickly pushed aside Harley and took his revolver from inside his suit before pointing at Noche with it.

“You have quite the nerve to come uninvited to this party.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, didn’t know it was a private one, especially considering the current location being less than optimal for something like that.” Noche said while he kept on reading the newspaper, something inside of it truly had got his attention since he began to read with more detail.

Apparently this was not the correct answer for the Joker as he cocked the revolver’s hammer and then the trigger was pushed. Everything seemed almost as if in slow motion as the bullet traveled through the air and began its path to Noche, before the bullet was stopped in midair by a bizarre cloud tendril.

Noche simply kept on reading not even paying attention to the Joker or anyone’s reaction to what had just happened. The madman with the revolver stood watching for a second before he was engulfed in rage and tried to attack Noche with the revolver’s butt but once he did the swing he felt something strange on his body.

Harley’s scream was the first clue that something had happened and then he saw what was Noche holding on one hand. It was the joker’s arm that had been ripped apart in less than a second with no one seeing how it happened. As the Joker’s was right now in a state of shock, Noche simply stood up as he inspected the arm he had on his possession now.

“You bite your nails? What a tic you have.” He said with the same calm voice as if what had just happened was a routine thing and do I hope it isn’t a routine with him. For their part, all the thugs hired by the joker turned around and began to run away but sadly for them, an Umbrum’s power came from the shadows and none of them were capable of reaching the stairs. I’m pretty sure their corpses will appear tomorrow morning in the Gotham Times.

While the men tried on vain to escape, Noche slowly began to pace around the floor as he threw aside the arm in the direction of Harley who began to scream anew. Noche simply adjusted his glasses and took a long look at the city and the big sign on the sky calling for its protector, sadly the source of that call had nothing to do with the Bat’s nemesis, Noche would have liked to have a battle of wits with the masked man, he felt he had grown dull since the last time he had met with his son.

“You know, when I came to this place I was fascinated by the amount of darkness and the amount of insanity that could reside in just one town. To the old me it would have been nothing more than a simple distraction, but the new me has started to see the appeal of the flesh and blood body I currently reside. Oh, sorry, I guess I began to ramble a bit there, sorry, what kind of a villain would I be if I didn’t do this from time to time?” Noche said almost apologetic as Harley was on the floor in a fetal position, but while Harley cowered in a corner, the Joker simply aimed and in the next instance a liquid flew from the flower on his lapel.

The liquid hit Noche right on his face, he then blinked in surprise as the Joker laughed, but the laughter was short lived as Noche simply used his right thumb to collect the liquid before his face changed from calm to enraged in a blink.

“Is this… acid? Were you truly trying to kill me with acid?” His voice began to increase in tempo and strength, he then put his hand over the Joker’s face and he began to insert his thumb -the finger that had collected all the acid- right into the Joker’s eyeball. Noche didn’t care the way the villain began to trash under his hands, he simply continued pushing as the hissing and screams continued. “Here I was explaining about being a human being and you come and try to kill me!” He all but screamed and then he simply stopped, leaving the Joker as a shell of his former self in the floor as Harley began to sob loudly “Shut up okay?! You are not letting me think!” Noche then took a long deep breathe before he took control once more of himself “Here I was all but ready to show you how much bigger reality is and all the opportunities for people like you and me, but nooooo, you had to be an asshole and try to kill me.

“Look at yourself, you have to understand this, I didn’t do this to you, you did this to yourself. It was your greed Joker, that’s what happened, you let your greed and stupidity run free. And you,” he then tuned around in Harley’s direction as she began to crawl but fast like lightning one shadow tendril took her by the ankle and dragged her back “you truly felt in love with a guy like that? Look at yourself, full of bruises and broken bones, you deserve better, the city deserves better but is people like the Joker that never allow me to bring that good.” He said slightly caressing Harley’s cheek, his eyes showing a rare sign of tenderness.

“You two had so much potential but now it is all wasted, but don’t worry, you will find someone that will take care of you, do you hear me? Just nod if you did.” The terrified woman slowly did so “That’s perfect, now, don’t move, we need an excuse for them to take you with them, I’m sorry for how much it will hurt, the only other I tried something like this was a girl named Katara, and believe me, she feels the effects every day.” He said with a grin showing all his teeth as he put a hand over Harley’s head and then she felt the pain, as if poison had been poured right into her soul and then energy appeared around her forehead; marks looking like clouds pulsating with dark power as Harley fainted due to the pain.

Just as he had done that a new portal opened, one that looked suspiciously like a door materialized on thin air. Noche smiled knowing exactly who the one that controlled portals like that was. In a second the door opened and both a man wearing a three piece suit and an umbrella on his hand appeared accompanied by the same redheaded girl that he seemed to find in every universe.

“My dear Observer, always so impeccably dressed, let me tell you, that grey suit is fantastic.”

“What are you planning Noche? Why are you invading these worlds?”

“Always with the boring questions, why don’t we keep the answers hidden for now, I’m sure that your delightful student will soon find out and if you can, say hello to my son if you find him, we still need to have a long talk about filial obligations.” And then the man disappeared, leaving behind a villain that from now on would spend the rest of his days laughing in a bed on Arkham, but like always, someone would take the mantle of the Joker to maintain order in the world. As for Harley, Sunset took her on her arms ready to start working on the Umbrum infection on her forehead, with some luck she may still survive.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, seemed to be the adventure of today.

It was… interesting, shall we say.

Author's Note

Yeah... that happened. I'm sorry guys, I wanted to continue our 80's travels but apparently Noche hijacked the story again and spread madness and darkness around. Seems that you guys found out about our villain. As for who noche is, then you better go and read Behind the Broken horn as it will show you exactly who Noche is and what is he doing in the multiverse.

Officially, I finally welcome you to the Nocheverse.
What a way to be introduced, right?

Interlude 04: The Sun and her Jester

Author's Note

A little bit more of information about The Observer, Keeper and Noche.

Interlude 04: The Sun and her Jester

It felt weird. She didn’t know why but it felt weird. Maybe because she didn’t feel pain and everything was silent for the first time in years. Usually mornings were hectic and it was weird to even get a good shuteye considering her job as a super villain’s sidekick -when your main enemy is Batman you tend to sleep with one eye open- but right now she felt at peace and completely refreshed.

Harleen Frances Quinzel stretched her arms and legs enjoying the feeling of relaxation that had embraced her body and got on her side to continue resting, it was weird the day she could sleep in. Then, as if they had been connected to a spring, she opened her eyes and got up on her bed remembering exactly what had happened. She knew she should feel a myriad of emotions including fear, but the only thing going through her head were that she only felt confusion and that Arkham Asylum had been reworking their cells.

If she was once again a prisoner then she better get acquainted with her new lodgings so she got up -noticing the nice silk pajamas she was wearing, very classy- and just as she was about to look around the ample room the door was opened. There, at the threshold was a man of dark skin wearing some kind of long robe and holding a really big hammer on his hand.

“I didn’t know Arkham had exchanged shock therapy for impact therapy.” Harleen said trying to make a joke about the situation. For some reason she felt like making that kind of joke but it made the man react and throw aside the hammer. For a second Harley thought that hammer said ‘Your Face Here’ in one of the head’s side.

“Sorry, I was just collecting some of your stuff, well, another you stuff, from another dimension, anyway, OBSERVER! THE GIRL IS AWAKE!” The man shouted and Harleen winced at the volume, that man really had some chords on him.

“No need to scream my friend, now, you can go back and put everything that we found on the vault.” Another man said finally getting into the spacious room making Harleen blink. Both contrasted with the new man -the so called Observer- having messy wavy hair, black thick rimmed glasses and exquisitely tailored suit; he was possibly the most British gentleman she had ever seen in her life “It is so good to see you up my dear, I suppose you have several inquiries about what happened a night prior, if you want I can explain it to you over breakfast.”

For a moment Harleen thought that she had entered the Twilight Zone because not only was she free to move and act, she was now being treated like anyone else, heck, even better than most people; where exactly was she?

“Ah, sure? Why don’t you show me the way to food?” She said not quite sure of how to act but both men simply accompanied her into an open area like a lounge café, and it was there that Harleen’s mind finally exploded when she saw the place. It was not the comfortable sofas in a semi-circle around a gigantic flat screen or the very beautiful bar that caught her attention; no, it was the huge windows in front of the tables and chairs that caught her attention “tell me those are paintings.”

“Oh no my dear, as beautiful that it looks they are not painted, we are currently in outer space, well, it is a little bit more complicated than that.” He said as the three continued walking to one of the tables where a redhead was already seated accompanied by a pink haired maid serving refreshments. Harleen was definitely lost this time, and that was coming from a woman that usually hangs around villains and madmen.

“Thank the Sun and Moon that you are alright, I didn’t know if you would wake up, this was the first time I used my magic to fight Noche's infection.” The redhead said clearly showing relief and happiness that Harleen was with them, it was one of the few times someone had acted like that with her, it made something inside Harleen flutter for some reason.

“I’m sorry, I’m completely lost; I don’t know what I am doing in here. One moment I was with The Joker and we… wait, I called him Joker.”

“Well, that’s how he likes to call himself, well that or red hood or black mask or… now that I think about it he has quite the love for masks.” The other man said taking a seat and grabbing a cupcake from a tray in the table.

“That’s not it, I usually call him Mister J or Puddin’ or… well, you catch my drift.” Harleen told them feeling embarrassed and ashamed for some reason for saying those names. They didn’t even make her feel all giddy in the inside like usual.

“Do you remember what happened to the Joker then my dear?”

“There was… a man, he… tortured The Joker; well, I cannot say anything about it considering Joker did that to too many people, but who was him? Where am I? What happened with me? I remember that man, the crazy one touching me and then… nothing.” Harleen said trying to check on her memories, but they all felt fuzzy, as if it had happened so long ago.

“I suppose we will start with something basic, do you have any knowledge of the multiverse theory?” The man that had been called Observer said while Harleen nodded with her head finally taking a sip of her cup of tea; chamomile it was and she felt warm spreading around inside her body.

“Yes, I remember I read about it while in college, but then I saw it happen because there used to be a multiverse, now each and every one of them fused and we got only one dimension.” She said while the other men were very happy with her answer for some reason. Weird, this was the first time she remembered things from when she was a normal person, that hadn’t happened in such a long time.

“Ah yes, the Crisis of Infinite Earths, it was quite catastrophic, but also enlightening in what not to do to maintain order in the multiverse.”

“Wait, I remember that thing, Rainbow loaned me the comic anthology, and you mean that happened?” The redhead said surprised at what they were talking.

“Many times over, you see Harleen-“

“You can call me Harley.”

“Alright Harley, you see, although you have a bigger understanding of what the multiverse is, what you don’t know is that it was only centered around universes of one type, but the multiverse is so expansive that it would take you hundreds of years just to see a small quantity of them. My name is Observer, of course, that was not my original name but considering the centuries I have spent on my job this is easier to remember. The man at my side is Keeper and you find yourself in our base, for lack of better word. What you think is outer space is in fact is the void holding the multiverse together. The stars and planets are universes. It is quite the view right?” And if Harleen felt out of place before now it was even worst “but returning to your questions, you met one of the worst things happening to the entire multiverse. The best way to explain it is that Noche is a virus, the dimension he reaches he starts to infect, even his touch is virulent and can kill organic beings in seconds.” Harleen remembered the screams and the presence of that man; it was an eye opener for sure.

“But what was he doing there? Usually people like him have a reason for what they do even in the most random of cases.” Harleen didn’t realize it but she had left behind the squeaky type of voice she used as Harley and she returned to her professional voice.

“And he is not too different although right now we are not quite sure what he is looking for, but we do have a theory. Noche was not always human, in fact he didn’t even have a body; he was just a mass of energy and magical energy. Apparently he is trying to find out more about what he can do with his new form and for that reason he is traveling the multiverse, but we are stumped in trying to find out where he will go next or even how he is capable of traversing the multiverse with such ease.” Observer said finishing his tea cup before it was refilled by the pink haired maid “thank you Pinkie.”

“Well, that is good and all but it sounds a little too big for me, but I still have one more question, how am I alive? I remember feeling as if I was being killed with so much pain in my head.”

“I guess I can explain some of that, I’m Sunset Shimmer.” The redheaded girl said extending a hand to Harley who quickly shook it.

“Harleen Quinzel.”

“Do you remember what happened before Noche marked you on the forehead?”

“Is that what he did? Because I remember him saying something about not wanting to hurt me and talking about people that will take care of me. If you ask me that man is a clear example of antisocial personality disorder, psychopathic and maybe grandiose delusions.” Harleen said before taking a sip of her own tea. Then she stopped suddenly, her eyes almost bugging out at what she had said. “Wait, what am I doing?”

“What do you mean Miss Harley?”

“I mean, I am Harley Quinn, member of Batman’s Rogue Gallery and with many orders of arrest in my name and here I am sitting down in a tea party while discussing the mental problems of a dimensional traveler, what the hell is going on?” She said not quite sure of how to take the situation, well, except for one thing “I am sane?”

“Is that so wrong?” The observer asked quite entertained with Harleen’s reaction to her current mental sanity.

“You have to forgive me for reacting like this but for the past few years I was a psychopathic bitch in an abusive relationship with the most dangerous man in existence… well, previous dangerous man considering this Noche guy… what did you do?” Harleen asked noticing Sunset’s eyes shifting everywhere except on her, she just had to put two and two together.

“I was only trying to save you.”

“Why?”

“Because you were infected by Noche and nobody deserves that kind of pain.”

“No, I mean, why did you save me? I am a danger, or maybe was? I don’t know, you see? Even now I’m still dangerous to people, anyone else would have simply shrugged and left me there.”

“You wanna know why? Because once I was in our shoes, maybe not the exact situation but I was in a really bad place. Someone helped me, saw something in me and gave me a second chance and that was after I tried to kill her. Harley, if I deserved a second chance then you also deserves one. And that’s what I did; I don’t know how but I guess I began to channel the power of the Elements of Harmony once again, those are a source of magical power from my own universe if you can believe that.”

“Why not? There is Zatanna, Doctor Fate and many other crazy guys with magic on my world, why not one more. So what did this energy did?”

“Every time it is used it shows different results, sometimes in a defensive way, others in healing. Apparently it reacted to Noche’s infection and began attacking your body. Thankfully it was still early in the infection and the magic was capable of battling it, maybe it also detected your own darkness and destroyed it.”

“Well, why not? Why did I even study psychiatry when you can apparently heal others with magic? Although considering that I failed to cure my last patient and ended up joining him maybe this isn’t so bad. This will take some time getting used to, I mean, me? Sane? Who would even believe that? So what now? I mean, I am cured apparently.”

“That depends on you, do you want to stay here or go back to Gotham?”

“Well, I could try and go back to work but with my kind of rep that would be impossible. No, I think I will stay here for a while but, do you think I can go and see a friend? Red was always telling me to leave the Joker, although it was just so I would join her as her partner in crime. I just want to talk with her about this, maybe she has an idea or hell, I can even convince her about leaving crime altogether.”

“Never doubt yourself like that, let’s go talk with your friend.”

“Wait, you mean together?”

“Why not? What do you think?” Sunset said standing up from her chair and signaling one of the multiple doors along one of the walls. Her look full of confidence and desire to help made Harleen follow the other girl’s advice. She also blush a small bit once she saw what the leather jacket and the very tight jeans did for Sunset’s figure. Her mom was right; she always had a thing for redheads.

Sunset: The Hellblazer

Author's Note

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever I present you a chapter of the Many Destinies not written by yours truly, in fact, this dimension was presented by:

TheEquestrianidiot

Hope you all enjoy it!

Sunset: The Hellblazer

A dirty Los Angeles sunset. Sun blazing all sickly as it sank into a band of smog. As the taxi pulled up in front of the apartment building, A woman gazed at the sullen colors of the sunset between the silhouettes of palm trees on the western horizon.

All that color in the smog, she thought. Funny how poison can be so pretty.

Sunset Shimmer - a lean woman in a long, shabby black coat, stub of a cigarette between her yellow fingers - got out and signaled trixie Lulamoon to wait. She was getting out, too: A young woman in casual a bad girl/punk look, with a very non-punk artifact in her hands: a book about Martinist symbology, written in French. Getting the signal to wait from Sunset, Trixie sighed, and nodded, leaning against the car.

One of these days, Sunset thought, going into the building, I’m going to take her in with me. What’s the use of an apprentice if she doesn’t back you up? But I’ll probably regret it.

She tried to draw on the cigarette, saw it had gone out, dropped it into the gutter, ground it out with his boot. She went into the apartment building, patting her coat pocket for another cigarette.

She lit a Lucky Strike with her ornate lighter figured with spiritual symbology.

Father Gregory was waiting in the foyer. A stocky, sweating, heavy-breathing, balding middle-aged man with broken veins on his red face, a priest’s collar. “I think… I think I found you one,” Gregory said.

Gregory still had his collar, Sunset observed. So the Church hadn’t given him his walking papers quite yet.

“I… I’m going to rehab, Sunset. In a month or two. They’re giving me another chance. Listen, I found you one - here.”

Sunset just stared at him. Poor Greg. Damaged goods.

“Look, I called you, right?” Gregory said, hands shaking as he wiped sweat from the tip of his nose. “Soon as I couldn’t pull it out myself I called you, Sunset.”

Sunset just shook her head and went through the door to the staircase. At the next landing she came to a small crowd of gossiping neighbors - Mexican, some Asians, a few Caucasians, all standing around and two people seated on the stairs: a white-haired black lady with her arm around a plump, tanned, shoeless bottle-blond in a suit dress, shivering on the stairway and hugging her knees, shoulders twitching at every sound from that apartment upstairs.

The distant shouts from up there, the agonized squealing sound, the sudden bangs. Sunset knew this was the kid’s mother. Nothing she could do for her here.

“It’s okay,” one of the women said to the mom. “You had to tie her down. It’s okay… “

She walked past her with barely a glance, continuing up toward those sounds. The exercise sharpening the burning pain in her lungs - pain that never completely went away. Knowing that the craving for cigarettes and the pain went together: one more in an endless parade of ironies in her life.

Hell. Was there any point anymore in following the doctor’s directions?

Even as she thought this, she had begun to do what she’d come here for. It was second nature to her by this time, almost instinctive: reaching out with the part of her that couldn’t be touched by sickness, extending supremely fine feelers from the field that surrounded her - like the unseen field that was around everyone, except that hers could be controlled. Extending feelers from her lifeforce - field upward, right through floors and walls, toward that room. And drawing back a bit at the furious response. That thing up there felt her psychic groping - and resented it. But then, it resented everything: all living existence.

She suspected it hadn’t identified her yet. It didn’t know who it was dealing with. She followed the feelers up to the apartment. The door stood ajar. She’d have known it anyway - she could feel fury as pure energy coming from it in waves, like heat from a house fire.

Sunset put her hand on the apartment doorknob-and the thing inside sensed her…

The building was quiet for a pregnant moment and then THUMP CLANG. ROAR! And the sound of shattering glass.

She entered the apartment. Stepping into the waves of demonic energy was like stepping into a sauna. Par for the course. But there was something unusual about this emanation. It was more intense, clearer, the wavelengths crystalline-sharp. Powerful.

She stepped over a broken chair, a shattered television set, and went down the narrow apartment hallway. She felt like she was moving upstream against an unseeable current. Her gut wrenched as the diabolic stench hit her like burning shit and sulfur and rotting blood, only it wasn’t really a smell in the air but in the mind.

The girl’s bedroom was beyond wrecked - everything was rubbled, smashed into small pieces.

The bedposts were snapped off; a toy box was kindling, dolls ripped to pieces; the dresser was splintered, its clothes shredded. There were several small puddles of blood. Some was the girl’s, judging by the state of her fingers, the red hand-marks smeared on the wall.

The girl was tied to the remnants of the bed. She made a repugnant rattling noise, like a hateful comedian imitating the last sound of a dying mutt, over and over…

She glared at Sunset. Her face seemed to shift within itself-

She had to look away. She’d glimpsed something she didn’t usually see in a possession, and she had a gut feeling it wasn’t smart to look at it directly, not for long. Sunset understood exactly what gut feelings were, and why you never, ever ignored them.
The creature in the little girl’s bruised, rag-fluttery body seemed to tense, as if about to tear itself free and leap at her - and then hesitated, sensing…

Recognizing Sunset, knowing how many of its kind had been repatriated to Hell, the dark spirit quivered in fear and fury both… and a wind exploded toward Sunset, generated by demonic energy, making her sway, nearly fall. She held her ground, and pulled back the sleeves of her coat and jacket to show the tattoos, the sigils on her forearms that seemed to writhe in anticipation of her retaliation.

The demon looked away at the sight of the tattoos, gathering its strength for a killing assault.

Sunset checked her watch. Then she strode across the room to the window - deliberately showing no fear, not watching her back. It was as much about the psychological as the psychic, and even demons had a psychology. She had to be in charge here. The demon would resist it, but Sunset already had the psychological leverage she needed.

Disliking daylight, the demon had left the curtains intact, and closed. Sunset drew them open with a sweep of her hand, and the room flooded with the amber light of sunset.

The light struck the girl - the demon - and she made that sickly rattling, that polyglot muttering, deep within her. Then, head shaking in a blur, she went to moaning, and the moan sounded like a little girl’s voice for a moment, before the seething voices, the roaring rattle returned.

Sunset kept her hands extended, letting the psychic energy flow through her - a particularly fine grade of energy called astral light by the hermeticists. She drew it from above her, into the back of her head down through her spine, out through her arms, so that the “feelers” with which she normally tested the psychic air became channels for divine power - which closed around the demon, contracting to hold it pinned… she didn’t trust those improvised straps. There.

That would hold the girl… it… just long enough.

Sunset lowered her arms, squinted against the smoke rising from the cigarette in her lips as she removed her coat and laid it aside. She coughed, took the cigarette out long enough to spit a little blood, and then took another drag. She laid the butt on the remains of a table, then took a key chain from her pants pocket. On it were house keys, keys to a car she couldn’t legally drive anymore, a Ralph’s Supermarket swipe card, and a set of small, very old silver medallions, each with an image of a saint. When Sunset got to Saint Anthony of the Desert, standing with one foot on the head of a gorgon, the demon reacted with a wet chattering glossolalia.

Ah--that’s the one, is it? Sunset thought, stepping onto the bed, squatting to straddle the girl.

Sending her field energy out along her arms, into her fingers, Sunset raised her hands, making the passes, the runic shapes, that directed the energy.

Then she snarled at the demon, so that its master - who heard whatever the demon heard - would know:

“This is Shimmer. Sunset Shimmer, asshole!”

She pressed the medallion against the girl’s bruised forehead. The metal began to glow red-hot, and smoke rose from burnt skin. The child - and the demon - screamed and convulsed.

All the time, Sunset was careful not to look directly into the child’s face as it flickered in and out of shadow - but seeing out of the corner of her eyes, she had an impression of the girl’s face alternating with another. One that should not be visible at all in the world of men.

The girl jolted on the bed, the bonds cut into her wrists and ankles, and then her eyes snapped open and Sunset found herself looking into them as the demon in her snarled, “¡Todos nosotros vamos a matarte!’”

The pot calling the kettle black, Sunset thought, holding the girl down with one hand while she pressed the medallion with the other as the girl’s body shimmied on the bed…

And then suddenly she went limp. Lay still, as if dead.

“What the hell?” It shouldn’t have killed her. The thing should be fighting for a while yet.

She leaned forward to look at the girl's face - and something jumped beneath the skin of her neck, up into her face, distending abruptly malleable jaws so that they jutted forward, as if trying to gnaw its way free from within…

Sunset recoiled - and the demon kept coming at her, lifting the bed frame off the floor telekinetically, arms outspread in the now-upright frame like a mock of the crucifixion; like a wolf dragging its cage, it came snapping at Sunset's face with its unnaturally outstretched jaws.
The demon roared and foamed at the mouth and contorted, beginning to shake the bed frame apart…

And Sunset, swearing-old-fashioned obscenities and not incantations - stepped in and punched the girl hard in the side of the head with her right fist.

She gasped, her eyes rolled back - and the girl, bed frame and all, fell backward, out cold.

Heart thumping, dizzy, Sunset became aware of voices behind her. She turned to see a small crowd at the half-open door. Several men and a woman, mouths and eyes wide open, staring.

Sunset hoped they’d seen more than her punching a little girl. But if they had, there was no condemnation. Just horror as they stared at the unconscious child.

Sunset knew how to take control of dazed people when she had to. “I need a mirror. Now!” She turned to look at the girl. “At least three feet high! Move!”

The three men looked at one another, murmured, then ran down the hall. They ran to the nearest apartment, didn’t find a suitable mirror, hammered on another door, and thundered inside, making an old woman shriek as they tore a big floor mirror from its stand and raced puffing back up to Sunset with it.

Distantly aware of all this, Sunset went to the window and shouted down to her apprentice, still leaning against the cab.

“Yo, Trixie!”

“What?” she shouted back.

“Move the car! Your cab, move it!”

“What? Why?”

“JUST MOVE THE GOD DAMN CAR, TRIXIE!!”

“We got your mirror!” shouted the burliest of the onlookers as they wrestled it through the door. Sunset turned and took the big oval wall mirror.

--
Down on the street, Trixie glared up at the window and then snorted, shaking her head. “Park the car, move the car.”

She got into the car, shifted into reverse, moved it a few feet backward, and parked it again.

“There, fuck it, Trixie moved the damn thing.”

She turned the engine off, and went back to her book.

--

Sunset had the heavy, wood-framed mirror tied with drapery ropes to an inert ceiling fan so that the mirror dangled above both her and the twitching, semiconscious girl. She was lying there with her eyes shut, the demon dormant within her but coming to life again. The mirror hung glass-downward, parallel with the bed. The other men stood nervously to either side, steadying it.

“Close your eyes,” Sunset told them. “And whatever happens, do not look at her….”

Sunset put her hands over the girl’s eyes just as they began to flutter open. She intoned in a rapid whisper, “In nominee Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti extinguatur in te ominis virtus diaholi per…“ She could feel a change under her hands. The girl was coming to.
“Impositionem manum nostrarum et per invoctionem gloriosae et sanctae dei genetricis virginis Mariae…”

Someone whimpered close by - not the girl. She turned to see one of the tenants, a middleaged man staring straight at the girl’s face.

“NO!” Sunset barked.

It was too late, the man backed away, wide eyes filling with tears, sobbing. “Oh no… “

Without him holding it, the mirror tilted. The men moved to reposition the mirror, but the damage was done. She began to wrench about under Sunset her face writhing under her fingers. She broke free of the straps, snapping them like strips of cardboard. She began to levitate and she just managed to keep her hand covering her eyes. The demon grabbed Sunset around the throat, squeezing, fingers becoming talons. But Sunset was thinking about those miraculously distended jaws and what they’d do to her hand. She felt its jaws swelling… then her breath shut off.

Okay, it has to be now, Sunset thought, or you’re going to be choked to death by a little girl.

“Smile pretty, you vain prick,” she said to the demon, and slid to one side so she didn’t block the mirror, whipping her hand away from the girl’s eyes. Mentally, she commanded the demon, Look!

The girl’s eyes fixed on the reflection in the mirror… and Sunset looked too.

What was reflected in the mirror had nothing to do with a little girl. It showed a head whose most prominent feature was what it was missing: The top of its skull was sliced away at the eyes.

Demons had no need of brains; they took orders, and they were pure instinct, pure appetite, driven by the lower-body impulses; it had distended jaws bristling with needle teeth. Gaunt, scaly limbs…

And the little girl suddenly sagged back, panting with relief: The demon was now trapped in the mirror glass. Trapped but not surrendering yet - it thrashed and clawed to escape the reflection, heaving its force against the mirror from the looking-glass world, the frame and glass beginning to crack…

The demon was starting to come through, fighting to get its body into the material world. And that, Sunset thought, was against the rules.

“Pull that rope, now!” Sunset shouted.

One of the men jerked the dangling rope end so that the mirror swung toward the window - and instantly got stuck in the jamb.

“No you don’t,” Sunset snapped.

She jumped up and pushed the mirror free, shoved it out the broken window so that it fell free of the rope, plummeted toward the street, turning end over end.

She had a glimpse of the demon staring out of the cracked glass at him as it fell away, and Sunset flipped it the finger. “For your boss!”

And then the mirror fell directly onto the hood of Trixie’s cab, denting it deeply, the mirror glass shattering on impact, showering into countless glittering pieces. A repellent rattling sound reverberated away from the fragments… carrying with it a reptilian stench… away, away, the demon’s astral form flitting invisibly into the city’s gathering night.

In the cab, Trixie stared at the broken glass, the smashed wood - and her dented hood.

In the girl’s bedroom, Sunset was untying the bloody remnants of the straps when her mother came in.

“Mama!” Her mother gathered the child up in her arms, rocking her.

Sunset checked on the man who’d looked into the demon’s face: he was lying on .his back, staring, twitching, muttering. Something broken in his mind.

Gregory had crowded in, too, and was clearing his throat. “Ma’am - about the money…”
Sunset picked up the stub of her cigarette, no longer burning. Feeling like she might fall over if she didn’t keep moving, she put on her coat and went into the hallway, to the kitchenette.

Her stomach was churning, seething. She hadn’t eaten today. Just something, anything, so she didn’t throw up.

There, a quart of milk in the fridge. She sniffed at it, drank deep. A soothing hand covered the interior of her stomach. She put it back, closed the fridge, and found herself staring at children’s drawings held by refrigerator magnets. All the same. A crude figure, arms outspread, another figure poking at him with a stick. Stabbing him in the side. More on the walls. The mother, though she must have been puzzled, had put the child’s obsessive art up as a point of pride. She pulled one of the images off the wall, tucked it in her coat, and pushed past the tenants again, out to the corridor, coughing as she went.

The Will of Fire 01

Maybe Sunset had been a little too quick to jump through the mirror. Yes, she had the plan to jump through it and see what was at the other side; it was the big point of knowing that the mirror was a portal to another world. Now she knew why Celestia was so afraid of the other side of the portal; it was clear that all the soldiers and expeditionary parties that the princess had sent through it had met a very sad end.

The redhead tried to find a better position on the sorry excuse this place had for a bed before placing her new appendages -they were a softer, more dexterous version of a Minotaur’s arms- behind her head and tried to rest. It was a little hard to do considering the position that she had found herself at. Who would have thought that the most powerful unicorn in Equestria would have been taken prisoner so fast after her first interdimensional travel? Although, considering the way those guys had acted and how fast they struck her down, maybe she was too weak when it came to the martial side of her education. If only Celestia wasn’t such a tight plot when it came to real useful education she wouldn’t be in this situation.

It was then when Sunset heard hoof steps… well, maybe it wasn’t like that considering they only had two legs, but she heard several of these monkeys getting closer to her jail cell. Sunset thought that maybe they were ready to get her out of jail and set her free, or maybe they were guiding her to her execution, for either case she had a contingency plan, a foolish one but still a plan.

What she saw were two of those monkeys still wearing those creepy ceramic masks -she almost laughed when she saw that one of those masks represented a monkey- and they were obviously the escort of the long blonde haired man in the center. He wasn’t wearing the cloak and masks like the other two; instead he was wearing some kind of vest over black clothes and a bizarre headband with a symbol on it.

The man arched an eyebrow at the young Sunset Shimmer and took a look at her two jailers.

“And this is the dangerous criminal you two captured?” She couldn’t see their expressions behind their masks but she could almost feel the way they were fidgeting right now.

“She appeared out of nowhere inside the village and no one has any information of how she got in or from where.” The voice was unmistakably male and the blonde monkey simply sighed while putting a hand over his face, clearly tired about what was going on.

“I think it is a good thing that I came and not Ibiki, we still don’t know if she is dangerous or not but if what you say is true then this is not a normal little girl.” On his inside, the man named Yamanaka Inoichi was already asking forgiveness for what he would have to do. The man had been brought in to extract information out of their new jail tenant but never had he thought that it would be someone that young. The girl was too young; enough to be just another student, not even a full ninja, but they all knew that appearances were nothing when it came to their jobs so he made up his mind.

“I am not a little girl, and I would like it if you called me by my name instead of just referring to myself as if I wasn't here.” The trio of ninjas were surprised by the way the small girl talked, full of control and confidence, it didn’t fit someone like her, maybe she wasn’t a ninja but the daughter of a local daimyo? Still, he had a job to do and better him than Ibiki. With the ease of years of practice the man named Inoichi did a series of hand signals that left Sunset completely confused further convincing Inoichi that the girl was not a spy or an enemy ninja. But then what happened took everyone by surprise and no one was sure of what exactly happened. Instead of making a direct contact with the girl so he could get inside her head and get her important memories, the chakra line that connected Inoichi and the girl was simply… absorbed. That was the only thought from Inoichi who had to forcefully break the connection before the girl absorbed most of his chakra reserves.

Trying to regain his strength, Inoichi quickly noticed how shocked and surprised the girl was by the way she kept on looking at her hands as if something completely unexpected had happened. Whoever the girl was it was definitely more than just a little girl, and there was something else that had made Inoichi do a double take when he saw her. The red hair, it was so vibrant and eye catching. There had only been only one other in the village that had that kind of red hair, but she had died just a couple of years ago. Could it be?

So apparently the monkeys were ready to take her to their leader, although maybe not in the way she expected because alongside him there were several masked monkeys and several older monkeys too who apparently made some kind of council just like back in Equestria. And just like back in Equestria it was the man sitting down behind his desk the one who controlled this.

“So no one exactly knows where you come from, turning you into quite the mystery. You have to understand why my men are so on edge around you; after all, ninjas do not like mysteries and surprises.” The old man talked in that annoying combination of sagely and heartwarming that reminded her of Celestia.

“Ninjas? What is a ninja?” Sunset had never heard that word and it made the other people gasp in surprise at what she had said, but apparently the man in charge was better at hiding things because he didn’t even blink.

“And just like that you have vanquished the idea of you being a spy form another nation. A human on this world does know what a ninja is. Just looking at the way you act we can see that you are not lying which leave us in a very precarious situation. How exactly did you absorb the chakra of one of my ninja?”

“Is that what that energy was? Chakra? I don’t know; I just saw the line being directed at me and I reacted, there was no way I would let somepony else read my mind! Then it was simply absorbed into my body. What? What did I say?”

“You can see the chakra as a line, connecting you two?”

“Yeah, that’s what I told you. What’s the big deal? Unicorns can see the magic connections from a spell, you just have to concentrate enough, well, not every unicorn, only the ones that are the most powerful.” She said with a big smirk making all the men in the room blink in confusion. After a few seconds several of them began to laugh making Sunset’s temper get to the point of boiling, not that it was that hard. Every man then shut up watching the aura around Sunset and the temperature rising inside the office.

“That’s enough! My men were disrespectful, but you better keep your own chakra under control or your power will be sealed for the rest of this hearing!” The man wearing the funny big hat said standing up from behind his desk. For her part, Sunset finally understood that what they called chakra was none other than her own energy. Taking a deep breath she got the aura back into control making Sarutobi sit down once again. “So I see you got control over your chakra, but how did you know the man doing the interrogation wanted to read your mind?”

“That’s easy, that amount of magic -I mean, chakra- being directed as a line right into my head? There was no doubt that monkey wanted to take control of my mind, I just don’t know how I was able to counter that kind of ability. I just have one question, why do you use all those hand signals? They look so awkward.”

“Because they are needed in order for my men to use those abilities you talked about.” Sarutobi wasn’t exactly sure what was going on but he decided to trust the young girl with the information since it was so basic for a ninja that they all studied it in the first year.

“Then why not use Clear Mind’s theorem of Cubic Pre Casting? It would save so much time.” Sunset said so confused about how advanced and archaic these monkeys were at the same time. For his part, Sarutobi simply smiled knowing that Konoha would probably never be the same with another redhead living in the village. He knew that the girl was a wild card, but sooner or later she will understand the Will of Fire.

And understand she did, there was nothing in the academy she couldn’t understand and master, it was so easy at times but at others she was baffled and had to ask others for help. It had changed her and now here she was. Her name had finally been called and here she was; the small headband across her forehead as she was ready to rise up the ranks.

Up there were her teammates still waiting for their names to be called, but for now they were happy cheering her on. Hana was clearly excited about her match while Maruten kept his stoic face as the giant of a ninja ran up to her. Sunset smirked knowing that the man had no idea of what she had done before the match started.

The redhead knew that these matches would decide if her team deserved the title of Chunin and she was going to show everyone what Sunset had. As the other ninja began to charge his attack she took on running and taking a page from Hana’s book she began to spin on the air creating a tornado of fire. The man quickly got out of the way sending a bolt of electricity as the fire drill disappeared as if it had never been there. Too late he realized the trap and just as he turned around a fist engulfed in flames sends him spiraling through the air before crashing against the ground completely knocked out.

Genjutsu illusion stacked one open the other, all pre-casted by her and just like that her match had ended in a record time, beating the time of the young man that had went before her. Among the cheering of the citizens of Konoha and the loud voice of Hana, Sunset turned to look at Sarutobi sitting down alongside the other Kages. A thumbs up and a huge smile was Sunset’s message to the old man, telling him that she had understood what the Will of Fire was.

An Ever After Tale 04: Ignite

Sunset Shimmer blinked once to see that what she was looking at was not a mistake from her still addled brain due to still clinging sleepiness. Sadly, after having repeated blinks that the only they did was leave her blind for a couple of seconds, she realized that she was in what would probably be a walking nightmare in her new life as an Ever After high student.

After spending a whole day in the presence of literally people out from fairy tales and stories, Sunset had become somewhat used to the idiosyncrasy of finding both villains and heroes having a nice time interacting with each other and gaining the appropriate skills they will need one day. Between poisons that could kill you, how to cut down a monster in two and also how to woo a damsel were all part of the bizarre menagerie of things that Sunset had found out after asking her new friends.

The blonde -she still had no idea of why her hair’s golden highlights dominated the space on her head- found herself in the bizarre situation of having to meet and discover so much stuff that was not seen on either Canterlot High or Equestria. She was sure that Princess Twilight Sparkle would be foaming at the mouth if she ever knew what she was doing. Of course, she was going to send a letter explaining everything happening to her to her equestrian friend -and also a message to Spike to get footage of the purple alicorn’s reaction- because, let’s be honest; here she was talking with both the daughter of Sleeping Beauty and the daughter of the Evil Queen and she was learning so much about the world of Fairy Tales that would fill a whole book of new magic theory and sociology.

So far she had been enjoying her day and was ready to start the learning process on her new school, but that was when everything became so bizarre that Sunset had found herself blinking at what was going on. Apparently, her curriculum was given to her by the Headmaster and she was ready to roll it up and shove it down… sorry, I’m afraid if I told you what she was planning to do I would be censored by Fimfiction for some reason, that’s the kind of luck I have. Anyway, Sunset was not that happy by what she had received.

Once she had read the letter brought to her by another version of herself from another dimension, Sunset had begun to read all she could about Dorothy Gale and her adventures on the Land of Oz, and she was very excited about what would happen. Sunset was also aware that later on the books Dorothy was named a Princess by Ozma and technically she was the good guy. Sadly for her, that meant that the Headmaster had decided to give her the generic Princess schedule. Among those inane classes she was in no way excited to be a part of Princessology and Damsel-in-Distressing.

Apparently, Raven Queen -the one girl that everyone was so scared of because she would be the villain for the poor, popular Apple White- was jealous, read, JEALOUS, of Sunset Shimmer because she always wanted to be part of Princessology since, and I quote, she was technically a Princess too. Sadly for the extremely nice girl, she was a villain and as such she was supposed to like destroying things and make people lives miserable. Sunset quickly understood that the day Raven became a villain would the day Applejack went to Paris and started working for Louis Vuitton with Rainbow Dash being their catwalk model.

How it was possible for the daughter of one of the most iconic villains end up like the gothic cousin of Fluttershy was beyond anyone’s guess. It was probably a question that could reignite the Nature vs. Nurture debate.

In any case, Sunset was all for exchanging one of Raven’s class for that one but apparently that was only permitted once they were capable of taking Elective Classes, not that the Headmaster would make it possible for them. To Sunset, he seemed a little too hardheaded and very into his ways to understand that Raven was a very nice girl with no real bad bone on her body, and Sunset knew being an ex-villain herself.

In any case, here she was, with the one princess in all the school that still made her gag just looking at her. Apple White looked completely ready for the day and it was still the first class of the day. Her friend, the aforementioned daughter of Sleeping Beauty -a Latina looking princess by the name of Briar Rose- was a little easier to get along girl to talk to than the other two blondes -both Apple and Blondie-. Is not that the first girl was bad, there was just something in Apple that set Sunset on edge, as if she was trying a little too hard to be that cheerful and nice, it just wasn’t right. Apparently the bizarre factor was tripled due to Apple White immediately sticking to Raven’s side once they all got to the clearing for the first class of Damsel in Distressing.

Snow White was a classic tale when anyone talked about Fairy Tales, but she was sure that the Evil Queen and Snow White never got along, to the point that jealousy and hate started the main plot of the story. So how was it possible that the damsel in this case was basically hanging on the arm of her nemesis? Apparently the confusion was very obvious in Sunset’s face because Briar put her sunglasses up on her head and answered her silent question.

“They have been like that since I know them, and I do know Apple since elementary school.”

“Wait, you all had classes together since elementary?”

“Well, yeah, is not like if we have different schools for both heroes and villains; besides, I’m sure Apple would have thrown a tantrum if it meant she couldn’t play with Raven anymore.” Briar explained to Sunset but instead of making her see the bigger picture it just confuse her even more.

In any case, Damsel in Distressing was about to start since Professor Maid Marian -and yes, that was her full title- called for the attention of the at least dozen princesses excluding Apple, Briar, Raven and Sunset.

“Good morning girls, tonight we will start with our lesson in how to get captured correctly by a forest troll.” She said making Sunset arch an eyebrow at what she had just heard. So that meant there was a ‘proper’ way to get kidnapped? Was that even possible? “For this practice we have brought a troll directly from the enchanted forest. Who wants to practice first?” The only hands up were those of Apple White and surprisingly, one Sunset Shimmer. This time Professor Maid Marian chose Sunset. It was a very bad idea from her part to choose the blonde unicorn turned human… turned successor of Dorothy Gale. Geez, I need to find a better way to refer to Sunset, or at least one that is shorter.

“Just one question professor.”

“Yes my dear?”

“Is the troll docile or is completely savage? Just for reference.” What is she planning?

“Oh, the troll is not one working for the school; this was decided so it could be an authentic experience.”

“That’s all I needed to know.” Sunset was happy to hear that as a couple of the school workers opened the gate of the troll’s cage. Its roar made Apple immediately grab Raven and the princess hid behind her villain making Sunset even more confused about their relationship. But instead of focusing on them she decided to get her attention back on the moss covered, grey troll walking on her direction but before it could reach for her a wall of fire was erected around them making the troll flinch back.

In Sunset’s face was a grin that made the troll shake in fear.

“Yeah, about this whole damsel in distress business? Yeah, that’s not me.” Sunset said creating a ball of fire on her hands before letting it fly against the creature. Hitting him directly on the chest the troll flew through the air before crashing down making everything shake too. Taking the fire wall down and walk in the direction of her friends she was welcomed by loud cheers and whistles from Briar and Raven.

It felt good to use magic once again.

Author's Note

Yeah, she is not going to be good on the whole 'Princess in Peril' stuff.

Also, Sunset's theme on this universe is this song, which I love and I believe it fits Sunset (well, all the Sunsets on this multiverse)

Ignite

An Ever After Tale 05: Oz

It is a brand new day for the many students of Ever After high. The sun is up, the birds are singing alongside the princesses on the school and even a dog is allowed in the castleteria -geez, I cannot believe I can say that with a straight face, it seems something from out of Family Guy-, but no matter, everyone was getting well feed for the day since this was the rehearsal for Legacy Day; a day that will leave in infamy and… sorry, I was getting ahead of myself right now.

Either way, the students were right now eating alongside their friends and even Sunset was surprised by how fast she had been able to gain companionship considering she was a new student. It was a bizarre feeling considering that less than a year she had found herself in the less enviable position of being the pariah of Canterlot High. Now here she was at a school were future kings, queens, heroes and villains received their special education being surrounded by some of the biggest names in Fairy Tale business.

At her right she had the darkest and sweetest and most gothic girl Sunset had ever met. The now blonde was sure that even though she looked like a goth girl with a penchant for Victorian era clothing, the only nicest girl Sunset knew was Fluttershy, it was refreshing on its way considering she was destined to be one of the biggest villains in Fairy Tales, not that she seemed too excited about Legacy Day and her destiny.

At her left was a girl that made honor to her name being the daughter of Red Riding Hood, since apparently the hood was on 24/7 for what Sunset had seen. Beyond the fashion decision Cerise Hood was a nice girl that had a penchant for meat and nice jokes, but Sunset couldn’t avoid thinking that there was something weird on the girl. She decided not to follow on her suspicions and simply let the girl be.

The last girl in this strange quartet was none other than the daughter of the Mad Hatter and she truly did honor to that kind of legacy. It was as if Pinkie Pie had a twin sister and they were separated at birth… although, thinking about it, there was proof that backed that theory, just like basic teleportation, non sequiturs, penchant for parties -although Maddie’s parties were mostly tea parties- and simple disregard for physics in general. Sunset had already seen Maddie serve her a cup of tea while the cup was upside down and the tea flew upwards from the tea kettle.

Looking at things they weren’t a bad bunch to call her friends, and even though she had started to get the attention of others students she had simply stayed with those she had befriended first. Not that she wasn’t talking with others, is just that she felt more at ease with those three girls. Apple White had been nothing but welcoming and sweet but she was so sweet that her teeth were beginning to rot, and the rest of her friend circle was also nice to talk to from time to time, specially Briar who had a wicked sense of humor just like her… oh man, did I just make the whole ‘wicked’ pun?

This dimension is getting to me man, but anyhow, we are on this fine morning watching those Ever After High students mingle and having a very good breakfast as they all prepared for their classes. Although, there was something that still baffled Sunset since she arrived at this dimension.

“Girls, do you have any idea why Apple and Blondie were so surprised when they found out I was part of the Oz story?” Sunset asked making the other three girls stop their breakfast before looking at her as if she was crazy and when that look comes from Maddie you know something is going on.

“You really don’t know about the Land of Oz?” Raven answered back with her usual calm and melodic voice. From the group of friends she was possibly the one with the higher knowledge of Fairy tales and other kingdoms thanks to her father’s education. Sunset simply shook her head to indicate how little she knew about it.

“Besides what is written in the books I know nothing about the actual Land of Oz”

“Is no surprise since no one has actually been there in generations, not even the headmaster has put a foot on the place. We know it exist since there are still exports from that place.”

“Oh yes, Munchkin Pineapples are amazingly sweet and yummy.” Maddie said while Earl Grey, the little mouse living on Maddie’s hat nodded too alongside her owner.

“I know, mom sometimes make Pineapple cake with fresh ones and they are delicious.” Although Cerise was a confirmed carnivore -much to the shock of Apple, Briar and Blondie who were scared by the amount of meat one girl could ingest in one day- she had to give it to her mom since she was capable of making both Cerise and her sister love fruits and vegetables. Truly something deserving a medal and a statue.

“Apparently Princess Ozma, the ruler of the land, close any communication between the Fairy Tale Kingdoms and the Land of Oz more than a hundred years ago. To get the new Dorothy Gale on the school is something that has never happened before. Speaking of witch, how did you found out you were the new Dorothy? Is she your mom?”

“Believe me, I would love for that to happen, but seriously, it basically fell into my hands. Apparently it was a clerical error and the destiny of Oz finally arrived when I was studying at a school in the human world.”

“This is truly wonderlandiful! Just think about it! You’ll probably get access to a kingdom no one here has seen for generations!” Maddie said all excited with the idea of knowing more about a kingdom as fantastic as her beloved Wonderland, her home that she missed so much.

“I’m still not sure if that is what’s going to happen, I mean, what if the Storybook of Legends don’t recognize me as the next Dorothy.”

“Don’t worry, nothing as crazy as that would happen, right Raven? Raven? Are you okay?” Cerise repeated her question as the pother girl seemed to be thinking about something and didn’t hear them.

“What?”

“Is something the matter?”

“No, everything is alright, I was just thinking about the Storybook of Legends and how we are going to be signing on it soon.” Raven said with a smile on her face, but Sunset knew that there was something deeper and it had something to do with that book and even if it was only a rehearsal Sunset knew that something out of this world would happen.

My Biggest Mistake

It had all started in a blink as the human race finally found out that they were not alone. Right there in front of them, behind a barrier, stood a kingdom that rivaled those that had been written by their best authors. Creatures of equine form resided in that kingdom with the ability to communicate, to create and to baffle many with their abilities.

At first it was something that perplexed everyone and was the main topic in every news site and in social media. The strange ponies that had arrived on Earth. It seemed like something out of a Fairy Tale and no one was happier to meet those creatures than children. It seemed as if the world would change, and it did, just not in the way humans thought.

It had started innocently enough, with some humans wondering how it would be if they themselves were ponies, and the answer was brought to their attention. Apparently there was a special potion created by the ponies that would transform a human being into and after a while they would soon find with a pony form. With the news of this potion being public some humans began to wonder where they could get that magical blue potion.

Soon the first Conversion Bureau office was opened in New York and soon others began to appear and welcome humans with open hooves, but soon everyone saw the trap being sprung once they met these new ponies. These ‘newfoals’ began to spread the word of how happy they were now, how great the leader of the ponies, the great Princess Celestia was for giving them the chance to find true happiness and harmony as ponies.

Investigations began once the families of these newfoals found out that the transformed humans had no memory of their previous life, but it was too late. Seeing that their pacific method had been discovered they began to forcibly convert human beings, saying that they were doing humanity a favor. Humanity tried to fight back but the strange energy that the ponies called magic started to wreak havoc on their forces, especially when ponies could simply teleport in masse and attack human settlements out of nowhere.

The future was bleak for humanity; they were at the threshold of annihilation as more and more of their people were either killed in action or forcefully converted. The cities that had been the symbol of religion were the first ones to fall as Celestia used the might of her magic to destroy Jerusalem. Sadly this was the last mistake Celestia ever did.

The princess of the sun -according to her ponies-, believing that after her attack on the symbol of western religion, humans would be easy prey, ordered the invasion to the great Apple itself. What Ponykind found there was not humans ready to be converted, it was a trap.

The first ponies to be shot down had been the group that made the sky their home, the great Wonderbolts. With Spitfire as leader they were acting as the spearhead of their air raid plan, confident that their enchanted flight suits would repel the human’s attacks like every other time; they were wrong. Their bodies were quickly fished out of the waters of Ellis Island, paraded around as if they were hunting trophies.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was said to have fainted at the gruesome husk her long time friend’s body had been reduced to. Rainbow Dash’s body was more holes than flesh after receiving an onslaught of 20mm bullets. This had incensed the pony side and had immediately attacked New York and to the surprise of the unicorns involved in the attack, their usual tactic of teleporting troops behind enemy lines didn’t work. This time the pony soldiers were put right in front of the enemy defense line and they were nothing more than ducks in a shooting gallery. Their enchanted swords and armor becoming as useless as paper when having to defend themselves against a barrage of guns and artillery.

The answer of how humankind bounced back from total annihilation was one young woman. A defector of many years had revealed herself not too long ago and began working with the human government and quickly gained a list of names. From ‘The Sun of Humanity’ to ‘The Greatest Traitor’, depending on which side of the war you asked for information.

Sunset Shimmer was an exile that had come to humanity’s rescue after finding herself sickened about what her former mentor -and it was deliciously ironic that both researchers from opposite sides had studied under Princess Celestia- was doing and felt compelled to work with other humans on finding a way of rendering ponykind’s strongest weapon, their magic, completely useless. And she did, the Thaumic Generators worked as a charm after they were installed in New York starting the comeback in the war.

First it was Manehattan, the pony’s version of the city they had just tried to destroy and for the first time the equines were face to face with their worst nightmare, humanity united as one. From all around the world humans came together as never before and attacked with unprecedented and swift ruthlessness. From the million ponies that had defended the city only thirty thousand arrived at Canterlot.

As fast as that attack, the Crystal Kingdom also found themselves sieged by the Russian army. Shining Armor had defended his kingdom and his family bravely but a single shot from a Finnish sniper had ended all morale and the city fell. Princess Cadence was now under arrest but even with that hostage Celestia refused to surrender.

It was this stubbornness that saw the united army of Humanity right at the gates of Canterlot, and is here that we find Princess Celestia looking from her great castle as the city was being sieged by humankind. Brave soldiers and ponies still defended the city but they were no match for the Thaumic Generators and human guns. She had failed and she knew that; even if she had accepted her defeat the hate that she felt for the humans did not vanish. She hated them because instead of leaving their violent ways and embracing harmony they had turned on her and her ponies and had begun a massacre just like in every war they were part of. She had failed on her mission of bringing peace and instead it was her little ponies the ones that had suffered.

She wanted to curse them but felt as if something was looking at her and silently judging her. Although being realistic, I wasn’t simply silently judging her; you already read what I thought so far. As she continued to look through the windows the castle shook as artillery rocked the foundation of the castle at the side of the mountain.

Regaining her footing she silently questioned how the humans were capable of reaching the castle so fast. It was very easy, I let them do it. And now she begins to look everywhere wondering if the voice she had just hear was real, and it is, I need to do this after all.

The sound from machine guns, explosions and screams ceased as everything except Celestia crawled to halt. The world was frozen in time scaring Princess Celestia like never before. She then began to scry around her with the intention of finding the source of such bizarre situation.

“Discord, if this is you then appear at once, I will not let you mock me in this way!” Celestia screamed obviously angry, but her anger hid a deep seated fear. It is not too surprising for even somepony as powerful as Celestia to act in this way; I noticed that close proximity with me can cause strange behavior from both mortal and immortal beings.

I decide then to open the doors of the throne room and then I finally see her shake. I may look as normal as any human being, but I know that just looking at me is disconcerting, how do you train your mind to be able to know that there is someone in front of you while all your instincts warn you that there is nothing in front of you and that you are in grave danger at the same time? Is maddening.

But that’s not why you are scared, right Celestia? I will tell you what you are feeling; all your guilt is being poured into your brain with no barrier.

“Enough! I will not be admonished by a simple human being! GUARDS!”

You are scared, that’s okay, everyone is when they meet me and not because I am some kind of weirdo, well, I am. But isn’t it fun that you are calling for guards instead of doing something yourself? Are you that afraid of me?

“How could I be afraid of a simple human being?”

Oh, but I’m not that, and you know it. Look me in the eyes and tell me who I am, you know it; deep within yourself you know the answer already.

“Is… is not… possible… why? This is not true,” Poor Celestia, she looks as bad as Twilight in Lesson Zero, minus the hair disaster of course “you cannot be… you are not human, you-you-you created me. Oh my stars, you created this world!” And now she is in full panic mode but just as her magic begins to collect on her horn I simply move my hand, the world around me following my silent order and the world begins to disappear as if it were sifted sand. Nothing is let but Celestia and I in the emptiness of an unrealized universe.

I did, I created you. And like clockwork you followed the same path as others like you. For someone who is ready to scream about harmony and friendship you are so quick to bring genocide to another species.

“It was you… all this time it was your plan? Did you just… make me so I could suffer?!”

Celestia, from the hundreds of you that I have made around the multiverse, no one can be as egocentric and xenophobic as you. Yes, I created you but I did it with a purpose, I wanted to give you a chance, to see if you would follow either your heart or your hate. The Conversion Bureau is over, no more will it exist. Is gone and you with it.

“WAIT! PLEASE WAIT, DON’T DESTROY ALL THIS BECAUSE OF ME AND GIVE US ANOTHER CHANCE!”

I already gave you fifty seven chances Celestia! Fifty fucking seven chances. I’ve rebooted this universe so many times and I keep seeing you fall to the same hate and delusions! You have asked me for chance after chance! Two of those chances I even let you keep your memories! No matter what happens, how I tweak it or change something, it always follows the same path. You find humanity, you create the stupid potion and then you begin to turn them into newfoals! Over and over again, and you know what’s the worst part? Is what you find as an excuse!

First it was jealousy because they were more advanced than ponies, then it was jealousy because Principal Celestia had her sister, then it was because you wanted to teach Sunset Shimmer a lesson. There was even a time that you did it because you felt it was your right as monarch of Equestria, and that was the one that kept her memories. No, is over, no more chances.

“Then why? If you knew I would not change then why give me the chance? Were you playing with us as a foal plays with its toys?!”

I’m not you Celestia; I did this because no matter how bad you guide them, ponies are like any other of my creations! How do you think I feel when I see my own creations wage war against others because they feel they are superior to them? I did this because I wanted to see if someone that finds the kind of power you did could find another way. That instead of becoming darkness it could help others.

There is something coming Celestia, and he is not going to be easily stopped. Noche will destroy every single world until he finds what he needs for him to ascend to my position. I cannot continue being passive on this, I just cannot continue narrating as if nothing happens. And you know what I found? That Sunset, yes THAT Sunset is the only one that is immune to Noche’s powers.

Not you, not Luna and definitely NOT Twilight. It is none other than The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer that will save this multiverse, but you won’t see something like that happening. I cannot keep thinking that there is redemption for you and this world. Goodbye Celestia.

And before she is capable of saying a word the chains made from stars pull her into the center of what used to be a universe. She will be here forever, never able to die. Maybe later I will remake this world, maybe ponies would be the creatures that have to be transformed into humans to survive, is an idea that is worth visiting.

Don’t think that I am happy; no writer wants to see its creation turn into a monster, well, maybe with exceptions like Lovecraft and Stephen King. For me it hurts, to see someone like Celestia and Twilight fall so low as to try to destroy another race. But I have no time to feel sorry for them; I still need to stop Noche. I will protect my creation. I will save them.

Author's Note

I never had to interact with them like this. Am I monster for what I did? For giving her so many chances?

It doesn't matter.

This was my biggest mistake.

The Wishful Sonata 01

You know, sometimes plans don’t go like one wanted, just look what happened last time. I decided to erase every single hint of the conversion potion. If you don’t know what it does you can go and read the Conversion Bureau, or not. Sometimes is better to not know those kinds of disasters. Anyway, after my terrible mistake of giving Celestia access to something as dangerous as the potion, why don’t we see what our dear bacon haired girl has done?

We could go and revisit one of the other Sunsets, maybe the one with Moka or we could even see how she became a fully-fledged ninja… hello, I haven’t seen this dimension before. Don’t look at me that way, when you create a universe link like I just did sometimes little ones appear; they just sometimes pop out of nowhere and can even surprise me. If it is a dangerous one we can make sure no one gets hurt so here we go.

Well, everything seems normal which at the same time doesn’t tell us a thing. Where could Sunset be? And those rays of light going everywhere accompanied by huge tears in time and space can only mean one thing. We are at the right time to see the ending of the fight between Daydream Shimmer and Midnight Sparkle… is funny, I mean, I know of another Midnight but… ah… sorry, that other Midnight is somewhere else. Anyway, seems that we reached the end and the cute glasses wearing Twilight has been redeemed and everything is like it should be. So what’s the difference? It seems this is a generic one.

Or at least I thought so before an unseen space tear cracked open and Sunset pushed her friends out of the way. This could be bad! I need to do something before Sunset falls to her death or something like that! So the only thing I can do at this point without pushing things too much is change the place the portal connected. No longer sending Sunset to Equestria it now threw Sunset on beautiful sand, untouched by humans until now.

Shaking her head and taking whatever sand was still on her head, Sunset Shimmer saw the blue expanse and could do nothing but sigh. She had just saved the whole reality, talked with Twilight and calmed her down. Now here she was who knows where and apparently marooned in an island. Or at least she hoped that it was just the coast.

After an hour under the sun’s heat and humidity, Sunset realized that her situation was one of the worst ones she had ever been into. Taking off her jacket and sitting under a palm Sunset began to think of all she would need to get out her current predicament. Her phone was useless since it didn’t have signal and with no idea of how far any kind of civilization was there was probably any way for her to escape this time.

She hated to be so realistic and almost cynic, but it was true, she was right now trapped in a desert island with no food, water and chance to survive. That is until she tripped on a rock as she began to walk deeper into the island. She turned around ready to kick the hell out of the stone until the glint of the light’s reflection on it made her stop. It wasn’t a stone, it was glass.

Knowing that she began to dig with her hands until she found out that what she had tripped with was a long necked blue bottle with a beautiful design. It seemed like an antique. Sunset wondered why the bottle had been on the island. She wasn’t the most knowledgeable about Earth’s history but she could recognize the strange symbols at the side of the bottle as Arabic. It seems that she was close to the Middle East? But the sea and the vegetation on the island seemed like the Caribbean. It was indeed a bizarre thing to find the bottle but Sunset was glad to have found something like that since it meant that even though it felt empty, now she at least had a container in the case she could find drinkable water. That was until she pullet the cork on the top of the bottle.

As the cork surrendered to Sunset’s strength a strange blue smoke began to be expelled from the interior of the bottle. Fearing that what she had on her hands was an ancient trap and the smoke was some kind of poison she threw it into the sand. Instead of simply dispersing in the air the smoke began to coalesce in some way and in a few seconds Sunset had to rub her eyes, wondering if maybe being under the sun for so long had done something to her perception of the world.

Right in front of her, kneeling in the sand wearing a blue crop top and pantaloons combo was none other than Sonata Dusk. Sunset could do nothing but remain silent and in shock as the blue haired teenager then began to talk.

"من اینجا هستم برای شما استاد" Sunset simply blinked not understanding a word that the siren had just told her. She knew that the ditzy member of the Sirens had come from another era of Equestria but even if she knew that there was no way for her to translate.

Most importantly was how the girl ended up in the bottle. Could it be possible that after they were beaten by the Rainbooms the other two put her in the bottle as punishment? No, it didn’t make sense; after all, they had been turned into normal teenagers after their pendants were destroyed. So, how was this possible?

“Sonata? Is that you?” Once more, the girl ended up talking in gibberish for all she knew. The surprise and confusion of seeing her in island plus the fact that she was marooned on that same island was beginning to be too much even for the former unicorn “Ugh, I wish you would start talking English, right now I don’t understand a word you say.” She said as an afterthought, simply putting her feelings into words to vent a little.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?” The same slightly ditzy voice that she had heard back at Canterlot High answered back making Sunset’s eyes bulge out.

“Wait, you know how to speak in English?!”

“Not until you asked for it, I mean, I have no idea what English is but if that is my new Master’s language I’ll gladly speak on the same tongue as you.” She said with a huge grin and in just a second she threw herself at Sunset in a glomp as the redhead tried to understand what she had been told.

“Hold on a second, Master? Are you a djinn?”

“Well, I’m a genie, at least that’s what momma used to say, I’m not quite sure what she was but I’m pretty sure my parents were normal people, is kind of hard to think about it. I have been trapped in that bottle for almost two thousand years! You would not believe how boring can it be to be living in that bottle for so long Master, well, it would be Mistress now I suppose. Is it okay if I call you Mistress?”

“Two thou- you are this world’s Sonata!” It was incredible! Sunset had been wondering where the human world versions of the Sirens were, now it seemed that at least one was a genie all along, wait a moment. “So does that mean that I can have my three wishes?” Even back on Equestria, djinns were not all-powerful beings and usually only gave a couple of wishes to those that deserved that power, mostly brave heroes or mortals that had done a great favor or service to the djinn.

“Oh Mistress, don’t be silly, I’m here for you until you want me to or have no more need of me” Sonata’s last words were accompanied with a sudden drop of mood for the blue haired genie. Was that how she had ended up on the bottle? Either way, this was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.

“Okay, Sonata, I wish I was back home at Canterlot High.” The redhead quickly said already missing her friends back home. For her part, the blue haired genie did a weird pose where she put one arm over the other and with a quick nod the sun and sea were exchanged with a partially cloudy sky and the remains of a horseman statue.

As one, the voices of several girls were heard as the friends of Sunset Shimmer, including the Crystal Prep Twilight all ran to Sunset who was lying on the floor with a girl that had been an enemy not too long ago basically lying on top of their friend.

“Oh my.”

“Well, Ah have no idea of what is goin’ on right now.”

“Wait, so you used a portal to avoid the clean up just so you play hooky on us and spend it on a Siren? Did you at least nailed her? AWW!”

“Rainbow Dash, don’t be so crass.” Rarity quickly said removing her foot from top of Rainbow’s.

“Hi, my name is Sonata and I just found my new Mistress.” The genie said making every single girl blink before both Rarity and Fluttershy fainted at the revelation. Sunset meanwhile tried to contain the huge blush appearing on her face but it was impossible as she felt Sonata tightly embrace her once again.

“Oh boy, where do I even start? Maybe Twilight has a book on how to take care of a genie.” She simply said as she enjoyed the cool stone under her wondering how the rest of the school year will go.

Author's Note

What can I say? I love old tv shows.

Also, what Sonata said was persian and basicaly meant said I am here for you master.

Happily Bewitched 01

Once upon a time, there was a typical Canterlotian girl, she was a little shy but she worked hard and tried to become a better person each day. She was wearing her hair short up to her shoulder; alongside her clip in from of a flower and shy smile on her face she was probably the most adorable human in all Canterlot besides Fluttershy without even realizing it.

Coco Pommel turned to look at one of the shop windows and stopped for a second to see some of the designs, her smile increasing in size as she recognized the style of Rarity Belle on them. The woman was a year older than her but she was already gaining popularity around the country. With a nod to herself Coco then began to walk in the direction of the revolving door. It was at that moment when her life forever changed.

Coco was a typical Canterlotian girl, who happened to bump into a… maybe not so typical red blooded Canterlotian girl right there at the revolving doors. Coco turned to look at the taller girl and she lost her breath at how fiery the color of the other girl’s hair was. She had seen redheads before but never with that tone. The girl in question smiled at Coco and for a moment she forgot why she was at the shop.

“I’m sorry, I was thinking about something and I didn’t notice.” The redhead said as Coco nodded; the two then entered the store and separated. Coco knew that who she had met by accident was not someone she would meet again and for some reason she was slightly sad. Once again her own shyness and demure personality had stopped her from starting a conversation. She then shrugged slightly and decided to continue browsing the store.

And she bumped into her, as the two were looking at some mannequins and the dresses that were in exhibition. And she bumped into her just as Sunset was paying something and Coco had a couple of blouses on her arm.

And so, they decided to sit down and talk this over before they had an accident. It was Sunset the one who had started the talking as she invited Coco so they would at least get to know each other. They were both sitting down at an open café and talk they did. They each told their respective names and began to talk about many different things. Coco was excited to know that Sunset was a close friend to Rarity and even promised introducing her to the fashionista. Soon a couple of minutes became an hour; an hour into two, until they both realized they had been talking the whole afternoon and the sun was already going down.

Coco was ready to call for a taxi but Sunset insisted on driving Coco to her apartment in the city. The redhead explained that, even though she was more of a bike type of girl she had a car and could give her a ride home. Coco was amazed at the black and red classic Mustang while Sunset joked that the car reminded her of home.

Once Sunset arrived at Coco’s apartment block the young seamstress and the redhead exchanged phone numbers quickly making plans to see each other again after such a nice evening between the two.

The days passed and they became good friends and they began to spend more time together. Sunset drove a couple of times to the boutique Coco worked. The first time it happened even Lace Brocade, Coco’s boss, was completely shocked after watching the redhead enter the boutique asking for Coco. With a smile that seemed way too smug, Lace gave the young girl the rest of the day free so she could expend it with her ‘friend’.

Coco was for the first time truly happy, making new friends in the form of Rarity, who quickly took a shining on her after they began to gush about fashions in vogue. She also became good friends with Fluttershy, their similar personalities and demeanor allowed them to be silent and still enjoy each other’s company. But the one she was the closest with was Sunset; it was such that several of Sunset’s friends ribbed the redhead a little about getting such a ‘cute girlfriend’.

Spending so much of their times together they soon found they had a lot of interests in common, such as old black and white movies, although Coco wasn’t sure what was the movie they went to see since most of their time was spend kissing each other. They also liked picnics in which Coco usually took naps using Sunset’s chest as her pillow. The heartbeat of the taller girl was soothing for Coco. They also liked to watch the starry night, but in those occasions Coco was most of the time in the back seat of Sunset’s car.

When the not so typical red blooded Canterlotian girl found Coco too irresistible to the point she could not imagine the rest of her life without her she did what any other person… or pony, would do in that situation. She asked Coco to marry her. They didn’t exactly have a typical wedding since one Pinkamina Diane Pie was in charge of what was probably one of the biggest parties in the history of Canterlot afterwards. That night was one that no one would forget, especially Sunset and Coco who spend their time among friends. Sadly neither of the two had any family -that they could invite to the wedding since Sunset’s were in Equestria and Coco’s were… somewhere- but alongside friends like the humane seven and others the night was even better than Coco’s dreams.

They went on a typical honeymoon far away from Canterlot and full of sandy beaches and blue sea. They also stayed in a typical bridal suite. Except, it so happens, that these two girls are not so normal.

One was a pony from another universe that had been transformed into a human thanks to the portal. The other, well, was a witch.

I wonder what would happen when they find each other’s secret, that would be hysterical. Especially once Sunset meets her new Mother-in-law.

Author's Note

Fun fact, it was so hard to find the one that would take Samantha's role. I mean, i never thought that Sunset would be Samantha, so there I was thinking, who could be the Samanthat in this story? First I thought about Moondancer but it didn't quite feel right for some reason, maybe because she didn't have that kind of sophistication/waifu combination. Then I thought of Starlight, then Adagio was a possible candidate until I remembered our lovely Coco Pommel and realized one thing. She had never been on these stories so there you go. Don't they make a cute pair?

Unkillable Teacher

Apple Bloom gulped once more after feeling the immense pressure exuding from the one woman she had hurt the most in her life. It seems that their sin was being punished a thousand times watching the inhuman woman walk to the front of the class accompanied by a man in a black suit. The younger Apple recognized the demonic face considering that she had helped on its rebirth after what she, Sweetie and Scootaloo had done two weeks ago.

Last time she had seen Sunset she had been left behind by her sister and her friends; Sunset had been left kneeling and crying in the middle of the hallways and for a few minutes she had felt proud of what she had accomplished. It had turned into despair after they all saw Sunset become the demon once more. Later on that day they all saw the terrible power that the woman now had and the half destroyed moon in the sky was a reminder of what Apple Bloom had accomplished. In the end she had separated Sunset from the others and her sister was once more spending time with her, but in exchange she had unleashed the worst kind of monster in the world.

Looking at her grinning red face, Apple Bloom was sure that she would be seeing that face on her nightmares for months to come. The young girl averted her eyes after Sunset looked at her, both in shame and terror.

What her sister and her friends had discovered was that Princess Twilight was incapable of coming to this world after Sunset did something to the portal. They were alone and without magic powerful enough to defeat her. A couple of Canterlot high students had found out that the statue in front of the school was gone the day after the moon had been almost destroyed and Apple Bloom knew very well who was responsible for something like this.

Looking at the way her skin shined under the light of the classroom due to her new scales and the mouth full of razor teeth Sunset showed when she was grinning made Apple Bloom almost faint. Thinking about it, she heard the sound of Silver Spoon fainting the moment Sunset grinned in their direction.

“You may know the woman that is with me right now as a student in this school,” the man in a black suit started talking “right now she is the most dangerous woman in Earth and she promised that in one year she will destroy the planet." The gasps and screams of terror were not strange considering the news. Apparently Sunset didn’t stop grinning at the news and that only made Apple Bloom feel worst.

“This is a joke right? Where is the camera?” Scootaloo asked looking everywhere not quite believing the news.

“I’m afraid this is true, Sunset Shimmer at this moment is an entity that holds enough power to do that. You can look at the sky to see for yourselves, she was the one who destroyed the moon.” At those words the enormity of what the man had told them was finally clear; they all had just one year to be alive now.

“What are ya doin’ Sunset? Why are you doin’ all this?” The voice of her older sister was loud and clear as she ran to the inside of Apple Bloom’s classroom, behind her the rest of her friends with expressions of shock, rage or plainly crying.

“Hey AJ, what can I say? You said that I was still a demon, guess you were correct. Speaking about demons, Apple Bloom, I see you and your friends tried to keep on going with your little Anon-a-Miss account.”

“Wait, what you are talking about Sunset?” Rarity asked wondering about the meaning of what the demon had said while the rest of the CMC shivered in fear.

“It seems Miss Rarity that three students of this class created an account, known as Anon-A-Miss, so they could release dirty secrets about the students.” The dark suited man said while Rarity arched an eyebrow at that information.

“And you would know that because?”

“My name is Steel Edge and I am Director of Home Security. One of the demands Sunset Shimmer gave the governments of the world when she appeared in the middle of an UN reunion was that we had to investigate that account. In the end we found out that the students Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were the ones that created the account.” The man said as every student turned to look at them with rage filled looks. The worst was Applejack who looked at her with such disappointment in her eyes that Apple Bloom felt as if her heart had been ripped out at that moment.

“There was also a second demand that they so graciously accepted. Boys and girls, until next year I will be the teacher of this classroom. You only have one year to kill me or the whole world will be destroyed. Welcome to the Assassination Classroom.” Sunset said with the same grin on her face as if she had been enjoying the whole scene.

Author's Note

I may have a sadistic streak on me.

The Will of Fire 03

The chunin vest of the woman in front of her was ticker than any other vest TenTen have seen before and her family was known to supply most of the ninjas in the village. It seemed twice the normal size with a multitude of pockets here and there clearly showing that the woman was prepared for everything it seemed.

The young girl had heard about the ninja from her father; she was apparently a kunoichi that had taken everyone by surprise with the multitude of events happening around her. Apparently she was one of the few survivors of the destruction of Whirlpool and had been accepted by the Hokage itself; her discoveries in the usage of chakra was simply revolutionizing the way ninjas did their missions and was also a close ally of the Hyuuga after she saved the heir of the clan.

TenTen was really surprised at those accomplishments and was very interested in what the redheaded teenager was doing alongside a young blonde. Squinting TenTen recognized the boy as Naruto, the one kid her father have told her not to get close, not that she knew why. Naruto was just a little kid and since he was alongside such a cool ninja then maybe he wasn’t bad. Even more interesting was the fact that there was another kid accompanying Sunset in the park. The dark blue hair and milky white eyes were clear signs of Hyuuga blood. The little girl had a white kimono and was listening closely to what Sunset was saying. Not too far away but far enough to not bother them were two Hyuuga clan guardians obviously escorting the young heir.

TenTen was really tempted of joining them as apparently Sunset was teaching them something but before she could get close to them she saw a small bunch of kids getting closer to them. The guards were ready to advance feeling that something was about to happen but Sunset merely raised a hand on their direction. Sunset merely crossed her arms as the other kids got closer to Naruto. It was clear that they were there to bully the blonde boy and he knew it.

That was his luck; just as he had met someone like old man Ichiraku and even made a friend in the quiet girl with the weird eyes he still had bad luck. He was ready to feel the small pebbles being thrown at him and even heard the obvious sound of the rocks sailing through the air, but then nothing. Opening his eyes he saw all the small rocks floating in midair and he immediately knew who had done that.

Behind Naruto the redheaded chunin had an arm raised and a smirk on her face as she began to walk in the direction of the small bullies. Sadly for those kids they had found out an expert on that. She was not as proud of herself as she had been when she was still Celestia’s student, but even she knew how useful those skills were on a daily basis for a ninja. Meanwhile, the kids were in shock at what the young ninja had done not realizing that for Sunset this was merely child’s play considering all the other things she could do if she mixed her natural magic with the ambient chakra.

“So, I’ve been hearing from the Hokage that there were kids bothering Naruto.” She clicked her tongue as Hinata and Naruto stayed together and let the older girl deal with the bullies “now, I know that your parents will do nothing and will keep on doing nothing as long as you only target him, sadly for you there is a big trouble for all of you now.”

“Yeah? And what will that be?” One of the kids -obviously the ring leader- said reminding her in some way to Kamano back in the academy. Just for that Sunset began to truly get angry; before she was only going to scare them a bit, now it was almost personal.

“Poor, poor deluded boy, asking those questions to a fully armed ninja, but don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you, after all, even the Hokage frowns upon a ninja visibly punishing a civilian; even though he would understand that I had to educate a fucking brainless brat like you.” A small growl came out of her voice and she let out some of her famous killing intent. Instead of advancing in the direction Sunset let go of the stones before walking into the sand pit. Taking a small red rod from one of her vest pockets and burying it in the middle “Now, I want you all to watch the small thing that I just buried. You may not notice it but I can activate it with a simple chakra signal, just like this one.” Sunset said before she snapped her fingers, then everyone heard the explosion as sand went everywhere, their hair and clothes quickly being assaulted by sand unlike Naruto and Hinata who were protected by the Hyuuga guards.

Once the sand settled every single kid was left with their mouth open watching the hole that had been made by such a small rod in the sand pit. As one they all turned their heads to see a grinning Sunset looking at them as if they were rabbits in front of a wolf.

“You see boys and girls, I cannot hit you directly, but who knows, maybe one day you or your parents are walking in the street and suddenly BOOM, the last thing you feel is an explosion under your feet!” Sunset would have liked to say that she didn’t feel proud of making kids scream in terror and basically pissing their pants, but Sunset was not a nice girl so in the end she took enjoyment from that. Seeing the wannabe bullies run away as if they were being chased by a demon -although the comparison was not that bad- made Sunset let out a big laughter as only the two Hyuuga adults and five kids remained rooted in their places.

"Sunset-sama, sometimes you even scare me." One of the guards said making Sunset almost squee in delight.

“That… was… so COOL! Sunset! You need to teach me how you did that!”

“Goddamit Naruto, can’t you see that I was enjoying that? Besides, there is no way in Tartarus you could learn how to do my Nightmare Bomb right now; you need to learn chemistry first!”

“Aw bummer, can’t you teach me something easier then?”

“That’s why we were here but apparently you don’t even wanna learn about chakra, by the way, Ino, get over here” One of the two kids that had been accompanying the bullies almost jumped at being called. From the beginning she wasn’t very interested in going along with the other kids but since Sakura wanted to fit amongst them she had no other option but to follow her. Said pink haired girl was right now holding for dear life unto Ino’s arm. The blonde girl sometimes wondered how her life had become so complicated so early, and she felt that the answer for that was the redheaded girl that her father had become friends with. Her dad had never said how exactly he had met Sunset but she knew it must have been interesting since she had been invited to their house for dinner several times.

“Come on Sakura, is alright, Sunset will not hurt you.” She said to the still panicking pinkette as she slowly walked in their direction. At the last moment Sunset noticed the other girl who has seen everything from the beginning.

“Oi, I remember you; are you the daughter of the guy who sells me weapons?” Sunset asked making TenTen immediately answer back.

“My name is TenTen!”

“Yeah yeah yeah, whatever; look, are you going to stay there or are you coming here? I mean, I’m telling these bunch of brats-” immediately, all the kids made their displeasure be known for being called brats “so why not just join them too? I was about to tell them about chakra since a certain blondy apparently don’t even know what the word means.”

“Hey! Is not my fault nobody wanted to teach me about what chakra is!” As Sunset and Naruto continued bickering TenTen didn’t took long in coming to the decision of joining the small group. It was not only clear that Sunset was good at what she did but if today was any indication, things would be everything but boring alongside those two.

Author's Note

Sunset's old team was her, Inuzuka Hana and Akimichi Maruten. kamano was a bully in the academy and they are canon. So finally Sunset spends time with Naruto and you see that some people are walking away from their canon paths and things are starting to change. I also decided in an 'official' theme song for Will of Fire, and although it is the opening of another anime it truly conveys how different this timeline will be, since now it will be more political, more information, more dangerous and more more BADASS!

THE WILL OF FIRE

The Will of Fire 04

Like many things in life, nothing can stay the same forever, time goes on and life changes alongside it. One of those changes was the amount of time Sunset spend training and suffering the affection of the Brat Association as she had dubbed them. They were cute and adorable sometimes but mostly they got on Sunset’s nerves.

Naruto was a kid running on ramen apparently because the motor mouth blonde never stopped; between questions, silly stories and his dreams, Sunset was sure that’s how it felt to have a brother. Just a few weeks of meeting the blonde container of the Kyuubi -it was way too easy to find out the truth, how else all the adults would look at him like that? Not to mention the energy signature- and she had took him from his run down pest-infested apartment into her own residence much to the outcry of the civilian council. The bunch of idiots were so stupid that they never realized who they were messing with; not for nothing Sunset was called The Red Nightmare from Konoha. Those shinobi that had met Kushina didn’t doubt that Sunset was a distant cousin just watching the hair and the temper; and watch they did once Sunset went to town on the Civilian Council.

A week after the nightmares started, the sleep deprived members of the council stopped complaining and red taping Sunset’s decision of letting Naruto live with her much to the delight of the Konoha Clan Leaders. They all had their own spats with the Civilian Council and just watching them basically falling over themselves asking for forgiveness was all they needed to also allow Sunset taking the blonde boy.

It was weird for Sunset to want to take care of Naruto, but soon she quickly understood why she felt such a connection with him. They had both grown up alone and with no one alongside them. Sure, Sunset had been taken by Princess Celestia but before that it was the streets and a few years in the orphanage where she had been merciless bullied for not having control on her magic at the time. Sunset recognized those smiles in Naruto as only a façade, a way in which he could hide his pain. It made something in Sunset feel protective of him but not to pity him; she knew that Naruto was as proud as herself so she would not insult him feeling pity for the blonde dynamo.

Another brat that was basically glued to her side now was none other than Hyuuga Hinata. The quiet girl had been fascinated from the beginning with the redhead and she followed her around the Hyuuga compound whenever Sunset was invited for dinner by a member. For a clan that was known for being cold and detached, she early realized that it was mostly on the upper echelon of the clan, mostly the elder council. The rest of the clan was as lively as an Akimichi as she soon realized so never thought twice about visiting friends in the Hyuuga Compound. The redhead was surprised when she realized that she had friends and she was on shock when that happened.

Hinata was adorable and that’s one of the reasons why Sunset was not bothered with her; she was also highly attentive and even though it was clear that Hinata had absolutely no desire for hurting others she was obviously someone with a great mind and who could continue getting better.

The redhead had been surprised that three others had joined Naruto and Hinata, and those were Sakura, Ino and TenTen. The first two seemed ready to become nothing more than mediocre kunoichi and she had to beat upon them that being a shinobi was not only dangerous but it was basically a life commitment. TenTen on the other hand took her teaching like a duck to water and even surprised Sunset by the way she began to work on her strategic aspect of using weapons.

All in all Sunset was proud of seeing her little students grow into future ninjas, and in the case of TenTen, becoming a genin. Sunset was about to scream when she was told who her Jounin Instructor was. The redhead was so close of clawing her own eyes out when she met Gai for the first time, so this time it was worst considering he had a mini version of himself at his side. If he ever tried to make TenTen wear one of those green abominations she would make Gai eat one of her special Nightmare Bombs.

Beyond that Sunset had found a place where she belonged, even more than Equestria. Yes, it was heavily aggressive and warmongering but it was home and Sunset would not exchange it for nothing. So it was with great trepidation that Sunset found herself at the usual place; right in front of the Hokage’s desk like many times in the past. This time she wasn’t alone but every time her life changed it was at that same office.

“So, do you think you finally found the way to remove it safely?”

“Safely? Not even Jiraiya could remove it, but it can be modified; I’ll need to prepare everything since Orochimaru put several traps inside it.”

“Is it going to hurt as much as last time you checked on it?” The woman at the side of Sunset asked. Her dark purple spiky hair and trench coat had become as iconic as the endless pockets on Sunset’s jounin vest.

“Oh no, the pain is going to be even worst and I’ll probably gonna have to strap you down so you don’t move as I work on the seal.”

“So you mean you are going to tie me down, grope and hurt me while performing the most intrusive and humiliating session we’ve ever had?” Anko said almost screaming in Sunset’s face while this one only smirked knowing exactly what Anko was thinking.

“Yes, so what do you say? This Friday?”

“Oh hell yeah.” Was the only answer Sunset got before Anko left the office. For his part, Sarutobi simply sighed knowing in his heart of hearts that making those two spend time together as Sunset studied Orochimaru’s handiwork was a very bad idea.

“Oh come on, don’t look at me like that, when we are in the lab we are completely professional… well, most of the time; there was this time when Anko brought the chakra absorbing manacles and we ended up-”

“I’m sure that the story is truly fascinating but I’m afraid we still have to talk about something.” Sarutobi interrupted the jounin. It was in fact fascinating and the inner pervert in him wanted to hear more, but there was something more than he wanted to tell Sunset.

“I’m all ears.”

“I want you to teach a genin team this year.”

“No way.”

“Listen me out first. I know you have been against taking a genin team after becoming a jounin yourself but I truly believe you can help this team.”

“Alright, who is it?”

“I need you to teach Sasuke-”

“Fuck you old man! There is no way in hell I’m getting close to Sasuke! Just looking at him makes me feel angry!” It had been a special ability of the Uchiha to make Sunset want to punch each and every one of them, and even after the whole Uchiha Massacre she was not going to cuddle the last member of the clan like the rest of the village. Thank whoever deity resided in that universe that her brats didn’t become idiots like the rest of the village.

“You are the only one I trust with in this case. Danzo and the rest of the council want to take him into an accelerated program.” Sunset quickly understood that ‘accelerated’ meant for Danzo to turn him into a killing machine in hopes of becoming Hokage soon, and like hell Sunset was letting him become that, he still creep her out “and the other only option that I have is Kakashi.”

“Oh hell, I would even prefer Danzo. We are talking of the guy that continues to live as if he were Obito? The man doesn’t know anything outside of his stupid book and survivor’s guilt, he is worthless as a teacher.”

“Does that mean you accept?”

“Only if you give me Naruto.”

“I knew you were going to say that, I already had him in the team; someone else you want?”

“I would say Ino but you are obviously putting her with Shikamaru and Chouji.” The infamous InoShikaCho combo was going to be revived, although this time people were more afraid of the Ino part than the Shika one. Sunset was definitely a bad example for Ino who had become so good at manipulation that she could probably make Ibiki cry from joy at the way Ino could get someone to spill the beans. She was also extremely good with short and long term plans to get whatever she wanted, be it to get some boy to buy her some clothes she liked or to get information about an ex-teacher at the academy.

It had been so funny and entertaining for Sunset to catch Mizuki a couple of day ago trying to use Naruto. In the end not only was he convicted for life as traitor but Naruto and Ino had become quite the terrifying pair in terms of raw power and strategies.

“That’s true, so instead you will have Sakura to round up your team.”

“Meh, Pinky is getting better, so, sure, I’ll take the team… there is just one final thing.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it strange that nobody notices the Hokage Monument anymore?” Sunset said looking at something behind Sarutobi. As the older man turned around to see the painted face of the mountain he knew that the jounin had already escaped from his office. Why did he think that it was a good idea to have Sunset as a ninja again?

Rosario+Pony 03

Everything that had happened in the last couple of days would probably be just the introduction to living in a school made by monsters for monsters. At least that was Sunset’s hypothesis after meeting so many strange things. The redhead did not find the school so strange considering that she herself should be the most alien being in the whole academy since she was probably the only student to hail from another dimension. Not that she was going to say that aloud.

Sunset Shimmer -aptly named Yuya in this school- took a coin from her wallet and after inserting it in the machine got a nice cold juice can. It had been quite the tiring day and Yuya didn’t know how she would go the rest of the school year considering the situation she was in. not only she was becoming quite popular without even trying; but that popularity was dragging even more problems her way -a fact that she knew was due to her own karma-. It was so bad that Yuya knew that she was going to get laughed at whenever she got in contact with the girls at Canterlot.

Saying one quick thank you to Japanese people being obsessed with drink vending machines, Sunset popped open the can of apple juice and began to think of what had just happened so far. First was the whole thing of her turning into Satan Sunset once again but this time in a different context. The first one had been due to Sunset absorbing the power of the crown, but due to her own darkness and ambition the energy had been twisted, resulting in that nightmarish form. This time it was different, she could feel it in the way she transformed.

The redhead remembered the pain she suffered that night; the way her bones, muscle and skin seemed to be on fire, how much she screamed before that dark presence took control of her body. Sunset was thankful that Sparky’s transformation back at the Friendship Games had been painless; it was probably the only silver lining on that fiasco.

Sunset was very curious about her new transformation and how much it mirrored the way the students at theacademy took their real forms. Even Moka changed; from her hair to personality it was like she was talking with another being but Sunset’s was different. For once she felt in control; no dark whispers promising power and revenge, no pain and lacerations and not even the addictive feeling of power running through her veins. Instead she felt focused, with the world almost running slower around her. Her mind was intact and for once she knew she had the power she wanted but for the right reasons, if that even made sense.

The second thing that had made Sunset so irritable lately was the way every single boy -and more than a few girls- kept following her with their eyes, and she knew exactly for what reason. Absentmindedly, Yuya tugged down once again the stupidly short uniform skirt that all female students were forced to wear. The redhead was afraid that one wrong turn or the slightless breeze would make the skirt fly and everyone would be able to see what was underneath her skirt. She had half a mind of starting to wear shorts underneath it from now on. Beyond the clothing, Yuya was starting to lose her patience with them and sooner or later something would happen to make her release her infamous temper on them.

Lastly, she was worried about what had happened in the morning before classes. For a second she had felt as if the shorter girl was the only thing that mattered in the world but the next second it was gone, replaced by a feeling of power and control. Sunset was sure later on that the girl had tried to use some kind of charming spell on her, and for some reason, Yuya had been capable of countering it, but how? That was the thing that had made Yuya weary of the blue haired girl. It also worsened things that the girl was sitting at the right of Moka and Sunset felt the heated glare the other girl was sending to the vampire.

Finishing the can of juice Yuya threw it like a basketball in the direction of the recycling bin and cheered slightly after it went inside with no problem. Maybe she could enter the basketball club in the school? Nah, it was too much hassle for someone that didn’t want to call too much attention at the school. With that in mind she started to get back to the main hallway but something was going on because every single student was present.

Sunset was thankful that she was taller than the average student because she had no problem traversing the monster conglomeration and quickly saw what was going on. Both Moka and the other girl seemed to be discussing. That by itself was something weird since Moka didn’t seem like the girl that would fight someone else, at least with the Rosario still on. She was just too damn sweet for something for that. Then she heard the explanation of what the other girl was, a Succubus.

“Well, that explains the charming spell.” She said slowly walking in the direction of the two before she heard the most ridiculous plan that she had ever heard; and she was the one that had come up with the army of teenage zombies so she knew about stupid plans. Quickly, Yuya grabbed the blue haired girl by the head and began to drag her away as all the students quickly got out of her way. Yuya truly needed to have some words with the monster.

“What was that all about?” Kurumu asked after Yuya dragged her into one of the infirmary rooms.

“Let’s just say we are going to have some words about what is going on. First of all, what was the deal with the charming spell you tried to use?”

“So you know about them, you truly are a powerful demon.” Kurumu said slightly annoyed by the way the discussion she had with Moka had been rudely interrupted.

“Demon… sure, let’s go with that. So what was that all about? After what you tried to do this morning you own me an answer.”

“This is school so you cannot pull ranking over me, no matter how strong you are. But if you want to know, I will not rest until I make you and Moka lose all your popularity, that way every male on this school will be part of my harem.”

“That’s the part that I don’t get, why do you have to do that?” Yuya was definitely confused by the way Kurumu was acting and the plans that she had.

“Don’t insult me! You should know how hard it is for us Succubus! How much our numbers are decreasing; it has been so hard to find my destined one, you will not stop me now!” Kurumu said losing whatever ounce of patience she had remaining before a pair of dark bat wings erupted from the back of the girl.

“I’m pretty sure that was a Queen’s song but no matter; why do I always get into these problems?”

Rosario+Pony 04

Sunset was sure that she had been cursed at some point of her life. Maybe even was something that the Elements of Harmony had done to her considering all the times she had been hit by the powers of those mystical sources of magic. If there could be a way to say what kind of life she had now it would be ‘May You Live in interesting Times’ because it was one thing to another constantly bombarding her with new experiences.

The inner scientist inside her was more than surprised and excited at finding herself in a place where the supernatural was a daily thing. Coming from Equestria Sunset was no slouch in knowledge about darkness and monsters -she even had a taste of something similar once- but everything that was happening at Youkai Academy was like a dream come true for an academic like Sunset. All that she had seen only made Sunset have more questions about the environment and about the different species of monsters she had found. Among them Vampires, Catgirls -or Nekomata as her sensei had called herself-, and the latest was the Succubus.

Looking at Kurumu gain several traits from a bat made Sunset look back at her transformation not too long ago. The same type of bat wings and long claws were something both Sunset and Kurumu shared, even though her own claws were shorter but probably stronger. What was different was the whole skin and face change, with Sunset gaining dark orange scaled skin and a much more demonic face; while Kurumu maintained the same looks. It was probably due to maintaining the supernatural beauty.

Sunset was also very curious about being referred as a demon by the succubus. She knew that back home people have called her ‘Satan’ when referring to her old form, and she knew that in some way it fitted her. To think that people didn’t have an idea of Sunset’s true nature was hilarious, but in all honesty Sunset didn’t mind that they thought that. Everything was better than them thinking she was a human being.

What was worrying was the fact that they all thought she was some kind of high ranking demon. Without any real idea of how to gain access to her Satan form, then Sunset could find herself in deep trouble. Just like now after Kurumu decided to throw the rulebook away and transform in front of Sunset.

“Well, this is bad,” It was the only thing Sunset could say after watching the other girl transform and start floating in front of her. Sunset even felt some small nostalgia, thinking back about Sparky and Midnight Sparkle. It was strangely similar; maybe there was something about Sunset that called for demonic looking girls. Before she could move or do anything, the door of the infirmary was opened and a panicking Moka ran inside before shoving Kurumu away. Even with the rosary Moka had more than enough strength in her body.

“Get away from her!” To see the usually sweet girl react in that way was an eye opener for Sunset.

“Atta girl, where did that come from?” Sunset said looking at the hole Kurumu had made after she was pushed out of the room by Moka; said long haired girl was slightly blushing at what she had done but there was also a glint of resolve in those usually sweet and warm eyes.

“Yuya, you need to leave this place, she is a-”

“Succubus, I know, she wasn’t exactly subtle with what she was doing. Think she will have enough for now?” If there was one thing Sunset hated was to fight against someone that was fighting for their survival. Even after what happened with the Dazzlings back home, Sunset still felt bad after knowing that the sirens were now transformed into normal human beings. They were probably the last of their species and now they were lost, with no one exactly knowing what happened to them.

“I’m not sure but she is determined to make us pay. She is dangerous to both of us!”

“To be thrown so far away, I see; so this is the power of a vampire? But this is not over yet!” Kurumu all but screamed as she used her long forked tail and grabbed Sunset by the arm starting to drag her outside. Sunset was surprised by the amount of power the smaller girl had; for someone that was obviously made for seduction Kurumu hid some tremendous power. Just as the redhead was about to be pulled out of the building, Moka also jumped and holding onto Sunset they made Kurumu crash.

Shaking her head Sunset had to quickly roll at the side to avoid Kurumu’s sharp nails. They were powerful enough to cut down a tree.

“Yuya, take off my rosary!” The pinkette said making Sunset go for the cross dandling by a silver chain. The redhead was no slouch in the monster department but since the first fight when she arrived at Youkai Academy, she was no sure how she had transformed. The energy that she had felt that day, so dark and inviting was something that Sunset didn’t know how to summon once again. Letting Moka fight this time was probably for the best.

As Sunset took a hold of the small silver cross but after tugging it once the two girls had quite the dangerous dilemma in their hands. Basically, the damn thing didn’t want to budge and remained attached to Moka’s collar

“You have to take it off!”

“What do you think I’m trying?!” But it was in vain, the rosary refused to move and Kurumu was preparing herself for another pass with her claws “I’m sorry Moka, I couldn’t help you this time.”

“No, I’m the one that’s sorry; all this time I have been using you as a blood bank, you said it yourself, and I just wish I could have done something nice for you in exchange,” Seeing Moka so down did not sit well for Sunset; it just made something burn inside of her. All this time they both wanted to help each other, isn’t that what friendship was all about? And like hell she was going to let down a friend!

Just as she thought that the rosary was finally pulled from the chain and the energy began to circle around Moka but Sunset did not pay attention to it. All that time and Sunset still didn’t learn the lesson, not even after the Friendship Games and the camping problems back at Everfree Forest. The power had been inside her all along, it had been in front of her all the time.

It was dark, sure, but agonizing fire was not there, in fact, it felt just like every time Sunset and her friends began to play or were ready to defend their home. She knew how to call the power inside her, she just had to believe in her and let the real her shine. Soon Sunset’s eyes turned black and teal, wings of dark matter grew out of her back without destroying fabric and took form of bat wings like Kurumu; her claws grew up and her skin turned red and scaly. This time Satan Sunset was here to protect, not to destroy.

Coming back to her senses she got the explanation of why Kurumu was so angry. Yes, it was pity at best but Sunset knew how seeing the thing you had worked so much for was in the end denied by someone else. She just couldn’t stay quiet on this dilemma.

Just as Moka threw one more kick Sunset was in front of the vampire and with her arm stopped the fierce kick. Both the succubus and Moka were left in awe at the way Sunset had received the attack and barely even moved.

“That’s enough, I’m sure Kurumu has learned her lesson.”

“Move out of the way; she tried to manipulate my other self and you and you still help her?” The dark and cold eyes from the vampire were as fierce as those Sunset had at the moment as the two monsters reached an impasse.

“I know, but I also know how it feels to be put into an impossible situation. I know our situations are not the same but I still know how much it hurt to see your dreams be destroyed by someone else, besides, she was doing this because of her people. There is no way I could hate someone because of that,” Sunset then heard the sobs coming from the girl behind her and Moka relaxed, taking back the rosary.

“Kirameki Yuya, don’t think that I will start following your lead; I do this only because you are a good source of food, do not confuse me with the sentimental face that controls this body,” The silver haired girl said turning around, not showing the small smirk she hid from Sunset. It was the first time someone outside of her family was capable of taking her attack. The redheaded woman was extremely interesting.

And those, the danger had passed and a new day was upon Sunset and Moka as both friends walked alongside, the school already in front of them.

“So let me get this right, the rosary started talking with you?”

“That’s right, seems that since the moment the rosary was first broken the Inner Moka can start communicating with me.”

“Well, that is one more mystery added to the pile.”

“Yuya, tell me, if the seal is broken permanently, would you still be friends with me?”

“As long as you are alright with being a friend with a demon, then sure.” As the two girls continued gazing at each other a third voice interrupted them.

“Good morning Yuya-chan!” Said voice took the two girls by surprise quickly turning around to see the blue haired succubus standing behind them with a small basket in her hand full of cookies.

“Wait, Kurumu? What are you doing here?” Poor Sunset was seriously confused after seeing the succubus once again.

“I just wanted to give you a small gift after the way you protected me from the horrible vampire,” Kurumu said making emphasis in the work horrible as a small vein began to pump on Moka’s head.

“Aren’t you going to start looking for your destined one? Why are you bothering Yuya?” Hearing both girls made Sunset gulp saliva loudly knowing that something was going to happen.

“Well, I could but I feel conflicted. This is the first time someone have put their life in danger for me, I just don’t know what to do!” With the way Kurumu was basically swooning made something in Sunset’s head come to the front and she then began to talk. Maybe because of nerves or maybe something else she opened her mouth and the words began to flow.

“Is not weird; back home the ratio of male and female is so bad that some magicians discovered the way for two females to have a baby,” Sunset blamed the academic part of herself as she then noticed the way Kurumu’s eyes grew bigger and bigger. The next thing Sunset knew was Kurumu’s breasts pressed against her own while Moka looked incredulous from the other side.

Why was she always getting into trouble?

The Creed of the Knife 02

Ponies and humans think in a very similar way; beyond their physiology things aren’t that different in the way both species thought. Yes, ponies tended to get much more agitated than humans due to the herd mentality while the bipeds were faster in their reactions and the way they fought back shock, trauma and stress. I think that even when I have the look of a pony I am noting more than a human pretending to be the colorful little unicorn that I was once.

Removing the knife from the head of my latest target I stood watching the vacant eyes of the once mighty queen of a whole species. The eyes are the worst part, and I know that I will never be able to forget each and every pair that I had to see after something like this. Her face was now forever etched in a look of desperation and fear, as a last act I close Chrysalis’ eyes, praying for forgiveness to a god that so long ago had forsaken me. I know I’m well beyond redemption but I don’t care, if not I no one would take to the rafters to stop the pain.

Behind me I can feel the precious sun inundating this room as outside the sound of hundreds of wings can be heard. The wings of the drones and soldiers of Chrysalis are confused, lost like little kids that had gotten lost in a mall. Sadly for them mommy will never come get them. I feel their sadness and terror in the air, and I don’t feel triumphant. I know Chrysalis had to fall to avoid more blood and darkness but I still make my soul darker and darker each time I had to use the knife hidden under my robe.

“Who-who are you?” Then I hear her voice, the one pony I never wanted to meet because if I see her face to face I will do something drastic… or nothing at all. I even surprised myself as I continued watching outside the window and the way the changelings were surrendering in masse. One war won with just one knife.

“It cannot be… Sunset?” The lucky bride then talked; from all of them she would be the only one to recognize me, what a surprise. Seems that my beloved teacher truly erased me from my own home. I turn around but instead of answering her I just look at Celestia.

“You did… an excellent job; I just wish it didn’t come to this.”

“You lie Celestia; if you didn’t want this you would have found another way. You are lucky that I was capable of catching the differences between you and her, if it weren’t for the maniacal laughter I could have attacked either of you.” I say with my patented ‘bad girl smirk’ making all the ponies in the room flinch or growl at me. It was so amusing they thought they looked tough and intimidating but the truth was that they just looked adorable.

“I see time has not changed your attitude my old student.”

“STUDENT?!” everyon-everypony screamed clearly surprised about the words of Celestia. Clever, she wanted me to introduce myself to my replacement and the band of nitwits she had with her. I don’t think so Celestia.

“What can I say? I had the best teacher for that.” We stay looking at each other, measuring each movement and truth not said. She is so carefully presenting herself as perfect that I can see the chinks in every part of her emotional armor. The end result is more comical than dramatic considering that Celestia’s horn is still slightly smoking.

With a simple blink from the princess I understand that Celestia is in no mood for another go with her least favorite student in her lifetime. Without giving her a second look I began to walk in the direction of the still open double door.

That’s when I felt the eyes of all the ponies present -guards included- as I began to walk outside of the room leaving behind the soon rotting corpse of Chrysalis; never looking back at the last of a long list of assassinations completed.

“Well, seeing that you forgot to even mention me to your latest student, I hope you didn’t forget about my own payment Celestia.” I say purposely calling her by her name with no title or nickname. Never again would I refer to her with anything else than her name; we would never be able to go back to what we were before, each of us made sure of that.

“I will see that everything is in order for when you leave the palace.”

“Leave? Aunty, what are you saying? What is going on? Sunset, where have you been?” under my white hood I know that my face shows how much confusion I feel at that moment. Cadence is not only asking something like that but worried at the same time? What’s going on in the world?

“Wait, what? Cadenza, I-”

“Sunset, call me Cadence… please.” I simply sigh as the rest of the guests are as shocked as I am right now.

“Sure, Cadence, look, I was exiled okay? I was thrown out of the castle with clear orders of never coming back, but guess what? Princess dearest here decided to hire the best assassin to get rid of a bug. Said assassin was me. And you want to know what the greatest thing was? She says that once I finish my job I need to leave again because I’m still exiled, how about that?”

“I never said that!”

“Oh please, you told me that I had to be fast because you didn’t know how long the mirror would be opened.”

“Mirror?” My replacement asked -there was no way I will ever say her name, not even in my head- as Cadence took hold of my hood with one of her hooves -the whole suit was magic repellant, including my body thanks to one extremely nice Zebrican spray- and pulled it off from my face. Then I heard the gasp from Cadence as we took a look at each other for the first time in years.

“Sunset, your face!” She asked softly tracing the scar that runs from the bridge of my snout to my right cheek; it was even more impressive as a human.

“It was one last memory one of my first targets left me with; you should see the others ones that I have.” I try to joke but the only thing it does is make Cadence start to cry. I hate it when she cries.

“Sunset, I hereby decree that you are no longer in exile… and will attend my wedding, that’s a royal command.” Cadence says as two soft warm legs encircle my neck. For the first time in years I find myself in the one place I wanted and at the same time hated to be. In Cadence’s arms.

“Cadence, are you sure of what you are doing?”

“Celestia,” the pink princess starts shocking the other ponies even more “as a princess of Equestria I am in my right to pardon someone, even if I have to revoke another princess’ decree.”

“Look at that, cute little Cadence is all grown up now.” I simply said knowing right now that the wedding would be awkward as hell. What the hell am I supposed to say to the groom? ‘Hey, I was the one that was banging your wife before you’ is probably not the best.

Burn my Dread 01

Like many nights before, the clock at the top of the tower signaled that Midnight had arrived and that it was probably a little too late for several girls to stay up that late. Said girls didn’t even thought twice before walking in the direction of the school they attended in the morning. Many teenagers would think twice to even get close to a place like school, at least outside of class time. Usually those that did visit school at night didn’t have the best intentions in mind.

Things weren’t as straightforward as you may think, as the six friends gathered their courage and walked right to the front of door of Canterlot High. As usual since they started their adventure together, they all felt the dark and bizarre energy emanating from behind the door. How could a simple door give that feeling? Well, first you have to understand that Canterlot High usually didn’t have a bell tower. The aforementioned ivory new annex to their school had been appearing for the last couple of nights scaring the hell out of Sunset who had been working alongside Principal Celestia on one of her experiments around the magic in Canterlot High.

That night both Principal and student were using the different machines in the special room, finding that although Principal Celestia and princess Celestia did share similarities in the thaumaturgical aura aspect, that didn’t mean the human Celestia could use those powers. Finding the results conclusive both decided to finish for the day but as soon as Celestia had closed the doors of the school, they were shocked beyond measure after hearing the bell announce the night. They both stood rooted to their place as they both watched the impossible bell tower growing at one side of the school. Thankfully Sunset’s cellphone had been capable of recording such a bizarre event.

Sunset’s phone, after saving a picture of said tower began to malfunction for a couple of seconds before it simply fizzed out. Thinking that the bell tower was more important than the device, she then spend the next few minutes trying to find an entrance or anything at all to gain access into the tower. Thinking about that later, Sunset realized how foolish she had been that first night; she should had called the rest of her friends to have some magical backup in case anything more bizarre happened. And indeed had happened.

Not finding anyway in which she could enter the bell tower, Principal Celestia then suggested they should try from the inside of the school. Next second the doors were closed for the second time as both student and principal stood looking at each other not quite believing what they just had seen behind those doors.

Usually they would have found rows of locker rooms and a hallways leading to different classrooms but Celestia and Sunset would tell you that they had seen something else. Behind the doors they had found a long ice cave full of stalactites and an ominous feeling of being observed. Quickly the doors had been closed and both women continued to look at each other, both reaching the same conclusion. Weird things were happening once again.

Opening the doors one more time they now saw that the cave was now a street full of tall buildings and neon signs. Closing and opening one more time they saw a gothic cathedral. One more time and it was what seemed like a Japanese school -at least according to Principal Celestia who knew that from second hand; apparently Luna was very into anything related to Japan-. In the end, both women let the doors in peace and decided that right now it was too dangerous to do anything right then.

Next morning came and Sunset wasn’t surprised when the bell tower had disappeared, even the inside of the school had returned to what it was. It was quite the conundrum for the redhead who had already talked with her friends about what had just happened. She even tried to show them the picture of the bell tower now that her phone was working again; instead, they all were surprised about a new app that had appeared overnight.

“What in Tartarus name is a Persona?” Sunset asked to herself, watching the Persona Watcher app in her phone.

Sadly she wasn’t capable of checking the app as they were surprised when they were called to the Principal’s office. Sunset was already used to something like that but poor twilight almost had an aneurism as she continued to say all the disturbing things that could have happened. Just like being expelled from school due to a bad grade or being asked to return to Crystal Prep. It was clear to say that Fluttershy was capable of making Twilight let go of Sunset’s arm due to how scared and nervous she had become.

Shaking the numbness from her arm -Twilight had the grip-, Sunset started talking with Principal Celestia getting all the worst shock of all, especially Rainbow when the principal told them what had happened. Apparently one of the students had disappeared last night close to the midnight; worst of all was that the student in question was none other than Scootaloo.

Rainbow was close to tear down the whole school in search of the young girl; thankfully the others were capable of stopping her in time before it became something bigger. Apparently this wasn’t the first time Scootaloo hadn’t come back home, something to do with nightmares and depression but apparently Celestia had an idea of what had happened.

Putting two and two together Sunset quickly realized that the principal meant the bizarre clock tower that had appeared out of nowhere. Thinking about Sunset also had some questions about the strange event and everyone quickly reached the conclusion of visiting the strange place in search of Scootaloo.

That was the reason why all the girls were in front of school as the bell signaled midnight, all of them nervous, not knowing what would happen or even if Scootaloo was in there. Somehow they knew that behind the door they will find the lost girl. Rainbow herself was ready to tear into something, but Sunset was nervous. She didn’t know what would happen and the entire situation was bizarre and more than a little dangerous.

Gathering all the courage she could, Sunset flung open the doors. It was a mistake as a dark energy suddenly sucked the six girls inside the school. Next time Sunset opened her eyes she was completely lost inside the cathedral she had seen before, none of the other girls with her. She barely had time to move before something tried to tackle her from her side. If she hadn’t moved she would have been impaled by the weird creature with blades instead of arms.

Call me forth; Use your reflection to gaze upon Persona.

A voice said in her head and without even realizing it Sunset had her phone out and in the new app. Holding the cellphone in front of her she realized that what she was seeing in the screen was herself, and with a flash she felt a change, as if part of her was finally coming to the front. At the next second a figure became corporeal. A small little blonde girl with big blue eyes and a white dress floated in front of her.

“You… I get it; you are my Persona, my inner power. You are Hel,” The little girl smiled before both human and Persona got ready to fight against the creatures inside that weird place and rescue a young girl. “So I summon you with a selfie, well, at least it is something less dangerous like shooting myself.”

Burn My Dread 02 or Persona E

“I’ll be honest with you,” the redhead said to the small girl that she had summoned after taking a selfie of all things. Hel simply continued watching Sunset as if wondering what the redhead meant with what she had said “I have no idea of what I am supposed to be doing.” Even after all the fights she had been or how much she had read about battles and war, this was probably the first time she had found in middle of a battle. As Celestia’s student, Sunset was quite the spitfire but it was mostly with words and destroying things; she had even been part of a couple of physical fights but that had been with her pony body. As a human Sunset had never found herself fin a fight, not even after she had been beaten by Twilight. At the worst of the school’s hate for her nobody had raised a hand against her, first due to how much fear everyone had on her, and later on because her friends were always there to avoid any kind of retaliation.

In terms of how bad the situation Sunset found herself at this time, Sunset was lost amongst the halls of a huge mansion that had no real scale -since apparently the entrance was Canterlot High’s door-, alone without any of her friends with a monster that seemed like the torso of a monster floating in front of her, and she had no weapon or magic at hand to defend herself with. Looking at the floating torso of a human -if the human was completely gray and had no eyes- it was as if a nightmare gained life and that freaked Sunset out like nothing before. Even if she was from Equestria and she had seen some crazy shit, this was beyond anything she could even imagine.

“So, do you have any idea of how to take him down?” Sunset asked watching closely the way the monster floated in the air; its frozen-in-rictus face unmoving. Meanwhile the small girl known apparently as Hel simply nodded before pointing at the monster and then hitting the palm of her hand with a fist “Wait, you want me to beat him?” Hel nodded enthusiastically while Sunset felt less so than her Persona “are you nuts?” but before she could say anything more the monster then decided that enough was enough and tried to tackle Sunset, probably trying to finish the girl quickly. Before the monster could do any damage Hel pushed Sunset out of the way and, receiving the attack of the floating torso she was send through the air.

Sunset at that moment saw red. If there was one thing the redhead hated more than anything else was children being hurt. It was something she had found out while watching a movie once; the main character, a little girl, was slapped by the father and the redhead felt as if could grab that actor by its neck and wring every ounce of life out of it. Pulling her fist back she let go a battle cry and the knuckles impacted against the clammy and cold cheek of the monster. The impact was such that the creature began to fly backwards before crashing down, unmoving now beyond a small twitch here and there.

“Oh Celestia! Hel! Are you alright?!” Worried for the condition of her Persona, Sunset ran to where the small girl had been sent flying by the monster. In a second Hel quickly stood up with no apparent damage beyond a couple of hairs out of place. Looking at Sunset who had kneeled at He’s side, the little Persona simply raised a hand and gave up Sunset a thumbs up as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened “You are quite the resilient little girl.” Hel then pouted at not being taken seriously by her own summoner.

The blonde Persona then took off the small backpack she had on her, which Sunset didn’t even realize she had in the beginning. Opening it then she put her hand inside, and when she didn’t find what she was looking for then she searched even deeper placing almost her whole body inside the way too small backpack leaving Sunset once more shocked.

Hel seemed to have found what she was looking for and getting out from her backpack she then pulled out a long sword that was way too big to even fit into that backpack. She then presented the weapon to a still stunned Sunset. Shaking her head the redhead noticed the sword still in its scabbard and wondered why Hel had it with her. Pulling the sword from the scabbard Sunset noticed something etched in the blade and had think hard about the meaning of the symbols.

“Isn’t this Neighponese? No, wait, is Japanese on this side, it says Sengo… Muramasa? How in the name of Tartarus name you got this kind of sword?!” Hel simply avoided her summoner’s eyes clearly not wanting to say the truth… if she was even capable of talking. There was no time for a full interrogation as the monster reincorporated, even more important was the fact that he had brought friends with him as now three floating torsos were getting closer to Sunset “well, isn’t this just my luck?” Hel simply shrugged before also searching something inside her backpack; next second she had a white squeaky hammer with a cat’s face on both sides. It was at that moment that Sunset decided to simply let it go.

Sunset removed the sweat from her forehead with the back of her head before putting the sword back on its scabbard. She felt winded and her muscles were complaining a little bit due to the exercise she was forced to do. Sunset was quite surprised about what she had done and how quickly it was possible to defeat the monsters.

Looking at the pile of monsters Sunset saw Hel with one foot on one of the monsters as she had her squeaky hammer up like some kind of legendary hero. It would have been really epic if it weren’t because Hel looked so completely adorable doing something like that.

“Okay, I still have no idea of what is going on but at least I’m not alone here. Hey Hel!” The little girl then ran to Sunset’s side and Sunset put a hand on top of her Persona slightly petting the girl for a work well done. The smile she got back for doing that was what you may call angelical, and Sunset was sure that if Fluttershy ever met the girl she would be engulfed in the biggest hug ever “Wanna help me find someone? I’m sure a girl from my school was kidnapped, do you think you can help me find her?” For all answer Hel nodded before running into a seemingly random direction. Sunset prayed that they could find Scootaloo and the rest of her friends. Whatever the outcome, she knew this would be quite the adventure.

Author's Note

The name of the floating torso is Sisyphus, and Hel... well, she is from the Fool Arcana and has a penchant for collecting weapons (AKA she steals them all the time, the girl has a problem), hope you guys liked it.

The Will of Fire 05

If there was one stressful day for any kind of student, no matter the school, it was the first day of classes. Unless one came from an escalator school, it was probable that you didn’t know a single student in your school, which alongside the stress of new classes and other perilous facts of school made for the worst days of one as a student.

Equally important was the last day of classes in general; the moment where you would never have to see those classmates you never liked or the same boring classroom. For one Uzumaki Naruto, the fact that this day would be the last one he would spend in school was bittersweet at best.

Growing up alone at first, the blonde boy was not very popular, usually being ostracized by the citizens and ninjas of the village. Beyond old man Ichiraku and his daughter or the Sandaime, there was no one that would take away the loneliness that was slowly chipping away at whatever he had as heart. Then a storm took over his life and nothing was ever the same again.

Sunset Shimmer had found him in the street one day when he had been thrown out of a store after trying to buy instant ramen. Naruto wasn’t sure what had happened but after the man started to badmouth Sunset too after she tried to help Naruto, the owner had disappeared several days later. The store had been abandoned after the man had packed his bags and ran away from the village; the last he had heard about him he had become a hermit living in a cave close to Kumo.

The redhead was a force to be reckoned with, and Naruto had been witness of the crazy stuff the woman had done through the years, just like giving Naruto a family. Nothing was official since the Sandaime couldn’t quite sign adoption papers, not that neither of them thought about it, they were simply family, a paper couldn’t change that. The first few months had been so weird for Naruto since he had to follow rules now but after finding himself the happiest he had ever been, he just didn’t care at the end

Naruto took a deep breath and opened the door to be greeted by the same classroom and his classmates. It seemed too big for the amount of students present but Naruto understand that was due to all the students that had been incapable of graduating; mostly civilian kids who had too much of a disadvantage compared to kids of different clans.

The only civilian that had been capable of going beyond the mediocre bar had been the one pinkette that was right now laughing at something her blonde female friend had said. Naruto felt himself smiling too seeing those two together like that. If there was something weird on his life it was the fact that he not only had friends, but that all of them were girls. At first year of ninja academy he had been teased by the Inuzuka boy but the next day he came back with several bruises and what seemed like dog bite marks on his face. It was obvious that both Tsume and Hana had put the boy on his place and since then he never said anything bad about the four friends.

It had been weird to grow up alongside someone like Sakura, who sometimes seemed as intelligent as Sunset herself, while other times she fumbled and made some mistakes in a technique she was trying. As he had understood from his caretaker, Sakura had almost perfect control over her chakra; the problem was that it came from her very low reserves. Just seeing her almost crawl after a gruesome day of training at the hands of the Red Nightmare from Konoha was something that never failed to make him laugh.

At the other side there was the other blonde terror in Konoha, just not in the way Naruto was known as. While the boy was known for pranking -it apparently was now a test for new Anbu to see if they would be able to catch Naruto after a prank-, Ino was infamous for how fast one could be falling for her charming strategies and quick thinking. A favorite of everyone was the time she made Kiba fetch a stick as if he were a simple dog. Even now the Inuzuka boy was wary whenever Ino was close.

Unlike the popular Uchiha fan club, the two were obviously shinobi first, although considering the role model the two had the only thing that could happen would be for those two to become even scarier. Thankfully for him there was a girl that no matter what happened would never change into a killing machine like those two. That was none other than the Hyuuga heiress who at that moment was waving at him with an angelical smile. Naruto felt as if all the worries of the world were being erased by that kind of smile. If there was a friend he truly valued was Hinata and the rest of the Hyuuga clan. Sadly for the blonde boy he had to sit next to the sourest human in all of Konoha.

Just sitting down at Sasuke’s side was enough to depress the loudmouth. Looking at the other girls that made part of the Brat Society, he tried to discern who would like to exchange seats with him, sadly for him the other three members were looking stoically in the direction of the blackboard like every other time.

‘You bunch of traitors!’ He thought before he heard his favorite teacher enter the classroom and start giving his last day speech and team assignation. For his part, Naruto ignored the thick moodiness coming from Sasuke like any other day and tuned out Iruka for a few minutes.

Then everything went sour when he heard the name of who he had to be a team with. Immediately he was up alongside Sasuke complaining about the team they had to make. Apparently Sasuke was against it because he had to be with a dead last, one of Sasuke’s favorite nicknames for Naruto; although, on his mind, everyone was dead last compared with himself.

“I knew that putting you guys together was a bad idea,” a voice came from behind the classroom shocking every student out of their wits. None other than the Red Nightmare was sitting down in the steps for who knows how long, scaring the students witless except for the Brat Society “now, now, I don’t want to hear any complain from either of you three… at least not until you pass my special training.” The amount of killing intent that was emanating from the redhead was enough to make several students faint while Sakura and Naruto simply turned to look at each other.

“Naruto.”

“Yeah?”

“Hug me, I’m scared!” The pinkette basically screamed as Sunset took Sasuke by the head and began to drag him outside much to the shock of both Ino and Hinata.

“Hinata-chan?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any more of that ointment you make?”

“I prepared several jars in case something like this happened.”

“Well, I suppose we cannot do a thing except pray for our fallen friends.”

“Ino-chan! Don’t jinx them!”

All Aboard this Love Boat 01

“This is marvelous, absolutely marvelous” the relaxed voice of one Rarity Belle was clear and loud enough for the other six girls sitting in lounge chairs. The seven friends were relaxing and some were almost sleeping due to how calm everything was in the open sea. All the friends were wearing gear for the summer and alongside sunscreen and sunglasses they were using their time correctly.

“Rarity, are you sure this is alright? I mean, is not that I’m not thankful for what you did but, I mean, is just-”

“Ah think that what Fluttershy is tryin’ to say, is, are ya sure it was okay to bring us to this? Even though it was a prize, this is a little extreme, don’t you think Rarity?”

“Oh nonsense Applejack, I mean, sure, it was a nice prize. Look, my parents are not the kind of people that will go on a travel like this; they prefer their road-trips and as much as I love them and Sweetie, the idea of spending hours upon hours in the same car with them did not seem appealing. Besides, the prize said seven people and I couldn’t imagine going on a trip like this without my best friends.” Rarity explained while she hugged the closest girls she had at her sides, in this case Fluttershy and Sunset. This last one enjoyed the hug -it was probably a remnant from being a pony most of her life- but there was something telling her there was something bizarre in all that.

“I don’t know guys, I mean, a trip on a cruiser for exactly seven people? There is something wrong in all that.”

“Come on Sunset, why don’t you take it as some karma for all the times we saved the world?” Rainbow said adjusting her sunglasses while she continued to soak up the sun rays; at her side a tall glass of iced cold tea. From all the friends, Sunset thought she would be the one that would enjoy the least considering her image as tough sporty girl, but apparently she wasn’t immune to being pampered.

“Maybe you are right, but… I don’t know, I have this feeling telling me that something will happen.”

“Well, I would call you spoilsport but… well, let’s be honest; since we gained those magical powers of ours there is no shortage of magical altercations, not that is your fault my dear.” Rarity answered back also knowing that strange stuff always happened to them every single time they tought they were safe from them. Last years’ camp experience had showed them how cursed they were in terms of not having a normal life.

At their side, the only one who had never talked the whole time had been a bespectacled girl that seemed to be very into the book she had brought with her. She was obviously not reading as her eyes were unfocused and they heard one more sigh coming from the girl. Her friends then got closer as they began to whisper.

“So, what is going on with the egghead?”

“Rainbow, I thought we agreed to not call Twilight that, it is really unbecoming no matter how much our friend loves science.”

“Hey, it fits.”

“Can we get to the point of why Twi looks so down?” The blonde quickly went back on topic.

“I think it is about Timber,” The redhead of the group told the other girls who quickly asked with their eyes for more information “apparently he is going to get married this August.”

“Oh poor Twilight, her heart must be broken after knowing something like that.”

“Wait, were they still dating? I thought Timber lived in another city.” Rainbow asked a little confused.

“Oh Rainbow, something like living far away from each other is merely an excuse, love can triumph against everything.”

“He got a girl pregnant and he is 23 years old.” At Sunset’s words even Rarity changed her tune.

“On the other hand, maybe love is not all that you need.”

“Whoa nelly; how the hell that happened?”

“I could explain to you the birds and the bees but I’m sure you are not asking that. So apparently they decided it was simply summer love and they became pen pals of some sort while seeing if they could continue their relationship; then Timber found out Twilight was a minor and bailed out before the police found out. A couple of months later he finds out he had a one night stand with a girl he met at a bar and the rest is history.”

“I’m confused about the older than Twilight thing.”

“Apparently neither Gloriosa nor Timber knew we were high school students; they thought we were at college or something like that. Apparently we act way too mature to be on High School.”

“Ah, girls.”

“How could they not know? That’s ridiculous.”

“Girls.”

“Hey, I’m just saying what Gloriosa told me.”

“You talk with Gloriosa? What’s with you and older girls?”

“Girls.”

“Hey! Sugarcoat is only a few months older than me, or at last the ‘me’ on this side of the mirror, okay? Besides, it was only one date!”

“GIRLS! SOMETHING IS COMING!” Fluttershy’s voice broke the argument as everyone on deck turned at where the usually quiet girl was pointing at. They all saw a sudden surge of magical energy quickly flying through the sea, and with one fast swoop it went through the whole cruise ship, rocking it a bit as the seven girls had to blink to get the spots of light out of their eyes.

“Alright, that was weird.” Sunset said shaking her head before taking a look around deck and the rest of her friends “Is everybody alright?”

“Oh captain, that was such a big wave, please tell me we are not traveling in the direction of a storm.” A woman that resembled Upper Crust -one of the students back at Crystal Prep- said looking directly at Sunset before a man put a hand on the woman’s arm.

“My dear, I’m sure that it was only a big wave, there is no need to bother the captain for something like this, excuse us.” The man simply said making Sunset arch an eyebrow at what had just happened.

“Okay, that was weird.”

“Sunset, what are you wearing?” Rarity’s voice made Sunset turn around to finally see her friends, who were all now wearing a white and blue uniform like the people who worked on the cruise ship; looking down herself she saw that she was also wearing the same type of suit as the rest.

“What the hell is going on?” Rainbow also said completely freaked out by the change in attire.

“I have no idea, but if that beeping is clear, we have something from Princess Twilight.” Sunset said as she took out a very familiar book out of her bag “it says that there was some kind of magical mishap on Equestria. Apparently, there was a magic swap mistake of some kind and everyone the wave touched exchanged works with someone else.”

“Wait, something like that exists in your world?” Applejack said with one of her eyebrows raised in sheer astonishment.

“There is a literal hell back in Equestria; this is little in comparison with other things.”

“So what does this mean then Sunset?” Rarity asked checking her attire and liking the navy blue jacket that it came with.

“Well, apparently we are the new crew of the Pacific Princess.” Sunset said already feeling the biggest headache of the year.

War never changes 03

Life went on at what was known as Vault 47, at least by the people that remembers what the world was like before the bombs fell. It was arduous job and never boring to tell the truth. Red Barn took in the fresh air -if slightly metallic on its taste- that was being pumped around the main hall of what they called home.

The tall blonde man knew that it was bizarre to call a hole in the ground home, but it was all they had. Work outside the vault was slow considering they were using materials from the now destroyed city of Canterlot. He also had to deal with men and women that never in their life have touched a hammer. If it weren’t because he had his family -minus his beloved Golden Apple; sometimes he missed that woman too much- with him alongside the family of his daughter’s friends to help. With Shining Armor and Big Mac taking care of patrolling and construction respectively, Red Barn was finally able to do what he had been planning to do.

Looking around the now once again colorful interior of the Vault, he began to walk in the direction of the science duo that had taken residence in the Infirmary. It was bizarre to understand the place and how well designed it was, considering what the plan for its denizens was. To think that they had all kind of ‘departments’ like Security, Infirmary, Maintenance; hell, even an Overseer Office that he had no intention of using. For some reason, folks in the Vault looked at him as if he were the Overseer but he was no politician and no way he could think of himself as a major or anything close to that; he was a retired army guy turned family guy then once again pulled into the front when it came to protecting his new people. He left that kind of job to Celestia, she was basically born for taking charge of a situation.

If there was someone he could trust in leading people or at least organize them it would be the redheaded girl that was sitting at a workbench with some kind of valve on her hands. Red Barn coughed calling her attention, making also the other young girl in the room to turn around to meet him. That girl was also a blessing for the newly formed town. With both Twilight and Sunset working on the different systems they not only had fresh air filters but electricity thanks to the both of them repairing the generators down in the vault.

“Hey Red, is something wrong?” It was hilarious how Sunset was more like him than Applejack; he loved his daughter but she was as stubborn as her mom. Sunset on the other hand was always on the move, always checking something out, and most importantly, she had something of a paranoiac bug on her, always thinking that something could go wrong and preparing for it.

“I won’t call it wrong but… well; we got some folks outside, saying that they are traders.”

“Wait, what? Traders? Are they by themselves or are they trying to make a route?” Sunset said forgetting what she had been working on.

“I have no idea and that’s why I came for you.”

“Okay, I'll bite; why me?”

“Do you think I trust my kids among traders? I know those three; they would probably get in a mess or be convinced to sell the Vault.” He loved his kids but sometimes honesty was not the best policy, especially in business. Sunset and Twilight both winced at the mental image.

“Alright, I’ll take care of it, Sparky, can you-”

“I’ll keep looking on these plasma cartridges but I am still not sure how long this will take.”

“Doesn’t matter, if we get those things going then we will have a lot of power in here.” Sunset said before leaving everything in the work station and accompanying Red Barn in the direction of the exit.

“So… Sparky?” Red Barn began before Sunset simply grumbled.

“Look, she is the only one in here that I can talk about my work or ideas; besides, she is the only one close to my age that doesn’t look at me as if they wanted me to drop dead.” At least Sunset was better from the whole accident Barn and she had not too long ago. The first week Red Barn had found Sunset in the Infirmary station working on something; turns out that she had been working in the new air pumps for more than a day without even sleeping. Seems that she was working like that because she didn’t want to have nightmares again.

Thankfully she started talking with others like Shining Armor -who had wanted to be a police officer, so guard was not too bad a job for him in the end- and also the resident sweetheart Cadence.

“It can’t be that bad.”

“Well, yesterday Applejack said hello to me without trying to punch me in the face so I have that going for me, which is nice.” Ouch.

“So, what’s the thing you were working on?”

“Oh, that? Is a little side project; if I get the right pieces together we will find ourselves the proud makers of our own Nuka Cola product… well, not really Nuka-Cola since we don’t have the formula but both Sugarcoat and Mystery Mint are working on their own formula, and for what it looks like is going to be pretty good.”

“And the thing with Miss Sparkles?”

“Oh, that… is something of a pet project between us. Apparently the guys that were guarding this place had some high quality tech. They basically had one of those high tech plasma weapons the army was testing at the beginning of the war.” Barn remembered those, they were very interesting in that they didn’t shoot those lasers, but instead pure energy that ‘gooified’ the enemy “we still cannot replicate the technology but we are getting closer and closer, maybe one day we will be able to mass produce it.”

“Sunset, you are starting to scare me.”

“Thank you.”

War never changes 04

Every time Sunset went out of the Vault it was the same grim landscape that said hello to her. For someone that had grown up in a world were green and pretty colors were everywhere it was slightly depressing the way the world was so rusted, destroyed and grim in some ways. Strangely, it was also refreshing in a weird way considering this world had become a place of wonder too. So many new things were out there and so many things to explore and know, but Sunset was wiser now; there was no way she would go out there like last time.

The redhead watched the wood and steel walls being erected in a wide area but she knew that they were simply provisional and were there until they decided it was time to begin construction on the surface. For most of the residents in Vault 47 it was hard to live underground with metal walls and small hallways. It also was a shame that the Vault was designed for a small number of actual living space considering the purpose of the building. There was no space for all of them, point; so now they had to think about expanding outside and say hello to the world outside.

Sunset had spent hours reading every single file that they could find in terminals around the Vault. Most of them talking about how Vault-Tec prepared the area for mass stasis in which they would put the subjects -which being the people that signed for the Vault- for a determined time; basically only 2 years. In the end it was the stupid Overseer who had other ideas and being a paranoid asshole, he forbade every single employee from even trying to make contact outside. The Vault only had so much food and there was no hydroponic room like the one in other Vaults.

In the end it didn’t even matter since every single Vault Tec employee was dead, either by bullets or the unforgivable time that ate every single human that had lived at the time of the bombs. Sunset knew that she should count herself lucky that she was still alive and kicking thanks to the whole experiment, but there was something inside of her that told her she had been robbed of something important, something irreplaceable. It didn’t matter in the end as Sunset simply waved at the young people walking away from their small settlement, the two headed weird cows along with them serving as beasts of burden.

Sunset finally let a sigh out relaxing after what was a tense negotiation. In the end it was accorded that Vault 47 would help the trading company be their main business. In exchange of fresh water and fruit –not to mention that Sunset was planning to introduce their brand new Nuka Cola flavor to them if everything went right- in exchange of raw materials and equipment so needed for them. They had a limited number of bullets and Sparky’s project of plasma cartridges was still in its infancy.

The redhead finally stopped smiling -it was hurting her cheeks being so cheery- and went back to her usual scowl. She didn’t understand how Princess Celestia could stay so happy all the time, it wasn’t even worthy in her opinion. If what just happened was even an ounce of what was needed of her, she didn’t want to be a Princess anymore. Just thinking about all the work that came with politics or power n general was not for the redhead anymore. The nightmares she got from killing one person were enough to keep her humbled, but cheery? She will gladly shove a plasma grenade inside someone’s… backdoor before she had to smile so much.

She was ready to go back to the Infirmary Station -although by now everyone called it Research Center, considering all the work she and Twilight did in there- before she groaned watching who exactly was walking her way.

The hair was a dead giveaway and Sunset was preparing herself for being screamed at since Rainbow Dash was one of the most fervent Anti-Sunset members back when the world made sense and didn’t lay destroyed everywhere.

“So, how did things go?” A voice interrupted Rainbow before this one could even open her mouth. It was none other than the brother of what was probably the only friend Sunset had, like ever. Shining Armor was a nice guy, no wonder why Cadence had her eyes on him; and while there was a slight age difference the world was so screwed that no one even batted an eye at something like that.

“I think they are honest; they will also start making trips back and forth bringing things like weapons, ammo, things we definitely need. They were very interested in making deals with a Vault since apparently the other two closest ones are unusable.”

“Did they say why?”

“One is now caved in, which I have no idea why, so don’t ask me; and the other is filled with bandits and raiders, something about becoming a gambling and fighting arena.”

“I thought Vaults were made so they wouldn’t have accidents like a cave in.”

“Hey, your guess is as good as mine, and unless you want to check it by yourself I suggest we forget about it.”

“Yeah, you are right; as we are now we have no manpower to start scouting the surrounding area. I hope you and Twily help us in that regard.” Shining said with his brand new -or at least looking like new- Assault Rifle on its holster, wearing the Vault Security armor that they had found out in the Armory. It was quite the miracle that they had all those things still under lock just for emergencies.

“Do you even believe what she is saying?”

“Rainbow, you-” Shining tried to say something but Rainbow was on a roll and she was not going to stop this time; she needed to say everything she knew about the redhead.

“I don’t care what you think; do you even know what she is? She is nothing but a bully and a liar!”

“Yes, I was that, and you know what am I now? I’m Head of Research, so if you excuse me I have a lot of work to do.”

“Oh, isn’t that rich? Head of Research? Who was so fucking stupid to name you that?” Rainbow said screaming at Sunset as this one tried to control herself. She knew it would be wrong to throw a haymaker in Rainbow’s direction but she was so tempted.

“I did, is there a problem with my judgment Miss Dash?” The voice of what was the unofficial ‘Overseer’ of Vault 47 said. Her colorful hair that looked like the sky at different times always made Sunset feel nostalgic and sad at the same time. Every time she watched this Celestia she could do nothing but remember she had thrown away.

“Why would you do that?”

“Because her technological expertise would be invaluable if we truly want to settle on the surface. We cannot depend on the Vault forever if we want to expand and recover at least a minimum of what our lives were before Miss Dash.”

“But how can you trust her? Don’t you know what she did to us all the time in school?”

“I was petty and a brute, I know.” Sunset said looking directly at Rainbow who couldn’t believe what she had heard “I was a bully and so many other things, but you know what? The people that we were died the moment those stupid bombs did. Do you want me to say I’m sorry? Yes, I’m sorry; it was foolish and childish, but most of all, it was useless. I wanted all the power I could because I deserved it.

You wanna know what happened? FUCKING BOMBS HAPPENED! Who fucking cares about power when you can die the next day? All I know now is that we are living on borrowed time until we get everything ready to start our settlement so excuse me if I have more important things than being part of a childish grudge match. Like I said, I have a lot of work to do so I’ll give you my report later on Principal Celestia.”

“I’m not a Principal anymore, and yes, you can give me your report later on.” Sunset only nodded before briskly walking away. For her part, Rainbow could only watch Sunset’s back, still reeling from being chewed out.

Applejack had been right, there was something going on with Sunset. She didn’t feel very proud of what she had done; basically irk Sunset until she exploded. It had worked when they were back in High School, but what she had said. This was a new world and they had new obligations and responsibilities; they needed to be together and she had to be sincere, she was getting worried about Sunset.

“Whatever you are planning Applejack, it better help Sunset… and if I needed something to make me believe the world is screwed up it was that sentence.”

Author's Note

What do you think is happening to Sunset? She seems really bad.

War never changes 05

What was it with people coming at every hour at her office? Well, it wasn’t her office per se, but it was still a place where she spends most of her time, either working or swapping ideas with Twilight. For the first time Sunset felt that she had met someone that truly understood her thirst for more knowledge, to understand more about the world that was so bizarre, and maybe the reason for the last one was that the whole world had exploded and people were trying to reassemble it.

It was quite the surprise when Sunset began to get more and more visitors in her small corner of the world. First it was Rainbow Dash coming to pester Sunset and Twilight; she was a little hard to get along with but she wanted to learn how to take care of her weapon, a small 10mm handgun that they found at the armory -Red Barn was very careful in giving people guns since they still didn’t have a reliable source of ammo for them- and Sunset had to spend time studying the weapon alongside her. In the end they gained, not a friendship, but an understanding that whatever happened back at Canterlot High was over and done; maybe it was the base for a new friendship. Sunset snorted at that thought; she having friends? Wasn’t that the reason she had been exiled from Equestria? Not having friends? Well, that and trying to gain dark powers just so she could ascend but that was a very small thing.

Another one that used to bother Sunset all the time had been Applejack's father, and Sunset had got to know him most. Between talking with Red Barn and how his family was settling on this new world, to stories of how Canterlot was before the bombs fell. It was really… humbling in a way, to know such a man. Before the bombs, when she was still the maniacal bully, Sunset may have simply ignored him, but now, with the world as screwed up as it was; Sunset simply listened to him talking. In the end, she usually ended up asleep, and with no nightmares as a plus.

Sunset was no fool -after all that’s why she was unofficially the Head of the Research Department-, she knew that so many people visiting her, including kids that she had tormented before no less, mean that they all had a plan. Apparently it was ‘keep Sunset Shimmer company’, but for what reason? It was not like if magically they were worried about the redhead; because she knew that there was no way in Tartarus that they all were worried about her.

Whatever the case, it worked, because Sunset felt less like if someone was pulling her teeth every time she went to her weekly visit to Cadence. Principal Celestia -the woman was now Overseer or Mayor, but for Sunset and the rest of the students couldn’t avoid the title- had a nice idea when she put Dean Cadence in charge of monitoring the mental health of the people living in the Vault. Her cheery disposition and the almost sisterly way in which she behaved, alongside her psychology degree, made her the perfect person to check something as important as how sane people were.

In the end, it helped, if only slightly; of course, Sunset still felt the pull every time she looked at a rocket bottle full of dark liquid. Cadence had explained her that the sugary soft drink had become a crutch of sorts; that Sunset had been using the sugar rush it gave her to avoid sleeping and having to see nightmares of Sunset at her worst, gleefully enjoying killing the students of Canterlot and even seeing the face of the man she had killed.

Cadence had called it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; only after Sunset had begun to actually socialize, was when she finally began to open up to her fears. It had been a slow affair but at least Sunset didn’t break into a sweat when she went to sleep at night.

But things tend to change no matter what we do, and this was the time when things changed for better or worst. Sunset was walking in the direction of the main office that had been taken over by both Celestia and Luna who worked as the administrative force of Vault 47. Inside, the two women looked up to see Sunset walk into the office before placing some kind of machine part on top of Celestia’s desk.

“We have a problem, the water chip is busted and we have no replacement in the Vault; unless we get a new one the Vault will stop having water in less than two months.” Sunset said not knowing that the adventure of a lifetime started just for those words.

Author's Note

This story has officially a theme song and aname now.

Welcome to:

Fallout: Canterlot City

Sky Factory 01

Author's Note

To begin with things, this is a crossover that I have never used before, becase this is Sunset and Twilight trapped in the world of Minecraft! Yes, you read that right, Sunset and Human Twilight are now in Minecraft, but not only any Minecraft, but in the ultra modded challenge pack of Sky Factory 2.5.

If you want to learn about the mod and how amazing it is you can keep on reading since this world will try to explain the logic of minecraft and many of the mods that make it so awesome. See ya guys!

Sky Factory 01

One thing that Sunset Shimmer had always enjoyed doing was reading; from the thick and strange tomes full of arcane knowledge and mathematical equations, to the more mundane compilation of fictional stories. It had become a part of her like nothing else in the world and it continued when she arrived to the human side of the mirror. It had even increased considering how easy was to get a book either on paper or digital form and after her redemption Sunset had spent a lot of time looking through lists and stores just to satiate her hobby.

In a sense, reading helped the wayward teenager relax and at the same time exercise her mind so it was a win/win situation no matter how one looked at it. This time she tried to make it work -in the sense of relaxing a bit- sadly her situation was so far anything she had previously lived through that there was no way reading would even work on something like this.

Taking her eyes off form the book in her hands, Sunset Shimmer watched for the nth time the slow movement of the sun in the horizon and the lazy movement of clouds in the upper atmosphere. That she was capable of seeing the sun directly without suffering any damage was a clear indication that Sunset was not where she was supposed to be; mainly her home, but there was a lot of evidence of Sunset being far away from home. The clearest one was the fact that there was no ground, nothing beyond a blue expanse. There was nothing beyond the tree that she was currently sitting upon, as in sitting on top of the tree, not under it.

The trees Sunset knew of had tons of leaves, twigs and branches which made possible for one to sit on the thick branches and basically hide from the rest of the world; she even did that a multitude of times when she lived at Canterlot Castle, but never before had Sunset found a tree that was made of rectangular block of leaves with so much mass that one couldn’t travel through them. It was impossible to fall down because the leaves of the tree felt like a thick rug and she had to be sincere, they were very comfy. It had made the situation as bad as one could imagine, but it was worst, oh so much worst, because she wasn’t alone. Trapped in this empty void with only a tree as surface was none other than the humane version of Twilight Sparkle who right now was using Sunset’s back as support and was trying to sleep for a bit. The outcome of the fight they had not too long ago truly drained her energy and she was in need of a respite.

It hadn’t been too long since the climatic fight the two had after Twilight used all the magic she had stolen from different sources back at Canterlot High and the shock of beating the dark magic but finding themselves in an empty void was not something that helped either of them. Thankfully, a lifetime of being a magical unicorn in the magical land of Equestria truly shined in situations like this, making it possible for Sunset to calm Twilight before she did something, like fall from the tree that was the only surface they had.

With a deep sigh Sunset closed the strange book that had been found inside her jacket. Maybe she didn’t show it to Twilight but she was worried because not only where they trapped in an empty void, they had nothing which they could use, not even Twilight’s machine had arrived alongside them when they came out of the blinding light. Sunset didn’t want to blame the schoolgirl version of the princess, the situation was dire enough as it was for something like that; besides, the other girl was the only other company she had in this adventure and maybe, just maybe, this could be the biggest adventure in their lives.

The redhead turned around carefully from where she was sitting on top of the tree; the movement made the student from Crystal Prep open her eyes and readjust her glasses.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“Yeah, you needed it Twilight.”

“I’m so sorry, I wanted to see if I could find anything useful and I couldn’t do a thing.”

“Is okay, you were tired, believe me, I know how a magic cleanser can tire you out. What I wanted to tell you is that I found something really interesting while you were resting.” Sunset said showing the strange leather bound book in her hands making Twilight get really interested in the object. The redhead knew that no matter the dimension, books for Twilight were like a bone to a dog.

“What is that thing and where did you find it?”

“This is the thing that will help us get out of here; basically, it is a guide to survive in this empty world and many different things and how things work on this pocket dimension.”

“Wait, what? Could you please say that again?”

“We are in a pocket dimension… and yes, I know how weird that sounds, but trust me, this is not as weird as you may think considering all the magic we released after our confrontation,” at those words Twilight blushed as a shame filled look appeared on her face “Twilight, is okay, I don’t blame you, I blame Cinch for putting you in that predicament so is okay. Anyways, apparently most of this world works in a different form than our own so we have some work to do; ready for it Twilight?”

“If it will help us return home then it is alright, although, any idea who gave you that book?”

“No clue, it is just signed ‘The White Queen’ on it.”

Sky Factory 02

I hope you both will excuse me for the way in which I took you both from your normal lives; although, considering the way things were going you have to admit some things weren’t as good as before. I’m not blaming either of you for what happened, it is a fixed point of time that cannot be removed or modified and I am not powerful enough to do something on that scale, at least for now.

Your world is okay, it is right now frozen in in one second so everything will be just like you left them before that amazing laser fight you both had. That doesn’t mean everything is alright but I am working on fixing the tear that caused everything. As you are reading this you will have many questions about me and the world you inhabit now, well, let me answer some of those questions with this nice guide I created for you.

My name is Madeleine and some people have called me The White Queen; I am but a simple traveler across the multiverse who has no intention of interrupting your daily life but when something of this magnitude happens there are some people that step in and save you all, sadly they are busy right now with a very dangerous entity so I had to do it this time. Do not worry, you are not in danger of being attacked by this entity but that still doesn’t mean you are safe or out of danger, that’s why I put you two in this pocket dimension. Basically, you are the only two beings in existence on this world, with the exception of the tree you are standing up; I didn’t have enough time to create more things, but do not fret; from this mighty tree you will be able to get everything you need to not only continue your lives, but to master magic and technology that exist in this pocket dimension and -if everything goes well- you will be able to create a portal to your very own world once again.

How does this work? Well, that’s the crazy part and you have to trust me on this. This world is made out of blocks; all these blocks can interact with each other in many different ways and can even create new stuff when you put several pieces together. Physics are a little wonky right now so expect strange things that make no sense, but since this is a pocket dimension things will be stable enough.

I know what you are thinking. How could you get enough stuff to create new things? I mean, you are on top of a tree that is planted on a block of dirt that is floating in the middle of the air on a void world. If you have ever heard of the phrase ex nihilo nihil fit, then forget it, because you can create stuff out of a very little piece if you know what you are doing.

This book contain several tips and information on how to advance through what you can call eras; starting from the wood age to the point where you will be able to build anything you can imagine until you are back home. So why am I putting you in this challenge? Because I know that if I didn’t give you something to do and think about you two would be bored out of your minds; you will thank me later.

This book has most of its information locked behind very strong seals and will only unlock once you advance through the challenges that are written inside; this is so you will be able to think about each and every step and not try to jump through them with no idea how to do things, so, this is me Madeleine hoping you girls have a great adventure in this world in the sky. Have fun.

“And that is that she wrote, or at least what is available right now.” Sunset said while Twilight had her eyebrows furrowed at the mountain of information that they were given. Not only where they trapped in a pocket dimension -if she could even believe the book, but really, how couldn’t you believe in a book?-, she was trapped alongside the one girl that had warned her about using magic like that. Just as she was falling into that train of thought she felt Sunset’s hand on her shoulder. Looking at her she only saw a confident smile, but more than that, it was serene and understanding.

“How can you take all this in stride?”

“Is not my first dalliance with a pocket dimension, you could even say that my previous teacher used one or two as she taught me. Don’t worry Twilight, I promise I will bring you back to our world, you are not alone in this and I will do my best.”

“Then I will do too,” Twilight nodded at the other teenager as Sunset once more opened the book and checked the few lines that were visible in the book. The instructions were simple and even had some lines of writing explaining stuff, but instead of getting ahead of herself she read the first one.

“Okay, here it is the first thing; ‘As you wake up in this new world, you may find yourself in the middle of the air. To start everything simply break two blocks of the tree, then check your pocket and do what you can with those pieces to make the floor. Be quick though, since the leaves will disappear from the tree and you will to manually destroy a block of leaves to get more seeds for more trees. You need a lot of trees to make this world as woody as you can’.”

“Well, that is helpful, or is it? I don’t know how to take it right now,” Twilight said after hearing the instructions that were left for them “what does it mean by breaking blocks of wood? We cannot do that with our hands, they will break before we do anything to the tree!” She said trying not to start pacing around the top of the tree considering how little space they had in there.

Sunset simply shrugged going through her pockets to see if she could find anything else she could use or anything she may have missed. After a couple of seconds rummaging she visibly brightened as she took out something from her jacket’s inner pocket. Looking at it she found a small tablet of 4 spaces with another one in the top right corner. Sunset’s eyes widened recognizing the instrument and how useful it could be for them.

“No way… is this a transmutation tablet? Well, a very, and I meant very, basic one, but this is awesome!”

“What are you talking about?”

“This is… well, an item that very few wizards use where I came from; they are very rare and only a few still exist, but the uses that we have of this are practically limitless. What did the book say? Break the first two blocks?” At the same time the two girls nodded and with their fists they slightly hit the top block of grass. A few seconds later it simply broke off leaving no traces behind much to their surprise; the way it broke apart was surprising, but nothing like watching the wood underneath the grass block.

“Is everything made out of blocks?”

“I’m just happy we are not affected like by this world and we keep our own bodies, I don’t want to imagine myself as someone made out of blocks,” Sunset answered as she began to hit the wood, watching as small cracks began to appear and spread. In the blink of their eyes, the wood block broke like the leaves, but instead of disappearing, the only thing that happened was that it turned into a small version of itself that seemed to float above the surface of the block underneath it “alright, I wasn’t expecting that.” And with that, the race for survival as on.

The Devil of Canterlot High 03

Author's Note

I don't know if I should make people have normal skin tones in this dimension? What do you think guys?

The Devil of Canterlot High 03

The world had a strange vibration to it, from the top of the building Sunset could feel it travelling across her body making the asphalt, concrete, steel and glass move and live like nothing else. It was empowering and terrifying all at the same time and Sunset was starting to get addicted to the feeling of the wind and the world turning into pathways and routes in her mind. The redhead took a deep breath and enjoyed the oxygen going through her veins and making her heart beat faster to get energy all across her body. Then she jumped.

She could hear the small gasp coming from the communicator installed inside her helmet and had to contain her smile knowing very well why they had that reaction. The livestream directly from the special ports in her mask were transmitted into a computer back at her now ‘head quarters’; of course, after being bounced several times across the world in a really hard to pinpoint IP that didn’t exist. Sunset could be blind, but she didn’t stop being extremely paranoid, even more now due to her new mission on Earth. Thanks to the efforts done to the mish mash of computers Sunset and twilight had back at the headquarters they were capable of getting some nice toys that would make tonight’s mission go, if not smooth, easier than they would go if it weren’t for their joint work.

Just at the right moment, all thanks to her bizarre pseudo-echolocation -which technically wasn’t since Sunset didn’t only use sound to find things around her- she took a hold of the small baton at her waist and with a quick movement from her strong arm a cable was shot through the dark night until it impacted against a gargoyle. Once the idea of moving from building to building through the darkness of the city would have come directly from one of Spike’s comic books, now it was the new reality for Sunset and the girls on the livestream.

The idea of turning into this bizarre creature of the night was not one taken lightly; it was something that had been nagging at the redhead all the week they were preparing things. It was a weird sense of rightness and vengeance which pushed Sunset beyond all points of reasoning and she was not going to stay quiet or idle. She had lost her vision and Fluttershy almost died, so she wondered who else would be hurt, who else would find themselves at the wrong end of an accident like that. It incensed the usually choleric girl to the point of creating the horned mask she was wearing; it pushed her to the point where she would gladly swing over buildings and crystal clear windows of apartments businesses with no lingering doubts. This is what she was now, a denizen of the darkness that was always present behind her eyes.

At every swing that her body made possible, Sunset felt the chilling air hit her face as her fingers clenched and moved with super human dexterity. The cable retracted and then shot up into another location as the redhead quickly traveled to the building she needed to check, but all changed when she heard something. Sunset stopped atop a brown brick building as she tried to concentrate on what she had heard before.

“Sunset, is something the matter?” The redhead ignored the question from Rarity as she began to track the sound, her mind filtering everything in the ambient, the sound of cars, the birds, televisions and music. On the other side of the video feed, the two girls helping Sunset were discussing the point of not calling Sunset by her name as they were not sure how well their system worked, but Sunset simply tuned them out too.

Suddenly, she found out the sound she had been looking for; it was the sound of a trashcan being thrown into the ground that alerted Sunset and she began to run on its direction. The sounds of steps were getting louder and she quickly found five set of steps that were apparently following a lone set. Sunset immediately threw the cable into a gargoyle and threw herself once more into the void as she sailed through the air until she was right on top of the people reunited, her body completely surrounded by darkness, but after all, who looks up in an alley.

She heard the steps and the way the five guys -she knew the difference in sound steps by now- were ganging on someone and had him surrounded. Sunset gnarled silently as she heard who could only be the leader start approaching the smaller guy.

“Look idiot, I already told you we didn’t like your kind in here.”

“What the hell are you talking about man? I work like two blocks from here.” The man answered back and Sunset sensed how confused he was. Apparently the group had ganged the wrong guy.

“Oh, is that so, I’m sorry, you trash all look the same to us.” Or not; this was not just something done at random, these people were going to do something with the older man and it was not something nice by the way the young guys all had bats and other paraphernalia. Just what Sunset needed, young boys doing stupid stuff for stupid reasons. At the moment the leader brought the bat up she knew there was no other way; screw the building for now, it was time to do something with her new powers.

Jumping over the metal staircase at the side of the building she had been crouching on, Sunset landed with enough force to send the leader face first into the muggy ground instantly knocking him out and probably taking several of his teeth in the process.

Sunset could feel the different cameras and instruments located on her mask and other parts of her suit flare up and start collecting information; mainly the faces and marks of the people she was about to unleash the worst beating upon.

“Talk to me Sparky.” She said in a lower voice as the other wannabe bad guys began to sweat and their heart rhythm spike out of control at her dynamic entry.

“I got their names… well, this is surprising and worrying, they are all part of the Fraternity at Canterlot U.” Twilight gave her the information only making Sunset growl louder at the now demoralized and frankly terrified young men “two of them are being investigated for an alleged rape attempt.”

“That’s all I needed Sparky.” Sunset ended the call as she then grinned at the idiotic students who at that moment understood that they were screwed. Half a minute later the five guys were all in the floor, blood, teeth and weapons everywhere as Sunset stood triumphant in the middle of the alley. The older man -probably a worker in one of several fast food establishment due to how smelled- had stood rooted on his place as he simply watched the fury on red and black.

“Girl, you gotta tell me who you are.” He simply said not believing anything that had happened. The girl then simply turned around and smiled.

“I’m just a daredevil.” She said as she once more used her baton to get on the building’s rooftop and then she disappeared into the night. The man simply laughed at the situation.”

“Daredevil? Man, I got the best story of the year, but who the fuck is gonna believe me?” he simply said as he walked away, ready to go back home and tell everyone about the girl wearing the horned mask.

Who you gonna call? 03

“So let me get this straight… ghosts are real?” Were the only words from Starlight as the car parked outside of what could only be called a normal house, complete with a picket fence and Sunset had to admit it, the house was nice, it seemed too normal to be the kind of home in which Lyra could live in. She loved all of her friends; she even got along for the first time with Flash, but damn, weren’t her friends weird. It was true that Sunset was for all purposes an illegal alien from another universe, but she was basically normal in comparison with the other Canterlot High students; Pinkie Pie at the top of her long list.

“They are real enough that they are basically tearing down the barrier between two different dimensions. Things aren’t very clear and we definitely need to do more tests, but is not only our job now, but our duty to catch these apparitions before things get out of control and also… well, is for SCIENCE!” All the girls could swear they saw stars appear on Twilight’s eyes with how happy she sounded with those words.

“Yeah, yeah, egghead stuff later, we still have to catch this job before we can start thinking about those things. Not to mention we don’t even know how much we are going to charge them.” A slap on the back of her head was the only answer rainbow got as the car was parked and they were ready to start their new job.

“Like you said Rainbow, we do things one by one,” Sunset said as the four got out of the Cadillac rainbow had half a mind of calling it the ghost-mobile but it’ll probably never pass beyond an idea- and with one quick move she pulled open the back door presenting four packs, one for each member of the group “okay girls, gather up, I need to talk about these things.”

“Oh, come on, you just point and shoot, right?” Rainbow said as the Starlight began to check the strange machines.

“I wish rainbow, last time we were lucky that my backpack didn’t explode in a million atoms. Basically this is the proton pack, patent pending according to Twilight here,” The aforementioned girl blushed slightly at what she had done, putting a patent on their design “but it may be a good idea if this who job works out for us. It works like a backpack and it has a directional nozzle that will let out an especially atomized ray that will stick to any apparition in existence, think of it like a laser lasso and you will get close to what they can do,” Sunset said passing each girl one proton pack “just one thing, never under any circumstance cross the streams.”

“Why not?” Starlight asked still a little overwhelmed about what was going on, considering that this was only her first day at the job it wasn’t that strange. The poor girl was in need of money and it was just her luck that Sunburst had shown her the ad that had been found on the internet. Leave it to her best friend forever to find something about ghosts on the internet.

“Basically? Kaboom!” Sunset said mimicking an explosion with her hands making both Rainbow and Starlight gulp loudly at the simple explanations.”

“Sunset, everything goes to the extreme with you.”

“You either do it or don’t Rainbow, now let’s go, we have a client to save,” The redhead said as the four girls got to the front door, but before she could even touch the door, this one was pulled open and a mint green blur came out of the house and clinged to Sunset. After a couple of blinks the three students of Canterlot recognized the usually peppy and exuberant student known as Lyra Heartstrings, who right now was shaking worse than Pinkie when she took a gallon of coffee one study session a month ago.

“Sunset! Do something!” The mint girl said before pointing inside her house; it was not a situation Sunset found herself a lot; even though since her rehabilitation she had been the focus of a lot of hugs, never before she had found herself being the shield of another person. It was so surprising that they didn’t even ask about Bon-Bon before they all heard things crashing inside the house.

As one, the four girls -including Sunset dragging a still clinging girl with her- went into the house finding the two tone haired girl having a staring contest with the target of the day. Bon-Bon was using a skillet and the all the force of her caustic glare to keep a humanoid looking ghost at bay, but it was clear that even with those formidable weapons the girl was not going to be able to keep current situation like that.

“Are we interrupting anything?” Rainbow said finding the situation hilarious while Starlight was gawking at the ghost floating in front of them; for her part, Twilight had once again her trusted magical radar now repurposed into ectoplasm radar and was busy checking all the information that she was getting from being so close to the ghost.

“Oh, nothing much, except me fighting for our lives and dinner! Can you make this guy go! Is bad enough that this city is the epicenter of every crazy person, but now we have to deal with ghosts?!” Bon-Bon was usually as sweet as the candy decals on almost all her clothes, but even she had a limit in how much she could deal with.

“That’s why we are here! Now, please tell us, do you want secret recipe or extra crispy?” Rainbow said with all her usual boasting as she and Starlight prepared their own proton pack and turned them on, the sound of the machine working filled the small living room as the ghost howled making Lyra scream in fear. For her part Sunset tried to aim with the extra weight of Lyra on her back.

“Hit him girls!” as one three streams of yellow and orange energy hit the ghost dead center and only after a few seconds of fighting the ectoplasm apparition as if it were a tug-o-war contest, Twilight activated her own trap, sending the ghost right into its own containment device.

As the dust settled and every girl understood that the danger was gone there was only one who broke the silence.

“Oh my god, I love this job!” The scream of happiness and excitement from Starlight only made the girls laugh in relief and happiness; it was a job well done today.

Armour of Ahuizotl 01

Author's Note

The next story is something of a bonus, because not only mixes Uncharted and Daring Do; the name is a play on one of Jackie Chan's classic filsm, Armour of God, so there will be martial arts, even fights with other martial artists like Kenichi, Ryu and many others, so stay tuned.

Armour of Ahuizotl 01

She was supposed to be one of the most powerful unicorns in the history of Equestria, well, that was before she ascended to alicornhood, but still, looking at the magical properties of a series of crystalized magical artifacts shouldn’t be a problem to somepony of her abilities. Well, it seems that there were mysteries in the world because she had no idea where to start or even how to get a stable reading on the seven amulets that had the power of the elements.

Princess Twilight Sparkle was quickly gaining a headache after the sheer insanity that was trying to study on the magical artifacts her friends had got in what was the Everfree Forest on the human side of the mirror. Now she understood how Sunset felt back when she tried to investigate the magical transformation she and her friends had went through after the battle against the sirens, because if what she was feeling was only a fraction of what Sunset went through since she moved to the human world, then Twilight had a lot of respect for the redhead.

“I’m sorry girls, but… I’m not sure where they came from or how exactly these crystals power you, it doesn’t even make sense.” The princess said all but giving up and placing her head on top of the school desk. It had been some time since she had visited Canterlot High, but it still felt comforting in a way to be in one of its classrooms; maybe it was the scholar part of Twilight that made her feel at ease at places of learning. Around her, the seven owners of the amulets gave her a reassuring look.

“Oh, is alright Twilight… eh, that is, Princess Twilight, heavens, no wonder you didn’t want to visit again, this could get tiring quickly,” Rarity exclaimed looking between the two girls that all but looked like twins if it weren’t for the differences in hairstyle and glasses.

“At least it is better than calling Twilight here Sci-Twi like Pinkie wanted,” The blonde of the group said making Pinkie nod in confirmation while the girl they were talking about simply grimaced at the sound of her once possible nickname.

“And I for one am grateful; to have a nicknamed based solely on my love for academics is not something I wanted to hear,” Twilight said adjusting her glasses as she took on her hands her own. As one the rest of her friends also took hold of their own crystal while Princess Twilight massaged her temples.

“I guess since I cannot study the magical properties of these pendants on this side of the portal,” Twilight started making Sunset start to sweat about what could her friend be planning “and is obvious that Sunset is in no way ready to step into Equestria.”

“Thank you Twilight, I swear, I’ll get things cleared out soon, just… not right now if I can,” Sunset said visibly embarrassed about her own fears and doubts about going into Equestria, thankfully Fluttershy and Pinkie noticed her feelings and quietly hugged her. The action of hugging worked its wonders because Sunset quickly left behind the dark feelings while Princess Twilight went on with her explanation.

“I suppose the only thing I could do is to record some samples of what your new abilities can do, maybe we could start with the physical properties of what your pendants can do,” She said as the full group started to walk until they reached the gymnasium; thankfully no one was using it and they would be able to some test. Princess Twilight was a little surprised when Sunset was joining Rainbow and Applejack on the middle of the mats.

“Uh, Sunset, aren’t your powers supposed to be able to see into other people’s minds?”

“Technically it lets me do a lot more if I touch someone else, but yeah, something like that,” the redhead said starting to stretch. After a couple of repetitions Sunset took off her jacket while Applejack and Rainbow had less than enthusiastic looks on their faces and knew very well what was going to happen in the demonstration. Since they found the amulets in the cavern, the girls had been almost flaunting their special abilities, all of them except Sunset. Everyone had something of a physical ability or at least with some use in everyday life, like Rarity making crystals as accessories or even Pinkie using the sprinkles as made up firecrackers in parties, but Sunset…her ability was not something she wanted to use; just the idea of getting into someone else’s head and steal the information seemed too much of a private breach. Soon though, another usage of her ability was found, one that not even Sunset knew she could have.

“So, how are we going to do this?” Twilight asked not quite sure of what the other girls were going to do or what they were preparing for. From among them, it was Applejack who started the discussion.

“Ah suppose we could do a small little spar to show you Princess, after all, is not like if we could find some rocks for me to show you how strong I am.”

“We definitely need to go to a quarry or something similar to measure the amount of weight you can lift.”

“As if I need more test to see my strength; now Granny Smith basically uses me as a work horse every time she is cleaning the house,” at her words, both Sunset and Princess Twilight tried not to laugh considering the way a ‘horse’ worked back in Equestria.

“Don’t worry, I won’t, so… whenever you are ready.” Sunset said as just as she finished that sentence a fist was thrown directly at her face and with the same speed it was dodged. Princess Twilight gasped in fright at the sudden attack form her blonde friend, but looking at her side the rest of her friends were as calm as they were before the other two began to fight. All with the exception of Pinkie Pie who was right now eating popcorn with one hand as the other had some kind of goofy huge foam hand with one finger pointing up and a sun printed on it.

With the same speed that she had been showing Sunset kept on dodging and weaving between fists and kicks, moving her head from one side to another and stepping away from the danger. Just from looking at the dim light coming from Applejack’s amulet it was clear that she was using some of her new powers which made this even more nerve-wracking than it was before; then it happened, the balance tipped on Sunset favor as she ducked under a high kick from Applejack. The redhead did a spin and getting almost parallel to the floor she did a sweep kick sending Applejack right into the mats. The blonde sighed and stood up, simply nodding at Sunset signaling the end of their impromptu spar.

“How… what just happened?” To say that Princess Twilight was confused would be an understatement, but Applejack simply sat down at the bleachers as Rainbow took a look at her mail before starting her own spar with Sunset.

“Ah think it is partly mah fault; Ah’ve been learning martial arts for a while now, something that mah mom was proud when Ah was younger,” Applejack stopped as she took a long gulp from a water bottle that Pinkie gave her; no one wondered where it came from, but probably from the inside of Pinkie’s hair “Last week Ah was showing the girls some moves.”

“That’s when she showed me how to block a punch, next thing I know I did a complete kata,” Sunset said with a shrug as she waited for Rainbow who was now reading something in her phone “apparently I used my powers without noticing and I, well, you could say I copied what she had learned.”

“And that wasn’t just with things like fighting, two days ago I was busy stitching some new clothes when Sunset tried to call my attention, apparently she now can judge how well a stitch is done.”

“Not an ability I will get much usage from, but every bit of info is good.”

“Well, this info is going to be good.”

“What do you mean Rainbow?” Princess Twilight asked as Rainbow showed them the article she had been watching on her phone. It wasn’t a surprise for Princess twilight to discover that A.K. Yearling was real on the human world, but apparently she was more open about her adventures than the one in Equestria; that Rainbow was a huge fan was no surprise either, so when she saw the familiar visage of the adventures in the small screen.

The eight girls looked astonished as a black version of their pendants was shown with the photo of the ‘Daring Do’ book author posing with it.

“It says here that Yearling is in the search of information about the amulet, it is apparently linked to something called The Armor of Ahuizotl, it is said to be a very ancient artifact and the pendant is a hint to its location.” Rainbow said barely containing her excitement. For her part Sunset felt as if the pendant and her new abilities were linked, but in what way? Only time would tell.

Let's Go Rider Kick 02

Author's Note

I'm back and with more chapters ready to celebrate not only the last month of this years but also the son to be published chapter 100!

Let's Go Rider Kick 02

It was like a dream, something that just came to her once in a while and only when she needed, a feeling of certainty and she had felt betrayed by it. That feeling was the one thing that led her to her fall from grace due to being certain she deserved being made a princess, but she quickly understood that it wasn’t the fault of that feeling, it was she the one that had misinterpreted it and grew arrogant and resentful.

It had changed the moment she had been hit by the powerful beam of the elements of harmony; she didn’t have any dreams, at least not the ones she used to have. She didn’t dream of faraway lands and mystical heroes, of great power and great evil. Now her dreams were filled with memories that were not her own. She knew that it had all been the belt’s fault, but since the first time she used it in the museum there had been no attack, not even the belt had been found after the suit had disintegrated. In the end, the appearance of those beings was being kept under wraps by the government just like the numerous magical hijinks in which Sunset and the rest of her friends had been involved in

The only thing that was on Sunset’s mind right now was the numerous dreams that plagued her nights, or where they visions? It was hard to tell considering her education on different dream interpretations and visions that she had studied under the Princess’ tutelage. Since she was young she had been taught of the importance of dreams and their effect on the everyday life. After dreaming with more warriors with similar armors to her own you could say she was ready to call them visions.

Humans using similar powers to her who also fought monsters appeared on her mind, but she could never recall specific things on them which infuriated her to no end. She wanted to know more about these warriors, but her dreams were not enough. She needed answers if she wanted to understand the belt and the monsters that had attacked the museum. Not even with the help of Princess Twilight were they capable of finding information about the belt. Asking both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna also ended in a dead end as neither Princess knew something about a belt; although, considering that Starswirl ended up hiding many things from Princess Celestia at the end it wasn’t a surprise.

Talking about Starswirl the bearded, the idea that there was something that had to with one of the greatest wizards in the history of Equestria and Princess Twilight didn’t know that was enough to send her into a mini meltdown according to Spike. His message and the description of the strange things Twilight did when she didn’t know something was at least entertaining.

Sunset kept looking through the bus’ window, watching how the streets and buildings became open roads and green everywhere. It brought a little smile to her face, having a special place on her heart for green roads and plains. In a way, it reminded her of Equestria and how beautiful it looked, or at least the parts she remembered. It had been such a long time since she had seen her home world that she sometimes had to concentrate to recall places from Equestria.

She once again sighed knowing that thinking about the world at the other side of the portal would only depress her. Instead of the road Sunset turned her head to watch who had woken up from her own nap and was right now talking with both Rainbow and Pinkie about probable activities at Camp Everfree.

Probably the only good thing about the whole belt fiasco had been the way Twilight seemed to come out of her shell. She was also more worried about Sunset and possible attacks from monsters to think about her own transformation back at the Friendship Games. At least there was a silver lining in all the worry considering how nervous and guilt ridden Twilight had been the first few days after her transfer from Crystal Prep; now here she was, laughing and joking with her friends like any other teenager. Sunset felt herself smile too watching the mirth from her friends.

The idea of camping had been something that took them by surprise, but apparently it was a place where Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna used to go to and any place that held importance to those two seemed like a good idea to relax and focus. Heaven above, Sunset needed some time to relax after the worries of another attack. Even though the thought that another monster could attack with her out of the city was worrying, Sunset knew that there was very little chance of that happening.

As the bus came to a stop, the girls enjoyed the view of big trees, a crystal clear lake and fresh air, something most of them haven’t had in a while and seeing such a beautiful place they already felt at ease. That is until Sunset felt as if the world was ending; a terrible sound and sensation assaulting her head, it was like a signal and it made her grab her head in pain. Miles away, at an abandoned hangar that had been repurposed and decorated in strange glyphs, three humanoid being felt the calling too, each of them knowing that the moment they were waiting for was starting, now the only thing they would do was wait and bide their time.

A fourth began to track the signal as he began to run into the forest of Everfree, his multifaceted eyes shining with the sun rays as it searched for the tomb. Soon their tribe would be awakened and would lay waste to the world of humans.

And in a cave, the few remaining crystals blinked as if they themselves knew that the time of fighting would arrive at their door and a new war for survival would be unleashed.

Let's Go Rider Kick 03

Sunset Shimmer winced at the way the sun rays irritated her; it was quite ironic that the source of her name was right now working against her, but she decided that it was probably karma due to everything she had done before her redemption at the hands of Princess twilight and the rest of her now friends. After a shake of her head, Sunset tried to focus back on the real world after receiving such a barrage of sensorial data. For a moment everything seemed sharper, extremely colorful and every sound was as loud as a jackhammer; it was as if Sunset had been part of the forest, no, the whole world for a few seconds.

The first thing she saw were six faces peering at her with a mixture of worry and confusion, it was a sight for sore eyes. Sunset finally stood up and noticed that she had been brought to her knees after receiving that ‘signal’ for better word. Looking around the clearing that worked as parking lot Sunset didn’t see the rest of her classmates.

“None of the others noticed… whatever happened to you, not sure if to be thankful or worried that no one could help you,” said a slightly miffed Rarity as she then began to pat off some dust that had stuck to Sunset’s summer camp outfit; the aforementioned redhead took it on stride knowing that it was one of Rarity’s way of showing she cared. At her side, Fluttershy took her head on her hands and carefully peered into Sunset’s eyes with a worried look still present on her.

“Do you feel nauseous, does anything hurt?” The shy girl asked in a voice tone that made everyone blink since they usually only heard her talk like that when in the presence of an injured animal.

“Wow, seems that those first aid lessons really did work,” Rainbow said watching the usually meek member of the Rainbooms take charge in the inspection of the redhead. After watching her eyes Fluttershy nodded not finding any signs of damage on their friend.

“I feel better now, thank you guys.”

“What happened to you? One second we are all talking next you are kneeling on the ground,” Applejack said still surprised about what had happened. From the entire group she was the one most excited about the idea of camping since she hadn’t been able to go out like before; her father had been too busy the last few years to take her out into the wild like old times so it was a nice thing for the school to make the trip possible.

“I don’t know, I was fine and then it felt like… someone was calling me, maybe? It was too confusing at the end,” Sunset was not quite sure of what had happened back there, but she knew that there were only two probabilities. Either it was something magical related or had to do with the belt. Of course, if she was really unlucky the two things were linked.

Leaving that behind, the seven friends took their bags and began to walk until they finally caught up with the rest of the group. Looking up they saw a girl and a boy who seemed the be the ones in charge of the camp, but something was wrong since the girl seemed to be in pain as the boy tried to help her up.

“Is okay, I’m fine now,” The girl said pushing the other boy gently to the side before recovering enough to hold up her microphone.

“Gloriosa, this is the second time this happened, there is something going on,” The boy said worried about the girl while this one simply smiled and shook her head.

“I’m fine Timber, there is nothing wrong, is probably some heatstroke; I swear I will rest up after we welcome our newest campers,” Gloriosa -which seemed to be her name- answered and then began her welcome speech to the newest guests to Camp Everfree. As she was talking both Sunset and Twilight had their own suspicions about what was going on. It seemed that the girl had also been hit by the strange surge of sensations like Sunset, or at least that was their suspicions because her reaction seemed too similar to the one Sunset had two minutes ago.

“You don’t think-” Sunset started as the rest of her friends began to give suggestions for activities at the camp; meanwhile Twilight began to think about what could be happening.

“I’m not sure, it could be related as in she also got the signal as you mentioned, or it could be like she said and it was only heatstroke, we won’t know until we check what happened with you- oh, excuse me,” Twilight interrupted herself after almost crashing into someone; that someone was none other than Timber who had some kind of bag on his hands. Looking at the rest of the people at camp both Twilight and Sunset saw the cards that they had in hand and decided to pull one from the sack.

“Hey, I got a sapphire, at least I think it is a sapphire since is blue, although sapphires can come in other colors,” Twilight said as Timber got close to them and was obviously wanting to engage Twilight in conversation.

“Yeah, but they are mostly blue, that’s why-” It would have been cute to see him trying to flirt with Twilight, if the girl didn’t have her head on everything scientific.

“Thank you for that, now, we need to do something about that, maybe we can do some tests,” She kept on talking as she walked away as both Timber and Sunset took a look at each other and the redhead could do nothing except shrug.

“Sorry, she gets like that sometimes, maybe you’ll have more luck later on, oh nice, I get sapphire too, see ya,” Sunset said feeling a little bad about the guy, he seemed like a nice guy but when Twilight was on a roll there was very little they could do to make her focus on the material world.

Just as Sunset got close enough to Twilight they soon heard someone screaming from the forest; just as the group of campers noticed the sound they all saw a young girl appearing form the forest and they all recognized her.

“Diamond Tiara!? What’s wrong, what are you doing here?” Principal Celestia was the first one to react and she and her sister caught the young girl as she was about to fall down to the floor due to how tired she was.

“You have to help! Dad’s limo was attacked as we were arriving!” the tiara wearing girl said almost hysterical as the other teenagers got worried at what she said “it was some kind of monster, it has my dad!”

“Where did you saw this monster?” Sunset asked getting worried about what could have happened to Filthy Rich.

“It was in the forest; it just took my dad and then disappeared!” The girl said as tears ran down her cheeks. In a second Sunset began to run into the forest as the rest of her friends and the two sisters in charge of Canterlot High could only watch her leave. They all knew that if there was something magical or dangerous happening then it was something that Sunset and her friends could solve, but the bearers of the elements of harmony knew that something like that could only be defeated by Sunset. That is, if she was capable of transforming.

Light rays pierced through every nook it could find making the trek inside the forest easier for Sunset, but even with this help the path was becoming hard and soon she had stop to not only reorient herself but to take a breath. She knew that what she was doing was too dangerous and foolhardy, but if the monsters from the museum were returning then she had no other choice but to fight them.

Still, she felt like an idiot for simply running into the woods without a plan or something prepared. Sure, she was known for preferring the hands-on approach to things but this was even extreme for her. Just as she was to turn back she heard another set of footsteps getting closer. Waiting until the other person could catch up with her she saw the unmistakable form of Twilight who was completely out of breath and with her glasses skewed getting closer to her.

“Twilight? What are you doing?” She asked as the other girl put her hands on her knees and tried to recover her strength. Even if after the Friendship Games Twilight had become more active in her daily life she was still the cliché out of shape nerd.

“I… didn’t… want you… going by yourself,” She said trying to regain her breath as Sunset smiled at the dedication of her friend, but just as she was about to tell something she felt that same type of signal almost bringing her to her knees. It was a clear warning, because at the next second Twilight was trapped in some kind of net and pulled up.

Sunset was too late to react and could only see her friend being hauled on top of a branch by a grey skinned monster, like the ones she saw at the museum. It had six protuberances coming out of its back and with the addition of the eight beady eyes and fangs growing out of the mouth it was clear that the monster had something to do with a spider.

“Yujo!” was the only thing Sunset heard before she was hit by something on her right sending her flying. Shaking off the pain and getting up Sunset found one of the leaders of the monsters with one of his fists raised. The head with big eyes and two antennae made him resemble a grasshopper “you are not ready for the duel, do whatever you want with her,” the grasshopper said in perfect English as he jumped into another tree and soon disappeared. The spider seemed to understand what was said because it turned to look at the still struggling Twilight and Sunset’s blood turned to ice at what happened next.

From the high branch the spider simply let go of Twilight sending the girl on a one way trip to the ground. Her scream made Sunset move faster, her body began to change on the action of saving her friend and once more the belt appeared around her waist. With a mighty jump Sunset caught Twilight before this one could get hurt, but placing Twilight gently on the ground the warrior found her friend too terrified to talk.

Sunset felt something that haven’t felt in a long time, something that she tried to erase from her own self, something that had only brought problems for her I the past, one of the reasons why she was now away from Equestria. She felt the searing rage burn in her body, almost as if her body was made of lava. So big was her rage that her mind was clear for the first time in weeks and even the mountain of information was simply pushed aside as Sunset put all her attention on the spider.

She felt heat encompassing her body as it gathered around her belt, cracking it up until the energy was enough to change the way it looked. Instead of an oval it was now a circle still with a clear center. Around it now there was a yin-yang in yellow and red and a big sun just like her cutie mark, but for whatever reason the cutie mark was split into two as both parts were separated with enough space in the middle to insert something.

The core, the one invention from Twilight that in a way had started it all floated in front of Sunset and this one took it in one hand.

“I see… this is your real form, you were waiting for me to finally commit to the fight. Help me protect those close to me and everything will be fine,” She said as she inserted the core into the belt.

“Core Ready.” The voice said as Sunset extended her arms to the side gathering every ounce of power she had in the human world.

“This is my resolution; this is my declaration of war! Henshin!” She screamed as with her hands she pushed inwards the two sides of her belt making the belt close and a bright light engulfed the girl. As the light receded Sunset threw herself at the spider hitting him directly in the face sending him reeling backwards. The spider attacked back by kicking Sunset on the stomach, but thanks to her new form as Kamen Rider Yujo the damage was minimized; anyone else would have had several ribs broken with that kind of attack.

Attack and defense, hits and counters rained as both Rider and Monster fought for their lives as the fight raged on. Holding onto the spider, Yujo pushed it into what seemed a lake deep into the Everfree. With water up to their knees Yujo ducked under a fist from the spider and quickly hit it in the sternum, next a front kick send it backwards deeper into the water.

Sunset felt a power concentrating on her legs as the fight continued and now she knew it was the time to let it free. She screamed with the force of her rage as what could only be described as a floating version of her cutie mark appeared in the air. Jumping in the air, Yujo went through the cutie mark, her whole body being engulfed in the power of a sun, almost like an armored meteorite. Her right leg made contact against the spider and both Sunset and the monster went down into the water, getting lost among the lake. Twilight by now had freed herself from the sticky web and witnessed the fight; it was a nerve wracking experience and she could do nothing but hope that Sunset came out the winner. Then finally the two disappeared under the water and a second later a huge tower of water appeared from the middle of the lake.

Twilight ran to the edge of the lake and rejoiced at finally seeing Sunset walk out of the lake, completely drenched and bruised, but with a smile on her face and thumbs up in the direction of Twilight. Then Sunset lost all energy and felt unconscious into Twilight’s arms.

Author's Note

Number 100 guys! I cannot believe it! I am speechless with how happy that number made me!

Now onto the story: several changes to the design of Sunset's belt. The original belt would be called Pre-Core since it was the original form of someone who used the belt several thousand years ago. This one, the cutie mark of the sun, is the Sunset Core and shows the pwoer and resolve of Sunset to fight the evil of the world.

Next on Kamen Rider Yujo:
What's happening to Gloriosa and where is Filthy Rich?

Call me Beep me 03: Memories and Future

Usually, Kimberly was known as a ball of cheerfulness, a machine that never ceased to be charming, well behaved and the perfect girl-next-door, all around Miss American Pie. Right now Kim felt everything except cheer; not even warm flavor of the nachos in front of her could cheer her up. Many didn’t know about the fact that, even though Bueno Nacho was her friend’s favorite place -change that into obsession-, Kim had been into the restaurant so many times throughout her life that by now it had become her comfort food. Just the mere logo brought a sense of calmness, of relaxation that she attributed to the many days and nights she had spent joking and talking with her best friend.

Kimberly may be the most popular kid in Middleton High, but when it came to friends she have only ever had one that she could go to everyday, sadly that day was not one she could spend with Ron, not that he wasn’t available. The redhead knew that she could call Ron at any moment and he would appear with his goofy smile ready to destroy the dark cloud on top of her.

Fighting back a sigh, Kim wasn’t even sure what was going on with her; all day she been feeling down, almost listless, it was so bad that it even her father had noticed something happening and asked her about it. The truth was that he first asked if she was like that because of a boy, which made Kim roll her eyes at the one track mind of her father.

It was at times like these when Kimberly understood how truly alone she was; yes, she was head cheerleader of Middleton High, she had amazing parents and she saved the day countless times, but when you looked a little bit closer you may notice that beyond Ron, she had no other friends. Yes, she could talk with Wade, but could that count as friendship? The boy was the one that took care of her website and favor list, but beyond calls for missions they had no real interaction.

“Geez, who kicked your puppy?” A very peculiar voice was heard inside Bueno Nacho making Kimberly raise her sight from her snack. At one side of the table where Kimberly was sitting down was none other than the other redhead of Middleton High. Looking at the attire made Kimberly feel a slight twinge of jealousy at the way the other redhead filled the t-shirt. She also found strange that Sunset used a lot of clothing with that weird sun symbol on her shirt; maybe it had some sort of sentimental value to her.

“What are you doing here?”

“And a good morning to you too Cheerleader,” Sunset said smirking at the red face of Kimberly once she noticed her social faux pas “but really? I just came for lunch, what about you? Where’s your worst half?” The damn smirk on Sunset’s face made Kimberly think on another headache, but instead of red and magenta it was more green and black.

“His name is Ron and he is not here,” If there was one thing that ticked Kimberly the wrong way was for people to trash talk about Ron or talk as if he wasn’t important. Apparently her reaction was amusing for Sunset because she gave her a very peculiar smirk, one that once again reminded Kim of her arch nemesis.

“I know his name, I just like to make you lose your cool,” Sunset said chuckling in amusement at Kimberly who had half a mind of jumping over the table and tackle the other redhead. The mature side of her was the only thing stopping her from doing something really stupid. Kim have understood the last couple of weeks that doing that would just put her at the perfect range for Sunset’s technique “now that my job is done I’ll order and leave you on your own pity party, ta-ta Panty Flasher.”

If there was someone in Middleton High that made Kim blow a fuse was none other than the Bitch Queen of the school. Not even Bonnie could make her snap that fast; it was as if Sunset knew exactly the words and tone needed to make the usually calm and cheery Possible explode in rage.

Looking at the retreating form of the intolerable redhead, Kim had to wonder what exactly was happening between them. Two weeks ago had been proof that they could get along and it was a moment where Kim saw another side of the usual acerbic teenager. They were about to have two exams, one of algebra and the other of history; it was quite the surprise to know that Sunset was even beyond what could be considered passable at the first but lousy at the second. It was as if Sunset had never even heard of most things in the book.

What had surprised Kim was what happened at the library that week. First finding Sunset at the library trying to study history then inviting her to Kim’s house so that they could help each other on their own weak points.

Kim wasn’t proud of it, but she had some trouble with several things that they had seen on algebra due to a couple of stressing missions that week. Her father and brothers seemed to thrive on math, most of the time doing calculations on their heads that left Kimberly with a headache just hearing them. She was a little jealous of their ability with numbers, but at least she knew that what she did on her missions was something unique to her, something that nobody from her family could say they did. That’s why she was so amazed at Sunset’s ability with algebra and everything to do with numbers.

That day they spend helping each other on algebra and history respectively, was a day filled not only with the proverbial light bulbs after understanding something. The two redheads had found some kind of camaraderie that Kim had never felt with another girl. Then the strange news about Sunset doing one of her missions just so she could have a free weekend arrived via Wade and left her stumped.

Here was one of her biggest nightmares and for no apparent reason she had helped her, not only that, but she put her body on the line taking Dementor and his henchmen by herself, all so she could have a free weekend.

“Sunset,” she said without knowing why she called her, but in the end Sunset stopped and took a look at Kim over her shoulder “I… thank you… for last Saturday,” Sunset’s face shifted several times showing different emotions.

“You… you are welcome Cheerleader,” She said with something resembling a smile on her face mixed with confusion. It had been a weird morning and most importantly, Kim had forgotten why she had been so down that day, it wasn’t important because maybe, just maybe, she had made a new friend that day.

Sunset remembered that day as well, knowing that it was the day where her life had changed. It had been when she had finally acknowledged that Kimberly maybe wasn’t that bad. It had been the beginning of something greater than any kind of stupid revenge she had planned for Celestia.

Now here she was, in the middle of an alley as rain began to pour from the sky, washing away the blood on her face. Around her, the unconscious bodies of the mercenaries and assassins littered the ground while the victorious redhead tried to stop the blood coming out of a knife wound in her abdomen.

Those guys had literally blindsided her and she had been barely capable of surviving. She had finally found the information she needed about the latest scheme by Doctor Drakken and suddenly they had appeared alongside one of the Four Aces, one of Shego’s old enemies.

What where they doing and what did they have to do with Drakken’s Lil’ Diablo plan? This was worse than she thought. For a second everything turned black but Sunset focused again and with the determination that could come from being a redhead, she stood up and began to walk in the direction of Bueno Nacho.

There was no way she would let Drakken hurt even one hair on the head of HER cheerleader, not if he wanted the worst beating of his lifetime. She was going to save them, injury or not.

“Just hold on Kim, I won’t let you down this time.”

Author's Note

So the story shows a little bit of the beginning of their friendship and the infamous second season finale.
The Four Aces are something that the KiGo community created, a sort of Rogue Gallery from Shego's hero days and they are... creepy, basically immortal vampires so you can say that things are not going like the original So The Drama script.

DOOM 02

The one thing Sunset hated the most of her job was to work as a guard for the assorted scientists and researchers that studied Mars’ landscape. Yes, it was quite interesting to be able to see some of the strange discoveries they found every so often. Most of the scientist knew Sunset by name and even though they didn’t quite like her attitude -although they understood that the attitude was normal in every guard- they do liked the thirst for knowledge and the brain underneath the armor, so they often talked with the redhead. It was fun because now not only she had a job where -hypothetically of course- she could shot things, but where she could check new advancement of science while in another freaking planet to boot.

It was liberating for the redhead, who since the training she received by UAC had found an outlet for her now legendary temper and bouts of rage. Since her boot camp and later transfer to the laboratory located at Phobos, she had found many opportunities to not only understand the layout and weapons available to all security personnel -or at least the ones they let her play with-, she was also capable of reading many of the new discoveries and research results since most scientist in the non-classified sectors liked her enough to share them with her and discuss the findings.

All that work working as security seemed to have given her some degree of control on her emotions since she didn’t want to put a bullet right in between the eyes of Twilight Sparkle. If there was a creature she detested more than Princess Celestia it was the stupid replacement the alicorn had found. It was clear this was the first time she had found in a situation full of danger because she kept between looking at every shadow, as if something would suddenly jump at her and eat her face -Sunset had to contain a grin at the thought of Twilight missing her head and one of those monsters munching on her body- and gawking at every strange light and screen littered around the corridor.

Sunset rolled her eyes behind her Praetor helmet as she swiped the word unlock on the monitor and the heavy door began to clink and grind. As the double door opened up, both Sunset and Twilight had to fight back their desire to vomit at the freakish state of the corridor. Among the stacked storage boxes and blinking lights ready to give up, blood was painted on the industrial walls of the Phobos Research Laboratory. A skull devoid of all skin was glued by the amount of blood that had coagulated. Its vacant sight was enough for Sunset to be grateful of the filters in her helmet. Apparently Twilight was not so lucky because she looked ready to start running in the opposite side. Sunset once again rolled her eyes before grabbing the helmet that was thrown into the floor; obviously its owner would not miss it.

“Here, you will need it,” Sunset simply said throwing the heavy metal and carbon alloyed helmet onto Twilight’s hands. The look would clash way too much considering Twilight’s ridiculous look but it was better than let her gag all the way.

Without even looking at Twilight, Sunset began to walk into the corridor before she found something she was not expecting. Apparently the ‘demons’ she had been told about were not the only weird creatures in Phobos. There were three strange white garbed creatures that were starting to drag their feet as if they were completely drunk, although apparently they were half dead and turned into pseudo demons.

Sunset simply kicked the one that was in front of her sending it flying into the storage boxes and quickly finished it with one stomp, making the head burst open as it was pressed between the box and Sunset’s foot. Bits of cranium and brain were sent flying everywhere as Sunset enjoyed the execution in a way. Turning around she grabbed the arm of one of those strange demon-human craziness and pulled it. The result was the sounds of bone and meat being torn down and with the arm on her hands Sunset did the only smart thing; she took a swing at the creature with it and was rewarded with the sound of a head exploding in more gore. The last one apparently didn’t know if to run or attack the armored girl, but the decision was taken out of its hand when Sunset finally pulled her regulation UAC EMG pistol and with a pull of a trigger all questions were put to rest.

“Well, look at that, we DO have a demonic presence in the base, are you copying all this Armor?” from the inside of her helmet Sunset used the built in communicator to call the only other guard that Sunset knew was still alive. From somewhere on the communication tower Shining Armor responded.

“So far they don’t look like the ones that attacked me; in any case, please be careful, we still don’t know what is going on,” Nodding Sunset then walked across the corridor until both girls reached a new section of the base. For all the time Sunset had been working on the base, which was close to two years, she never got the chance to see the whole construction since many places were classified and you needed special permission or had to be transferred into that zone to even know what was going on behind closed doors. Whatever the case, all that part of the base was close to one of those closed off zones and the redhead was curious as if whatever they were working on those labs had to do with the demon situation they were having.

As it was the case, both Twilight and Sunset quickly knew that there was something going on when they heard a blast and one of those weak demon like creatures were send flying through the air and crashed in front of Sunset. Hearing the cursing voice the redhead smiled since she wasn’t alone on the base as she thought.

Both girls entered the room as another guard was trying to get up from the floor, but simply decided to continue sitting down with his back one of the UAC consoles. Looking at the two new occupants of the room, Soarin finally relaxed, putting down his shotgun.

“Well, look who is up and about.”

“Geez, you look like hell, like the rest of the facility; what’s going on?”

“I have no idea; me some others were walking back from guard duty when these… creatures jumped on us. I was separated from Spitfire and the rest and… well, I don’t think I will be able to stand up in a while,” The jovial man said with a grimace mixed with a smile. Sunset took a look at his injuries and knew that even though he would be alright there was no way he could help her with all the strange things that were happening.

“Hey Twi, stay with him here, help him get to a safer place,” Sunset said without bothering to hear what Twilight would do, but before he could leave the room he was stopped by Soarin calling her. Turning around she caught the shotgun that had been thrown at her.

“You will need it more than me,” the sight of the shotgun was more than enough to make that day even better.

The Creed of the Knife 03

The sounds and lights marching through the night were magical for many ponies enjoying the festivities on such a spectacular way and great event just like the one of tonight. Not every night had seen a royal wedding, and unless Blueblood had finally tied the knot -the probability of that was 0- Sunset knew that all Canterlot was riding the high of not only meeting the darling new couple, but also to celebrate the victory that all Ponykind had achieved by defeating -probably permanently- the dangerous creatures known as Changelings, a whole race that many believed they were simply tales.

Through the whole night everypony, or at least those that had a modicum of an idea of what had happened, including those inside the hall where the original wedding was happening, turned their heads and whispered about the appearance of the mysterious mare that had literally drop from nowhere and ended the life of the Queen of the changelings.

Sunset was used to people watching and pointing at her from time to time. The way she looked with her scar and the deep red and yellow mane of hers were a combination that made it difficult for people to forget her. It had been used plenty of times as a tool; let people see her on a public place, then change into her assassin attire and suddenly everyone would swear that Sunset had been there at the time of the execution.

She was numb to all the whispering, the words and the pointing; she could see it in their eyes. How could she have killed someone? What kind of monster was she? There must be a good reason why Sunset had been exiled from Equestria by their perfect and beautiful Princess Celestia.

Here was the savior of ponykind and she was nothing more than a stranger on a sea of colors and music. The worst part was the she just couldn’t leave, because if she did it Cadence would be hurt. No matter if she tried to disappear among the shadows Cadence will know that she left and it didn’t matter if their relationship was over -for pony’s sake, she was married to a stallion, that was a clear indication that their relationship was done- if she left Cadence will know and the last thing she wanted to do was to hurt her that way on her happiest day. It didn’t matter that the only thing Sunset wanted to do was to jump on the heads of those self-centered and useless royals who thought that they were better than the common pony and stab them on the heart. Maybe even try that with Celestia to see if the eternal Sun could be extinguished.

Sunset shook her head to try and get the idea out of her head. No matter how much she hated every single noble pony in the town that was no way to think about her former teacher, even if she was still angry at the way Celestia did things.

Only when it was convenient for her she went in search of Sunset and only in a way that was advantageous to the princess. Only one day job and then goodbye, good luck with your life, don’t let the door hit you when you leave. Even now Celestia had ignored her former student as if she didn’t exist. It was obvious that she was miffed at Cadence’s decision of forgiving Sunset, but that’s what you get when you were used to having absolute power and suddenly you find out that there are others with the same level of power as yours. It was cathartic in a sense to see sweet little Cadence put in place the taller alicorn.

Finally it seemed that the wedding and its guests of honor were ready to depart on their honeymoon because the elements of harmony all said their goodbyes and Sunset had to fight back laughter. It seems that the crazy fashion pony was desperate to get married by the way she threw herself at the bouquet.

For a second, Sunset and Cadence’s eyes met and there was a smile and a promise to see each other. The two didn’t need much words considering most of the times the two had their muzzles busy doing something else to waste time talking. Besides, it couldn’t count as cheating when the wife is seeing another mare on the side, right?

With a final chuckle Sunset turned around in the direction of the very little used mirror. She knew that the piece of heaven that she currently owned was strong enough to keep the portal open, but she wasn’t going to bet on something that was as strange as powerful as those things. Sadly for the young assassin there were other ponies that had different ideas than her own, just like in the case of a certain student of Princess Celestia much to the distaste of Sunset.

“Excuse me, Sunset Shimmer?”

“Right, the replacement, what do you need?”

“My name is Twili-.”

“I know your name, that doesn’t mean I will say it aloud, you are still the replacement for Celestia,” If there was one thing Sunset had mastered beyond the different ways in which to quickly end someone’s -or somepony’s- life was the way to be snarky and get on everyone’s nerves. Watching the way Twilight frowned at those words she had done it already.

“Do you have to be so difficult? I just wanted to know about you, I mean, Celestia never mentioned you before, I mean, no offense,” Twilight realized the way in which she had said that and quickly tried to apologize, but Sunset simply chuckled at what she already knew.

“Yeah, no wonder, I mean, how do you explain your greatest student that the previous one had been expelled from the castle and is now a professional assassin?” Sunset took a long look at the other mare and couldn’t find it on herself to hate Twilight. The mare seemed to wear her heart on her metaphorical sleeve and she was truly hard to detest, but Celestia was still open game “look kid, you are not that bad, but you heard Celestia and I talk, we still have many things that we need to air before we are even civil to each other. One advice for free? From one student to another? Leave things be because things could get ugly quickly between the princess and I. You saw her; she is ashamed of me and between you and me? Maybe it would be better for you to keep your distance, only bad things happen around me,” Sunset finally told her piece and put her hood back, hiding her face from the world.

“I don’t know if what you said is true, about the Princess and you, but one thing I know and that I have found about many ponies and creatures around Equestria is that everypony deserves friendship. So, Sunset Shimmer, would you like to be my friend?” Hearing the words of Twilight, how honest and earnest she could be truly made some of Sunset’s walls crumble. With an exasperated sigh and a smile on her face Sunset looked at the younger mare.

“Geez, you don’t give up right? Fine, have it your way, take care… Twilight Sparkle,” Just the mention of the name made Twilight smile brighter, but of course, this was Sunset Shimmer, she couldn’t let things go like that “by the way, the door of your balcony needs some oil, also, the next chapter of the book you are reading, oh boy, does it get steamy,” Sunset truly enjoyed watching the way Twilight’s face morphed into one of surprise and slight fear.

“H-How did you-,”

“Oh Twilight, I am the best at what I do.”

Castlevania: Concerto of Harmony

The full moon in the sky bathed the whole land in a tenuous light that made it impossible for people to see beyond the gates that they had made long ago. The walls had been used constantly in the small town as the only tool they had in which they could defend themselves against the endless amount of bandits and wild game that inundated the forest known only as Everfree. They were once the things people were afraid of, now they were only minor pests at worst. The real danger appeared when the sun came down and creatures as foul as their master came prowling for mortal flesh and souls.

Applejack still remembered the first time the monsters appeared out of the town. It was the night she had almost become an orphan, but thanks to the rest of the town’s quick action no one had died that day, maybe some injuries, but both her parents were alive and well.

What many thought as only a small occurrence -dark magic was not unheard in the world after all- ended up being something that continued attacking their small town almost every night and it was clear the kind of long term damage it left the people of Ponyville -strange name, but after all, the town had been known for their use of small equines to help their everyday work- slowly being broken by the constant appearance of monsters and the mental stress of never knowing if that would their last day alive.

Applejack may be one of the best workers in the town, someone who helped everyone when they needed it, but she wasn’t a genius. She wasn’t one of those super smart people from the city who could not only write, but also find the answers for every problem. She was just a simple farmer, but even she could see how much the stress was beating the spirit out of her people.

The blonde girl wished at that moment that for once in her life she would have the answer for a problem beyond hitting it with a hammer or stay stubbornly in front of it until it left. For once she wished she was smart or powerful, but instead she could do nothing but wait every night in the house with Apple Bloom and her mother as her brother and father helped defend the town.

She was so deep in her thoughts that she almost missed the sound of the door and the answer for her prayers, well, almost. Applejack heard it anyways and was startled out of her ruminations and for a second hoped that there were no more monsters and it was Mac and her father coming back home, but she was realistic and knew that there was no way that it could happen. Shaking her head to get those ideas out of her head she opened the door, but instead of a familiar face, there were two rather unique individuals standing in front of her.

While Applejack dressed like the farmer she was with simple clothes designed for work more than for fashion, the two girls in front of her showed a style that left Applejack completely flabbergasted. It was not only because the clothes were eye-catching, but it was the combination of beauty and absolute confidence that they exuded like an aura. She had never met people like them before.

Of the two, the shorter of the two had luxurious flowing hair that felt behind her shoulders with a few curls framing her aristocratic pale face. The woman seemed to almost shine under the moon alongside her silver and purple long dress with tight waist.

In contrast with her companion, the other woman was as fiery as her red and golden hair that seemed to move slightly as if it were made out of flames. Her sharp teal eyes and high cheekbones made her as aristocratic as the other girl, but there was discipline and even some arrogance on those eyes which made Applejack think on a commander or a conqueror more than a princess. She was also wearing a tight leather vest over a white shirt with a long red and black coat of intricate designs alongside fingerless gauntlets, boots and pants.

“Ah, can Ah help you?” Applejack was open and straight forward, but looking at those two beautiful and commanding women simply left her as speechless as her brother. Instead of telling her something rude or worse yet, disappear as if they were mirages, the elegant woman simply smiled before answering.

“Well, I hope we are not much of a bother; my friend and I are just passing through your very lovable town,” even the voice was elegant and with such a cadence on it that almost hypnotized Applejack before the other girl simply snorted.

“Geez, that’s not what you were saying when we got into this place, something about dirty roads or something similar? Look girl, the only thing we need is some info. Have you seen a girl of pastel pink hair coming through your town?” The redhead asked with a voice clearly having very little control on her anger.

“What? Sorry, but the only gal Ah know with pink hair is Pinkamena and she ain’t on this town, she lives on a quarry a couple of miles from here,” apparently this was not the answer they were looking for since the elegant woman almost deflated showing deep concern about the spoken about girl. Meanwhile, the redheaded woman simply gnarled showing a very scary glare; thankfully it wasn’t directed at Applejack.

“Great, just great.”

“Is okay Sunset dear, we will find her, we just need to keep on looking.”

“Rarity, we cleaned up a bunch of those skeletons and zombies outside of the town, if that isn’t a clear sign that they are close, I don’t know what will be,” The redhead one said making Applejack’s mouth fall in surprise at the nonchalant in which they declared that they had destroyed the monster that had been constantly tormenting the town.

Before she could say something a scream was heard and howl torn through the night making Applejack shiver. Next thing she knew there was a monster as big as a horse running in the direction of the gates. It was hairy and with muscles rippling as it ran in the direction of the trio. Applejack recognized it from the old tales, it was a werewolf.

Instead of screaming or running away, the two women simply smirked as Rarity raised a hand at the moment the werewolf pounced on them; instead, the monster remained afloat as a two magical circles levitated the monster in the air. For her part, Sunset put her hand inside her coat and with a flick of her hand a long object was pulled.

It was a weird feeling, almost as if the soft glow of the sun was bathing Applejack’s body , but what Sunset had in her hands was a long whip made out of chains and leather that seemed to vibrate with magical energy.

“You idiots never learn, there is only one way in which this always ends!” With a movement of her hand the long chain flew through the air and ripped the werewolf in two. As the whip touched the werewolf, the magical circles disappeared letting the two pieces fall to the ground as they quickly burned away “pathetic as usual.”

“Well yes, but it seems you were right after all, since our adversaries had never let out a werewolf unless they had a hideout close to it.”

“Yeah, you are right Rarity. Hey you, girl… what’s your name?”

“Ah, Applejack?”

“Okay Applejack, do you know of any place that had been abandoned that could be big enough to hide monsters on it?”

“Well… now that you mention it, there are several places like that inside Everfree, the closest would be an abandoned fort,” Applejack was sure that saying that would bring trouble to her and she was right by the way Sunset was smirking at her.

“Well, hope you know where that place is because an innocent life depends on it, so welcome aboard miss guide girl,” Wait, what? Well, it seemed that the adventure had just started for Applejack now.

4 Knocks 01

It was maddening the way in which everything always seemed to fall and break. Everything seemed so fragile these days and there was always the feeling of dissatisfaction. Sunset had once been happy, being surrounded by her friends and doing normal teenager things, or at least something that passed as normal considering who she was. Everything seemed so simple before the madness that she couldn’t forget the last day of her world. Just sitting down while her friends talked about the latest test, what someone in school was wearing or when was the next Pinkie Party. Innocuous things as her friends chatted and laughed at the days going by as Sunset tried and tried to mix and do something, but it was harder and harder to stay.

It had begun as something without importance, like a simple whisper that she sometimes listened as she relaxed or read. It was something of so little importance that it didn’t matter, but soon it began to get in importance as the whisper to take over her concentration. It was the reason why she couldn’t get the right answer at the Friendship Games. Something as basic as that question and she couldn’t get the correct answer; it was something so humiliating that something inside her pushed her to be even more aggressive than usual with Twilight after the motocross part.

Sunset had felt shame so deep that she had unsealed her terrible anger. It was not something she felt proud of, but her friends had forgiven her, even Twilight had come around and joined them. It was fun for a while, until Camp Everfree that is. Now Sunset was here, alone trying to find more information about their new amulets as the sun began to make their slow trek across the sky as Sunset simply sighed.

She had nothing against Twilight dating, she was happy for her to not only start to socialize, but also to explore new feelings and new things. The last thing she wanted for Twilight was for her to stop being happy, so why was she having this feeling? It was maddening, as if something was missing. All day she had been unable to find rest and her mind had been almost bombarded with sound. It was maddening, so maddening.

She felt her hand shaking and had to take a long deep breath before she did something she would be ashamed of. Besides, the multiple instruments around the lab were too valuable to her to do something she could be sorry about later on.

Knowing that she could do no science with the state of her mind Sunset turned off the computer and put her jacket back on after placing the lab coat on its own hanger. It was quite a normal day before she heard the door open and there she was. The girl she had been thinking about, but Sunset’s smile soon turned into a frown at the arrival of the ponytailed girl.

“Twilight? What are you doing here? Didn’t you have a date with Timber today?” The other girl shyly smiled at Sunset as she fidgeted in place as if she was slightly nervous.

“Yes, I mean, I had a date, but, well, I remembered that you said you were going to be in here and… I don’t know, I felt bad for just abandoning you all these days, I mean, I haven’t even take a look at our new amulets,” Twilight was clearly starting to ramble, it was something really cute from Twilight. So instead of letting her continue talking Sunset got close to her friend. Twilight meanwhile closed her mouth and waited for Sunset reaction. What she wasn’t expecting was the right fist colliding with Twilight’s nose. The strike hard enough to send Twilight reeling back and hit the door behind her.

“Alright bitch, tell me now, where is Twilight?” The fire burning behind her eyes made the creature gulp in fear.

“How… you are just a human, how could you know?” The fear in Twilight’s face only made Sunset even angrier if it was possible. She would enjoy getting the info from it.

“First, Twilight starts pacing when she rambles; second, she would never stop wearing her Crystal Prep uniform, it calms her down, especially on a date. Finally, I made plans with Twilight to spend tomorrow at the lab together, so whoever you are, you better keep on praying to whomever god you have if you hurt her!” The cracking of her knuckles made the other creature feel as if it was being stalked by a predator. It was simply inconceivable that a creature like her could get scared by a mere human.

Neither of the two could reach a conclusion since someone opened the door and hit the Twilight imposter with a chair right in the face sending her right into the floor. Sunset was really surprised to find Roseluck holding up a steel chair.

“You know, you and Sandalwood should stop watching wrestling together,” Sunset said to her classmate making the other girl blush slightly.

“What can I say? My brother and I have been watching it since we were kids. Sometimes it works in real life,” before either girl could continue someone else also got inside the lab making Sunset blink in surprise. Probably the best physics teacher they have ever had in Canterlot High was now checking on the Twilight Imposter with something that looked like a metal stick and hummed. It was something so familiar and alien at the same time, but why?

“Well, seems like this one is alive, next time try to be less enthusiastic with that chair Rose,” The thin man known by the students as Professor Smith said making Sunset’s head swim in images and sounds not of her own. Meanwhile, inside Sunset’s jacket, a strange object, and one that Sunset never has noticed before, began to thrum, with a sound so familiar, almost like… the sound of drums.

Author's Note

Oh yes, it is coming.

4 Knocks 02

She had found it funny at first, at least that’s what she remembers when she looks at the scrawny man wearing a blue suit with convers. Sunset thinks she remembers him since she started attending Canterlot High, but was it really? This was no mere man, not with the way he acted with the doppelganger of her friend. The way he muttered and flittered around, he seemed like a British family member of Pinkie Pie, she was even tempted to slap him to make him stop babbling about.

The only thing she cared about was to hear what the man had to say about the strange creature Roseluck and she had knocked out. So with the man now looking at his weird instrument he began to walk and like hell she getting left out of this. Giving a swift last kick to the downed doppelganger Sunset followed after Professor Smith and Roseluck into one of the unused parts of the basement in the school.

Standing in front of her was something that made absolutely no sense whatsoever. What was an archaic British police box doing in here? If Sunset wasn’t used to crazy stuff happening every single week this would probably top the charts but as it was she simply shrugged her shoulders and followed the other two inside.

What she found was surprising and at the same time familiar, as if she had started using a sweater she hadn’t been using since she was a little filly. It was so bizarre than Sunset had to spend several seconds trying to regain her footing. Sunset’s mind felt as if it was working on all cylinders for this day. It was almost nauseating, but after taking several deep breaths she was capable of hearing the other two people inside the impossible machine.

“So, Sunset Shimmer, this is the TARDIS, time and relative dimension in space,” the thin man said as he looked at the redhead as if he was expecting something.

“You got your own pocket dimension,” Sunset said as the man seemed to deflate obviously not getting what he was expecting.

“I always knew you were brilliant, but we are not here to gawk about, we need to know exactly why are these shape shifters here and why they took the form of Miss Sparkle,” he said moving things around in the main console as Sunset began to check the ample interior of the blue box as if it was a new specimen; as she was doing this Roseluck got close to her with a smile. She was the nicest of the flower trio as the other students had nicknamed them, so Sunset never had problems with her so after her reformation they were civil but not strictly friendly.

“You are the first one to immediately know why the TARDIS has this dimensions,” The rose haired girl said making Sunset blink in surprise of the other girl talking to her.

“What? Really? What is he waiting? For people to say is bigger on the inside?”

“It is a bit silly, but is almost like a game. The Doctor told me that every time someone new enters they always say that same thing, is very few times when someone doesn't follow the script,” Her smile was enough make Sunset calm down a little, but there was a humming, as if coming from the console that still made the redhead feel restless.

“So it seems I’m not the only one from another world,” Sunset asked watching at everything on the inside, from the myriad of cables going here and there to the stairs directing to new rooms, showing how big the place was.

“Yeah, I was surprised too, found about it by accident when the box appeared on my family’s backyard. I think my mom was ready to hit him with a pan when he kept on saying he was The Doctor, no other name apparently,” it was at that point where Sunset stopped listening to Roseluck, she only watched the man pull levers and push buttons as her mind began to swim around. Images of swirling portals and drum beat made Sunset’s head throb in pain and confusion. Only when Roseluck places a hand on Sunset’s shoulder is that the redhead finally recovers “are you alright?”

“Yeah, just, worried about Twilight.”

“Well, I have good news and bad news,” The man, this so called Doctor, only tells them as he turns around from the console and looks at them.

“Story of my life,” Sunset answers making Roseluck giggle at the words that sound so much like Sunset.

“No need to be so sarcastic. But, I do know where they are and I think I know what they want and if I am correct your friends will be alright.”

“Then what’s the bad news?”

“That the rest of your friends will not have a world when they reactivate what’s beneath Canterlot City,” he says making Roseluck go pale, but Sunset only glares at the man clearly asking for more information; she was sure he knew more “at first I thought these were Zygons, really troublesome lot, but apparently they are something that you may have more experience dealing with,” The Doctor said pointing at Sunset who in turn felt as if a light bulb had got off on top of her head.

“Changelings… only they have the ability to change into someone else, damn, that makes sense. Twilight, I mean, Princess Twilight told me their queen escaped after all the Changelings accepted harmony’s energy. If Starlight was capable of infiltrating the Princess’ castle, why not a manipulative shape-shifter too? Just great,” Sunset began to pace around the metallic floor, she used to do that all the time back at Canterlot when she was working on a difficult problem “so if she is here, of course she would go after the Twilight in this world first,” but before the discussion could go on the TARDIS began to shake sending Sunset and Roseluck to the floor as The Doctor hold onto one of the handrails close to the console and began to look for the cause of the movement.

“Hold on, there’s some kind of protection, well, that’s to be expected since the place was made with Time Lords in mind. Old hideout of the Daleks, way before the war, I wonder how this Queen got access to it.” As the man continued to work Sunset got back to her feet. Looking at her left to see if Roseluck was alright, but instead of trying to get up, Roseluck had a weird object, a golden locket in her hand, something that paralyzed the redhead by just looking at it.

“Sunset, how did you get this thing?”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about? Is just a bauble,” Of course it was worthless, it was just a silly little thing that she got back in Equestria, right?

Right?

4 Knocks 03

Everything was lost.

Everything was death.

At least on my mind that’s what I see. I can see a city of tall towers and a sun making the mountains shine, but it is not Canterlot. I feel pain, and lost. I feel everything happening in front of me. The arms in the clock don’t move as I see the portal ripple and move as my mind is lost. There is a message; a beat hidden inside my head that never leaves me, never lets me be free. I am a prisoner in my own mind sometimes, not knowing what is right and what is wrong. Who should leave and who should die.

He thought he was the last one. I thought I was the only one to cross.

We were wrong.

Everyone was wrong.

I should have known, after all, why would I deserve a second chance?

Monsters don’t deserve one.

I should have grabbed that stupid locket the moment I could and throw it in the middle of a volcano, everything to save the world from… me.

I can feel the calling, the promises of power that are constantly trying to seduce me, to make me destroy everything I once held dear. Is the same voice I heard every time I decided to be the good girl, the Sunset Shimmer that deserved redemption, telling me that everyone was beneath me. It finally had a name and it came in the form of a little locket.

Everything seemed so simple. Go and fight the Changelings alongside The Doctor and Roseluck, but instead of the smooth ride, it seems that Chrysalis was all for revenge, because he had tons of guards and apparently… a ton of bullets.

It hurts.

I feel so bad and so numb.

I don’t want to leave them yet, I still haven’t learned everything about friendship and magic in this place. I cannot just leave.

I don’t want to leave, but it hurts so much.

I can hear the sound of more guards approaching and preparing their guns. I have never been more afraid or more amazed at what humans can do. Now I suppose is not the time for that. I can only imagine what the Princess… all of them, would say.

I wish I could talk with them one last time, just to say… I’m sorry I suppose and thank you.

Goodbye Twilight.

I close my eyes and prepare myself for the last sound I will hear in my life, but instead the only thing I hear is one of the guards falling to the floor, followed by another. I can barely open my eyes but I can see a figure, moving from side to side, the glint of daggers slashing and taking everyone down.

Soon, only she and I remain alive, but not for long if the pain in my stomach is anything to go by. The woman soon kneels at my side and holds something that sends shiver through my whole body. Is the pendant, the one I wanted to leave behind, the one that only made the beat drum go on and on in my head. I am scared of a simple ornament as if I was a little girl, but I haven’t always been a little girl. I could hear the drums coming closer, taking the part that was me and trying to force it right into the back of my… our… his… MY head!

I feel my hands shake as I grab the pendant…no… is not a pendant. How could I be so stupid? I can see it now, The Untempered Schism right in front of my eyes, my initiation. I can hear the drums, one two three four. One two three four. I can see him, me and everything that I have been.

I ran, I ran so fast that I never stopped running.

I feel the energy running through my veins, the golden energy of my heritage, my injuries closing with the energy given to the Time Lords, my body changing, my heartbeat mimicking the one in my ears.

I am whole.

I am awake my dear Doctor.

And that same man was busy trying to find a way to save the young girl strapped to the table as the green haired woman who was clearly far from being human raved about revenge and what she should have.

The Doctor had seen dozens of crazy creatures like her; the ones that pouted and threw tantrums when they couldn’t have what they wanted. Chrysalis had been defeated by the Twilight in the other dimension and now came to hurt the human version of the princess.

He could hit himself in the back of the head for not checking closer on the portal, but now he should be making some plans for whatever he could do to save his students. The ones he had grown attached to, especially the redheaded girl, the one that had been shot down. He tried not to think about that or the way the other girls will react if they knew what had happened to their friend.

It was at that moment when instead of feeling desperate, he grew scared. His two hearts missed a beat at the feeling he got. It was impossible. Next thing everyone felt beyond irritation at Chrysalis’ monologue was the way in which the whole building began to shake as lights went off and red emergency lights began to permeate the place casting shadows everywhere.

He didn’t put attention to the screams of Chrysalis and her mind altered minions. He could only see Roseluck at his side, at the face that felt hope, a smile that was being diminished by the look of panic in The Doctor’s face.

“What did you do? Roseluck, tell me, what did you do?”

“I… Sunset had a locket, like yours when you became human… she has to be a Time Lord too, right?”

“Roseluck, you don’t understand, I am the Last of the Time Lords, I’m supposed to be the last one, not because it was an accident, but because it was necessary!” Soft steps could be heard on the hall, steps coming closer to them “The Time Lords had become corrupt, as evil as the Daleks,” it hurt to remember, to see on his mind what the Time Lords had become and all the atrocities they unleashed upon the universe “but there was someone even worse than any of them, someone that took joy in making humanity suffer!” the steps were getting closer now, so close that a figure could be seen walking in their direction, steam and the lights of the corridor hiding every feature “we saw that message in the TARDIS’ console! YANA! It wasn’t just a coded message! It was a warning!”

YANA

You.

Are.

Not.

Alone.

The steps finally stopped and the body was finally seen. Every girl wanted to celebrate, but their blood turned to ice at the smirk on the newly awakened Sunset Shimmer. The smirk, they had seen it before, but now it was followed by hollow eyes, ones that had seen and finally remembered into the Untempered Schism, the eyes that held the greatest madness on the universe.

“Sunset, you-“ Applejack tried to speak with her friend, but the glare that was thrown at her silenced her.

“Do not call me that girl! There never was a Sunset Shimmer! My name is The Master! And you, overgrown useless bug, this is my planet,” she said showing one of the automatic rifles in her hands, the gun shots resonated in the chamber as the other guards pointed their guns at her.

“You should have killed me, now just die! Shoot her!” but even when Chrysalis ordered and barked, no guard moved or raised their hands. Instead they kept on watching the redheaded Time Lord.

“Oh Chrysalis, I suppose a mind as little as yours can’t comprehend what’s going on, so let me explain. I didn’t shoot at random, after all, what crazy wannabe conqueror makes her headquarters a resonating chamber, one in which someone could realign some panels, I don’t know, maybe with some bullets? And oh, maybe someone could use those new panels with a new signal, maybe something that is capable of transmitting some signal to tamper with the new one? How about a sonic screwdriver?” She said with a maniacal grin showing a small tube object as The Doctor checked his own pockets not being capable of finding his own.

“Please, do not go this path, I know you can do better,” The Doctor said knowing full well where his old nemesis and childhood friend could do with that kind of power on her hands.

“Come on old friend, you know me well enough to know what’s going to happen. Now girls, close your eyes because the next part is going to be a little gruesome. Guards, shoot Chrysalis… and don’t stop shooting until you have no more bullets to shoot,” what came next was the screams of pain and the sound of weapons going on as a maniacal grin was present on who was once called Sunset Shimmer.

10 in One: First Part

Forests, meadows, all of those had great importance for both Twilight and Sunset. The first time they went to a forest it was the time when they finally got to know each other. Their fears and dreams alongside plans for the future had been extensively discussed those nights, although at the time Twilight was battling self-doubt while juggling a romance. After the discovery of their magical geodes, things became peaceful enough for them to finally talk and enjoy what the camp offered them.

When Twilight wasn’t with Timber, she was with her friend and sometimes talking and experimenting with her new powers with Sunset. That was only what had happened the first time they went to camp Everfree. After that things settled down once more into routine of going to school and saving the world from magical accidents and exiled monster by Starswirl.

Twilight had been ecstatic about having some romance in her life after so much time alone, but little by little -so subtle that it didn’t register to the group of friends- things between Twilight and Timber fizzed out. Less calls, fewer messages and less pining for the other, all of that happening in a couple of months. Sometime around November, Twilight was one second laughing with Sunset at a café the two had found out, the next she got up as if suddenly remembering something. The something was the fact that she had completely forgotten Timber.

It was true that Twilight and the rest of the group went back to Camp Everfree the next summer, but things were different. Timber wasn’t there and Gloriosa had several camp supervisors, all of them happy to help the campers. After talking with the older girl they found out that her brother was spending several weeks on Europe alongside his new girlfriend.

Everyone was ready for total drama, but instead Twilight simply blinked and continued talking with Gloriosa as if nothing had happened. The other girls thought that Twilight was just keeping appearances and she would cry once she was on her tent. Sunset knew better and as soon as the two got into their tent -sapphire once again- she began to plan things with Twilight what activities they would be part of on the camp.

Sunset knew that after all that time, Twilight had simply moved on, the enchantment had been broken so to say and this time there were very few instances in which Twilight and Sunset were separated. That is until a very beautiful night of full moon in the docks forced Sunset to exchange tents with one of her friends. Rarity tried hard not to pry, but in the end they found out that Twilight had all but thrown Sunset out of the tent after a rather heavy make out session under the moonlight.

Rarity thought that sounded really romantic and in the end, thanks to her talking with Twilight and her fears of a not-so normal relationship, things had finally been patched by the two girls. After that and many talks between the two girls around the many spots on Camp Everfree, the teenagers had come back to school with a deeper bond that only grew in time.

Next year they were there once more and using the moonlight and the help of their friends -who seemed to meddle on their romance a little too much- Sunset finally asked the question, right there at the docks that started it all, or at least the one they had rebuild for the sixth time that summer.

And one more summer, just a few days after a very interesting wedding planned by two Cadence and two Pinkies, the two women were on the road, not on route to their favorite summer spot. This time they had decided on somewhere else to spend their honeymoon. A road trip around the country was the thing they decided before starting college and the next chapter on a very interesting life together.

The first step had been a spot not too far away from the Everfree forest and both girls used the stop to stretch their legs and rest for a bit. Both women weren’t exactly tired since they were used to spending time on top of a bike and the one that Sunset had gotten was perfect for long travels. Still, they wanted to check the camping gear and the place was known for being a nice camping zone.

Looking at the different RVs that were parked around the place Sunset sighed knowing that the place would have several families already camping. The redhead didn’t mind the other people, she even felt better knowing that there were others around, she just wasn’t that good with kids, or at least she thought she wasn’t that good.

It was at that precise moment that life decided to laugh at her -which is totally ridiculous since I am the one controlling fate and destiny and I’m not laughing at Sunset- making a couple of kids voices appear close to her.

“Wow, check that one! It looks way cooler than that dumb rust bucket,” a young boy said eyeing Sunset’s new bike with a redheaded girl that seemed to be around the age of the boy behind him.

“There’s a part in me that wants to disagree with you just because, but everything beats that old thing,” the girl said making Sunset think of Rainbow Dash with the attitude she had. She had to laugh a little bit due to the two kids that were either friends -she doubted it considering the sarcasm- or family members.

“Thanks, is not too bad right?” What came next was a series of questions about the bike and if the boy could ride it, which was simply impossible considering the bike was big enough to withstand open road travel and more than enough baggage space for two newlyweds. It was at this point that Twilight returned from her short walk that she found Sunset talking with both kids.

It was more than a little difficult and a little awkward when the boy asked why the two girls were travelling on a bike alone. How do you explain a couple of kids that you are a lesbian couple on their honeymoon? Thankfully they were saved by the appearance of their grandfather. Sadly, this was not a first meeting.

“Sunset?”

“Hello Max,” Oh, how Sunset hated Plumbers.

Author's Note

Sunset's bike is a BMW K 1600 GTL, a very cool touring bike.

My Creation 01

Sunset’s head hurt after the lengthy discussions she had almost daily now with both Observer and Keeper. It was almost ridiculous the amount of times those two had defeated her on every subject they brought along. The situation made Sunset fear for her future since it was explained to her that the impending Tea Party would not be only tea and conversation, but it would most likely have murder and mystery intertwined with since the host loved stories like that. And those were real mysteries and murders in case anyone is wondering about it.

It was truly maddening, but this is what she had signed up for. A life of adventure and mystery, all surrounded by magic and craziness that didn’t know when to end or start; yes, it was bizarre. It wasn’t so bad most of the time, just opening doors at the beginning before she got to meet a couple of her alternates and also a crazy villain that had put Equestria on peril in another dimension now ruthlessly destroying other dimensions in the loose. Besides the last one, it had been nice.

From all the people living in the huge mansion floating among the multiverse, she had a lot of fun meeting the other workers in the house. From the secretarial Rainbow Dash, to the maid and great tea maker Pinkie Pie, Sunset had found good friends. In a way, the redhead had finally understood Princess Twilight. Meeting alternate versions of your closest friends was at the same time weird and welcoming, because you felt at ease with them even if you found the differences among the two versions.

But as Sunset continued her preparation for the upcoming tea madness, this time being helped by a very sane and grateful Harleen Quinn -they were already making plans of visiting her old Gotham friend with Sunset accompanying her- this time we are not focusing on the reality bending house, although later on we will have a small tour of the location.

This time we put our eyes on a very non descriptive world among the many millions in the multiverse. In it we find our favorite scientific duo and in occasion magical girls, working on something late at night on their new home, Canterlot High.

Even though the institute was still seen as inferior to the education found at Crystal Prep by Twilight’s brother, the young girl had finally found the place where she could leave behind her doubts and the rather heavy baggage of self-doubt and loneliness. Finally meeting people who she could unwind with and truly enjoy their company -albeit in small doses in some cases- had done wonders to the once shy and nervous girl. Now, being on the laboratory alongside someone that not only understood whenever she went on a long scientific tangent, but who could write code as fast as twilight could assemble a machine and that was damn fast.

The girls found themselves under the light of fluorescent lamps installed in the ceiling while they kept on typing and checking all the different materials that they had on hand.

“Remind me again why are we doing this?” The bespectacled girl asked as she took a look at the magazine on her hands. The only word that was on the front cover was MAD and something crazy was drawn in the front.

“Well, this is something of a personal project really. Think about how different society has become in the last couple of decades and everything that had been created around that time. Equestrian culture and society are very… how can I say it? It sucks basically, since they have an immortal ruler and they have magic they use very little time to try and advance the sciences,” it was quite adorable to see Sunset so excited about something like science, it made Twilight feel giddy too. Also, it was quite revealing the way she talked about Equestrian customs or ponies as ‘them’. It was as if Sunset had become a true human beyond the physiological.

“So, are we studying pop culture?”

“Got it on first try,” the thumbs up Sunset gave her was so goofy that Twilight chuckled. She began to place all the strange magazines and posters on a pile and she was slightly surprised at the amount of female photos and pinups in the group.

“Any reason why you got all of these posters? It reminded me a little of my brother’s room.”

“Humans truly have a lot of love for the female body, not that I can’t blame them,” she said with a huge grin as Twilight took a picture and showed it at Sunset who then stopped smiling.

“Including your principal?” in the photo one could see Principal Celestia on one of those rare days in which she used a short skirt instead of her usual suit pants. Sunset simply shrugged for answer not wanting to say how or why she got the pic. Although the answer would probably be that some of the guys that helped her get all the pop culture material simply put it there.

As the girls continued their work in making a nice database to investigate the changes in pop culture through the years, another woman was already at work not too far away from them. Standing on the touch down zone on Canterlot High’s camp was a woman with shoulder length black hair twirling a dagger on her hands. The woman seemed to be really entertained by the dagger and in the way that it reflected the moonlight as it twirled in the air.

She was so entertained by it that she barely heard the way in which reality itself was cut open. The sound always signified someone opening a tunnel between dimensions and the woman turned around to watch someone she knew very well come out of it.

The person that had traveled into the football field was wearing a full set of white armor with golden filigree decorating it. Her face was hidden beneath a white hood and coat alongside a white and golden masquerade mask. The spear she was holding in one hand seemed worn down as if it had seen action recently.

“So, why do I deserve the visit of such an illustrious guest?” The woman with the dagger asked almost as if in jest making the armored woman roll her eyes.

“Oh, drop the nonsense for once, what are you doing on this universe? There is nothing happening on this world.”

“At least for now.”

“What are you planning sister?”

“So that means that the great Madeleine of Astora doesn’t know everything?”

“If I knew everything I wouldn’t have let The Master wake up on that universe, by the way, nice job saving that Sunset,” Madeleine said obviously happy with the results on that world. The dagger wielding woman just grinned at finally being praised by the oldest of the family.

“One of my finest works and come on, even you have to acknowledge that The Master will make a fine addition to the troops Keeper and Observer are gathering.”

“That is true does not mean you have permission to mess around. We made a deal with Observer and Keeper. We are supposed to help all those different Sunset become stronger, that is all, leave the hard jobs to Observer, he will be the one that will help Prime Sunset get to the point where she will beat Noche,” Madeleine said as her sister simply stuck out her tongue.

“Nah, you may be the great White Queen, the mentor and sage warrior that will guide Sunset to become the Princess of Lordran, but I… well, I am Catherine, the Red Queen and I just want to have some fun,” the woman on the red coat said with a smile as she threw a dagger up in the air, then it stopped, staying floating right on top of the school. It seemed that the dagger had some kind of ability as it soon began to glow with energy and in a blink, it send a bolt of lightning right into Canterlot High.

Inside the building everything turned into chaos as the lights went off and every single computer went bonkers. Energy began to arch as the computer in which they were compiling the database went nuts. Twilight and Sunset hugged each other in fright and both were sent through the air as a massive energy pushed them.

As the two geniuses got up slightly shaken they soon found their jaws hitting the floor figuratively as a figure began to appear, first as wireframe showing the obvious female curves but then it began to get form and in a couple of seconds they found themselves in the presence of a woman wearing one of the shortest skirts they had ever seen and a blouse that was obviously a couple of sizes too small to contain the woman’s chest.

What truly blew Twilight and Sunset’s mind was that the woman was a carbon copy of Principal Celestia, with the clear distinction being that while the principal’s hair looked like the sky at different times of the day, this one had long, wavy lilac colored hair. That and the shit eating grin that she had on her face was clear difference.

“So, what do you girls do around here for fun?”

Author's Note

Now you know more about the White Queen, but wait, there's another Queen? Yeah, she was the one that saved Sunset/Master.

Rosario+Pony 05

She stood right there, looking at the White board put in the middle of the courtyard as the other students milled around watching and checking numbers and names printed on a long list. The redheaded ‘demon’ was no novice when it came to strange and quirky things, I mean, just check where she was and what was happening with her life.

Not too long ago she was a barely normal teenager student tat defeated magical monstrosities and saved the world, at least a couple of times since she was a Canterlot high student. Now that she was a member of a school completely catered to monsters and creatures of myth the bar had been raised at least several kilometers into the stratosphere because more and crazier things were happening in her life. That’s what she gets for being a friend with a vampire, no matter how cute she was.

So once more she was completely surprised about the differences between her previous school and this one. After years of careful planning and study she had become used to the eccentricities of schools on Earth, but there was always something even worst to be found at a new school. First it was the fact that if people knew she was human she would get killed… maybe, no one was quite sure if that was right. Second was the fact that she could take the form of her demonic half, basically towering the other girls she had met, even more than usual that was. Third was the amount of legs and bountiful chests she had seen so far and even a girl that was allegedly straight through most of her life could make her doubt. And that was a position Sunset never thought was possible, but after suffering glomps from a certain succubus and other girls that also lived I the dorm, well, she wasn’t getting used to it, just strangely enjoying it in a bizarre, ‘not quite what the hell is going on’ kind of way.

Going back to the board, Sunset just couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing, so much that she had to turn to her right and the beautiful vampire girl that was there. Most of the student body knew that those two girls were inseparable and if you ever tried to do something about it you ended up in the infirmary for a long time.

“I’m new to all these things, but, am I seeing what I thing I’m seeing?” The confusion in her face was so obvious that even Moka was confused.

“Well, those are just the results of our last test.”

“Yeah, I understood that part, but I don’t is the fact of WHY THE FREAKING HELL WOULD THEY PRINT THEM!” to say that the outburst of one of the school divas-the student’s words, not mine- talking about something like their grades; whatever the case, it seemed interesting enough “NOT ONLY THAT, BUT THE SCHOOL PLACE THEM AS IF THEY WERE RESULTS OF SOME COMPETITION! For fuck’s sake, that’s only one test! Is not as if we were competing for a gold medal in the Olympics, this is just too stupid. What about the students that don’t have good grades? They are put at the bottom and instead of being inspired of doing better next time are simply crushed, it is humiliating!” Sunset, or as people in the school called her, Yuya finally finished her rant and as she took deep breaths to fill her lungs a deep silence filled the school. Then, like one, the students cheered and roared in response of Sunset’s passionate rant.

The redhead stood completely rigid at that kind of response from the multitude of students that were checking their grades and quickly blushed even more when she felt the buxom succubus known as Kurumu glomped her and began to nuzzle her neck.

“That was such an amazing speech! I think I just felt in love all over again!” Instead of becoming jealous of the attention the redhead was receiving form the voluptuous girl they all simply blushed even harder.

“Yuya-sama not only took second place on the test, she is looking out for us!”

“She and Moka-san are not only beautiful, but smart and not stuck up!”

“They are simply perfect, I tell you, they are the perfect girls!”

As these and more flattering adjectives thrown at her, they almost didn’t catch when a group of upperclassmen began to reprimand a rather tiny and young-looking girl wearing robes and a pointy hat. Thankfully the attire was black because if it were any other color it would have reminded Sunset of Trixie Lulamoon and that on itself was a bigger headache than this school.

“So, those guys are class representatives, right?” she asked while a random student nodded at her words while he continued the explanation.

“Yeah, she is Sendou Yukari; she is the smartest girl on the school. Apparently she is a witch so her class representative and other students bully her,” the differences between the three worlds -pony, monster and human- were truly significant because she was sure that by being a witch she would burn at the stake several centuries ago, now she is simply being bullied by creatures more horrendous, oh the irony.

It said something about the reactions of the three girls that they moved just at the moment when the tall boy was going to tackle her when the little witch send a stone flying into the head of the class representative using basic telekinesis. In a second he found himself in front of probably the three most dangerous girls in the whole school and the face of surprise and fear present on him and his lackeys send shivers down Sunset’s spine… well, it was that or the way Kurumu’s breasts rubbed against her arm. Either way the trio stood ready to defend the little witch.

“This probably has little to do with us,” started Moka while her redheaded friend kept it coming.

“But even then, bullying a little girl, one that is not only a part of the student body, but also one of the smartest? Is that the way you misuse the power that was given to you? Oh so honorable.”

“Although considering how ugly he and his cronies are, is probably the only way a girl even looks at them,” Kurumu’s words made the other girls look at her while the class representative seethed in rage “what? Is true,” if Sunset would have known how many problems the little witch would cause later on maybe she would have thought twice about lending a hand to her.

Author's Note

For some reason, listening to Uptown Funk makes it easier to write for me, interesting, something knew about Oni.

The Titans and the Sun 01

She sighed.

It was something she had found herself doing more and more as the days went by. Not because days were hard or she was reminiscing, she just was… savvy to this kind of problems.

After all the time she had spent doing magical things or even fighting and vanquishing all kind of dangers back home, seeing something like what was in front of her was still quite the adventure. She sighed once more before a smile found its place on her lush lips.

The city looked different and for what she understood there was only two explanations of why. Either she was on another time, or she had been send to another dimension thanks to whatever had short circuited at the exposition.

Stretching her arms upwards Sunset Shimmer took a step, her leg dangerously coming closer to the edge of the building’s roof she was standing upon and then… well, she stepped into empty air. It seemed like the redhead was going to go down and fall off the building, but instead her foot hit the thick exterior walls of the building and as if she had magically had changed the laws of physics Pinkie Pie style Sunset began to walk on the wall as if it was the most ordinary thing.

If someone were to look upwards or at least to the window they would have seen a redheaded girl wearing a tight white and red spandex-like suit. Yes, the city was somewhat used to strange phenomenon like that.

As she began to think of what she could do she soon found someone leaning against an open window with a cigarette on his hands, maybe having a little time off from work with the way he was dressed.

“Excuse me, do you know of anyone that could help me with weird stuff?” At the sound of Sunset’s voice the man stood ramrod stiff watching the girl at his side clinging to the side of the building as if it was nothing. The cigarette fell from his numb fingers as the beautiful girl simply smiled. The man nervously and slowly pointed on one direction with a finger and Sunset noticed the giant T on the middle of an island “yeah, I saw that thing, but I didn’t know what to make of it, I mean, who lives on a giant T anyway? Thanks by the way,” Sunset said as she pulled up the hoodie of her suit. The edge of the hoodie was as red as the spider printed on the front of her suit and as she pulled it up a mask began to appear around her face as if by magic, hiding Sunset’s face and instead showing a blank face with big black eyes.

The fully garbed girl then jumped making the man almost have a heart attack until the girl stretched a hand and a long rope like substance shot from her wrist. And with that, the girl swung her way up to the home of the local heroes.

Author's Note

And something did happen.

Aren't I just a teaser?

The Titans and the Sun 02

So, before everyone asks, it wasn’t my fault, okay? I mean, yeah, I suppose that getting inside the headquarters of a superhero team unannounced would look really bad, especially considering the fact that none of the people involved in the event knew the person responsible for said event. See where I going with this? I mean, I suppose I should have seen it coming.

How it happened? Well, to begin with they should probably have a better security system, or at least make it so it would activate even with an open window. Yeah, that surprised me too. I mean, the whole ‘leaving the window open’. I think you guys already know who did it.

So imagine my surprise when I arrive at the lone island, home of the superhero team known as Teen Titans. By the way, do you have any idea how inconvenient it can be for people who cannot fly? Anyway, there I was, in front of the main door as I watched the enormity of the place. If Rainbow were there she would have made the Shrek joke at seeing the place, I mean, who needs that much space? I have seen the lab of my Iron Heart counterpart and not even she had such a big space, even considering how much of a multimillionaire that Sunset is.

Anyway, I was right there at the door and after pressing the buzzer I stayed there waiting to see if anyone would answer, but after several minutes there was nothing, not even a Mexican maid saying that Mister Griffin isn’t there. So what’s a girl supposed to do? I climbed the tower becoming a literal spider girl. I truly need to thank Rarity and Twilight’s help on the suit, it is just so perfect at letting me use my sticking powers, well, not sticking, but you understand.

Can you imagine my surprise when I found out that there was an open window? Apparently someone was a little too lax with tier security. Once I got inside I found such a beautiful open living room, with plush coaches and beanbags, probably the greatest home entertainment setup I have ever seen, all in a modern, clean style that was a pleasure to see. I don’t know who is backing them up, but damn, they have money! Also, I need to get a kitchen like the one these guys have, I swear Pinkie and Fluttershy would love to make something on one like this for our parties.

It was also at this moment when I watched someone walk into the kitchen. He had risen from one of the couches and he looked either really young or it was extremely skinny because I swear he looked even smaller than Pipsqueak. The one thing that was truly remarkable of him, beyond the elfin-like ears that he had, was the green skin he had, it almost reminded me of ponies back on Equestria.

Just looking at him walking almost like a zombie in the direction of the kitchen told me everything I had to know about who exactly left the window open. I then decided to take pity on the poor guy and looked for a glass on the cabinets until I finally found a glass. Then I opened the fridge and found a carton of milk.

Placing the milk glass in front of him seemed to make him react a little bit since he quickly took the glass and with one move he basically chugged the whole thing. Then he began to blink the sleepiness away and turned his head on my direction.

“Thank you Star, you are the best.”

“I’m not Star, but thank you,” It was almost hilarious the way his eyes went from barely slits to half the size of his head. I suppose on hindsight that he screamed in surprise after seeing me on his kitchen was pretty normal behavior, which then of course led to the rest of his team arrive at the kitchen “ah, I come in peace?” Safe to say they were not amused.

15 minutes later.

Although, the way they were glued to the walls and ceiling due to my web was also hilarious. From the glare that their apparent leader was throwing at me to the curious and a little scared looks of the two other boys of the team, the almost bored look on the girl that made me think of Princess Twilight for some reason and the… relaxed and the curious looks being send on my direction by the orange hued girl; all those were entertaining in their own way.

“So, is it a little late to ask if we can all be friends? I mean, I even have a friendship speech prepared and all,” the way the orange girl’s eyes opened up made me remember Fluttershy any time she saw a puppy.

Author's Note

Sunset had the advantage of surprise and a combination of spider sense plus the magic of her pendant. She is also really good at improvising.

4 Knocks 04: Mad Hatter

No matter how bad Sunset’s day was, she was always someone that always did things right. From how she sat down all prim and proper, from her days of bully and queen to those days on which she had become the hero and number one girl that students trusted and asked for advice.

Now, there she was, sitting down at the lunch table with her legs tucked under her chin as she rocked back and forth while the six girls that were her best friends watched her from afar, their faces showing the fear and confusion they felt at the moment.

It had been a complete day since the moment of Chrysalis… defeat, but nothing was rosy as the Canterlot girls were used to. The Princess had been notified of the demise of Equestria’s most wanted villain. Sadly, the only way in which Princess Twilight would be able to get the body would be to use several boxes for the many remains… probably 20 matchstick boxes would be good.

The problem wasn’t that, but the way in which Sunset had been muttering, walking and screaming at everything and everyone. Now it was the turn of their teacher, the mysterious Doctor, to get any answer, or at least one that will make sense.

“Sunset… Master… I know how you feel right now; I had to use the Chameleon to hide. Please, I know you are still there,” the skinny man said as Sunset finally stopped rocking and one eye was seen from underneath the hair curtain of Sunset’s head.

“Do you? Really, please, enlighten me on that part.”

“Before this, you would have started shooting at me or the other girls, I know there is good inside of you and-” before he could go on Sunset moved as if she was a spring toy, jumping on top of the table, sending plates, cutlery and trays flying. On hands and knees Sunset’s face was right in front of the Doctor.

“How can you even think that everything is right?! No, wait, that’s not the right question, not even the right answer! Do you see now? This is what I am, I feel my head and my body being pulled at 5, no, 6 different ways!” Sunset began to say as she started to pace all on fours on top of the table. This reaction took the students by surprise but there were several that could do nothing but be mesmerized by the insanity of the redhead.

“What do you mean? Talk to me, please, I want to help you.”

“Yeah yeah, because we are the last ones. Bravo my dear, you finally did what I could not, but that’s not important, they are not important. My head and body want! I want to be the Master, but I want to be Sunset and that’s not all! I want Equestria, but I want to fight for Earth, I want Harmony and I want Twilight’s pus- heart! Let’s go with Heart! Do you see now? I’m bonkers! The only worse than me is Pinkie Pie!”

“Hey!”

“I have proof of that!”

“Sorry sugarcube, Sunset… ah, Master? She is not wrong, Ah think that’s why we are getting a little used to this entire shindig,” The blonde said and all of them felt a little sad that their lives had become so that the insane ravings of a friend could be seen as part of studying at Canterlot High.

“As if it were that simple!” Sunset said tumbling down from the table kneeling down in front of her friends “I feel it, the calling! To destroy and become the true master of this world! Although taking it on perspective that’s nothing out of the ordinary,” she said with one hand under her chin as the others simply nodded, all except Twilight who was still processing what Sunset had said about wanting her… before she could go on with her ruminations she felt something holding unto her leg making her want to jump back, but Sunset’s weight anchored her to the floor.

“Sunset!”

“Sparky! Please, don’t abandon me! I feel that you are the only thing that makes it possible to choose Sunset as me! Oh heaven, even talking is crazy with me!” Twilight’s face was quickly becoming a new sun due to the amount of heat it was emanating at having Sunset hugging her leg and slowly rubbing herself on it.

“Doctor, is that normal?”

“When we regenerate or… wake up, things are a little hectic, but this is The Master that had been the target of a full emphatic blast from another dimension. What I am surprised of all this Roseluck, is that Sunset is behaving. Now I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is the Master, one of my greatest enemies and friends. She is truly trying to be normal, but she was affected by our time in Gallifrey… I don’t know if she would be able to fight the madness inside her.”

“Is that how it’s going to be?” The Mad Time Lord said finally ungluing herself from Twilight’s leg, presenting her wrists to her old nemesis “are you going to put me in chains? Just make sure they are tight, we both know you like it when I beg!” Sunset’s maniacal smile said everything the Doctor needed to know. It would be an uphill fight, but he could see the madness fighting against the girl that wanted to make Earth her new home. She would need a lot of help… and him a lot of aspirins.

Author's Note

Yes, she is off the rocker! She is insane and she loves it!

Welcome to Los Santos 01

It was a perfectly normal day, something that made the even the most sarcastic and pessimistic kid in Canterlot high sigh happily at the peaceful day that the city had. Not only was the weather excellent with just the right amount of clouds in the sky to make it possible for people to lie down and watch them. It was also cool enough to be confortable without being chilly. All in all it was the perfect day. Sunset Shimmer knew something bad was going to happen. There was no way the universe will let Sunset have a normal and perfect day considering the kind of things the school had been a part of.

She knew her paranoia was right he moment her cellphone went off. It wasn’t that weird considering the school day was over, but still, this was definitely a shock. Who knew that Sunset Shimmer had set that kind of ringtone?

Aww, comin through fo' real we Cypress Hill, ohh baby
Got that crunk, for yo' trunk, goin gangsta crazy
We some real life hustlers, playin games in the street
We got that low-ri-der, scrapin dippin on three (low-ri-der)

Just listening to the hip hop song being blasted by Sunset’s cellphone was enough to make the rest of the group of friends blink in surprise and shock at what they heard; meanwhile, Sunset simply began to talk with the person on the other side of the call getting more and more riled up, until she finally said yes and with an annoyed step began to walk outside of the school.

Of course, things were bad from worst when a boy the girls knew very well -not that they wanted to- appeared in front of them. The boy in question? Zephyr Breeze. The most annoying guy in existence and also the brother of sweet Fluttershy.

The man leaning against the car parked in front of the school arched an eyebrow at the way the group of girls was sending death glares at the boy while that same boy was acting as if he was the smoothest kid in town.

Whatever the girls said seemed to placate the boy for now, but he sends a wink to the multicolored girl in the group before leaving. The redheaded girl he knew well was helped by the blond to contain the anger and destruction present on the sport girl, who seemed ready to kill the boy with her bare hands.

The rumble that passed as laughter signaled Sunset that there was someone she knew very well close to them and with one big smile she recognized the man.

“Diamond? They send you?” The redhead said to the heavyset man leaning against the car. The man itself was taller than Sunset, hell, even taller than Principal Celestia. The muscles bulking under his dark colored skin showed the amount of time he spend lifting weights and exercising.

“You know the family bird! I’m the only one they trust with the car,” he said giving Sunset a big hug that almost reached the pressure of Pinkie’s impromptu tackling hugs. At the look of surprise from the rest of her friends Sunset turned around.

“Girls, this idiot here is my brother, Diamond Dream,” She then pointed at the hulking man and their eyes bulged with surprise and more questions than answers in their heads. How an African-American guy could be the big brother of a girl that for all purposes looked like an Irish? “Well, brother is stretching things, basically everyone that grew up at the house call each other family so… yeah.”

“That still doesn’t explain a thing!” Applejack’s bewildered face was funny enough to Sunset.

“Maybe, but deal with it. So, why exactly Lock Pick called me saying that someone will pick me up?” At that moment Diamond’s face showed deep sadness that made Sunset worried.

“Sunset, Momma Rouge died,” at those words Sunset’s eyes opened up at max and her face showed how shocked she was, then Diamond laughed and pointed at Sunset “gotcha, she just wanted to meet your friends,” he said making Sunset rage at being had with such a low joke from her brother “but seriously sis, she wants you back at Los Santos,” he said making Sunset sigh feeling a terrible headache already forming. She knew this was a bad idea.

-Omake-

“You’re hungry? Didn’t Mama Rouge make you lunch?”

“Hell yeah, she did, but a nigga gotta get his calories… I'll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 6 with extra dip, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda.”

Author's Note

Yeah, we're doing this.

Dragon Ball Sol: Power of the Golden Warrior

The only thing Sunset could taste was the metallic flavor of her blood mixed with dust. This was definitely a new situation for the young girl. For someone that had been travelling between worlds, strangeness had become a daily occurrence considering her friends and job as the magic gatekeeper back at Canterlot City, but everything that had been happening for the last few days had been beyond comparison the weirdest and most dangerous days she had lived.

First, the dark and heavy news from the message Twilight Sparkle had left for Sunset and the rest of the group. Something had arrived at Equestria, something beyond the stars and it apparently had terrified the princesses something fierce, even more than the escape of Tirek some months before the battle of the bands.

It was destruction on a scale few had seen on Equestria, with monsters powerful enough leveling entire cities in the matter of minutes. First the proud nation of the Minotaurs had been hit and the losses were heavy. For a race that had been proud to be known as the most physically powerful, that was a huge strike, one that Equestria and the rest of the free nations felt too, after all, they knew they were next.

Indeed, the attack started soon, but the creatures from space didn’t arrive just to conquer, no, their plan was something even more dangerous. This was a complete purge, just so that the creature behind the invasion would have revenge. The goat demon known as Grogar had returned from his exile and he had brought friends with him, after all, it was clear now that he was not the only one from his species, nor the most powerful.

Sunset wasn’t sure why she had been summoned back to Equestria, considering how little the rest of Equestria seemed to care that seven human girls had retained their human form after going through the magical portal, or that the prodigal daughter wanted to help defend Equestria. So far she hasn’t even been able to speak a word with neither princess.

Seems that the only thing they were looking for were the other six girls, apparently thinking that with two sets of elements everything would be alright, now those ponies were dead; serves them right since those same ponies were discussing sending more troops as fodder cannon just so they would run away and hide.

Shaking her head, Sunset tried to focus beyond the obnoxious ringing in her ears. Whatever had hit the council chamber had completely decimated the place, leaving only the broken remains of ponies unlucky enough to not be vaporized by the blast. Sunset had been lucky since she wasn’t allowed to get inside since she wasn’t ‘important’ enough, just another former student with no real meaning. The redhead had felt her blood boiling due to rage with how easy they pushed her aside while the rest of her friends were out there trying to, if not defeat, at least contain the destruction.

It had been so humiliating when her friends had summoned their own battle suits, the ones they had used at Camp Everfree while the pony counterparts had used something called Rainbow Power, but it was futile. While Sunset had been unable to summon even a spark of her own power, the rest of her friends were simply swatted aside. Even the mighty power given by the Tree of Harmony has ended up being useless when the monster known as Eizi simply moved too fast for the girls to be able to shoot him with the rainbow.

Everything went even worst when the princesses decided that the only way left to defeat Eizi and the rest of his soldiers would be to do what they did with Tirek; give their power and magic to Twilight. Of course, just trust in Twilight in everything because she was so fucking perfect and great, the only one deserving to be an alicorn or to not have her whole life a fucking lie!

Sunset didn’t know what hurt the most, her body or the way everyone and everypony just looked up at the great Princess Twilight Sparkle, as if she was the only one deserving to save the world. She knew she should be behind petty grievances, but one thing was to think you were over that and another to truly, in your heart of hearts, be as happy as you told others you were.

It hurt… and worse than that, she hated… she didn’t want to admit it, but she was seething with rage. Haven’t she done enough? She saved two universes for fuck’s sake! Did life have a twisted sense of humor in that it always reminded her that she would never be as good as Twilight? She hated that, but most importantly, it made her rage break free from the constraints of the Elements of Harmony.

Unbeknown to her, the ponies still alive and gawking at the fight on the sky could see something even more amazing happening right in front of them. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, both girls worried about the state in which their friend was, couldn’t believe the way in which Sunset was starting to shine. It was a golden light that started to pulse as if it were a heartbeat. Meanwhile, Sunset didn’t listen; not the sounds of beams being shot or the screaming of ponies, she only cared about one thing. Her rage.

For the first time since she had been hit by the Elements of Harmony she could feel how the chains that shackled her emotions crumbled. It was liberating to finally let the rage be free, to hate and to desire the power she needed. Her body was changing alongside her feelings, pulsing with energy alien and at the same time inviting. Her beautiful red and yellow hair was waving with a nonexistent wind, changing from the red to full gold. Her eyes were glowing with the power that flowed through her veins and with a mighty scream and the earth shattering underneath her, the fury of the golden warrior was fully released.

The skies changed from dark clouds into a full storm, with lightning that seemed to vibrate with the rage and power of Sunset. Her now golden hair seemed to defy gravity while her piercing blue eyes were focused on Eizi and Twilight who continued their dance to the death. Looking at the friends she had at her side, Sunset finally smiled, but it was only a smirk, one that both girls had seen before in the past.

“Leave this one to me,” she only said before, surrounded by the golden aura, she flew high into the sky, ready to show the world the power that had woken up inside Sunset, the power of the Golden Warrior.

Author's Note

And yes, there was a reference to DBZ in the villain's name, can you find it?

Dragon Ball Sol: Eizi's Game

This was nothing like fighting Tirek and to be truthful, she was already starting to get tired of having to chase the monster known as Eizi across the sky. It was a big game of cat and mouse, which Twilight had understood after the first few minutes of throwing magic beams at the retreating form of Eizi. The strange monster was simply playing with her, not even caring that the newest Princess of Equestria wielded all the magical power of the alicorns, excepting Flurry but that was understandable. So how was it possible that the raw magic of royalty plus the powers given by the Tree of Harmony could not be enough to defeat the villain this time?

Princess Twilight Sparkle was losing confidence on her own abilities and the laughter of Grogar -who was being accompanied by several guards of Eizi- and the mocking smirk on Eizi’s face were quickly taking its toll on the princess’ mind.

It was one thing to beat an enemy like Tirek who only wanted power while he never killed and another was to be face to face with a creature that didn’t even blink at the destruction and carnage that he spread around, or at least she thought it was a ‘he’ since the figure was so androgynous that it made her doubt.

That’s when both combatants felt it, it was a sudden change in the sky and the clouds, as if the planet itself knew that something important would happen. It was a rush of energy that pulsed and made Twilight’s body tingle. The sensation was like nothing she had ever felt before, but it was not a magic surge, it was a pure, raw energy that send a direct signal to the most savage parts of her brain, telling her that a predator was close, it was time to run away before twilight was devoured by the predator. Twilight stomped down the emotion with every bit of self-restraint and will that she could muster.

Close to her, Eizi’s face full of mockery and ego soon gave way to a wince after sensing such a strong ki in such a backwater planet as this. At first it seemed so easy, finding Grogar chained to that meteorite. Hearing his story it soon became clear that such a pathetic creature could be useful, following the instructions of his new furry ally to a new planet to conquer.

Looking at the quality of resistance it was pitiful the way the worthless waste of space on the planet could never reach the pinnacle of perfection of Eizi’s soldiers. It was so easy, even after Eizi had finally seen what kind of defenses these primitive horses had. Trying to vanquish him with pretty little rainbows? Pathetic, but at least these ‘ponies’ as they called themselves, would be nice pets across the galaxy already conquered by Eizi and other members of his race.

Then the rules of his game had changed when the energy appeared. It was strong, but more than that, it reminded Eizi of what he had read long ago. The dealings of Frieza with the planet full of warriors and their legend was well known around the different armies so it was with some surprise that not only Eizi saw a powerful warrior in the planet, but also one that had a very interesting hair color and power. Seems that Frieza’s forces were scared for a reason and considering the power of Frieza himself and how quickly the leader of the third army had been dispatched, the power of the Saiyajin of Earth was not something to be trifled with. Now this energy appeared and made him get a little worried about the power of this newcomer.

Both the princess and the alien gawked at the golden warrior standing in front of them. It was quite the surprise for Twilight to recognize the woman she had grown to call friend floating at her side without wings. The shock was more than apparent since twilight wasn’t expecting Sunset to even appear on the fight.

For her part, Sunset glared at Eizi while her burning rage pulsed inside of her, fueling her mind and body beyond her own limits, which by the way, had been obliterated so hard that not even Sunset knew what was going on with her new abilities and strength. Even the fact that she was capable of flying had taken her by surprise for a moment.

“Sunset? How are you-” Twilight was not allowed to finish the sentence when she felt a fist impact her on the snout sending her reeling backwards. Holding her injured snout with her front forelegs Twilight could only watch in shock at Sunset’s still raised arm. Her face showed great pain, even beyond the physical.

“Twilight, do me a favor, shut up right now because I don’t know if I’ll be able to contain myself from turning around and fight you instead of this idiot,” the voice of Sunset was calm, but the way she was clenching her jaw was a clear signal of how much it cost her to even talk with one of the reasons why she was burning with rage. It hurt even more to Twilight to hear Sunset speak in that way. For the Princess of Friendship, her relationship with all her friends was so important that it had become her lifestyle. From all the ponies and different creatures on Equestria, she had never met someone like Sunset. Not even her own student had become so dear to her heart than the previous student of Celestia. She thought that both of them had many things in common, among them their desire for learning, never being afraid of expanding their knowledge and also their wishes of understanding and studying friendship.

Tears were beginning to gather at Twilight’s eyes at hearing so much rage in Sunset’s voice. Not even the fight against Eizi had hurt her, which also made Twilight’s eyes widen at the realization.

“You got it Twilight; this bastard was only playing around. Don’t ask me how I know that, but something tells me he wasn’t using his real power.”

“Well, isn’t it just fabulous? It seems the monkey finally showed her fangs,” Eizi’s voice made Sunset grit even harder her teeth with how condescending the phrase sounded. Just looking at him made something primal inside of her wake up.

Sunset had never seen a creature like him before and since he didn’t look like his minions -who strangely looked between humans and some like mutated frogs for some reason- she got to the conclusion that he was something special. His body seemed as if he had been permanently fused with some kind of armor with his chest having several sections segmented, with something resembling a red jewel incrusted on his waist. His face had strange red markings around his eyes which then traveled down his cheeks looking almost like natural eye-liner. The rest of his head resembled some kind of helmet with two bull horns growing at the sides. Alongside all that he had a thick lizard like tail as blue as the rest of his body and he had weird feet ending on three fingers. In general, he seemed a weird combination of human and lizard right out of a nightmare.

“I’m not a human; I just look like this due to a spell.”

“Oh, this is so precious; are you telling me this worthless species never even told you what you truly are? No matter then, you will still die like the rest of these stupid horses. I have to say, it was quite fortuitous of me to find the goat since it led me right into this planet. No matter, I will still kill each and every one of you and claim this planet for our great-” whatever he wanted to say was interrupted when a fist collided against his face sending it flying backwards.

The strike had been so powerful that for a second Eizi had been stunned. It was the first time he had been hit with such intensity that for a brief moment he grew worried. Then, right after he glared at Sunset.

“Has anyone told you that you speak too much?” She said still watching Eizi with the same cold anger filled eyes making some of Eizi’s warriors shiver at the show of power.

“I suppose I had that coming for not paying attention, but why make something as interesting as this abruptly end? I wonder how well you will fare against my own army?” Eizi said making the soldiers suddenly charge against both Sunset and Twilight.

“If that’s your decision… just one thing, I have no idea how I transformed, but this is important. About how strong I currently am? I still don't know how to control all of it, so I’m not sure if I’ll be able to pull my punches. This is a fair warning to you all, but, if you still want to fight, I can use you all as practice dummies!” Sunset screamed as she charged right into the incoming wave of foolish idiots.

Author's Note

Next, on Dragon Ball Sun:

Sunset tries to get control ove rher powers the only way she knows, by using them on Eizi's army, but she is not alone protecting Equestria.

8 against a 1000!

Dragon Ball Sol: 8 against 1000

Now, let’s be honest; if you were right on the path of a veritable wave of humanoid warriors wearing high tech weaponry and armors falling right into you, I’m pretty sure you will most likely start screaming in fear and terror before succumbing to a cruel at the hands of those dangerous warriors.

Sunset was not like them, in fact, she was not smiling neither grimacing. For Sunset, this situation was something that had become normal stuff by now. Yes, she was not in charge of defending a kingdom due to the higher ups being too lazy to get their big plots off a comfortable pillow. Her words, not mine.

Living on the human world had taught her that strange stuff would happen no matter how you prepared yourself before the shit hit the fan… never quite liked that phrase. She had been part of hypnotizing fishes, out of control plant witches, dangerous artifacts of elder power and now… well, she was fighting not for her life, but for her native planet. No matter how much time she had spent on her adoptive world, Equestria was still her home. Although, what Eizi had said, it left some doubts that were resonating inside her head. When he called her monkey, something told her that he wasn’t using the world as in ‘pre-evolved human’, but something else, as if he was making an insult to her species as a whole.

Ducking under the first attack took Sunset away from her reflections and was soon forced into the defensive… for a second at least. Sunset was no stranger to fighting; it was something she was not very proud of from her days as a bully. Intimidation tactics and blackmail could only take you so far in the search of hierarchy power so sometimes the correct application of a few well-placed punches and kicks could do way more than a few incriminatory photos, especially with those that wanted to usurp the power of the bitch in charge of Canterlot High.

After her humbling at the hands of Twilight Sparkle, Sunset went back to her own dojo, basically getting on her knees the moment she saw her old teacher. The way in which he welcomed her back after only taking a look at her was one of the few instances that let her face the way in which her school treated her. The other things that helped were how fast the girls she now called friends were ready to befriend her, first among them Rainbow Dash. The adrenaline junkie of Canterlot High simply said that after watching her get beaten by a rainbow was enough payback and were now even.

Smashing her fist right into one nameless grunt and hearing the satisfying crunch of bones inside the mouth satisfied Sunset in ways she wasn’t capable of explaining with words. Using her fists and legs to beat senseless one fighter after another was helping her work on her bottled up emotions, not enough to feel she get calm once again, but at least to the point where a red mist was lifting from her eyes.

There was just a small problem; just as she finished one other three took the place of their comrade. It was kind of pathetic mixed with bizarre, considering that here she was beating down soldier after soldier but the numbers didn’t seem to thin out nor where they losing their almost fanatical jump into the slaughter house, not that Sunset was killing them… at least she hoped so. It was getting ridiculous, but as she dodged a laser beam from one of those soldier’s arm gun, that same soldier was hit by a boulder several times bigger than him, slamming against other of his comrades sending them down into the ground.

Taking a second to breathe Sunset saw that the responsible for the boulder being thrown was none other than her friend Applejack. It was really easy to separate both since they all retained their human forms; also, the braided hair and teal colored armor/dress were clear signals of which Applejack had suddenly appeared at the battlezone.

“Ah have no idea what’s going on, but y’all can go to hell before I let you attack one of my friends!” The words and the clear feeling behind them were enough to make Sunset finally smile. After all the crap that politicians and nobles had put her the whole time, it was nice to finally hear something good directed at her. Sadly, the soldier quickly noticed Applejack and without even waiting for orders he and several dozen fighters flew right into the blonde’s location. Sadly for them, this Applejack wasn’t as defenseless as many ponies, not in her battle mode.

Twirling her body, Applejack’s foot impacted against one warriors sending him flying, she then used her momentum to spin and with her other leg she struck another, this time one of the most frog-like soldiers, with her heel. Keeping up she slightly hopped and did a double crane kick right into the chin of two more. Looking at her, Sunset was truly surprised by how strong Applejack was; that mixed with her own years of training at a Tae Kwon Do dojo, alongside her own experience as a magical fighter, made Applejack one formidable opponent.

As one soldier tried to get a cheap hit on Applejack’s back, Sunset was ready to help her friend before a blue blur knocked him out.

“Oh come on! You two were trying to hog all the fun! What kind of friends are you?” Rainbow’s boisterous voice made Sunset chuckle and Eizi raise an eyebrow in amusement. The rainbow haired girl then began to fly across the battlefield hitting soldier left and right with stiff punches and kicks, not much of a style, but using effectively her own speed.

“Now, don’t be so rash Rainbow Dash, we are here to help a whole world, not to have fun!” The precise strikes from open palms showed so much elegance that it fitted Rarity to a t. Alongside her good fashionista friend, even Fluttershy seemed to be taking her own battle mode for a spin, taking the arm of one opponent and twisting it over his head and with a little push he was send right into the ground with enough force to knock him out. At the distance, Sunset could hear the rumble coming from fireworks and party cannons and truthfully, she wasn’t interested in the mayhem Pinkie Pie brought to the battlefield. And just like that things seemed to go well for Sunset and the rest of her friends, even better when two purple hued magic beams hit several members of Eizi’s army. It was none other than both versions of Twilight Sparkle.

The wings, both magical and feathery on the back of both made something inside Sunset burn, not with jealousy, but at the sheer mockery of her life and what she had to go through, but she couldn’t hate the girl that got the wings, they were too nice to be hated, but she could at least hate other ponies for pushing and granting Twilight alicornhood.

“I may not be as good at fighting as our friends, but I just couldn’t let you fight by yourself,” the visor on the human Twilight looked just perfect for her and with how motivated she was, it was clear that she was way beyond worrying about going back to being Midnight Sparkle.

“She is right and I also know that there is something bothering you Sunset, something that has to do with me, but I’m sure that with the help of our friends we will be able to defeat everything, because friendship is magic!” it was such a corny line, but for some reason Princess Twilight made it work. Then, it was as if time itself had stopped, because in an instant, there was a hole right through one of Princess Twilight’s wings. Her screams of pain as she plummeted to the ground send shivers across Sunset’s body as she was left frozen, not being able to move to save her. Thankfully, the human Twilight caught up with her and gently put her on the ground.

“I’m sorry, was she still talking? It was just so boring, I mean, really? Friendship is magic? What kind of moron comes up with something as stupid as that?” Eizi’s smirk made Sunset swear something. She was going to hit Eizi so hard that she will erase that smirk from his face.

Author's Note

What do you guys think?

Dragon Ball Sun?
or
Dragon Ball Sol?

Dragon Ball Sol: Fire

It was the deadliest lightshow the princesses of Equestria had ever seen and it was a compliment considering how old some of those princesses were. It had even got beyond what an alicorn could do, not even one with the power of four alicorns could do something like that and it made Celestia feel like a fool.

This was not the first time she had ever felt like that, not by a long margin. Her life seemed to be full of those moments and from time to time, life and circumstances liked to mock Celestia by reminding her of those moments. So many mistakes made due to a mixture of arrogance, forgetfulness or simply because she thought that she knew better than anyone how to do things. That was one of the problems that came with age, sometimes you forget that you never stop learning, that you are not perfect and that you can make mistakes. One of those mistakes she had made was outside, protecting the planet the best way she could, and no, she wasn’t talking about Twilight.

She had been so foolish, using the same strategy that they used against Tirek just because it had worked back then. Why wouldn’t Celestia fight instead? She certainly had more experience in the art of combat than Twilight, who, even thought was a magic savant with arcane knowledge that rivaled any ancient unicorn of lore, never had any fighting education in her life. There was a very simple explanation; Celestia herself didn’t feel like she was capable of defending the kingdom, not after her meek attempt at defeating Chrysalis back at the wedding. That was the time when Celestia prepared everything for a new defender of Equestria by crowning Twilight. She had been so proud of her that day, but it was short lived because, like every time something good happened on Celestia’s life, life reminded her of her mistakes, this time in the form of Sunset Shimmer.

What happened with Sunset was probably one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made since she was a princess. She let herself be blinded by Sunset’s magical potential and didn’t pay attention to anything else, but worse than that, she had stolen her own heritage just so her ponies would be secure. What a joke, she only did that because she took Sunset’s arrival at Equestria as a sign that the now redheaded pony was the one destined to beat Nightmare Moon and return Luna to her side.

It went from bad to worse.

Sunset was proud, stubborn and with one of the worst tempers she had ever seen, not only that, but the way in which she ingested magical knowledge was unprecedented, so much that even when they found out Sunset’s cutie mark was not the one inscribed on the Tree of Harmony, she still went on and left hint after hint of Sunset’s destiny as an alicorn.

What a foolish pony she had been, but hindsight is not perfect and sometimes one can be blinded by their own pride. In the end, the one that had been hurt the most was Sunset and Celestia knew that she will have to be honest about how exactly Sunset Shimmer was found, that is of course, if they survived the night.

Looking from the balcony of Canterlot Castle’s highest tower let Celestia, Luna and Cadence observe the ongoing battle. At first they had been jubilant at Twilight’s powerful attacks at the monster known as Eizi, but the two older alicorns quickly understood the difference in power between the combatants and grew morose knowing that their ultimate weapon had failed. It was their last gamble and they had failed. That was until they saw a flying woman interrupt the duel and Celestia finally took a good look at who had been so dear to her heart once upon a time.

She felt old and foolish now, remembering that bringing the human elements of harmony was not a gamble, but an excuse to see those close to Twilight and also Sunset Shimmer to Equestria. It didn’t go as Celestia expected. Petitioners, closed door talks, strategy meetings and so many other things had come between Celestia and Sunset. Like many times before she had let her work come between her and her loved ones. She just hoped that Sunset would forgive this foolish old mare.

The scream had made everyone on the battlefield stop for a second. It was dead silent as Sunset was basically shaking in middle air. She had problems with Princess Twilight Sparkle. Yes, she was jealous of her being made a princess, that Sunset herself had been left behind n the humanwo world and that maybe, just maybe, Princess Twilight didn’t trust Sunset as much as she said, but she never wanted to see her in pain.

“EIZIIIIIIIIIII!” Sunset’s scream made the earth shake with the amount of power coming from her energy filled aura. Applejack and the rest were now attacking with extra energy. Now this was personal! Looking directly at the blue alien, Sunset wanted to get right into his face and destroy him with her bare hands, but before she could get even close more soldiers created a living wall between the two “GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!” There was something burning and she wanted to make everyone feel the pain and rage she was feeling and thrusting her open palm in front of her she felt that same rage and heat be pushed out of her body. Like a firestorm, a red and yellow column of fire and energy traveled from Sunset’s hand into the soldiers sending flying those that were close. Sadly for those that were right in front of it didn’t even feel pain, they were simply disintegrated and turned into atoms by the powerful beam.

Eizi saw the attack getting closer and moved out of the way, but even getting away from the attack he felt the heat emanating from the beam. Looking at the destruction left behind by the combination of magic and energy, ponies, aliens and humans saw the smoldering remains of one of Canterlot’s mountains. Such destruction was so beautiful, or at least it was to Eizi who stood gawking at the way in which the top of the mountain had been basically vaporized by Sunset.

The one who did the attack stood looking at her hand, as if not comprehending how she was capable of doing such feat. Meanwhile, both Twilights saw the destruction that Sunset had created and while the human one was worried about Sunset and how she had lost control of her emotions, the princess recognized what Sunset had used.

“That was Flame Wind,” the princess said with equal amounts of amazement and terror at the magic attack released by their friend “but… it was like nothing I have ever seen before,” the purple pony wanted to take a closer look but even the tiniest twitch of her right wing made her want to scream. Thankfully for her, the injury had been cauterized by the attack, but it was too soon yet to know if she would fly again with that wing.

“You know what she did?” The visor wearing Twilight asked her pony counterpart.

“I have read about it; I have to admit fire based magic was never my forte, nor battle based spells. I think it is pretty obvious Sunset Shimmer holds a greater understanding on battle magic than me. It is a really advanced fire spell, but I’ve never seen such magic performed with those results.”

“Well, look at it, seems like you are not a mere Saiyajin. Seems I have done you a disservice by not introducing myself formally, which happens when one is more focused on conquering than diplomacy. I am Eizi of the Fourth Conquering Army, and you my dear?”

“I am Sunset Shimmer, and I guess I will call this attack Plasma Wind.”

“A good name for such destructive weapon, well, shall we start this fight?” Eizi said as both he and Sunset disappeared and in a blink two fists clashed, the movements of both combatants making them turn into blurs as the fight for the future of Equestria began to rage on.

Dragon Ball Sol: Reprieve

It was something from a comic or a TV show what was happening; in fact, most of her life had been a continuing case of ‘life being stranger than fiction’. From the moment she met Sunset Shimmer, she knew there was something different about her. Of course, Applejack never suspected that the acerbic girl could hail from another universe, but signs of her being more than met the eye was there. She was quick to anger, always ready to get her words across and even after they became friends, she always went toe to toe with Applejack and Rainbow, either on sparring or normal games, always showing a big ego and a little bit of arrogance. Of course, this was way less out of control, unlike Rainbow Dash, but at the same time, there was something outwordly from her.

Most of the idiosyncrasies of Sunset were explained a bit when they met Princess Twilight and understood that she was from another world -quite literally it seems-, but how she approached things was so different from Twilight. She was not afraid of doing things with her hands, she had eye to hand coordination that even marveled her considering that AppleJack had been a human since birth and worked with machinery since she had memory. In comparison with Twilight she also seemed… angrier at times, even exploding in rage back at the Friendship Games.

She had no idea of what exactly meant the change in hair color or how exactly Sunset was now capable of going toe to toe with Eizi with ease. What she knew was that for all about alternate universes, Princess Twilight was very much like Applejack and her human friends. Sunset in contrast was… truly alien in moods, personality, ways of doing things and if you asked Applejack, anything could happen with Sunset, like being capable of using the power of the Elements of Harmony, something that not even Princess Twilight could explain.

All of her musings continued as she kicked behind the head the last of her soldier’s share. Applejack then rubbed with the back of her hand a dirt smudge on her cheek. Behind her, she felt the wind pick up slightly and then heard Rainbow land softly. She didn’t want to take her eyes away from the fight; she knew that at any moment the two combatants in the sky could pick up speed and she would lose sight of them.

“Hey AJ, crazy day,” her friend said also paying attention to the fight and they both winced at the right punch that send Sunset several feet back, but then Sunset retaliated quickly with a knee into the sternum of Eizi and the fight picked up again, their fists becoming a blur in an exchange that left them breathless just by watching “who would have thought we would be on another planet, fighting an alien invasion out of a manga?”

“We fought a trio of sirens, two demon-like girls bent on world domination and a plant obsessed villain, but this? This beats them all… ah, no pun intended?” Applejack said with a smile as Sunset send Eizi into a hill, the impact breaking the terrain with an earth shaking impact, then Eizi simply erupted from the crater and counterattacked Sunset with an energy infused punch.

“Geez, and I thought we won the power lottery with our amulets, I mean, you are stronger than anyone, even on this universe and I leave everyone eating the dust, but Sunset… what in the world happened to her?” her friend asked while Sunset launched one more Plasma Wind which was countered by a purple ki blast from Eizi. Both Applejack and Rainbow’s hair flew backwards with the shockwave that both attacks created.

“Ah don’t think it’s the amulet RD, Ah think this is all Sunset.”

“Wait, what? You mean, this is Sunset’s power? Come on, not even when she became a demon she had this much power.”

“Well, how should I know? Look around you, we are the only ones that are doing a difference in here, no guards or backup, we are alone in all this.”

“Yeah, Ah swear ponies are more scared than a doggy that just heard a firecracker,” the voice was enough to make both humans turn around with surprise at the sudden appearance of a very familiar pony. Even though her stetson had seen better days it was unmistakable to both humans who this was “well, Ah’ll be damn, this right here has become the craziest day on my life and Ah have seen some crazy stuff.”

“It is still freaky, no offense,” Rainbow Dash said referring to seeing both human and pony counterpart side by side. By this point, both Eizi and Sunset had come to the point where they were exchanging punches so strong that each one could be heard as if it was a detonation.

“None taken, but Ah guess it’s true, most ponies are a scaredly folk, shoot, we were all hiding in our houses because we thought a zebra was a dangerous witch. Guess an alien invasion makes everypony faint or ran away.”

“Weren’t y’all knocked out or something?” The human Applejack asked “Ah mean, Ah saw you guys get blasted off after that Rainbow Power thingy failed.”

“Not mincing words, are ya? Ah guess we are the same on that, but ya were right, poor Fluttershy and Rarity are still knocked out. Ah wanted to get back to the battlefield and do mah part, but y’all bucked the invasion out, although, who would have thought that it would be Sunset Shimmer the one who will fight for us?”

“Hey, that’s our friend you are talking about!” Pony Applejack quickly raised a hoof with a slightly chagrined look on her face.

“Ah didn’t mean it that way, Ah guess we are all just so used to… ya know, Twilah saving’ the day or maybe even Starlight, but Sunset? The last we knew of her she was a villain then a hero and then somepony that can use the Elements of Harmony, nopony here knows what’s going on with her, not even the Princesses and every time Twilah tried to get Princess Celestia to tell her more about Sunset she just says it is complicated.”

“Okay, now that sounds like politicians back home whenever there is something they are hiding,” was all Applejack could say before a scream made them look back to the fight. This time it was Sunset who was on the losing end with Eizi’s thick tail curled around her neck and by the looks of it he was asphyxiating her. Sunset was trying to remove the pressure on her neck but it was hard to get enough strength considering the way the tail was coiled around her neck. In a move that took both combatants by surprise, Sunset began to concentrate on her mouth and the burning power that was churning on her veins.

At first it was only a small ember, but then Sunset concentrated on it and from the inside of her mouth a dark red light began to shine inside Sunset’s mouth and when she opened it a dark blast erupted from her mouth right into Eizi’s face.

The alien’s face was saved by his quick reflexes, but even then the dark blast grazed the face of the horned fighter making him release Sunset from the hold. He then took a hold of the right side of his face and the way he was bleeding from the injury.

Both warriors stood face to face, with Eizi holding one side of his face and only being capable of seeing from one eye, but on the other side things were not too good. Sunset could feel her body complaining and already aching from the pressure of maintaining her own transformation. Both fighters’ bodies showed injuries, scratches, bleeding gashes and more. Even though the fight had been faster than any mortal eye could follow -with the exception of the elements and princesses- it had been the most grueling one each had had until then and in an action that made Sunset raise an eyebrow, Eizi began to laugh.

It was a long laugh that made everypony and invader look at the powerful warrior in surprise and maybe a little fear.

“Oh, this is stupendous, sadly this fight cannot continue. Having to maintain this form and power has done a number to my own stamina, I fear that is something most of my race had been cursed with and for what I can see you are burning all of your reserves. This has been the most wondrous of occasions indeed. Grogar, I thank you for guiding me to this planet, but sadly for you I think I will have to break our deal,” Eizi said turning to look at the goat standing on top of a floating platform alongside two of Eizi’s soldiers. The goat was beyond enraged by the alien’s words.

“What? You promised me that I would be the king of Equestria! How dare you-“ and then, he said no more, after all, it is hard to talk when you have a hole in your head. Eizi meanwhile, with one finger pointing at Grogar’s corpse, turned to look once more at Sunset who was trying to regain her breathe.

“Why,” was the only thing that Sunset could say, but Eizi merely smiled at her.

“This is the first time I had been pushed, no other warrior had done what you have done and for that I thank you. Since the death of Frieza things had been… boring so perhaps with you awakened as a Super Saiyajin, things will become interesting in the future.”

“Wait… what you are planning?!”

“Oh, my dear little Saiyajin, wouldn’t you like to know? For now, grow stronger because there will be more obstacles in your road, but I suppose you will have many questions in the future. My only hint is that you should look for planet Earth. Mortadel!” Eizi screamed and one of the soldiers that looked a cross between a minotaur and a golem got close to his leader.

“Yes my lord?”

“Gather the injured ones, we are leaving this planet,” Was all Eizi said before turning around and flying in the direction of his ship as Sunset stood dumbstruck at what was happening.

“What? Wait… Eizi, this is not over! EIZI!” Sunset tried to fly and continue the fight, but her hair lost the golden light and went back to being red and yellow. It was at that point, with her stretching her hand on Eizi’s direction that the Saiyajin warrior lost consciousness.

Author's Note

And with that, the prologue to Dragon Ball Sol is over.
YEs, all of this was just the prologue because, guess what? This will get its own section! With new scenes a completely different beginning with more explanation and the moment Eizi and his group's first meeting with Grogar, also Sunset and the rest of the humane seven's involment at the beggining of Eizi's invasion of Equestria.

This and more on DRAGON BALL SOL!

Sunset Society: The Greatest Detective Part Two

The world for the three girls known as The Dazzlings had become so different since their defeat at the hands of the woman in front of them and her friends. Once full of pride and resentment, the once sirens-now-humans grew up with a chip on their shoulder which only grew in size after being beaten by Starswirl. That on top of being once again bested by mere humans -with two Equestrians mixed in all that- didn’t leave them in the best of places mentally speaking.

What came next was a series of fights, blame throwing and general unpleasantness that was not that bizarre among them. Fortunately, a helping hand found them, none other than the girl that had taken the magic out of them. If it wasn’t because Sunset had good reflexes and even better martial arts training, Adagio would have at least ripped some hair out of the redhead’s head. Instead, she was sent through the air with a quick arm throw.

With time, the Dazzlings had grown to like being human. They didn’t have to create chaos just to scrape enough food to survive. Yes, having to grow older as fast as a human sucked, but really, they had no desire to live for centuries, it just seemed to boring. So, after much dragging and whining, the three girls had grown used to be normal human beings, and then came Sunset Shimmer to twist their world once more.

All of that information about having magical powers once more was enough to send shivers down Adagio and the rest of the girls, but in a different way. Unlike their singing and dark feeding, these new abilities were completely new and unknown. There was some amount of excitement in all of that, but sadly plans had to be changed and here they were. They were all seeing Sunset Shimmer get ready to save a friend, just like always.

“I’m not saying it is surprising or anything like that, I mean, it is Rainbow Dash after all, but is everyone in your group now a super hero or something like that?” Adagio asked watching the multitude of monitors and the glass cases containing strange items inside.

“Not really, I don’t think Fluttershy would go for it, neither Twilight… both of them. Pinkie has no desire to be a hero too. She is all for bringing a smile to everyone so fighting crime is not on her mind, besides; can you imagine Pinkie Pie trying to maintain a secret identity?” The three girls shuddered at the idea of a super-hero -or villain-Pinkie Pie. It was not a good image.

“What about the fashionista and the cowgirl?” Adagio asked once more in control of the group. It was something she had done for so long that it was basically her automatic reaction to surprising stuff.

“Rarity surprised me; she has made quite a name for herself as part of a team, and before you ask, no, I had nothing to do with it. Applejack… she is a little bit more complicated,” Sunset said remembering the whole adventure Applejack and Sunset were part of that time.

“Wait, is that why she is a diplomat to that island? What was it called?” Sonata asked trying to remember the name of the place. She had seen it in television, but she couldn’t quite remember. While the Dazzlings tried to remember the name of the place -which they were sure, it had something to do with Greece- Sunset was putting the final touches to her suit. Armbands that allowed her to defend against melee weapons, legs and chest armor that could stop a great number of gunshots and most importantly, a belt she had designed and upgraded with months of practice and experience. It contained everything she may need and even allowed stuff that may seem strange or out of place, but the sheer usefulness of the simple looking belt could not be denied.

“She has her own responsibilities there, just like Big Mac, that’s why she couldn’t be there for Rainbow tonight. Sadly for those guys… this is my city,” Sunset said standing among the shadows. In her hands there was a mask that had haunted her since the beginning of her double life. She had been afraid of Thestrals, the bat ponies as they were called these days. It was a non-rational fear and she knew it. With a lot of work she had beaten the fear, so it was quite ironic and fitting to use the image of one. So there was the mask that had become such a part of her that she wouldn’t know what to do with her life without it.

With a swift move of her hands, the mask went over her head, hiding her face to the world and allowing that part of her, the darkest most dangerous part of her come to the front. It was not intoxicating, nor was it painful. It was simply Sunset leaving the world of light and friendship behind and instead becoming the hand of justice among the shadows.

Turning around, the mere sight of the now masked Sunset made the Dazzlings gasp in shock and take a step backwards. The eyes of the girl were so intense the girls were sure they were shining. It was such a complete transformation that left them breathless and speechless for a few seconds.

“Okay, I gotta say, you are creepy.” The ponytailed Dazzling said basically hiding behind her not so fearless leader.

“From you Sonata, I will take it as a compliment,” Sunset said… no, this was not Sunset anymore, even the voice sounded deeper, darker, hell, even huskier than before. No wonder everyone was talking about her in the news and in the streets.

Following the dark knight across the not-so abandoned subterranean building, they arrived at a new area they haven’t seen yet, one that was without a doubt the inner hangar and parking lot of the place. And among the different vehicles and strange stuff hidden under covers there was the most amazing thing Aria had even seen before. A car as black as Sunset’s mask was parked in the middle of the space and it was long and powerful looking, almost as if someone had created a war machine and mixed it with a muscle car.

“Sunset, I don’t know what happens tonight, but I need to have a ride on that thing!”

“Is that a proposition Miss Blaze?” The now dark and sensuous voice of Sunset left Aria speechless and a second later she understood the joke while her sisters laughed hard at her. Without even looking back, the dark knight went into her very special ride. With a couple of buttons everything went on and with the roar of motor and flames spewing from behind the car, Sunset left the building. Into the night and darkness she went, ready to continue her crusade.

Author's Note

You cna infer some things on this chapter, right?

Sunset Society: The Greatest Detective Part Three

“Well, guess they didn’t wait for me,” were the words uttered by Sunset as she watched from under the mask the dark sky of Canterlot City. One she had been happy to avoid the crowded parts of the city she had called home, now it was different. While once she was more than happy to live in the suburbs and do stereotypical teenage things, like mall shopping, sleepovers, staying late talking through chat. It had been a fun time, but things change. She had to change and sometimes it seemed that the world relished those times, making her life never stay the same. And here she was, once a prominent student of Princess Celestia, now a woman hidden under the sign of the bat, completely alone in the darkness. It wasn’t even remotely funny.

From her vintage point on top of the gargoyle -one that was exquisitely carved and put on the side of the building- she could see the streets still wet from the rain of just a few minutes ago. The red and blue lights blinked on and off as the Canterlot Police department continued to block any entry or exit to the building. Even if they weren’t that good at stopping all the madmen roaming the streets, they were good at making sure no more innocents could enter the danger zone. Of course, Sunset Shimmer was not an innocent. She had never been one. Probably one of the reasons she was capable of using the mask in the first place. Darkness always called for her in the end.

Inside the building it was another story Sheltered from the night’s cold and wet, eight people with guns went around it trying to see how they could get out from that situation. Everything was supposed to be a quick grab and run, but things just got worst when a woman wearing a ridiculous disguise -probably one of those new super heroes popping out these days- wanted to stop them. They found that the action of getting a hostage was very effective against these heroes and quickly they gained another one. Now, here they were, ready to start negotiations with the cops and get out of there with money and power. At least, that’s what their leader had promised them. Sadly for them, this was not their night.

As one of them walked on one deserted hallways, he began to think of what a terrible night this was. He was not an innocent man, already being convicted a couple of times, but each time he swear that he will do better, that he will get better at crimes that is. He went from imagining what he will do with his share of today’s crime to being dragged upwards into the darkness, leaving behind only his automatic rifle.

The rest of the men inside never noticed the figure walking upon the rafters of the old building, moving silently and carefully, blending with the darkness in search of the perfect spot to pick them up, sadly most of the suit wearing bandits had long rifles and machine guns, showing that these guys were not amateurs, or at least they had someone’s backing.

With a flick of her wrist, a thin object was slid into her hand thanks to a rather ingenuous addition to her suit, and then she quickly threw the object hitting one of the men. The guy tried to put a hand on his neck as he clearly was going to say something, but instead he simply closed his eyes and crumbled like a marionette which had its string cut down. From eight to six, not bad.

Jumping down and inspecting the floor level of the building, she saw the three hostages sitting down on the floor, among them the one and only Rainbow Dash, who seemed ready to open her mouth and annoy the heck out of her kidnappers. Which in turn will only lead to her having a bullet right between the eyes and considering the amulet on the obvious leader’s hands, Sunset was sure she will not be able to avoid the bullet this time.

“I don’t give a fuck if you cannot get us a helicopter, you will get us one right now or we will kill the hostages you hear me!” the screams of rage and impatience were a clear sign that the negotiations weren’t going his way, which on itself was bad. An angry bandit was capable of crazy stuff just to get what he wanted. It was time to finish this.

A quick jump into the floor level, two men were quickly put out of commission due to the terrible force behind Sunset’s legs. As the man felt unconscious the woman wearing the dark armor quickly stood up and with a quick spin hit another robber right in the chin with her heel, the impact echoing across the abandoned building.

Using the momentum of her kick, he quickly flicked another of her projectiles hitting the sixth robber in the face putting him out of commission. She then had to duck behind some leftover crates -aren’t those things just perfect for heroes and villains?-. The happy trigger bandit then got close to the place the hero was hidden and with his trusty machine gun he checked behind the crate, ready to put some holes on the dark woman. Sadly for him, only shadows and dust were present. He then felt someone poking him on the shoulder and as he turned around he was met with Sunset Shimmer’s fist.

“I don’t know who the fuck you are but you better stop what you are doing before the girl gets a bullet!” the only standing robber had pulled Rainbow Dash up and had a gun pointing at her head. Just looking at her friend, she knew that she hated every second of the situation “do you hear me? One more step and she will pay!” The man was clearly losing whatever mind he had, but it was worse once Sunset Shimmer stood right underneath the only lights hanging from the roof of the building. Her shadow being casted underneath her and the dark glare of her mask making the bandit and Rainbow flinch at her “I’ll do it, I swear, I’ll do it!” But all his promises were in vain. With a flick of her hand, faster than the bandit could react to, another projectile hit the man on the hand, sending his gun flying away from him.

As the gun was hit out of his hand, Sunset took something from underneath her cape and aimed it at the bandit. A hiss of compressed air and a cable being shot were the two things being heard. The claw at the end of the cable then caught the man by the front of his shirt and with the press of a button the man went sailing right into Sunset. One fist later and no one except the hostages and Sunset were conscious.

“No, no you won’t,” she simply said as the light bulb continued to cast the shadow of Sunset across the floor. The shadow of the bat.

Sky Factory 03

And here they were, in the middle of nothing with just a floating block of dirt, suspended on an infinite void, while clouds and the blue sky continued marching on, not interested in the struggle of two girls who not long ago had fought against each other. Now, those two same girls were holding each other, knowing that in the loneliness of the world they now inhabited they were their anchor. Quite literally this time since they standing in the same block! One false move and one could fall, probably forever and neither wanted to see what would happen on a situation like that.

“Well, at least the dirt feels like… dirt.”

“Is that your conclusion Miss Sparkle?”

“I would smack you in the back of the head for being cheeky if it weren’t because I’m afraid I would fall backwards. Is just that I have to focus on something or my mind will pull back again on the fact that I am lost in another dimension and currently holding for dear life to the girl I almost killed this very same day!” It was clear that Twilight was very much holding onto Sunset not just for physical safety, but mental and the redhead decided to leave the bespectacled girl keep on holding her if that helped in anyway.

What Sunset did instead, was check once more the strange table in her hand. It didn’t look like any of the transmutation tables back home, with it being of some strange grey material with four slots allocated in it. She knew that the one she was holding on was as basic as it could get, but that it was not only this small, but portable? It meant that whoever put them on this world was very powerful or very good at creating magical devices. Also, thank you for your praise Sunset.

What each teenager had on them were only the clothes they were wearing, Sunset’s wallet and their cellphones, which had no connection considering they were in a pocket dimension isolated from anyone else. Aside from that they had something amazing, consisting of small blocks of wood alongside what appeared to be some kind of… sapling. One of the things had fall form one of the leaves that had disintegrated after destroying the tree. It was fascinating by itself considering it was nothing like neither teenager had seen before, but for now, they had other more important things to worry about, like what will they do with the very little space they had, but the redhead had an idea, it was a crazy one and certainly a desperate one, but they had no other option.

It was clear that the transmutation tablet was given to them for a purpose and it was probably the purpose she had in mind. Taking one hand away from Twilight’s waist -making the purple haired girl hold even tighter onto Sunset- she pulled the stack of wood from their pocket and leaving behind the mind boggling effect of seeing wood blocks become so tiny and being capable of holding so much mass in one hand behind, Sunset put the wood blocks into the transmutation tablet and something wonderful happened. As if by magic, the wood was absorbed by the tablet. In one of the slots there was the wood block and in the opposite white space there were… oak planks?

“Twilight, I think I found out what we have to do,” she simply said before putting her hand on top of the plank symbol and then, the wood planks, or better said, Oak Planks, as the transmutation tablet named, appeared on her hands.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“If it is our current problem solution? Yes, indeed.”

“I was thinking more about alchemy really, I mean, we exchanged one material for another of similar value?”

“I never pegged you for an alchemy student Twilight, but yeah, you could say that is how it works for the most part, is just that, most transmutation tablets need some kind of external energy source to initiate the change, I have no idea how this one works, but I’m not going to complain,” She said putting the tablet once more inside her jacket and carefully looked at the amount of planks she had “so for each wood block it gives us back four planks.”

“Which means we have twenty planks right now, but what are we going to do with them? We have no tools and no way to make a floor beyond breaking the rules of physics even more.”

“But Twilight, that’s the point, we are inside a pocket dimension, most rules don’t apply here,” Sunset said with a huge smile before concentrating in the plank floating gently in her hands. In an instant, a wood plank grew until it became the size of a regular block -at least in comparison with the original wood block- and with a nervous look; she slowly tilted into the right making Twilight quietly squeak in fright. With her hand shaking with uncertainty and some degree of fear, the plank basically stuck to one side of the dirt block they were standing upon. Looking at each other, the two teenagers gently shifted their feet and much to their relief, the block withstood their weight “well, seems we have some work to do,” Sunset said and after both teenagers put the planks around the dirt block and made a rudimentary, but useful wood floor, Twilight all but glomped Sunset in a mixture of relief and adrenaline fueled laughter.

Author's Note

Their challenges are barely beginning.

Sky Factory 04: Saplings

“You know Twilight, wood is not exactly the most comfortable place to lay down,” the slightly pained voice of Sunset Shimmer came, and miraculously it made Twilight Sparkle -the human version of the pony princess- sober up and quickly disengage from the almost bear like grip she had on Sunset’s midsection. It was as if she had been scalded by the way she jumped a little bit backwards and had her hands up in the air, a surprised and slightly mortified look in her face.

Both girls were in quite the situation now and while the perils were not as big as before, there were still many things they had to take care of before they could be safe.

“I’m sorry, I guess adrenaline does not go well with me,” Twilight said putting her hair once more into a bun after it escaped from her jumping into Sunset. For her part, the other teenager moved her arm to make a slight chink in her shoulder go away. The last few hours, things had been hectic, but they had way more things to do.

Sure, now they had some semblance of a floor… one that was floating in the air completely breaking any laws of physics either girl knew, but it was interesting none the less, if you of course omitted the fact that they had no food and no way to get more material for their floor unless you counted the sapling they got before.

“You already met Pinkie Pie, so believe me; I’ve gone through worst situations.”

“Including being forcefully hugged and being send crashing into the floor?”

“Like I said, you already met Pinkie Pie,” Sunset said with a light chuckle remembering the surprise flying tackles known as hugs by Pinkie Pie. She loved the bubble gum-like haired teenage, but sometimes Sunset had to stop for a second just to process the strangeness Pinkie brought to her life every single day. Now, after spending some time inside the pocket dimension, she wondered if the girls back home were okay after the display of magic and power Twilight and her unleashed on their last battle “anyway, what do we have to work with now Twilight?” the bespectacled girl suddenly adjusted her glasses before a serious look landed on her face. If the teenage was anywhere close to her counterpart back in Equestria, then the question will make Twilight forget her social awkwardness and bring forth the scientist inside.

“So far, we only have twenty planks of wood, one piece of soil, a couple of individual transmutation tablets with no visible source of power and a sapling from the tree we chopped down… with our bare fists. If we go back home, that will be something I will be able to brag about to my brother.”

“You are wrong, is not ‘if, is ‘when’,” the redhead said making Twilight smile a little bit at the sheer optimism of Sunset “also, I didn’t know you had a brother.”

“Well, considering we just met a couple of hours ago, we never really had much of a social menagerie to exchange data about our personal lives.”

“Considering most of that time we were competing against each other, maneuvering around spontaneous bursts of magic and one final fight that could make most anime artists green with envy, there wasn’t that much time. Now we have all the time in the world, we can get to know each other well this time.”

“I don’t know, I mean, there’s nothing interesting in my life.”

“Twilight, if I learned something from my time at Canterlot High is that no life is uninteresting, that everyone has a tale to tell and that everyone is important,” the way in which Sunset talked, how much confidence she had on what she said was clearly visible. The sheer honesty and interest that Sunset had on Twilight was certainly touching and the Crystal Prep student blinked back what felt like tears. Apparently everyone at Canterlot High had the same teachings because never before had Twilight felt as accepted and relaxed at that point. Maybe if they were capable of returning back home she would make an effort of meeting the Canterlot High students outside… no, she corrected herself, WHEN they returned.

“Alright, I have a brother, he is on college and he is the best big brother I could ask for… although he can be such a dork some times. I could tell you about him and his friends, but I think we could leave that story for another time, we still need to find a way to survive.”

“You are right Twilight, maybe next time we can exchange stories about our families. So let’s see, beyond the planks and the soil, the only thing we can modify or even use without losing ground, pun completely intended by the way,” it was such a bad joke, but it still made Twilight snort in laughter “is the sapling that we got. I guess the only thing we can do right now is plant it although I’m not sure how long it will take to grow.”

“If it works like plants back on Earth it will take years before it could be useful for any practical purpose in here.”

“Still, is our only action to take right now, so, here goes nothing.” Sunset said holding the floating sapling in her hand and with a quick thrust the object was put on top of the soil as if it had some kind of magnet or glue. Looking at the small piece of greenery, Sunset thought back to her classes back on Equestria, where she learned about the tribal magic inherent to the Earth Tribe. How they could modify the ground itself and guide plants and trees to do their bidding. It was really interesting for the young filly and she wanted to learn everything she could about that type of magic even if she could not gain access to that branch of magic.

Now, things were a little different, maybe she could… it was a crazy idea, but if she could only concentrate on the energy that she knew was inside of her. She thought about those lessons and the way in which she could access her magic on Earth. It was blurry, hard to find, but something in the atmosphere of that dimension guided her. Maybe it was the feeling of freedom that magic had in the world Sunset and Twilight inhabited, but she could feel it, almost as if she was connected with the tree by a line or a string. She could feel the life coming from the soil and the small sapling as she guided the last one and gave it a little push forwards.

Next thing she knew, she felt less warm, as if she had suddenly been put under shade. Opening her eyes she saw a tree trunk and leaves shading her from the sun.

Author's Note

Trees in Minecraft are easy to farm since they tend to grow way faster than in real life, but usually take their sweet time to grow. One option to make them grow faster is the use of bone meal, but is hard to get if you don't want to fight or have no skeletons close.

One thing that Sky Factory (we are using the 2.5 version for the fic) is a mod that allows the tree to gain energy from the player in the form of the player running and the tree growing faster. Sky Factory modified the way in which the mod worked by allowin the player to spamming the Crouching (Shift Key by default), called affectionally by players as Twerking.

In this case, Sunset and Twilight can feed the sapling with magical energy, which tires them a little but they are capable of regenerating the small amount of magic both girls have at this point.

The One Dragons Fear 02

Her ears were still ringing after the explosion that seemed to destroy the whole world… or at least the place where she was going to be decapitated. One moment she was down with her head on the chopping block, the next something stupidly big appeared and went bonkers with fireballs and who knows what else. Her head felt heavy and her ears continued to buzz dulling everything around her. At least the ground was slightly soft or maybe it was just that her body was hurting more than she thought. Blinking several times she tried to make her sight focus on the colorful blob that was right in front of her.

“…se… unse… SUNSET SHIMMER! Get up right now before we become the menu of the day!” After shaking her head one more time, the redhead was finally capable of focusing her eyes enough to recognize the face of the woman that had spoken to her, the soldier with the multi colored hair. What was her name? It was Rainbow something. It was hard not to remember a woman with such a distinctive look wearing full plate armor and moving that fast on it.

“Excuse me for not reacting that fast when I was about to lose my head… LITERALLY!” Her arms were still tied with a very thick rope preventing from movement while also chaffing her wrists. If she ever found the guy who put the ropes on her arms she was going to kick him in a place where the sun didn’t shine. Although considering what was going on that guy was probably roasted entirely. Anyway, she used her hands to get up as she followed the officer across the chaotic clearing in the town they had stopped for the executions.

Around Sunset, amid the smoke and the ruins of what a few minutes ago had been houses, she could see people running for cover, soldiers bravely fighting against the dragon while trying to guide the civilians to safety, a place that probably didn’t exist at the moment.

Sunset could hear the roaring of the dragon, the fire consuming everything it touched and the barking of orders as she followed the soldier that had not only vouched for her, who tried to save her from the axe of the executioner, but who even now was risking her life to save someone that could be a dangerous criminal. Which in theory, Sunset Shimmer was, just not on that dimension.

Of the people that had been arrested alongside her, she couldn’t see hide or hair, it was as if at the moment of the attack they had used the moment of distraction to escape. It had been a good move; she had to give them that… but all these people being attacked. She could hear among the rubble, screams and fire, the cries of a little child. What was this world? It was what Sunset Shimmer asked herself over and over as she continued running.

A world at war, mythical creatures that attacked everything on its path. If this was the world that Starswirl had seen, no wonder he made it so hard to access through the mirror. Was it fear or caution that made him lock the mirror with a time lock? Was this how Sunset died? Among soldiers fighting for their lives and scared people?

Just as Rainbow and Sunset got inside the keep, a fireball exploded right behind them sending them flying inside. Behind them, the last thing Sunset heard before welcoming the echoing rumble inside the keep, was the whole door being destroyed as the whole entrance of the keep was destroyed trapping both girls inside. Then, as if accepting her fate, Sunset Shimmer laughed hard and long, as if not believing the things that had occurred. Maybe… maybe she could get to live just a little bit more, maybe her destiny was not to die on a chopping block for a crime she never committed. Maybe her destiny was something else she thought as she got up once again, ready to see where this new path that had been open to her will lead her.

The One Dragons Fear 03

Even through the thick walls of rock and mortar, Sunset Shimmer could still hear the sounds of battle outside the keep, faintly but there, as a reminder to the young redhead that she had just barely escaped with her life, but not everything was right. Looking at the place where she and the young guard had entered, but now it was only a bunch of rocks and wood after the entrance was destroyed by the dragon.

Sunset was still trying to get her head around that simple fact. She knew about and had met dragons before, but that was when she used to live back in Equestria. This was Tamriel and dragons were just things written on books about history and mythos, no-longer-alive type of creatures after the war against them. So, why one of those mythical creatures that everyone said was completely extinct had appeared at Skyrim? Well, if a unicorn came to Tamriel why not a dragon, right? Bad joke, but her mind was still processing the situation.

Breathing a couple of times to get herself under control, Sunset Shimmer took a look around the room where she and the soldier were trapped in. It had a low ceiling and the only light were several torches put strategically to make it barely illuminated. A line of beds filled both sides of the room with chests placed at the end of each of one. A couple of desks with wooden plates and utensils alongside the ever present green and ember bottles containing the liquor of choice among soldiers were found not too far away. The last few pieces of furniture were a table with a couple of chairs and a weapon rack at the other end of the room. All in all, it was obvious that the place the soldier had pushed her in was some kind of barracks for the local garrison.

“I think we are safe… well, as safe as we will get with that thing roaming around. Oh right, let me help you with those ropes,” the girl with the armor said as she took her sword out of its sheath and with a quick flick the ropes felt to the ground. Sunset Shimmer took a few seconds to massage her tender wrists and quickly cursed at the way she had been treated since she entered Skyrim.

“Why did you help me?” was her only question as the rainbow haired girl took one of the torches from the wall.

“What do you mean?”

“According to your superior I am some kind of traitor to the empire and is supposed to be executed,” she said making some air quotations with her hands at the end of her sentence.

“Yeah, what an excuse of officer I had… last I saw her she was charred to the bone,” Rainbow said with a slight grimace at the memory of the empire officer “look, you don’t look like a Stormcloak and you looked pretty much clueless the whole time, besides, have you ever committed a crime inside Skyrim?” Committed a crime? Yes, she had, inside Skyrim? That was another thing.

“You guys arrested me as I was entering Skyrim for the first time, that’s the one thing I had been repeating those idiots the whole time!”

“Well, there you go, consider it your non-official pardon, not that I believe people will start looking for you to chop your head… at least I hope so.”

“Wait, that’s it? You’re alright with that? What makes you do something like that? I don’t get it!”

“Look, I’ve been training since I can remember, probably since I was able to walk according to my mom, so I know when people can be trusted on a fight, call it a gut feeling, I just now. I mean, a friend of mine is really good at the whole interrogation thingy, but I don’t think you will try to kill me, at least not yet with that dragon outside, so come on.”

“Sure, I will like to if I wasn’t practically naked beside these rags,” Sunset said still slightly surprised at the way she had been dressed for the execution. It was so unfair the way she had been treated by those guards. First they took her notes about Tamriel, they took her robes and the few coins she had been able to acquire for the travel to Skyrim.

“Oh, yeah, that. Why don’t you take some armor while you are here?… I don’t think people will complain about it with the dragon, the deaths and all that.”

“Wow, that was a little too dark, and I am a bitch,” Sunset said looking inside one of the chests. The first armor that she found was obviously one used by the scouts of the legion due to how light the thing was. It was basically made out of layers of leather with some parts of iron for the final touches. Lucky for her the armor seemed to have been made with a female in mind because it fit her, maybe not perfectly, but for something basically scavenged this was perfect.
“I am still in shock over everything that has happened so far. Anyway, I never introduced myself, I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“Sunset Shimmer, but you already knew that,” she answered back as she looked at the pair of legion standard swords on the wall. So far at that land, Sunset Shimmer quickly understood that it was quite smart to be armed all the time, but, being serious, there was no way things could get worse for her after that whole dragon attack.

Someday Sunset will have to learn how to not say those kinds of things. The whole fate tempting thing was too dangerous. First it was Stormcloak soldiers not caring about a truce or trying to survive together, even after Rainbow said over and over again they were not going to attack. Beyond the whole gang attack by those idiots, there were more cave-ins, fucking giant spiders and even a bear! Today had not been Sunset’s day, that’s for sure. At least Rainbow and she could breathe the fresh, cold air of the mountains while they watched the black dragon fly away.

“Well, that happened,” Sunset said not knowing how to continue from that point. She had just survived the attack of a dragon, but here she was, at one destroyed town, with nothing except a couple of weapons and armor that she had took, with basically no money or items, she was basically screwed.

“Yeah, look, maybe this whole thing didn’t start in the right way, but we survived. Hey, if you don’t have were to go, why don’t you come with me? The friend I told you about lives not too far away from here.”

“Sure, why not? How long till we get there?”

“Maybe an hour or two.” How Sunset hated not being capable of teleporting, she just hated this world.

Let's Go Rider Kick 04

The breeze felt nice. It had been such a long time since Sunset had been able to enjoy a breeze as clean and pure as the one that was found so far from the city. The last time she had been able to enjoy something similar had been so long ago, even before her betrayal of Celestia’s trust and her consequent exile, Sunset didn’t enjoy Canterlot’s air. It was as stuffy and dirty as the unicorns living on that zone. To be sincere, she didn’t miss those ponies, not even one bit.

She didn’t like the air and even with magic filters and other aids, the air still seemed too dirty to her, even at the height at which Canterlot City resided in sine it was created on the side of a mountain. No, the last time she had enjoyed air so clean had been the few times she went out on an expedition, one of those research travels she was so fond of. It was quite revitalizing to go to another place and get her hooves dirty trying to decipher something magical or maybe a ruin of a place not even Celestia remembered.

After all that, here she was, once more on the wilderness, or as close as it could be considering that even though she was on a forest, the whole zone was used for a camp. She had jumped at the opportunity to get out of the city and go back to her roots in a matter of speaking, but it was not the same, after all, no matter what happen, she will never be able to go back to those days.

Droplets of water dripped from her hair as she watched the rest of her friends enjoy the lake and their free time while she thought back on what had happened a couple of days ago. Water and fire mixing and then… just one warrior surviving the fight. Sunset shook her head trying to dispel the image of that monster and what she had turned into.

Sunset turned her sight from her friends to the object currently on her hands. It had changed colors and even the insignia had transformed into a copy of her cutie mark. The object was one that had become almost infamous among her friends considering the usage it had before. From a vacuum of magic to a weird transformation device, it had found its way back to her hands, once more giving her a taste of strange powers. Even inside it had changed, with most of the original wiring and drives being replaced by something else. Both Sunset and Twilight decided to leave it alone considering that it was something neither of them understood and considering what happened with that same artifact back at the Friendship Games, Twilight could understand why Sunset was so adamant on not tampering with it.

But even by just looking at it, neither Sunset nor Twilight how such an object could be changed so much by external forces. In a way it was at the same time alien and strangely familiar to Sunset, who in her life had become used to strange facts and mysteries appearing on her life at every moment, but this was getting ridiculous.

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone else reached her table making Sunset look at the other camper.

“Are you alright?”

“I should be asking you that Twilight, but I was just thinking,” She said as a simple answer, but the bespectacled girl in front of her was as curious as she was and there was no way she could let her get away with an explanation as simple as that. The way she was half glaring at her with those eyes were enough to make Sunset roller her eyes and continue talking “is just that… things are so weird right now. No one on Equestria, at least the ones with more knowledge about the mirror, knows anything about these creatures or the belt, is just annoying.”

“This annoys me too, I’m just so used to experiment and research everything that is interesting and this definitely counts as that. I suppose we can only go with what we already know.”

“There is not much to go by, but apparently those things know more about the belt since they gave me a name… Yujo… they also said that I wasn’t yet ready or something like that… this whole thing is getting way too complicated.”

“I know, for what you and the rest of the girls have told me, usually your enemies are more in the open… like back at the Friendship Games,” hearing the small change in Twilight’s voice Sunset took the hand of the ponytailed girl. She had an idea of what twilight was thinking about.

“Hey, it’s okay, we all forgave you, and you are not Midnight anymore and will never be.”

“I know, I guess what has happened with you has took my mind away from that. I mean, yeah, I turned into a demon like creature, but it happened to you too and now here you are. Not only are you my friend, but you protected me back then, helped and rescued me. And after all that, you have a mysterious belt and monsters roaming the city attacking innocent people, but no matter what, you keep on protecting them. Compared to that, I guess any fear that I might have had for Midnight simply vanished.”

“Are you sure about that Twilight?”

“Yes, because I know now that even if Midnight took control once more, you and the rest of our friends will be there to save me, so don’t worry, Midnight is and will never be a problem for me.” Twilight’s bright smile made Sunset relax and give a silent thank you to the Elements of Harmony for helping her save Twilight back then. Quickly scanning the rest of the camp to see if everyone was okay she found another topic.

“You know, I think Timber likes you,” she said suddenly making Twilight blink several times at the non sequitur.

“Pardon me?”

“Don’t turn around, but the guy has been looking at our table for some time apparently.”

“Are you sure? I mean it could be that he is checking all the campers to see if they are okay.”

“Well, unless he looks like an idiot in love at every single camper, I don’t think that’s the case Miss Sparkle,” looking at the way in which Twilight’s face became a beacon due to how much she was blushing was an incredible sight, so much that it made Sunset grab her stomach due to how much she was laughing. The only thing that Twilight could do was to complain since she couldn’t find it in herself to hit Sunset for what she had said. Then the laughter was gone when Sunset put her hands on her temples.

The pain and pressure were back, the world was starting to spin and she could almost hear voices, images flashing on her sight, almost like messages, of things happening on the past and something about… evolution? Meanwhile, inside the main cabin, Gloriosa wanted to scream due to the pain, but found herself unable to move as the man in front of her simply smiled. He put a hand underneath her shirt and retrieved a pendant consisting of small crystals of different colors.

“You should know that we don’t like thieves. Back then you would have been killed by the sisters, but this is another world, there are new rules. Instead of dying, you will give us your life,” He said and put a hand on Gloriosa’s temple, then a symbol appeared, a sun, gold and white, a mark that had been present for a long time on another world “go and remind Yujo why she will never be an alicorn.” He said while Gloriosa’s eyes turned green for a moment and then a grin was present.

“Yes my lord, that the light of the Mother Empress fall upon our enemies,” any other villain would have used that moment to laugh maniacally, instead, the well-dressed man simply vanished without a trace.

Not too far from the camp, another man felt the call, one that he hadn’t felt for such a long time. One that had turned his life upside down, taken everything for him, but one that he knew would be a part of his life forever. The man turned on his motorcycle and began his travel, knowing that another battle was starting.

Author's Note

A problem with Gloriosa and a mysterious Rider getting closer. Alongside Sunset, they will clash as the next battle of Kamen Rider Yujo will bring new enemies and new allies to the battlefield.

An Ever After Tale 06: Hearts and Mirages

The landscape waiting for her every morning at the terrace was one that Sunset still found bizarre, refreshing and slightly nostalgic. It was so green, with beautiful forests, clouds and blue sky. Statues and well maintained bushes and plants dotted the school grounds and it made Sunset sigh due to how beautiful everything was. It was quite fitting that everything looked like out of a fairy tale considering the school she was in. It was also nostalgic as the gardens where she spend her youth looked similar to the grounds of Ever After High, just with more ponies statues around and instead of the emblem of the school, it was the cutiemark of Celestia that dominated the place. Sunset wondered if there was purple and black present on the flags now that Princess Luna was back.

She missed the Canterlot Castle, but in a way, she was glad she left, because she had the chance of learning of a place as magical as Equestria itself, the land of Fairy Tales and that on itself was wicked. Sunset chuckled to herself at how easy it was to start making those fairy tale puns, although it seemed she was the only student that used the Oz related ones, like the classic Kansas related one with Spike or making mention of the Good Fairy of the North among others.

Knowing that many more things will be introduced to her, Sunset went back into the room ready to start another day. So far life on Ever After High was great; she had met new people, had great food and could even work on both magic and fitness. As she put her bed on order, Sunset thought back on what she had learned so far on Ever After, mainly the reason why she had magic once more. She knew that the character she had been selected to play had no magical powers, not like Raven Queen who was the successor of the role of the Evil Queen or Faybella, who was the daughter of the Dark Fairy of Sleeping Beauty. Only witches and fairies on Oz had powers, so, why was she capable of using magic? But it was not like the magic she had grown with, studied with Celestia or by herself on Earth. This magic felt less peaceful like in Equestria and even less savage than the one found on Earth. Sunset’s magic felt… almost mischievous if that could be an explanation.

Leaving her bed once more pristine, Sunset remembered her roommate and the way she snored… or should that be, royally snoring? Considering that Lizzie Hearts was as noble as they came, just with the idiosyncrasies that most people attributed to being born on Wonderland, but for someone that had gotten used to the likes of Pinkie Pie -or at least as much one could-, those things were minor.

One thing Sunset had to give to the girl, she knew her style. Everything was boldly black and red as if someone had taken playing cards and splattered them on the walls. Even the vanity mirror on Lizzie’s side had the spades and hearts like many of the princess’ clothes.

At first it was a little weird to have to share her room with someone else, but at least she wouldn’t be alone on another dimension without any of her human and pony friends. Meeting Raven and Maddie was good and all, but having someone she could talk every morning and night was nice and helped her unwind or prepare for the day, as long as she didn’t speak in Riddlish, but beyond that, the girl was alright, beyond some strange moods, but alright.

“OFF WITH ITS HEAD!” at least until you annoyed her, which was too easy. Take for example the small clock that had been decapitated, or at least the top part of the clock had been cut. How Lizzie did it anyways? She just moved her fingers and most things were simply cut down. Cards, flowers, envelopes, pencils, she even saw her do it to a bag of chips just to open it. It seemed really useful but terrifying at the same time.

“I think that’s the third clock this week,” Sunset said, only getting a groan from the princess. Her red and black hair was mixed on an epic bedhead. Usually arranged on a very royal-looking bun, Lizzie’s hair was as long and luxurious as the many princesses living on Ever After. Looking at her own hair, Sunset still couldn’t fathom the fact that it had changed to blonde instead of red, but it worked with the clothes that had also mysteriously changed. Truly something to investigate, on a list of at least 20 different topics; she will have to do a lot of trips to the library. Awesome! She was already excited about it.

“They had it coming, how dare they scream on the face of a future queen,” Lizzie said finally getting up while moving her voluminous hair from her face. She blinked several times trying to fight back the drowziness as she began to move into the bathroom the two shared. Sadly, that was like most of the interactions between Sunset and Lizzie that they had so far. Since the two didn’t share many classes and the next Queen of Hearts spend most of her time either alone or with the company of Apple White and her friends, the two haven’t really talked much, but there was something with Lizzie that was worrying to Sunset. The girl seemed a little like Apple, just not the same kind of overly happy and sparkles type of girl. Lizzie just seemed like she was trying a little too much to get into character, at least that was just Sunset’s opinion.

Shrugging her shoulders, Sunset went to her own vanity to see if everything was alright with her attire. For some reason she just imagined Rarity gushing over her new attire. She was wearing a white and light red sundress with a light white jacket on top and her cutiemark on the back of it. It was also part of her research list the reason of the magical change on her clothes, but she wasn’t complaining, it even made her school transfer be smoother.

Then Sunset jumped back while gasping. She blinked several times and when she looked at the mirror again she saw herself wearing the attire. Weird, for a moment she thought she had been wearing a black dress and a witch’s hat.

An Ever After Tale 07: Ashes and Cinders

Book after book after book and still Sunset wasn’t even close to understand what was going on. Already a substantial tower of printed pages were taking control of the free space of the table, one that was reducing in size with the amount of books and reference that Sunset had taken with her. She was in her element and was enjoying every second, but in the end, even something like that could be a slightly tiring.

Rubbing her eyes a little bit, Sunset went back to read about the book with information about the different magical species living on Ever After. It was fascinating to read about similar plants and creatures that could be used as spell ingredients or with alchemy and potions, fascinating. From simple belladonna and mint leaves, to more powerful ingredients like troll’s tears and salamander scales -the one that was always on fire apparently- and according to the very recent book, even now powerful warlocks and witches continued finding new uses for material and new ways to brew potions and elixirs.

So far, Sunset had read about the natural magic on Ever After, one that came straight from Wonderland, the magical land that so often recreated the story of young Alice. Apparently it had been quarantine after a magic curse casted by none other than Raven Queen’s mother, The Evil Queen, all capital letters since she apparently deserved the title. No wonder Raven didn’t want to be like her mom, she sounded like quite the case.

Since all roads to Wonderland had been closed, the students that had been rescued were transferred to Ever After -that must have been quite the culture shock- and the adults relocated to the village not too far away from the school. Sadly the magic that usually radiated from Wonderland into the Fairy Tale Kingdoms was slightly dwindling without the open borders and no one knew exactly what would happen if it stopped flowing. It was something to keep in mind for the future, but it was not what she was looking for, still, nice to know.

Sunset’s research had so far revealed to her that there were so many different types of magic with different rules governing them. There was the most common in the kingdom known simply as Fairy Tale magic. Basic things like being able to talk with animals, random bursts of songs and dancing -that made Sunset feel nostalgia of the times it happened on Equestria- and other miscellaneous things. Basically? Mundane, everyday stuff being easier to do and normal stuff from fairy tales. Next came witch’s magic, witch apparently had many different uses like curses or battle spells (yes, I made a pun there). Others like fairy magic and wonderland magic were rather bizarre and usually only people that were from Wonderland or the Fairy lands could use those powers.

Besides those there was unicorn’s magic -nothing to do with Equestria apparently-, genie’s magic, dark magic, light magic, god’s magic and other minor examples of power that were still being studied. In the end, nothing happened.

Letting out a long sigh, Sunset Shimmer waved a hand and all the books began to float, just for them to fly back to their correspondent place on the bookshelves. Sunset decided to do this quickly and used a version of a spell that she learned many years ago; she was surprised that it worked so smoothly. As she walked out of the library Sunset fought back a shiver at the glare that was send her way by the old, wrinkly and, frankly, very creepy librarians. Apparently the two were the evil step-sisters of a previous Cinderella and it was obvious why. They had the looks and the temper to be the perfect librarians, but Sunset didn’t want to know what happened on their recreation of the story. Maybe they were so ugly that the prince then went directly to the Cinderella successor.

As Sunset chuckled to herself at the mental image she didn’t saw where she was walking and soon crashed against someone, sending both students to the floor. Shaking her head, the gold and red girl could only gawk at the other party in the accident, not without wonder-land-ing at the irony of who she met.

Green emerald-like eyes glittered as the owner blinked several times before placing her sight on Sunset. In front of the Oz member was none other than the next Cinderella, Ashlynn Ella. With her strawberry blond long flowing hair and the beautiful green mint dress with roses embroidered on it, Ashlynn was a rather down to earth-kind of princess for what she had heard. Unlike the other ‘huge’ story heir, Ashlynn seemed so much more approachable than the ‘diabetically sweet’ Apple White and Miss ‘loud and a little annoying’ -but still entertaining-Blondie Locks.

“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Sunset said helping the other blonde off the ground while this one simply smiled at her. It was probably thanks to all the Princessology classes that all of them could do those amazing smiles.

“Is okay, I wasn’t paying attention too, I just found out the most hexcellent pair of shoes on the mirror-net,” Oh right, the mirror-net, a weird fairy tale variation of the internet that they could access to with a combination of phone and tablet that they called Mirror-phones. Something else to study later on.

“Still, I feel bad about what happened, I’m Sunset Shimmer.”

“I know, after all, who haven’t heard of the new student? Apple, Blondie and Briar haven’t stopped talking about you. You made quite the impression on them since you beat the troll,” at the words of the princess Sunset began to grow more and more red. It felt so weird to receive that kind of sincere praising from people that were genuine royals and that literally came out of the most famous fairy tales in existence “sorry that I haven’t been able to get to know you. I’m Ashlynn Ella, is a pleasure to meet you,” there was something in that smile that just made Sunset relax; it was like a fresh mountain breeze on spring.

“Is okay, I’ve been busy too.”

“I suppose that’s normal, after all, you are not originally from the Fairy Tale Kingdoms.”

“Yeah, I guess you can call it something of a culture shock. I’m still not quite used to this place and the way magic works here,” the talk would have been longer if it weren’t because the PA system activated at that moment and the voice of Baba Yaga was heard.

“To all students, please gather at the courtyard, the first rehearsal of Legacy day is going to start.”

“Well, you heard her, guess we are finally going to start with this whole thing, right?” Looking at the slight hesitation on Ashlynn, Sunset arched an eyebrow, before a shiver went through her back. She had been feeling that all the week, as if her body was trying to warn her that something big was getting close.

An Ever After Tale 08: Destiny Bad?

Being part of such a prestigious school -she was even sure that Cinch would be foaming at the mouth of such prestige and legacy that shadowed her own school- was nice and all. There were many amenities she could be part of including a big track and meet field, crocket, a forest that Sunset was all but salivating at the different species of flora and fauna she could study and even a bookball stadium… even though she had no idea of what bookball was. Among all those things they also had a theater where they did presentations and meetings, a library that Sunset was enjoying to the max and even a couple of galleries holding some pieces of art and items of the past.

The school had all of that, but they had to use what looked as cheap metal folding chairs and a simple podium for Legacy day? What was this? A High School graduation? For a school that had so much history and had so much magic, it was incredible how simple and mundane the whole thing looked, although it could be because this was only a practice and the whole real deal won’t be happening yet.

For what she had understood, Legacy Day was the moment where every single student pledged their adherence to the customs and history of their role in their respective tale. Apple White would pledge to become the next Snow White for example and then they will sign the Storybook of Legends, a mysterious book that contained all the fairy tales.

In Sunset’s opinion, the Storybook of Legends was closer to a grimoire than a simple book, of course, in the old sense of the word. Back in Equestria there were many grimoire examples that had to be sealed off, many of them Sunset had read and learned, not that she was very proud of her decision. Instead of just being a spell book, a grimoire was a repository of forbidden and extremely dangerous material. A book that could alter the destiny of people and rob the lives of others definitely counted as a grimoire to her.

The longer she researched about Fairy Tale destinies and the Storybook of Legends, they seemed more like shackles than a guide and the worst part was that everyone seemed so happy and almost eager on signing on the book, well, those that had a very nice destiny like becoming a hero or getting a beautiful wife and a kingdom. Those that came out losing, like Duchess Swan or Sparrow -the Swan Princess and Robin Hood respectively- were very vocal about their whole destiny, but knew that as long as the book existed they could do nothing. Sunset had pity of one specific student: Raven Queen.

Why the book did assign her that destiny? It was like saying that Fluttershy was destined to become Midnight Sparkle or something like that. It was not only stupid, but monstrous to make a girl as sweet and caring like Raven to become a villain. Sadly, Sunset had no power to change that and for now she could only watch as the most ‘important’ characters rehearsed their pledges.

It was fun in a way since she finally saw some of the students she haven’t been able to interact with, like the next Pinocchio and Sunset had to wince at her curse. Not being capable of lying until she became Pinocchio? That was harsh; although, Sunset was really curious about the girl in the way that she was a very advanced wood golem. Others, like Apple White and Briar simply made her roll her eyes at how excited they were about their future destiny. Was being Snow White the only thing Apple thought of? It was tiring just listening to her gush about how hexcellent the future would be once Raven poisoned her and her Charming Prince woke her up.

Besides the rather ‘royal’ set of students there were some more interesting ones and Sunset was really interested in them since they seemed a little more… unique, although considering that she was the only ‘princess’ to wear a jacket every time as if she were one of the hero princes she was probably a hypocrite.

One girl that took the podium was an in-your-face gold and red wearing tiny girl that exuded so much confidence that was almost pathetical. Even her attire was eye catching with a deep red corset and skirt combination with petticoats and long black boots and gloves complimenting them, but it was the big feathered tricorne hat that said ‘raider of the seven seas’.

“Ah ha! Listen ye all, I am Captain Jeanne Bell Hook and I will bring honor once more to the family name as the next Captain Hook!”

“Miss Bell, you will be the next Tinker Bell so please stop with that and take this seriously,” the grave voice of the headmaster made the tiny girl frown.

“No hate to momma, but daddy’s destiny is way more fun!” The next student was a pale girl with a long braid of hair so black that seemed blue. She was wearing a very beautiful and intricate silver gown with a high lapel and collar that reminded Sunset of oriental style.

“My name is Oolong and I pledge myself as the next Jasmine, may my road be as free of accidents or disaster as it could be… if possible, that I don’t have to do a thing,” She said yawning with such intensity that it made all the students present yawn too. No wonder Sunset haven’t seen her around, she was probably asleep all the time if she acted like that.

Next came a woman with also long flowing hair; there was definitely something in the shampoo on this world because so far she haven’t seen one woman -at least one that wasn’t an old croon or a troll- with ugly hair. This one was wearing a suit similar to her, but instead of looking at the other students or even to anything, the girl was busy looking at something on her phone. It was until the headmaster cleared his throat that the girl suddenly reacted and she glared at the mustached man as if he had done something wrong.

“So, I’m going to be, like, the next Aladdin and I am Hanna Aleppo. Now, I know, I am going to be Aladdin so, like, why are you wearing such nice clothes? Are you crazy? Do you have any idea how bad that whole Aladdin thing is? I mean, I’m going to be a thief and liar and, like, I have no desire to become something like that. Besides, me and Oolong have to, what marry each other or something? I’ve never understood that part,” Just listening to the girl was making several of her neurons commit suicide. If these were some of the heirs of the kingdoms then the world was in deep trouble.

Author's Note

So I decided to introduce some characters that I wanted to write about. Yes, they are original and yes, they will be very important to the story so let me introduce you why the name.

Jeanne Bell Hook: She is the daughter of BOTH the last Tinker Bell and Captain Hook. Like Cerise Wolf she is something that breaks tradition, but since the parents live on NeverLand they don't give a damn. Those are one of those loveydovey couples that you just hate.

Oolong: I mean, she is a tea and she is based on the more canon look of Jasmine being Chinese. Yes, Aladdin is Chinese, not like the Disney version. Experts put the story on the region of Xinjiang.

Hanna Aleppo: She is a reference to the whole idea that Aladdin is not a real 1001 nights story, but one that was invented by the guy that originally did the translation. Apparently he met a monk named Youhenna Diab ("Hanna") on Aleppo so he will tell him the stories. One hypothesis is that both Aladdin and Ali Baba are creations of Antoine Galland (the guy that did the translation), you can take your own conclusions. Also, yes, she is a complete Valley Girl.

An Ever After Tale 09: Just a normal day

“My life has been strange, I’ll be the first to admit it, I mean, I’ve turned into a demon and then I was defeated by a bunch of girls that then became my closest friends. Together we defeated and depowered a dangerous trio of magical beings called the sirens. Later on a girl from another school went power hungry and we saved her from corrupting magic and finally all together defeated a spirit of earth/monster; and even after all that, this school sometimes beats whatever I have lived so far,” The serene voice of Sunset Shimmer discussed while her shoulders sagged basically signaling she was done with things for today.

At her side, Blondie Locks, wearing her favorite blue and white dress with bears dancing on it, was holding her trusty mirror-phone which worked as a camera. Apparently, the blonde girl had a rather successful blog and she was always looking out for the hottest topics and news. That topic for now was Sunset Shimmer.

The reddish blonde had reached a bit of a stump on her studies of magic, particularly the part about witch’s magic. It was slightly vexing that she hasn’t been able to find any information about the powers and effects of a witch’s power. So far, Sunset knew that there were very few witches in the school and only one of the teachers was one. The one and only Baba Yaga, who Sunset had read about and was seriously impressed about her power and control of it; not everyone could continuously control a floating object with them on top and use it as a vehicle.

The other students on Ever After High that she could ask about that kind of magic were two. One was called Ginger and the general consensus was to run away from her the quickest one could since she was the witch from Handsel and Gretel. So, a possible cannibal witch, not that Sunset knew her, but the Equestria native decided to reserve judgment until she met her. The other one was none other than the infamous Raven Queen. Oh Glinda, yesterday was so entertaining, considering that never before she had seen Apple White so perplexed and shocked. It was not a hyperbole to say that the Fairy Tale Kingdoms were close to crumble with just a few words from a young witch.

Sunset knew that she shouldn’t take joy from something like that, but it was so interesting! Hex, the whole thing about having to sign the book was interesting from the magical point of view. Sadly, she didn’t have too much time to think because before she could take two steps outside of her dorm in search of Raven, just so this one could explain several questions Sunset had about witch’s magic, she was quickly approached -read, basically jumped upon by a bear obsessed girl- in search of an interview.

That’s how she reached the small clearing in front of the dorms and tried to satiate the curiosity of Blondie, who wanted to make the interview ‘just right’, maybe something to do with her destiny as the next Goldilocks, like Ashlynn and her shoes. Of course, this being Ever After nothing could be quite normal and as they had the interview, where Sunset talked a bit about what she knew about Oz and also about the place she had lived before, a floating rowing boat was slowly moving several inches above ground. A young looking girl, barely reaching Sunset’s shoulders was wearing her now iconic tricorne hat as four boys were rowing the boat.

“Come on men, next stop, riches like you’ve never seen before!” followed by a cackling laughter that would have make Jeanne Bell’s father cry from joy. As that happened, both blonde teenagers could do nothing but blink in confusion at what was going on. Behind them, Dexter Charming, perennial crew member of Blondie, continued taping the strange occurrence which will become one of the most seen videos on the mirror-net the day after.

“Okay, I’ve seen some strange things, but that was weird… weren’t those guys Sparrow Hood’s band members?” Sunset asked aloud since she was sure those were the Merry Men. At her side, Blondie could only nod and then both were even more confused when the young man wearing green and black, was running behind the boat.

“Come back here, you are not allowed to mutiny against me, how am I supposed to rock without a band!? And give me back my guitar you… you… pirate!” Well, that was interesting.

Author's Note

I wanted to do a chapter a little like the webseries, short and funny.

Key to the Truth 01

Sand. Everywhere she looked at was sand and water.

In a way, she loved sand, both because it was truly useful for many different things, among them concrete, but because sand could tell so many stories about the world and the place one was visiting or living. After many years of curiosity, she was capable of knowing so much about sand that it was reaching levels of Maud Pie and her rocks, it was truly fascinating in a way. Take for example the place she was standing on. The feeling of sand underneath her and the slight breeze moving her long garb said more to her than the buildings made out of wood or the bizarre silence on an inhabited island.

Water as far as the eye could see and even beyond, with nothing but blue from the sea and the sky making this place as paradisiacal as it could be. It was almost like a dream, ne that had no end and could be eternal. She didn’t mind the idea, but the execution was something that she could nitpick all day if she had the chance. Thankfully for everyone reading the story, the person she had been waiting for finally appeared. She didn’t have to turn around to know he had arrived, she knew his story very well, at least the only part that remained from his life.

She could feel it, change without control like waves across the sea of reality. Something that arrived to interrupt the real harmony. Lives that will change across the multiverse, starting with him. How ironic, a boy that was destined to embark on a travel across dimensions, was just trapped on a loop that will never end. Over and over he will see the battle of light and darkness just to wake up again on the island, just to repeat the same story again. It was sad? In a way. Was it interesting? Immensely, after all, so far he had been a great source of information about destiny, one that had been put to use on the battle against the true evil. The whole light and darkness battle was like Son Goku running on the palm of Buddha. Nothing but a drop of water on this sea, nothing compared to the void consuming all.

“Your home is beautiful,” She said with her usual cadence, her voice like a perfectly tuned bell. Behind her, Sora could only watch jaw-slacked the person in front of him. The woman -If the voice was a clue to the gender- seemed almost ethereal, from out of this world, almost non-existent due to her regal pose, the voice coming from behind the mask and the long silver coat that was moving with the sea breeze.

“How did you get here?”

“I’ve been here for a long time… but I suppose you are referring specifically to this beach,” She said as calm and collected as always. Sora nodded indicating that was what he meant, but he almost hit his face with his hand since the woman was still looking at the sea and not him “I… walked,” she said making Sora raise an eyebrow.

“Okay, but, we are an island, in the middle of nowhere.”

“There are other ways to walk, sometimes you walk on shadows, others under light… sometimes in dreams, isn’t it Sora?”

“Wait, hold on, how do you know my name and… what do you mean by dreams?” The woman finally turned around, but he never saw her moving, one moment she was looking at the sea, the other she had turned around. Sora knew he was supposed to be afraid or at least a little freaked out at what had just happened, at the whole situation, but he only felt curious and… captivated.

“Your name… the name of your friends… they are written everywhere, in this world and others,” she said as the breeze suddenly stopped, as if the wind had been tamed. Sora couldn’t even blink; he could only keep on looking at the woman and the bizarre design of her mask. A circle with one line crossing it horizontally. Something told him that the design was impossible to do, especially since the mask front looked carved instead of painted “Destiny Island is just but a grain of sand on the desert that is the multiverse.”

“So, Kairi was right, there ARE other worlds out there, I have to hurry! We are making a raft so we can visit those worlds!”

“It will be useless, Destiny Island is completely isolated, and the path that led to the Princesses of Heart is no more,”

“The… Princesses of Heart? Wait, I… think I saw them? It was that dark place, maybe? But, how do you know that?”

“Because I already walked that path,” she said as she took off her mask, long traces of red and blonde hair were released as the cyan eyes focused on Sora “my name is Sunset Shimmer and your story has grown bigger than just a fight between light and darkness.”

Adventure Time: The Glowing Lands 01

He felt… lost, almost completely devoid of feelings inside. No, that wasn’t truth, he could feel a lot of pain everywhere in his body, but mostly in his stomach and it had nothing to do with something he ate. Among the fog that was governing his body, Finn tried to remember what the last thing he ate was. Maybe it was Jake’s pancakes, no, that was so long ago. As he tried to remember, his eyes closed and once more, Finn the Human blacked out.

Next time he could open his eyes he saw a figure, it was nothing more than an amorphous blob that was in front of him, but he still felt so weak, he couldn’t even raise his hand. He tried to speak, to mumble to do anything, but the figure simply put a blanket on him and Jake once more closed his eyes, leaving the waking world behind.

The third time was the charm because not only most of the pain had disappeared, Finn finally felt good enough to open his eyes and take a clear look of where he was. Well, to say that he had a clear look will be a little too nice since his vision was still foggy as hell, but after several seconds and blinking a lot, Finn could see a steel ceiling with a metal fan slowly rotating.

He still felt as groggy as if he had been trampled several times by every single monster he had fought against, but he was a hero, he defeat evil every time so he will conquer the pain and rise up… slowly if possible, everything was tender.

He tried to remember what exactly had happened for him to end up… whatever this place was, but he couldn’t quite remember what was going on. Maybe PB had been doing some kind of experiment and he was her guinea pig? No, he would at least remember her asking; there was no way PB would simply grab him and experiment on him without his consent… right?

Standing upright he began to walk towards the door that was present on the other side of the room. Slowly at first since his legs still felt like jelly and his brain was trying to reboot so he could remember exactly what was going on.

Just as he was about to reach the door, this one was opened and Finn quickly realized he was not on Candy Kingdom. In front of him was a girl he had never met, one that in a small way reminded Finn of Flame Princess. The girl was taller than him but not too much to be dwarfed and maybe she was a fire elemental due to the way her body was glowing, but it wasn’t the same type of light that was irradiated by the living flames, more like as if the glow came from inside of her. Her long hair was not done in the same way as the other fire elemental and instead flowed freely into her back, well groomed and it seemed as soft and cozy like a blanket on winter. This was a girl that really put attention to her hair.

“Well, you are awake, you had me worried for a moment there when you kept passing out,” she said walking inside and taking some kind of tablet from the table at the side of the bed he had been occupying a few moments ago “now, don’t move because I still need to do a check up on you.”

“Wait, what? What is going on?” Finn would have been a little more vocal on his questions, but sadly, he was still feeling tired and in pain.

“Right, I was about to give you this,” she said taking something from the inside of her jacket. Looking at the girl and what she was wearing she made him remember Marceline. With the turquoise jeans, a shirt of the same color with a bizarre red and yellow sun on it and a long jacket that was more like the lab coats Princess Bubblegum liked to wear when she went all mad scientist. He also liked the chevrons at the sides, it made it look badass and nice at the same time (now, Finn has no idea what the color was or what a chevron is, he just thinks it is a nice color and that those are arrow heads) which only made Finn be more curious about what was going on.

On the hands of the girl there was what looked like a thermos with a crystal clear liquid and Finn finally noticed the extreme thirst that he was feeling. He quickly grabbed the thermos from her hands and with one move he began to empty the thermos on his mouth. The feeling of the cool water refreshed him, making Finn smile in satiation.

“I put some serum on the water, nothing extreme, just something to help on your tissue degeneration. What are you doing here? I mean, not everyone is crazy enough to venture into my home, unless they are planning something, but you don’t look like a bad person.”

“What do you mean? I don’t even know where I am.”

“Looks like your short term memory were affected due to all that exposure, which isn’t exactly that weird, I mean, the brain probably suffered minor damage and most of the recent memories were erased. Either way, you were lucky that I wanted to take a walk because a little bit longer and neither you nor your dog would have survived.”

“Jake! Is Jake okay?”

“Yeah, he was more resilient but still needed some medical attention. Thankfully I’m a very good doctor, even though I never got any kind of license,” she said slightly whispering and reminiscing about something.

“So, where am I?”

“You are on the Glowing Lands, right where the Mushroom Wars started,” Sunset Shimmer said making Finn spit the water that he had been sipping.

“WHAT?! This whole place is forbidden! How can you stay here? Forget that, how do you know this was the place where the Mushroom War started?”

“Because I was right beneath the bomb as it exploded.”

Author's Note

Dun dun DUUUUUUNNNNN

Sunset Society: The Princess and the Bat

Author's Note

So, here it is, the return to this dimension with a returning princess.

Sunset Society: The Princess and the Bat

Although for many having to wait at an airport, either for the time to board a plane, or to wait for someone, was quite the headache, there were a lot of different things to do to make the wait less painful. Just take Sunset Shimmer for example who was right now enjoying a delightful coffee from one of the new shops that had opened when the expansions to the airport finished, all thanks due to the investment and labor provided by Shimmer Industries. Since the relatively new corporation had ascended from the ashes of several bankruptcy-filled small groups, the city of Canterlot had bloomed into the city many had envisioned from its inception. Yes, there were some madmen around, but with the help of the police -and the city’s mysterious protector- peace was maintained constantly.

Right now, the CEO of one of the biggest companies in the world these days was quietly sitting down at a table, while the visibly nervous barista eyes her up and down. The girl was not new to serving clients, but it was one thing to serve the average Joe wanting their regular cup of joe –I’m quite proud of that pun myself-, it was another thing completely different to have to serve the best coffee you could possible make to the one responsible for your new job. Apparently the young woman had become the hottest thing in terms of business and looks by the way she filled that business skirt, white shirt and tailored jacket combo. The girl tried to keep her hormones in check.

Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer took the final sips to her coffee, enjoying the hazelnut flavor lingering on her mouth. Seeing that her client had finished her beverage, the barista was quick to her feet.

“Another coffee Miss Shimmer?” The aforementioned woman simply raised her eyes to meet the girl behind the counter and smiled. The barista for a moment thought she was about to swoon, which was a new experience for her.

“Is okay, I was just wasting time for a bit, not that this coffee was a waste of time, I truly need to get more of this later on,” Sunset said making the young barista blush even harder.

“Thank you for that Miss Shimmer.”

“No, thank you, tell your boss I might call him later on, this place needs more advertisement with this quality,” she said before getting off from her chair, leaving behind the shell shocked barista and the coffee shop behind. She haven’t been lying, the place was well worth a second look, maybe she could ask some of her investors to see if the place needed help or if they were interested on talking with her for a bit.

The sound of her expensive stilettos was lost among the different people walking back and forth on the immense transit station that was known as Canterlot International Airport. A beautiful and modern piece of engineering that never failed to make Sunset smile. There were very few things that could do that these days and most of them were related to her job.

It had started so simple, just helping some of Shining Armor school friends with a problem he had with one of his machines. Five years later, Poindexter and Sunset were joined by Canterlot High student Micro Chips and from nothing, Shimmer Industries had appeared, quickly buying out companies in danger of going belly up due to bad decisions or horrible organization.

The trio was still working together to this day, with the two being some of the few people knowing her secret identity and most of the time helping her with new gadgets. She loved those two idiots, so much that they had become something of her brothers in a way. Sadly work was quickly piling up as the company began to get some steam thanks to new products and fine investments, that’s why Micro Chips was head of the Research Department while Poindexter had found his inner executive shark and took control of the board for her; it was so nice to know someone she could trust had her back protected from idiots that should know better.

Who would have thought that Sunset Shimmer could become such a powerful being? Maybe her younger self, but maybe it was just luck and being at the right place at the right time, but she was grateful for the opportunity. Maybe it had something to do with feeding her pride and arrogance a bit, but mostly because she loved the fact that with money and power, she could make everyone’s lives better, a decision that made her five closest friends smile with pride.

Thinking about those five girls made Sunset smile remembering those long lost days of high School where they could spend all the time they wanted together, before adult responsibilities took them into different roads. Now at least she could meet a friend that had also found her way into the most interesting path possible.

“Ah must say, the whole corporate shark look really fits ya,” the blonde woman in front of her said as the two had similar grins in their faces, only a second after that both women embraced each other. The long time that they spend apart made the hug even sweeter in their opinion, but all good things must end and both girls were busy people.

“Hey AJ, how’s Themyscira,” the redhead said noticing the way Applejack filled the shirt she was using. It wasn’t that tight the last time she saw the blonde, but now she was seriously stretching the fabric with the way her abs, biceps and chest filled it. It wasn’t as noticeable as whenever Pinkie Pie used a tight shirt -the girl had been the cause of more than one car crash as she skipped around- but to the trained eye of Sunset she saw the difference.

“Same old, same old, Ah swear, those gals love to bicker so much that Ah want to smash their heads together, it is so damn annoying sometimes girl, Ah’ll tell ya, this whole business of being their princess is more annoyin’ than anything!” The ambassador of Themyscira said as Sunset simply chuckled.

“Yeah, never understood why I wanted to be one back when I lived in Equestria, come on, have you eaten anything?”

“Yeah, damn good food that they had on the plane, but still, a gal needs to eat well if she wants to keep being the best, so, lead on sugarcube,” but as the girls kept on walking they found other two people walking inside the airport. By the looks of their tired eyes and several bags, it was clear that the couple had arrived too at Canterlot City.

“Sunset?” the woman said, but the redhead simply nodded at both keeping a complete poker face.

“Hello Twilight, Timber,” she said and kept on walking. Meanwhile, Applejack nodded at the pair as she too kept on walking. Twilight Sparkle sighed, knowing that the mistake she have made several years ago will continue to haunt her. Behind her, she felt Timber’s hand on her back, instead of helping her relax or make the tension go away like before they married, now only helped to reinforce the guilt, making the decisions she took hurt even more.

Interlude: Not a Half Anymore

I have seen these eyes so many times that I know exactly how they look like on this form, especially on this form that I once hated more than my father. No, that’s a lie, I don’t think I have ever hated my father, no matter how stupid and self-centered he was, I mean, selling his own son just so he would be able to eat? It wouldn’t have been so bad if he hadn’t done it dozens of times through the years. It would have definitely made my life a lot easier, but that is just wishful thinking, right? I still get some of those words wrong at this point.

So here I am, using the room’s mirror to look at myself and what it seems to be my future from now on. Nothing much to see beyond the pinnacle of human beauty… that’s weird, I have been called egotistical and sometimes even vain and I admit I put a lot of attention to my own actions just so I would look cool and manly, but never to the degree of narcissism. Nor did I put so much attention to my own thoughts, not beyond a difficult battle at least.

Whatever the cause, it seems that I have changed slightly, if not physically -beyond the obvious hair color and boobs- then at least mentally, to the point where even I can see something is wrong and I’m not trying to lie to myself about 'everything is alright' with false macho bravado. What’s the point of that if things are still wrong? Whatever the case something is definitely wrong with me beyond the fact that not even steaming water can cancel the face that I see in the mirror.

Whatever the case life goes on, the world moves on and there is something weird about me being so… complacent? No, that’s not the right word for this, maybe familiarized or maybe I don’t want to waste time screaming at the sky and everyone around that what happened to me is unfair. I’m alive; everyone else back on that day is dead. If this is the end result of that then it seems fine by me. Who cares that I am trapped in my female form from now on if it is result of cheating death once more.

Outside of my room, waiting for me since the terrorist attack is the girl that is supposed to be my beloved wife, what a joke. Even with everything that had happened since that wedding fiasco those two old men still hope that I will marry my beloved, as if they couldn’t see the clear similarities of genitals between the two. As far as I know gay marriage is a big no no for the government, but try to explain that to two mentally retarded adults who seem to be too infatuated with their dreams of doing nothing while others work to listen to the truth.

I hate the look she gives me; all that pity and comfort does not look good on Akane. Don’t get me wrong, it is sweet in a way, just, aggravating. And there I go again, since when did I start using words like aggravating and why should I care about it? Because it is an unknown and I hate not knowing something, at least that’s how I feel now after a long introspection of myself after being forced into a hospital bed for a week.

We don’t talk on our way to school and even when we arrive it is the same song and dance of having to listen to the stupid rants of the most stupid man in this stupid planet. Thankfully, the walking garbage that is Kuno Tatewaki is easily disposed which leads us to the current point in time. Class time.

I remember a month ago how boring everything inside the classroom was, and still is in a way. Before I would have been blinded by the ‘lessons’ -if you can call them that- of my old man and how much time he focused into make me consider everything beyond the art to be a waste of time. From making friends to read manga, any time that wasn’t spend trying to make myself the greatest martial artist was seen with scorn, or worse, with punishment. That included anything that resembled education., but of course, this being my old man, it means that it was 10% true, 90% complete bullshit just to feed his own ego and avoid getting his head cut by my mother. Like with everything he had taught me, I decided to erase them from my mind once I came back from the hospital, it wasn’t that hard to reach a conclusion about that part of my life.

As far as I know, all the obligations thrown upon me due to my father and the stupid decisions he took, like the amount of fiancés popping up every day, new challengers trying to destroy the family art and the promise to my mother, they all became null and void the moment I died. Yes, that was a technicality, but it was a nice loophole that I had been planning for the last week or so.

Technically speaking, I had been declared dead by the paramedics on the way to the hospital, just to recover miraculously, as if some external force had said, no, this one won’t die yet. Still, it was something to think about, but for now, I just find enjoyment for the first time on the simple pleasure of learning something new every day. It was weird and almost inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but boy was it fun, not only because it was helpful in the current world now that I was probably saved of the whole ‘choose your bride’ torment that I had been placed every day, but the simple pleasure of watching my old man lose his cool every single time he saw me studying or reading a new book.

The idiot panda thought that he could bully me into being the same stupid caricature of machismo as usual, the idiot had something else coming, the bruises I left on his body were a signal to everyone to never mess with me.

What is happening to me?

Am I the same as when I died? Am I me?

Before I can go with more existentialism I need to move a little to left and let the metal claw flying at me to pass harmlessly. Seems that even after death, more stupid people appear, now more than ever and there is nothing more stupid than the stupid idiot right now screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Saotome! Prepare yourself! How dare you play with Shampoo’s heart like this?” Every word he says, every single movement of his hands, every recrimination, every single fantasy that his deluded useless empty mind just makes my mind boil. I decided to end this quickly enough, so that’s what I will… shut him up! I quickly pull him by the chain enjoying the look of surprise, but before he can react I unleash a storm of hits onto his useless existence. Is there something wrong in me by enjoying the sound of his body getting hit by my fists? Probably, but who cares.

“Listen to me you piece of human garbage, I tried to tell you over and over that I don’t care one bit about that slut you are enamored so much with,” I say surprising myself by how easy it is to talk about someone else like this, but no matter I break the chain and take that very sturdy and useful metal claw and put it right in front of his eyes “but let me tell you something, do you know how amazing it is to come back from the dead? I can see things clearly for the first time, so let me educate you into how great it is, shall we?” I don’t know how scary my smile is right now, but apparently good enough to make Mousse faint.

What is going on with me?

How is this so easy?

Who changed me?

Am I still Saotome Ranma?

Who cares, let’s enjoy this brand new world.

Author's Note

In my defense, this Ranma is not 1/2 anymore... really, I'm not even sure she is human anymore, maybe royalty? A Queen perhaps.

Interlude: The Fifth Queen

The long haired woman kept closing and opening her fist, continuously surprised about the feeling she had of a limb that had been a part of her since birth, but no matter how much she tried, it still felt weird and out of place, as if there was something strange with it, maybe as if it were made out of steel and her body was just a wet noodle. It was a weird comparison, but that’s how she felt it.

To think that once upon a time, everything just went perfect to her, or at least to the point that she was completely invincible without even trying. And that was boring to her current form. There was a lingering feeling of hate and repulsion to the thing she had been previous to waking up all over again.

For someone that had become used to going in and out of new worlds all the time, the jarring sensation of suddenly realizing how small her own world was compared to existence itself, it just shook her to the end, even more than her awakening. It was in a way, biblical, almost like a revelation in a way, or at least that’s how she felt it. Quite comical considering that since the beginning of her problems, she had never been a very religious person, but that was probably because she always found everything around too easy, no obstacles to which she -or he at that time- had to work hard to conquer nor a challenge she had to take any effort into vanquish, which probably wasn’t good for her previous life ego. And yes, she wanted to refer to the moments before her awakening as a previous life, one that could not and will not stop her, except for one little detail.

Looking at her left after a while of hand flexion exercises she saw the woman that had a hand on what was going on, even though she was not the guilty party. There was something interesting about her own self, something that truly contrasted with her previous life, mainly in the fact that she looked capable of taking care of herself unlike the girls from her previous life. It was a horrible thing to think about them, but she just didn’t give a crap about that anymore, she had her opinion and she will run with it.

“So, you have a name or should I just call you ‘Mysterious White Woman’?”

“At least you seem more focused than the others I have found in our current situation, at least focused enough to make jokes that is,” The tall white garbed woman said to her companion on the roof as the two enjoyed a small moment of peace; even the sound of the city underneath them was muted due to the wind present at the rooftop and both welcomed it with open arms “but I suppose you may call me Madeleine of Astora, at least that’s the one I’ve been using so far. If you want to be precise my name used to be Cereza, but… well, I think you understand how it feels to use your name before waking up.”

“Yeah, is so weird, I mean, I know I shouldn’t be in this body since it was only a projection, bits, zeroes and ones, all that shit. This shouldn’t be flesh and bone, but is still me and will be me; I want it to be me.”

“Is that why you were looking at your hand so close?”

“Is one reason, I mean, it feels different as when I was in the game, but still, shouldn’t I be freaking out about all this?”

“Who knows? My situation was a little different than yours, but I can at least tell you that waking up causes our minds to… open up to all possibilities, leaving behind most of what chained us or made us less than optimal to our new purpose,” Madeleine began to spin around her spear, the weapon that had become a part of her since she was reborn, leaving behind the four guns of her past.

“And that is? Because right now I think I have an idea but it is… blurry, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“As if someone was whispering but the sound was too muted, as if something was right in the tip of your tongue but you just couldn’t express it to everyone. It is normal and one like us has an idea. She calls it ‘Mother’ and according to her it is trying to communicate with us, to show us the way,” at the unamused looks that the long haired girl was giving her, Madeleine simply shrugged “her words, not mine and between you and me, I wouldn’t really trust what Green says any given day. She is a true genius now that she has unlocked all the potential that she had, but… well, she tends to ramble and do crazy stuff half the time.”

“Duly noted, also, what’s with the names? All these new names, old names, codename; is this some kind of secret agency?” The whole situation looked more incredible by the second and that came from someone that had spent an enormous amount of time trapped inside digital worlds.

“We are a little too far up society to be called secret agency, but if you need an explanation I’ll try to be concise. You see, once we all died, we stopped being humans, well, you stopped being human, I was a witch, but close enough to being human. When that happened and then woke up, we could see existence and it changed us. Even now we only remember it as if it were a dream, only pieces and never focused enough, but we saw it, what lies beyond the world and even the universe,” Madeleine looked up at the sky and cursed herself for not being capable of explaining it all to her new sister, but it was like trying to explain colors to a blind man.

What happened between the moment we died and woke up changed us to the core, made us more than what we were. I gave myself this name, Madeleine because I like to interact with others, not to mention that I needed the new name for my mission, but beyond that we all find ourselves wanting to distinguish ourselves. As Red probably told you, it gives us the feeling of belonging; that we have found a place to be, so we found a way to call ourselves and what we have become… we are the Queens,” Something resonated inside Kirito at hearing that word, making her smile for the first time “so, welcome to the family, Queen of Black.”

“Yeah, well, I guess the name fits,” Black said looking down at the armor she was wearing, besides, after wearing the same armor for so long, it was kind of hard to imagine herself not wearing the same kind of thing, even if her mission now was way different than before then “guess I better start doing things around here.”

“I know you don’t like it, we don’t… well, that’s kind of a lie, after all Queen of Red has no problems with what we do but that’s probably due to her life and what she was raised to be.”

“What about the others?”

“Gold prefers to be this mysterious force that guides others while Green is… yeah,” both women winced at remembering the first time they saw the Queen of Green and what kind of chaos she had caused on her original world, at least until she erased it “I know we don’t have the best job, but it is important, is something we feel should be done. I guess you can say that the multiverse is like a body. The different universes are the organs, all working together to keep all of reality churning on while Keeper and Observer are the red cells, bringing the oxygen and energy that the rest of the body needs.”

“And we are the white cells,” Black answered knowing the answer, even if she still felt kind of queasy at what she had to do first “we need to erase those worlds that will cause problems, those that are or will be corrupted, sick, dangerous to the rest… and even the worlds were we came from,” Black knew that what she had to do will haunt her for the rest of her life, but it was needed. She and the rest had no ties to the multiverse, they couldn’t, it was clear on their hearts and their heads that those words couldn’t exist. Looking at the sky and how perfect it was this morning, Black was thankful that this was not her world; that this perfect sky will continue once she came back from her mission.

“Yeah, because nothing says ‘we are the good guys’ than killing trillions of creatures,” Madeleine visibly winced at the harsh words from her new sister, but she herself had that same opinion when she began “besides, who gave us these powers? Is not like you one day woke up and say, hey, it will be a good idea to go and destroy universes, I’m so happy that I had the chance!”

“I didn’t know you were this… open to your feelings and thoughts.”

“I wasn’t until I woke up, I don’t know if it is useful or annoying, now, out with it, if you want me to do this then tell me why do I need to destroy my original universe?”

“That will be a little difficult since there is no real explanation to what is going on. We have tried to find some meaning to our waking, but beyond some hearsay and investigations from Observer -apparently there may be some information on a One Piece dimension- we still don’t know where we came from, but what we know is that whatever happened with us starts… affecting the world we used to live in, to the point where, let’s call glitches, start to appear.”

“And these glitches do what exactly?”

“Your Asuna may rise to become the worst kind of dictator in existence.”

“Say what? Are you fucking nuts? Asuna? Really?”

“Like I said, Glitches affect everything around; at least we have found that the presence of Sunset tends to keep most worlds free of these glitches.”

“What cause them? Let me guess, we don’t know either.”

“Well, is a little hard to explain, but apparently really dark magic affect it, also people trying to become gods and creatures just like Noche.”

“Isn’t that the Umbrum that is trying to get a bunch of power to get back to his universe?”

“Oh boy, where do I even start with that one? Noche is not only an Umbrum, he is THE original Umbrum… but he is not from here, he is from even beyond the multiverse. He is a monster that has no qualms in infecting everything. And that’s why we need to destroy our original worlds, so it can be rebooted, probably with their own Sunset in there to fight the glitches and hopefully we will find a way to destroy Noche.”

“In my experience plans like that never end well, but well, if you say that the universe will reboot… but what about Asuna?”

“I don’t know; why don’t you go there and discover it for yourself?” Madeleine said before disappearing as a tear in the universe appeared behind her just before it engulfed the white armored woman. Black simply sighed watching the Queen of White disappear into another dimension before she put her attention into what she had to do.

Taking a deep breath, Black simply let herself go and let gravity take its course. She felt the wind blasting against her face as it plummeted into the ground, her body only a spec amongst the giants of steel and glass. It was in a way exhilarating to hold the power that she did. Before, she knew that everything that she had, the power, the weapons and her fighting abilities were all just zeroes and ones, but this body… it was an eye opener and this would be the first time she will be able to unseal it. Black moved her arms and the world changed, the gate had been opened and for the first time, she had breached the road amongst the universes.

Behind were the streets with cars and the tall buildings trying to reach the sky, now here she was, on a world that was as alien as comforting to her as it had been before she had changed. She could even smell the air, how clean and invigorating it was. As she fell down, Black could see the land, the mountains and she felt a pang of nostalgia, but also of some sadness. The days she had spent inside had been some of the best, but also the worsts of her life, now here she was, awakened again and with only one mission. To get everything right this time. If she had to kill her local version, then so be it.

The moment she landed she was sure anyone would have been able to hear it. It was neither subtle nor easy for the land. The dirt that had been unleashed created a huge dirt cloud around the impact zone while the ground now would hold a permanent reminder of how much her body had changed.

Once the cloud settled down she was amazed at the way her body had not only absorbed the damage, but it had resisted the impact with no visible damage. Her body didn’t feel taxed or injured, it was incredible indeed, then she was pulled from her thoughts as she heard two voices, first coughing then amazed.

“Kirito… she looks-”

“I know, I look like him, some time ago,” Black answered back to the girl with the rapier and sighed, knowing that even if she had landed right where she needed, this would still be bad. Maybe she will find her, an Asuna to be her friend, but now she had the mission. One moment she was standing in the crater, the other she was in front of her other self. She had to be fast, powerful enough to be able to land her hit; no wonder everyone hated fighting with her past self, it was simply stupid to be that ‘perfect’, not anymore “Lost Existence,” she simply said and while her fist began to shine, the world began to shift, to change. The moment she made contact with Kirito the world crumbled around them.

She put everything she had on that punch, all the energy that had been granted to her since she had awoken to the multiverse. The hole that appeared on Kirito’s chest as the world around began to crumble was the only sign Black needed to know that the world was about to reboot.

Queen of Black silently wondered if she will be able to enjoy a nice lazy morning, probably not. Still, she just closed her eyes already hearing nothing as the world of Sword Art Online was quickly replaced with nothing except an endless white field.

She still didn’t know why she had been reborn or from where Observer and Keeper had appeared. She didn't know why Sunset was important, but like hell she won't help that young girl, maybe then she will finally understand the reason for her and the others to become Queens.

You and me and Pokémon

The grass may not be the perfect thing to use as a mattress, but when one is really tired of every insane thing that could happen on the road, sometimes a little lie down on it can be as therapeutic as most other things, not that Sunset Shimmer had many of those places considering how much time she spend on the go. Either way, having such a nice morning with great weather, clouds that traveled across the blue sky and also a soft breeze that signaled the changing of the seasons, Sunset Shimmer was as comfortable as it was possible and of course, the world wouldn’t want that, because just as she was feeling the sweet song of dreams she felt a little someone nudging her face.

“Ugh, Seven, wet nose!” The teenage girl opened her eyes to see her small companion smiling at her as if he was proud of waking up his master “geez, come here,” pulling him into her stomach, Sunset began to pet the soft and fluffy coat of hair that her companion had. Seven found it therapeutic too because it quickly curled up on top of Sunset’s belly and began to nap “sometimes I envy you,” Was all that Sunset said to the small brown creature before she went back to watching the sky.

The redhead found herself wondering exactly how much her life had changed, since she was not exactly close to anything familiar, not even close. Being so far away from her world was a headache most of the time to the young girl, but beyond some homesickness that affected her on melancholic days, life wasn’t so bad after all. Sunset was enjoying the time spend outside on the road, looking at forests, mountains and lakes, but beyond that, it was the people and the strange and wonderful creatures present in the world she now inhabited that made her think twice about what she had been doing so far.

Sometimes it was difficult, but in the end, she knew she had made the right choice, but sometimes, just sometimes, she could still hear that voice inside of her head. It always made her doubt her choices and always tried to make her go back to the way she was before. To give in into the hate and rage that had consumed her last moments in Equestria.

It was hard to let go of her past and the decisions that brought her into this world, sometimes it was hard and it definitely didn’t help the fact that she was so busy thinking about it. Even so, it was so hard, to think that she was trapped in a spiral; maybe that’s why she wasn’t so against the idea of doing a travel around the region? Maybe it was just so she would be able to run from her problems, but no matter how far she ran, the thoughts were still with her.

As she continued petting her own little furry friend, Sunset felt the small red and white ball clipped into her belt began to shake. At the first shake Sunset thought that it was only her imagination, but once it shake again Sunset knew that she was in trouble. It was all because she began to think about Equestria and her own guilt, not remembering that doing something like that will bring chaos and horrors unimaginable into the world.

Before she could grab the pokeball on her belt, this one left the place where it was clipped and instead began to roll into the grass, then grew up and with the characteristic sound of the device, the contained pokémon was released. As the red light from the release diminished a humanoid form was clearly seen, one that Sunset knew very well since the pokémon in question had accompanied her since the beginning, not that it made Sunset any les scared considering that the problems with that specific pokémon had only grown in size as it continued to evolve and grow stronger.

The pokémon’s red eyes have never been scary or creepy to Sunset, they were just annoying on for the most part and considering how tear filled they were, Sunset knew that even inside the pokeball, the physic type had sensed what was going on inside Sunset’s mind.

Like a bolt, the humanoid looking pokémon threw herself at Sunset’s side and hugged her trainer’s arm as Sunset simply sighed knowing that trying to escape the clutches of the pokémon will be futile.

“I’m fine,” she said to green haired pokémon at her side while this one continued to look at her with puppy dog eyes.

‘You weren’t, I could feel it again, the sadness and guilt,” it would have been strange and even crazy, to be able to talk with a pokémon, but mostly it was the innate powers of the woman-looking pokémon right now glued to her arm, which most of the time was rather annoying. Hearing the soft voice on her head the first time was something that shocked both trainer and pokémon; back when she was still a little cute Ralts, to hear the words right into her mind had send them both into panic, not knowing that it was possible. Since then, Sunset had grown used to the fact that she could talk with one of them and understand what they were saying; it made the travel less lonely; the only bad part is that she basically had no privacy at all.

“It was just the usual, no need to worry.”

‘That you are saying it is usual worries me even more.’

“Yeah well, I think it’s getting better now, I got you guys,” Sunset said petting the Eevee on her bell, making it purr as it continued sleeping. Meanwhile, the cuddling Gardevoir simply put her head on Sunset’s shoulder and enjoyed the warm morning, hoping that her beloved trainer will one day forgive herself.

Sunset simply sighed one more time; she had gotten used to things like this, but still, things weren’t that bad, after all, this was a great world, worthy of being explored, let’s see where the adventure will lead her to. Unlike when she crossed into this world, this time she wasn’t alone and she will find the way back home to amend her mistakes, for now, a nap wouldn’t be so bad.

You and me and Pokemon 02

“So, explain to me how this thing works again?” the redhead kept on looking at the strange device that had been given to her. Apparently the world she had landed on was a little bit more dangerous than she thought, so much that one needed companions, some kind of monsters that would defend you, not to mention that they loved to fight with each other.

The first time Sunset Shimmer had seen these so called pokémon fighting each other she had been surprised and slightly sickened. Thankfully, before she made a scene, it was quickly explained to her that pokémon not only liked the battles, but that they got restless the more they spend without any kind of training exercise. Although it was true that no pokémon was the same and some were more peaceful or laidback that others, the truth was that no pokémon would refuse a good challenge. Apparently several years ago there had been some sort of trouble that had gone beyond strange. A group called Freedom to All Pokémon decided that the only way to protect and help the creatures was to kidnap them from their owners. Less than 24 hours later the pokémon had freed themselves and returned to their respective owners. The bruised and bloated faces of the wannabe protectors of nature were hilarious after looking it up on the net.

“You just throw it to a pokémon and bam, you get one, cool, right?”

“I get the theory behind it, I just wanna know how exactly this thing can work. I mean, this thing is not even big enough to fit a caterpie… that’s the name, right?”

“You got it Sunset,” the girl at the side of Sunset was as energetic as ever and as annoying as always, at least in the opinion of Sunset. Back on Canterlot, the redhead never really got along with excitable or extroverts, after all, the fight for dominance in a group always got sketchy with those kinds of people. Now, on this side of the mirror, Sunset found herself that even though Rainbow was a little annoying, she found herself listening to her and even spending time with the tomboy. Sunset blamed the creature that was right now sitting on her lap. Well, she would is she could, but every time she tried to be angry at the fuzzy little creature Sunset felt her heart melting at how utterly adorable it was.

Sunset still remembered the first time she saw the small Eevee and how impactful that first meeting turned out to be for both the teenager and pokémon. It was tearful, insightful and almost mystical in a way, and for a world with no apparent magic that was the most eye opening experience Sunset could remember in her life.

“But, didn’t the professor explain to us how the pokeball worked?” The girl wearing a white wide brim sun hat said in her usual calm and quiet voice making Rainbow flinch slightly at the memory. Sunset and Fluttershy then laughed at the girl and how much distaste she had for anything related to the technological part of the world they lived. As long as it worked, Rainbow never really put any attention to objects or science. As long as she was capable of playing with her own pokémon then the world was alright in her book.

“Geez, that time I swear that crazy lady put me to sleep, it was so boring, who cares how it works? You should be putting it to good use,” The energetic tomboy said pointing at the small pokémon on her lap. Sunset watched as the small fox-like creature began to softly head-butt the bunny pokémon currently eating a carrot, not noticing its play partner. With one sigh, Sunset then began to follow her two friends -she was still surprised that she even had friends on this world- into the forest not too far from them in search of a new pokémon for Sunset. Apparently Rainbow wanted to get someone else into fighting just so she could have a new sparring partner.

An hour later and several new pokémon meetings, Sunset was more than surprised on the biodiversity present so close to her new home. Apparently, Cloudsdale wasn’t even the greatest place to start as a trainer, with many trainers choosing either flying or fighting as their starting pokémon, but with new development in pokeranches and sanctuaries, the area had been transformed into the perfect pokémon habitat. Also, apparently every single pokémon knew Fluttershy because they all began to circle around her and ask for pets or to be carried.

Looking at her friend Sunset couldn’t fight back the smile that had bloomed at the sight of all that happiness. It was quite amazing the way in which just one girl could be so pure and nice that no matter the pokémon, from small Rattata to even a Gyarados would listen and will behave in the presence of the timid girl. Sunset knew that the girl will become something great on this world, maybe not a great trainer, but maybe a researcher or a medic.

Across the small water stream, Rainbow was running as her small Swablu flew at her side. Rainbow was at her purest when she had an open road and she could make it into a racing track. The camaraderie and cheerfulness of the moment dispelled any bad feeling that Sunset may have felt before. Yes, she had ran away in anger and sadness from her first home, but with the help of some friends who apparently never gave up on her and the presence of such amazing creatures as pokémon, she could feel herself healing.

Just as she was thinking that she felt a tug on her jeans; thinking that it was Seven wanting to be carried, Sunset was surprised to find not the Eevee that had become such a valuable companion, but a small white garbed little kid. Looking at the small creature closer it was clear that this was not a human kid. It had what appeared to be a white dress but in fact it seemed to be its body, green hair on a bob cut that completely hid its eyes and a red crest that grew from the middle its head.

She have read about that pokémon, after all, being new to the world meant that she had a lot to catch up on to be able to live on her new world, but never before she thought she would be in the presence of such an amazing pokémon. It was not because Ralts and its evolutions were so rare or because they were true destruction machines. The reason why Sunset never thought that such a pokémon will come close to her was her past, her anger, guilt and depression, but here it was, a Ralts that was not only smiling us at Sunset, but it had its tiny pudgy hands raised, as if asking Sunset to carry it.

The first thing Sunset noticed was that it was getting harder to see; a moment later she realized that it was due to the tears falling down her cheeks that made it impossible to see. Something inside the redheaded trainer made her pick up the small pokémon, noticing how warm it felt; both the pokémon and Sunset’s heart felt warm. Neither the trainer nor the pokémon noticed the small flash of light coming from Fluttershy’s cellphone.

Author's Note

I think it is important to notice the importance of the fact that a Ralts decided to not only hug Sunset but to willingly accompany the girl. Angel on this dimension ended up being a Buneary. Also, i don't think dimension will be filled with epic fights against evil and dark organizations, or at leats not completely, just some nice and fluffy warm feelings.

Sunset Society: Small Favors

The sound of people moving up and down across the airport swallowed the heels clacking noise as the redhead walked with the cadence and elegance that had become synonymous of her this past decade. All of it was a mask that she used in public since she needed it as a defense against the world. Among the public, Sunset was one of the most powerful executives, but also a philanthropist and a true elegant lady. The way she dressed, the way she moved and how she acted was a carefully constructed front that hid the real sunset Shimmer, the one that had adopted the shadows and the bat as her life.

Looking at the footage that news media presented constantly of the bat vigilante let Sunset know that she had been more than successful. It was impossible for people to think that millionaire Sunset Shimmer gallivanted every night as the defender of the night across the city. While in public she was the lady who moved swiftly and with elegance, the bat was purely pragmatic, never wasting moves and doing things as coldly and efficient as possible. While Sunset was inviting and even alluring, the bat was dark, cold and ruthless. It was the perfect mask, but Sunset wasn’t sure which of the two really was her.

Seeing Twilight at the airport accompanied by her husband, well, it brought to mind many of the questions she has had in the last couple of weeks. In a way she felt alone in a crowd, missing the days when things were easier and the most exhausting thing used to be Mr. Cranky’s history assignments. Now, here she was, a powerful woman with a double life with no real idea of which of the two sides was her real self these days.

Before she could do anything or become more agitated she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She knew it was Applejack since only her friends could even get close to her without her immediately dropping the offending person in less than a second. Sunset didn’t want to turn around and see Applejack’s emerald eyes shining with worry over her, but there was no escape out of this one, not from applejack whose stubbornness was so big that it even changed the opinion of an island full of amazons.

Stopping for a moment at the parking lot, Sunset immediately noticed their vehicle ready with their chauffer waiting for them.

“Let’s talk inside shall we? Even outside we will garner a lot of attention.”

“As if we already didn’t do that sugarcube,” the blonde was right, after all this was a reunion between Sunset Shimmer and a Princess, even though the two were friends since high school and wouldn’t be too suspicious beyond two friends meeting after a long time. With the decision taken, the two women went inside the slightly luxurious car. It wasn’t a limousine since Sunset detested those things, but the spacious Mercedes Benz was both pragmatic and beautiful to serve its purpose, not to mention that it had the same kind of defenses and protections as the Batmobile.

“Before you say anything, I know, I shouldn’t have been so… curt, let’s put it that way, with Twilight, but it was that or… you know,” Sunset wasn’t that proud of herself at the way she had acted back at the airport, but it was still a very sore point of her life.

“Look, Ah know it came out of nowhere, and Ah guess it was so sudden, but I just want to tell you that Ah don’t hate ya for what ya did back there,” Even without the old hat or the usual cowboy clothes, Applejack still retained her way with words to make Sunset relax and she truly needed it for something like this.

“Really?”

“Well, Ah’ll be a very bad friend if Ah suddenly start ripping ya apart with something like this, don’tcha think?”

“Well, I mean, we are both your friends.”

“And this whole time Twilight just simply wanted to play housewife, heck, not even Pinkie was capable of getting her to come to any of her parties. Ah know it may sound harsh, but Twilah made her choice and we have to respect that, even though Ah know it may still hurt.”

“Not really, in fact, it stopped hurting some time ago.”

“Wait, really, ya just gave up?”

“Applejack, she is married, I think that was a very good sign that whatever Twilight and I had was over, so I just had to move on, that’s not the reason why I acted like that,” Applejack’s characteristic eyebrow rose making Sunset continue with her reasons “look at us, we are not just ambassadors of goodwill or entrepreneurs, we are guardians of this world and we would be lost if we suddenly stopped,” Sunset said before the voice on the front seats interrupted.

“I will say that it would be a nice change of pace, maybe that way you will finally arrive on time at your dinners and charities for once,” the dry wit of Kibitz, the man who Sunset Shimmer trusted over all, made the two women chuckle.

“Yeah, wouldn’t that be the surprise? I’m sure everyone will think they also were late if they see me arrive on the clock, but fat chance of that happening.”

"Well, at least I tried.”

“But seriously, our lives are so dangerous now and we have to think about more than just our own safety. I use the mask and that is okay I guess, but you are a public figure and if it weren’t because the amazons also take care of Apple Bloom I know others would have used her as a target against you.”

“Yeah, Ah mean, thank goodness Big Mac and granny can take care of themselves because Ah would be really nervous about their safety, so does it mean you are trying to protect Twilah?”

“She may have broken my heart, but she is still important to all of us, that’s not gonna change… although I’m pretty sure that this road changed since the last time we drove over here,” Sunset said with eyes more and more opened as she saw a building materialize out of nowhere on the side of the road. Thankfully the whole place was just open hills because this would be something out of the ordinary, even for the two heroes.

Just as Kibitz stopped the car several yards away from the house, a figure came out making both Applejack and Sunset be even more intrigued by the whole thing. Right there on the front of the house, a redheaded woman stood wearing a long tan trench coat and a very familiar smirk on her face.

“Well, just the lass that I wanted to meet, although I think this may be bad manners, my name is Sunset Constantine and I’m in wee bit of a dilemma, so I may need some extra help with something.”

Ship Girl Collection 02

The human world had some amazing Works of art compared to her home dimension. Back in Equestria, most art was based upon nature or somepony, most likely Princess Celestia, which considering she was over a thousand years old, that meant a lot of art had been done with her as the standard of beauty. Here on Earth, due to the rapid changes of culture, lifestyle and geographies, art was capable to evolve and change at extraordinary levels, with currents beginning and dying in just a couple of years. That was one of the greatest things to learn on Earth and Sunset had took great advantage of that since she started her road to redemption.

From all the stories she had read, she loved those in which the character found strange things or maybe was transported to amazing places. Among her favorites was Jules Verne, whose imagination would make even Princess Celestia gasp in surprise and amazement. The other was Jonathan Swift and his book Gulliver’s Travel. Of course, Sunset understood quickly that the novel was a well written parody of society and a huge ‘take that’ to his home country, although taking the novel literally was also fun.

So why was Sunset Shimmer remembering that novel in specific? Because right now, among the workers repairing and putting everything in order across the abandoned naval base, Sunset felt like Gulliver when he arrived at Lilliput Island, because running back and forth were small human-like cute creatures known as Fairies, which only reached up to her ankle in size. Just looking at those incredible creatures work without exhaustion was marvelous and maddening. Sunset’s scientific and magical mind was burning with questions and desires to understand how these mysterious creatures worked, but decided against it, after all, they needed their help to get everything under control.

Sunset Shimmer once more sighed knowing that the whole operation of getting the Naval Base once more operational was one that could take a lot of work for normal human beings, but these fairies, they worked as if they already knew exactly what to do, with the know-how and the synchronization that left her breathless. Thankfully they were on their side, or at least that’s how it seemed to the newly promoted teenager. The redhead still couldn’t believe in what kind of mess she had found herself now. Well, Applejack and Sunset, since they were the ones that had been marooned all the way into one of Japan’s rural islands.

Looking over the horizon, Sunset could barely see the coastal town that had rescued them if she squinted and wondered if everyone was alright. For a town that lived from the bounty of the sea they could catch, living in perpetual fear of the very real monster that now inhabited it must be horrifying. The redhead knew that they owned them so much, from their rescue to food, friends and now allies. Maybe it hadn’t been simple coincidence that had brought them to the island, maybe it was destiny. Sunset laughed to herself at that word, destiny. From the moment she turned her back to Celestia, she had lost whatever destiny she had before, now she only had one desire; to protect her new home from the danger of magic, and what was attacking everyone in the sea definitely sounded as magic to her.

With one last look at the army of technicians and workers around the base and the hangar, Sunset left them now with complete confidence that they will do their job to perfection. As she did that she entered the newly repaired main hangar and was amazed at the amount of changes that were present.

Gone were the rusted and empty hall; now, the place had been repaired to the point where no hole or figment of rust could be found. Instead of the piles of metal and nets everywhere now there were working stations with fairies working on what seemed like ammo, bombs, even planes were being assembled. It was as if Lilliput had changed from the medieval cavalry into the blitzkrieg with the amount of machinery and ammunition being created.

Ducking under the cargo of steel that was being transported by a newly installed crane, Sunset quickly found her good friend Applejack, who at the moment was discussing something with their newly rescued ally. She was a tall -or at least, taller than the other shipgirls- woman with bright pink hair that was done on a set of thick pigtails. Apparently she was a blessing because it was none other than Akashi, the old repair ship from the Japanese armada and her knowledge about the usage of the fairy-made weapons and equipment would be invaluable, not to mention she was the only one that was not a fairy that could explain things to both human girls.

Apparently, the girl gave Applejack a clipboard and after seeing the redhead get close, Akashi quickly snapped a military salute and went off, probably to check on something while Applejack also noticed Sunset. The blonde, instead of saluting, simply smiled and waited until Sunset got close to her.

“Crazy project, Ain’t Ah right?” The country girl said checking the notes that had been given to her by the repair ship. Meanwhile, the redhead could only nod watching the whole place and the crates filled with resources that they will need for the upcoming war with the Abyssal Ships.

“I still wonder if this isn’t a sugar-induced coma from one of Pinkie’s parties.”

“Won’t that be a howler? But I guess we are way past that point.”

“Yeah, nothing but wishful thinking, besides, we already beat fish-demons, a possessed girl trying to rip apart two dimensions and another one who almost caused the extinction of everything that wasn’t a plant, what’s several girls that are the reincarnation of World War 2 battleships stop us now? Right?” It was so completely ridiculous that both girls could only sigh realizing at what their lives has become.

“When you put it like that… anyway, Akashi gave me her report. Apparently we will be completely operational in only two more days, that includes the hangar, HQ, dorms and even eateries,” the last one may have sound strange considering they were on an abandoned naval base, although, technically, it was their naval base now, just that the Japanese government didn’t know it already. The point was that beyond the five small destroyers, Sunset and Applejack had also found the riggings of three noncombatant ships, among them the repair ship Akashi, the command vessel Ooyodo and most importantly, the food supply ship and dessert expert Mamiya. Just remembering the taste of Mamiya’s handmade ice cream made Sunset drool.

Before either girl could continue checking the report, another voice interrupted, this time by slightly coughing to call for their attention. Turning around they found the five destroyers that had been revived alongside the boss of the fairies. All of them were smiling from ear to ear apparently very happy about what they have done.

In their hands there was a very interesting attire, one completely white alongside a military cap with an emblem composed of an anchor and Sakura petals. Applejack had explained to her that it was the Japanese navy symbol and she understood. Maybe she had been just a normal -or at trying to be- human girl, but now it was time to step up and if this was the way her destiny was pointing at, maybe it was time to accept that promotion. Admiral Shimmer, it didn’t sound too bad.

Author's Note

On the next chapter, the base is completed, missions, assignments and mor will be explained and the first constructed ship will join the forces of the base.

Sunset Society: The Witch from Hell

Rainbow Dash tried to live her life, to go on and do what she had done all these years, to continue walking and living as if nothing had happened. She gritted her teeth and put a foot ahead of the other every single morning. She kept telling to herself that everything was right, that everything was peachy. Her nightmares were proof that nothing was alright. No matter how much she tried to run in her day to day, once night came, she could not outrun her own guilt and pain. Almost every night she heard the sound of gunfire, the smell and sight of blood and a pair of eyes that became glassy and lifeless.

That vision always made Rainbow shudder in fear and pain, knowing that there was nothing she could do but relive the same moment over and over again. This night was not different to the rest of her week and the many times she had awoken. The bags underneath her eyes were proof of how much the last few weeks had tormented her. She was not alone in that regard, but still, the guilt kept consuming her every night.

Sighing, the girl knew that she would not be able to get back to sleep so easily this time. She knew by now that trying to get back to sleep will be useless since she still had the memory of the gun and shot right at the front of her mind and her dreams will be plagued by it until morning.

Knowing that it would be futile, Rainbow Dash pulled aside her bed sheets and got up from her sleeping bag. Weather was still bad since they were still in the middle of December, but even with the permanent aura of depression felt around Canterlot, the girls decided to have a sleepover. It wasn’t the normal one that they had all the time, where they used to play games, chat and gossip like crazy; no, this time it wasn’t filled with any teenage-like topics. The five girls spend the night talking with each other, hearing their thoughts and how they were coping with… well, with the loss of Sunset Shimmer.

Watching her friends sleep, Rainbow decided to leave them be, besides, she was feeling a little parched. Being as silently as possible, Rainbow left Applejack’s room and began to walk in the direction of the kitchen, just taking a little peek inside Applebloom’s room on the way. The three young girls were alright now, but for a long while the three young girls had been completely lost. If it weren’t because the three of them were always together, Rainbow knew that if they were alone or isolated from the others they will crack. She was sure that any of them would have cracked under the pressure and guilt and would have done something really stupid. Rainbow sighed once more, closed the door and kept on walking.

She had visited Applejack’s house so many time that she was probably capable of getting to the kitchen blindfolded, but thankfully the moon gave enough light to maneuver around. Quickly reaching it Rainbow filled a glass with cold water and simply tried to forget the nightmare, but it was impossible. Deciding that standing in the kitchen at this hour wasn’t helping her, Rainbow walked into the living room. The cozy room was still pleasantly warm even after the logs on the fireplace had been consumed by the flames. Rainbow took a seat on one of the big couches, the one that seemed to have been used by the original Apple family members due to how old and sturdy it was.

With the silence of the night Rainbow knew that what happened three weeks ago had changed them completely. It had changed the school and not in a good way. Before that they had their ups and downs, but together they were capable of doing great things and help others, including Sunset Shimmer, but then came the great betrayal as Pinkie had said once.

Rainbow knew that going back to those memories will do nothing but bury her even more in guilt, that’s why she and the others had been seeing a therapist, as if that will help them get Sunset back, but that was impossible.

She could still see it closing her eyes, the cold and melancholic day. It was just a day after they all turned their back on Sunset just when she needed them the most. How one student, thinking like the rest of them that Sunset was Anon-A-Miss, wanted to get some revenge on the redhead. He went mad and he pulled the trigger, kept on raving about saving the world from a demon. Guy was confined on a loony bin or could be in jail for all that Rainbow cared.

She could still smell and see the blood all over her hands, but no matter how much she tried to deny it, Sunset’s death was as much her fault as the guy who pulled the trigger… or the girls that had created the account and blamed her friend. She still felt the need to punch the little trio of traitors that were sleeping upstairs, but she could do nothing but pity them. Applebloom, Sweetie and Scootaloo had been so close to spend years in jail due to involuntary manslaughter, but even if they had finally confessed about what they had been doing, the charges had been dropped accounting to their age. Sadly for the trio, the stigma of what they caused will remain like a dark cloud, probably for the rest of their lives, not to mention that the reason why they wanted to incriminate the redhead will never forgive them for what they did.

Then, a sound completely took Rainbow away from memories and into the present time. There was someone knocking on the door. Now, there were only two types of situations that will make someone knock on another house at this hour. One was bad news, the other was bad news. Looking through the door’s peephole, the color red quickly made Rainbow open the door in a second. Standing in front of her, with her red and yellow hair a mess and with dirt all over her body stood Sunset Shimmer.

“Rainbow? Well, this is a surprise, can I come in?” the same face and eyes that had been torturing Rainbow for the past three weeks were full of life, she then felt down to the floor after fainting “was it something I said?”

Several minutes later, with five girls -including a revitalized Rainbow- stood gawking at the redhead, all except a crying Pinkie Pie, who’s hair was completely straight for some bizarre reason, who was holding Sunset as if she was her anchor in the middle of a storm.

“Forgive us darling, but -and I hope you don’t take this personally- weren’t you dead?” That was definitely the elephant on the room, one that was as heavy as a college student’s debt.

“I was for a time… I got better,” the easy going smile on Sunset was something neither girl had seen since the Fall Formal and now, with Sunset on the flesh right in front of them, it was all that they could resist and as one they all embraced the redhead while this one simply grunted looking upwards, as if asking someone up there if this would be a normal occurrence “alright, you girls got your doses of hugs, now give me some space, I’m all covered in dirt,” and like that, most of the girls quickly disentangled from the hug, being the fastest Rarity “blimey, things didn’t change around here.”

“Are you okay Sunset, Ah mean, you just got back from the dead and you’re talking all… you know?”

"Try to spend all of your childhood on a Trottingham orphanage and see if the way you speak doesn’t change.”

“But you never spoke like that before,” Fluttershy asked before Sunset simply shrugged grabbing something from the coffee table. Applejack recognized the package as one of her dad’s cigarettes.

“Well, spend enough time down there and many things come back to you.”

“Ah, Sunset, by down there, you mean…” Rainbow didn’t want to finish the sentence, but she at least pointed down at the floor with one of her index fingers.

“Bloody hell,” Sunset said putting one cigarette on her mouth and her hand ignited in red flames making every single girl jump backwards in fright at the sight “and that is not a figure of speech,” Sunset said igniting the cigarette with the magical fire.

Sunset Society: The Witch from Hell 02

It was both exhilarating and uncomfortable at the same time to have the girl wearing the leather jacket on her family’s kitchen. Not only because she had her legs up on the dining table without a care in the world, even though that was an incredible example of bad manners, but because before last night, Applejack would have had a corpse instead of her old friend sitting down on her dining room instead of Sunset Shimmer breathing and smoking… well, she hoped they were still friends. After the outcome of the Anon-A-Miss nightmare, Sunset probably felt a little more than angry against them and the whole school and considering her new powers, Applejack knew that if the redhead had been angry, everything and everyone would have been turned into ashes.

Applejack was still a little lost in how to react, but what she knew was that she felt the happiest she had been in more than a month just by seeing her friend once more, but it was spoiled by the memories and the way they parted ways before her death. The least she could do now was try to repair any relationship they still had, but considering the fact that the girl had chosen her home as a safe haven after being returned to the mortal realm, at least by her words, then she held a modicum of love for the farm house turned business.

Long ago, the apple fields of the Apple family encompassed hills and valleys. That was then, now the city had grown so much that the trees had to be replanted far enough from the city to prevent any other situation like that. Now the house stood alone with its memories and country touch, although Applejack didn’t mind it, she enjoyed having a normal life while helping distribute the Apple family cider. She tried to imagine how it would be to be in charge of a farm instead of being a semi normal school girl. The image wasn’t that bad, but she had grown accustomed to her life in the city and had no plans to move into the new ranch. Thinking about cider, she took two cold bottles from the refrigerator and put them on the table much to the obvious pleasure of the redhead.

“Well, you can say this is one thing that they don’t have on the other side, so I suppose you can feel proud of that love,” the voice was the same, but there was a sense of playfulness that was so jarring from this… version of Sunset. Was that the right way to refer to her revived friend?

“Hold on sugarcube, you say the other side and last night you were talking about the damn hell or something, what do you mean? Were you really… you know, down there?”

“I swear, you humans always hold such respect and fear when you speak about the soul’s resting place or you go to the extreme of making fun of it. Mind you, back in Equestria it was too damn easy to blow apart the gates of Tartarus and escape for it to be scary. In here… well, it is a little bit trickier,” Sunset pulls back her head and drains the entire bottle of cider with way more glee than Rainbow on a hot day, although, probably Sunset had hotter days considering where she was some time ago “but, yes, I was in hell and it is not a place I recommend for a road trip. Mind you, I heard it is safer than Detroit.”

“I wouldn’t believe you if it weren’t for the fact that I was one of the pallbearers at your funeral and I saw your dead body,” Applejack was sure that this conversation went beyond awkward and bizarre, even with the knowledge of magic and universes that they had.

“Don’t I know it? Although you probably will have to tell me about it, not many can say they outlived their funeral, that’s something to brag about.”

“So, how did this all start? Why were you in hell?”

“That’s easy to answer, although it gets a little tricky on the way. No one knows what to do with my soul on the other side. Is quite amazing how much value a soul holding an enormous magical capacity and the knowledge of another highly magical dimension can have,” Sunset said with a huge grin remembering the chaos that had ensued after her arrival at the other side of existence. She also enjoyed the look of complete bewilderment from Applejack.

“Wow, wait a minute, are you telling me both heaven and hell were fighting for your soul?”

“Oh hell no love, it was every single baron and leader in hell alongside the archangels and the higher ups. In the end they decided to bring me back since if I stayed any longer in the afterlife, well... you know.”

“Apocalypse here we go… oh sweet baby Jesus, that’s not something a gal wants to hear first thing in the morning,” Applejack said losing all color in her face while Sunset simply shrugged, knowing that this was a big deal for most humans “so now what? I mean, beside you going all demon-like, no offense by the way, how did you summoned flames?”

“None taken by the way, after meeting real demons your life can be put into perspective, like, really hard. And about the flame, well, learned a few new tricks, although I’m not sure if I was allowed to learn them, well, what can they do? Kill me again? Because it worked so well for them,” Sunset said still showing that big smile, she then put her index finger over her mouth in the universal sign of silence.

Applejack was about to ask why she did that, until her little sister walked into the kitchen. The girl was still rubbing her eyes with the back of her head and didn’t even have her usual bow on her hair. Before Applejack could say anything to her Sunset jumped into action and stood in front of Apple Bloom, who by this time had not only had her eyes open but were about double its normal size at the surprise of seeing the redhead in front of her.

“Apple Bloom, I am the spirit of vengeance and I am here for your soul,” Sunset said trying to use the darkest voice she could without the need of magic, but in the end it was worth it. She was sure she will get in trouble for it, but just the terrified face of Apple Bloom and the scream that followed it will be worth any reprimand Sunset could receive from her friends.

Rosario+Pony 06: The Mirror of the Soul

Opening her eyes, the only thing she saw was a void, devoid of anything or anyone. It was darkness as she had never seen before, or better said, one that had been cleansed from her. It had happened a long time ago, when she was different.

No, she stopped lying to herself once Twilight saved her from the darkness. She had never changed; maybe she changed her clothes and had become friends with everyone, but that same girl that had been lost in the darkness still existed and went nowhere, even with the power of Harmony hitting her with pinpoint accuracy.

Being the target of the Elements of Harmony was one thing; that you wanted to change was another and Sunset had many chances to go back to the same cruel girl that she had been since she arrived at Earth. This time it was no different.

The redhead human girl was by no means and evil person, at least now, but she knew that the choice to become truly evil was there and it truly alienated her from the ponies back on Equestria. That a pony deliberately would try to mock and humiliate others; that it will fight others for every ounce of power and control over others, it was beyond any pony’s wild imagination, not to mention that it went against every cultural idea of ponykind, ones had to be truly crazy to do it.

Yes, Sunset knew that there had been cases like back in Equestria, but the few isolated cases were always resolved once the guilty party had been dealt with. Those were cases of jealousy, uninformed ponies or misunderstandings, not the works of a true criminal mind or a psychopath like human beings. Maybe that’s why she had felt such empathy with human beings; after all, most of the things she felt have been explained just as ‘human emotions’. These creatures were more bellicose than ponies, more aggressive, probably due to their background as hunters and predators.

In the end, Sunset could only blame herself due to the decisions she took on her life. Fighting with Celestia was only the first of many in a long list. In the end, even if she truly felt guilty about the people she have hurt and the things she had done, she knew that there was nothing she could do that could stop her. Definitely not now that she had gained a great power, one that had shocked her more than the time she had helped save Twilight Sparkle form the darkness.

Now, that darkness was a part of her, and not only a part, has it been basically branded on her thanks to years of studying and practicing the dark arts? It was disconcerting to know how willingly she could go back into her days of dark mage now that she had been thrown into the wolf’s den. Well, more like monster’s den.

She was standing on nothing, pure darkness and she could see one object in front of her. It was the object that could also be her cutie mark at this point due to how important it was on her life. The physical form of that full body mirror was back on Equestria, sitting down on an empty room inside an immense crystal castle. The mirror that started it all.

“If you start talking then I truly have a mental problem,” Sunset said almost jokingly, but it was disconcerting to see that artifact once again. Looking up and down she noticed the small details that were put on the object, reacquainting herself once more with the artifact that had been her obsession years ago. To see it inside her mind was worrying, and yes, Sunset knew that she was inside her mind. Last thing she could remember before going inside her mind was the sight of the small little witch using her own magic to summon all kinds of items to strike down people.

In a way, Yukari reminded her of herself more than any other person. She was proud of who she was but had so many problems connecting with others, never sure of what to do and always being afraid. Afraid of who you are and what you can do; of where you belong and who will stand alongside you. Sunset giggled a bit, realizing that those words could have also applied to her when she was starting to understand the magic of friendship.

“I know, there is no one on the other side,” Sunset said while the image on the other side mimicked her movements “this is not like Moka, there is no dark version of myself ready to switch sides with me, all this time I was afraid of what I could do. My fight with twilight probably didn’t help,” she knew what she had to do now; she also understood why that version of herself was here “there is so much darkness and I have become used to it. I walked into the valley of shadows and came back cleansed, but that doesn’t mean there is no darkness in me. Who am I saying that for, you’re just a mirror,” Sunset said rolling her eyes as she took a step forward, walking right through the mirror and in the other side, a red scaled form stood.

Opening her eyes, Sunset was once more in the physical world, looking at everything with new eyes. For so long she had been worried about what it meant for her to transform once more into the Sunset Satan as people back in Canterlot had nicknamed. The trio of lizardmen was truly ugly, but also extremely weak compared to her new form, but it wasn’t them that Sunset was looking at, but the small witch looking at her with eyes of wonder and maybe a little fear.

“I know how you feel,” The voice of Sunset came out with a special effect it seems, almost as if it were two people talking at the same time “you are afraid of connecting with others, because you feel that they won’t like the real you. You think that you don’t belong with any of them because you don’t belong in either world, human or monster. That’s not true, is not that you don’t belong, is that you are part of both, in a way that no one else can, so feel proud of yourself, because you already have a friend, now, let me show you what I gained through friendship,” the tall demon said ready to strike down some foolish monsters.

The Queen of the Seas

There was something so funny about the way the great and perfect Princess Celestia was looking at her with a flabbergasted face, incredulous of what she was seeing. She probably thought that her now forgotten and thrown aside student had been killed, or that she had fallen from the planet and will never bother her again. Sunset Shimmer just loved to disappoint sometimes.

It was true that she had been thrown out of the castle and maybe the princess had some motives for that, but she will first let the whole Tortuga island get all her treasures than let her revenge get away from her. This was the day she had been preparing for, the day where she finally got what she deserved. Maybe not the whole alicorn thing, but the true treasure was on her hooves and it didn’t take much for her to get it. Considering it was one of the most powerful artifacts in all of Equestria’s history, the redheaded pony thought it would be better protected, but in the end it was easier than stealing a casket of rum from a trading ship. That one had been fun, Sunset reminisced about one of the times she had fun while doing her job, even if that job was seen as a curse to many governments.

Whatever the case, this time she was not raiding a fortification or a lone galleon, this time it was even more personal than that, all in the form of the magnificent castle in Canterlot, sadly, her timing was a little off and instead of the marble and polished stone of the magnificent castle of Celestia, she was in the middle of nowhere, with ice and snow around the lost kingdom of Crystal.

She had to change a couple of things to make her plan a success, but in the end she had been free to reach the mirror that will send her to freedom. The only thing that could stop her? Well, the whole set of element bearers and every single princess in the realm.

Well, that was a little awkward, but at least the face of Celestia as she watched Sunset take off her cloak was enough to make Sunset smile.

“You will all remember the day when you almost caught Captain Sunset Shim-AGH!” maybe next time Sunset will put more attention to the last step as she did the whole ‘dramatic exit’.

So, if she had been able to escape with the element of magic, she was still in trouble? Well, it maybe the damn portal back to Equestria wasn’t on the statue in front of the governor’s house in the island of Canterlot, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad.

“You know, maybe next time you could be a little more cautious about telling everyone that you came from another world looking for Sunset Shimmer.”

“How was I to know there was a version of me in this world?!”

“Seriously? And you were chosen to be a princess? I think Equestria was more desperate than I thought.” Sunset said sitting down on the bench inside her small cell, as the other Equestria born girl kept pacing back and forth on her own. It was ironic in its own way.

Both girls didn’t have much time to get used to their new accommodations because on the horizon, a ship regarded as a ghost and tales to scare kids slowly crept into view, one that will mark the start of an amazing adventure to the princess and the exile.

The One Dragons Fear 04: On the road

The sky was completely grey, with clouds so thick that even a pegasus back home will have problems dispersing. After spending enough time in Mundus, Sunset understood how unpredictable the weather could be, but up here in the north, things seemed to be even more extreme. Sunset Shimmer had never spend time on the tundra back on Equestria, she had been more than used to nice, warm places like Canterlot. Sure, the city was up a mountain, but being the center of the government and the place where Celestia resided, the city was one of the most pleasant places to live, it was so fair in weather that only in winter would you need an extra layer of heat beyond the natural coat of ponies.

Cold seemed to be a constant companion in the northern region of Skyrim, Sunset thought as she used her long fur coat as a blanket. Her fair skin was not made to resist the chill, plus the rain that had stopped barely ten minutes ago it left the redhead feeling like a wet dog. Shaking slightly, Sunset tried to dislodge some of the extra weight in the coat in the form of water and was rewarded with a veritable shower of drops. She knew that the coat would not get dry just by doing that and that she will have to use maybe a camp fire or a hearth to make the thing useful again.

The coat had been a blessing, but probably not for the last owner of it; thankfully the blood that had sprinkled the brown fur coat had been washed away by the unexpected rain. Sunset’s sword still had the blood stains in it, a reminder of what Sunset had been pushed to do. The redhead kept on walking behind Rainbow Dash as she remembered the way in which she had to draw blood for the first time as they escaped from the now smoldering ruins of Helgen.

Back in Equestria, Sunset was rash, egocentric, even vain, but never before had she hurt another creature, not even in self-defense. Yes, there were some dangerous creatures on the magical land at the other side of the mirror, but the chances of meeting some of them were basically none if you kept their places alone. Here in Mundus, it seemed that it was impossible to not get in contact with dangerous creatures like wolves, bears or monsters like trolls at every corner, not to mention the constant threat of bandits, necromancers and who knows what else so it was obvious how used to violence these humans were.

Looking at the steel sword in her hands, Sunset could still see the face of the woman she had stabbed. Not that the other warrior was an innocent woman, considering she had a very menacing two handed sword on her hands, which she had been intending to use on Sunset.

Even on that kind of danger, in the case of a really powerful dragon by the looks of it, the so called Stormcloaks hated anything related to the Empire to the point of trying to kill anyone wearing armor. Well, considering that they were about to be executed by the Empire, maybe they had a reason.

No matter, Sunset was still as lost as the time she had first crossed into this world, but at least she wasn’t alone. Looking at the soldier in front of her, Sunset knew that for her to be considering travelling with another person was beyond weird, even more to trust another human. All this time Sunset had spent traveling in search of power, of something to help her in her search of revenge against the Princess of Equestria, but little by little, that idea had been pushed back as she understood the strange things happening in Mundus. From magic and how the different schools worked, to the art of potion making and the ingredients permeating the world. Enchanting, smiting and so many others had become so important that Sunset spend so much time traveling in search of more. Now, the memory of Celestia didn’t brought back hate or pain, it was merely a memory of her previous life, but she had never allowed another human to get close to her. She was always travelling by herself or if she had no other option, she went with a huge group and kept to herself. This time it was different.

Now, as the Empire soldier known as Rainbow Dash and herself travelled alongside in silence, Sunset, for the first time, truly understood how calming or comfortable it could be. Sure, they both had survived a terrible ordeal, probably that’s why the two had bonded so quickly, but the idea of spending time with another human being was not challenge or a time waste. Maybe because Rainbow knew how to take care of herself or maybe because, after such a long time by herself, she was finally enjoying hearing someone else talk. Sure, Rainbow so far have only talked about the area and the strange ruins that could be seen on top of a mountain, but so far, it was fun. Who knows, maybe this whole adventure in search of magic would not be a waste.

Sky Factory 05: No Bed, No Problem

Usually, sleeping was never a big deal to Sunset, she just went back to bed every night and felt asleep, with only a handful of those times having a dream, or at least one that she could remember next morning. Yes, there was a time when Sunset had some troubles getting to sleep, but that was due to how lumpy and hard her bed was when she arrived at the human world. Since the fight against Twilight Sparkle for the crown things became a little better for the teenager since she was in a better mental state and even had time to work a little while. That mixed with a stipend she had from Equestria -apparently she was still listed as a countess back home- mean that now Sunset never had to go hungry nor she will have problems with thing like beds again. Sadly this time she didn’t even have a bed and her jacket was a poor substitute for a pillow.

Sighing once more, Sunset tried to adjust her body, but it was naught because the hard wood floor underneath her was not exactly the best thing when it came to comfort. Knowing that it was in vein, the redhead turned to her side and looked at the only other person that accompanied her in this weird little island in the middle of a void.

Twilight Sparkle, the human version at least, had taken her glasses off and was trying to use her hands as a pillow with them tucked beneath her head, but Sunset knew that she was not sleeping by all the twitching and shuffling the young girl did.

It was weird experience to spend so much time with a girl that was at the same time familiar and not, but it was a fun experience except for the whole ‘surviving’ thing. The got to know each other little by little and, really, the experience of being in an alternate dimension wasn’t so bad considering the two were experimenting with things no one before had seen. It was like a strange dream come true situation.

“Can’t sleep?” the other teen trapped alongside Sunset left any pretense of sleeping once she heard her companion speak. Her eyes seemed tired, but more than, it was the look of someone that had too many things in their head. Sunset had seen that look many times in the mirror, back in Equestria or in the human world whenever she found some new technology or theorem that she could get her hands on. It was probably the reason she felt so close to Twilight after the day they had spent in the floating island.

At the beginning it was the way she looked that made Sunset and the rest of the students in Canterlot High think of her as only the human version of Princess Twilight Sparkle, but inside she was her own person with similarities sure, but they were so different. Sure, one used glasses, but it went beyond that. It was clear that Twilight was more reckless in her studies, but she had a true desire to learn and not only know, but to use that knowledge, to become acquainted with it until it was completely understood and mastered.

The day they spend turning saplings into trees and making the island more habitable by creating enough space for them to walk around without fear of falling into the void was not exactly the most fruitful one they had ever had, but it helped Twilight and Sunset bond a little bit. Most of their life still remained a mystery for each other, but at least they had grown used to the presence of the other. They still had to learn everything about this new environment, but it was a start.

“Not really, there is so many things to do, so many things to learn in this world, how can I get my brain to relax when there is still so many things that we have to do to make this place livable, let alone to go back home?”

“Yeah, I know how you feel… is like when you get a new topic in school that you haven’t checked before and you spend all weekend reading about it and experiment,” Sunset smiled a bit at the memory of doing that when she got her first computer. Well, get is a little stretch since the rather outdated IBM she found one day stored in Canterlot High. The motherboard was toast, but with some work, Sunset Shimmer had found herself the proud owner of a piece of human history. Later on, once she had been brought back into light… or rainbow… she had learned all about the little abandoned IBM AT. It was a relic at the human world already, but just starting from it allowed her to learn everything she knew about computers.

“Exactly,” Twilight said with her eyes completely open, surprised that Sunset understood her like that, even talking about something Twilight herself had done multiple times “no wonder you went toe to toe with me in the first event.”

“Nah, it wasn’t even close, I was too worried about the random flashes of magic to put attention to the question, you had it in the bag from the beginning,” looking at the downcast look in Twilight she quickly realized what was happening “no, none of that, we already talked about this, it was in no way your fault, magic tends to have those effects in people that are not accustomed with it.”

“It is still my fault we are in this place.”

“Don’t think like that; just think of it like… a learning experience.”

“Yeah, and I just learned that it is basically impossible to fall asleep on top of wood,” the Crystal prep student continued their chat already getting out of her funk. Both teenagers finally gave up on sleeping and simply looked up into the alien sky.

“Yeah, not sure how Japanese people can sleep like this.”

“Well, technically it is not the same; it is made out of rice straw, I think so, never really put much attention into sociology.”

“Well, whatever the case, I hope we can get something else in this world, like beds. Guess that’s going to be the priority next morning. What do you think of the plan?”

“I suppose it could work, but I still have no idea how to go on this, never been much of a fan of camping or anything that had to do with it, no matter how much my brother loved camping.”

“What about doing research on site? Biology and botany?”

“I could learn all of that in my own laboratory.”

“But that’s boring, I mean, where’s the fun in reading about something like that in a book when you can learn all about it by doing and observing?” And the conversation went on and on as both teenagers spent a full night just talking science. Let’s leave those two eggheads alone for now, shall we?

Author's Note

In Minecraft, you use beds to sleep and go right into daytime, after all, it is nighttime when monsters appear in the overworld. They are also useful in making a checkpoint for your character, so every time you die you go back to your bed's location. In a world made out of just a tree and one block of dirt, it may seem impossible to make one, but they are resourceful, they'll find a way.

All Aboard this Love Boat 03

Looking at the man up and down, Sunset knew in an instant that this Svengallop was a walking problem, maybe not now since he seemed to be another passenger in her new boat, but the inner troublemaker inside of her that hadn’t been purged when she was shot by harmony itself, recognized those that will make chaos around. Since the time she had met the sirens she had understood that she had quite the gift, to know how a person would react or what the person could try to do. It had been refined since then and Sunset was sure she had gained quite the ability; although to be true, it reminded her of the time she had been the bully in charge of Canterlot High.

She may not act in the way of manipulation and suffering, but she understood that certain abilities and skills were really useful to find new magical problems that appeared every single weekend, with no exception it seemed. Maybe it was wrong to hold on to something like that from her days of manipulation and lies, but it was a neccesary evil. She wasn’t proud of the time she spend perfectioning it originally, but using them correctly may be what they needed to survive the rest of their time at Canterlot High,; maybe even beyond the high school and probably into their college days.

Right now, on board of one massive cruise, she knew without a doubt that she will be forced to hit this guy with all her might. She would wait for that moment with patience and relish on the opportunity to beat him. Just looking at the smug face and his well groomed hair, obviously with half a gallon of imported and incredibly expensive hair gel on it. Sunset was sure that if the man was shot with a gun, the bullet will bounce on the hair.

“Mister Svengallop,” god, even his name was pretentious in a way, or maybe he just got her on a bad mood, not that it was hard to do that considering the kind of life she had. If there was one thing Sunset knew very well was her own volatile temper and how easy it was for others to ignite it. Maybe now she was the nice girl of the school, but she knew how to unleash the redhead temper at any time “I can assure you that everything has been prepared for this occasion, you have nothing to worry about,” at least she hoped, because if the crew of the Pacific Queen didn’t do their jobs then she will have to do miracles and she was not very good at making those happen without a magical battle involved in them.

“I’m not worried, after all we can always find another cruise in which to film, the one thing you should worry about is your prestige captain,” he said, turned around and was about to be bitch slapped all the way to Equestria, but Sunset contained herself with patience that had been perfected from being Pinkie’s friend.

“Okay, that man is quite the piece,” it wasn’t what he had said, but the way in which he had said it, as if mocking Sunset and her crew. Sure, this was not her boat and she wasn’t really the captain, but to hear that petulant voice say some something like that just made it easier for her to think of ways to get rid of Svengallop if he didn’t change. The world will thank her for that.

“You said it, but what was he talking about?” The voice of a very curious Twilight took Sunset of her ruminations.

“He is obviously an agent; I swear, there is no way he could be even more stereotypical. He obviously thinks he is a great name when in fact he is only a glorified secretary and I will gladly remind him of that part next time he gets on my nerves.”

“Sunset, everyone gets on your nerves,” the playful smile in Twilight’s face told her everything about the joke. It was bizarre, but just looking at her friend with a smile once more helped her calm down. Maybe the cruise wasn’t such a bad idea, except for the whole job exchanging wave. She still needed to know more about the event, but for now she had a ship to lead and she knew many problems will arrive, that’s how her life was “let’s go Sparky, we still have a ship to check,” was what she said before both friends began their first day in the job. In the back of her head, Sunset was still wondering why the name Coloratura was so important, nah, maybe it was nothing.

War never changes/Fallout: Canterlot City

It was amazing what had been able to survive after the destruction of everything and everyone. This one thing was probably one of the best that had done that which she was more than grateful considering how much time she spends inside her lab and working on everything the vault needed now that the days of clean water, real clean water was in danger.

Sure, the vault could still gather water, but the thing that made it so important to traders around was the fact that they could purify water better than any machine out in the wastelands. This was their secret source of gains and a modicum of power in what survived of society in general.

Sunset knew that they would have problems soon and she was preparing for the insanity that will begin soon. She knew exactly what will happen and like crazy would she be surprised about the decision of the people inside the vault. Sure, things were better now, but she knew that many people, especially the young ones, didn’t really trust in her. Part of the way she thought that was purely paranoia, she was sure of it, but still was a very big part in how she thought and how she acted every single day, it kept her alive so far so why abandon a good thing? No matter that it apparently was slowly destroying her.

Sunset snorted at that thought, as if she was a frail little thing that needed to be careful because she could faint at the slight excitement. Yes, she knew now that she was suffering a degree of PTSD, although knowing and being able to do something about it were two different things. That’s where the Nuka cola came, that magical elixir that helped her sleep every single night. Maybe she was using the beverage as a safety blanket, or maybe it was her drug to pacify her inner demons. Either way it worked.

Letting her nightmares and mental problems aside, Sunset focused on the fact that the vault still needed something to keep them afloat and that thing was a water chip. Knowing her luck and the way this world worked, that meant that she will be send outside in the search of that because there was no way in hell they could talk with a trader about getting one, because either they will get cheated out of it or they find themselves paying 10 times the original prices for the antiquity. No, Sunset’s paranoia was useful in this and even Celestia knew that the redhead was right. They needed to find a replacement right now and their best bet was out there, lost among other vaults that had been left abandoned for years.

There was the small possibility that they would have already been sacked and nothing was there, but the possibility still existed and like hell Sunset was going to leave that get away from her. She knew she had a chance and she was not going to let that escape. Like hell, after all she had been working too much in the vault to let it go to waste. Twilight too, not that she was going to say that aloud. The geeky girl was still really closed off, not that she could blame her, after all Sunset hadn’t been in the right mental place to make friends. She still didn’t know if Twilight saw her as a friend or as a co-worker, or who knows what, still, she was good, Sunset even enjoyed working with her and they still had many plans to make their home a better place to live, so no way that could go to waste.

Stretching her back, Sunset finally looked up from her working station and looked at the marvelous thing that had been presented to her. Since the time she had saved Red Barn, there has been an increase in patrols by the vault, each time bringing something new to the curious hands of Twilight and Sunset, and although the other girl had felt a little queasy when she saw the amount of guns being found by the new guard, she knew that her brother will need them to defend them.

It took the two a little time, but now they were capable of taking a gun and get it in working conditions. Even if they weren’t capable of fixing all the guns they had in storage, at least they now had extra pieces in case they needed something else or a gun simply began malfunctioning. Now, the guards had enough handguns and each one had either rifles or a simple machine gun. Truly powerful weapons, like plasma rifles or sniper ones, well, they still didn’t find those, but thankfully, with their new discoveries they would not have to rely on crude handmade guns like the raiders they had found.

That was the reason why Sunset had been working this late at night, that’s the reason why she was enjoying the one thing that helped her deal with the nightmares. The radio was not blasting, but the smooth voice of Blue Eyes resonated around the empty lab; that and the beautiful orchestra accompanied her this night. She still didn’t know who was behind the radio, but she was glad that something like this survived. The loss of music would be such a terrible lost for humanity, to creation in general. She also wanted to know how that person was capable of getting so many old records, full of swing, orchestra, crooners and many others from centuries gone by, but she loved it.

Looking at her newest repair, Sunset felt, if not happy, at least content, knowing that whatever may happen, no matter if she was thrown alone into the world in search of the chip, she would not be alone. In her hands was one gun that no one had seen or used before, except the gun expert in Applejack’s dad, who immediately recognized the German-made Mauser. It was an antiquity, maybe an heirloom or part of a private collection, but still, not a gun that was seen every day. Thankfully for Sunset, who had no idea how to create a custom made bullet chamber, the gun could use the very common 10mm ammo and would be useful out there.

Sunset looked at the gun and its weird shape, so different from the other guns they had found, a true bizarre one. That’s probably why she had been so attracted to it, maybe because it reminded her of herself, how bizarre and weird she was among human beings. Smiling at the comparison, Sunset extended her arm, aiming at the other wall and pulled the trigger, enjoying the feeling of the hammer.

“Ring-a-ding-ding baby,” she said with a smile, ready for the world and all that it could throw at her.

The Curse of the Avatar Spirit 03

“Quick question, have I done anything good lately?” the serious face of Sunset Shimmer made Sokka very, and I mean very, cautious about that, because if something was scary was a serious Sunset. So far they haven’t had much trouble, beyond the talk they had with the redhead and her history. As strange as it may sound to hear about someone coming from another dimension, it wasn’t the craziest one Sokka had heard and that was saying something.

After listening to her and the way in which she had suddenly found herself with the ability to throw sparks when she knew she wasn’t a bender. Apparently she was just more apt with fire magic back when she was a mythical creature. That was good considering they had no one that could teach Sunset fire and it would be easier if he began learning about the elements with Aang and Katara.

Now that he thought about it, Aang had become a little sullen, maybe from the whole ‘we died’ part which Sokka was glad he couldn’t remember. Just knowing that they had been taken down by that man was enough to make Sokka shiver, it was something out of a folk’s tale, but that was the Avatar too so who knows what else could be found out there. He was not a bender, he was just a warrior and not even that; sure, he grew the wolf tail of his people, but so what? He had been taken down so easily by the jerkbender, he had been killed by that long haired monster, he just didn’t want to imagine what will come after them next. But Aang was different, he had been the Avatar, or at least he had been, no one really knew how the whole Avatar thing worked and they couldn’t really find out about it, maybe later when they could find another Air Temple.

Going back to Aang, he was still an airbender and a master at that, but beyond that, well, he was still the strange, crazy kid they had found back inside the iceberg, but he seemed… happier? He wouldn’t know for certainty since he didn’t know Aang when he was still learning on the temple, although that would be impossible considering the age difference, but he looked as if he didn’t have a care in the world, or at least since he got to meet Sunset. Maybe he was still reeling from the attack and was trying to hide the horror, or maybe he was just happy now. He will have to talk with him, especially now that the group had changed, the situation had changed.

Looking at the young girl in front of him, Sokka arched an eyebrow, curious by the way in which not only the girl preferred red as her main clothing -they would have to get some clothes in different colors since Katara’s clothes didn’t fit her body type- but in which the girl behaved. She was not like his little sister, who basically became the mother of the tribe, all motherly and wife-like in what she did, but Sunset wasn’t like that. Sure, Katara also had a terrible temper when pushed, but she trusted too much in strangers. Sunset wasn’t like that, in fact, she seemed to be fighting him for the title of sarcasm guy, or girl in this case. She was abrasive, acid and knew how to push other people’s buttons like no one else.

Sokka really wanted to sic her on the jerkbender to see what kind of damage she will do to him. As amazing as it may be to imagine it, Sokka quickly understood that Sunset was as capable of destroying him morally as to join him into destroying the world.

“I don’t think you have ever done anything good since we met you.”

“I take charge of cooking sometimes, in fact, I remember being the one that did the rabbit stew last night,” damn, she got him there. Not only was Sunset more than a decent cook, but she didn’t bother with the whole carnivorous thing. Apparently cooking was something she had to learn to survive. That and hunting. If it wasn’t because he was completely terrified of her and was more than likely to get killed he would have a crush on her, but not in this lifetime.

“Yeah, sure, but no, you haven’t done anything good that I know of, what did you do?” Suddenly Sokka’s eyes were simple slits with the glare that he was directing at Sunset, not that it did much to her, she had been the target of worst looks.

“I don’t know, the only thing I know is that to supposedly teach me waterbending, your sister thought it was a good idea to get naked, well, more like in her underwear, but I don't think wet bandages count as underwear considering how little they cover. So I’m like, well, this is new, is she doing that to get me motivated or what?” Sunset had her arms perpendicular to the floor as if asking the world alongside Sokka. The water warrior meanwhile, looked as if he had been hit in the back of the head by boomerang, it was rather funny.

“Wait, what? Excuse me? I mean… you are both girls, what’s the whole deal?” If this had been Aang, well, yeah, he might have been a little alarmed. He may have been technically over a hundred years old, but he was just a young boy who was starting dangerous teenager years. As mortifying as it was to think about it, his sister was beautiful, if that’s the way she was teaching him, he must have a very serious talk with Katara.

“The whole deal? Wow, seriously? I guess things must be different in the water tribes.”

“Hold on a minute! What are you talking about?!”

“Nothing, anyways, Aang was saying something about wanting to visit the unagi, whatever the fuck that is, you talk with him about it since you are the elder here oh wise one,” her barbs truly were becoming sharper, it was nice to find someone else that knew the subtle art of sarcasm, but it will be fine if it wasn’t always being directed at him “meanwhile, is time for my waterbending lesson and I’m not going to miss that view. If that’s the way she is going to reward me for being a nice student, I have no problem focusing on her… exemplar form, see ya later,” the way in which Sunset said that was just… poking something right in his head, something was just so wrong and crazy that… wait… wait… oh that bitch!

“SUNSET! COME BACK HERE AND STOP THINKING ABOUT MY SISTER IN THAT WAY!”

Author's Note

Yeah, they are going to go to Kyoshi Island and Sokka, please, for the love of anything holy in your world, stop tempting fate! I don't think you guys are ready to meet the Blind Bandint at this point.

The Curse of the Avatar Spirit 04

Being the Avatar? The so called savior, which the world had been waiting for the last hundred years? It would have sound ridiculous if it weren’t because she knew a bit about strange stories. She knew she was way out of her league. She, the exiled student of the monarch of Equestria, admitting that she was on a very bad position? No one back home would believe it, but fact was stranger than fiction. Not that Sunset would say her doubts aloud, she still had an image to protect, but to ask her to be the one that will bring peace to a land ravaged by a hundred years war was a tall order.

Feeling the wind blowing and the pressure of flying on a high altitude, Sunset relaxed, closing her eyes and focusing on the feeling of flying. She had been able to use balloons and ships before, but the amazing feeling of freedom found on top of the bizarre creature called Appa was exhilarating and also calming for a reason. Sunset would never have changed her horn back in Equestria, but sometimes she wondered how life would be with wings, to be able to jump up and leave the pull of the earth completely, to fly in the sky like pegasi did. One of the many reasons why she wanted to become more than just a unicorn. Just another dream that had died alongside the girl she had been.

In a way, being on top of Appa, flying through the air and feeling the cold breeze of this altitude, reminded Sunset of Canterlot and the way it was perched on the precipice. It was not a most would envision a city as important as the center of government of a nation, the mere idea of something like that being done now would simply boggle the mind of most, but it was there that the old ponies decided the capital will be, and the royals and monarch simply reside there now. Sunset meanwhile, have seen the dangers, have thought about the ways in which it could have been done, had studied and read the stories of those that had made something so majestic, but after so long, knew that it was useless, no other city could be created like Canterlot without enormous quantities of resources. But the sights at the time of twilight, the way in which the sun’s light was like a blanket across the land, it was worthy. To Sunset, the feeling of fresh breeze, cold and refreshing, filled with the aromas of bakeries, printing houses and cafes, it was intoxicating.

She wondered how sea breeze will compare to it.

Now here she was and had the best of both worlds. Both the cold and thin air of the sky and the salty feeling of the sea engulfed her as she traveled across the world, almost free, quite, but not so.

Sunset knew that the only reason she could be enjoying this air was due to her enviable position of being the Avatar, the hope of the free world. She wasn’t sure how to feel about the whole situation, especially the way she had been ‘discovered’. Sunset wasn’t stupid, far from that; after all she knew all she could about the so called hero. She didn’t have the resources, or the sources to know everything, but piece by piece she had been able to find information about the Avatar and what had happened a hundred years ago to start the war.

Everyone that could have given her information about that important part of the world was dead or gone into hiding. The one that could bend all four elements was the only one that could defeat the Fire Nation and reestablish the balance. Well, there were those that changed the last part into lay waste to the Fire Nation, bunch of idiots in her opinion.

It was an important part of this world and still, it was forgotten across the Earth Kingdom, almost as if it had been a fairy tale or an old wives tale, but here he was, no more than a little kid, lost among the world, with everyone he knew gone and dead. In a way, she saw a little bit of her on him. The world that he knew was gone, never able to come back again, completely lost, but at least he had found allies. Sunset’s own temper had pushed all that could have maybe helped her aside.

She had learned her lesson soon, to never let her temper and her own darkness put her in danger. At first it was easy, after all, not only had she lost all of her magic, but she wasn’t even a bender. She was just a little kid, with no idea of the world and with no way to come back home. She didn’t know where the portal was or when it would open. She could try to track the place where she first arrived at this world down, but it was worse than finding a needle in the haystack, She was lost and it was only her own fault.

She had cried, screamed and swore revenge on Celestia and those that had done wrong to her, but that fire had turned into mere embers. It made the once proud and haughty foal turn into a bitter, uncomfortable teenager; one that thankfully was left to her own devices most of the time, or at least when she was capable of hiding herself.

Village after village she had traveled through, never staying in one place, never falling into charity or an orphanage. It was a small relief the fact that Earth Kingdom never recruited women for their armies because she would have been dead by now. So she had decided to learn and wait for a time she could use, to save herself or be powerful enough to do it.

Then it happened.

Looking at a candle and thinking about how easy it had been to ignite them, Sunset tuned out the bar in which she had been working and with one stretched hand went back to her days as an innocent filly. One filly, whose only dream was to be as amazing as Princess Celestia, one filly that had been killed by time and hardships. In the next moment, sparks had left her fingers and she had found herself repudiated by everyone, at days of her own execution.

She had lost all respect that she may have had for that town and she had let the worst of her take control once more. Even now, with miles and miles of distance, Sunset couldn’t even feel pity of what had happened back there.

So now, here she was, atop a mythical creature accompanying a group of kids, still not understanding what she had to do, who attacked them and what made them so scared. The only thing she knew was that now she could fight back, she was not defenseless and she never will be.

Author's Note

She is not evil, just bitter, with a lot of pent up rage. Unlike the human world, this one is full of war, danger and death. Here you don't have teenagers which you can bully, there is armies and armed dangers.

Let's Go Rider Kick 05

Sunset’s growl was the one thing the girls needed to let them know that their brave leader was not only okay, but mad as hell. It was true that when it came to both Twilight’s, the five girls will join her in hugs and friendship, but they had found out a captain of their team in the redheaded schoolgirl among them. Seeing her transformation from a bully to someone that could inspire others was beautiful and no Wondercolt will ever doubt her efforts into redeeming herself. To see Sunset hold her head in pain not only worried them, but hurt them as well.

After the altercation at the museum, the human elements of harmony didn’t know what exactly to do. This was not an enemy that was attacking them directly. In the news there were already cases of people disappearing, but no one knew if this was normal or the monsters had something to do; in fact, when they arrived at the camp it had been the first time Sunset had been forced to use the strange belt. Things had been so quiet that they all wanted to think that there was no more danger, that the creatures had disappeared, but watching Sunset fight the pain on her head let them all know that things were not right.

Maybe they had grown used to the idea of strange things happening around, after all that’s the way in which they all became a group of friends. It was that kind of experience that solidified their friendship.

Sunset’s days as a bully may have been a factor to their split, but they still had their problems and their arguments. Their battle against the siren had shown their problems and only thanks to Sunset were they able to sort them out. Now, instead of letting feelings fester, they were always aired and smoothed out rather than wait it out until they exploded. Sunset had truly changed the way the group worked and they were grateful.

The redhead had become a source of strength, a force to be reckoned since her redemption; always being there whenever someone at school needed help. Never asking for something in return, Sunset had become something greater than just another friend or the forgiven demon. She was not Twilight, but she was something even more amazing. Yes, Twilight had helped them before and will continue be their friend, but there was something about Sunset that made everyone look up at her. Maybe because when she spoke about friendship and hope she knew where she was coming from. She had seen and knew about both sides of friendship or good and evil. She was not preaching, but talking form experience. Maybe that’s why every student in CHS had started to see Sunset as the de-facto leader of the school, even if they already had their own Twilight Sparkle. Heck, even the human Twilight looked up at Sunset as if she was a guiding light.

To see someone so strong reduced to painful moans did not sit well with them. They all remembered the way in which she looked and behaved after she was defeated and none took comfort in that, not anymore at least.

“If this is going to happen all the time, I will have to find the guy that created the belt and give him an earful!” It was not every day that Sunset’s friends got to hear her annoyed at something. Sure, her temper had become legendary already, but these past few months had shown them another side, one that they quite liked; the one of protector and leader of the school.

“If ya find it Ah’ll even help you with the ass kicking,” the blonde cowgirl said helping Sunset up. She had come running from the newly repaired harbor just like the rest of her friends. So far she have done all the things she wanted to do in the camp, except sleeping outside on her sleeping bag considering they all had tents, which was kind of boring in her opinion.

“I’ll hold him down,” Rainbow continued trying hard not to show how concerned she really was at what was going on with Sunset. This was the second time something like this happened and so far she hasn’t been able to help. The first time it happened she had found the idea of going to the museum boring, but if every trip to it meant monsters and fights then she was all up for it, maybe they could find some strange artifact like in a Daring Do novel.

“I’m pretty sure violence won’t fix this, but I’m willing to give whoever made the belt a stern talking,” the soft voice of Fluttershy drifted around like a crystal bell, helping Sunset focus once more in the world, beyond the whispers, images and pain that she now attributed to the belt currently dormant inside her body. How exactly the belt worked, who made it or what was the purpose, well, most of that were only vague theories, The only thing that mattered was that it worked and things were starting to get even worst with time.

“In this case, I think violence works very well,” the redhead shook her head to get rid of the remnants of strange visions. It was not funny to get them and yes, she knew that by now they were probably important, maybe as some kind of low level scrying technology or spell imbued on the belt, but what was the purpose? Probably a radar-like ability, or an alarm feature that fired up on its own every time there was a monster nearby. Either way, she hoped that it won’t be as painful every time it happened because it was headache and she didn’t want to have to deal with it every single time something new happened, like a monster; they were headaches by themselves.

They would have continued talking if it weren’t for a scream not too far away from them. They all reacted quickly, even Fluttershy who may look shy and demure, but when a crisis started she was the first one to go help, each and every single time.

What they found out was Timber and Gloriosa standing face to face with a strange aura of energy around the last, an energy that Sunset was sure no normal human being could be able to produce beyond special effects.

“Sister, I don’t care what you think! This is getting out of control! Those things you found are not going to help us save the camp!”

“Who cares about the camp anymore? I found something even better, I found my lord and I will do his bidding!” The dark energy began to be absorbed by Gloriosa’s body, twisting it into another form, one that they have heard from Timber’s story, but ten times worst just from the power that emanated from her. Once the transformation was complete they all saw that unlike Sunset or twilight’s transformation with magic, Gloriosa did not become a dark version of herself, this time she did not look human. This time Gloriosa’s body had been turned into a monstrous appearance, with a body of green and purple and with a face like a dark mask. She had become a strange fusion between creature and armor, of plant and darkness that immediately swatted Timber aside as if he was a nuisance. The teenage felt upon a bench and bounced off of it, thankfully the hit had been just powerful enough to bruise him and take the air out of him.

Before any of the girls could react, two more monsters joined Gaia; both looked like a combination of human and cats, probably jaguars. At the sight of them the rest of the campers began to disperse, already more than used to magical shenanigans and knew that they will only make things harder for Sunset and the others. Quickly the camp had been cleared, but instead of following them, Gaia only raised her hands, making vines and plants erupt from the ground, quickly covering the camp, but before she could gain control there was a new sound, something that made the monsters and teenagers stop. It was the sound of a bike being revved up.

Coming right from the woods, a man on top of a red motorcycle came barreling down, striking the three monsters as he passed by and sending them flying backwards. Using the momentum of his machine, the man turned the bike around to stop close to Sunset and her friends who were still in shock at what was happening. The man quickly dismounted the bike and the girls took a look for the first time of the one that helped them.

He was young, but with spiky hair that had been clearly dyed blonde; that alongside his jacket gave him a wild, untamed look. His face and eyes showed the clear Asian blood on him.

“If I were you I will run away from here, I can take care of them, now, move!” The man said as he prepared to fight the monsters, but Sunset’s hand on his shoulder stopped him before he could move.

“I don’t know you, but you are not going to fight them alone; that girl is my responsibility in a way,” before either Sunset or the man could continue their talk, Gaia had recovered and sent a flurry of vines at them. The two had to jump away as the rest of the girls ran to cover, prepared to finally see Sunset fight. From all of them, only Twilight had seen it, or at least had an idea of what was going on. The man was the first to get ready, quickly putting his hands like claws, crossing them over his chest; for a second Sunset could have swear that she saw a phantom image at his side, almost like a green monster.

“Henshin!” he screamed as he unleashed his anger, his desire to battle and in a flash, he was no more, there was only the green rage that had cursed him for years. His scream of rage made the mask on his mouth open up, making it clear that this was no mask, it was his face and now he had become a monster, one called Gills.

Jumping into the fray, he began to fight one of the jaguars; his kicks and strikes sending the creature right into the defensive due to the ruthlessness and pure savagery that was Gills' fighting style.

Looking at the man fight, it made something inside of Sunset burn, something that had been happening since she arrived at the camp. It felt similar, almost familiar in its burn, like something that had belonged to her. She felt her belt appear suddenly, her energy compass floating in the air, signaling in the center a source of power. Since the Friendship Games, Sunset knew that magic had been present in the human world, but this was the first time the modified machine had detected anything since the day she had become a Kamen Rider.

Before any of the remaining monsters could react, Gaia felt a pull and in a blink, one of the stones that had let her become Gaia flew into the compass. With a snap, the small geode was installed inside the machine as this one flew into Sunset’s hands.

“I have no idea what was going on, but I can see you are taking power from this, let me show you MY power! HENSHIN!” closing the belt, Sunset felt the rush of energy coursing through her body, but this time it felt warm, like a sun, like an old friend.

With a flash, she wasn’t alone; someone had appeared on her side. It was a figure of power, a memory. It was there but at the same time it was only a memory, one that will fight with her. In the middle of his fight with the jaguar, Gills recognized the figure, one that he knew very well; the armored form of one of his friends.

“It can’t be, Shouichi?” before anyone could say anything, both Agito and Yujo started the fight, with Sunset hitting Gaia repeatedly and sending her flying into the woods. Yujo quickly dodged a vine send into her head and with a twirl, her foot impacted Gaia into the stomach, but before Yujo could continue she was hit by a series of shots, the force of them sending sparks everywhere. From the smoke of the shots, Yujo saw the man from back at the museum attack, the one with the dark suit looking directly at her.

“I suppose it was a nice idea to use her, but don’t worry my dear, you will see us again,” then he turned around and disappeared alongside Gaia. Before Yujo could try and go after them, the two jaguars crashed against trees not far from her.

Gills released a scream of rage, making a blade grow from his heel; he then jumped up and with an axe kick, the long blade was inserted on the back of the dark jaguar, making it scream in agony. With another kick to dislodge the blade, Gills watched how the jaguar began to shine before exploding in smithereens.

At Yujo’s side, Agito’s crest opened up like a flower as Yujo’s power made her cutiemark appear on the sky alongside the one of Agito. As one, both warriors jumped up and flew through the mark in the sky, their bodies becoming a meteor and striking the lightly colored jaguar right in the chest, making it explode in a ball of fire that for some reason didn’t make the grass of the plants around ignite.

Looking behind her, Sunset noticed that the Rider known as Agito simply disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind only behind the man known as Gills.

Adventure Time: The Glowing Lands 02

Looking at Finn’s open mouth and expression of confusion and shock was extremely fun. Especially because this time I didn’t have to do a thing for it to happen, well, except create that world, but that’s not meddling in someone else’s business this time. Let me tell you, sometimes doing strange stuff to universes can lead to strange things happening inside of it. Like this one time, in band camp. Sorry, that was a joke, haven’t been able to use it in thousands of years. Not really many people around to listen to them anymore. My friend and I loved to do those kinds of reference jokes all the time. Wonder what happened to him? Things get a little confusing after the several millennia.

Finn looks okay, at least Sunset took care of him, wonder if she still calls herself as Sunset Shimmer or she uses a new name or a nickname. The human stood watching the slightly glowing humanoid standing in front of him, with his voice slightly getting higher before finally falling backwards with the shock.

In a second, the human stood up while Sunset had a lot of patience while all this was happening, not really moving or reacting in anyway except for softly smiling at the reaction of her new guest. In a way, it reminded her of her own interactions with the hyperactive creature known simply as Pinkie Pie. She was also prone to strange moods and crazy shenanigans at the drop of a hat. Mainly, she was calm because this was a break in the routine she had created for herself after years and years of being alone since the destruction of the world. Very few times she was capable of interacting with another creature, or at least one that haven’t gone mad from the radiation. Usually strong magic users were also capable of surviving the dangers of the Glowing Lands, all except Magic Man; she usually kicked his butt anytime he tried to come close to the place. Sunset briefly wondered if he still had that burn mark on his ass.

“Wait, you survived since then?” Finn’s voice almost broke from how high his words were; funny that he asked that. It was obvious that he believed Sunset since he wasn’t questioning, he was only asking for more information.

“If you can call it surviving, but yes, I have. I wasn’t the only one that did it; I guess in a way I was lucky,” Sunset said guiding Finn back into the bed, “so, tell me about you; is not every day I get a visit in here.”

“Well, I am Finn the Human; I guess you are one too.”

“Not really, I haven’t been for a long while.”

“I can see that, is that why you are green? Well, more like glowing green, is that even healthy? Not that I think green is a bad color, I kind of like green.”

“The green is a… side effect I suppose, from way back. And yes, it is healthy, at least for me.”

“I’ll take your words for it. What about Jake, is he okay?”

“Is the dog yours?”

“Well, more like my best friend, we go on adventures together, he is my brother,” Finn decided to sit on the bed, not really in the mood to take a nap; the whole situation had him completely wired up and he would not be able to get comfortable enough to sleep.

“You two don’t look that similar to be brothers, but I had a friend who didn’t really look or act like the rest of her family, so that’s cool I guess.”

“So, these are the Glowing Lands?”

“That’s right.”

“What are the Glowing Lands?” Sunset was just a step away from doing a facepalm right there.

“I guess you and my friend have way more in common than I thought at first,” taking the empty thermos out of Finn’s hands and putting it back into her coat, Sunset pulled a chair, one that seemed to have been built from parts of other chairs.

“Have you seen the Land of Ooo?”

“Yeah, I’m from there in fact.”

“Cool, that will make it easier to explain. So, the Land of Ooo is basically just a very big island, but there are more islands out there. There is a lot to see in the world; abandoned cities, deserts, swamp, you name it.”

“Really? I mean, there must be a lot of things out there, although I just stay in Ooo to beat the bad guys.”

“Yeah, know that feeling; used to be one… a very long time ago.”

“A bad guy?”

“First, then a hero, it was a mess, but that was when I was human.”

“Wait, what? What do you mean by that? You were like me?”

“Do you think this delightful green color is by choice? If my friend Rarity saw me now she will scream due to how unfashionable I look. The bomb changed me, in more ways than I thought possible. That’s what’s been keeping me alive all this time.”

“How long was that? I mean, I don’t think anyone remembers the old world, well, except Marceline.”

“Hold on, you know Marceline?”

“Yeah, she is a good friend; kind of creepy sometimes, but she is fun.”

“Cool, haven’t seen her in a long time. Last I saw her she was having fun with Bonniebel. Ah, Candy Kingdom, it was such a nice place, rather tiny, but good.”

“Tiny? The whole kingdom is like, half the island now.”

“Well, the princess must have been busy, no wonder she sent you this time… she send you, right?”

“I don’t know, I don’t remember, maybe she did? So what you do here? I mean, this place sounds dangerous.”

“You have no idea Finn. Due to the radioactivity still present, no one is safe in the Glowing Lands. Anything in here tends to die very quickly unless they are used to it.”

“Like you?”

“Oh no, I’m different. The bomb’s effect on me was different to other creatures, so that’s why I decided to live here. Not only I can keep researching the strange things living in the world now, I can also help and protect creatures getting too close to it.”

“Research? Like, how to use this radio-something?”

“Radioactivity, think of it as a poison in the environment that slowly kills you. And I do research a lot of things; medicine, the new four elements, technology, weapons.”

“Did you say weapons?”

“Of course, a boy hears weapon and that will be the thing they latch unto. Yeah, I research weapons; one never knows when you will need one.”

“Tell me about it, I go through swords like nobody’s business. So you hunt monsters or something?”

“Or something indeed. Pray you never have to find out what I need to hunt.”

“Alright, that’s ominous.”

“I’ll go check on your friend, meanwhile, try to rest a little bit more. Your organs weren’t damaged, but one should be careful in these situations,” Sunset pushed Finn into the bed before covering him up with a sheet. Walking outside, Sunset was grateful that she was quick to react. Last time it was a nightmare. Sunset remembered the look of the creature’s eyes as it began to be devoured by the Mutants.

Sighing once, Sunset left those memories behind before she walked into her main lab underneath the military bunker. Right there, in the middle of the room, were the remains of an ancient statue. The horse and rider had been blown away a long time ago, not because of the bomb. Placing her hand on the eroded and rusty plaque, Sunset wondered if what she was doing was hopeless. Maybe it was time to leave those ghosts rest in peace. There was probably no way to open the portal once more.

Ship Girl Collection 03

Sunset Shimmer was not a woman that put a lot of attention to fashion, unlike her good friend Rarity. Once more she wished that she and the rest of the group had been rescued from the Abyssal Ship attack. The redhead was happy with the clothes she had gathered since she decided to reside permanently in the human dimension. She had left behind the dark colors that symbolized her days as a bully and instead began to use much cooler clothes -no pun intended- in the form of winter colors in the words of Rarity. She had vague knowledge of what she meant by winter; mainly colors that symbolize that season, like whites, blues and light greens. In the end, Sunset got a new set of clothes that truly symbolized her change of heart. Now, looking at herself on the full body mirror, Sunset realized that truly, clothes does maketh the woman, well, at least in this case.

The high collared white navy jacket made her feel slightly claustrophobic due to the way it encircled her neck. She was used to open jackets and low cut shirts and blouses; another thing that Sunset had become used to were skirts. There were very few times in which Sunset didn’t show up some leg and the fact that her new uniform came with a pair of white pressed pants was quite the change for the teenage girl.

There was no way Sunset could reject the gifted uniform, considering the smiles and hopeful looks in the five young ship girls when they showed her their discovery. Also, Sunset wasn’t stupid; this was a navy base, maybe not under direct chain of command with the Japanese government, but they were using it, so that meant that they were something like an army. With that in mind, Sunset realized that from here until the end of the war, the same rules as in the military will have to be respected at least that’s what Sunset had understood after talking with Ooyodo and the rest of the older ship girls.

“Ah swear, mah family is gonna kill me if they see me,” the heavily accented voice of her friend made Sunset stop looking at the mirror and watch how her friend was dealing with their current situation. She had to admit, Applejack really did look good in the skirt uniform of the base; she also wondered why she was given the pants version of it.

“And why would they?”

“Sunset, mah family has been in the States’ navy fer generations, how do ya think they’ll react when they see me wearing the damn sakura?” Applejack then pointed at the navy hat on top of their heads and the symbol that was present on it. It was an anchor with a sakura flower on top of it “grandpa is probably rolling around in his tomb, if he didn’t just jump out of it and is searching me to throttle mah neck,” even though Sunset knew her friend was more or less joking, she knew how bizarre the whole situation really was.

“Maybe we’ll take our time in telling them that, don’t you think?”

“Ah’m all for it Sunset.”

“I don’t know why you are complaining so much, both of you look great in your new uniform,” the ever smiling Akashi said while the much more composed Ooyodo simply facepalmed at the words of her coworker.

“How would ya feel if ya were ordered to use an American uniform?” after a second of thinking Akashi simply winced at the mental image “Ah guess Ah’m just bellyaching, but is the principle Ah suppose.”

“Whatever the case may be, we still have things to discuss, although I’ll take the XO’s words in consideration, maybe we will be able to get our hands on an American uniform for her.”

“Nah, is alright, Ah’ll get used to this; besides, we have more important things to do.” Applejack quickly explained to the bespectacled ship girl Ooyodo.

“Indeed we do, Erai-san gave me her report on the hangar situation alongside our resources.”

“Erai-san?”

“The boss fairy,” quickly answered Sunset to the questioning AJ.

“They have names?”

“Not all of them, but she was in charge of the fairy division so she decided on a name,” without losing a beat, obviously showing how used Ooyodo was to the strange things happening around the base. She then gave Sunset her full report with numbers and what needed to be done still to get the base in optimal conditions.

“So what’s our status then?”

“We are finally ready to start producing new weapons and equipment for our ships, also, Erai-san says that they have found a way to call upon more rigging sets.”

“Wait, then it means we will be able to get more ship girls?”

“Yes admiral, but Erai-san says that it is a resource costly method.”

“Well, it is still good news, so far we only have five battle ship girls.”

“I’m sorry to say that it is true; even though Akashi and I are ship girls, we do not own a set of rigging that is capable of fighting.”

“Not that Ooyodo and I were ships made for fighting, we are currently better used in development and organization,” the pink haired woman shrugged, although she was quite happy with her role in development.

“Is alright, maybe we will be able to find more ship girls later on. Anyways, can you give me the details on the ship girls that we already have?”

“Yes Admiral; so far our fleet consists of five Destroyer-class ships: Fubuki, Inazuma, Murakumo, Sazanami and Samidare.”

“Anything you can tell me about them AJ?”

“Not much, Ah mean, Ah mostly read about the big battleships, but Ah know that Inazuma saved a bunch of American soldiers back when and that Fubuki is some kind of old prototype; beyond that? Ah don’t know.”

“What’s with the Destroyer type thing? Is there a difference among ships? I’m kind of new with the whole thing.”

“Is okay Admiral; Destroyer is the smallest type of ships that were fitted for battle. In terms of size and firepower, it goes from Destroyer, Light Cruiser, Heavy Cruiser, Battlecruiser and Battleship; although some ships could be called Super Dreadnoughts due to the size of their armament and also their armor.”

“So that means we have only the runts of the litter.”

“Sorry to say that it is correct Admiral and even considering other ship types like submarine and carriers, Destroyers are the smallest and weakest of the navy. The only difference is that they capable of unleashing torpedoes on the enemy.”

“Well, still not good enough to think about a mass attack or any kind of long term operation. Hey, AJ, what do you think about giving Erai-san a visit?”

“So, you also wanna see this whole summoning thingamajig? Let’s see if we can get something like a Battleship!”

“Geez, I think you are even more excited about that than me about this whole ship girl thing!”

Author's Note

I think that AJ looks better with the female version of the uniform and considering Sunset is the only one wearing pants (we ar enever sure if she wears thights or jeans in the movies) I decided to give them their uniforms.
Also, you can make bets on which will be Sunset's first encounter thanks to RNG-sama (RNG basically means Random number God due to the lottery in creating ships)

4 Knocks 05: The Sunset of the Master

One after another, the blackboards on the room was being filled, while the girl holding the chalk wrote number after number, letter after letter, never stopping with her work. The sun outside the building was slowly crawling downwards in a very majestic spectacle made Sunset Shimmer’s hair glow with it. Looking at the beautiful light and effects it was no wonder why the young looking genius took on that name.

Stopping for a second to look at her work, the redhead was distracted by the sound of the trees outside. Already the city was starting to change colors; making the transition into autumn. There was still a part of her that was fascinated by the work of nature itself and how the whole planet could work without anyone’s input. Although, there was an older part of her that knew there were even more amazing things outside, somewhere in the galaxy. It was that part that had been strangely quiet and she was grateful for that.

Leaving the blackboard alone, the old warrior walked to the window and opened it up, taking a moment to enjoy the fair weather the city was having these past few days. She closed her eyes and for a moment, nothing was there; not the nightmares, or memories, or the ideas of revenge and dead. For the first time in a week she was free alone with her thoughts. Of course, this being Sunset Shimmer it never really got that quiet in her life.

Behind her, at the other side of the room, the door handle jiggled before someone entered the room Sunset Shimmer used as her laboratory. The person at the threshold stood there for several seconds as she and Sunset watched each other. The two had similar smiles in their faces, capable of communicating so much with such a small action.

Instead of her now usual ponytail, the young girl had her hair once more on her bun, something most people at the school haven’t seen in a long time; the hairdo alongside the lab coat told Sunset everything about what Twilight had been doing.

“So what’s the occasion Twilight? I haven’t seen you in that getup since the Friendship Games,” the day that made her life go a full circle, or at least the life of the one that thought was a pony. No wonder Sunset ever found home anywhere and at the same time, she could thrive everywhere.

Looking at the attire and the hairstyle made Sunset think back at that time; how easy everything seemed, with just random and sporadic appearances of magic and villains to defeat. Has it really been only a few months since that day? It felt longer, almost like years or decades since the happy go lucky days where she could act as if she were a normal teenager going to high school. How envious she was of those days and how naïve her created persona was.

“Oh, well, I was helping Professor Smith with a few things.” At the name Sunset winced, knowing exactly who Twilight was talking about. Just like her, the man known as Smith by every single student in Canterlot High was older than he looked. Even with the differences of body, the two had grown up somewhere else; hell, they were schoolmates hundreds of years ago.

“His name is Doctor, not Smith; I don’t know why he keeps calling himself that,” Sunset rolled her eyes, something that she had been doing more this past week. It used to be an iconic reaction to all the stupidity inside Canterlot High, but it had been removed thanks to the Elements of Harmony. Now, with her mind returned -or at least less fractured- Sunset felt it was a good enough expression to everything human or stupid around.

“I know is just… I’ve grown used to call him that. You have to admit this situation is beyond anything that we have gone through, well, I guess you are a little bit more used to this,” the younger girl said with a sheepish smile remembering the true nature of her friend. She knew she was from an alternate dimension, where everyone was a pony; Twilight had made peace with that and accepted it. Their situation was completely new and after seeing the way in which Sunset’s mind collapsed after their adventure involving the Changelings, well, it worried Twilight more than she could express with words. To see someone as strong and confident as Sunset collapse in the middle of the school, it was horrible. For a few days Twilight had been worried that she would lose Sunset; that she will lose her to the madness and guilt.

“Where is he now?” Sunset turned around once more, to look across the empty lot of the school and the trees that were now slowly turning brown.

“He went with Roseluck to visit her parents; apparently he was invited for dinner.”

“The Doctor? Willingly going to someone’s house for a normal dinner?”

“She twisted his arm, literally,” at those words, a small chuckle escaped Sunset’s lips. Just the image of the man who had mastered Venusian martial arts, being toppled by a teenage girl, well, it was hilarious.

“Good for her, I don’t think there would have been any other way to make him accept something like that. He was never good with families; never understood why he started one.” She said, remembering the old days when the universe made sense. When her mind was still free of the drums. Even now, with the protection of the Elements of Harmony, she could still hear the drum beats in the back of her head.

“He was married?”

“A long time ago, a really long time ago; we literally were different people back then,” Sunset laughed at her joke, but it didn’t make Twilight laugh. She only looked worriedly at Sunset as the redhead calmed down and remembered the days, long gone, of her youth in Gallifrey. The young girl alongside the other friends already knew a little bit about what it meant to be a Time Lord, like the extended life span and how sometimes they could cheat death. They never talked about Sunset’s past, or who they thought was Sunset Shimmer. The only thing they knew was her original name, The Master “Twilight.”

“Yes?” She quickly answered back, a little surprised how quick Sunset’s mood changed; from being jovial to a completely serious face.

“The Doctor asked you to help him storage all his belongings, right?”

“How did you know?”

“Because I know him; I’ve fought and helped that man so many times that I know him inside and out. He is jumping out of his skin, ready to dance his way across the stars. To take his ship and once more turn into a vagabond that will go across time and space. And he is going to make me travel with him.”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about? This is your home! Why would he do that?”

“Because we are the only two left Twilight. There are no more Time Lords and there should never be! Because he doesn’t trust me; hell, I don’t trust myself! What if I go back to being The Master? Maybe not today, but what about a month later, or a year, or a decade?!”

“I won’t let that happen!”

“You don’t live forever Twilight, you are just human!” Twilight was completely unprepared by the sheer emotion in Sunset’s voice. She had never seen the redhead cry and it made her want to cry alongside her, because she was right “even if I stay the only thing that will happen is that I will see you all grow old and then die; and then I’ll see your children die and then their children! And what happens if I also die? Yeah, three cheers for regeneration! The only thing that will happen is that I will die and someone else will take control of my body, of my memories!”

“But you will keep on living!”

“Not Sunset Shimmer! No matter what happens, this body will disappear; the way I think, the way I act, it will die with me. What if I die and just go back to being The Master? It scares me Twilight.”

“So you will leave us? Just like that? After everything that has happened?” At the crestfallen look in Sunset’s face, Twilight understood that the redhead had made her choice and knowing how stubborn the girl was, there was probably no way to make her change her mind. For now, she will let the topic go and instead she turned her eyes to the equations written in the old blackboard with wheels.

Twilight’s lab in the school had been put in the basement, just like Twilight liked it, it made her feel relaxed; it was so different to Sunset’s lab, full of windows and light. In a way it fit Sunset’s attitude, or at least before she remembered.

“What is all that?”

“Oh, just, equations from a long time ago, from another place.”

“Used for what?”

“The greatest machine, the meaning of the universe. Time and Relative Dimension in Space.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means life.”

Author's Note

She is not The Master, but she is not Sunset anymore... who is she now?

Mortal Kombat: Throne of Harmony 01

“Alright, run that by me again?” The long haired man said still not quite believing what had been said to him; and considering that this was a man that had constantly encountered crazy stuff most of his life, that was saying something. In front of him, the man wearing a bamboo hat simply looked upwards in search of help. He was probably asking someone up there personal help considering who the man was.

“We need to get her prepared for what will happen soon.”

“No, I did understand that, but why her? She is just a teenage girl; every student we’ve got in the monastery arrived as an infant.” The long haired man could only look in surprise at what his ally and, well, sometimes friend wanted him to do.

Liu Kang had seen things that other people in the world will consider impossible; among them the truth about Earth being only one among dozens or maybe hundreds of realms. He also knew that the gods sometimes walked among normal human beings and in the case of one god, he just loved to meddle with human lives.

“Because she is not a normal teenager.”

“Okay then, considering the times we’ve had similar conversations that means she is either a girl with superhuman abilities or a girl from another dimension?” the way the two men were talking about her without finding weird the whole conversation was truly eye opening to Sunset Shimmer who continue to look at everyone around the place with apprehension.

It had been a couple of days since she had found herself in a dilemma; mainly it had something to do with the way her classroom had begun to burn unexpectedly. Thank goodness Principal Celestia had renewed the school’s insurance, although it didn’t help Sunset’s nerves very much.

“Both,” the long haired man, who had introduced himself as Raiden the day before, spoke calmly as he enjoyed the atmosphere of the temple. The inside of the place hadn’t changed with the years and still felt as inviting and calm as always. The hard wood floors and banners in the walls made it perfectly clear that this was a place to learn the old ways of the warrior.

“Wait, really? We usually just get one or the other in this realm,” Liu Kang said visibly surprised about the information; no wonder why Raiden brought the girl to him “what, is she also a princess?”

“I could never quite become one, not that I want to,” those were the first words she had said the whole day since they had made an unexpected trip to the other side of the Pacific ocean and into a hidden Buddhist temple.

“According to my wife, being a princess is not exactly a picnic.”

“Oh please, tell me your wife is not Twilight Sparkle!”

“Wait, what? No, her name is Kitana; so I take it this isn't just a visit just so you could introduce us.”

“And that’s why I brought her here; she is untrained in the arts, but she holds great powers inside of her, powers that could be tempting for others or even for her if she doesn’t learn how to control them. We don’t know what could happen.”

“Excuse me; I don’t think we need to do a hypothesis about what could happen.”

“And why would you say that my dear.”

“I turn into a she-demon with pyrokinetic powers that can fly and will more than likely try to destroy the world,” for a second the two men stood rooted to the floor simply looking at the teenager for several seconds.

“Well, I think we can scratch one unknown in the list; at least we don’t have to wonder what the worst case scenario will be, right?”

“Great, so we have a probable world destroyer in the making if things go wrong; look, I can help her get control of her emotions and to gain the soul of a warrior, that at least will help her to get her feelings under control, but I cannot teach her how to control the flames.”

“Wait, what? Mister Pajamas here said you were the one that could help me with this,” Sunset finally had enough; it was one thing to know that your powers could get out of control, but it was another to be standing at the sidelines with people talking about you as if you weren’t there. For his part, Liu Kang had to control his laughter at the way in which Sunset talked about Raiden’s traditional robes while the god simply eye rolled at the blatant disrespect. What was wrong with his clothes? They were comfy.

“Look, Sunset right?” at the nod from the teenager he continued “have you always had that kind of power within you? The power to control the flames?”

“Well, it was easier when I was living on Equestria, that’s my original world by the way.”

“And that is the problem; my flame is especial in that I gained control over it due to my training and I don’t know if yours have anything to do with the dragon flame,” Sunset sighed knowing full well what he was talking about. Although she had gained once more the ability of the flame, this was a fire that had been born with her. Instead of gaining the power by training, she was losing control of the power she already had “Lord Raiden, look, I could try, but I don’t think this is the way in which she will learn to fight; why are you so insistent on this? I mean, yeah, I wouldn’t like to see someone be consumed by their own power, but you seem more pushy than usual.”

“Because, my friend, I have a fear that other realms have become interested in Sunset’s realm.”

“Whoa there, that’s news to me too, what do you mean by that?”

“It means that other realms will soon start trying to invade your world Sunset; yours is a world with raw energy and magic power the likes this world doesn’t have. Alongside that and the multitude of resources present in your world, well, you can see why I am so nervous.”

“Okay, when you put it like that, yes, things sound bad, so what are we going to do? If Liu Kang here cannot help me, who can?”

“Don’t worry my dear, after talking with our friend here I decided that there is only one man that can help you get control of your flame, you see, I have a theory. Your flame seems to be fed by the raw emotions coming from your heart, so the logical step is to teach you how to be as cold as ice, pardon the pun.”

“What are you…?” Liu Kang stood gawking at the plan of the God of Lightning and had to be sure of what he had just heard “wait, you are taking her to him?!”

“You have to admit that things have calmed down since the two men made peace.”

“Oh, I do not doubt that, but are you sure this is the only route?”

“Come on boy, trust me on this.”

“Time out, what are you guys planning? Is this whole thing dangerous?”

“Well, maybe; anyway, come on Sunset, I think I found the perfect way for you to gain control of your power and become the protector of your realm. Let’s visit an old friend from the Lin Kuei clan.”

Equestria Girls und Panzer 01

Sunset Shimmer had never been in that part of the school; mind you, she was still new to the place so she wasn’t really certain what things had been build. What she knew was that the school had a long story of mediocrity in most things sport or academic and was not very popular beyond the whole ‘public school’ part of it. That meant that parents that couldn’t afford tuition from the other more respectable school across the city, at least had a backup plan for their children.

The sad part was that Sunset knew very well the kind of place Canterlot Public School was before she transferred from her old school. Heck, it was the first reason why she decided to join the place. So far the rumor mill had exploded trying to find the reasons why someone who was a certifiable genius and that could very easy get a scholarship to any school would want to be in CPS as another student.

One theory was that she was on the Witness Protection Program because she had given crucial information about the Russian Mafia. Another, which was very popular among the romanticists, was that she had stolen the girlfriend from the leader of a rival gang. Of course, Sunset Shimmer had laughed her ass off when she heard that one. So just because she liked to use leather jackets she was immediately catalogued as a gang member? It was hilarious and slightly worrying.

It was true that no rumor even had the smallest amount of true, but they were getting closer and closer to her real reasons of her exchange and the way she simply rejected every single attempt of her schoolmates to make her be part of a club. Not only was tiring, but it was ridiculous the way in which they were pressuring her to choose one form the amount of mediocre level clubs. In less than a week she would be able to become the captain of each one of them; with the exception of any that Rainbow Dash wasn’t the captain already.

From all the crazy students that populated the school, she had made something of a bond -or as Sunset will say, a fungus infection- with two other students much to her own surprise and horror, although considering how those two girls acted and behaved, well, maybe it wasn’t so much of a surprise.

Rainbow was crash, in-your-face rude girl that seemed to have no filter from her brain to her mouth and Sunset had been more than ready to shut the lips of Rainbow permanently, although she knew there will be hell to pay and was in no need to get into good ol’ fisticuffs with the athletic girl.

The other was as athletic as Rainbow, but seemed to be as calm as a cold river most of the time, unless she began to get competitive with the multicolor haired girl. The blonde exuded confidence and a sense of tranquility that it had to be developed on some orchard somewhere in Tennessee considering how she talked.

So far she had become a friend of them although she wasn’t sure how it all started; now they just simply began to get together without even Sunset realizing what she was doing. For someone that had become quite the loner, to see two girls that simply didn’t even care about the gloomy and spiky aura around Sunset, that was something to be amazed of.

So it was with some trepidation that Sunset Shimmer had followed her two friends into what seemed an abandoned garage build somewhat removed from the other buildings of the school. The redhead was also surprised that the school was this big considering how little help they got form the government since they didn’t have the high tuition fees of places like Crystal Prep, Pearl Coast or even GlowShine Academy. The place was relaxing and not a bad place to continue her studies so all this seemed bizarre.

“So, what’s the whole deal with keeping secrets and such? I mean, this is Applejack we are talking about; I thought she would tell me what was going on the moment she asked me to come with you girls,” at her sides, both teenagers avoided looking directly into Sunset’s eyes so it was a clear sign they were hiding something, it was pretty damn obvious.

“Oh shoot girl, it ain’t nothin’ dangerous, well, not exactly what mah parents will call safe, but we ain’t gonna do nothing wrong.”

“If it weren’t because I got used to your country style of talking I would be left scratching my head wondering what the hell you just said; what’s the whole point with this place? It looks abandoned.”

“Well, it is abandoned, or at least no one puts any attention to this side of the school; you will see what I mean once I open the door,” Rainbow rolled up some imaginary sleeves and began to push the metal doors that were on the front of the garage. Considering the size of both building and door, Sunset was thinking that the place looked more like a hangar.

Once the doors were pushed open and light finally hit the interior of the place -in who knows how many years- Sunset realized why the girls called her here. It was a metal miracle of human ingenuity and imagination. It was green with caterpillar tracks that seemed to be in pretty good condition.

“Wait, what’s an M3A1 doing here in the school?” at the words of Sunset the other two teenagers looked at each other with similar smiles in their faces.

“Ah told ya she will recognize it, pay up Rainbow.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” was the only thing said before the exchange of a small bill.

“You didn’t answer; what’s a tank doing here? I checked the school and there is no Sensha-do club in the school; believe me, I made sure that was the case when i decided to enroll in this school.”

“Well, that’s a very specific investigation ya did there; but is true, there ain’t no real Sensha-do club in the schools since… well, a think my own ma was still in this school when the Sensha-do club was shut down.”

“So what’s with this thing? What is it doing in the school? Is this the place the club used?”

“We don’t know, AJ found this tank here a couple of days ago,” so if they just found it, that explained why the tank seemed to be in such disrepair; with the paint chipping and many burns and marks that made it very clear that the vehicle had been a part of many matches “we think that the club left it here because they couldn’t sell it or exchange it to another school.”

“No wonder, I mean, this is a light tank that wouldn’t even scratch a Panther’s armor, just look at it, it has a 37mm gun; this thing is mostly useless.”

“But do you think it would be operational?”

“What? Are you crazy Rainbow? You girls have one single light tank, besides, why do you want to revive a club that no one seems to be interested in?” At her question, Sunset saw the fire burning behind Rainbow’s eyes; it was the same kind of fire she saw whenever the girl was on the soccer field.

“Do you know how fucking humiliating is to lose to every single school team out there all the time?”

“Rainbow, curse words!”

“Whatever, so I am a fu-freaking genius and the best player Canterlot has; it means nothing when the rest of the team allow three goals whenever I make two. I’m tired of losing Sunset and everyone in the school is tired of it too. Last week the tennis club had a match against Crystal Heart,” Sunset knew of crystal Heart Academy for Women; it was apparently the even more exclusive cousin of the already exclusive school Canterlot Prep “each and every one of our players were trounced; heck, they didn’t even score one single point!”

“So what’s this whole thing about Sensha-do then?”

“I told you Sunset, I’m the greatest athlete this school has since it was created,” oh, how humble Rainbow was “but I cannot carry a whole team by myself, it leads nowhere so I thought, well, Sensha-do has fewer members in the team, like 3 or 4 by tank so, you know, less people to carry, better ways to win right?”

“First of all, you won’t get anywhere with only one tank in your team; second of all, why not join something else, like tennis? If you say you are such a good athlete, why not join them and win at singles?”

“Please, me, on a tennis uniform? I leave that to Rarity and the like. I don’t know Sunset, I just… when AJ and I found the tank, it just, clicked you know? Like, I wanted to shoot the gun and see the enemy tank get blown backwards… I just want to give it a chance.”

“And you AJ?”

“Ah’ve never been part of a team, but ah know mah way aroun’ a tank so I just went along Rainbow here, besides, what’s the worst that could happen?” if only Applejack knew.

“So what’s the whole point of making me come here? Is this some kind of recruitment? Because if it is I have bad news for you.”

“Come on Sunset, we know you are pretty freaking good at this stuff.”

“Wait… what? How did you know? What do you know?!” Now Sunset was starting to get worried, what was going on? At least the faces ridden with guilt of both teenagers in front of her gave her a pretty clear picture of what was going on.

“Ah may have read a couple o’ things about ya; ya know, the whole ‘Sun of the Battlefield’ and all that.”

“DON’T YOU EVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN!” neither girl were prepared for the kind of outburst and rage that were present on Sunset’s face “do you want to know why I wanted to transfer into this school? Because there was no fucking Sensha-do program! That’s why! So whatever plans you and miss ego here have don’t count on me!” She said turning around with a goodbye, she simply kept on walking leaving her two friends behind. Now it was only a matter of time for other students to know who she was and what she had done. It was a pity since she had started to like the school; well, time to search for another academy.

As she walked, Sunset thought back to the moment where she left the nickname behind, the moment when she had said goodbye to Sensha-do and never again will she be pushed into another tank. This way everyone will be safe.

Author's Note

Hell, even the title fits more or less.

Equestria Girls und Panzer 02

“Welp, ah guess we blew this whole thing sky high,” for only answer Rainbow’s glare was trying to make a hole right through the blonde girl’s head due to that comment. It was true that the plan didn’t go the way they wanted, but it was a little too much to speak about it in that way. So much for having a sure way plan that could in no way fail; apparently it could if the person you are trying to recruit not only refused the recruitment, but also all but screamed in their faces that the last thing she ever wanted to do was Sensha-so. If Sunset Shimmer -who had been heralded as the future of the sport- wanted nothing to do with tanks, then what possibilities the two teenagers had of reviving the club.

It had seemed so easy when they talked; when they planned it all once they knew who exactly Sunset Shimmer was. Well, that’s how it went with plans; they all looked well in paper until humans were involved in their execution, so in the end everything went up in flames, kind of symbolic considering the flame like hair of the Sensha-so expert that was resolutely against the sport.

“No kidding, I thought she was going to start biting us with how mad she was back there.”

“Nah, she wasn’t mad.”

“Oh, really? All the screaming and walking away must have been my imagination.”

“Sure, she seemed that way, but you heard what she said, that she chose this school because it didn’t have Sensha-do, so that means that she was running away from it.”

“But why? Didn’t your mom say she was like a freaking genius at it or something?”

“Well, yeah, momma has always been interested in tanks; she met dad that way apparently.”

“So… what did she tell you exactly? Because that girl back there didn’t seem very excited about the whole tank sport thingy.”

“She didn’t say much just that she had seen a match last year when she was with her old school. Momma said that Sunset was the greatest general she had seen in a long time.”

“Geez, you would think that with that kind of recommendation things would be a lot easier,” Rainbow was now close to depressed. Without the star of the sport, there was no way they could get enough people to be part of the re-opened Sensha-do club; that is if they were even able to re-open it. She still had her position in the football club, but these last few days had been rather disheartening, first by losing to Cloudsdale Academy 6-5 and then that rather humiliating loss from the football team to Hearth Mountain. To lose against her childhood friend Gilda’s school like that could only be trumped by losing again to crystal prep on the upcoming Friendship Games.

Looking at the big, fluffy clouds high up in the sky, Rainbow couldn’t find the peace such fine weather would usually bring her. She knew that the current situation with Sunset had something to do with it, but in fact it was only a small part of the dissatisfying semester she have had so far. It wasn’t so much the fact that they were losing at everything; Rainbow more or less had gotten used to the fact that Canterlot High didn’t have the recruiting capabilities for the sports team nor the training and installations required to get better at them. She felt unfulfilled more than anything, like when you are full at a restaurant after eating all the bread instead of satisfying your appetite with a good steak. I think it was quite obvious that Rainbow liked to think with her stomach.

As they continued walking through the abandoned hangar and club house, they tried to think of another strategy to get members, not that they could think of something right now, after all, the rejection from Sunset had left them completely lost for the moment. As this happened with the two girls, another set of steps were heard getting closer to them taking them out of their own ruminations.

“My sweet lord, this whole place truly needs a good clean up, just look at all the spider webs; I swear, the school needs to take better care of the place, oh my poor heels, it will take a lot of scrubbing to get all this dust out of them, I knew I should have used my low boots for today,” the highly posh -and also highly whinny at least in the opinion of Rainbow- had a napkin over her nose as if condemning all the dust accumulated through the years with the act.

Both Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood gawking at their classmate and somewhat friend Rarity. To see the prima donna close to the Sensha-do garage was a surprise on itself considering how ladylike she was all the time. Although, now that AJ thought about it, didn’t Sensha-do start in Japan as a ladylike hobby alongside archery and such?

“Wut? Rares, what are ya doin’ here? Ah thought ya had a Tennis Club reunion at this hour.”

“Oh yes indeed, although things went as well as I expected, but enough about me, what are you two doing in this place? Except maybe trying to revive the Sensha-do club?” That smile of the prime and proper girl always spelled disaster to those that didn’t know the mind of the number one information gatherer of the school.

“Ah won’t even ask how ya knew that.”

“Wait, hold on, you two know each other?” Rainbow said as she pointed at the two extremely different girls while these two smiled fondly at each other.

“You betcha all yer Wonderbolts souvenirs we do Rainbow; Rares here has been mah neighbor since Ah was 10.”

“Oh yes indeed, we’ve been having sleepovers at each other’s houses since she moved to Canterlot, oh that was such a lovely time, not that we have been spending too much time these days.” At this, AJ slightly winced at how busy the two had been “now, do not make that face AJ, we’ve both been very busy with our respective hobbies.”

“Still, maybe ah should have tried to get in contact with ya more.”

“Well, that’s in the past; after all, I’ll have a lot more free time since I was thrown out of the Tennis Club.”

“THAT YOU WERE WHAT?! But ya’ve been playin’ since ya were in junior high! What the hell is wrong with that coach?!”

“Pure favoritism if you ask me; apparently the team has been performing so bad that they had to find a scapegoat and it ended up being me. That uncouth plebeian that calls himself coach wanted to give me a warning due to my, and I quote, poor performance against beatable opponents. Pure fallacy since he decided not to let me play against Crystal Heart,” looking at he usually very pale girl grow more and more agitated was something new to the two other girls since they had never seen Rarity lose her composure “so I decided to hand my resignation and went to look for you. Like I said, I know you are trying to get a new team to open the Sensha-do club.”

“Are ya sure about this Rares? This ain’t like tennis so don’t expect much out of it.”

“I’ll be the judge of that, besides, this may let me have my revenge against those pompous girls at Crystal Heart at last, not to mention that I’ll be able to spend some time with my good friend once more, so, what do you say? Am I in the team?”

“Uh… I guess? I mean, we are only three right now, so there’s not much to get excited about, considering that we don’t even have enough for one crew right now.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that Miss Rainbow,” Rarity said recovering her small teasing smile as two figures appeared from around the garage. One was the redheaded girl that had stomped not too long ago, basically being pushed in their direction by one girl they knew well.

“Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” The incredulous look and confusion of Rainbow were ignored.

“Come on Sunset, you know this is the right way.”

“Look, I cannot do this, you know why I gave up Sensha-do and after all that do you still want me to get involved with it?” The face of Sunset was not angry anymore, more like remorseful, as if remembering something bad “fine, be it that way, but if I’m joining, you are joining too.” Even as Fluttershy began to stutter a denial or any other word, she knew that it was not a threat; it was basically an order from the older girl. At that, Rainbow and AJ’s face lighted up with smiles. Sure, it was only 5 people, but it was enough to revive the Sensha-do club once more.

“Oh, look at this, look at that, there is a real tank! Can it go boom and then woosh and then ra-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta? Oh wait that’s a machine gun but the tank has a machine gun well it has the place for one so it is good enough do you think this thing still works or does it need some repair I’m kind of good at those things!” There was only one option for the speed and torrent of words being uttered, there was only one person they knew that could appear out of nowhere like this.

“PINKIE?!” The five teenagers said at the same time as Sunset’s face grew morose once more, comical unshed tears appearing on the corner of her eyes while she looked at the sky, wondering what she had done to deserve this kind of punishment.

Author's Note

I'm still torn about amking the girls meet the GuP crews later on or if this is a completely different universe and GuP is only an anime to advertise Sensha-do internationally.

Equestria Girls und Panzer 03

Sunset Shimmer looked at the metallic monster left forgotten inside the hangar as one looks at a painting or another member of the ‘modern art’ genre; with the same kind of ‘what the hell?’ look. Well, it wasn’t that extreme since Sunset knew what the very-much-left-to-its-own-luck thing was. It was a tank, hurray for knowing that. Sarcasm aside, Sunset Shimmer wasn’t looking at the tank with lost or amateur eyes like many others that didn’t know about tanks or history in general; she was an expert in almost everything related to them, from the construction day, armament and most importantly, how to drive and fire with one.

It was not the lack of knowledge that made her keep on looking at the M3A1 left behind by everyone, but her eyes were looking beyond the steel and wood of the hangar. She was looking at the past and the sheer irony of what had happened not too many minutes ago.

She felt like laughing, not because it was terribly hilarious, but mostly because the way in which life decided to send her very well thought plans up into smoke and then laugh in her face for good measure. It was so simple, really, leave her previous school and run as fast and far away as she could from the world of tanks and into a peaceful, normal life with not even one vehicle with treads and turret around her for miles.

Sunset’s idea worked in the last few days she had been at Canterlot High, she even had fun which was not something that people or ponies that knew of Sunset in the past will believe, but it was true. Sure, she wasn’t the popular kid in the bunch, but she preferred to be a little far away from the limelight this time, it would help her stress problems.

What a joke, because now she didn’t feel pressure, she felt dread building up in her body due to what could happen at her tenure in Canterlot High, but was it so bad? Many would think that being scouted for one club must be good, especially because you are the only chance the school has of tasting glory, but for Sunset this didn’t feel like an opportunity, it just felt like the first nail in the coffin of her peaceful dreams. Now, instead of dreaming, Sunset had been woken into the reality of Sensha-do due to the noise of turrets firing.

“I hate my life,” she said looking at the rusted carcass of what once was a proud tank, well, it probably wasn’t that proud since it was only a bunch of rivets and metal planks; it wasn’t even that amazing to begin with considering the way the old Stuart or also Honey was never that amazing of a tank considering it was made to be land-leased back at the start of the war; even by the standard of the times it was woefully bad for any kind of Sensha-do battle. No wonder the past Sensha-do club couldn’t get rid of it because it was a piece of junk; even if it had been on perfect conditions there was very little usage the tank had beyond its speed and the small size for hiding.

Sunset had never seen a team use the M3 and its variants on any kind tournament, cup or even friendly matches and the reason was that they had better tanks for recon and hit and run tactics so what was she supposed to do with that tank? Maybe pray for a better tank to be hidden inside the garage, but she was too jaded to think about praying, because there is no way that Sunset will have that kind of good luck.

Sighing once more Sunset decided to stop her whining and start looking at the tank now that she had been convinced to join the re-starting Sensha-do club alongside her friends. She may not be 100% behind the idea of tankery now, but that didn’t mean she won’t do everything on her power to make this work.

First and foremost, the treads would have to be completely replaced considering how damaged they were; the right side was now just fragments only and the left was hanging by the threads. Sunset winced at the mental pun; seems that her mind was working in mysterious ways now.

The paint was chipped and several points across the hull one could see the marks of where tank rounds had directly hit the tank. It seemed to have been hit on several points so it was either all of them at the end of the club or they didn’t have enough money and resources to completely repair it during the last days of the club. Whatever the case may be, the poor Honey seemed in a bad shape and that was only the exterior. Sunset didn’t even want to think about how the whole thing was on the inside.

“Do you think it is possible to repair it?” The dulcet voice of Fluttershy made Sunset turn form her inspection with a pained look on her face; it was more than enough sign to know things weren’t as good as Rainbow may have thought “I’ll take that as a no then.”

“I still have no idea how this thing will be capable of moving again, not that it will be useful on Sensha-do; this thing will fall apart the second it stands in front of a Panzer IV,” it was not a good image.

“Oh my, well, maybe we will find someone to use it as our recon tank?”

“And who will be crazy enough to get behind Rainbow’s idea of restoring the Sensha-do club? Sure, we are five, but’s barely enough people for one tank, or this Honey and a Carro Veloce… I don’t know which is worst,” looking at the exaggerated grieving look on Sunset’s face, the sweet girl could only chuckle.

“Don’t be like that, just have some faith that things will turn out alright.”

“In my life, I have quickly learned that when things get bad, it can only get worst from that point, so no thank you. I mean, I get it; you want me to get over that stupid accident back when, but I don’t know if this is the correct way. Just look around, there is nothing to salvage here that it is worthy! It is a better idea to let these ghosts rest instead of going ahead with Rainbow’s plan.”

“You don’t believe that; I know you Sunset and I know that you will never back off from a challenge like this.”

“Maybe, but all this stills feels wrong somehow not to mention that I feel basically bullied into joining a non-existent club. I don’t want things to be like before the Blue Medal Cup.” Looking at Sunset and the way her face was now showing true grief, Fluttershy took the redhead’s hands.

“Sunset, look at me… I don’t blame you or hold any grudge against you for what happened back then, so is okay, you can do this.”

“But why do you want me so much to be part of this? Do you want me to bring honor back to CH or whatever else Rainbow was spouting?”

“I don’t care about school pride or things like that, I just want you happy. When you took command of a tank, there was a spark on your eyes and I want to see it again.”

“Even if you have to be in the tank with me as it starts rocking and shaking?” Sunset’s smirk made Fluttershy gulp as she became paler due to the mental image of having to be in such circumstances. Knowing that they will have to work hard on that certain aspect of Fluttershy, Sunset simply looked at the abandoned M3 and instead of dread, she felt a little bit hopeful.

Author's Note

I'M BACK!

Equestria Girls und Panzer 04

She was not going to ask how Pinkie Pie got juice boxes of that particular brand, nor was she going to ask where exactly the pink haired menace had the boxes considering she arrived at the abandoned hangar -well, not so abandoned now- with nothing except presence. Sunset Shimmer also, wisely, decided not to ask Pinkie how she knew she liked that particular blend of pineapple and coconut. In fact, Sunset Shimmer hasn’t been able to drink it since before she transferred to her new home Canterlot City. It was a remnant of her past life since she used to drink something very similar in flavor back at the castle; something that the chefs and staff really liked to drink considering it tasted very tropical and was fresh and refreshing. Now, it was one of the few things Sunset had that made her feel a little connected to her previous life as the Princess personal student, to be fully sincere, she truly enjoyed the flavor now.

Thinking about Canterlot didn’t really bring much nostalgia or a sense of longing from Sunset Shimmer these days, which was odd because not too many years ago, the idea of returning and showing Celestia how great and powerful she was simply… left her mind. Sure, she sometimes wondered how things were back home on the admittedly antiquated world of Equestria, but it was just for a few seconds before something else got her attention, usually something to do with tanks.

These days, due to what happened at the Blue Medal Cup, brought back memories of Equestria and instead of thinking on her plans of conquering that world, now she thought more of what Princess Celestia would have said to her; maybe try to cheer her on or maybe give her some vague hit and mysterious words for her to think and reflect on what happened. Either way, Sunset was sure that Celestia would have said something or would try to do something; that is if she wasn’t too occupied with her new and shining new student.

She wasn’t bitter, just a little melancholic and the sight of the neglected M3A1 only made her think more on those happy memories she had before running away. Now here she was, drinking from a juice box alongside 24/7 herself and her non-stopping mouth, hence the nickname. Thankfully, the show in front of her wasn’t that bad, so that was a plus on her book.

What was so funny? Well, looking at Rainbow holding onto a chain and trying with all her might to bring the M3 Honey into the sun for the first time in years. It was hilariously obvious that even with the strength of an athlete like Rainbow; there was no way in heaven or hell that will allow a single girl to move a monster of metal like the M3. It was even more ridiculous due to the fact that the tank haven’t moved in years and had more problems than simple painting or bullet impacts. Sunset could already see several problems with the metal plates and there was no way that a single human being will be able to move something of that weight on those conditions. Was Sunset going to tell her that? Hell no, this was too fun to make it stop.

“…and that’s when I said ‘oatmeal? Are you crazy?’”

“When do you think Rainbow will notice we brought a crane?”

“Oh, by the time she notices we returned and been drinking juice this whole time.”

“Has she always been like this? I mean, I don’t know her as much as you girls since you’ve been together for at least several years, right?”

“Oh no, I’m not from Canterlot, I was born in Granite Quarry.”

“And where the hell is that place?”

“Oh, right in the Middle of Nowhere, no, wait, there is a new town at the north so is now at the South of Nowhere, they changed the name a year ago,” just by the look of pure sincerity and frankness, Sunset decided to take that on face value instead of breaking her head trying to understand what Pinkie Pie had just said. She was saved further headaches by the arrival of someone Sunset wasn’t expecting.

“What is that thing doing here!?” The usually uptight and slightly somber vice-principal said articulating wildly in the direction of the M3 that haven’t moved an inch. Rainbow at this point was on the floor panting in exertion.

“I don’t know, you tell me, you work on this place,” Sunset wasn’t being facetious, well, she was, but this time she wasn’t. Vice-Principal Luna meanwhile, had to blink several times due to the shock of having her question bounced back on her. Behind her, Rarity had to elbow Applejack right in the stomach as the blonde girl was about to start laughing “If you mean Rainbow, I think she is trying to move a very neglected tank; if it is about the tank, I have no idea, I mean, isn’t this your school? Shouldn’t you know why the tank is here?”

“I’m not talking about Miss Dash here and about that tank; it was used before I even started to work on this school. What I know is that the previous Sensha-do club left it here after their last lost. What I wanted to ask, is what exactly is this whole notion of you and your friends trying to revive the Sensha-do club Miss Shimmer.”

“I don’t know; ask those friends of mine, I’m just here to see how it goes,” Vice-Principal Luna stood there blinking some more due to how calm Sunset Shimmer was, it was quite perplexing for someone who was capable of making even the most problematic of kids in the school get in line with just a look.

“Well, this very same group of friends just brought the news to the office that you lot are planning on getting the Sensha-do club active once more, I just came to see if that was true.”

“Indeed it is, besides, is not like if we could get worst results than the other teams in the school, right?” That was a loaded question and Luna will not dignify herself on answering it.

“I am not questioning results, present, future or past; what I am questioning is this idea of reviving a dead club. Miss Shimmer, the club was shut down because it didn’t have enough members and for a Sensha-do club, five people are not enough for you and your friends to revive it.”

“So you are saying that we need more people then?”

“That and more tanks, so until you are capable of doing that, I am afraid that the decision of the school is that the Sensha-do club will remain shut down, good afternoon,” and with that, the dark haired woman turned around and began to walk away with the other girls gawking at what she had said. This was very interesting for Sunset who smelled something about the whole exchange. This seemed more than just bureaucracy to her, it was as if Vice-Principal Luna was actively trying to keep the club dead. Interesting.

“Well, ain’t that just dandy; what are we supposed to do then and… why are ya smilin’ that way Sunset?”

“Because she just didn’t say that we cannot open the club, what she said is that we need more members before she can make it official.”

“I’m pretty sure you are pulling at strings here darling, but if what we need is lawyering to get our new club re-instated -my word, isn’t that just an oxymoron- then let’s go ahead with what you are planning. Just, a question darling, what are you planning?”

“Pinkie, how many people in our school can you find that want to be part of Sensha-do?” what came next was probably the world record in speed texting.

Author's Note

And this is getting fun.

Equestria Girls und Panzer 05

Sometimes you never know what will appear from the inside of a box; sometimes it can be awesome things like a new mp3 device or maybe a face full of spiders. Thankfully, this time Rainbow was fortunate enough to receive the first one, with one of the boxes left behind in the hangar contained metallic parts. Rainbow had started to read about Sensha-do and stuff related to it, but she was in no way an expert at anything so far and the pieces simply confused her even more.

The group of friends was taking their time, cleaning the abandoned hangar and scoring the place for more information of what exactly happened to the previous Sensha-do club since Vice-Principal Luna was in no mood to give away that information. It was quite unfortunate that Principal Celestia was not in town at the moment; Rainbow was sure that she would allow them to revive the club with no fuss whatsoever. Sunset was suspicious of the reason why Luna was against the club in the first place; maybe it was the cost, but that could not be the only thing happening for her to act that way. She was being even more forceful on this and that did not fit with the image the Vice-Principal had of tough but fair with the students. In any case, the girls were busy now that the Honey was outside and ready for the cleaning and repairing that the thing deserved after such a long time of being abandoned.

Another thing that the girls had been doing, besides waiting for the tow truck to take the tank to a Sensha-do regulated tank repair shop, was to make a list of stuff around the place. So far they have found a catalogue of mod shops, completely legal since it sold parts of tanks, like heated seats and radio equipment; alongside that it had information about special Sensha-do ammunition and paint job discounts; the last one had probably expired by now, or probably the shop had also went belly up too.

“Hey, Sunset! Any idea what these things are?” At hearing her name being mentioned, Sunset stopped moving the broom that had been pushed into her hands by Rarity. She didn’t mind it so much since she also agreed that the place needed to be cleaned. They probably also had to call some pest control just to be safe. Looking into the box that Rainbow was showing her, she smiled knowing that at least they had some good news in all of this.

“Great, they seem to be spare parts for the Honey, nice, they even seem to be never used by the looks of it,” she said taking one of the hoses at the bottom, inspecting it for any hole or deterioration. At Rainbow’s incredulous look she put everything back inside the box “what’s wrong?”

“You can just know that by looking at it?”

“Well, yeah, these are all parts of a Twin Cadillac series 42 and since that is the engine of the M3 Stuart, well, that seems logical.”

“Are you saying that you even know the engines and the parts that belong to it?”

“It took me a while and I’m slightly rusty these days.”

“Dude, I’m glad I asked you to be part of this whole thing.”

“Oh Rainbow, you may be saying something different in a few days considering all the amount of training you girls will be part of. Is this the only thing you found?”

“Well, that and several cans of oil still unopened.”

“Maybe we can take a look at those later on; anything on your side girls?” Sunset raised her voice to call the attention of the other girls who were right now looking through a drawer full of boxes similar to the one Rainbow had been looking at.

“More mechanic pieces that we truly need you to take a look at; probably more pieces of that Honey tank of ours, but with some luck these will give us some hints of what other tanks this club had.”

“I still say we should probably ask around the school, maybe someone still remembers what happened back then.”

“I doubt it Rainbow,” Sunset continued talking as she took a look at the boxes and other spare parts which didn’t really told her much until she took a better look at them. She was much more confident in USA tanks and pieces considering the amount of time she spend driving her ‘little’ Pershing back when she was still an avid reader and fanatic of Sensha-do “besides, there must be an accountant book or maybe even the Club Annotations Book for that kind of thing.”

“The what on the what now? Ah’m kind of new to this whole tankery thingy, so care to explain that for us with less than perfect knowledge of this whole thing?”

“I suppose I can do that considering we will have to do those things if we can get the club up and running again. So, one thing that all clubs need to have is the Accounting Book; basically a place where all the expenses are written down to keep track of important stuff, like how much money they had to use for repairs, new tanks and such.”

“And where exactly does a team get that kind of money? Because I’ve seen some amazingly looking tanks, but I’ve never asked how much they cost; I’m pretty sure they are not cheap,” Fluttershy said as she kept on cleaning the different shelves with a rag. Now that the shy girl had put the question on the air, the rest of the girls that were new to the inner workings of the sport got curious.

“That’s a good question and something that many take for granted. So, since it is a sports club, you know, like the football club or the basketball club, the school pays for most of the stuff, like uniforms, transportation and the like, alongside the balls the team need and maybe replacing old equipment. That’s the same with Sensha-do, with schools having a bigger budget allocating more money to these clubs, especially the ones that have dedicated Sensha-do programs.”

“That must be pretty sweet; are there many of those schools?”

“Is pretty normal, I mean, you have the NCAA schools, but in terms of High School programs, you have places like Manehattan Tech or Baltimare High,” the programs at those schools were pretty much legendary at this point “but for most schools, like Canterlot and others in the area, some of that money comes from the students that are part of the club.”

“Wait, that means we are going to pay for a tank? I don’t think we can even get enough money between us to buy a car less a tank!”

“Some tanks costs even less than a car by this point Rainbow, I mean, I think we can scrap enough to buy a small T-45 if we need to, not that I wish we have to get to that point. No, we can also get scholarships and loans from the NTSA, that’s the National Tankery Society of America; they are the guys that oversee pretty much every single tournament and cup in the country.”

“So, we get in contact with these fellas and then we can get new tanks? But what about the other book? That whole Annotation thingy?” AJ said with the small notepad in her hands which made Sunset smile knowing that at least they will get to know more about the school now that they had found the thing.

“Where did you find it?”

“I looked inside one of the desk that had been put on the back of the hangar, is it important sugarcube?”

“Very, it is basically a list of members, tanks, modifications and plans for the club; think of it like the achievements book and inventory list of the club all at the same time. Now, let’s see, most of the names seems to have been erased or something; everything is so smudgy to read, but… yeah, here we have a complete list of tanks the club had!”

“Awesome! So does that mean we can have more than one tank?”

“Well, first we are going to have to find them Rainbow, because I for one don’t want to be in debt with the NTSA this early on my return, but for now, it seems we have a treasure hunt on our hands,” Sunset kept on reading, trying to find all the information she could about some abandoned tanks from the school club when the five girls heard several steps getting closer. Turning around, they saw Pinkie accompanied by other people that they recognized. Seems that they got new members.

“Rejoice, because you have been blessed since the Great and Powerful Trixie has decided to join your club!”

“I thought your name was Beatrice?” The blonde girl at her side asked immediately making the wannabe magician lose the small modicum of temper she had.

“THE NAME IS GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE!” The blue haired girl said, while Muffins, or more commonly known as Derpy, kept on looking at her with the same calm and quite charming little smile of hers, completely undisturbed by the outrage of the other girl. The rest of those that had accompanied Pinkie began to laugh at the unintended show. Sunset also laughed alongside them knowing that there were things that they had to do before they could even think about opening the club once again. They had the members; they had the information, now they only had to find the tanks.

All and all, maybe it wasn’t that bad of an idea to come back to Sensha-do; there was still a part of her that wanted to get out from here screaming into the night, but she just couldn’t leave her friends -specially Fluttershy- behind; maybe it was time to put behind her fear and embrace the opportunity the world was giving her.

Equestria Girls und Panzer 06

Of course, all of her optimism evaporated from Sunset’s mind once she took a look at the kind of people that ad responded to Pinkie’s emergency call not too long ago. Maybe it was the idea of getting one over Vice-Principal Luna or maybe it was just the high from the impossibly sugary juice-box she drank half an hour ago.

There was a little war that no on in the world knew about, mostly because the war was simply a mental construction created by Sunset’s imagination to represent the two decisions that Sunset could take at the moment. One side was fighting for running as far as she could from Canterlot and once again go into her self-imposed exile from anything that looked like a tank, which reality was harder than it sounds since tankery was as popular as football pretty much everywhere. The other side, the one that seemed to have the most power and drive was the side of her that wanted to be in charge of a tank once more, to feel the rumbling of a cannon being fired.

That side of her was being helped by a powerful ally, in this case the healing words and presence of the nicest and kindest girl she had ever met and this came from someone that originally came from a world that was ruled by those principles. Fluttershy didn’t raise her voice, didn’t demand anything or even used her patented glare to convince her to give Rainbow’s idea a chance; she simply listened to Sunset and her fears and never asked for any kind of retribution or reparations after the accident at the Blue Medal Cup last year. The worst part was that even thinking about ignoring her and the crazy idea of reviving the Sensha-do club made her feel queasy and almost as if she was betraying Fluttershy’s trust. Sunset hated the fact that she had gained a conscious since she left Princess Celestia and her old world.

Looking at the assembled students at the entrance of the garage made her think twice about the whole idea of Sensha-do. It was not only discouraging, but enough to make that part of Sunset that had fun making Vice-Principal lose her patience and think twice about what she had been planning.

It was one thing to have her friends -or at least acquaintances in the case of Rarity- at her side as she started to warm up to the idea of getting tanks and ride once more into the battlefield. It was another to see the students reunited and think of them as a unified front, ready to ride a tank and follow commands. It was impossible, maybe she could simply turn around, count to ten and suddenly all of them will disappear. No, she has never been lucky enough for something like that to help.

On the other hand, it was amazing that this many girls had arrived with the idea of learning about tanks and battle once more in the name of Canterlot High. It was refreshing to think that the ideals of Sensha-do haven’t been lost to the school and even after all these years students still wanted to represent the school. Of course, it still didn’t mean that they were all in the clear since they had possible recruits, but still no working tanks.

“Okay, listen up girls, you all came here because you want to be part of something great, right? You want to revive the Sensha-do club, or at least I hope since it was Pinkie the one that send the message and not even I trust Pinkie with something simple like that,” Sunset half joked making the reunited students laugh merrily. Pinkie was the friendliest girl one could meet, but they all knew of the strange and ridiculous things that could happen around her. Behind the redhead, the pinkette pouted at the joke at her expense, but it was simply playing around since she understood how useful some humor was helpful in breaking the ice.

Fluttershy also politely smiled at the joke as she saw a side that many people haven’t seen yet. There was a fire -pardon the pun- inside the usually grumpy and cantankerous teenager known as Sunset Shimmer, one that could only be seen once she was in the position that she took over by instinct; that of a commander. Well, technically speaking, it was the position of leader that Sunset was a natural at, almost as if she had been groomed for something like that.

“Leaving Pinkie and her pinkiness aside, let me be frank with you and no Rainbow, that was not an invitation to a joke,” without even turning around she could feel Rainbow deflate after having such an opportunity be simply yanked underneath her like that “right now there is no real Sensha-do club; the club was disbanded several decades ago and so far there is only one tank at our disposal. To make a return we will need to find more tanks, but thanks to other members of the new club we have a list of all the tanks that legally still belong to the club and we will be able to get them all back to the garage!” ‘Or at least I hope so,’ Sunset thought as she heard the way the other girls cheered at those words.

Looking around the garage, Sunset tried to get a closer look at those that had answered to the call, finding already some similarities among them, which made the bunch even more bizarre in her opinion. There was no real cohesion among the students due to the fashion and looks among them.

One group, obviously being led by the Annoying and Whiny Trixie, stood almost in a circle, with members of Trixie’s band, both Lavender Lace and Fuchsia Blush. Also with them there was Baton Switch -also known as Sweeten Sour due to how sweet she was in comparison with her sister at Crystal Prep- and Cloudy Kicks. It was interesting to see her without Tennis Match at her side considering how close those two usually were.

The other group was smaller, consisting of Muffins and none other than Mystery Mint. That in itself was a surprise and a rather strange duo considering how… odd Muffin was on a daily basis while Mystery was quite the rocker. A second later they were joined by the ever effervescent Pinkie Pie and the three began to joke as Mystery simply rolled her eyes at something the other two had said in good humor.

The other group -and also the most glamorous- was the full photography and modeling club. Photo Finish holding her ever present camera, alongside Pixel Pizzazz, Violet Blur and their usual photograph target, Amethyst Star. She knew about them since they were the most fashion oriented girls alongside Rarity. She knew about them mainly from Fluttershy who somehow knew a lot of the queens of fashion in school. How someone that was basically geared towards nature and cute critters knew so much about fashion was a true mystery.

Well, if this is the material she had to work with then there was nothing she could do except go forward; maybe it was time to take control of the whole operation like the commander she once thought she couldn’t be anymore.

“Okay everyone, who is ready for a treasure hunt!”

Author's Note

Being sick sucks!
I've been in bed for too long this week, so here it is next chapter because I just couldn't stay down for too long! The flu and allergies will not defeat me!

Equestria Girls und Panzer 07

And the research started with a thunderous cheer by the girls in the garage. Soon, they all began to look at the instructions left on the small leather bound notebook that the leaders of the new club had found. Well, no one was the leader so far, but most girls deferred to Sunset at this point, except for Trixie who was Trixie and for some reason was thinking that all power in the new club will fall upon her. She was special in that way.

Every girl soon divided in groups without even the need of orders and they soon went searching on the elusive tanks that had been part of the once proud team of Canterlot High. It was fun to see all the girls these excited with something like that considering they didn’t have any real information about the condition or what exactly the tanks were. Most information seemed to have been erased from the notebook much to the surprise of Sunset.

Usually clubs always took careful notes of what their roster was at any moment, with things like main teams and substitutions something normal in most schools. Also, Sunset understood that every school was different and not only the students that were part of the team were very different from one school to the other, but the tactics, the philosophy behind the battle and most importantly, the tanks.

Tanks were the main focus of all teams and the philosophy of the team was reflected on the line up each club had. Some, like Sunset’s previous school, liked to focus on the power of the heavy and medium tanks like the Pershing. Schools like Cloudsdale had T34s in their line up to use hit and run tactics that, although slightly inefficient against well prepared teams, brought them some victories on the official Sensha-do league and cups.

This time, after reading the little information still relevant on the notebook, Sunset couldn’t even imagine what kind of tactics or battle plan Canterlot High used; it was all just a weird mish mash of tanks of all types that simply left her perplexed. Was the club so bad in terms of support and reserves that they had to get their tanks from sales at different stores or something similar? It was clear that the M3 Stuart was not a mistake and indeed they had one. Probably that was part of the reason why the club went belly up.

No matter, they were still in the fence and they had to find tanks if they had any chance of reviving the club. With that in order the girls quickly began to search all across the school and beyond, into the quiet streets of Canterlot where mostly small family businesses and homes were present. Their quest was one that felt more like a Treasure hunt as Sunset had told them, but most girls were truly interested in the adventure.

“What do you think we will find first? Maybe a Tiger, or what about a Maus?!” began to spout Rainbow who was getting excited at the idea of finding some rare tanks out there. Sunset simply arched an eyebrow at the way the other girl was acting; almost like a little girl that was in a toy shop. This was not something Sunset was used to see; maybe Rainbow was truly getting into the whole Sensha-do mind set.

“If we ever find a Maus, which will be a miracle, almost like winning the lottery at this point; besides, considering the rarity of that type of tank and how poorly Canterlot High did, I don’t think they ever had a truly awesome tank.”

“Come on, what a way to pop the balloon.”

“She’s right Rainbow, Ah don’t think they ever had something of that caliber in that club; momma would have told me that story already.”

“Was your mother also in Sensha-do my dear?”

“Ah’m not quite sure, but she knows her fair share of it; do ya think she was part of the club when it was closed down? Ah mean, momma was a student at CH,” the blonde had a point, but so far it was just a theory that had nothing to do with them. True, it was a mystery, but their attention should be placed on finding more tanks and maybe be able to revive it.

“Well, I hope we are able to find more tanks, this place is not exactly small; I think it would be easier if we lived on a carrier,” listening to the comment from Fluttershy, Sunset had to hide her laughter with a cough while the other girls simply stared with clear confusion at their mild mannered friend.

“I hope it is not the same situation; I don’t feel in the mood to enter a tournament and win it. I like the school, but I don’t want to be pressured to save it,” Sunset said in reference to the Sensha-do story that the two had seen before. It was true that the now legendary fight for survival at Oarai had been modified when it was turned into an animation, but many things had been changed, just like the whole place they lived, which was completely nonsensical and impossible.

While the two girls had to contain their giggles, the other three quickly understood that it was basically an inside joke and the three wondered how well Fluttershy and Sunset knew each other. Shrugging they continued their search across the other buildings of CH, like the gym and the track field, but they were looking at obvious places just to take all possibilities out of the list; but soon, Rainbow’s cellphone went off and with a large smile she showed the message to Sunset.

Several minutes later, the five girls were inside the local theater and were looking at the creature made out of metal in wonder.

“So wait, let me get this straight, this thing here has been used by the theater troupe as a prop?! What in tarnation?”

“Well, it has become a part of the theater at this point,” the man in front of them, Sonnet Globe, explained to them as Trixie and company inspected the tank that seemed to have seen better days. Sunset couldn’t believe the way in which the tank had been painted in so many garish colors, as if someone had decided to use the tank as a canvas for some strange psychedelic painting “we also sometimes use it on our modern re-enactment of Romeo and Juliet; is it true that you will take it from us?”

“I’m sorry, but we need this tank for the Sensha-do club at our school,” usually, Fluttershy was the best when it came to reach an agreement in peace, but this Sonnet guy seemed to have been part of whatever school Rarity learned her best drama queen moments.

“Oh, what a blow to the fine arts; I will love to give you this beautiful prop, but it would be impossible. Everyone in the troupe as gone quite attached. Using this beautiful Sherman for warmongering is so savage, is better as a canvas of dreams.”

“First, the tank was only loaned to the local theater troupe until the moment the Sensha-do club needed it again, which is now,” Sunset quickly interrupted the man, partly because she wanted the tank and partly because she was also tempted to hit him due to how annoying he was “second, the tank is not a Sherman, I’m pretty sure you never even tried to research it and just went with the only tank name you knew. This tank is not even from the American continent, it is Swedish.”

“Wait, Sweden had tanks?” Cloudy Kicks asked as she inspected the interior of the tank, which was surprisingly well preserved.

“They were never officially part of the fight, but the rules allow their usage since they were created on the right time. This is a Stridsvagn m/42 or Strv in short; it is a light tank that was created by AB Landsverk and it is really good tank, well done girls,” she was going to go ahead with her explanation, but a new series of messages caught everyone’s attention. It seems that the club had some hope because now, not only they had the Stuart and the Strv, they had other 3, so it was time to prepare for their first offensive; show Luna that they were ready to revive the club.

It was time to go to war.

Author's Note

The girls have their tanks, which will be introduced later on alongside the full roster, let's see what kind of troubles they get into, shall we? Also, if any of you have a picture of Sunset with a tank (not the tortoise) or can make one, I will be forever grateful of that.

Part is Metal, Part is Real 01

Her fingers traveled across the long neck of the guitar, releasing pleasant notes across the patio as she enjoyed the warm rays of the sun. Summer was starting, it was pretty obvious due to the to how warm the days were, but now, instead of getting heatstroke by staying too long, it was just pleasant to her body . Probably one of the many benefits of having a body that was as much metal as normal skin.

The sounds of her guitar went on as she thought on the changes, not only in her, but in the world she lived in. everything was so different now that humanity had finally found life outside of the little planet. Now, humankind had found a new frontier and like the eternal explorers they were, rushed into the starts in search of something new to see. It didn’t take long for troubles to start and for a solution to be thought and decided by the many nations of the world.

Years before, after a treaty with the Princesses of Equestria, humans and ponies have found peace and prosperity, so since then, Sunset and her band miscreants had become local celebrities and in the end, chosen to become part of the new task force that will flight into the stars.

Sunset quietly chuckled at those strange days in which she haven’t been able to find her true place on Earth; not that she didn’t try, after all she did have several PhDs to show her proficiency with Human science; but in the end, she still found wanting, maybe she will be able to find what she needed somewhere among the stars and planets that will fill the hole on her chest. And no, she wasn’t referring to the place where her heart used to be.

She stopped playing her guitar to look at her shining fingers; they were graceful, but powerful. Clearly, what had been done to her body was the pinnacle of everything ponykind and mankind had developed. It had been weird the first day, considering that her body had felt bizarre, almost as if she had been wearing a shirt that didn’t fit her. Little by little and with exercise and training, she had become adjusted to the change. Of course, she still found the whole experience weird whenever she took a shower or looked at her reflection in the mirror when she was still groggy from sleep.

It was bizarre that the metal that had become her body didn’t feel cold to the touch, but silky and pretty much like her skin when she was a normal human being. She still felt sensations form the sensors located all over her body, but she could withstand pressures and damage that could destroy even bigger objects. It was a miracle and she was a witness of it.

“Wow,” she heard a voice, merely a whisper, but her powerful electronics could not only find the source, but identify it in record time. Standing in the middle of the patio was none other than the bespectacled girl -now young woman- that’d been part of the Silverhawk project; none other than her dear friend Twilight Sparkle “is still amazing to see you like this,” Twilight said making Sunset smile gently at her. Since the moment she had been turned into a powerful cyborg, Sunset found that something like modesty had simply vanished from her mind; maybe due to her time spent as a pony or maybe because most of her private parts were obscured by metal parts.

Sure, Sunset’s remodeling wasn’t as extreme as the one Rainbow Blitz and Rainbow Dash had went through, turning their whole body into machine, with no genitals whatsoever, but she found that she could wear even less than before without being ashamed or even exposing much of her body.

Right now, Sunset was only wearing one of her jackets, the one with chevrons in it and alongside a dark cyan blouse underneath it, well, that was it. Her legs were completely metallic as well as her waist so she looked more like a store mannequin more than a human being and to Twilight it was still a little shocking to see her friend so changed.

“You should have seen me the first few weeks; it felt like the time I crossed over to this dimension. Maybe that’s why I got used to this whole situation even faster.”

“That was one of the reasons they chose you, besides you being a member of the equestrian nobility and good PR for the project.”

“Look at you, I’m so proud of you now Doctor Spruce,” Sunset joked making Twilight blush up to her ears; seeing her like that made Sunset laugh.

“Shush you, I’m still Doctor Sparkle and I don’t think I’ll change my name… even if something like that happens!”

“Believe me; he is going to pop the question soon.”

“If that happens, I want you all at the wedding.”

“Twilight, knowing you, you already have a complete list of how the whole wedding will be; I bet you even have charts and lists of guests and the places were each guests will be seated,” due to how much her blush had intensified, Sunset’s smile only grew even bigger “ha! I knew it!”

“Okay, stop teasing me, besides, it won’t happen since you all won’t be here on Earth for that,” and like that, the good humor had vanished as Sunset remembered that it was true. She and the rest of the team had been ordered to make the trip across space into their new post at Limbo, a zone that had become plagued by crime and danger. It was not as if they could take a day off and travel hundreds of light years just to visit a friend.

“Hey, Twilight, we have already conquered dimensional hopping, something like mere outer space will not brake us apart; I’m sure either of us will soon find a way to jump back and forth in an instant, so, everything will be fine.”

“Yeah, maybe you are right, still, I came here to tell you everything is ready at the hangar,” Twilight said with a melancholic smile on her face. Sunset nodded, knowing that this could be the last time she would see Twilight and the rest of her friends and family for a very long time.

Author's Note

The rest of the team and their departure in the next chapter.

Part is Metal, Part is Real 02

The first time she have seen the ship she had fallen in love; it was like the time she had been capable of driving a motorcycle but hundreds of times better. This wasn’t a machine that had been mass-produced or was inferior to other models; the ship that resembled a hawk had been created to be the best in the world. It was breath taking with its form and style; sure, it wasn’t exactly aerodynamic, but its purpose was to travel across space, not an atmosphere, so for its purpose it was the greatest thing ever.

Sunset Shimmer pinched herself the first time she saw the ship in construction not quite believing what she was seeing. Sure, at the time, it was the chassis with most of the electronics and engines visible; many of the cables turned the floor of the garage into a jungle while many sections still unfinished of the ship were being developed and tested in other buildings, but if the project was only half of what Twilight has told them, it would be the greatest thing in the sky.

Codenamed ‘Project Miraj’, the ship would be the team’s vehicle and would be invaluable in their trip to Limbo, taking them from Earth all the way up to their post in Limbo. It would be quite the experience to command and pilot that machine and Sunset was already anxious to test it. So far, the time she had done beyond prepare herself for the amount of surgeries that will change her into a Silverhawk, was spend in reading all the material they had about the Miraj and train on the simulator.

Sunset’s set of surgeries and modules that would be implanted on her were vastly different from those that Rainbow Dash or her brother Blaze would have. While the other four members of the project were being designed as flying operatives with light materials capable of high altitude flying and space travel, Sunset’s new body had been designed for precision and apparently for other combat scenarios. It was truly impressive and had to give it to the human scientist; when they got an idea on their heads, they knew how to deliver.

That was several months ago, now here she stood, watching the machine known as Miraj be pulled into the runway was enough to make the rest of the team, the scientist, militia and visitors look in awe at what they all had accomplished.

“I don’t think I have to remind you what is going to happen from now on, right?” The easy going voice of Spitfire always hid a stronger edge underneath, one that usually was reserved on her old students when she used to be a drill instructor for the marines. Now, her body had been changed alongside the others, but instead of the silver chrome body, she had a light golden touch that made her look like a golden hawk.

“Ah think we all been drilled on that enough times, can we just jump that part?” Once the Apple family member had been selected for the project, the news had produced a party/reunion of the whole Apple clan that would written in the annals of history. Among the people watching the team, Applejack tried to contain her tears of pride.

“Mah little sister is gonna be the first Apple in space! If only ma and pa could see her now!” As the older sister continued her waterworks, the rest of her friends smiled alongside her watching the young Apple get ready for her new mission. Everyone had been surprised that Bloom wanted to a part of it and Scootaloo still felt a little bummed that she haven’t been selected instead, but as best friends since Junior High, she gave Apple Bloom all of her support alongside Sweetie Belle. Long gone were the days of the willowy and slightly awkward Apple Bloom, now she looked strong and confident, although still smaller than the rest of the team due to her role being more as a support, doing recon and infiltration.

“No way kiddo; I can’t believe I’m saying this, but there is a protocol to follow, especially with all the cameras… currently focusing on my sister,” Blaze said all but resigned to the showboating of his baby sister. Sure, they were on the same team, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t keep an eye on the antics of Rainbow Dash.

“Is alright, I guess we can go straight to the main part of today, Sunset Shimmer, while I may have be the highest ranking official of the team with military experience during our training, the military has granted you the rank of Colonel,” okay, that was new, but Sunset took it on stride as the team began to prepare for takeoff.

As they began to walk in the direction of the ship, Sunset watched all of her friends; from both Twilights, several Apple family members, rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie alongside others which had been a part of her life so far. The three reformed sirens were waving at them alongside others like Juniper, the former members of the Shadowbolts and many other that she had met before. Suddenly, her sensors activated and she quickly grabbed the object that had been thrown in her direction.

It was one of the few times Sunset had seen without her iconic hat on top of her head; instead, the stetson was now on her hands as Applejack waved goodbye at her.

“One last thing to remember us by, take care out there sugarcube!” Sunset waved back before finally placing the stetson on top of her head. Placing her guitar at one side, Sunset took a look at the controls as the rest of the team got conformable in their own compartments and in a couple of minutes they were off, the ship flying across the sky and into space. They were saying goodbye to planet Earth and were now in route to Limbo, where they will soon begin their fight against Mon*Star and his gang, who had been terrorizing the system for a long time. Sunset smiled as she put the ship in autopilot and began to once more string her guitar. This would definitely be an adventure.

Author's Note

And there you go, next destination, we will finally go under the sea, something that we should have done a long time ago but thanks to Noche all of those plans had to be put in the backburn; not this time.

Tigersharks

Author's Note

This is the first time that i get something wrong with the publishing; this chapter ended up being uploaded in the Jem story, which is the first time i make that mistake.

Tigersharks

Sea breeze shouldn’t be as calming as it should be right now for Sunset. She had been raised on a mountain city for Sun’s sake, she didn’t even see the sea or an ocean until she had been living on Earth and that was some time ago; now, here she was, looking and enjoying the enormous sea in a wild planet as if it were the most normal thing in her life. Considering that most of that life she had spent fighting creatures and other technological and magical wonder, maybe the whole idea of normal stuff probably wasn’t that relevant. It was impossible to think what was normal and what was strange when you had girls that could use magic to fly, talk with animals or raise a one ton rock over their heads, but there had been one final frontier for them.

Here she was now, after years of researching and pushing into the frontier that could lead to a new way of living for mankind and ponies in general. It had begun when Princess Twilight had written back to Sunset about her latest adventure. The Storm King had attacked and had been the most hair rising tale to know how close she had been to losing one of her best friends. She had spent at least five minutes admonishing the Princess of Friendship about diplomatic botches and how stupid her plan had been. Apparently the human Twilight had jumped across the mirror with her and had recorded the whole thing.

Beyond the nightmarish thought of losing Twilight and the rest of her pony friends, the idea of a pearl that could change a mammal into an aquatic species tickled Sunset’s scientific mind. It had taken many tries, but finally Sunset and Twilight had new equipment that could not only make underwater exploration easier, but new discoveries about better submarine technology.

Ten years later and here they were, on a sea that no human or pony had ever been before, something that was going to go into every single book and record in both universes. The long submarine that could slice through space as well as the deepest ocean was the pinnacle of magic research and human engineering, serving as the home for the myriad of humans that had become part of the project, albeit a little secret.

Only until a couple of days before they left Earth and the Solar System really, she allowed the news about their ship be released to the press, creating such a response that no reporter or news company could believe what two young women had created. It was still a bizarre set of events that made Sunset and the rest of her merry band the unofficial ambassadors of Earth in the enormity of space. It was very clear that several governments wanted the ship for themselves, or at least remove Sunset and the others as crew and put people of their own agencies. In the end, it had come to the power of Rainbow, Applejack and others that they were able to keep the ship; in fact, things had turned physical several times. The world population watched and supported Sunset and the rest until politicians, having been beaten into submission, left them to their own devices and there they went, exploring the enormity of the universe.

And here they were, floating on a sea far from Earth, in another planet and already advancing science by centuries with new discoveries, exotic plant life and even fish that had evolved on their own. Sadly, so far as they have seen, they haven’t been able to find any intelligent life, but their search still went on.

A sound took her from her relaxation, indicating that someone was calling her; putting her hand on top of a small ear phone on her right ear, Sunset heard the excited tone of voice of her co researcher.

“Sunset, I think everything is ready.”

“Are you finally going to show me your great invention Twilight?”

“I think I finally made a breakthrough after our talk yesterday, thank you for your help with the formula.”

“Come on Twi, we’ve been doing this for so long that we have lost count how many times we helped each other; I’ll go downstairs into your lab, I’ll be there in five,” and like, the communication was over and Sunset was ready to once more ready to continue their research.

The ship they currently inhabited was indeed massive and Sunset wasn’t sure how it had been possible for them to hide such monstrosity from the public eye for so long, but the years of research and construction in secret had not been in vain, with a vessel as sleek as it was functional. In the end Sunset had listened to Rainbow and Fluttershy about making the ship look like an animal and while Rainbow wanted it to be some kind of bird or maybe a dragon, Fluttershy had convinced them in her own excited way about making the ship look like a shark.

The pale chiffon haired girl had the idea due to the purpose of the ship in general. Not only would it fly through space, but have the capacity to travel across oceans and since those kinds of planet were their targets, why not use one of the best natural designs in the shark? After many ideas they all reached the conclusion of making a tiger shark design and here they were, with a ship that looked ‘so cool’ that not even Rainbow had something to say against it.

In five minutes, just like Sunset had said, she had traveled across the ship into the well-lighted and ample research lab that both used, but with Sunset taking a more active role in commanding the ship, she had finally relented and accepted the big bedroom that also worked as the main room for her own research, leaving Twilight with enough space for her own personal experiments. In this case, what Sunset found was that a big pool filled with water and connected to some kind of machine that had been installed in the lab.

“So… is all this safe?”

“Completely, I even used it myself.”

“I don’t have enough time to tell you how foolish that was Twilight,” but before she could go on a full Sunset Rant (trademark patented), Twilight raised a hand and stopped it before it began.

“Yes, I know, but I took a lot of precautions, including extra kill switches, not to mention Spike was always helping me with every part of my research,” she pointed at the 16 years old Spike who still looked and behaved more like a puppy; apparently the rush of magic had changed the age span of Spike much to the relief and happiness of all the Wondercolts, well, they haven’t been Wondercolts for a long time.

“Yeah, there was no way I would have let Twilight go on without keeping an eye on her,” the dog answered as he kept a watch on the controls of the pool and its mysterious powers.

“So what exactly is all this and why is there a pool inside the ship?”

“Sunset, I found it, I found it!”

“Twilight, you are starting to ramble and I don’t want to play 20 questions with you, so what exactly did you find?”

“I found the way to replicate the power of the hippogriff’s pearl!” the purple haired scientist said with clear excitement in her voice. Even Sunset was shocked at what the young woman was saying.

All this time, they had been chasing the idea of having something similar to that pearl and here was Twilight saying that she did it.

“Wait, you mean that formula-”

“Yes, it was the last thing I needed, thanks to you the whole process was stabilized, so it was mostly teamwork considering how many times I was ready to hit my head against the ship until you helped me clear all the problems that I had,” it was nice to get that kind of praise from Twilight, but she accepted it without making a big fuss. It was obvious that the years of close friendship and work had done wonders for both women and with similar grins on their faces they both ran in the direction of the pool.

“So, how does this thing work then?”

“Is pretty simple once you have all the electronics in place; you need to get into the pool and then I will activate the treated prism that we found two months ago. By using a combination of different beams of light in the same frequency as our geodes and using a very specific water -believe me, it took me forever to find the correct amount of salt for it to work- it will create the same reaction as Queen Nova’s pearl!” As Twilight explained the process, Sunset took off her outer clothes, revealing the skin tight wetsuit underneath them. It had become normal for them to wear such kind of clothes considering their whole mission.

“So is safe to get inside now?”

“Sure, let me get things ready,” as she kept pressing buttons as Spike kept a close look on the readings, Sunset took a dip into the clear pool; its raised walls made her look directly to Twilight while she plunged right into the bottom of the pool “also, and I know you are going to ask that, the pool has a communication system that allows both sides to keep a conversation and no, we don’t turn into seaponies or mermaids, you’ll see what I mean” and then, Twilight pulled the last lever and the pool was radiated by energy, making the water turn a deep amber color, then a light appeared from the bottom and Sunset’s body was enveloped by light, mutating her body and turning her into something new.

Sunset’s ears elongated while on her feet and hands the skin was stretched between the toes, making them more like fins. Her hair also transformed and while it still resembled her hair, now long fins filled with poisonous needles appeared.

A couple of seconds later, Sunset found out that she had fins and that she could see clearer under the water.

“So, how do I look?” even the act of talking was easier somehow.

“I should have known you would turn into a scorpion fish; it was that or a jellyfish due to that hair of yours,” Twilight laughed at the discovery of Sunset’s transformation.

“Oh yeah? Then what about you miss genius? What do you turn into? A star fish?” Sunset answered back, ready to strike Twilight right in her intellectual pride, obviously making a reference to the other girl’s most hated cartoon of all.

“Okay, no more miss nice girl!” Twilights face showed a pout and a fierce glare, but after years of knowing each other, Sunset knew that it was just a play to hide Twilight’s playful side. Taking off her lab coat and showing her own wetsuit underneath it, Twilight jumped into the pool, being radiated by the technology wonder, quickly changing the color of her skin into a darker color and her face was slightly elongated, but instead of becoming weird, it was more cute than anything else, finally, Twilight’s bun remained in place, but her face’s skin changed, showing the top half the same dark color while the lower half was completely white.

“So, an orca then?”

“Have a problem with it?”

“Nope, I mean, those are some of the most intelligent animals in the sea back home, I guess it fits then; besides, you look quite cute,” and like that, both friends began to play with their new abilities, knowing that the pool’s powers and their new technology will truly change the way they lived.

Sky Factory 07: Of bunnies and friendship

It was true that they had spent together merely a couple of days, but in that short time Sunset had got to know very well the human girl known as Twilight Sparkle and she had found herself enjoying the friendship the two have developed as they continued to work on their new home. The girl was smart and knowledgeable, never afraid of working although still a little shy and insecure, which Sunset attributed to her time studying at Crystal Prep. The few stories Twilight had told her about her experience with the other students at the private school had been enough for Sunset to be thankful she had decided to implement her original plan on Canterlot High. She didn’t want to think about the kind of monster she would have turned into in an environment like that.

Besides stories about their respective lives, Sunset also saw the inquiring mind that Twilight had, but it was clear that the girl had no survivalist bone in her thin body. Beyond a rather rudimentary wood roof made with fence and slabs, Twilight had no desire of building a house for them and it had been Sunset’s work to take care of the whole project. If Sunset had let Twilight in charge, their house would have been a featureless hollow building completely square and with absolutely no decorations whatsoever.

To say that Sunset was surprised at Twilight’s lack of artistic talent would be an understatement; but maybe it had something to do with Twilight’s analytical and pragmatic mind. After talking several times with Princess Twilight, she realized that the pony princess was very much the same, even confessing that her favorite gift from Rarity was a very simple yellow sundress that only had a small ribbon and nothing else.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” so it was with great surprise that she saw Twilight build a small wall, just so she could hide behind it. She would never say aloud how cute Twilight looked with only part of her face visible while hiding behind the wood wall; it reminded her of a scared puppy or a shy toddler.

“I’m not getting close to that… thing,” the girl was behaving like a little kid and all that just because of some worms? Sunset would never understand the way the girl worked at this pace, but she was sure that the fear she showed to the insect currently working overtime for Sunset was quite normal for human beings.

Back in Equestria, all living beings were treated, if not equally, at least with some dignity, including to those that ponies consumed, which were very few to be sincere. It had taken Sunset a long time to get used to the idea of consuming a cow, but after visiting the old farm of the Apple family and seeing the array of farm animals living there, she finally understood the difference between the animals in both universes. Once she got a bite out of her first ever cheeseburger, there was no way back.

“Twilight, I’m pretty sure this little guy is more afraid of you than you are of him,” she said holding one of the workers of their new silk and wood farm that they had built on another section of their home. While the trees of that section were full of green slowly being turned white, the trees they used for more saplings and wood were put in another part to avoid the worm infection. Including an apple tree once they found out they could fuse the fruit with one sapling.

“I’m still not getting close and how do you know it is a male?” Sunset simply shrugged before putting the worm on a tree to start making more string.

“After spending enough time with Fluttershy you tend to learn about animals and ecology in general, although that’s mostly from Tree Hugger and the rest of the Eco guys; I swear I can recognize more plants than I used to back in Equestria.”

“I’ve never been good with biology.”

“So, never tried to dissect a frog?” Sunset said with some humor in her voice, but Twilight’s face went even paler than before at the words.

“Oh god, I think I fainted that time, not that I remember, but Sugarcoat told me what happened, so it must be true.”

“Isn’t that the girl with glasses? She reminded me a bit of Applejack, but with no filter between her brain and her mouth,” Sunset joked making Twilight finally relax thanks to the humor.

“You two would probably start snarking at each other from the moment you two met,” she answered to Sunset as she began to take down her improvised wall.

“Sounds like fun, it’ll probably be an epic battle of wits; not many people at CH can do sarcasm at my level.”

“I believe it, not that I know many people form CH; although, I think I got along better with your school, specially Fluttershy, she was so… nice,” Twilight remembered the time she had met the teenager with the bunny.

“Yeah, she has that effect on people.”

“She even gave me her bunny so I could hug it, it was so soft.”

“I know, Angel truly makes honor to his name, which is weird because the Angel bunny on the other side of the mirror is so different to him, something to think about I guess. If we ever get some way to grow grass she would love to make a full grass field to let her animals play.”

“It would be nice to make one, at least it would break the monotony of everything being wood.”

“Yeah, but one step at a time Twi, we barely have dirt and finally we get some string, not to mention beds and some water,” the barrels they had made before were now filled to the brim with crystal clear water that had been enough to satiate both girls’ thirst, a thirst they haven’t realized they had until they tasted the cool liquid. Also, a set of twin beds were currently sitting underneath Twilight’s original slab roof.

“It would be nice if we had a way to move it or use it besides putting it there.”

“Well, the book says something about a way to make an eternal source of water or something, it is another dimension with-”

“Different rules, yes, I know, I just wished it didn’t give me a migraine trying to understand them; like why a whole tree could stay floating in the sky if you destroy the first block of wood,” as Twilight continued to rant about the idiosyncrasies present on their empty world, Sunset began to read their hint book and found new pages full of new instructions.

“Twilight, what do you know about the California gold rush?”

“Okay, that came out of nowhere, I’m not that good with history, but I guess since you came from another dimension I probably know a little bit more; why the question?”

“Because it seems we will emulate them; we’ll probably even hit gold after all the sieving we will be doing.”

Silent Hill: Cleanse

It was cold; that was the first thing her mind registered as she regained consciousness. It was slow, as if her brain was trying to keep her in the void that was her dream-less state. Twilight Sparkle could recall a few times in which something similar had happened to her; most of those times had been because of some new book that interested her and she had been in the mood to know something new. Yes, it was something that had been mocked before by her hoofful of friends several times, but Twilight could never say no to a good book.

Contrary to gossip, Twilight Sparkle have never read every single book that was part of the library on the Friendship Castle, but she was working her way up and maybe one day she will be able to finish those books that were waiting patiently for her on their custom made bookshelves. They had been a ‘castlewarming’ according to Applejack and she had loved the gesture by one her friends. They, alongside other pieces of furniture that she had received by friends, family and acquaintances of Ponyville, turned the castle from a cold, empty castle into her home.

Sadly, as she began to shiver due to the cold of the stone floor, she was arriving at the conclusion that she was not in fact at the castle; unless of course, the castle had some kind of dungeon underneath that she was unaware of it.

It was cold and the musty smell was finally being perceived by her nose as the cobwebs of sleep were being vanished. She felt tired and her muscles hurt, as if she had been running against Rainbow Dash; she had learned her lesson form that time, but the burning of her muscles was a sensation that will be remembered for a long time. It was because of that memory that Twilight knew how tired her body was.

The walls were as nondescript as it could be, or at least they appeared to be due to the low light that a single light bulb in the ceiling could show. They were grey, with chipped paint and completely forgotten; they were walls that absorbed the little light that was present. The light wasn’t anything better really; it was dim, barely present and instead of letting Twilight see what was in the room, it only created shadows that made her squint to see anything. It came from a single light bulb that was hanging from the wall; it seemed to be as old as the room due to the poor quality of it and how it flickered.

With a tired huff Twilight prepared to cast some extra light but then came the pain and with it, the extra stimulus to wake up completely. She winced as the pain traveled across her body, sending her legs into spasms and losing control, falling into the hard floor. The pain bounced inside her skull as her teeth ache after her head impacted the cold surface of the room.

After a few seconds, her muscles stopped convulsing and the pain turned into a numb hum inside her head. Her breathing began to calm down and once again she was capable of moving her body, but she had learned her lesson and didn’t try to cast any spell; instead, Twilight put a hoof on top of her head, to see what was going on with her horn, but instead of finding something like Sombra’s dark crystals, her horn was completely smooth and no imperfections could be found. Sadly, Twilight couldn’t know what was happening with her magic, at least without some help.

With that out of the way, Twilight once more got up, carefully moving her hooves cross the grey stone floor as she looked around the room, feeling the darkness and coldness seeping underneath her coat and making her shiver. It wasn’t just the cold that got that reaction out of her; it was the place and the strange circumstances in which she had found herself in the room. Shaking her head at that, Twilight quickly found the exit on a bizarre metal door in front of her.

Just looking at it made Twilight’s thoughts come back to her, since its proportions were all wrong, it was just so bizarre to look at. Sure, since her transformation into an alicorn, Twilight had found out that most doors were now slightly smaller and finally understood how the princesses must feel since they were the tallest ponies around, but this was something knew. The princess of friendship felt small in comparison of the door, with it being taller than her, almost double in fact; it was bizarre, it made her think of the doors back at the… human world.

With that back on her memory, Twilight pulled on the doorknob, finding that it was closed and she had to twist it to get it open. Now she had another clue of what was going on, but it only brought more questions about the place.

Finally, using both front hooves, she was capable of turning the knob, as the door seemed to howl more than anything due to how much rust had been accumulated. The sound send shivers across Twilight’s spine, only increasing her already high levels of stress. Shaking her head to concentrate again, Twilight took a look outside of her room, but was only found with disappointment.

Instead of finding her home for a couple of years, Twilight found herself on a lonely corridor, with just a wooden bench that seemed a little too big for her, making the idea that she was currently on the human world only more plausible. Everything was dark and silent, only a corridor of walls as grey as those found in the previous room, but there was a shine in the distance, bobbing up and down as if… it was a light and somepony… or someone was getting closer. Then she saw the person coming closer and something inside Twilight began to spread across her body.

The girl was a redhead; wearing a jacket like those she had seen human beings wearing form time to time, with an orange chevron at each side and in her hand was a black flashlight. The one thing that confused Twilight was the fact that the girl was smiling at her.

“It… can’t be… Twilight? What are you doing here?”

“How do you know my name?”

Silent Hill: Cleanse 02

He could finally taste the air.

It was metallic and acrid, almost like blood that had been left to dry for years, as if the life that had been extinguished, squished for all that it was worth could simply be put under the rug. Each and every single drop of blood, of pain and terror, they all made the air thick with guilt and loneliness, but mostly of hypocrisy and it was delicious. The important thing in the air was the irony of what had caused everything to be engulfed in fog so thick, that it never let you go, no matter how much you prayed or begged; in the end, you were nothing to the city full of bones and memories.

He smiled at the light coming from the moon, or at least where the moon would be, but for so long no light could pierce through the darkness that surrounded the city. It was not only literal what he thought about the light, but that was not his problem; it haven’t been for such a long time, but even now he could feel the tug that called him into the buildings, as if they were calling him, seducing him into the blood and darkness that power always reeked of.

He could feel the break on every single second, as if time itself left the city forgotten, left behind in a haze of sleepiness that put everything in the realm of nightmare. It was quite fitting seeing everything from the dark room in which he had found solace.

He could hear her steps and many more, all of them a cacophony of decibels that brought a broken harmony into the blood infested walls of the city. Closing his eyes he enjoyed the ripples across all that he was and had once been. A long time ago, a long existence that echoed across everything that exists.

As he enjoyed his solitude, Sunset Shimmer looked at who could be called her best friend with a look of shock and sadness.

“Not again, not again!” she wanted to hit something, to throw the flashlight away and hit the walls with her fists until the pain in her hands drowned the pain that was present in her heart “is this what you wanted? Is this enough suffering?! Why do you want me to live through this!” the pain coming from her mouth made the little unicorn wince in sympathy at what was obviously a bad situation.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t know you, but you apparently know me; you said my name,” at these words, Sunset tried to calm down, to crawl of the dark place that had been so close of drowning her. She took several seconds in which she closed her eyes and took control once more on her emotions.

“Of course I know you, or at least the real Twilight, you cannot be real then,” well, that was something Twilight haven’t heard before, who knew she would have to prove her own existence to a delirious human.

“I am as real as any pony, although even I would doubt about reality, considering this place; I don’t know how I reached this human building, but I know nothing good could come out of this,” at those words, Sunset’s eyes narrowed, specifically due to how it had been phrased, but for now, they had other problems as she began to hear feet being dragged somewhere in the distance. Her face showed tension and even terror as the steps continued to get closer to where they were.

“Twilight, can you use magic?”

“Since I woke up I haven’t been able to even summon a spark, what is going on?”

“If we don’t run, I’m pretty sure we will never find out, so follow me,” was all that was said as the girl and pony ran across the empty hallways, reeking of moss and death, of disinfectant and fear. It felt horrible, it felt encompassing and crushing, but it was not a terror that wanted to jump at you, it was as if was simply watching, waiting, researching. Twilight felt her heart beating a mile on her chest, sweat gathering in her face and the rush of adrenaline making her rush across the darkness and loneliness.

Soon, instead of sterile walls, a light was found among the pitch black; it was a light bulb, also dimmed like in the room she had woken up, with light dirty and barely capable of showing the way, but there they went into the door and into a place Twilight couldn’t believe.

It was the worst room she had seen in a while, especially since it was being used as a hospital, with dirty and bloodied sheets and a body of a girl that simply stared at the ceiling with dead eyes. The blonde girl barely moved at the sound of the door being opened and Twilight had to hold back a gasp. Yes, this was a human girl, but the similarities couldn’t be denied; same blonde long hair, freckles and the color of her eyes. So this is what AJ would have looked like if she was human.

“Thank goodness you are alright, I told you that is dangerous outside,” another voice took Twilight from her shock and then she saw the other human being in the room. This one had a pink uniform with a skirt and what appeared to be flats; with the small hat on top of her head it was clear that this woman was a nurse and she looked completely tired.

“I just couldn’t stay here; I had to keep on looking.”

“Well, I suppose that’s okay too, you already found one of your friends, maybe you will find the others.”

“How’s AJ?” Sunset said sitting down on a beat down plastic chair as the aforementioned girl moved slowly her hand and accepted Sunset’s hand on her own.

“She is still lost in her mind; this town affected her as much as the others.”

“That’s why I have to find them.” Only then, the woman took a look at her, her eyes widening at what had walked into their room.

“Sunset, is this weird… unicorn with wings yours?” the nurse pointed at the still shocked Twilight, but thankfully Sunset was able to answer back.

“She is a friend from my original world; I think she was affected by this town too.”

“Well, for what is worth, welcome to Silent Hill, wish I could give you a proper welcome but the town… hasn’t been the same in a long while,” she said with a forced smile, obviously battling the demons that were found in the darkness.

“I don’t know what’s going on; I don’t even know how I got here! Please tell me, if we are friends like you said, what is this place?” the answer she got was only the tired laughter of Sunset as she kept holding Applejack’s hand.

“Oh Twilight, we are in hell, or at least the closest thing to it.”

Author's Note

Because there is always a nurse.

Ship Girl Collection 04

“Is this a boiler?”

“Maybe it is a time chamber,” at those words, the redhead arched an eyebrow in a perfect imitation of her XO’s characteristic reaction. It was mostly done around Rarity or Pinkie Pie, although there were times when instead of sarcastically shooting down Rainbow’s idiosyncrasies, the blonde girl preferred the more subtle way. Now, after being the recipient of such look from such a snarking master as Sunset, she understood how embarrassing it could be “Ah mean, Big Mac likes Dragon Ball and all that, ya know?”

“Well, considering where we are living now, I cannot say much in terms of entertainment.”

“Tell me about it, even though Ah still don’t understand thay'r humor,” the last few days for both teenagers had been quite a shock; first, because they were able to understand everything that was being talked in television. Second of all, was that they got excellent reception in the office and a television that appeared out of thin air; apparently, the fairies had found time to create several appliances, but made them look like retro technology, so now AJ and Sunset had a television with quality, but with the look of the 40’s.

“I’m pretty sure THEY can’t understand the humor either,” Admiral Sunset said pointing at the two ship girls that accompanied the officers into their first trip to the completed hangar. Akashi was helping transport some crates alongside the fairies while Ooyodo was checking a clipboard and several notes on it.

“Considering we are all from a different era, I think that will be normal; sadly we have strayed for our true reason for being here, right Admiral,” putting her hand behind her head, Sunset simply chuckled at what her assistant said.

“Yeah, you are right, so, Erai-san, what’s this whole thing then?” the small human-like creature was obviously proud of what she and the other fairies had accomplished. All around the hangar, there were groups of fairies transporting or installing something; most of it was already on the report that they had done for the admiral, but the apparatus in which they were in front of was the their greatest achievement.

“We fairies are connected in spirit to the old ships, those that fought back in the days of madness; you’ve already heard about the idea of spirits, of objects gaining life after years of use or strong memories attached to them. That’s the reason why the abyssal fleet gained power and form,” the dark haired fairy said with her hands inside the pockets of her lab coat as she explained more about the situation “but just like the fleet are the souls and ideas of a ship, we fairies have a different power that allows us to have a physical form.”

“You are the crew of the ships,” a solemn looking Sunset said, making AJ’s blood turn cold; as all answer to these words, the fairy boss nodded slightly.

“That’s right, but we are not a specific person, only ideas and slight imprints of what the jobs were and experience gained through the war. None of us are a real human being, we are just magic and spiritual beings that were born out of those feelings and experiences, that’s why we have no real regrets or desires out of those battles, nor any nationality or loyalty, except to seeing the sea free of the darkness that the Abyssal Fleet represent,” there was no sadness, nor longing for a life that was lost, simply a will of steel and the same purpose behind the existence of fairies.

“Wow, let me get this here straight, y'all are helpin' us because y'all were born ta do so?” Applejack’s face was as shocked as Sunset at hearing those words coming from the small creature standing there as if what she had said was something completely normal, although apparently it was something like that to them.

“Exactly; as fairies born out of the thoughts and feelings of crew members of ships, we are deeply connected to the ones you know as ship girls; is this connection that allow us to manipulate their weapons, equipment and most importantly, their repair and construction. We are like you Admiral Shimmer; it is our connection with both worlds that allow us to find and summon other spirits like the ones of Ooyodo and Akashi; help them find their way from the deepest part of the sea into the light,” Erai declared while pointing at the massive boiler like construction that the fairies had assembled.

“So, how does it work exactly?”

“Is rather simple Admiral; we gather enough materials that serve as a sort of exchange. Think of it as materials that were used for the creation or part of a ship; steel, ammunition, oil and bauxite.”

“Bauxite? Wait, are you saying you need aluminum to create a new ship?” at these words, finally understand what bauxite meant, was the only thing AJ needed to understand the reason behind the material.

“Because planes used in World War 2 were made with aluminum, but wouldn’t that be used to summon carriers?”

“That’s correct, but using different amounts of materials can create a stronger reaction with different souls, almost like using fish bait that can call for specific fishes.”

“I never thought I’ll be hearing about spirit summoning as if it were a normal hobby,” Sunset said in response of Erai’s words.

“It may sound like that, but everything heavy or dangerous is already done by us, you only have to give the signal and we will do the rest for you, although, praying a bit beforehand could work too,” Erai said joking a little bit before Sunset nodded and pulled a lever at her side. Immediately, the machine hummed, signaling it was active, rumbling and with a show of light that was quite pretty. Soon, the machine stopped and it opened it up, showing a figure that looked directly at Sunset.

Standing up right, Sunset noticed that the girl looked a little older than the other destroyers, just big enough that made her look almost the same age as AJ and the redhead. She had long brown hair and she was wearing an orange and brown dress with long brown gloves. She looked shyly at Sunset but her salute was crisp and almost second nature.

“Um… I’m the Light Cruiser Jintsuu. So, I would appreciate your favor…” Sunset looked at the girl completely bewildered at what had happened. Not only the girl was obviously also the spirit of a ship like the rest of the girls under her command, but she was a cruiser and fairly respectful by the looks of it.

“Well, would you look at that, you summoned a Light Cruiser, that will be good for the fleet Admiral,” Akashi said as Jintsuu began to talk with Ooyodo about her duties in the fleet, but just as Sunset was beginning to get out of her stupor, something strange happened.

The geode of empathy, the strange magical rock that Sunset had gained back at Everfree began to shine; for a moment, it was as if someone was calling Sunset, a voice far away, but familiar in its warm, then, the magic inside Sunset reacted and began to feed the machine as the fairies and ship girls stood gawking at the phenomenon. In a matter of seconds, the machine’s doors burst open and a figure launched itself into Sunset and only two words could be heard all around the base.

“BURNIIIIIING LOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVEEEEE!”

Author's Note

I had to do it.
There was no way Kongou will miss time with her beloved Admiral.

The Sun and her Jester 02

While both girls had used some sort of public transportation -at least until one of the two girls turned into a demented idiot- and were versed on basically any mean of going from point A to point B, this was the first time they were in a train like the one they were passengers of this time. Completely white and modern looking, they knew that the model was based on the trains of Japan, known for their speed and reliability; although, Sunset was sure they never travelled across time and space like this.

Outside of her window, there was nothing but an endless, barren world, with no features and nothing to speak of. After several minutes, the scenery was truly underwhelming and Sunset took her eyes away from the window and to her companion across the table, who was completely mesmerized by the enormous stack of hotcakes with a little flag pinned on top. To think that the young woman looking at them as if they were a gift from god itself was one of the most dangerous women in her dimension.

As Harleen began to devour the syrupy hot cake mountain, Sunset thought back to what she knew about their current problems. It was quite calm considering she was not the one who was fighting enemies around. Of all the Sunset Shimmers around the multiverse, she was the one that had to prepare for one of the most difficult tasks, a freaking tea party. At least, that was what she was doing thanks to the efforts of Observer and Keeper. Puzzles, riddles, logical and concentration exercises had been drilled into her mind and it was clear why she was being trained like this. The tea party was just a front for something even more dangerous that their current situation.

Try as she might, she couldn’t really see any connection between the Umbrum known as Noche and the invitation for tea from the woman known as Featherine; she knew that there must be some kind of link between the two considering that the creature had started to move around dimensions. First was the avatar one in which he had attacked Aang directly, next was a Batman one and now, apparently, he was somewhere among the Harry Potter one. What would be his next move?

“You are starting to look like Batman with that frown,” Harleen’s voice took Sunset from her ruminations and had to smile. It was some time since she had been in the company of someone like the blonde woman and it was refreshing. After dealing with people that knew way too much and acted like Celestia most of the time, to have someone like Doctor Quinzel around was much more enjoyable.

“Sorry, is just that this whole situation is giving me a headache,” while Sunset Shimmer used her normal attire in the form of her chevron set, it was nice to see that Harleen Quinzel was wearing, not the pigtails with a red and black body suit, but a rather simple low ponytail and glasses on her face alongside jeans and a black t-shirt. For something that simple, it was a big change and it was hard to recognize the former villain from her previous persona. Mostly because Sunset had seen her with the old jester suit and make up and now Harleen looked so normal in comparison that, well, it could fool most people.

Even with the very informal look, Doctor Quinzel’s eyes showed a glint of intelligence like Sunset had seen underneath the pony and human Twilight, but there was an undertone of humor and impishness that was impossible to get rid of. It was true that the elements had purged the darkness inside Harley Quinn, but it had been the psychological damage done both by Noche and years of brain washing from the Joker. Harleen’s mind was finally rid of those shadows, but certain parts of her personality still remained; what parts? Sunset hoped only the ones that will help Harleen recover her life, or pieces of it. That was the main reason why she was accompanying Harleen to her old world, just so she could take some items that were precious to her and to say good bye to people she knew. At least the Joker was basically dead due to the damage done by Noche and Sunset will not cure him with harmony energy. She wasn’t even sure if harmony will heal him or turn him into dust or something similar, it was hard to say with that kind of power.

Across the multiverse, Sunset had seen many variations of her using the power of harmony; the pure form, not those directed by the elements, but the direct source and it was breath taking. From the Sunset that used the belt and transformed into a Kamen Rider, to a Sunset that used the power of harmony to gain a new sight and fight criminals, it was quite heartwarming to see that, even when other Sunsets made the same mistake, each and every one of them found their calling and that they all tried their best. With a big smile to Harleen, Sunset knew that she also had a path to walk.

“I don’t think I can remember a time when I was in the same situation as yours; even when there are several people that had adventures across dimensions, those were usually super heroes that saved another word. I think one was due to a Batman that became a villain, now THAT would have been a nice boss to have,” Harleen also smiled at the idea of the dark knight as a criminal.

“I’ll take your word, but even now it is weird to think there are other versions of myself.”

“Come on, they cannot be that different from you.”

“Didn’t Observer tell you? There IS a me that became Batman, or Batwoman I think,” the perplexed look that Harleen had was hilarious and good enough for her to start laughing at it. Not too far away from them, The Owner took a spoon of his fried rice and enjoyed how lively the DenLiner was once more.

Sunset Automata

It is said that everything that lives one day will day, that death will always bring life behind it, one organism will lie down and another will occupy its place. It is a constant cycle of life and death, ready to place itself on top of the chain just before something else will occupy that space soon after. It is a constant spiral of life and death that governs all universes; it is a constant rhythm of everything that exists at every time, no matter what would happen.

I had the chance of finding the god that created that cycle… I killed it and would do it again if I had the chance.

It was so long ago when it happened that it still surprises me I can still remember that time; probably part of what ties me to the multiverse as the one that can heard by everyone. It is a constant companion for the one that will forever remain exiled. Well, is not because it is a real exile, just… for security measures; I don’t want other creatures to become like Celestia. Maybe constantly being in contact with me, or as much contact I could have with someone without having a physical body.

Still, there is much that I can’t and won’t do, but if there is one thing that I have always been able of doing and in general it is the part I enjoy the must, is watching the lines of life and death and the intricate ways in which they will constantly shift across the multiverse; little steps that were not taken in other places, like a turn left letting you meet the person of your dreams, while turning right would have me you famous and rich. And in the middle of all that, there is always one creature… one sun.

“So this is Equestria,” and no matter what happens, the sun will always arrive at the best place at the best time.

“We’ve been in Equestria for a while, this is Canterlot,” this tie she looks different, including her companion; both were wearing black clothes, from head to toes, well, almost; they were after all wearing black dresses while their eyes were hidden underneath what looked as a thick cloth.

“If didn’t know better, I would say you said that with sarcasm.”

“That’s preposterous, after all, emotions are forbidden,” the redhead said to her pigtailed companion as the two looked at what seemed to be the statue of a unicorn with wings, raring up as if to make it look more intimidating, although that action didn’t awake anything in the two human-like figures.

“If that’s what you say, but the S series tend to be known for their… snarkier responses compared to other series,” the pigtailed woman answered back as she somehow began to pay attention to the holographic screen floating in front of her.

“I blame the original source, I am simply S19.”

“Sunset Shimmer, legendary name of humanity; yeah, at least you have an origin that can be considered spectacular. My series? They took our design from a woman known as Sugarcoat that went to one of the engineer’s school.”

“Is that jealousy I detect?”

“That will be impossible, after all, emotions are forbidden,” if their bodies had been allowed to do that action, both androids would have had a smirk on their faces at that moment; but their weapons were ready as their sensors picked something up and the red alarm was quickly activated on their systems. Their swords in their hands and defensive protocols ready, the first of many creatures attacked.

The dark being was soon sliced open, the steel and circuits stood floating for a second, gravity reasserting itself slowly after such a fast attack from the red android, before the next robot was struck down just like its brother. One after another, in a deadly ballet practiced for hundreds of times, the dark creatures were gone in a flash of sparks and explosions.

“I do not understand why these creatures keep on jumping into their destructions.”

“Changelings, before their turn into their colorful forms, were as black as night, chitinous insects.”

“Does it go somewhere that explanation?” S19 said, cleaning her katana for the oil and observing the surroundings.

“The robots were designed to look identical to each other so they could be used as repairing and serving units.”

“Well, then those brooms were more dangerous than I thought because I don’t see any pony around.”

“Due to reasons yet unknown, the robots staged a revolution, sadly the records that we have don’t show what happened or in what way they achieved that, but that’s why we are all here. Our mission is to find out what happened with ponies and gain control of Equestria, that’s the directive that Earth gave us.” Unit C12, like her sibling units H22 and O11, were direct and right to the point, but they were also known to be hard to work with; why a brand new combat unit like S19 had been partnered with her was still top secrets, but neither android asked questions; you never asked why to Command “also, you were showing emotions once again.”

“Blame my original then,” all units had been designed with someone in mind, someone that had left an impression on the First Engineer, the people that had created the first series of androids, the now renowned Model CH, the precursors of the C unit that were based on the woman known as Sugarcoat. Model S had come as a surprise to everyone; sadly, that model had been completely wiped out on the war against CLASSIFIED and no information was recovered from their demise.

Model S was a surprise, outperforming the Model T, who everyone thought would be the future of the android lines; for that reason, the units had been quickly dispatched and partnered with other units to explore and eradicate the robots that had taken Equestria for their own.

It was clear that Model S was dangerous, not because it was stronger than others, but because they enjoyed humor and asking questions, that was too dangerous and there was no way Unit C12 will allow Unit S19 keep asking questions; they will simply go in, find one of the main factories of the robots and return to base. It was a simple mission and Unit C12 will not fail.

Sadly for Unit C12, she didn’t have much data about human history on her records, because she would have known the immortal words of General Moltke that planes never survive contact with the enemy, and you know what? Sometimes not even with your allies because, even as an android, a mere simulacrum of the image of Sunset Shimmer, destiny doesn’t stick to them, there is just something in Sunset’s existence that make her immune to plans and great destinies of either great heights, or low precipices.

Sometimes it is the smallest things that can derail plans that had been in motion for millennia, after all, as one wise man said, the right man -or android in this case- in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world.

Author's Note

If you have never played NieR Automata, I suggest to look at it a little bit, or at least watch a let's play if you cannot play it. It is a game so full with amazing ideas that I couldn't resist, I mean, the whole existentialism and almost Anti-Nihilism is deep and touching at moments, while in others just rip your heart out; so go and check it out because I feel it can play very well with the idea behind MDoSS.

Also, if you out together the names of the Sugarcoat units you get the chemistry composition of sugar.

Initial S Part 1

Boots walking across the parking lot, the soles crunching the small pebbles that had been left behind by vehicles, wind and erosion of the black ground and that was all the sound that was present at this time on the building, at least outside of it. The place she was in was not exactly one that she would spend the whole day, at least not legally.

The walls of the parking lot and the windows were beret of anything like personality or even vandalism so it made Sunset Shimmer’s fingers twitch. While Flanksy was still very much alive inside of Sunset, the fact that there were several security cameras and that she had none of her tools for street art were the things that deterred her from turning sterile walls into pieces of art.

So what was she doing in a place like this? Well, she was being a good friend to someone that had been at her side for a long time now, in fact, a place like this was the one thing that brought the two even closer. Carrousel Boutique, or at least another branch of it downtown, was the original place where Sunset Shimmer did amazing artwork as a favor for Rarity and in a way is what started everything between. Now, don’t think that way, what I mean is that, the friendship and closeness between them was legendary at this point, after all, the two had become almost inseparable; sure, Sunset still got along with everyone in the group, but Rarity and Sunset just, well, they clicked in a way. Both were really artistic people that knew how to bring their ideas to life and sometimes, when they mixed their ideas and respective strengths together, the sum of its parts was bigger than the parts themselves.

Many people around them always thought there was something going on when they saw them together, after all, when you see two very attractive and successful young women with absolutely no dating rumors or a visible boyfriend or even dating, then rumors start to fly around and people begin to look at things in a different perspective. Now, let me snuff those flames right now because there was absolutely no romance involving Sunset Shimmer and the rising star of fashion Rarity Belle.

Okay, maybe there were occasions when the two mock flirted with each other just so that they kept their wits sharpened and it was kind of a game between them to make the other blush in public. And alright, maybe there was a little bit of sexual tension in their friendship, but it was definitely a strong friendship that had survived everything, even memories being erased, so yes, their friendship was going nowhere at this pace.

So it was with these thoughts that I just shared with everyone at the other side of this screen that Sunset had finished another loop walking around the parking lot, waiting for the girl that she was doing a favor to, which thankfully appeared as the doors of the shop were opened. As she came out, the other employees walked away into their cars and said goodbye to each other.

“Thank you for still waiting for me, I swear that meeting just dragged on; I just love this business, but I wish it would be less economical factors and more high couture, but alas, not everything in life is fabulosity,” the same accent that once was the perfect target for mocking once upon a time, now was another part in the life of Sunset Shimmer, one that not only she had grown used to, but in fact, she liked to hear it. There was just the problem of Rarity sometimes using that voice in conjunction with some of the most devastating whining in the history of mankind that was maddening; outside of that, everything was perfect with that accent.

“Is okay, I know how meeting like that can go on.”

“Oh yes, I suppose being close to the eternal monarch of a kingdom can prepare you for work meetings and politics,” the woman with the beautiful ensemble of white pencil skirt and jacket said before placing her sight upon the vehicle of the day, well, night really “still, I’m sorry that I called you in your free day; you were the only one of us that has a car and even though I could call a cab or even an Uber, I trust you over all that.”

“Especially because you don’t have to pay a cent if I drive you around,” just looking at the way in which Rarity was ready to deny that accusation was good enough for Sunset to start laughing; it was such a sight to see someone as prim and proper as Rarity lose her composure that the redhead just had to do it.

“How dare you insinuate something like that; I may be a lady, but before that I am your friend and there is no way in all heaven and hell that I will make you drive me around without me paying for gas at least.”

“Is okay, I trust you on that, besides, I don’t mind driving you around, gives me an excuse to drive my new car.”

“I see that the car you have right now is a different one from last week; what happened to your car?”

“Meh, issues with the engine and the gearbox finally caught up with the old Sentra, so I got rid of it and got this one,” the yellow car was, at least from outside, a huge step up from the old grey run of the mill economical car that Sunset usually drove around. This one was more streamlined and even though it looked old, or at least older than most sports cars, it still looked amazing “I got this RX-7 for cheap basically, the guy wanted to get rid of it because he got a new racing car, so I got a good deal.”

“Excuse me if I’m not very enthusiastic, but I have no idea what is the difference between cars beyond how they look,” Rarity kept the conversation going as Sunset unlocked the doors; it was true that she wasn’t the expert of everything with a motor like Sunset and Applejack were, but she really like the interior of the car, with nice seats that were soft to the touch and were pleasant to look out.

“Considering the car is twenty years old I don’t think you will know much of it.”

“Wait, this car is two decades old? I mean, I know it looks older than other sports cars, but it looks gorgeous,” once Sunset ignited the car, Rarity was amazed at how the motor did not sound like the cars in Rainbow’s movies, so loud that they won’t be able to talk with each other, instead, the car sound powerful, but not annoyingly so “did you say that this car was cheap?”

“Cheaper than I thought for a car with this performance, but I think the guy wanted to get a much more modern car, I don’t know why since this car is awesome,” Sunset then took the car out of the parking lot and since the streets at this hour were mostly empty, Sunset used the power of the engine and they went off.

For a car that was several decades old, it drove perfectly and that was for someone that was used to Sunset’s driving. Since the time when Sunset had taken her driving license exams, she had become a speed demon; well, technically since she got better and better, especially once she applied her mind to the more technical aspects of driving. Sure, Twilight could understand some of the principles, but place her behind the wheel and she will turn into a living statue due to fear and paranoia of suddenly crashing and turn into a big fireball. If you wanted that middle of point of knowing and doing, there was no one like Sunset for that.

So it was with this mentality, knowledge of the car and knowledge of the road that Sunset and Rarity were about to enter a street race by mistake.

Author's Note

Yes, I know you are about to make dozens of Drift jokes and what not, go on.

Initial S Part 2: Perfect Dirft

“Good lord Sunset, this machine is amazing, just look how beautiful it looks inside, I’m still amazed you got this gorgeous car so easily… was there any part of the story that you omitted my dear?” it was a testament to how long Sunset had known Rarity and the experience as a manipulator that she had on CHS that she heard the unspoken question; she almost sighed knowing that while other may think of Rarity as a big gossiper, she only played the social bee part to extinguish rumors that could hurt others. This time, Rarity was using her abilities as a Queen Bee to know if Sunset had put herself at risk or did anything that could come back to bite her.

“Well, I suppose I could tell you what Mister Discord said to me when he sold me the car.”

“Wait, the same Philanthropist Mister Discord? The man that donated enough money to remake the statue in CHS? That crazy old coot?” Rarity’s face showed the kind of surprise that she felt, after all, it was hard to forget a man that dressed that… nightmarish. Poor Rarity had almost fainted at the way in which the man had arrived at Canterlot High, dressed in half tweet and half tuxedo tails; the fashionista had spent a good amount of time mumbling to her as she rocked back and forth that night.

“Yeah, apparently the car was too perfect to be of use and to tell you the truth; I don’t even want to know what he was planning to do,” Sunset almost rolled her eyes remembering the crazy old coot, but he had good taste in cars and was bizarre enough that wanted to get rid of the RX-7, or maybe he had another plan; with the way her life had been for the past couple of years, it was a must to be a little paranoiac.

I said she almost rolled her eyes because she never took her eyes from the road, no matter how many times she had been through them; this time it was important because the route that she usually took from the main offices of Carrousel Boutique and Rarity’s house went through several roads that weren’t very much at this time of the night. Long time ago, when the city was starting to grow into the suburbs that dominated the south side of Canterlot, the only road was through several hills that made the road resemble a snake, with turns that made most drives stop and decelerate before they crashed against the barriers at the side, or worst, plunged down into an early death. Of course, Sunset wasn’t most drivers.

As Rarity searched through her purse, Sunset saw the first of the many curves approaching; this was a road that many found a complete nightmare, with many people knowing that there was no way someone could use the circuit full of curves and danger at every turn as a racing circuit; people didn’t know someone named Sunset Shimmer. As the first curve to the left approached, Sunset shifter her feet, hitting the brakes and accelerator in the correct order and swiftly switched gears to make the several decades old RX-7 twist and drift across the road, taking the curve, gliding across the concrete as if it were a child’s play; meanwhile, Rarity had taken out her pocket mirror and lipstick and was reapplying a coat to her lips.

For someone who was known to have bouts of drama queen and could scream better than most divas in Hollywood, not even a peep was heard; it was clear how used she was to this scenario that she trusted Sunset implicitly and her mastery of the roads.

“Well, at least this car drifts smoother than your old sedan,” while Sunset had simply changed one Japanese car for another, it was clear the difference in dragging and movement, making Sunset smile a little at what her co-pilot had said; she was right after all, since the motor and the whole package was amazing. Sure, the twin turbo engine may not be as advanced as most modern racing cars, what with four and even six turbo engines, but the acceleration that the car got was amazing, it was clear that Discord took good care of the car.

So it was like this that the two girls advanced through the roads, with Rarity quietly enjoying the view of the city and the lights while Sunset enjoyed the way in which the car shifted around the street in ways that would send most men and women into early cardiac arrest due to the jaw dropping drifts that she was capable making.

Unbeknown to the two girls, was that the road was not as lonely as they thought and that while most riders simply shied away from the crazy circuit of Mustang Hills -yes, that was the name- there were some that found their home in those hills and curves, sadly, they were the laughing stock of those that were part of that clandestine world known as Street Racing.

While it was true that challenges on their territory were serious tuff, the truth was that the Robin Call Driving Club was pretty much pathetic, with racers with very or no experience whatsoever and only drove because they had the passion or the dreams, but none of them with real talent to answer the challenge that had been issued that night by a yellow Porsche that drove free across the hills.

“These guys are a joke, they don’t even have the guts to appear tonight, well, seems that my brother won’t have to think too hard in a way to beat this circuit,” the young man named Turbo Carrera smiled in satisfaction, that was until a pair of headlights appeared in the distance, quickly gaining on the Porsche “well, it was time the others of the team caught up with me,” of course, he was referring to the rest of Turbo’s team, sadly that was not the case “wait, that’s not one of ours, is it a GT? A stingray?” whatever the case may be, the car quickly was right behind him, shadowing his every move with ease, but as the car was about to move to the side with clear intentions of leaving him behind he quickly blocked the mysterious car.

Inside of the Mazda, Sunset Shimmer and Rarity LaBelle watched as the driver of the car in front of him blocked their way and were sickened by how rude the driver was.

“Really, was that necessary? I know some uncouth savages don’t like it when others are driving, but this is too much.”

“Tell me about it, what’s the problem with this guy?”

“Oh well, I hope you can leave this brute behind us, I do want to get some beauty sleep this night,” Rarity all but pouted making Sunset smile at the reactions of her friend; still, the driver in front of her was a danger considering the road.

Meanwhile, back on the Porsche 718, Turbo was almost freaking out when on one of the curves, as the other car once again caught up with him doing another perfect drift, he recognized what kind of car was tailing him.

“Are you kidding me? An old FD? What kind of driver is this? Doesn’t matter, after this next curve there is a sharp left that could bring you to your death,” so it was like this that Turbo slowed down, letting the RX-7 pass him as he stood gawking in surprise “wait, is the driver crazy? Doesn’t he know the road? The sharp left is coming!” but just as the curve was close to them, the RX-7 veered right, seemed to lose control and then, did the most amazing thing Turbo had ever seen “it can’t be… INERTIA DRIFT!” just as it seemed Sunset had lost control of her car, she regained it and with the inertia gained from her action, the car made a drift so sharp that it took the sharp curve as if it were nothing, leaving Turbo behind, who by this point had stopped his own car.

He stood there, watching the quiet streets in sheer disbelief at what he had seen; to be able to do a drift like that, it meant that the driver not only knew to perfection every single curve and bump in the road, but the sheer talent that it must have was staggering.

“Was that a ghost that I just saw? That guy did feint and used the inertia to make the perfect drift, what kind of driver can do something like that? I suppose… tonight was my lose,” and as Turbo remained there, pensive about the way in which he had been defeated, both Sunset and Rarity were none the wiser of what their actions meant, igniting a path that started right there, in the Mustang Hills and would be felt all around the country.

Author's Note

Yep, that happened.

Don't get Cooked, Stay Off the Hook

Applejack saw with some degree of jealousy at what Rainbow Dash was doing and although it wasn’t a good plan on the long run, it was still very tempting for the blonde girl to start bashing her head on the wall like her friend. At least it would be a solution to all the nervous energy and guilt currently bubbling inside of her. Rainbow apparently couldn’t get rid of her own feelings playing sports, but it was obvious considering how much Rainbow was beating herself up; Applejack winced at the mental pun she had made, but it was true since Rainbow was not only feeling guilt about the latest drama, but also of all the friendship related occasions she have failed to be with her friends.

The blonde knew very well how that felt since she was also part of the whole problem; she always tried to follow the teachings of her parents and the rest of the Apple clan by extending a hand of friendship and camaraderie to all, but she had failed; worst still, she had told Sunset that she like family to her, part of the Apple Family. What a way to spit on her parent’s teachings and all because of something as stupid as a child nickname; if she had been ashamed before, learning what she had done and who had let that information be known was enough to make her stay forever in her room.

To think that she and the rest of the group had turned their backs on Sunset when she needed them the most, and all because of hearsay and rumors. It was so damn obvious and they felt for the trap like fishes going for the hook; that was what they were, fishes that took the bait hook, line and sinker, all because three little girls were jealous of Sunset.

It should have been obvious that someone was framing Sunset, but she acted like a spoiled brat and abandoned her friend when she needed her, now here they were, waiting for good news as the statue in front of them continued to ripple and move as if it were made of water instead of rock.

They should have known that something was wrong the moment they didn’t see Sunset the next day, but they were so angry that they didn’t notice, what with the constant posts of Anon-A-Miss making everything even more volatile than normal in the school. That should have triggered an alarm on her head, but she had been so angry with Sunset that she didn’t care, not until the portal underneath the statue began to react strangely.

Princess Twilight had been basically send flying from the mirror, crashing against Rarity who had been standing in front of the statue, so it was clear that things were not okay and things only got worse when she told them the reason of her visit.

Apparently, Sunset had been so depressed that she had wrote to Twilight for advice at what had happened and boy was the princess mad at them. The way she had begun to tear apart all the things they said; first the reason why they were so sure it was Sunset, how the simple fact that the blog was red and yellow was not enough and if they had any kind of hard evidence that Sunset had done it. When Rainbow and Applejack tried to defend themselves that the photo had come from Sunset’s phone Twilight simply glared at them even harder. That’s when all crumbled once they saw that there was a new Anon-A-Miss post at that moment.

It would be impossible for Sunset to be Anon-A-Miss since she was lost among the multiverse, so it would be a little hard for her to write a new post since she wasn’t even on Earth anymore. Apparently when she wanted to get Princess Twilight’s help with what was going on the mirror began to malfunction and as Sunset stepped inside the mirror, this destabilized and instead of being a connection between Earth and Equestria, well, Twilight wasn’t sure where it could have sent Sunset Shimmer.

From all of them, Fluttershy had been the one that had took it the worst; since Twilight told them what had happened, the shy girl had locked herself on her room and would not come out; last time Rarity and Pinkie had went to her house they could hear her sobbing and was enough to make Pinkie’s usual mess of curls fall flat across her back. Things were definitely crashing down around them and it didn’t help that with Twilight’s worry and rage the school had been all but turned upside down in the search of the real Anon-A-Miss.

Applejack still remembered how Twilight’s eyes were practically shining with repressed anger and disappointment as she spoke inside of the gym to all the students reunited; it made her feel diminutive, and she wasn’t the only one. The fact that they all now knew that Sunset was lost in another dimension while Anon-A-Miss still kept on sending post after post made everyone stop and think about it.

So here they were, with only one explanation of how Anon-A-Miss could get access to Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash’s secrets; it had been so simple, basically in front of their faces the whole time; no wonder Apple Bloom was always trying to convince her that Sunset was Anon-A-Miss. She left the punishment and the full nine yards to her Granny, not that she was off the hook with Granny since she had told her several times to think before acting.

Twilight meanwhile, still as angry as the rest of them about that kind of deception from the three friends, kept on working on the mirror. It was weird, the princess didn’t seem surprised that Apple Bloom and her friends had been the ones behind the whole thing, only disappointed and worried about Sunset. She had started to work on finding where exactly Sunset was almost immediately and haven’t even taken a rest for the last couple of days.

Applejack was taken from her own thoughts after hearing the excited scream of Twilight; immediately standing up from the front stairs, the blonde girl quickly reached Twilight’s side to see what had happened.

“I found it! I found the dimension she felt into!”

“Wait, what? How did you-”

“It was in a book that Starswirl wrote! It basically says that Equestrian magic can be searched across the different realities and each one has their own unique feeling.”

“So you basically used magical radar to search for her?”

“A little bit more complicated than that, but now I know where she is and… what is going on with the mirror?” Looking at the statue’s base they began to see how weird it began to look; instead of the ripple of dark colors, this time it began to vibrate in a deep red color, just before they were caught on a literal deluge of a liquid that had been jettisoned through the portal.

The power of the liquid had been so strong that the two of them had been pushed into the main hall of the school, with other students being victims of the literal tsunami of what seemed like… paint? Once Applejack could get her bearings back she saw that most of her body had been turned red due to the massive wave of paint that had come from the portal and not too far away from her she heard the voice of Rarity who had also been splashed; Applejack didn’t want to imagine the tantrum she will launch due to her clothes being ruined by the paint deluge, but just as she was about to stand up, right underneath her, in the painted floor of the school, two eyes opened up scaring the hell out of Applejack who jumped backwards as from among the paint, a figure appeared as if she had been part of the paint.

A hollering figure, obviously feminine, appeared in front of everyone in the hall; she had what seemed four tentacles working as her hair, with two of them falling across her back, with another two working as bangs across a face that looked human, but still looked alien to her, except… she knew that face, that color… those eyes.

“Yeah, it worked, I did it! I opened the portal by myself!”

“What the ink you mean by doing it yourself!” the young… something looked for something inside her grey and green jacket and took out an old walkie-talkie with what seemed like a cartoonish squid on top of it. So, did that mean the girl was a squid or something similar?

“Oh, shut it Pearl, the only thing you did was be a pain in the behind.”

“Don’t make me cross too and splat your ass all over the map!”

“I swear, the only thing you two do is snark and fight, you two have the weirdest friendship I have ever seen,” another voice came through the walkie-talkie making this as surprising as possible.

“Marina, the midget and I are not friends… oh, hey guys, sorry for all the ink,” that smile, those eyes, even with that weird domino mask-like marks around the eyes, Applejack recognized them.

“Sunset?”

Author's Note

XD
I blame the Nintendo Direct and finally being able to play the game.

Don't get Cooked, Stay Off the Hook - Inkopolis Aquare

First of all, her head was killing her, or at least that’s how it felt since it was the only feeling she had at the moment. She must have been unconscious to feel that disconnected to everything, which also said something about how quickly she recognized that she had been unconscious. Something was for sure, Sunset Shimmer always had an interesting life and this was just another strange chapter on her long series of book filled with bad decisions and faith showing her the middle finger. Blinking several times forcing her brain to start firing up once again, Sunset found out that this time she didn’t have a hangover, so it was not due to alcohol that she was in this situation; again, she knew some things about being unconscious and bad decisions.

Putting her hand over her eyes to fight back the darkness, Sunset quickly noticed something really bizarre about her situation. Now that she was finally awoken more memories were starting to come back to her, among them the fact that she right now shouldn’t even have hands to rub her face. Last thing she could remember was that she had stepped through the portal back into Equestria, so why was she still human? She should have hooves and a horn, not hands with fingers, so what was going on?

Something must have happened with the portal and it malfunctioned, so that means that she was a human on Equestria? Well, that will be something new for her original home and considering how nervous and panic prone ponies were in general, yeah, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to get out and visit Ponyville. The small smile that appeared on her face quickly vanished at the memory of why she was in Equestria now; it seemed that destiny and fate really liked to screw with her at every opportunity.

Whatever the case may be, being depressed wouldn’t help her regain her friends or find the truth behind Anon-A-Miss, so she needed to get up and find Twilight. Well, now that she thought about it, the fact that Princess Twilight was nowhere in sight sent extra alarm bells in her head. Standing up she noticed that her body felt different somehow, more flexible and shorter for some reason and she saw the reason soon when she turned to the left.

She haven’t noticed before, but she wasn’t in Twilight’s castle, in fact, it looked as if she hadn’t left the Human world at all, because there was a shop to her left and it seemed as if she had been thrown into some kind of city plaza or something like that. Inside the shop she could see clothes and other paraphernalia, but they seemed shorter, as if made for kids, but focusing on the reflection, she quickly reached the conclusion that the weird creature looking at her was her reflection.

She looked humanoid, but instead of her usual voluminous hair, she had what seemed like four tentacles that simulated hair; her body seemed more compact and her head was larger, with eyes as big as when she was a pony. I synthesis, it was a good thing Fluttershy wasn’t there because she would have squeaked hard enough to break glass.

Looking closer she could see that she had markings around her eyes, almost like if she was wearing a domino style mask, but the rest of her was the same with the exception of the now peachy pale skin instead of its usual yellow. Same jacket and skirt, but in this case it seemed as if she was wearing spats underneath it like Rainbow, with shorter heeled boots than the normal ones. She was also wearing golden bracelets on both her arms so she looked as stylish as usual, not that it helped her in this regard, since she was still as lost as she had been when she woke up.

So it seemed as if the portal had screwed up and instead of sending her to Ponyville, she was somewhere lost among the alternate realities that were all loosely tied by magic. She may not have enough time to study the magic of the mirrors, but she had enough time to know that the original prototype of Starswirl could connect to different realities, but the one on Twilight’s castle was locked onto one in specific, a world that until now had very little magic.

Looking around her she couldn’t find anything that could be important enough to become the portal back to Canterlot High, not that she knew what could be considered important in this dimension, but just looking at the way the buildings looked and the clothes on sale at the other side of the mirror, it was pretty clear that wherever she was, it had more in common with humans than ponies. It was so modern, so hip and trendy that it made her think of the stores at the mall.

Thinking about the similarities between the two worlds, Sunset checked the pockets on her jacket, finding her cell phone, which by the looks of it had found a hot-spot and could access the internet. Seems that even being another species that just resembled humans didn’t mean that she had to say goodbye to one of the greatest inventions in the history of ever. It also raised more questions that she could write, but if she had internet, then that meant she could check information about the world she was in.

Sunset did realize that she had no way to write to Twilight since she didn’t have her book, but it was dumb to think she will have it with her when it was needed back at the human world to keep the portal open. It was a shame, but she had to work with what she had, so besides her cell phone she found her wallet with all of her ID cards -fake of course, there was no way for her to get the real thing since she was an illegal alien- and also several coins and bank notes. Well, that was weird, because all of them had changed shape, kind of like a dollar, but with a cartoon-like squid instead of an American president; weird and cute all at the same time, reminded her of Equestria.

So it was now clearer for her that what she had become was some sort of evolved squid; weird, but she was originally a pastel colored little pony that had then become a highly evolved primate and now a cephalopod. If she ever decided to write her memories everypony will think they were reading a fantasy novel; now that she thought about it, she could write something and she’ll probably rack up the dough, or maybe draw a comic, after all, she was starting to get better at drawing.

Sunset had to shake her head since at the moment she was in deep trouble, heck, it made Anon-A-Miss a simple annoyance in comparison; yeah, that rotten rumor spreader broke her friendships, but unless she found a way to return to her world, she would be forever separated from the friends she still got, not to mention that like this she had no way of clearing her name.

First, she had to get an idea of where exactly she was, so she began to walk into the plaza, noticing the marvelous displays of fashion and clean architecture that was present everywhere; the day was sunny, with such a nice breeze that mixed with the general vibe and mood of every… squid? It made Sunset stay in awe at the whole place. If she wasn’t as lost as one could possibly be this would be such an amazing opportunity to study everything around her. But, well, even if Sunset was not looking to be part of this squid civilization, the civilization was more than ready to make her part of it.

“OH MY COD! You have to tell me where you got that shirt because I’ve never seen Jelfonzo sell them before,” one squid, apparently female due to her long squid tentacle hair falling over one eye and combination of black skirt and white shirt basically began to rant as she got close to Sunset. Behind her, she could see someone who was obviously her companion due to how he was moving his head from side to side.

“Sara, I think you first need to introduce yourself to someone; sorry, she goes full inkjet when she sees new clothes,” If the way he used his hair, or tentacles, was any indication, alongside his facial structure, this squid was a boy. He was using what seemed this world’s version of jeans and a blue shirt with a long sleeved white shirt underneath it also looked stylish; wherever she was, it seemed that fashion was as important as in the human world.

“Oh, no problem, I had a friend that was like this with clothes and, well, I didn’t buy at… Jelfonzo you said? No, it was another store.”

“Oh, so it was Jelonzo then? So that means you are from the other side of Inkopolis?” Inkopolis? Really? What was it with puns that every single society used them to name places?

“Nah, I got them on a store that went belly up,” oh cod, now she was doing it! Fortunately what she said seemed to be a normal phrase since the squid kids didn’t react to her, except that the girl simply pouted in disappointment.

“Oh boo, I wanted to get a shirt like that, the sun logo is totally awesome by the way; oh well, I’m Sara Dine and this ray of sunshine behind me is Matt Tidal,” the squid kid lazily waved at her and she found Sara’s peppiness contagious, she could imagine how much Matt had to do to contain all that energy.

“I’m Sunset.”

“Ah, I see, no wonder that shirt looks so good on you, it combos with your name, that is so off the hook!”

“If you know what’s good for you, don’t encourage her to start with puns, once she starts you will not be able to shut her up.”

“Oh, come on, my puns kraken you up and you know it,” the banter between the two was starting to get silly and Sunset enjoyed it, considering that she had been pushed aside for the last couple of days by Canterlot High, to be treated this well by people she haven’t met before.

“They can make me laugh and I hate that fact, anyway, since Sara here liked your clothes she is probably gonna want to talk with ya about them for a long time, so, want to get something to eat? I just got out of a Turf War and I’m hungry.”

“Matt, you move away from your couch and you get hungry, so don’t blame some good exercise for your usual stomach rumblings,” well, this will be interesting, so what exactly do this squids eat? And what the kale was a Turf War?

Author's Note

Matt's name is a pun of a real squid that existed in the Jurassic period called Ammonitida, so Ammonitida - Matt Tidal.

Sara's pun is way more in the face, but still funny, I mean, Sardine - Sara Dine

There's something about Splatoon that makes me wanna use tons of puns.

Don't get Cooked, Stay Off the Hook - First Friends

It was so familiar and at the same time so weird for Sunset to be walking on this place, not only because everyone looked human, or at least close to human that she could be mistaken of what they were, but the way in which the whole plaza looked brought her memories of the huge hub centers of teenage action that were found everywhere in the human world. She may have been something of an anti-social rebel when she was CHS biggest bully, but even back then she knew how important those places were to everyone back home.

Inkopolis looked like the human world, but at the same it was so new and exhilarating to see all the places these squid-like kids spend their free time; it was a well-lighted zone, with tall buildings and while it wasn’t filled to the gills with teenagers it was obvious how popular the place was due to the conditions of the stores and how clean the whole place was. Stores showing their wares and shelves heavy with the fashion of the week, with stylish shirts, shows and headgear that even for someone new to this world were eye-catching and tantalizing.

Young squids, probably the same age that she currently was, probably at least, were walking around, looking at the stores or simply passing time at the tables with their cellphones; in other words, nothing was different this time around, no huge difference between worlds. Was it like this almost everywhere else? She may only have a brief experience of portal creation, but it seemed that depending on where you used the mirror it send you to dimension resembling the one you were from.

If she ever had the chance to check it, she will get in contact with Twilight and check it out, but for now, it seemed that she was in for a ride and she was getting excited alongside being nervous and scared of being trapped in another universe; never a boring day in the life of Sunset Shimmer, since apparently the whole multiverse got a kick… got an ink? She will get to have better at her pun game, but it got an ink of messing with her at every change.

At her side, Sara kept rambling about the store she loved, which was apparently a big deal among… inklings? Was that the name? So, she was apparently a big fan of what Jelfonzo, the guy she was talking about was doing with his store; apparently she liked the way he talked, with Thou and Thy everywhere in his vocabulary; he sounded like Princess Luna when she came back to Equestria according to what Twilight had told her. Also, the guy was apparently a jellyfish, which made the name be more puntastic than before.

She wanted to keep on thinking about what she could do to go back to her world or maybe get a word in the one sided conversation, when something incredibly tempting happened, something that could take everyone out their thoughts immediately and lose track of whatever the kelp they were talking about. It was the smell of something deep fried and enough grease to make Rarity gag and exclaim how unladylike it was to eat at a place filled with so many calories; in synthesis, the perfect food for Sunset.

What was in front of Sunset was something so completely mind-blowing that she had to blink a couple of times just to take it all; after all, how many times have you seen a giant prawn be in charge of a food truck before? Not only that, the guy had a hat backwards as if to say, yeah squid, I’m cool, complete with what seemed like a full body coat that resembled a bread coat as if he himself had been deep fried too, and what a smell it was emanating from the yellow truck, sending the aroma of condiments and friend food everywhere, enough to make Sunset’s stomach grumble; it was heavy on oil and you could almost hear how food popped and fizzed while still hot, so yes, it was something that made her blink and fight back the desire to drool, or ink probably.

Apparently she must have stayed standing there looking at the truck for a long time because both Sara and Matt stopped to look at her, but not quite sure what was going on, what with Crusty Sean and his truck being now a staple in the square.

“You okay there Sunset?” Sara was obviously worried about the new inkling, what with her face now having lost momentarily the smile that Sunset felt was almost a permanent resident in that face. She hasn’t known the squid girl for long, but the redheaded squid was touched by the friendliness of these two squids.

“Yeah, just… a couple of things in my mind, that’s all,” she tried to give them a smile, but mostly came up as a grimace; being around people this friendly just made her remember the reason why she jumped into the portal.

“Well, those couple of things must be heavy because they're giving you a frown,” the squid girl walked to Sunset’s side and put a hand on her shoulder “I may talk a lot, but I can shut up for long enough to listen to other inkling’s problems,” alongside the huge grin in Sara’s face, Sunset was already feeling better thanks to these stranger’s kindness.

“Thanks Sara, maybe I should, but let me tell you, you won’t believe a thing I will say.”

“We won’t know until you tell us, but take your time, there is no pressure, besides, we have the whole day free; maybe we can even have a little Turf War to help you feel better.”

“Matt, when someone is down they don’t get instantly okay just because they start inking things around them.”

“It works with me.”

“If everysquid was as laidback as you, the sea would be a better place for sure,” an inkling sitting down at a table interrupted their banter, but by the looks of the other two inklings, it was clear that this one was a friend of them. She seemed to be an inkling girl who had a hairstyle similar to Sunset, but with no back tentacle hair, just two long tentacles falling at each side of her head, but alongside her black long sleeved t-shirt she had a pair of black rimmed thick glasses.

“Nami! Why didn‘t you tell us you were going to be free today? I thought you had work today."

“Hey Sara, yeah, but the boss got a new part-timer so I only had half a turn this time; who’s the kid with you? Please don’t tell me that she followed you home and you want to keep her,” due to the way in which the girl was smirking it was clear who the jokester in the group was.

“Come on, that was only once, and it was a cute snail!”

“That snail lives better than me, it even has its own chair,” snail? Like in sea snail? What the kelp? So everything was sea-base instead of mammal or something? “But for real, who’s the kid?”

“Sure, Sunset Shimmer, meet our good friend Nami Bara,” the purple haired inkling in the table waved lazily before going back to her phone, so without any delay, the trio also took seats around Nami, probably to rest a bit and get ready to order something.

“So, where do you come from kiddo? Never seen you before around this place, and considering this Plaza is the most chic place to be, it is peculiar to see somesquid like you around looking as if they were lost,” so not only was she good with jokes, she was also perceptive and right to the point, just perfect.

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll believe what is going on with me.”

“Like I said, you won’t know that until you tell us what’s happening,” Matt and Sara were looking at her, not waiting for her to spill up, they were just there, keeping her company; maybe that was all Sunset needed to open up with them.

“I’m… from another dimension; I fell here when there was a problem back home and I don’t know if I’ll be able to find my way home,” for a couple of seconds nothing happened before a voice broke the tension.

“Wow, that story is absolutely INKcredible,” the groans and eye-rolling following that remark was all the proof Sunset needed to know those kinds of puns were not new for Sara “so you are from another universe? If it wasn’t so sad it would be amazing!”

“Wait, that’s it? You believe me just like that?”

“Sunset, I just met you, but even from where I was sitting I could see that you looked like a fish out of water, pardon the pun; you kept looking around as if everything was new, you clearly had no idea what a Turf War is even though every single Inkling participates in them and most importantly, you looked at Crusty as if it were a monster or an alien, so yeah, is obvious that you are not from here, so what happened?” and it was that easy, so Sunset told them what happened, or at least a short version, telling them about her studying in a world connected by a portal to her original home, just not the parts that they didn’t need to know, like when she was a bully or Anon-A-Miss.

“Geez, you kid have it rough, but if you need our help you have it,” both Sara and Matt nodded at the words of their friend, before the inkling boy’s eyes lighted up and a big smile appeared on his face.

“Matt, what is it?”

“You know what this means?”

“No, but I have a bad feeling about this,” Sara turned to look at Nami, but she had a hand over her face.

“We can get her first Splattershot!” why did Sunset have a bad feeling about this?

Author's Note

The new girl's name is not as puntastic as the others, but Nami means wave in Japanese while Bara comes from Barracuda.

The Will of Fire 06: Fear the Medic

“In what way am I going to have fun today?” there was a swagger in the movements of Sunset Shimmer that always surprised the blonde boy and that came from a brat that surprised every single shinobi and civilian in the city. Naruto was unpredictable, due not only to his bombastic and impish nature, but also because he was trained by a master in the art of deception and manipulation, so in turn, it made his way of living and fighting that more wild, almost leaving it up to luck sometimes with the way in which he jumped into chaos and rumbles.

Naruto was weird, sure, but he wasn’t careless and, while many people in the academy may thought so, he wasn’t an idiot; he had grown since those days in which he just ran everywhere doing pranks and bothering every single person he could find, making everyone turn around and look at him; sure, they saw him as a nuisance and a bother, but it was better than the sea of countless citizens ignoring him at every step; he existed even if he was the number one problem in Konoha. Those days had been gone thanks to the woman walking in front of him and the way in which she went through life never caring what others thought of her.

He had understood about life and what it meant to be a family thanks to Sunset Shimmer, which according to the redhead, it was merely by accident. He had a home, he had food, and he had people that will not only look at him, but take their time to listen to him and offer him tips and help from time to time. He finally understood that what he desired the most wasn’t the attention of everyone, it was to be part of a family, which he had been able to get in the end. But this time, watching the way in which Sunset walked, how she was whistling to herself and the small smile that had found its place on her lips, well, he was starting to fear for his life.

Naruto was brave, but like I said, he wasn’t stupid; many times across the years he had been living with Sunset he understood the dangerous parts of Sunset’s mind and how much of a sadist she could be when there was something interesting in front of her, and being his team’s teacher would probably allow her to do stuff that wasn’t sanctioned by most treaties in the outside world.

One look at his pink haired teammate made him realize that he wasn’t the only one that was worried about their immediate fate. If there was one shinobi that he never thought he would get to know that well would be Haruno Sakura; pink traces of fine silk as hair and the mind of a genius, Sakura was as much of an oddity as Naruto himself, with almost no aptitude for big and flashy techniques, but the subtlety to use small illusions and tricks in ways many shinobi never thought possible. If there was one ninja he could trust in the battlefield it would be Sakura. Sure, in terms of tactics and ruthlessness there was Ino, for crowd control and devastation there was TenTen and finesse and healing was more Hinata’s gift, but Sakura could keep up with them.

So to see Sakura as nervous as he was, well, it just made every single alarm bell just go off inside his blonde head; of course he knew that Sunset wouldn’t kill them, but that still left a long list of things that she COULD do to them. While most shinobi will gladly show off their power in flashy jutsus, as Sunset told them many times, she was much more subtle, with a lot of finesse in the way of ‘How to Fuck Up your Opponent in the Most Horrible Way’ type of fighting, so seeing her so merry was not how he wanted to start his career as a cool ninja.

Seeing his other companion in this torture, well, he just couldn’t feel guilty about it, I mean, it was Uchiha Sasuke so there was no way in which he could feel guilty about the future torture that will fall upon him. So he was the last of the Uchiha, well, that was sad, but the way in which he just went everywhere with such a huge cloud of gloom and doom following him, well, it left a bad taste on his mouth, not to mention the way in which he talked about everyone that wasn’t him; it was as if he was reading some bad stereotypical novels about dark and moody heroes; for all Naruto knew he could be taking ideas from them to look even gloomier.

“So, my tender and expendable minions, you may be wondering what are you three delicious morsels doing in this place at this time of the day; well, the answer to that question is, well, the last step to become genin,” no person should be that cheery saying those words.

“Okay, question, aren’t we supposed to be already genin?” Of course it was Sakura the one who was brave enough to ask that one.

“Wrong, that’s only you getting your diplomas and all that thing from kiddy school, you aren’t yet ninjas of Konoha,” Sunset kept saying with that smile that just spelled great danger to them, but apparently Sasuke wasn’t that familiar with the redhead’s behavior because he was still as approachable as a porcupine.

“So what kind of test are you proposing? Some kind of challenge?” it happened so fast, even to the blonde boy who was the most familiar with Sunset’s ability and techniques, it was too fast; one moment she was standing there by the river, the next Sasuke was flying through the air before crashing down with blood erupting form his nose. As the body flew through the air, Naruto and Sakura were rooted in their places. They felt as if their bodies had been turned into stone, their heart pumping and their minds short-circuiting by what they were seeing.

Right there, standing in the place where Sasuke was standing a second ago, was the Red Nightmare of Konoha, a face smiling like a demon straight out of hell. Naruto wasn’t a fool, he knew that his older sister was as human as him, but it was killing intent that was oozing out of Sunset’s body powerful enough to make the young genin stay paralyzed in fear.

“The challenge is to stay away from me, because if I catch you, well, I will get test dummies for my new serums,” looking at the several needles in Sunset’s hands and the liquid present inside of them gave Naruto all the motivation he needed to disappear from the clearing alongside the other two genin.

Author's Note

Now, let's go practice some medicine, shall we?

Hero of Peace and Paperclips?

Rainbow Dash had something in mind when it came to working for the government as a spy, something like being a James Bond and going around the world, saving people and looking awesome while doing it. The truth was that most of the time, work was either boring or stressful enough to give you early heart problems; and really, Sunset never got used to desk work, no matter the company or the branch she could work for, she was a field research; she loved to be outside and do something instead of staying inside reading and storing documents. There was no middle point with her new job and she couldn’t be happier about it, no matter how worried Princess Twilight was about her.

While Princess Twilight had her school and she was able to make her little bookworm dreams reality, the redhead couldn’t see herself working for royalty now that she could move everywhere in the world and Do stuff. As much as she loved her old friend, she knew that being a teacher was not for her, no matter how much Twilight imagined all her friends working alongside her, right now she had important things to do.

Now that she thought about working, the way she acted and thought was probably the main reason why Sunset could never maintain a job for very long in the human world. It was either because she had to keep something under control magically or due to a co-worker’s stupidity, nothing was a challenge or that the work was menial and mindless, something that she abhorred about all else.

Most of the time, companies that were working on stuff Sunset did found interesting, like new usage of materials, new machines or theoretical work about electronics, would be used for things that she was not very comfortable with. The one thing that put Sunset over the limit was how a simple alloy, which had been created thanks to Sunset’s work, would be used to modify existing guns on the market. All of that done by a very unscrupulous chairman, who told his workers that he was dealing with a government branch; surprise, surprise, it was all just a ruse to get himself a lot of money by making weapons to extremists, but in the end was found out by an anonymous source -of course it was Sunset- and that same chairman found himself with international trouble.

It was close, but in the end the guy was send to jail, although he was only charge a million dollars and a year of prison. What happened next was that all his millions were stolen and many charities across the world soon found that they had been gifted a very nice donation. That’s when Sunset’s life changed; all because of a woman with deep green hair who walked up to Sunset and offered a new way to bring justice to the world.

The group called Phoenix Foundation for Research was obviously just a disguise, considering the kind of budget they could work with, which left Sunset even more curious about why they would recruit her. Not that she was nervous about being investigated for the chairman’s loss of money and company; after all, she had covered the whole thing extremely well.

Phoenix Foundation had enough workers around that it seemed like a combination of research center and normal everyday company. So what was the thing that truly hit alarm bells on her head? The fact that Vice-Principal Luna of all people was waiting for them on the office of the director of the group, still with that same professionalism that made her the terror of halls and parking lots in CHS.

Apparently, Luna and Chrysalis had been roommates back in college and kept their friendship, even when one turned to education and the other to national and international Security. In the end, it was clear that both women wanted something, but unlike other people and ponies around, the only thing they wanted was Sunset’s help and expertise in every day cases. Nothing bizarre, just beating some terrorists or extremists or corrupt and dangerous targets. No big deal.

So that’s how she was here, in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, miles away from the nearest town, as she saw lights being up in a place where things shouldn’t even exist; there were rocks, sand, people walking around and way too many guns for people to be calm. The good thing about being in a place that far away, well, there is not much in the sense of electricity, beyond using some generators that were obviously being used for lights, not for alarms or any kind of security measures beyond the eyes of guards that took too long in their routes to see a redheaded woman move around.

And there she went, into a tent that had been conspicuously left alone by many people, with quite the modern work of art in terms of war right in the middle of it, with its sleek body; Sunset had found the one thing in this world that had a temper even more explosive than hers, which was fun and at the same time terrorizing; thankfully for everyone that enjoyed sunny days and being alive in general, the whole thing was rather easy to take apart.

It would be a little hilarious to think that after opening a side panel with a Swiss army knife, you could take out the truly dangerous part of the missile; sure, it could still fly and explode, but it was that small cylinder in her hands the one thing that could hurt so many people. Sunset hated chemical and biological weapons with a passion, so getting this bad boy was alright to her.

So what was next? How was she going to escape from this dangerous place? Well, you see, there was something else that she was planning on and that was to get someone to get her out of the danger; easier said than done sadly, but with just the right combination of physics and a very sturdy wrench, the guy that had the enviable job of being a guard went done pretty easy.

Taking off the blindfold from his face, Sunset could see that indeed, Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle were siblings; it was mostly the eyes, but you could see the semblance. So it was with great surprise that Shining stood up and quietly followed Sunset; he knew her as one of her sister’s friends, but to see her in another country was as mysterious as the reason why she came to get him. So far nobody knew he had been captured, so why was she here?

The mystery was even bigger when after getting on an all-terrain vehicle Sunset pressed a button; it was the sound of a car alarm being activated and then, an explosion rocked the place, making people with arms try to get close to them or at least follow them in their own vehicles, just for them to stop. Seeing all the destruction Sunset sagged on the vehicle seat and sighed in relief.

Author's Note

By following logic, since I do love to make conseccutive worls withing a theme, which one do you think is next?

The Knight Rides Again 01

It was clear and sunny, with just enough breeze around to make this day perfect for going out and explore the city, something she had done many times since she arrived at Earth and became a permanent resident among human beings. That was mostly due to the fact Sunset was usually busy saving lives, studying for something or helping her friends in their wacky and unpredictable plans across the city of Canterlot to play the role of tourist. Now that she thought about it, she never really tried to see much of Equestria while she still lived at the other side of the portal, although the reasons she had back then were completely different to the reasons and responsibilities that she had now; oh the changes that could happen through the years.

Now that Sunset was out of High School and ready to step into the strange and unknown world that was college, Sunset had decided to take some time for herself and step outside of her known world, so she went gallivanting to the far out corners of the world; well, not really, she just decided to take a look at places she could find on Canterlot.

For having living in the city for several years already Sunset knew very little of the city beyond the group’s usual hanging places, like the mall, sugarcube corner and other half a dozen places the girls and her liked to spend time chatting. This time it wasn’t like that and Sunset had been visiting museums, places of local importance or where famous people used to live in; in the end it had been… fun, no, seriously. While most teenagers would have found her activity boring, Sunset had an appreciation to historical places more than historical documents; she also knew that if she had invited Princess Twilight over, the bookish royal would have tried to spend most of their time inside a library instead of walking everywhere and enjoy the simple act of visiting new places.

As her tour of the city went on, Sunset had found out an old house that haven’t been advertised in any brochure; instead, Sunset had spent some time online and found out about it thanks to some old photos of several decades ago. She could see a house and something about a Knight Foundation, which had disappeared 17 years ago. Apparently the house was still up, but with no real owner or a will, the foundation had simply ceased to exist after the owner of the house died, or that’s what most articles talking about it went.

To no surprise for those that knew Sunset Shimmer, she quickly took her things and went on a trip, finding the house almost intact; sure, the paint was chipped and there were several graffiti tags across the exterior, once she got inside, things were pretty much what she thought. It was an abandoned building with no security and suspiciously abandoned with no signs of vagrancy or anything at all; it was as if everyone that lived inside the city had taken their things and, just disappeared, leaving the place behind, it was as if the building had been static, frozen in time until the time someone could bring life back to it.

Sunset rolled her eyes at that idea, finding it too poetic and silly for her, but it was true that the place was simply amazing, with not even signs of being looted or robbed, so why? At first Sunset thought that maybe the place was haunted, but there was no sign of magic or anything supernatural about the place, so maybe it was just pure luck that the building had been left intact.

Inside, things were just like the patio, just with more dust accumulated on top of everything, but, it was eye-catching indeed, with many of the original furniture still present under thick plastic sheet; among the old luxury and good taste it was almost funny to see something as common as those things protecting invaluable heirlooms, but Sunset decided to leave them be, after all, she was only passing by and she had no desire of removing the plastic or mess around with the place; Sunset was only trying to understand all she could of her home and this was a pretty interesting place after all.

She didn’t want to stay for long, after all, she was sure there were several laws she was breaking by the mere act of breaking into the abandoned building, so after some sightseeing normal of a curious tourist, she was ready to abandon the place and leave the place rest, when the floor underneath Sunset disappeared. Well, to be precise, a section of the floor finally gave up after years of rot and humidity, plunging Sunset into a hidden underground level in the building.

So, there she went, falling into the darkness, taking her completely by surprise, first landing on top of metal and then bouncing into the hard floor, leaving her dizzy for several seconds; quickly checking to see if nothing was broken and thankful for having a body that was more resistant than the normal human being, Sunset Shimmer quickly dusted herself and stood gawking at what she had found underneath Knight Foundation.

It was a hidden research lab by the looks of it, with rows of computers running along one wall, while in another section of the place there were machines and dozens of tools that made something click inside Sunset’s brain; this wasn’t just a research lab, this was also a garage and those two things were probably connected.

While it was a still a little dark due to being underground, the hole in the upper floor was like a spotlight, slightly giving Sunset some much needed light, letting her see the unbelievable amount of dust gathered after years of inattention. Jokes aside, everything looked dated, yes, but it was a still impressive due to the amount of work that must have been done on it. So what was this place? Because, this side of the Foundation was never mentioned in the articles, or the kind of technology that the place had at their disposition; if this thing was made on the eighties, this place had the best technology for the time. Sure, right now that technology was left behind by newer and more powerful computers, but back then this place must been like working at NASA in terms of technology.

After spending some time gawking at everything in sight, Sunset began to search for anything that could be useful, which in this case was a large lever that after being pulled down, it made a whole section of the place light up; it were a collection of computers on a semicircle, all around a huge object that was protected under another plastic sheet, this one more like a whole tent due to its size, so what was it that it was so important; even more mysterious was the fact that it could be powered up.

Walking closer to the consoles she began to look for information, being able to work with them, even though it was very old technology; thankfully, the interface was easy to understand, quickly firing up the system. A minute later, Sunset saw the archives and the huge amount of data still recorded inside the console with one file being the most important from the rest.

“Let’s see, Knight Industries Two Thousand? What the hell is this thing? Well, there is a lot of different blueprints in here, so whatever they were doing here was pretty important to them, but what is this Knight In- I’ll just call it KITT; so, what is it?” whatever could be found inside the computers, Sunset decided to leave it for later, right now she had to see what was hidden underneath that sheet and after pulling it from atop the object, Sunset had to whistle. Sure, it wasn’t in one piece and there were many things missing, but this was starting to excite her “I don’t know what they were doing here, but this is one cool car.”

Author's Note

I used to watch Knight Rider all the time when I was a kid and I still love the heck out of the original one.

Let's Go Rider Kick 06

They say that third time is the charm, not that she knew what they meant with that phrase since she always did things at the first and when she didn’t, well, she took her time to learn and get everything just right; it was this time that she finally understood what humans meant with that phrase, because for the third time since she got her hands on the belt on her waist, she had been able to transform.

While the action of transforming into something else was not new to the ex-unicorn mare, this was an extreme version of what she had already done several times; first was turning into human, then into a she-demon, then she got pony ears and then that strange alicorn-like transformation using the power of the Elements of Harmony, so, now that she thought about it, she had been taking a lot of different forms since she got back her magic.

Still, what she knew was that she had an amazing affinity to new and extremely variant sources of power; unlike Princess Twilight, who besides gaining wings permanently, had the Rainbow Power which they used a grand total of once, Sunset Shimmer had been able to gain more and more powers as things went on. The belt on her waist was the true testament of how her life had changed in terms of power and energy capable of defeating her opponents; and she thought she had reached the pinnacle of magical power when she saved Twilight back at the Friendship Games, now she was standing in the middle of a forest after fighting one of the owners of the camp who had transformed into some kind of plant monstrosity. When her life did become so chaotic? Maybe when she decided to jump into the mirror, but considering her fate, maybe the problems started even before that.

Taking the radar from belt, the suit around her body dissolved into fine mist, evaporating as if it didn’t exist from the beginning, showing a tired teenager underneath the suit; this was a girl that had been waiting for some relaxation among trees, lake and friends, but instead the only thing she got was fighting and more headaches that were necessary. The white, immaculate device was as mysterious now as when it was changed into this form, but with one click on the side, the device opened like before, but instead of absorbing and storing magic, this time the interior had changed.

Moments prior to Gardenia’s transformation, Sunset had seen a strange set of crystals hanging from her neck, which in truth gave her the same kind of feeling than the Dazzlings when they arrived at CHS. At this point in time, it was clear that those crystals had the power of Equestria inside of them, but for what reason and what was their purpose? Well, if Sunset knew something was the fact that wizards back in Equestria liked to get rid of things by throwing them into the human world, with no after thought to the creatures already living in this world.

Inside her device now sat comfortable one of those crystals, one that was shining red if she looked at it and focused; around it, making a full circle around the interior of the device, there were another six places for crystals too. Sunset snorted, knowing full well that those crystals were connected to her friends and her, it was too much of a coincidence to have seven crystals lying around with colors that matched those of the Elements of Harmony, although, she was a confused about why there were seven and not six; was her magic part of this too for some reason? If that was correct, then that meant the mystery was getting bigger, with not only monsters appearing, but now the Elements of Harmony?

“Hey Shouichi! You still in Japan?... Is because I saw Agito, or at least an Agito… yeah, I’m here with another Rider apparently… I don’t know, but I’m curious about it… yeah, I’ll keep in contact with you,” the mind with the wild hair, and apparently also a wild Rider, hanged on the phone; he had been talking in Japanese so Sunset had no idea who he was talking to, except something about an Agito, whatever the hell that meant “you kid, you are the one fighting these monsters?” then he switched to very good English; considering what Sunset had seen from videos that Rainbow had shown her in YT, most Japanese people had some serious trouble learning English.

“This is, well, the third time they appeared, but I still have no idea what is going on,” Sunset hated being in the unknown about something, which explained why she had become so obsessed with the mirror in the first place.

“We all start like that, with some degrees of confusion apart between some of us,” he said pointing at the belt that was still present on his waist; unlike the one in Sunset’s waist, this one was one piece, a green brilliant jewel mounted in what looked like pure gold; it gave an air of mysticism instead of technology and magic like Sunset’s.

“Us? I saw you transform, but I have no idea of what’s going on, I don’t even know what this thing is!”

“I guess it was lucky that I came to America then, you have no idea how horrible it is to transform with no idea of how or why; wish there was someone that could explain it to me when I gained this power, but I’m here for you. We are Kamen Riders, but that’s the only thing in common that we have kid.”

“Yeah, I heard that name; I am Kamen Rider Yujo.”

“Harmony? Well, I guess it is a better name than Gills, but I guess there is someone that can help you more with your belt than me.”

“But you are a Rider too!”

“And? One thing you will have to understand quickly is that Riders appear for different reasons and with different goals too; some become Riders because of evolution, due to technology or genetical and mechanical experiments; because of humanity or civilizations forgotten by all. Come, I think you better listen to the Professor about this,” the blonde man said as they walked back into the camp, where Filthy Rich, who had recovered after his encounter with the Spider monsters, was discussing something with a still shaken Timber and a short redheaded woman with a braid reaching her back.

“You see miss-”

“I suppose if you want to be technical, it would be Doctor, but most people call me Professor Saotome these days,” the short woman said with a full grin in her beautiful face; as she smiled, her blue eyes seemed to sparkle in glee which contrasted heavily with the scowling Filthy and the still shocked Timber.

“And you are here because?” Filthy did not like this woman, after all, she was getting in the middle of a very juicy business of his and he hated when people got in the middle of one of his plans.

“You see Filthy-”

“I prefer to be called Mister Rich.”

“Like I said, Filthy, is that I will pay for all the debt that Mister Spruce and his sister had accumulated through the years.”

“And the reason for this generosity?”

“Oh no, this is not just because I like the Camp, which I do, believe me, but is more in terms of research; my company is very interested in making a permanent research lab in this place due to the high amount of energy concentration in this part.”

“You company?”

“Oh yes, Green Queen Laboratories, maybe you have heard of it?” The woman asked as she adjusted slightly her thin spectacles while the grin in her face never left her face.

Gundam Corona: First Episode

The perimeter was secure according to the computer, not that Button Mash trusted completely on what was displayed; he may be young he knew that enemies could come up from anywhere these days. As the war became worst and worst and more people were put in danger, everyone had to be more careful and keep their eyes open, that’s why Button felt way more nervous this time around. It was one thing to practice in the simulation vehicle, spending hour after hour getting in synch with his own vehicle, but it was different to be inside a real cockpit, inside a real Mechanized Army System; the weight in the controls had been the jolt Button needed to know he wasn’t in a simulation and that the dangers were real.

Although Button was nervous, he got comfort in the fact that he was using one of the greatest weapons that the Earth Government had developed to fight the rebels; the Gundam Arcana that had been given to him was one of the greatest MAS units ever created and it was given to him. It was clear that the army was expecting great things from him, basically giving him a one of a kind weapons and saying, go get them tiger; it made the young boy feel like a hero, like a kid on one of his videogame, being chosen by fate to save the world; it was scary, but it was a feeling that Button enjoyed, knowing that the world depended on him and that he was not going to let them down.

Maybe he should have been careful with what he thought, after all, Murphy was a telepath and his law will always find a way to screw you over. So with that said, Button’s systems were in high alert in a second, making every single unit guarding the harbor react, looking everywhere and asking for instructions from the control tower. Just as one of the MAS began to prepare for the eventuality of finding the enemy, the head of the humanoid robot was blown away, making the metal tower tilt over until it felt down; a second later, in front of Button, the MAS began to caught fire and then, it exploded, sending debris flying through the open harbor and flames through the air.

Quickly, the dozen soldiers, minus the one that had died, began to search and scan for the sniper that had taken their ally down when other enemies appeared on the battlefield. It was a white and purple MAS unit alongside a dirt colored one with camo print; with two low legs with tank treads and a flat body, it was a quick recon unit that had been heavily modified due to the two Gatling guns mounted on the sides; it was basically a tank that could move fast across the battlefield and it made a display of it by the two Puppy-Type units quickly running across the harbor and opening fire with their guns, ripping apart several of the MAS that were still unprepared for the quick advancement of the troops.

Button started the twin engines on the back of his Gundam and gained altitude, using his own machine gun to answer back, making the tan Puppy-type stop to avoid the barrage of lead that Button was sending, but instead of finding the target in his shoots, the enemy simply veered away from the open sections of the hangar and began to zigzag around the streets.

Just as Button was about to keep the chase something behind him caught his attention; alarms appeared on several monitors inside his cockpit while red lights activated. Button had never seen that kind of reaction on the simulation before and didn’t know what was going on until from the sea, like a monster from a movie, a figure rose from the depths sending water everywhere and making his pause mid-flight due to the sheer disbelief of what he and the other soldiers were seeing.

A tall metallic MAS with armor painted blue, white and red with a humanoid face, the mouth hidden and in the top a crown like the unit being used by Button; this was no mass produced unit, this was a Gundam too, one that didn’t lose time, quickly moving after the units that haven’t chased after the two Puppy-type MAS. In a flash, it took its machine gun and began to attack, reaching two of them in the initial attack and then -much to the surprise of Button who have started to follow the Gundam- it used a tread system like the Puppy and began to move even faster across the battlefield.

Button knew this was the moment where he will show he was the hero, that he, Button Mash, could defeat the enemy and save the Earth from dangerous terrorist and rebels; using his machine gun, he began to follow the Gundam, but once again he was surprised when instead of being hit and maybe slowed down, the Gundam quickly moved around, as if it already knew where Button was going to attack, moving across the streets and as he dodged, taking apart all units that were close to it.

Once the Gundam stopped, it alongside the two Puppy-type units were the only ones that had survived the short battle, with only Button surviving, but it was alright, sometimes the hero had to fight alone to show his true power, sadly for Button, this was not an anime or a videogame, also, he had forgotten about the sniper since the next shot from afar went through one of the engines that kept him in the air. Like a block of lead, the Gundam Arcana was send plummeting against the concrete floor of the harbor.

Once Button recovered consciousness, he knew that the Gundam had suffered damage on its systems as several monitors showed incomplete code or had bugged; knowing he had no other option he got out of his cockpit, with gun in hand, ready to defend his land, but the moment he stepped outside everything he wished or dreamed ceased to exist as a bullet went through his forehead and came out as quickly as it entered, sending grey matter behind him.

As the body collapsed, Sunset Shimmer put the gun back on its holster and jumped down from her opened cockpit; as she did that she heard the two Puppy units opening two with both Rarity and Gilda coming outside with her now that all enemy units had been dispatched. The redhead kneeled across the young boy’s corpse and checked his wrist, quickly finding the bar code and number underneath it that had been tattooed on the boy.

“What did you find Sunset?” the southern heavy voice came from the trio’s communicator.

“One of Button’s clones was using the flying unit, nice shot by the way AJ,” if there was one thing Sunset was tired of was seeing clones of kids being used in the battlefield, sadly she knew that Cinch will continue to use them since they were cheap to make and even faster to send to the front. If there was one thing she knew about Cinch was that she didn't see clones as people, merely more tools to use.

“Well, guess these idiots didn’t even know what the hell they were doing here,” the tall and imposing girl known as Gilda said as she kicked one of the legs of the red humanoid MAS that the Button clone was using “I don’t think they even knew that this thing is a fake,” she said as she began to laugh aloud, clearly finding the whole thing hilarious.

“I don’t know about you darling, but making your soldiers believe you are being defended by a Gundam is low enough that I can believe it was done by design by Cinch,” Rarity had a keen eye for details and after the last few years she had grown used to different MAS types and could recognize them; not only that, but she was good enough to see differences in them and even if they had adjustments or upgrades “to make Orga engines look like Psylon ones is bad enough, but to remodel an old Valhalla-Unit and make it look like a Gundam, that is low.”

“Well, Gundams are expensive to make, so I suppose she wanted to use them as decoys in a battle; that alongside the clones are a cheap source of manpower that Cinch can then exploit across the planet.”

“Remind me to put a bullet on the good fer nothin’ bitch,” Applejack’s words didn’t surprise them, after all, the rest of the group all had the same dream, maybe one day it will become reality. But for now, they something more important to do and that was to finish the mission, first finding the Hangar that they were looking for and then opening it up after seeing if there were any traps or hidden dangers.

As the doors of the hangar were open, the three girls, with Applejack getting closer now that she didn’t have to keep her sniping position, found dozens of kids, all of them scared at the sound of the door being opened, but soon their faces showed relief and in some of them there was true happiness as they saw the symbol on the girl’s uniform. It was a horse, standing on its two back legs, proud and powerful; it was the symbol of those that had survived the initial destruction of the Canterlot School Colony.

The year is 065 EF, 65 years after Earth’s Fall; space had become the home of Humanity, but not in every planet that they colonized things were okay. With the galaxy such a big place, there was no way to get a centralized government so every colony was independent. In the world that many have called Equestria, things had gone from bad to worse; with a massive war erupting between three different governments and the war’s conclusion still far away. Two years ago, Canterlot School Colony had been one of the first casualties in the war and things had become grim since then, with civilians being left undefended by tyrants and conquerors; now, in a war scarred world, Sunset and the rest of her friends kept fighting to protect others and to one day, stop the war for good.

On the main ship of the Canterlot survivors, things were starting to get hectic as they began to prepare transportation to the kids that they had saved from becoming soldiers at the hand of Cinch. One of those that were in the bridge, one Twilight Sparkle knew very well how dangerous the woman obsessed with her Legacy and winning the war could be, she knew very well as she kept looking at her wrist and the code bar on her arm with the number 136 tattooed underneath it.

Author's Note

Yeah, a lot darker than I usually do in this anime like chapters, but it was fun and something that I have been planing for a long time. So for those of you that wanted more mecha, here it is one and I had a lot of fun creating the lore of this dimension.

Ifare confused or want to know more about the world, remember that in Gundam, you never get everything on the first chapter, sometimes not until way later if it was written right.

Call me Beep me 05: Front Row Tickets

“Who would think that a crop top and cargo pants will look good on a redhead? I mean, with this hair color I’ll prefer other options as a mission item, what kind of moron will think it will look good?” The more Sunset Shimmer talked, the more Kimberly Anne Possible wanted to start screaming while throttling her neck, but she couldn’t do that, after all, she had been educated to be polite and to keep her temperament in check, but oh she so tempted right now. It also helped that she knew Sunset was doing it only to get under her skin; sadly it was working like a charm.

What was it with Queen Bee type of girls that could get her so mad? First it was Bonnie, who admittedly was only a minor pain in her butt, but still had to deal with her in cheerleading; then it was Shego and now Sunset Shimmer, two women that could make her see red… no pun intended with Sunset.

“If you have a problem with it then don’t wear it?!”

“I’m not, I’m just saying, I mean, you’ve been using that combination for how many years? Maybe is time for a change, don’t you think Cheerleader?” At least Sunset’s ‘mission gear’ was more to the point than the original idea of Ron when they started taking missions regularly; it was also the last time Ron tried to dress like ‘Commando’ considering the way every single henchman of Dementor couldn’t stand up from laughing so hard and Dementor’s goons were very well trained.

Sunset was wearing thin jeans that seemed to stretch when she moved alongside a red shirt with a sun on her chest, which was slightly distorted considering the other redhead’s… bosom; at least she knew she had the better bottom from the two. Also, it was interesting that Sunset was also wearing gloves like Kim and Ron, with the exception that instead of being designed by Wade, this ones were simple climbing gloves, of great quality, but still store bought; it made Kim wince a little of when she was younger and tried to climb rope, one day that her father had taken her to a park to play, in the end she had burns on her palms for several days; it was a good thing that her mother was a doctor, specialized in brain surgery, but she could still administer first aid to her adventurous daughter.

“It is practical,” it had become the norm between the two redheads to bicker about everything, but the initial bite of those comments had been taken away as the two spend time together; it was mainly comfortable now, with both of them getting into a nice friendship. For Kim, it was bizarre to finally have a female friend, considering most girls ran away from her when she was younger due to her boyish traits and how ‘rough’ she was when she played; the only real friend she not only had in her childhood, but that stood with her years later was Ron and as nice and charming the boy was, it was not the same as having a girl that could punch as hard as she could… or throw someone around as Sunset preferred.

“Sure, it is good for camouflage, but really, do you even need it considering the kind of people you go against? Is not like if you need some heavy tactical gear to go against them, I mean, if Ron can beat some of these guys then they are not very good at what they do.”

“And is a good thing they are not good, because that would be bad for the world.”

“Okay, I admit, that was a bad word choice, still, maybe you can ask Monique to get you a new wardrobe, I know she will be all for it,” as they kept on talking, they began to look at the door, which had a control pad and was completely metallic; it seemed premade to Sunset, who thought it was logical considering how fast Dr. Drakken had built that ‘hidden’ lair according to Wade Load; well, not so hidden since it was a huge metallic building right in the middle of nowhere Arizona; after beating Dr. Dementor and seeing this one, were all mad scientists in love with remote ‘secret’ labs?

“Talk to me Wade, can you find any entrance? The usual ventilation duct maybe?” the rather bulky gadget, at least in the opinion of Sunset, was up and running like always while Kim talked with her science genius at the other side of the screen.

“Sure Kim, I’ll give you access faster than you can-” anything that Wade was about to say was interrupted by the sound of the metallic door opening up; Kimberly and Wade then turned around, well, the screen of the Kimmunicator was pointing at Sunset, stood gawking at the other redhead, who had the control panel outer shell in one hand and was moving several wires inside.

“What? I just wanted to open this thing quickly!”

“How did you do that?”

“I just rerouted the energy from the alarms and then short circuited the mechanical lock on the door; Dementor’s lair was like this too so I recognized the problem.”

“Is no surprise that they look the same, after all, they are made by HenchCo,” Wade’s typing could be heard through the screen as he was searching for some information.

“Wait, HenchCo, there is a guy that sells these kinds of things?” Kimberly, for all the time that she had been fighting crime and saving the world, was completely surprised at that kind of information.

“Well, yeah, think of it as the SmartyMart for super villains and mad scientists in general,” since it was obvious that they had things under control for now, Wade cut the communication and began to passively scan their surroundings in case of a trap.

“So, remind me again why I had to come with you this time?”

“Well, you already have more experience infiltrating an evil’s lair than all the school… probably with the exception of Mister Barkin,” as silly and overbearing the substitute teacher was, Sunset knew that the man had some heavy military experience and she wouldn’t be surprised if he had fought against some super villains in the past “besides, I needed some backup since this is Dr. Drakken after all.”

“And Ron had something to do on his church?”

“Synagogue, he is Jewish,” she tried to not make it look as if she didn’t know what was the difference between all the religions humans had created, even if she was completely lost; she truly had to start studying more before she truly made a faux-pas.

“So, what’s the difference between Dementor and Drakken?”

“That will be her,” Kim pointed at something inside the main hall of the lair, where a smirking green skinned woman was already waiting for them alongside a couple dozen henchmen.

“Well, not that it is a pleasure to see you Pumpkin, which it isn’t, but at least it saves me from Dr. D’s constant rambling,” the woman then got into a fighting pose at the same time Kim got into hers.

“I’m sorry, because once I destroy your plans you will have to hear him all the way to jail,” okay, that was lame, but just as she finished to say that the two began to exchange punches and kicks as if those words had been some kind of signal to start fighting. Wait, did that mean-? Just great, she was a sidekick this time, just perfect.

“So, are you guys going to stay around or are you going to try and stop me?” and then it began, going behind the first henchman and throwing him over her back, sending him like a bowling ball against the others; Sunset stood up quickly and hit another henchman with an elbow, duck the it of another, pulled him back and struck him underneath the chin with her knee.

“Where did you get this kid Princess? WWE training camp or something?”

“Shego! What are you doing?!”

“I was just curious Cupcake, after all, is not every day you bring other people around, call it professional curiosity.”

“You are supposed to be fighting me, not checking other girl’s fighting styles!”

“Ah, are they always like this?!” Sunset asked to one of the henchmen as they all stopped the fighting due to the other girl’s arguing.

“Pretty much.”

Interlude: Redbone

Author's Note

This chapter comes right after the Princess of Lordran chapter Step into the Forest 01; it is a little monologue/look into Red Queen's mind

Interlude: Redbone

For many, the battlefield would be as scary as it could be possible, with the danger of death and destruction being a very real possibility considering big battlefields were chaotic and could create mayhem the likes Lordran haven’t seen in centuries, maybe even millennia. Probably the last real war the land had seen was against the dragons and that some time ago, considering Oolacile was basically yesterday in comparison with the dragons and everlasting trees.

She didn’t hate the battlefield, she thrived in it after all, or she used to do before she became what she was currently; it was in a way what she had originally done, kill anything and destroy anything in the name of darkness and her ‘father’, well, that haven’t gone the way her father had envisioned, which got a good laugh from her once she realized that she had shown a middle finger to destiny and all that. It was just her luck that destiny got the last laugh; more ironical was the fact it got its revenge on the day of her wedding.

She liked battle and now that technically speaking she was one of the good guys and that she was beating down things that for all purposes had to be death, that deserved to be death even, well, she had very little compunctions to leave them be. Her hair being up and once more wearing tight black clothes, she enjoyed battling, it was one of the few things she enjoyed these days. Since she had woken up in the middle of nothing, which was indeed nothing considering she was basically floating among starts and the like, she had only let herself go with the current. One minute she was getting married, the next she disappeared, then she was back, just… not entirely right.

Ranma had tried to explain to her what had happened to them, but she stopped listening due to the convoluted and massive amount of techno babble that had been thrown at her. It was ironic, the fact that Green, from all people, ended up becoming one of the smartest creatures in the multiverse; apparently Ranma had the theory that after ‘awakening’ due to Mother’s powers, they always returned changed in an ironic way. White and her gentle, elegant way; Blue had become almost silent, completely different to the usual monks at her temple; Golden apparently haven’t changed that much, but considering she was the one that talked the less, she could only take Green’s words for it.

Mother.

Oh how she hated that word, she hated it so much that when she killed one of the Oolacile monsters she almost slashed it in half due to how mad she became due to it; she had to tone it down, they were trying to not call too much attention after all.

The word ‘Mother’ had never had good connotations for her; while Green still had good memories of her own, despite the problems due to her previous curse, Red didn’t have good memories of her own, not that the way their relationship ended as anything better, after all, she had ended up impaling her with an arrow; so yeah, being tortured all her childhood just so she could become the perfect weapon didn’t make her exactly a fan of the word Mother, no matter how much Ranma praised it for their awakening into the multiverse. Hey, if it allowed her to have a real wedding AND a true wedding night, she was all for it.

Ducking under one claw, Red finally returned to the battlefield, after all, this was easy, these monsters were easy, she was after all waiting for the real monster that brought these things from the past, or maybe created them again. Whoever it was, it definitely smelled of the void; it was an ever bigger stench that the stupid serpents. It was a smell that clinged to you, trying to pull you down until you became one with it, until your body turned into ashes and your mind was lost, and a stench that was slowly encircling this world and many others.

So killing monsters, being in battlefield and stopping the end of reality itself. Who says you cannot have fun with your job? Now, if only she could find whoever thought it was a good idea to bring these things into the path, well, she will gladly put a knife between its eyes and if it was the serpent’s meddling even better, she always wanted serpent skin boots.

Sky Factory 08: Of Sieving and Trails

“I have found new respect for people that used to do this, I mean, for a living,” the redheaded girl had a small smirk on her face that looked right at home on her, it was as if she was finding something funny or at least interesting enough to make a comment about it “can you imagine that? People years ago, standing on a river or maybe somewhere close, hoping to catch a tiny little fine gold dust, enough to live by for another day in the wild,” she seemed almost wistful, as if she could already see herself doing it, then the face changed to something a little bit more cynical “or enough to get themselves drunk for the day,” she said in a complete deadpan voice that caused a laughter to escape Twilight Sparkle’s mouth.

Instead of the usual bun, Twilight had decided to forgo with her usual hairstyle, more like the only hairstyle she have ever used besides short enough to make her mother scream, but that was only when she was ten years old. Now, thanks to the abundant amount of string that they kept gathering, her long hair felt upon her back as a low ponytail; she had half a mind of keeping it up, but this was only because it was easier and more manageable, at least until they could find a way to make scissors. Just the idea of somehow finding tools and even metals made her giddy and excited about what they could find in some convoluted, but appropriately logic, roundabout way.

Looking at her companion in that lonely and empty world, Twilight sighed, finally enjoying life or better said, adventure, with someone else; while she loved her BBBFF, she was finally seeing the glimpses of what he said was one of the most important things in life, friends. As a scientist, Twilight understood the effects that social life had in human beings, after all, as creatures that made packs and then groups and then villages as they evolved, being surrounded by friends and loved ones was an important part of life, she just never saw any real point to it, until now, now that she had a mind as sharp and curious as her own at her side.

“It probably wasn’t as glamorous as books or schools make it sound, but I guess it was important; we wouldn’t have Canterlot if it weren’t because of pioneers like them. You know, I always liked the period too, mainly because of a game, but it counts, right?” Twilight’s face turned a little bit pink due to admitting once again how little interest she used to have to nature unless it had some other use or it came in a digital form.

“Oregon Trail?” Sunset kept pushing the block of dirt that she had on top of the sieve; it was a rather rudimentary object, which in itself was good because the two girls didn’t have much to work with, what with the most advanced thing being the fact that they had string. Beyond that, while it was true that it was very old-looking device, it allowed them the ability to see what they could find on dirt blocks. So far, Sunset had found a lot of small pebbles, but most importantly, she had found seeds, ones that Twilight and she could use. It was moments like this that she wished she had paid more attention to Applejack’s granny, what with her having been born and raised in a farm, but, seeds were a good addition to their growing source of materials.

“You know it?” A surprised Twilight asked as the tree she was cutting down felt into pieces, with blocks floating gently into their wooden floor. The hardest job Twilight ever did back home was the odd moving of furniture when she needed to clean behind her desk or something similar, never have she done much in the sense of manual labor, but since coming here, she had found herself oddly attracted to it; sure, at the end of the day she was beat up and just wanted to sleep, but it was exhilarating to think what else they could find, what new technology they could use and what new surprises the world had around them.

“Yeah, remember when I told you about my first computer? It had a version of Oregon Trail in it, never really played it until way later; back then I wasn’t exactly a model student, but once I got back on track I just, I don’t know, liked it and kept on playing, maybe that’s the reason why I don’t mind sieving… think we could sieve other stuff?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, think about it, from dirt we get a lot of seeds and stuff like it, why not think that we are able to get more stuff? I don’t know.”

“If we get to that point, sure, but I don’t know how we are going to get there yet, although, you do make a point; so far this world seems to be following a trend.”

“Like a step by step process?”

“Yes, but more than that, it feels like there is true logic in the way the world is structured, as if you need to understand the basic rules to then truly use them in your favor.”

“Well, that sounds logical and I guess it reminds me of magic back in Equestria; unlike in Earth, magic in Equestria follows a predictable pattern, always following rules of mathematics and elements, why not here too? But for now, I think we are able to truly make a change, The Great and Powerful Sunset presents you, stone!” Sunset, with a voice that screamed showmanship, used her portable tablet and instead of pebbles, in her hands now there were blocks of what could only be rock, true rock, not wood, but rock.

“Great, now instead of using an axe made out of wood, I’ll have one made out of stone; we seriously stopped being cavemen here.”

“Cavewomen Twilight, just because you are in another dimension you shouldn't forget the correct usage of the word,” for only answer, Sunset got a punch on her shoulder, but it was only playful since Twilight was busy laughing at the lame joke of hers. Sunset was sure that by using Trixie’s trademarked way of talking she will pay for it; she knew that wherever the over the top girl was, she will find out and there will be hell to pay, but for now, this was pretty fun.

Author's Note

I enjoy writing this dimension, is relaxing and fun at the same time.

An Ever After Tale 10: Night of Surprises

Well, the whole night have ended in a huge disaster, so big in fact that every single hero, princess and villain had been left in shock due to the actions of just one young girl that refused to become a sacrificial lamb, all just so one little girl could have a prince and crown. More power to her, probably?

Sunset Shimmer sighed as she stood in the middle of what had become ground zero to the most important night in the school life for all of them, just to end up so royally screwed to massive proportions.

Everyone was gone or at least the most important people, back to their dorm, talking somewhere or crying their eyes out in the case of one Apple White. As much as Sunset found the girl annoying, she found herself a little split between celebrating Raven’s desire to be free and sympathizing with Apple’s clear heart break. It kind of reminded her right after she had been rainbowfied back at the dance on CHS, what with having all of her expectations burned right in your face; the only difference was that instead of being a rainbow right into the face, it was one girl that had said enough and refused to play the villain.

“Well, this night was a complete carriagewreck, wait… ugh, this world and its dumb puns,” Sunset had spent a short time in this world, but the amount of magic floating around was enough to help her get acclimated to the fairy tale-themed universe, puns including.

While she quite understood the why the book was so important, beyond a clear way to keep everyone in their places on a forced determinism, she understood the clear desire to relive the past and keep those stories alive, but what was the practical use? Was it really a fact that they would disappear if they didn’t re-enact their stories? So far she haven’t found much information on that specific part of the history, maybe it existed, but Sunset had the small little suspicion that the Headmaster Grimm had those books somewhere secret just so the students wouldn’t find out the truth.

Sunset shook her head free of those ideas; yes, the Headmaster was very into tradition, but she couldn’t imagine him guarding information just to be malicious or trying to hurt someone, he was an old fool, one that annoyed the future Dorothy Gale, but she couldn’t see him as a mastermind as he wanted most villains to be. If it weren’t because most of those future villains saw their roles more as a play than a future work, then the school would have been turned upside down by a good villain.

Taking care of her own dress, Sunset Shimmer took a seat on the cheap looking folding chairs that the school had used for the day. Sunset snorted in a very unladylike fashion at the dichotomy of having true royalty in the school and for such an important day they used something that you would find at a High School dance.

The night had gone to hex and back, what with just one decision to be free and now, everything was alone; the banners were still up, the mirrors that had exploded were still raised and the book was… still there now that she thought about it. For such an important piece of history, the Headmaster had left it behind, although considering how he looked it was clear that he was about to get a conniption with how shocked and angry he was.

“I suppose he was thinking of how angry the monarchies would be in a couple of days,” at those words, Sunset looked backwards at someone else that had been left behind, someone that she did not recognize. He was tall, with blonde hair licked backwards, but unlike the other princes, he didn’t as confident or full of bravado, he just looked cocky, self-assured in what he could do, but at the same time calm and laid back. It was probably the British accent that the boy had, “sorry love, it wasn’t my intention to scare you.”

“Is okay, this is not a private party,” Sunset just shook her head, glad to have someone to talk with, after all, her thought were going round and round and she couldn’t quite find an answer to what would happen now. As the foreign student, Sunset didn’t have the years of cultural knowledge that the others had, in a way it was like when she first arrived at the human world; everything was new and incredible, and so it was because of that she still didn’t have the whole picture of this world, like how magic could affect everything or what was the purpose of maintaining the stories and re-enact them all the time.

“Well no, but for some it could be a pity party; you should see the dorms, most students look like a decapitated chicken, running around without knowing what to do,” the blond boy said with a grin on his face, as if the way in which others acted was enjoyment to him.

“You don’t sound that scared about Raven’s actions.”

“Because it has nothing to do with me after all, but mostly, because I’m not royal in anyway; David Robert Jones, at your service, future Jafar,” he said extending a hand to Sunset; as she shook his hand, Sunset took a look at his wardrobe and unlike most of the other students that were using their best suits and dresses, David was using a nice suit, but without a tie and with the last button open which gave him a very laidback look. Sunset took a look at her own dress and was definitely jealous due to the amount of layers that she will have to take off in her room; her dress was white with a high collar, obviously referencing the Good Fairy Glinda since Dorothy was a farmer back in Kansas so gowns and pretty dresses were not that related to her future destiny.

“No wonder you didn’t care that much, your job is basically take control of the crown,” Sunset said with a small smirk on her face, clear show that she was joking and the boy seemed to understand that with the way he laughed.

“I assure you, I have no desire to gain a crown any day soon, I do like my current job… now, if only I could find that job,” David began to look around, clearly looking for something, or maybe someone since not two seconds later two figure appeared, two girls with one of them dragging the other around; they were none other than Hannah Aleppo with Oolong using her as a pillow if her snores were any indication.

“Isn’t, like, keeping an eye on her your job?” the disgruntled Valley Girl/Future Thief said huffing due to the exertion of dragging the other girl around.

“I swear your highness finds new places to fall asleep every single day, I’ll bet you that she was asleep through the entire Legacy Day fiasco,” he said as he took the sleeping princess on his arms as Hannah began to massage her shoulder due to Oolong’s weight.

“Is every single villain and hero pair a friend in this school?” this was something that Sunset was curious about this world, because she was sure that enemies usually didn’t get along very well.

“Ah, I see you know our delightful Apple and Raven; believe me, due to me working for this lovely pair,” David said clearly referring to the sleeping Oolong and Hannah, who was looking at something on her mirror-phone “ you may think so, but most enemies don’t really spend much time together, what with us having a different curriculum.”

“Yeah, as if Briar and Faybelle will spend time together, like, can you imagine the spellfight between the two?”

“Or Ramona and Cerise, but I guess Apple and Raven are not your typical pair; those two have been inseparable since Nursery School, although that was mostly Apple who was constantly chasing after Raven,” jus the mental image of a mini Apple running after a scared Raven was enough to make her fight back laughter; the other two students realized that and smiled at her reaction “yeah, we think of that and now we laugh too.”

“They seem like good friends, now this night will probably break that friendship,” or whatever the hex their relationship was, but for only answer David and Hannah began to laugh.

“Oh my dear, you don’t know those two, come morning Apple will be hanging on Raven’s arm and everything will be back to normal with those two; is the rest of the school that you have to be careful of, since no one has ever rejected their destiny.”

“Yeah, like, have you seen the amount of comments and photos already on the Mirror-net, like, I swear everyone will be talking about tonight for a whole month, talking about that, spellfie time!” without another warning, Hannah got close to Sunset and took a picture of both of them “I think this photo will get, like, a thousand likes in MySpellbook tonight, as in, look at us, we survived Legacy Day,” as the Aladdin heirs continued their shenanigans, Sunset turned around at where she had seen the book, right at the podium.

It was maybe a bad idea, or probably a good one, she wasn’t quite sure yet, but if there was something Sunset had was curiosity and a thirst for knowledge and there was no better way to get knowledge that by getting to the root of things, the Storybook of Legends. It was clear that the Headmaster was busy trying to keep thing sunder control after such a night, so this was probably the only chance she will have to take a look at it, so she took the steps into the podium, one she wasn’t able to use due to Raven Queen’s words and actions, Sunset finally saw the book that caused all this drama and was awed by it.

It was a majestic looking book, clearly created for big things, but she could see it in detail later, right now she wanted answers, or at least hints to find the answers she was looking for; instead, what she and the others with her in the school grounds got was a surprise.

The mirrors, which had exploded due to Raven Queen’s rejection of her story, suddenly repaired themselves, with the pieces of the mirrors flowing back as if someone had pressed the rewind button, turning back into mirrors. The book in Sunset’s hands also opened up, flying pages as they came to one specific entry, something that was still being written, and something that made Sunset gasp in surprise.

Right there, in the mirrors, she could see herself, in one mirror using the silver shoes and long dress of Dorothy Gale, in the other, she was a wearing a dark dress with high collar and big hat, it was the attire of the Wicked Witch, but that was not all. Images flowed across the mirrors, images of Sunset Shimmer, but at the same time they weren’t. Some Sunsets had armor, others were suited like heroes out of a comic book, dozens of versions of Sunset Shimmer in different worlds and in bright, golden letters, there was only a phrase written in the book.

The Many Destinies of Sunset Shimmer

Author's Note

If you don't know why the character is named like that and why he is a reference, look for the name and you will understand who he is a reference to, also, I suggest you to go and watch The Tale of Legacy Day, after all, all of EAH is free to watch in youtube, have fun.

Sunset Society: The Witch from Hell 03

Sunset’s laughter didn’t stop for several minutes as Applejack had to spend all that time trying to console her little sister; the blonde girl didn’t resent her redheaded… where they still friends after what happened? Still, she just couldn’t get mad at Sunset for what she had done considering the role the youngest member of the house did, but the look that Apple Bloom had in her face as she watched the revived girl was enough to send the older girl into overprotective sister mode.

Due to Sunset’s prank, all the members of the house, including their friends had come barreling down into the kitchen to know exactly the reason behind such scream. Looking at the grinning redhead in the kitchen was all the answer the older girls needed; of course, peace was not found once Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo saw the girl they had spent so much time incriminating and cyber-bullying.

Three terrified young girls were now holding each other as the victim of their actions stood looking at them with a smirk so big that just made them fear for their own life this time. While they felt happy that Sunset was alive, all the fear and guilt they had been absorbing for the last couple of days were being released, so much in fact that their sisters weren’t capable of calming them down.

“Geez, you girls look as if you’ve seen a ghost,” Sunset could almost hear Pinkie Pie’s eyes rolling around at her lame pun “well, excuse me Princess of Humor, I didn’t have a lot of time to work on my material,” it was playful and just right for an interaction between the two girls, just enough to make them believe everything was alright and they once again friends, but they knew better, they were just acting as if nothing happened.

Pinkie wasn’t dumb, sure, she was hyper active and her mind worked a thousand miles per hour and couldn’t concentrate in the same way than others, but she was not dumb in the slightless; she saw the changes on Sunset and saw raw edges that haven’t been there before, that alongside the amount of acid that came out of Sunset’s mouth was all the proof she needed to know that Sunset’s impromptu visit to the other side had left huge scars on her, no matter how much she wanted to downplay it.

Even now, Pinkie saw how much Sunset kept her distance from others and she was worried; before, sure, Sunset had been a little shy and also had self-esteem problems due to her fall from grace, but she alongside the girls had been working on them; going shopping together, spending nights on sleepovers, the redhead had been rebuilding herself, but she was still pretty fragile. Then came the great betrayal as Rarity had named after Sunset’s… even looking at the girl in front of her, Pinkie couldn’t help but shiver in pain and sadness just remembering when they saw Sunset for the last time; with her eyes closed in peace as they put her on the ground.

It has been days since Pinkie’s hair had regained their usual bounciness, well, usual for the other girls, but her family had been surprised at seeing the change in hairstyle. Maud had been the first one to know the reason; just like always, there was no way to keep the truth from her older sister. She understood and didn’t admonish Pinkie, she knew that the pink haired girl was doing that by herself already, she just was there when Pinkie needed to cry which had been a lot. She hasn’t cried, truly cried since she was a small girl.

The experience had truly changed her, alongside the school; now everyone was quiet and morose, quietly passing by as friends tried to rebuild friendships that they had willingly or not destroyed due to a web page. She haven’t found the desire to make one of her custom parties to make everyone happy, after all, how could she do that when she was still battling with her own demons? She was in no mood for parties, not right now at least, but seeing Sunset had woken up something in her; maybe not her usual Pinkie-ness, but something else, something warm and she was happy, just not in the usual bubbly way.

“Alright kiddo, ya had yer fun, now ya need to put something in yer stomach, heavens know ya need some food on yer body,” Granny Smith took Pinkie form her ruminations and she watched the revived girl drop the smirk and truly smile at the old matriarch of the Apple Family. The woman didn’t seem in awe or even scared at the return of Sunset, she even seemed friendly to her, a sentiment that seemed to be returned by the young girl.

“I suppose you’re right, I am starving; one thing they definitely don’t have down there is good eating places,” Sunset said joking, even though those words only worked as knives that struck Pinkie in the heart. Maybe it was a joke, but it was a permanent reminded that for a week, they didn’t have her at their sides, that they had thrown her aside without even blinking; Pinkie had to take a deep breath to regain control over her emotions. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Pinkie didn’t need to turn around to know that it had been Fluttershy; the quiet girl had also fought against her own guilt and while both of them weren’t exactly over it, the return of Sunset could help them heal that pain.

“Goodness gracious, ya truly look as if ya stepped out of the grave girl, come with me, ya need a change of clothes or yer going to smell like it.”

“What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“Ya were buried in those that’s the problem, now come here,” Pinkie saw the redhead shrug her shoulders at them before going upstairs with Granny so she decided to come with them to see what would happen; she wasn’t the only one since besides the CMC girls they all went upstairs with them.

Staying behind for a second, Pinkie took a look at the source of all the pain that had encircled the school and found herself in awe; not that they girls had done it, but that Sunset, besides the small joke of being a spirit of revenge, she didn’t raise her voice, nor had she sought any true revenge at the girls. Sure, the day was still young, but Pinkie was proud of the girl and how she didn’t try to get revenge on the trio.

Going upstairs, Pinkie saw the room that they all went in and was awed; this was a place she haven’t seen yet, even taking in consideration all the sleepovers that they had in AJ’s house. It had a double bed and it was clear that it had belonged to a couple; the pictures showed that she was correct and it was one of the few times Pinkie had seen pictures of her friend’s parents. Pinkie had found out that the Pie family seemed to be linked to the Apple clan much to the surprise and delight of Applejack and her, it was just a shame that she could never meet Buttercup and Bright Mac.

“Well, here ya go, Ah think it is the perfect size for ya,” Granny said while taking off a trench coat from the closet; it was slightly worn down, probably due to usage, but by the look in Sunset’s face, the girl liked it, but before they could do anything, they heard the sound of a motor vehicle getting closer.

All the girls went down and were surprised to find Pixel and Violet on a car, which was even stranger, was the fact that they were not accompanied by Trixie.

“Girls, we need your help Trixie is… I don’t, she went crazy, and she has been scribbling gibberish on the walls of her room and… oh my god! Sunset!?” the redhead didn’t even react to Violet’s outburst and simply took the cellphone from her hands which was showing a picture; at this point, the other girls gathered around to discover that it was a photo of Trixie’s room, with dozens of symbols in them.

“Bloody hell, not even one day back and you all are already messing around?” Sunset screamed while pointing downwards, so Pinkie was sure that she was talking about demons in general; while putting the trench coat on, Sunset cracked her neck and took out a cigarette from her skirt’s pocket and she ignited it with a zippo; the pink haired girl was surprised that she used the tool instead of summoning a flame “well, seems like there is no rest for the wicked,” and once again, the crazy grin was back on Sunset’s face and Pinkie knew that life will never be the same again, much to her delight.

Adepta Sororitas: Even Puppets Feel Fear

Sunset was for the moment, if not happy at least content, after all, it had been some time since she had seen a city like Gotham in a while; probably the biggest human city she had been in had been Manhattan while she still lived on her universe, but compared to the rather modern looking city, Gotham looked as if it had been taken from another time period. Art Deco style tall buildings with signs and lights making the long buildings have even bigger shadows; it was magical and scary at the same time, almost as if it had been built by a romanticist writer or a Noir film director; although, considering how the people dressed and acted, she could imagine every single night was like a Raymond Chandler novel.

Looking outside of Harleen’s small apartment, Sunset took time to collect herself and enjoy a night of nothing but quiet introspection, but the sound of sirens, lovers screaming at each other, either in rage or because they were in the throes of passion weren’t exactly conductive to doing things like that.

Although the looks of the city were pretty nice, Sunset understood that the place where she was right now wasn’t probably the safest in the city, not that it was exactly a ghetto, but it was pretty obvious that the place was not conductive to progress, not that her companion of this travel even out attention to something like that.

Harleen Quinzel, also known around the city as Harley Quinn, was busy collecting her stuff from around the apartment, basically some make up, a few couple of outfits including a rather nice looking pink sundress; it was clear that beyond her original villain outfit, Harleen didn’t have much in terms of possessions, what with her relationship with the joker and plunging into the darkness. Now that she was free thanks to the powers of the elements that still resided inside Sunset, she could have a new opportunity to live.

“I still don’t get it; you are free of the Joker, why do you want to leave this place forever?”

“Is easy, there is nothing for me here; what am I supposed to do? Go back to being a psychologist of villains? You know how well that turned out for me, besides, who will hire an ex-convict like me?”

“Wayne Industries?” Harleen stood a second looking at Sunset before blinking once; it seemed as if she was truly thinking about the possibilities of that.

“Nah, although it could be fun to go into Mister Wayne’s office and tell him I know all about his bat-cave; being outside of the universe can surely give you a new perspective on things,” the blonde’s smile at that kind of chaotic fun was truly angelic, which only made Sunset shake her head due to her antics. She may be cleansed of the Joker’s brain washing and her own mental problems, but Harleen’s sense of humor still was as wicked as always.

“Still, maybe he could hire you as his personal therapist.”

“Sure, maybe I can even become his personal secretary, I think I can totally pull the mini skirt for that job,” Sunset was grateful that she hadn’t been drinking anything because the mental image of Harleen wearing the stereotypical short skirt look of a secretary was at the same time hilarious and rather attractive in a way Sunset didn’t want to think about “but no, I think this world will be perfectly fine without me for a while, besides, how can I say no to saving reality as a whole? So no, you won’t get rid of me that easily.”

Well, Sunset was grateful of that at least, for now she could have someone she could talk with that wasn’t hundreds of years older than her; since Celestia, it never really sit well with her to be around immortal people for too long, after all, you never knew what kind of long term plans they had going on behind your back.

“So, you’ve been watching a lot of your counter parts lives?”

“Excuse me? I was thinking about something else.”

“I said, have you seen many other Sunsets?” Harleen repeated as she was trying to close one of her bags.

“Ah, yeah, a lot of them really.”

“So, like, are they all the good guys like you or something? I mean, you start as the bad guy, well, technically bad guy, but then you become one of the really good guys.”

“Well, not always and I don’t think you can call some of my other me good girls,” Sunset said shivering as she remembered the monster that one Sunset had become and the power that could be find on that specific world.

The world was Equus; the land was one that was known as Equestria by its citizens and they were all ready to fight for their right to exist as the tyrant that they all thought had been vanquished had appeared with a flash, alongside his hundreds of fanatical soldiers.

They were ruthless underneath their mask as they advanced without resting; clearly only puppets that moved at the whims of their master, as Sombra laughed on top of his crystal tower, watching his troops advance as they battled with Celestia’s regiments, weak mongrels that were going to be trampled by his forces. His laughter stopped when something form the sky appeared, quickly falling into the battlefield, sending dust and soldiers everywhere with the impact of the metal behemoth.

From the inside, it opened, showing figures of bipeds, garbed in otherworldly armors and holding weapons of destruction; among them, stood a woman of red and golden hair, beautiful with her battle scars, unmoving and stoic; alongside her, her companions stood ready with their bolters at their side and chainswords raring to go.

All soldiers in both sides were quiet, with only those that were free of brainwashing recognizing the humans and quickly turning around and running form the battlefield, not because they were scared, which they were of course, but because they knew they had to go as far away as they could or they will become casualties by mistake. It was like this that things were, until a voice could be heard among the warriors.

“Fix bayonets?” a voice, perky underneath her pink gas mask uttered as Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes.

“Yes Pinkie, fix your bayonet.”

“Explain again why a Krieg corp is with us? Aren’t they always like, dying?” the chromatic haired woman in armor asked to the captain of their group.

“Believe me, Pinkie wants to die in battle and she has tried, a LOT of times, but somehow she always survives her suicidal missions, still, is better to have her, if for nothing else to have someone that will pull the enemies attention. Speaking of which, hey Sparky! Is the vehicle ready?”

“Raring to go, are you sure is okay for me to tamper with an Immolator?” the techpriest named Twilight Sparkle asked as what could only be called a tank with an organ on it appeared.

“Whatever; now, Adepta Sororitas, purge these idiots!” It was said, that that day, even puppets were able to feel fear.

Author's Note

LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR

And if you don't understand that reference, go check out Warhammer 40K

Adepta Sororitas: Just an Excercise

The sky was as beautiful as it had been when she had lived in the plane of ponies, magic and knowledge ready to be uncovered. It was as beautiful as her memories and dreams brought her every night. Dreams were important; dreams and thinking about home could sometimes help when the only thing that could help you survive one more day was the Bolter or the Melta always on her side and the Eviscerator on her back, but it was the memories which let her become what she was right now.

Sunset simply raised her left hand as she continued to look into the sky and with the twitch of her finger, one member of Sombra’s army lost most of his head in a glorious rain blood, bone and metal, making it impossible for the dark pony behind him to see as the blood blinded the brain washing helmet. Sunset never noticed that before the other soldier could react, from the top of his helmet a knife’s blade appeared as the owner of the powerful hand to hand weapon quickly removed the knife and began to fire to other targets.

The redheaded armored woman still remembered the time when she woke up and found herself in a seemingly normal planet filled with evolved apes, but soon the sense of superiority dissipated from her being once she knew what kind of world she had landed. Sure, the Imperium of Man was the biggest space empire in existence, but that didn’t mean that world as a human was easy. The first few weeks Sunset had spent running and trying to find once again the portal back home, back to Celestia, but no matter how much she could run, there was no way to outrun the Tyranid.

Those nightmarish years only became worst, at least until Sunset herself became the being the rest of the galaxy started to fear; it may not have been pleasant, but it had been needed to destroy the brat that had thrown a tantrum in the face of her world’s god and instead be replaced by the servant of the Emperor.

With a final grin, Sunset took her eyes from the sky and in the battlefield, placing the helmet of the Adeptus Ministorum over her head, hiding her nightmarish glee of battle; she quickly kicked a shadow army pony, enjoying the way in which the neck snapped swiftly and with no second look, she raised her bolter and began to mow down the enemy that were too stupid, or too well conditioned to run at the first sign of danger.

At her side, as she charged into the thick of the enemy, she saw the incongruous pink trench coat wearing Krieg soldier charge alongside her. Rainbow was right to be confused about why Pinkie Pie, a cheery, almost sickly sweet, could be also the first one always to charge with glee, always in search of dying in the name of the Imperium, never truly gaining what her parents and their parents have done; honorable death in the battlefield.

Pinkie, with her eternal gas mask, probably didn’t even flinch as a magic shot grazed her head, but in a second, the foolish soldier that had attacked her ended up being impaled by Pinkie’s bayonet; as she raised the body, Pinkie shot once, blowing the chest of the puppet that had been once a normal pony and quickly stabbed more and more soldiers, as if she had been cursed to be the only Death Korp of Krieg to never die in battle, no matter how suicidal her charge could be.

As the pink suicidal demon continued her attack, Sunset threw to her right her own Bolter; the heavy weapon, such that normal infantry would break both arms just firing once, didn’t fall into the ground, instead it was snatched by her second in command, a woman that she had fought alongside for many years and as such, after surviving nightmarish battlefields and numerous campaigns, they already had a strategy.

Rainbow grabbed the bolter and using her own, began to dual wield the extremely heavy weapon as if they were old revolvers with terrifying precision. Sunset meanwhile, instead of going full melee like the terrifyingly zealot Flutter with her Power Maul took out the elongated and heavy weapon on her hip; thinking about the soft spoken woman, Fluttershy, the usually caring and almost maternal Sister, could turn into a maniac on the field, all due to the Codex and the knowledge that she was doing the work of the Emperor, or her Canoness Sunset.

Sunset activated the heavy weapon and let out the charge of highly concentrated infrared, powerful enough to melt a tank, right into the charging enemy. Sunset was sure that if they had been able to scream, it would have been drowned by the sound of fur, flesh and armor quickly dissolved in a mass of gore, as first two, then five, and then whole groups of enemies began to be mowed like dominoes by her.

Atop his tower, with eyes open in sheer disbelief of the warriors that had appeared and began to destroy his army, began to grit his teeth due to how close he had been to victory over that stupid alicorn.

“Don’t just stay there! Release every single solider! We are not going to be beaten by simple monkeys!” as his order was given, the dozens upon dozens of soldiers under the control of Sombra began to march into the thick of the battle and into their doom.

“Rarity!” Sunset screamed on her communicator inside her helmet, the sound of battle and death permeating the rocky field making it hard for Sunset’s companions to speak clearly; thankfully, the top of the line communication lines that they used could always filter the sound of heretics and xenos dying pretty well.

“Yes Canoness?” The quiet and calm voice of the woman they all left in charge of their heavy machines and transportation replied clearly and confidently as Sunset backslapped a pony foolish enough to get close to her, she then stomped on the head as she quickly went back to her talk with Rarity.

“Do you see that battalion coming closer?”

“Yes Canoness.”

“I don’t want to see them anymore.”

“Yes Canoness,” at that point, Rarity sounded almost gleeful as the heavily modified Rhino tank known as Immolator began to move, quickly sending every single pony in its target as the huge weapons on top of the tank began to fire and strike the enemy, almost as if they had been leaves falling from a tree.

As for the other members of Sunset’s little… Chapter, if it could be called that were busy in their respective fields; with Twilight taking care of anything mechanical or technological in their group as battle had never been her best field. As for Jack, well, open field battle was not the best usage of a Catachan Jungle Fighter. Best usage Sunset had of her right now was to infiltrate and do everything she could to make this day as perfect as it could be, after all, this was not a battle, it wasn’t even a Purge; it was simply a training exercise with live rounds.

Author's Note

Sunset, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are Adepta Sororitas/Adepta Ministorum (depending what edition of 40k you are using) or more coloquially known as Sisters of Battle; strong enough warriors that even Space Marines (yeah, those huge freaking space super soldeirs) don't mess around with, with Sunset being the Canoness or leader of the group.

Pinkie hails from Krieg, a dead world that creates soldiers with a penchant for trenches and suicidal charges.

Rarity was a simple Guard, but thanks to Sunset she was able to become something even better, an artillery expert, but besides that there could be a couple of other abilities to the elegant woman.

Twilight is a techpriest, basically an IT soldier that finds that praying culd be as useful as percussion maintenance.

And finally, Applejack, or simply Jack in this world, comes from Catachan; the whole planet is so freakingly hellish, with the whole thing being a jungle with plants full of poison and toxins and every single animal a carnivore and a an apex predator on its own. Basically, every single soldier is a Rambo and Commando on their prime, that's how freaking badasses they are.

Just as a bonus, you can imagine Sunset kicking xeno ass with this music.

To Kill the Past

Author's Note

Guess who's back?

To Kill the Past

A year ago, before destinies changed –

The thrum of the silent vessel was sadly something that she had gotten used to in the last few years, one of the many different things she had become accustomed to; one of the few advantages of being the only person that had travelled across different worlds and realities.

“So, this is it?” The planet was unlike anything she had seen before; while most planets in the Hegemony could be put into three different categories, this planet was completely out of the norm. There were metropolis, rural and then there were the new planets, the newly colonized ones and those were the most dangerous at times, but this one, it seemed almost abandoned if it weren’t for the unnatural man-made creation in the distance.

“I don’t know why you wanted to come to this place, but I suggest you to go out and let me leave,” the man that had brought her to the planet said. He owned her a favor when he got in trouble with some local thugs and she had asked him to bring her to this forgotten planet.

“I have something to do and basically, this is my only chance to do it. This is the only answer I could find that could help me. Thank you for bringing me here.” The man smiled, but Sunset could still see how terrified he was about this place, That did not bode well, or maybe it just maybe confirmed what she had heard about this place.

“Well, I’m not sure if you are brave or crazy for wanting to come to this place, but for what I heard about this thing, then you are definitely in trouble.”

“Not in trouble, I just… need to save someone. Still, this is what I’ve been looking. Thank you Kobe, I appreciate you helping me this time.”

“Don’t mention it Sunset, I owed you a big one… so, this is goodbye. I mean, you either die in there or… go back to do what you need to do and I never heard of you.”

“I’m afraid so. Either way, it was nice knowing you.” And with that, the redheaded woman put on her favorite jacket, the one she had with her when the portal spit her into this age and walked into the world outside.

It was dark, the sky was dark and it smelled of gunpowder, blood and despair. Well, that was basically her imagination, but it was an ominous place. Truthfully, in a way it made Sunset think of the last few years, walking everywhere and traveling across the stars, never staying in one place. The nightmares and the Hegemony never let her get settled down.

Guilt and fear was a terrible combination to be able to have a normal life, even less conductive to sleep at night, but in the last three years she had grown used to the idea of always having the image of Twilight Sparkle asking for her help burned under her eyelids.

Sunset Shimmer, once a promising student of the ruler of her country, then a budding student on Earth, now nothing more than a space vagrant. What a travel it was as she looked at her new destination, the answer to all of her problems. It was so crazy she didn’t think anyone would be able to believe any part of it.

The ship that had brought her here did not lose any time to skip from this terrible place, its ion engines going online as quickly as it could to escape the planet. On deck she could see Kobe’s wide grin as he waved his goodbye; She didn’t want Kobe to face the problems she would get into. He was a naïve boy always getting into trouble with the wrong kind of people, but she couldn’t protect him all the time, she had a mission to finish. She knew that if everything went well she wouldn’t need a ship out of the planet, if things went bad, well, she wouldn’t have a need for it either.

It was a pessimistic way to look at things, but at this point in time Sunset was more than a little jaded with all the different ‘magical’ solutions around the galaxy that would bring her back to her friends being fakes or simply legends with real substance. No, so far she has only found disappointment and lies. This time was the last time; either she found the answer, or she will die trying. The place certainly looked like it.

An ominous glowing face as an entrance, with the fortress doing its best to remind Sunset of a horror movie location, with the mist rising across the place, hiding anything of interesting, with only old banners and broken weapons visible, making the place even creepier.

It was probably one of the creepiest places she had seen in her life, and considering she had traveled across the galaxy that was saying something. All across the Hegemony she had seen majestic metropolis and also the worst of hive worlds, all in search of the power that she could find inside.

“Whatever you are thinking of, I can assure you, it is even worse inside.” The voice made Sunset jump in surprise, her hand ready to unleash her magic. Thankfully, the man that had spoken to her was simply smiling as he sat on top of a steel briefcase.

He wasn’t wearing the Hegemony colors and uniform. Instead, it seemed almost like an old-school military uniform, long and red with black highlights. It probably reached his knees due to how long it was. Instead of looking at her he was reading something on his… smartphone? At least it looked like it, instead of the usual datapads that people used around the Hegemony.

“Excuse me?” Something felt… wrong with the man, that Sunset knew after being acquainted with strange phenomena all her life, either as a human or a pony. It was like sixth sense in terms of magic, probably what allowed her to see the magic of the Dazzlings. It was like a cloud around the man, but it wasn’t darkness or strife which encircled him. It was way more primal. It showed how utterly bizarre he was even though he was at first sight entirely human.

“Sorry, you were thinking about the Gungeon, right? Everybody does it when they reach this place,” he said standing up and looking at the creepy fortress at the end of the sinuous road. The glow dimmed and intensified at intervals, almost as if the construction was breathing, as if it were alive.

“I… I think this is a really creepy place.” She wasn’t lying. Everything about the structure screamed danger, but no matter. This was an important place that she needed to conquer.

“You should be wary, dungeons as mysterious and powerful as this always have that effect on those that can feel its energy,” he said once more with the smile. “But still, you took your sweet time coming to this place Sunset Shimmer.” Once more the man had surprised her. After all that she had lived through, she knew when something was wrong or she was about to enter into a trap.

“How did you know my name? Do I know you?”

“No… at least not directly, but I’ve heard of you, because the person that told you about the gungeon was a tall, British man wearing a suit, glasses and an umbrella, am I right?” At those words she relaxed just a bit. She remembered the gentleman, he who had paid for a coffee at the last planet she had been living in. It was his manners and his vast knowledge about the galaxy that made her take her things and ask Kobe for one last trip. Sadly, the man had disappeared as mysteriously as he had appeared when she went to thank him and nobody knew where he went or who he was.

“You two know each other… he told you about me, but why? Who are you?” Sunset was surprised. Very few times she had found people that wanted to help her, not since the past, back at Canterlot High.

“Well, I built his house… and his umbrella, which he hasn’t yet paid me for it. Always remember to charge for those things immediately, or people can take their sweet time in paying you,” he said taking his steel briefcase. “As for who am I? Well, the Gungeon has this aura around it, it makes people simply… disregard its past, not that I do that. After all, I have too much past,” he said in what was obviously an inside joke. “If he is The Observer, I am The Architect. So, now that we know each other, he said you may be going into the Gungeon. He just never said why.”

“Does it change why? For what I’ve heard, lots of people come in here for treasures and such. It is a dungeon after all.” It was as good an answer as any other when it came to places like this. What was the difference?

“Ah, but you see, this is a special dungeon after all, considering what you can find right in the heart of it. No one comes here and face death JUST for the actual treasure, IF there is any. No, there is only one thing why people are desperate enough to go inside the Gungeon, so tell me Sunset Shimmer, why does someone like you want to find the Gun That Can Kill the Past?” The Architect sure did know a lot about the place.

“Because I need to go back, I need to… I need to save Twilight, I need to save my friends. It was a mistake that happened years ago. I could have saved her from that vortex, but I couldn’t do it. I… I wasn’t powerful enough to save them.” She could hear it even now. Twilight’s plea. It repeated over and over, the same as her friend’s faces as she fell through the portal.

“You mean back on Earth? For what I know what happened centuries ago, it was what they called, an academy meeting? Something like that… no wonder you need the Gun, so that’s why Observer sent you here. Guess you need a little bit of help to get it,” the man said putting down his briefcase, before taking hold of the handle and pushing up. To Sunset’s surprise, the briefcase remained in the floor, but instead of lifting it, it simply grew, becoming taller and wider. Instead of a briefcase now it looked more like a tall locker. If this man was not a wizard then he had some amazing technology.

“So you can help me? I don’t get it. What do you gain from all of this? Not that I don’t appreciate it, but, well, after what I have been gone through, it’s weird to see people like you lot doing something like this for someone like me.” Her old insecurities were once more in exposition, what with her hand behind her head in a way that was shy and confused.

“You just want to help, that is all. Besides, I don’t think the world would be a bad place if you are able to save your friends… and most of the continent after that disaster. Well Sunset, you can find an answer here, alongside Convicts, Soldiers, Hunters, Pilots and so many others looking for that Gun inside. I guess in your case, that will make you The Sorceress, right?”

“Sorceress, I guess it’s a better title than Demon. I guess that’s what I am, but what’s with the titles?”

“Easy, we all are either becoming something new, something anonymous until we get to change our past… or we are too old to use our old names. I suppose you are a bit of both Sunset;” he said with that same calm smile as he opened up the elongated briefcase sideways, showing rows of handles, dozens of gun handles showing inside, all of different colors, different sizes, some of them too big to be able to fit on the briefcase… neat.

“I suppose that’s right. According to this world I’m too old. So, all these guns?”

“Well, Observer told me you will be going into the Gungeon, so I thought that I should give you a heads up, seeing that THAT place is one heck of a doozy, so in preparation for that, maybe I should give you something to defend yourself,” he said taking a look at the multitude of guns in the briefcase before taking a critical look at her. “You DO have a gun to defend yourself, right?”

“Not really, I mean, I can use magic so,” she said shrugging her shoulders, not that she had many resources to use. She COULD have asked for a gun from Kobe or any of the other people she met in her travels across the Hegemony, but really? She had never been a fan of guns in general.

“I have bad news for you kiddo, inside that thing, magic… doesn’t work very well, so, you know what? The first gun is free in your case.”

“Just like that? You guys go around the galaxy helping people?”

“Pretty much, I mean, Observer’s job is kind of like guiding people to where they need to be, mine is… well, build things others may need some time,” he said taking a hold of one gun. It was black and red, pulling it out it showed a handgun. It was a semi-automatic looking gun, long handle with a long and wide barrel. “Like this for example. It’s lightweight, maybe doesn’t pack the same punch as many other guns inside the Gungeon, but its accuracy is pretty good and reinforced absorbing coils can keep the recoil from making a shot go wide. This is Lady Red, it’s a gun made in memory of a friend of mine, he gave me a gun once very much like it, Lady Finger. It was very useful, so hopefully this is as useful too.” Then he threw the gun at Sunset who caught it, surprised at how light the gun was.

“So, you are just going to give me this?”

“Like I said, this is one of my jobs, I go around and build stuff for others. Observer keeps helping and Keeper takes things that are too dangerous out of the way. We do a good job if I am sincere.” With a disarming smile he took the briefcase back to its original size and began to walk away.

“Wait, what about payment? Don’t I have to pay you or something?”

“Like I said, consider it a gift.Maybe next time we see each other you will be able to pay me back, who knows. Maybe you will be successful and you won’t need to, but still, if you are serious about killing your past, then Enter the Gungeon,” he said and then… he simply disappeared, leaving Sunset surprised once more.

Looking at the gun in her hands, Sunset shook her head, knowing that her story had just become even weirder, but hell, she was looking for a gun that could help her kill her past that was supposedly inside a dungeon with a gun name pun. How weirder could it get?

The answer was that it could get even crazier, but so were things for the man that had called himself Architect. He hadn’t lied, it was kind of his job to build things for others, but he was never sure where his next mission would be or who will need his help. He simply looked into his very little handy phone. It wasn’t exactly a phone considering there was no company that could give him coverage across all known alternate dimensions scattered across the multiverse.

What he had built one day was the closest thing one could have to search for anything across everywhere, not an easy thing, but still, it was useful for what he had to do. Why he did this? Well, because, nobody else could. Besides, it was a fun thing, especially when his job got him into situations like he found himself in after taking his portal out of the Gungeon world.

It was a creepy dungeon no more, instead, he was greeted with white snow and falling ashes, the smell of blood, gunpowder, burning flesh and oil… it was pure undiluted war, one that he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Screams took him out of his remembrance and he had to use his personal briefcase. Leaving it on the snow, the briefcase suddenly opened up and coughed a long rifle, black and blue, a seal on the barrel and a golden skull on each side finished the design. The Architect arched an eyebrow at the weapon and what type it was. In his hand there was a weapon with a long barrel and the marks of the Imperium. This was a Bolter he had made to fight monsters and it seems he will need it once more.

Flying beasts and running monstrosities fell one by one as the bullets on his weapon tore them apart, painting the snow red and ashen. The screams of the creatures tore through the snow wastelands as more sounds of guns, bombs and screams accompanied his little battle.

The beasts of chaos were dead, but where did they come from? Looking into his device, he could see the order for his weapons had been placed inside the city somewhere in the distance, but that had to be wrong, unless… which one of the Queens could be involved in all of this? Which Sunset? Something to do with them was the only possible explanation for this.

“I must be going crazy, because that’s the Crystal Empire… and unless I am wrong, that’s a train.” In the opposite direction a fast train was approaching quickly, without thinking twice he jumped onto one of the wagons, holding unto one of the sides and quickly climbing to the roof.

A battle between Imperial forces, ponies and Chaos Beasts? With a Sunset Shimmer involved in the middle of all of that? One must be insane to get in the middle of all that craziness. There was no way he could miss the fun.

Five Nights at Circus Royale

A part of her mind was gone; something told her that she was in danger so she kept on running, endless halls and endless lights, a forest full of creatures made of darkness. It was dark, she could barely see, but she could hear the breathing, it wasn’t her own.

There, a flash of light among the rain pouring down on her soaked body, her trusty jacket sticking to her shivering and exhausted body. There was light and there was a clearing; it made no sense, she was in a hallway, but now she was in a forest, but the creatures kept on going.

She was able to reach the clearing, finally finding the source of light; she could finally breathe, with no creature following behind, she didn’t want to think where they were now or if they were simply waiting for the perfect moment to pounce on her, she only knew that she could breathe, she could think.

Her legs felt like lead, with exhaustion finally gripping her and with sluggish steps she began to get closer to the object in the ground, something in her mind telling her that it was important, that it could tie all the pieces together of this night.

It was a box; that much she could see from the rain and thunder and darkness. It was a metal box, dark with long copper bars reinforcing it and with two keeping it firmly shut, all of its secrets hidden from the rest of the world, but why was it here? Why was it important?

Sunset reached a hand, but immediately jumped back when the box suddenly moved; it was shacking, as if it was trying to get dislodged from the mud, as if it was trying to free itself, or if what was inside… was trying to free itself.

Then, she heard it, the breathing, the raspy sound of the enormous monster once more, and then, with the thunder in the sky, the monstrous bear jumped onto her, ripping her throat apart and Sunset Shimmer felt upon the floor of her apartment, her light green clock beeping its signal of waking up.

The redheaded girl groaned as her mind and body went back to the real world.

Her eyes were blurry, but she could see her bedside table after several blinks and with a quick slap, the sound of the alarm was quickly shut down giving her peace once more. She immediately crashed down onto the floor once again as she tried to get her heartbeat under control after having such a vivid dream.

It had been such a long time since her mind had created a dream like that, not for a very long time now, not since she was at High School she had dreams, or better said, nightmares like these, back when she was at her lowest point ever in her life emotionally speaking, but those days were long gone, so why was she in this position? She wasn’t sure, but she could blame Rainbow Dash, she could very well be part of the reason considering what she had to do now and what her new job was.

Finally getting up, Sunset started to get ready for what could be a long night at work and looking at her clock she saw she still had enough time to get things in order. It has been a nice nap, without counting the strange dream, but she didn’t feel as tired as before, just a little sleepy, but that could be fixed with a quick shower.

As she felt the water falling into her body, she let herself finally, completely relax; she needed this if she was going to be able to do her job this night. Usually, they had someone specifically hired to handle the graveyard shifts, one that, while not exactly a glamorous job, after all, this was a Pizzeria Sunset was talking about, and it was better paid than the other shifts.

Circus Royale Pizza, a Carrousel of Fun, or at least that’s what the people that hired had said; not exactly a new franchise, but it was apparently starting from the ground up after the last owner of the franchise name closed after just opening one single day.

Twilight and Sunset had spent some time researching about the place, finding a very interesting story about the new pizzeria and the history attached to the name and the original group, but those were simply urban legends according to the internet, still, it would be good to check more deeply now that she was working in there.

It was a nice job, it was even fun considering all the kids going to the place, not to mention that the pizza was pretty good in fact, so with a part time job before college started, Sunset and Rainbow were ready to get a very boring night ahead of them; hopefully Rainbow didn’t forget the coffee this time.

Then, something weird happened; just as she was drying her voluminous hair, her cellphone rang, nothing out of the ordinary, but instead of the usual tone, this was definitely not something she had programmed herself; it sounded like… a music box? Checking her phone, there was no sender, no number, nothing.

“That’s… weird, probably telemarketing, or banks, still… that was a weird ringtone, sounded like classical music, Fluttershy probably knows what’s the song” and as she left the bathroom to get dressed, she didn’t saw it, the light of the bathroom flickering, allowing something to materialize in those brief moments of darkness and light, for just the blink of an eye, in and out of existence.

There, reflected on the bathroom mirror, blurry due to the fog of the hot shower there was a man, someone with dark lines falling from his eyes like the marks of tears, with a long sleeved grey shirt and dark lines, and then… he was gone.

Author's Note

Night 1

Mortal Kombat: Throne of Harmony 02

Mortal Kombat: Throne of Harmony

What Raiden feared the most, a new invasion and a tournament, happened, just not in the way he expected. This time it was not the Outworld that started the invasion, but the original home of the ninja warrior Sunset Shimmer, now known as Tundra.

The dark sorcerer Sombra, alongside his allies Chrysalis and Tirek merged the two realms in search of new powers and allies, ready to take advantage of the chaos and conquer all realms, while old enemies like Shao Khan are ready to put their plans in action to regain their power.

With an attempted assassination on Princess Celestia leaving her on coma, the forces of Harmonyrealm are in disarray and are ready to defend their home from the warriors of Earthrealm, not realizing that they are simply falling into a trap made by Sombra.

Who will be declared winner in this tournament this time and who is really behind this crisis?

For those of you who haven't played the latest Mortal Kombat games, you may not know how things start every match. Once you select the characters the two of them have a little banter to add more persnality and some background to what is happening.

That is basically the idea of this chapter and maybe others in the future.

In this chapter you will see small chats between the characters that will explain things that are happening in this reality; all of them are three sentences; the first 4 in each section will be the character talking with Sunset while the last 4 will always be Sunset talking first.

You will get a small bio explaining something form the character, but what happens in the story or them can be found in the banter too.

Sunset Shimmer (AKA Tundra): Trained by the Lin Kuei, she took her master’s previous name to show her new convictions and loyalty to the clan. After different realms and timelines merged due to what now is known as the Mortal Kombat event, she will fight with all she has to save the two worlds.

Princess Twilight: Chosen by the gods of Harmonyrealm (the name given to the realm of Equestria) to defend them against the dark forces of Sombra, Shao Khan and Shinnok. While not new to defending her realm, this time she is put into the worst situation. Even if she saves her realm, she could condemn all the others.

Why do you fight at the side of killers Sunset?

These KILLERS were the only ones that embraced me as family.

You already had a family my friend.

Sunset Shimmer, is this fight needed?

I told you already, my name is Tundra.

I will not give up on you, not now, not ever.

How can you live like this?

In the Lin Kuei I finally found peace.

Is this what you tell yourself every night?

You used to be full of passion Sunset.

I exchanged it with cold fury.

A little too well if you ask me.

Tell me Twilight, you are supposed to be Harmonyrealm’s chosen one, right?

I was chosen to defend our home.

Then why is it that I’m the one that cleans after your mistakes all the time?

Is Princess Celestia alright?

Her injuries were grave, but I’m sure she will be back.

Good, I still have a bone to pick with her.

Where is your crown Twilight? Where’s your legacy?

It was broken, but my legacy will live on.

That was a waste of good accessories.

I still don’t understand why you want to fight me.

I need to master battle in this body.

I’ll make sure your funeral is as beautiful as you.

Rarity: The Earthrealm version of the fashionista, she has quick eye and even faster legs; she does not shy away from the conflict that has engulfed her realm. Alongside her friend she will protect the people on them while also looking perfectly chic.

I always knew winter colors would look nice on you.

You always had good ideas Rarity.

So many realms yet to enchant, I suppose.

Gotta admit, you make a ninja look stylish.

You should meet my master.

I’ll probably will, considering these days.

White, fur and heels, you do remember how to coordinate.

I would have looked quite silly in all blue.

Let’s not be hasty, let me work my magic after this spar.

I thought a ninja would look more… you know.

Expecting something out of your sister’s movies?

Maybe, but you make the outfit look good.

Is this really necessary Rarity?

I will not allow what happened to Pinkie happen to someone else.

Fair enough.

Always knew we would be in the front lines.

And why’s that darling?

We are both burning with rage.

So, what happened with your last date?

Left him on seen.

Geez, and I thought I was the cold one.

How do you manage fighting and the store?

A lady has many secret talents.

Let’s find some for fighting.

Pinkie Demoniac: An errant demon that had escaped from the Well of Souls in Shang Tsung’s island, she took over the body of Earthrealm’s Pinkie Pie; nobody knows if she was always insane or trying to take over that mind was what made her what she is. She fights to gain full control of the body and regain all her strength.

Happy to see me my dear?

I will freeze your soul until there is nothing of it.

A simple ‘fine’ would have been enough.

Why don’t you like me dearest?

You stole the body of my friend.

So?

Want me to tell you what she had in her mind?

Do I want to know?

A lot of cakes and a big pink lemonade pool.

Knock, knock.

Making those kinds of jokes now?

A girl needs a hobby.

Winter has arrived for you monster.

Let me get my boots and hot cocoa.

Believe me, you will need more than that.

I will get back what you stole demon.

And how do you plan to do that?

Check Pinkie’s memories, I never give up.

I am Tundra, member of the Lin Kuei.

Was that intro even necessary?

I want you to tell everyone in hell about me.

I asked my master about what I should do with you.

And will he officiate our wedding?

He said to send you to the deepest parts of hell.

Frost: previous student of Sub-Zero, she ended up betraying her master in search of power after feeling she was being hold from what she deserved. She left her master just to end up dead at the hands of Tirek. Now back form the death as a revenant she will get revenge on her replacement. The irony of the situation does not escape Sunset Shimmer.

So you are the replacement?

I am more than that Frost.

No, you are less than garbage.

Sub-zero will only hold you back.

Been there, done that, even got the shirt.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

You are nothing compared to me.

So that’s how it feels on the other side.

Soon, you will only feel pain.

Once I kill you, my revenge will be complete.

Is this before or after your monologue?

I will enjoy closing that mouth.

So you’re last year’s model?

I am perfection.

A perfect loser, that’s for sure.

What is it that you want Frost?

I will have my revenge against Sub-Zero.

It isn’t even funny how ironic this all is.

You need to let it go Frost.

Save the sermon for those who care.

Meh, I tried.

My previous teacher tried to vanquish my rage.

Foolish notion.

That’s why I like the new one better.

Scorpion: Previously known as the revenant Scorpion; Hanzo Hasashi has rebuild his clan with the help of former rival and his apprentice. Now a fearsome defender of Earthrealm, he will gain his revenge against the dark sorcerer and his allies.

You are the future of the Lin Kuei.

I don’t dwell on that.

Good, do not lose focus on the now.

My family and clan lie dead.

And I will help you avenge them.

This time he chose his heir well.

The flames in my heart rage hot.

Then let me cool them off.

Let us engage in kombat then.

We are both similar Tundra.

Why is that Master Hanzo?

We have both walked through hell.

Do not waver in this fight.

My soul and heart are cold.

Then let us test your conviction.

Master Hanzo.

You bring honor to your clan.

Now that is some high praise.

Is my fury cold enough?

Not even hell could touch you.

Just what a girl likes to hear.

I understand your pain well Master Hanzo.

Do not allow anyone to make you feel that again.

I plan on getting their head on a freezer.

I will freeze my heart to complete my mission.

Never lose sight of your ambitions.

I won’t, Master Hanzo.

Shining Armor: Prince of the Crystal Empire, he is also a defender of his realm and will do whatever he can to save his subjects. Wrongly accusing Sunset Shimmer, now known as Tundra, of trying to kill Princess Celestia, he will bring her to justice; he may well be over his head this time.

My little sister thinks you can be saved.

She thinks everyone can be saved.

I suppose this time she is wrong.

I still do not understand you Sunset.

And why’s that little princess?

The fact that you could betray Equestria.

Fight me now Sunset Shimmer.

Your wife isn’t here to save your ass this time.

I don’t need her help to defeat you.

Don’t get close to my sister.

No wonder she can’t get a boyfriend.

Is only time until you betray her too.

When are you going back to Harmonyrealm?

With you arrested and paying for your crimes.

So, permanent residency?

What happened to Celestia was not my fault.

You were the only one in that room.

Guess you’ve never heard of teleportation.

You still believe you can defeat me.

I survived the northern wasteland’s cold.

That is but mere child’s play.

I am Tundra, member of the Lin Kuei clan.

You are Sunset Shimmer and you are under arrest.

I want to see your try little princess.

Queen Chrysalis: The old queen of the changelings, she has escaped her prison and used the chaos of the Mortal Kombat tournament to get a new hive and new powers. Now, she will get revenge on those that imprisoned her and gain control of all realms.

You are Celestia’s old student.

You are the overgrown insect.

Quite a mouth you have little pony.

You cost me a whole hive.

It was after all, an easy mission.

I will destroy your whole clan in retaliation.

All the realms will be food for my children.

Unless I kill each and every one of them.

Touch them and suffer the consequences.

There is no love in you to feed.

My heart won’t be the only thing frozen.

Perhaps I should teach you about eternal pleasure.

Weren’t you supposed to be incased in stone?

That prison was but a frail bump in the road.

Let’s see if you can escape from winter.

You should go back to Harmonyrealm.

There is a whole world ready to be harvested.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Why every single villain comes here?

The love is so rich and thick on this side of the mirror.

I’m tired of doing Twilight’s dirty work.

I’m starting to get into entomology.

You wouldn’t dare.

You, a cork board and a lot of needles.

Flash Sentry: Classmate of Sunset Shimmer, the young man gained powers after the realms were chained together due to the Mortal Kombat event; he is new to battle, but with the help of his friends he is ready to defend his home from the forces of evil.

So, how does this works?

I punch you, you fall down.

Still the same after all this time.

Is it true that you betrayed Twilight?

I could never betray my friends.

Then you have my support.

If we are to defeat Sombra we need more people on our side.

You can count on the Lin Kuei.

An army of ninjas? Awesome.

So what’s with the guy with armor?

Your future brother-in-law.

I hope he is not angry at me for knocking him out.

Getting used to the front lines?

Just grateful that I can help you all.

Let’s hope that doesn’t change.

I hope you chose a ring.

Please, first we need to finish this crazy stuff.

No raising death flags now lover boy.

Is not only Equestria, but all dimensions.

No wonder I saw a me with cybernetic parts.

First time seeing your evil version?

Your powers are wavering.

I’m not used to magic like you.

Practice will change that.

Cyber Starlight: Once the proud student of Twilight Sparkle, now the first of the Unicorn Cyborg Army, the Equals; her soul is lost, her memories wiped, she is now a machine with only one purpose, defeat those that do not want to join the Equals.

Your abilities are welcome Tundra.

I will not sell my soul to someone like you.

Then suffer the consequences.

For a mere human you fight well.

Oh, but I’m no human at all.

That is not in the files.

There is no logical reason for you to fight us.

Who says I need a logical reason?

You do not make sense.

We represent pure order.

That is why you fail again and again.

Chaos has no place to be in our new world.

First a little town, now the whole world.

You are not making any sense.

Just talking to myself.

So all this because you were abandoned?

Sunburst’s rejection was but a catalyst.

I pray for your exes.

Not even circuits are immune to the cold.

Your cryomancer powers are no match for the Equals.

I wouldn’t be so sure.

You will not hurt Twilight.

She denies the future.

Time to put you on an ice coffin.

Revenant Celestia: In another timeline, she felt to the powers of the dark sorcerer Sombra; now, with the timelines mixing due to the Mortal Kombat event on the realms, she will gain the throne and conquer the realms, only then will the war end and Harmony reign supreme.

It is foolish of you to rebel against me.

Never stopped me before.

Then suffer the consequences.

Bow to your rightful queen Sunset.

If I didn’t for the real Celestia, even less for you.

Cheeky little thing.

I will take my rightful place as Queen and Goddess

I guess megalomania is normal in the family.

You were never worthy of being my daughter.

What do you gain by defying me?

It is a habit by now.

I should have banished you even sooner.

Never thought I would fight you like this.

You were never ready to battle me.

And you are not ready for real kombat.

So, the great Princess was beaten.

I was simply shown true power.

You have no idea what you got yourself into.

Prepare for winter your highness.

Your powers could never touch a goddess.

Then, you’ll get a nasty surprise.

Your soul can still be redeemed.

Redeemed? I have exactly what I always wanted.

It won’t be the first time I’m wrong.

Firefly: Commander of the special ops Pegasus Division, the mother of the Earthrealm Rainbow Dash is getting a crash course of the new reality; with worlds full of magic and new enemies appearing, this seasoned warrior is a welcome addition to the light side.

Monsters, gods and even freaking ninjas.

That’s more or less my daily life.

How am I supposed to explain these to the top brass?

I’m supposed to take you into custody.

You know that will solve nothing.

I was never good at following orders.

Thank you for not getting Rainbow involved.

She probably sneaked into the tournament.

That sounds like my kid alright.

So, that girl is the chosen one?

Twilight was chosen since before she was born.

Then we are all doomed.

What is the army doing right now?

Ready to storm the island.

We will need all the help we can get.

How’s the tournament treating you?

Is nice to get some field work.

Things are going to get even more interesting.

Please tell me you found Rainbow.

Knowing my kid, she is in the middle of chaos right now.

Why wouldn’t that surprise me?

Is there anything I should now about your mission?

Like the fact that I need to arrest you so they can experiment on you?

Sometimes I hate being right.

If you want to see more banter from other characters in this universe or you have new ideas, you are free to communicate with me;maybe I could even write something much more traditional or explain some of the scenes, like the time Shining tried to fight Sunset the first time, or what is going on with the rest of the Mane 7 of Earth.

Everything starts somewhere

To say precisely where he was would be… problematic at best since, technically, it’s not so much a place and time as such, not technically. After all, how do you explain something that is in the middle of everything and also the middle of nowhere at the same time without feeling as if you were being a little convoluted and way too weird?

Let’s leave it as an elevator that was connecting doors to a bigger place, also called a mansion. It wasn’t that strange of an elevator really. It didn’t have any sci-fi features like completely clear walls looking into the multicolored and multifaceted place that is the place beyond the multiverse. It was a simple steel rectangle with fluorescent lights on the ceiling and some catchy jazz music coming from somewhere.

It was a classic design, and Architect was in no way ashamed of his decision in creating something like this when he made the house of those that were in charge of keeping everything tidy and in place on the multiverse.

Not his Magnum Opus, but still, he was very happy with the planning and construction of this place. How long has it been? It felt like centuries since he worked on the details of the place. It was a long time for many, but for creatures… “humans” like them, it was still a pretty chill location to plan and just relax at the end of existence, that is when one isn’t suffering the after effects of such a terrible battle.

Several places on his body still felt tender even after healing the most grievous wounds he had received from exploding such a dangerous bomb. Clearly, the crystal bomb was a dangerous artifact that he may have to research deeply into. While not the most dangerous weapon at his disposal, it was still something extremely deadly and it was clear that it could hurt the monsters that had been observed across the multiverse.

As the elevator reached its destination, Architect took a deep breath and tried to ignore the slight pain on his muscles as he quickly disembarked, ready to have a talk with the man that currently resided in this miraculous mansion, just for him to be quickly assaulted by a gorgeous woman with a fiery look on her eyes.

“Well, look what the wasteland dragged in.” While in general, the slightly tanned woman standing was known for being a complete tomboy and someone that either was obsessed with sports or flying, Rainbow Dash was sometimes a surprise. After all, how many of the alternate universes Rainbow Dash prefered to use designer-made business attire, with short pencil skirts, white button-up shirts and elegant jackets, all in a tasteful light blue color?

It was true that many iterations of the same person across the multiverse behaved similarly, but they were never the same person, nor did they have the same tastes and dreams. This woman was proof of that considering how much she looked like a businesswoman instead of someone that wanted to play football for a living.

“Pleasure to see you Rainbow,” he slightly winced as even talking made some of his muscles shout in dismay after the shenanigans on the Crystal Kingdom. For her part, Rainbow simply smiled knowing well what the seemingly young man had done.

It was incredible that someone that seemed to be so normal could survive things that not even great warriors and chosen ones could, but his looks were also a weapon. After all, if he could look like everyone then it meant that he was able to surprise almost everyone.

“At least tell me you got cleaned, because I don’t want you dragging snow, viscera and lord knows what else from the battlefield.”

“Well, I wanted to bring one of the chandeliers from the Crystal Empire castle, sadly everything in the place evaporated.” Quick with an answer, Architect simply shook his arm, letting free several specks of ash that had glued to his red jacket.

As they were about to continue their banter, a sound interrupted them, with the strange briefcase appearing at his side, already skating around before dashing further into the mansion.

“So… new invention?”

“Penny is… an old companion, not even sure if I was the one that created her. Is he in? I need to talk with him.” At those words Rainbow simply rolled her eyes.

“Of course he is, when is he not here? I swear he only goes out when it’s something of epic proportions, like our anniversary.” Following the sharply dressed woman to a more open area, he had time to really enjoy the place. Even if he had constructed the whole thing, the small details of decoration showed the kind of people that lived in it, and that was something he truly enjoyed about all places he visited across the vast amount of worlds around the multiverse.

This room was obviously quite the contrast with most of the floating mansion, with huge windows looking into creation itself, a tall ceiling filled with lights, large fountain made out of reinforced glass and modern tables in a white and black combination making everything seem welcoming, but highly sophisticated, a place where one could lounge and relax, but it had the presence of class and power, the perfect place for people like them considering how involved they were with… well, everything really.

It was with these thoughts that Architect finally sat down across from the man in charge of the huge complex, a man he had known for quite a while and though not the closest allies, there was still loyalty present. There’s a certain camaraderie that develops when two people cooperate for a long time, even if it never evolves into true friendship.

Readjusting the glass, the man only known as The Observer signalled for another cup to the pink haired girl that attended the highly glamorous bar at the other side of the room. Architect never really understood what was the point of the bar at the beginning, but considering the amount of visitors that the place received some times, well, it was nice to have some part that did at least look normal to most people across the multiverse.

What kind of visitors? Well, warriors, gods, demons and more sometimes got lost across the multiverse and time, so sometimes they reunited here, at the center of it all, and with such a gentlemanly host, who wouldn’t find great pleasure in this gorgeous place?

“I assume you have questions about what just happened?” The calm and collected voice of the elegant man always intrigued Architect. It was quite the opposite to the more rambunctious attitude that the builder/warrior had, which was obvious considering how much time each spend on ‘the field’, with most of Observer’s job focused on the set of ‘doors’ that had been created to keep an eye on most situations, while Architect was as much a researcher as he was an adventurer, ready to jump into those same situations with the intention to offer his services as a creator, with useful items and artefacts to those that were trying to become legends on their worlds.

“Well, considering that I was just involved in a war between Sunset Shimmer from 40K and Rogue from the X-Men with very demonic powers, yes, I think I will like an explanation! Thank you Pinkie.” In a way, it was hilarious how easy he could switch between sounding completely pissed off and then be as sweet and polite in just one sentence, but let’s be honest, it was also hilarious.

“No problem, here’s your cappuccino. I’ll be preparing lunch if you want to stay.” The pink haired girl will always be a weird sight to behold, her calm and collected nature contrasting heavily to the vast majority of Pinkies in the multiverse.

“I don’t know. I still have to check if I don’t have any orders left… but considering how hungry I became after having to survive an explosion that destroyed a city, maybe I will stay.”

“Passive aggressiveness is unbecoming of you, and I am sorry that you had to go through all of that. Thank you Pinkie.” While the man with the guns preferred his coffee, tea was more of Observer’s taste, having a cup refilled by the woman in charge of the kitchen. “But it was of great importance to defeat what Rogue had become, not that it seems to have stopped her.”

“No, but at least she seemed to have regained her sanity a bit. Still, it’s so weird to see creatures capable of surviving an explosion that big, or fight with a Queen head on. I thought those women were supposed to be some of the strongest creatures in the multiverse.” He may not be as close to the group known as Queens, but even he had seen the powers they commanded, with Bayonetta, now known as Madeleine, retaining most of her powers from before her change, but also gaining many abilities after her bizarre resurrection.

Not even he knew how they were able to ‘come back’ in that way, but at least he was grateful that they were not trying to create more chaos. Goodness knows that they had enough of that already with all the crazies around that wanted power or just plain chaos.

Sure, it helped that he was one of the people that had the resources to help when it was needed, especially when ‘heroes’ were about to fall, or that he used to hunt creatures too dangerous that could be problematic to others in their home universes. Still, to have a powerful backup like the Queens was not a bad idea, even less so when creatures that survived some of his most powerful weapons were around.

“It is a shame that you couldn’t contain her, but we are all grateful that she was taken out of commission, if only momentarily. Still, the planet was saved, alongside Sunset Shimmer and her troops.”

“Why is it that the crazy redhead is always in the middle of everything?”

“That is a mystery that we haven’t been able to crack, but I do have a hypothesis. I believe that Sunset is, without even realising it, somewhat of an antidote to whatever is going on around the universes.”

“You mean the crazy dark energy going around? Is that why you made me help the Sunset at the Gungeon? What is she going to do? Besides saving her friends of course.”

“If everything goes well, all of them will be the key to finding an answer against the invasion.”

“Yay, more mysterious nonanswers, just what I love. So are you going to tell me who exactly I’m fighting against now?” It was a heavy topic since he had been almost killed by monsters this time, almost that is, like every single time.

“We know his name, Noche.”

“An Umbrum?

“THE Umbrum, the original one that came from the old lands.”

“But there are no umbrums in any dimension, the only one that still exists in that state is Sombra and he gets his flanks kicked every time. I know, this time I helped.”

“Indeed, but this one did not arrive from any of the classified worlds… he came from outside.”

“Ah… is that even possible?” His confusion was understandable. Not even they knew what was beyond the sea of worlds outside, nor they knew the amount of variations and creations that made the endless universes floating like bubbles. After all, it was supposed to be ‘endless’.

“Who knows? Though none of us do for certain, the ones that know the truth about the multiverse have thought possible that something beyond the infinity could cross over. We always theorized that there were other instances of what happens in this multiverse, that maybe there is something bigger than this.”

“And another and another, an infinite expanse going for all eternity. I got the theory, but if you’re telling me that something arrived from beyond, then why is it here? Just to create chaos? We already have more than enough considering the things that happen around the place on any given day!”

“We still don’t know, but we have a theory that he is looking for something, either a person, or an item that travelled with him. We noticed that there were energy signatures travelling across the sea of the multiverse, but the readings were too fragmented. Whatever sent him over seems to have also affected this energy because we cannot find it, just scant traces.”

“So what? You want me to invent something to help you with it?”

“No need. Featherine is already looking after it, not to mention she is anxious for another tea party.”

“What? Wait… Featherine… that crazy chick from Higurashi? Isn’t she still trying to find a way to kill me permanently?” To say that the ‘crazy chick’ was anyone normal would be a complete lie. After all, how many people had complete control over a story like the Creator Witch.

“You have to admit, her being incapable of changing your story or anything that you are involved with really made her curious… I’m not sure if that is a bad or a good thing. Still, she is a valuable ally and when she is curious she tends to work extra fast.” It was clear that the elegant man was about to say more, but they all felt something, a sensation akin to an insect crawling across their back and arm, a sensation of dread.

Something beyond their space dimmed and was reborn, as if an eye had blinked and had been lost, like a soul and power that could only be found by those that were lost and had been found.

“Well… that wasn’t normal.” It was obvious that he had only said that to lighten the mood, not that it helped them or changed the dire situation.

“Indeed, this is everything besides normal. Whatever that was, I’m sure we will find the cause very soon.” And as they were trying to make sense of the situation, they both received grave news. It started with a message, as both men looked at the device on the Architect’s hands that had received it.

“That’s weird… I don’t recognize this signal… come to this world, I will need your help… Well, that isn’t ominous.” But as he finished reading, someone else had an urgent mission.

“Observer, we have a situation,” the elegant Rainbow Dash said with a seriousness that for many who weren’t used to this version of the rainbow haired woman will be shocked.

“And that one is?”

“A Sunset Shimmer has retained her memories after her world was reset.” It would have been comical to see the two grown men stay petrified at those strange words, but these two men were not normal, nor the situation they were in.

“Okay… uh, correct me if I’m wrong,” began the younger looking of the two. The man with a thousand and one weapons was flabbergasted, but he carried on with his usual humour, “I was under the impression that after a reset, nobody in that dimension could remember anything of what had happened. That’s why it’s called a reset!”

“it is as you said… so something like this happening… Well, it is a first. Guess we both have something to do about this, right?” And as Observer said those words, Architect, the man with the long jacket nodded before disappearing with the use of his bottle, following the coordinates on his message, right into a dark forest. into the entrance of a world that would change the destiny of many and will bring light to those without hope. You may know this place.

Perhaps you've seen the place, maybe in a dream.

A murky, forgotten land.

A place where souls may mend their ailing mind.

They will lose everything… over… and over… and over… again

... once Branded.

The symbol of the curse.

The symbol of humanity

An augur of darkness, an augur of constant despair.

The past. The present. The future. The very light that shines upon all.

None will have meaning, and nobody will even care.

By then, he'll be something other than human.

But then… he has always been something different.

An existence… that goes beyond… gods and demons.

A thing that feeds on souls. On dreams. On monsters

They may be Hollow.

But him… he is more… The one who builds is more.

And she… she is more… the redheaded woman is more.

Long ago, in a walled off land, far to the north, a great king built a great kingdom.

I believe they called it Drangleic.

Perhaps you're familiar.

No, how could you be.

You are just human… trapped beyond your screen.

Not knowing what it means to be cursed.

But one day, you will stand before its decrepit gate.

Without really knowing why…

Like a moth drawn to a flame.

Your wings will burn in anguish.

Time after time.

For that is your fate.

The fate of the cursed.

And this.

This is their beginning.

Their end.

Saint Sunset 01

Author's Note

So, what type of door should we go into first? Ah, why not this?
What do you say? Why is is called Saint Sunset? Oh, don't worry my friend, this has nothing to do with religion, the Saint part refers to an old type of warrior, protectors of humanity, why don't you check inside and see what I am talking about?

Saint Sunset 01

Everyone in this world hates me, they all do.

Okay, that was way too melodramatic, I should leave that to Rarity, but I don’t think I’m lying when I say that everyone in this building hates me, not that they don’t have many reasons for thinking like that.

I have treated everyone as if they were inferior to me. I climbed to the pinnacle of the high school social ladder and it didn’t matter who I had to step on to get the measly amount of power hat I had, or better said, the power that SHE has.

This past few years have been a non-stopping torment, always watching what happens outside but never capable to let them now, to be heard and finally finish this nightmare, but it didn’t matter how much I struggled against these chains or tried every single mental exercise I could think of to get back control of my body, I was just another prisoner in this school.

I don’t even remember how many times I cried inside my head, how many times I called for Celestia to rescue me, but all of it was only in vain, false hope that allowed me to remain sane or at least remember who I was so I wouldn’t lose myself to this insanity.

The taunting was the worst, knowing that whoever had my body did all those petty and cruel things just to make me suffer even more, as if taunting me with the knowledge that I couldn’t stop her, that even if I stopped her nobody would believe me and I would remain alone, that no matter what world I tried to live in I will suffer the consequences from the actions of this… this demon.

It had started so simply, I had grown attached to the idea of becoming a princess, maybe if I became immortal and regal as Celestia then maybe… maybe she would finally look me in the eye and call me daughter… pathetic, right? Everything is the fault of a lonely child that only wanted a family… I shouldn’t have gone into the forbidden section of the library, I just allowed IT to jump into me, was this what happened to the Mare in the Moon? To Princess Luna?

Was this creature made to make the host suffer or was that just a byproduct of the damage and pain she inflicted unto others, I will probably lose my mind before I’m capable of answering any of those questions and I know I won’t get any help, not after this monster returned to Equestria, guess it wasn’t enough that she probably broke Princess Celestia’s heart jumping through the mirror… or maybe Celestia was glad that I left, I don’t know anymore.

Sometimes I don’t even listen to the things my… doppelganger I guess… does in the school, I have stopped trying to understand why it stays in a high school, maybe she is trying to find something? I don’t know, I don’t care… well, there it goes, picking on Fluttershy once again, I swear, bullying her is like kicking a puppy that was trying to play with you, is THAT heart breaking… what did she mean by crown? Oh sweet Faust! That’s…. that’s Celestia’s student after I left… Twilight Sparkle… the one that did become a princess… Celestia must have been so proud of her.

The crown!

That’s it! She was looking for the crown! That’s an element of harmony! She stole it, but why? It had been lost for so long that no one is sure what are the powers of it, so if this monster just jumped into Equestria just to steal the element of harmony then that means she had a plan for it. She either stole it to make me look even worst in the face of Celestia… not that it was that hard considering how I was with her… so if this wasn’t just petty theft then what was the point? Yes, it is supposed to be a really powerful magical arti...fact.

The most powerful magical artifact in all of Equestria in a world with no inherent magic, is that what she is trying to do? Regain her magic? Or well, my magic since this is still my body, but if that is true then that means that everything that she has done so far pales to the scale of damage and destruction she could do.

If I wasn’t trapped, incapable of talking or even moving all these shenanigans for the crown would have been comical, or at least awkward; this was supposed to be the demon that had ruled a high school with an iron fist? Really? God, this was embarrassing.

The taunts had been childish, the attempts to make Twilight look bad were pathetic, really, and didn’t she know how to use Photoshop? I mean, I was the one trapped and I know more about the human world than her, this is ridiculous.

So now it comes to this, she has finally lost, everybody finally rallied against around the newest princess, seems that Celestia choose the perfect pony for the role… I’m glad. Now the monster has no more control and she will be able to return to Equestria with me in chains so… wait… what is she doing?

No.

NO.

You cannot give her the crown! Princess! If you can even listen to me, don’t give this monster the crown!

Oh, but it is too late now you stupid pony.

This… this can’t be… she can’t… she cannot win… that’s not how stories go… right? Twilight… Twilight can still win.

But there was no sudden rescue, no sudden source of power to defeat her, no Princess Celestia appearing with her gleaming armor ready to destroy another monster… just pain. Endless pain.

When I’m capable of focusing on the outside world I can only listen laughter and screams of fear, well, seems like the whole school has seen us transform, at least they have know seen her real face.

“Sunset Shimmer! What have you done!?” the voice of Twilight was still strong and there was no signs of fear, truly remarkable Twilight.

“Do not. Call me. That. NAME!” I have never heard this creature this mad before, whatever power she syphoned from the crown seemed to have shook some screws loose “I have been playing the part of this pathetic little mortal for too long, my name is Alecto!”

“What… what do you mean? Sunset…”

“Oh please, you ponies are always so easy to manipulate! Sunset hasn’t been in control of this body for years now”

“You monster!” Rarity, if I were you I wouldn’t antagonize the obviously crazy monster.

“She is right, you are nothing but a monster, all this time you have been hiding as an innocent girl?” who would have thought Fluttershy could get this mad?

“I wouldn’t call her innocent, she is quite the work of art, petty, envious and full of hate and anger, it was so fun to see her crumble inside her head, why don’t you see for yourself? After all, I don’t need her anymore, I have all I need now” Wait, what, what does she mean by thAAAAAAAAAAGH

It felt as if my body had been put through a meat grinder, it hurt everywhere. Wait, I can feel pain… I can feel the grass on my face and hands; I can feel the breeze moving my hair… I never thought I would miss that feeling so much, I would be crying of joy for having my body again if I wasn’t already crying due to the pain.

“S-Sunset Shimmer?” I can hear the soft voice of a young girl at my side almost immediately, who else but Fluttershy, looking at me with something akin of pity and worry… I do not deserve it.

“I-I… I’m sorry… I c-c-couldn’t ma-make her… stop… no con-control” I feel so weak, so much pain, she has been using me as a battery and a container all at the same time, no wonder she wanted that crown, just a couple of years more and my body would have shut down .

“Is okay, it wasn’t your fault”

“I’m… sorry”

“Just rest Sunset” I have never seen her like this, usually is just looks of fear, I don’t know why I deserve her looking after me.

“Aw, isn’t this just adorable? Sunset being forgiven for her sins, isn’t that nausea inducing?”

“SHUT UP! I don’t know what is going on, but I can understand this very well partner, you have been using Sunset as a scapegoat all this time, and now is time to pay!” Go get her Applejack, not that I think there is much you guys can do.

“What can you and the rest of this pathetic school can do? I am complete again, and soon chaos will reign over this land just like it did in Equestria” her voice, the way she said those things, the way she looked as if she came from one of those religious books were quite enough to maintain all the students inside the gym, they were petrified due to fear, I could even hear some of them crying in fear not that I can blame them, she looked like a demon with black and red armor to boot.

“We can stop you, with the strongest magic of them all, the magic of friendship!” the monster, Alecto, simply laughed at Twilight’s words.

“Oh poor little princess, you alicorns have tried that so many times, and each of them found out the same thing, all beings born by Eris will never be fell by that, not now anyway considering that this is merely a useless piece of jewelry now” Alecto said while throwing the crown aside, it made me shudder how the element of magic looked like now; when Twilight arrived it looked full of light, catching the reflection of the bulbs in the school and make it seem almost alive, now the jewel seemed dull, empty of whatever energy it had before.

“It… cannot be” Twilight doesn’t look good, I guess I don’t either but just looking your most powerful weapon being thrown aside like that can be very painful.

“Well, why lose more time? Time to die little princess, ‘Unrelenting Rage’!” Uh oh, this is not good, Alecto’s body started to shine, this is not good, she is charging for an attack, I have no idea what Unrelenting Rage is but I’m pretty sure is nothing good… so why am I in front of Twilight?

Damn guilt… oh well… at least I died free.

She should have done more, but the very sight of her element of harmony being thrown aside as if it were a child’s toy had taken all the wind out of her, now they had no weapon, no way to defend against whatever that creature, Alecto, planned to do.

At the sound of energy being charged Twilight closed her eyes, then she felt the arms and body heat of all her new old friends around her and for one second Twilight had to smile, at least she won’t be alone these last few seconds, but then… pain never came, just the sound of magic being released and opening their eyes the six friends found out why they had been left unscathed. In front of them Sunset stood between them and the attack of Alecto, her head slightly turned looking at them with a resigned look, then a flash and Sunset was no more… all that was left was a scorched mark in the grass.

Twilight didn’t even dare to breathe, in fact, for the first time on her life she didn’t even know what to think, everything seemed to be frozen in time until someone screamed and everything came rushing down. Sunset was dead… she died saving their lives, she had been prisoner in her mind for who knows how long and now… now she was dead.

Both Rarity and Fluttershy were hugging each other crying, Pinkie seemed to have lost all energy, just looking at the place where Sunset died with unshed tears in her eyes, while Rainbow and Applejack.

“I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!” Applejack had to use all of her strength to stop an enraged Rainbow.

“You saw what she did! Don’t be an idiot!”

“She fucking killed Sunset! This mother fucking monster just killed her! And it was never her fault… all this time… it was never her fault… I hated her when-when she was suffering all that time… and I cannot say sorry to her… she is gone…” Rainbow Dash finally stopped struggling and slowly felt to her knees.

For her part Alecto stood hovering in midair not quite believing what she had seen “So the stupid pony gave up her life… what an idiot, guess the waste of space finally found courage for that”

“Don’t”

“What was that princess?”

“Don’t you dare speak of Sunset like that again!” Twilight could feel it, the telltale of rage coiling around her.

“Well, well, well, seems like the little princess is more than ready to fight, but there is nothing you can do now my dear, no magic, no power, no nothing, you only got a reprieve, now do like your little friend, and DIE!” Alecto screamed ready to attack once again.

For the first time in years Sunset knew peace, it was quiet, only her floating in darkness and silence, finally she could forget of screams, rage and pain, finally she could rest forever and sleep.

Sunset

There was a voice, but it was interrupting her rest, she didn’t want to be bothered.

Sunset… they still need you

What? What was that voice saying? She wasn’t needed, she was already dead… she just wanted to rest.

Sunset, they still need you

No, they didn’t, she was just a failure, she failed in her studies, she failed to become a princess, and she failed against the monster, no, they didn’t need her at all.

Oh my sweet Sunset, your destiny was never to be a princess, that was just what Celestia wanted of you, but you still have something even bigger waiting for you

And in that moment, everything around Sunset was clear and full of light as a presence did what she haven’t felt in years, it hugged her and it was full of love and warmth.

“But… I am already dead… I cannot help them”

Sunset… that is not true, there has been someone that has been waiting for you all these years

And like that, she felt a spark being ignited inside of her, a power she knew well, fire that started to burn around and inside her.

Go my little Sunset, protect your friends and be prepared, soon I will wake up

“… now do like your little friend, and DIE!” Alecto screamed while she prepared to attack once again and this time Twilight knew that there was a very high chance that they would effectively die.

But there was a spark and then a raging inferno, flames that seemed to have life, moving around the school entrance making everyone gasp in terror but seconds later in fascination as the flames danced around the six girls as if they were old friends.

“What is this feeling?… it feels so natural… is so melancholic” Twilight couldn’t describe the feeling; it was something old and important, a feeling of deep sadness but also of happiness for its return.

“No… no… it cannot be… there is no way… there is no way… I killed you… I KILLED YOU!” Alecto seemed to have lost all of her composure, screaming at the flames, while these ones seemed to retract and dance, expanding and pulsing, it looked like… it looked like Princess Celestia’s pet… the immortal bird… a phoenix, and just like this image became clear, a figure, a shadow appeared in the heart of the fire beast.

As the image became clearer with every step it took they could not contain their smiles and gasps of surprise because in front of them, wrapped in a beautiful white and blue armor with a beautiful golden crown like the head of a bird was none other than Sunset Shimmer.

“I… killed you… I killed you… then why? Why are you still here?” for all response Sunset smiled softly at the monster than for so many years had tormented her.

“Alecto… it doesn’t matter how many times you try to get rid of me, just like the bird I will come back time and time again, because I remember who I was supposed to be, what my true destiny was, I am Sunset Shimmer and I am the thing you fear the most Alecto, I am one of Athena’s Saints! I am the Phoenix!” Sunset said while the same kind of energy than Alecto appeared around her, this one as bright as the sun.

“Don’t say that as if you knew what you were talking about! You are nowhere near their powers! There is no way a simple bronze saint could defeat a Fury! Unrelenting Rage!”

“This time is different! Let me show you what I have remembered! Fiery Phoenix!” Unlike the dark aura of Alecto A phoenix made out of fire seemed to be projected behind Sunset while she released her energy in a torrent of fire and wind not only stopping the attack of Alecto but slowly pushing it backwards.

“How… I have the power of the element of harmony!”

“You fool, you represent everything that harmony is not, do you think it would help you? Now, go back to Tartarus where you belong!” with that the attack overpowered Alecto, the winds and flames broke her armor and like that, her body was turned to dust.

A Lost Crystal Gem: 01

Author's Note

So, did you guys find the small hint in the last door? You will always find them for now on telling you a clue about the next door we will open, but here we are , a new opportunity for adventure and comedy? This time it has to do with... gems apparently.

A Lost Crystal Gem: 01

A Lost Crystal Gem: 01

The blue endless landscape alongside the air smelling of salt brought back dozens of memories to her mind, some of them powerful enough to make her cry, the vast majority fighting the sadness that the redhead felt after coming back home and it also brought the nostalgia due to places she had visited countless times on the small city. The way the sand crumbled at her footsteps, the distant sound of the town alongside the multitude of old friends and acquaintances’ voices almost made her turn around to say hello and check on things after her time out of town. But she was here for something specific, something she should have done but was nervous about.

“This is so exciting! I have never been in this kind of situation! I mean, it is well researched the effects an upbringing of an alien species by ponies could do to them but I have never had direct information about the reverse scenario!”

“I heard the first time princess.” The reason was right at her side talking a mile a minute. All the time the two had sepdn time together was an incessant regurgitation of records and information which Sunset was not interested in knowing. The only thing Sunset wanted to think about was her imminent return back home and to the house/temple that saw her change from the self-absorbed moody little girl that she had been into the sarcastic, witty and slightly egocentric older woman that she was now.

It hurt to think about home; not the dimension where she was born, oh no, home was the little wood house that had been built on top of the gigantic Buddhist style statue carved out of the mountain. The last time she had been there was too long for her, she remembered how much her decision to go out into the world and get her diploma meant for the youngest member of the house, the idea that her big sister was leaving and probably won’t return. Well, he was still a kid when she left almost 3 years ago but now, here she was, walking the old beach road she took almost every day when she came back from eating a pizza or playing some games with her little tyke of a brother.

"I'm sorry, but this is somethng that has never happened before, to ge tin contact with another race! Especifically one from out of space and completely different from ponykind!"

“I get it, I get it, no need to say it a hundred times princess.” Sunset said masking her worry with her usual annoyed voice that she used so many times when dealing with people like Pinkie or Amethyst.

“Sorry, I guess I am just a little too excited about this.”

“You don’t say… sorry, I tend to get sarcastic.”

“No problem, Celestia told me that you used to be a little acerbic, said it was one of the reasons she brought you with her to court.” Sunset smiled at that, those were fun days.

“I’m surprised Princess Celestia told you stuff like that.”

“She told me a lot when I decided to accompany you here, she still remembers you fondly Sunset.”

“I don’t know why, I wasn’t exactly the best student she had, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the worst but still-”

“Celestia never forgot you, she even forgave you the moment you arrived at the Crystal Empire.”

“Yeah… I was prepared to fight my way out if she had declared me a traitor or something like that; I guess I was scared for nothing.”

“I think so too, she was so surprised when you told her you worked your way around the time limitation on the portal.”

“Hey, constantly playing around technology that is hundreds or thousands of years ahead of ponykind can help you find a lot of solutions, besides, I thought it was about time for me to come back home… listen, Princess Twilight-”

“Just Twilight please, you don’t have to call me by the title.”

“Humble too, anyway, thank you for coming with me, it means a lot even thought you were taking this trip more as an opportunity for research.” She said making Twilight blush slightly at the embarrassment of her initial outburst after hearing Sunset wanted to come back to the place she was ‘raised’ “and something else, my house is… a little out of the ordinary so don’t get frightened or surprised about what could happen, okay?”

“I’ve seen my share of weird and bizarre things before, I’m pretty sure nothing inside that house can surprise me… AHHHHHHHHH!” just like Sunset had predicted, something completely strange happened just opening the front door. In this case it was a green and black worm the size of a dog with big mandibles leaking acid into the floor that had jumped straight into both Sunset and Twilight. The former did a spin and struck the worm right in the face with a spinning kick sending it flying inside the house again.

“What is going on?” the question seemed to be useless since the three members of the bizarre family were currently engaged in combat with more of those worms, thankfully after another second the thinnest person in the room put a worm on a headlock and noticed both teenagers at the door.

“Oh, Spinel! You arrived! Sorry that we couldn’t go and meet you when you arrived but we had a little bit of a situation here.” Pearl said calmly before breaking the neck of the worm making it disappear.

“Hey bacon head! Who’s the girl? Your new girlfriend?” It was a little obvious who said those words. The short gem was currently running after another worm with a whip on her hand. For some reason it looked beyond comical for Sunset.

“Hey short stuff! Nah, she is just staying for a while.” Sunset said stepping on a worm, it seemed that the couple of years she had been away didn’t change a thing, she got back in the routine of bickering and fighting like before. For her part Twilight didn’t even notice the slight teasing on the part of Amethyst and was busy trying to write everything that was happening around the living room “So, I will repeat once again, what’s going on?” The tallest member of the family simply backhanded a worm with her usual aplomb before loking directly to the redhead.

“Centipeetles, welcome home Spinel.” The usually stoic dark skinned woman smiled at Sunset making her feel at ease, the so called centipeetles non withstanding. At that moment a young boy appeared from outside carrying on his back a bizarre mini fridge with a mascot drawing on it that Sunset remembered as the mascot for Cookie Cat.

“Hey guys, I’m home. Wait a minute, Spinel, you’re back!” the boy was about to launch himself into Sunset before noticing the dangerous creatures walking everywhere in the room “whoa, what are those?”

“Apparently, centipeetles.” Sunset said before a metal boot appeared around Sunset’s leg helping her crush the worm “and they don’t have gems, bigger worm out there?”

“Hello Steven, we wanted to get the house free of these things to welcome Spinel back, don’t worry, we will get rid of them.”

“Do you have to? They are cute.”

“Does he really find them cute? I mean, Fluttershy would probably love to get a couple of them but I don’t think anyone outside of Discord would enjoy their company.”

“Meh, this is Steven we are talking about Twilight, if he could have had the chance he would have found a way to befriend Discord before Fluttershy.”

“Anyway, we will get rid of that thing soon, don’t worry Steven.”

“Do you think I can help you with that?”

“Oh Steven, you know you are too young for that yet, you can leave saving the world to us.”

“Mommy Pearl is right, leave the world saving business to them, they have enough experience on that front.” Sunset said going back to her old joke.

“Although I am sure Spinel can help us hunt the centipeetle down.” Pearl said looking at Sunset with half lidded eyes in her patented 'mom is very dissapointed in you' glare.

“Oh come on, I just came back and you already want me to do that? Is this for the mommy Pearl thingy?”

“Of course not, I just think that it will be good for you to get some exercise in gem hunting, we don’t know how rusty you are right now.”

“Yes, it was the mommy Pearl thingy.” Sunset said to Amethyst making the short gem laugh at her misfortune. Meanwhile, Twilight found herself entranced with the interactions of the family members, it seemed that those three years of studying outside the city didn’t change the way they talked with each other; they even had their own inside jokes, it was fascinating.

“Hey, shoo, shoo, out of the fridge.” Steven waved at one of the last centipeetles while this one was trying to eat everything inside the fridge, Garnet took care of it and nobody found it weird to see a flying centipeetle before poofing out of existence “hey, no way, it can’t be!”

“What is it Steven?” Sunset asked her little brother openly curious about his reaction to what was in the freezer.

“These are all Cookie Cats! I thought they had been discontinued!”

“Wait, what? They discontinued Cookie Cats? But you love those things.”

“I know, guess there won’t be Sunday Cookie Cats anymore.” Steve said a little sad at what had become a weekly tradition with the taller girl, after all the time they had spent apart they won’t be able to go out every Sunday to buy each a Cookie Cat to eat in front of the beach.

“Is alright kiddo, we can always do something else, maybe even Twilight will like to help us.” she said finally bringing the seemingly normal teenager into the talk.

“Wait, me? I don’t even know this town.”

“Who is she?” Steven asked momentarily forgetting the cold snack on his hands.

“Sunset’s new girlfriend.” Amethyst said before receiving a slap on the back of the head courtesy of Sunset.

“She is a friend that will stay around for a couple of days, don’t worry Steven, go ahead and eat the Cookie Cat.”

“Alright.” Steven was easily distracted sometimes but when it came to Cookie Cats nothing was more important, so after taking a deep breath he was ready for his rendition of the frozen treat theme.

“Steven… you know how much I hate that stupid song.” Sunset said with her arms crossed and a slightly annoyed face on her.

“Oh right, sorry I forgot.” he simply said before taking a huge bite out of the Cookie Cat, his blissful face showed how good it tasted before a pink glow took everyone by surprise.

“Wait… is that your gem?” Sunset was more than a little surprised; last time she was here Steven wasn’t even capable of getting a spark out of his gem.

“Quick, is glowing! How do I summon my weapon? Oh! Is fading!”

“Calm down Steven, breathe, don’t force it.” it was obvious that he was doing everything he could to do exactly the contrary of what Pearl just said.

“Yeah, and try not to poop yourself.” Sunset was this close to slap Amethyst once again.

“Please,” but alas, the glow vanished and everything was back to normal “I was so close this time; can one of you just explain to me how to summon a weapon?” Pearls’ hand immediately went up.

“I’ll go first.” she said before grabbing Steven and basically drag him in the direction of their special rooms, leaving behind Twilight and Sunset after Amethyst and Garnet went their own ways.

“What did he mean by summoning a weapon?”

“Is basically a special ability the girls have, it has to do with the gem they all have in their bodies.”

“That sounds really interesting, do you think they'll mind if I also study about it?”

“I think they won’t, heck, Amethyst will love to have someone new to show off her abilities.”

“Do you think Steven will learn?”

“From this bunch? Are you crazy? He will only end more confused, then he will come to me and I will finally explain it in a way he can understand, believe me, things like this have happened before.”

“If you say so,” Twilight said finally putting her book aside, she would have more chances to research all the interesting things that had happened today “so, why did they call you Spinel?”

“Well, I think you have notice the naming pattern between the girls of the family, so Rose Quartz -you know, Steven’s mom, I told you and Celestia about her- decided that after becoming part of her family I needed a name to represent the change. Also, don’t worry, I’ll try to explain everything crazy around here, but I’ll try to do that alongside Steven. Believe me, some of the stuff you probably wouldn’t believe it if it weren’t because we are both dimensional travelers. Don’t worry Twilight, why don’t you rest? I can assure the rest of the day will be very tiring.” Sunset said speaking on experience, after all, every day was an adventure when it came to the Crystal Gems.

Seeing Twilight walk away to check the rest of the house Sunset finally let out a sigh, it felt wrong to lie to Twilight, especially about the name, but she knew she wasn’t quite ready to explain the truth to Twilight, some secrets were harder to say, she thought watching her reflection on the fridge, she then pulled down the front of her shirt, watching the red jewel that had grown on her skin exactly on top of where her heart should be.

With one last sigh, Sunset turned around, fixed her shirt and walked in a random direction, she was sure that with all this stress she was in need of a drink, maybe even a snack. It was time to check all the changes to the house, maybe even say hi to Greg.

Call me Beep me 01

Call me, Beep me 01

If you asked anyone that studied in Middleton high School who was the most famous student the opinions would be divided 50/50, and much to the consternation of one Bonnie Rockwaller, both of them were redheads.

First you had the clean cut, girl-next-door, all American Sweetheart (at least in the opinion of one magazine) Kim Possible, hero for hire and local celebrity that did every rescue or mission pro-bono and who had gathered a huge number of fans around the world.

On the other corner, well, the redhead that caused the most headaches and trouble around Middleton was not what you may call nice, in fact, the word was probably erased from her dictionary with a flame thrower. She was tough as nails, in your face, confrontational, no-nonsense and a no sugar coating mouth. Many considered her the darker version of Kim although both of them denied the comparison.

The worst part in their opinion? Both of them were grade A students, top grades in the school and both maintained a healthy record of school activities, Kim as a cheerleader and Sunset sometimes helped Middleton High School’s sports clubs when they needed help so even in school with both of their accomplishments there were comparisons between them.

Something else was the way they dressed, and it seemed to accentuate the differences more than the similarities between the two with Kim using safer, teen clothes from Club Banana, or as Sunset called it, Future Suburban Mom Factory. Meanwhile, Sunset was seen always with her by now trademarked leather jacket, miniskirts and shirts with the emblem of the sun on them, and mercy to the unlucky soul that did something to her jacket, just ask Bonnie and Brick about what happened the first week of High School when they both threw a milkshake over Sunset.

Brick still had the scars to prove why messing with Sunset was a bad idea.

“Well, here comes trouble at six o’clock” were the words that the fashionista named Monique uttered that morning as the students of Middleton High began to shuffle their way into the dreaded building known as school; Ron Stoppable then looked at the clock on his phone confused.

“How do you know trouble will start at six? I mean is almost eight in the morning” the blonde said making the redhead behind him swear that he was the reason why there were blonde jokes.

“She is using clock position, six o’clock means behind you” she didn’t say it but the word ‘moron’ seemed to be attached at the end of the phrase, either way her words made Ron almost jump in the air and turn around so fast Sunset thought for a moment he was going to do a faceplant.

“SUNSET!” the aforementioned girl had to smirk seeing the desired reaction from Ron and how even the naked mole rat on his pocket seemed to be amazed by the reaction of his owner and how fast he had spin around.

“Well, it took you five seconds to see I was behind you, it usually takes you five minutes, you are getting better” she said with the smirk still in place enjoying how she was capable of making Ron shiver in fear and surprise, although it wasn’t that difficult, you just had to say the words ‘Monkey Attack’ close to him to make him scream in fear and dive for the closest safe spot.

“With how much you like to tease the poor guy I would think you liked him if IDKYA sister” the dark skinned girl said with one eyebrow raised at the shenanigans her friends were part of first thing in the morning.

“What did she said?”

“’If I didn’t know you already’ apparently, Monique, what did I tell you about shortening every single sentence?” Sunset simply sighing at the fashionista’s propensity to make acronyms at every opportunity.

“You have the badass biker chick fashion and attitude and I have my own style, TYVM” Monique responded with her classic aplomb and confidence that made Sunset smile in earnest; it was hard to find someone in Middleton that could not only take Sunset’s attitude but could also give back as well and in this case Monique and Sunset had forged a bizarre kind of friendship that made the students of Middleton high scratch their heads wondering how it was even possible.

The three of them then noticed another figure walking in their direction and Sunset grinned even wider at what the other redhead was wearing, it was time to have some fun at the expense of the so called ‘basic average girl’.

“Well, look who is here, Miss Panty Flasher” she said making Ron wince and Monique laugh behind her mouth at her words and Kim’s reaction at them. The redheaded hero silently glared at Sunset while it was obvious why the biker girl made fun of her; she had the Middleton High cheerleader uniform on which was a clear indication that there was a game today.

“Will you quit it with that nickname already? I have never flashed my panties, I always wear bloomers under the cheerleading skirt”

“That doesn’t matter to the guys in the school, they still wait for those flips and twirls every game” Sunset said making the other redhead fume and while she wanted to answer back Kim knew it was a lost battle so instead she opened her locker to get her books and the action also activated the screen inside showing a portly young boy with a big soda cup on his hand.

“Hey Kim”

“Please Wade, tell me you have good news for me” she said wanting something good after having to deal with Sunset this early in the morning.

“Sorry Kim, I haven’t found information about Dr. Drakken’s plot yet but I’m sure there will be something about it soon, meanwhile I found out some rumors on the net about Monty Fiske and how he is tracking the location of another monkey temple”

“Oh come on, is he still trying to find more of that monkey power stuff?” Sunset said while Ron quietly shivered at the mention of those demoniac beings.

“Well, apparently he has been cursing Sunset all over the internet; he accuses you of stealing his destiny as the Mystical Monkey Master”

“He shouldn’t have just let those idols in the open then” how was Sunset supposed to know they had magical energy? She had simply touched the idols and absorbed the energy inside and also the energy Monkey Fist had recieved from them, making her the only one with Mystical Monkey Power much to the relief of Ron who shivered at the idea of him having to do anything with monkeys.

“So we can expect Monty to attack soon, call us when you get more information on him”

“Sure can do Kim… oh oh”

“Please tell me that oh oh is because you have no more soda”

“Sunset!”

“What?”

“I said it because there is a hit on the web page”

“So, what’s the sitch?” Sunset groaned loudly at Kim’s catchphrase and how annoying it was for her.

“Apparently Duff Killigan is fighting against an alligator in Florida”

“Okay, I’ll bite the bullet, why is that idiot fighting an alligator?” Sunset asked as confused as the other people present.

“Well, because he is at the Buffalo Creek Golf Course and the alligator lives on it” Wade told them watching the different monitors located inside his room while Kim and Sunset shrugged their shoulders, it wasn’t the weirdest thing they have heard or seen.

“On it, do you have transport for us?”

“Already on its way Kim”

“Have I said that you rock Wade?”

“Not enough times this week” the boy said finishing the call as Kim Possible turned to look directly at Sunset Shimmer.

“What? Oh no, no way in hell I’m going with you guys, Duff Killigan is not my responsibility, I only deal with Monty because he is a lunatic after my head… wait… what are you doing? Not the puppy dog pout… okay, okay, I’ll go with you, but only because I find Killigan funny” Sunset finally relented as Kim put away her devastatingly cute weapon. Ron for his part understood how much of an illegal weapon that pout was and simply patted the redhead with a leather jacket on the back.

“Well, what are we waiting for? We are going to Florida, see you later Monique” Kim said running in the direction of the parking lot while the other two members of Team possible followed her (one official the other practically coerced into it).

“If everything goes right I’ll bring you an alligator purse Monique” Sunset said making the dark skinned girl smile knowing that if Sunset said that it was a high probability that it would come true.

Interlude: An Invitation

Author's Note

If you wonder how The Observer looks like, think of Colin Firth in Kingsman.

Interlude: An Invitation

Interlude: An invitation

The last door on the long hall was finally closed leaving the red and gold haired woman with more questions than answers; since arriving to this bizarre place and its bizarre owner. With one last look to the doors she started to walk behind him full of questions without answer.

“So what did you thought?” the man asked her taking her out of her ruminations.

“It was weird how much she was enjoying the idea of having to shoot other creatures” he had to admit it was a valid thought.

“Well, she was never touched by the magic of friendship so she has a different perspective, much more militaristic; remember that in her own way she is a hero, just not very conventional”

“I’ll take your word for it” she said sitting down at the lounge chair while looking at the window. No matter how many times she looked through it she was always fascinated by the view outside, after all, how many times you could say you had a perfect view to outer space.
It was out of both worlds Sunset had ever lived in, and that was saying something considering her adventures; lounge chairs, tea table filled with nibble cakes, macaroons, madeleine biscuits and butter cookies brought by a girl identical to Pinkie Pie but had none of the exuberance, but just the great taste for snacks and service that the pink menace back home had achieved through experience and hard work.

Taking one sniff Sunset completely relaxed at noticing the fragrance of chamomile perfectly brewed and showing the manners of a perfect host, The Observer carefully filled a cup for her before doing the same for his own, it was indeed a bizarre experience, taking tea in the middle of a house floating in outer space, but weird seemed to be her life’s destiny.

“Now that we are a little bit more comfortable why don’t you tell me about the doors my dear?” he said crossing a leg over the other and interlacing his hands, his small smile present creating the picture of a perfect gentleman, it reminded Sunset of several teachers she had back in Equestria, the ones that had seen everything and were guiding you to the answer instead of giving it to you.

“The doors are… well, doors to another universe, places where the portal didn’t take me to the universe I live in, at least most of them but also where things didn’t go exactly the same”

“And what happened in those dimensions? Please tell me the details you remember” he said taking a careful sip of his tea.

“In the first one I was some kind of knight”

“Ah yes, the Saints of Athena, truly a worthy story to tell, so much sacrifice from those boys and their goddess, but it seems that the you from that world has a great responsibility in her life now that she is out of the Fury’s control” he said pushing the plate of butter cookies in Sunset’s direction while she took one, enjoying the smooth flavor and the way it practically melted on her mouth.

“She was under her control all that time, she acted like me but she was a prisoner but I don’t have that excuse”

“Oh come on my dear, do not open healed injuries, your situations were different but both of you grew from them, besides, you cannot blame yourself in that way, it is also the responsibility of the teacher to guide the student and if the student fails it is also the teacher’s failure”

“How is that so?”

“For what I understand of your life, and my apologies if I seem a little impertinent in my opinion, is that Celestia was always fighting your ego and arrogance but in the wrong way, after all she was simply pushing her ideas down your throat without even attacking the source of your arrogance… pain, the pain that you felt when Celestia found out your cutie mark was not the one that was found in the Tree of Harmony” he said in a soft voice softening the blow to Sunset.

The young woman looked at the content of her tea cup remembering the day she gained her cutie mark, how happy she have felt, thinking of how proud her teacher would be once she found out the cutie mark so similar to her teacher, but instead she found only disappointment because the cutie mark branded her as one pony who was not destined to greatness, because she wasn’t Twilight Sparkle.

“That is one sin that Celestia keeps on remembering even to this day, not that I don’t think she shouldn’t, after all it is one thing to tell a child the truth and work through the disappointment in a healthy way, but another is to hide the truth from the child and make her believe that if she only worked harder she would be able to become a princess too. No, the pain she put you through is her own making; besides, the one you were responsible for you already paid for it so forget that melancholy, keep telling me about the worlds you saw” he said with that same smile making Sunset relax while remembering the next world she saw.

“That other me… she was in a Japanese high school for monsters and she was able to transform into the she-demon, how?”

“Well, one has to remember that the place was built with monsters in mind, with the multitude of protective shields and old magic spells found inside is no wonder that the energy the Sunset of that world absorbed brought that side; but at least you can take some comfort in the fact that she was capable of retaining her mind”

“I suppose that is good and… what’s that?” Sunset asked hearing the sound of the elevator at the end of the hall signaling the arrival of someone, then the doors opened and a woman wearing a very beautiful but very professional suit with skirt combination walked in their direction and she couldn’t believe what she was looking at “Rainbow Dash?” she asked to the multicolor haired girl in front of her.

“So you are the Sunset Shimmer the boss brought here right? Well, guess I won’t have to introduce myself, either way, you got a letter” she said presenting a sealed square paper to the suited man before returning to the elevator much to the confusion of Sunset.

“I suppose if you have a Pinkie Pie as maid why not Rainbow Dash as secretary?” Sunset finally said letting it go, after all, she was dealing with someone that could get access to other dimensions, what could be crazier than that?

“If there is one thing that I love about parallel dimensions is the irony they can produce sometimes” The Observer said adjusting his think black rimmed glasses before opening the letter and quickly scanning the contents “well, seems like we have been invited to a tea party, how exciting”

“How can a tea party be exciting? And how did you get the letter anyway?”

“All in good time my dear, and about that tea party, well, I doubt it will go like one of Celestia’s parties, more like a certain red wedding” he said grabbing his umbrella that had been hanging from a chair before walking in the direction of the elevator.

“Wait, red wedding? Isn’t that from Game of Thrones? What kind of people you know?”

“The most striking and enchanting after all, although, if you find someone called Madeline Hatter don’t get close to her tea” he said hitting a button closing the elevator doors sending both himself and Sunset to what would be a tea party of epicness never seen before.

The Sunset of the Food Duels 02

Just watching the face of this so called Erina was worth all the tribulations Sunset had to go through in her travel from one continent to another. The photo she took from her blonde double would probably be making the rounds around Canterlot in several hours once the girls back in Canterlot woke up.

It was clear that the reaction from Erina came from seeing Sunset so nonchalantly walk up and say ‘I will take the exam’ was not something she was used to and it was perfect for Sunset who had the advantage so far.

Taking a look at the other guy Sunset knew that he was as relaxed as Sunset with the way he was practically ignoring Erina. The way he put his hand over her shoulder and acted as if they were childhood friends almost made her roll around the kitchen in laughter.

“She was at the top of her class in the junior high division and the youngest member of the Totsuki Elite Ten Council, the highest decision-making body in the academy’s history. She is Erina-sama!” the shoulder length girl said with clear signs of fangirl to the extreme.

“So that means that she is incapable of lying when it comes to judging right? I mean, there is no way she could give a bad judgment on a dish due to personal reason like, for example, her stung pride?” Sunset said looking directly at Erina with what she knew was the most terrorizing glare in her repertoire. If you asked any of the other three people in the room what they saw they would tell you that for a moment there was a dark aura around the redhead that even made Erina take a step back in shock.

Soma for his part was awed by the presence of the redheaded girl and the way she was pushing back Erina. He then threw the knife he was checking into the air and caught it back making Sunset be worried about that kind of recklessness.

“So we only have to make you say that it tastes good right? Then is no problem”

“If you want her to say that then you better start cooking already” Sunset almost slapped the boy on the back of the head so he would stop his displays. For her part, Erina checked both Soma and Sunset’s information; she scoffed at Soma’s data of working in a family restaurant but was clearly shocked at what Sunset’s info was.

It just made her even madder, to think that both teenagers, this two second rated chefs didn’t understand her noble pedigree; it was insulting. What she didn’t understand was that she had already fallen on Sunset’s trap, all the time she spend looking down at both she was simply walking on the palm of the redheaded girl.

Sunset observed how Soma began his work taking the eggs, rice and chicken. He then began to cook the chicken but it seemed that he was simply simmering it while he put attention to the rice and scrambled eggs, it was truly a mystery what he was doing but then, that was the great thing about cooking.

While he was preparing everything she made sure that what she had baking would be ready at the correct time and then put a pot in the stove before letting the water inside it heat up. She wanted the water at the correct temperature, just before it started to boil; she just needed the beginning of bubbling to know when it was ready.

For her part Erina kept watching both cooks not knowing what were they making which infuriated her. She was one of the most important people in the culinary world and she was being ignored.

“Yukihira Soma, what are you making?” Erina asked to the boy while this one simply had a teasing look on his face.

“You still can’t tell at this stage?” and just as he had said that Sunset’s hand of justice hit in the forehead shutting him up.

“Don’t antagonize the judge, it may be funny but your acceptance is in play you idiot” the redheaded double of Erina said making Soma rub his forehead who was by now completely red from the hit.

“I don’t care what kind of antics or tricks you two are doing; the only thing I care is if you are doing a dish that is suitable for my palate”

“On second thought, keep on doing it, she deserves it” Sunset said going back to her station, taking out a plastic wrap roll. The girl then took a bowl and putting plastic wrap on top of them began to crack the eggs and put it on the bowl after placing a few drops of oil.

“What I’m making is the eight item on Yukihira Diner’s Secret Menu” He boy said with aplomb and Sunset was sure that he was doing that on purpose just to get a reaction from Erina.

“Secret menu? And what kind of complicated dish would that be?”

“Furikake Gohan” he said in such a voice that made Erina practically deflate at his words.

“What’s Furikake?” a curious Sunset said before Erina could complain.

“It is a seasoning that is sprinkled in food. It is made from dried and ground fish, sesame seeds, seaweed, salt, sugar and others things but those depend upon the manufacturer” Soma told her quite happy to talk about with someone that was also interested in the kitchen. Meanwhile Erina simply turned around and began to walk away.

“I knew you were all a waste of time, all this time you were nothing but bottom-feeding cooks” Erina said completely enraged by the antics of those two, they were never going to be accepted into the Academy.

“So that means you are nothing more than a fraud and knows nothing about food?” the mocking voice of Sunset made the blonde stop on her tracks.

“What did you said?”

“I said that you are nothing more than a fraud, a liar, you know nothing about food or kitchens” Sunset said egging her blonde double with her teasing grin in place.

“How dare you say something like that about Erina-sama!?” Hisako all but screamed feeling completely enraged by the other girl’s accusations.

“Because I’m capable of knowing how worthless she is without even testing if it is true or not… isn’t that your logic Erina?” Sunset all but challenged the blonde girl making Erina feel even more enraged knowing that the other girl was all but taunting her. The sad part was that she was playing right into Sunset’s hands.

“I’m not sure what Sunset is talking about but, what I’m making is more than just Furikake Gohan, this is my Transforming Furikake Gohan!” Soma said not paying attention to the sparks flying between the two girls. This declaration made both girls return to their places with Sunset working on finishing her dish. Without any of them realizing it, there was someone else standing outside of the room.

While Soma continued to do his own rice Sunset took a tall container from her bag much to the surprise of Erina before the redhead sprinkled the condiment inside the flash on the eggs on the plastic wrap before tying them up and putting them on the hot water.

‘So she is poaching the eggs, but what was that condiment she put on them? Was it chilly? I was too far away to see or smell it’
Just as Soma put the bowl of white rice on the table the oven signaled that what Sunset was baking was finally done.

She transferred the tray inside the oven to the counter, but most of Sunset’s attention was placed upon what Soma had on his hand. Those were bits of scrambled eggs but there was something else inside, cubes of some kind. Watching him pour the content of the bowl into the rice she then understood what he was doing with the chicken.

Watching Erina pout and act like a spoiled brat after Soma made fun of her ‘just taking one bit’ phrase when it was clear she wanted to clean the bowl was enough to make her chuckle but she had things to finish.

“You used Aspic” Sunset simply said before Erina could finish her second bite surprising the other three teenagers in the room “that’s the reason why you were simmering chicken”

“That’s right! I simmered chicken wingtips with bonito stock, sake and light soy sauce. Then I finely chopped the aspic when it cooled off” Soma said with a certain degree of pride on his voice. Sunset knew that what he had done was a source of pride; it was a clever idea and indeed transformed the dish into something new. Just watching Erina try to contain her own desires to gush over the dish due to her pride was very entertaining, but they needed something to truly knock her out “Do you understand now? Our menu is basic to the extreme, but we use our own creativity to evolve the dish”

“And besides, this is not yet over” Sunset said placing her own dish on the table much to the surprise of the others. Right in front of them there was a plate with four buns carefully placed.

“Those are… Butter Rolls?” Erina commented still reeling from the flavor that Soma had presented her with, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to contain herself if it tasted as good as the Furikake Gohan.

“That’s right, but there is something special inside of them, so why don’t you all try it too?” she said pointing to Hisako and Soma who then took one of the four butter rolls. They were all surprised by how fluffy the buns were. They were firm but had so much bounciness that left them amazed. And then they each took a bite and a new world was opened.

Erina opened her eyes and instead of being in the room she was now looking at a beautiful Hindu temple, the sun shining brightly upon the world as she took in the peace and quiet of the place. An umbrella over her and the smell of spices was her whole world.

Then they all blinked looking around them and at the kitchen, none of them knowing if what they had seen was real or not but they all felt the flavor and the spices.

“You put a poached egg inside the butter roll” Hisako commented still feeling the smooth flavor of the roll alongside the poached egg and the way the yolk exploded on her mouth as soon as she bit upon the bun.

“Is not just that, there was so much flavor on that poached egg, it was a combination of spices that can only mean one thing. You used Garam Masala on the dish” Erina said trying not to shove the butter roll on her mouth just to go back to that peaceful place, she didn’t want to give Sunset the satisfaction.

“That’s right, I used Garam Masala on the poached eggs, that’s why I put them on plastic wrap, that way the spices could be absorbed by the egg as it was boiled”

“What is Garam Masala?” Soma may be a true cook when it came to Japanese food and its intricacies but spices like that were a little bit of a mystery for him yet.

“Just like Furikake is a Japanese condiment, Garam Masala is an Indian condiment” Sunset said presenting the container she had used before “it uses black and white peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, bay leaf and cumin. That’s the traditional Garam, but I also put star anise and chili pepper on the mix” Sunset said listing the amount of spices present much to the surprise of Soma who was clearly enjoying the opportunity to learn.

“If it has so many spices why then it doesn’t feel hot?” Hisako said still enjoying the way the spices made her body tingle.

“She used coconut milk on the butter rolls” Erina said still in shock from the combination of flavors and the way they made her mind and body go to heaven, both in the sky and in Earth.

“Exactly; coconut milk is used a lot in Indian food and it also took the edge from the spices leaving the flavor be concentrated in the yolk and go through your whole body”

“Was this your own recipe?” Soma said biting on the butter roll.

“Nope, the idea came from another recipe. A Mumbai Street Food called Disco Fry Egg; I call this Butter Disco Egg… by the way, you can get in here, I made an extra roll for you” Sunset said as a mountain of a man walked into the kitchen.

“Grandfather?” Erina said going from shock to shock.

“How did you know I was here?”

“I spend years eavesdropping on people, it wasn’t that hard” Sunset said as Senzaemon took a pair of chopsticks and took a taste from the Transforming Furikake Gohan. He then immediately took half of his yukata leaving Erina in shock.

“Grandfather… he... took off part of his yukata”

“Is that normal?” Soma asked a still smirking Sunset.

“For what I know that’s his way of judging, is a strange habit of the family” Sunset said not quite sure of why those habits appeared on the whole family. But then Senzaemon took the last remaining roll and popped it on his mouth taking off the top of his yukata with an enormous laughter.

“Well, this generation looks even brighter now. Congratulations Yukihira Soma, I accept you into my Academy” he said making Erina feel close to fainting at the news. But at least there were some good news.

“Well, I guess it is a shame for you Sunset” she said trying to mock the other girl but she only had the smirk on her face before it transformed into a full on grin.

“What are you talking about? I was already accepted into the school. I just took your little test because I was bored” she said before Erina looked at her grandfather as if questioning him.

“She is right Erina, she is a transfer student that I personally accepted a month ago” Senzaemon said still enjoying the food in front of him while both Erina and Hisako stood rooted in place in shock at those news.

“Now, let me re-introduce myself. I am Sunset Shimmer, I started to cook five months ago” she said shocking the three other teenagers in the room “but apparently your grandfather gave me another name, ‘The Devil’s Palate’”

Author's Note

I had so much fun making Erina fume and play Sunset's games.

A Lost Crystal Gem 05: Coffee for Two

Sunset was sure that the hardest part of leaving home -for second time now- was saying goodbye, it had happened before after all so she had some idea of what it meant. Although she should have seen coming what ended up happening.

It was pretty normal for the Crystal Gems to work on the clean up after a corrupted gem attacked the city, well, more like it was Sunset’s job to do that considering that none of them –excepting Steven- even dignified themselves with that job. Garnet was not someone who would help in post gem hunting cleaning because she was too cool for things like that, while Amethyst because she was… Amethyst and there was no way in Tartarus Sunset would trust Amethyst with something like cleaning. Pearl would have helped considering how much the thin gem loved cleaning and doing chores, but sadly Pearl didn’t have a good opinion of humans no matter what Sunset did, so there was little to no chance of getting help from her.

So with an arduous job ahead of her Sunset began to take the broken pieces of rocks and the like, later on she would have to call several masons to fix the damage on the stone hand half buried in the sand. With all the jobs the guys did for Sunset and the Crystal Gems -alongside carpenters and a whole construction crew- she had them on speed-dial for events like these.

Princess Twilight stood gawking at Sunset work, being completely blown away at the ease in which the redheaded woman grabbed a piece of granite half her size and which was probably several tons in weight. Sunset didn’t even grunt when she took it on her hands and began to walk as if it was only a hollow prop. Twilight was no stranger to acts of strength; she had seen both big Mac and Applejack do some ridiculous stuff back in Ponyville, but that paled out in comparison to what Sunset was doing.

“And done, I swear, things like this never get easier, maybe I should star t considering joining the others in Gem Hunting so I can get some battle practice again.” Sunset said dusting her hands before turning around to look at her guest. She also realized that although the long haired princess had been capable of getting her data, she didn’t have much of a chance to get to know the Earth and the humans that inhabited it. So far she had only met the rest of her family and gotten herself into a dangerous situation -although considering she was now an Alicorn Princess, maybe she was used to the last one-, maybe she could do something for her before going back to Canterlot? “Hey Princess, wanna go and grab lunch?” She said finally making Twilight blink and shake her head to focus again.

“Sure, I would like that, and you don’t have to call me Princess.”

“I’ll try, is just that, you know… you have the wings and all.” Sunset answered back, for her it was still a little hard to think about the moment she met the young pony. To know that another had taken her place at Princess Celestia’s side was heart breaking… for half a second. After spending almost half a century alongside the Crystal Gems it made the dream of being an alicorn herself feel small in comparison.

“No, really, please… I don’t know if I deserve the wings.” Twilight's face said it all for Sunset, she knew very well those second guessing moments.

“Why don’t we go for a donut? I know it isn’t Donut Joe’s but believe me, The Big Donut ones are amazing.” she told Twilight making the magenta haired girl shyly smile at the prospect of a sugared treat. A couple of minutes later found both girls inside The Big Donut, finding Sadie behind the counter receiving them with her usual killing smile.

“Hi Sunset, nice to see you again, so did you decided to come back and live in the city again?”

“Not really Sadie, but I think I will be visiting home more regularly.” Sunset said to the short blonde, she then turned around to see her companion look at the different stuff around the store, probably surprised at how similar this donut shop was to the ones back on Canterlot “hey, let me introduce you. This is Twilight Sparkle, Twilight, this is Sadie MIller, a good friend of mine.” she said while the other girl waved. Sadie simply grinned at the introduction.

“Hey, nice to meet you, any friend of Sunset is a friend of The Big Donut.” the perky personality and welcoming aura of the short girl gained The Big Donut its nice reputation, this time it wasn’t any different since twilight visibly relaxed “so, what’s the occasion?”

“Nothing much, she just came with me to meet the family.” Sunset knew she had made a mistake at phrasing the situation in that way, even someone like Sadie would read it in the wrong way. Just looking at Sadie’s smile growing at her words made Sunset flinch at what would come next.

“Oh wow, I suppose things are pretty serious between you two,” Sadie said in her usual peppy way making Sunset groan while Twilight simply looked confused at what the two were talking about “how long have you two been together?” then it finally clicked in Twilight’s head what was the apparent topic of the conversation and she exploded in the brightest blush Sunset had ever seen. It would have been hilarious if it hadn’t been so mortifying at the same time.

“I didn’t mean it like that Sadie. I know you had good intentions so is okay; she simply accompanied me so she could take notes about Beach City due to a project” Sunset said trying to fight back her own blush while the redhead wondered how it was possible for her as a gem to blush considering she had no heart to pump blood to her face. Thankfully Sadie took it in stride -probably a side effect from dealing with Steven and the rest- and promptly served them an unhealthy dose of sugar and deep fried flour.

With a tall cup of cappuccino for Sunset and a regular house brew for Twilight, the redhead decided to attack the problem from the root.

“You are not sure what to do as a Princess.” Sunset started talking, taking Twilight by surprise just as she was about to take a bite off her glazed donut. She simply blinked at Sunset's words and what was the meaning behind them.

“Excuse me?”

“How long since you became an alicorn?”

“I… just a couple of days.” The teenage girl said without the excitement she had shown while their lives were in danger. Sunset simply sighed knowing that the problem was a deep one and somehow she knew that she could partially blame Celestia for this one.

“Let me guess, you didn’t even know you could become an alicorn or wanted to become a princess, Celestia simply appeared and talked with you?”

“More like singing while praising me for what I have accomplished while simply giving me a pair of wings and throwing me back to the world as a princess with no idea what to do next.” Twilight said clearly scared about her future. Her expression was bad enough to make Sunset sigh once again.

“Look Twilight, I know we haven’t known each other for a long time but… I know a little bit of what you go through, how it feels to be thrown into the unknown with no idea of what to do or how to act. But I also know that it gets better,” Sunset said smiling gently at the -very much- younger girl in front of her "believe me, I have a bit of experience on that department.” she said finally getting a short laughter from Twilight.

“Thank you Sunset, this whole travel has been amazing, not only because I have found a new research project… but because I made a new friend.” Twilight softly said making Sunset feel better. It was true that Twilight’s fears would not go away that easily, but they started the road to get better and Sunset felt proud of that fact. So with their donuts ingested and a nice coffee shared between friends, the two of them began their journey to the temple with Sunset ordering a box of donuts to share with her friends back in Canterlot.

Sunset was sure that the hardest part of leaving home -for second time now- was saying goodbye, but it was harder due to having to drag Steven -who had basically glued to her left leg- and having to grab Amethyst by the head to stop her from eating the donuts.

“Garnet, Pearl, would you please-”

“Already done” the thin gem said to her taking a downtrodden Steven on her arms, while Garnet took Amethyst and put her under her arm while the purple gem pouted at the injustice of having donuts so close to her and be unable to eat them.

“Thank you guys, I’ll see you later.”

“NOOOOO, I don’t want you away!” Steven was basically crying at that point but Sunset smiled to her little brother.

“Come on silly, I’ll come back in a couple of days, besides, with the warp pad in Canterlot fixed we can see each other every time, so don’t worry Steven, I'll see you later.” The redhead said and with one last wave and goodbyes from the rest of the gems, the two girl originating from Equestria vanished in a column of light. It was a weird sensation to be transported with a warp pad but a couple of seconds later both girls found themselves in the basement of Canterlot High with five other girls all around the room.

“Sunset darling! We were getting a little worried since you told us you would come back an… hour ago?” The melodic and refined voice of Rarity -which Sunset knew was thanks to hours of practice-, welcomed Sunset back.

“Hey girls! I brought donuts… what? What happened?” Why were all her friends looking at her like that? And was that blood coming out of Rainbow’s nose?

Author's Note

I know you guys are smart enough to see the reason why they all reacted like that.
Either way, I want to tell you this will be the last appearance of A Lost Gem in this story and if you want to continue reaing the adventures of Spinel you can go to: A Lost Crystal Gem - The Story of Sunset and how she became Spinel

The Will of Fire 02/The White Queen

It was the kind of deja vu the Sandaime Hokage enjoyed, the good kind. Most of the time the old leader of the village was assaulted by memories of those that were no more on the world, not that it was that hard considering he was the oldest ninja still active in the Land of Fire. Most times he saw the two men before him that had the title of Hokage, sometimes it was the Fourth who assaulted his memory, especially every time someone talked about The Kid. If he heard one more complain about a villager about something they would say Naturo had done but it was a lie he would put the villager on jail for a month as an example.

There were bad parts of his job that he would go without, just like close minded civilians and ninjas like Danzo who only plotted to gain more power for himself. But there were good parts on his job just like watching his recently born grandson. It was things like that that made Sarutobi say thank you to whatever deity was observing him.

Another great thing was to see his young non-official pupil gain the power and wisdom to join the ranks of the ninjas that defended the secret village of Konoha. It had been quite the travel for the young redhead but it had been a risk that paid off at the end for Sarutobi. It was hard those two first years once Sunset established herself on the village. Everything was new and foreign to the redhead that Sarutobi feared for a couple of weeks that the redhead would throw everything aside and would try to leave the village. Thankfully nothing major happened and Sunset not only began to understand the world she was in -including all the difficulties that someone could have in her new world- but she all but thrived in it. The amount of information that Sunset absorbed every day was staggering. From history and the ninja wars that had ravaged countries but also physics and science were being eaten almost literally once -thankfully Sarutobi was there to stop Sunset from basically absorbing a scroll with her own magic- so there were a lot of raised eyebrows when it came to Sunset.

Sarutobi wanted nothing more than to take the girl and make her part of his family, sadly people like Danzo and the Uchiha clan made it impossible. The two of them looked at Sunset as a bigger power base for themselves and Sarutobi knew well what they would do with that kind of power in their hands. He had no option but to put Sunset under the ‘war orphan’ program and she had to live by herself; not that the redhead complained, she said that being by herself helped her relax in ways she couldn’t back home.

So with Sunset slowly getting bigger and more powerful Sarutobi decided that maybe it would be good for Sunset to gain some tools to protect herself. In reality Sarutobi wanted to see what would be the path Sunset she'll take and he was mostly correct. Sunset still had dark whispers on her mind; mind you, they were minor compared to others like with Orochimaru but that was another day. Apparently she was still waiting for the moment she could get enough power so she could rub in the face of her previous mentor. Sadly her plans were derailed by what could be considered a playful hyper puppy meeting the grumpy cat.

Inuzuka Hana was not exactly what Sarutobi had thought would be one factor that would cause the usually frowning redhead take a different path. Once Hana got close Sunset there was a slight change in Sunset’s demeanor that was clear to many people. She began to work harder in the academy and began to truly socialize beyond saying a hello with clenched teeth. Sunset began to think less about ‘revenge against the sun tyrant’ -whatever that might be- and instead tried to understand why ninjas were needed. It was a slow process but little by little Sunset got better; and now here she was, once again at his office waiting for something strange to happen. She was right now looking everywhere as if waiting for something to happen.

“What are you doing Sunset?”

“Nothing, it just feels… weird being here. Every time you call for me is usually because of something I did.” And usually it was true; the amount of times Sarutobi had the redhead on his office after an experiment that literally blew on her face, an apparent insubordination due to her speaking her mind or all the ‘public mayhem’ charges were staggering. That was one more point in which Sunset reminded the old man of Kushina.

Just the way their tempers erupted was epic and most ninjas were very careful these days in trying to get a rise out of the young ninja, considering how much leeway the young redhead had with the Hokage. For his part, Sarutobi loved Sunset as if she were his own granddaughter; the way she behaved and acted, the stories about her own dimension and the future that you could gleam on her recent success were proof that he had done well on his gamble.

“You shouldn’t look so proud after saying something like that Sunset.” Sarutobi knew it was useless to try and admonish her since she would simply act as if she didn’t hear him.

“So, what’s the occasion this time? Am I getting punished for something?”

“Is astounding how much trust you have in yourself.”

“I have trust that no matter what I do, the world will find a way to screw me over.” She said making Sarutobi roll his eyes at the potty mouth Sunset was slowly gaining.

“It is nothing like that; in fact, I believe it is something worthy of a celebration.” Sarutobi said with his usual smile before Sunset caught something that had been thrown at her. After a second of inspecting it, Sunset recognized the vest in her hands.

“Wait, are you serious? I am a chunin? How in the name of all rings of Tartarus you convinced the old fuckers into giving me the promotion?” Apparently Sunset had the same distaste as he had for the clan council and the elders. Danzo, Homura and Koharu were always looking over his shoulders and while he had great respect and love for his -very- old teammates, even he was growing weary of how much they were working with Danzo and his ambitions.

“I know, it surprised me too, but apparently you gained a lot of respect from different clans. The Hyuuga were vocal about your merits and with the help of the Uchiha and Inuzuka it was decided you would have the promotion. You should also know that Kumo was very impressed in your victory.”

“Of course they were; they probably think that once I get into a chunin and have no team they’ll be able to kill me.” Sunset had no lost love for hidden village of Kumo after the fiasco of the abduction attempt of the Hyuuga heiress. Sunset had been laughing while rolling on the floor once the guards found them. Apparently her pre-casting and ‘Cubic Stack’ ability had left the man from Kumo to believe he had been successful in kidnapping Hinata while in fact he was simply rooted to the floor, his mouth open and droll spilling from it.

The backlash from the fiasco was harder for Kumo, who at the end had to say they weren’t aware of the man’s plot and declared him a nukenin. No one in Konoha quite believed that and brought a lot of friction between the two villages. Thankfully Sunset’s machinations had avoided a bigger repercussion, sadly it meant that the Raikage would not doubt in taking Sunset’s life for that kind of humiliation.

Sarutobi watched how Sunset reacted to the chunin vest and smiled once he noticed how happy the young looking girl was. From the many talks that the two had he was aware that the redhead’s body was much younger on that side of the portal. Apparently she was already a young adult back home but she had been de-aged once she crossed the mirror on her side. It was a very useful weapon for Sunset due to people constantly seeing her as no threat, but her mind and wits, not to mention her own brand of ruthlessness quickly showed her assailants or enemies that at any moment they would be trapped in an endless Genjutsu, one that had layer upon layer of complexity.

She seemed so young but already she had gained her own nickname, ‘The Red Nightmare from Konoha’. It was so that Sarutobi knew she would find herself in bingo books across the elemental nations and grew worried. He wished to protect her but Sunset’s curiosity and mind had grown in such a way that brought a smile on his weary face.

Gone was the acerbic and power hungry young girl; instead, there was now a confident -if perhaps a little too much of that- young woman who had gained allies and friends. Sarutobi only wished to be able to see her grow up even more. He was also curious about her findings upon the abilities of the portal under the Will of Fire monument. Apparently it would activate in a couple of months; maybe Sarutobi could realize a little diplomatic mission on his own soon.

No matter, the redhead was walking on clouds as she used her new chunin vest on public for the first time. She had already got some congratulations from several civilians that knew her by sight. Many of them had been clients of Sunset after she and her team had done D and C rank missions around the village. It was a very weird feeling to be recognized and accepted among the populace, one that Sunset still didn’t know if she enjoyed or made her feel awkward.

Whatever Sunset may or may not have been thinking was crashed once she was a young boy being physically thrown out of a store. The boy had strange marks on his face similar to whiskers from a cat and Sunset had to blink several times since she had never seen someone with blonde hair beyond the Yamanaka.

It would be known across generations and even beyond the elemental nations, that this meeting was the one that truly defined the era of peace, or at least the beginning of it. This was the first time Uzumaki Naruto and Sunset Shimmer had met each other.

(Meanwhile, several Naruto dimensions apart)

The dimension of the shinobi world in which Sunset resided was not the only one. Other worlds of similar content and places had been born and destroyed. This was one of them, a world full of shinobi fighting for their own hidden villages and this was the end for one of them.

The village of Whirlpool, once a proud place full of history, was now sieged by a combination of both Iwa and Kumo and even though every citizen would help in its defense they all knew that the end was near. Families began to make arrangements to send members of their clans to other villages, maybe with luck they will thrive once again.

This was the day the Hidden Village of the Whirlpool would cease to exist. At least that was the original destiny, but as we all know there are Many Destinies around the multiverse. This time there was something more dangerous standing between the village and the would-be assailants, something that was even more dangerous than the combined force of Iwa and Kumo.

In a blink three more shinobi were pierced with the long spear of the white armored woman and their corpses felt on the floor, more to the long list of casualties the two nations had already received. No shinobi, no matter the rank or knowledge knew who the woman was, to what village she hailed from or what was her plan beyond protecting Whirlpool.

The woman smirked behind her half mask as the rest of her face was hidden behind the white cloak she used as more ninjas began to pour on the open plains in front of the village. She was here with only one thing in mind, and it wasn’t for any altruistic motive. She was here to test her new found abilities after gaining her body and armor. The search for Noche was exhausting and with no idea where to look for him she had decided to get more power. She needed to do that if she wanted to offer her help to Sunset, but for that she had to become faster, stronger, have the best abilities to help the one girl who was not chained down by destiny just like the other alicorns.

Celestia and Luna would always be the sun and moon while Cadence was never going to be a good opponent to Noche. Considering what the Umbrum did to the original Crystal Empress it was no surprise that the woman wanted to have nothing to do with that alicorn. Twilight, well, she was something else but sadly she will always be tied to the Elements of harmony and something else was needed to defeat Noche.

Quickly dodging several jutsus thrown at her she knew that there was still one technique that she had to test; one that a Sunset in another dimension will be able to use if everything went according to plan. She wanted to see Sunset’s face once she saw Jotaro using it.

“Sorry boys and girls, but sadly, this exercise is about to end.” She said in a condescending voice making every ninja get even angrier, if that was even possible. It seemed that all of them had the same idea, overpower her with sheer numbers, and just as they all ran or jumped in her direction she finally let go all the power she had been charging “ZA WARUDO!” and just like that the world rippled as every single shinobi stood just were they were. Even the ninja that had jumped were floating in the air.

No sound was present, no breeze moved the grass under her, and the world had stopped just like she planned. It had been worthy to copy the technique and now she had one more tool on her repertoire once Sunset needed her help. She still didn’t know which Sunset she would find first, maybe she would have to check on the Dark Souls preparations, that Sunset seemed like a good candidate.

The next morning, the defenders of Whirlpool found the plains outside of their village full of corpses and mutilated body parts. The blood would forever make the grass on that part grow red. Only a few soldiers had survived the ‘Massacre of the White Queen’ as it would be known; soon the Third Shinobi War came to an end after Iwa and Kumo’s forces were decimated. The name White Queen was ushered among both civilians and ninja alike, but this is a story for another time.

Author's Note

Yeah.

You can see how much fun I had with this one.

Grand Line Adventurer

The aroma coming from the small cup on his hand was permeating the small bar and it fought against the thick essence of rum and beer that was synonymous with places like that. Observer was known as a tea aficionado but he couldn’t deny the appeal of a nice cup of coffee once in a while; specially after finding such a nice roast like in that small unknown island.

The bespectacled man knew that an island so far away from the Grand Line pulled very little attention from other places or more infamous characters. It was a blessing and a curse, having to take much more care of what they had and produced since trading was very sporadic, unless there was a famous pirate that liked the place, then there was a boom in danger and gold.

This little island was in no way like that and instead there were only farmers, workers and… mountain bandits. Said bandit hit the cup on Observer’s hand and send it flying up in the air before it crashed against a wall. Observer simply watched his empty hand as he sighed, being denied the simple pleasure of a cup of coffee. He wondered once again why he had to be the one to do the mission instead of Keeper.

The dark skinned man was the one that usually did the kind of missions that asked for interaction with other dimension. Instead of coming, Keeper had stayed back at their home in the void between dimensions to teach Sunset several things she will need to know if she wanted to survive her special ‘Tea Party’. Featherine was the kind of host you don’t want to mess around with, and it will probably end like a murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie than a tea party from Jane Austen.

Instead of complaining about his luck, Observer simply turned to look at the man that had done the cardinal sin of destroying such a delicious beverage, finding a thin tall man with crooked teeth, devious eyes and one hand on top of the pommel of his saber. If there was a man that had been born to become a villain it was in front of him. Observer decided not to say that in a loud voice considering that he was already in deep trouble considering that the man was looking at him as if he had found his next prey.

“Can I help you in something?” Maybe it was the way Observer didn’t even blink at what had happened, or maybe due to his very posh accent that showed how relaxed he was. Either way, the bandit frowned at the bespectacled man.

“Don’t you see this is a bar? What kind of moron drinks such a stupid thing like coffee?”

“Well, I could also ask what kind of a man would only drink moose’s piss in a jar, but looking at you everyone knows the answer.” Observer said before looking at the young slightly terrified waitress, signaling for one more cup. Around the bar, the other members of the man’s gang began to laugh even harder after the comeback, making the bandit turn so red Observer was afraid he would have an aneurysm.

Putting his hand on his sword, Observer was ready to defend himself but they were stopped when the door of the bar was pushed inwards, appearing soon a young woman with vibrant beautiful red hair and a deep scowl on her face.

“Geez, is not like if I’m going to get drunk, I’m just going in for a… drink? Is this a bad moment?” The woman said being accompanied by another girl, this one with sky blue long hair and what seemed like a cape decorated with stars.

“Well, look at that, the lad that I had been looking for.” Observer said getting up from his table and taking his umbrella, as the rest of the bandits simply watched the girls getting in but the next second they all returned to what they were doing; mainly talking, drinking and playing games.

“Do I know you?” The redhead said cautiously as the girl behind her had an annoyed face; Observer wasn’t quite sure if she was mad with Sunset, Observer or the world in general.

“Not really, no, but I have to say that I met someone like you once. Excuse me,” he simply said before turning around and with a swift move of his umbrella he hooked the bandit’s arm; he then twisted the black instrument and the man was send up twirling across the room “where was I? Oh yes, I do have a proposition for you my dear, I suppose you are familiar with the name Grand Line?” he said as every bandit stood frozen on their seats. Meanwhile, Sunset and Trixie looked at each other before coming to the same conclusion.

“We are listening.”

“It won’t take long; if my information is correct, and I assure you, few times I’m wrong in that; you girls haven’t quite yet decided if you want to take a gamble and go for… what is it called? The treasure of Gol D. Roger if I’m not mistaken. Fabulous fella if accounts are correct.” Observer said while Trixie began to lose the small amount of patience she had.

“Would you please get to the point? You are starting to annoy The Great and Powerful Trixie.” Yes, even when she speaks you can hear the capitalization.

“So sorry my dear; well, as I was saying, I do find myself in need of someone that could help me find something around the Grand Line, now, where did I put it?” Observer said checking inside his jacket until he took out a small leather bound journal “here it is, you see, I have found the most intriguing things around the Grand Line.” He said as Sunset began to check in the journal and the strange symbols that were drawn inside.

“What are these things? I mean, it is a language but I have never seen something like this.”

“Very few people have, that’s why I need someone that could help me find something like that. Now, I am not interested in gold or treasure, the only thing that I request from you is that wherever your travels take you, if you find any information concerning about them.”

“What’s so important about some stupid symbols?” Trixie said before walking in the direction of the bar; then the building was frozen by Observer’s next words.

“They are very important indeed, they are called Poneglyps and they not only tell the story of the Void Century, but also of the great danger befalling this world.” Observer said as the spark of knowledge was once again ignited inside Sunset Shimmer, soon to be known as the Queen of Pirates.

All Aboard this Love Boat 02

Every one of the seven girls that had found their summer attires exchanged by a wave of magic stood on the deck looking at each other, not exactly knowing what to do in their current situation. They thought themselves somewhat experts on magical hijinks considering their lives, but never before they had found themselves in something like this. It wasn’t even their fault for Pete’s sake.

“Okay, so, what do we do now?” The blonde girl asked watching that her uniform was slightly different than the rest of her friends. Instead of the blue jacket that Twilight and Sunset were wearing she had a red one with a name tag with her name on it. It was a 10 on their freaky-o-meter; the term was of course coined by one Pinkamina Diane Pie not too long ago. All the girls had the same question on their heads but it was Applejack the one who spoke first.

“I’m not quite sure my dear, but to say that we are in a predicament is putting it mildly. We were just supposed to be passengers ready to relax and be pampered not to turn in the crew of a luxurious cruise… I wonder if we do get our own private rooms.”

“Rarity, focus please.” Sunset simply said adjusting the hat on top of her head without even realizing she was doing that.

“Sorry Captain.” The fashionista said looking visibly chagrined, the next second every girl was shocked at what had just happened.

“Did you just… call bacon hair here Captain?”

“I-I don’t know Rainbow, it just came naturally; so does that mean we intuitively know how to do our jobs?”

“That is a very good question in fact… Twilight, what’s that?” Sunset asked pointing something that their friend had in her hands; it was a clipboard holding several papers on it. After being addressed Twilight put her best smile on.

“Well, apparently, I am the Cruise Director and Sunset is the Captain.” The girl said adjusting her glasses showing her friends the list of names in her hands.

“What’s a Cruise Director?” Pinkie asked searching for her name to see what she did; hopefully, she thought, she could be the navigator or the pilot. In my defense, I will never put Pinkie Pie in charge of something like a full ship.

“She is basically the one responsible of onboard hospitality and entertainment. So you get to organize thing in a big way considering the size of this ship; it is probably more of a vacation now for you.” Sunset said watching how Twilight’s smile was now more sincere as the usual splotches of blush appeared on her cheeks.

“Geez, so the egghead is an organizer and Sunset is the Captain, aren’t I supposed to be the leader?” Rainbow asked as a joke not really worried about positions; she had learned her lessons after the Sirens attacked. Around her the other girls groaned or laughed at the way Rainbow’s joke let the tension go away. Then the next second they heard a loud splash as if people had fallen into the pool -and yes, the cruise had an open air pool- and the whole crew got ready to act in case something had happened.

What they found at the pool was a soaked princess and a boy they all knew wearing shorts and shirt that was also wet form head to toes.

“Flash? Twilight?”

“Sunset?” Both teenagers asked back once everyone saw each other. A couple of seconds later -with Twilight having several towels to try and dry herself-, everyone was sitting around a big table, everyone wondering what was going on.

“Twilight, what are you doing here? I mean, how did you get in here?”

“I don’t know, I tried to use the portal so I could help with the exchange wave, next thing I know I am in the ship and I bumped into Flash.” At the last words, Sunset had to contain her groan at what was now a gag between Flash and Twilight… either one.

“Can’t you, you know, meet in another way? It is almost cliché at this point.”

“Is not as if I planned it every time.” The poor confused boy said trying to defend himself but knew it was a losing battle with Sunset.

“Anyway, what are you doing on this cruise Flash? I mean, is not a place I would imagine meeting you.” Rainbow asked while the rest of the girls got curious about it too.

“Well, Mom and Dad wanted to have a vacation and with Dad getting the raise he was hoping for he decided on something special this time.”

“Wait, your parents are here? Oh boy, that will be awkward.”

“Don’t be like that, they still ask about you and wonder if you would visit.”

“Like I said, awkward.”

“I do have a question; what’s with the uniforms? Are you some kind of junior officers or something?”

“If only it were that simple; apparently something happened in Equestria and we got turned into the cruise’s crew.” Sunset said pointing with one finger at the Princess who was drying her long hair.

“Oh, right, that’s what I wanted to tell you. I’m not quite sure how long it will take for the effects of the wave to pass, but once it does you will return to your normal lives.”

“Well, as normal as we can; for the moment we have a ship to run and we all need to go back to our jobs.” Sunset said standing up and looking at the rest of ‘her’ crew. She was really getting into her role as captain, although she got used to taking control of a situation after all their experiences. “Sparky, do we have any vacant rooms?” The redhead asked to the Twilight with glasses who immediately began to check on her notes.

“We DO have an empty room, it was booked but the passengers cancelled at the last hour apparently.” Quickly turning to the rest of the girls, Sunset then began to give instructions for the others.

“Fluttershy, please take Twilight to the room that Sparky will tell you and if you can, try to see if you can get clothes for her to change into.”

“Why does she have to do it?”

“Because she is a Cabin Stewardess.”

“Oh thank goodness, I don’t know what I would do as something else.” Fluttershy said sighing in relief that her job was a simple one with almost no pressure, unlike Sunset who would clearly be a knot of tension by next morning being the captain.

“Rarity, you are needed in the Infirmary.”

“Oh, I’m the doctor of the ship; let’s hope there is nothing serious because I’m sure that sewing a person is very different than sewing a dress.”

“Let’s hope so; Applejack, you need to go to the bar since you are the main bartender while Pinkie is the cook.”

“Perfectomundo!”

“What in tarnation? I’m pretty sure I’m not even supposed to get close to alcohol as a minor.”

“Just, please, do it.”

“Alright, but I don’t know how this will go.”

“I know. I had a bad feeling about all this since this morning.”

“What about me?”

“Rainbow, you are… oh you gotta be kidding me. Sparky, are you sure?”

“Is what it says, is not my fault.”

“So?”

“Apparently, you are the Yeoman Purser; you are basically in charge of the passenger’s valuables.”

“That sucks.” The girl said before the rest of the crew went their own ways knowing that they will have to do their best to get on with their new jobs and the craziness that will come with that.

“So, Twilight, I’ll… see you around then?” Flash, who at that point was still shocked at the girls’ new responsibilities finally recovered enough to talk with the Princess.

“Yeah, I’ll… well, we can talk later?”

“What’s with them?” The Twilight with glasses continued watching the two lovebirds awkwardly trying to talk as they were guided by Fluttershy. Sunset meanwhile just took a look at them before sighing.

“They are trying to find out if their relationship -or whatever the hell they have- is intact or should they simply break up; I do hope that is the most important thing we will have on this trip; or at least until we get back to our own lives.” Sunset said before a man wearing a suit not quite made for the cruise got close to her.

“Captain, I am Svengallop, I hope you still remember the list of things that have to be delivered to my client’s room this afternoon, not to mention to clean the deck so we can start shooting her new music video.” He said with a voice so pompous that Sunset wanted to grab him and throw him overboard.

“I just had to open my mouth, right?”

Author's Note

So, 2 of the 3 plot lines are revealed, what do you gys wil be the third storyline in the ship?

Call me Beep me 04: Strong Style vs Cheerleader

“Are you really sure you wanna do this Cheerleader?” The voice of Sunset almost echoed in the spacious gym of Middleton High. The two popular redheads were not alone in the gym, but the other two people inside were more interested in cheering than fighting. Sunset was wearing a combination of tank top and sweat pants colored red and magenta while Kimberly was wearing her usual mission garb. The slightly shorter of the two redheads had a ferocious look on her face as she raised her hands to signal that she was ready for their spar session.

The frown was not only present due to the question form Sunset -it was one reason, just not the only one-, but due to the way the other teenager looked in her clothes. Kim tried hard not to look at herself and then at the generous curves that Sunset had. She felt almost like a child compared to the difference on physical properties, but she knew that life wasn’t fair. The other teenager seemed like a cross between a swimsuit model and a bodybuilder considering the defined arms and legs that she had, that added to the curves in every single important place was a small punch to Kim’s self-confidence.

Meanwhile, as Kim continued to think about how she was betrayed by the boob fairy, two very different students finally met each other. While one was a goofy yet slightly charming blonde Jewish boy, the other was a highly stylish, fast talking and number-one-fashionista-in-the-whole-school mocha girl that was known as Sunset’s best friend in Middleton High.

“So… I mean… ah,” If Ron had one weakness, beyond being shot with really hot green plasma bolts, was to be in the presence of beautiful girl like Monique. Yes, he wasn’t as pathetic with the other gender like other geeks in the school, but the sheer confidence that the long haired girl exuded was enough to make his tongue tie itself up.

“Is alright, I get that effect on many guys, I’m Monique, PTMY,” The girl said extending a hand on Ron’s way while this one seemed to come out of the trance he was and lightly shook her hand, still, his face showed how confused he was by what the beautiful girl had said.

“She said ‘pleased to meet you’; Monique, what did I told you about making those weird acronyms? Nobody understands you!” Sunset said clearly stopping the spar she had with Kim as she turned to look at the two people in the bleachers.

“Yes, but that also means nobody forgets me; let’s be honest Sunset, people remember you due to your attitude while Kim for being sweeter than sugar and always helpful,” The mocha girl said clearly used to talking with someone as acerbic and confrontational as Sunset.

“No, Cheerleader here has a Messiah Complex and a busybody, Tara is the one that is sweeter than sugar,” Sunset answered back making Kimberly go almost purple in rage at the way those two were talking about her, even though she admitted to herself that the second part was right; Tara was as sweet as her smile and no one -not even Sunset- could resent the blonde for something she had said, after all, Tara’s mind was a bubbly as her personality.

“Oh right, I almost forgot that. So, are you two going to hit each other until someone is knocked out or are you just checking each other out? Because if that’s what you are gonna do there is a Club Banana with a dress on its window that is calling my name,” Sunset simply mimicked a mouth talking as mocking the words of Monique. Ron and Rufus were quite shocked at the way Monique talked to the most dangerous student in the school. They had seen stronger people being send to the infirmary after pushing Sunset’s buttons in the wrong way; now there was a girl who not only pushed Sunset, but who joked with her. Definitely this was not a normal day.

Meanwhile, once Sunset finished her banter with Monique, she turned around to watch Kimberly in the eyes noticing the way these burned and how the smaller redhead was shaking as if she was containing herself. Sunset smirked knowing that everything was coming according to the plan. She knew it was a little dirty to plan ahead with Monique, but after talking with Kim several times she knew how to make Kim lose her patience and once that happened, she would start making mistakes, she just needed to wait for the right moment.

“Don’t worry Monique, I’ll finish this one in a minute and then we will go together,” Oh, it was so worthy to see the way Kim began to grind her teeth. She knew that it was a dangerous game, but one that could bring glory and victory right into her hands.

They each got into their own stands, Kim a very non-descript form that showed no particular school while Sunset put her arms up slightly separated while her left leg was in front slightly raised like in classic Muay Thai. At the side of the gym, Rufus had a little hammer on his hands and hit a fighting bell also on the table. It was an afterthought that Rufus was happy they planned, it made the extremely intelligent naked mole rat happy to play, like one of those people that worked in box and wrestling.

Once the sound of the bell began both redheads shot like bullets at each other to start the match, but as the two got closer to each other there was something different in the way Kim’s opponent reacted. She was used to fighting people that either blocked or tried to avoid her hits; instead, Sunset ducked under Kim’s right fist letting it pass over her head. This was something different too as Sunset twirled around in less than a second until she was behind Kim. Holding her by the waist Sunset used her momentum to pull back Kim until she saw the ceiling and then darkness for a moment.

Sunset never fought like the other enemies she had nor like anyone on the multiple dojos she had studied on. Instead of being face to face and do the now familiar dance of hits and strikes, fighting Sunset was like fighting a wild beast, full of holds, throws and knee strikes that came out of nowhere. Now, this time she had been sent through the air by what Ron had once called a German suplex and even though she had mocked the movement as impractical, here she was being the victim of a thunderous version that left her seeing stars for a couple of seconds. That seemed to be all the time Sunset needed because she felt herself being pinned by the taller redhead and both Monique and Ron began to count.

“1, 2, 3!” and by the last number Rufus rang the bell signaling the end of the match. Kim wanted to fight that decision but she was still seeing little stars traveling through her vision. Half an hour later she was still pouting as the rest of their strange group were laughing and enjoying the Bueno Nacho meals that were paid by Kim since she lost the spar. Inside she was slightly happy, seeing how their usual booth was now packed with new friends.

Sunset Society: The Greatest Detective Part One

“I still can’t believe you own something like this,” the girl with puffy orange hair -which let’s be sincere, made almost half of her body weight- said as she and the rest of what was left of the siren species looked around the ell equipped room made out of shiny metal and who knows how many contraptions. Alongside her, the other two girls watched and inspected the many different gadgets and weapons lined against the wall. For some reason it was very nostalgic, maybe because it reminded them of the training hall back when they lived on Aquastria hundreds of years ago.

The time they lived at the home of the now Free Nation of Aquastria seemed like a dream for the three sirens. Almost like another life that they sometimes remembered sounds and faces, but no real story behind them. After being send into another dimension that for some reason also pushed them into the future, they simply got used to the new world they lived on, maybe a little too much.

Looking at their new host, they knew that once they would have hated her guts, after all she was the instrument of their fall of grace. It was none other than Sunset Shimmer. But to be sincere, after living as a normal human being -or as normal as they could- they found out the pros of not having to create riots just to stay alive and having a clear mind for the first time in who knows how many centuries, completely beat the supposed immortality their gems had granted them.

“What can I say? Good investment,” The redhead on the other room said as she began to type orders on a console. She hadn’t changed much since the last time they met each other, only a couple of years and Sunset Shimmer was not the same thin girl that Adagio and the rest had battled on the Battle of the Bands. Instead, this Sunset Shimmer had become a woman, with a body that seemed taken from classic Greek art. Sinuous and powerful, Sunset Shimmer had not only a great body, but a confidence that made the redhead so different that the sirens had stood in awe the first time she saw the new Sunset Shimmer.

“How did you get your hands on this kind of place? Because, really, I don’t think you bought it,” The twin tails of Aria were as iconic as the curly mass of orange hair of Adagio, it was probably one of the things that made her so easy to recognize after these few years.

“I didn’t buy it, I found it,” Looking through the glass into the training room Sunset sighed knowing that it would not be enough “it belonged to an organization called Project Cadmus. It was created with the idea of studying meta-human genetics. It wasn’t long until they began to create their own. You can guess how it ended.” Sunset said looking at the information appearing on one of the monitors. Meanwhile, the sirens looked at each other wondering in what exactly they had gotten themselves into.

“Wait, I think I remember something about that appearing on the news.”

“And since when do you watch the news Sonata?” It may have been a classic line by Aria, but even the redhead could detect more teasing than caustic in it.

“It beats cartoons these days, have you seen how bad the new cartoons are? For shame!”

“Sonata’s taste for animation aside, she is right,” Adagio said looking at the other side of the glass and at the woman who was their host for this test “didn’t someone stop Cadmus and destroyed this place?”

“Well, let’s just say the reports were a little… exaggerated, after all, why let an installation like this go to waste? Especially when there are people that can be helped with them,” Sunset answered before everything was ready and with a click, a dummy made out of metal was brought into the training room by the rail system of the building.

“What do you want us to do with that thing? Hit it until it breaks? I’m pretty sure you could do it Sunset Shimmer, but me? I’m not exactly build for fighting.”

“I know you aren’t Adagio, but if what Twilight and I found in your blood is what we think, it seems your magical abilities, those granted by your stones at least, have mutated in the last few months,” Sunset said brining a copy of the results into one of the monitors. On the training room, one huge screen showed that same image “instead of absorbing dark tinted magic via the stones, now your bodies are capable of generating a different kind of power.”

“I may not be a scientist, but even I know there is something wrong with that,” Aria said pointing at the image of a DNA strand, but the formation was strange.

“What you are looking at is the DNA sample Adagio gave us. Even if we look like human beings on the outside, we are closer to Ponykind, mostly on our ability to handle magical energies. In conclusion, we are meta-magical in a sense.”

“So what? Are we like your friends and we will suddenly gain strange powers?”

“No, what we have is a little different to Applejack and the rest Aria. They gained powers through their connection with the Elements of Harmony and the pendants so in a sense, if they lose the pendants, they lose their powers. I am trying to find a way for them to get more direct control of those abilities without the need of the rocks; sadly it is taking some time for me to find a way that is safe for everyone, even with my own abilities.”

“Wait, you have powers? Because all this time we’ve never seen you do something super, so what is it? Super strength? Beams form your eyes?” Sonata jumping up and down in excitement was at the same time endearing and slightly annoying, which made Sunset smile.

“My power is not as… offensive oriented like the one my friends have, or the ones you have for that matter. So, what do you say we start with you Adagio?”

“What do you want her to do? Scream at that thing until it freaks out and kills itself?” Adagio almost threw herself at Aria for that kind of comment but Sunset’s answer simply stopped them.

“Exactly.”

“Wait, what? I was joking.”

“You were closer to the truth than you may think,” but before they were capable of continuing the test, Sunset’s cell started to sound “wow, we have some great signal in here. Hey AJ, what is it?” by the looks of it, Applejack wasn’t inviting her to a meeting or anything similar “that idiot, why she…thanks for telling me AJ, I’ll see what I can do,” she said finishing the call, then she stood up from her chair and addressed the Dazzlings “sorry girls, an emergency call. Apparently Rainbow Dash thought that it would be a good idea to try and save the day alone.”

“So what? Isn’t she like, the fastest of you?” Sonata said trying to hold up a morning style, as in trying to get it out of the floor with the thing not moving an inch.

“She got caught because the guys had hostages and Rainbow let herself be captured, now it seems she will have to be rescued,” Sunset said pressing a button on the console making a section of the wall open up and a set of clothes and armor be seen “and I know exactly by whom,” Sunset said as she took the cowl, cape and armor out of the holder. Of the dark material they were made, the only spot of color was a yellow oval… and a bat insignia in front of it.

Finn, Jake and the one narrating (first part)

I must say, this has been the longest time I have spent moving around the universe... or universes, sometimes is a little hard to get a clear idea of how many are there floating in the middle of nowhere, it is even hard to think where exactly the multiverse is. Is a lot easier to simply work as a narrator, even though I don’t have much of a job or any impact in what’s happening, at least is fun to see all the craziness that can happen without me moving the strings. That’s why I have Observer and Keeper, even though they don’t know who moves their strings.

Maybe soon I’ll show how those two were born… or why. Is still a work in progress, I mean, I know they exist, I just haven’t done their creation.

Confused now?

Welcome to my world.

Usually it is less confusing, with me going everywhere in the multiverse and then watching what is going on and maybe move things a little bit here and there to make things interesting. Most of the times are just to see what happens, curiosity, after all this time is one of the last things that I have that keeps me going. I suppose my main job is a little like Observer, but that was before Observer was born; after he created his house things became slightly easier to keep under control. Of course, that was before any of you guys got access to any of these dimensions. I don’t even remember how long that was.

What? Surprised that I can see you? I mean, yes I do, beyond this screen, are you guys still humans or something like that? Sometimes is a little hard to get in contact with the other side of reality.

Well, if you think about it, is not much of a surprise considering what I have done until now, I mean, I am constantly making references to things that will happen or how people react to me, but not everything is so funny, you know? Keeping Sunset under surveillance, controlling some universes, putting Celestia on chains inside a dying star because she created the Conversion Bureau, I have a lot on my platter. Yeah, I'm not that proud of that moment, I mean, is one thing to narrate what is going on, another is to interact and change just because I'm curious about what will happen, but to actually punish someone due to one of my plans? Sometimes my curiosity hurts more than it helps.

It was my fault what happened with Celestia that time. I gave her too many opportunities just to see if she would change, oh well, hopefully Twilight will be easier to change, and hopefully she will want to change once I show her what she did across all those reboots. So, what's next in the agenda? I suppose I should see what will happen with the Jem one, I mean, that's where everything changed and the plan evolved beyond control or will be. Midnight, I swear, wherever you are right now, I hope you feel my wrath. Sorry, things that haven't happened or maybe will happen... have I ever told you that I hate the fact time is relative where I am? No dimension’s time is linear, so I have to move things around so you guys can see the good stuff, although sometimes the good stuff happens at the right moment.

Just like right now, in a small room, or at least apparently small, where a pink shadow that could talk and grant wishes was talking with a human wearing a white hat and a dog… oh no, this is not going to end well, I just know it.

Author's Note

I just know something is going to happen.

Sky Factory 06: Apples to Apples

“Sunset? Are you alright? You have been looking at that Apple for the last five minutes,” at this point in their adventure, the voice of her companion had stopped being nostalgic, in the sense that it sound the same as another friend and has become an important part of her life. Sunset vaguely wondered what she will do once they got back to the human world, but that still seemed too far away considering the things they were doing right now, mainly just getting wood and seeds. And apparently also apples considering the red round object currently in her right hand.

“Nothing, is just, well; it reminds me of a friend.”

“Do you mean the one with the hat? I know is a cowboy hat, but I never really learned much about them, I think my dad knows, he kind of likes country and all that,” At Sunset’s confused look, Twilight shrugged slightly.

“I don’t know how should I take that, but really, Applejack is more into jazz than country.”

“Wait, really? I mean, she looks so… well, you know.”

“So stereotypically country it hurts every time she talks? I know, but that’s Applejack for you, apparently her family came from Nashville, I think she still has family there. No, AJ prefers blues and soul, that’s why she learned how to play the bass,” blinking a few times, the two teenagers took a look at each other, as if asking how they had arrived at that topic “anyway, it reminded me of my friends, but that was just part of it,” Sunset began to explain to her friend as she took a bite into the red apple. It was juicy and hard enough to make the perfect sound at each bite; there was no mushiness or bitterness, just the perfect apple that reminded the redhead of the great samples AJ usually brought them every time her family brought a new product.

“After all this I’ll never take apples for granted, that or I’ll get sick of them.”

“Never tell that to AJ, but like I said, I am worried. Sure, the apple is great food, sadly we need more than just that. We need more nutrients, we need fresh water, we gotta find ourselves another source of food and drinks,” Sunset took a look at the wooden platform they called home now, almost sterile in its purity. The wooden planks had a nice look, enough that already Sunset was thinking in way to use those planks they were getting and making them into a house. So far, she had been experimenting with planks and oak wood and already had found new ways in which to mix them in her small portable table, enough to find a way to create a transmutation table with nine spaces on it, wooden chests, fences, doors, slabs and stairs.

After a couple of minutes, Twilight pretty much gave up on the idea of creating a house, probably thinking that they would be okay on a wooden box, completely symmetrical and lifeless. Sunset may not be an interior designer or an architect, but she was not going to let Twilight deprive her of a modest house.

“I know that, but how exactly are we going to get water? I think we can use the apples we have, but I’m not sure how we will create apple juice with them.”

“Or cider, but I’m pretty sure we’ll find a way to do it. Look, so far we found out how to create more trees and even dirt,” the redhead pointed at the open barrels sitting behind Twilight. Already the book had become invaluable, giving Sunset and Twilight enough tips to find out that saplings could only grow in dirt blocks, now, here they were, taking the extra saplings and putting them on the blocks, just so they will decompose and create more dirt. It was amazing how one process could guide you into another. The scientific minds of both teenagers were working with theories, hypothesis and ways in which to use that idea, but right now they must think about their own survival and water was very high up there.

Around them, spread amongst the north side of their camp, or at least that’s what they hoped was the north, there were already several oak trees and saplings, showing their green foliage and their bark, which were simply beautiful and beyond useful to both teenagers.

“I guess, but beyond some kind of miracle, I don’t think we will find how to create water out of nothing,” the girl with glasses said, already giving up on her usual bun hairstyle, letting her dark hair flow down. Looking at the long hair, Sunset also reminded herself that her own hair had begun to feel icky. The search for water from both teenagers was not only fueled by their need to drink to keep on living, but a more mundane need of taking a shower, or at least to clean themselves. So far they had been two whole days trapped in the dimension, alone in a void and Sunset already felt grimy enough to deserve a shower. As days went by, Sunset knew that sooner or later their bodies will get too dirty to concentrate or be comfortable, but it was too unhygienic and neither had the luxury of going sick.

“Maybe not, or maybe we won’t have to look for a way, let’s just wait a bit, shall we, maybe we'll be lucky for once,” Sunset knew she had just jinxed herself by saying something like that, then she heard Twilight scream and knew she shouldn’t have said that “Twilight, what happened?”

“WHAT IS THAT?!”

“Ah, I think it is a silkworm… wait, a silkworm?” the small creature was quietly staying in place, just a white little thing, a marvel of nature and also the source of one of the world’s greatest fabric “how did you get this?”

“I was just cleaning the tree of leaves, you know, with the crook!” In Twilight’s hand there was the instrument, almost stereotypical in looks, but useful once they realized that it helped them get even more saplings and apples than by hand itself. With enough strength it could cleanse a whole tree in seconds.

“So, that means we can get silk? But how? I think I know how. So far, everything in this world seems to have some usage or an interaction in this world,” as she said that, Sunset took a hold of the small worm and placed it among another tree’s leaves, quickly changing color making Sunset smile, but before she could say something to her friend, the sky decided to make their lives a little less difficult, letting down a downpour of water. Sunset’s smile grew as she and Twilight enjoyed the rain.