Funny how it a simple night out can turn into a nightmare you can’t seem to wake up from isn’t it? I’m sure you’ve heard about it all over the news, a recreational drug that’s been sweeping the nation recently. Some crazy drug that came over here to the UK from the USA, what did the news say it was made from again? A botched up spaghetti sauce recipe?

What a joke right? How the hell does spaghetti sauce have an effect like that? Ah well never mind, you’d think that something as harmless as that couldn’t be that bad right?

Well it turns out there’s a couple of rules that come with the drug. I know what your thinking, how can a drug have rules? Well let me humour you.

The rules are simple, any idiot can understand them. The rules are never name yourself, never take the drug alone, and finally never and I mean never take more than one dose within 24 hours.

I’ve seen them out on the streets, and honestly it’s somewhat disturbing to see someone you know permanently turned into an adorable cartoonish pony. How exactly? Well like I said a moment ago...never take more than one dose within 24 hours. From what I heard some bastard spiked his drink, so I’m thankful I don’t drink often.

Anyway I’ve heard rumours...pretty disturbing ones, a lot of people think there’s some sort of conspiracy going on with this drug about where this drug came from, and what some people do to the people who overdosed on it.

They snatch you up and take you away...and sell you off to some sick twisted bastard who’ll pay a lot of money for a pony, even more if your a child. Christ the thought of it is enough to make me sick to my stomach, what utter monster does such a thing?

“Sky? Are you going to be okay?” That was my little brother, unfortunately he’s now a young bright orange colt, bright blue eyes much like my own, and reddish brown mane and tail. He’s like that because some son of a bitch decided to spike the water supply of the local school. Personally I want to kill the bastard responsible.

“Yeah I’m fine Nathan.” I reassured him, “Just a couple of cuts and bruises. How was school?” Nathan just snorted, and said it was boring as usual before running off to his room.

I flicked on the TV and checked the news. Apparently the story about the school was still a hot topic, over 120 students and teachers were affected by the water spike and 30 of them were currently missing. Mom and I made sure to keep a close eye on Nathan as much as we could. Dad was...around, but he was always working, not that he wanted to but because the company he works for are right bastards about working hours.

Anyway as I was saying, they never caught the guy responsible for what happened at the school. The bastard has a nasty habit of vanishing at a moments notice apparently.

“Mom!” I shouted as I put on my hooded denim jacket, “I’m heading out now!” Mom told me to be careful, and wished me goodbye.

It was cold tonight, surprisingly so considering it’s during the summer but what can I say this is the UK. I walked into the local pub that was down the road from where I lived, and spotted one of my friends sitting at the bar with some woman I’ve never met.

I didn’t pay her any mind as I sat next to them and ordered a drink. The woman glanced my way, and gave me a raised brow.

“Have we met?” She asked, I told her no. The woman was very attractive, in that sort of bad girl with a hidden heart of gold sort of way. What can I say I’m a very good judge of character.

She frowned, obviously that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. I gave her confused look.

“Sorry but I’d think I would remember someone who stands out like you do?” She gave me an unamused look, and pouted.

“Hey what’s that supposed to mean?” She demanded.

“Well your hair for one.” I pointed to her fiery red hair that blonde highlights, “You kind of stand out.”

“Ugh fine,” She pouted, “Your friend here was telling me about you.” I raised a brow and looked towards Jay, he was that friend I told you about earlier...the one who had his drink spiked.

“Oh really?” I asked curious, “What did he tell you?”

“He told me about what happened to your little brother.” I grimaced, I suppose it couldn’t be helped. It was common knowledge around here about what happened.

“Fair enough, I’m Sky by the way.” I introduced myself, “What brings you to these parts?”

“I’m attending university here.” She continued, “I’m studying abroad, oh I’m Sunset for the record.”

“Judging from your accent...you’re American right?” She nodded, “I’m surprised you haven’t been fazed by Jay there.”

“Oi! I’m right here y’know.” Jay spoke up.

“Well...it isn’t the first time I’ve seen ponies like your friend here.” Sunset admitted, “I’m kind of used to seeing them, practically everyone in New York is a pony now anyway. I was hoping to get away from all that, but I guess it caught up to me.”

“Yeah I heard all about that.” I replied, “That caused all sort of chaos if I remember correctly.”

“The news was saying that it was an act of an unknown terrorist group.” Sunset continued, “But I think there was something else to it.”

“Oh like what?” I paused for a moment, “Wait you said the attended the university nearby right? Aren’t they helping the police to find out what this stuff is made of.”

“Yes, it’s apparently got ingredients that aren’t found anywhere on Earth.” Sunset explained, “They think it’s a new species of plant.”

“What like it’s an alien plant?” Jay asked, “Like from a different dimension or something?” I sighed at Jay’s question.

“Jay, you really need to lay off the science fiction.” I replied.

“Think about it Sky.” Jay continued, “Isn’t there a myth that if you at the food of a different world you become a part of it...or something like that?”

“Jay that’s just an urban myth.” I groaned.

“Well he could be right.” Sunset added, “There’s usually some truths to myths after all.” I debated what she said for a moment, and truthfully she had a point.

Time passed by and soon enough everybody left one by one, Jay had left leaving me and Sunset alone. I couldn’t blame him for leaving early given what has been going on recently.

“Need someone to walk you home?” I asked, “It gets pretty dangerous around here during the night time.” Sunset pondered my offer for a moment, and nodded her head yes.

The night time air was refreshing, and Sunset seemed to be enjoying it. Despite how empty the streets looked, it was still a dangerous place to be if you were walking alone.

“Do you believe in magic Sky?” Sunset spoke up, I raised a brow at her question.

“I’m more of a science and tech kind of guy.” I answered, “It doesn’t hurt to keep an open mind though.”

“I’ve always been fascinated by it...” Sunset admitted, “Not that smoke and mirrors stuff, but real actual magic.”

“You sound like you’ve seen some first hand.” It wasn’t hard to deduce what she was getting at, “Though to be honest I wouldn’t mind seeing some myself. With all the messed up stuff going on right now maybe a little magic would do some good.” Sunset shook her head and laughed, I wondered if I said something funny.

“Magic doesn’t fix everything, but for the most part you’re right.” She explained, “That plant I was telling you about earlier, it’s called Poison Joke.”

“What?” I looked confused, “You mean the one that’s used in that drug?”

“Yes, and from the looks of it someone has found away to distil it and make it even more potent.” Sunset continued, “Normally it’s mostly harmless, and the effects are only temporary, that’s what been used in the pills before.”

“But now it can be used in another form, like a liquid?” I finished her train of thought, “That must be how the water and drinks were getting spiked right?” Sunset nodded, “Oh Jesus H. Christ on a bike...”

As we walked the straight towards the street where I lived, I noticed there was a police car outside my Mom’s front door. Sunset looked at me in confusion as I suddenly ran towards my mother’s home.

“H-Hey wait for me!” Sunset shouted as she followed me to my mom’s front door. I ran inside...only to find two policemen standing over my parent’s dead bodies, “Oh by Celestia...”

“Are you Mr Trainor?” One of the policemen asked, I nodded, “I’m sorry but we have some bad news...” Realisation hit, and I ran upstairs.

“NATHAN!!” I shouted as I ran to my little brother’s room, I kicked open the door and collapsed only to find his bedroom empty.

“I’m sorry...” One of the policemen told me, “But we think he was taken. We couldn’t find the body.”

“DAMN IT! WHERE’S MY LITTLE BROTHER!!” I screamed in a rage, “TELL ME DAMN IT! WHO IS THE FUCKING BASTARD RESPONSIBLE!!!”

“Mr Trainor please...” He tried to calm me down, “We’re looking into that now, and so far we don’t have any leads.”

“You got to be fucking joking!” I growled, “Why haven’t you been able to find anything! This sick shit has been going on for weeks!”

“Sir calm down, but you’re going to have to find another place to stay for a while.” He explained, I snorted and cursed under my breath.

“Tch...Fine.” I spat out. They both lead me out of my own home, and I was left without a place to stay for the time being. I stormed outside and Sunset stood there waiting for me.

“They told me what happened...” Sunset said solemnly, “I’m sorry for your loss.” I leaned against the garden wall, and said nothing.

“...What kind of monster did this?” I asked myself, “So help me god if I ever find the son of a bitch, there’s not going to be enough to bury!”

“...” Sunset said nothing as I ranted.

“...God damn it!” I cried, “D-Damn it all! So help me god I’ll get my little brother back one way or another!”

“...You don’t have a place to stay do you?” Sunset spoke up, I looked at her and nodded, “Y-you can stay with me...until all this is all sorted.”

“...” I paused for a moment, and the silence was heavy between us, “Thank you Sunset. This means a lot to me...”

Sunset and I made our way to her home, a small simple flat big enough for two. It was lightly furnished and gave off a warm homely atmosphere, I was reminded of the countryside for some reason.

“...Nice place you have here.” I said quietly, my thoughts still on what happened earlier.

“...It’s not much but it’s home.” Sunset blushed with embarrassment, “I hope you don’t mind sleeping on the couch, this place may be big enough for two but there’s only one bed.”

“...No.” I replied, “No I don’t mind.”

There was another heavy silence between us, neither of us could think of anything to say. I’m not surprised given what has just happened.

“I can’t believe this is happening...” I spoke up, breaking the silence between us, “Both my parents are dead and my little brother’s been taken. God I hope my friends are okay...”

“...What kind of monster does such a thing?” She asked herself, “And I thought I’ve seen some monsters in my life time.”

“Have a rough past?” I asked.

“Of sorts yes.” She admitted, “I had a bit of a nasty streak back in high-school, there’s just some things you don’t mess with.” She didn’t elaborate, and to be honest I wasn’t in the mood to ask.

“I can kind of relate...” I told her, “All my friends say I’m a bit of a weirdness magnet...all this because of a drug, just what is it worth to them to murder my family and kidnap my little brother?”

“...I don’t know.” Sunset replied, “During my time here I’ve seen some really sick things.”

“Do you think there’s anyone who can help me find my brother?” I asked her.

“I don’t know, I suppose we could look for clues.” Sunset suggested, I nodded in agreement. Maybe that was the best place to start, I’m not looking forward to dealing with the damned press because of this.

It was getting close to one in the morning, and I was lying on the couch still awake. I felt so angry that someone did this, worried about my little brother, and utterly distressed that my parents were killed.

It was pitch black outside, and well I couldn’t sleep. How could I after what happened? I took a look around Sunset’s living room, there was various books on sciences, and sociology. There was a few books on myths and legends, magic and a few fantasy novels I recognised.

“Huh, she didn’t strike me as the type.” I muttered. I noticed a photo on the small table in the corner, it was a photo of herself and six other people I didn’t recognise which I assumed they were friends of hers.

Sleep took me eventually, and it was far from a pleasant one. I had a nightmare about my little brother being beaten and hurt by some pervert, crying out for me to help him and I couldn’t do anything about it. I shot up in a cold sweat, I was shaking at the thought of being unable to help my little brother.

“Morning already?” I looked at the clock, it read five in the morning, “God damn it...what a horrible nightmare...” Given the time I decided to get up and make myself a cup of coffee, I wasn’t going to get back to sleep any time soon.

I made it strong and sweet, and I was somewhat surprised that Sunset was a vegetarian. I shrugged and didn’t think anything of it, and took a sip of my coffee.

I looked around her living room, and I noticed various notes on the table. I took a closer look, from what I could understand about them they mentioned that Poison Joke plant that Sunset mentioned last night. It listed various known effects on the plant, and from the sound of it the effects were only supposed to be temporary and that it could be used in some vary twisted plants.

It did mention however what happened if you diluted the plant so you could put it in any form of liquid.

“Jesus...” I muttered to myself as I read through the notes, “Diluting it makes it more potent, and turns what should have been a temporary thing into a permanent one.” I shuddered to think what would happen if this got into a water supply.

“Morning...did you sleep well Sky?” Sunset asked me warmly.

“Not really...” I replied, “Considering what happened I shouldn’t be surprised.” Sunset walked past me into the kitchen, and I caught a glimpse of her backside. I almost spat out my coffee once I realised Sunset had walked past me in the nude.

“Are you okay?” Sunset asked, not seeing what was wrong with the situation at hand.

“Erm...” I took a moment to compose myself, I couldn’t help but notice Sunset was...very attractive. She had smooth skin with a fair complexion, her hair came down to her waist, curves in all the right places, and was that a tattoo of a red and yellow sun just below her hips? “I-I'm fine...you?”

“I can’t complain, though you seemed to be a bit tense about something.” Sunset pouted, “C’mon Sky tell me what’s wrong?”

“Erm...you’re naked...not that I’m complaining mind you.” I stuttered, she gave me a raised brow.

“And?” Sunset shrugged, “There’s thing wrong with walking around naked around my own place right? I’m more comfortable like this.”

“I’m not going to argue, but I find it a bit strange that you would walk around like that when you have guests staying over.” I explained, she muttered something I didn’t quite understand, something about different social standards or something of the like, “Oh living here is going to be interesting...” I muttered to myself.

“Well I don’t see the problem.” Sunset took a sip of her own coffee, and sighed, “Honestly out of all of my friends you’re the only one to have a problem with it.”

“Oh I don’t have a problem with it, who am I to complain when a beautiful woman decides to walk around naked?” I admitted, “Hey if that’s what you want to do, don’t let me stop you. Cool tattoos by the way.”

“Tattoos?” She paused for a moment, “Oh you mean my cutie mark!” I raised a brow in confusion.

“Cutie mark?” I gave her a look of disbelief, “That’s a rather interesting name for a tattoo.” She shot me a dirty look and flipped the bird at me.

“What you’re telling me you don’t have one of these?” Sunset asked, I shook my head no.

“Most people don’t have tattoo’s like that, well not unless you go to a tattoo parlour.” I explained, “Still though I find tattoo’s on a woman rather attractive, but then again I would say the same if you walked in here in nothing but thigh-highs and heels.”

“Jeez and here I thought Dash was a flirt.” Sunset laughed, “Poor Twi never stood a chance.”

“I take it their friends of yours.” I asked, “I saw the photo over there so I assume their in the photo.” She walked over and picked up the photo in question.

“Yes, we went through a lot together.” She explained, “Before I became friends with them I was a bit of a bitch, but it’s thanks to them I found out who my real friends are.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“We’re still friends but we all went our own way.” Sunset explained, I picked up a hint of sadness in her voice, “This drug, the one they call Pon-E, it started in Canterlot High. Someone, I don’t know who but he handed out these pills to anyone interested...you know the junkie crowd, and the next thing we knew there was several ponies running around like bunch of hyperactive five year olds causing all sorts of chaos.”

“Did they catch him?” I asked.

“No he vanished during all the chaos.” She replied, “Principal Celestia was looking into it but they never found anything. The first permanent case was a week later, and there was fair amount of vandalism to the statue outside the school.”

“You think this is the same guy doing all this?” I wondered aloud.

“I don’t doubt it for a second.” Sunset confirmed, “From the brief glimpse I caught of him, he had blond hair hand had a distinctive compass and crown motif on his jacket. Seemed like the really stuck up spoilt type.”

“A distinctive motif, and the ability to seemingly vanish into thin air.” I paused, “You’d think someone like that would stand out in a crowd, kind of like you do.”

“And how is that bad?” Sunset asked.

“It’s not, I can disappear into a crowd if I wanted to.” I explained, “But someone that distinctive shouldn’t be able to. Christ next thing you’ll tell me is that he was wearing a white hood and uncanny ability of hiding in plain sight.” Sunset placed her hands on her hips, and gave me a knowing look.

“What like that hooded denim jacket you wear?” Sunset shrugged, “Not my style, leather is much more my thing.”

“Oh really?” I raised a brow, “Speaking of which you said I reminded of you of someone.”

“O-oh...he was an old friend of mine...he passed away a long time ago.” She stated, “I pretty much left home after that, it was kind of the last straw if you want to put it that way.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I replied, “I didn’t realise I reminded you of him.”

“Never mind that now, let’s get sorted and start looking for a lead.” Sunset spoke up hoping to change the subject, “We have a long day ahead.”

Author's Note

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I wanted to do a darker twist on the whole Pon-E drug mentioned in the stories Pon-E and Pon-E Bust, which I reccommend checking out. And for anyone asking it is an AU set in the Equestria Girls Universe.

• Silent out.