The night sky was wrong. It wasn’t that it was black, nor was it that no stars shone in the heavens, but that it lacked a perceivable depth. There was no empty vastness of the cosmos. Only a flat darkness that hid beyond a bright white hexagonal grid dome that encompassed the city. Each hexagon shimmered with faint, translucent energy that made Sunset feel safe. Protected.

“This is Long Arch to Pyrebright, do you copy?” a pleasant lady’s voice came from her helmet.

Hesitantly, Sunset brought up two fingers and pressed a small button beneath her left ear. “This… is Pyrebright. Orders?”

Why had she responded like that? More importantly, how had she known what to do or say. Sunset Shimmer, a pony transformed into a human, stared at herself once again. A bright yellow and white jumpsuit, latex by the feel of it, covered her body. Over the top of it, at sensitive points like the hands, elbows, and knees were red armor plates. She had made the plating, a combination of metal frame and hard plastic, herself.

“Finally. You’ve been silent for three minutes. Is your locator on? We need you back in position. The shielders can’t hold Behemoth in for much longer,” said Long Arch over the communications.

“...Yeah, it got damaged,” said Sunset as memories came unbidden to her mind. A fall had damaged her helmet. Luckily it had only broken the locator and not her skull.

“Noted. Fairy is waiting two blocks west of your last known location. Regroup and get ready to resume bombardment. Shit, Lightning did what? Long Arch out.” The communication buzzed with a slight static as the lady disconnected.

Sunset held her head in her hands, more memories coming to the surface. She was Fire Flower, a young girl who had always aspired to be a hero. When her power blossomed in the late years of high school she had made her own costume and took on her dream of being a hero. A year later she had some experience under her belt, but a call for heroes went out when a category ‘Demon’ threat was discovered nearby. Fire Flower, who donned her suit as Pyrebright, couldn’t in good will ignore it.

No, that wasn’t right; she was Sunset Shimmer. The memories were hazy, but she had a recollection of her entire last year of crime fighting vivid in her mind. Slowly repairing her suit after each battle, her friends and mentors laughing alongside her and the new home she had found along the way.

Sunset went westward to the edge of the roof she was atop and stared over the city. Towering skyscrapers lorded over widespread cathedrals and sprawling buildings tipped with spires; a city of gothic architecture spread out before her. Off in the distance ahead of her, several blocks away, was a faceted gem dome of many colors that towered over a few buildings. It beamed bright in the dark night, but she could make out a few dozen people surrounding it from all sides. People dressed up in costumes and colors of light and dark origins. Heroes, she knew, and a few villains as well.

Three rooftops over she spotted a short, round girl who sparkled like glitter and had translucent butterfly wings out her back. Sunset looked at the wide street below her, at least twenty feet across, and wondered how she was going to cross it.

A warmth spread through her body as she knew how. She backed up several steps and took off in a sprint toward the edge of the roof. With a jump she soared over the street, but she wasn’t going to make it. Not normally. Sunset never stopped running, each step in mid air had a bright burst of fire ignite under her foot with enough force to let her take the next step. Ten strides of rocket stepping her way across she street and she landed on the roof.

“I have fire powers,” she mumbled to herself. “Specifically the ability to condense and combust air at my will, and with no harm to myself.” Sunset held out a hand. Air gathered into her palm, squeezed into a tiny fraction of itself and exploded in a small ball of fire no bigger than a cheap firework.

Sunset hustled over the next two rooftops to meet up with the girl called Fairy. She had never met her before, but she knew who she was in name. As Sunset landed on the same roof as Fairy the glittering girl called out to her, “Hey Pyrebright. Long Arch said you’d be heading my way. I, um, heh. Looked like you didn’t kick it in that last magma blast.”

A memory rose as if it was still fresh in her mind. She was standing next to two elderly men, each a hero she looked up to. Idolized even, as a wave of flaming earth engulfed a school next to her. The heat from the blast slagged her building with ease collapsing its entire left side into the boiling, volcanic earth below. One of the elderly heroes grabbed her and quickly threw her, sending her careening into the air toward the opposite side. She landed where she had woken up before Long Arch called.

“T-technically,” she said with her voice cracking. “It was a lava blast. Above the surface.”

Fairy cried tears with a smile on her face. Sunset knew that the banter was false courage. A joke to laugh away the fear. “Leave it to the fire girl to know what’s what,” said Fairy. Instead of wiping the tears away she pulled a shortbow off of her shoulder and took a stance.

“Did you see ole General Steel?” she asked as she pulled the bowstring. An arrow of light formed already nocked.

The green suited man with a beaming white smile and sharp blue eyes, who never stopped smiling even as he threw her from certain flaming death, who fell in as the building collapsed after he saved her life. Sunset’s throat caught painfully as she tried to speak. “N-no, I haven’t. Maybe he’s up front?”

Fairy smiled as she stared at the glittering dome with sharp blue eyes. “Maybe. He’d want to bring this monster down, you know?”

She was Sunset Shimmer, not Fire Flower. Not Pyrebright. Right?

“Long Arch to all. Behemoth’s breaking free. Begin attack when the barriers fall.”

Fairy squinted through her tears. “You heard the lady.”

Sunset started to speak, but her words died in her throat. Questions came to mind about this city, the battle that was taking place, even who she was. Yet each time she thought about something it was at the back of her mind as a memory. That the city was Steephill, a home that they were defending against a monster that was considered a national threat, and she was one of its heroes.

Air gathered in Sunset’s hands, condensing into long bars of air so compact they were solid enough for her to grip. She grabbed tight, the weight only in her mind, as she held it up ready to throw like a javelin. A technique she could recall making herself while she was alone in her room.

“This is hurting my head,” muttered Sunset. Was this what Trixie meant by unpleasant? Was this all really a dream of someone sleeping on a bed, or was that her own daydream?

“Sorry girl, fairy dust ain’t the cure-all it used to be,” replied Fairy with a hitch in her voice.

Sunset was deafened. It wasn’t sound of the barriers shattering like glass or the many explosions and attacks the numerous heroes made in the next second. A screeching roar threatened to burst her eardrums and sent her nerves into shock. As it died down a torrent of wind, the boom from the creature’s roar, slammed into the building she was standing atop. The shifting of the stone bricks in the walls and cracking of the hard roof’s floor frightened Sunset. What in Equestria could do that with its voice?

Rising out of the broken barrier dome, like a chick freeing itself from an egg, was a living nightmare. Its jaw was cracked, yellowing stone undercutting jagged teeth and tusks larger than her entire body. Three black and yellow frog eyes blinked separately as it shook its massive red and brown shell that reminded her of an armadillo’s body if armadillo's had towering spikes atop each shell plate. Massive three toed claws wrenched the street and earth itself apart.

She threw her air javelin without thinking about it, her eyes never leaving the monster named Behemoth, and it soared at unnatural speeds. When it impacted Behemoth’s shell she felt it. Sunset ignited the air over a hundred feet away from her creating a massive explosion of yellow fire.

Beside her Fairy let loose an arrow every second that pelted Behemoth, each one becoming a ray of light as the girl let them loose from the bow. It wasn’t just them two; a couple dozen different attacks of all shape and colors assaulted the monstrosity. Behemoth weathered the onslaught with rage. Its claws and jaws thrashed and swiped at the heroes near it. Few took the blows well as someone was sent through a building and another barely deflecting it with a projected shield.

Behemoth crouched on all fours and shook itself down. The spikes on its shell ignited with red energy streaking across each other. A loud whistle pierced the air as nearly twenty spikes shot off like missiles and struck down at the groups of heroes bombarding them atop buildings. The cacophony of crumbling structures and explosions overtook her own cries when a spike narrowly missed the two girls and destroyed the neighboring building.

Sunset repeated attacking the monster, not sure what else she could contribute to the battle. She could barely make out the silhouettes of people fighting at the front beyond Behemoth itself and the multitude of powers. Behemoth roared, a different sound to the previous screech. It’s shell shifted colors from red and brown to yellow and white.

A static pop came from her helmet. “Pyrebright, it’s shifted its immunity to fire and ice. Cease attacking. Three blocks to your northeast three heroes went offline. Search and rescue. Respond when on the scene. Long Arch out.”

One of the spikes jutted from a destroyed building roughly where she was ordered to go. Fairy was still firing arrows in silence. Their eyes met and nothing else needed to be said. This wasn’t a time for weak knees or tearful words. Sunset’s fists clenched as she took off toward the ruined building.

Her rocket steps let her make good time skipping across the ruined streets and other wreckage to her destination. She touched down just outside one of the collapsed walls. The spike that had destroyed the building was twice as tall as her and stood embedded in the earth amidst the structure. Sunset picked her way inside through the rubble and wrecked furniture looking for any sign of those heroes.

“Hello, can anyone answer me?” she called out. Her voice was loud, but she barely heard herself over the sounds of battle further away. Despite that a muffled voice came from deeper inside.

In a rush she crawled through warped rebar and over a fragmented shelf into the room that held the spike itself. The dim light of the sky grid filtered through the holes in the walls and ceiling casting pale rays and creating shadows. A large, broad-shouldered man clutched his ribs and arm with the other, his green and black suit shredded and soaked making the green sections appear black. He peered at Sunset with one eye.

“Ah knew halp would be sendin’ quicklike. Damn munster got me good, lass.” He coughed hard, the sound making Sunset cringe as she rushed forward to help him. “Mah comm is broke so ya need to radio in. Wha’ happened to Cruiser and Buster?”

“I-I don’t know.” Sunset glanced around the room.

An arm jutted from the rubble bent and bleeding. Her gut churned as she pointed at the heap of debris.

The man dragged himself a few steps to see what she saw. “Damn shame tha’ is.”

“No, no, wait. Maybe they’re still okay. Give me one second and I’ll—” Sunset began walking over before the man grabbed her arm with his only good hand.

“Lass, look at me. They wouldn’ want ya ta see them like tha’. Just… jus’ radio in, would ya?”

“But!”

“Lass!”

Sunset glanced between the injured man and the what once had been a person. What was this? This battle, this unneeded death and destruction. This wasn’t her world. Not either of her homes.

She pressed the button on her helmet. “This is Pyrebright. One confirmed survivor. Injured heavily.”

A moment passed before Long Arch responded.. “Give me a moment. Redirecting a mover to evacuate. Long Arch out.”

“Help is on the way, sir. You’re going to be okay,” said Sunset as she turned away from the nauseating sight and focused on the large man. Nothing came to mind about him, not a name or memory. What had she been expecting when she was going to search and rescue? She wasn’t a naive filly anymore.

The air quivered before it was torn into two. A swirling abyss of bright lights and nebulas appeared in a rift before it snapped shut. The portal vanished leaving behind a girl in a long robe with constellations sewn into it. A wonderful girl with light purple skin, long dark blue hair that had a pink and purple streak in it, and was staring at her with wide, tearful eyes.

“Sunset?”

Author's Note

This is the chapter that everything really starts and possibly that y'all will either stick around to see where it's going or hate. As always thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!