“I said get down!”

A tall woman wearing a forest green and brown camouflage jacket and pants, brown boots and a black shirt tackled Sunset to the ground. Behemoth’s tail cut through the air above them, a blow that made her shiver when she thought about getting hit by it. The woman’s green riot helmet covered her face with an opaque guard but did nothing to hide her scathing fury.

“Don’t stand there like an idiot,” she yelled as she stood up, pulled a large rocket launcher from her back and fired it at the tail. The impact and explosion did little, but seeing as the woman uncaringly tossed the empty launcher to the ground Sunset doubted it was meant to do much.

“C’mon, you’re one of our few powerhouses left. Quit idling where Behemoth will eat you for an afternoon snack!” The woman rolled her wrist around, and in a blink of an eye a long barrelled silver pistol appeared in hand. She continued to fire it as she waved Sunset forward to follow her.

From the building across from them, large spears of ice were being launched out of several cannons. Each spear that impacted Behemoth’s shell shattered into shards with very few leaving flesh wounds even when they hit the body. The icy onslaught was joined in as random machinery was launched out from between alleys at high velocity.

Behemoth had its three frog eyes focused on different people across the battlefield. It spun faster than Sunset would have thought something with that much mass should be able to. A claw slammed down on a bright green forcefield, the suited man inside it struggling with all his might before the forcefield shattered into sparks. The claw sent a tremor through the ground that made Sunset stumble.

A potbellied man rained down a storm of lightning atop Behemoth as a white-cowled flyer held him in their arms. One of the frog eyes sent several red beams out at the pair. They dodged and weaved through the air, their electric storm never stopping. The man didn’t have a chance to scream when one of the red beams seared off his potbelly and everything lower. The white-cowled flyer dropped the scorched remains and evaded the continuous beams in the sky.

The military woman growled as she grabbed Sunset’s hand and dragged her along. Sunset stared at the carnage that was fighting this monster towering over her. Her mind had gone blank until the woman all but dragged her into cover behind a broken wooden bench.

“Long Arch, Jade Jolt, and Hollyflower are dead. We need reinforcements!” the military woman screamed into her headset. “No, I don’t care. Get her ass over here. Containment won’t work when all your supers are six feet under!”

The woman waved her hands as she conjured up two rocket launchers and slung one across her back. “Our trump card is coming down field. Distract Behemoth while she kills it.”

“Trump card? What if it fails?” asked Sunset.

“Then it’s your turn,” the woman said grimly.

Everything grew dark; the luminescent hexagonal grid faded from the night sky slowly drawing into itself until a single hexagon barrier shone like a star in the black expanse. It shot down like a comet, a silver trail of light behind it, as the glowing barrier smashed down onto Behemoth. Its massive body crushed into the ground shaking the earth and leaving a crater several feet deep in its wake.

Standing atop the barrier that crushed the monstrosity with horrifying strength was a girl. She threw her light blue and silver hair over her shoulder with a flourish, her silver ballroom gown sparkled like diamonds in her own barrier’s light as she wore clothing more suited to a high society party than fighting amongst a battlefield.

With a flick of her arm several hexagons popped into existence surrounding Behemoth like a fence. Another flick sent them coiling around Behemoth in a vice grip, the monster’s body breaking and bleeding from the sheer pressure. It roared in pain, each eye crying viscous ichor as it struggled to free itself.

“And that’s Lightshow,” muttered the military woman, awe in even her hatred-filled voice.

Each hexagon emitted a brilliant light, a slight buzz of energy felt in the air that set Sunset’s hair on end like static electricity. That light burst into silver energy beams that pierced and slammed against Behemoth. It raged and rocked in agony, buildings crumbling from the tremors and the park now decimated beyond all recognition.

The woman, Lightshow, stepped forward on her barrier platform. She stared down at the monster below her with contempt. “The Great. And Powerful. Lightshow! Has always wondered why no one uses their strongest attack first. Do you fear Lightshow, you beast? Fear her!”

Sunset’s jaw dropped. “That’s Lightshow?”

Behemoth roared in anger, pain and whatever emotions the calamity causing monster felt. Its shell on its back changed one of its colors dull silver. The beams of energy and hexagons that imprisoned and strangled Behemoth shattered at its mere touch. It rose, slowly, with chilling mist wafting out its nostrils and jaw, to level three bleeding eyes at Lightshow.

It headbutted Lightshow with all its tons of mass focused at a single point. In less than a second the girl standing atop the barrier broke the sound barrier as she was sent straight through two separate buildings into the distance. It was a blow that would have killed anybody else, but the military woman frowned.

“That’s Lightshow. Looks like our timing was fucked. It’s still immune to fire and now our trump’s element. Shit, look, you’re useless right now until we can open up its immunity. Go see if she’s dead or not.”

“Uh, okay. Got it.”

The military woman turned on her headset. “Pyrebright is going to see if Lightshow bit it.”

Static popped in Sunset’s ears as her communications opened. “Pyrebright, Sureshot said you’re on search and rescue. Copy?”

Sunset pressed the button and spoke hesitantly as she kept one eye on Behemoth, “Yeah, copy.”

“Alright. Soundwave was nearby and went offline when Lightshow crashed. Search for her also, alright? Long Arch out.” Her comms went silent.

“Stay safe, kid.”

“You too.”

The two parted in a sprint away from each other. Behemoth swatted a flying hero out of the air with a claw before turning its sights toward Sunset. Praying that it wasn’t going to attack her she let out a breath of relief when two rockets exploded against Behemoth’s face.

Sunset yelled back at Sureshot, “What part of that is safe?”

The woman yelled back as she conjured up another rocket, “You’re safer now. Hurry up and recover our trump card!”

Her pace toward the crash site was hurried by Sunset’s rocket step. Each foot forward sped her up as she ran through the cratered and burned park, through several building’s worths of rubble and debris, and far too much dust Sunset wanted to breathe in. She slowed at the neared the spot Lightshow had crashed into.

She was going to yell to see if anyone responded but heard voices speaking within the half-destroyed chapel. The inflection and tone were obviously Lightshow’s, but the second Sunset couldn’t place. She crept through the wreckage while avoiding injuring herself on the unstable ground or jutting scrap of wreckage. Lightshow was lying down against a broken pillar and an armored girl on roller skates, who she assumed was Soundwave, was fumbling about unsure of how to help.

“Oh jeez. Trixie, are you okay?,” asked Soundwave who was Lemon Zest.

“No,” grumbled Lightshow who was Trixie. “Lightshow is very sure she isn’t okay.”

Sunset stumbled off some of the crumbled cement into the area. “Oh shoot.”

Trixie’s left arm was gone from the shoulder down, blood-soaked the side of her dress and was stopped by the hexagonal barrier encompassing the wound. Both girls started at Sunset but immediately calmed down upon recognizing her. “Solid timing, Shimmer. You look like you’re a fiery girl. Lightshow is having a hard time concentrating trying not to bleed out. Maybe do something about it?”

Lemon fidgeted as she knelt by Trixie. “Holy… jeez, you can’t be serious, Trixie.”

“It’s Lightshow right now, and she is very serious. Shimmer, quit your gawking and cauterize this already.” Trixie glared.

Unsure of what else to do Sunset hurried to Trixie’s side. The barrier around her shoulder fell revealing the grievous injury in all its glory. It turned Sunset’s stomach inside out seeing it up close and Lemon gagged. The girl that was actually injured grit her teeth preparing for the oncoming pain.

Air gathered gently around the wound as Sunset hovered her hands over it. “Ready?”

“Yes, yes, Lightshow is always ready.”

“Trixie, please girl, stop already. You’ve done enough! You’re missing a freaking arm. Just… you’re not Lightshow. You don’t have to be a hero.” Lemon pleaded.

The air exploded burning the wound closed enough for the bleeding to stop, but the smell nauseated Sunset even more than the sight. Trixie breathed heavily trying to compose herself as Sunset said, “This isn’t just a dream, is it? It’s real, real enough that we feel everything. It has to be… because I can’t imagine otherwise.”

Trixie pushed herself upright against the pillar. “Trixie is always herself, and she happens to be Lightshow right now. You never ask a magician to break character on stage.”

Lemon slammed a fist on the ground. “This isn’t a stage, Trixie!”

A laugh escaped Trixie. “Isn’t it? Life is a stage, dear Soundwave. We are playing our part right now. That’s how a lot of these dreams are. Most are like this, assuming a character to play. Some we are free to be ourselves and do as we please, and the other kind… heck, that really hurts.”

Sunset pressed her communications button and radioed in, “Long Arch, Lightshow is injured and Soundwave is unharmed. Please send rescue.”

Trixie scowled at Sunset. “Shimmer, don’t be a fool. This isn’t real; it’s just a dream. It gets unpleasant when you die in a dream, but you don’t die. Far, far worse things happen when you let the nightmare win. Lightshow is going to… get… up.”

She crawled to her feet using the pillar as a brace with Lemon rushing to her aid. “She is going to go back out there and kill Behemoth, and then Lemon Zest will be free.”

“It’s not worth, Trixie. I’m not worth it,” muttered Lemon. “This whole dang thing is just another failure in the long line of failures recently.”

“Don’t tell Lightshow what is or isn’t worth her time.”

“But I’m not. I thought I was, you know? During the Games I thought I was on top of the world. Hah, that showed me the truth.” Lemon rubbed the back of her neck. “Went from first to last pretty quick. School got a lot harder to make up for that. It made the competition ramp up pretty quick, and I’m not made for that kind of deal, yeah? Couldn’t do anything right.”

“Hey now, that’s just school. There’s more than that out there,” said Sunset.

“Hah. For you maybe, but for me? My friends, or who were my friends once, my parents, the teachers, the colleges after that, jobs and such? They think differently. It’s really harsh out there, and I’m just… I just can’t do it. I’m not worth anything, and especially not that,” Lemon quietly yelled as she motioned at Trixie’s shoulder stump. “Let’s just quit this already…”

“Lemon, that’s not true. There’s a whole world, worlds even—”

“Shut it, you two. And Lightshow thought she talked a lot. Shimmer is, ugh, right; you aren’t worthless.”

“But I—”

“I said shut it! Listen here, you dolt. You are worth Trixie’s time, and she determines that because she wants to. Why else would Trixie, and to their own credit, Shimmer and Sparkle, help you? Kindness and the goodness of our hearts?” Trixie blew a sweaty lock of hair out of her eyes despite half her bangs being matted to her face.

“Um, I think that’s exactly why Twilight and I are doing this.”

“As Trixie was saying, she isn’t doing this just out of good feelings. Trixie has many ulterior motives, and one of them is because she’s selfish. She’s been through this herself and can’t stand for someone else to do it alone. If she helps and everything turns out good then she has a new companion that knows what Trixie goes through. She might even want that person to join her coven and be friends.”

Sunset held up a hand.

“Yes, Shimmer?”

“That’s called kindness.”

“Don’t confuse Trixie with your weird friendship emotions. She is doing this grueling and now extremely painful event in order to get something out of it. How dare you claim Trixie isn’t selfish. Now, listen here, Soundwave. Trixie is amazing. Lightshow is also amazing. That’s why she is who she is, got it? Now, would someone as amazing as Trixie ever be friends with someone who’s worthless?”

“Trixie, I’m—”

“The answer is no, fool. Trixie is great and powerful and everyone she’s friends with is also great by association. She doesn’t have any loser or worthless friends. Now, are you Trixie’s friend?”

Lemon Zest cried silently as she bit her lip. “...Yes.”

“Perfect. Now that we’ve decided that this is has meaning let’s go hunt us a monster.”

Sunset stared at the two girls in front of her with a smirk. “You both are pretty great.”

Trixie laughed. “Keep that up and you can be my friend too, Shimmer.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

Author's Note

The story won't move over to being graphic enough for the Gore tag. So it gets a little dark at times, but that's why it's mature. Although I might have to add Dark depending on the themes for later arcs.