Assassin's Creed: Equestria

Chapters

chapter 1: nightmares on the bus
chapter 2: new task. new warnings.
chapter 3: Arriving home. Leaving home.
chapter 4: the school incident. (crunch)
chapter 5: venting strategy
chapter 6: check-up
chapter 7: new girl
chapter 8: Awkward introductions
chapter 9: The Investigation Begins

chapter 1: nightmares on the bus

“I can’t thank you girls enough. You help us save this camp. We are in your debt.” Thanked Gloriosa Daisy once again, as the Rainbooms started packing their things on the bus to go home.

Sunset smiled and answered for what must have been the fiftieth time that day, “It’s no problem. Really. You’re not in our debt or anything like that. We are just glad that more kids will get the chance to discover themselves at this camp, and have fun while doing so.”

“Ahaha! You guys are awesome!” Gloriosa yelled smiling wildly.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward from putting her bag into the bottom of the bus and said, “You know it! And now other kids will have the chance to become just as awesome as me! Well, maybe.”

“Ugh Rainbow. Do ya really need to gloat like that?” Applejack said while rolling her eyes.

Rainbow smiled smugly and said, “Yeah. I want people to know how awesome I am.”

Applejack arched an eyebrow, “Yeah, well you can do that without shouting from the rooftops every single time you get a drink of water or have your damn period!” she retorted.

Sunset’s jaw dropped at hearing this.

“OOOOOHHHHH!!!!!” Pinkie Pie shouted from the rest of the group. “RRREEEKT!”

Sunset roared with laughter as Rainbow Dash’s smile dropped and her cheeks erupted in a blush.

“Hey! A little below the belt don’t think?” Rainbow asked, embarrassed. “I have never done that in my life!” she pouted.

Applejack looked a little guilty. A little. “Alright Rainbow ah’m sorry.” Applejack smiled again, “But still that would be pretty funny and weird image though.” She said while giggling.

Rainbow thought about it for a moment. Then she started giggling too. “Hehe you’re right AJ, that would be weird. Besides you’re the only one who would get crazy enough to do that.”

Applejack feigned hurt. “No ah wouldn’t.” Then she smiled again. “Ah get the feelin’ that Pinkie would probably do that.” She said while giggle harder.

“Hey!” Pinkie said looking up from putting her bag in the bus. Then she started laughing much to the relief of everyone.

Sunset interjected and said, “You’re right Applejack.”

Applejack had a smug look on her face. “Thank you Sunse-” She almost said but Sunset cut her off.

“You’d spend your time trying to shove apples up all are asses.” Sunset said while grinning wildly.

Everybody roared with laughter as by now this whole thing had become a big joke.

“Okay guys you get your stuff on the bus.” Sunset said after the laughter died down a little. She looked over to Twilight Sparkle and saw her staring at Timber Spruce, who appeared to be talking to some donors twenty feet away. Twilight’s bags were at her side unmoved. Sunset looked a little closer and what she saw made her giggle. Twilight’s eyes were half lidded, she appeared to be leaning a little and was twirling her right index finger with the bottom of her shirt. There was also a light blush on her face.

Sunset smirked and walked over to Twilight, who didn’t hear or notice. She banged on the side of the bus.

Nothing.

Sunset frowned. “Ahem.” She coughed, trying once to get her zoned out friend’s attention before something embarrassing happens.

Nothing.

Sunset sighed. She had one last option, but wasn’t sure it would go well. She put on a smirk again.

“Fantasizing already Twilight? You’re moving a little fast don’t ya think?” Sunset said as she placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. Sure enough her intuition once again proved correct.

“EEEEK! I wasn’t staring I was packing!” Twilight shouted as she twirled around, grabbed her bags and threw them into the bus with a loud thunk. Her face was as red as a tomato.

Sunset had to duck to avoid the flying bags. When she stood to see Twilight’s red face however she burst out laughing. “Hey Twilight, I j-just wanted to l-let you know that I-I think we are g-gonna be leaving soon.” Sunset said while giggling like crazy.

Twilight’s blush still didn’t let up. “O-okay. I’m s-sorry. I j-just-” She was about to say but Sunset cut her off.

“It’s okay Twilight. It is perfectly fine.” she said while looking directly into Twilight’s eyes, having stopped giggling. “I just don’t want you to be doing...ya know…THAT,” Sunset gestured with her hands to emphasize her point, “here ya'know it’s-”

“Yeah yeah. I got it.” Twilight said, already knowing what Sunset was trying to say.

“Yeah.” Sunset agreed.

Sunset looked over to behind the bus to see Fluttershy cuddling with and talking with a stray cat and some other wild animals.

Twilight looked at sunset with a very serious face, “Sunset, can you promise me that you won’t tell a SOUL about this?” She asked with an almost threatening tone.

“Yeah yeah, sure. I will. I promise.” Sunset said, somewhat absentmindedly as she prepared to go get Fluttershy.

She walked about two steps when a purple magic aura surrounded her and yanked her back with force. In a moment, she was right in front of Twilight’s face. Sunset looked to Twilight's neck and saw her purple pendant glowing softly.

Sunset looked into Twilight's eyes. “What?” She asked, surprised by Twilight’s sudden aggression.

“Promise me.” Twilight asked, with a serious tone.

“Promise you what?” Sunset asked, completely confused.

Twilight growled. ‘Did she even pay attention? This is serious!’ She thought to herself, angry that Sunset wasn’t paying attention.

“Promise me that you won’t tell anyone about...this.” Twilight said, that last part making the blush on her face come back again, but much less profound than last time.

“Yes, yes I promise.” Sunset said, irritated that Twilight would hold her up like this. The bus is going to leave soon.

Twilight wasn’t convinced just yet. She released Sunset from her magic.

Sunset prepared to leave again but Twilight stopped her. “Don’t leave yet.”

“Okay?” Sunset said, deciding to just listen to get this over with.

“Raise your right hand.” Twilight ordered. Sunset did as she was told as Twilight did the same.

“Repeat after me.” Twilight ordered again.

‘Where is she going with this?’ Sunset thought to herself as she waited for Twilight to speak.

“I promise.” Twilight said.

“I promise.” Sunset repeated.

“To not.”

“Tell anyone.”

“That I almost masturbated in public.”

“That I almost masterbhumph-I mean you almost masturbated in public.” Sunset choked back a laugh. She prayed Twilight didn’t notice the rude action.

Twilight noticed the action, but didn’t mention it. The mistake was kind of funny. If they were twelve. Besides, she was satisfied with what had been said.

“Thank you.” Twilight said, with a slightly relieved voice.

Sunset was still slightly irritated. “Twilight what did you do that for?” she asked with a frown.

Twilight looked at Sunset with a slightly guilty face. “I’m sorry Sunset. I just wanted to make doubly sure no one would know.”

“Twilight. Do you not trust me?” Sunset asked, feeling genuinely hurt.

Twilight looked even more guilty. “Yes I trust you Sunset, but with a matter as sensitive as this I want to place an extra lock and key, figuratively speaking. I mean, wouldn’t you be a little worried, if you had to tell someone something so sensitive?” she reasoned.

Sunset thought about it. “Yeah, that makes sense I guess.” She said, the hurt leaving her body.

Twilight smiled, not feeling guilty anymore. “So, promise?” She asked.

Sunset sighed and smiled back. “Promise.” She said and they shook hands.

They pulled their hands back Sunset looked over to Fluttershy hugging the stray cat behind the bus.

“Okay. You ready to go?” Sunset asked as she looked into the storage compartment for the bus. Both Sunset and Twilight winced as they looked at the bags scattered around the compartment, while the other bags were placed neatly.

Twilight looked at Sunset with an embarrassed face. “Yes.” She said quietly.

Sunset laughed. “Okay, well I’d better get Flutters before she decides to take another stray animal home.” She said and made over way to Fluttershy.

While Sunset was walking over to Fluttershy, she heard the familiar voice of principal Celestia call out, “Okay kids! Five more minutes until we have to get on the bus and go home!”

Sunset smirked. ‘I thought she would say that soon.’ She thought to herself as she adjusted her pendant.

Flutters was cuddling with A brown and ginger colored cat and cooing in the adorableness. Sunset smiled. “Come on Fluttershy, let’s leave the animals in their OWN habitat for once. Okay?" She said.

Fluttershy pouted. “Aww, but they’re so adorable.” She said with her signature softness.

“I know.” Sunset replied. “But you have enough animals at home, and you have the animal shelter.”

Fluttershy continued to pout for a moment, then finally let up. “Okay fine.” she said, with a little bit of frustration. She stood up.

Sunset smiled. “There you go Flutters. Now, let’s your bags on the bus, it’ll be leaving soon.” She said, as she gestured to the bus.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened at that. “What! The bus is leaving!” She asked, a little louder than normal.

Sunset giggled at Flutters’ worried expression. “No, not quite yet, but it will be leaving very soon. You should get your bags to-”

“Okay! I got it!” Fluttershy cut Sunset off as she ran off with her bags.

Sunset sighed and walked over to the front of the bus. She saw Fluttershy place her bags into the storage compartment, look around worriedly and sigh in relief as she still had time to mingle a little.

Sunset looked around Fluttershy and saw Rarity with at least six large bags. ‘Why must she need so many bags?’, Sunset thought to herself as she walked over to her fashionista friend.

“Hey Rare. You need some help?” Sunset asked as she gestured the surely heavy bags.

Rarity looked over the Sunset with a grateful expression. “Thanks for the offer darling, but I've got it.” She said. The Rarity lifted her hand in the air and she waved it over the bags. The pendant on her neck glowed softly before a diamond barrier wrapped itself around one of the bags. Rarity waved her hand in the direction of the storage compartment and the bag floated over to the opening and placed itself inside.

Sunset began to pick up bags anyway. “We need to hurry because the bus is going to leave soon.” She said as she lifted to heavy bag into the compartment. Sunset grunted. “You of all people wouldn’t want to stay here.” She said.

Rarity gasped. “Oh god no. I would never give up my daily spa trips.” She said as the last bag floated into along with the rest of the bags.

Sunset rolled her eyes at that response. She looked around and sighed. “Well that everyone’s bags.”

Sunset heard a sharp whistle before principal Celestia's voice called out. “Time to go CHS! Everybody on the bus!” She ordered.

Sunset looked over to Rarity and said “Well, you heard the woman, you get on the bus. I’ll be there in a minute. I just gotta close this.”

Sunset prepared to close to compartment door but vice principal Luna stopped her. “That won’t be necessary Sunset. But I thank you for helping putting the bags away. Now run along to your friends on the bus.” She said to Sunset.

“Are you sure VP Luna? The door looks really heavy.” Sunset asked as she examined the slidable metal plate. It indeed looked as though moving it would require more than just a little effort.

Luna feigned insult. “Hey, I’m not that old.” She said while smiling playfully. With a grunt, she pulled down the sliding door with a fairly loud clank. Then Luna walked over to each side of the storage door and did up the clasps, securing the door shut.

Sunset was slightly surprised “she’s stronger than she looks.” She muttered to herself.

Luna looked over at Sunset with a light frown. “I heard that.” She said.

Sunset blushed with her eyes wide and immediately started stammering. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t m-mean it like that.”

Luna started laughing. “I’m just messing with you Sunset. Come on. Let’s get on the bus before my sister scolds us both.” She said while leading sunset over to the bus entrance, where principal Celestia waited.

“Come on girls, the bus driver doesn’t have all day you know.” Celestia said with a smirk.

“We’re coming principal Celestia.” Sunset replied with a smiled as she got onto the bus.

Sunset walked to the back of the bus where she found a lone seat. Twilight was in the seat across from her also alone. In front of Twilight were Applejack and Rainbow Dash playing a game on their phones. Across from them were Fluttershy and Rarity looking at and discussing pictures of animals in cute tiny clothes from their phones, the occasional “aww” coming from them. Pinkie Pie sat in front of them looking and talking non-stop, much to the annoyance of Flutters and Rare.

Sunset sat down in the empty seat and placed her purse on her right side and slumped, relaxed. She looked around and sighed as principal Celestia began a head count. She had so many good friends now. ‘And to think I used to treat these people horribly. Now; they love me like a sister.’ Sunset thought happily to herself as the bus started to move. Her thoughts were cut off however as Twilight came barreling into her seat and opened the window.

Sunset was confused at first until she heard Timber Spruce's voice shout, “TWILIGHT HERE!!” She then saw Twilight’s pendant glow and in another moment a piece of paper zoomed through the window and into Twilight’s outstretched hand. Twilight unfurled the paper from her hand and Sunset understood. On the paper were the numbers 630-8952.

Sunset looked over at Twilight who had a wide grin on her face. Sunset then smiled and said, “Nice one Twilight! He’ll be staying with you for a long while.”

Twilight sighed dreamily. “I hope so.” She said, just as dreamily.

“Yeah.” Sunset replied. Then her smile turned into a teasing grin. She elbowed Twilight in the side and said “Hey, maybe that fantasy of yours will turn into a reality.” Sunset wiggled her eyebrows to emphasize her point.

Twilight blushed violently and said, “Shut the hell up.” while giggling and slapping Sunset’s arm away.

Sunset giggled as well as she watched Twilight sit back in her seat and pull out a book, blush still flaring away on her cheeks. She sat back in her seat and looked out the window. ‘I love this new life I have. I hope it never changes.’ Sunset thought to herself as she was pulled into a pleasant sleep.

It was cold and dark as the man stumbled through the alleyway, pain radiating from the massive burn marks in the shape of claw marks in his side. Blood was leaking from many other wounds on his body. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He looked to his left and gasped in fear, ducking to avoid another fireball aimed straight at his face. The man started running again, his footfalls very loud as he splashed through the puddles on the concrete. His eyes widened as heard the footfalls of his pursuer getting closer.

Sunset awoke to a hot sensation in her hand. When she opened her eyes what she saw terrified her. Her right hand was completely ablaze. Sunset also noticed she was walking in an alleyway steadily. She looked into a puddle on the ground and her heart skipped a beat. Staring up at her was herself, but she had demonic red eyes and orange pupils. The she-demon from the Fall Formal had nothing on this. Sunset looked at her left hand and saw, instead of five fingers, five claws as long as bananas adorned her palm. Blood was dripping off of them in a steady stream. She thought for a second and knew it was the blood from the person she was chasing. She didn’t know how she was chasing somebody, she just knew.

Sunset continued down into the alleyway, down it’s twists and turns, of which the alleyway had many for some strange reason. She looked down on the ground and saw a trail of red on the ground. She knew what to do. Sunset followed the blood trail down the alleyway. As she was walking, she tried to think of why she chasing this man. As if something read her mind, a memory made itself known in her mind.

As Sunset walked through the door to her home she was immediately blasted with a wave of copper smell. Sunset gagged. She walked a little ways into her living room and gasped, her eyes watering.

Her friends.

All of them.

Dead.

Mutilated.

Sunset cried as she observed the corpses of her friends. Each of them with limbs scattered around the room. there was blood, splattered all around as well. The couches, the coffee table, even the TV had blood on it. The stench of the room very nearly made Sunset throw up. She walked into the dining room and she froze. There was a man standing there, ready to escape out the back door, a wicked smile on is his face. After a moment of the two staring at each other the man's face went from smug to fearful. At first Sunset was a little confused, but then she caught on as she realized she clenching her teeth. Hard. She also noticed that both her hands were balled into fists and they were shaking a lot. White hot embers were also dissipating from them. Sunset barely noticed that she was growling softly under her breath. Quivering in fear, the man ran outside into the rainy night.

Sunset wanted to hurt this man. She wanted to kill him. She was going kill him. No one was going to stop her. She had no one left.

Sunset looked around for a moment then found what she was looking for. Princess Twilight’s crown lay on the next two a chair that had Applejack's ripped off arm on it. Sunset walked over to the chair and stared at the crown. She was going to make him suffer.

Sunset picked up the crown and looked at the star gem in the middle. She saw her reflection and what she saw made her curious. She wasn’t clenching her teeth anymore. Her face was almost completely blank; but Sunset knew better. In behind her eyes was a grief and rage that even the greatest monsters from Equestria would cower before.

The eyes of someone with absolutely nothing left to lose.

Sunset placed the crown on her head and felt a surge of power swarm through her. She took a steady breath, and set out to find and destroy the man that destroyed everything she held dear; and anything that stood in her way of achieving this goal.

Sunset blinked and she was back in the alleyway. She looked at a puddle on the ground and, sure enough, Princess Twilight’s crown lay on her head; but the star gem had a crack with glowing embers floating out of it. Sunset turned her gaze over to the alleyway and saw the man she was chasing. He had collapsed, most likely from pain. Sunset approached him and he looked up weakly at her. There was absolute terror in his eyes.

Sunset’s right hand lit on fire again and she picked up the man by the neck. Only then did she realized that she was much taller than he was. She towered over him. Sunset could feel her fingers burning into his neck as her left hand extended into claws again. She lifted her left hand and pressed her claws into the man’s stomach. Her claws slowly sunk into his abdomen and an extremely ragged, strangled and coughed, whimper sounded from him as fresh blood and guts poured onto sunset hand.

“Sunset.”

That voice. The voice of her friends. Now beginning to haunt Sunset’s mind. It only fueled Sunset’s rage and grief further as she dragged her claws up the man’s abdomen and towards his chest, completely disemboweling him. Sunset’s right hand began to burn hotter and the man’s flesh began to turn to crisp.

“Sunset!”

The voice is getting louder now. Teasing her. Torturing her with its existence. Nearly the man’s entire body was nothing but black crust. Using her magic, Sunset forced the man’s eyes to open, function and look directly into her glowing eyes. She wanted him to look her in the eye as she destroyed him. Her hand squeezed harder and that man face began to crumble from the bottom up.

“Sunset!!!”

The voice is extremely loud now. Hot, angry tears poured down Sunset’s face as her hand continued to squeeze harder and harder. The man’s face was unrecognizable.

“Suunsseeeet!!!”

The voice was getting unbearable. It rampages through her mind. Making her even more angry. Just a little more and the man would be nothing but a pile of ash.

“SSSSUUUUNNNNSSSEEET!!!!!!!”

With a massive shriek, Sunset awoke inside the bus.

“Come on ya’ll, give her some space.” A voice said.

Sunset gasped, she knew that southern accent anywhere. She looked over to her right to Applejack’s face filled with concern, but a little far away.

“Are ya alright Sunset?” Applejack asked.

Happy tears began to pour down sunset’s face. “Y-y-you’re alive.” She whispered.

Applejack arched an eyebrow. “Uh. Yeah, we’re ali - oof!” she was about to say but Sunset cut her off.

Sunset leaped into applejack’s arms and sobbed. “You’re alive. O-oh god, y-you’re alive.” She continued to sob.

“Hey, I think she had a nightmare.” Pinkie’s voice sounded out from the distance.

Applejack looked at Pinkie for a moment. Then back to Sunset, still crying in her arms. “Hey. Hey. You’re alright. We’re not dead. You had a nightmare.”

Sunset looked up to Applejack and sniffled, tears pouring down her cheeks. “A n-n-nightmare?”

AJ nodded her head and smiled down at her friend. “Uhuh. A nightmare. That’s all. It wasn’t real. We’re still a-alive.” Applejack stuttered that last part, only now taking in the implications of all those “you’re alive”s. She gave Sunset a firm hug until Sunset stopped crying.

It took a few minutes for Sunset to stop crying and calm down. When Applejack stopped feeling broken breaths on her left shoulder she made Sunset lift her head to face her. “Are ya okay now?” Applejack asked.

Sunset sniffled and nodded her head.

Applejack smiled at this. She rubbed Sunset’s shoulder soothingly and said, “Alright. Now why not ya tell us all about this nightmare of yours. From the sound of things it seemed quite...interesting.”

“O-okay.” Sunset said as her friends her gave some space.

“It started like this.” Sunset said after a few deep breaths.

While Sunset was retelling the nightmare, her friends faces took on a number of emotions. Fear, shock, sympathy, just to name a few. More than once Sunset burst into tears while retelling what had happened in the nightmare. Her friends had to calm her down every time.

“And then I woke and you guys were right here, completely unharmed.” Sunset finally said.

All of Sunset’s friends gasped. “That must’ve felt awful.”

“Terrible.”

“Frightening to say the least.”

“I feel so bad.”

“I hope it never happens again.”

“Oh my god.”

They all said in near unison.

“Rarity, get my bag!” Fluttershy suddenly ordered in a very unusually firm tone. Rarity did as she was told as it was not smart to disobey the usually shy girl when she used a tone like that. She handed Fluttershy the bag. Then Fluttershy opened it up, reached inside and, a moment later, pulled out a her pet bunny named Angel.

Fluttershy looked to Sunset and handed her the bunny. “Here.” She said. “You need him.”

Sunset hesitated for a moment then took the bunny. “Uh...okay?” She said with uncertainty.

Sunset felt a smile crawl on her lips as Angel looked at Sunset with a bored expression. She gave the bunny a squeeze and looked to Fluttershy. “Thanks Flutters. That really helped.” Sunset said as she handed Angel back to his owner.

Fluttershy smiled. “Any time Sunset.” She said, back in her soft tone as she placed Angel back in her bag. She let the bag rest on her lap before zipping the bag back up most of the way, so that Angel can breathe.

Sunset looked around and finally started to take in the details of her surroundings. What she saw surprised her. There were burn marks everywhere. She looked over herself and gasped. Her entire bus seat was nearly burnt to a crisp. Sunset looked at her own clothes and blushed as the front of her shirt was slightly burnt as well, revealing a little more cleavage than she’d like. Sunset quickly grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted it up a little bit, covering herself up more.

Sunset looked at her friends with a curious face. “Uh...what happened guys?” She asked, nervous about what her friend’s response might be.

Fluttershy suddenly looked very nervous. “Uh...u-umm...well.” She looked over to Rarity. “Uh...R-Rare?” She asked her friend.

Rarity shook her head. “uh...AJ” She asked.

Applejack shook her head as well. She glanced at twilight. Twilight’s went wide. “Hell no. I’m not telling her.”

Sunset was getting irritated and scared. “Will somebody please tell me what hell happened when I was asleep!” She shouted suddenly.

“I’ll tell her.” Pinkie Pie said while rising up out of her seat.

Sunset looked concerned her friend. She was afraid Pinkie would get hurt standing up on a moving bus.

Applejack, noticing Sunset’s expression placed a hand her shoulder. “I’ll just say, what happened while you were asleep had caused the bus to have to stop.”

Sunset gulped.

Pinkie Pie looked to Applejack for permission to start talking. Nodding her head, Applejack whispered “slowly.” to her hyperactive friend.

Pinkie nodded back, took a deep breath and started talking; making sure she was slow so that Sunset could take it all in.

“So, first things first, you were just asleep. Then you started to breathe really heavy and squirming in your seat.” Pinkie told her friend.

Sunset was starting to squirm herself now. She was scared. She already didn’t like where this was heading.

Pinkie Pie continued her explanation. “I didn’t really pay attention at first. I just thought you were dreaming about Flash Sentry.”

Sunset blushed after hearing this.

“I started to pay attention when it didn’t look like you were having a good dream. You were really fidgeting a lot. You were flinging your arms around like this.” Pinkie yanked her left arm forward as if she were firing a kind of laser from her hands. Her right arm was, for some reason, hidden by Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s seat.

“I was a little worried as your hands looked weird. They were glowing, but not like you were using your magic, more like a fiery glow. Then your pendant started to glow bright like you were using magic. On top of that, it was starting to get hot on the bus. Like really hot.” Pinkie continued to say as she fidgeted with her right arm, and winced almost as if she was in pain.

Sunset noticed this and grew worried. ‘Did I hurt Pinkie?’ She thought to herself as she listened to Pinkie explain what happened.

“Like I said, I was worried, so I moved toward you to get your attention. Your hands were glowing with magic and the bus was getting really hot. They had to be connected.” Pinkie was starting to look worried herself. Her right arm was moving a lot now, still hidden behind the seat next to her.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay so…” Pinkie Pie paused to take a breath. She appeared to be having difficulty talking.

‘Oh my god.’ Sunset thought to herself. ‘Pinkie Pie never has trouble talking.’ Sunset dreaded what was going to be told next.

“W-when I went t-t-tap on your shoulder...you...you.” Pinkie’s stuttered as her eyes began to water.

Applejack had seen enough. “Ya opened your eyes and grabbed her arm.” She said angrily. Then she went over to the now crying Pinkie Pie, sat her down in Fluttershy’s and Rarity’s sea and began to shush her.

Sunset was slightly confused. ‘Grabbed her arm? How could just grabbing her arm make her cry like this? She’s not that sensitive.’ She thought to herself.

“Is that what’s making Pinkie cry like this?” Sunset asked Applejack, who had calmed Pinkie down.

Applejack looked over to Sunset and shook her head. “Not even close.” She then looked to the now sniffling Pinkie and asked, “Can ya show her?”

Pinkie sniffled once more and wiped her nose with the outside of her left arm. She then nodded her head and stood up. Then she slowly brought her right arm out into view. Sunset gasped for what must have been the tenth time today.

Pinkie Pie’s entire forearm was covered in gauze and bandages. It was almost as if her arm had been cut open. Sunset let out a shuddering breath and prayed that wasn’t what had been done. Applejack reached for Pinkie’s arm but stopped before touching it, looking to Pinkie for approval. After receiving a nod from the injured girl, Applejack as gently as she could, grabbed the tip of the bandage began to peel off the gauze. All the while Pinkie muttering “ouch ouch ouch” the whole time.

It took a full minute but all the gauze and bandages was finally taken off. What was revealed shocked Sunset for the fifth time today. There, on Pinkie Pie’s arm was a burn mark; but not just any old burn mark, no; this burn mark was in the exact shape of Sunset Shimmer’s hand print.

“T-that?” Sunset asked pointing to the wound with a shaky finger.

Applejack just nodded.

Sunset looked like she was about to faint at this point. “What else did I do?” She asked, guilt searing through her form.

“Relax, you didn’t hurt anyone else. Well aside from giving us all a good scare anyway. Principal Celestia tripped when you grabbed onto Pinkie, but vice principal Luna broke her fall. Celestia Hit her funny bone, and Luna fell on her ass, but aside from that, none of them are injured.” Applejack reassured.

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. She still felt extremely guilty about hurting Pinkie; but if Sunset remembered her dream correctly there was one thing she needed to know. “Uh. Applejack, when I opened my eyes and I grabbed Pinkie, what did my eyes look like?” She asked.

Just like that, the tension that had dissipated rose up again. Applejack was visibly nervous when she gave her answer. “Now Sunset, don’t be alarmed when ah tell ya. Okay?” she asked Sunset.

Sunset steeled herself and prepared to hear the news.

Applejack took a deep breath and said “When you opened your eyes, they looked like the ones ya had from the Fall Formal.”

The silence that had made itself known in the bus was overwhelming.

‘That is even worse!’ Sunset thought to herself fearfully. This was more scary because this was actually real. Not in the dream world.

Applejack caught onto to Sunset’s fearful expression, but before she was able to try and comfort Sunset, Twilight was already there.

“Hey.” Twilight said to her frightened friend.

Sunset looked over to Twilight after hearing her voice.

“Nothing is going to happen Sunset.” Twilight said firmly.

Sunset didn’t look entirely convinced.

Twilight also noticed this. “You said it yourself Sunset. ‘Embrace the magic.’ Like we did.” She said to her friend.

“But your guy’s magic isn’t FIRE. It could really hurt you. It already has. I-I don’t want to become a monster again.” Sunset tried to argue, gesturing Pinkie Pie’s arm, but Twilight didn’t let her finish. Fresh tears were beginning to well up in Sunset’s eyes.

Twilight made Sunset look her right in the eye and said, “Now Sunset you listen to me. You are not. A bad. Person. You will not turn into a monster.”

“How do you know? You weren’t there.” Sunset argued again. Turning her head away from Twilight’s gaze.

Twilight knew exactly what to say. “I know you won’t turn into a monster. We won’t let you.”

Sunset looked around and saw all her friends giving confident smiles. That confidence was contagious as she felt a smile tug on her lips before finally forming on her mouth.

“Thanks guys. That means a lot to me.” Sunset said, now smiling happily.

Applejack dipped her hat. “Hey. We’re your friends Sunset. We’re not gonna let you down. Not now. Not ever.” She said.

Rainbow Dash was next to give her piece. “Yeah! We’re not gonna let something like this keep you down!” She said with utmost confidence.

They all smiled for a moment before principal Celestia’s voice broke the silence. “Well, if this situation is all over then I think it would best if we got going.” She said with a smile of her own.

Sunset looked to her principal standing behind everyone. Sunset instantly got up and went over to Celestia, apologizing all the way.

Throughout all this not a single person noticed the crack that had formed in Sunset's pendant, which was now glowing softly.

“I told you I’m fine Sunset. Neither one of us could have had any idea what was going to happen.” Principal Celestia said to Sunset again.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Sunset asked, still worried for her principal’s well-being.

After receiving a nod, Sunset finally relented.

Celestia sighed. “Can we please go home now?” she asked, almost sounding like she was begging.

Sunset sat back in her seat. “Uhuh. I’m okay now.” she said.

Celestia breathed relief. “Thank you.” she said as she nodded to the bus driver. A few moments later, the bus was moving and they were on the road home again.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! My name is 'Sunset is the assassin' and this is the first chapter for this story! I apologize for any grammar mistakes. I have edited them out as best as I can, but if you find any more then feel free, my dear reader(s), to show them to me in comments! I wish to make this a great reading experience that you can enjoy, so constructive criticism is also encouraged. I only ask that you not be (too) mean.

One last thing! For those who wish to know this is a story which is directly based off of the Assassin's Creed and My Little Pony crossover, called 'Leap of Faith' which was written by 'a bag of plums', in partnership with 'cinders of war'. For those whom are concerned that I copied their story, let it be known that I received permission from 'cinders of war' to write this version of their story. He said he was interested in seeing what I had to show. If you don't believe me, I'm sure I can a find way to prove that I have permission.

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now! I hope you enjoy reading! BYEEEE! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 2: new task. new warnings.

Chapter 2: new task. new warnings

She just stood there. Staring at the board. Analyzing it. She looked at the pictures of a school and all the pictures surrounding it. Red strings connected every single picture on that board. Each string connected to the picture of that one school. The woman shifted her feet a little and adjusted the red shoulder-cape on her left shoulder. To the left of the board there was another. To the right of the first board there was yet another. On the left there was a graph. On the right there were two pictures of two girls. One girl per picture, one girl colored red, the other a dark violet. Both appeared to be flying. Below each picture was a set of notes, detailing everything known about the origins of such a phenomenon.

The woman’s well trained eyes poured over the three boards, taking in as much information as possible and thinking about the next best possible course of action for the Assassins.

The woman didn’t need Eagle Vision to know there was someone standing behind her. It was also a simple task to deduce that the man standing behind her was not hostile in any way.

The woman spoke to the man without turning her head. “Hello Frigid Night.” She said.

Even though he knew his superior couldn’t see him Frigid Night wouldn’t risk neglecting to show respect. He placed his hand on his chest and bowed his head slightly, as is customary in greeting The Mentor of any Brotherhood of Assassins. “Mentor Steel Shine.” He said, lifting his head up again and lowering his hand back to his side afterwards.

“You wanted to see me?” He then asked.

Mentor Steel Shine nodded her head lightly, her violet hair shifting ever so slightly from the movement. She lifted her right hand and gestured for her adviser and second in command to come beside her.

Steel Shine cleared her throat before speaking to her second in command. “I’m sure you’re aware of the recent increase of first civilization energy spikes.” She said, not looking to him.

Frigid Night wasn’t sure what this was all about, so just nodded and said “Uh...yes Mentor. I’m aware.” After a second of silence, he narrowed his eyes questioningly and asked, “Mentor, what’s this all about?”

After another second of silence, the aforementioned turned her head to look at Frigid Night, pointed a finger and said, “Look.”

Frigid looked to where Mentor was pointing. It was a picture of a school. All of the red string were connected to this one photograph, Frigid saw.

After a moment, Frigid looked at his Mentor. “They all have happened at this school.” He said.

Mentor Steel Shine returned his glance. “Yes. And if you know about the spikes then there’s little doubt in my mind that the Templars know as well.”

Frigid looked back to the board. “That’s not good.” He acknowledged.

Frigid looked to the left of the middle board. He studied the graph a little bit. After a moment, he pointed to the graph and asked, “What is that saying?”

Steel Shine looked over to where Frigid Night was pointing and answered his question. “The bar on the top indicates the energy signature for that of the Apple of Eden.” She began to explain. Frigid nodded in understanding.

Steel continued to explain. “The bar on the bottom indicates the energy signature of the recent energy spikes.” Frigid continued to listen to The Mentor. As he was doing this he noticed the to bar graphs were different.

Frigid didn’t hesitate to bring this up. “Uh Mentor? The energy spike are first civ, right?” He asked.

Steel Shine cocked her head to the side. “Uhuh? What about it?” she asked.

Frigid gestured the bottom bar. “And yet these are slightly different readings. How is it that they are both first civilization energies?” He asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

Steel Shine shook her head. “That's just it. Both readings are slightly different yet not so much that they could be considered two different things.” She rose her hands to her front and let them drop in slight frustration.

She continued. “I mean, look closer.” Steel Shine took both readings papers off the board and held in front of her and Frigid. “Look at the energy from the Apple.”

Frigid did as he was told. On the readings paper for the Apple of Eden there were three lines that intertwined with each other somewhat in the middle, but closer to the left side.

Frigid nodded.

Steel Shine looked to him. "Now look at the recent energy spikes."

Frigid, once again did as her was told. On the readings paper for the recent energy spikes there was a fourth line in the middle with two lines top and one line on bottom. Like the Apple readings the lines come closer together near the left side, but this time, instead of meeting and intertwining, the lines curve up or down in accordance with what side of the fourth line they are on.

After Steel Shine and Frigid Night examined the readings Steel Shine closed her eyes and sighed. She took the readings papers and pinned them back onto their board.

She looked over to Frigid with worry very clear on her face. “It’s clear enough to me that the piece of Eden has been tampered with in some way for it to be giving off such an energy signature, yet still remain the same kind of energy; and whatever is happening as a result,” Steel Shine gestured over to the board on the right, “is affecting the public in some way. I don’t know how on a technical level, and you probably already know that our P.O.E researchers have found nothing.”

Frigid nodded in understanding. He had heard that the P.O.E researchers had found absolutely no information regarding the recent first civ energy spikes. What little data he just saw, was probably everything they had. He looked over to the pictures on the right board. There were two girls, if they could be called that. There were growths on their backs that strongly resembled wings. One set of wings was feathered, one was not. It was evident that the subjects of the pictures were female human beings, but that was about it; no other animal on this planet bore any resemblance to the creatures in the pictures. Frigid snapped out of his train of thought as his mentor continued to speak.

Steel Shine lowered her hand back to her side, her arm giving a little clunk as the armor collided. She turned her head to face Frigid and said, “With that in mind, I believe we need to get up close and personal with this P.O.E if we want some real data.”

Frigid rose an eyebrow. “What do you suggest we do Mentor? Pose as teachers and conduct an investigation on our free time?” He asked skeptically.

Steel didn’t like the attitude, but it was completely understandable. It was a very difficult position the Assassins are in; and it’s not just in Canterlot, the ENTIRE organization is revolving around this. The actions taken here will determine what will happen with all of the worlds Assassins.

Steel looked at Frigid Night with a frown, but it quickly disappeared. She took a breath and said, “As a matter of fact Frigid i recently made contact with the other bureau leaders. We all agreed that, while posing as teachers is possible, we would have more freedom as a student. While being a teacher gives more access to resources, there is a lot of responsibilities that a teacher has. That means a lot of people looking to you for stuff. More access to resources yes, but in exchange there would few windows to access these resources for our investigation.”

Frigid cocked his head in disbelief. “With all due respect Mentor, we are going to get noticed if we pose as students. We’re adults.” He said irritably.

Steel just shrugged nonchalantly and said, “I know.”

Frigid looked flabbergasted. “What do you mean ‘I know’? He said sarcastically.

Steel just smiled and chuckled. “I mean, who said anything about an adult posing as a student.”

Frigid’s jaw dropped. “You are not sending a thirteen year old boy or girl into a high school.” he said disbelievingly, emphasizing ‘high school’.

Steel Shine just shook her head, the attitude was just starting to get on her nerves a little. “No, I’m not sending a thirteen year old boy or girl into a high school.” She said.

Frigid was getting angry now. “Holy shit, then what ARE you going to do?” He yelled this time.

Steel looked at her second in command with a frown. “Well if you would let me finish, I was going to say that there IS someone we can send.” She said firmly.

Frigid closed his eyes and took a calming breath. After a moment, he opened his eyes, looked to Steel and asked, “Who then?”

Steel Shine smiled at that fact her second in command was able to get his composure before things got violent. She cocked her head to side slightly and asked, “Are familiar with Velvet Breeze?”

Frigid arched an eyebrow. He knew there was only one reason as to why she would asked that question, given the context. Frigid frowned and asked, “Are you sure it’s a good idea to send her on this mission? I mean, she’s still only a teenager.”

Steel Shine smiled wider. She leaned forward. “Exactly! She is eighteen years old. She will blend in perfectly with the other students!” She said excitedly.

Frigid leaned his head back slightly. “That’s my point.” he argued. “There’s a lot of responsibility to be had here. All of the Assassins in the world are riding on this. I mean, can she handle all that?”

Steel Shine nodded and said, “I know there riding on this.”

Frigid arched an eyebrow.

Steel arched an eyebrow right back. “Have you seen her fight? Train? Along with all the other stuff? To say she was ‘gifted’ would be a grave understatement.” she said in admiration.

Frigid Night closed his eyes and sighed. “Are you absolutely sure about this, Mentor Steel Shine?” He asked. "It takes much more than just being 'gifted' to be an Assassin."

The mentioned, smiled and nodded. “Yes.” She said. “She is much more clever than you think. She can handle it. And hey.” She shrugged. “If we believe she’s in extreme danger, and can’t fight it off, I’ll call her back.” Her voice went back to its professional self. “Besides, once she is sent -- provided she accepts the task -- I’m going to contact the other bureau leaders again and set up a meeting here in a few months to see what she’s learned and maybe help if she asks for it.”

Frigid opened his eyes again. “If that’s what you think Mentor.” He said softly.

Steel nodded again. “It is.” She said.

“Okay then. What do you want me to do?” He asked.

“Tell Velvet Breeze that I would like speak with her; Personally. She’ll find me in my personal quarters.” Steel Shine answered.

“And where would I find Velvet?” Frigid Night asked.

Steel shrugged. “Training grounds I would imagine. She would probably be training quite often to give her reputation ground.”

Frigid placed his right hand on his chest and lowered his head slightly. As he turned to leave for the training grounds he felt a hand on his shoulder. He flinched and fought the urge to grab the hand as it only The Mentor.

He turned to face her. “Yes?” He asked.

“Take Morning Blade with you.” She answered.

Frigid arched an eyebrow. “Why?” He asked.

Steel took her hand off his shoulder and sighed. “Look Frigid, I know it’s been hard for you since Saddle Arabia, but that doesn’t mean you should lock yourself away and stop talking to people outside of Assassin business. In order for you to recover you need to talk to people.” She said caringly.

Frigid shrugged. “I’ll get Morning Blade to accompany me, but I don’t need anyone to talk to. I’m fine.” He said, then walked away to find his fellow Assassin.

Steel Shine watched him leave. She sighed again. “No Frigid. You’re not fine.” She said softly to herself then went back to her personal quarters to wait for Velvet Breeze.

Frigid walked through the halls of the Trottingham bureau. Ever since Saddle Arabia, the Canterlot Assassins were moved to the Trottingham, for protection. Now the old Canterlot bureau was abandoned, with all of it’s weapons, money and other items just gathering dust within the armory, vaults and other places in that order. The Trottingham bureau was very different from the Canterlot one, with regards to color scheme. Instead of scarlet with hints of orange and oak wood walls, floors, etc; there was Venetian wine color scheme with entire portions of navy blue and spruce wood walls, floors, etc. Frigid didn’t like this color scheme, he thought it was a little disorienting. He made a left down to another hall and continued going straight. At the end of this hall there were two big doors. Light was shining through a window on each door, making a navy blue wall visible on the other side. The doors themselves were a smooth spruce wood, clearly sanded extensively. Frigid reached the doors and pulled them open.

Inside was a large room with tables and chairs everywhere. A little to the right of Frigid was a platform about a foot and a half wide and runs the length of that entire side of the room, the area of which was maybe one hundred and fifty feet squared. On the far left of the room in the middle were two more large doors, also made of spruce wood. In behind the platform there were a bunch of kitchen and home appliances ranging from stoves to fridges. Lots of fridges, and lots of cupboards. Lots and lots of cupboards.

Frigid looked to the giant kitchen and saw a few lights on in the sandwich section, there were a few cupboards open and clanging sounds were coming from there as well. Frigid frowned as he walked over to table second closest to the far wall, knowing that exact table will be taken in a few moments.

Sure enough, after a moment, the clanging sounds stopped. Another moment later, a woman came speed walking out of the giant kitchen. In her hand was a small plate of sandwiches. The plate was wobbling slightly. For a moment Frigid was afraid that the plate would fall and break. He frowned more as she came and sat down at the table. The woman immediately starting scarfing down the sandwiches.

For a moment it didn’t appear if she even acknowledged Frigid's presence, but after a moment she looked at him and said with a mildly surprised facial expression, “You here for a snack too Frigid? That’s rare, considering you’re so uptight recently.”

Frigid pursed his lips and huffed through his nose. “First off Morning Blade, i’m not uptight, second off, You’re not supposed to be eating at this time; it’s the rules.” He said.

Morning Blade made a disbelieving face. “Pffft! ‘Not uptight’ my ass! You’re being uptight right now.” She said gesturing Frigid, “Besides, it’s only six thirty.”

Frigid growled, then closed his eyes and took a breath. He opened them again. “As much as I would love to spar with you Morning, The Mentor has given me a task.” He said while narrowing his eyes.

Morning arched eyebrow. She took her last sandwich and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth. She almost giggled from the disgusted face Frigid gave. “Oh? What’sh dat now?” She asked with her mouth full of sandwich as she got up with her plate to put it away.

Frigid got up and headed towards the doors on the far left of the eating lounge. After Morning had swallowed the food and put the dish in the dishwasher, she followed Frigid. She pushed open one of the doors and continued to follow Frigid down the Venetian wine colored hallway. She walked next to Frigid and waited for him to answer, hoping it will also tell her where they were now walking.

Morning Blade didn’t have to waited long. After a moment of walking, Frigid looked at her and said, “I have to go find Velvet Breeze and tell her that The Mentor wants to see her.” He continued walking.

Morning arched an eyebrow. “You could do that on your own. You don’t need me to come with you.” She said. She thought for a moment then her eyes went wide. A wide smile adorned her lips. “Aww Friggy! You wanted me to come along! That’s so sweet!” She said as she wrapped her arms around Frigid Night in a hug, stopping them both.

Morning Blade intended it to be a teasing gesture. Apparently Frigid didn’t get it because in another moment he had Morning by the throat held up against the wall, a look of pure rage and hatred on his face.

Frigid narrowed his eyes at Morning and spoke with a low growl in his voice. “Never...call me...that name...again.” He said.

Morning couldn’t speak as Frigid had his hand around her throat, so she just nodded as best she could. In a moment, Frigid released his grip on Morning Blade’s throat. She fell to the ground with a thud, choking and coughing.

Once Morning had caught her breath she looked up at Frigid with a angry face. “What the fuck was that for Frigid?” she asked, angrily.

Frigid just narrowed his eyes again. “Don’t call me ‘Friggy’ again. You hear me?” He asked in a serious voice.

Morning got up and dusted her shirt off. “Alright, alright. Jesus Christ.” she said while shaking her head.

Frigid was satisfied. “Thank you. Now shall we be on our way once again?” He asked.

Morning nodded her head again. “Yes. Let’s go.”

Frigid nodded back and started walking again down the hallway before making a right.

After a few minutes, they still hadn’t gotten to Velvet Breeze yet and Morning Blade was curious, so she asked “Where is Velvet anyway?”

Frigid answered her immediately. “In the Animus Augmented Virtual Reality Training Center.”

“Oh.” Morning nodded her head.

There was silence for another little while, but it was broken by Morning Blade again. “What happened to you Frigid? You used to be so kind and gentle; but now you seem so cold and heartless. In fact you’ve been that way ever since…” She trailed off as she looked at Frigid, realization on her face.

“Saddle Arabia…” She finished.

Frigid visibly flinched after hearing that name. The door to the training grounds was close now, just at the end of this hallway.

Morning Blade’s expression changed from curiosity to concern. “Frigid, do you want to talk abo-”

“No.” Frigid cut morning off.

No more words needed to be said.

The girl stood ready, sweating, and panting lightly. Her hands steady at her side, her hair lightly drooped down her forehead. The man stood in front of her a snarl on his face. No sweat adorned his face at all, but he was panting. Which meant he was tired. The girl smiled; this was good. If he was tired then maybe his reaction time would be slowed down. He would also be easier to knock back. Both people had their eyes locked; each one waiting for the other to make a move.

When the man saw that the girl wasn’t going to move, he decided to end the fight. He charged and swung his right fist toward the girl. The girl waited until the fist was close enough to her face, and then raised her own right hand and grabbed the wrist. She spun her body around and raised her left elbow; at the same time letting go of the wrist, striking the man in the left side of his face. The man stumbled back a bit and shook his head, preparing to strike again, but the girl was already there. She swung her right fist into the man’s face knocking him to the side, but not to the ground, and did the same thing with her left hand, then brought her right fist under the man’s chin making him stumble back a few steps and lean back.

The girl saw her chance. She charged forward and stepped on the man’s stomach, raising herself in the air a little bit. She flicked her right wrist and her hidden blade came with a shling sound. The blade came out of it’s socket and the girl gripped the now-dagger in her hand. She brought the dagger down on the man’s completely exposed chest, the blade piercing the man’s heart.

The man fell with the girl on top of him. Dead.

The girl panted and yanked her dagger out of the corpse's chest. She stepped off the body and backed away, replacing the dagger back into its socket for use once again as a hidden blade. She watched as the corpse made a few electric sounds, turned into a bunch of silver-like cubes, then disappeared.

Clapping sounds filled the air around the girl as a voice call out, “Excellent job Velvet! You’re as sharp as ever!”

The girl named Velvet Breeze turned from watching where the simulated opponent once lay. She looked at the source of the praising voice and smiled as she saw who it was.

“Hi Dewdrop! Thank you!” Velvet waved to her friend as they walked towards each other.

The two met and hugged for a moment. When it broke, Velvet asked, “how are you doing today?”

Dewdrop smiled at her friend and began walking with her out of the training area doors into the rest area. The rest area was for resting after training. It was a shiny spruce wood room with gray carpet and white couches around. There was a shower with a toilet nearby, to clean up after a good training session. Neither one of the girls noticed Frigid Night and Morning Blade sitting on one of the couches, Morning smiling at their friendship and Frigid looking at them stone-faced.

“I’m doing fine Velvet.” Dewdrop replied. “I already know what you were doing. My god that was badass.” She patted Velvet on the back as a congratulating gesture.

Velvet blushed at hearing the praise. “Aww, you’re just saying that. I can’t be that good.”

Dewdrop shook her head. “No really, soon you might be as good as--oh hello Frigid; Morning.”

Velvet turned her head and saw the second-in-command and another assassin. The other assassin, who Velvet now recognized as Morning Blade, waved at Velvet and Velvet waved back. Frigid just nodded in greeting.

Frigid looked at Velvet with a somewhat impressed expression. “My my, Mentor wasn’t kidding when she said you were gifted.”

Velvet face was bright red. “W-well thank you.” She stuttered.

Dewdrop, knowing that her friend gets very embarrassed when received with praise from higher-ups, interjected. “Umm...so what brings you two here?” She asked while cocking a hip to the left.

“Uh…-” Morning started.

“Her.” Frigid cut Morning off, gesturing Velvet.

Velvet froze. “M-m-me?”

Frigid shook his head. “Don’t worry. You’re not in trouble.” He reassured.

Velvet released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. ‘Thank god. I thought I was in trouble for that sandwich I took a few days ago after hours as a midnight snack.’ She thought, relieved.

Velvet steeled herself and asked, “What do you want with me?”

Frigid was short, straight, and to the point. “It’s not what I want. It’s what The Mentor wants.”

Velvet arched eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. “What does The Mentor want with me?”

Now it was Morning’s turn to speak. “Well perhaps you can ask her yourself because from what Frigid here,” She gestured Frigid to her side, “has told me, Mentor wants to speak to you,” She then gestured Velvet, “personally.”

Velvet’s jaw dropped. “She wants to see ME!” She almost shouted.

Morning chuckled at the young assassin’s excitement. She nodded her head. “Uhuh. She’s in uh…” Morning blushed as she didn’t actually know where Mentor was at this time.

Frigid cut in. “She’s in her personal quarters. She’s waiting for you, so I think it’s best if you go now.”

Velvet was excited now. “Okay! I’ll go right now!” She said. She began to walk out of the rest area and into the hallway but stopped and turned around. “Uh...Where exactly is The Mentor’s personal quarters?” She asked with a blush on her cheeks. “It’s a large building and I haven’t had much of a chance to explore and familiarize myself.”

Frigid frowned at hearing this. “You should have Velvet instead of fooling around.” He said, while standing up and placing his hands on his hips.

Velvet was offended slightly. “Hey! I was training!”

Morning stepped up and broke this fight before it began. “Frigid, shut up. She’s still young. You can’t expect her to not want to have fun, even a little.” She said, standing up and facing Frigid with a frown on her face. She then turned to Velvet and smiled. “I’m going in a similar direction, so I can take you most of the way. When it comes time for us to part, I’ll point you to where you need to go from there, okay?”

Velvet smiled back and nodded. “Okay.”

Morning turned back to Frigid and Dewdrop. “What are you guys gonna do?”

Frigid was the first to answer. “I’m going to go to my personal quarters to sleep. It’s been a long day.”

Dewdrop was next. “I’m gonna train for a little while. Gotta keep in shape ya’know.”

Morning nodded and turned to Velvet. “Alright Velvet, let’s go.”

And with that the two assassins went to find the Mentor’s personal quarters. They went down a couple of different hallways, passing doors, turning corners and going down more hallways. Eventually the assassins came across a stairwell in the middle of the lobby. Like almost everything else, it was spruce wood with Venetian wine coloring.

They started to walk up the stairs before Morning Blade decided to break the silence. “You should consider yourself lucky Velvet. Not everyone get’s to speak with Mentor Steel Shine personally.”

“Y-yeah.” Velvet replied, shuddering slightly.

Apparently, Morning Blade noticed this, because a moment later she nudged Velvet’s side with an elbow and asked, “Ya nervous?”

Velvet looked to her side. ‘No sense in lying I guess.’ she thought to herself. She took a breath, looked at Morning and said, “yeah. I’m pretty scared.”

Morning smiled and chuckled. “Don’t sweat it Velvet. The Mentor is much more laid back than you think. Unlike Frigid.”

Velvet giggled at the comment on the second in command. “Ya. He’s a big fun pooper. It’s strange. He used to be so nice from what I’ve heard. Now he’s...he’s different.” She ended that sentence with a frown.

Now they had stopped at the top of the stairs. There was a two way hallway, with the stairs being in the middle of said hallway.

Morning frowned as well. “Well...While Saddle Arabia did a real number on us all, it affected Frigid much more than all of us. In a bad way.”

The conversation ending on a less than happy note, Morning sighed and said, “Well this is where we part ways, so as promised,” She gestured to her left, “you’ll find The Mentor’s personal quarters at the end of that hall. It’s the last door on the right.”

Velvet nodded. “Thanks Morning.”

Morning smiled and nodded back. “Anytime Velvet.” she began walking down the hall in the other direction. “Bye!”

Velvet turned to her left and began walking down the hall. While she walked a knot began to form in her stomach. ‘Calm down Velvet! There’s no need to be so nervous!’ She mentally scolded herself.

When Velvet reached the end of the hall, she turned to her right as instructed. There was a door in front of her. It was polished spruce wood, like everything else. On the door was a gold colored plaque that had the words ‘Mentor Steel Shine’s PQ’ in bold letters on it. Velvet raised a hand to knock on the door and noticed it was trembling. She narrowed her eyes at it accusingly and took a deep breath. When her hand had stopped trembling, Velvet raised it again and knocked on the door before turning the knob and walking in.

When Velvet walked in she saw that it was not unlike most of the rest of the building, polished spruce wood. There was a simple queen sized bed, perfect for an adult. On the outside of the bed there was a desk with a computer and a bunch of papers stacked somewhat neatly beside the computer.

Velvet shook her head. “Man, this building needs a makeover.” She muttered to herself.

“I completely agree. The walls are ugly.” A voice sounded.

“EK!” Velvet yelped and turned her head to find a woman with purple-pinkish hair, and purple-pinkish skin, standing in front of her. She had on a green t-shirt and navy blue jeans on that clung to her skin. On her right shoulder was a red cloth that had gold accents. It was clear that said red cloth was old as there were several holes in it. Though Velvet had never really had a good look at The Mentor before, she’s had enough glimpses to know who was standing in front of her.

Velvet jumped and rushed to place her right hand on her chest and bow slightly. “OH! m-m-Mentor! Hi! Uh s-safety and peace! I-I mean…” she stammered, trying to greet her leader, her face cherry red in embarrassment.

Steel Shine chuckled at the young assassin’s antics. “Velvet calm down! You’re okay! You don’t need to do that every time you see me.” She said.

Velvet stopped stammering and looked to Steel Shine. “But I’m supposed to greet you that way. It’s respectful.”

Steel Shine nodded her head. “Under normal circumstances, yes you would do that, but right now I’m making an exception. Now, please calm down before you break something.”

Velvet did as she was told and took a deep breath.

Steel waited a moment then asked “Are you calm now?”

When Velvet nodded, Steel nodded back.

Velvet was the first to speak. “So Mentor, you wanted to see me? I must say, I’m honored.”

Steel nodded. “Yes Velvet I did want to see you. I am sure you’re curious as to why?”

Velvet’s eyes went wide. “Oh no I would never question you Mentor.”

Steel Shine arched an eyebrow. “Why not?”

Velvet was not expecting that response at all. “Well, because you’re The Mentor, leader of the Canterlot Bureau of Assassins. You know better than me.”

Steel Shine arched an eyebrow. “Is that what you’ve been told?”

Velvet arched an eyebrow right back. “Yes?”

Steel Shine understood then. “Then Velvet, please allow me to give some friendly advice, if I may?”

Velvet nodded her head slowly, unsure as to what her Mentor was about to say. “Yes?”

“Don’t ever claim that what you are told is the absolute truth, until you have experience, that you may deem what you have been told as absolutely truthful.” Steel Shine replied while shaking her head.

Velvet looked at Steel funny. “I don’t think I understand Mentor.”

Steel Shine smiled. “Nor would I want you to.”

Velvet was dumbstruck. She shook her head. “Uh...let’s just move from that.”

Steel smiled wider. “Yes! That’s enough riddles to satisfy both of us for one day!” She said loudly as she leaned back and threw her hands in the air dramatically.

Velvet giggled at her Mentor’s dramatics.

After the moment had passed, Velvet looked around the room before taking a breath and asking “Why am I here?”

Steel Shine smiled. “I’m glad you asked Velvet. I’ll tell you.”

Velvet nodded and sat down on the bed and waited for Steel Shine, who was sitting on the desk beside the bed, to speak.

Steel took a breath and spoke. “I’m sure you’ve heard of the spikes of first civ energy in recent weeks.”

Velvet nodded. “Yes? What about it?”

Steel reached behind her and grabbed a piece of paper. She handed it to Velvet, who took it. “Look.” Steel said.

Velvet did so. After a moment she looked up again. “These have all happened at Canterlot High School.”

Steel Shine nodded. “Yes. I’ll also have you know that our top researchers have been almost completely unable to collect any data on the phenomenon.” She said, while taking the paper back from Velvet and placing it back on the desk behind her.

Steel continued. “Knowing this, I’ve spoken with the other Mentor’s from China/Japan, Russia, Scotland/Ireland/Maritimes Canada, India, Africa, and France, to name a few; we all agree that it would be best to get much closer to the energy spikes, to get data on these spikes.”

“So, you guys are going to pose as teachers and conduct investigations in you’re free time?” Velvet guessed.

Steel Shine shook her head, “No Velvet.” then She smiled, “we want you to pose as a student and conduct investigations in you’re free time.”

Velvet’s eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. “M-me? Why me?” She asked.

Steel Shine’s face went serious and she leaned in close to Velvet. “I’ll be honest with you Velvet Breeze. We need that data fast, before the Templars get their hands on it; if they don’t already have it. If one of us adults poses as a teacher, there would be too many responsibilities that will slow us down. If you pose as a student, then you have almost absolute freedom to conduct your investigations in secret. You are the perfect age to blend in with the students; with skill and a bit of luck you would be virtually unopposed. The entire organization of Assassins would be riding on this.”

Steel Shine leaned back, “But with that being said, we cannot compel you to do something you don’t want to do. It is your choice.”

Steel looked Velvet in the eye and asked, “Velvet breeze, do you except this task, given to you by The Assassins?”

Velvet didn’t even hesitate. Velvet had been waiting for this moment since she joined the Assassins, but even she could have never expected to be offered a task as big and important as this. Velvet Breeze couldn’t be happier.

Velvet stood up and nodded her head rapidly. “YES YES! I ACCEPT I ACCEPT!”

Steel Shine grinned happily. She threw her arms up in joy. “Then it’s settled! Velvet Breeze, I will have you admitted Canterlot High School ASAP!”

Steel stood up and went to the door of her quarters and beckoned Velvet to follow. Velvet got up and followed her leader out of her PQ and into the hall. They speed walked to the stairs that separated the two ends of the hall and began to descend them.

While they were walking, a grinning Velvet said, “I’m so happy right now! This is possibly one of the best days of my life!”

Steel Shine, who was also smiling happily, chuckled and nodded. “It is a great day indeed Velvet.”

After turning another corner towards their intended destination, Steel thought to herself, ‘Things might finally be looking up for the Assassins.’

They finally came to the end of the hallway. To the right was a door. Steel Shine opened the door and beckoned Velvet inside.

The room inside was fairly large. With a printer on the immediate left, space for a camera with a few lights and a place for a subject to stand, to the immediate right, and a decently sized computer straight ahead, the room could fit at least ten people with no trouble.

When Velvet had entered the room, Steel closed the door behind her. “This is where you will be admitted into Canterlot High School Velvet.” Steel informed Velvet.

Velvet nodded in understanding. She gestured over to the camera. “Is that were my school ID photo is going to be taken?”

Steel nodded as she began to prepare the computer.

Velvet arched an eyebrow. “Won’t the Templars find me if my information is on the school records? I’m pretty sure their are Templars on the schoolboard.”

Steel nodded again. “That is true Velvet, and unfortunately for us, a photograph is required for entry into Canterlot High School, I assume so as to provide a student ID.”

Steel had finished setting up the computer which now showed a page that looked like a school administration page. She gestured for Velvet to go to the camera area and sit on the stool in the middle.

Steel prepare the lights and went to prepare the camera when she realized she nearly forgot something. “Velvet I need you to lower your hood.”

“Oh! Okay.” Velvet agree and lowered her hood down to her shoulders revealing her teal hair with gray streaks. A pin in the shape of the Assassins symbol held her hair up but it was in the back of her head so it was hidden from camera view.

Steel nodded and put her face behind the camera. “Okay now smile.”

Velvet smiled and a few moments later there was a bright flash that disoriented Velvet for a second.

Steel Shine looked up from the camera and said, “Okay Velvet. You’re good.”

Velvet shook her head to get the dizziness away and stood up. She walked over to the camera and looked at the photo captured.

Steel looked at Velvet and smiled, then unhooked the camera from the stand it was on and brought it over to the computer, Velvet following her.

Steel grabbed a cord from a box beside the computer and plugged one end into the camera and the other end into the computer. She opened up another page on the computer and clicked 'print’.

Steel got up and went over to the printer parallel to the camera area. She waited until a photo of Velvet came out. She picked up the photo and showed it to Velvet.

Velvet examined the picture of herself for a moment before saying, “I like it.” While smiling.

Steel Shine smiled back and said, “Thanks Velvet. I haven't had much experience with photography in my lifetime.”

Velvet continued to look at the photo for a second before looking up at her Mentor and asking, “So, what are we going to do about my personal information and the Templars finding me?”

“Well Velvet, for one,” Steel started as she walked back over to the computer and placed the picture of Velvet to the side, “we can't fake what you look like.”

Velvet followed and pulled a chair beside Steel and sat down. Steel sat down as well.

“But,” Steel Shine continued, “we can fake your personal information. And that's exactly what we're gonna do.”

Steel Shine opened up a Microsoft word document and uploaded the photo of Velvet onto it before beginning to type up information on her. Everything on the document was fake with the exception of Velvet’s name. Steel then placed the document onto another file and went back to the school website. She clicked on a few more links before dragging the file onto folder. Then, Steel entered an email and placed the folder into the email and sent the email to somewhere.

With a sigh, Steel leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. “Well Velvet, with that sent, all I need to do is get someone to hack the school system and you’ll be in for the beginning of September next week.”

Velvet got up along with Steel Shine, and went out of the door back into the hall. As they continued walking Steel Shine spoke. “Velvet I would like you to leave first thing tomorrow morning. There’s a safe house in a location about half a kilometer from Canterlot High School, so we won’t have to drive you every morning and afternoon and risk the Templars finding us even more.”

Velvet nodded. “Okay. So what are we doing now?”

They rounded another corner before coming across a large steel door, sealed tight with bolts and nails and other things. There was a panel with some number pads on them and a screen above them. Steel pressed a couple of numbers, each one appearing on the screen above them before the screen flashed green and the all of the bars panels and other stuff keeping the door tightly closed began twisting and turning.

While this was happening, Steel looked to Velvet, who was patiently waiting for an answer to her question and said, “We need to find a some suitable arms to take with you on the mission, your current weapons won’t likely be enough to protect you by themselves; so you should pick another weapon and or firearm to go along with your hidden blades.”

Just as Steel Shine finished her explanation, the bars and panels on the big door stopped turning and twisting. Another moment later the door opened and the two girls entered the room.

The armory was a light grey colored box covered from floor to ceiling in metal weapons racks that slide down for ease of access. It was as if the room as divided into two halves. On one side of the room were at least five sliding racks laced with swords, blades and melee weapons of all kinds, from all time periods, the older ones reformed and remade to be useful, the newer ones also just as well cared for. On the other side of the room the were a few more gun racks than sword racks, to make up for the variety. There were guns ranging from AK-47’s, to Desert eagles, to Remington sniper rifles, to submachine guns and everything. There was even a gun rack for rocket launchers and bazookas. It appeared as though there was every gun in existence in this room.

Velvet’s jaw dropped for what felt like the tenth time today. “It’s like they robbed everything from an armory.” She muttered.

Steel Shine chuckled. “Ya that’s probably what they did. Besides, I think it would be more fitting to say they stole an armory itself; probably a Templar owned one.”

Velvet continued to looked around. “This is so much more than what we used to have.”

Steel nodded in agreement. “Ya it is.”

After another moment of letting Velvet look around, Steel Shine clapped her hands and sighed. “Well Velvet, let’s take a look and see what’s there for you, huh?”

Velvet snapped out of her amazement and looked at her Mentor. “Oh, right Mentor! Let's see.”

They first went over to the melee side of the room. Steel Shine went over to a circle like rack that went into the wall and spun around, only revealing up to five hidden blades at one time but letting her see them all just by spinning the rack. She gave the rack a quick spin and gestured Velvet to take a look.

After a few minutes Velvet took off her left hidden dagger and placed it on the rack. Then she grabbed a Phantom Blade bracer and looked at it. “I like this one.” She said and placed the bracer on her arm.

She flicked her wrist and the blade came out of its sheath. Velvet relaxed her wrist and the blade retracted. She then flexed her middle finger slightly and two sticks with a string connecting them unfolded out. A fairly long yet extremely thin iron pin lay in the center of the bow. Velvet relaxed her finger and the bow folded back in the center of the bracer. The retracted bow kind of looked like the wings of a large beetle when observed from a distance.

Steel smiled and said, “Sweet, now as for a sword,” she went over to another rack beside the hidden blade rack, “a long blade sticking out of your hip is bound to get you noticed.” she pulled out a short, black stick, “I think a collapsible baton is a better choice. Easier to conceal.”

Steel handed the baton to Velvet, who yanked the baton down unsheathing it and swung it a couple of time to test the weight. She then pushed the baton back into its sheath and place it in a sheath on her hip.

Velvet smiled, satisfied with what she is now armed with. She turned and looked over to the gun section across from where she was. “Umm...I won’t need a gun will I?”

Steel Shine looked at the gun rack and cocked her head to the side, thinking. After a moment she shook her head. “Na, you won’t need it. Your phantom blade should be enough.”

Velvet shrugged. “Okay.”

Steel Shine nodded her head. “Well, I think you have enough to protect yourself in times of strife. We should get going.”

Velvet returned the nod and followed her Mentor out of the large steel door and out into the corner of the hallway. They began walking with no real destination in mind.

After a minute Velvet looked up at Steel Shine. “Mentor, what time is it?”

Steel took out her phone and looked at the digital clock on it. What she saw surprised her. “Oh my god, it’s ten thirty!”

Velvet's eyes went wide. “We’ve been doing this for four hours!”

Steel nodded. “Ya, you should get to bed and get a good rest, because you’re leaving for the safe house almost first thing tomorrow.”

Velvet returned the nod. “Okay Mentor. I’ll head straight to bed.”

Steel smiled and then yawned. “So will I. I haven’t had much sleep in a while, with all that’s been going, so a good night’s sleep will do me much good.”

The sight of her Mentor yawning made Velvet yawn as well, but Velvet’s yawn was much longer. “Well, I’ll be off. Bye Mentor!” she waved farewell and made to head to her personal quarters but stopped, realized they had walked to an area Velvet wasn’t familiar with.

Velvet turned around to face her Mentor again, who was smirking. “Umm, do you know how to get back to the PQs?”

Steel smirked wider. “Yes Velvet, I will bring you to your personal quarters.”

Velvet nodded gratefully. “Thank you Mentor.”

Steel Shine’s smirk softened into a smile. “Anytime Velvet. I’m your friend.”

Velvet smiled back and with that the two assassins went to the PQs.

Along the way there, every other assassin that passed them, placed their hand on their chest and bow slightly. Some of the younger and or newer assassins looked at Velvet enviously, much to Velvet’s embarrassment. Eventually the girls finally came across a door labeled ‘personal quarters. Ages 13-18 years’. Steel Shine opened to door and Velvet followed her into a series of long hallways with doors running the length of each. After a bit of navigation and directions from Velvet, they finally arrived at Velvet’s room.

Velvet opened the door all the way and turned to face Steel Shine with a smile. “Thank you Mentor for helping me prepare.”

Steel Shine waved it off. “It’s fine Velvet. You get some rest now, you have a big day tomorrow. You’re leaving first thing after breakfast tomorrow.”

Velvet smiled again and nodded, while starting to close the door. “Okay Mentor. I will.”

Steel nodded as well. “Okay. good night.”

“Night.”

And with that, the door closed.

Steel Shine stood there for another moment thinking of what was to come tomorrow before she yawned again. “My my, I am tired. I should get to bed.”

“Yeah, you should.” A voice came out from behind the Canterlot Mentor.

Steel Shine spun around, ready to strike her assailant but stopped as she saw who it was. “Keila! My god! You’ve got to stop sneaking up on people like that while you’re here! It’s fine when on contract but not here!”

Keila stood behind the Canterlot Mentor smirking. “Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.” she said as she brushed her dull white hair to the side slightly.

The bandages that covered where her right eye once was shifted only a little as she did this. The remnants of her hooded cloak also moving a touch. A not-so-subtle reminder of what happened in Saddle Arabia.

Steel Shine rolled her eyes at the reply. She began walking away and Keila followed her.

“I’m going the same way as you so I will accompany you.” Keila said as she caught up to Mentor Steel Shine.

After a few minutes of walking, Keila decided to ask the question that’s been on her mind since they started walking. “So, you’re really sending Velvet on this mission?”

Steel Shine stopped. They were now at the top of the stairs in the lobby. The other end of the hallway stretched out in front of them.

Steel looked to the Arabian Assassin and nodded in silence.

Keila looked directly into Mentor Steel Shine’s eyes. “Are you absolutely sure, Steel Shine?”

Steel looked right back. She knew that Keila would only call a higher up by their name instead of their title if there was genuine concern. “No. Keila. I’m not sure.”

Keila frowned. “Then why did you send her? She’s just a child.”

Steel looked guilty. “I know she’s just child, but would other options do we have? The Templars are more powerful then they’ve ever been before and now that another P.O.E may have just revealed itself we can’t just sit idle and wait for the Templars the find that too.”

Keila closed her eye and sighed. “It does not sit right with me. High Noon would agree. It’s far too risky for someone as young as Velvet Breeze taking on a mission so large.”

Steel leaned forward slightly in a convincing gesture. “It is risky yes, but the rewards are far too valuable to be considered not worth it. Besides, it will be far less risky because she’s doing this alone.”

Keila was shocked at hearing this. “Wait. you mean to tell me that Velvet Breeze is doing this completely alone!” she said loudly as she banged on the railing.

Steel frowned. “It’s less risky that way.”

Keila was flabbergasted. “Less risky! It’s fucking suicide!” She shouted. “I will not stand here and let an eighteen year old Canterlot girl go into a suicide mission.” Keila said as she started walking back down the hall, in the direction of the teens PQ’s.

Keila didn’t walk five steps before she was stopped. She turned around to see Steel Shine looking at her with narrowed eyes and a frown. “Yes, you will Keila. Velvet is walking on thin ice as it is. The more people that join her, the higher the risk of the ice breaking, and killing all who stand upon it.”

The two assassins locked eyes for a moment before Keila finally relented. “Fine. We shall see what happens.”

Steel Shine continued to stare for a moment before letting go of Keila’s arm. After this, the two assassins began to walk down the hall. while they were walking, Steel Shine decided to break the tension. “So...uh...how’s your brother Tiberius?”

Keila didn’t look at Steel but answered anyway. “He’s doing well. He’s out of town for a while, so i’m acting as Trottingham Mentor until his return.”

Steel nodded her head in understanding. “And how is that working for you so far?”

“Quite well actually. The children are training as always and there have been no major injuries beyond the occasional broken bone.” Keila replied.

Steel Shine smiled. “Excellent. How goes the P.O.E research?”

Keila groaned. “Same thing as always. Two teams go out and they are either hunted down by Enigma Team or come back with nothing.”

Steel Shine looked to the acting Mentor, and spoke softly. “This is wh-”

“I know.” Keila cut her off, looking at Steel Shine directly in her face.

Both Assassins had stopped at the end of the hall in front of a door that was labeled ‘personal quarters. Ages 19+’. To their left was a door labeled ‘Tiberius Tahbi’s PQ’.

“I know Steel Shine. I’m just concerned for Velvet Breeze, that’s all. I mean, she’s but a child yet, with so much life left in her. It seems cruel to send her on a mission that could potentially see her killed within only a year.” Keila continued.

Steel Shine looked to the concerned acting Mentor and placed her arm on Keila’s shoulder. “I’d be concerned for you, if you weren’t.” She said while smiling comfortingly.

Keila opened the door to her brother’s PQ and turned to Steel Shine and said, “If anything happens to that girl, you know what Dewdrop will do.”

Steel gulped and said, “Yeah. And that’s what scares me.”

Keila looked down, “Me as well my friend.”

Keila closed the door and Steel Shine was alone once again. She looked around and realized that she was distracted again and walked right past the hall that led to her PQ.

Sighing, Steel Shine walked back to her door and went into her room.

She took off her red cloak and placed it on the desk beside her bed and sat down on her bed. Steel proceeded to take off all her clothes except for her underwear and slide under the covers.

Right before Mentor Steel Shine went to sleep, she thought, ‘I hope Velvet is truly prepared for what she’s about to go through.’

Author's Note

Hello everypony! I hope you all enjoyed chapter 2! It took a lot of work editing this. Like, a full day. No joke. :ajsleepy: Anyway, I don't want to keep you for very long so I'm gonna make this short. As always if you see any errors, or have any criticisms you would like to say, then don't hesitate to comment! It's always appreciated! I want to make this a great read for you, so if there's anything wrong with this story, tell me! :rainbowdetermined2:

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now! See you guys in the next update! BYEEEE! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 3: Arriving home. Leaving home.

Chapter 3: Arriving home. Leaving home.

Sunset Shimmer looked solemnly out the window as the bus pulled up to Canterlot high school. Her hand absentmindedly twirled the string that held her magic pendant to her neck around her finger. All her friends were looking out the window with much more excitement than her.

Rainbow dash was the first to voice her thoughts. “Well it’s about damn time! I thought the bus was never going to get here! I mean look at the time! It’s ten thirty at night!” She said loudly as she looked at her phone.

Applejack spoke up next. “For once, Ah agree with ya Rainbow. Ah’m eager to get home and get some shut-eye.” She said before leaning back in her seat and yawning deeply.

Rarity held up a finger. “I want to get home too. Staying awake this long is awful for my complexion.”

“I’m gonna play video games!” Pinkie piped up as she jumped from her seat, wincing lightly as her wounded arm brushed up against the seat.

Fluttershy looked up with her eyes lidded. “I’m gonna go to sleep too. I’m tired.”

Twilight looked at Sunset. “I’m just going to read before falling asleep. What are you going to do Sunset?” She asked.

Sunset looked up, startled. "Huh? Oh. I'm...just gonna get a shower and go to bed. I had a long day." she said quietly before looking back out the window. By this time the bus had stopped and was turned off. By principal Celestia’s command the students including Sunset and her friends began to get off the bus.

When they were off the bus Applejack looked to Sunset. "Hell yeah, you had a long day. Ah can't imagine what havin' a dream like yours must've felt like." she said sympathetically.

Sunset nodded. "Yeah." she said, not really paying attention. She twirled the pendant around her finger again.

Applejack noticed Sunset's lack of expression. She looked to Sunset. "Are you okay" she asked.

Sunset looked to Applejack. "I'm uh...I'm fine. Just tired is all." she lied. In truth, Sunset was far from fine. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get that nightmare out of her head. It was strange how real it felt. It was scary, how real it felt.

Applejack continued to look at Sunset for a moment before nodding. "Okay...Well, Ah'll leave ya to it then. And hey, we're here for ya. If you ever need someone to talk to, all you need to do...is ask." Applejack said in a caring tone. She knew Sunset was lying to her, but thanks to her closes with her family, she knew that this was probably something that Sunset needed to try and work out on her own, first. Applejack knew that in this point in time it would do no good to poke her nose in Sunset's business. Still, Applejack didn't want Sunset to think she no one to reach out to.

Sunset let out a small smile. "Thanks. I will." she said gratefully.

After that moment, everyone turned and went there separate ways. Most hoping to get home, and in turn, some sleep.

Sunset walked down the street to her home, the night air slightly biting at her skin. It wasn’t too much of a problem for her though because Sunset was soon approaching the door to her house. She stopped at the door, reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out a copper colored key. After unlocking and opening the door, Sunset put the key back in her pocket, and grabbed her bags and went inside.

Sunset sighed in relief that she was finally home and could get some rest. She made her way up the stairs to her room and set her bag down beside her bed. Deciding she was going to have a shower before going to bed, Sunset reached in her bag and pulled out a towel and cleaning products. Then, she took off her shirt, shorts and underwear. Sunset grabbed the towel and cleaning products and went to the upstairs bathroom to have her shower. She hung the towel on a post adjacent to the tub before stepping into the tub along with the cleaning products. Sunset turned the knob and sighed as the hot water poured soothingly over her exposed body.

As Sunset began to wash herself she found her mind once again wandering to that nightmare. She just couldn't shake it; no matter what she did she just couldn't get it out of her mind. She found herself infatuated by the nightmare. The grief she felt. The sadness. Then there was the rage...oohhh the rage. It was strange to Sunset that she felt like she could destroy everything in the entire world, for taking her friends away, but...she didn't want to...she knew that there was only one person that was at fault. Her mind wasn't clouded like she would expect. No...her mind was clear. She had only one target. No one else needed to die but him. The scariest part was, Sunset didn't feel like she had no control. It wasn't like most dreams, where the dreamer just sat back and watched, like a film. No...the scariest part about the nightmare was, that Sunset felt in complete control. Sunset wanted to hurt him. She wanted him to suffer. She didn't what to think as she realized that she wasn't afraid. Not a single twitch of fear.

Sunset had finished washing herself and was about to reached for the knob to turn off the water, but paused as though entered her mind. "Was it right?" she found herself asking aloud. A part of Sunset desperately wanted to say, yes. It was the right thing to do. If not for her, then the for countless others he would have harmed. A slightly darker part of Sunset wanted to say this. Dark, but not nearly as dark as she once was.

Sunset bit her lip as her mind raced with these thoughts and questions. "Was it right?" she asked herself again. She held still for a moment longer, her hand centimeters away from the knob. Her fingers were beginning to prune at this point, but Sunset didn't notice.

Sunset blinked and shook her head. "No." she said firmly to herself. "Killing is wrong. No matter what." She looked at her hand, which was now fairly prune and hastily shut off the shower.

She stepped out of the shower, shivering as the cold air clawed at her warm skin, giving goosebumps everywhere. Sunset grabbed the towel she had brought, wrapped it around her body, reveling in the soft feeling of the fabric. She walked back to her room where she sat down, careful she sat on the towel and not the mattress. After a moment Sunset stood up again and proceeded to dry herself off. When she thought she was thoroughly dry, Sunset took off her towel and reached into her bag, pulling out her pajamas and a clean pair of underwear a moment later. Once Sunset had put on her underwear and pajamas, she grabbed her used towel and tossed it into the hamper by the door. Sunset led down on the bed and let out a breath.

After the long and eventful day Sunset finally began to relax. She pulled the blankets over her body and closed her eyes. After everything that happened Sunset was finally ready to get some sleep. She turned to her left side, then her right. She led flat her back, then on her belly. Try as she might, she couldn't sleep. Every time she was just about fall asleep, the nightmare would slip back into her thoughts like a cockroach.

Growling Sunset sat up in bed. "Fuck this fucking nightmare!" she shouted angrily. "Just leave me alone and let me sleep goddammit!" she was left panting after that shouting episode.

She groaned and placed two fingers on the bridge of her nose. "Holy fuck...is it so wrong for me to want a little sleep?" she asked no one in particular. Every single time Sunset tried to get her mind off the nightmare it just came back.

Sunset sat there in her for a moment before she got an idea. "What if I just keep thinking about it until it leaves?" she said to herself. She thought for a second. "It's stupid, but it's the only thing left to try." she said, looking up and staring straight.

Resolving to at least attempt the absurd idea, Sunset led down flat on her bed and closed her eyes. She then began to go over everything she remembered about the nightmare which, unfortunately for her, was a lot. Sunset went through every little detail of the nightmare, from her discovering the deaths of her friends, to her destroying the man that killed them.

After about a minute it became apparent that Sunset was getting too deep in the nightmare as she began clenching her fists and breathing heavily, the emotions from the nightmare seeping in her body and affecting her as such. Unbeknownst to Sunset, the crack that had formed in her pendant was glowing brightly.

Sunset opened her eyes and realized that she was sweating heavily, clenching her hands hard and panting. She felt like she'd just ran a marathon. She sat up. "whoa." she said. "what was that all about?" she asked herself in slight shock.

It was then that she felt a strange sensation on her left hand. Sunset looked to her left to examine her hand and gasped. Her hand was completely ablaze! "GAHH!" Sunset yelped and jumped off the bed and onto her feet. She began to shake her hand wildly. "Oh my god!" Sunset shouted in fear, slapping her hand in an attempt the put the flames out.

After about a minute, of slapping, jumped and shouting, the flames on Sunset's hand began to die. As it did this, Sunset's slapping began to slow down as well until she stopped. When the flames completely stopped, Sunset examined her hand to find completely unchanged. Curiously, she clenched and unclenched her hand. Nothing. No injuries whatsoever. "Magic?" she asked herself.

"Shit." Sunset said quietly to herself, in complete shock of everything that just happened. Sunset began to slowly walk towards the bed to sit down and think. She was almost at her bed, but screamed as a searing pain flew up her foot, making stumble forward. she landing on her bed with a soft thump. She sat up on the bed and brought her still burning foot up to examine it.

"What the hell?" Sunset asked herself in complete confusion as she discovered a circular burn mark on the sole of her foot. She looked around on the floor to try and see what could cause such a mark. At first she found nothing, but after another second, something caught her eye. Her pendant lay on the floor glowing brightly. Sunset bent down to pick it up, only to hiss in pain as she found the pendant to be burning hot. She bent down again and carefully touch to string portion of the pendant to find it warm, but not so hot as to cause pain. She picked up the pendant and brought it closer to her face to get a better look at it. Even at almost ten centimeters away from her face she could feel the heat radiating off it like a fire.

As Sunset examined the pendant further, she noticed something that made her eyes go wide. A crack, running the length of the thumb-sized pendant was in the middle of it and glowing brightly. "What...?" Sunset said slowly as she eyed the crack.

Sunset immediately deduced that the heat emanating from the pendant was coming from this crack. After a moment of silence, the heat emanating from the crack slowly dissipated from the pendent. Then the glowing in the crack dimmed, and disappeared, leaving a hole in its wake. Having felt this, Sunset decided it was safe to put the pendant down without the house catching fire.

Sunset placed the pendant down on her bedside desk. Sunset got slowly off the bed and began to pace, her mind racing as fast as it could, considering how tired Sunset was. "What is going on? My magic goes a little crazy, then my pendant cracks and now has a hole in it. At least that annoying ass nightmare is finally leaving me alone." she said to herself.

Sunset bit her lip in thought. "Should I tell princess Twilight?" she then asked. Sunset knew very well that, with her duties as a princess, it would be unlikely that Twilight would be able to help much. Still...Sunset had never seen anything like this before in magic. She was still learning and with something as powerful as these pendants, Sunset wanted to be fully prepared if something happened.

"It's worth a shot." Sunset said, sitting down on the bed. She reached down into her bag, which was still beside her bed on the floor and pulled out her diary as well as a pen. Sunset sat the book on her lap, opened it and clicked the pen. Sunset adjusted her arm a bit before beginning to write.

Dear Princess Twilight,

Sunset chewed on the bottom of the pen. ‘How I am going to explain this to Twilight?’ she thought.

Soon Sunset was writing. While she was writing Sunset decided not to tell princess Twilight about the nightmare and her thoughts about it. She felt that it was something more personal and as such wanted to work it out on her own before asking for help. Sunset just made up something to explain what she was doing when her magic started going haywire. Sunset did decide however, to mention the incident on the bus as well as the crack in her pendant, just in case they were connected as Sunset suspected they might be.

,your friend, Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset put her pen down and watched as the letters on page glowed and disappeared. Sunset sighed, placed the pen in the book and put the book in her bag. She figured she’d put the stuff in her bag in their respective drawers tomorrow.

With the message having been sent, Sunset went under her covers and curled herself into a ball on her side. Before closing her eyes, she looked at the pendant resting on the bedside desk. It shined slightly in the lamp light. Sunset reached over and turned off the light, before turning over and closing her eyes.

Sunset instantly fell asleep.

The next morning. Trottingham bureau.

Velvet Breeze was frantically running around her PQ putting things into a bag. Clothes, her phantom blade and her standard hidden blade, and some water bottles to name a few things. Velvet wanted to get packed before breakfast so she could leave for the Canterlot safehouse. This was a huge mission for the Assassin’s Brotherhood. There can be no mistakes, if it can be helped. She zipped up her bag, picked it up and slung it over her shoulder. Velvet open the door that led out into the teenagers’ personal quarters from her own PQ and made her way to the eating lounge for breakfast.

Along the way there Velvet was greeted by a Templar-turned-Assassin, High Noon.

He waved to Velvet. “Hiya Velvet!”

Velvet looked to him with a smile. “Hello High Noon.”

High Noon walked with Velvet. “I heard about the mission. Are ya sure you wanna go about this alone?”

Velvet sighed. “I know you’re all concerned for me, but I want to do this. I would imagine you know the Mentor’s reasoning. I am the only one old enough to blend well with the students at Canterlot high School.”

“I suppose.” High Noon said softly as they approached the door to the eating lounge.

Upon entering the eating lounge, Velvet and High Noon discovered an unhappy looking Dewdrop and The Mentor, talking together. Velvet approached the table the talking assassins were sitting at, while Noon chose not to get involved and just went to get breakfast.

Velvet walked up to the table, but The Mentor and Dewdrop didn’t appear to notice her.

The Mentor was talking to Dewdrop softly. “I know you’re concerned Dewdrop, and I share it, but what other choice do we have. You know we’re on a time crunch here.”

Dewdrop was still not convinced. “But Velvet is still a kid! She has so much to live for. You can’t just throw away her life like tha-VELVET!”

Within a second Dewdrop had Velvet wrapped in a tight hug, Velvet making and oof sound as she wasn’t expecting the affectionate attack.

After a full minute, Dewdrop finally released Velvet from her death hug, and Velvet took a big gulp of air.

Dewdrop put her hands firmly on Velvet’s shoulders looked her dead in the eye. “Velvet, please tell me Mentor was joking. Please tell me that you’re not going on this mission alone.”

Velvet took Dewdrop's hands off her shoulders and looked at Dewdrop. “The Mentor has no reason to lie to you Dewdrop. I’m going.”

Dewdrop’s jaw dropped. “WHY?!” She half-yelled, half-asked.

Velvet narrowed her eyes seriously. “You know why. I am the best option for this task. I’m the only one old enough to blend with the students without difficulty. That removes a large burden if some one else were to try.”

Dewdrop dropped her head slightly. “I’m just scared for you Velvet. Do you know that you could die? It’s not fair that you should die so early in your life.”

Velvet’s expression changed to one of soothing. “I know what I signed up for when I joined the Assassins. You know I’ve wanted to go on a mission since I joined.”

Dewdrop smiled. “You wouldn’t shut up about it for the first year.” Dewdrop giggled a little at the memory.

Dewdrops’ giggle stopped shortly after and she continued to argue. “But seriously though, a mission this big? Don’t you think it’s a little much?”

Velvet placed a hand on the taller Assassins’ shoulder. “Dewdrop, i’ll be fine. I know it.”

Velvet removed her hand from Dewdrops shoulder and smirked. “Besides; do I need to remind you of which one of us won last month’s practice brawl?”

Dewdrop blushed a little in embarrassment. “Y-you did.”

Velvet smirked wider. “And how long have I been here compared to you?”

Dewdrop blushed harder. “You’ve been here three years, while I’ve been here six years.”

Velvet smiled triumphantly. “Exactly. I know for a fact that I will be absolutely fine.”

It was at this time that Mentor Steel Shine decided to interrupt. “Ahem.”

Dewdrop and Velvet turned their attention to their Mentor. “Yes?” they both asked in unison.

Steel Shine looked to Velvet. “Velvet Breeze, you can never ‘know’ anything; only suspect. You must expect to have overlooked something, to have made a mistake somewhere. An effective Field-Assassin must learn to anticipate their own imperfections, and adapt to the unexpected scenarios created as a result of their own imperfections.”

Steel Shine then looked to Dewdrop. “Despite the implications of this, Velvet’s isn’t a bad record. I have confidence in her. Perhaps you should too. You are one of her closest friends.”

Dewdrop sighed. “Yeah, you’re right Mentor. I suppose I should have more faith in my friends.”

Velvet smiled and lightly punched Dewdrop’s shoulder playfully. “Yeah. O ye of little faith.”

Steel Shine looked at Velvet. “Take what I've just told you to heart Velvet. You are not a god. Don’t try to be one.”

Velvet nodded. “I will be careful Mentor.”

Everything was silent until Velvet's stomach got everyone's attention by growling.

Velvet looked down at her stomach and blushed a bit. “Well, I’m gonna go get some breakfast now. Do you guys want anything?” She asked.

“Coffee.”

“PB and J toast please.” They both said.

“Alright. I’ll be right back.” Velvet said as she went to get the food.

Steel watched Velvet go to the large kitchen and sighed. “She’s a good kid.”

Velvet returned a few minutes later with the coffee in one hand, a plate in the other and a plate balanced between her inner arm and her chest. She placed the coffee in front of the Mentor and took the second plate out from in between her chest. Then Velvet placed the first plate in front of Dewdrop and the second plate in front of the empty seat between Dewdrop and the Mentor.

Velvet sat down at said seat and began to eat her toast, occasionally pausing to take a chunk out of the fresh, juicy mango that lay on the side of the plate.

Morning Blade was getting her breakfast when she looked over and saw Velvet, Dewdrop, and The Mentor sitting at the table eating their breakfast.

Smiling, Morning Blade walked over. “Hi guys. Mind if I join you?” She asked.

Mentor Steel Shine looked up and smiled at Morning Blade. “Of course Morning Blade. Pull up a chair and sit between Velvet and me.”

“Okay.” Morning did as she was told and sat down between Velvet and Steel Shine. She placed her own breakfast on the table as well. Morning’s breakfast consisted of a bit slice toast, some bacon, a bowl corn flakes with a bit of sugar sprinkled on for some extra flavour, and a tall glass of apple juice.

After a few minutes of silent eating, Morning Blade decided to strike up a conversation. “So Velvet, are you excited about leaving for your mission soon?”

Velvet’s eyes immediately lit up like a Christmas tree. “Hell yeah I’m excited! I mean this is my first mission. Why wouldn’t I be excited.”

Steel Shine spoke up. “I’m also quite excited. This could very well be one of the most important missions in Assassin history. A near-history day.”

Dewdrop nodded her head. “Mhmm. this will be a great boon for us all. Not just in Canterlot, but the world as well. That is, if the templars haven’t already beat us to the punch. They have a nasty habit of doing that.”

Velvet smirked. “Well if I get the chance, I’ll be sure to beat that habit out of them.” She said as she smacked her fist into her hand.

Dewdrop giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm. “I’m sure you will Velvet.”

Mentor Steel Shine smiled. “Do not underestimate the Templars Velvet. You should be careful not to let your enthusiasm become overconfidence. That can kill you faster than any bullet or blade.”

Velvet smiled back. “Noted.”

Morning Blade, sensing that the sub-topic needed a change, spoke up. “I envy you Velvet. There’s not many things I wouldn’t give up to go back to school again. What school are you going to again?”

Velvet looked at Morning Blade. “The local high school. Canterlot High School I think it’s called.”

Morning’s eyes widened. “Oh my god! I went there when I was your age.”

Velvet was surprised to hear this. Maybe she can get a little incite on what the place is like before she got there. It could be of some help. “Really? What’s it like? In anycase, what’s the principal like?” Velvet asked Morning Blade.

“My god. Principal Celestia is the nicest person you’ll ever meet. She is sooo patient and caring. She will listen to every word you say if you have a problem and she will--I guarantee it-- do absolutely everything in her power to make sure you have to tools and help you need to solve your problem.”

Velvet nodded her head in response. “Really? It’s sound like me and her could be great friends. Who knows how many friends I’ll make while I’m at CHS.”

The Mentor frowned. “I wouldn’t make too many friends if I were you Velvet.”

Dewdrop frowned after hearing this. “With all due respect Mentor, she’s allowed to make friends.”

Mentor Steel Shine shook her head and held up her hands in defence. “I’m not saying she isn’t. I’m just trying to tell her to be careful. That’s all.”

Dewdrop arched an eyebrow in disbelief.

The Mentor arched an eyebrow right back and continued to explain herself, speaking quite sternly. “The more friends Velvet makes, the more the risk of her identity as an Assassin being revealed. If this happens, this not only put the ENTIRE brotherhood at risk, but those who know as well. Those who do not volunteer in our struggle, should not be forced to fight in it. On top of that if those who know die, that would be, in some ways, breaking the first tenant if our code. Never kill an innocent person. In this case it would indirect but still. On top of THAT, it also puts the brotherhood danger. That’s another tenant smashed to pieces; never compromise the brotherhood. You see now? Can you understand my concerns? Or does it need to be spelled out for you?”

Dewdrop gulped. It wasn’t often that The Mentor snapped like that. But she knew Mentor was just trying to get the message across, as a teacher should. “I-I didn’t think ab-about it like that.”

Mentor Steel Shine nodded at her student. “Well, do you understand now?”

Dewdrop nodded silently.

Steel Shine nodded back. “Good.”

Steel Shine turned to Velvet, who sat in front of them with her eyes wide from what she just witnessed. “Now Velvet, I’m not saying for a minute that you have no right to make friends, or you aren’t allowed to make friends or whatever. I’m just telling you to take care who you trust. Do you understand?”

Velvet nodded her head slowly. “Uhuh.”

Steel Shine smiled. “I’m glad.”

Steel Shine leaned back in her chair and saw that everyone had finished their breakfast. She clapped her hands together. “Well! If everyone’s finished, we should get going.”

“Yes, we should get going.” Morning Blade agreed.

Velvet got up from her seat and grabbed her plate along with the others. They all went to the kitchen and put their dishes in their respective places, then went back to their table. Velvet picked up her bag, which she had set down behind her chair when she entered the eating lounge, and slung it on her shoulder.

Steel Shine gestured the kitchen. “You would do well to bring some food Velvet. The safe houses have food of their own, but it’s all non-perishables and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to live off of canned beans, rice, and soup for the next three years.”

“R-right.” Velvet replied, shuddering at the thought of living off of the mentioned canned foods for so long. She went over to the kitchen and grabbed a plastic bag. Velvet filled it with loaves of bread, butter knives, some meats--separate of course--and as many mangoes and other fruits as she could carry.

When she was satisfied with what she had picked, she put the plastic bag in her travel bag and slung it on her shoulder once again, grunting as she did so because the bag was getting a little heavy.

Velvet followed Steel Shine, Dewdrop, and Morning Blade out of the eating lounge. While they were walking to the front doors, Steel Shine handed Velvet an envelope.

Velvet looked at it for a second, then looked to Steel Shine questioningly.

Steel looked at Velvet. “It’s some money to cover any additional expenses you might need.”

“How much?” Velvet asked.

“About 6 grand.” Steel replied.

Velvet’s eyes widened. “Really? That’s a lot of money.” She said as she looked at the envelope and realized how thick it actually was. It was pretty thick.

Steel Shine looked at Velvet and arched an eyebrow. “That’s also bribing money, so try not to spend it all in one place, okay?”

Velvet giggled. “I’ll try.” She said with a mischievous tone.

Dewdrop shook her head while smiling at her friend’s playful nature. ‘That’s so like your sister Velvet.’ She thought to herself.

Soon enough the four assassins reached the exit door for the Trottingham bureau. Velvet was surprised to see many other assassins there as well including Keila, Trottingham’s Acting Mentor while her brother was away.

Velvet waved over. “Hi guys.”

“Hey Velvet.”

“Hi Velvet.” two voices called out from near the door.

Velvet looked over to see the two watch assassins; Wreckhouse and Tangent, waving at her in greeting.

Velvet waved over to them. “Hi Wreckhouse! Tangent!”

Keila went over to Velvet. “I wish you luck on this important mission.” she gave Velvet two-fingered salute.

Velvet nodded her head. “Thanks Keila. Good luck running the bureau until your brother gets back.”

Keila smiled. “Thank you Velvet.”

Steel Shine smiled and looked around at Velvet. “You ready to go?”

Velvet nodded her head. “Yeah.”

Velvet looked around at all her friends as she stopped in front of the door. She rose her fist and shouted, “Victory to the Assassins!”

All the other Assassins around the area returned the shout with a resounding, “YEAH!”

Velvet turned to the door and opened it. She was about leave a voice caught her attention.

She turned around again to find High Noon running at her, shouting, “Velvet! Wait up!”

Velvet looked at him and cocked a hip. “What is it Noon? Can't you see I’m about to leave?”

High Noon approached Velvet clutching something red in one hand and something rectangular in the other.

High Noon rose his hands in defense. “Hey, no need to snap. You forgot some things.”

Velvet arched an eyebrow. “And what did I forget, exactly?”

High Noon held out his hand. “Here.” He said.

Velvet took the red cloth in her hand and examined it. After just a second, Velvet recognized it. “My sister’s old Assassins uniform.” She said with her eyes wide as she looked at Noon.

High Noon nodded his head. “I figured since it means so much to you, you wouldn’t want to leave without it.”

Velvet smiled gratefully. “Thanks High Noon. Your right. It does mean a lot to me. I’m glad you brought it to me. I don’t usually forget it.”

Noon smiled. “You’re welcome Velvet.” Noon help out his other hand. “I also brought your phone. I figured that would be important as well.”

Velvet saw the phone and took it. “Oh yeah. Thanks.” she said. Velvet simply pocketed the phone without a second thought.

After a moment, Velvet looked up at High Noon. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. It’s just that-”

“Yeah.” High Noon agreed.

“It’s my big day and.”

“Yeah.”

Dewdrop decided she like to get things moving a little bit. “Ahem, okay then. Uh Velvet? Are you ready to go now?” She asked her friend.

Velvet nodded. “Uhuh. I got everything now.”

“Velvet be sure to contact us when you arrive at the safe house okay?” Steel Shine made sure to ask before Velvet left.

Velvet gave a thumbs up. “Will do Mentor!”

With that, Velvet turned approached the door once again and turned to face all her fellow assassins. She waved. “Goodbye for real this time! When I come back we’ll be able to get that piece of Eden! I promise!”

Velvet walked out the door and ran off the grounds of the Trottingham bureau.

After about thirty minutes of running, Velvet finally reached a highway before stopping and looking around.

After a moment of looking around, Velvet’s eyes widened again today. ‘Oh shit.’ she thought to herself. ‘I have no idea where the safe house is.’

Velvet took out her phone and dialed a private number and held the phone up to her ear. After a few minutes a beep sounded and Velvet started talking. “Mentor, I just realized I don’t know where the safe house is.”

Velvet didn’t have to wait a second for a response. On the other end, Mentor Steel Shine spoke to Velvet. “I know. I forgot to tell you. I’ve sent you a map with the location of the safe house on it. Hurry up and open it. I think you’re near an Abstergo tapped zone and those fluctuate from time to time.”

Velvet nodded her head. “Okay.”

“Hang up now.” The Mentor ordered.

Velvet hung up her phone and check her inbox. Sure enough, there was an encrypted file in it. Velvet sent a simple encryption key to unlock the file. After about two minutes, the file opened. The map inside was simple and clearly showed the location of the safe house.

Satisfied that she had memorized the location and proper direction to take to get to the safe house, Velvet deleted the file, shut off her phone and pocketed it.

After looking around to make sure there was no one to see her, Velvet began the trek to the safe house in Canterlot City and start her mission.

Right after Velvet left: Trottingham bureau

Steel Shine watched Velvet leave, hearing her shout, “I promise!” before slamming the door shut. ‘Your sister would be proud. Be safe Velvet.’ Steel Shine thought to herself.

A few feet away High Noon was about to head back to his room as Velvet had left, and there was no reason to stand around by the door. He turned around when he saw Dewdrop. Immediately his palms got sweaty and the collar of his assassins uniform felt like it was choking him. He prayed Dewdrop didn’t notice. ‘What the hell do you do to me Dewdrop?!’

Dewdrop went up to High Noon and he froze. “H-hi Dewdrop.” He stuttered.

Dewdrop looked at him. “I just wanted to say it was right of you to do that. That cloth is the only thing left of Velvet’s sister. She’d freak if she got to the safe house and found out she forgot it. she never leaves home without it usually.”

High Noon gulped and managed to speak a full sentence. Sort of. “W-w-well D-D-Dewdrop. I’m g-glad I-I could help. Uh...hehe.” High Noon smiled while his face was rose red. High Noon was struggling not to look lower then Dewdrop’s face; no easy task as she’d decided to wear a tank top that morning that was fairly tight on her.

Dewdrop had noticed his eye movement. ‘What’s he doing?’ Dewdrop took a closer look at him. She noticed High Noon was extremely nervous. ‘Elevator eyes, flustered face, nervous behaviour…’ after a moment she caught on. ‘It seems cupid’s been busy.’

Dewdrop grinned evilly in her mind. ‘I wonder how far I can push him before he breaks.’

“Noon?” Dewdrop asked, suppressing a giggle as she saw him freeze.

She looked at him with wide innocent eyes. “Are you okay? Your face is really red.”

High Noon was panicking inside. ‘Oh fuck, she noticed! Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuuuuck!!!!’ he thought to himself. “Uh y-yeah. I-I-I-It is. I m-m-mean n-no it isn’t. Er umm.”

Dewdrop went right up to him. “Oh Noon,” She said as she put a hand on his cheek. “You’re burning up.”

‘This is hilarious.’ Dewdrop thought to herself as she continued her seductive behaviour.

High Noon back up into a wall and Dewdrop followed him, soon cornering him and somewhat pinning him against the wall. Dewdrop continued to press her hand against his cheek. “You feel sick Noon. Maybe you should head to the medical wing for an examination.”

Dewdrop placed her other hand on his chest and gasped. “Oh my,” She said while looking High Noon directly in his eyes with her eyes half lidded. “Your heart is racing in your chest. That can’t be a good sign.”

Dewdrop began to lean her head towards his very slowly. “It’s strange. Isn’t it? How you’ve gotten soooo flustered since we’ve started talking.” By this time Dewdrop head was right in front of High Noon's, their lips only inches apart. High Noon felt like he was about to cry from all the emotions running through him at once. He looked worse though.

From the sidelines Steel Shine and Keila were watching this go down, curious as to how far it would go; but now that it looked like High Noon was about to either scream, or cry, or both, they had decided it was time for this to stop.

They looked at each other and nodded. Steel was the first to call out. “Okay you two! Break it up!”

Keila was next. “Yeah! That last thing I want is for the two of you to start having sex in the foyer!”

Dewdrop heard this and looked over to them with a scowl. She then looked at High Noon, who had his eyes closed and was shivering. She giggled. “Well, it was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it Noodle?” Dewdrop giggled harder as Noon started to shiver harder right after she called him ‘Noodle’.

Dewdrop leaned forward and kissed High Noon on the nose, then took her hand off his chest and walked away. “See ya ‘round Noon.” She called to him.

High Noon opened his eyes to see Dewdrop walking away, a swing in her hips. His eyes immediately went to her butt. Swiveling along with her swaying hips. Her reached up to where Dewdrop had kissed him to find blood dripping from his nose. He covered his nose and sprinted as fast as his legs could carry him to his PQ to clean up.

Steel Shine and Keila watched High Noon sprint upstairs. After a few seconds they looked at each other and immediately started laughing hard.

“L-l-look at hehehis fahahace hahaha!” Keila laughed.

“Y-yeah! Blaaa!” Steel Shine mimicked High Noon’s facial expression.

It was a little while before the laughing dialed down to just giggling. Finally Keila decided to stop. “Okay Steel. Let’s stop before one of us passes out.”

“Right hehe.” Steel Shine agreed before taking a breath to stop herself.

When they had completely stopped, Keila looked around and said, “Well, I’m off. I’ve got lots of paperwork to do before my brother gets back and I’d like to get it done.” With that she turned around and went up the stairs to the Trottingham Mentor’s personal quarters.

Steel Shine decided she was going to go to her PQ for a while to, maybe get some work done or maybe play solitaire, she’ll decide when she gets there. She made her way up to her PQ and went inside. She sat down on the bed when realized she was forgetting something. ‘What am I forgetting?’ she asked herself internally. ‘I had breakfast. Is it calling the other Mentor’s? No I am going to do that when I receive word that Velvet has reached the safe house………’

“Velvet!” Steel Shine shouted. “I forgot to give Velvet a map to the safe house!”

Steel got up from the bed and started rummaging around on her work desk, looking for the map to the safe house that she had. “Come on, where is it.” She said to herself.

“Aha!” Steel to herself after about five minutes. She grabbed the map and laid it out on her bed, took out her phone and took a clear picture of it. She placed it in a file on her phone and encrypted it. Then, she sent the picture to Velvet.

Only a second after Steel Shine sent the picture, her phone rang. She pressed the talk button and held it up to her ear. Immediately, Velvet’s voice sounded. “Mentor, I just realized I don’t know where the safe house is.”

Steel nodded her head. “I know. I forgot to tell you. I’ve sent you a map with the location of the safe house.”

Steel Shine looked at the clock. ‘She’s been gone thirty minutes,’ she thought herself as she then looked at the map on her bed, ‘so if she took the normal root…’

Mentor Steel Shine spoke back into the phone. “Hurry up and open it. I think you’re near an Abstergo tapped zone and those fluctuate from time to time.”

Steel Shine heard Velvet on the other end say, “Okay.”

“Hang up now.” Steel Shine ordered. When the line went dead she put her phone back in her pocket.

After a minute, Steel Shine sighed. “Maybe a stroll around the grounds will do me some more good than being in my room right now.” she said to herself and left her room to walk around.

When Steel Shine opened the door to go walk around she found Dewdrop right outside. Steel Shine looked at Dewdrop. It was evident she’d been there for a little while, which implies that she may have heard the short conversation on the phone.

Steel looked at Dewdrop. “Ummm. I’m not sure how much you heard.”

Dewdrop crossed her arms. “Oh I heard all of it.”

Steel looked at the floor. “Right. Well damn.” She said.

Dewdrop unfolded her arms and she walked up to her Mentor. She narrowed her eyes. “Just wanted to be clear with you. If Velvet get’s hurt out there, I personally guarantee, you will regret it.”

The Mentor narrowed her eyes and looked at Dewdrop. “Don’t worry. She won’t.”

Dewdrop huffed and walked away.

Steel Shine stood there for a minute. ‘I hope Velvet will be safe.’ she thought to herself before starting her walk around the grounds.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! That does it for the third chapter! Just like last chapter's note, I'm gonna make this short. Remember to comment and leave a like if you enjoyed. Especially remember to comment! This story is for your enjoyment! How can I know if you enjoyed the story of you don't comment? How can I improve the story if you don't comment? So, put your hands on the keyboard and start commenting! (or leaving a like).

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now. See you guys next update. BYEEEE!!! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 4: the school incident. (crunch)

Chapter 4: the school incident (crunch)

One week later. September first: first day of school

“You’ll be okay Sunset. If ya feel like you’re losing control, just excuse yourself from the room and take a deep breath. Just like we practiced. If ya do that, you’ll be fine. Ah promise.” Applejack comforted an extremely nervous Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset wasn’t entirely convinced. She recalled the previous week. It had been an absolute NIGHTMARE. With no response from princess Twilight, Sunset was pretty much left in the dark with regards to what to do about her pendant cracking, which she hadn't mentioned to her friends. After a bit of thinking Sunset figured that her pendant cracking the and school bus incident a week before were connected, so she figured that leaving the pendant at home when she went out would prevent further outbreaks.

She was wrong. Throughout the week, Sunset was constantly losing control of her magic, sometimes resulting in her friends getting hurt. Every time she would lose control, her eyes would revert to her demon eyes and she would try to attack her friends. Her hands would look like they would on fire as well.

Sunset recalled what she did to Applejack. They we just talking when Applejack corrected Sunset on something. Sunset had grabbed Applejack neck and squeezed. Hard. long story short Applejack had taken a trip to the hospital after Sunset calmed down and regained her sanity. The inside of Applejack’s throat had been damaged, but fortunately it wasn’t serious. Some painkillers and a good night’s sleep and Applejack was fine; but she would be much more careful about what she said to Sunset.

This saddened Sunset greatly. She didn’t want her friends to be scared of her. Sunset recalled when one of her freak-outs caused Twilight to sprain her wrist. She still has the cast on. Sunset’s friends tried to tell her that Twilight had slipped, but Sunset still felt guilty; after all Twilight slipped because she was running away from Sunset as she had apparently tried to chase Twilight.

The only ‘progress’ they had made with Sunset’s freak-outs was two days ago. Sunset had started to freak out when Applejack used her magic to hold Sunset down. Applejack had to use her magic. That incident revealed that when Sunset in a freaked-out state, Sunset was nearly as strong as Applejack was when she was using her magic. Sunset was very close to prying Applejack off of her, despite Applejack trying her hardest to keep Sunset in place before Sunset finally stopped freaking out and calmed down. The incident had apparently revealed to AJ that deep breaths calm Sunset down before much danger happens. They practiced for a little while before AJ was satisfied and Sunset was light headed.

Now it was the first day of school and Sunset was terrified. The ‘practice sessions’ she and AJ had been doing for the past two days hadn’t inspired much confidence. If she lost it in the middle of class who knows how many people she could hurt. This isn’t exactly a controlled environment like at home, this is in public. There was a lot more people around who could get hurt.

Sunset wanted to voice her concerns but decided she didn’t want to argue with AJ, so Sunset just sighed. “If you say so AJ.”

AJ smiled and put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

Sunset gave a small smile and nodded as the bus they were on came to a stop outside the school.

Sunset took a breath to calm her nerves and got up with the rest of her friends to get off the bus. As they were walking down the aisle Sunset saw Twilight’s wrist cast. “Hey Twi.”

Twilight looked up to see who was talking. “Oh, hey Sunset.”

Sunset pointed to the cast. “How’s your wrist?”

Twilight lifted her arm. “It doesn’t hurt too much anymore. Thanks for asking.”

Sunset and Twilight continued walking down the aisle. They were almost at the bus door now.

Sunset looked to Twilight again. “You know I’m sorry, right?”

Twilight nodded her head as they walked down the stairs and off the bus. “Mhmm. It wasn’t your fault Sunset. You were……” Twilight tried to find the right words, “not yourself at the time.”

Sunset sighed. “I still feel really bad about it.”

Sunset and Twilight stepped off the bus and onto the pavement.

Twilight smiled at Sunset. “Well, if it helps, I forgive you.” she said soothingly.

Sunset smiled back. ‘I wish it did.’ she thought sadly.

They walked over to where the rest of their friends and the other school kids were. Sunset cocked a hip and looked at CHS. “Well...first day of school.” she said.

“YAAY! FIRST DAY OF SCHOOOOL!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she jumped up in the air and pumped her fist.

They all laughed at Pinkie’s enthusiasm for school, but their laughter was cut off by a frustratingly familiar voice from the inside of another bus that just pulled up and opened its doors.

“MAKE WAY!!” the voice called.

Sunset and her friends all groaned in unison.

A little blue ball with stars on it rolled to a stop at the foot of the bus outside. It exploded and smoke poured everywhere. “THE GREAT AND TRRRRRIXIE HAS RETURNED!!!”

A moment later Trixie came off the bus and through the smoke. “The most talented girl in the all the world has returned to bring entertainment to all!!!” she shouted in an arrogant tone.

‘Oh my god, she is arrogant.’ Sunset thought angrily to herself.

Back at Sunset's house, the crack in the pendant started glowing, blindingly bright, so much so that it could be seen, even in daylight. Then, the pendant grew blisteringly hot, burning the desk it lay on in Sunset's bedroom. Before long, the desk was smoking and the wood it was made of, started to burn around the pendant. Just before the desk caught fire, the pendant shot up in the air and hovered there.

Just like every other time.

Sunset suddenly took in a sharp breath.

Fluttershy was busy ignoring Trixie when she saw Sunset staring at Trixie with her fists clenched. It appeared as though Sunset was irritated by Trixie’s arrogance.

Fluttershy walked over to Sunset. “Just ignore her Sunset. She’ll stop eventually when she realizes no one’s listening.” Flutters said as she placed a hand on Sunset.

No response.

Flutters arched an eyebrow. “Sunset?”

Nothing.

Fluttershy walked in front of Sunset. “Sunset are you ok-oh my god!”

When Flutters looked at Sunset, she saw that Sunset’s eyes were pools of black. In the middle of each eye, lay a small turquoises pupil, shrunk to pinpricks.

Flutters was shivering all over. She barely managed to speak. “A-A-Applejack?” she whispered.

Flutters then turned to Applejack, who was ten meters away having a conversation with Rarity. After a second Fluttershy took a breath. “Applejack!” she shouted lightly, speed walking over, almost breaking into a run.

She reached Applejack and Rarity. “Applejack?” she asked.

They didn’t appear to hear her. “Applejack?” Fluttershy asked a little bit louder.

This time Flutters got a response, but it wasn’t the one she needed. Rarity turned to her. “Flutters, it’s rude to interrupt people while they’re speaking. Wait your turn please.”

Flutters groaned. She turned to where Sunset was and saw her beginning to walk toward Trixie in a threatening manner.

Flutters started to become more panicked. “Applejack!” she said louder again.

Applejack put her hand up to silence Flutters. “You heard Rarity. Wait.” she said.

Flutters groaned harder. She looked over to Sunset and saw her talking to Trixie aggressively. Fluttershy’s eyes widen and she softly squealed.

Fluttershy didn’t know what to do. The conversation between Sunset and Trixie appeared to be getting more aggressive by the second.

Out of options Fluttershy looked to Applejack and Rarity and took a deep breath. “APPLEJACK!!!!”

Applejack huffed. “Ah’m sorry Rare. Ah’ll talk to ya in a sec.” AJ then turned to Fluttershy. “WHAT!” she yelled.

Then AJ noticed Fluttershy’s panicked expression. “Fluttershy what is it?”

Fluttershy, still a little shocked from AJ yelling at her, shook her head. “S-Sunset.” Flutters then turned around and pointed to where Sunset and Trixie were talking.

AJ didn’t understand. What about Sunset?” she asked.

Fluttershy took another breath and responded. “Her eyes.”

AJ’s eyes widened as she understood what Fluttershy was talking about. She pushed past Fluttershy and immediately began speed walking towards Sunset and Trixie. “SUNSET NOOOO!”

Sunset was talking to Trixie. Trixie had no idea that Sunset had no control over her actions.

Sunset narrowed her eyes. “Is that what you think?”

Trixie wasn’t even looking at Sunset. She waved her hand up in the air like a royal person. “Trixie says yes!” she said.

Sunset looked down, almost regretfully. “Then you leave me no choice...you must be taught a lesson.”

Trixie stopped and lowered her hand when she heard this. “What?” she said as she looked at Sunset. She gasped.

Trixie didn’t even have time to run before Sunset drove her closed fist as hard as she could into Trixie’s jaw, a resounding crunch sound ripping through the air.

Applejack was only three quarters the way there when she saw Sunset punch Trixie. She broke into a run.

The punch that Sunset delivered sent Trixie sprawling to the ground from the front of the bus, to the back of the bus, almost fifteen meters away.

Sunset walked up to Trixie. When she reached Trixie, she bent over her and said, “That’ll teach you. Arrogant bitch.”

Sunset stood up straight and turned to her left to Applejack tackling her at full force into the side of the bus.

Applejack forced Sunset’s arms above Sunset’s head and against the bus. She looked Sunset in the eyes. “Sunset CALM DOWN!”

Sunset looked right back, her demonic eyes boring into Applejack’s own. Applejack resisted the urge to gulp.

AJ blinked and looked back at Sunset. “Sunset,” she began to say slowly, “take a deep breath, and calm down. Now.”

Sunset looked back and pursed her lips. After a moment, seeing that Applejack wasn’t going to let up, Sunset decided to humor Applejack. She smirked and rolled her demonic eyes. After a second she took a big mockingly dramatic breath.

In Sunset's house, the pendant glowed brightly for a few seconds more, before flickering and going out. Then the pendant grow cool. Finally, it dropped to the floor like nothing happened.

After another moment Sunset’s eyes closed.

Applejack waited for Sunset to do something. She didn’t have to wait long.

Sunset shook her head and opened her eyes. “Ugh...ow, my head.” she groaned lightly in mind.

Sunset tried to hold her head, but realized she couldn’t. Sunset looked around to see her hands pinned to the bus. Then she looked in front of her to find Applejack looking back at her with an anticipating expression on her face.

Sunset looked around and asked, “uhh...Why have you pinned me to the bus?”

Applejack smiled a little bit. “Sunset.” AJ let Sunset’s arms down and Sunset rubbed her wrists.

Sunset looked around again. “ umm...I wasn’t here last I remember and now I am.” she narrowed her eyes in thought. “What happened guys?”

Sunset looked at AJ.

The face said it all.

Sunset immediately cupped her hands over her mouth, eyes watering. “What did I do?” she asked Applejack softly.

Applejack lowered her eyes, but Sunset didn’t give her the chance to even hesitate.

Sunset gritted her teeth, tears streaming down her face. “TELL ME WHAT I DID GOD-DAMMIT!!!!” she screamed.

Applejack visibly flinched when Sunset yelled at her, making Sunset’s breath hitch in her throat.

Applejack took a breath and slowly nodded her head. She backed away and led Sunset to an area that students have surrounded. AJ made a gesture and some of the students parted to make room for Sunset to see. By now all of Sunset’s friends were trying to see in the crowd.

Sunset walked in the middle of the crowd.

She gasped.

Trixie was lying there. There was a pool of blood near her mouth. Her jaw was bent unnaturally sideways. Her cheek was caved in her mouth. The entire side of her face was purple and horribly swollen. Trixie was whimpering in a strangled fashion, obviously having trouble breathing.

All of Sunset’s friends had tears in their eyes. Twilight tried to cover up Fluttershy’s eyes but it was too late. Fluttershy heaved and vomited up all of her breakfast bending over as she did so. When Fluttershy stopped throwing up she bent over to her side and fell to the ground, crying because she threw up, and because of Trixie, but mostly Trixie. Twilight rubbed Fluttershy’s back, comforting her.

Sunset didn’t fair much better; though she did manage to avoid throwing up, barely, the site still churned her stomach a lot.

Sunset collapsed to her knees sobbing loudly. “I’m s-s-s-sorry. Oh go-o-od I-I’m s-sor-ry.”

Once they had recovered from the initial shock, Sunset’s friends as well as the other students stared at her, both groups unsure of what to think, both for different reasons.

Inside the school, principal Celestia and vice principal Luna were walking down the hall to the front entrance to go out and greet the kids.

Principal Celestia sighed. “Well, another year is about to begin.”

Vice principal Luna nodded her head. “Yes it is sister. I wonder what magical disaster will happen this time.” she commented.

“Don’t be so cynical Luna. You never know what might come up. Maybe something good will happen this year.” Celestia replied.

Luna just shrugged and continued walking.

When they got to the entrance of the school they noticed all the students gathered in one area, near the back of one of the buses. They also noticed it was awfully quiet. In all of their years of teaching they knew that could mean something really good, or really bad.

The two sisters looked at each other and nodded. They opened the door and exited the school walking straight towards where the students had all gathered.

While they were walking, Luna saw some of the students part and she took that chance to look and see what the students were so interested in. Luna gasped when she saw Sunset kneeling with her face in her hands and what looks like a student lying on the ground. Luna also swore she saw blood.

Celestia heard Luna gasp. “What is i-oh my god.” Celestia said as she saw the blood as well.

The two of them immediately began speed walking towards all the other students, with Luna leading the way.

“Out of my way! Out of my way!” Luna commanded to the students and they all separated so Luna and Celestia could get through.

Luna took one look at Trixie before she looked to the first student she saw and ordered, “Call an ambulance, now.” the student whipped out their phone and a second later they were talking.

Luna bent down near Trixie’s face. Luna had a strong stomach so she didn’t throw up, but it was still a sickening site. Luna leaned her head a little closer and said, “Trixie? Do you hear me?”

Trixie opened her eyes slightly and turned her head slightly to face Luna, her jaw leaning in the opposite direction. She let out a weak, “aaaahhh.” before her head fell again and she lost consciousness.

Vice Principal Luna stood up just as an ambulance and police car pulled up.

Celestia and Luna directed the students out of the way as two paramedics got out of their truck, went to the back of the truck, opened the back doors and pulled out a stretcher.

The students watched as the paramedics went up to Trixie with the stretcher, placed Trixie in the stretcher, put her in the truck and drove away.

After the ambulance drove away, the police officers there immediately began questioning Celestia and Luna, who explained that they had no idea as to how Trixie got hurt as she did.

After a few minutes, the cops stopped talking to the two sister and turned to the crowd of students. “Can anyone tell us what happened to the girl? It’s really important that we find out who has done this, so proper action may possibly be taken.”

The students began to talk amongst themselves; eager to help the police, but unsure what to do, as no one had really been paying attention when it happened, so no one really knew who did it, and Fluttershy hadn't recovered from her vomiting spell.

Just then, Sunset walked through the crowd and in front of the cops. The cop who first spoke to the students looked directly at her. “Do you know who it was miss?” he asked in a polite, but firm tone, making it clear he was professional, but did not like to have his time wasted.

Sunset gulped. ‘I deserve this.’ she thought guiltily to herself. Sunset opened her mouth and said, “Yes.”

The cop blinked. “Who was it?” he asked again.

Sunset took a shaky breath and looked at the cop with her eyes still moist from earlier. “I did it.”

Celestia's and Luna’s jaws dropped.

The world seemed almost silent for a second before the cop looked at Sunset with an appreciative face and said, “Thank you for being upfront.”

Sunset sniffled. “Am I going to prison?”

The cop thought for a moment, studying Sunset as he did so. After a few seconds, he stopped. “You’re clearly remorseful.” he said.

Sunset sniffled again and nodded, feeling fresh tears beginning to well up. “We don’t get along very well. I lost my temper.”

The cop looked around at the property line then back to where the now dried up blood is, then looked back to Sunset and sighed. “You’re lucky kid. This happened within the school grounds so it’s up for the principal to decide what to do with you right now,”

Sunset looked up when she heard this.

“BUT,” the cop held up a finger, “that does not mean I can’t arrest you if the victim-”

“Trixie.” Sunset cut off the cop. “Her name is Trixie.”

The cop nodded in understanding. “That does not mean I can’t arrest you if Trixie decides to press charges against you, so don’t think you’re off the hook.”

Sunset still breathed a sigh of relief.

The cop continued to speak. “With that being said,” he said as he reached into his pant pocket, “we are going to see each again soon,” the cop approached Sunset with a note pad and pen. “I’d like your name and contact number please.”

Sunset wiped her eyes and nodded. “Of course. My name’s Sunset Shimmer and my cell number is 795-0943.”

The cop wrote down the information as she spoke. “9...4...3, okay. Thank you miss Shimmer.”

The cop went over to his car and placed the note pad inside. Then, he turned his head and said, with a playful smirk, “Hey rookie! Stop flirting with civilians!”

The students, Sunset, her friends, Celestia, and Luna all turned their heads to find the other cop being berated with questions and being poked and prodded by Pinkie Pie. He was smiling proudly the whole time.

Everybody laughed as the first cops’ joke made the second cop snap out of his trance and blush furiously. He speed walked over to the car where the first cop was also laughing, saying “sorry lieutenant!” over and over again the whole way there. The two cops got in their car and drove off. Pinkie Pie was standing there confused before starting to giggle as well, getting the joke.

After a minute of laughing Sunset’s friends approached her from the crowd. Applejack out her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “Ah’m proud of ya Sunset. You owned up to your misdeeds. And on top of that you managed to avoid jail time!” she said happily.

Sunset frowned. “Maybe. Trixie could still press charges against me.”

AJ smirked. “Well at least you’ve avoided jail time right now. So until that cop calls ya, you’ve gotten away with this scott free.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that.”

Sunset and AJ turned to see Vice Principal Luna looking at them with an unhappy expression. ‘Spoke too soon AJ.’ Sunset thought bitterly to herself.

Luna and Celestia approached Sunset and AJ as their friends went up beside them, prepared to hear Sunset’s punishment, if she was going to get a punishment.

Luna spoke with a deceptively calm tone. “Tell me what happened. In detail.”

And so Sunset's friends began explaining what had been happening to Sunset all the way to when she punched Trixie.

Celestia put her hand on her chin. “So, what you’re telling me is that after that incident on the bus, Sunset has continued to lose control of her magic?”

Sunset and all of her friends nodded.

Celestia continued. “And each incident almost or has led to injury of one of you, and in this case a bystander?”

They all nodded again.

Luna thought for a moment, looking between Sunset and her friends. “Well, since you clearly weren’t in control of your actions, it wouldn’t be fair to punish you…”

Sunset’s eyes lifted slightly at this.

Luna continued. “But, with that being said, you’re not in control of your actions, meaning you’re a danger to the students here, as indicated by today’s incident, so please understand…”

Sunset’s eyes began to well again when she heard the word ‘danger’.

“...when I ask you not to return to this school until you have this issue figured out.” Luna finished.

Celestia looked at her sister in disbelief. Luna looked back and said softly, “We have to think for everyone’s well-being. You know that.”

Celestia nodded slowly in recognition.

Celestia turned her head over to Sunset, who had tears streaming down her face. “Sunset I hope you understand. We have to think of everyone’s well-being. Not just yours.”

Sunset looked at her principle with guilt ablaze in her eyes. “Oh I understand perfectly.” she said. Then Sunset pushed past all her friends and ran off to only she knew where, crying as she did so.

Sunset ran down street after street, intent on getting home. ‘I knew I couldn’t handle it.’ she thought angrily to herself. She dried her tears and continued running home. ‘No sense crying about it.’

Sunset eventually arrived home. She forcefully opened the door and ran upstairs. When she opened the door to her bedroom and walked in she immediately noticed the pendant lying on the floor. Sunset walked over to it and bent down. She waved her hand over it and picked it up after finding it wasn't hot.

Sunset held the pendant in her fingers and turned it over a few times, examining it. The crack was still there as it was before.

Sunset shook her head and frowned. "It can't be ignored anymore." She said to herself sadly. "I've hurt too many people."

Sunset looked over to the desk beside the bed and saw a circular burn mark. It had obviously come from the pendant. She closed her eyes and shook her head, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall again.

Sunset opened a drawer on the desk and pulled out a pen and her book. She closed the drawer and sat on the bed. She opened the book to a blank page. She gritted her teeth. "I swear Twilight, if you don't get this I will go to Equestria and drag you here myself." she said with a determined voice.

Sunset pressed the pen to the page and wrote in big letters, “I’M TURNING INTO A SHE-DEMON AGAIN!!! HELP!!!”

Taking a breath to calm herself, Sunset closed the book rather hard, set it down on the floor, and led back completely exhausted due to all the running she did. ‘I hope this works Twilight. I need you.’ Sunset thought to herself as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! That's all for chapter 4. The story's starting to pick up now. Ohhh it's exciting isn't it? don't forget to like if you enjoyed reading and also comment! I can't stress enough how much I want you guys to comment! I'm really curious as to what you think about the story and how you think it could be improved! So comment I'll try to read as many as I can! I'll try to answer any questions you might have!

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now...See you guys next update! BYEEEE!!! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 5: venting strategy

The next day

Sunset was not disappointed. From what Applejack told her, not twenty minutes after Sunset said she wrote the message, princess Twilight came sprinting out of the portal, saying frantically, “Where’s the danger?!”

Now they were all in Sunset’s room. Sunset had explained the situation in more detail along with some help from Applejack and now awaited a solution from the Princess of Friendship. Sunset was sitting at the edge of the bed in the middle, while the rest of the rainbooms had mostly gathered at the foot of the bed; in between it and the back wall. Pony Twilight chose to stand in the middle of the room and had been pacing back and forth there since she arrived and Sunset explained what had been going on

After about ten minutes of her pacing back and forth across Sunset's room, Pony Twilight stopped, and Sunset tensed. When Twilight didn’t say anything, Sunset opened her mouth. “Well?” she said, livid with anticipation. “Did you figure it out?”

The princess smiled. “Yes I did.” she simply said.

Sunset jumped to a stand. “Great. What spell do I need to do?” she asked quickly.

Pony Twilight held up a finger. “Actually, the solution is not a spell.” she said matter-of-factually.

Sunset shook her head. “Well, whatever it is I’ll do it.” she said. “I don’t want to become a she-demon again.”

Pony Twilight put her hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “If we work together, you won’t.”

Pony Twilight released Sunset’s shoulder and Sunset nodded. “Okay,” Sunset started, “what do I need to do?”

Pony Twilight smiled. “Simple. You need to vent your emotions.”

“What do you mean, she needs to ‘vent her emotions’?” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“I’m mean Sunset needs to find a way to act on all the negative impulses she’s been repressing.” Pony Twilight elaborated.

Sunset lifted a finger. “Uh...I thought you taught me in Equestria that doing that was bad.”

Pony Twilight lowered her eyes almost in shame. “I did teach you not to act on negativity yes, but there was something I overlooked.”

Sunset and all her friends prepared to listen to Pony Twilight’s mistake.

Pony Twilight continued. “You see, in Equestria, emotions is a type of magic, or rather there is a type of magic that corresponds with each emotion. It is simple to get rid of any negative emotion magic. Just cast a spell and, poof. Gone.” Pony Twilight made an exploding motion with her hands as she said ‘poof’.

Sunset smiled inwardly as she was reminded of how simple everything was in Equestria. She snapped out of her memory trance and continued to listen as Pony Twilight continued her explanation.

“In this world however,” Pony Twilight continued, “emotions can’t just be expelled. They have to be acted upon. There is no other option. Knowing this, I’ve learned, people would usually find a way to act out their negative impulses in a non-dangerous manner.”

“This doesn’t exactly solve the problem dear.” Rarity pointed out while shaking her head.

Pony Twilight frowned. “I know. The big question here is what can you do Sunset,” she gestured over to Sunset, “to vent these negative impulses in a way that doesn’t hurt any of us, or anyone else for that matter.”

“Yeah.” Pinkie Pie intervened. “I don’t want someone else’s arm to be burned.”

“Or their bones broken.” Sci-Twi added, lifting her wrist for everyone to see the cast.

“She needs to hurt someone or something, without actually hurting that someone or something.” Applejack said, half asked.

Pony Twilight pointed at AJ. “Precisely.” she confirmed. “So!” Pony Twilight said, as she clapped her hands together. “Anyone have any ideas?”

Pinkie Pie was first. “She could punch a pillow!”

Then Rarity. “Go to a quiet place and yell.”

Then Rainbow Dash. “She could run around really fast.”

Then Fluttershy. “She could write angry letter and then rip it up.”

Then Sci-Twi. “Distract herself with a really hard math question.”

“Look guys, I appreciate the suggestions, but I don’t think it will be enough.” Sunset said gratefully.

“Um, ah have an idea.” Applejack spoke up.

Sunset turned to her. “Let’s hear it.” she said.

Applejack took a breath. “What if you played a violent video game? Whenever ah used to get mad with mah parents ah would take mah anger out on the video game characters. It still works wonders for me to this day.”

Sunset bit her lip. "Maybe..." she said, still unsure. "I mean, this is me we're talking about."

"Yeah!" Pinkie said in agreement. "Considering everything you've done, I would imagine there'd be a lot of negative emotions floating around in your mind with no way to leave, so it makes sense that they would run out of room. I mean think about it."

Pinkie began to count on her fingers. "You bullied us for years, broke into equestria..."

Sunset groaned in frustration at being reminded of her past. Normally, she wouldn't be bothered by it, as she had moved on from that, but with everything that's been going on, the last thing Sunset wanted was to be reminded of everything she had done. "Pinkie, we get it..." Sunset said, in an attempt to get Pinkie to stop. Her words fell on deaf ears however, as Pinkie continued to speak.

"Stole princess Twilight's crown, framed princess Twilight for wrecking one of my parties..." Pinkie said, completely unaware of how it was affecting Sunset.

"Pinkie, please..." Sunset said again, her frustration beginning to show as she began drumming her left hand fingers on her leg.

Pony Twilight, who was watching this, noticed small embers floating out of Sunset's left hand. At first she wasn't sure what was happening, and was trying to think when she suddenly felt a strong pulse of magic. She looked over to the desk beside Sunset's bed and felt the magic pulsing again, this time stronger...and very unstable.

Pony Twilight immediately put two and two together and suddenly got the feeling that if Pinkie didn't stop, Pony Twilight would get to experience what had been happening over the past week, first-hand. "Pinkie..." she said in a foreboding tone.

At this point, Sunset had just about enough. Her eyes were closed and her teeth were gritted inside her closed mouth. She barely paid any attention to the burning sensation in her left palm that was now beginning to spread up her arm and into her right hand; too focused on her desire for Pinkie's mouth to stop flapping. "Pinkie, shut up..." Sunset growled.

"...tried to raise an army of teenagers to take over equestria aaaand tried to kill us!" Pinkie said, taking a big gulp of air to signal that her had finished speaking.

"Pinkie stop!" the rest of the Rainbooms shouted in a last ditch effort to stop Pinkie before Sunset lost it.

But it was too late. Without warning, Sunset jumped up from where she was sitting, causing everyone to back away to the corners of the room. Both of her arms were completely ablaze, tendrils of flames swirling up and around her forearms all the way to her shoulders. Sunset's eyes were a raw black with turquoise pupils. She looked at Pinkie with rage and screamed, "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!"

Pinkie squealed and fell down in fear, staring into Sunset's eyes as they bore into her own with hatred in them.

For a full minute, no one said a thing. Everyone just stared. The only sounds that could be heard was Sunset's heavy breathing, the light crackling of the flames on Sunset's arms and the rumbling of the desk by the bed.

After another minute, Applejack found the courage to break the silence. "S-sunset?" she asked quietly.

Sunset turned and glared at her. "WHAT!?" she roared.

Applejack didn't answer. Instead she gave Sunset a look that was a mix between anger, concern and pity. At first Sunset looked confused, but then she closed her eyes and shook her head. Her eyes regained their normal state as Sunset opened them again, and she blinked a few times. She looked around for a moment before her eyes fell on Pinkie.

Sunset's eyes grew wide and she gasped when she saw Pinkie's terrified face. Immediately, the fire swirling around Sunset's arms disappeared and the desk by the bed stopped rumbling. "Oh god..." Sunset mumbled in sadness as she fell down to her spot on the bed. "Not again..." Sunset put her face in her hands and immediately started sobbing.

Sunset looked up at Pinkie. "I-I'm sorry." she said. Pinkie didn't answer and instead just looked away, sniffling.

Pony Twilight noticed the desk by the bed had stopped rumbling and the unstable pulses of magic had ceased. She gulped and looked around at everyone in the room. Pinkie had clearly been frightened as she was visibly shivering and had tears in her eyes. "Woah..." she mumbled.

Pony Twilight looked over to the sobbing Sunset and walked over. She put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Hey."

After a moment, Sunset sniffled and looked up, tears running down her face. "We'll get through this." Pony Twilight said.

Sunset gritted her teeth. "How the hell can you be so confident?" she said in anger. "I mean look at me. I'm on a fucking hair trigger!"

Pony Twilight smiled, knowing that there was no anger towards her. "Well..." she began. "...while I don't know what a hair trigger is, I can say this; a solution, is a solution. If one doesn't work then we move on to the next, but most importantly, we don't give up."

"Yeah." Applejack spoke up. Sunset and Pony Twilight turned to her, Pony Twilight taking her hand off Sunset's shoulder. "Let me tell ya something Sunset." Applejack said as she looked directly into Sunset's eyes. "You can beat us, scream at us, or whatever, but so long as we have our friendship, we will never give up on ya. So don't you give up on us. Ya'hear?"

Sunset sniffled. "Y-yeah." she said while wiping her eyes. "You're right guys, I shouldn't give up. I'm just..." Sunset looked away again. "...scared."

Applejack nodded. "So are we, and that's exactly why we should deal with it right away."

"Face it, head-on." Sci-Twi added, smiling.

Sunset felt a small smile tug on her lips at remembering when she had said that. Sunset a breath to calm herself before saying, "Yeah...okay. You're right. We should face this problem of mine right away, before anyone else gets hurt." Sunset finished her sentence with a smile, her confident returning to her.

Pony Twilight smiled at seeing her friends' confidence return. "Excellent!" she began. "I think that video game idea of yours Applejack," Pony Twilight gestured to Applejack. "has the most promise, so we'll start with that. However I do have one question." Pony Twilight dawned a confused expression. "What's a video game again?'

Applejack looked to her. “It’s those things you saw me and Rainbow playin’ on when you were here last.”

Realization struck Pony Twilight as her eyes widened. “Oh yeah, those things.” she said. “They looked neat.”

Rainbow Dash jumped up, with an almost offended expression. "Neat!? NEAT!? THEY'RE THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!"

Pony Twilight laughed at Rainbow Dash’s clear passion towards video games. “Okay haha. You’ll have to show me sometime but right now we have to help Sunset.” she said.

Then Pony Twilight's face changed to a more serious one. "Now, before we go, there's another matter that we need to address." she said, looking to Rainbow Dash, who was at the door of Sunset's bedroom.

Rainbow arched an eyebrow as she made her way back to where everyone else was. "Oh? What's that now?" she asked.

Pony Twilight didn't answer and instead looked to Sunset. "Sunset, can you bring out your pendant?"

Sunset nodded and went over to her desk, which at this point had moved quite a ways away from its original position, due to all the rumbling it did. She opened the top draw and a cloud of smoke burst out of the draw, making Sunset cough. Eventually, Sunset managed to grab the pendant. As Sunset went back to her spot in the room, pendant in hand, her friends caught a glimpse of the crack in it.

Everyone's eyes except Sunset's and Pony Twilight's widened in surprise. The room was silent for a moment before Rainbow Dash spoke up. "When did that happen?" she asked, in a shocked tone.

Sunset lifted the pendant in front of her face and examined the crack. "I'm not sure." she replied. "I just found it like this the night of the bus incident."

"How did it happen?" Sci-Twi asked next.

Sunset turned to Pony Twilight. "That's what I was hoping you figure out." she said.

Pony Twilight nodded. "The answer to that question it quite simple actually." she began. "It's no secret that you're very stressed out over your magic and personally, after today's um..." Pony Twilight git her lip. "...incident, I can see why."

Sunset lowered her head in guilt at what happened not even ten minutes previously, before looking back up to Pony Twilight as she continued.

"The stress has caused your pendant to strain." Pony Twilight said.

Sunset nodded in slight surprise. She honestly didn't expect it to be that simple. "I see." she said.

"Great! Can we go now?" an impatient looking Rainbow Dash asked.

Pony Twilight looked at her. "One more thing." she said while holding a finger up.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and groaned in complaint. "Ugh...come on!" she said.

Pony Twilight suddenly looked at Rainbow Dash with a firm face. "Rainbow Dash, this is something important that I'd like to get out now while I can. Something that will create more awareness for the problem in the future. It is also to help Sunset, not you. If you don't like it, then you are free to leave," Pony Twilight gestured the door. "otherwise, sit down and shut up.

Rainbow's eyes widened and she shut her mouth with an audible pop sound as her teeth knocked together.

Pony Twilight sighed, closed her eyes and took a breath. "I hate it when I have to do that." she muttered to herself. She turned back to Sunset. "As I was saying, there's one more thing I would like to say before we go."

Everyone listened for what the equestrian princess had to say.

"I'm glad you told me about the pendant as soon as you could. " Pony Twilight began. "You see, if you had waited, then the strain on your pendant would build and build and build. Eventually, it would, well...to put it bluntly...explode." she finished.

"Explode?" Pinkie piped up. "You mean like a grenade?"

Pony Twilight arched an eyebrow. "A what?" she asked in confusion.

"Here." Rainbow Dash said, getting up with her phone in hand to show Pony Twilight what a grenade was.

While everyone waited, Sunset thought about everything that had happened. She felt extremely guilty about what had been happening. No one deserved to be hurt like they did. Not Applejack, not Sci-Twi, not Pinkie, not even Trixie. 'Well, I mean...' Sunset stopped that train of thought in its tracks. 'Did Trixie deserve it?" Sunset asked herself. She bit her lip lightly as she thought. On one hand Trixie was arrogant and irritating, and that punch may have pounded into her head that she is no better then anyone else; on the other hand, breaking Trixie's jaw was a bit harsh. 'Whatever. I'll figure it later.' Sunset concluded as she saw Rainbow Dash and Pony Twilight finish what they were doing.

Rainbow took her phone back and returned to her spot in the room, while Pony Twilight dawned a look of understanding. "Okay, yeah. That's pretty much what it would look like if we waited and the pendant exploded, though with a little less fire. As for the magic released upon exploding, it would just go to the nearest stable storage space. Most likely one of you guys." she gestured the rainbooms.

"Now," Pony Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash with a smile. "we can go."

"YES!!!!" Rainbow shouted as she jumped up. She immediately sped for the door in a flash of multicolored light.

Pony Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head, a faint smile on her lips. "Alright girls. Let's go." she said, before everyone got up and walked out of Sunset's bedroom.

About a half-hour later they were all inside Applejack’s bedroom. They were all sitting in front of a TV while AJ prepared her playstation 4.

While AJ was setting up the game, Sunset looked around and took in the sight of Applejack's bedroom. The room was quite large, though this wasn't very surprising to Sunset, given that Applejack lived on a farm. There was a dresser on the far right with four drawers, presumably for each different item of clothing. Behind Sunset was Applejack's bed; a twin size, to be exact, with blankets layed somewhat neatly on top. As Sunset was observing the room, her eyes fell on Pony Twilight and she noticed something...odd.

"Princess?" Sunset asked.

The aforementioned equestrian princess blinked a few times before looking away from Applejack, who was still setting up the game, and looked to Sunset. "Yes?" she answered.

Sunset gesture Pony Twilight forehead. "Where's your crown?"

Pony Twilight arched an eyebrow, confused. After a second, her eyes widened in understanding. "Oh! I had to give the Element of Magic back to the Tree of Harmony." she arched an eyebrow again. "Didn't I write to you about it a while back?" she asked.

Sunset shook her head. "No, I don't think you did."

Pony Twilight nodded her head in acknowledgment. "Hmm. I must have forgotten, what with how busy I am as a princess. I'll have Spike make a note to remind me to write to you about it later."

Sunset nodded. "Okay. I'll look forward to it."

Both girls looked back to Applejack in time for her say, "Alright y'all. Ah got it set up. Let's play." Applejack adjusted her position on the floor so everyone could see and she was comfortable.

AJ pressed a few buttons on the controller and the system whirled to life. After a second a title appeared on the TV screen. “Grand Theft Auto 7” it read.

AJ began to play the game, explaining stuff about it the whole time. “This is easily one of the most violent video games out there. You can do whatever ya want.”

Sunset watched with rapt attention, as over the next five minutes, Applejack made her character place a bomb on a truck, steal a jet plane, then fly the plane into the truck, the ensuing crash making a loud explosion, AJ calling out, "YAHOO!" as it happened.

Applejack turned to Sunset, who was staring almost blankly at the screen. "With the amount of messed up crap you can in this game, Ah'm nearly one hundred percent sure you'll be able to act on all the heinous and destructive impulses you've been stomping down since the Fall Formal."

Applejack paused the game she Sunset didn't answer her. "Sunset?" she asked, waving a hand in front of Sunset's face. "Are ya okay?"

Sunset was not okay. Only now was she grasping what exactly her friends wanted her to do. Give up everything, and go straight back to her old ways. Sunset had had a vague idea of what was gonna happen when it was suggested back at her house, but never actually give it a second thought...until now. For a year now, Sunset had stomped down every, single, negative impulse. Stomped them down so hard she swore her ankles were hurting. Sunset had promised herself she would never go back to the way things were. Not just for herself, but for her friends. For Friendship itself.

But now...as Sunset fully grasped what she was being asked to do...all those backed up feelings, that she had stomped down for so long...Sunset could feel it clawing and crawling its way back up to the surface. This time however, Sunset was helpless to stop it.

At this point Applejack had backed away with everyone else, understanding what was happening in Sunset's head. They could tell almost exactly what was going as they watched Sunset's eyes go from the kind and caring eyes that they had come to enjoy, to the same cruel ones that they had feared for years prior, pupils shrinking to pinpricks.

Sunset was shivering. She felt at war with herself...and was losing. She could feel herself almost drowning, but at the same time, felt like she could dance around on the spot as if she had waited for a long time to go to an amusement park, and was about to go.

Then, a little voice made itself heard in Sunset's head. The voice sounded like her own, but it a teasing undertone to it. 'Come on.' the voice said. 'Stop fighting this.'

'B-but-' Sunset thought back.

'Come oooonnn.' the voice said back, almost whining. 'You've been fighting this for literally a year, and look where it's got you; so wound up you barely think straight without your magic going haywire and hurting someone.'

Sunset gulped.

'On top of that, your friends are asking you to do this.' the voice continued. 'This is to help you, and your friends know that. Besides...you know you want to...'

Sunset licked her suddenly rock-dry lips, and looked at Applejack; her pinprick eyes digging into AJ's. "Applejack?" Sunset asked slowly.

Applejack returned Sunset's rather frightening gaze and answered. "Yes?"

Sunset took a breath. "Are you absolutely sure that you won't be hurt by the things I will say, or do?" she asked slowly.

"Well," Applejack answered just as slowly. "we know that this is going to help ya in the long run. We're gonna try to ignore the things you'll be sayin', but..."Applejack leaned forward a bit. "...if ya could try and keep what ya say a little quiet, that would be, greatly appreciated...at least until we're outta your earshot anyway."

There it was...the final lock broken.

Without warning, Sunset jumped up, ran over to Applejack and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Everyone gasped in fear and shock at the sudden hostility. Sunset leaned close to Applejack's face. "Give...me...that...controller...now" she growled.

Applejack, thoroughly frightened and unable to speak, just dropped the controller and the ground, landing with a thud.

"Thank you." Sunset said, her voice virtually devoid of any emotion. "Now get...out."

Sunset let go of Applejack who fell to the ground. Applejack took one look at Pony Twilight, who looked to the rest of the terrified rainbooms and everyone immediately scrambled out of the room.

Everybody ran downstairs, eager to get away from Sunset, and gathered in the living room. Everyone was slightly out of breath from the sudden running.

Everyone sat on the couch and caught their breath. After a minute, Applejack spoke up. "That just happened." she said, adjusting the collar of her shirt.

"T-that was scary." Fluttershy said quietly.

"That's an understatement." Sci-Twi added.

"What do we do now?" Rarity asked as she looked to Pony Twilight.

"Well Rarity, we wait." Pony Twilight answered.

There was silence for a minute before it was broken by Pony Twilight. "So, uh, how has the Trixie incident affected the school?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash was the one who answered. “School is going on as normal, but Luna and Celestia aren’t going to let any new students in until we solve our issues. Doesn’t want Sunset to come back to school with new students, only to have one of their bones broken by Sunset. At least, that’s what she said.”

Pony Twilight nodded. "Hmm." she said in slight surprise. "That's a little much, isn't it?"

Rainbow nodded back. "True...but she's gotta think of everyone, not just Sunset. With Sunset's magic going going crazy Luna and Celestia didn't want to risk more students getting hurt. I guess it's...um..." Rainbow put a hand on her chin for a moment. "...the lesser of two evils."

Pony Twilight smiled. "I understand. I've had to make decisions like that before."

Over in the Canterlot safe house for the Assassins, Velvet Breeze was on the phone giving a status report the Mentor Steel Shine.

“Apparently there was an injury at school so new students aren’t getting in until the issue resolves itself.” she told her Mentor.

“I see. This is good. It gives you time to familiarize yourself with the area, as well as the P.O.E equipment. Detectors, analyzers, etcetera. Though you should have done that over the week.” Mentor Steel Shine replied.

Velvet nodded her head. “I did a little exploring when I first got here but just enough to find the kitchen and bedroom. I didn’t explore outside. I do know where the P.O.E stuff is, but didn’t use it.”

On the other end back at the bureau, Mentor Steel Shine arched an eyebrow. “Only a little? What have you been doing for the past week?” she asked, surprised that Velvet didn’t think to explore.

Back at the safe house Velvet was a little embarrassed by her Mentor’s tone. “I’m sorry! I just didn’t think to do so.”

She heard Mentor Steel Shine sigh. “Well, you should do that now before you get to school. Remember, you’re looking any sign of the Piece of Eden, so you need to get used to using the equipment.”

Velvet nodded her head again. “Okay. I’m sorry again.”

Steel Shine waved her hand. “It’s alright. This is your first mission, and a big one at that. I expected some mistake at some point. Remember what I said earlier?”

“Anticipate.” they both said at the same time.

Steel Shine smiled. “Exactly. I don’t expect you to be perfect, so don’t expect perfection from yourself.”

Velvet smiled back, as if Steel Shine could see her. “Okay. I’ll get exploring right away.”

Steel Shine nodded her head. “Right. Bye.”

“Bye.” Velvet said back into the phone before hanging up.

She put down the phone and sighed. “Well, I guess I’d better explore more.”

And with that, she began to make her way throughout the safe house. It was a nice looking building. Had to be at least two thousand square meters all around. In the living room there was a couch and a love seat, situated in front of a medium sized TV. plasma screen. There was a coffee table in between the seats and the TV.

The kitchen was standard, with a fridge and sink to wash dishes. There was a couple of cupboards to hold an average amount of dishes. Velvet continued to walk around. In behind a door in the kitchen, there was a computer room with at least three computers inside.

From the living room there was a set of stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a bathroom to the immediate right. At the top of the stairs there was a hallway with rooms on both sides. It was clear the safe house was meant to hold at least five people as each of these rooms were bedrooms. Velvet had picked the room closest to the stairs. It was convenient as it was also closest to the bathroom.

Velvet went downstairs back to the living room. The dining room connected the living room and the kitchen. There was a door at the far end of the dining room. Velvet walked over to the door and opened it, walking outside. In the back of the building was a small wooded area. A little to the left of the door was a small shed. Velvet entered the shed to reveal a bunch of wood and metal plates with targets on them. ‘Probably for a little bit of training.’ Velvet thought to herself. She would make use of that later. Supporting Velvet’s theory was that fact that the trees had holes in them. Too small to be bullet holes, so they had to be from nailing targets to the trees. There was also what was left of a target on the ground at the bottom of the tree.

Velvet went back inside and up the stairs to where all the bedrooms were. She entered one. The first thing Velvet noticed was a rug, partially lift up. A shape lay under it. Curious, Velvet lifted the rug the rest of the way and revealed a hatch. She lifted the handle on the hatched and opened it. Inside the hatch was a dark hole. Velvet couldn’t even see the bottom it was so dark. Velvet looked around the room and saw a small panel on the wall. She pressed the panel and it opened, revealing a small space with a piece of paper. She took the paper out of the compartment and looked at it. “These are blueprints for the building.” Velvet said to herself. She scanned the blueprints until she found the room she was in. She also found the hatch and her jaw dropped. It turned out that under the hatch, was a network of tunnels that extended all over the place; each leading to what Velvet supposed was other safe houses, but like a maze. Twists and turns and dead ends littered the place. The intent was clear. It was made to confused Templars or other attackers while the Assassin or Assassins escaped.

Velvet continued to look at the maze. “That explains why the training area is outside.”

She rolled up the blueprints and placed them back in the compartment. “I’ll memorize that later.” she said as she closed the compartment, hiding it once again.

Velvet looked down at the open escape hatch. She looked into the dark hole and shivered. “Fuck, that’s dark.” she said as she closed the hatch. She wasn’t normally afraid of the dark, but that hole was nerve-wracking, to say the least. She pulled the rug over it again, concealing from the world until it is needed.

Velvet exited the bedroom and made her way downstairs to the living room. She sighed. “Well, guess I’d better figured out how work the P.O.E equipment.”

With that, Velvet went to the computer room, opened a compartment and pulled out a small device with a screen on it.

The P.O.E energy detector and tracker, was simple to use and Velvet figured out how to work it in no time. What was curious about it was its shape. It sort of bore the resemblance of a handheld game system. ‘Probably a 3ds or something. Maybe XL.” thought Velvet. ‘Maybe I can use the look of it to my advantage. Make it appear like a 3ds. Then, civilians will be none the wiser.’ she thought while smiling at her cleverness.

Velvet put the device back in the compartment and closed it. She then stood up and stretched her back, sighing after hearing it pop.

“Well, that’s the entire property explored.” said Velvet finally. Not sure what to do, Velvet checked the time. After seeing that it was one o’clock she decided to get something to eat. Then she would check out that training area outside; see if she can get some training in before she started school.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! that's it for chapter 5! I know it was a little on the short side, but here's the thing: I have the next chapter already written, but it appears fairly long, quite possibly around my average of 5000 words. The next chapter and this one were at first one single chapter, but I had decided to split them because the chapter would have been really long and I know that can sometimes turn people away. So yeah, there's my explanation.

Umm...not really much else to say. Umm...like, or comment if you enjoyed. If you find any mistakes that I might have missed, reveal them to me in the comments and I will fix them right away...

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now! See you guys next update! (which will be coming sooner then this one!) BYEEE!!!! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 6: check-up

Chapter 6: check-up

Applejack and the rest of the rainbooms were walking down the street to Sunset’s house. The past three days had been marvelous. There were absolutely no magical outbursts. On top of that, Sunset was behaving even nicer than before. A lot nicer.

Two days ago, AJ had received a call from vice principal Luna, who explained that she wanted to check on Sunset sometime in the future, to see if her problem had been solved. She said she would have told Sunset herself, but Sunset wasn’t answering her phone or texts. After reassuring Luna that Sunset was okay, Applejack agreed to have herself and the Rainbooms inform Sunset of the upcoming visit and to prepare.

Now here they were, going to Sunset’s house, after finally having time in their days to due so, to tell Sunset that vice principal Luna will be coming to see her. They also wanted to see Sunset anyways, as they were also curious as to why Sunset wasn’t answering her phone, or texts.

When they got to Sunset’s house, they stopped at the front porch. Without warning, Pinkie Pie dashed forward and pounded on the door loudly. “SUNSET SHIMMER!!! IT’S YOUR FRIENDS!!!!” she cried, grinning wildly.

Applejack quickly put her hand over Pinkie’s mouth. “Pinkie, it’s nine in the mornin’! Do ya wanna wake up the entire street!” she said, only raising her voice enough to ensure she was taken seriously.

AJ took her hand away from Pinkie’s mouth. Pinkie blushed a bit. “Heh. Sorry Applejack.” she said, her voice going back to normal volume.

AJ smiled. “Ah forgive ya. Just don’t go yellin’ out to the world okay?”

Pinkie nodded.

Applejack walked up and knocked on Sunset’s door three times. “Sunset?” she called. “Are ya home?”

“Well that’s rude. We come over to Sunset’s to visit and she’s not home.” rarity commented upon receiving no answer from the door, her hands on her hips and a disappointed expression on her face.

“Hold on now.” AJ said as she arched an eyebrow at rarity. “Like ah said to Pinkie, it’s nine in the morning. Sunset could be asleep or just wakin’ up.”

Rarity pursed her lips. “I suppose so.”

Applejack nodded. “Just wait a minute.”

Just then, Applejack thought she heard something. “Huh?” She said. She looked up and heard the noise again. It was coming from inside the house. “Sunset?” she called again and knocked on the door, this time out of concern.

After receiving no answer again. Applejack decided she wanted to see what was going on. She tried turning the doorknob. Seeing that the door was unlocked, AJ turned the doorknob and opened the door.

“Come on ya’ll.” Applejack beckoned and everybody followed her in.

“Sunset?!” AJ called again, before hearing the noise again. It was louder this time, and it sounded like it was coming from upstairs.

“Sunset?!” she called again as she began to follow the noise upstairs, everybody else, following close behind.

The noise was getting louder, the further they all went upstairs. It now sounded like bangs.

“What do you think it is?” Pinkie piped up.

Applejack shrugged her shoulders. “Ah don’t know.”

“I hope Sunset is okay.” Fluttershy squeaked.

AJ looked at her with a reassuring smile. “Ah’m sure she’s fine.”

With one final step, they reached Sunset’s bedroom door. The noise was very loud now, and Applejack was sure she heard someone giggling crazily.

Reluctantly, Applejack knocked on the door. “Sunset? Are ya in there?!” she called. She didn’t even have to wait a second before she got a response.

“DIE APPLEJACK YOU BITCH!!! DIE!!! HAHAHA!!! WOOOOOO!”

Applejack jumped back in shock, hurt and anger at hearing those words coming out of what had to be Sunset’s mouth; and clearly directed at AJ, no less. But then her emotion changed to confusion when a very loud explosion sound ripped through the air, scaring Fluttershy and making almost her fall down the stairs. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash caught her before she fell.

Applejack recovered from the shock and moved back to the door. She banged on it very hard this time. “Sunset! What the hell are ya doing in there?!” she called out loudly, with no small amount of anger. AJ may have been curious as to what made Sunset call her that, but being referred to as a bitch still stung. A lot.

As soon as Applejack had finished calling out, the banging noises from inside the room immediately stopped, then started again, but this time they were much more varied. What was also curious to Applejack was the series of small not-so-whispered “fuck fuck fuck” coming from in the room.

Just then, the doorknob twisted and the door opened, but only slightly. Sunset’s head poked out, just her head. There was a massive blush on her cheeks, her hair appeared disheveled, and her eyes were frantic in nature.

Sunset looked at Applejack, who had an unhappy expression on her face and giggled. “Hehe...uuhhhhh...give me sec.” Sunset said in an overly sweet voice, before closing the door.

The noises resumed again, but this time they sounded like clothes ruffling around. There was a large bump sound and AJ heard Sunset squeal “Fuck! That hurt!” before the ruffling noises started again.

After about five minutes of the Rainbooms somewhat patiently waiting outside Sunset’s room, the door finally opened.

Sunset stood at the door way with a broad smile on her face and her arms spread out in a surprised gesture. “FRIENDS!” she shouted. “What a pleasant surprise!”

Applejack didn’t respond. Instead, she put her hands in her hips, pursed her lips, and rose an eyebrow.

Sunset noticed this. Her eyes immediately lower in slight guilt. “S-sorry you had to hear that.”

Applejack bow her head and sighed. “Just let us in. We need to talk to ya.”

Sunset nodded. “Oh yeah. Of course.” she said as she opened her bedroom door her friends to come in.

Applejack and the rest of the rainbooms walked into Sunset’s room and Applejack gasped. The room looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Clothes were everywhere. The bed sheets clearly hadn’t been made in a while. There wasn’t any garbage on the floor though.

They all made their way across the room looking at everything with interest. Applejack sat on the mess that was Sunset’s bed and Sunset sat as well. Everyone else sat on the floor.

No one was really sure how to start the conversation so Sunset decided to make the first move. “So…” she started. “What are you guys doing here?”

Applejack answered. “We wanted to check on ya. You weren’t answering any of our calls.”

Sunset looked down for a moment and put her hand on her neck. “Yeah. Sorry about that. Guess I got too wrapped up in the game to notice.”

Applejack stood up. “Yeah.” she went over to the game console and picked up a controller, almost like she was inspecting it for damage.

While she was doing this, AJ spoke up. “Ah gotta ask ya Sunset.”

“Mm?” Sunset said in response.

“Did you seriously play this game non-stop, every time you came home?” AJ asked with an almost disbelieving tone.

Sunset giggled awkwardly and looked down. "Y-Yeah." she simply said.

AJ pursed her lips. "Wow." she said quietly. she put the controller back down on the floor and looked back up at Sunset. "Well..." she started. "Ah can't say ya aren't enthusiastic. And Ah can't say it hasn't helped ya," AJ sat down on the bed next to Sunset again. "but have ya ever considered tonin' it down a bit?"

Sunset arched an eyebrow. "Why would I want to do that? You said it yourself; it's helping me."

"It's called video game addiction Sunset." Applejack replied. "When ya play to much video games, eventually, ya get to a point where couldn't stop, even if ya wanted to." AJ looked at Sunset with a concerned face. "Video games are a good venting tool when used in moderation, but too much, and you'll find your life destroyed."

Sunset's eyes went wide in slight shock. "Oh...well I guess toning it down just a little bit wouldn't hurt." she finally said.

Applejack smiled. "Glad to hear it Sunset."

Rainbow Dash, eager to get a move on with the real reason for being there, coughed. "Applejack, remember to other reason we came to see Sunset?"

"Huh?" Applejack thought for a moment before snapping her fingers. "Oh that's right, ah forgot." she looked to Sunset. "Sunset, vice principal Luna called me recently because she couldn't get a hold of you. She said she wanted to check on ya, to see if you're okay comin' back to school. Said something about it bein' wrong to keep you out of school, but wanted to ensure the safety of all the students."

Sunset nodded her head in understanding. "Do you know when she's coming?" she asked AJ.

"She said she would come by sometime within the week," AJ started, "and that was three days ago, so," she thought for a second, "she should be any day now."

Just then, there was a knock at the front door downstairs.

Applejack and Sunset both looked in the direction of the knock. "That could be her." said AJ.

Sunset looked back to Applejack for a moment before getting and heading downstairs, her friends following behind.

Sunset got downstairs and immediately approached the door. she looked through the spy glass on the door to see who it was and found that Applejack was right; it was vice principal Luna. she was standing on the front porch, waiting patiently for the door to be opened.

Sunset turned the door knob and opened the door. Luna smiled and Sunset smiled back. "Hello Sunset." Luna greeted.

"Hello vice principal Luna." Sunset greeted back.

Luna gestured inside the house. "may I come in?" she asked politely.

Sunset nodded her head. "Of course." she said as she moved out the way, for Luna to enter.

Just inside the house was the living room. it was plain, moderately furnished; it was clear Sunset didn't want to be overly fashionable, but liked to be comfortable. There was a couch backed up against the wall with a chair in the same style next to it, probably used for reading in comfort.

In front of the couch was a coffee table, made of a light colored wood, smooth to the touch. In front of that, at the other end of the living room, was a TV. Medium sized, flat-screen, not too expensive, but not cheap either.

Luna walked in and Sunset followed close behind. Luna gestured over to the couch. "May I sit down?" she asked, not wanted to impose.

Sunset nodded. "Yeah." she said.

They both sat down on either side and got comfortable. Luna looked to Sunset's friends. "You guys should sit down as well. this conversation may take a few minutes." she said.

Rarity moved to sit on the chair but Pinkie Pie beat her to it, so she huffed and just remained standing by the kitchen entrance. Applejack opted to stay standing. Rainbow and Twilight stood as well. Fluttershy went and grabbed a chair from the dining room beside the kitchen, and placed it in the middle of the room, left of the bottom of the stairs, where AJ, Rainbow and Twilight stood.

Luna wasn't lying when she said the conversation might take a few minutes. it was a good half-hour before the conversation ended. it took a little longer then expected because Sunset had revealed to Applejack that she had found a hack for Grand Theft Auto 7 that allowed the changing of NPC skins. Sunset had changed the skins to be exact replicas of all of Sunset's friends and that being the reason why she called Applejack a bitch; she was talking to the game, and not her. After an awkward moment, Applejack forgave Sunset and they continued the conversation.

"So," Luna started, "Do you think that you'll be able to go to school now? With this new venting strategy I mean." she asked.

Sunset nodded her head. "Yes. I'm fairly certain this will solve the problems I've been having."

Luna smiled at this. "I'm glad to hear it. I'm sorry to have had keep you out of school, but me and my sister had to ensure that the students were safe. I hope you understand." she said, sympathetically.

Sunset nodded her head. "You have no reason to be sorry vice principal Luna. I completely understand." she said reassuringly.

Luna let out a breath. "Thanks. I needed to hear that."

Sunset smiled. "You're welcome."

Once the sort of tender moment had passed, Luna moistened her lips. "So, I guess that's it then."

Sunset nodded. "Uhuh." she said as she and Luna stood up. "So, when do you want me to come back to school?" she asked.

"The upcoming Monday would be best." she replied. "There's a lot of paperwork to be done about you and what has transpired, and I'd like to get it done before you come back. Don't want any complications when you come back. Okay?" Luna finished as she approached the door.

Sunset nodded. "Okay. I'll see you then." she said.

Luna nodded back. "Alright." she said as she turned the door knob and opened the door, revealing the sunny outside. Luna gave a small wave goodbye. "Bye Sunset."

Sunset waved back. "Bye."

And with that, the door closed, leaving everyone in silence.

"Ah guess that would be all our cues to leave," Applejack started, "but before we all leave, ah got one question for ya Sunset."

Sunset shrugged. "shoot." she said.

Applejack looked right at Sunset. "Where, the absolute hell, did you get an NPC skin change hack?" she asked in a serious tone.

Sunset, wondering where Applejack was going with this, answered, "The internet."

"Oh." Applejack replied, nodding her head in thought.

Sunset cocked her head to the side. "Why do you ask?"

Applejack looked at Sunset again. "Because Granny Smith has done a lot of things over the last few days that have really pissed me off." she answered matter-of-factually.

Sunset arched an eyebrow and smirked, almost laughing. "Really?" she asked.

Applejack answered immediately. "Yup. Ah wanna blow her up."

That got silence from everybody. After about three seconds, Sunset couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. For some reason, she found Applejack's admission really funny.

"Well, at least she's honest with herself." Rarity said quietly to herself as Sunset continued to laugh.

After a few seconds, Sunset calmed down and wiped away a tear that had gathered from laughing so hard. "Alright AJ." she said as she took out her phone. "I know this site on the internet that has the information for a bunch of really good hacks for GTA 7." Sunset typed something on her phone. "I'll send you the link now."

Applejack took out her phone and found the link to the site. She smiled at Sunset and gave her a thumbs-up. "Alright, ah got it. Thanks Sunset."

Sunset just waved nonchalantly. "No problem."

After that, the rest of the Rainbooms began to file out of the house, each one saying goodbye, except for Pinkie Pie, who gave Sunset a chokingly tight hug.

Applejack was the last one to leave. She turned to Sunset to give her her goodbyes. "Bye Sunset, ah'll see ya at school on Monday."

Sunset smiled and waved back. "Bye. good luck blowing up grandma." she said, giggling a little bit as she did so.

Applejack giggled a bit to. "Thanks. see ya." she said.

Applejack closed the door with a thud, leaving Sunset in silence. She let out a breath and went into the kitchen, wanting to make a PB and J sandwich for breakfast.

After a few minutes, Sunset came back into the living room, sandwich on-plate and in-hand, and set it down on the coffee table. Sunset decided to put on the TV. After flipping through the channels, she settled on some cartoons and started eating her breakfast.

While she was eating, Sunset's thoughts drifted to when she punched Trixie. A pang of guilt surged through her. She thought about what the cop said to her and she began to worry. What if Trixie decided to press charges? Sunset didn't want to end up in jail, even though she knew that she probably deserved it. How would she ever talk to her friends again? Even worse, what will happen if some magical disaster happens? Sunset wouldn't be of much help if she was in jail.

Sunset took in a shuddering breath. 'Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.' she thought finally. she took another bite of her sandwich, stomping down those thoughts for now. Sunset just continued eating, and hoped Trixie will have a bit of mercy.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! That's the end of chapter 6! Wow, things are starting to move along aren't they? As always, like or comment if you enjoyed. I've edited the story as best as I could, but if you, as the reader, find any other mistakes I might have missed, feel completely free to inform me of them in the comments. I'm always looking for ways to improve!

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now! See you guys next update! BYEEE!!! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 7: new girl

Chapter 7: new girl

Six days later: September ninth, Wednesday

Sunset walked over to the lunch table where her friends were sitting, tray in hands.

Pinkie Pie turned around and saw her. She waved and said, with a big grin on her face, "Sunset! Over here! I saved you a seat!"

Sunset smiled, and walked a little faster. When she got to where her friends were sitting, Pinkie gestured the seat in between her and Fluttershy.

Sunset took her tray in one hand and, careful not to drop her lunch, pulled out a seat. She set her lunch tray on the table, sat in her seat and started eating her lunch.

Almost immediately after Sunset started eating, Rarity spoke up. "Well, now that everybody here, we can now start the conversations. So, how are classes everyone?"

Twilight was the first to respond. "They're going well. No homework, thought I suspect it won't be that way forever."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah. Until then I'm gonna try and see if I can try out for the teams early."

Applejack arched an eyebrow. "What makes you think they're gonna let ya do that?"

Rainbow smirked. "Because they know as well as everybody that I'm gonna dominate. What's the point in waiting if we all know the end result?" she replied.

Applejack frowned. "Just because you're good at sports doesn't mean you should get special treatment. You're gonna have to wait just like everyone else rainbow."

Rainbow Dash frowned and sighed. "I guess so." she grumbled.

Applejack smiled. "Good." she said. Applejack turned over to Pinkie. "What are you're plans for the week Pinkie?"

Pinkie grinned. "I'm ask principal Celestia if I can host a welcome party for the new students. They're coming today ya'know." she answered.

Applejack furrowed her brow. "Today? Ah thought they had already come on Monday." she said.

Sunset shook her head. "They were supposed to come on Monday, but they were delayed."

"Why?" Applejack asked.

Sunset broke into a smile and stifled a giggle. "Because Mister Discord spilled his drink on vice principal Luna. Destroyed all the papers that were supposed to get the students in."

"What? Are you serious?" Rarity asked in disbelief.

Sunset stifled another laugh. "Don't ask me. Fluttershy's the one who told me what happened." she said, gesturing the shy girl, who squeaked in surprise.

Rarity turned to Fluttershy, along with everyone else.

Fluttershy squeaked again. "Um...well..." she began. She took a breath to calm herself and continued. "Yes, it happened. I was there when mister Discord bumped into VP Luna."

Rarity's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh wow. How did Luna react?" she asked.

"Luna yelled." Fluttershy answered. "Loudly."

"I was a few classes down when it happened and heard the yelling. I swear the whole building shook when VP Luna yelled." Sunset added.

Fluttershy continued. "Luna then started hitting mister Discord on the head." Fluttershy started to giggle. "She l-looked like a grandma, the way she was ranting and chasing him down the h-hall." then she stopped giggling and looked to AJ "umm...no offence Applejack."

Applejack shook her head. "None taken. Granny Smith can get like that sometimes."

"That must have been some spectacle." Twilight commented.

"Yeah. I'd hate to be mister Discord right now." Rainbow Dash said, shuddering as she imagined being Discord in that situation.

Applejack nodded her head and decided to move on with the conversation. "So, uh, to change the subject, Sunset, how have things been going for you so far? Any problems?"

Sunset smiled brightly. "Nope! Nothing at all!" she said happily.

Applejack smiled. "That's great Sunset! No outbursts? Nothin'?"

Sunset shook her head, still smiling broadly. "Uh-uh. Not one."

Applejack nodded her head. "That's great. Are ya holdin' back on the video games?"

Sunset nodded back. "Uhuh. Just one hour a day. Like you said."

Applejack nodded her head approvingly. "Ah'm glad the strategy's workin' out for ya."

"So am I." Sunset said with small breath of relief.

A few seconds later, the bell rang and students began packing up their lunches and heading to their next classes.

As the rainbooms were putting their garbage together to be thrown out, Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Guys, I almost forgot. The new students are being introduced during the class right after lunch."

"Oh." Sunset said, a little bit surprised. "This will be interesting then."

Sunset went over to the garbage bin, and threw out everyone's garbage, earning a thanks from the rest of the rainbooms. She turned to the table and picked up her purse.

"Well, I'm off. Don't wanna be late for class and set a bad example for the new students." Sunset said.

Rarity nodded as she too grabbed her things. "Yes. You do that. It would be good to give the new students a good first impression. Will we see you at Sugarcube Corner after school?" Rarity asked.

Sunset made a finger gun and pointed to Rarity. "Definitely." she said.

With that, Sunset turned and made her way to her locker. While she was walking Sunset began to get a little nervous. The last time the school got new students, they turned out to be creatures from Equestria that tried to take over the school. Questions raced through Sunset's mind. What if they're too much for her and her friends to handle? Will she be ale to stop them? She shook her head, knocking those thoughts away. "why are you so worried? Not everything that come to this school is gonna try to kill you." she thought to herself sternly. Sunset walked a little faster, deciding that it would be best to just wait and see what happens.

About thirty seconds later, Sunset arrived at her locker. She unlocked her locker and opened it before taking out her schedule to figure out where her next class was.

After a moment, Sunset figured out her next class. "Chemistry with mister Discord. Room 26? Okay." she said to herself as she put the schedule back in her locker. Sunset placed her purse on the top shelf of her locker and proceeded to take out the required books and utensils.

Sunset turned to begin her short journey to mister Discord's class, but stopped when something caught her eye. She looked around for a moment and saw nothing. Before Sunset could brush it off as nothing she saw something at the end of the corridor. A white silhouette.

Sunset cocked her head to the side. "Hey!" she called out as she tried to get closer.

As Sunset got closer, the silhouette suddenly disappeared behind the edge of the hallway. Startled, Sunset walked a little bit faster to the edge of the hall.

Sunset turned the corner to find...

"Nothing?" Sunset said, confused as she scratched her head. "Huh. I thought for sure I saw something here."

Sunset just shrugged her shoulders and continued on to class.

Sunset was glad to find she had arrived a few minutes before class started. She walked through the doors of the chemistry class and found some students already sitting at their respective desks. Sunset walked over to her desk, placed her books and utensils on it, pulled out the chair, sat down and waited for mister Discord to arrive.

The class was the same as Sunset expected every class to be. Some of the students that were already there were sitting at their desks chatting away about whatever was on their minds, while others were just content to get their books out and wait quietly for class to start.

The walls of the classroom were littered with cheesy and cliche science and chemistry quotes from famous people. Sunset had at one point taken it upon herself to read them. She found some of them a little bit funny, but not a lot.

The white board at the front of the class was completely clear, with some markers on the teacher's desk to the left of the board. The teacher's desk was facing the classroom's entrance, straight across.

Sunset looked up to see Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy walk into the class and go to their respective seats. Rainbow sat at the seat to the left of Sunset and Fluttershy sat behind Rainbow. Sunset smiled and they smiled back.

Once rainbow and Fluttershy had sat down and taken out their things, Rainbow looked over to Sunset and said, "I wonder what the new student for this class will be like."

"Sunset shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know." she replied.

Fluttershy piped up. "I hope he is nice." she squeaked.

"Or she." Sunset added. She rearranged her books on the desk out of slight boredom. "Whatever the case, we won't know for sure until they arrive. Let's just wait and see."

After receiving a nod of agreement from Flutters and Rainbow, Sunset went back to waiting for mister Discord to arrive and the class to start.

After about five minutes of waiting Sunset heard a voice call out. "Hello class!"

She smiled as, not a second later, Discord bounced into the classroom happily, just as he always does.

"Hello class!" Discord said again.

"Hello mister Discord!" the class said back.

"Did we all have a good lunch?" Discord ask the students.

Discord smiled at the resounding "yes" and nods coming from the students.

"Excellent." he said. "Now. Before we get to today's lesson on chaos theory, I have an anouncment."

The class waited in silence for mister Discord to deliver the message.

After a moment, Discord spoke. "We will be receiving a new student today." he paused, then spoke again. "Now they would have been here two days ago, but there was a...uhhh...mishap."

Some students giggled at the mention of the word "mishap". Even Fluttershy couldn't stop herself from snickering a little bit.

Discord continued, despite the snickering. "The students' arrival was moved to today. This period in fact. Though I'm not sure when the student for this class will be arriving."

A knock on the door signaled someone's presence.

Discord jumped a little bit at the noise, as it had startled him slightly. "Oh! That could be them now." he said.

Sunset watched as mister Discord made his way to the door. She giggled along with a few more students when she saw Discord jump and say "vice principal Luna!"

Sunset tried to listen to what they were saying but eventually gave up as they were talking very quietly.

After a solid minute VP Luna and mister Discord finally stopped talking. Sunset looked up to see mister Discord, who looked a little bit nervous, walk to the front of the class.

"Okay students." he began. "I would be happy," he looked at Luna, who was standing at the entrance of the class, and nervously gulped. "To introduce our new student. Ms Velvet Breeze."

Luna stepped away from the entrance of the class and gestured inside. A second later, a girl walked in. Sunset examined the girl, and saw that she wore a white hoodie, with the hood down, and blue jeans. She wore red sneakers, slightly worn. Her skin was a kind of blue, and her hair was teal and gray, while her eyes were orange. There was a small bag on her shoulder.

The girl, apparently named Velvet Breeze stepped to the front of the class. "Hello everyone. I'm glad I have been the chance to learn with you. I hope I can make lots of friends at this school." she said with a smile.

Sunset looked Velvet in the eyes they made eye contact for a split second. At that moment Sunset felt a shiver go down her spine. 'What was that?' she asked herself. Velvet's eyes left Sunset's and the shiver went away. Velvet's eye continued to pan over the class.

After a moment, mister Discord cleared his throat. "Well, Ms Breeze we're glad to have you. Now if you would please find an empty seat and sit down. It doesn't matter where."

Velvet looked to the teacher and nodded. "Yes sir." she said. Velvet immediately went to the seat one row in front of Sunset, but at the other side of the class, two desks behind the teacher's desk. She took out a textbook, notepad and pencil from her bag and waited for the teacher to start.

The rest of the class went on as usual. Velvet was taking notes like everyone else as the teacher spoke and didn't disturb anyone. Though for Sunset, class was a bit of a blur. She couldn't stop thinking about how she felt when she and velvet made eye contact. It felt like velvet was staring into her soul or something. Halfway through class, sunset made a mental note to tell her friends about after school.

The ringing of the bell signaled the end of the current class and onto the next one. Velvet slide her pencil into the spine of her notepad, closed it and her textbook, then placed them in her bag. She got up and slung her bag on her shoulder, then pushed in her chair and made her way up to the front of the class. She bid the teacher farewell and walked out of the class.

Velvet went to the locker she was assigned before she started class. She unlocked it, placed her books into the locker, and took out the textbook for next class. She put it in her bag.

By now some of the students had filtered out of the halls. Velvet looked around to see if anybody was watching her. After seeing that there were no eyes on her, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the P.O.E device. Before she started school, Velvet had taken it upon herself to make the device look more like a game console, as to not garner too much unwanted attention.

Velvet flipped the device on and watched the screen light up. The screen was a green color, with a line sweeping across the screen in a circle. On the bottom right corner of the screen there was a box the with words "Piece of Eden not found" inside.

After a second of examining the screen, Velvet pursed her lips. "Nothing yet." a quick check of time told velvet she was almost late for class. "Oh well. I'll have to search the area after school. For now, I need to get to class."

With that, Velvet turned off the device and set about getting to her next class.

Sunset was slurping on a strawberry smoothie. She was sitting on a stool with her friends at Surgarcube Corner, discussing what she had felt in chemistry class.

"It felt like being x-rayed or something. It's hard to describe." Sunset said as her friends slurped on their drinks.

Rarity nodded in understanding. "I see. What did you say her name was again?" she asked, before taking a sip of her banana and rasberry smoothie.

"Velvet breeze." Sunset replied.

Rarity nodded again. "Well, she certainly seems interesting." she commented.

Sunset leaned back slightly at the reaction she was receiving. "Guys, aren't you listening?" she said. "I mean, what if she-" Sunset was about to say before Applejack cut her off.

"Sunset, not every new student is some magical creature from Equestria, bent on taking over the school. Maybe you're just worried, and that's why you got that feelin' when she looked at ya." Applejack said in a firm, yet comforting manner.

Sunset arched an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to object, but thought better of it. "Told ya so." a voice in her mind said.

At that moment, the door for Sugarcube Corner opened, and a boy stepped through. He was wearing a black collared shirt and blue jeans. There was a shirt pocket on his left breast. Just below the pocket, a red pin in the shape of a cross that had gold outlines, hung on the shirt. The boy had dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and his skin was a dull green color. He had a medium build, as some muscle could be seen on his arms.

Rainbow Dash watched him walk up to the counter and sit on a stool a few seats down. She turned to Applejack. "Hey, isn't that the kid from math? Jason Wood was it?" she asked.

Applejack smiled and nodded. "Uhuh. That's Jason alright." she answered. Then she waved over to him. "Hi Jason!" she called out.

Jason looked down from the menu he was observing and over to applejack. He smiled and dipped his head slightly in greeting. "Applejack." he said before going back to looking back to the menu.

Applejack turned back to Sunset. "So ya Sunset. Maybe you just need to relax a little bit." she said.

Sunset nodded. "Maybe." she agreed, reluctantly. She still couldn't shake that feeling. Even now it felt as though someone was watching her.

Applejack smiled. "Glad to hear it." she said.

Applejack looked at the clock on the wall. "Well, Ah'd best be off. Big Mac's lookin' to do some work on the farm and asked me to come over some time after school." she said, standing up.

Sunset looked at the clock as well. "I'll go home and get some supper."

Applejack nodded. "Alright. See ya tomorrow."

With that, the rainbooms left the building, waved goodbye and went their separate ways.

Jason wood finished the simple mixed fruit shake he was drinking, stood up and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a five dollar bill and placed it on the counter before walking out of the building, the cross on his shirt shimmering in the light.

Bonbon and Lyra were talking when all of a sudden, a girl with a white hoodie got up from beside Lyra and another patron and walked out. Bonbon looked at Lyra, then at the door, then back to Lyra. Lyra shrugged and they continued their conversation.

Velvet breeze had just exited Sugarcube Corner. She was sitting on the roof of the building. She reach into her hoodie pocket and pulled out the P.O.E detector and looked at the screen.

The screen read "Peice of Eden energy recognized". Then a blip appeared on the screen. Velvet looked at the blip, then looked around. After a second she turned her head in one direction. She looked down that street and saw a girl walking down it before taking a right turn, disappearing from sight.

Velvet noted that the girl bore some resemblance the creatures in one of the pictures she saw. Similar figure, but with a reversed color scheme. She then looked in another direction and saw someone who she overheard was named Jason Wood. "That's not good. I'm gonna have to be careful." she said to herself, before looking back to where she saw the girl.

Velvet thought for a moment. "Sunset is her name? I have a feeling I'll need to keep an eye on her if I want some data on the P.O.E anytime soon." Velvet said to herself as began to make the journey to the safe house.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! That's it for chapter 7! Sorry it took a while for me to post. I had to make a little change to the plot. Nothing to serious. Don't worry, I'm not gonna stray to far from the source material. As always if you find anything wrong with the chapter, feel free to comment, or give a like if you enjoyed.

Anyway......That's all I have to say for now! See you guys next update! BYEEE!!! :pinkiecrazy:

chapter 8: Awkward introductions

Chapter 8: Awkward introductions

"Okay class turned the page." said Mrs. Harshwhinny.

The class groaned in complaint, but a sharp glare, shut them up quickly. Sunset Shimmer turned to page, as the instructed and looked up to the teacher as she continued another one of her boring lectures.

Despite Applejacks advice, Sunset just couldn't stop thinking about that Velvet girl. It just felt like something was...off somehow. Sunset decided not to bring up her suspisions to AJ again, because know her, Sunset's suspisions would be ridden off as "nonsense" and AJ would scold Sunset.

"Sunset?!" came a sharp voice.

Sunset snapped out her thoughts and looked up to Mrs Harshwhinny looking at her with a stern and slightly concerned face.

Sunset saw out of the corners of her eyes that Rainbow Dash and a few other students were looking at her.

"Yes?" Sunset asked.

"Are you doing your work?" Mrs. Harshwhinny asked, with an arched eyebrow.

Sunset hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. Just...have a lot on my mind right now." she answered.

Mrs. Harshwhinny closed her eyes and nodded in understanding. She opened her eyes again and spoke. "Well Miss Shimmer, if you don't complete your reading assignment in this class you'll have it for homework. Now, finish your thought and get back to reading please." she said sternly.

Sunset briskly nodded and looked at her book again.

Mrs Harshwhinny looked around to see some of the students still looking at Sunset. She snapped her fingers and said, "Never mind what Sunset's doing. Get back to work."

Meanwhile in another class a few halls away, Velvet Breeze was thinking about her next move.

She chewed on her pen cap lightly as she thought. "The Templars are already here. This is not good. Fortunately, it seems they are unaware of me, which gives me a little breathing room."

Velvet looked around at the other students. She saw that most of them were doing their work quietly, while some of them were on their phones. The teacher was going around helping the students as best she could, while trying to keep the ones that were on their phones, off.

She continued to think. "Still. I need to get something on the P.O.E." Velvet narrowed her eyes." that Sunset girl. There's something about her. She triggered the P.O.E.D. Why?"

Velvet took her pen out of her mouth and began tapping it on her cheek lightly. "I need to get closer to that Sunset girl if I'm going to find any answers." Velvet's eyes widened as she got an idea. "Perhaps if I started a friendship. Yeah. That'll work. Besides I don't think anyone would appreciate some stranger following them around all the time."

Velvet smiled lightly as this was a win-win for her. She had wanted to make friends here anyway. Now, she had an excuse.

Velvet looked at her paper. "Geography knowledge test", it read. "I'll approach Sunset at lunch. That'll start it. I'll just make it up from there, as I go along."

Just then, Mentor Steel Shine's voice made itself known in her mind. "Take care who you trust Velvet. Those who do not volunteer in our Struggle, should not be forced to fight it." the voice said.

Velvet frowned. She continued to examine her paper, and hoped she could keep her Assassin identity a secret, lest she drag her friend or friends into a war they did ask for.

Sunset Shimmer scratched an itch that appeared behind her ear.

She stood in line, awaiting her turn to pick out her lunch. She held the lunch tray in her hand as she looked around. In first period, Sunset had decided that the only way to know for sure if Velvet was a threat or not was through friendship. So here she was, looking for Velvet Breeze in the cafeteria. A part of her hoped that Velvet wasn't some magical creature, but their was still the lingering doubt in her mind; in the form of that strange feeling that Sunset had gotten the previous day.

Sunset looked around, hoping to find a hint of teal or white. She looked to her left near the back of the cafeteria and saw her friends eating their lunch.

Rarity looked up from her meal and made eye-contact with Sunset. Sunset saw Rarity give a questioning face, and mouthed "one minute" to her before gesturing the empty tray she was holding. Rarity gave a nod and went back to her lunch.

After a minute or two of moving slowly in line and unsuccessfully looking for Velvet, Sunset sighed, picked a the ladle in front of her and proceeded to scoop up a helping of mac and cheese, before moving a little bit in the line and grabbing a bit of bread and some apple juice.

Satisfied with what she had chosen for her meal, Sunset made her way through the cafeteria, to the table where her friends sat. She sat down in between Twilight and Pinkie Pie, and began eating.

As usual, Applejack was the first one to strike conversation. "So how's everything been goin' with ya'll?" she asked openly.

Rarity flipped her hair to a more comfortable position. "It's been going well. It turns out that Jason Wood is in my art class."

AJ nodded in understanding, while Rarity continued. "We spoke a little bit, just a simple 'hi. How are you?' then that's it."

AJ turned her head to see Sunset looking around the cafeteria. Curious, she spoke up. "You expectin' someone Sunset?"

Sunset turned her head toward AJ. "Hm? Oh. I'm actually looking for Velvet Breeze. I'm hoping to get to know her better."

AJ nodded. "Ah. Any luck with that?"

Sunset frowned and shook her head. "Uh-uh. Strange. I expected her to be here."

AJ pursed her lips. "Hmm. That is weird." she then narrowed her eyes. "Hold on now. This ain't got nothin' to do with you thinkin' she's gonna take over the school, now does it?" she asked.

Sunset shook her head and held up her hands in defense. "No. I just want to make friends. That's all."

AJ smiled. "Good. Cause Ah don't wanna hear none of that nonsense. There's no reason to judge a girl you know nothin' about."

"That' exactly why I want to get to know her." Sunset said, but stopped when AJ arched an eyebrow. "Uhh...that came out wrong." Sunset added, scratching her neck.

AJ closed her eyes and audible took a breath. She opened her eyes again and spoke. "Whatever. So you said you were looking for her? Sorry to say, but Ah haven't seen her around."

AJ turned to twilight. "Have you seen Velvet Breeze around?"

Twilight adjusted her glasses and shook her head. "Judging from yesterday's description Sunset, I can't say I have."

Just then, Pinkie Pie jumped up. "I know where she is!" she said happily.

Sunset's eyes widened. "Really? Where is she?" she asked.

Pinkie's right arm, which had been fully healed for a few days now, shot out in some seemingly random direction, a bit of a scar still visible from where Sunset had burned her.

A pang if guilt wormed its way through Sunset's veins, but she quickly shoved it away.

Pinkie pointed in the direction her arm was now facing and said, "Over there!"

"Where?" Sunset asked. She squinted her eyes in the direction Pinkie was pointing, searching for even the slightest hint of teal or white, but found none. "I don't see her."

"Don't worry, I'll go get her and introduce you two!" Pinkie said, and before anyone could react, Pinkie skipped over in the direction she was referring to and disappeared from sight.

Seeing Pinkie's injury reminded Sunset of Twilight's injury, so while Pinkie was gone getting Velvet Breeze so she and Sunset could be formally introduced, Sunset decided to ask Twilight about her wrist.

"Hey Twilight." Sunset said.

Twilight turned her head in Sunset's direction, but didn't fully look at her, as she was eating her lunch. "Yes?"

Sunset gestured Twilight's wrist. "How's your wrist?" she asked.

This time twilight completely turned to face Sunset. Twilight at Sunset, then her wrist. She lifted it up and turned it a couple of times while looked at Sunset, the cast turning along with Twilight's wrist. "Just fine." she said while smiling.

Sunset nodded. "How long until you can get the cast off?"

Twilight looked to her wrist, then back to Sunset. "Another week or two I think."

Sunset nodded again, looking away from Twilight.

Twilight smiled. "Thanks for asking."

Sunset just nodded, without making eye contact.

After a moment of silence, Twilight looked Sunset in the eye. "Sunset, I know you still feel bad about my wrist."

Sunset frowned and sighed. "I just...wish I could have stopped it."

Twilight arched an eyebrow. "But you did stop it. You did. Nothing has happened all week. It's over now."

Sunset just sighed and closed her eyes.

Twilight continued. "I've forgiven you. Now do me a great favor...and forgive yourself."

After a second, Sunset opened her eyes and looked at Twilight. "I'll try." she said quietly.

Twilight smiled for a second before spreading her arms apart. "Come here."

Sunset arched an eyebrow. "What?"

Twilight gestured again. "Come here, I think you need a hug."

Sunset tried to wave nonchalantly. "No I'm fine. I don't need a hug."

But Twilight wasn't have an of it. "Come on, yes you do." she said as she began to lean forward.

Sunset shook her head. "No really, I'm fi-oh okay." she said as Twilight wrapped her arms around Sunset's torso.

Sunset hesitated a moment before returning the gesture, smiling as it made her feel a little bit better.

Twilight took her arms back just as a familiar energetic voice sang out. "Come on! I have someone I want to introduce you to."

Then another voice. "Um...okay? Just stop pushing! I can walk!"

Both girls looked in the direction of the voices. Sunset's eyes lit up as she saw a Pinkie Pie lightly pushing Velvet Breeze over to their table.

Sunset got up from her seat and prepared for the introduction. She had only a few seconds before Velvet was standing in front of her, looking quite confused.

Pinkie walked out from behind Velvet and went between her and Sunset. "Velvet, this is my friend Sunset Shimmer." she said.

Sunset smiled and said, "Hello." while shaking velvet's hand, velvet doing the same.

The awkward silence that followed was interrupted by Pinkie looking to Sunset and asking, "Aren't you gonna say something Sunset? You said you wanted to get to know Velvet."

Velvet arched an eyebrow at this. "Oh?" she asked.

Sunset blushed and scratched her neck. "Yeah." she said.

Velvet nodded before looking to the clock on the wall nearby. "Well, it's only twelve thirty, so yeah, we can talk."

Velvet turned and grabbed a chair from a nearby table and pulled it up. Before sitting at an odd angle to the table Sunset and her friends were sitting at. Sunset sat down as well.

Sunset clapped her hands and said, "Well, before anything else can be done, I think further introduction is in order."

She gesture towards Pinkie Pie. "You've already met Pinkie Pie." she said.

Pinkie jumped and waved, while saying, "Hello!" loudly.

Sunset gesture towards the rest of her friends. "These are the rest of my friends. This is Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy." she said, each of them giving their own greeting as their name was called.

"Hi."

"Howdy."

"Hello darling."

"What's up?"

"Um..hi."

Velvet smiled. "It's nice to meet all of you." she turned to Sunset. "So, shall we start this?"

Sunset nodded. "Of course. First of all, how has your time been at school so far?" she asked.

Velvet thought for a moment. "Umm...well, I don't think I've been here long enough to formulate an opinion, but so far everything has been going fairly well. Especially compared to my last school." she answered.

'Be careful what you say Velvet.' Velvet's thoughts rang out in her mind. She thought for a moment and mentally sighed when she remembered that her school profile indicated that she came from a bad school in Trottingham.

The voice of the one named Rarity snapped Velvet out of her thoughts. "Well, that's wonderful to hear darling, but if you don't mind me asking, what do you mean by 'compared to your other school'? Rarity asked, sounding concerned.

'Just stick to your profile and you'll be fine.' Velvet mentally reassured herself before answering, "My old school, Trottingham High, was corrupted. The teacher their were--" Velvet lifted up a hand. "Sorry for the language--assholes. They would often beat the students even though corporal punishment was banned."

Everybody at the table gasped upon hearing this. Sunset covered her mouth with a hand, concern raging in her face.

Velvet nodded and continued to explain. "The worse thing about it was that it was kept a complete secret. The school principal was part of a gang, and he paid the cops to ignore the reports of beatings at the school."

When she heard this, Sunset's face began to go from concerned to angry.

Velvet took note of Sunset's facial expression and continued to explain her 'past'. "I told my parents of course, but they didn't believe me, saying that 'teachers would never do that' and other stuff. That changed when I came home with a black eye and bloody nose. My parents immediately pulled me from school and filed a police report, though I strongly suspect the report will be ignored like everything else. They then signed me up to go to this school."

Everyone was to near tears when Velvet finished her story. Even the normally joyous Pinkie Pie's eyes were watering slightly. Sunset's face still had an angry expression, but it had lessened slightly.

Sunset looked to Velvet and said with a determined voice, "Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore. I promise that you won't be harmed in this school, ever."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

"Yeah. No one here gets theirs asses whooped. Unless it's by me, in soccer, football, dodgeball-" Rainbow Dash said, but didn't get to finish as Applejack cut her off.

"Alright, she gets it, your good at sports." AJ said with a roll of her eyes and a frown, before taking a bite of her lunch.

Velvet giggled at the friendly banter.

Upon hearing Rarity cough, Velvet her head to face the purple haired girl.

"Umm darling?" Rarity asked.

"Yes?" Velvet replied.

"I don't wish to be rude but," Rarity began, eyeing Velvet's clothes with a less then impressed look, "what the absolute hell, are you wearing? It looks so..." Rarity made a gross face. "...bland."

Velvet shrugged her shoulders, showing that she took no offence from the comment, much to rarity's relief. "I don't know. I never cared much for fashion beyond the occasional meme on a t-shirt. Not that I don't hate fashion per say, I've just never felt the need for it." Velvet said simply.

It wasn't a complete lie. When she joined the Assassins, she was taught to be invisible. The second tenant was "hide in plain sight" after all, so flashy clothing wasn't really the best choice. An Assassin could still wear flashy clothes, but the attention it sometimes drew, made doing things a little more difficult. So it wasn't a rule per say, more of a logical choice for most Assassins.

Rarity cocked her head curiously. "Well darling if you don't hate it, then perhaps you wouldn't mind trying some new? I'm an aspiring seamstress and am always looking for someone to try my wears." she offered.

Before Velvet could answer, the girl with light purple skin and glasses spoke up. "I can vouch for that." she said. "I never cared much for fashion either until she made a great outfit. It completely spoke to everything about me. I still wear it on occasion."

Velvet nodded in a somewhat impressed fashion. "Hmm." she pointed to the purple girl. "Twilight right?"

Twilight nodded in confirmation. "Mhmm."

Velvet pointed to the white girl. "And Rarity. Correct?"

Rarity smiled. "Yes darling."

Velvet nodded. "Well Rarity, from what Twilight has told me, you sound like quite the talented girl." she commented, earning a somewhat smug smile from Rarity. "Perhaps I will let you make something for me. But later. I want to get more comfortable with the school first."

Rarity nodded in understanding. "Of course dear. I completely understand. You come whenever you're ready."

Velvet smiled. "Thank you."

Rarity smiled. "You're welcome dear. I think I would also like to know you better before starting to make clothes for you. Knowing your client's personality is crucial to making stylized clothing for them you know." she said matter-of-factually.

Velvet looked at Rarity for a second and noticed a necklace. She looked around at the rest of the girls at the table and saw they were all wearing similar necklaces.

Velvet pointed to the one Rarity was wearing. "That's a neat looking necklace." she commented.

Rarity looked down at her pendant. "Oh. Why thank you Velvet."

"Where'd you get them?" Velvet asked, genuinely curious.

Rarity suddenly looked nervous. "Oh! Umm...these. Yes...umm...-"

"Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy made them." Sunset cut Rarity off, gaining Velvet's attention.

"Really?" Velvet said in slight disbelief. 'That's quite the talent.' she thought to herself.

Sunset nodded. "Uhuh." she nudged Pinkie's arm. "Right Pinkie?"

Pinkie, who was staring off into space blinked. "Huh? Oh yeah, we made them." she said before looking to Fluttershy. "Right Flutters?"

Fluttershy looked up. "Umm...yes." she said quietly.

"We made them to signify the friendship we all have with each other." Sunset said.

"Kind of like a friendship bracelet or something." Velvet said.

Sunset nodded. "Yeah, but with necklaces." she confirmed.

The ringing of the bell signaled the end of lunch, and the end of the conversation.

Velvet looked at the clock with a hint of surprise. "Hmm. I guess time really does fly when you're doing stuff." she said as everyone began picking up their garbage.

Sunset smiled. "That it does." she said.

Velvet looked to Sunset. "We'll have to continue this conversation tomorrow."

Sunset nodded. "Yes we do."

Once at the garbage bin Sunset looked to Velvet. "Will I see you in chemistry class today?" she asked

Velvet nodded. "Mhmm."

Sunset nodded back. "Alright. See you there." she said as she threw her garbage in the nearby garbage bin.

"See you." Velvet replied.

And with that, the rainbooms and Velvet went their separate ways the their respective classes.

Along the way the chemistry class, Velvet thought about that...rather awkward introduction. "Well, this makes things a little easier." she said to herself. "Still...I don't know how to question about the Peice of Eden without seeming suspicious."

Velvet adjusted her bag and walked a little faster. "This may be harder than I thought." she said as she made her way to next class.

"So, does Velvet look like the kind of student that would take over Equestria." asked Applejack with a smirk as sipped on a apple and banana smoothie in Sugarcube Corner, along with the rest of the rainbooms.

Sunset looked at Applejack. "No. I guess not."

Applejack smirked a little wider. "See? Not everyone new that comes to this school is some magical creature that's gonna take over."

"She seems really nice." Fluttershy squeaked.

"Indeed." Rarity agreed. "Such a shame she came from such a terrible school." she shook her head. "Connections with the mob...unspeakable." she mumbled.

"Definitely." Twilight agreed as well. "We should make sure that she is accepted here, and ensure she never comes home with a black eye, or bloody nose." she said, everyone nodding in agreement.

Pinkie Pie took this time to speak up. "Velvet seem really interested in our magical pendants!" she said.

Sunset nodded before looking around. "Hey, girls?" she said, everyone looking at her. "I think it's best if we keep our magic a secret from Velvet for now."

Applejack arched an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked.

Sunset shrugged her shoulders. "Just until she gets settled. I know magic isn't common in this world, so I figured if we told her now, she'd either get scared and run, or she wouldn't believe us."

Applejack shrugged her shoulders. "Ah suppose. How long do ya reckon we keep our magic a secret for?"

"A good month or two." Sunset answered. "Or until we accidentally reveal our magic."

"Now that I think about it, it would be a really awkward conversation." Fluttershy commented.

Applejack nodded. "Alright then. It's settled. We'll wait a month or two to reveal our magic." she said as she got up out of her seat.

Everyone got up and went to the front doors. "See ya'll later?" asked Applejack.

"Mhmm." Sunset answered.

Then Rarity. "Yes darling."

Then Rainbow Dash. "Yeah."

Then Twilight. "Uhuh."

Then Pinkie Pie. "Yeah!"

Then Fluttershy. "Yes."

Applejack dipped her hat. "Alright. Bye." she said before she and the rest of the rainbooms went there separate ways.

Author's Note

Hello everypony! That's all for chapter 8! I know it took a long time for a short chapter, but you see, I have autism, so cooking up chapters sometimes takes longer than the average person. This also explains why the conversation between Velvet and the Rainbooms is a little awkward. I'm not quite sure how each of the Rainbooms speak.

I can edit it for sure, but I'm not quite sure how to make it better. If any of you readers have any suggestions or advice you can give me, make sure you write them down in the comments below. Also, be sure to leave a like if you enjoyed the chapter. It really helps to my confidence to know that people like my work because it took a lot out of me to find the courage to write on fimfiction.

Anyways......That's all I have to say for now! See you guys...next chapter. BYEEE!!! :pinkiecrazy:

By the way, P.O.E stands for Piece Of Eden; and P.O.E.D stands for Piece Of Eden Detector.
Just so no one gets confused. :pinkiesmile:

chapter 9: The Investigation Begins

Chapter 9: The Investigation Begins

The following Wednesday: Canterlot Assassin safehouse.

Velvet sat on the couch in the living room. In her hand there was a small recording device. She clicked the device on and set it on the coffee table in front of her.

Velvet looked at the recorder, took a breath and began to speak.

"Mission log zero one. I'm gonna start making these logs whenever I feel like I've made an important discovery or have decided on something, or other things of the like."

Velvet hesitated for a moment before continuing.

"Attempts to gain any information regarding the Piece Of Eden or anything of the sort have yielded no results. I've come to realize now that getting information so directly will be impossible. However I think I might have stumbled upon a lead. Upon further analysation of the creatures in the photos, I realized that such an event couldn't have gone unnoticed. No one is that blind. I am certain that Sunset Shimmer is one of the creatures now. There's no doubt about it. How she managed to revert back to her 'normal' self is beyond me. Another thing of note is the necklaces I've seen Sunset Shimmer and her friends wearing. Through conversations with them, during which I had the P.O.E.D secretly running, I have discovered that these necklaces give off a powerful energy signature, identical to the Piece Of Eden energy spikes that had been happening at the school. "

Velvet sat back in the couch before taking a drink of the water she poured up. She put the cup of water down and continued her log.

"This log is getting very long now so I'm gonna skip right to the lead. After discovering what I did regarding the pictures and the creatures I decided to eavesdrop on the principal and vice principal, Celestia and Luna, respectively. What overheard was interesting. They had mentioned two separate events, called the 'Fall Formal' and the 'Friendship Games'. While referring to the event they were frequently mentioning magic. Now this caught my eye, or rather, my ear. For centuries, citizens, people of power and others have mistaken the Pieces Of Eden as magic, so why should the students and teachers of Canterlot high be an exception? I've decided I'm going to find out everything I can about the Fall Formal and the Friendship Games, whether it be through asking questions or eavesdropping. Maybe I might finally be getting somewhere with this mission. End log zero one."

Velvet stopped the recording and sighed as she leaned back on the couch. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it read seven forty-five.

"Better get ready to go. Don't want to be late." Velvet said as she got up. She walked over to the porch that the living room opened up into. She put on her shoes before going into the dining room wear her hidden blade bracers were lying on the table. Velvet slipped them over wrists; making sure that the sleeves of her sweater covered the bracers.

Velvet picked up the P.O.E.D and placed it in her bag, which was also lying on the table. Velvet grabbed her books and placed them into the bag. She put some money in a small pocket in her bag before slinging the bag on her shoulder and walking to the door.

Just before leaving to go to school, Velvet stopped and said to herself, "Maybe now, I'll be able to get some answers."

With that, velvet walked out the door and made her way to school, hopeful, that her mission might truly begin.

Velvet was sitting quietly in her class. She adjusted her seat in order to get more comfortable. 'Don't get too comfortable Velvet.' she thought to herself.

Velvet was hoping to get some investigating done before lunch as it would be harder to eavesdrop on people, if everyone was talking to each other.

Velvet listened to the teacher drone on about math that she already new. She was a bit of a math nut when she was a kid, so she knew a lot about it.

After a few minutes, Velvet raised her hand. The teacher, Mr Bray, stopped his lecture and looked to velvet. "Yes, miss Breeze?" he asked.

"May I use the bathroom and get a drink of water please?" Velvet replied.

"Yes you may." Mr Bray said.

Velvet smiled. "Thank you sir." she said kindly as she got up from her seat and made to leave the classroom.

Before she left, Mr bray called out. "Hurry back, or you'll miss your homework and will have to collect it at the end of class."

"Yes sir." velvet said in acknowledgement. Before leaving the class, she made a note of the time. It was nine o'clock.

Velvet made her way down the hall, passing by another teacher that gave her a curious look as she did. She waved kindly to the teacher and mouthed quietly, "Bathroom break." to the teacher, who nodded in understanding and went back to watching the class they were in.

As soon as she was out of ear-shot of anyone, she set out to find some one who might have information on the Fall Formal and the Friendship Games.

Velvet walked through a few hallways, looking for either a teacher or student, who was talking to themselves or another. She looked to a clock that was on the wall. "Better make this quick. I probably have about ten minutes to get back to class before I look suspicious."

After a full minute of walking with nothing to show for it, Velvet was frustrated. "Dammit, why the hell did I think there would be anyone in the halls? It's the middle of class." she said to herself.

Velvet was about to give up and go back to class before a thought came to her. She had learned from other students' accounts, that sometimes, if their grades are high enough, the principal will allow them some time off a particular class to study for other classes.

"There's bound to be someone talking about things in the library. No one gives up the chance to interact with their friends outside of lunch at least once, no matter how good that students is." velvet said with a smile.

With her enthusiasm renewed velvet quickly made her way to the library.

When she got to the library, it was just as she had hoped. There were a few students littered around with their noses shoved in books and with papers by their side. Bookshelves as high as the ceiling, lined the floors. There was even multiple floors to this library. The long desks and tables the students sat at were clean, with almost no long-term dust.

Velvet looked at the clock by the entrance. "Uh-oh. It's already been three minutes. I'm gonna have to make this really fast if I wanna get back in time." she said with a serious note.

Somewhat hurriedly, velvet looked around for a student talking, but was disappointed at first to see no one talking. She looked around, almost desperately for someone talking, before she spotted two boys behind a book shelf, giggling to themselves in a mischievous fashion. One boy was holding a brown paper bag.

Having moved to the adjacent bookshelf, Velvet observed the boys for a moment. "I wonder if those boys know about the Fall Formal and Friendship Games." Velvet thought to herself.

Velvet moved from her hiding spot and approached the boys. One boy was thin with orange skin and dull green hair. He had on a green sweater with a snail on the front. The other boy was chubby, with green skin, orange hair and buck teeth. He was wearing a black shirt with a pair of scissors on it.

When the boys saw her, they jumped, apparently startled by her. The boy holding the paper bag dropped it behind him as he jumped.

"W-who are you?" the orange skinned boy asked.

Velvet smiled and held out her hand. "Name's velvet breeze. Pleased to meet you."

The chubby boy was the first to greet her. "Snips. And this is my friend, Snails." he said as he shook Velvet's hand, followed by the other boy.

After a moment, Snips placed his hand on his chin. "Hey...you're that Trottingham girl right?"

Velvet smiled and nodded before looking behind them. Snails not-so-subtly moved over a little bit to block the view of the paper bag.

Snips saw Velvet's gaze and immediately became nervous. "W-we were just g-getting some books a-and..."

Velvet's face went from smiling and patient, to serious. "It's obvious that you two are up to mischief with the paper bag." she said, giving the boys a deadpanned look.

Both Snips and Snails visibly tensed after hearing this. "I-i don't know w-what you're t-talking about." Snails tried to say, while trying to cover up the bag more.

Velvet rolled her eyes at the boys' attempts to cover their tracks. She sighed. "Whatever. That's none of my business."

Velvet brushed her hair a little to the side. "Anyway, I have some questions for you."

Snips looked at Snails for a second, then back to Velvet. "Uhh...sure?" he said uncertainly.

"What do you know of the events known as the Fall Formal, and the Friendship Games?" Velvet asked, mentally praying they know something.

"Well, with the Fall Formal you compete with a couple other students in order to win the title of Fall Princess." Snips began to explain.

Velvet nodded. "And how would one compete?"

Snails was the one who answered this time. "By setting up a campaign that runs over certain period of time. Usually a month or two. At the end, if enough people vote for you, then you win the title and you're given a crown."

Velvet nodded again. "Okay, so it's like a prom queen type of thing."

Both boys nodded in confirmation. Velvet looked around for a moment before looking to the boys. "Do either of you know what time it is?" she asked.

Snails pulled up his sleeve to reveal a small wrist watch. "It's seven minutes after nine."

Velvet nodded. "Thank you."

Snips cocked his head to the side. "Why do you want to know?"

Velvet shrugged her shoulders. "Just wondering. Anyway, back to the questions at hand. What do you know of the Friendship Games?"

Snips tapped his double chin for a moment.

'Come on.' Velvet thought to herself. 'I've got to get back.'

After another moment snips answered. "I think it's this competition between schools. We don't know much, because we weren't there, but I know for certain that it happens every four years and it's really intense." he said, emphasizing the word intense; Snails next to him nodding all the while. "Last years Fall Formal got really intense too."

Velvet perked up at this. 'Okay, now we're getting somewhere.' she thought to herself. "What do you mean by 'intense'?" she asked.

Snails answered. "Well Sunset Shimmer destroyed the school and tried to turn the students into her personal army. She used to be our old boss, but she's nice now. Ever since a bunch of the other girls defeated her."

Velvet blinked. "I'm sorry, did you just say personal army?" she asked.

Snips nodded. "Uh uh. She used it to try and take over the world, until she was defeated by the other girls. Now she and them are great friends."

Velvet blinked before coughing. "I thank you for the insight. You're right, it does sound quite intense." she said gratefully.

Snips smiled back and said, "No problem."

'This just a got a lot more interesting.' Velvet thought to herself. As she began to walk away, she heard a voice call out to her. She turned to see Snails holding the paper bag again. Snips looked to her and said, "Can you keep this," he gesture the paper bag. "A secret?"

Velvet shrugged again and continued walking. "Like i said, it's none of my business." she said as she walked.

Snips and Snails looked at each other and relaxed, knowing that their mischief wouldn't be reported.

Velvet laughed softly to herself at the boys' behavior and left the library.

As soon as velvet left the library she began speed walking through the hallways. "Hopefully I won't be too late and can make an explanation when I get back." she said as she walked.

It was nine twelve when velvet arrived at the door to class as she had decided she really did need a drink of water. She walked through the door and was immediately greeted by Mr. Bray. "Hello miss Velvet. I expected you would be back sooner then you came. What took you? He asked.

Velvet smiled and made a quick lie. "Sorry sir. I was distracted by a picture that I found on a wall. It was neat picture."

Mr. Bray smiled and nodded. "Ah. That must be some of the arts students' work. I completely understand. They have done some wonderful art work."

"Yes they have." Velvet agreed.

Mr. Bray nodded again before taking a breath. "Well, miss Breeze, if you would please take your seat, so we can resume the class?" he kindly ordered.

"Yes sir." Velvet quickly said before doing as she was told.

As soon as Velvet sat down in her chair she began to go over what she had heard. 'Those two boys said Sunset Shimmer tried to turn the the school into her own personal army. This just about confirms that there is a Piece Of Eden on this campus.' velvet tapped her chin with her pencil. 'the only Pieces Of Eden that could ever do that were the apple and the staff. The remaining question is, which one is it?'

Velvet looked around the class for a moment, observing Mr. Bray assisting a few students with the worksheet they were given. Velvet looked at the worksheet on her desk. 'I need more information to start really piecing things together. I now know about the fall formal, but I wasn't able to get anything on the Friendship Games.'

Velvet pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes slightly. 'Perhaps I'll ask Sunset Shimmer about the Friendship Games. With the Templars already here, I'll have to be careful though. There's no telling when they could be listening.'

Velvet absentmindedly adjusted her bracer under her sweater sleeves. 'One thing is for certain though; given what those boys have told me about Sunset Shimmer, this is going to be a very awkward conversation."

Velvet stood in the line-up to get her lunch, tray in hand, behind two other students. She was thinking about the conversation she was going to have. She knew about the Fall Formal, and now just needed to learn about the friendship games. Still...there was the matter of what apparently happened at the last Fall Formal. Velvet recalled the photographs. The personal army part could be easily explained with the Apple Of Eden, but never in history had a Piece Of Eden turned its wielder into a creature such as the ones shown.

"I can't ask about the Apple directly." Velvet said quietly to herself as she moved forward in the line. "I also bet I won't be able to ask about the creatures. That would probably scare Sunset off."

The line moved forward again and Velvet found herself in front of a counter with a few different food selections on it. Each one kept warm inside what appeared to be a heating container of some sort, designed so that people could take their share of food without burning themselves, but also to ensure that the food will be kept warm for people to eat. After a second of looking at the selections, Velvet settled for some shepherds pie. She took a slice, placed it on her tray and moved forward, grabbing some orange juice and a mango.

Once she was satisfied with what she had chosen for lunch, velvet continued her train of thought, moving out of the line as she did so. "I will have to learn as much as I can about the Fall Formal and Friendship Games; especially what happened at the last ones. Perhaps Sunset Shimmer or one of her friends will reveal something that might be of interest. Then there's the matter of what those boys had said." Velvet licked her lips slightly. "They were clearly trouble makers, and if what they said about Sunset being their 'old boss' is true, then Sunset might be more interesting then I initially thought."

Velvet turned to try and find Sunset, but was greeted by a pink blob.

"AHH!" Velvet screamed as she jumped back.

"Hello!" the pink blob said, flamboyantly.

Velvet only needed a second to recognize that overly-energetic voice. After a moment of self composure, Velvet looked up. "Hello Pinkie Pie." she said.

Pinkie grinned. "Hello! How are you today?"

Velvet smiled. "I'm doing fine today."

Pinkie jumped in place. "Great! My friends are looking for you! So come on! Let's go!" she said, excitedly.

Velvet nodded. "Ah, yes. I was actually meaning to ask Sunset Shimmer a few questions." she said.

Pinkie grinned wider and jumped up again, higher this time. "Awesome! My friends get to see you, and you get to ask your questions. Yay! Win-win!"

Velvet arched an eyebrow. "Uh...sure." she said slowly.

"Follow me!" Pinkie said before walking into the crowd of students.

"Okay, geez. No need to rush." Velvet said as she rushed to follow, mentally scolding herself for getting startled as easily as she did earlier.

Within thirty seconds Velvet found herself at the table where Sunset and her friends sat at every day. Sunset turned from her lunch and smiled when she saw Velvet come over. "Hey Velvet!" she called. She pointed to the empty seat next to her. "I saved you a seat." she said.

Velvet smiled and sat down in the seat, placing her lunch down as well. She took a piece of her shepherds pie and took a bite.

Sunset looked around and at everybody. "So, how's everybody doing today?" she asked.

"I tried to talk to Jason Wagain today." Rarity answered first.

Sunset cocked her head to the side curiously. "Oh? And how did that go?"

Rarity shrugged. "Same thing as every other day. Just a simple 'hello.' and that's it. From what I gather of his personality, he's very stoic and quiet." Rarity tapped her chin. "Although I have seen him chatting with a few others on occasion. Maybe they're his friends."

Velvet perked up slightly at hearing this. "Excuse me?" she said.

Rarity stopped and looked at Velvet. "Yes darling?"

"You mentioned Jason Wood was talking to others." Velvet said.

Rarity nodded slowly. "Yes...what about them?"

"Do you know their names? Or at least, what they looked like?" velvet asked.

Rarity tapped her chin again. "Well, one was really big and burly. He had grey-ish skin, and was bald. The other one was the complete opposite, figure wise anyway; he was very scrawny, and had glasses. He had dark blue skin and had a kind of magenta hair color, with a brown streak going through the middle."

Velvet nodded. "Thanks. And names?"

Rarity shook her head. "Sorry. I didn't stick around long enough to hear any names."

Velvet shrugged. "It's okay." she said.

"If you don't mind me asking darling, why did you want to know?" rarity asked.

Velvet shrugged again. "Just curious."

Rarity nodded. "Ah. So, how's school been for you so far?"

Velvet smiled. "It's been going well." she answered.

Rarity smiled back. "That's wonderful darling."

"Yes. Although a few interesting things did happen to me over the last few days."

Rarity arched an eyebrow. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"I was walking to class a few days ago when I overheard the principal and vice principal talking about something called the Fall Formal, and the Friendship Games." velvet answered.

Everyone in the group exchanged subtle glances upon hearing the two events mentioned.

"I was curious, so I asked around and eventually came across two boys named Snips and Snails. They told me about the fall formal, but couldn't tell me anything about the Friendship Games as they claimed not to be there. They just said that it gets really intense, and the last one was last year." Velvet looked around at everyone. "I was wondering if any of you guys could tell me more about the Friendship Games?"

Rainbow Dash was the one to answer first. "Well those boys were right about it being intense. The Friendship Games is a competition between two schools, and it happens every four years. Usually the ones competing are us and the students from Crystal Prep Academy."

"If there is anyone more competitive then in the world then Crystal Preppers, then Ah don't care to know about'em." Applejack added.

"All they ever cared about was winning." Twilight said.

"They're a bunch of meanies..." Fluttershy squeaked quietly.

Velvet nodded in agreement. "They certainly sound like it." she said.

"They beat us at everything and always rub our noses in it." Rarity said shaking her head.

"But last year's games was the worst." Sunset said, drawing velvet's attention.

"After year's of losses, we finally had enough practice and conviction that we actually stood a chance of winning...and then, the principal decides to cheat."

Velvet nodded slowly in understanding as Sunset continued.

"She sabatoged some of the events and almost got us hurt." Sunset gestured around to everybody at the table.

"Hmm." Velvet said quietly. "It doesn't surprise me. People will almost anything to win, when they see they have the power to do so." she tapped her chin. "Although, something tells me she didn't want anyone to be hurt."

"I don't mean to sound cynical, but I honestly don't think she cared about our safety more then she cared about her precious 'reputation'. Sunset said with finger quotes.

"You're not being cynical, you're being realistic." Velvet reassured.

Sunset shrugged. "Anyway, back to what I was saying earlier, the principal sabotaged some of the events and almost got us injured. I say almost, because at the final event, the students stopped and tried to help us instead of crossing the finish line."

Velvet nodded. "I see. It's like, cheating to win a competition is one thing, but risking lives to do so is quite another."

Sunset shrugged again. "I guess."

Velvet absentmindedly swirled a piece of shepherds pie in her plate. "It's good to know at least some people care more about life and liberty then power."

Rarity tilted her head to the side curiously at this. "What do you mean darling?"

Velvet looked at her with a serious face and the energy at the table darkened, considerably. "Believe me Rarity, there are far worse people in the world. I have seen people who would destroy cities and ruin lives; who would make you watch, as they destroy, everything you hold dear, if they precieve you as a threat to their goal, never stopping until the entire world is at their fingertips...or they are dead." Velvet said, all the while her eyes trailing to the right to stare blankly into the crowd.

Rarity blinked for a moment. "Jesus. I didn't mean for this to get as dark as it did."

Velvet looked back at Rarity. "Apologies. I just feel really strongly about the subject."

"I would imagine. Given what you've been through." Rarity said, an empathetic tone in her voice.

Velvet nodded back. "Hmm."

"Ummm...to change the subject, do you have the answers you are looking for?" Sunset said to Velvet.

"Not quite." Velvet said.

"Okay…” Sunset replied, not knowing what else Velvet would be looking for. “What else do you need to know?"

Velvet smiled some-what nervously. "You see...when I was talking to those boys, they mentioned some very interesting things about you. They said you were their old boss, and that you tried to take over the world or something. Now, taking what they've said into account, I must ask" velvet narrowed her eyes "...were the school bully?"

The silence that fell on the group what like a shock. Everyone was for a second, just staring at Sunset Shimmer, whose jaw was slightly parted. Her face flushed a deep red. She looked down slightly. "Y-yes." she stammered. She looked up again, eyes wide. “B-but I’ve changed now! I’m in a much place! S-so don’t expect me to like, beat you up or anything like that…um…hehe.” Sunset said, smiling nervously.

Velvet giggled at Sunset’s nervousness. “Well that’s good. I’m glad to hear that you’ve changed.” She scratched at her neck and saw Sunset visibly relax somewhat. “Yeah. Those boys said that all you guys,” Velvet gestured everyone at the table. “Defeated Sunset at the Fall Formal. They made it sound all official-like, like it was this big, planned event that the whole school would see.”

“Well, the whole school was there.” Sunset said. The rest of the Rainbooms gave her a strange look and sunset made a subliminal gesture for everyone to play along. She continued. “The control I had over the school was completely gone from me, so I decided I’d had enough, and challenged Applejack to a fight.”

“I would’ve won that day if Rainbow Dash” Sunset smirked and pointed to Rainbow Dash. “Hadn’t full-body tackled me to the ground out of nowhere.”

Rainbow dash gave a smug smiled and pointed to herself. “I’ve told once, I’ll tell you a hundred times. No beats the Dash or her friends and gets away with it.”

Velvet giggled. “It sounds like it was quite the spectical.”

“It was.” Rarity commented. “That was, until principal Celestia and vice principal Luna showed up. The look on their faces.” Rarity grimaced. “They looked about ready to explode.”

“I would imagine.” Velvet agreed. “I have one question though.” She looked over at Sunset. “How exactly did you achieve your control over the school Sunset?”

Sunset shrugged. “Mostly bullying and blackmail.”

Velvet nodded. “I see. Those two boys also mentioned you tried to turn the student body into your own personal army and you were going to take over the world.”

Sunset’s eyes went wide at this; a gesture that Velvet caught.

“Could you explain that to me?” Velvet finally asked.

“Umm…” Sunset began to say, but before she could finish her sentence, Pinkie Pie shot up to a stand.

“That’s an easy one! With Princess Twilight’s crown~mmmhhh.” before Pinkie could continue to speak, Sunset shot up and clamped her hand over Pinkie’s mouth.

“Sorry about her Velvet.” Sunset said with an apologetic smile. “She tends to ramble.”

When Pinkie stopped trying to talk over Sunset’s hand, Sunset took her hand and away from Pinkie and growled “shut up!” softly, while running her hand across her throat, like the camera man for a news anchor.

Pinkie gulped and nodded. “Sorry.” She said softly.

Sunset sighed. “Thank you.” She turned around and to see Velvet along with everyone else at the table looking at both Sunset and Pinkie with arched eyebrows. Sunset gave an awkward cough and sat down along with Pinkie. “Okay so, what was your question?” she asked Velvet.

“Well…” Velvet started slowly, giving Sunset a skeptical look. “Those boys said you tried to turn the student body into your own personal army. They also said you were going to use that army to take over the world. Could you explain that to me?”

Sunset nodded. “Okay. You see, I used to be extremely arrogant. I thought that I was above everyone else, simply for being, well, me. Because of this, Snips and Snails somehow got the idea that I was some kind of god, and they started the rumor. I wasn’t complaining at the time. It made people more afraid of me. I used that fear to control the students. As for the taking over the world thing, I think that was part of the rumor. I wanted to take over the school and maintain control of the students, not this w-uhh- the world.”

Velvet nodded. “Makes sense. Rare is the man willing to go against the status quo. Fear keeps people in line.”

The bell for lunch to end suddenly rang out and students began to get up from their seat and out their garbage away.

The Rainbooms stood up with their garbage and Velvet ate the last of her shepherds pie before standing up as well. “Thank you for the information.” Velvet said to Sunset. “It was very…” Velvet thought of what word to use. “…enlightening.”

Sunset smiled. “You’re welcome.” She said, walking over to the garbage can and throwing away her waste. “And hey.”

“Hmm?” velvet replied.

"Knowing what kind of person I was isn't gonna change our friendship is it?" sunset asked, a concerned look on her face.

Velvet shook her head and gave a reassuring smile. "Of course not. So long as you don't go back to your old habits that is."

Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

"You might want to hold off on thanking Him until you've thanked yourself." Velvet said. "You chose to redeem yourself. You chose to guard against your obsessions, and you are reaping the benefits of those choices. I expect..." she looked Sunset directly in the eye. "You will continue to make good choices."

Sunset nodded confidently. "I will." she said.

Velvet smiled and lightly patted Sunset's shoulder. "Good." she said.

Velvet looked around at the other students making their way to there respective classes and sighed. "Well, I'm off. Don't wanna be late."

Sunset nodded. "Alright. Will I see you after school?"

Velvet shrugged. "I doubt it. My mother is very prudent in that she likes to have me come home as soon as I get out of school."

"Aww...oh well. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

Velvet nodded. "See ya."

"Bye."

With that Velvet, Sunset and the rest of the Rainbooms went to their next classes.

After school that day:

Velvet paced angrily back and forth across the coffee table in the living room of the Canterlot safe house. A recorder lay on the table, turned off. "Dammit..." she mumbled. "An entire week of investigation with nothing to show for it."

Velvet stopped pacing in front of the coffee table and eyed it for a moment. Without warning, Velvet slammed her closed right fist down on it with a loud BANG! "FUCK!" Velvet shouted as pain flew up her hand and wrist. She lifted her hand up to her face to examine the damage. Fortunately, the skin on Velvet's hand was only a little red and tender, and no real damage had been done.

Velvet shook her hand around whilst waiting for the throbbing in her hand to go away. When it did, she sighed. "No one ever told me missions would be this hard." she mumbled sadly to herself.

Velvet stared at the coffee table for another moment before taking a deep breath. "Okay velvet, think. Maybe there was something you missed in the last little bit." she said to herself. "Talking to those boys...asking Sunset Shimmer if she used to be the school bully...then I asked how she achieved the amount of control she had over the school...wait." Velvet paused. "That Pinkie girl." a memory flashed in Velvet's mind.

'That's an easy one! With Princess Twilight's crown!' Pinkie shouted before Sunset stood up and clamped her hand over Pinkie's mouth.

"Crown..." Velvet said slowly.

Velvet got up from the couch and went into the computer room, where she immediately started searching through the Assassin database.

"Apple, no...Staff, no...Sword, no..." Velvet murmured to herself, images of different Pieces Of Eden flashing before her eyes. "Come on...crown, crown, anything about a crown..."

After a minute of searching, Velvet gave up. "Nothing!" she said, flinging her hands up and letting them fall in her lap from mild frustration.

She sighed and stood up before going into the kitchen, where she sat down at the table and thought about what her findings - or lack thereof - could mean for the Assassins. Thanks to the animus, the Assassins know that there have been many instances where world leaders in the past have used Pieces Of Eden to gain or maintain power; to bend citizens and even political opponents to their will. There's been the Apple, then there was the Staff. These two are easily the most studied of the Pieces Of Eden, in front of the Crystal Skull and Observatory, and the Sword Of Eden. Despite this knowledge, never in history had there been a crown of Eden. If this really was a new Piece Of Eden, it could prove either really good, or really bad.

Whatever the case, Velvet had a job to do: gather any data regarding the P.O.E energy spikes.

Velvet eyed the recorder on the coffee table in the living room. She got up and went over to the coffee table, then picked up the recorder on it and turned it on.

"Log zero two. I'll get straight to the point. After today's investigation, I believe that we have a brand new Piece Of Eden on our hands. Upon questioning Sunset Shimmer about her past as a school bully, and asking how she achieved such a level of control over the school, Pinkie Pie, another friend, mentioned the use of a crown. Now, the control Sunset Shimmer was said to have achieved was almost a perfect match to a Piece Of Eden. A personally army was the word used. Upon mentioning this Sunset Shimmer rushed to silence miss Pie, indicating the mentioning of said crown is something of a very sensitive topic that Sunset wanted to keep under wraps."

Velvet paused and took a breath. "I have also learned that, as cringe-worthy as this sounds, there was a large battle between Sunset Shimmer and a group of girls who are now friends with Sunset. Said group of girls had apparently 'defeated' Sunset Shimmer at the Fall Formal. This could be an indicator that while the crown can control large groups of people, some are resistant. This could also easily be precursor DNA at work here, but without hard evidence, i.e. DNA samples, it is impossible to prove or disprove anything, so until said evidence presents itself, or becomes necessary to collect for the overall investigation, I will not treat either assumption as fact."

Velvet began to walk around the house, continuing to speak as she did so. "Aside from this new information, the value of which could be immeasurable for the Assassins, I feel I should mention now that the Templars are here, at the school, though I believe they are unaware of my presence. There is at least three confirmed Templars. I was unable to acquire a name for two of them, however I do have a name for one. A boy named Jason Wood, whom I understand to be the illegitimate child of the Templar P.O.E research team leader, Mahogany Wood. This confirms that the Templars are here to research the P.O.E energy spikes as well as us. While the Templars are indeed here in the school, their influence appears to have not affected the school, which is good for now, though not i fear, for much longer. If there is indeed a new, undocumented Piece Of Eden at this school, the Templars will want as much control as possible, to retrieve and study it. If this comes to pass then I may have to suspend my mission to document the Piece Of Eden in favor of killing these monsters." Velvet gritted her teeth and gripped the recorder. "End log zero two."

Velvet switched off the recorder and looked around to find that she had wondered upstairs and into her room. She looked at the desk next to her pillow and saw a red cloth on it. She picked it up and held it to her chest, gripping it tight. "I promise Satin...I won't let those Templar bastards destroy any lives here, like they did yours."

Author's Note

IT HAS ARRIVED AT LAST!!!!!

Hello everypony! Yes, you've just read chapter 9, and yes, you're not blind! Oh...my god, has it been a HELL of a long time. I just wanted to say I'm incredibly sorry for the six month I was having trouble with inspiration and stuff, then I couldn't figure out how I wanted the conversation between Velvet and the Rainbooms to go, then I couldn't figure out how I wanted the chapter to end! But! I finally did it. :yay:

As always leave a like if you enjoyed the story and comment should you desire.

Anyway...That's all I have to say for now, so...BYYEEE!!!!!! :pinkiecrazy: