A bright explosion of pink-hued light rippled through Sunset Shimmer's living room. As the light faded, our friends, woke up from their experience in Sunset's head. The reformed villainess invited the rest of the gang to test the limits of her mind powers and created a world inside her head to play around in. The result...

"Uuuuuuugh", most of them groaned.

"I feel like someone threw my head into a steel compressor", Twilight was the first to comment.

"Like an elephant stampede in my brain", Fluttershy followed.

"Brain Freeze is nothing compared to this."

"I think I need t-", was all Rarity managed to say before storming off into the bathroom to throw up.

"I think this is what the hangover after three bottles of vodka feels like",Rainbow said, who then turned her head to see Sunset leaning on the wall to support her weight, while downing one-third of her analogy. "How in the hell can you swallow all that?" Sunset let the bottle leave her lips to answer.

"Horse person!", she plainly forced out. "Can't get drunk." She took a moment to look around the room. "Girls?", she said to draw the attention to herself. "We're totally gonna do this again, aren't we?", she said, to which she received a collective "Absolutely!" After all, they had 104 days to do so.

Unbeknownst to them, a figure stood in the alleyway next to Sunset's house, a hood concealing her identity.

"Finally, spying on them paid off." The figure looked at the bow and arrow in her hand. "These arrows seems to have absorbed the pink light they generated and with the power they gave me, I can finally exact my vengeance on that miserable spec of light." The figure made her way home, a ghostlike figure, about as big as her head, appearing next to her. "I'm think I'm gonna need some help."

After everybody recovered enough to get home, each if them said their goodbyes and got on their way home. They all felt tired and Fluttershy even thought they got a fever.

Sunset felt warm as well, but a diffeeent sort of warmth. It wasn't eminating from her body. More like she was encased in am invisible oven.

Thinking a little sleep might do the trick, she went to bed early, but the next day was even worse. She woke up with her mouth completely dried out.

Her first thought was go stumble to the bathroom to moisten her mouth and it felt better than anything she could remember. Winning the crown at the Fall Formal? Getting the power of the Element Diadem? Becoming Daydream Shimmer? Nothing compared to the cold water careening down her throat. So good she neerly climaxed on the spot.

She whiped the steam off the mirror (Steam?) to look at herself. She was sweating and panting like crazy, a heavy blush on her face. She was drenched in sweat to the point that her pyjama had become see-through. She tried to shut the faucet, but retreated her hand as the faucet burned her finger. Confused, she stumbled across the room to her thermometer, slapping both hands on either side. Just how hot was it in her apartment?

She was shocked to see that the temperature was at a normal level. At least for a morning in summer.

What happened next only furthered her confusion. She watched as the liquid in the small tube crawled higher and higher up. Simply standing next to the thermometer made it rise like she had never seen before.

Sunset felt another surge in temperature. And lost all strength in her body. She knew she had to figure out what was going on, but the only thing on her mind was to re-hydrate herself.

"Gotta get to my bar", she thought to herself as it was the coolest place in her appartment, which was actually just a mini-fridge. She desperately tried to crawl her way over to the cabinet containing various sorts of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. But without any strength left, she couldn't help but just lie there and claw the floor. Suddenly, a clinking sound.

Sunset opened her eyes to see a glass of Baccardi Cola was placed before her. And best of all, ice cubes. With newfound strength, Sunset grabbed the glass and greedily gulped down the drink. She even went so far as to chew on the ice cubes.

When she finished, the heat was starting to subside. Sunset felt so relieved that she just had to smile at the (relatively) cool air around her sweat-covered skin, as she just laid there content.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw something hover over her. She shot up and crawled to the nearby wall. There, she got a good look at the creature.

It somewhat resembles a harpy. Wings as arms and claws for hands. Its head was that of a human's, except for the yellow fangs coming out of its mouth. Its skin-part was pure white. Its hair was wild and fiery,only that the colors, red, orange and yellow, merged together seamlessly. Same for its wings. That was all she could see, The creature kinda stopped existing past its hips.

"Did you make me this drink?", she asked, far too accustomed to such things by now to really freak out.

Instead of an answer, the creature hovered over to Sunset getting more and more transparent until disappearing in her body.

"Well, that was bizarre."

Rainbow Dash had a normal day. After a bit of sleep she woke up without any trouble. She ate breakfast and headed to the Mall for her job at the sports wear store.

It was almost time for lunch and she just finished putting uo a dusplay for swimming gear when she saw two delinquents got to work on the register while the cashier was gone.

"Hey", she yelled as a warning, but the two only saw this as a sign to take the money and gun it.

"Cloud Kicker, watch the register!", she told her co-worker as she ran after them. Unfortunately, in order to not abuse its power, she kept her amulet in her pocket. Of the jacket that hung in her locker.

But even without it she was still fast enough to catch up to them. But something strange happened.

Once she was within three meters of them, they seemed to slow down. Not that Rainbow noticed. She ran past them, turned on her heels and punched one of them so hard he flew backwards. When she punched him, a second, crystally blue arm came out of her own.

Baffled, she stopped her attack, but whatever eas in her didn't. In fact, even more came out. Now the entire creature was visible. And it delivered a devastating punch to the guy's friend.

"RIIIOOOOO"!"

The guy flew back and hit his friend, who managed to stand up again, knocking both of them over.

"What the hell?", Rainbow asked. The two robbers left the money on the ground and high tailed it outta there, which confused Rainbow. "Wait, you don't see that?"

"See what, you bitch?" And like that, they left. Along with some broken ribs.

Rainbow got a good look at the creature that came out of her. It definitely looked humanoid. Like some sort of Android. It had a similar color as she did, but it looked like a polished crystal, kinda anglular, transparent and sparkly. It's eyes were magenta ovals with vertical slits in them, covered by a pair of sunglasses. Its hair was six differently colored streaks of hair twirling around each other into a ponytail and a baseball cap going over into the hair so seamlessly she couldn't tell where it started and ended. Six differently colored lightning bolts covered the backs of its hands, its chest and its thighs. On its shoulders, Rainbow saw a folded pair of wings, seemingly made of clouds.

The blue girl tried something. She willed the ghost to get ther the money on the floor and it followed her command.

"Oh this is gonna be good."

Fluttershy was in bad shape. She had fever and was gasping for air. She didn't even have the strength to pick up her phone and call her friends or puck uo the call that went to voice mail.

Fluttershy, I know you called yesterday to say you can't make it, but we're in big trouble. There's been an accident. A shelf fell on the hamster tubes. Not only is it completely destroyed, but many of the critters are injured. We need you to help us treat them. Click."

Fluttershy wanted to help, but she couldn't muster the strength to move out of bed. After one last look to the clock, it was 11:30, she passed out.

The dream she had was a very bizarre one. She was lying in her bed andflew up to the ceiling. Looking down, she saw her own body. Oh my. This isn't good. I better get moving. The mistress gave me something to do." She heard her own voice say with a ghost-like echo over it.

She then flew out the window. Analyzing the street, she began flying at breakneck speed, passing by every flower on the way.

Her workplace was in the mall, which was on the other side of town, but she managed to get there in 2 minutes flat.

Once she arrived, she noticed the carnage. The hamster tubes under the shelf were absolutely destroyed and she heard the sound of hectic rummaging in the back room. "Better get to work."

Her feeble black arm reached inside the pouch she carried around, took a handful of pollen she collected and let it rain down on the demolished tube labyrinth. In a matter of seconds, it was repared.

"Now for the little critters." Now, Fluttershy, or whatever she was, flew into the backroom that doubled as infirmary and spread her pollen across the entire room. As soon as the pollen hit the hamsters, all of their ailments were cured. No broken bones, no bruises, no nothing.

Fluttershy woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. She looked at the clock. She was only out for a couple of minutes.

"Hello?"

"Oh Fluttershy, thank goodness you're able to pick up. I left a message before about how we needed your help, but that's over."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah. Pretty crazy, I know. The hamster tubes got smashed and some of the little ones got injured, but now, they're up and running again. I don't know what happened, but I'm sure glad it did. Now my worst problem is my hayfever. Suddenly acted up after all this."

"I wonder why." Fluttershy noticed that she could now sit upright again. She felt her forehead and gladly noticed that her fever was gone too. Right after, she felt a golden powder trickle down on her.

When she looked up, she saw what could only be described as a bumblebee the size of her hand with butterfly wings and carrying a pouch. "I'm gonna call you back."

"I know it's crazy", Sunset told Rainbow Dash over the phone. Her blue friend decided to contact her as soon as possible after her bizarre discovery. Sunset was the go-to expert on magic in the group. "But I'm not even sure it's magic. I know almost everything about Equestrian magic and I've never seen anything like this. In other cases I had at least something to base an idea on, but I didn't even wear my amulet."

After receiving the amulets, the magic within the group had something to manifest in. So far, there hasn't been a burst of magic without them wearing their amulets.

"Let's all meet together and discuss it in private. Have you heard of Twilight? I tried calling and she didn't answer."

"Sorry, Sunset. I called her, but she didn't answer either. Her folks said she locked herself into the basement and even they don't know what she's doing down there."

"Okay, I'm gonna try it again later. If I can't reach her, let's meet at Twilight's house at 8 pm. Bring your pyjama. It could be a long night."

Sunset wasn't able to contact Twilight, so all 6 of them met at Twilight's front door, sleepover gear ready to be used.

rrrrrrinnnnggg

"Hello, Mr Night Light", they said to Twilight's father as be opend the door to greet them.

"Why hello girls. Nice to see you."

"Likewise, but it's kind of an emergency. We need to talk to Twilight."

"Be my guest. If you can get her out of her lab that is. You can spend the night if you want. I'm just heading out for the night shift." Then he let them into the house. Before leaving, though, he left them a final warning. "And don't raid the bar again. Snacks as well as alcohol." He was looking at Sunset, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in particular.

"Okay, let's get Twilight outta there", Rainbow said, lunching her fists together to motivate herself.

First a knock on the door, followed by calling her name and finally, trying the door knob. The latter proved to be the most effective option. The door wasn't even locked.

All 6 of them made their way down the wooden staircase, again trying to call her name. The wood ached and creaked under their feet.

Once they reached the bottom, they looked at a dimly lit room in which scrap metal and machinery were scattered everywhere. And 6 ball lightnings were running amok.

What's this?

Intruders?

Spies?

Thieves?

Or maybe assasins?

Maybe they're friends.

Friends?

I saw them on her phone.

Then maybe they know her.

Probably.

Likely.

Possibly.

Applejack and Rarity were absolutely stunned by this display, but Sunset, Rainbow and Fluttershy had seen stranger things that day. Though it was still weird to hear Twilight's squeaky voice out of 6 little balls of electricity.

"Alright, I've got another one", they heard Twilight call out from the top of the stairs. She was a coffee can in her hands. "Time to get... What are you doing here girls?" She was pleasantly surprised to see her friends and skipped down the stairs to greet them, hugging each of them separately.

"Uh, Twilight?", Applejack chimed in. "Everythin' alright with ya?"

"I can't remember when I've been better. I've been researching and experimenting all day without end. All these ideas and possibilities - now I know how you feel, Rarity, when you get the inspiration for a new line", she said before placing the can down on her workbench. Next to 17 used mugs and cups.

Now that she was in a better light, the gang saw how messy Sci-Twi looked. Her hair was messed up, her lab coat was hanging down one shoulder and her glasses weren't even straight.

"And who might I ask were you talking to earlier?" Twilight was taken aback by Rarity's question. How was she going to explain what happened to her?

"It's okay, Twi", Rainbow followed. "I think the same thing happened to us."

Rainbow, Sunset and Fluttershy each called their respective "ghost-thingies".

"Oh good. I didn't know how to explain it without sounding crazy."

You know them, boss?

"They are my friends, Boogaloo", she told the little balls, sounding a little annoyed.

I knew it.

No, I did.

I did.

You didn't.

"Can you please just drink your coffee and shut up?"

COFFEEEEEE!

Let's talk upstairs.

After that, they went into Twilight's living room and discussed the events of the day to tea and cocoa.

"I see. After what you've told me, I'm certain these ghosts are called "Stands". Because they stand at your side, y'know."

"Oh no", Pinkie said, having a bad feeling about this.

"Boogaloo manifested yesterday evening, so I did some research and after a couple of hours browsing websites about ghosts and paranormal activities, I thought I found the answer, which is now confirmed. Ghost-like creatures who are commanded by one person and have their own individual, supernatural abilities. They can only be seen by other Stand Users and follow a loose set of rules. Some sentient, some not. That's a Stand", Twilight explained.

"So let me get this straight", Pinkie chimed in. "Your answer to these weird things is from a Manga-series that's been going on since the 80s?" The group gave the hobby scientist a questioning look.

"I guess it's fair to assume the author didn't just use his imagination."

"That. Is. AWESOME." Pinkie took a break to celebrate their new powers, with confetti and everything.

"My neighbor asked me today about a weird light coming from my window yesterday", Sunset explained. "I'm sure our trip inside my head created some sort of enery that - for lack of a better word - awakened these things. I'm certain that they're not even magical, more like the manifestation of our souls. Somethink human."

"But what about me, Rarity 'n' Pinkie Pie? We don't have these Stands, so why can we see 'em?", a justified question from Applejack.

"I can only assume that you have gotten that ability, but still have to wait for it to manifest. You have to take notice of everything that might be strange or unusual."

When Pinkie finally calmed down, she reached into her hair to pull out a fizzy drink. That gave Sunset an idea.

"That's it. Pinkie's hair. How else do you explain how she can keep so much inside there?" Pinkie never thought much about it. It was just a natural thing for her. Something she could do for as long as she could remember.

"That's right. Stands can manifest in objects and at an early age. Boogaloo told me about it", Twilight said in fascination.

"I've had a Stand my whole life and didn't even notice", she said with a stupidly huge grin on her face.

"Meh, we've been getting powers left and right for the pat year", Rainbow Dash commented. "I guess this isn't too far-fetched."

"Okay, ladies, I think that's enough for one day. This is supposed to be a sleepover. Let's get dressed for one!", Rarity said.

After the crazy day most of them had, they were more than happy to relax and have fun with their group. They ordered pizza and Pinkie put on the show she knew Stands from. Most of them liked the mix of cheesyness and badassery. It was almost time for the night-time news, when...

"You know what?", Rainbow Dash started. "We should give them names."

"Why?"

"Because it would be awesome. Come on, I have an idea. We'll try to summon them in the coolest way possible. Poses, names and everything. Just do what feels natural to you."

"What about Applejack and Rarity?"

"We're fine."

"We'll just do it once they appear", Applejack and Rarity assured.

"Then what are we waiting for? It was your idea Rainbow so you go first."

"Alright, here goes nothing." Rainbow Dash breathed in and out a couple of seconds, meditating to come up with something good.

"[CRYSTAL SKULL]"
She was standing at a 45 degree angle, with her legs spread wide and bending over a little. She brought her front arm up in a defensive position, while the other looked ready to shoot forward. She brought both her hands into a claw-like shape. She looked like the proud prince of an alien race from a certain Anime. All the while being enveloped in a blue aura. The audience cheered and gave her 50 of 60 points.

"How'd you think o' that name?"

"I dunno. Just sorta felt natural." Next was Sunset.

[Order of the Pheonix!]
Sunset raised her arms over her head and crossed them. Then she made sure to stick her chest out and show off her toned stomach. The finishing touch was throwing her head back a bit and looking down seductively at the audience with half-lidded eyes. Her aura was red.

The group cheered and laughed at her display. Sunset herself broke down on the ground laughing.

"Sexy Pheonix-Harpy for the win. Bahahahaha." Sunset got 53 out of 60.

"Come on, Fluttershy. You're next." At the beginning, Fluttershy was a bit scared to show off, but the hearty laugh she shared with her friends she was more than ready to participate.

[Farthing Wood]
Fluttershy folded her hands like she was praying, then opened them to reveal her Stand. The crowd applauded. Rainbow even gave her an reassuring hug.

"Whoohoo, theatricality."

"Okay, now it's my-", Twilight started before being interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Who in their right mind is calling at this hour?"

"Maybe it's like in that movie The Ring."

"Seven Days", Pinkie said in her ghost voice.

"Guys, seriously, nobody should be calling at this hour", Applejack pointed out.

"You should pick up anyways. What if it's an emergency", Sunset reaffirmed Twilight.

The purple girl hesitantly reached for the earpiece. "Hello?"

"TURN ON THE TV, NOW!", a male voice shouted from the other side of the line. So loud the other girld could also understand him.

"Was that Silver Screen?"

Silver Screen was a friend of Pinkie Pie's. She invited him to spend the day with the others in Sunset's head, because they needed an eighth person and she wanted to get him to socialize.

Taking pity on his self-loathing self, Twilight agreed to teach him in the ways of social awareness and interaction. He was also present when the explosion happened. Did he gain a Stand too?

"What do you want?", Twilight asked annoyed. She wasn't particularly fond of him. "We're having a sleepover and-"

"The others are there too? No time to explain, just switch to the news on Channel 5!"

Twilight complied and switched the channels to watch the news. They had just reached the story that made Twilight drop the remote.

The Canterlot City Mall was attacked today. After closing hours several suspects wearing hoods entered the mall and attacked various stores inside. The shops attacked are as follows:

Mistmane's Sushi Bar
Speed Star's Sports Gear
Carousel Boutique
Sparky's Electronics
the Splish Splash Juice Bar
Coco Puff's Diner
and Candy Cane's Critter Crazy Chateau

The 7 girls went pale. They knew the names of those places all too well. Each of the girls worked at one of them. The news station switched to show footage of the vandalism.

It showed several people dressed in hoods, destroying the places window by window, chair by chair. Some used something as simple as baseball bats, others tore entire holes into the fassades, made windows explode with what they could only assume are also Stand powers.

The police is currently investigating the case. It is yet unknown how these criminals got access to the building, or what their motives were."

That's where they ended. The girls stood and sat there in shock. This wasn't just a random act of vandalism. This wasn't just a test run to try out new powers.

Silver Screen spoke through the phone again. " Get some rest. Let's meet tomorrow in front of the school. 7 am. klink"

A long and deafening silence fell over the room. Nobody dared to speak or even move a muscle.

"Girls, I think someone just declared war on us."

The midnight train was just rolling into the Canterlot City train station as its last stop for the day. When everybody left their compartments, the conductor was only making a last round to see if everyone got off.

He found someone sleeping in the third one he checked. Using his key, he opened the door and woke the gentleman up.

The man's chapeau was drawn over his eyes and his long brown coat functioned as a blanket. Underneath, he wore a royal blue suit and mint green tie. He kindly thanked the conductor and apologized for the inconvenience.

As he was standing on the curbstone outside, a leather suitcase in his hand, he used the other to puck up his phone and call his boss.

""Hello?"

"Good evening Mr Steamwagon. Chalking up a few extra hours, I see. How does that work exactly? Are you going to pay yourself more?", the man joked.

""I was just having another look and the information we have about this town. It's late, Doctor, get some rest. The girls will still be there tomorrow." The man's boss spoke with a thick accent, Cockney, to be precise.

By the way the good Doctor himself pronounced his A's and rolled his R's, one could make out that he was Scottish.

" We've booked you a room in the Canterlot Grand Hotel. Just tell them you work for us."

"I assume all expenses are paid", he joked again. "Good night, sir."

Author's Note