The Phoenix

by SilverWind14

Rating: teen
Tags: Violence, Alternate Universe, Romance, Comedy, Gilda, Other, Adventure, Equestria Girls, Sunset Shimmer, Main 7 (EqG), Profanity
Length: 7073

After awakening the hidden magic inside of her, Sunset Shimmer uses that magic to help and protect others, while also dealing with the many problems at school.

Sunset Shimmer's week has not been so great. An unknown cyber bully turns everyone, including her friends, against her. Some have even gone so far as to beat and kidnap her. Alone, weak, beaten, and at the mercy of a vengeful student, Sunset loses all hope. That's when she suddenly awakens a hidden power that she had inside of her. She decides to use this to help and protect other people and prove to herself that she is a better person, all while dealing with the hatred from her school. Enter The Phoenix!

Rated T for violence and profanity
This story will take place after Legend of Everfree so I'm predicting that you'll either love it or hate it :twilightsheepish: It's also probably not gonna focus too much on Anon-A-Miss. Maybe if this does good I'll do a sequel and bring down Anon-A-Miss in that one :raritywink:

Special thanks to my Discord buddies for helping me look over and edit this. BIG SPECIAL THANKS to Snowflake Dissonance for the AMAZING cover art. Really appreciate it :pinkiehappy:

My second story ever! Go easy on me >m<

*This story is NOT connected with Broken in any way other than Anon-A-Miss and the characters*

Published 2018-03-03 21:10:12 UTC
Last updated 2018-04-05 01:55:19 UTC

Awakened

“Put her in the car,” Lightning Dust said to her schoolmates as they lifted an unconscious Sunset from the ground. Snips and Snail looked at each other with worried looks before her beaten body in the back of Lightning’s car.
It was 9:00 PM, and it was a cold and snowy night. It was close to the holidays and people were excited, especially the students of CHS, who were to go on Winter Break next week. Since the holidays were coming up, everyone was in a jolly mood. Well they were in a good mood before the start of this week.

Anon-A-Miss, a mysterious MyStable user, showed up and began posting embarrassing secrets. During the course of the week, Anon-A-Miss had turned the whole school upside down and the students were at each other's throats. And all fingers pointed at the former Queen Bee of the school, Sunset Shimmer.

Because of that, the students made sure to make Sunset’s life a living hell for her. Whether it was glaring at her, ignoring her, shoving her around, or throwing things at her, they did their best to making her as downtrodden as possible, and it was working. Sunset was absolutely miserable. And the worst part of it was that she was completely alone. The only true friend she had left was Gilda, who, for some reason, didn’t join in on the ‘Blame Sunset’ bandwagon.

Her six best friends--Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle--had also believed Sunset to be guilty, and cut all ties with the former unicorn. This broke Sunset completely but she still held hope that it’ll be over someday and she could win them back. She had thought today was the day.

Sunset had received a text from Rainbow Dash telling her to meet her at the school gym to talk. Although it seemed kind of shady, Sunset immediately thought the best and came rushing over to the gym, expecting Rainbow there to let her explain herself.

What she didn’t expect, however, was to see a group of students, led by Lightning Dust, there, waiting for her. To jump her!

Thankfully, she had been training in martial arts for a while and fought back against her attackers. Taking a few of them down before they all came at her at once and brought her down. Lightning Dust, now sporting a bruised eye, busted lip, and fractured nose, wanted to continue beating her down, so she came up with the idea to take her to an abandoned factory to continue her beatdown.

“Anyone else wanna join me?” Lightning asked her school mates. The ones who weren’t either knocked out or on the ground groaning in pain gave her a worried look.

“What are you planning to do to her, Dust?” asked Score as he wiped some blood from his nose. “I mean, we’ve already beaten the lights out of her. Don’t you think it’s time to go?”

“No way! She needs to suffer more! She needs to learn never to mess with me!” Lightning yelled, her anger increasing as she recalled the latest secret posted by Anon-A-Miss.

It was a picture of Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash kissing. They were now the latest laughingstock of the school and both had been pissed. Dash came up with a plan to get ‘back a Sunset.’ She gave Lightning Dust her phone so that she could text Sunset (as Rainbow Dash) and tell her to meet her at the gym, where a group of students who also wanted revenge would be waiting to teach Sunset a lesson.

Now that Sunset was beaten and unconscious the students were satisfied and were worried about what Lightning might do to her now.

“I know you’re upset about that,” Score said. “But come on. She’s had enough. What are you gonna do kill her?”

“AHHH!! Forget you guys then! I’ll go by myself!” Dust scream as her patience had run out. “Snips! Snails! You’re coming with me! Get your asses in the car!”

Snips and Snail did as they were told, afraid that she was gonna beat them as well.

Once they were all in the car, Lightning Dust sped down the street. The remaining students were left to worry about what might happen to Sunset now that she was at the mercy of Lightning Dust.

******

Once they arrived at the factory, Lightning got out of her car and headed for the entrance.

“Hurry up you idiots! I don’t have all day!” she yelled as she entered the building.

Snips and Snails reluctantly got Sunset out of the car. They both held the still unconscious girl up and looked at the old abandoned factory in front of them.

“Snips, I’m scared,” Snails said as he looked at the building.

“Me too buddy.” Snips said as fear began to take over. He looked at the girl he was holding up. “I really hope she goes easy on her.”

After sharing one more worried look with each other, they entered the building.

******

Pain. That’s the first thing Sunset was feeling as she was slowly regaining consciousness. She remembered rushing over to CHS as soon as she saw the text from Rainbow Dash. She also remembered entering the gym and seeing Lightning Dust and a bunch of other students waiting there for her. Apparently, this had been an elaborate ruse thought up by Dash and Dust to get Sunset to come to the gym after hours to teach her a lesson.

In a moment of sheer panic, she began fighting the students. Knowing some martial arts skills, she held her own against what appeared to be ten to fifteen students before their strength in numbers finally brought her to the ground. Before losing consciousness, she felt punches and kicks all over her. Now that she was waking up, the pain was now being registered and she wished she was still knocked out.

Aside from that, Sunset also felt herself being carried. She tried to turn her head to the ones carrying her, but the pain in her head protested against movement. She groaned in pain and felt herself stop moving.

“Ah, look who’s awake. I was hoping you’d wake up soon.” She heard a voice say. A voice that sounded a lot like…

“Lightning Dust?” Sunset managed to say through the pain. “W-what’s going on? Where am I?” She finally managed to look around her. She saw that she was inside what appeared to be an old abandoned factory. Now she was feeling a mixture of confusion and fear. She turned to look at the ones carrying her. When she saw who it was, she let out a small gasp.

“Snips? Snails?”

“H-hi Sunset.” Snips managed to say with a sheepish grin, though the look in his eyes told Sunset that he was scared. She turned to Snails, who couldn’t bring himself to look at her. He had his eyes glued to the ground, a guilty look on his face.

“W-what’s happening here? Why are-” She was interrupted when she felt a fist connect to her face. She yelped as the pain in her face and head doubled.

“Shut your dumbass up, you demon!” yelled Lightning Dust.

“Dust, please!” screamed Snips, tears running down his face. “She’s already had enough! Would you please just-”

“You stay out of this unless you want to join her, fat boy!” Dust yelled back. Snips shut his mouth almost immediately.

Lightning then began laughing softly. Fear was slowly building up in Sunset. What the hell was she planning to do?

“As for why you’re here, I’m going to continue paying you back for that damn picture you posted. You just don’t know when to stop do you?” She said through gritted teeth.

“How many times do I have to tell you this? I. Am. Not. An-” She felt another punch connect, this time in her stomach. She began coughing and wheezing.

“There you go again with your stupid lies!” Dust growled “I’m gonna enjoy this.” She began chuckling as she got rope. “Hold her still while I tie the bitch up.”

Snips and Snails shook as Lightning Dust began tying her left arm. They just wanted this to end. They didn’t care if Sunset was Anon-A-Miss or not, this was the person who they considered their friend. They didn’t want to see her suffer anymore than she already was.

Sunset went limp as she felt the rope around her wrist. She felt Snips and Snails shaking. Sunset could only imagine what they were going through. She wanted to let them know that it was ok, that there was nothing to worry about, but that’d be a lie. She couldn’t do anything about this and she knew it.

She thought back to how this all started. With the first Anon-A-Miss post being Applejack’s family nickname and the second being pictures of the slumber party at Rarity’s. She then thought about her…’friends’. How they abandoned her and left her alone. Even Twilight Sparkle, this world’s version of the pony princess, who she had only known for a short time compared to the others.

She thought about the one pony she failed the most. Princess Celestia. The princess of Equestria. The one pony she admired like a mother. In fact, Celestia was her mother, to her anyway. She had found Sunset on the streets of Canterlot and took her under her wing. She taught her many things like the use of magic and how to properly use it. Sunset, thinking she was being held back from her learning, deliberately disobeyed Celestia’s orders and went through the portal. That was years of love and care that Celestia gave to her, and Sunset threw it all back at her face like a spoiled brat. Oh, how she just wanted to go back and beg her for her forgiveness. But she couldn’t. She didn’t have the courage to. And now it was too late.

I failed, she thought to herself. It’s over. I’m...I’m done for.

Sunset Shimmer!

She heard an all-too-familiar voice echo in her head.

C-Celestia?

Don’t you give up now, my sunshine. You still have so much to look forward to. So much to do and learn. You’re not one to give up so easily, you never have been. You’ve always pushed yourself to be the best. To show the world that you’re not weak. So don’t start giving up now. You have a great power inside of you, Sunset. Just look into your heart and bring that power out. The voice was now fading away.

W-what do you mean? Celestia? Please don’t leave me!

Keep fighting my sunshine. Never lose faith in yourself and others. Be strong. For me.

M-mom!

For yourself. Make me proud, my little pony…

MOMMY!!!

Sunset could no longer hear Celestia’s voice. She now began to cry, causing Lightning Dust to smile.

“Yes, that it. Keep crying. I enjoy seeing you so vulnerable,” she said as she went to tie the other hand.

As Sunset cried, she felt something in her heart. She felt...magic. Her unicorn magic that she always felt in Equestria. But she also felt another type of magic. She felt the magic that she had when she gathered her friend’s magic and defeated Twilight during the Friendship Games. She stopped crying. This must’ve been what Celestia was talking about. She let the magic run throughout her body until she could feel it everywhere.

Snips and Snail let her go, letting her limp body hang as one hand was to a pole and the other hanging by her side. Lightning grabbed her other hand, but felt it stop half way up. She saw that Sunset was resisting her. She became more confused as she tried pulling her arm, harder now, but found that she wasn’t budging.

“What the hell?” Dust said. She didn’t understand why Sunset still had strength left after that beating.

Sunset surprised everyone even further when she yanked her arm away from Lightning Dust. She then gave her a hard punch to the gut, all while still staring at the ground.

Lightning staggered backwards in shock and pain as she gripped her stomach, gasping for air. Snips and Snails watched with disbelief as the girl they thought was doomed suddenly gained the upper hand, all while having one hand tied.

Sunset suddenly began to glow as an orange aura of some sort surrounded her body. It looked like she was about to pony up, but no ears or ponytail appeared. She finally looked up and stared at Dust, who had dropped to knees, still wheezing. Dust looked up to see Sunset looking at her with a look of both determination and anger, and her confusion turned to fear.

Sunset freed her other hand with a hard yank, causing the ropes to snap. She got to her feet as she continued to stare at Lightning Dust. Suddenly, the aura grew brighter, causing the others to shield their eyes. When the light died down, everyone looked at Sunset and were even more shocked at what they saw

Sunset’s hair color was more vibrant than it usually was. She appeared to be a bit buffer than usual. But what surprised everyone was the pair of wings on her back. They weren’t like the ones that Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight got when they ponied up. These were different. They looked nothing like pony wings. These looked like a birds wings. More specifically, phoenix wings. The spiky, fiery looking wings were enough to further their confusion and shock.

“What the hell is this!?” Lightning shouted as she managed to get to her feet. “You were beaten and weak. Where did this come from?!”

“What’s wrong, Dust? You were talking so big before,” Sunset mocked as her scowl changed to a smirk.

“SHUT UP!!!” Dust shouted as she rushed at Sunset and threw a punch

Sunset caught the punch with ease, her smirk dropping back down to a scowl. Dust tried to pull away, but found that she couldn’t. Before she could say anything, Sunset delivered a powerful knee to Lightning’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She then threw a left hook across her face, sending her flying back and crashing into the wall, knocking her out cold.

Sunset stared at Lightning’s unconscious body for a bit before realizing what she did.

“Holy crap.” she said. “Where did this come from?”

She looked at her hands as they began to glow a bright red. She glanced at the rest of her body and noticed the increase in muscles. Finally she took notice of her new wings. She moved them around and flapped them a little as she let out a small chuckle.

“This is so cool!” she said, giggling with joy.

“U-um, Sunset?”

Sunset stopped giggling and turned to face the two boys, who were still visibly shaking. She completely forgot that they were here!

“Hey guys,” she said with a small smile

“Are...are you ok, Sunset?” Snails asked with concern in his voice.

“Well despite being lured into a trap set up by Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash and getting pummeled to near death, AND THEN being brought out to an abandoned factory to potentially get tortured only to awaken this magic that I didn’t even know I had, I’m pretty ok,” she said with a grin.

“I see,” Snips laughed sheepishly before getting quiet, looking guilty. “Look Sunset, we’re so sorry for doing this to you. We didn’t even want to be a part of this. Dust pretty much threatened us if we didn’t help her. And-”

“Hey, it’s ok guys.” Sunset interrupted with a sad smile. “It wasn’t your fault. I know that you boneheads would never do anything like this of your own free will. I’m not mad at you, I promise.” She said with an large smile.

Snips and Snails tackle-hugged her, tears running down their faces.

“Thank you, Sunset! Thank you so much!” they yelled

“No problem, guys.” Sunset giggled as she returned the hug.

After a few minutes of hugs and tears, the two boys broke the hug and looked at Sunset in amazement.

“You look sooo cooool!” Snips said. “You were all glowy and shimmery and then all of a sudden you grew wings and became all buff and stuff and knocked out Lightning like it was nothing. Where did this even come from?”

“Still trying to figure that out,” Sunset replied before remembering something. “Holy shit! I didn’t realize how long we were in here. It must be getting really late. I’ll take you guys home before your parents get really worried and call the police.”

“Good idea. My mom is probably gonna kill me for being out this late. But that’s ok, so long as she doesn’t know what happened.” Snips said.

“Um, guys?” Snails called, getting their attention. “What do we do about her?” He pointed at Lightning Dust, who was still out cold.

Sunset fluttered her new wings and tapped her chin before saying, “Hm. Actually, speaking of the police…”

Author's Note

New story! Yaay~:yay:
I really hope you guys like this story. I've had this superhero idea in my head for awhile now and I really wanted to try and write it out. Let me know what you think about this :pinkiesmile:
I haven't forgotten about Broken, don't you worry. Expect a new chapter very soon :pinkiecrazy:

The Day After

Author's Note

Sorry for taking too long with these! I promise that I'll get more chapters posted after school is over. But until then, enjoy :pinkiesmile:

The Day After

After finding a way to get Lightning Dust arrested, Sunset dropped Snips and Snails off at their homes, wondering how much trouble they’ll be in. After that she ‘flew’ home. Since she only had wings once before--big, glowing wings that didn’t even move--she wasn’t too familiar with the whole flying thing. She kept struggling to stay in the air and change directions. Luckily, being late at night, nobody was out to witness her.

“Dang it, this is hard,” Sunset said as she landed in front of her apartment. “I’ll have to practice soon.”

She got her key out and unlocked her door, entering the building. She closed the door behind her and put the keys on the kitchen table. She went to her bedroom and took off her boots. She was about to take her shirt off before she remembered the wings on her back.

“Oh yeah, those,” she said as she flapped them a little. “Now, how do I turn these things off?”

Sunset concentrated hard. She closed her eyes and clenched her fists as she tried to force her wings away. If there was anybody else in the room with her, they would have thought she was taking a HUGE dump. Sunset even let out a small toot that she didn’t even feel.

“AAHHHHRRRUUGH!!” she continued. “Ahh. Damn it. How the heck do I do this?”

She thought back to the factory and how she released her powers. She let the magic flow through her body, and eventually, it led to her sweet transformation. She wondered if letting the magic flow back to her heart would work.

She closed her eyes and let out a soft breath. She concentrated on her magic. She focused on trying to move it back to her heart. As she did, Sunset felt the magic start to flow through her again, this time back to one spot. She felt her muscles go back to their normal shape and the wings on her back disappear.

“Phew!” she sighed. “This is good. I’m making progress. Soon I’ll be able to learn more about this and, hopefully, try to control it.”

Sunset took off her clothes and looked in the mirror. She saw that her muscles did indeed go back to normal and her wings had disappeared. To her dismay, he also noticed the bruises that ran all the way down her body. She looked at her face and found she had a swollen black eye as well as a busted lip.

“Freaking students. Freaking Dust,” she mumbled as she went to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and began to wash her face carefully to get rid of the dried blood. Now that the blood had been cleaned away, she looked less like shit, despite still having the black eye.

“Freaking Rainbow Dash,” Sunset growled. “Stupid, arrogant, self centered, egotistical little bitch. I’ll get you back, I swear…” She stopped for a moment. “No. No, Celestia wouldn’t want that. She’d want me to forgive her or something, tch. Sorry, Mom, no matter how much you’d want me to, I can’t forgive her for what she’s done. For now though, I gotta figure out who this damn Anon-A-Miss is and clear my name.”

Sunset left the bathroom and put on her pajamas. She went to her bed and slipped under the covers, welcoming the warmth.

“Gotta do that while also figuring out how to control this magic,” she said before letting out a small yawn. “I’m sure this can wait till after yawn I get some sleep.” And with that she drifted off to sleep.

******

Beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep

Sunset groaned and reached to turn off the annoying alarm. She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She reluctantly slipped out of bed and went to the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, she was surprised to see that her bruises hadn’t gotten worse than she thought they’d be.

She exited the bathroom and went to her closet grabbing some clean clothes. She discarded her pajamas and slipped into the new outfit. . Her body twinged where she’d been beaten, but she knew it was nothing she couldn’t handle.

She left her room and headed for the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed a leftover veggie sandwich. She sat down and began to eat. While she ate, she thought about what exactly had happened yesterday.

“So, apart from Dash completely losing all her neurons and Dust almost torturing me, yesterday was one of the strangest days I’ve lived through,” she said to herself as she chewed at her sandwich. “What happened to me? Where did this magic come from? The only time I felt magic like this was in Equestria, and that one time at the Friendship Games. And what about Celestia? Was that really her or just me losing my mind?”

Sunset finished up her sandwich and headed back to her bathroom to brush her teeth. She really didn’t want to go to school again. What with this whole Anon-A-Miss mess and the students who were there when she got jumped. She just wanted to stay home and not deal with all that crap. However, if there was anything to look forward to, it was meeting up with her friend, Gilda.

Gilda had been one of the only people who had not turned against her when Anon-A-Miss showed up. She had even gone so far as to defend Sunset when students were messing with her. Nobody dared to mess with Sunset and as long as Gilda was with her. She owed Gilda a lot. Sunset was very grateful toward her and everything she’d done for her. She couldn’t wait to meet up with her again, but at the same time, she dreaded explaining what happened last night.

Sunset rinsed her mouth and exited the bathroom again. She picked up her backpack, grabbed her keys, and exited her apartment. Off to another day of school.

******

Sunset arrived at school and, to no surprise, was greeted with the usual glares and spiteful looks of the students. Some even laughed upon seeing her face. Sunset did her best to ignore them. The occasional shoves wouldn't have bothered her so much if it weren’t for her bruised body.

Sunset arrived at her locker and spun the lock, working to ignore the students around her. .

Just hold out a little longer, Sunset. Don’t wanna get into anymore dangerous situations, she thought to herself.

Upon opening her locker, Sunset heard a pained scream from behind her. She turned around to see Gilda holding someone who appeared to be a junior up by the collar.. She had encountered this particular junior a while ago when he tried to put a note on her back. Gilda took care of him of course, but it looks like he hasn’t learned his lesson. (Fuck him up Sunset - not an edit, just a reaction)

“What did I tell you about messing with her, pipsqueak!” Gilda yelled.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” screamed the 11th-grader. As predicted, the teen dropped a note with a crude drawing on it.

Gilda threw him onto the floor and took a step closer to him. “Get out of here.”

The junior ran away as quickly as he could, stumbling along the way. Gilda stared at him for a second before she turned to look at Sunset. Before she knew it, the fiery-haired girl had rushed her and thrown her arms around her.

“Gilda! So good to see you!” Sunset shouted with delight.

“Come on, Sunny, you act like we haven't seen each other for years.” Gilda laughed as she hugged her back.

The hug only lasted for a few seconds. Sunset broke it, blushing slightly.

“So, how are you, Sun- holy shit, what the hell happened to you?!” Gilda shouted as concern and fear spread across her face.

“I’ll explain this, don’t worry!” Sunset said. “It’s actually a pretty crazy story.”

“You look like you got the ever-loving shit beat out of you!” Gilda exclaimed.

“Because I did,” Sunset said with a sheepish grin on her face.

“...”

“But it’s not as bad as you think it is! I swear!” Sunset said quickly.

Just then, the bell rang, signalling the start of the school day.

“I’ll explain it during lunch, ok?” Sunset said.

“You better.” Gilda’s frown turned into a small grin. “I’ll see you then.”

“Right,” Sunset said.

After one last hug, the two girls parted ways.

******

When lunch came, Gilda and Sunset met each other at their usual spot underneath a tree in the field. Sunset carried a brown paper bag because the cafeteria was no longer safe (and she doubted Granny Smith would give her food anyway) while Gilda carried a tray of food. They both settled under the tree and dug into their lunch.

“So,” Gilda began. “You want to explain to me what the hell happened to you?”

“Well, you want the whole truth or the nerfed truth?” Sunset asked.

“The whole truth,” Gilda replied as she bit into her burger.

Sunset sighed. “Alright then. But I need to promise me something.”

Gilda looked at her and nodded.

“Promise you won’t do anything stupid,” Sunset said as she raised a finger.

Gilda looked confused but still nodded. “Fine then. I’m starting to regret it now.”

“Ok, here’s what happened. Yesterday, I got a text message from Rainbow Dash. She said that she wanted to talk to me about this whole Anon-A-Mess bull crap.” Gilda snickered. “Anyway, I was too excited about proving to Dash I wasn’t Anon-a-Miss that I wasn’t at all questioning why she wanted to do this at 8 PM and at the gym of all places.”

Gilda put her burger down and looked at Sunset. “Why do I get the feeling Dash didn’t want to just talk to you?”

“She didn’t. She wasn’t even there. When I arrived, I was greeted by like fifteen or twenty students who wanted to teach me a lesson. And at the head of it all was Lightning Dust,” Sunset said, clenching her fists at the memory.

Gilda stared at her with her mouth before closing and clenching it. “That little-”

“Gilda,” Sunset warned.

Gilda calmed down slightly, though anger could still be seen on her face.

“Yes, I was jumped. Though, I did manage to take down most of them before they knocked me out. However, it didn’t stop there. Lightning Dust was pissed, and I mean pissed. She thought I needed to suffer more so she took me to an abandoned factory to tie me up and continue beating me.”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT BITCH?!” Gilda shouted as she got to her feet. “I’LL KILL HER!!!”

Sunset jumped up and put her hands on her shoulders. “Gilda please calm down! As you can see, nothing terrible happened. If you’d just calm down and let me explain what happened. You might get a kick out of it.” She chuckled slightly.

Gilda’s heavy, shaky breathing managed to even out, and she calmed her trembling body. She let out a deep sigh as she put her head on Sunset’s shoulders and wrapped her arms around her waist.

“You could’ve been tortured. Or worse. Of course I’m gonna react like this Shim,” she said.

Sunset put on a sad smile and wrapped her arms around Gilda. “I know. I’m sorry.”

The hug lasted for about half a minute before Gilda broke it and cleared her throat, a slight blush can be seen on her face. “So, uh, how did you escape?” she asked, sitting back down.

Sunset did the same and said, “Well, somehow, I felt this... light, in my heart. When I tapped into it, magic started flowing through me. Not just the magic that you see the Rainbooms using. I felt the magic I felt everyday in Equestria. I also felt the magic that I got during the Friendship Games. It all just... came out. I felt my strength and speed increase. And instead of pony ears, I got a pair of phoenix wings.”

“Damn,” Gilda said in a surprised tone. “What happened then?”

“I knocked out Lightning Dust in just three blows,” Sunset said with a small smirk.

“Seriously?” Gilda was now impressed. “I knew you were a good fighter, but damn! That must’ve been one hell of a power up.”

“I guess it was,” Sunset chuckled. “So at the end of the day, I left home with only minor injuries. As for Dust, I called the police and reported some suspicious activity. From the top of a building, I saw them dragging Lightning out of the factory. You should’ve seen her. She was screaming about a demon that beat her up and how she was innocent! It was hilarious!” Sunset laughed.

Gilda chuckled. “Serves her right!”

The two girls heard the bell ring and glanced to each other. Neither really wanted to return to school, wishing they could remain where they were. But that could get them into more trouble than either was willing to deal with, so they stood. They threw away their trash and headed inside the school.

“Well. I guess I’ll see you later then,” Gilda said.

“Yup. See you later, Gilda,” Sunset said with a smile.

Gilda smiled and wrapped her arms around Sunset again. Sunset was surprised but immediately smiled and returned the hug.

“Don’t… get hurt anymore. You hear me?” Gilda said.

“Heh. I’ll try,” Sunset laughed.

They broke apart and nodded at each other.

“See ya later, Shim,” Gilda said before turning around to head to her class. Sunset watched Gilda a little longer. She blushed slightly before she too turned and headed to her class.

******

After school, Sunset exited the school and began to walk home.

“Wow. You don’t look so good,” a voice said from behind her, making her turn around. She frowned whens he found Rainbow Dash smirking at her. She hadn’t seen her the whole day. Now, Dash appeared to be enjoying the bruises littering Sunset’s face.

“The hell do you want?” Sunset growled.

“Aww. Is the little demon upset?” Dash mocked, causing Sunset’s rage to boil. “I’m surprised Dust didn’t do more than just a few bruises. I could’ve done way worse.”

“Why didn’t you join her then? Were you too afraid to get knocked out?”

Dash snickered. “Knocked out by who? You? I’d have you under my boot before you could even throw a punch.”

“Hmph. Coward,” Sunset said.

“What did you say?” Dash snapped.

“You heard me. Maybe if you’d been there, you could’ve saved Lightning Dust from getting arrested.”

“Bullshit!” Dash shouted. “You honestly expect me to believe you. Do you ever stop lying?”

“Fine then, don’t believe me. Honestly, I’m not gonna bother anymore. A stupid, hotheaded, selfish little coward like you will never listen to reason,” Sunset growled.

In a flash, Rainbow had Sunset up against a tree by her collar. Sunset could see that she was pissed. Her face was turning red and her jaw was clenched, but Sunset didn’t care. If anything Sunset was just as pissed.

“You dumb bitch,” Dash said through clenched teeth. “I’ll finish the job right here, right now. Your teeth will be all over the sidewalk before you can even flinch.”

Sunset glared right back at her, completely unfazed. She could feel the light in her heart start to get warmer.

“Try me,” she simply said, making Dash even more angry. She raised her fist in the air and was about to throw a punch. She stopped herself when she noticed some bystanders looking at them. Dash knew she couldn’t do this public. She grunted as she let Sunset go, the redhead still glaring at her.

“Let this be a warning. Next time, you won’t be so lucky,” She said as she turned around.

“Coward,” Sunset said loudly, making sure Rainbow heard her.

Dash stopped in her tracks and turned her head towards Sunset and glared. She turned again and continued walking away. Sunset’s rage started to die down, as did the magic. She hadn’t noticed that there was a light glow around her.

“She’s not worth it, Sunset. Don’t get into trouble if you don’t have to,” she told herself before continuing walking home.

Sunset thoughts immediately went to her new magic powers. She was still confused as to how she had this crazy amount of magic. She would have to ask Princess Twilight about this. Though, now that she thought about it, it was probably best not to mention the whole ‘getting jumped by a vengeful loser’ crap.

Sunset snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a little girl laughing. She appeared to be playing with her friends, kicking a little soccer ball. Sunset smiled at the sight. It was good to see that friendship is still with others.

One of the kids kicked the ball a little to hard and it rolled onto the street.

“I got it!” said the little girl as she ran after it. She hopped onto the street and failed to see the speeding car heading right for her. As the girl picked up the ball, she noticed the car and screamed, grabbing Sunset’s attention once again. She spotted the little girl in the middle of the street and a speeding car heading right for her.

“Oh no!” Sunset screamed and threw her backpack to the ground, racing for the child in trouble. She felt the magic flowing through her again and felt her wings expand. She didn’t have time to question it though. She needed to get to that girl, fast!

She flapped her wings and flew as fast as she could. However, she couldn't control her speed and, in a flash, Sunset was lying on the other side of the road, holding the girl in her arms. Sunset sat up to see that she left a light trail in her path. It soon disappeared and the car sped past them, honking its horn.

“That was close,” Sunset said as she looked at the girl in her arms. “You ok?”

“M-mhm,” the girl mumbled.

Sunset smiled as she got up and put the girl down. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to go out onto the street like that? You could’ve been seriously hurt,” she said in a calm voice.

The girl looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry.”

Sunset sighed and picked up the ball and handed it to her. “It’s ok. Just remember to look both ways next time, ok?”

“Ok!” the girl said as her other friends came running to check on her.

“You ok, Rebecca? Are you hurt?” one of her friends said.

“I’m fine! Thanks to her,” she said as she pointed at Sunset. “She saved my life!”

Sunset smiled at her. “It was nothing, really.”

“Woah! Is she glowing? And are those wings?” Rebecca’s friend asked, amazed at Sunset’s appearance. Sunset looked down at her body and saw that she had indeed transformed once again.

“Huh. I guess I am.” She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Her wings disappeared and her body returned to normal. Good. She was making progress.

“That’s so cool! How did you do that?” another kid asked.

“I… don’t really know. But, do you kids think you can keep this between us? It’ll be our little secret, ok?” Sunset asked. She really didn’t want anyone to know about this. Heck, she didn’t want anyone to know about the magic at school.

“Ok! We can do that!” said Rebecca. “Thanks again for saving me!” She gave Sunset a quick hug, causing her to giggle.

“No problem. See you later!” the high-schooler said she ran back to her backpack. She slung it over her back and and began walking away, giving the kids a wave goodbye.

“Oh man! What a rush! I didn’t know I could be as fast as Dash,” Sunset said. “I have got to tell Twilight about this.” She picked up her pace.

Within a few minutes, she arrived at her apartment. She was just about to fish out her keys when she heard a scream.

“HELP!!!”

“Oh great. What now?” Sunset put her backpack down again and followed the scream. As she got closer, she heard what sounded like a fight. When she reached an alleyway, she gasped at what she saw.

Near a dumpster, she saw what looked like four or five guys beating on a man. They were kicking and stomping on the poor man, and all he could do was cover his face.

Sunset clenched her fists at the sight. These sons of bitches. She began to glow again.

“Hey!!!” she screamed, grabbing the thugs’ attention. “Leave him alone!”

The thugs stood there for a moment before looking at each other and snickering.

“Well, hello beautiful,” one of the thugs said as he made his way over to Sunset. “And how can we help you?”

“Leave him alone,” Sunset repeated

The beaten man looked up to see what was happening. He saw that a girl was standing at the mouth of the alleyway. And... was she glowing?

“And what are you gonna do about it?” the thug laughed as he stood face to face with Sunset. He used his height to try and intimidate the smaller by comparison girl, but Sunset stood her ground, scowling at the man. The thug leaned down and put his face closer to her’s.

“What’s a girl like you gonna do against- UGH!” He stopped talking upon feeling a tight grip on his throat. Sunset was holding him by the throat with tremendous strength. The thug tried to pull away, but he couldn’t break out of Sunset’s iron grip.

“This,” she said. She let go of his throat and gave the thug a violent kick to the gut, causing him to go flying backwards. He soared past the other thugs and crashed into a wall, knocking him out cold.

“Holy crap!” one of the thugs gasped. They looked back at Sunset and were shocked to see that she was glowing. She also appeared to have wings on her back, which only confused the group even more.

“Anyone else?” she growled. She took a step closer, causing the thugs to flinch.

“G-get her!” The remaining thugs all ran at Sunset.

“Hmph,” Sunset huffed as she grabbed a trash can lid and threw it at one of the thugs. The force of the impact was enough to knock him out.

One thug threw a punch that Sunset easily caught. She gave a small scream as she slammed her fist into his jaw in an impressive uppercut. He stumbled backwards and another of his comrades took his place. This one tried throwing a barrage of punches to catch Sunset off guard. She easily dodged them all with a smirk.

“Amateur,” she said as she stepped to the side and delivered a hard roundhouse kick, sending him crashing into the wall.

She looked over to another thug who was speeding towards her with his fist in the air.

“Take this, you freak!”

Sunset dashed toward him in a flash and shoulder-tackled him, sending him slamming into the last thug..

After a few minutes, the thugs slowly got up. They knew they couldn't continue this.

“L-let’s get out of here!” They all limped out of the alley, causing Sunset to sigh with relief.

She went over to the man, who as now sitting up. His mouth was hanging open. He had never seen such amazing feats of strength before.

Sunset knelt down. “You ok?”

The man shook his head and smiled. “Yes, I’m alright. Thank you so much, miss!”

Sunset smiled. She helped the man to his feet and said, “No problem, sir. Are you sure you’re ok? You don’t need any medical treatment?”

“Oh no! I’m fine, really. Just a few nasty bruises. Nothing some ice can’t fix!” he laughed.

“That’s good,” Sunset said as she reverted back to normal. The man looked at her with amazement.

“I’ve gotta say, this is certainly something I’ve never seen before. Do you mind me asking how you got these super powers?”

“I’ve been actually trying to answer that question myself,” Sunset replied as she rubbed her head. “And it’s actually kind of a long story.”

“Well, I certainly have all day to listen,” the man replied.

“Alright then. How about we go over to my place. I’ll make some tea and help you get cleaned up,” Sunset suggested.

The man beamed. “That sounds wonderful!”

“Alright then. Let’s get outta here.” Sunset helped the limping man out of the alley.

“Oh, by the way. My name is Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset said to the man.

“Nice to meet you, Sunset. My name is Thorax,” he replied with a smile.