Battle of the Bands Saga

Parallel Quest Eight

Looming Shadow

(Morning, Sunset’s Home, Wednesday)

“This is just amazing!” Sunset yelled as she quickly wrote down the answers to the homework she had to do with Belle’s visor on. “It’s like having the internet in your glasses. How did you even get something like this?”

“I know a friend back home that sells these for fifty thousand Zeni. Which by earth standards in this place would be...one thousand dollars.” The Saiyan said as Sunset blinked in surprise by this.

“If they were being sold here, then I would buy one or two of these things for sure.” She said before scanning another page and began to write down the answers to another topic for her homework. “At any rate, I’ll be done before school starts.”

“The teachers must hate you if they gave you this much to do in less than a day?”

“Technically I had three months to get this stuff done or else I have to go to summer school. But yeah, they do hate me. Can't blame them, I did have dirt on some of the teachers in school. Some involve embarrassing photos, and some videos of them doing illegal stuff.”

“....yeah, you got your work cut out for you.”

“Tell me about it,” Sunset said before noticing Belle raiding the refrigerator. “Makes me wish I didn’t do the whole evil thing from the start.”

“Could be worse. Compared to most villains who meet their end, you could’ve been killed or worse. Sealed away in a stone or something.”

“Gee, that makes me feel so much better,” Sunset said before noticing the Saiyan munching on something. “Hey, you better not be eating the pizza I had saved up in there.”

“I’m not eating it!” The Saiyan said as she quickly shoved the box back inside and closed the refrigerator door.

“You were eating it weren’t you?”

“You can’t prove that!”

“You got pizza sauce on your lips!” Sunset yelled as she pointed at Belle’s lips.

“.....I’m hungry okay! Don’t judge me!”

“Haven’t you had enough to eat? Especially seeing how you ate a crap ton of food during breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”

“I'm a Saiyan, not a human. We need all the calories that we can get given how we're a warrior race that is ready to fight.”

“You’re just as bad as Pinkie Pie, but with her, it’s just with sugary sweets,” Sunset said before going back to finishing up her homework. “And done!” She said before closing the last book and sighing in satisfaction. “Thank Celestia that’s over and done with.”

“So you’re caught up in all the work that you blew off?” Belle asked as she levitated her visor off of Sunset and back onto the Saiyan's forehead.

“Pretty much, and just before the deadline.” She said before heading over to the refrigerator as Belle moved to the side. “Now the only thing left to worry about is trying to survive high school...which is going to be twice as hard given what happened.”

“Try not to worry so much. Sooner or later, they’ll end up forgetting about it. That or they’ll ignore you, which might be a good thing and make my job easy.”

“Gee, that makes me feel so much better knowing that,” Sunset said before pulling out the box of pizza and placing it in the oven to heat up a bit.

“Kinda hard not to make light of something like this. Not to be rude, but you did kinda make the entire school angry at you. Except for your friends, Gilda, Celestia, and Luna. You can at least feel better that they’re willing to give you a second chance.”

“True...Can’t say about everyone else in school.”

“Rule number one about trying to be good. You can't be a people pleaser. Sure you can please some people, but you can't please everyone. Rule number two, don't be a pushover. You can be nice and friendly, but don't let people push you around no matter how much you screw up.” Belle said as she looked over at the clock. “We have about two hours before school starts. Let’s do something to get your mind off of worrying and relax a bit.”

“I...Guess we can do that.” Sunset said after pulling the pizza box out of the oven and began to make her way over to the sofa. “Grab a controller and I’ll boot up the system.”

“Grab a...what?” Belle said before taking a seat next to Sunset. The teen girl paused for a moment upon hearing that as she booted up her gaming system.

“You….never heard of video games before?”

“Not really. I’ve been doing a lot of time patrolling stuff to reduce the sentence of my past crimes...I...don't get that much time to Relax and enjoy stuff like this.” She said before noticing Sunset looking away.

“Okay, Sunset. You have an alien who has no idea what video games are. You can take this time to teach her how to play it...or you can mess with her and beat her in a game she doesn’t know of….I’ll go with the second option.” She thought before handing Belle a controller. “Alright Belle, it’s time to teach you some of the earth’s culture. Mainly, the awesomeness of fighting games.”

(Planet Rutaba)

Millions of light-years away from the planet earth. There stood the planet of the Destroyer god of the Zero Universe, Rutaba, The God of Destruction. Tasked to this Universe by the Grand Priest, her job was to maintain the natural order of Universe Zero. A task that wasn’t that hard to do given how the universe was still starting. Now after one million years or so, The God of Destruction continued to do her job as the destroyer of worlds…though after losing contact with the Grand Priest and access to other universes…she was bored…bored out of her fucking mind. Not even destroying planets gave her the thrill she once had when she first became a god, nor did fighting with the kai of this universe. The feeling of fighting lost its flavor after the five hundred thousand year mark. All she could do was wait, sleep, eat, and destroy planets.

“This…sucks,” The Saiyan God said as she floated around her home within planet Rutaba.

“You keep saying that almost every day.” said a female voice as the god of destruction lazily looked over to her right. Standing there was a young female kai with light green skin and silvery-white hair. Her attire was similar to Chronoa but different. Her color scheme for her clothes was black, white, and red.

“Well, it does.” The Saiyan God said as she floated over to the kai. “One million five hundred thousand years Zamasu. That’s how long time has passed since we last got in contact with the Grand Priest, and still nothing.”

“I’m surprised you would be willing to talk to the guy given how you butted heads with him.”

“Well, I need to know what’s going on outside of the universe. Worst case scenario is that he abandons us in this magical universe of weirdness.”

“Given Grand King Zeno’s child-like personality, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.” She said as it caused the god of destruction to deadpan as she flinched upon seeing her reaction. “But, let's look on the bright side of things. We don’t have to worry about having to report to him every one hundred years, we don’t have to worry about having Zeno erasing us from existence, and we could always go and check up on some of the planets that didn’t have intelligent life on them.”

“I…suppose I can do that,” Rutaba said as she stopped floating. “Remind me, what civilizations have reached the level where they aren’t primitive. The last time I visited a planet still starting, I was chased by a group of inhabitants accusing me of a monster.”

“During your time of isolation, I have kept tabs on a few planets that have changed over the years,” Zamasu said before pulling out a crystal orb that showed a few images of several different planets. “We could go to the Saiyan race. The last time we saw them, they became more advanced thanks to the union with the tuffles.”

“Hm, Saiyan race. Aren’t they the half Saiyan half kai race that you made to see if it was possible to make a hybrid?” She asked as the kai nodded.

“So far it worked, but they haven’t reached the ability to become a Super Saiyan…still haven’t found out what happened to the one that I sent out into the other universes.”

“I’ll pass on that. What other planets are there besides that?”

“Well, there’s Frieza Planet 419.”

“How is that planet still alive!? Didn’t I erase it from existence?”

“You did…doesn't mean all the inhabitants were on the planet. They’re like cockroaches, but they seem to stick in one area of the cosmos, so we have nothing to worry about…at least for now.”

“Great…I’ll have to make a mental note to destroy them and the planet they’re on. What else do you have?”

“Well, there’s planet earth,” Zamasu said as she brought up the planet as it was developed in a magical aura. “The source behind how this universe can stand against Zeno.”

“Which side is more developed? Because the last time we went there, we were chased by two horse creatures that thought of us as destroyers of worlds.”

“Technically we are.”

“That’s not the point! Which side is more developed?”

“That would be the human side.” She said before showing the Saiyan God what she meant. “They have a lot of interesting things ranging from entertainment to culinary foods.”

“Oh really? This earth sounds interesting~”

“Sadly that means we’ll have to go to the pony side of that planet and through the mirror that leads to that dimension,” Zamasu said as she heard a groan coming from the god of destruction.

“Seriously? Can’t we just teleport there instead of dealing with those stupid horses?”

“Teleporting there will take about a week? Are you sure you want to make a trip there like that?”

“...So it’s either we deal with the horses or teleportation that will take a week,” Rutaba said as she stood up and brushed herself off. “I suppose having a little fight with them shouldn’t be that much an issue.”

“So you’re going through the mirror portal?”

“I hate taking the long way to our destinations. Plus I want to see if those horses can put up a decent fight like last time.” Rutaba said as she floated off towards her room. “Be ready within the hour, I need to change into something more comfortable than just a shirt.”

“You’re not going to wear your godly attire?”

“Of course not! Whoever thought of making those clothes for us Gods of Destruction to wear is an idiot...and they’re uncomfortable and too revealing.”

(Sunset’s Home)

“You've got to be pouring ass juice down the throat of an unwilling zebra!” Sunset yelled as she saw her player on the ground, while Belle’s character was doing a victory dance. “How did I lose!? You don’t even know how to play video games!”

“It’s true, I don’t know how to play this game, but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn how to play by copying the way your fingers move.”

“Oh, you’re full of crap. There’s no way you can learn that quickly. Something must be wrong with the controller or something!”

“Yeah, the person that’s holding it,” Belle said which caused Sunset’s face to turn red with anger.

“.....Rematch, right now. Winner takes all.”

“Normally I would enjoy beating your butt ten more times. But we can’t at the moment.”

“And why is that?” Sunset felt her head being turned by the Saiyan as her eyes widened at the time. “Dammit...This isn’t over between us, monkey girl.”

“It's not going to end well in your case~,” Belle said as she floated off towards the door. Sunset simply snorted as she quickly grabbed her bookbag and followed after the Saiyan. Once she was at the door, Belle landed on the ground and opened the door for them to walk outside, and begin their walk toward the school. While the two make their way towards Canterlot High arguing about what happened, a familiar rainbow-colored girl appeared in between them as she wrapped her arms around their shoulders.

“Hey, you two. How’s it going~?” Rainbow Dash asked as she noticed an annoyed expression on Sunset’s face. “What’s wrong with Sunny?”

“She’s angry that I whooped her butt in some kind of fighting video game,” Belle answered as Sunset glared at her.

“I only lost because there was something wrong with the controller!!”

“And like I said before. Yeah, the person that’s holding it.” Belle replied as Rainbow Dash busted out laughing.

“Oh snap! You just got burned by an alien!” Rainbow Dash yelled as it caused Sunset’s face to burn bright red in anger and embarrassment. “Aw, come on Sunset. You know I’m just messing with you.”

“Whatever!” She said before looking back at Belle. “I’ll get you back for what you did. We’re playing a different game, and this time you’re not allowed to look at my hands!”

“I’m pretty sure I can beat you even without looking at your fingers.” She said before placing the visor over her eyes.

“Still can’t believe the teacher fell for that lie about your visor thing. You don’t think he’ll ask Principal Celestia about it do you?”

“Maybe, but I’m sure she’ll say something to work in my favor or something. Right now I just need to play the part of a normal student until I can get back home.”

“Yeah, a normal student that’s pretty much acting like my bodyguard,” Sunset mumbled as she felt the Saiyan slightly jab her on her hip.

“I get that you feel sorry for being evil. But you need to get rid of that mindset of feeling sorry for yourself for something that happened in the past. Focus on the present and future and work to be a better person.”

“Yeah, plus you have me and the girls to back you up if anyone tries to give you trouble.” Rainbow Dash added as Sunset gave them a small smile to their encouragement. “Come on, let's get to school before the bell rings. I prefer not to have detention again with Mr. Cranky Doodle.”

“Is he that bad of a teacher?” Belle asked as Sunset and Rainbow Dash looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the Saiyan.

“He’s not bad as a person...but as a teacher, he doesn’t take crap from students,” Sunset answered. “Especially if you fight with a student within his class...we had to learn that the hard way.”

“Was this before or after you all became friends?”

“Before when Sunset was evil and took over the school with an iron fist...no offense.” Rainbow Dash said as Sunset waved it off with a hand gesture.

“None taken.” She said before looking back at Belle. “Take our advice. Don’t get into a fight with him or fight in his classroom. Less you suffer the wrath of having to write ‘I will never misbehave in Mr. Cranky Doodle’s awesome class’ two thousand times every month until winter break.” Belle grimaced at the thought of having to write that as she nodded at the two girls.

“Noted. I’ll keep that in mind if that does happen to me.” She said as the trio made their way to Canterlot High School. As they left the area they were in, three pairs of eyes were focused on Sunset, Dash, and Belle. They looked at each other for a moment before grinning and following after the group towards the school.

Author's Note

Rutaba

Zamasu