The Flame of Sunset

Canterlot High 8 am

Pinkie yawned and stretched in her seat as she and her classmates waited for homeroom to start.

“Tired, Pinkie?” Rarity asked sympathetically.

“Yeah I could barely get any sleep last night, my Pinkie Sense was going crazy last night.” Pinkie rubbed her eyes.

“Pinkie Sense?” Rarity asked, the other girls ceased their conversation and listened in on the conversation.

Pinkie noticed the larger audience but carried on with her explanation. “Sometimes I get this random twitches in my body and they let me now when something is going to happen. Usually it just tells me if something is going to bump into me but lately its been going off like crazy.”

“Kinda like Spidey sense.” Sunset added.

The entire class turned and stared at Sunset. She laughed nervously, her eyes flitting all around the room as she tried to avoid making eye contact.

"Oh uh sorry I was kinda listening in, uh my bad."

Pinkie shook her head. "Oh no, it's fine. I mean there's only six of us in here, we were gonna have to talk to each other eventually."

The girls laughed and turned in their seats to face one another.

"Perhaps introductions are in order. My name is Rarity."

"Sunset Shimmer."

"Name's Applejack."

"Rainbow Dash."

"Pinkie Pie."

"Um...my name is Fluttershy."

"Welp," Pinkie clapped her hands together, "now that we know each others' names do you guys wanna know more about my Pinkie sense."

The girls nodded and scooted closer to her. Pinkie opened her mouth to begin her explanation but was interrupted by the door suddenly swinging open. Mr. Smith walked to front of the class, looking as if the ground itself was pissing him off. He glared at the circle the girls had formed and turned to write on the board. The girls silently groaned in annoyance (with exception of Rainbow Dash, whose groan was very audible) but turned back to face the board.

"Psst."

Sunset turned towards the source of the sound, Pinkie. "Meet us after school in the field under the bleachers, I'll explain there." Sunset nodded.

"NO TALKING!" Mr. Smith shouted, making Fluttershy jump.

Sunset glared holes in the back his premature balding head and made sure that Fluttershy was okay. This Pinkie sense was it really real, maybe Pinkie just had cramps in the middle of night. Sunset couldn't afford to get worked up on a random statement made a stranger, a very friendly stranger but a stranger nonetheless. But if Pinkie really had some kind of precognition why would she go talking about like this. Okay to be fair Sunset was kind of eavesdropping on hers and Rarity's conversation but still she would have to be a pretty trusting person to tell a room of strangers about her power. Sunset could help but feel excited about the meeting, she would really have to reassure Fluttershy to convince her to come with her. If Pinkie really did have these powers then maybe just maybe...

4 pm Behind the bleachers

"Now I bet you're all wondering why I called you here." Pinkie said in a mysterious voice, pacing back and forth with her arms behind her back.

"Because you asked us to come here?" Rainbow Dash responded in a bored tone.

"Speaking of which, do we have to be under the bleachers? This is absolutely filthy." Rarity complained trying to sit of the metal supports to make sure her skirt did not get any dirt stains.

"Aw c'mon now," Applejack sat right down on the dirt, "A little dirt ain't hurt nobody."

Rarity made a disgusted face a AJ's brazen display and was about to make a comment before Sunset jumped in.

"As much as I would love to sit around to discuss the lethality of dirt, can we please move on to what you wanted to talk about Pinkie."

Pinkie nodded and continuing her speech, "Now girls, my Pinkie Sense is a difficult to thing to prove because it can be super vague and sometimes random. It's basically like my whole body is screaming 'Hey watch out!' so it's hard to tell what I need to watch out for or how I should react. And it's not super flashy or anything so I can't really show it off but I can show you guys something else."

The girls considered Pinkie's words, "Wait, I'm lost do you have powers or not?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh no I do, just watch." Pinkie assured.

Pinkie reached from behind herself and pulled out a bright pink cannon decorated with balloon and confetti stickers all over the barrel. Sunset took a double take, not believing her eyes. Did Pinkie, a teenager, just pull out a military grade weapon from nowhere? Granted it was a pink cannon covered in stickers but how could she possibly get a weapon like that, did Sunset miss the day they were handing out cannons?

"But...where did you...how did you...huh?" Rainbow sputtered looking all around Pinkie to see a possible hiding place for her cannon.

"Don't think about too hard, it's better to just not question it." Pinkie giggled.

Seeing everyone visible confusion she decided to give a better explanation. Pinkie took a deep breath to prepare for this long story.

"Okay so basically, I have this power called Hammerspace which is basically this alternate dimension that I can use to store objects, usually for comedic effect like if I pulled a giant over sized mallet or my party cannon. The objects are created by my imagination because obviously things like party cannons don't exist in real life. And because of that, the objects are not limited to the rules of our reality so it doesn't feel like getting hit with a cannon if I accidentally hit someone. The pockets to this dimension exist everywhere but go unseen by everyone else but..."

"Excuse me, Pinkie."

Pinkie paused her explanation, "Yes, Rarity."

"Perhaps you could summarize your power in a brief sentence."

"Oh okay, basically I have the powers of a cartoon character."

The other girls stood spellbound, no one knowing what to say next. Finally Sunset was the one to break the silence.

"I don't believe it."

"You're like me." The five girls said in unison.

Pinkie gasped, "You guys have Hammerspace too."

"No sugarcube, Ah think we mean we all have powers too." AJ explained much to Pinkie's dismay.

"Amazing what are the chances of meeting five other people with powers," Rarity shook her head in disbelief, "My little sister doesn't even have powers. At least I don't think."

Sunset felt a sense of exhilaration she hadn't felt in a long time, "This is incredible, I thought I was the only one. What can you guys do?"

"Well, I don't want to brag or anything." Rainbow stood up carrying herself with a sense of confidence, "But I'm like really fast. I'm talking super sonic speeds here people."

Sunset had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making a Sonic joke.

"Ooh fancy, I wanna see I wanna see." Pinkie jumped and down with excitement.

"I too am interested to see just how fast you are."

"If you wouldn't mind."

"Go on and stretch your legs, Dash."

"Well if guys really wanna see, I guess I show you." Rainbow smirked confidently.

Rainbow exaggeratedly stretched her limbs, she even made her neck pop loudly. She walked to the edge of the bleachers to make sure there was nothing she could trip over, going super fast and tripping isn't exactly the best combination for not constantly getting hurt. When she was first learning how to use her power she had lost track of how many times she almost crashed into everything from cars to trees or nearly got caught by her parents coming home covered in bruises. Luckily Rainbow was crazy active with sports so she always explain away any scar or injury.

As she got down into a starting position images flooded her mind; dark purple verging on black bruises, the x-ray of her shattered leg, the baseball bat, Lightning Dust. Trying to block out the memories Rainbow started a countdown in her head. Three, Rainbow walked to the the locker room practically glowing from her evening jog with everyone gone she could finally stretch her legs. Two, she didn't hear the others walk into the room after her she didn't hear Lightning Dust stalk behind her. One, there were so many of them that she didn't have any time run away or fight back. Go, for the rest of her life she would never forget that sick smile on Lightning Dust's face as she swung the bat down on her leg.

In just a fraction of a second Rainbow took off becoming a rainbow colored blur sending a huge gust of wind towards her spectators knocking over poor Fluttershy and Rarity who weren't expecting the blast. Rainbow made five laps around the track in just ten seconds flat. She stopped in the exact position she started in, not even looking winded.

"Ha, you should see the looks on your faces right now." Rainbow bragged, her trademark cocky smirk never leaving her face.

The other girls cheered loudly for Rainbow, dumping tons of praise on her with the exception of Applejack. The farm girl had a pensive expression on her face even as Rainbow walked back the group. Rainbow gave her very nervous chuckle and tried to push AJ's serious look out of her mind like she did with her memories of that night but the truth was as undeniable as the sun rising in the morning. Rainbow Dash was slower and no amount of healing or practice would get her back to her past self. The compliments from other girls felt almost like insults but she had remind herself that none of them had seen her in her prime and none of them could know her frustrations. Even with the shitstorm of emotions swirling in Rainbow's head she was going to have to just buck up and deal with it because it was her problem and her problem alone.

"So Rainbow's fast, Pinkie can create anything she wants, what else can you guys do?" Sunset asked, "Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy looked like she was ready to jump out of her skin. She shook her head vehemently, pleading with her eyes that Sunset not push further.

Sunset took the hint and carried on, "I'll go, I can control fire. I create it, change the temperature, change the color, and even control its properties."

Not wasting a moment, Sunset cupped her hands and closed her eyes so she could concentrate on the flame she wanted to create; the size, the color, the temperature, Sunset was the master. And for a single blissful second every negative, hateful thought Sunset had about herself faded away as she felt the comforting warmth of her inner flame. She opened her hands and revealed a bright orange fire growing and shrinking like a regular flame, Sunset opened her eyes to see the enthralled faces of the girls as they watched the flame dance on Sunset's palms.

"That's not all I can do." Sunset held the flame in one hand, "One of you guys touch it."

Surprisingly, no one volunteered.

Sunset rolled her eyes, "I promise it's okay. Just touch it."

The girls exchanged looks until finally Fluttershy, out of all people, extended her shaky arm towards the flame. She hesitated looking at Sunset for confirmation, Sunset nodded and Fluttershy put one finger in the fire. Her eyes with wide with shock, putting her entire hand in the flame.

"It's cold."

"What!" Sunset smirked at the girls' bewilderment.

She made the flame bigger so everyone could feel the cold fire. Of course the fire wasn't really cold per se, it was just colder than a normal fire. After years of practice, controlling temperature was the first she wanted to master because the last thing she wanted to do was burn someone again. My hands, you burned my hands! Get away from me, you monster! The fire faded from a brillant orange to dull red and began to shrink down until it was only a glowing ember in Sunset's hand.

"Oh sorry about that it's kinda hard to keep a flame like that burning for that long." Sunset closing her hand, Fluttershy looked like she wanted to say something but held her tongue.

Applejack shook her head, "Nothin' to be sorry 'bout it's was amazin' you can make a cold fire like that anyhow."

Applejack stood up, stretching her long legs after sitting for so long on the ground. "Ah'll go next, Ah can't really show y'all like Dash or Sunset but just trust me Ah would never lie to ya and Ah don' wanna break anything here. My power is my strength, last time Ah really checked was when Ah lifted our tractor off my sister almost seven years ago."

The girls gaped at the thought of a ten year old lifting anything that large. Both Pinkie and Rainbow looked disappointed that Applejack couldn't show off her strength, Pinkie even thought about creating weights for AJ to lift but they wouldn't have the normal properties of real weights and would either be way too heavy or way too light. But Applejack didn't seem like someone to lie about this kind of thing so the girls believed her and moved on to the final person.

Rarity cleared her throat, adjusted her outfit and then stood up before saying a word.

"I have the ability to project diamond constructions," she elaborated seeing the confusion on some faces, "basically I can create these force fields that look like gems."

Rarity held out her hand, easily creating three transparent crystals glittering from the setting sun. They floated in her hand, flying in their own unique patterns. Rarity showed them off to group before making them disappear with practiced ease, Pinkie felt a little jealousy at Rarity's mastery of her power. Comparing their skill was like comparing the grace of an Olympic Medalist figure skater to a deer that wandered on the ice, Pinkie didn't even mean to pull out a party cannon she was reaching for a cake to share with the girls. She hoped the girls didn't notice that her hair was beginning to droop slightly, just another she hated about herself she was so easy to read.

"Okay so we all have powers, what now?" Rainbow asked what everyone else was thinking.

Pinkie gasped, "We become superheroes and fight crimes! Now all we need is a hotline for the mayor to call us on and matching outfits."

Rarity considered the idea, starting a mental list of what color looked best on each of the girls. Where was her sketchpad when she needed it?

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's just calm down here." Sunset interjected, "First I'm pretty sure there are clear laws on vigilantes and I don't want to go back to juvie."

"Back to juvie?" Rainbow asked, suddenly intrigued in that story.

"Second," Sunset carried on, "There's no one for us to fight. I think it's best if we kept the powers a secret for now at least until all of us can fully control them. The last thing anyone wants is for some government suits to found out about us and we'd be stuck in some lab experimented on for the rest of our lives."

Fluttershy gasped and shrank back, "You... you don't think that will really happen, do you?"

"I don't know what will happen but what I do know is that people don't always react to things that are different. Humans can barely handle that other people have different skin tones I don't think they're ready for people who can control fire."

The entire group went deathly silent, each girl considered their past experiences with their powers. Some with fear, some with anger and some with apprehension; regards of their past they all knew that their abilities had to be kept a secret. At least none of them were alone in keeping this secret.

"Well I don't know about you guys, I motion to call this new group the League of Extraordinary Ladies." Pinkie offered, trying to raise morale.

"How about the Rainbooms?" Rainbow suggested, "I've always wanted to name a band that."

"We ain't a band Dash, why do we need a name Pinkie?"

"Cuz things always feel more official when they have a name like the X-men or the Justice League."

"We could be Sailor Scouts." Fluttershy blushed, "If you guys didn't mind."

"Guys, we're not superheroes. We'll just call it Club to avoid suspicion." The girls groaned at the boring name.

Sunset sighed, "If someone can come up with a non-suspicious and quick nickname for next meeting with we'll go with."

Everyone agreed and grabbed their things so they could head home as the sun already set. Pinkie got another shiver up her spine, although she couldn't prove it she had a feeling that something was very wrong. Something very old and very bad was awake and it was moving. Pinkie just prayed that Sunset was right and they did not have anything they had to fight.

In the hospital

When Twilight woke up, she felt like she was hit by a truck full of cement and bricks. Every muscle ached and her throat burned she hadn't drink anything in days. A bright white light burned her eyes as she slowly creaked them open. As her eyes adjusted she was greeted by the sickly white walls of a hospital room. She tried to sit up but her body swiftly protested causing her to wince in pain and she fell back to her bed.

"Well look whose finally awake, any longer and we'd have thought you were comatose." Twilight instantly recognized that cocky, childish voice anywhere.

"I'm surprised you know a word that big, Zap. Are you sure that you didn't concuss yourself?" She groaned, rubbing her temples trying to alleviate her pounding migraine.

"You know what normally I would be pissed to even be in the same room as you but not today. Not after this gift you've given me." Indigo smirked at Twilight, looked absolutely overjoyed with herself.

"What are you talking about?" Twilight's head felt like it was splitting open, she had absolutely zero patience with whatever Indigo was going about.

"If you two are quite down with your little spat, I could properly explain what is going on." a strict, short voice commanded making Twilight's head pound harder.

Principal Cinch seemed to appear out of nowhere, her heels clicking loudly on the linoleum floor. Despite the location she was wearing one of her trademark dark skirt and jacket suits perfectly ironed, her dark fuchsia eyes cut through like they did whenever Twilight sat in her office when she got into trouble, her deep, multicolored hair styled in a low bun with not a hair out of place. Her pale white skin seemed to blend in with the white walls of the hospital room, it was like she had ice flowing in her veins instead of blood (and with the way she acted it wouldn't surprise Twilight).

"I just finished explaining what has to happened to rest of the girls but since you just woke up I'll fill you in as well Twilight." Principal Cinch carried ignoring the girl's visible pain.

"I am fully aware of the energy that was flowing throughout Crystal Prep, the energy you were trying to keep to yourself." Twilight gaped at Pricncipal Cinch.

"But how did you..."

"The only reason I allowed you survey the school was because I wanted you to come into contact with it, I was curious as to how it would affect you. So you can imagine my surprise when I find six girls in the gym instead of one. At first I feared that you would all be weak but as the other girls have proved even fragmented the energy is extremely powerful, now instead of one powerful student I have six. It seems that something you did caused the energy to grow exponentially so the others have you to thank for their abilities."

"What abilities?"

"God I thought you were supposed to be smart, that weird blob thing gave us superpowers." Indigo blurted out.

Twilight froze, the weight suddenly sinking in. That night really happened, the energy pulled her into itself and mutated her body. Her body slumped onto the bed.

"I'm glad you are finally realizing what is happening, I do not like to repeat myself." Cinch straightened her back and began walk around the room.

"You six are now the most powerful girls in this school maybe in this city, but know this that power you have is not going to just sit idly by. Once you all make a full recovery I expect you in my office so I can go over all the details then we can begin training."

Twilight's head swarmed with thoughts, Cinch knew about the energy and used her as a guinea pig. She wanted her to go there that night and she wanted her to be consumed by the energy. What did she do that made the energy grow like that? What were her powers? What was going to happen to her now? What if her body degenerated? What if her mind degenerated? She had never seen the long term effects of the energy on any living thing let alone humans, what if humans couldn't handle the energy? What if she become just like her?

Unbeknownst to Twilight, who was currently in the process of having a panic attack, her bed was surrounded by a deep magenta aura and began to levitate off the ground. It wasn't just her bed, numerous items from clipboard to monitors began to float along with her as if they were matching her sporadic thoughts. Cinch and Indigo both had to duck to avoid the objects that flew haphazardly around the room.

Principal Cinch watched with delight as the girl subconsciously lifted things with her mind with not much thought considering she was a muttering mess completely obvious to her great power. At least there was no need to put into a stressful environment to force out her powers. With a lot of training she was going to shine like the brightest diamond in Cinch's horde of gems. And with the right motivation she would easy to control, all children are the same regardless of how intelligent they believe they are.