Fool Me Once

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Chapter One

Author's Note

Uh, hi. So this is my first time writing on this site, and really, my first time writing anything in the MLP-verse, aside from a short-lived attempt to stick the Elements of Harmony--the actual Elements, not the ponies associated with them--into another universe for... reasons. I don't really know what I was thinking. Anyways, hopefully this turns out a lot better, but if I'm doing anything egregiously wrong feel free to let me know.
Moving on, this is set only a few days after the Legend of Everfree, so keep that in mind. Also, I'll be putting my own spin on the human world's magic and supernatural side in general, so expect some things that aren't familiar at all. See ya, and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

“Are you sure about this Sunset?The last time you tried something like this…” Rarity asked her friend, frowning worriedly at Sunset. The bacon-haired girl just shook her head, smiling slightly.

“I was trying to use science to understand magic then, Rarity. It’s not surprising it turned out the way it did. But this time I’ll be using magic to understand magic, so with any luck it should work better.” Rarity didn’t look entirely convinced, but relented her questioning. The white-skinned girl stepped back, joining the rest of their friends around the room as they also watched in concern.

The Mane Seven, as many students in Canterlot High had taken to calling them, were situated in their usual band room, although most of the instruments remained within their cases and there was none of the usual excitement present. The reasons for that were simple, namely that they hadn’t gathered for a practice today, but instead to study the newest magical insanity plaguing their lives: the Geodes they had discovered at Camp Everfree just days ago. Or rather, Sunset was going to study them, while her friends were mostly just here as insurance.

“I still don’t get it. Why are you so focused on figuring this out, anyways?” Rainbow Dash asked suddenly, drawing the attention of everyone present. “I mean, we know how the Geodes work, right? They give us superpowers, like super-speed, strength, making things explode…” With each power she listed, the chromatically-haired teenager pointed at each of her friends, before pausing as Sunset spoke up to interrupt her.

“That’s just the tip of the ice-berg, Dash,” She said, shaking her head again. “You saw what Gaea Everfree could do with them, and she barely even knew what she had in her possession. Sure they give us basic powers, but what else do you think we could do with them if we actually bothered to learn? What could they do to us if we don’t?” Sunset sighed, looking down at the stone disk in her hands, reshaped from its original form to depict an orange sun when it had chosen her that day. What she didn’t say, what she didn’t think they would understand, was that this wasn’t just about being safe or smart. There had been a reason she was the first among them to truly accept the new gifts they were manifesting even before finding the Geodes. Sunset had been born with magic, lived with it for almost her entire life before coming to the human world, and then lived for almost three full years without even a drop of magical power. Now that she had some, untainted by insanity like with the Element of Magic or spent in desperate need like those stopping Midnight Sparkle, was it really a bad thing to want to explore it more?

“Ah agree with Sunset,” Applejack tossed in from where she was leaning against the piano. “Every time one o’ these magical doohickeys show up, bad things happen. Better safe than sorry, in my opinion.”

“Ooh, ooh, you mean like that time Sunset turned into a demon and mind-controlled the whole school? Or when Twilight accidentally stole all our magic and was peer-pressured into using it to win the friendship games but almost tore apart the universe instead?” Pinkie asked suddenly, bouncing up and sticking her hand in the air with all her usual sensitivity. As an awkward silence descended, however, she paused, glancing at the two girls in question, smiling weakly. “Uh, no offense.”

“None taken.” Sunset replied easily, rolling her eyes while Twilight mumbled out something to that effect, if a little more annoyed. She was starting to get over her past sins, but it was still a sore subject, while Sunset had moved on months ago and was used to the occasional comments. They kept her humble, if nothing else.

“Alright, alright, I get the point.” Rainbow Dash said, almost tactfully moving the conversation along as she waved away the concerns. “Still doesn’t explain why we all have to be here while Sunset does some sort of zen meditation thing. It’s going to be so boring.”

“Evidence dictates that delving too far into Equestrian magic can have detrimental affects on a person’s sanity, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight answered first, speaking up from her own seat to the side. “I think Sunset wants us to make sure she doesn’t go crazy.”

“Exactly.” Sunset said, inclining her head at the lavender-skinned girl. Both of them knew better than anyone the dangers inherent in such a thing, having both been victims of it before, and they both knew the importance of having people to drag them back from the darkness. Finally, the last of their septet spoke up from her customary corner, voice quiet but still audible.

“Is-is that likely?” Fluttershy asked, suddenly looking very worried, but Sunset shook her head.

“I don’t think so, but like Applejack said, it’s better safe than sorry.” It had, after all, taken the entire set of Geodes to truly send Gloriosa off the edge into becoming Gaea Everfree, but only one corrupted Element of Harmony to transform Sunset into her demon form. The most powerful of them, perhaps, but it still meant there was a certain margin of error allowable. Add in the factors of Sunset having long since given up most of the deep-seated issues that those corrupted by magic usually possessed before encountering it, while at the same time intentionally diving into the deep end of the power in these Geodes, and it became a complicated process to predict. Equestrian magic wasn’t meant to mingle with humans, making it twist in strange ways when it did. But if anyone could figure it out, Sunset was it.

“Alright, I’m going to get started now.” She announced, cutting off any further conversation at the knees, before settling into her chosen position for this process. Unlike last time she tried to make a study of how magic worked in the Human world, there were no large scientific machines or measuring tools about, and she wasn’t wearing a lab coat. Instead it was just Sunset, in her usual ensemble of skirt, t-shirt, black leather jacket tossed on top and boots on her feet, sitting cross-legged in the center of the Band Room. Closing her eyes she breathed in deep, before focusing on the amulet in her hands, and the faint but easily noticeable presence of magic she felt within.

Sunset had always been an exceptional mage before fleeing from Equestria. She was, after all, Celestia’s star student, and while she could never quite match up to Princess Twilight on an even scale, the same could be said of pretty much everybody. Even after being stuck in a world with no discernable magic for her to access, she never forgot the skills she learned earlier in life, and now put them to good use. Without her horn she couldn’t simply cast diagnostics charm, of course, but that was okay. She had another method for studying the magical artifact in her hands, ironically granted to her by that very same thing. Reaching out to the power in her Geode, Sunset easily inverted it, diving inwards rather than outwards as she sought to understand.

At first, Sunset didn’t notice the change, to focused on her work as she was, but slowly the vague fuzz that built in her mind cleared, first into whispers just on the edge of hearing, then into words, lazily drifting thoughts that sought to distract her. Sunset tried to shrug them off, but then she noticed a single commonality between them all: concern. And not just concern, but concern for her. Giving the equivalent of a mental blink, Sunset turned her focus aside for just a moment, long enough to recognize just what she was hearing. They were thoughts, carried on the winds of magic for her ears alone. Her friends’ thoughts to be exact. Here was Applejack, running through a mental checklist of all the usual factors that signified a magical transformation--glowing eyes, wings, horns, and so on--there was Rarity, doing much the same but instead of vigilance this was curiosity, her artist’s mind wondering at fashion options for the more benevolent instances she had witnessed. Rainbow Dash, of course, was being her usual self in thinking the words bored, bored, boooooored, over and over so hard Sunset would have thought the girl knew her thoughts were being read if she didn’t know better, and Twilight was barely focusing on her surroundings at all, and instead thinking about homework--namely, homework three weeks in advance of their current assignments. Sunset just barely managed to suppress an eyeroll at that. Fluttershy’s thoughts were almost as quiet as her spoken voice, but filled with a maternal worry as she agonized over the thought of potentially having to fight Sunset if she lost control. Pinkie, on the other hand, the bacon-haired girl purposefully kept her power far away from--one foray into that crazy rabbit hole of a mind was more than enough, thank you very much.

As fascinating as all this was--and also terrifying, considering the privacy concerns of being able to read the minds of everybody around her--Sunset was eventually forced to turn her attention away from the thoughts of her friends and focus once again upon the wellspring of power in her hands. Even now she could tell that this was only the beginning, as now that she knew to look there were several more senses hovering just past her reach, waiting for her to dive deeper in and grab them. Her Geode, the analytical part of her mind noted, seemed mostly concerned with sensory powers, as already she could feel her awareness being heightened more and more the deeper she dove in. It did make her wonder if the others would be similarly aspected. Physical attributes for AJ and Dash, perhaps, with Pinkie and Rarity being destruction and creation respectively? Fluttershy seemed bent towards communication, and Twilight’s might be fine manipulation, at least if her theory was correct. Sunset could also be way off the mark, but then she pushed all those concerns aside so she could focus once again. Pulling more and more power from the Geode as she immersed herself further into it.

She didn’t notice the barrier until her metaphorical nose smashed up against it. Sunset had been focusing on some of the newer gifts she had discovered--heightened hearing, a strange sort of vision that pierced even her eyelids and made the entire room seem to be painted in colorful pastels even more than usual, and strange, shifting visions of events that were utterly without context and made no sense to her, such as random snips of conversation between people she didn’t recognize--when suddenly the well of power stopped, almost completely cut off short. In the first few moments of disorientation as Sunset suddenly found herself struggling to grasp any more power, she thought she had reached the end of what her Geode was capable of. It wouldn’t be surprising, already Sunset had discovered much more power dwelling within than she had originally expected, a veritable sea of magic being contained in that tiny stone disk, but as she inspected it more closely with the vague and arcane senses she was still familiarizing herself with, it became clear that there was more than met the eye. The Geode, Sunset realized suddenly, was not a container of power, as she had originally assumed, but rather a conduit, with miniscule amounts leaking through from some other source to fill it. Even now she could detect the trickle spilling through that metaphorical bottom of the bucket, weling up bit by bit to replenish what she was channeling through herself. That worried Sunset, a lot. Magical artifacts with defined powers were one thing, but the Geode was starting to remind her more and more of the Element of Magic she had once stolen from Princess Twilight and which had turned her into a demoness bent on world domination. That, too, was a conduit to a greater power, and it was Sunset’s lack of understanding in that regard which led to her downfall. Harmony did not look kindly on those who tried to twist it for their own purposes. Sunset didn’t think the geode was connected to Harmony, not with how different the magic felt in her grasp, but that was even worse in her opinion. Harmony was good, when not being used by those who did not deserve power, but whatever was on the other side of this connection was an unknown.

If Sunset were anybody else, what she tried next probably wouldn’t have worked. Even her friends, also chosen by these conduits of magical power to wield them as they saw fit, would likely have trouble piercing the barrier between the Geodes and their source of power. Sunset, however, was not just anybody else. Even before escaping Equestria she had been a powerful mage, in whom the potential for ascension to Alicorn-hood resided, and afterwards she had had more than one scrape with great and terrible power. Wielding a corrupted Element of Harmony, experiencing both sides of a Harmonic blast, bearing enough magical power to seal even dimensional breaches with a thought--all these and more she had done, and things like that left a mark on someone, down to the very soul. So when Sunset tried to push against the barrier separating her from the knowledge of what might be threatening her friends every time they wore the geodes, she did not relent even when it failed to budge. Instead she pushed, and pushed, and kept pushing-- until finally, with a sound not unlike the shattering of every piece of glass in the world echoing in her ears, the walls came crashing down and she was flooded with magic as it poured through the gap. For a single, glorious moment, she understood. All the knowledge of the world was at her fingertips, past, present, and future were hers to see and the minds of all easy plundering--

And then Sunset Shimmer screamed.

XXX

High, high above the world of Earth, seven bright lights taking the shape of a seven-pointed star shone in the sky. To some, it was simply an interesting constellation. To others, they were a pantheon of deities, watching over the world. And to a very, very few who knew the truth, they were both and neither at the same time, shards of divinity left without bearers and just waiting to be claimed by those mad, clever, or powerful enough to try. yet whoever they were, all noticed when quite suddenly one of those lights disappeared. In the chaos that followed, only one thing was clear. The Seer’s star had disappeared, and there would be oceans of blood spilled to find it.

Chapter Two

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Chapter Three

“You’re supposed to be dead.” Celestia accused from behind her desk after the initial shock had worn off, glaring at the white-and-black-haired man. Discord, utterly unruffled by the claim, simply waved his hand in dismissal.

“Oh I was,” He replied, taking a step to place himself fully within the threshold of the office as he smirked with barely-contained mirth. “At least, until some bright spark decided to drag me back, literally even. Hellfire carpet burns are quite uncomfortable, let me tell you.” Celestia blinked, absorbing the explanation, before sighing and shaking her head.

“Of course they did,” She muttered. “None of us were very good at staying down when something managed to put us on the ground, were we?” For a brief, barely-lived moment the chromatic-haired woman’s eyes drifted shut, as if lost in memory, before snapping open to focus once again on Discord. “Never mind, that doesn’t matter. What are you here for, Discord? You’ve never been the type to visit old friends without a reason.” Discord raised an eyebrow in amusement, but said nothing to gainsay her. Instead the man simply shrugged, hands settling in his pockets as he moved to slouch against the doorjamb.

“Oh, nothing much Celestia,” he said, smirking slightly. “Just thought I’d roll through town, bag a monster or two, stop a couple apocalypses, the usual. Did you know there was an entire bevy of barely-sealed dimensional rifts on your front lawn? Not to mention the pseudo-Order energies everywhere. Quite irresponsible of you--”

“Discord.”

The word wasn’t spoken loudly, nor even harshly, and yet it was more than enough to stop the man’s rambling cold, and replace his smirk with a sharp frown. He glared at Celestia for a few seconds, before sighing and standing straight once again when her own gaze met his with all the strength of steel.

“Oh very well then, if you wish to be a spoilsport about it,” He lamented, but there was no serious complaint in his tone. Instead his voice had become something hard as stone, the amusement he had gained from poking his old friend dying with nary a whimper. “There’s a student of yours, Sunset Shimmer.” Discord did not smirk when he noticed Celestia stiffening, but the air of smugness around him was certainly palpable. Ah, she had an idea of what was going on. That was good.

“I know the name.” The Principal said carefully, eyes searching Discord with the same analytical gaze which had made her so dangerous for all the years he knew her, but there was little she would get off of him here and now. Discord had learned long ago that if you wanted to survive long in his business, you only ever showed your emotions by choice, and your deepest thoughts never. Right now Discord was thinking some very deep thoughts, and so he remained blank, with only the faintest frown lingering from his feigned disappointment at her interruption. “She was put into the hospital recently, in some sort of coma. Do you know what did it?”

“What, yes,” Discord confirmed, nodding his head slightly before shaking it. “How and why, on the other hand, escape me. What’s worse is that whatever she did has managed to draw quite a few powerful eyes, most of them very unfriendly. So, Celestia Empyris, I’d suggest you tell me what in all the hells has been going on in your school, and if you do I might not tear it down for being a monument to such utter hubris and foolishness.” A bet of silence passed, then another as the two held each other’s gazes, lavender eyes meeting with ruby red ones. Then, finally, celestia sighed, one hand coming up to pinch her nose.

“Alright Discord, I’ll tell you.” the Principal acquiesced. “But first let’s go somewhere more comfortable. This might take a while.”

XXX

“So,” Discord said after the story was finally done, sipping at the mug of coffee in his hand. They had retired to Celestia’s own personal office, which had quite the comfy chairs to stretch out in. He did so, staring over the rim of his cup at the chromatic-haired principal as she met his gaze steadily. “Not only did you not outright kill the girl after she brainwashed most of your students and put several holes through your precious school, but now you allow her to run rampant with not only unknown and powerful magic, but a cabal of friends who share in these powers, and have recently picked up even more abilities to boot. You’re losing your touch, Celestia.”

“We’re out of the game, Discord.” Celestia replied to his chastisement cooly, shaking her head with a sharp motion. “Luna and I retired years ago, we’re not about to start executing people without damn good reason.”

“And an attempt at world domination isn’t good reason?” Discord asked incredulously with one raised eyebrow. Celestia just shook her head again.

“She was a desperate girl looking for attention, for Order’s sake. Until that Element or whatever corrupted her, there was no real bloodlust to Sunset Shimmer, and after it was gone she became truly repentant. The school would be destroyed threefold as many times if we killed her then.” Discord frowned at that, but decided not to argue, even as he held back a clucking at her divine invocation. He knew very well it was no accident, but a message and sign of her annoyance both. Instead, the man decided to change tracks.

“And what of these Geodes? Do you have any idea what they are, or where they come from?” He asked, making Celestia pause in thought.

“No.” The woman said after a moment. “Miss Shimmer claimed they were Equestrian magic, but she couldn’t say how it came to our world or what they actually did. The last I heard she was going to conduct some experiments to find out before…” And here she trailed off, wincing. Discord, for his part, made a noise of understanding.

“The coma. There is no such thing as coincidences, I should know that better than anyone. What happened?” Celestia shrugged, a brief flicker of annoyance crossing her features.

“I don’t know. All her friends would tell me is she spent a good half an hour staring at one of the Geode’s before suddenly it turned to dust and she started screaming her head off. Before the paramedics could even arrive Shimmer was out cold and hasn’t woken up since. As I understand it her friends take it in turns to watch over her.” Silence descended as Discord absorbed the explanation, staring down at his cup of coffee. That… actually lined up with his own investigations, much as he hated to admit it. Doing what Sunset Shimmer had done would take either a great amount of skill, extraordinary power… or a great deal of luck. Given Discord’s personal belief system and experiences, he was was far more inclined to fall down on the side of the latter, especially given what Celestia had said about this pony-turned-girl.

“She stole a divine aspect.” Discord said suddenly, taking a small measure of amusement in the way Celestia spat out her own coffee, which she just happened to be drinking at the time.

“Sorry, she stole a What!?” Celestia asked in a voice just starting to edge on shouting even as she struggled to wipe herself off with some handy napkins from her desk. Discord,struggling not to cackle at the sight, shrugged.

“A divine aspect, one of the Seven Faces of Order. Surely as a devout Orderly you noticed the Seer’s Star missing from the sky.” He said, lips twisting into a sharp and sardonic grin. Not that she actually was all that devout, but if she wanted to throw the religion directly opposed to his own in his face, Discord would not hesitate to do the same.

“I’ve been busy with work,” Celestia snapped, finally managing to wipe up her mess. Her face was stormy with aggravation, and she didn’t hesitate to turn the full force of that on Discord. “And I wasn’t aware the Faces were real, tangible things beyond just being a series of stars. How would Sunset Shimmer, who isn’t even from this world, get her hands on one, and why?”

“That’s what I would like to know,” Discord answered with another shrug, taking a sip of his coffee to hide his smile. “And technically the Faces aren’t tangible, they’re shards of metaphysical and conceptual power so vast they are visible even through the skin of the physical realm. Your student somehow managed to forge a connection to one, likely by complete accident, and then use that connection to drag the entirety of it into her body and soul. To be honest, I’m quite surprised the girl managed to survive and wasn’t reduced to atomic ash.” Celestia stared at him, before quite visibly putting aside the likely many questions she wanted to ask and gritted her teeth while settling on the most important.

“And you know this how?” The woman asked, glaring at Discord whose smile grew even wider and, if it was possible, sharper.

“Celestia, celestia, Celestia, I am the High Priest of Chaos, you know. Aside from your newly divine student, I’m quite likely the most powerful being alive. Knowing these things is quite literally in the job description.” Celestia flinched, reminded of just who she was talking to. He didn’t blame her, most Chaotics tended to paint themselves in a very bad light, so those people who knew him beyond his faith usually forget from time to time, especially when it had been years since they last fought side by side.

“Right.” Celestia muttered, before taking a deep breath and shaking her head. “Okay, is there any way to reverse the change then? I’ve come to trust Sunset in the last year, but nobody should hold that much power, least of all a teenage girl who also happens to be a fugitive from another dimension. I know the sort of damage teenagers can do without phenomenal cosmic power, and shudder to think of what one would achieve with it.” Here Discord’s smile died a slow death, and after a moment’s thought he shook his head in denial.

“Alas but no, there is little I could do for Miss Shimmer that would not end in her death or worse. And that brings me to my next concern; keeping her safe.” He frowned, swirling his coffee cup aimlessly. “I have no need nor desire to kill her, but there are many who could make use of a living vessel to one of the Faces, none of whom would do so for good reason. Your student is in danger, Celestia.”

“What do you suggest?” Celestia asked, her own frown appearing. “Luna and I are retired, and even if we did dust off our old hunting boots, there’s only two of us. The sort of opposition you’re hinting at wouldn’t hesitate to mow right over any defenses we might try to put up.”

“Well I will certainly be sticking around for awhile, at least until the poor girl can wake up and get a handle on her new powers,” Discord offered, inclining his head to Celestia. “And there are a few favors I can call in in the meantime. But aside from fortifying the town and keeping a very close eye on Shimmer, our only other option would be to lock her in a heavily-enchanted metal box and drop it into the Pacific Ocean.” Celestia grimaced but accepted the point. Discord knew she was experienced enough to realize you could never really solve problems like that, no matter how hard you might try. All that was left was to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. With any luck, people would get the message after enough attacks failed.

“Well then,” Celestia said after a long moment, still grimacing. “I suppose we had better get started then. Go on, I have more than enough work without this mess added in. I need to get back to it.” Discord cocked an amused eyebrow, but smiled and nodded in acquiescence rising from his seat.

“Very well Celestia, it was lovely to see you again. Maybe next time, the world won’t be at risk of ending.”

“Right,” Celestia snorted, already waving dismissively. “Like that will ever happen.”

Author's Note

Once again, I hope I kept the balance of exposition and development well, while also dropping plenty of hooks to be picked up at a later date. If you want a deeper grasp on the relationships at play here, just think of it this way: Celestia and Luna are essentially the Winchester brothers in this universe--except they retired several years ago--with Discord playing the unholy love-child of Castiel and Crowley. He can be either really good or really bad, but most of the time he's both, and it's utterly hilarious. Most of this is because Discord straight up hasn't appeared in the canon story yet, and Celestia hardly has any character development, so I feel justified in doing whatever I want with them and it makes moving the story along a lot easier.
P.S. Don't worry, Luna will show up as well at some point, I just felt this conversation worked better with only two participants.

Chapter Four

“Sunset! You’re awake!” The shout, although sharing words, tone, and timing almost exactly, echoed from five throats, making the girl in question glance up from her lap--before she remembered that she was wearing a blindfold and couldn’t see who was talking to her. She did, however, recognize the voices responsible, and thus her expression was not one of confusion but relief as she smiled in the direction she assumed to be the door.

“Hey girls! It’s good to see you!” Sunset greeted in return, and her smile widened just a touch as sudden silence descended. She could almost imagine the sight of all her friends, even the one who had already been there, pausing and giving her disbelieving glares. Then there was a cough, and what sounded like Applejack’s voice spoke up with wry humor.

“Well ah see yer doing just fine, Sugarcube, if’n you can make jokes like that.” Another beat passed, the silent darkness pressing down, before suddenly Sunset snorted, shattering all tension in the room.

“Yes, Applejack, I’m pretty good. So you all know better than to treat me like I’m glass.” And she really was good, surprisingly. Already the pain that had permeated her body and soul ever since she first broke her Geode had faded almost to nothing, and with the knowledge that her blindness was a temporary thing Sunset was easily able to lay her annoyance to the side for a bit. She had actually suffered a few similar injuries in her youth, although never to this extent and with Equestrian magic to help speed along the recovery. That was the cost of dealing in Solar magic without an Alicorn’s physiology to protect you.

“Hey, I wasn’t going to say anything if you weren’t.” Another voice spoke up, Rainbow Dash’s if she remembered correctly. Sunset smiled in that direction, thankful for once for her friend’s gruff attitude. Sunset had always hated being treated as fragile, even when she reasonably could be considered such, so it was a relief that at least one of the girls would take her request to heart.

“Of course we won’t treat you like glass, silly! You’re made of meat, and not see through at all!” And there was the other person Sunset could always trust to be generally unaffected by the goings on. If she paid close enough attention, Sunset could almost swear she felt the reverberations of the pink-haired girl hopping up and down, but that might just be her imagination.

“Thanks Pinkie, rainbow Dash,” She said thankfully, turning her smile between where the two voices were coming from. The expression died, however, when a fourth voice spoke up, much more hesitant than the last three.

“So, uh, we were wondering Sunset… what happened to you? One moment you were just sitting there, and then the next-”

“-I was screaming, yes.” Sunset cut off Twilight, grimacing sharply. “Rarity already told me. It’s a bit complicated, but put simply I poked my nose where it didn’t belong and paid the price.” A sigh of relief echoed through the room at her explanation, but more than one iteration were also tinged with exasperation as the inhabitants likely remembered her other attempts at understanding magic and how they ended up.

“So it was an accident?” A soft, quiet voice asked from the far corner, attracting Sunset’s attention. “It wasn’t because of the Geode, right?”

“Well sort of,” Sunset hedged, turning towards Fluttershy’s voice. “Technically speaking the it was an overload from the Geode’s magic that hurt me, but only because I basically turned off all the safeties. I don’t think any of you could have done the same, even by accident.” There was a beat of silence as once again everybody let out sighs of relief, before Rarity spoke up, for the first time since the other girls had arrived.

“Well that is certainly a relief, Dear. After your incident the six of us agreed to take off our amulets at least until we could figure out what caused it, but I think more than one of us missed their gifts.” This declaration was followed by several exclamations of agreement, most notably Rainbow Dash and even a small yay from Fluttershy, surprisingly. “Of course, it’s a shame your own was destroyed. And after you were the one to convince us to accept them…” Rarity trailed of, and Sunset heard a shift of movement next to her before the cold touch of a slim hand patting hers intruded--and then she gasped as suddenly she could see.

“What-” Sunset shot out, before just as suddenly as they appeared the brief burst of color and sound which had assaulted her disappeared as Rarity withdrew her hand. For a moment, Sunset experienced intense confusion.

“Sunset? Are you alright?” A concerned Twilight asked, and then there was another touch of flesh as the girl pressed her hand to Sunset’s other arm. This time, Sunset managed to hold in her shock as sight flickered in her mind once again, if only just. Thus she was able focus on just what was happening, and what she found was certainly unexpected.

Unlike before when Sunset had flickered that weird emotional sight, this time she could see perfectly fine. The problem, however, was that she could see herself, from an angle almost perpendicular to where she was sitting up in an easily-recognized hospitable bed. It wasn’t a pretty sight--Sunset looked horribly bedraggled, with her normally wavy hair in a total frizz, pale and bruising skin with a few scrapes here and there, and a plain white blindfold wrapped tight around her eyes. She was shaking too, just a touch but enough to be noticeable if one knew how to look. All in all, it was about what she might have expected from spending several days asleep and utterly wracked by agony, which was completely appropriate. On the other hand, Sunset was too shocked by the fact that she could see at all, and the sight of long lavender arms stretching out from--in her perspective--where she was to touch her own body. Oh, and then there was the deluge of thoughts in what Sunset distinctly remembered as Twilight’s own mental voice flooding into her and the disturbingly dual sensation of touching her own arm getting mixed up with being touched., but that was less noticeable.

It took Sunset a moment to understand what was going on, and in that time Twilight had moved her hand away, ripping the new sensations out along with it. Sunset didn’t mind though, too busy contemplating the new discovery. She had just, if her theory was correct, read Twilight’s thoughts. And not like how she did before gaining the Geode, where she touched someone and saw a few few fragments of memory or what they were currently thinking about. This was a full dive into Twilight's mind--including sharing senses alongside the thoughts--even if only to the surface level.

“Uh, Sugarcube, you’re spacing out on us.” Applejack’s voice suddenly broke into Sunset’s thoughts, making her blink fruitlessly, before she realized she was still blind and settled for shaking her head.

“Sorry,” The bacon-haired girl apologized, “I just-- I think I still have magic.”

“Wait, what!? How!?” Rainbow dash exclaimed over the sound of Rarity gasping, as well as a few scuffing sounds as if several people had just recoiled. Sunset paused, raising an eyebrow at the shocked reactions, before shaking her head.

“I’m not sure, but I think I used some of it when talking with Rarity, before. And when you girls just touched me, it happened again but different. Here, Twilight--let me see your hand.” Without waiting for an answer, Sunset reached out towards where she remembered the girl being. It took a bit of scrabbling in thin air at first, but eventually she managed to grab her surprised friend’s hand, once again restoring the sensations of Twilight’s mind. “Uh, okay. Rarity, you’re wearing a black skirt with dark blue highlights, Pinkie’s shirt is yellow, and Applejack has her hat tilted back on her head about thirty degrees.” There was a beat of silence as everybody in the room froze, turning their attention to stare directly at Sunset. It was a little bit odd for her field of view to be moving without Sunset twisting her neck the necessary direction and amount, but even more so when she realized her vision was once again focusing on herself. Staring at yourself in the mirror of one thing, but this crossed a whole new level of creepy.

“Well ah’ll be,” Applejack said once it became clear that no one else was going to break the silence. “How’d you know all that, Sunset?”

“I’m borrowing Twilight’s eyes at the moment.” Sunset explained, smiling wryly.

“My eyes?” The girl in question asked, and huh, her voice sounded a lot different in Twilight’s ears than it did normally, even without the confusion of hearing it from two places at once. Sunset felt Twilight frown as a sudden wave of curiosity swept through her. “Wait, is this like what you did before? Touching people and reading minds?”

“Sort of,” Sunset answered, frowning herself. “Then it was just fragments, bits and pieces of memories or thoughts. This is a lot deeper than that though. I can hear your thoughts right now, see what you see and feel what you feel. Even the emotions are shared, I think.” She paused, sudden embarrassment and indignation assaulting her, before quickly pulling away from Twilight and breaking the connection. “Uh, oops.”

“It’s uh, it’s okay.” Twilight stammered, but Sunset could hear the slight heat in her voice. That wasn’t surprising, really. The last time Sunset had read Twilight’s mind there was a lot going on to distract her from the specifics, but suddenly being told your thoughts and emotions are being laid bare was understandably shocking.

“Well I think it’s awesome,” Rainbow Dash broke in after a moment of silence, and Sunset could almost hear the smirk in her voice as she said it. “Mind reading is cool.”

“Perhaps she should read yours next then.” Rarity shot back at Rainbow before Sunset could respond. Instead of becoming offended, however, there was a sound that might have been Rainbow shrugging her shoulders, before the track star answered back casually.

“Eh, why not. I don’t mind.” A creak sounded, then a few seconds later Sunset felt another touch on her hand, and was once again gifted sight. Rainbow Dash had pushed past rarity to come stand beside Sunset’s bed, and was indeed wearing a smug smirk as she poked the back of Sunset’s hand while turning the rest of her body to face Rarity. The white-skinned diva was glaring at her friend, nose rankled in annoyance while all the rest of the girls were looking between the two in well-worn expectation for a fight to break out. Then Rainbow Dash turned to Sunset, her smirk morphing into a grin. “So what’s my mind like, huh?”

“Very… cool.” Sunset answered hesitantly. It was certainly an active mind, jumping from one thought to another without pause or slowing down, but Sunset had a somewhat different definition of what could be considered cool than her friend--rocket powered jet skis? Really?--so the assessment was pretty subjective to a degree. But hey, Sunset wasn’t going to shoot her friend down just because of a difference in opinion.

“Hah!” Dash crowed, jumping in joy and inadvertently breaking their connection. Sunset didn’t mind, but it was a little disappointing when the darkness came crashing back in. She was distracted, however, when Fluttershy’s voice spoke up from right next to her, on Twilight’s side of the bed this time.

“Um, Sunset?” The softly-spoken girl asked, sounding so timid Sunset could easily imagine her biting her lips. “Do you, um, know why your powers are different now?” Sunset blinked at the question, useless as it was, but before she could answer another voice interjected, this one inordinately loud compared to Fluttershy’s.

“Ooh, I know, I know!’ Pinkie shouted from--wait, was she above the bed!?--her spot in the room, the voice bouncing up and down as she did.

“Why do you think, Pinkie?” Sunset asked before her instincts could kick in, and the next second she had the distinct urge to bludgeon herself for such a foolish mistake. One never asked Pinkie Pie to explain herself, not if they wanted to remain sane. Alas, it was too late, and the pink-haired party girl quite literally squealed in joy at her question.

“Well it’s totally because when she broke her Geode she didn’t just trigger a temporary overload of power, but actually shattered the barrier keeping a shard of divine energy separate from herself while keeping the conduit open, letting it slip past and permanently bond with both her body and soul. Now she’s a living goddess who possesses a whole suite of new powers to learn and play with over the next few weeks.” Here the girl paused, probably shrugging, before finishing sheepishly. “At least, that’s my hunch.”

“That’s… actually a disturbing possibility.” Sunset replied thoughtfully, considering the proposal. Depending on the exact nature of what she had connected to, especially if it wasn’t just some vast well of power which had been drained then expended over the course of the last week, but an actual power source--wait, what was that last bit? “Er, except for the goddess part. That just sounds ridiculous.” Not even Princess Celestia was considered an actual goddess except by the most radical and devoted of her citizens, and she could literally raise and lower the sun. The idea of Sunset having somehow become one by sheer accident was… well, it was ludicrous, which made it perfect for a Pinkie Pie explanation.

“I, um, don’t think you would be a bad goddess,” Fluttershy offered, making Sunset smile. Of course she would say something like that.

“Thanks Fluttershy, but it’s okay. I think I would know if I was suddenly a goddess, and a lot more people would notice. Besides, I tried that route before, and it did not end well.”

“Oh, um okay.” Fluttershy replied, her voice dipping downwards as if she were slouching in her seat as she started to speak quieter and quieter. “I just thought, with the Seer missing…”

Sunset shook her head, sighing. It was a gratifying thought at least. Turning her attention back to the rest of the room, where by the sounds of it Rainbow dash and Rarity had broken out into some argument or another, with Applejack and twilight playing mediator for either side, she didn’t even try to hide the warm smile she wore.Who needed to be a goddess when you had friends like these? No, she was perfectly happy leading her life just as it was. Plain, peaceful, and surrounded by the people she had come to love more than anything else--with maybe just a bit of adventure once in a while, just to spice things up. Sunset was content. After all, what could really go wrong?

XXX

On a lonely street deep in the city of Equis, a single woman bustled, eager to get where she was going. She was a perfectly ordinary woman, all things considered, with a perfectly ordinary life. She had never once committed any sort of crime, nor become involved with supernatural business of any sort. Even her name was forgettable among the many, many colorful examples one could find in just this city alone. And so, being as normal as she was, it was quite a surprise when a skinny, pale grey arm reached out from the shadows of a nearby alleyway to snag her about the waist, tugging the shocked woman into its domain before she could even blink.

“What-!?” She managed to get out before a surprisingly strong hand clamped over her mouth, silencing even the screams that tried to emerge.

“Now, now,” A cool, cultured voice emerged from the hood her captor wore, one which obscured the entirety of her face. “Dinner shouldn’t speak. It ruins the experience to have to listen to your incessant babbling.” At that the woman tried to scream louder, but it was to no avail. For a brief moment, the hood shifted, a tiny sliver of light glinting of sharp fangs.

“Bon appetit.” The fangs descended, and then there were no more screams.only a glassy-eyed stare as the perfectly ordinary woman died without sound or struggle. The perfect meal.

Author's Note

Well that went a lotta-bit different from what I expected it to be.The conversation swung a lot more wildly than I thought, and Sunset didn't get very far with powers experimenting. Ah well, what's done is done I suppose. Feel free to ask questions, I would love to see more discussion and reviews for this thing! Reviews are what a writer feeds off of, after all.

Chapter Five

Sunset Shimmer had been the subject of many stares in her life. Some were stares of jealousy, like her time as Celestia’s personal student in Canterlot, or before the Fall Formal when she practically ran the school. Then there were stares of hatred, after that fateful night when all her sins had been revealed and the only people who would spare her feelings were those she had harmed the most. Even stares of awe she was no stranger to, such as when she had won the friendship Games for Canterlot High or helped stop the Sirens and more recently Gaea Everfree. But this, Sunset decided, was worse than any of those, because today the stares weren’t of awe or hatred or jealousy, but instead pity.

“You know, I almost envy actual blind people,” Sunset muttered to Twilight as her friend guided her through the lunchroom crowd, one of Sunset’s hands on her shoulder. “At least they don’t have to see how people look at them when they think you won’t notice.”

“Well it is the first day of school.” Twilight pointed out, shying her gaze away from some of the more obvious watchers for Sunset’s sake. “We haven’t really told anybody what happened, so for all they know this is a result of Camp Everfree.”

“Which it is, technically.” A loud voice interrupted them, drawing their attention to a table just a few feet away where all their friends were waiting with plates of food. Having reached their destination, Sunset and Twilight sat down, before turning their attention fully to Rainbow Dash as she continued. “I mean, you’re blind ‘cause of that amulet, which came from Camp Everfree, so…”

“I think what Twilight meant,“ Rarity cut in, drawing a scowl from her chromatic haired friend, “is that there’s a difference between losing your sight for a mistake in experimenting, and losing it because you went out of your way to save the rest of the school, again. No offense, of course.” Sunset smiled slightly at the ever-common refrain, for once not referring to her brief but memorable stint as a demonic being bent on conquest and destruction.

“None taken,” Sunset replied, shaking her head. “I was pretty stupid for poking my nose where it didn’t belong. Still doesn’t change the fact that it’s annoying having people look at me like I’m an invalid, especially when I can see their pity.”

“‘Least it’s better than after the Fall Formal.” Applejack commented, taking a bite of her food. When next she spoke her words were muffled as she chewed.“Tha’ was rou’.”

“Manners, Applejack!” Rarity admonished her friend, before shaking her head and sighing. “But yes, Sunset has more than proven herself deserving of our regard. With any luck the attention will die down as things return to normal.” Sunset nodded in thanks, before pausing as something caught her attention in Twilight’s vision, now connected by touching ankles.

“Who’s that?” The golden-skinned girl asked, nodding her head in the direction she vaguely calculated him to be. “Tall guy, with the trench coat and fedora.” Blinking in surprise, the rest of the girls turned to look at the man who was lounging in one corner of the cafeteria eating lazily, before Applejack cleared her throat in understanding.

“Ah, that’s Discord. He’s the new Student Counselor, though what Principal Celestia’s thinking hiring a Chaotic, ah don’t know.” The farm-girl shook her head, grimacing. Rainbow Dash, beside her, looked offended.

“Hey, not all Chaotics are bad, you know!” The chromatic-haired girl protested. “It’s just the crazy extremists who get on the news for school shootings and bombings and stuff that make a bad name for them.”

“Ahm not saying he’s a bad person,” Applejack shot back, shaking her head. “But there’s a reason people don’t advertise that stuff. If Celestia ain’t careful, she could have a riot on her hands.” That seemed to mollify Rainbow a bit, but she still looked indignant. Before any more arguments could break out, Sunset spoke up, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Sorry, but what are you girls talking about? The name Discord sounds kind of familiar, but I can’t place it.” Of course, it was tingling her memories in a way that generally meant the name came from Equestria, so whatever information they shared was likely to be off by a bit, but it still had her curious. What was all this talk about Chaotics and riots?

“Oh of course dear, you wouldn’t know. “Rarity answered, turning to give her a sympathetic look. “They’re talking about Mr. Discord’s religion, the Cult of Chaos. Given the Cult’s usual animosity with the Church of Order, it’s very unusual for someone to have their beliefs out in the open.” Sunset blinked at that, then blinked again. That… well, that answered something, but only brought more questions as a result.

“Okay…” She said slowly, wishing not for the first time that she had control of her own vision so she could look back and forth around the table. “And what exactly are the Cult of Chaos and Church of Order?” Sunset could easily admit she had very little experience with religion, but this sounded like something fairly big to have missed during the three or so years she had spent on this planet.

“Ooh, ooh, I know!” Pinkie Pie, who up until now had been quiet--well, not quiet, but all her friends had long since learned to ignore the random and occasionally disturbing sounds she made during meals--suddenly spoke up, bouncing in her seat and waving a hand in the air. “I can tell you!”

“Pinkie?” Applejack said with surprise, an emotion apparently shared by most of the group. “I didn’t know you were religious.”

“Yupperoo!” The pink-haired girl replied happily, nodding her head vigorously. “The whole Pie Family have been members of the Church for generations, and I’ve been studying to be a cleric of the Jester. Aren’t you?”

“Nah, us Apples are just simple farm folk, and don’t need any gods or goddesses to do our work.” Applejack denied, shaking her head. “Aside from a prayer to the Warden for our crops here and there, We ain’t had nuthin’ to do with the Church.” Then she paused, frowning slightly. “Actually, I didn’t think any of us girls had much in the way of religion.” She glanced around the table curiously.

“Not me, Darling.” Rarity said, shaking her head.

“I had a shrine to the Professor as a kid, but that was years ago and I haven’t thought of it since.” Twilight replied for herself, shrugging.

“I’m uh, an Orderly too, actually.” Fluttershy, the actually quiet member of the group spoke up after a few moments, shrinking slightly when everybody turned various expressions of surprise her way. “It’s not, um, really important.” Again there was a lot of quirking eyebrows, but before anybody could say anything they were all distracted by Rainbow Dash’s own declaration.

“Well I’m sort of a Chaotic, myself.” The blue-skinned teenager said, grinning as several jaws dropped in response. She shrugged. “It’s not anything serious, mind you, but a lot of rituals and chants and stuff athletes do before a big game or while practicing actually come from the Cult. To be honest I didn’t even know until my dad saw me doing them once and totally flipped out, but it’s not hurting anyone so I keep at it.”

“Okay,” Sunset said once again, just as slowly as before. “That’s nice and all, but I still don’t know what these religions all are. You guys mentioned a whole lot of stuff that doesn’t mean much to me.” There was a communal wince as everyone realized that she was right. After a few moments of silence that followed, Pinkie once again spoke up, this time sounding much more serious than normal.

“Alright, I’ll explain for realsies this time. You ready?” Sunset nodded, and Pinkie drew a deep breath. Then she started talking again. “Okey-dokey. First there’s the Cult of Chaos, which is mostly just a bunch of people who want like, freedom, and individuality and stuff, which some take waaaaay too far and use as an excuse to go crazy and blow stuff up or kill people for. I don’t know much more than that because, duh, I’m an Orderly and not a Chaotic and they’re a really disparate group to begin with anyways.” Her Pinkie paused, checking to make sure Sunset was still following. Whe she saw the other girl’s look of intense concentration she nodded, before continuing.

“Then there’s the Church of Order, which is a really big organization with facilities all over the world who help with things like charity and soup kitchens and stuff. We worship the Seven Faces of Order, who are a pantheon of Seven Goddesses representing seven archetypes of a person’s role in society. These are the Seer, the Warden, the Soldier, the Messenger, the Artist, the Sorceress--which a lot of new churches try to change to the Professor because they don’t believe magic exists, but my family’s church totally remembers the old ways, and it’s definitely the Sorceress--and then my personal favorite, the Jester. Our belief is that everybody has a role to play, a place in the grand Pattern of Fate as ordained by the Seer.”

Silence descends after Pinkie finishes her expositional speech, leaving Sunset to mull over everything she had said. As she had noted before, the once-pony never had much to do with religion, as was the case with much of Equestria barring a few overly fanatical loyalists to Celestia. That probably had something to do with the many, many powerful tyrants trying to conquer the world who proclaimed themselves to be gods in the past, but whatever the case it left her wary of any sort of organized belief system in higher powers. At the same time, however, neither this Order nor this Chaos seemed particularly bad, excepting the obvious point of fanatics who even the self-proclaimed member of their faction denounced. There was, however, something which caught her attention far more than the rest, and made her frown.

“Wait, The Seer?” She asked, brow furrowing. “Didn’t you say something about that while I was in the hospital, Fluttershy?” Sunset turned to the fried in question, who flinched before nodding carefully.

“Sort of?” She answered, squeaking in a tone that was more question than statement. “Um, there’s a constellation for the Faces, and, um, the Seer’s Star went dark recently…”

“Oh, right!” Pinkie jumped in, to the obvious relief of the cream-colored girl who had started trailing off. “I forgot, there’s also this constellation of stars that people say are supposed to be the physical forms of the Seven Faces. A couple weeks ago the biggest one, which is supposed to belong to the Seer, disappeared for some reason and people have been trying to figure out where it went.” Sunset blinked, then blinked again. A couple weeks ago. That was… no, it had to be a coincidence. She refused to believe otherwise.

“Well that’s… interesting.” She said, trying to frantically backpedal away from the thoughts which had tried to invade her mind. Instead, she decided to focus back on what had originally brought this topic up.

“So Mr. Discord is a member of the Cult of Chaos?” She asked, doing her best to eye the man through Twilight’s vision.

“Yup! He’s got a whole bunch of eight pointed stars up in his office, and the A on his back is a dead giveaway.” Pinkie replied. Sunset hummed in thought, before falling silent. Oh well, it wasn’t any of her business what people believed, and she wasn’t likely to interact with the man much at all. As the conversation turned towards idle chatter, she pushed the subject out of her thoughts. There were better things to think about.

Author's Note

I am starting to seriously hate scenes with any more than two or three participants in them. And accents. accents are annoying to write. Ah well, such is life. If there are any blatant issues, feel free to tell me, as always, and I certainly wouldn't say no to some actual conversation. Just saying. Also, sorry for the late update, I've had some issues getting up the motivation to write recently, but it should hopefully sort itself out soon. Next time should get to some actual action as well, so that might make it easier.

Chapter Six

“Why do I have to do this again, Rarity?” Sunset asked, wishing for about the fiftieth time in the last hour that she had her sight back already so she could glare at her friend. Somewhere to her left, Rarity scoffed, followed shortly by the sounds of her rustling through something.

“Sunset, dearest, I am doing this for you. Is it truly such a hardship?” Sunset fought the urge to roll her eyes, useless as the gesture would be, and sighed.

“No, I suppose not.” She admitted grudgingly. “But a new outfit? Really?”
“I’m afraid I must insist, Sunset,” Rarity half-scolded her. The rustling sounds stopped, and Rarity drew in a deep breath. “It is a new school year now, our senior year, in fact, and I want you to look your absolute best for it.”

“My old outfit looked fine,” Sunset protested, although her resistance was growing weaker by the moment. Sure, the leather jacket and long skirt were originally picked simply for what she could afford those long years ago when Sunset first came to the human world, but they had grown on her. Alas, Rarity had insisted on having none of it, and so here they were in the young fashionista’s bedroom, designing a new look.

“Oh, certainly, it was-is--quite an attractive look, and I must commend you on your fashion sense. But it’s not really you, anymore,is it?” Gently, Rarity’s hands settled on her shoulder--not quite touching skin and thus leaving Sunset in the dark--and she could almost imagine her friends’ scowl just from the tone of her voice. Think about it Sunset. You first bought that outfit almost immediately after coming from your world, right? Back then you were a very different person, as I recall. The exiled rebel with an axe to grind and no clear targets for your wrath.” Rarity’s voice was soft as she spoke, but so heavy with emotion that Sunset had to suppress a wince. Rarity, better than most, knew exactly where that unfocused anger and pain had spilled over to.

“And now?” Sunset asked, refusing to let her voice shake but unable to keep it entirely flat. A beat passed, and Rarity’s grip tightened just a little.

“Now you’re the complete opposite. Redeemed, a Leader, a Hero, a Mentor… You are so much more than you once were, Sunset. Kind, wise, humble, courageous, and compassionate, and you deserve to look like it.” Another beat passed. Sunset smiled.

“Wow. You, uh, really feel strongly about this, huh?” She asked with a chuckle, which Rarity returned. The other girl’s grip loosened, and she felt the wind move as if Rarity were stepping back.

“Well, I had quite a shock, when your… incident, happened. We’ve never been very close, you and I. There was always something else going on, and our interests never aligned the way yours did with the other girls. When I thought… I thought…” Sunset blinked as she heard Rarity start to choke up, whatever words she was trying to speak lodging in the back of her throat. Carefully, she reached out, catching Rarity’s hands by chance more than anything, even as she forced back the mental connection that started to form. Instead, she looked vaguely where she thought Rarity’s head was, and smiled.

“It’s okay, Rares, I’m fine.” Sunset soothed her friend gently. Rarity’s hand shook for a moment, before she seemed to take a sharp, deep breath, and they stilled. Sunset heard sniffling, before Rarity spoke up once again in a watery voice.

“R-right, well. As I was saying. It struck me that we should get to know each other better, and as you know, I express myself best through fashion.” As she spoke, her voice got stronger and stronger, until it sounded almost normal. Sunset smiled, releasing her friend’s hand now that it was no longer needed.

“I suppose it’s not too much hassle.” She relented, with just a touch of humour. Rarity, for all that she put on such airs of dramatics at times, could actually be somewhat fragile it seemed. The best course of action was probably just to give her silent support and withdraw for now.

“Great!” Rarity said after the barest fraction of a pause, voice forcibly bright. “Here, turn around and let me show you what I’ve got so far.” At this, Sunset blinked, but complied easily enough, spinning in her seat and staring off into space until she felt the cool touch of Rarity’s fingers on her neck, and this time, allowed the mental connection to blossom. She still slipped past the deluge of thoughts and emotions without looking too hard at them, but that was practically habit by this point, followed by focusing solely upon the sights pouring in through Rarity’s eyes.

What Sunset saw then was not quite what she expected, to be honest. Most of her friend’s designs were entirely eye-catching, flamboyant and colorful. She had assumed from her blind sensations that Rarity was dressing her in some form of gown or dress, likely covered in sparkling gems or some such. Instead, she was wearing plain but formal robes of soft white trimmed in a pale blue, with nothing else to accentuate or make it stand out. There was a loose hood, but that was about it.

“It’s… very understated.” Sunset said after a long moment, not quite sure how to feel. On the one hand, it was a very radical shift from her traditional outfit, but on the other… she kind of liked it, actually. There was something distinctly regal to the robes, despite their lack of flair. A quiet power that reminded her of how Princess Celestia would look in those long-gone days before her banishment. It was a painful thought, but that would had long healed, and it brought a sense of joy with it as well.

“Well of course.” Rarity said from where she was standing behind Sunset, looking in a mirror reflecting them both. “You’ve never been one for being in the spotlight, even back when you were in your bitchy phase. It was always more about having the power than flaunting it, and after the Fall Formal you were even more less aggressive. As such, I thought it would be better to let your own natural beauty do most of the work.” Sunset laughed at that, amused by the thought. When Rarity didn’t laugh as well, however, she paused. Instead, the white-skinned girl was giving her a very serious look.

“Rarity, I’m not that good looking.” Sunset said, confusion creeping into her mind. It only became worse when Rarity pursed her lips tightly.

“Sunset,” She began, and though the word may have been spoken quietly, it was by no means soft. “Sunset, you do realize you are one of the most attractive members of our group, right?” Sunset just stared, unable to understand what Rarity was saying. Sure, she knew she was attractive to a certain extent--had in fact used that attractiveness more than once as a weapon in the past--but it wasn’t anything special. At her silence, Rarity’s frown grew even deeper, and she looked away from the mirror to glare directly at Sunset.”You cannot be serious.” She growled out. Sunset, you are considered by more than a few people to be just below myself and Fluttershy in the looks department, and that is only because I put a great deal of effort into how I look.” She shook her head, disorienting Sunset for a moment from the wavering vision.

“I-I didn’t know.” Sunset said eventually, trying and failing to understand. That was ridiculous. Rarity could easily be a model if she tried, and Fluttershy… well, it was hard to notice with her shyness, but in the rare moments she stopped hiding her kindest friend was radiant. Sunset hardly matched up, but she did not need to see the look on Rarity’s face to realize arguing was useless. Instead she simply fell quiet and kept her thoughts to herself. Rarity, sensing the surrender, made a noise of victory

“Well now you do. Now stay here, there’s just one little thing left.” Sunset complied, descending once more into darkness as Rarity stepped away. Several moments passed, until she felt something--not skin, but cold and metallic--sliding across her throat, front to back as it encircled her entire neck. She heard a small click, and then once again Rarity touched her, bringing sight back. It took a moment for Sunset to reorient herself with her friend’s eyes--and then she gasped.

“It’s beautiful.” Sunset muttered, breathless. Around her neck was a simple chain, dangling from which was a small medallion of pure crystal like all those Rarity could summon with her powers, except this one was shaped to look just like the medallion Sunset lost in her accident. The necklace was perfectly humble, just like the rest of her outfit, and yet it looked perfect-- as if the entire thing had been designed around it.

“I thought it was a shame that your old one was destroyed.” Rarity said, smiling from her position behind Sunset. “It would be horrible if you were left out.” Sunset turned her head to look up at Rarity, despite her vision not moving to match, before suddenly jumping up and wrapping the other girl in a tight hug as emotion flooded her. She hadn’t even thought of it, herself, but the effort was even more touching than she might have believed.

“Thank you, so much.” Sunset muttered into Rarity’s long hair as she squeezed tight. Her friend did not reply, simply hugging back just as tightly and closing her eyes. The darkness was comforting, allowing Sunset to simply focus on her emotions and the arms wrapped around her.

They stayed that way for several long moments until finally Sunset released Rarity, stepping back and rubbing at the cloth around her eyes, feeling its wetness. Dammit, she hated crying. It always reminded her of the darkest times in her life, like just after leaving Equestria. She was about to let out a weak laugh to chase the memories away, but paused when a quiet fizzle and pop caught her attention.

“Rarity?” Sunset asked, cocking her head to the side. “What just happened?”

“I’m not sure, Darling.” Rarity replied, confusion in her voice. “I think the lights shorted out. That’s strange.” Sunset frowned. That was strange. Rarity had a pretty well-off family, so she should live in a well-maintained household. What could have caused a short circuit? Before she could get too far down that line of thought, however, her friend spoke up again. “Give me a moment, Sunset, I should go check the breaker box since there is nobody else home.” Sunset nodded. Right, he had forgotten about that. With Rarity’s parents out of town on business and her little sister still at band practice, it was just them two. There was a rustle of cloth and the creak of the door opening, then Sunset was alone, staring blankly in the darkness after moving to sit back where she vaguely remembered the stool she had been sitting on previously was.

One minute passed, and then another as Sunset waited for Rarity’s return. She wasn’t afraid of the darkness and quiet, having grown used to it after the last few days, but eventually she began to wonder where the other girl was at. It had been several minutes already since Rarity left, and Sunset could hear nothing of her friend, not the pad of her feet nor the quiet muttering she was prone to when thinking aloud. Instead, the house was deathly still, and as more and more time passed by, Sunset started to grow worried. What was Rarity doing? Just as Sunset started to stand, however, she froze as suddenly a new sensation pierced the darkness: she felt cold metal pressed against her throat, but this was no necklace. No, this metal was sharp, pressing into her flesh and splitting the surface with the barest weight against it.

“Well, well, well. Look what a tasty morsel I have found.” An unfamiliar male voice spoke, low and deep with soft velvet undertones. “Such a shame I cannot touch so exquisite a buffet.” fear, icy and sharp, slid down Sunset’s spine in an instant. What in Tartarus?

“W-who are you? What do you want?” Sunset asked, voice shaking She didn’t know what was happening. Where had this person come from? Why was there what she could only assume to be a blade at her neck? By Celestia, she hated being blind. Was this some sick prank, or was Sunset actually in trouble? And what had happened to Rarity? Even if it was a prank this didn’t seem like something she would pull--the thought cut off as Sunset felt the blade press closer, a spark of pain appearing before she felt wet warmth welling to the surface.

“Hush now, little Seer, I did not come here to answer questions. Stand.” Sunset did not want to, but the pain and feeling of blood on her neck silenced any protests she might have had. Sunset complied, the blade rising smoothly along with her, and once she was on her feet it moved away, only to be replaced an instant later by a tight grip around her throat. For a moment Sunset felt elated--perhaps she could learn more from her sudden kidnapper’s mind, or even try another power?--but the feeling died as soon as it was born. Whoever this was, they were wearing gloves. Without the touch of flesh, Sunset could do nothing.The next moment, Sunset felt warm breath against her ear, the stranger’s voice soft as it whispered to her. “I will be very clear, little girl. Do what I say, or I will snap your neck without hesitation. Do you understand?” Sunset nodded. “Good. Now walk. I will guide you.”

For a moment, Sunset contemplated refusing this order as well. A hand around her neck, while worrying, was not nearly so dangerous as the blade had been, and she might be able to struggle her way free. Only two things stopped her. One was her blindness; even if Sunset could successfully escape, she would have no way to know where she was going and even that was extraordinarily optimistic. The second, however, was Rarity. Had this person, whoever they were, harmed her? Had they taken her hostage as well? Sunset didn’t know. And if it might put Rarity in danger, she couldn’t fight back. Not yet.Grimacing, she took a step forward--but that was as far as she got before all hell seemed to break loose.

First, there was the unmistakable sound of an explosion, and Sunset was buffeted by the force enough to rock her back on her feet. As far as she could tell, the door to Rarity’s room must have quite literally burst open. Then, with a loud curse from her captor, the grip around her neck disappeared, followed shortly by a squelching sound. A few footsteps followed after--from in front of Sunset, not behind--before another voice spoke, sounding both confused and amused as it did.

“Hmm, how interesting. Usually when I do that there’s much more blood left over. Why would-- ah, never mind. He just forgot the Gore tag and is too stubborn to fix it.” Sunset, frozen where she was standing, could only stare blankly in the vague direction of this new man, and wonder what had just happened. Then a moment later she felt… weight settle upon her, as if she were suddenly carrying a mountain upon her shoulders. “And there you are, a touch worse for wear, but safe. Good.”

“I-how-what?” Sunset stumbled out after a moment, utterly confused. It was hard enough trying to keep up with the random kidnapper when she couldn’t even see them, but right now she had absolutely zero clue what was going on. She couldn’t even be properly confused without context.Where was the other guy? What exploded?

“Calm yourself, child.” The new man said, tone suggesting he was wearing a smirk. “You are safe for now, but there may be more of these foul beasts around. I will ward the room, but you must stay here. We will speak in a few minutes.” With that, Sunset felt… something, wash over her to encompass the room, a sharp, wild energy that made her blood both sing and boil at the same time. Then she heard the sound of the man turning around and stepping towards the door, the presence shifting to follow.

“Wait!” Sunset called out suddenly, by instinct. The footsteps paused, and she could almost feel him turning around, that extraordinary presence settling upon her once again. “Who are you?” a beat passed, then another, before finally he spoke, voice grim and pained.

“You may call me Discord, Sunset Shimmer. Discord of Anarch. See you in a bit, Seer.” And then he was gone, leaving Sunset standing there, lost and confused. It was starting to be a very familiar state, sadly.

Author's Note

Alright, first things first, I apologize profusely for the long wait. This was supposed to be up a long time ago, but I failed to anticipate just how busy my new job would be, especially since we started Peak season right after I started. That and a short bout of writer's block ended up with this sitting on my Docs half-finished for several weeks, and this was the first real chance I got to finish it. I'll be getting a lot of free time soon to make up for it though, so with any luck this won't happen again.
Secondly... okay, there's a lot that happened in this chapter, so I'm actually going to leave it up to you guys to ask about what you want to know. This is where things start to get interesting, and I start to really edge into AU territory. If the shift in tone seems sudden, that's because it was meant to be. More will be explained in the coming chapters.

Chapter Seven

Discord growled to himself as he stepped outside the newly warded room, fingers gripped tight around the ancient curved sword in his hand as he struggled to control himself. That… had been close. Too close, really. If he hadn’t already been following the new Seer to keep an eye out for her she would have been taken without a doubt, still too ignorant of her own powers to fight off even such pathetic attackers. He would need to rectify that, but after securing the house. There could be more threats around any corner.

As Discord started his search, he couldn’t help but marvel at how ridiculous it was. Vampires--and he easily recognized them as such, given the now-dead kidnapper’s perfectly evident fangs--weren’t usually so blatant in their actions. Hell, there weren’t many who could even survive sunlight long enough to pull off this infiltration in the middle of the day, Those who could… well, most would have put up more of a fight, which meant one thing. These were Sombra’s brood, and that meant trouble was on the way.

The house was quiet as Discord searched, but that meant nothing when it came to vampires. Room by room and hall by hall he searched, steps light and blade held close and ready as he cleared each area. Finally, all that was left was the basement, making Discord grimace as he eyed the plain white door. He had no idea how many of the vampires were here, outside of that one he killed already. It could be anywhere from none to a dozen, and while he was more than capable of handling that number, he had yet to find evidence of the girl who actually owned this house and was Sunset Shimmer’s friend. If she was being held hostage, that would make things troublesome. Eventually, he simply shook his head. No helping it, he supposed.

The basement was dark, but a flick of discord’s hand solved that as he summoned three orbs of light, each shifting colors every few seconds to throw a kaleidoscope across the walls. The first thing discord noted as he scanned it carefully was the body. She was stretched out on the cold stone floor and, after a quick examination, still breathing. That didn’t stop him from letting out a quick curse however, especially after he recognized her as the Belle girl, and worse, the amulet around her neck with its practically radiant magic. That was the Artist’s gift, without a doubt. For a brief, agonizing moment, Discord saw not the white skin and amethyst hair, but another girl, with green and silver, covered in blood…

“My, my, if it isn’t the interloper,” A voice suddenly broke the silence, tearing Discord’s eyes away from the girl as he looked up. There, standing in the few shadows remaining, were three lithe and hooded figures. As Discord blinked, taking them in, there was the slight shimmer of light reflecting off silver fangs. “Tell me, sir, what is your name, and why do you interfere with our business?” For a moment there was silence, as discord merely stared at the vampires. Then, slowly, he stood from the spot he had crouched in to examine Rarity.

Are you the leader here?” He asked, disregarding the other’s question as he felt himself grow cold. Three, he thought, eyeing them carefully. Just three. He could take that. Carefully, he shifted to place himself between them and the girl, even as the two figures on the side started to spread out, surrounding him.

“Tch, how rude,” The vampire said again, shaking his head and confirming it to be the man in the middle. He was the tallest, too, and also the most relaxed of his trio, instantly setting Discord’s instincts on edge. Most vampires were extremely predatory while young, and an imminent fight would turn them into little more than animals. Indeed, he could see just that factor in play with the others, their entire forms tense as they prowled. The speaker, however, had none of that. Even without recognizing Discord, that spoke of confidence and experience. Older vampires were always more troublesome. After a moment, he continued. “Very well, I shall answer. Yes, I am the eldest of our little group. You may call me Fallen Midnight, Third Lord of Sombra’s Blackest Court. And you are?” His fangs shifted, the vampire’s smirk growing just a touch wider, but Discord had to hold in a smirk of his own. The poor fool thought he was actually intimidating.Twirling the blade in his hand for a moment to keep loose, he shrugged before answering casually.

“Oh, nobody particularly important. The name is Discord, but you can call me Discord of Anarch if you feel like being formal.” The moment the words left his mouth, Discord could see the effect they had. Instantaneously, both of the outer vampires paused, their focus zeroing in on him like predators on a suddenly much larger and more dangerous predator who had appeared in their midst, while the third actually flinched in response. A beat of silence passed, and then suddenly a third voice spoke up.

“You’re Discord of Anarch?” The smallest of the three asked, a girl from the sound of her voice. “As in Lord Carnage Discord, The Fatherless Son and Master of the Eighth Star? High Priest of Chaos? That Discord?” And oh, wasn’t that a veritable tide of fear in her voice. Discord paused, raising a sharp white eyebrow in her direction.

“Please, now you’re just flattering me,” He said jovially, grinning. Always with the ostentatious idols, these monsters and villains. Not that he minded, per se, but it was the principle of the thing. For all the power and influence he held, Discord really was a simple man at the end of the day.

“Well now, isn’t that interesting,” Midnight interjected, seeming to have recovered his composure, and now he was the one with a sense of anticipation in his stance. “And here I thought this mission would be boring, but lo and behold. What brings a living legend like yourself to our neighborhood, old man?” Again, Discord raised his eyebrow, even as a spark of annoyance ran through him.Old man? Really?

“The same as you, I imagine,” Discord drawled in response after a moment, once again twirling his sword. “Goddesses are hot commodities, after all, and I would prefer to keep the one upstairs out of the wrong hands.” A beat passed, and then Fallen Midnight sighed.

“I see then. And there’s no chance of you relenting?” He asked, and if Discord couldn’t hear the tone of excitement in his voice, he might have thought the vampire actually hoped he would turn away. One glance at him was enough to dispel that notion however. Already, Midnight’s hands were curling into claw-like gestures, and his fanged grin had grown wider again beneath his hood. His subordinates, on the other hand, looked much less happy about the prospect, but still they seemed to understand that there would be no avoiding this fight. Discord’s reputation was enough for that at least. Still, Discord shook his head.

“Not in the slightest.” He answered. Silence fell afterward, and for a brief moment the tension in the air grew thick enough you could almost fell it. Then, without warning, everything moved.

One Vampire, the girl who listed his titles, went for Rarity first, but Discord was having none of it. A twist of will and Discord bent Chaos to his will, scarlet arcs of lightning bursting to life and striking her without mercy. He did not see the result, however, as already his attention was pulled to another foe, the third and still silent member ruching at his flank. With easy grace the cross-colored man ducked beath outstretched fangs and claws, before rising in a twirl that allowed his enemy’s own momentum to drag them across his blade, bisecting the vampire cleanly. It was enough to slow him, however, and the next moment Fallen Midnight was in his face, fangs bared in a vicious grin as he cannonballed bodily into Discord and threw him across the room, before following just as quickly.

Discord slammed into the far wal, gasping as pain rocked rattled through his body and he bounced off, before another impact struck his front, Midnight’s splayed hand on his sternum driving him back into the wall and holding him there. With the elder vampire too fast for rational thought to follow, Discord didn’t even bother trying. Instead, he let his instinct guide him, and once again Chaos burned through his mind to set his entire body alight with sickly green flames. The rattling explosion and heat forced Midnight away, tearing a wild shriek from his throat. Discord wasn’t done, however, following the vampire in a sharp reversal of the previous moment, his sword coming up to cut across at chest level. It wasn’t quite enough, Midnight’s vampiric speed pulling him back just enough to avoid split in half, but now there was a bloody would across his front and he fell back, suddenly afraid.

“Wait, don’t--!” He tried to shout, but Discord had fought far too many monsters to pause now. Always, they tried to beg for their life the moment tables turned, but while the quick exchange had left him battered, he had fought with far worse than a few cracked ribs. He didn’t even slow down. Without hesitation or mercy his free hand came up, this time the chaos he wielded taking the form of viciously shaped icicles. Even the vampire’s speed was not enough to dodge this time, and a moment later there was a yet another impact as he was impaled all the way on the far wall, striking with enough force the ice spikes drove several inches deep into the stone. That done, Discord actually did pause, turning his eye to glare across the room and assess it.

The battle was done, that was clear. Midnight, while amazingly not dead, wasn’t going anywhere, the silent vampire was… well. And the female was twitching on the floor and looking so charred he imagined that was just excess electricity playing with dead nerves. Her glassy eyes pretty much confirmed it. Taking a moment to self check that his first assessment of minimal damage was correct, he nodded to himself. That was… five seconds, maybe ten? Long, for a vampire fight, but then there were three of them. Also Midnight catching him off guard with that clever trick of attacking through his subordinate. That there was a perfect example of why he hated fighting older vampires. They fought smart, and if it weren’t for Chaos he would be very, very dead. As usual.

“Right then,” Discord said almost to himself, walking across the room to where Fallen Midnight was already trying to claw his way free of the icicles. Driving his sword into the monster’s shoulder put a stop to that, and Discord smiled as he looked coldly into the wide, terrified eyes of his enemy. “Here’s how this is going to go. Are you listening?”

“Yes, yes!” The vampire cried, making him smile even wider. Ah, it was always amusing to see the looks on their faces when they realized just how foolishly cocky they had been.

“Good,”he said, before twisting the sword just a little to make sure. “You’re going to go back to Sombra. Tell the evil bloodsucker I say hi and everything that happened here. Then, you’re going to give him this message: ‘Never Again.’ Understood?” Midnight nodded frantically, hands scrabbling uselessly at the sword in his shoulder. Discord watched him for a moment, looking for any sign of budding courage, before finally nodding and relenting. With a single smooth motion he pulled the sword out, swinging it lightly to shake off the blood, and Midnight wasted no time in fleeing, darting up the stairs to the rest of the house and away. Discord spared a moment to glare after him, before finally sighing and shaking his head quietly. It wouldn’t be enough, he knew. Sombra would never give up on reclaiming the Seer and her power, but there had been enough bloodshed this day, even for monsters. Besides, Discord was more concerned with securing the two girls who had been victim to this attack, and if the message enraged Sombra enough to slow him down some, all the better. Turning away, he moved over to Rarity, carefully picking her up so he could carry her upstairs. The corpses, he would take care of later.

Gods, but Discord hated vampires. They really should learn to clean up after themselves.

Author's Note

Well... that was a thing. Sorry for the wait, again, I've had a bit of a crazy few weeks. Anyways, hope you liked it, and don't forget to comment!