Twilight yawned as she rested her head in her arms, staring at the chalkboard ahead while listening in on her friends’ bickering as they took their seats. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, giving them the opportunity to fool around as they usually did. The desk next to her was owned by one Sour Sweet. Her skin was a freckle lined creamy yellow, her eyes a dark purple, pink hair with a single line of green dye done in a ponytail. She wore the school’s uniform which consisted of a reddish-purple vest over a light blue blouse topped with a purple bow tie, tartan skirt, purple socks that went up to her knees, and black low heeled shoes.
“Heroes should be renamed vigilantes, ‘cause that’s what they are!” Sour Sweet, was in the middle of ranting her opinion in her friends’ ears. She suddenly changed her tone to her sickeningly sweet tone, much to Twilight’s silent thanks. “They take the law into their own hands when it ain’t there business.”
Sour Sweet was a bit of a pain to deal with, even though Twilight considered her a friend. She mostly spent time with her in a group, where her presence wouldn’t be as irritating as one on one time. While not entirely sure, Twilight guessed that she was bipolar, as she often acted one way before switching her attitude with the drop of a hat. Twilight didn’t hate her, but she wasn’t as close to her as her other friends seemed to be.
“Come on Sour, there’s a reason why they are called heroes… They don’t just fight criminals, but they save lives as well!” Lemon Zest, the music enthusiast of the group countered, making a fist before motioning her hand upwards as she grinned excitedly. “Plus you have to admit they are pretty cool!”
She was definitely the easiest to get along with, even if she wasn’t the brightest in Twilight’s opinion. Her dark pink skin, lemony yellow eyes and explosively spiky green hair that went down to her thighs gave off the vibe she most certainly wanted. A wild child. On top of that, her uniform was slightly different from Sour Sweet’s above the waist, as instead of a vest, she wore the standard blazer with its sleeves rolled up to just above her elbows.
“Oh, you’re right!” Sour Sweet began, venom leaking through her innocent facade. “They’re not just doing it to look good for the cameras, they want to help people in need… as if. They market themselves out with toys, merchandise and I can’t even escape their brand deals because they already have one with every company on the planet!”
“Hey! Would you two stop bickering already?! Who cares about them, they aren’t affecting us, so Sour Sweet, quit exaggerating and start focusing more on your academics instead!” Twilight was surprised at Sugarcoat’s outburst. She was usually the stoic type who took a backseat and tried mediating what others said or did, but usually in a monotone way that seemed harsh. She was also the exact opposite of Lemon Zest, with steel blue skin, pure white hair done up in pigtails and a and vibrant purple eyes that were blocked by a pair of thin, orange framed glasses. Her uniform, like Lemon Zest, was made up of a blazer instead of a vest, which wasn’t rolled up whatsoever. Instead of kneesocks, Sugarcoat wore ankle length ones, opting instead to cover her legs with tights that left only a couple inches of skin showing.
She seemed to have cut the fight short just in time, as their history teacher seemingly decided to walk into the room at that exact moment.
“Good morning class, how is everyone doing today?” Ms. Fahrenheit greeted the class. She wore a faded with use black overcoat, white button up, black pencil skirt with matching shoes and stockings. She had pink shoulder length hair and blue eyes. She took a seat at the corner of her desk and opened a drawer and pulled out a textbook. “Alright class, I see everyone is in attendance... good. I’d like you all to hand in your assignments before we continue- and no, Indigo, I know your tortoise didn’t eat your homework again.”
“Damn it…” A girl with spiky blue hair muttered, though she didn’t sound perturbed. The entire class offered their papers as their teacher walked by them, greeting each student with a pleasant smile. She eventually came to a stop next to Twilight’s, giving her an especially playful grin.
“I hope you didn’t have to correct me again, Ms. Sparkle.” The teacher jokingly praised, causing Twilight to flush in embarrassment.
“S-sorry.” The teen murmured shyly, only for her teacher to laugh.
“Nonsense! I shouldn’t have messed up that much.” The older woman gave her a playful pat on her shoulder, which caused Twilight to swell with pride.
Class went on as usual with barely any interruption, with everyone learning about the hundred year war that concluded with, of all things, a replica of a rifle from that time period. Ms. Fahrenheit always had a tendency to find cool historic things to show her students to hook their interest.
When the bell rang, Ms. Fahrenheit addressed her students. “Alright, class dismissed. Oh, don’t forget that next week we’ll be heading to Accordance National Scientific Research Center. This’ll be your last chance to sign up, and lunch will be provided.”
While her classmates began standing up, Twilight began simultaneously reorganizing her binder, and packing her backpack when Sour Sweet approached her.
“Hey, uh… you wanna hang out later, or- er… something?” She asked in as shy a manner as Twilight had ever seen from her.
“Sorry, but I promised my brother I’d spend the evening with him at the mall.” She apologized without even looking in Sour’s direction.
“Then… how about tomorrow? Sunny’s taking the girls shopping-” Twilight’s sigh cut her off.
“Taking Spike to the vet that day. How about next week?”
“Alright, I suppose we’ll just have fun without you then…” Twilight paid no heed to the venom in Sour’s voice. She was used to it- in fact, they all were most of the time. It was just how Sour was.
When everything was nice and snug inside her backpack, Twilight made her way to the door. She didn’t need to sign up for the field trip since she had done it when it was first announced a few weeks back. And since history was the last class of the day, she was free to leave Crystal Prep.
When she got to the front of the school, she retraced her steps from that morning until she reached a blue pickup truck where a young man wearing a purple vest on top of a white shirt stood leaned up against the driver side door.
“Hey Twily, how was your day at school?” He asked, smirking fondly at Twilight, who in turn rolled her eyes.
“It was alright. I still can’t bring myself to tell Ms. Fahrenheit that I’ve already learned this year’s curricular- Shining!” Twilight was interrupted as her brother trapped her head in an armlock and proceeded to noogey her hair into oblivion.
“My sister learned how to be sensitive! Have penguins figured out how to fly?” He chuckled as he watched the shorter girl squirm in his grasp. After a few seconds, he let her wiggle free, and ruffled her hair one last time. “Next, you’ll be telling me you don’t like books anymore.”
“As if that’ll ever happen!” Twilight snorted and rolled her eyes as she straightened her hair back out. “I didn’t want her to trouble herself with making an entire curriculum just for me!”
“Humble as ever, I see. Well, we don’t have all day! I did promise I’d hang out with you today, didn’t I?” Shining gave his sister a playful wink as he began leading Twilight to his vehicle.
“That you did! You didn’t have to cancel anything with Cadence, did you?” Twilight gave her brother a knowing look. “I’d hate to be interrupting your ‘together time’…”
That made Shining grin diabolically, “I thought that information was TMI, Twily. If you must know, Cadence and I have been really-”
“Nononononono! TMI! TMI!” Twilight attempted to stop her brother from finishing the sentence, flailing her arms in protest as she lightly pushed him.
“... Steady. Wow, Twily, who knew you think like that! You’re almost as bad as Cadence~” Shining teased. They reached his crimson pickup truck, and the elder sibling got in the driver’s side.
“Jeez! I don’t think like that at all!” Twilight pouted as she got on the passenger side, punching Shining in the arm, though not hard enough to actually hurt him. “I just know Cadence is like that!”
“Cadence isn’t all that, she just likes to see you squirm.” Shining shot back while simultaneously starting the truck. “You are pretty adorable when you’re grossed out by your brother and his girlfriend.”
“A-as if!” Twilight huffed, crossing her arms and turning away from him. “I’m not adorable! And I definitely am not grossed out by what you do with Cadence! Honestly, what kind of opinion do you have of me?”
“A lovable sister who doesn’t know what to do with her former babysitter and her older brother going out.” Shining replied casually as he began driving out of the parking lot. “But to answer if I’m ditching my girlfriend to be with you, no, I planned this out with Cadence ahead of time. Besides, she needs to fill in detention for Principal Cinch. That woman gets too worked up with the sports events.”
“Well I’m glad you planned it out.” Twilight smirked evilly, poking his shoulder with a finger.. “Learned your lesson from last time, did we~?”
Shining, despite his already snowy white face, paled at that. “Yeah, I learned to never ditch Cadence, even by mistake.” His voice was slightly shaky saying that, but it evened out near the tail end.
Twilight giggled and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. “It’s as they say, Bro! ‘Hell hath no fury greater than a woman scorned~!”
“Truer words hath never been spokethed.” Shining chuckled good naturedly.
“Spoken, not spokethed.” Twilight corrected him automatically. “Does someone need another language lesson~?” Her lips curled into a threatening smile as she clapped her hands together.
“Wow, what a mood killer you are.” Shining rolled his eyes. “So, how have the girls been treating you?’
“Oh, they’ve been very nice! Ms. Fahrenheit has been helping out whenever they get a bit too… rowdy for me, but I think we’ll be the best of friends!” Twilight beamed excitedly, as if she had just been gifted an entire library.
“That’s a far cry from before. Glad you’re opening up to them- at your own pace, of course.” Shining said, clearly happy for her. “Oh, by the way, did you hear that Mrs. Shade caught Neon Lights graffeting on school property?”
“I didn’t!” Twilight looked at him in surprise. “What was he trying to make?”
“I saw it before he had to clean it up. It was a pretty good looking mural of that superhero group. Judgement was it?” All while he talked, he continued to drive, focusing mostly on the road despite being invested in their conversation. Though Twilight could tell that he was trying to save face by feigning ignorance.
“Mandate.” Twilight corrected, her smile fading a bit. “Neon should have known better, honestly. Even if he wasn’t caught, it was obvious it’d be washed off, so he would have done all that work for nothing!”
“I think he thinks it’s more about rebelling than actually making the graffiti last. Or he’s just practicing.” Shining shrugged. They continued talking until they pulled into the parking lot of the mall. Shining was the first to unbuckle his seatbelt and hop out of the truck, though even being a head taller than his sister, even he found his truck was a tad high off the ground. Twilight dropped down and closed the door, before going around the front of the truck to reunite with her brother.
“So are you planning on buying anything, or is this all just for me~?” Twilight asked, elbowing him playfully.
“Well… I was going to ask you about something involving that.” Twilight noticed that her older sibling was blushing. As well as fidgeting. A lot.
She put it all together rather quickly, and a knowing smile split her lips as she took on a rather arrogant pose, raising her hand up to her mouth. “Oh my, could it be my older brother wants his younger sister to help him buy a gift for Cadence~? I would have thought he’d know what she would want~!” She gave a mock evil laugh, and twirled around, putting her back to him. “I suppose I’d be willing to assist… for a price, of course~.”
“Oh ha ha. It’s actually something else.” Shining placed his hand against the back of his head, “You know Cadence and I have been going out for a long time, right?” Twilight noticed her brother’s cracking voice.
“Well, yeah…” Twilight nodded, slightly upset he wasn’t going along with her teasing, but her brain was already trying to put the pieces together. “Wait… no way!” She flipped around to face him again, her eyes wide in shock. “You aren’t gonna propose, are you?!”
“W-well not if you say it like that!” He hunched over, shoving his hands in his pockets as he began walking towards the mall. “I mean… is it too soon? Are we too young? Is she waiting for me to move, or is she not even thinking about that yet!? It’s too much for one guy to think about!”
“Oh don’t worry so much about it!” Twilight dragged him into a hug as she laughed. “I mean, this is Cadence we’re talking about! She’s a hopeless romantic, so she’s probably just waiting for her big strong man to make the offer! And besides, Mom and Dad married while they were only nineteen, so you definitely aren’t too young!” She smiled excitedly. “Sometimes you shouldn’t overthink things. That’s something I learned when making my new friends, and I absolutely support you!”
Twilight could see the tension leave Shining, “Okay, fine. But you do realize that’s ironic, right? The Princess of overthinking telling me not to overthink things?”
“I do not overthink things!” Twilight huffed, dropping the hug to pout at him. “I just think things through very methodically!” She scrunched up her nose and glared at him.
“Sure.” The older of the two opened the mall double doors, gesturing for his sister to enter. “Still, I didn’t just ask you for your reassurance. I want today to be fun.”
“Well good! I’d be angry with you if you didn’t even think of your sister for this!” Twilight walked past him, patting his shoulder. The two of them instinctively went to the Stables and Fables book store. It was just natural, not a word needed to be spoken. Twilight spent at least half an hour perusing the bookshelves, before picking out three she had deemed interesting and went to where her brother normally waited, near the entrance and leaning against one of the bookshelves.
“So, are you paying~?” Twilight asked, half joking as she walked up to him.
“Yeees, I’m paying.” He sighed dejectedly.
“Thanks, Bro! You’re the best!” Twilight gave him a pat on the back as she took his hand and practically dragged him to the counter to purchase her books. After paying, the two went to the food court to buy pretzels.
“At this rate, I won’t have enough to get Cadence’s ring.” Shining feigned upset, probing his sister for a reaction.
“Well, since you paid for my stuff, I suppose I can help with paying for your ring…” Twilight rolled her eyes. “But it had better be a good ring!” On their way out, a girl wearing a black hoodie with a baseball cap underneath the drawn hood, along with a backpack shoved past her and headed into the mall.
“Watch it!” She snapped, turning to glare daggers at Twilight. Her skin was redder than Shining’s truck but marred with freckles, and her hair was a dirty silver.
“Well that was rude.” Shining muttered, watching the girl rush deeper into the mall. “Hope we don’t see her again, am I right?”
“Yeah, she was less than pleasant…” Twilight nodded, glancing back to where the girl had gone. “So, where to?”
“Hmm. I know I wasn’t going to make this about Cadence, but do you think we could look for a ring?” Shining asked, “Or at least browse.”
“Of course we can! Lead on, big brother! Love awaits thee!” She gave him a hard smack to his back while pointing forward, giggling to herself.
“Stop mixing in Snakespear, Twily…” Shining moaned, letting his sister practically drag him to the jewelry store.
“Never!” Twilight laughed loudly, though it earned a few quick looks from passersby’s. They enter a seemingly busy jewelry store and begin to browse their wares. Both siblings squinted at how many seemed to be weighed down by dozens upon dozens of gemstones. Twilight could feel her brother’s discomfort.
“These probably aren’t ones Cadence would like. Maybe we should look for a more simple ring?” Twilight suggested, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Maybe we could get it custom made?” Shining suggested. “It’d make it a lot more personalized.”
“That might work, but wouldn’t it cost a ton more?” Twilight asked, thinking more about their budget than the meaning of it.
“Oh, what was it you said? ‘Cadence is a hopeless romantic’? This’d have much more meaning then buying something someone else could easily buy ten of.”
“You’re right… but you’ll owe me!” Twilight relented, realizing she probably wouldn’t be able to dissuade him.
“Oh? Are you gonna be buying it~?” Shining teased, grinning from ear to ear.
“I’ll pay for half of it.” Twilight huffed, crossing her arms. “Cadence wouldn’t like that her sister in law is the one who bought her wedding ring, after all.”
“Twily, I’m not letting you pay one cent. I have enough… I hope.” Shining went to the cashier, but Twilight dared not interrupt him.
It took about twenty minutes, and Shining Armor talked to more than the cashier. But she wasn’t quite paying attention. When he was done, he returned to her side.
“So, will you be able to pay for it?” Twilight asked, smiling.
“Yeah, and I did, thank you very much. It’ll take them less than a month to finish the specifications. I hope I don’t lose my nerve by then.”
Twilight responded by giving him a rather hard slap on the back. “Well I’ll be there to make sure you don’t! I’ll make sure my brother marries the girl of his dreams!” She said, giving him an honest smile.
He playfully rubbed where she hit him, “Ow… thanks, though. What would I do without you?”
She gave him another smile. “You’d probably still be stuck in your nerd cave with all your superhero comics and action figures, if I’m being honest.” The siblings both flinched when they heard the discharge of a gun echo throughout the mall.
“Everyone down on the fucking ground!” Someone wearing a bright yellow hoodie, black jeans. Their face was covered with a gas mask shouted, holding a glock above their head. Two others wearing similar outfits, but with different colors. Shining immediately grabbed a hold of Twilight and pulled her to the ground. “Good evening everyone! We’re here for the discount, y’know, ‘bring a gun and get whatever you want for free’ deal! We just couldn’t pass it up, you all understand!” Yellow said as the other two, one wearing a navy blue hoodie while the other wore black began smashing glass cases and scooping the contents and as well as the shattered glass into duffle bags, which each one has close to their chest. Yellow walked over to the cashier, shoving her pistol into his face.
“Get the best from the back, and fast. For every fifteen seconds you don’t get me something, I’ll kill someone in the store. Starting… now.” Yellow threatened, making the man yelp and rush to the employee’s only section.
“G, what the hell are you doing?” Black hissed through their mask. “That wasn’t part of the plan! We need to hurry before cops- or worse, heroes show up-!” Black flinched when Blue smashed another case, ignoring the spat.
“Relax, damn it. If we wanna make a profit, we gotta take risks, Z.” Yellow replied casually. Meanwhile, Shining was rubbing Twilight’s back as she was beginning to hyperventilate.
“Twily, the moment they’re distracted, run. I’ll be right behind you.” He assured in a whisper. “We’re going to make out of this, I promise.”
“B-b-but they have g-guns!” Twilight whispered, looking at her brother with wide, terrified eyes. “W-we can’t outrun b-bullets if they decide to shoot us!”
“Do you trust me?” The cashier returned with a handful of jewelry.
“I…” She gulped, before nodding. “Y-yeah… I do.”
“Stop right there, criminals!” An obnoxiously loud, chipper voice yelled from the entrance. The robbers turned to see a young girl standing between the doors, a large hammer twice as big as her held by her side. She was wearing a white blouse with a heart symbol stitched in and exposing a bit of her chest, and pink fingerless gloves and a pink skirt. She had orange hair, and her azure eyes looked confidently at the robbers. “Please surrender immediately, or I will use force! I am the rising star, Thunder Girl, and you are all under arrest!” She grinned, grabbing her hammer and gripping its handle tightly.
“Shit! Light her up!” Yellow shouted and aimed her gun at the new arrival, opening fire with clear intent to kill. The others did the same, with Blue using a revolver and Black brandishing an uzi of all things. Thunder Girl leapt out of the way of the barrage, jumping back and forth as she made for Blue. Blue struck out once she got close enough, attempting to pistol whip the hero and only getting air, before getting smashed in the side by her hammer.
“You tried to rob this place with those? Hah!” Thunder Girl swung her hammer upwards as Blue went flying through the glass stands and crumpling to the floor, having received several broken ribs. The hammer’s head folded backwards along its pole, before revealing that it had transformed into a Grenade launcher. “You gotta at least bring one of these if you wanna mess with heroes!”
Black jumped over the counter, her submachine gun’s spread actually nicking the hero by chance despite terrible aim. But the bullets just bounced off harmlessly. “What the hell are you made out of!?”
“Mostly awesome, with a dash of comedy and sexy!” The hero remarked with a playful wink.
While Thunder Girl and Black were preoccupied, Shining took that as an advantage to grab Yellow in a headlock. “Run!” Shining barked to his sister, who jumped at his voice, and did as he said, rushing to her feet and running towards the doorway.
Everyone heard another gunshot, and Twilight turned around. Yellow’s pistol had discharged, causing Thunder Girl to whirled around at the sound of the gunshot, and instinctively fired a grenade from her launcher, the pink explosive flying right towards Yellow and Shining. It hit Yellow right in the face, knocking their head backwards in an inhuman way before it exploded right in Shining and the burglar’s face. The explosion was close enough that it knocked Twilight backwards with the shockwave alone.
When she looked back, she sorely wished she hadn’t. Both Yellow and Shining had been utterly obliterated from the waist up, bits of them having been flung all across the store as their legs slumped down, blood pumping out like a fountain and pooling around the legs.
“Whoops! Didn’t mean to kill your friend, I was trying to bring you guys in!” Thunder Girl said, looking back at Black as she twirled her hammer, seemingly unfazed by the destruction she had caused. “Will you just surrender already? I would rather not have to report another casualty.”
Black stood still for a moment, before booking it to where the cashier had gone when their now maimed friend, leaving their duffle bag as well as their gun.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?!” Thunder Girl called, rushing after her. “Hey, someone keep the wounded one down for security!” She called back to the store as she chased after Black.
Twilight hadn’t moved or made a sound since seeing what was left of her brother. Her eyes were wide, her mouth hung open in shock and horror as she stared at the spreading pool of mixed blood. Her breathing began to speed up, her body shaking in terror at the reality staring her in the face. She was hyperventilating, but couldn’t tear her eyes from the pair of legs that used to be her brother. She let out an ear-piercing scream of despair, before collapsing.
Overlooking the vast cityscape of Maretropolis from the top of one of the many skyscrapers, a pink haired woman scanned the city with aqua blue eyes as it was beginning it’s transition to night, welcoming out the nocturnal residences of the populace.
Her outfit consisted of a thick brown sleeveless undershirt with a zipper, a white and brown sleeveless coat with multiple pouches topped off with a long collar. Both hands had fingerless gloves, though her left arm was adorned with a green pauldron lined with two glowing yellow stripes and a black skin tight sleeve. From her waist down, she wore a brown short skirt, a large crimson pouch on her left leg, a belt keeping her sword’s sheath to her rear and a pair of metal tipped boots that nearly reached her knees.
The woman was not alone, however. Behind her stood a blank faced teen girl with brunette hair cut just below her ears, unnatural hazel eyes that bore vacantly into the back of the woman’s head. She wore a short sleeved white dress shirt with a beige vest labeled with a yellow cross surrounded by a red shield in front of her heart. A plain looking grey skirt, white socks and brown shoes. If it weren’t for the night vision goggles strapped to her head, she’d look ordinary. In her hand, she held a phone that faced the pink haired woman, set to speaker so she’d hear despite being a foot away from the communications device.
The caller spoke, sounding distinctly masculine. “I hear you’ve been busy since you moved. What’s Maretropolis like, my Paragon?” He spoke as if he were speaking as a priest to a devoted follower.
The woman stared quietly at the bustling street below. The drop would kill her before the concrete did at the height she was. Which was exactly why she tossed her feet over the edge and let them dangle. “Things have been moving according to plan, though I feel an opportunity has presented itself to us, so we’ll most likely need to accelerate our plans.”
“Your confidence in yourself is most admirable, Lightning. But be wary, for you tread in the belly of the beast, and if you give it an ounce of room it will not give you an out. Do not let your hubris be your downfall.” The caller warned, and the woman soaked his words in. “You may proceed however you wish, but do not be mistaken. My followers are limited there at the moment, so you’ll need to gain ground on your own with the common rabble. I will contact you again in a week's time with an adjusted plan for the acceleration. May I inquire why you’ve deemed it necessary, my child?”
Lightning stared down at the unaware citizens as they left for the day, having done their job and most likely going home to their offtime. It was hard to see them all, and they looked like ants scurrying out of a pummeled anthill. “Something happened today…” The woman grinned excitedly. “Something wonderful has happened~”
.2 Those Days That Followed...
“So, Shining, has Cadence been giving you any trouble today?” Twilight asked as she bit into her hamburger, munching happily before placing it back onto the lunch table. She and her brother were sat in the middle of the loud school cafeteria. Twilight’s usual group of friends were chatting around them, Sour Sweet angrily arguing about her favorite music with Lemon Zest while her other friends talked about the upcoming Friendship Games.
“Yeah, it was a mess...” Shining gave a deep sigh, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. “That was probably my fault though.”
“Well that’s a shame… what all happened?” His sister asked, taking a drink from her chocolate milk.
Shining’s face morphed into a cheeky grin, “I proposed~!”
Twilight blinked. Then again, though this time a wide grin formed on her face. “Really?! You did?!” Her smile turned into a frown. “This isn’t a prank, right?”
“Nope! And she even said yes!” Shining gleefully added, his smile stretching across his face more and more.
“I’m so proud of you, bro!” Twilight’s grin returned. “So Cadence is gonna be my sister-in-law, huh? That’s gonna be exciting!”
“Not if I have anything to say about it~!” A dark voice giggles from behind Twilight. She swung around, ready to give whoever had said something so rude a piece of her mind, when she heard a chilling ‘thwump’ echo through the suddenly dead silent cafeteria. Twilight found herself face to face with a blood-drenched Thunder Girl, her grenade launcher in hand as her pearly whites flashed through the blood coating her. Twilight noticed that she was now surrounded by burning rubble, the cafeteria all but disappearing.
“After all, I can’t let there be any leftover problems~!” Thunder Girl giggled as she kicked something over to Twilight, and the purple-skinned girl nearly threw up. It was the bottom half of her brother, blood pooling out around her as the heroine leaned over Twilight. “Don’t worry, you’ll meet him soon~! After all, you’re next~!” She laughed darkly, the noise flooding Twilight’s ears, and she found herself facing the barrel of her grenade launcher.
“Gaaaaaah!” Twilight screamed from her bed, limbs flailing everywhere as she struggled to get free from the bedsheets. As she failed, her arm met with something warm and fuzzy, and there was a small yelp as something flew off the bed. “A-ah… S-Spike...?” Twilight groaned, slowly coming to her senses as she sat up in bed.
The purple and green dog leapt back onto Twilight’s bed, unphased by his owner’s lashing out and quickly burying himself into the crook of her neck.
“O-oh, Spike!” Twilight lightly complained, petting her dog and giggling a little at his antics. “Sorry about that, Spike, I had a bit of a nightmare.” The puppy just wagged his tail and pressed himself against her hand. She gave him a small smile, and rubbed his head a little more for good measure, before picking Spike up and getting out of bed, setting him down on the floor.
“Come on, little guy, I need to get ready for…” She trailed off, her smile fading as she thought about today. “School…” She finished her sentence, before ruffling through her drawers for her school clothes. It had been three days since the… ‘accident’, and she didn’t know if she was ready for all the questions, or the false sympathy she would inevitably be bombarded with. She quickly got out of her dark blue pajamas, grabbing her plaque skirt and the rest of her school uniform and quickly got dressed while Spike hopped around her.
Once she got all the daily necessities completed, she went downstairs and towards the dining room where she was hit by the smell of pancakes from the kitchen. She turned towards the kitchen and began walking towards it.
“Mornin’ dad.” Twilight said, looking up at him. “Pancakes for breakfast, eh?”
Her father, a fairly muscular man wearing his navy blue pants and white button up shirt he always has on when working security at night. “Yeah, I thought I’d change things up. Cereal was getting pretty old.”
“Thanks, dad.” Twilight gave him a small smile and pat on the shoulder before heading to the dining room. “How much longer till they’re ready?”
“Shouldn’t take too long.” Her father grew quiet not long afterwards, preferring to make their food in relative silence.
Twilight waited for her father to finish by feeding Spike while stealing glances at her father. His blue skin seemed to have become paler, and his hair was unkempt, which was new to Twilight. He was usually a very neat person, always looking presentable. Now, he looked far older than he usually did. She caught a glimpse of his yellow eyes, and noticed with concern that he seemed to be lost in whatever he was looking at.
He finally finished cooking breakfast, and scraped the pancakes onto three plates and carried each out to the dining room, one in each hand, and once under his chin.
“Thanks for the food, dad.” Twilight gave him a smile, trying to keep her worry from showing on her face as he set the plate down in front of her. “Should I go get mom?”
“No, she’s been… really tired, I’d hate to bother her.” Twilight noticed her father’s somber tone and decided it best not to press the matter. And remembering her mother’s reaction upon hearing of Shining’s… demise, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to see her anytime soon.
The two ate in relative silence after that. Twilight would’ve called it awkward, but found that her father’s presence was calming on her nerves. After finishing her plate before her father, she sat up, deciding not to delay the inevitable.
“I’ll uh… be heading to the bus stop, then.” She said, trying to give her dad a smile. It felt like a weak attempt at most.
“Stay safe.” He said with earnesty, giving her a weak wave.
“I’ll... try my best.” Twilight nodded, before grabbing her backpack as she passed through the hallway. She had already prepared everything she had needed for school the night before, so all she needed to do was put her shoes on and walk out the door. She hesitated as her hand reached towards the doorknob, and quickly spun around. “Love ya, Dad.” She called out.
“Love you too, sweetheart!” He called out before she closed the door and was on her way towards the bus stop. It took her about three minutes of walking before she arrived, the bus visible from about a mile down the street. Once it arrived, she quickly got on, managing to get to the front of the small group of her fellow students, who had been giving her a wide berth while they had waited.
It seemed that word had definitely spread.
She spotted her usual sitting partner in the back, who was absentmindedly staring at her phone. Her skin was a paler shade of purple than Twilight’s, peach rimmed glasses to help her purple eyes, and white hair done up in a hybrid of a ponytail and pigtails that made Twilight happy her hairdo wasn’t the worst in her circle of friends.
“Hey, Sugarcoat… how have you been?” Twilight asked as she sat down next to her, the bus quickly filling with the other students before departing.
“Better than you, I bet.” The blunt teen replied dryly, finally looking away from her phone. “My condolences, by the way. Let us know if you need anything.”
Twilight had expected an answer like that, but it still made her flinch. “Yeah… yeah, I’ll let you know.” She sighed and leaned into the seat after putting her backpack on the floor between her legs. “So, um… what have you and the girls been up to while I was… away?”
“Mostly practicing for the Friendship Games. Indigo’s teaching me how to ride on a dirt bike- it’s hard, for your information. I have no idea how she can find it so entertaining. Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have been working out- though Lemon got detention for putting all of Flare’s school stuff in jello… again. And Sour’s been at the range practicing her triple arrow shot trick. I still think that it’s impossible.”
“Oh, yeah, the Friendship Games…” Twilight gave out a dry laugh. “I should probably have been preparing for that too… I can probably still study just about everything I need to by the time that comes around…” She turned to Sugarcoat. “Sour’s trick might be possible, if unlikely. You’d need to be one of those… heroes, for that kind of accuracy.” She frowned, and looked away.
“Well, feel free to skip out. Pretty sure Cinch won’t bug you about joining after Dean Cadenza mouthed her off for the whole student body.” Sugarcoat nonchalantly remarked, “But I guess that’s up to you or whatever.”
“Wait… Cadence- I mean, Dean Cadenza, did what?” Twilight asked, her eyes widening as she took in this information, and she looked back at Sugarcoat incredulously.
“Principal Cinch started complaining about you taking too long to come back to school and expressed how she was worried about the games if you weren’t there. Dean Cadenza then smacked the Principal and shouted quite a few choice swear words like ‘cunt’, ‘bitch’, ‘slut’, ‘whore’, ‘loveless hag’-”
“W-wait, wait, please stop! I get the picture!” Twilight freaked out, completely shocked by what Cadence had done for her. “I’ll… I’ll have to thank her, later though...”
“It was kinda funny though, I’ve never seen Principal Cinch so red.” A small smirk danced across Sugarcoat’s lips, and Twilight was starting to become nervous. The two talked for the rest of the trip, though Twilight only became more nervous by the time that the bus pulled up to the school.
Most of the day was going fairly well, and nobody had really spoken to her for the majority of the day. That was until lunch came around, and every one of her friends had quickly joined her side.
“Hey, Twilight!” Lemon practically yelled as she jumped the purple haired girl and pulled her into a hug. “How’s it been? You missed a whole lot, ya know!”
“Y-yeah, Sugarcoat told me all about what I missed…” Twilight tried to push her friend off of her.
“Whaaaat? Man, come on, Sugar! I wanted to fill her in on all the details!” The neon green and yellow haired girl whined as she detached from Twilight. “That’s so uncool!”
Sugarcoat just gave a lazy shrug as she began heading towards the food court’s line.
“Well, she’s got the right idea. I’d hate to not get pudding because everyone else grabbed them.” Sunny Flare, another of Twilight’s friends said as she examined her purple nails. She was their more trendy friend, with magenta eyes, cyan skin and purple hair that was shorter in the back and longer at the front and a sharp looking golden hair clip.
“What are you, five!?” Indigo shouted indignantly, her face contorting in disgust.
“Oh of course, we should absolutely let the others grab the only good thing about lunch before we can get to them.” Sour grumbled, before she visibly brightened as she went to follow Sugarcoat. “Great plan though, Indigo! I’m sure you’ll enjoy the food once everyone’s picked it clean!”
“W-well, I suppose pudding would be nice…” Twilight gave a small smile, quickly falling in line with the others.
“Come on, let’s go.” Sugarcoat rolled her eyes as she and the others inserted themselves into the line. “So Twilight, what exactly happened?” The blunt girl asked, only for Sour Sweet to elbow her in the gut.
“Oh, um…” Twilight’s somewhat happy demeanor completely shattered as she stared down at her tray, apparently trying to analyze every dimension of the metal plate.
“You guys already know what happened from the news! A villain murdered her brother with a shotgun point blank, then got away! I hope Mandate catches the fucker that did it!” Indigo ranted loudly, and was promptly elbowed hard enough for her to crumple to her knees.
“W… what?” Twilight looked up, confusion written plainly on her face as she turned to look at Indigo. “N-no! That’s… that’s not at all what happened! He… th-that hero…” Her eyes widened and she held a hand to her mouth as she recalled the vivid memory of her only brother being torn to pieces. “I… I think I’m gonna skip lunch…” She muttered after a few shaky breaths.
“Hey, Twi, are you alright?” Lemon asked, grabbing her shoulder as Twilight turned to leave. “I know it’s a… sensitive topic, but what do you mean that’s not what happened? They got all this from that interview with ya!”
“I…” Twilight gave an even more confused look. “I never had any interviews… who told you that?”
“It was on the news… but the ‘interview’ had no audio or video for ‘privacy reasons’.” Sugarcoat added, narrowing her eyes. “Girls, I think we should all skip lunch. I believe we have some things to discuss.” They all looked at Twilight expectantly, not budging an inch. Even Sour Sweet and Lemon Zest.
“I… alright.” Twilight nodded after a moment of contemplation. “Just… give me a couple moments to compose myself, okay?”
“Okay. We’ll meet you in the girl’s locker room when you’re composed.” Sunny Flare said.
Indigo added, “But hurry up, Coach will roast us if he catches us in there!”
“Right… I’ll meet you there.” Twilight nodded, taking a deep breath before walking towards the one place in school she could more easily calm down in.
After walking through the halls for a few minutes, Twilight turned to an unused room. She opened the door and ducked inside, sighing in relief to see that her room hadn’t been disturbed since the last time she had used it.
There were about three tables and a few blackboards, within the room, which was several square meters smaller than the average classroom. Strewn across the tables were dozens of blueprints, lab sets, and experiments in various stages of creation. The wall to her immediate left was almost completely occupied by a large bookshelf, with only a small portion of Twilight’s book collection, while the wall in front of her held her computer setup, which took up about half the space as the bookshelf. Next to it, however, was a large blackboard covered in writing and sticky notes, with red strings pinned to each one connecting the notes together.
A fine layer of dust had settled across the room, and Twilight frowned. She’d likely have to clean in there once all this business with her friends was sorted. She groaned at the idea, sitting down in her computer chair and leaned forward, holding her head in her hands. “What the hell is going on…” She muttered, talking to herself. “A shotgun? The robbers did it? Why would they lie about that? There wasn’t even a shotgun!” She continued talking to herself, tossing ideas as to what was going on and why, before eventually just sitting there in contemplative silence.
“... What the actual shit!?” Indigo Zap was the first to react to Shining’s demise. “There’s no way a hero would do that…”
“The news was probably paid off by the company that owns Mandate…” Sugarcoat estimated with a thoughtful expression. “They must’ve made a deal with your parents to keep them quiet if they added you as a ‘witness’.”
“But why would they do that?!” Sour asked, for once not in a mocking or overjoyed tone. “Twilight’s parents wouldn’t have done that, would they have?”
“Extortion is a pretty good motivator. But this is just speculation.” Sugarcoat replied cynically.
“So what are you gonna do, Twi?” Lemon asked, looking at the purple-skinned girl in worry. “Letting them get away with this would be wrong, but… we’d be up against Mandate!”
“I… I don’t know.” Twilight muttered, holding her legs in her arms. “This is all just so screwed up…”
The girls all seemed to grow quiet, and a heavy atmosphere began to settle. That is, until Indigo leapt onto a bench and slammed her fist into her palm. “I tell you what we do! We make their lives a living clusterfuck!” She shouted. “They own several small merchandise stores all over the city! Mandate’s big, but if we’re quick we can get in and out and break as much of their merch as we can! It’s petty as shit, but the most we’d get is juvy for a month or so if we’re caught!”
The others stared in utter bewilderment at their superhero fanatic of a friend.
“A-are you sure? I-I mean, I thought you liked the heroes?” Twilight asked, looking up at her in concern.
“Not when they screw with my friends! If I could get my hands on the bitch that did that, I’d-!”
“End up in the hospital or end up like Shini- er, sorry, force of habit…” Sugarcoat blushed after cutting herself off, after she cut Indigo herself off.
“I totally agree with Indigo!” Lemon Zest nodded eagerly, looking around the group. “Sure, it won’t accomplish much, but maybe it’ll at least let Twi feel a bit better!”
“Oh yes, such a brilliant idea!” Sour deadpanned, before clapping her hands together and smiling. “But, um… what would we do if a hero showed up?” She asked in a much sweeter tone.
That seemed to stunt the girls’ rivalry, before Indigo brightened. “My dad has a couple guns we could use as self defense, and I could drive us there and back!”
“W-well…” Twilight frowned. “I… doubt a hero would show up for something like this, but… it might be a good idea. And, well… I suppose I might wanna… join in.” It wasn’t something she’d normally do, but after Shining’s untimely death, Twilight had felt a pit of rage boil inside her stomach. And she wanted more than anything just to spite the one who took her brother from her.
“Alright! Sugarcoat, Sour, can you guys get some bats or something? Sunny, you get us our wardrobe- can’t have us caught on camera! Oh, oh! Lemon, you’re on map duty! I’ll get the guns and ride. Twi, you wanna help me hotwire my dad’s car~?” Indigo listed off excitedly.
“Um, sure, I can find a manual for that.” Twilight nodded, slowly getting more eager. “We should also cover the license plates, so your dad doesn’t get in trouble.”
“Or we could dump the car and make it look like it was stolen.” Sugarcoat suggested.
“Details, details! Meet me at my place, Twi! We’re gonna have the greatest joyride ever!” Indigo shouted, raising her fist in the air.
“Alright…!” Twilight smiled, raising her own fist in the air. The others raised their own after Twilight, though with mixed enthusiasm.
“Alright, let’s meet up outside of school by nightfall. Let me just say though that this is a terribly stupid idea.” Sugarcoat laced her words with unease.
“Oh come on, that’s why it’s so great! No hero would ever suspect six teenage girls would vandalize their store in their city! They probably think it’s invincible!” Indigo assured her friends. With their plan decided, the girls left the locker room and headed to their next period on empty stomachs, but racing brains.
Author's Note
If there are any errors, please tell me. I've been sitting on this, debating if it's filler or not...
Next chapter will hopefully be much longer and far more engaging.
