Welcome to the Bureau

Chapters

C2 The Cabin (Edited)
C4 The Celtic Dress (Edited)
C5 The Rubber Ball
C1 The Chalkboard (Edited)
C3 Partner in Crime (Edited)

C2 The Cabin (Edited)

Sunset hated these metal box transportation machines. Between the continuous vibrations, cramped space, dim lighting, and her awkward grip on the Chalkboard, Sunset was becoming impatient for the box to hurry up.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, the music.

That. Damn. Music.

It was okay the first few times it played, but by the fifth repetition, it had become infuriating. A lazy upbeat tune with the same few chords played endlessly that seemed to embody waiting.

This had quickly become one of her most hated tunes just behind most Hearth’s Warming carols and the Equestrian National Anthem — the latter primarily due to having to sing it every morning at school.

After what felt like hours, the box stopped its downward movement, dinged, and opened into an empty room.

Wary of what awaited her, Sunset stepped into the room surveying her surroundings. It was a perfectly cylindrical room with high vaulted ceilings that stretched off into space and evenly spaced sconce lights around the perimeter wall.

At the sound of another ding, she swung around and watched as the metal box sunk into the ground.

She was now trapped.

Flipping the Chalkboard around and holding it up to her face, slate side facing her, she formulated a clear question in her mind.

Now what do I do? Wait.

Is there an option that doesn’t involve more waiting? No.

You suck. No worse than you.

Before Sunset could think of a retort, a chime resounded through the room. A bright flash of light drew her gaze towards another part of the chamber.

Where once was only a sterile white wall was now a large show window looking into a brightly lit interior covered in square glass tiles from floor to ceiling. To the right of the window was a massive steel door that presumably led inside.

She awaited further instructions, and, when nothing happened, she turned to the Chalkboard once more to pose another question to it.

What do I do? Hang me on the wall inside.

Furrowing her brow in puzzlement, she made her way towards the room with the Chalkboard gripped tightly to her chest.

As she came closer, the door swung open. Ignoring her growing unease, she made her way inside and took notice of several pegs on the wall opposite the window.

Hefting up the Chalkboard, she maneuvered the object onto the pegs. It clicked smoothly into place, perfectly centre on the wall. She tentatively let go of the Chalkboard, and, when it proved to be firmly in place, she stepped away.

Leaving the room, she walked to the show window and peered through the glass at the Chalkboard.

This room is drab, Sunset read.

Sunset glared. So? What do you want me to do about it? She thought.

Renovate. I want decoration.

“How exactly do you propose I do that?” Sunset said, annoyed.

Ask the Cabin. Duh.

She growled. “It’s a building! How—” she took a deep breath. “Okay. Thinking… rationally, it’s not out of the question that the building is like you. How do I ask the building for something?”

How do you normally ask for something? Sunset read.

“Cabin, give me something to decorate the Chalkboard’s room.” She called out. Despite the blank slate, Sunset could feel the board giving her a disapproving look. She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Cabin, could you please give me something to decorate the Chalkboard’s room?”

A sound similar to scraping metal burst to the left of the show window. Wincing, Sunset looked towards the source and saw a slanted, metal, rectangular box extrude from the floor.

Inspecting the device, she noticed a plate of glass embedded into the metal. Hesitantly, she tapped the panel with a finger causing it to light up. A 3D display of the Chalkboard’s room appeared inside of the glass.

Curiosity winning over her caution, she tapped the Chalkboard in the projection. The display zoomed in on the object and displayed the text: “OOP 14: The Chalkboard”.

Tapping the new text, a document appeared. Skimming through, and after some difficulty figuring out how to scroll downwards, she found it had a summary of the events she had just been through. More importantly, she noticed a “Usage” section to the document.

Under a subheader labeled “Binder” was her own name, Sunset Shimmer, and past that was a summary of the Chalkboard’s abilities. It noted that the Chalkboard was capable of reading other beings’ minds and granted those abilities to its Binder.

The Chalkboard’s abilities were impressive as, even amongst the magically gifted of Equestria, mind-reading was a nearly impossible spell to learn — not to mention finding the spell in the first place was difficult as it was locked inCanterlot Castle's restricted vault. That she was now apparently capable of doing so freely with the aid of the Chalkboard was nothing short of incredible.

Definitely something to experiment for later, but for now Sunset had other priorities.

Scrolling further down, she came to a large red bar with the words WARNING in a bold, block font. Underneath, Sunset read: Bonded Agents are advised to never read their own minds as this can lead to a Fracture.

Another unfamiliar term and more information to look into later. For now, she fiddled with the screen for a moment before finally returning to the previous display.

She tapped the room this time.

A new screen appeared with several icons presumably representing various aspects of the room. She tapped an icon that looked like a wood tile and found a list of several types of flooring in alphabetical order.

Tapping an option at random, she watched as the glass tile floors of the Chalkboard’s room changed to light mahogany.

Sunset looked to the Chalkboard and read its response, Tacky. I prefer Red Cherrywood.

Scowling, she scrolled through the options and tapped the Chalkboard’s request when she came to it. The interior flooring, as previously, changed to match the new selection.

Nevermind, I don’t like this one. Change it back to mahogany.

With a growl of irritation, she tapped the previous icon and returned the floors to their prior state.

Perfect. Now, change the wallpaper. I want something neutral but fun.

After a period of adjustments from the annoyingly picky object, the room had been transformed into something close to the room where Sunset had found the Chalkboard.

She raised a single eyebrow at the Chalkboard thinking her question at the slate.

Happy? Yes.

With that task complete, Sunset turned her attention inwards as she thought over her next move. She hadn’t considered much past getting as far away as possible from her mentor, and now that she had a moment of calm, she needed to decide on what to do next.

Her first option was, of course, to return to Equestria, but that required facing her mentor and defeated the main reason for why she even crossed through the mirror in the first place.

The second was to escape from this weird facility and live out in this strange world on her own. That had several risks.

Firstly, this world appeared to be ahead or at least on par with Equestria, which meant she would most likely require identification. None of which she thought to bring with her nor would be valid in a completely different world.

Secondly, she had been trying to ignore it for a while, but she didn’t feel the familiar hum of magic around her. Back home it was constant, a comforting embrace to all ponies. With it being absent, a feeling she thoroughly missed, there were good odds that she had no access to her magic, which meant her usual solution of “throw a fireball at it” wasn’t going to work here.

Both of those options didn’t appeal to Sunset in the slightest, which left her with a third option: asking the Cabin for assistance. It was a sentient building that could create rooms from nothing. It was not out of the realm of possibility for it to be able to help her live in this new world.

Sunset could only hope it was friendly.

“Hello… Cabin,” Sunset called out. “I’m a visitor to this world and was wondering if you could help me out.”

A rumble shook the room as a large panel similar to the one near the Chalkboard’s room rose from the floor before her. The panel lit up and displayed another document.

Written at the top in a bold font were the words “Terms of Employment as Head Executive of the Bureau.”

Sunset began to read carefully. The most pertinent clauses were that she would be required to find and contain “Altered Items”, “Altered Beings”, and “Objects of Power”, a second clause denoted that she would have to avert something called “Altered World Events” and a third clause, preempted by a red warning label, was about ensuring the continued containment of “Vault Restricted Items”.

She surmised that the unfamiliar terms were in regards to objects similar to the Chalkboard. Nothing she couldn’t handle.

At the very end and helpfully bolded — the whole document was pleasantly straight-forward and readable — were her “Terms of Release”.

It stated that she would be bound to this contract until the Cabin deemed the Bureau ready to be passed onto another, she died, or she was left in a state that made her unfit to lead.

Those were not good conditions for her.

Following that was a tidy paragraph stating that the contract was binding and upheld across any number of alternate dimensions, which removed her easy escape route back through the portal.

The benefits followed shortly after. A sizable paycheck including extensive health coverage, identification, and International Citizenship with the option to travel or live anywhere, and room and board for the duration of her natural lifespan within and outside of the Cabin.

It was tempting. Though she would be stuck in this dimension and bound to the Cabin, it wasn’t like she was planning on returning to Equestria any time in the near future. Plus, she would have guaranteed protections and the ability to do whatever she wanted so long as she fulfilled her obligations.

In addition, Head Executive Sunset Shimmer had a nice ring to it. A position of power the likes of which she could have only dreamed of under her mentor’s coddling wings.

By the time Sunset had gone over everything a second time to check for anything she had missed, it was hardly a choice anymore.

Using her finger, she signed her name on the dotted line at the bottom of the document in cursive script.

This was shortly followed by screaming as confetti exploded before her, covering her in bright, colourful strips of paper.

Once she had calmed down, she noticed that the document had changed to a list with the heading of Head Executive Goals.

Listed at the top was a goal to contain an altered item called the Celtic Dress. A blurb underneath noted the item to have been last seen in a place called the Everfree Forest outside of town and was due to appear on the next full moon.

Doable and well within the parameters of Sunset’s expectations.

The next item, not as much.

“Why do I need a partner?” Sunset asked aloud.

A second document overlaid the first with details about an item known as a Suppressor that could deactivate an Altered Item’s effect. Underlined, twice, was the condition that two Suppressors were required at a minimum on different sides of the target to activate them.

This meant a second person was a requirement to use them properly.

Extrapolating further, it also made sense. She was the head of a Bureau and that implied an organization, not a single person. She knew, and looked forward to, being the boss of a large group, but had hoped she could take some time to acclimate to this new world first.

“Fine, I’ll get a partner.”

Seemingly satisfied with her response, the screen returned to the previous document revealing the third item on her list.

Sunset resisted the urge to scream.

“No!” Sunset yelled, “absolutely not. I’ll go back when Tartarus freezes over.”

She refused to do this. She’d prefer to return to Equestria and beg her mentor to take her back.

Actually, that was incorrect, she would prefer to simply throw herself into an active volcano. That would at least be quick.

A new word was added to the sentence: required.

Sunset released an agonized groan.

She was going back to High School.

C4 The Celtic Dress (Edited)

It was a very chilly evening for early fall.

Breathing out a cloud of frozen air into the moonlit evening, she pulled her jacket tighter against herself to conserve what little warmth it provided.

She stood alongside a deserted dirt road at the edge of the Everfree Forest. The sun had set an hour ago, and the full moon above lit the road up in stark white.

A wary glance towards where the path split off into the forest and petered off shortly thereafter brought her little comfort. The deep shadows of the woods felt darker in the bright light shining above.

What little that could be seen within shafts of brightness that broke through the thick overhead canopy, only served to heighten the unease she felt. The imagined monsters that stalked in the undergrowth, that reveled in the cover provided by shadows.

It was unsettling to say the least.

Sunset jumped as a stiff breeze howled through the forest causing it to rustle and shift.

Her imagination conjured up any manner of creature that could be lurking within the shadows. Amalgamations of monsters both read and seen firsthand on the other side of the mirror.

Over in Equestria, she had magic. A simple fireball dealt with most and a bigger one dealt with the rest. Here, though, she had nothing but two flashlights and two Suppressor Rods, the latter of which were only effective against Altered Items.

The Everfree was safe. Excluding the real threat of the Celtic Dress, her research had shown that the most dangerous monster to reside in the woods were wolves, large canines that could rip humans to shreds, however, reports stated that they had more of an interest in helping humans rather than killing them.

Articles centered on “good boys” that assisted those lost within the trees of the Everfree.

It did nothing to dissuade her fearful mind.

She really wished that Flash would hurry up.

Closing her eyes, Sunset took a deep breath to calm down her racing heart. As the urge to run screaming away receded, she opened her eyes once more and checked her phone: 9 pm. Flash was supposed to already have arrived.

Sunset needed him to be here. She couldn’t contain the dress without him, and she was tired of standing alone in the dark.

In an effort to take her mind off the imagined monsters in her head, she mentally reviewed her week.

Rarity had deigned to continue their working relationship, and, together, had managed to cobble together the beginnings of their project. The subject was dry, but the company was begrudgingly enjoyable.

She had also told Sunset that the flier girl was named Fluttershy. She had been asking Sunset to volunteer for the local animal shelter; a rescue center for abandoned pets. Apparently, Fluttershy had learned of Sunset’s outburst and thought that she might be willing to help out.

Sunset had admitted interest — animals had always been her one soft spot — but Fluttershy would need to ask her properly before she would consider volunteering.

And to stop stalking her everywhere.

Fluttershy, according to Rarity, had crippling social anxiety and it took a lot for her to approach a stranger let alone ask them for something.

There was a certain amount of empathy Sunset could feel for the girl’s plight, but that didn’t excuse the annoyance of having her follow Sunset everywhere she went.

It made her feel like she was back in the Chalkboard’s version of the school, and she had more than enough of that to last a lifetime.

On a different note, Pinkie had kept her promise and brought in a red velvet cake for her on the second day of school. One slice had convinced her to try and abscond the rest for herself at home, but Pinkie insisted that it had to be shared. A sentiment Sunset resented.

The rest of the week had been continuous verbal bombardment from Pinkie. It was just nothing but word vomit for the entirety of the class. She was the epitome of sunshine and hyperactivity, two traits Sunset hated. They annoyed the Tartarus out of her, which also happened to be where she preferred they went.

In terms of Applejack, she had mostly left Sunset alone. Rarity and Rainbow Dash had intervened on her behalf and got her to agree to leave her be. This had been told to her by Rainbow the day after then spent the rest of the week ignoring her.

An expected result, but one that soured Sunset’s thoughts. Rainbow had been a contender for the Bureau, and now that bridge was most likely permanently burnt.

Definitely a loss, but nothing devastating.

Finally, there was Flash Sentry. She could definitely confirm that he had no other friends.

He was alone in class. He was alone at lunch. He was alone every time in between. The few times she’d seen him talk to other people, Sunset could practically see the awkwardness that radiated off him as he tried to keep up with the conversation.

Curious, she had asked Rarity what his deal was, and she informed her that she didn’t know. He always tried to be friendly and kind to those around him, but most just couldn’t click with him. Recently, he hadn’t even been trying to meet other people.

Until Sunset at least.

Flash had made it very clear that he wanted to be friends with her. He said hello every morning, talked to her between classes whenever the opportunity presented itself, and had an uncanny ability to find her Applejack hiding spots at lunch.

The only time he didn’t talk with her was outside of school hours, and only then because Sunset headed straight back to the Cabin as soon as the end of day bell rang.

He seemed clingy and desperate, but Sunset was more inclined to believe he was just awkward and lonely.

She couldn’t resent him for that.

A quick check of her phone showed the time to be 9:15 pm.

She could, however, resent him for being late.

Sunset weighed over her options. If he didn’t show up soon, the night would be a bust and she’d have to wait a month for the next full moon. At least then she’d have more time to find a punctual partner, but that meant meeting more people. A task Sunset was not looking forward to.

Before she could decide whether to wait any longer, a voice called out to her. Turning towards the source, she saw Flash running up to her. As he came to a stop, he bent over to catch his breath.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said once he’d recovered enough to stand up straight, “I had trouble sneak—, er, getting a ride here.”

A quirk of the eyebrow was Sunset’s response. She wasn’t sure why he had hid the fact that he had snuck out of his house, but she could care less.

They had a dress to catch.

“It’s fine. You’re here now.” She waved her hand towards the woods. “Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover and not a lot of time to do it.” She started to enter the forest before remembering the flashlights in her jacket pocket. She tossed one to Flash, who caught it clumsily in his grasp. “Take this. Should be good enough to light up your path.”

Sunset took out a flashlight of her own, clicked it on and, without checking to see if Flash followed after her, walked calmly into the forest.

The sound of running footfalls and the bobbing beam of light that shot past her announced Flash’s presence. “Hey, Sunset?”

“Yes?”

“Why are we entering the Everfree Forest at night?”

She smiled coyly at him. “You’ll see soon enough.”

There was a pause as the sounds of crunching leaves underfoot and wind whistling through the trees filled the void of silence.

“Okay then,” Flash finally replied.

Flash was somewhat concerned about the situation he found himself in. Probably belated all things considered, but, now wandering through the Everfree Forest at night with a girl he barely knew for reasons she wouldn’t tell him, he was beginning to second guess the wisdom of his decision.

What was worse was how willing he was to go along with it as he was desperate to make friends, and his other friends were… not his friends. Acquaintances at best.

He wasn’t completely oblivious. He knew his reputation as the kid that didn’t fit in with anyone. It was easy to meet new people, it was keeping them around that was proving difficult.

This time around, things were going better with Sunset. She had kept his word, and he’d had a frequent talking buddy through the school week.

Something he hadn’t had since elementary school.

Sure, Sunset probably hadn’t meant every possible waking moment when she had told him he was free to contact her anytime. But she hadn’t told him to leave yet, and Flash decided that was good enough.

That concern, however, was feeling small in the face of the creepy forest he found himself in.

If he was being smart, he would turn back now. He wanted Sunset to like him, so he’d agreed to her request without question, but he was finding the actual follow through on that request to be something of an ordeal.

On the other hand, she had put up with him for the entire week and — even if it was faked — was kind to him for the duration. He felt he owed her something for that, and if it meant getting shanked in a creepy forest, that was simply the price he was willing to pay.

That, and Flash had just snuck out of the house after swiping his parent’s car keys and driving his older sister’s van into the middle of nowhere. There was a sunk cost fallacy at play and curiosity was getting the best of him.

If he was going to be caught later and reamed out by his parents, he might as well make the whole excursion worth it.

Flash yelped as he tripped and found himself face down in the dirt with his flashlight thankfully still in his hand. With a pained groan, he looked up into the bright light emitted by Sunset’s flashlight.

“Need some help?” She asked with an impassive expression on her face.

“Nah, I should be good. Was surprised more than hurt.” Flash lifted himself to his feet, dusted off his jeans, and began searching with his flashlight for the source of his fall. “Wonder, what I—”

He stopped as he took in the sight illuminated by his flashlight.

There was a rabbit. A dead rabbit. Its body laid still on the ground with the blank, pupiless eyes. Disturbingly, Flash observed that the rabbit wore a contented smile across its face, seemingly happy about its less than alive state.

He hoped he was just reading too much into it.

Further observation yielded no obvious cause of death. No external injuries and nothing that suggested illness, which only really ruled out external signs.

Where Flash was apprehensive, Sunset was curious.

She moved her flashlight along the ground following the soft impression of rabbit feet in the dirt. As she traced the path, she found it continued further into the forest to their right.

“Let’s go,” Sunset declared as she followed the trail.

Flash looked after her before returning to the rabbit. He bent down on the soles of his feet and looked closer at the rabbit’s face. It was clear from this close up the rabbit was in fact smiling. Rather blissfully, Flash admitted.

A rather vocal part of his mind told him he needed to leave. It was far too easy to see himself in the same position, a look of bliss adorned on his face, dead. He was in over his head and nothing about this situation led him to believe he would return home alive.

But on the other hand…

I look forward to working with you.

Standing up quickly, Flash jogged after Sunset, minding his path so he didn’t trip on another rabbit.

Shortly after the first corpse, Sunset and Flash found a second, this one of a deer. A third followed the second, followed by a fourth and so on until they arrived at the edge of a moonlit clearing.

Flash turned off his flashlight. “What is that?” he asked.

Sunset matched him by turning off her own. “The Celtic Dress.” she answered.

The object in question was a long-sleeved white gown adorned with frilly green lace along the openings and criss crossed on the front. It floated as if underwater, bathed in moonlight.

In a loose ring surrounding the dress were the corpses of dead animals. A menagerie of rabbits, deer, mice, and everything in between. Each laid lifeless before the ethereal dress, all blissfully smiling and facing away from the foreboding item.

A quick observation from Sunset noted that the bodies became denser as they came closer to the Altered Item, except within an approximate 1 meter distance around it, which was devoid of anything.

“Stay close, Flash,” Sunset ordered, “we’re going to carefully approach it.”

“Wait, we’re going to move closer to it?” he scanned over the piles of bodies and gulped. “I’m not so sure we should be doing that.”

“We have to.”

Flash stared back at Sunset, mulling over his thoughts before, reluctantly, nodding his consent.

Wanting to waste no more time, Sunset began her slow tread towards the dress, minding the corpses littered about the grove. She was cautious, as the Cabin had provided some information, but not nearly enough for Sunset’s comfort.

What had been logged was the Celtic Dress’s rough location, the conditions in which it revealed itself, and that getting too close to the Dress would cause death, but, most importantly, not instantaneous death.

Further details implied that the effect was not permanent and could be rectified by stepping out of the Altered Item’s area of effect. This was useful as that meant the only unknown quantity she needed to be concerned with was the range.

Assuming the documentation in the Cabin had been correct.

She stopped just short of the outer ring of the open field. “Alright, Flash. I’m going to move closer and I’ll need you to pull me back at the first sign of something happening.”

“Sign of what happening?” Flash asked.

“Anything,” Sunset answered, “I don’t know exactly what will happen, but I need you focused and ready to act.”

“I—” Flash gulped. “Okay, Sunset.”

“Okay. Whenever you’re ready, Flash.”

“Ready, Sunshine.”

Slowly, and deliberately, Sunset turned her head to stare back at Flash with an incredulous look on her face. Flash was trying hard not to look back at her, a nervous expression on his face.

“Sunshine?” Sunset said in a dangerous tone.

“Yeah,” Flash replied sheepishly.

“Really?”

“I was just thinking that we seem to be doing super secret dangerous stuff, and code names would be kinda cool. Plus, you know.” He shrugged. “I wanted to lighten the mood.”

Sunset took a deep breath. “You know what, Flash? I’ll let you call me that, but!” She pointed a finger at him with a stern expression on her face. “Only when we are alone. Got it?”

Flash grinned. “Got it, Sunshine.”

This was met by a deadpan look. “Okay, just to be as clear as possible since I would like to live through this, weird stuff happens, you pull me back. Clear?”

“Affirmative.”

Sunset nodded before renewing her focus on the dress. She took a deep breath to steady herself, then stepped forward.

The world was white. Eternal. Peaceful. Beautiful.
She was floating.

Up.

Away.

Gone were all her worries and problems.

Such useless thoughts. Why had she even been bothered by them?

Who cared what her mentor thought of her?

What did it matter working for the Cabin?

She should just let it all go and float away from—

Sunset gasped for air as she awoke on the ground. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, blind panic fueling her strength. Behind her was Flash, an equally distraught expression on his face, clutching onto the back of her jacket with a shaking grip.

“What happened?” Sunset asked.

“You fell forward. Your skin turned pale, you—” Flash fumbled as he tried to find the right words, “... died? I think?”

“Not quite right. It wasn’t dying, at least not in the traditional sense. It was more like…” Sunset sorted through her thoughts and smiled as she arrived at the answer. “Soul severing. Oh, that is fascinating. I had never thought to see something like this.”

“Soul what now?” Flash tilted his head to one side.

“Soul Severing,” Sunset replied, “I’ll explain in a moment. First, where did I step before I fell forward?”

“Sunset, I don’t think—”

“Flash,” Sunset said in a commanding tone, “I know that was scary, but we need to know what the range of the dress is to handle this. We can’t leave it here to prey on more victims.” She paused for a moment to allow her words to register. “So, I’m going to ask you again. Where did I step before I fell?”

She watched as he seemed to struggle with what she told him before finally saying, “Three steps past where you started.”

Looking back towards the dress, she noted the approximate location of where she had fallen based on the impressions in the grass and Flash’s statement. “Good.” She turned back to Flash. “Wait here.”

Standing back up, Sunset brushed the dirt off her jeans, and walked along the edge of the clearing with Flash warily eyeing the ethereal dress. As she searched, she found a multitude of sticks lying on the ground. She picked them up and carried the bundle back.

Moving past a confused Flash, she slowly inched her way closer to the dress. Once she had reached about where she had fallen, Sunset rammed a stick into the soft ground.

She turned around to find Flash hovering just behind her, ready to grab her should she have fallen under the Altered Item’s effects.

“Here.” Sunset passed over about half of her pile over to Flash. “Carefully go around the edge of the dress’s effect and place sticks in the ground until we roughly form a circle around it. That way we won’t have to guess if we’re too close.”

“Smart, I think?” Flash said.

“I came up with the idea, so, yes, it is,” Sunset answered. “Let’s get started.”

Both Sunset and Flash began making their way around the edge of the proposed radial effect, driving sticks into the ground as they went. Once they met up again on the other side, Sunset surveyed the roughly circle ring of sticks with satisfaction.

“Now what?” Flash asked.

“We use these.”

From inside of her jacket, Sunset pulled out two long metal rods. She twisted the ends of both extending the tops. Twin bands of blue light lit up on both rods while releasing a quiet metallic hum.

“And these are?” Flash questioned.

“Suppressor Rods. They’ll help us stop the Item’s effect, which will allow us to get it into containment.”

“Containment?”

“Later.” Sunset offered one of the rods to Flash who grabbed it. “Now, we have the dangerous part to do.”

“This is the dangerous part? We haven’t already been doing that?”

“No, we haven’t.” Sunset took a deep breath. “We both need to get close to the dress on opposite sides to use the rods.”

“Close to it?” Flash asked incredulously, “The death dress?”

“Yes.”

“It’ll kill us!” Flash yelled.

“Firstly, not quite true. It will sever our souls, not kill us.”

“What difference does that make?!”

“Death would mean the effect is instantaneous, while soul severance means that our spirits are ripped out of our bodies and floated off into oblivion. Now, that does result in death, however,” Sunset paused for emphasis, “The effect is reversed once we get out of range or deactivate it. This means we have valuable time.”

“This sounds risky, super dangerous, and with a zero chance of success.” Sunset was about to reassure Flash’s worries before she was cut off. “Let’s do it.”

Sunset grinned. “Alright, then here’s what we do. You and I will go to opposing sides of the circle keeping out of range of the dress with the sticks as guidelines. Once in position, I’ll give the signal, and we’ll both jump towards the dress with the Suppressors in front of us. The effect will trigger, but momentum should get us close enough to deactivate it. Any questions?”

Flash shook his head before he moved into position opposite of Sunset. They made eye contact with each other. “On my signal,” Sunset said.

A single nod then Flash focused his attention on the dress. Sunset took a breath to steady herself and, with as much confidence as she was able to, called out, “Now!”

In tandem, they leapt towards the dress, arms outstretched. Time seemed to slow as they got closer and closer to—

Let it go.

Just let all your worries go.

Embrace peace.

Embrace the end.

Succumb to silence and everlasting contentment.

Let it—

Sunset once more gasping for air on the ground. She quickly took in her bearings and found Flash in a similar position next to her. They glanced at each other then, as one, they looked down to find the dress lying in a crumpled heap between the Suppressors.

They glanced back at each other in a moment of silence. Sunset broke it first with a small titter, Flash followed with a snort. As the tension ebbed, both teenagers couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at the situation.

The dress was contained and they were alive.

A resounding success.

“So, now what?” Flash asked once he’d calmed down.

Before Sunset could reply, a ding echoed through the grove. Looking towards the source, they saw an elevator at the edge of the clearing with a plush red interior lit by a single hanging chandelier.

“We take the elevator to the Cabin,” Sunset replied.

Moving the death dress to the Cabin — whatever that was — had been easy. The metal rod things — Suppressors, Flash reminded himself — caused anything caught between them to float. This allowed Sunset and Flash to easily float the thing into the weird elevator that had appeared in the middle of the woods.

Flash was concerned about why none of the aforementioned things bothered him, but at this point, he had long past broken his limit on understanding and was content to simply roll with events as they came.

He figured Sunset would eventually explain everything to him. Hopefully.

The elevator ride down had been silent. Not by any means awkward, both Sunset and Flash were just exhausted from the near death experience.

After a time, the elevator opened onto a white room, and they disembarked while carefully maneuvering the dress between them. Flash noticed a long corridor and two other rooms present.

Once room was a classroom with a single chalkboard inside with the words “Hello, Twerp” written on the slate. The other was a blank room of the same structure minus the classroom amenities.

They entered the empty room, at which point Sunset told Flash to drop the dress. Flash had voiced concerns over being too close, but Sunset assured him the suppression effect would continue while they were inside of the room. With some apprehension, they both deactivate their Suppressors by twisting the top half back into place.

The dress flopped to the ground in a crumpled heap.

Not wanting to wait, Flash rushed out of the room with a bemused Sunset following after him. Once exited, Sunset made her way to a console situated just before the room.

Looking over her shoulder, Flash watched as she navigated various displays and transformed the interior of the cell into something resembling the moonlit grove they had found the dress in. Shortly after, the dress began to float in place.

With the imminent threat of death negated, Flash could admit that the object looked beautiful, but in the way of a poisonous flower.

Pretty to observe, but only death awaited those that would touch it.

“I suppose I should explain some things,” Sunset said.

Flash was quiet for a moment before he answered, “Yeah, you should.”

“Any questions?” Sunset asked.

“Give me a minute,” Flash answered.

“Take as much time as you need.”

Flash began to mull over the information Sunset had told him. It was… a lot. The Cabin, the Bureau, the Celtic Dress, why she had recruited him, and everything in between. Unexpectedly, he had felt a pang of hurt on learning that Sunset had recruited him since she needed someone to follow orders, not because of anything specifically about him.

That made him feel… expendable.

He thought it odd that it was the only thing that bothered him. It was terrifying to think how little he cared about the fact he could have died.

But the weird part to Flash wasn’t that he felt uncaring. Contrary to that, he was thrilled. He had been useful, gone through a near death experience, and was riding high on a sort of pleasure akin to the satisfaction someone only got with some alone time in the bedroom.

And then Flash immediately stopped thinking about it.

There was a verifiable soup of emotions just under the surface that he had neither the energy or time to unpack. What was most important was getting a clear answer from Sunset about a lingering feeling he had.

“Do you like me?” Flash asked. “Not romantically, but I guess just as a friend?”

Sunset stared back at me seemingly mulling over her thoughts. She was taking her time, probably to be sure her response was clear, but a more cynical part of Flash’s mind thought she was just trying to figure out what he wanted to hear so he’d continue helping her.

“No,” she finally answered.

Flash felt something break inside himself.

“But, I don’t dislike you either.”

Then he was just left confused.

“I don’t think that’s a better response,” Flash said.

“I’m sorry, Flash, but I don’t trust people easily.” A morose expression crossed her face. “I work alone, and prefer to keep it that way since relying on others has never worked well for me in the past.” Her face returned to an impassive look. “I can’t promise friendship, but I can say that I tentatively trust you. Enough to have you watch my back.”

Sunset looked directly into Flash’s eyes and said, “You can decide if that’s enough.”

Flash wasn’t sure how to respond to Sunset’s statement. He wasn’t her friend and he might never be that to her. But there was something to have earned the trust of someone to watch their back, to have an ally that stuck by you through thick and thin.

It meant more to him than he had thought it would.

“Alright, Sunshine.” Flash grinned. “Let’s do this. Together.”

She glared at him. “I really wish you wouldn’t call me that, but,” she grinned, “glad to have you aboard, Flash.”

C5 The Rubber Ball

CANTERLOT GAZETTE ONLINE

ANOTHER YOUNG CASUALTY LOST TO TRANSPORT TRUCK FATALITY

Another young child has tragically died after running in front of a transport truck driving along a road adjacent to Canterlot Park

This marks the fifth time within the last two weeks that a child has been fatally struck by a transport truck near Canterlot Park. Witnesses state that the children had run headlong into the street chasing after a toy that had caught their interest and been run over shortly thereafter.

Parents of the local neighbourhood are livid at the lack of action from the City Council to address this issue. The City Council will be meeting this Friday to discuss measures to mitigate these tragedies before they become worse. More information on Page 3.

Sunset frowned at the article displayed on her phone. She had noticed that the news on this side of the mirror tended to skew towards a more pessimistic outlook on life by reporting on mostly negative events unlike the more chipper Equestria, but even this was beyond morbid.

However, from the perspective of a Bureau member, it was suspicious.

“So, with all of that done, I believe we should be ready for our presentation next week,” Rarity said as she dropped into the seat across from Sunset.

“Yeah, I can’t see us getting anything less than an A,” Sunset replied while tucking her phone into her jacket pocket, “Should we spend time practicing?”

“Well, of course, Darling,” Rarity tossed her hair back with a flick of her hand, “Even a natural-born presenter such as myself would have trouble if I didn’t have the key points memorized for the actual event.”

“Good to hear that the natural-born presenter isn’t above practicing,” Sunset chuckled before adopting a more serious expression, “Hey, Rarity. What can you tell me about Canterlot Park?”

“Lovely playground about five blocks past Sugarcube Corner,” Rarity said, “It’s also a death trap.”

“Because of the recent incidents?”

“Yes, but it’s always been like that. Recent events have only made it more apparent,” Rarity leaned her head back with a hand held palm up against her forehead, “Why, I won’t even allow my dearest younger sister Sweetie Belle anywhere near there. At least not until the city takes the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of those visiting the park.”

“Any idea why the park is such a-” Sunset searched for an appropriate word, “‘high impact’ zone?”

Rarity gave her an unimpressed look, “That was a rather tasteless remark, Sunset.”

Sunset grimaced, “Yes, I know, but believe me when I say that it was the least offensive option my mind came up with.”

“Well, I suppose you didn’t really mean it in a disrespectful way,” Rarity looked pensive as she mulled over Sunset’s question, “I’m not sure, to be honest. I don’t know anyone personally that has had the misfortune of knowing one of the victims and the rash of incidents has only started up recently, so I don’t believe it’s one of the long-standing issues.”

Sunset sighed, “I suppose it would be asking too much to just expect an easy answer.”

“Answers? Darling, are you considering finding the cause of the incidents on your own?” Rarity frowned disapprovingly, “I don’t think that’s something you should be pursuing.”

“Don’t worry, Rarity. I’ll be careful,” Sunset thought back to the headline of the article, “I can’t not do anything if there’s a chance for more casualties.”

Rarity was unconvinced, “Well, alright, Sunset. Just please be careful,” She flashed a radiant smile “Now, class will be over soon. Shall we start by going over who shall present what?”

“Of course,” Sunset smirked, “So, do you want me to do the introduction or shall the natural born presenter start us off?”

“Oh, Darling,” Rarity fluttered her long eyelashes, “You know I always love a dramatic entrance.”

“You think the recent accidents could be the cause of an Altered Item?” Flash asked.

Sunset and Flash were on their way to Canterlot Park. She had grabbed him immediately after school on her way out and they were now only two blocks away from the park.

Sunset had been keeping a watchful eye out for both of them as they walked to their destination while Flash read the article Sunset had been reading earlier on his phone.

“Yes, I do,” Sunset replied, “Frequent unexplainable and seemingly random fatalities seem to be a good indicator of an Altered Item’s presence,” Sunset thought about the number of deaths that had occurred, ”At a minimum, I want to know if there’s a root cause, so I can see if something can be done to deal with it in the short term.”

Flash nodded in understanding as he tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket, “We should start by the road mentioned in the continuation of the article. That seems to be where all the incidents have occurred. Pit Stop to the Cabin to grab Suppressors?”

“Not yet,” Sunset said, “We should confirm the presence of the Altered Item first, gather what information we can, then formulate a plan to contain it. If we have the Suppressors on us, we’re more likely to just rush in without thinking.”

“Sounds good,” Flash replied, “We’re here.”

Sunset stopped to take a lay of the land. It was a picturesque spot with an expanse of green surrounded on all sides by road. A worn-down cobblestone fence lined the border between sidewalk and green. Tall oak trees, meandering dirt paths, wooden benches, and colourful playground equipment were placed in abundance across the whole of the park. People of all ages wandered aimlessly enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon.

The image was somewhat tainted by the lines of yellow caution tape covering the west end of the park.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that’s where all the deaths have been occurring,” Sunset announced, “Let’s head over and see what we can find.”

Both walked over to the area and stopped just short of where the ground was covered in toys, flowers, and pictures of the presumably deceased children.

Sunset scanned over the display and fought to keep her emotions in check. She turned away and looked out over the crowds of people and noticed several children amongst them.

She found herself in some amount of disbelief that any parent would knowingly bring their children to this park with the recent incidents.

However, she also knew that if there were no children around, there was a chance that the Altered Item wouldn’t appear.

She wasn’t fond of that line of thought no matter the logic behind it.

Without turning away from the memorial Flash asked, “How are we going to find the Item?”

“I don’t know. There’s no obvious way to know if an item is Altered and I don’t recall anything from the Cabin’s database that would match something like this. I figured we would simply camp out here, keep a watchful eye, and hope to catch the Item in the act.”

“Alright, sounds like our best bet then,” Flash leaned back away from Sunset to look past her, “There’s a bench over there we could use.”

Sunset looked in the same direction as Flash and saw the bench he had mentioned. It was in the most optimal location for being able to observe the entirety of the park and look for signs of the potential Altered Item.

They both walked to the bench and plopped down side by side.

“So, I guess we just stare at children and wait for one to move towards the road or have the police called on us for acting creepy?”

Sunset glared at Flash who just grinned in reply, “Yes, it’s our best option until we can confirm the situation.”

Flash nodded and began to observe the people wandering around the park. Sunset soon joined him and focused on a particular gathering of children playing in a jungle gym.

After several minutes of quiet vigil, Flash asked, “Could you not just read everyone’s mind?”

Sunset continued her observation as she replied, “What do you mean?”

“Well, the Chalkboard lets you read people’s thoughts, right?” Sunset nodded before Flash continued, “If a kid was going to run into the street they would have to think about going into the street first, yeah?”

“Assuming the Altered Item doesn’t do something weird that we wouldn’t know about, that logic checks out.”

Flash grinned, “So, then all we or I guess you, need to do is read the minds of any kid that comes this way.”

“Yes, I could do that,” Sunset agreed.

Flash grinned, “Awesome, this will be easy peasy then.”

A moment of silence fell between them.

Flash grin faltered, “So, uh, why aren’t you doing the whole mind-reading thing then or are you already using it? I don’t really know what to expect.”

“I’ve never used it.”

“Really?” Flash said incredulously.

“Really.”

Flash scrunched up his face, “Why?”

Sunset leaned back on the bench frowning over her own reasoning. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to use the power. It was that there were several factors that made the ability rather annoying to use and somewhat conflicting.

The ability itself didn’t really have a filter. It read everyone’s mind all at the same time, and, multiplying that by how many thoughts even one person had within a short time span, it would be overwhelming. Even for her. The limited amount that she was able to cut it down still made it a pain to sort through.

There were privacy concerns. She didn’t care if she peeked at the thoughts of random strangers, morals were never her strong suit, but she didn’t want to invade Flash, Rarity, or Pinkie Pie’s thoughts. The prior two being because she did find herself valuing their trust, though she would never admit it, and the latter for her own sanity.

This was all information she had gleaned from the Cabin and, at the time, she figured as long as she practiced and avoided being near the aforementioned people it would be fine.

She had then tried reading the mind of a clerk in a mostly empty corner store. A low-risk testing ground for an ability Sunset was sure she would be using frequently.

Once had been more than enough.

“It’s complicated, but I don’t want to use it unless it’s important, which I suppose it would be now.”

“Yeah, stopping a child murder is probably a good reason,” Flash noted.

“Murder?” Sunset questioned, “How- Oh, wait. Altered Items are sentient. By definition, this would constitute as murder if an Altered Item is the cause.”

“Yeah,” Flash looked away and crossed his arms, “You know, if you’re uncomfortable using the Chalkboard, we can just keep trying with the people watching. We still don't even know an Item is involved.”

Sunset released a weary sigh, “The concern is appreciated Flash, but realistically you’re right. Using the Chalkboard would make this ‘easy peasy’.”

“Okay, just let me know if I can help make things easier,” Flash said, “It’s what I’m here for.”

Sunset smiled at the gesture then leaned back with a deep breath and her head facing the sky. She focused with her mind and grasped at the connection she had with the Chalkboard. The feeling was akin to wielding her magic back when she was a unicorn.

Probably contributed to the ease in which she took to wielding her Object of Power.

She continued to focus on her connection until, finally, she felt herself become enveloped by the Chalkboard’s presence.

Immediately, she saw the blues of the sky become more vibrant and the edges of the clouds become sharper. She felt her sense of smell assaulted by the convergence of the various flowers in bloom around the park and could swear that she tasted the air. It was a mild vanilla flavour.

“Is it working?” Flash asked.

Sunset took a deep calming breath to brace herself and reverted to her original sitting position to look at him.

It was a lot. His thoughts were bouncing between concern over her, how he can be of more use for the mission, and thoughts on what the effect of the Altered Item might be. They flooded her mind with echos of fractured sentences told to her in Flash’s voice.

His thoughts were also mixed with the reason why Sunset hated using the Chalkboard’s power.

His emotions.

None of the documentation in the Cabin noted that the Chalkboard not only read thoughts but the emotions associated with them. All of Flash’s thoughts were tinged with shades of anxiety, happiness, and an overbearing need to be useful.

He was a mess.

It was unbearable.

It told her too much about him.

Reading someone’s thoughts was one thing, knowing how they felt at any given time was an invasion of privacy even Sunset wasn’t comfortable with.

Sunset winced as she became accustomed to Flash’s stream of thought. After some time sorting through the onslaught of thoughts reverberating in her mind, she managed to focus on limiting how much she heard from Flash’s head until she only heard a few snippets from his surface-level thoughts.

“Yes, it’s working,” Sunset noticed his thoughts become tainted with worry, “And before you ask, I’m fine. I just needed time to adjust.”

“Okay, that’s good,” Sunset felt the worry drain from his mental voice, “So, now- Woah.”

“What?”

“Your eyes,” Flash had a curious look to him, “they're tinted with a whole bunch of colours now.”

Sunset was surprised. Nothing in the Cabin had mentioned that there was a physical change on using the Chalkboard. That could have gone poorly if she was trying to hide that she was using her Object of Power.

She definitely needed to update those files when she returned to the Cabin.

“That’s good to know. I’ll have to keep that in mind if I use this power again,” Sunset said, “For now, let’s get back to keeping a lookout.”

Flash nodded and resumed his observations.

Sunset turned her attention to the other park goers and winced. Though she had significantly reduced the volume of incoming information, it was still a lot to process in her head all at once.

It didn’t help that she had no idea what she was really looking for. Was it an illusion? A compulsion? Some physical entity that pushed the kid into the road? Teleported?

Or potentially the worst option: senseless tragedy.

At this point, she only had hope that she would recognize the effect of the potential mystery Item when she saw it.

She scanned along the different people in the park with a focus on the younger crowd. Some thoughts about plans for after the park. A couple thinking about each other. Another person was thinking about what to make for dinner that night.

None of this seemed strange or out of place to Sunset.

“Hey, Sunset,” Flash said, “Check the little girl with blonde pigtails by the monkey bars.”

Sunset zeroed in on the child Flash had pointed out. She was looking toward the western roadside past the yellow tape.

‘Oh! What a pretty ball!’ Sunset heard in her mind.

She looked in the direction of where the girl was looking and could see a red rubber ball roughly the size of her own head sitting stationary in the middle of the road.

That was when Sunset heard the transport truck rounding the corner on the other end of the street.

The girl took off toward the ball.

Sunset leaped off the bench and shot forward in a dead sprint to intercept. She vaguely heard Flash call out to her in alarm.

She ran, pumping her arms forward in an attempt to increase momentum and avert the inevitable ending she could see as the girl barrelled towards the street oblivious to the transport racing down the street.

She heard a woman screaming in the background.

The girl hit the road and stopped short of the rubber ball. She bent down to pick it up as the transport truck blared its horn.

Sunset leaped towards the girl with her arms outstretched as she stepped onto the curb. The girl had since stood back up and was staring at the truck with wide eyes frozen in fear.

Sunset grabbed the girl in her arms as she sailed through the air and dove forward rolling across the rough asphalt, over the street curb, and landing roughly in the centre of the sidewalk.

She heard the screech of brakes from the transport truck and the squeal of tires signifying its stop.

Sunset attempted to move and hissed in pain as she felt her aching joints complain over their recent trauma. The impact had not been soft by any stretch. Thankfully, she avoided worse injuries due to her long sleeve jacket and jeans.

The only time she was thankful to be wearing leather.

Sunset uncoiled her arms from around the little girl who Sunset noticed was crying.

“Oh my goodness, Lace!” Sunset rolled over to her other side to see a woman in her early thirties running towards them presumably calling out the girl’s name.

Sunset heard rather than saw the young girl, Lace, leap back to her feet and race over to her mother who quickly embraced her. The woman lifted her up into her arms and held her close against her chest with Lace’s head on her shoulder.

“Thank you so much,” The woman said to Sunset.

Sunset, still recovering from almost getting hit by a truck, gave a wave in acknowledgment. The woman went back to the park admonishing the girl for running off.

With the situation resolved, Sunset brought herself up into a sitting position despite the protests from her sore limbs.

“Sunset, are you okay?” Flash said as he came up beside her.

“Bruised,” Sunset hissed as she tried to move her arm, “In some amount of pain, but I can confirm that the cause of these incidents is an Altered Item.”

“It is?” Flash asked in surprise, “Where is it?”

Sunset pivoted her head to look at Flash in surprise before scanning her surroundings. The Rubber Ball was nowhere to be found.

That stupid Item had run away.

Sunset cursed, “Not here, but we’re coming back tomorrow.”

“Uh, Sunset, that was a pretty nasty tumble, I’m not sure-” Flash protested.

He flinched when Sunset turned her fiery gaze at him, “We are catching that damn ball and then I’m locking it in a containment cell,” Sunset turned her glare to the road, “Stupid ball.”

Flash was hesitant before starting, “So, about not rushing into dangerous-”

“Not the time Flash,” Sunset hissed.

Flash wisely said nothing else.

True to her word, Sunset and a reluctant Flash returned the next day with Sunset fuming all the way.

Sunset took up position on the bench from before to keep watch for another runaway kid with a Suppressor primed and ready in her jacket pocket. Flash was standing at attention near where Sunset had landed the previous day with a second Suppressor ready.

Sunset didn’t need to be able to read minds to tell that Flash was anxious as he hopped from foot to foot on the other side of the street and darted his head this way and that.

She turned away from him and scanned the crowd of kids running about the park sorting through the thoughts that pelted her brain.

‘Oh, sweet! A ball!’

Sunset whipped her head toward the source of the thought and found a young boy with buzz-cut black hair staring out towards the road.

She signaled to Flash trusting him to follow her instructions and started running towards the kid to intercept him before he hit the street.

On queue, the kid began running to the street and Sunset heard the telltale rumble of a transport truck turning the corner. Sparing a glance, she saw the Rubber Ball sitting in the same spot it was in yesterday.

Sunset pushed through the aching complaints of her body and managed to catch up with the kid just before he ran into the road.

She followed through with her momentum by grabbing the child in the crux of her left arm and continued running past bending over once to let the kid grab the ball and to follow up by stabbing it with her Suppressor using her free right hand.

She made it to the other side with no problems and watched as the transport continued barreling down the street with the driver giving her the middle finger.

Jerk.

“We got it,” Sunset heard on her right.

She turned to see Flash standing next to her with a second suppressor jabbed into the surface of the Rubber Ball.

It was, if only briefly, contained.

“Again, Again!” The boy in her arms cheered.

Sunset rolled her eyes as Flash chuckled.

Sunset and Flash stood before the newly constructed containment cell for the Altered Item designated as the ‘Rubber Ball’. Bland, but descriptive.

The cell was custom made to resemble a park playground complete with a swing set, slide, and mini jungle gym on a floor of grass with sky-painted walls. The Ball itself sat in the centre of the room doing nothing.

It was, in Sunset’s opinion, rather morbid.

Flash crossed his arms over his chest as he observed the Item, “So, what did the effect end up being?”

“The Cabin’s files, after the Ball had been captured,” A fact that bothered Sunset as she didn’t understand why she hadn’t had those files previously, “stated that it was ‘Compulsion’. Specifically of the ‘must grab’ kind. Not even specific, the effect works on anyone regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity.”

Flash nodded his head, seeming to be contemplating something, “So, why did it lure children into oncoming traffic?”

“My best guess is because it wanted to.”

“It wanted to,” Flash repeated back dully.

“Yep,” Sunset replied.

Flash nodded his head again, seeming to have come to some form of an answer to his earlier thoughts, “So, from what I understand, this Altered Item’s effect is a powerful compulsion and being a colossal dick?”

Sunset thought over Flash’s statement.

“Yes, that appears to be the case.”

Flash nodded once more before quietly observing the Rubber Ball alongside her. As they watched, the Altered Item rolled in a strange pattern on the ground before stopping back in its original position.

They couldn’t be entirely sure, but Flash and Sunset thought it had drawn out the rough equivalent of a middle finger.

“Yeah, fuck this Item,” Flash finally said, “Let’s just leave it here forever.”

“Agreed,” Sunset replied.

C1 The Chalkboard (Edited)

A Wobble.

That was the word that came to Sunset Shimmer’s mind as she fell out onto the hard ground before the portal from Equestria.

A distortion of space that stretched and pulled at her body in every direction through a cosmic river of bright colours that was mesmerizing, disorienting, and what could be considered one of the worst experiences of her life.

Or, to simplify, a Wobble.

Satisfied with the summation of her thoughts, the next sensation Sunset focused on after being unceremoniously dumped on the ground by a spacetime teleportation was the lack of sensation in her hooves.

She couldn’t feel the ground.

That was not entirely true, she admitted. She could feel something that matched what she would expect from ‘ground’, but it didn’t feel right. There was no pressure from implanting her hooves into the dirt or the grittiness as keratin contacted earth. It all felt dulled.

It was arguably worse than the Wobble.

Sunset realized she had closed her eyes sometime between being dumped out of the portal and impacting the ground. Understandable given the circumstances of having dove through an onslaught of oversaturated colour.

Opening her eyes, she found herself immediately regretting that decision.

Where her front hooves should have been were instead two long appendages with strange flat additions on the end. Attached to the flat pieces were four long cylinders with a thicker, shorter one at the base.

A quick glance over the rest of her body revealed other changes. Two more long appendages took the place of her back legs. Her torso was elongated and slimmer than even the wimpiest of ponies.

She was furless except for long strands of red and yellow mane falling from the top of her head. Scrunching her face, she was disquieted by the flatness of it.

An attempt to move forward on her strange appendages caused her to stumble and plant her face into the dirt.

Clearly this body was not made to move like a pony.

Combing through her memory, she attempted to recall a creature that had a similar body structure to her current one. She soon thought of Minotaurs. They stood upright, trotted on two legs, and used… something to grab things.

“Darn. What was the word?” Sunset thought.

The word came to her a moment later. Hands.

They used their hands.

Focusing on her memories, she recalled how they had stood, how they had moved when they visited the palace from the faraway lands of Mazein. They had stood on their back hooves, and moved forward with one hoof placed in front of the other.

Sunset took a deep breath and pushed herself up into a crouch with her four flat appendages firmly planted into the ground. Once ready, she proceeded to the next stage.

With a firm push, she brought herself up to a standing position on her back legs.

She was immediately overcome with a sense of vertigo from the sudden change in perspective. Sunset flailed her arms — she recalled the Minotaurs calling them that between all the flexing they did — until she managed to regain her balance.

After she felt that she wouldn’t topple over, she sighed in relief and surveyed her surroundings.

Sunset stood in some sort of stone courtyard before a marble statue of a pony rearing up on its rear legs atop a square marble block. A gentle touch to the base caused the surface to ripple confirming the location of the portal.

Directly across from the statue was a massive red and brick mortar building. In the distance were lines of similar structures confirming the area to be some kind of town.

Another more thorough inspection of herself revealed that she was wearing clothing. A black jacket over an orange shirt, denim jeans, and knee high boots. Curious of the material of the jacket, she rubbed her new hands along the front.

The material was similar to the old armour worn by Griffins some hundreds of years ago that her mentor had introduced to her during her history lessons.

Leather.

It took all her willpower to not retch at the realization.

A burst of thunder from above startled Sunset. She looked up just in time for a deluge of rain to pour down from the dark sky.

“Great,” she growled. “I’ve been here not five minutes and this world already wants to make me miserable.”

She needed shelter from the storm, preferably one that didn’t require her to move far. That meant the building across from her.

With a resigned sigh, she walked to the front doors and grabbed one of the handles. A strange feeling washed over her as she stared down at her legs.

That had been strangely easy for someone used to being quadrupedal.

Another burst of thunder caused her to jump and shelf the oddness of her quick adjustment. For now, she needed out of this rain.

A quick push granted her entry as she dashed inside.

Sunset walked hesitantly through the dimly lit hallway. Exposed glass light bulbs provided her only source of illumination and caused stark shadows to cling to the corners of the hall. The floors and ceilings were tiled with steel lockers lining both sides of the corridor.

The place felt damp, which was at odds with the actual appearance of the interior.

She was reminded of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, the absolute last place she wanted to be. At least with that observation, she could surmise the purpose of the building to be a school for… whatever her current species was.

Her stomach growled. She had last eaten some several hours before she had left Equestria. Most schools had a cafeteria, so, by that logic, she should be able to ‘borrow’ some food for herself from there.

With a goal in mind, she began her search only to cry out as the lights all went out.

Standing in the darkness, Sunset breathed heavily as she held onto herself with both hands. Just before she had resolved to try and continue without the aid of light, the bulb above her turned back on bathing the hall in a sinister red glow.

Each light in the hall turned on red one by one at a steady, consistent pace. It continued until only the far reaches of the hallway were drowned in darkness.

“That’s not a welcoming sign,” Sunset muttered.

A sense of unease settled over her as she decided that dealing with the storm might be a safer option in light of this strange occurrence. However, when she turned around to leave through the door she had come through, it was gone.

Biting her lip nervously, she looked down the ominous corridor before her.

With no other choice, she continued her trek into the unknown.

As Sunset made her way forward, she soon realized that no matter how far she walked, how many corners she turned down, she would always find herself in the same dark hallway.

Any doors she came across were locked, and a peek through the windowed portion would leave her unsettled by the dark interior.

Suddenly, as she trekked towards an unknown destination with growing unease, the sound of water drops hitting tiled floors echoed through the building.

Rust coloured water followed shortly after, flooding the hall and rising just above the soles of her boots. It mercifully didn’t soak through the material, but still set her on edge with every splash she made.

Another change occurred a short while later. Plastered across a locker on her right was a poster.

It was a shade of bright white that made it stand out in the darkness of the hallway. She stopped and read the headline written in bold all caps across the centre of the paper.

STUDENT FAILS TEACHER, RUNS AWAY LIKE COWARD.

A hot, roiling coil of rage filled Sunset’s inner being. It was a feeling she was well acquainted with since it was what dragged her into this mess in the first place.

She walked past intent on ignoring it, but couldn’t help running back, ripping the poster off the lockers, and crumpling it into a compact ball before throwing it into the water.

After a few steps, another poster appeared. Against her better judgement she read it.

DOTING TEACHER BETRAYED BY UNGRATEFUL-

Sunset ripped the paper off and shredded it to pieces. Looking further along the hallway, she found similar posters lined along either side of the corridor.

STUDENT EXCEEDINGLY BAD AT MEETING EXPECTATIONS.

STUDENT RUNS AWAY AS A FAILURE AND TERRIBLE DAUGHTER.

TEACHER IS DISAPPOINTED IN WASTE OF TIME ON FAILURE.

It was a struggle to contain the rage inside of her as it boiled to the surface. She continued her trek and, despite knowing that they wouldn’t tell her anything new, she read the increasingly insulting posters as she went. Each one worse than the last.

Headline after headline battered at her fragile state of calm until, finally, it snapped.

She ran.

Splashes of water followed her course as she stomped through the shallow pool on the floor. She ignored the soreness of her limbs, the ragged breathing of her chest. Eventually, exhaustion caught up to her and she bent over clutching her stomach, catching her breath, unable to continue.

Her anger reached its final breaking point. She screamed in frustration and punched a nearby locker, denting the metal.

Sunset was not a failure.

After gathering her thoughts, she roamed over the headlines of the text she had read. The posters had only ever mentioned a Student and a Teacher. She was projecting. There was no reason to believe that the text had referred to her and… her.

Besides, she had only just arrived in this world, it was ridiculous to assume it was about her.

They were clearly referring to someone else.

Thwack.

She fell backwards into the water as she was struck across the face by some blunt force. Gingerly touching the area she was hit, she hissed at the tenderness of the welt.

The source of the blow loomed above her, a long strip of thick paper similar in consistency to the posters plastered along the wall. Runny ink dripped from it as it coiled in place.

It reared back and swung at her.

Narrowly avoiding a second blow, Sunset scrambled away down the hall.

Using a nearby locker as leverage, she kept her eyes on the strange tendril as she stood back up. A shuffling sound resounded behind her. Turning to face it, she saw dozens of those same strips descending from the ceiling.

With the cold grip of fear clutching her chest, she dashed away from the tendrils, adrenaline granting her the strength necessary to push past her exhaustion.

As she careened down the hall, her assailants continued to follow. More of them burst from lockers, from underneath floor tiles, out of doors, and through the ceiling.

Everywhere she ran, those blasted strips chased her. Everywhere she looked, more posters berated her for past transgressions.

Tears flowed from her eyes due to the dual assault against her psyche. Air pumped through her as she kept her running pace.

Running from her unknown attackers.

Running from her problems.

Running from her.

Sunset tripped on the wet tiles due to a misstep and slid along the ground, her shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. She winced as searing pain coursed through her arm.

She struggled to recover. The pain and exhaustion pulled at her energy, but she couldn’t stop while being pursued by those strips. If she stopped, she would be hurt.

Managing to get into a crouch before collapsing once more against the floor, she felt more tears sting the corner of her eyes.

“Fine,” Sunset sobbed. “I should have thought things through. I should have been more in control. I screwed up.” Through the sadness, rage blew through, pressurized from being bottled up for too long. “But she did too!” she screamed.

Emboldened by her own rage, she pushed herself into a standing position. She swung her head around looking for her assailants only to find her surroundings to once more have changed.

The room was arranged like a traditional classroom. It was bathed in the same red light from the hallway with no doors, walls, or windows. Twenty-five wooden desks positioned in rows of five were placed and scrawled with black ink.

A quick read showed all the words to be hateful insults and slurs against whomever presumably sat at the desk.

Centred on each desk was a tall glass vase containing a wilted flower. Any attempt at identification was impossible due to how rotten each flower had become.

At the front of the classroom, separated from the rest, was another desk clean of words with a glass vase containing a single, vibrant orange and red coloured rose.

Just past it, floating in empty space, was a chalkboard.

Sunset hobbled forward using the desks to steady her. She leaned against the front desk, gazing at the flower. She touched it lightly with her fingers. Soft petals, intense colour, covered in thorns along the stem.

Diverting her attention away from the flower, she gazed intently at the chalkboard.

It was a dark green slate contained within a wooden frame. Words in chalk rapidly appeared and disappeared in rapid succession. Deep gouges marred its otherwise smooth surface. Rust coloured water leaked from the open wounds, flooding the floor.

“So, it was you,” Sunset stated rather than asked.

The words erased themselves and a new one was written in a neat cursive script to replace them.

Rude, Sunset read.

Sunset scowled. “Seriously? You drag me into this Tartarus cursed place and call me rude?”

Yes, the Chalkboard answered.

With a weary sigh, she worked herself around the table and sat down facing the chalkboard, her back lightly touching the vase on the table. She wanted to rally against this… thing that had seemingly attacked her, but the relief she felt at having the chance to rest sapped her will to do so.

As she sorted her thoughts, she found herself angry at being trapped, but it was hardly worse than what she had done to her.

“You know,” Sunset said thoughtfully, “despite how scared I was, I still prefer being here than back home.”

Why? the Chalkboard asked.

“Those posters were far too on the nose for you to not know most of the details.”

Of course, the Chalkboard answered, but it would be good for you to say it out loud.

She mulled over her thoughts for a moment. “I made a lot of mistakes,” she eventually said. “I won’t apologize for my ambition, but…” she scowled. “I regret getting my only friend caught up in the crossfire. I also should have been more in control of my anger. But I’m not the only one that needs to apologize.” She felt the familiar roil of rage return to her. “She made mistakes too, and refused to acknowledge them. She taught me, but failed to impart the most basic principles.”

Sunset leaned forward, her arms resting on her knees. She glared into empty space seeing the face of the one who was at the center of her rage.

Her grief.

“She pushed me harder than she had any right to. She used me to get what she wanted, and when I couldn’t meet those expectations, she abandoned me.” She angrily wiped away the tears from her eyes with the palm of her hand. “So, yeah, I’m not happy you put me through that, but at least you didn’t sit there with a smile on your face and lie about how you weren’t putting me through Taratarus,” she growled. “I hope Celestia enjoys the comfort of being alone.”

The gouges in the slate sealed shut, the water ebbed until only tiled floors remained. Lights brightened back to the white glow they originally had emitted. The Chalkboard cleared itself.

I’ll keep you company, it wrote.

A comforting warmth spread through Sunset as the Chalkboard began emitting a soft red glow. It seeped into her, reduced her inner turmoil and left her feeling calm

New words appeared on the Chalkboard as Sunset watched.

What was that? she read.

Was I not just thinking that?

Are you reading my thoughts?

Stop that!

The Chalkboard cleared itself and left behind a single curled question mark. Sunset took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts. Focusing, she projected her thoughts towards the object.

You read thoughts? Yes.

Just my thoughts? All Thoughts.

Mulling over the implications, she decided that she would shelf this new information for later. She wasn’t in a state to think clearly or make decisions. She posed another question in her mind.

How do we get out of here? We don’t.

Then what do we do? We wait for the Cabin.

“What is the Cabin?” Sunset asked aloud.

Seemingly summoned by her inquiry, a column of bright blue light burst to her left. She turned just in time to see a large square metal box appear from the floor with two inset metal doors on its smooth surface.

The box emitted a ding as the doors swung open revealing a red plush interior lit by a small chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Sunset turned back to the Chalkboard. New words had appeared.

Carry me, she read.

Rolling her eyes, she eased herself off the desk and, begrudgingly, lifted the object off the wall, gripping it between both hands. With a grunt of effort, she shuffled awkwardly into the strange metal box.

The doors closed behind her as she turned to face forward. Another ding resounded inside the chamber. She stumbled slightly from the rumbling of the box as she felt its downward movement.

She released a long beleaguered sigh. She was in for a long night.

C3 Partner in Crime (Edited)

Sunset released a loud yawn as she stepped off the Cabin elevator and into a back alley. Through the open passage on the other side, she could see the entrance to Canterlot High. A ding behind her signified the elevator’s exit.

Unconcerned, as she was certain the elevator would appear again when she needed it, Sunset made her way to the school across the front lawn, wading through a steady stream of other students as she mulled over her thoughts.

Back in Equestria, she had been able to skip the obligatory schooling due to her status as personal student to a Princess, but without that status, she would be forced to attend subpar classes with everyone else. It was unfortunate as her limited experience with the education system back in Equestria was lackluster compared to her private schooling.

Throwing open the doors, she dug out her phone, a gift from the Bureau she had spent all of last night familiarizing herself with, and opened the notepad app.

Her typed out schedule noted her first class was something called “homeroom” in room 203 with someone named Mr. Cranky.

Swiveling her head, she spied a set of stairs leading up to the second floor where her destination would presumably be located.

Making her way up step by step, she mentally took stock of her inventory. The phone, a new backpack, several notebooks, a laptop (that she hadn’t even bothered trying to figure out yet), and enough stationery supplies to wage war against a fledgling nation.

The Cabin had certainly made good on its contract. All the aforementioned items had been in a simple bedroom the Cabin had conjured across from the Chalkboard’s containment unit.

In addition, there had been an International ID including a photo of herself, and an informative book titled “So, You’re From Another Dimension” written by someone named The Traveler.

Despite the childish presentation, there had been crayon drawings alongside the professional diagrams; it had caught her up on everything she needed to know about this world including its mannerisms, greetings, and slang.

There had also been a substantial section on reproduction and sex, which, if she was ever in the mood, would be good to know. Especially as everything seemed to work the same as it did in her homeworld minus some size.

As she stepped off onto the staircase landing and began searching for her room number, she mentally groaned. Her position required her to… get along with others. She couldn’t afford to make enemies, nor could she burn through any initial goodwill she may garner as a new transfer.

On top of that, she needed to find a min— partner, which would probably be an easier feat to accomplish if she didn’t default to her usual assertive personality or “fireballs fix all my problems” mentality.

Regrettable as that had done a lot of good for her in the past.

A bell rang signifying that she had about five minutes to find her classroom. Something stressed upon within the school section of the guide.

Renewing her search in earnest, she scanned along the corridor as she hoped that she could find a partner quickly and not end up burning the school to the ground.

Sunset brought out her phone and noted the time on the home screen as 8:15. That would mean it took her fifteen minutes to already be sick of this stupid place.

Grand.

And on the note of stupid things, Sunset refocused on the source of ire.

“—So, I told Rarity that she must be new, but Rarity said that couldn’t be true because it’s so late in the semester, but then I said that it’s not like people can’t transfer whenever they want, but Rainbow Dash said that means you’re some kind of weirdo, and Applejack said—”

The human that had plonked down into a seat across from her, dragged form a nearby desk, had not taken a single breath in the entirety of the last… sixteen minutes in which she had been speaking unprompted.

She reminded Sunset of overly sweet cotton candy. Poofy pink hair, big sweet blue eyes, and clothing that would look better on a foal half her age.

An annoyance that Sunset would have expected the teacher, Mr. Cranky, to have stopped by now. However, he had looked at both of them, put on noise-canceling headphones, and announced loudly that the class should do whatever they wanted to.

Sunset was also certain he was listening to the loudest possible music to better drown everything out.

Coward.

Only sheer force of will had stopped Sunset from jury-rigging materials from around the classroom into a makeshift fireball and chucking it at the pink menace.

“—But anyways, I would have a cake already ready for you, but I had no warning that you were coming! But that’s fine, since I can make it tonight and give it to you tomorrow. So, what’s your favourite flavour? Oh, oh, oh! Don’t tell me, I wanna guess! Is it strawberry? Is it chocolate? Is it vanilla? Is it mango? Is it chimichanga? Is it cherry? Is it—”

Tuning out the girl’s incessant babbling, she instead hyper-focused onto the girl’s jumble of colourful ribbons tied into the tornado of a hairstyle she had. The haphazard placement was a mass of clashing colours that were driving her inner organizer mad.

One in particular, a green ribbon along the right side of her hair, was really bothering her as it didn’t match with any of the other ribbons. It stood out in stark contrast within the chaotic mass.

Before she could decide if she would be able to discreetly remove the offending bow, it moved.

Sunset blinked.

“—Are there any party games you like? Oh, oh, oh, you seem like a dancing type of girl! Do you do the jitterbug? Or dabbing? Or jazz hands? Or blues? Or ballroom? Or tango? Or—”

In morbid fascination, Sunset watched as a long, scaly muzzle slowly inched its way out alongside the girl’s green ribbon. After a short while, a small head with enormous purple eyes revealed itself.

It made direct eye contact with Sunset.

A horrible chill crawled along her skin.

While keeping its eyes locked on her, the alligator living in the girl’s hair opened its mouth revealing its toothless gums, chomped on the bow, and retreated back into its poofy pink lair.

A quick peek to the side showed her a boy with a gray mohawk and dark skin who had watched the whole thing unfold with a bored expression on his face. He shook his head slightly, left to right, so as not to catch the notice of the jabbering girl.

Understanding his message, Sunset returned the gesture with a firm nod and renewed her focus on the now mentally named Gator Girl.

“—So anyway what’s your name?” The Gator Girl finished.

She looked at Sunset expectantly, her head resting atop her arms, pinned to the table. A manic grin was spread across her face that seemed as if it would split her face in half.

Sunset took a deep breath.

“I transferred here because of extenuating circumstances, my favourite cake flavour is red velvet, I like card games especially poker, I prefer salsa though sometimes dabble in swing, and my name is Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset extended a hand forward.

The girl shook it enthusiastically with both hands nearly dislocating Sunset’s shoulder. “That’s super-duper amazing, Sunny! I’m Pinkie Pie! We’re going to be great friends!”

Another face splitting grin followed. Sunset returned the gesture with a nervous smile. Sunset mentally added Pinkie to her “People-NOT-To-Mess-With” list and scratched her off as a possibility for the Bureau.

If this was what she would be subjected to everyday, Homeroom was officially Sunset’s most hated class.

If only because she would have to rename it to “Survival 101”.

Sunset was disappointed. Her current class was mathematics and she was already utterly bored.

Her expectations had been far too high as she had been grossly unaware that “high school level math” had actually meant “math I’d learned when I was ten”. A fact to be added to Sunset’s growing list of complaints about this institution of supposed “higher learning”.

Admittedly, she was a gifted prodigal genius tutored privately by the Princess, but even she knew the average pony should be learning something more complicated than basic algebra.

On top of the boredom, the teacher, for lack of a better word, was attempting to assert dominance as the smartest in the room without realizing they were barking at their superior.

Question after question had been thrown at her since she had sat down, and Sunset had answered each perfectly.

She’d even had the satisfaction of correcting one of the teacher’s mistakes, delivered in the most smarmy and condescending tone Sunset had been capable of.

The sheer rage the teacher — who shall never be named as they weren’t worth remembering — had shown after being bested by someone they saw as a child made Sunset smirk in satisfaction.

It had been enjoyable for a brief moment before the stark realization of having to attend this waste of time every day for half a year crashed in.

As Sunset internally grumbled about her unfortunate circumstances, the teacher, seemingly tired of being one-upped by their better, turned her ire upon a girl sitting behind Sunset that had snickered at Sunset’s earlier correction.

She glanced over her shoulder at the girl. She was fit, clearly an athlete, with rainbow hair combed to a peak and dressed in comfortable athletic wear with the school’s logo The Wondercolts emblazoned on every article of clothing.

“You, uh, sure you wouldn't want to ask someone else?” the girl asked nervously, “Maybe Sunset again?”

Glancing back, Sunset saw an evil smirk alight on the teacher’s face. “Oh, I’m certain I would like you to answer, Ms. Dash.”

By the sneer the teacher had when she said the girl’s name, there was clearly some bad blood, or this “Ms. Dash” was a favoured victim.

Could be both really.

The teacher fired off a convoluted question for determining the distance between two points. It was obtuse, difficult to parse, and a waste of time to calculate.

It was also, admittedly, difficult even for Sunset if only by the annoying number of calculations required to answer it.

A scowl marred Sunset’s face. The teacher was clearly out for blood.

Expectedly, Rainbow Dash struggled to answer the question. In the interest of spiting her intellectual inferior, Sunset opened up one of her notebooks, and wrote down the answer including the correct steps to calculate it in a large, easy-to-read font.

Carefully, Sunset began to tap her notebook with her pencil making a point of emphasizing each pound on the paper.

She smirked when she noticed the teacher scowl, and Dash began to answer the question correctly.

“Well, Ms. Dash, that is… correct,” the teacher offered begrudgingly. “You may sit back down. Now, we’ll start off by reviewing distance equations as I can tell many of you have forgotten them based on the blank stares Ms. Dash received as she answered. Try to keep up.”

“Thanks,” Sunset heard a raspy voice tell her.

Sunset smiled as she wrote down the barest notes about the lesson to remind herself later when she needed to review for any upcoming tests.

She showed an inferior her place, earned some favour with another student, and proved that she was still the smartest person in the room.

All in a good day’s work.

It was noon. Sunset had managed to survive her morning classes despite how lackluster they were. She was concerned about History — a subject she was weak in even on the other side of the portal — but nothing else so far had made her question her ability to pass.

As she stood in line at the cafeteria, she mused on how behind in education the school was. It was a good year or two behind Equestria, which was odd considering the human’s apparent reliance on technology in lieu of magic.

Thankfully, she could simply enjoy a meal at no expense to herself as the Cabin, somehow, had paid for an entire semester of lunches.

Sunset was standing just behind one female student holding a plastic tray.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie demands a meal as magnificent as she is,” the girl said in a haughty tone.

A quick duck of her head hid the resultant snort of amusement that came from Sunset.

The unamused lunch lady — a stout, elderly woman with graying hair and thick forearms dressed in a full-body apron — quirked an eyebrow then unceremoniously dumped a pile of red slop onto the girl’s tray.

The girl — Trixie presumably — grimaced. “Trixie does not suppose you would have something less…” she poked the goopy mass hesitantly, “... mysterious?”

Keeping her expression neutral, the lunch lady slammed her spatula into the palm of the other with a loud slap.

Trixie gulped. “Never mind. The most Grateful and Conforming Trixie appreciates the slop and will eat it with utmost reverence.”

She raced off, managing to clear half the room before tripping and spilling her food across the white tile.

Sunset ignored the girl’s efforts to clean up the mess and moved up in the line as the lunch lady plopped more of the mysterious red slop onto her own tray.

“What is this?” Sunset asked, genuinely curious, “I’ve never seen it before.”

“Sloppy Joe, Sonny. Seasoned red meat,” the lunch lady replied.

Her mind came to a screeching halt as she processed what she had heard. As the gears began to spin once more, she looked down at the food in open revulsion.

“It’s meat?” Sunset said in open disdain, “I don’t suppose you have anything that hasn’t been slaughtered?”

“Oh, great, another one of you vegetarian types.” The lunch lady gave a weary sigh. “Look, due to budget cuts, we don’t have a lot of options anymore.” She gestured to the revolting heap of murdered flesh with a spatula, uncaring. “You’re either going to have to accept it as is, or start bringing your own food.”

“Suits me,” Sunset stated, “Better than this disgusting garbage.”

Grabbing a spoon from a nearby tray, she scraped the revolting food into the nearest trash can, threw the red stained empty platter onto the dirty pile at the end of the line, and made her way towards the exit.

“Hey, now, wait a darn minute,” a thick accented voice called out to her, “Ya can’t be disrespecting her like that!”

Sunset turned to the source of the voice and beheld a thickly muscled girl with a tightly bound blonde ponytail, freckles, and tanned skin. From her practical attire and the veins along her arms, Sunset concluded that she must be some type of farmhand.

Her accent further cemented this observation as it resembled that of rural ponies back in Equestria. Those same ponies that had always taunted her for being an upstart noble unicorn.

She immediately disliked the girl.

“I,” Sunset emphasized, “do not have to do anything. People do not automatically gain my respect by right of existing.”

“Well, ya could have been less rude about it. Declined politely instead of being a darn prick about it,” the girl angrily retorted.

“Polite doesn’t extend to random strangers in the lunchline at school or people who call me out in a public space. Bye.”

Without a second glance, Sunset walked off feeling no need to listen to her retort. She mentally admonished herself as that stunt more than likely threw her reputation down the drain, but Sunset’s mind was focused on other things.

Mainly, that her new body was designed to consume meat.

The guide she had read last night had mentioned this particular detestable piece of information, but Sunset had presumed it to be an odd prank. Coming from a species that was considerably lower on the food chain with neighbours who sometimes enjoyed the partaking of horse meat, confirmation of this did not endear Sunset to so-called “Humankind”.

Whipping out her phone, she opened up a food delivery app she had downloaded the night before and started searching for something that hadn’t been able to speak before it was served.

She needed a damn salad.

It was her second last class of the day and the one she looked forward to the least: History. It was the only class she would have to put in some effort into as her basic knowledge of Equestria was worthless, and she certainly didn’t know anything about the world she had resided in for less than a day.

Her first assignment was announced to be a group project. This would either be a blessing, or a curse depending on who she grouped up with.

Before she could even mull over her options, a girl sitting to her left volunteered herself to be “the new girl’s partner” and rotated her desk to face Sunset.

She was groomed to perfection, her makeup perfectly done and long purple hair brushed into a single wave. She was dressed in seemingly expensive clothes, either due to coming from a family of wealth or because she had a good eye for deals.

Placing her chin between her hands with her elbows propped on the table, she fluttered her exorbitantly long eyelashes.

It was clear to Sunset that she wanted something.

“So, Darling,” she said with an accent that Sunset couldn’t place, “I heard you made a less than stellar impression on a dear friend of mine at lunch.”

Sunset internally cursed.

“I’m not apologizing,” Sunset said.

“And I wasn’t asking you too.” The girl smirked. “I am simply advising you to stay clear of Applejack for a while as, and I quote, ‘she can’t wait to get hold of that varmint that thought she could get away with insulting my granny’.”

“Thanks.” Sunset made a mental note to do as advised. “Though, I do have to question why you are partnering up with the girl who insulted such a ‘dear friend’ of yours.”

“Well, Darling, since you don’t seem to be the type to ‘beat around the bush’, I’ll be quick. My reasoning is threefold.” She extended a single finger from underneath her chin. “One, we’re dear friends, but I can’t help but find some amusement in seeing someone get Applejack’s ‘goat’ considering how often she enjoys giving her ‘practical advice’ about my dress designs. Two.” She extended a second finger. “You seem smart and I would really like to get a decent grade on this project.”

She extended her final finger with a smirk. “And finally, I find it difficult to believe you’re a horrible person as you helped a second of my dearest friends against a certain uptight math teacher.”

Sunset mentally frowned. She was surprised to see someone who seems to want to emulate the nobility associate with a farmhand and a jock. Odd, but useful information, as that meant she might be well connected in the school.

Something to potentially use later, but for now she had to clear up a misconception.

“Your honesty is appreciated, but you are mistaken on one thing.” The girl quirked an eyebrow questioningly. “History is my worst project.”

She clicked her tongue. “Ah, just my luck, of course. Well, regardless, I’m sure between the two of us we can put together something at least passable.” She extended her hand forward. “Rarity Belle.”

Sunset shook Rarity’s offered hand. “Sunset Shimmer.”

“Excellent.” Rarity smiled brilliantly. “With the pleasantries out of the way, shall we get started?”

Sunset opened her locker and switched out her current textbook for another. Her day was to end with Chemistry, another class she presumed that she would add to her list of things she already knew.

Mentally reviewing her notes from History, she internally groaned. Neither her nor Rarity were particularly strong in that subject, which meant both of them would have to put in the effort to do well. This, on top of preparing for the containment of the Celtic Dress, was going to make the coming week irritating.

Thankfully, Rarity was at least competent and willing to put in the work.

“Um, excuse me, but would you be interested in volunteering at the local animal shelter?”

Closing her locker door with a slam, she took in the source of the soft voice that had spoken to her.

A tall, willowy girl with long flowing pink hair dressed in a long sleeved one piece dress that hid as much of herself as possible. She shrunk at Sunset’s gaze while meekly holding out a colourful flier towards her, a stack of similar papers pressed close to her chest.

Cutesy animals in bright colours decorated the flier alongside a declaration that the local animal shelter was recruiting new volunteers.

“I mean, only if you can manage,” the girl continued, “I wouldn’t want to impede on your free time. Oh dear, I’m probably being a bother. Oh, I am being a bother. I shouldn't have even started. Now, I feel ridiculous for even asking. I’m so sorry for bothering you.”

“Sorry, wait, slow down,” Sunset interjected, “Why are you apologizing? I haven’t even said anything yet.”

The girl looked hopeful. “Which means you might say yes?” Her expression then became downturned. “No, it probably means I interrupted you. Oh goodness, I’m being such a bother. I’ll leave you alone now.”

With her head lowered, the odd girl raced off down the corridor.

Sunset just stared after her in utter bafflement. Between Pinkie Pie and this girl, this school was shaping up to be filled with weird people.

Shaking her head, Sunset made her way to her next class while making a note to ask Rarity about her tomorrow.

Sunset burst through the front doors of the school along with the throng of liberated students that rushed past her. She walked towards the statue where she knew the portal would be located, and dropped her bag just at the foot of it.

A pegasus in flight. An oddity in a world in which they didn’t seem to exist but were in abundance back in Equestria.

She laid a hand tentatively on the surface of the base pedestal then flinched away when it rippled in response.

Still there.

Looking inward, she reviewed her day. She was disappointed in her inability to find a definitive partner, but it had been an unrealistic hope to find one on the first day of school.

However, she had also expected to find at least a few prospects.

As it stood, Pinkie Pie was a flat no. She could handle the weirdness of the bureau, but that girl was in a league of her own and not one Sunset wanted to take part in.

Rainbow Dash was a viable option as an athlete and Sunset had made a favourable impression by helping her out earlier that day, but she was friends with Applejack who she had most definitely not. An apology would be required and Sunset refused.

Therefore, those two were also both no.

Rarity seemed like a good option, but was also seemingly too well connected. Sunset needed discretion, at least early on, and for what good points she had, Rarity didn’t seem like the type to keep things to herself.

Outside of ones she knew personally, there was the girl with the fliers, but Sunset would need to inquire about her with Rarity and she seemed far too similar to an invertebrate.

There was the boy with the mohawk from homeroom as well Trixie from the Cafeteria, but that would require joining their social circles to potentially find them to be a good fit. She already didn’t want to speak with other people. Going out of her way to meet more strangers was not aligned with her interests.

Besides that, she didn’t have the time.

It was Monday. The Celtic Dress would appear Friday. She had to find a partner by then or she would need to wait a month for its next appearance.

The Cabin would probably give her the time to complete the task, but Sunset didn’t want to push her luck and lose her only means of staying in this world by being fired for incompetence.

Even past that, Sunset Shimmer would not be released from a position of power because she wasn’t good enough.

That. Simply. Won’t. Do.

An involuntary growl escaped her as her frustrations boiled over. Making friends was not one of her skills. She had gotten by doing things alone with her ambition, her drive, and her talent.

Many had tried to ride along with her upward momentum with their own ambitions of grandeur, but Sunset had never been one to allow it.

It had given her a deep distrust of others. Finding someone she could trust went against her very nature. She needed someone that would have her back and keep her alive.

That was a tall order for a self made mare.

At the end of the day, she needed, at a minimum, a loner who was physically capable, and would listen to her without question.

As if that person even existed.

“Hey.”

Startled out of her train of thought, she turned to the source of the interruption.

A tall boy with wavy blue hair stood next to her with a nervous smile. She reminded him of a cornered animal, all twitches and anxious movements.

“And you are?” Sunset replied.

“Flash Sentry.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Just saying hi.”

“Why?” Sunset asked, immediately suspicious of his intentions. She tried for a stab in the dark. “Desperate for friends?”

Flash coughed into his hand, looking away with a sheepish look on his face. “Well, I mean I know people, but, you know, it never hurts to meet someone new, you know?”

A loner then.

She did a cursory glance and mentally matched him against the boys she had met that day. He seemed to be of an average build meaning he could probably do the bare minimum of physical labour.

The gears in Sunset’s brain began to spin. “Are you busy Friday night?” she asked.

“No, not really. Why?”

“Great, can you meet me at the edge of the Everfree Forest that night at 9 O'clock?”

He looked at her with a confused expression before giving a wide grin. “Yeah, definitely.”

She smirked, realizing that she had found her match. “Sunset Shimmer,” she introduced herself.

“Who?” Flash asked.

“Me. I look forward to working with you.”

Flash’s face perked up as he stuttered back, “U-uh, yeah. I do too. See you tomorrow?”

“Sure. Feel free to speak to me at any time.”

With their conversation concluded, Sunset picked up her bag and walked towards the alley she had left from that morning, hopeful that the Cabin elevator would already be waiting for her.

She allowed herself a self satisfied smirk. She had acquired a minion, or partner, she supposed.

Not much of a difference really.

Author's Note

Okay, partner/minion acquired! Onto the first Altered Item next chapter. Looking forward to writing about these two goofs~