“Everybody down! This is a robbery!” Mask Culprit yelled as he trained his rifle across the sea of people in the bank as most of them got down to their knees and raised their arms. “We wanna harm no one. Think of your loved ones. Don’t try to be a hero. Stay down, and this will be over before you know it!”

Cripes Stripes, his right hand man, ran up to him and handed him the vault key taken from the bank manager. He ran it over to his other associate, Wild Stallion, handing the key over to him before pointing his gun back on the civilians.

One man tried to stand up, and Mask Culprit depressed his trigger twice and the man had two red stains on his chest, which were quickly spreading. Now he was able to comply as he fell down on the ground.

The other civilians had screamed out in terror when his gunshots rang out, but now they knew better than to test his patience.

Wild Stallion had gotten the vault open and he was already in the process of tossing out bags of money.

“Airy Nose and I will start gettin’ them to the getaway,” Cripes said and tossed one bag to their fourth associate, before slinging one over his own shoulder.

Mask nodded and kept his eyes alert, making sure no one would try to call the police. He dug into his suit pocket and pulled out a stopwatch. So far they’d been here seven minutes. If an alert had gone out, the cops would be here in another three, but so far, everything was good. One of the security guards reached for the holster at her side, but Mask saw it and immediately, she had a new hole between her eyes and blood and brain matter splattered out the back of her head, coating three civilians and the nearby wall. Screams erupted again.

“Shut your mouths, all of you!” Mask yelled violently and took two steps closer.

By now, there were seven bags of money on the floor, and Wild Stallion ran out with an eighth bag. “We’re all done here, boss. Time to go.”

But something was wrong, and Mask cursed himself for not noticing it sooner. The pile of bags had only increased. Cripes and Airy hadn’t come back to get the rest.

“They should’ve been back by now. The getaway isn’t far…” Mask narrowed his eyes. What had happened?

“Excuse me, gentlemen…” a powerful voice sounded above them.

Above?

Mask quickly looked up to see a fluttering Canterlot flag-styled cape, which was white with purple stripes and the emblem of a golden horse imprinted near the top, and wearing the cape was a woman with blonde hair and a dark blue and purple suit, with a similar stetson atop her head.

Mask Culprit stepped back in fear. The supes weren’t supposed to be on them already. The cops always came first, should they come at all. And this was no ordinary heroine.

“I-It’s Protectorate Sod!” A civilian woman got up and pointed excitedly. “She’s come to save us!”

Mask saw his chance and ran over to grab her, pointing his rifle at her head. The crowd screamed around him, and the woman started sobbing.

“Get back! Go away or I blow her head clean off!” Mask yelled at Protectorate Sod.

“Woah there…” She raised both her gloved hands. “No one needs to die here. Put the gun down.”

“I’ll put it down once we’re well away from here with all the money!”

Protectorate Sod shook her head. “They never learn, do they?”

In just a split second, her eyes emanated a red glow and twin beams of red-hot lasers shot out to Mask’s hand holding the gun.

He didn’t even have time to pull the trigger. It had all happened so fast that he didn’t even feel the pain at first. He soon looked down at his hand, or really, what was left of it. The rifle had been blasted from his grip and was now lying behind him, its trigger and its handle were gone and the corners where they used to be were smoking and melting. And all that was left of Mask’s hand was a quarter of his palm. Four of his fingers lay on the floor close to the rifle and the lasers had been so hot, his wounds had immediately cauterized.

Mask Culprit dropped to his knees and cried out in pain, grasping his arm as Protectorate Sod landed by him, her hands on her hip, a smile on her face.

Wild Stallion started shooting at him from behind, the sound of his rifle unloading its ammunition echoing through the bank and making the civilians scream again.

Protectorate Sod simply rolled her eyes and she stepped back into Wild Stallion in a blur of blue and purple and the criminal was launched across the room into the vault door, knocking himself out when he hit his head.

“Justice is served,” Sod said and held her arms outstretched to the sides. “Canterlot citizens, y'all are safe now. The police will be here shortly. Don’t worry about these criminals. They’ll be in cuffs in no time.”

“You’re a hero, Protectorate Sod!” a woman cried out.

“Just doin’ my job.” She saluted to them, then stepped back. “Take care, citizens. Y’all are gems to Canterlot.”

And then she bent her knees and rocketed out of the roof. Mask Culprit hadn’t moved, still clutching his hand even as the sirens outside got louder and louder.

“Just the day in the life of a superhero, citizens of Canterlot,” Protectorate Sod said behind a podium with a row of four mics. “We are here for you, whenever you need us, we have your back!”

Sunset Shimmer chuckled as she continued watching the interview on her phone. It must’ve been awesome, having powers to do what was right. That made her think back to her time in Equestria, when she had been a student of Princess Celestia. She had left for this world long ago, where magic wasn’t a thing. Being here, she was just like all the humans in this world, except some of them were born with special powers, with one of them being Protectorate Sod, the world’s strongest supe.

Sunset was thankfully she had given up her evil ways all those years ago. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like if Protectorate Sod was coming after her. She only had Pine Resin to thank for turning her life around.

Pine Resin was a human whom she had dated when she first came to the human world to popularize her image in school. He was in the football team and he was quite the star athlete. Someone who had a lot of eyes on him all the time.

She had sought to gain wealth and power here, something she didn’t have back in Equestria, but after being with Pine for so long, Sunset realized the folly of her ways and she gave up her plans of conquest to live a normal life with him. It had been five years now, since she had left Canterlot High and it had already been ten years since she was with this amazing boy.

“Cappuccino for my pretty girl, and a coffee black for me.” Pine Resin swooped back onto the bench she was sitting on, holding out a paper cup to her.

“Thanks, Pine.” Sunset gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and accepted the hot cup. It was nice to have something warm on a cold day. “Was it packed inside?”

The orange haired boy made a sound, then waved a hand. “Nah. More than usual, but maybe it’s ‘cause the chill’s chasing everyone indoors to get a cuppa.”

“I don’t understand why everyone wants to be inside when they can be outside enjoying the air,” Sunset said sarcastically. She breathed in and her throat was already stinging from the cold. “Your cappuccino came at the right time.”

She took a sip from it and immediately warmth began to flow down her trachea and then her gut, followed by the rich taste of caffeine and cream.

“Mmm… delish.” Sunset licked her lips. “Say, when will you be leaving for Manehattan again?”

“Oh, in three days. Why?”

Sunset smirked. Pine Resin was set to further his studies in Manehattan, where he would continue on to get a doctor’s degree in medicine. He wanted to be able to save people, just like the superheroes who saved countless lives everyday. Sure, he didn’t have powers like they did, but he would be able to work in a different area and save lives in a different manner. That just made her love him even more.

“I’ve decided.” Her smile got wider. “I’m coming with you.”

Pine’s eyes brightened. “Wha-what? Really? You’ll come?”

“Yeah! I don’t want to spend so long away from you. It’s not like I really had anything tying me down here anyway. I’ll come!” Sunset put a hand on his and inched closer. “It’ll be fun!”

“Oh, Sunny, you don’t know how happy this makes me!” Pine Resin wrapped his arms around her, then quickly pulled away and balanced his coffee. “Whoops, don’t want to spill all that over you. We-we should celebrate! Go somewhere fancy! I don’t know, maybe that Maredrid restaurant you like, El Azucar.”

“Yeah, that’ll be nice!” Sunset giggled and drank more of her cappuccino. “Life with a doctor. I wonder how that’ll be like, hmm?”

She herself had taken up a degree of computer science. Yes, it was something she hadn’t thought she’d do, but it was interesting, nonetheless. If anything, at least she now knew how to put computers together. If her past self were to come here right now, she’d be shocked at what the future held.

Getting up from the bench, the two young adults left the park and went down the street, hand in hand, drinks in the other. Sunset couldn’t wait. She was going with Pine to Manehattan. She had already packed what little she needed in her luggage and all they had to do now was wait three days.

“Anything else you want to do before we leave Canterlot?” Pine shook her hand. “Last chance.”

Sunset thought about it. She didn’t have any friends here besides Pine. Most people in Canterlot High had been afraid of her, even after she’d dropped her whole ambitious conquest, so she never really made any lasting relationships besides the one she had now.

“Hey, how about we go to Vogel World? Tomorrow?” Pine suggested. “We could spend all day there. Maybe even book a hotel there to stay the night?”

Sunset Shimmer grinned at the idea. Vogel World was an impossibly large theme park, owned by the ambitious Vogel International, who basically owned just about everything you could think of. They had the theme park industry, the movie industry, the technological industry, hay, they even owned a school for the gifted. They also owned all the superheroes of the world. They were like the publicizers of them all, spreading their deeds and fame worldwide.

Vogel World had everything you wanted in a theme park. Death defying roller coaster rides, submarine rides, a humongous ferris wheel, you name it, they had it.

The two of them stopped at the traffic light and threw their finished cups in a nearby bin. It didn’t seem like a busy hour, so there were barely any cars on the street. She didn’t know why they had to wait for the green light.

“I want to ride Poolfreezer’s Penguin Adventure till I puke,” Sunset laughed. She had been on the ride a couple of times. The cart was shaped like a penguin and they would just slide down an icy slope that looked like it was made by Poolfreezer. “It’s too bad she’s retired now. I wonder who’s gonna take her place?”

“Yeah, me too, Sunny.” Pine gave her hand a squeeze. “Hey, whatever you want, we can ride them all till your legs give out.”

“Do you count, Pine?” Sunset prodded him playfully.

He moved in front of her to face her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “Do you want it to?”

Sunset grinned and ran a hand along his face. Then she pulled him in and planted a kiss on his lips. “I love you, Pine.”

“I lo-”

A sudden buzz filled Sunset’s ears and it was as though a high speed truck had just driven by right in front of her face, just barely inches away. She flinched and shut her eyes, grasping Pine Resin’s arms tightly at her sides. Then she realized he should’ve been in front of her, so there was no way she would’ve felt something whizz by that close to her.

Sunset cracked an eye open, but Pine was no longer standing there. She looked around frantically, then she spotted a splash of blood to her right, spanding at least four meters away from her. Standing in the blood was a frantic looking girl with rainbow hair and she had pulled goggles off her face and she was wiping at their lenses. She looked down, then she looked at the blood on herself. She was covered head to toe in blood and there was what looked like a jawbone hanging off the side of her head.

Then she looked at Sunset, and a look of worry shot up into her face. “I-I’m sorry, I can’t stop. I can’t stop.”

She put her goggles back on and then she was off down the street, disappearing faster than Sunset could blink. What sounded like a truck’s horn blared out around her as she disappeared.

Sunset panted heavily. There was so much blood and bits of bone on the street. What had even happened? Then she remembered Pine. Where had he gone? He was just here, holding on to her. He still was...

The fiery haired girl slowly made herself look down. There in her hands were Pine Resin’s arms, the fingers still curled around her waist. At the elbows, there were just bloody stumps, with a splintered bone sticking out of the right arm. Other than that, Pine was gone, completely obliterated to her right.

“P-P-P…” Sunset’s voice wavered as tears filled her eyes. Then she opened her mouth to scream. “P-PINEEEE!!!”

Author's Note

Well well well, if it ain't the author's notes. Well, I know, it's a rather weird story. Funny story, we started on this idea after talking about putting it into Servant as another easter egg and it somehow blew up into a full fledged story. I do hope what we have pleases and if the eventual chapters do offend anyone, I apologize in advance. That's just what The Boys is.

Hopefully we'll have a better cover picture sometime. I just threw one together quickly so that there's something at least.

Cheers, y'all! Continue to stay safe!