Author's Note

Well, here's the chapter we all knew was coming. Once again, if I have disturbed anyone, I apologize in advance. It's just how it'll be for this story.

Should anyone want to see what we planned for The Septet to look like, here's a little somethin':

Chapter 2: Life Choices

Sunset Shimmer looked at the letter in her hands and pursed her lips together. It wasn’t right what had happened and it felt even worse now after reading the letter. When she got home after being questioned at the police station, there had been a Vogel International spokesperson waiting for her at her front door. He had handed the letter to her and was willing to explain everything to her after she had read it.

Vogel was willing to compensate her for the death of Pine Resin with a sum of forty-five thousand dollars and all they wanted from her was to sign that she wasn’t going to go to court with this and basically to forget about the whole ordeal.

Sunset wasn’t even able to yell at the man for suggesting such a thing, because she was still very shaken about what had happened. In a single second, everything had been taken from her and Vogel acquainted forty-five thousand with the life of her boyfriend?

And then it had been on the TV as well.

“I was just running after these criminals in their armored truck, then from nowhere, this guy jumped off onto the road and I couldn’t stop in time,” Z-Truck had said, the heroine who had run through Pine.

What was he talking about? Pine hadn’t done that. We were at the traffic light!

Tears dripped down Sunset’s cheeks as she crumbled the letter under her grip. Pine hadn’t deserved that. He was going to do so much good in life, not even for himself, but for the good of others. He didn’t deserve to be turned to mush, especially not by a superhero she looked up to.

The question now was why would Z-Truck lie about it? Why did he have to say that Pine jumped into his path?

Sunset tossed the letter aside and cradled her head in her hands, sobbing. She didn’t want to accept the money. It wasn’t right. She wanted to go straight to the authorities and tell them it wasn’t true. She wanted to do exactly what Vogel told her not to do. She wanted to get justice from this.

“But what are you going to be able to do here, Sunny…?” Sunset said to herself, her voice croaky. Vogel basically owned everything. How could she file a lawsuit against a company that powerful?

She was angry. Angry that Vogel and Z-Truck seemed to be treating it so lightly. Pine wasn’t just some random person on the street. He was the one she loved the most in this world. She was the one to go to when she needed help or advice, and now he was gone and there was no one she could turn to about what she could do about all of this.

She had also contemplated ending it all here. She didn’t have anything else to live for. She came to this world to amass power, but her reason for staying became Pine Resin, and she had given up on her idea of world conquest completely. Sunset shook her head. She didn’t want to go back there. That wasn’t her anymore.

She also couldn’t go back to Equestria. Not after what she had said and done to Princess Celestia. She didn’t know what to do but to sit there and cry.

All of a sudden, there was a knock on her front door and she looked up. Who could it be now? Why couldn’t they all just leave her alone?

Wiping her eyes, Sunset cursed under her breath and walked to the door, first putting an eye to the peephole. It was a blue skinned woman with black hair, dressed in a patterned shirt with a dark trench coat over it.

Unlocking her door, Sunset pulled it open an inch and asked, “What?”

“Well, well, well. Looks like I got the right place,” the woman in the trench coat said. She had a deeper than usual voice and spoke with a very strong Trottingham accent. “You’re Sunset Shimmer.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Sunset asked.

“Name’s Milly.” The woman flipped open a little black holder to reveal an FBI badge and a photo of her grizzled face. “Milly Mulcher. A shame what they’ve done to ya.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Sunset had to be sure.

“The whole Z-Truck accident.” She leaned against the doorway and folded her arms. “Well, they say it’s an accident. But I don’t like what I’m seein’. Condolences to ya, by the way. Awful farmin’ thing that happened.”

“Thank you…” Sunset said slowly. What was an FBI agent doing here?

“Ya know, you’re not the only one who’s lost someone from some supe related farm-up,” Mulcher continued. “Happens a lot more than ya think. People just don’t hear about it, is all.”

“What?” The girl didn’t know what she was hearing. Pine wasn’t the first one? But superheroes were meant to save people. “I’m-I’m sorry, but did you want something from me?”

“Couple of moments of your time,” Mulcher said, leaning in a little too close. “Ya see, what happened to Pine Resin goes on all over the country. But people don’t want to know. Ya wanna know why?”

Supes killing people all the time? How could she even believe something like that? “No. Why?”

Mulcher entered her house and went over to the closest window and crooked her finger for Sunset to come join her. Outside there was a massive billboard of a movie that was set to star King Max and Refraction. “That’s why. Billions of dollars of merchandising and corporations coming off of them supes. People like the idea of some golden cock swooping out of the sky to save the day, so they don’t got to do it themselves. Supe ‘accidents’ like Pine Resin, get swept under the rug by Vogel. Farmin’ diabolical, ‘innit? But then… That’s where I come in.” Mulcher did a twirl with her fingers and pointed to herself.

“Umm… you come in to… do what, exactly?”

“Hammer the supes where it ‘urts when the buggers step out of line.”

“You want to… hammer a supe?” Sunset gulped. “How do you even do that?”

“That’s what I want to show ya, Sunset.” Mulcher suddenly turned and proceeded back to the front door. “Come with me. I’ll show you exactly what I mean.”

“Wait, go with you? I don’t even know you.”

Mulcher turned and placed a hand on her chest. “I told ya. Milly Mulcher. FBI. Now come on. What I’m going to show you will change your mind about ‘em goody two shoes supes. Just come have a butcher’s hook.”

“A-A what?” Sunset still wasn’t sure if she wanted to go. Maybe Mulcher was right. Maybe she did like the idea of supes solving her problems. She didn’t want to actually do it herself. “Anyway, I think I’m good. I’m sorry.”

“Right, right. That’s thermocline.” The black haired woman nodded with one raised eyebrow. “Well, then I’m off. But let me tell ya… Once I go, I’m gone. Do you want to expose the truth of what happened with Pine Resin, or do ya just wanna stay here and wallow away like the farmin’ cock you’re tryin’ to be?”

Expose the truth? It wouldn’t do Pine any justice for her to just stay here and wallow away. She wanted that. She wanted the world to know it wasn’t his fault for what happened. He hadn’t jumped into the street. But was she really willing to go out there with this weird woman to have a look into it?

Sunset groaned internally, but at the same time, she had a pit in her gut. She knew what had to be done here, but was she willing to do it? She didn't quite know yet.

For Pine...

“So you’ve already seen the room, huh?” Flash Sentry and The Shallow entered the main hall of The Septet, with the latter walking ahead and raising her arms up around it. “But have you… seen it?” She finished with a cute meekly smile. She pointed to the terminals on the walls. “Satellite images from orbit. They can pinpoint the license plates of getaway cars even at a hundred and eighty miles per hour. Pr-pretty neat, right?”

“Yeah, I can see that help a lot of people…” Flash nodded.

“Mhm.” The Shallow waved to The Septet’s table next, which had a glowing surface. “It’s got a built-in interface. It can bring up whatever you want too. Useful when you need to get some information on on-going crimes too.”

“Wow, this place really is amazing.” Flash spun around to take in the circumference of the room. Shallow had been right when she said he hadn’t really seen it yet. Now he wondered if the chairs could do anything too. Or even the mural on the ceiling.

“I-Is this everything you imagined, Dark Sun?” The Shallow stood by the table, twiddling her fingers together.

“Everything I imagined?” Flash asked incredulously. “It’s better than what I imagined! So, when do I get my first assignment? I know it’s late and all, but I’m just so… Everything is so surreal.”

“Protectorate Sod usually is in charge of handing out assignments,” The Shallow said. “But she isn’t here at Vogel Tower right now. She’s a very busy hero, Protectorate Sod.”

“I’ll bet she is,” Flash nodded. “Being the leader of such an amazing band of heroes can’t be easy. But that’s why she’s the captain, because she can handle it. That time when she pulled the whole bus full of children out of the water, that was truly amazing.”

“Y-Yeah, Protectorate Sod really is something else…” Shallow clapped her hands together, then went to toying with her braid. “Your, umm, your favourite superhero must be Protectorate Sod, right? I mean, it seems like it…”

“What, Protectorate Sod?” Flash leaned on the nearby pillar and chuckled. “No, no. She’s like, everyone’s favourite hero. No, no, I’ve always thought she was way too powerful for me as a favourite hero. You know, she's the common choice of most people and I didn't want to just be in the same boat as everyone else. You know what, my favourite hero was actually you.”

Shallow’s cheeks slightly coloured and she leaned further back so her hair was now partially covering her face. “Wh-what… Me?”

“Yeah, you know…” Flash looked out the window at the city below. It was already evening and the sky was already beginning to get dark. “You can breathe underwater, and you can talk to fish. I always thought that was pretty cool. Plus, um, well, I sorta did have a crush in you when we were in school together. Sounds weird, I know.”

“W-We were in school together?” Shallow continued to play with her braided hair.

“Yeah, Canterlot doesn’t have very many schools. I played in a band in high school, if you remember what it was like.”

Flash reminisced on the days where he would just get on stage and play a wicked electric guitar. He used to be really good at it, but it had been a few years since he’d really played anything of such caliber. Normally he’d just take it out to strum a tune or two nowadays. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember seeing The Shallow at many of his concerts. She was a rather shy heroine. Perhaps she never went to such events.

Flash turned back from the window and was about to ask her if she had attended any of the concerts when he noticed, to quite his surprise, The Shallow was seated on the table with her pants down around just her left leg. She had her left hand sliding up and down her pussy slit, gently stroking it in full view of him.

“Woah, woah, woah… Uhh…” Flash looked away, his face going bright red. He flicked his eyes all over the room instead.

“U-Umm… you did say, umm, you had a crush on me, didn’t you?” The Shallow asked quietly. “I-I mean, we don’t ha-have to do it… You could just… have a little snack before you go.”

“Hey, well, look, uh… This isn't... Uh... You know...” Flash pointed to the entryway. “I should go.”

The boy hurriedly began walking away, almost falling over one of the chairs, but he was swiftly at the entryway.

“Dark Sun, come on, wait!” she called, and he was about to walk out completely, but then she said, “I mean, it’s a matter of how much you want to be a member of The Septet, isn’t it?”

Her tone had changed. It sounded more… firm and somehow… more seductive.

He turned back and the look on her face had changed. It was as though a shadow had passed over her eyes and she had a sinister smile on her lips.

“What did you say?”

Her smile only got wider. This wasn’t the same innocent-faced girl he remembered. “Oh, you know, I’ve been in The Septet much longer than you have. I’m sure if I decided to, you know, voice it out, off you go. Just like that.”

Flash couldn’t believe what he was hearing. And from his favourite hero, no less. She was blackmailing him. His eyes started to glow orange and the lights in the room began to flicker, with the darkness occasionally blanketing them and making him seem like a demon from the netherworld, with only his flaming eyes visible. This wasn’t what he wanted. This wasn’t at all what he had dreamed of when he realized he would be able to work alongside such great superheroes.

“Come on, you can stop with that.” The Shallow waved her right hand in the air. “I know, you’ve got quite the power. That’s why Vogel decided to put you in The Septet. And you can have a great future ahead, Dark Sun. You can do what you’ve always dreamed of doing. You can save people, you can inspire people to be just like you, you can make a name for yourself. You can fight alongside The Septet! Or… you could be in the worst rut of your life for attacking me…” She gave him a cheeky wink.

“Attack you?” Flash looked at his hands, then back at her. “I didn’t attack you.”

The Shallow hopped off the table, then sashayed her way over, swinging her hips from side to side as she walked. “Look, who do you think they would believe? You? A boy and the newest member of The Septet? Or me, an innocent girl who was forced down by a man? Your choice…”

She stopped in front of Flash and smirked. All he could do was stand there and hope it wasn’t really happening.

“It won’t take long. I promise…” She rubbed a finger down his chest and then ran it up her womanhood. “And once we’re done, you can continue to have everything you dreamt of… So what will it be, Dark Sun?”