The girls watched the reel unfold as Shadow slid off the statue's front. Before Shadow's head hit the ground, a pair of buttery yellow hands caught him and gently lowered him to his charge's side. Fluttershy looked at the two, unsure of what to make of them. Applejack sighed as she sat down, contemplating what the girls had just witnessed.

"Ah don't know about yall, but Ah think what we saw just answered a few questions and made more to ask." She said, looking at the others. She looked at Shadow, a scowl on her face. "Ah, mean; is it a good idea to let him be around her even if it was a job request from royalty?"

"Shadow did make it clear that he doesn't follow anyone's orders, no matter who they are unless it's for a good reason or he agrees with the situation," Pinkie said, looking at the sky. "and why am I just now getting a line in this book? Just because you don't think you can do me justice doesn't mean I should sit here and be quiet the whole time." She added to the sky, where the person who knew who she was talking to won't even dignify that with a response.

The others looked at Pinkie with raised eyebrows, not questioning her, and chaulked that up to Pinkie being Pinkie. Before the others could do anything else, a set of long legs clad in gold-colored shoes stood at the head of Sunset and Shadow's unconscious forms. The girls looked up and saw that those legs belonged to Principal Celestia, standing with her arms crossed and a face that said she was not amused.

"Would someone mind telling me why are Sunset Shimmer and a young male passed out in the school's front yard and why is it that I came out here to check on the progress the construction crew was making to hear someone yelling my full name and something about me having a fat cake loving flank?" She asked, tapping her foot as she waited for an explanation. The others looked on, trying to find a way to describe what happened in a way that didn't get their assigned friend or her guardian in trouble. Before anyone could say anything, Sunset began to stir as her guardian fully regained consciousness.

"Ugh, I haven't felt this much head pain since the tequila incident during Carnival." He muttered, massaging his head in an attempt to relieve the pain. He then looked up blurry-eyed at the school principal. "Well, this can't be good." Shadow said, looking at the girls for an explanation of what happened and why their principal was there.

"That would depend on your explanation of who you are and what happened, young man." Celestia said, with Shadow looking mildly annoyed at being called a 'young man.' Shadow stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back. Shadow wasn't sure if it would be a good idea to be honest as he stood before her and tried to think of something. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have an option other than to be honest. Sunset looked up at her guardian in blurry-eyed confusion.

"Shadow, I thought you left already." She muttered, unaware of her principal standing next to her or the wince he made at her words. She did notice that the other girls stared at her with wide eyes. Sunset raised her eyes in confusion why they were staring at her like that. The other girls looked to Sunset's left, and she followed their eyes, only to meet the sight of her principal's hips. Sunset looked up and met those familiar eyes, the same eyes that she had seen her mentor give her far too many times to count. "Oh, I'm in trouble again, aren't I?" She whispered, feeling an increase of dread in her chest.

"Again, that would depend on your explanation of what happened here, Miss. Shimmer," Celestia said, shifting her eyes from Sunset to the young man she had called Shadow. "also, how can that be Superatentent Shadow? He looks like he couldn't be much older than you."

"I do believe I can explain that, Tia," he said, getting off the ground as he brushed off his pants and straitened his shirt. With his cloaths back in decent order, his form began to change and grow into the man who had stepped into Celestia's office earlier that morning. "this would be what you were thinking of when you heard my name, right?" He looked at the school principal seeing the shock and confusion. Celestia nodded and then looked at Sunset as if she would be able to clarify what she had just witnessed.

Sunset shrugged, just as confused with everything her caretaker could do. Shadow stood in front of the portal, inspecting it to make sure whatever spell was on it had worn off and wouldn't affect anyone else who decided it would be a good idea to start poking around it again. When he seemed satisfied with his findings, he put his hand on Celestia's shoulder and took her inside the school to explain everything that had transpired outside.

With Shadow gone and lunch almost done, Sunset and the girls packed up their things to head back, the girls to class, and Sunset returned her tray before getting back to work. After disposing of her trash and returning her lunch tray, Sunset began her return to work, only to be stopped by a gruff and masculine voice.

"Well, look, Hell spat back out its demon." Said a voice belonging to the school's resident muscle for brain meat heads with Gilda and Lightning Dust. "See, guys? I told you that the she-demon was alone." The same voice belonging to Dumbbell caption of the boys' wrestling team and notorious bully wannabe. The five began to inclose Sunset as they closed in on her grinning as they cracked their knuckles. "As Gilda told you last weekend, she-demon: it's payback time." With those words, they all began their assault, pushing and punching Sunset until they had her on the ground.

With Sunset on the ground, Gilda drew closed, having a crazed look in her eyes. Gilda put her foot on Sunset's back, grabbing her arms to force them behind her. "That stupid mut of yours nearly broke my arms that night," She grunted, making Sunset's arms straight behind her at an aquitard angle. "so, I'm going return the favor with yours." Before pulling any farther, she felt someone behind her and her allies. Behind them stood a young man with dark chocolate brown hair and sea-green eyes covered by black-rimmed glasses. He had fair skin, wairing a sea foam green shirt with a gold-colored number one in the middle and rusty red cuffs on the short sleeves. He wore dark blue jeans and white socks with black sneakers.

"Oh, it's just the other freak," Gilda grunted, letting go of Sunset's arms. "Lightning, Dumbbel, you two hold this she-demon while I deal with him." Gilda stormed over to the young man, a cold sneer on her face. "What do you want? We're busy here, so unless you want to join the she-demon in a beating, keep walking and keep your mouth shut."

The young man stood firm, his arms crossed in defiance, "What I want is for you to leave her alone." He said with his voice calm but with a slight lisp. Gilda sneered at him, drawing closer, her fist clenched. Sunset knew what she was going to do. Her eyes widened as her anger boiled, not because of what was being done to her but because of Gilda's actions. Sunset felt her skin getting hotter as her anger grew. Lightning and Dumbbells yelped in pain as they let the limbs they held go; they stood back and looked at their hands, seeing first-degree burns. Sunset, finally free, stood shaking in barely contained fury.

"Don't you dare hurt him, Griffen." Sunset growled as her whole body seethed in rage. The area around her warped as the temperature rose, sending heat waves out around her. Gilda, who didn't notice the sudden rise in temperature or her allies backing off in fear, stood defiant. "I may have been a bitch during my time as queen, but even I had lines that I wouldn't cross, and your about to cross it."

Gilda raised her eyebrow at her words, then cackled in delight. "You hear that, boys? The she-demon has continence all of a sudden, and of all the times to use it, she decides to use it on of all people Rusty Re-"

"Don't . . . you... dare. . . finish that SENTENCE!" Sunset screeched before Gilda could even get passed the T in her word. With the force of the screech, a massive sound blast ripped from her vocal cords in a way that sounded like an angry bird of prey. The sound wave, with the sudden heat rise, sent some backward and others knocked unconscious. When Sunset finally calmed down, she saw that her attempted hero had been spared from the blast, but his glasses had been knocked off. Sunset saw where his glasses had landed, picked them up, and returned them to the boy now named Rusty. She knelt, handing Rusty his glasses. "Are you okay?" She asked, worried that she had somehow hurt him with that shockwave.

"Oh, I'm fine," Rusty said, pushing his reacquired glasses back into place, "thank you." His sea-green eyes seem to sparkle behind his glasses, giving them the appearance of a calm sea after a storm. Sunset stood up, offering her hand to the kneeling boy. Rusty grabbed the offered hand, surprised at how warm it was, and stood still holding onto the outstretched hand.

Before either one could speak, Sunset began to waver as she became dizzy and lightheaded. Sunset began to fall over, but before she could hit the ground, her shadow warped as a huge, black wolf popped out of it catching her by the back of her head in his furry side. The wolf lay down, trying to keep Sunset's head as steady as possible against him. The wolf whimpered in worry, as he nuzzled the firey-haired girl at his side. Rusty watched in fascination as he tried to approach the black wolf.

Rusty knelt next to Sunset, checking for any signs of trauma. He felt Suset's body shifting in pain as the wolf touched a spot on her back with his nose. The wolf wedged his nose under her shirt, lifting the back as best he could. Rusty watched as her shirt was lifted, revealing two lines of blood trickling down her back and the bruising on her back where Gilda's foot had been. The wolf tried to clean up the blood with his tongue, only to be shoved away from the wounded area.

"You can't do that, it'll only make things worse," Rusty said, gently lifting Sunset and putting her on the wolf's back. "Now, obviously you are not your average wolf, so follow me and I'll show you to the nurse's office." The wolf nodded in understanding as he followed the young man who tried to help his charge.

Author's Note

Well, that was a bit harder than I'm used to, but at least I got this chapter out on time, and also I would like to give a big thanks to Sudarian Engineer for giving me the ideas for this chapter as well as allowing me to use their OC in this book.

and you better have me doing something more my thing in the next chapter

Pinkie, wait, right where you are a sec.

Okay, but this laptop screen is starting to chafe my tummy. . . and is that a mallet?

GET

SQUEAK

BACK

SQUEAK

IN THERE

SQUEAK

YOU

SQUEAK

LITTLE

SQUEAK

PINK

SQUEAK

SQUEAKY TOY

Okay, she's gone. Sorry about that folks, besides looking for a way to put chains around my screen and still be able to see what I'm typing, I won't be able to post anything, this weekend, because this weekend, this time of year is important to me. Anyways until next time, this is Pride Morningstar signing off 😈.