Hotter Than Hell

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Epilogue

Chapter 1

No plan ever survives contact with a human high school. Sunset Shimmer realized that, now.

Sure, she was nothing if not adaptable. Even far from home, some things were universal, and she was smart enough to make up the difference. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t annoyed.

Sunset knew herself well enough to know that she became vindictive to blow off stress. Today was one of those days.

“Glue,” Sunset said, holding out her hand, not looking. A plastic bottle was placed in her palm.

Sunset had already picked open the tumblers on the locker in front of her, the one with an extravagant sign that carried the name Rarity. She squeezed half the bottle of glue into a plastic sandwich bag, the kind with just a folded-over flap to close, and carefully taped it up into the locker, such that opening the door would upend it.

She shut the door carefully, and then carelessly tossed the bottle across the hallway, where it landed on the floor right below a locker with nearly as extravagant a sign that read Pinkie Pie.

That done, she turned to walk away. “What’s next?”

“You…” pages rustled behind her “...had an appointment with Applejack behind the gym.”

Sunset headed that way, pushing open the outside door into the winter air, putting her hands in her pockets, and keeping to the path that had been shoveled clear of snow. She was cutting class, but all the teachers trusted her with a hall pass. They probably trusted Applejack, too, but of the two of them, Applejack looked much more uncomfortable exploiting it when Sunset saw her.

Applejack leaned against the wall of the building, apparently not feeling the cold in her usual hick farmer clothes, but straightened up when Sunset appeared. There were cowboy bootprints in the snow around her; she’d been pacing. “You said you had something to tell me about my brother? Why ain’t he been around?”

“I’m so sorry,” Sunset began, feigning doe eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I saw him with someone. Maybe that’s why he’s been gone.”

She showed Applejack a picture on her phone. Sunset had lifted a few pictures from last year’s school yearbook and photoshopped them to appear that Applejack’s brother was kissing a girl named Fluttershy. Sunset didn’t know or care what had actually happened to him, but that just meant he wasn’t around to refute the fake picture.

At any rate, Applejack’s breath hitched. “That little…”

“And hey, can you keep it a secret that I told you?” said Sunset. “I wouldn’t want anyone to know that I took this picture. I’ll delete it.” She did so, in front of Applejack. At least this copy.

Sunset wasn’t interested in finding out what had happened to Applejack’s brother; she was just fanning the girl’s frustration and Fluttershy just so happened to be a convenient target.

“Don’t worry,” Applejack replied, though her tone conflicted her words and suggested that she was actually the one worried. “Ah...guess Ah owe you a secret, too.”

She definitely did. Sunset subtly reminded her, in the guise of concern: “Speaking of, are you and Rainbow doing good? I mean, I wouldn’t want to pry. I’m totally an ally, if you’re dating a girl.”

Applejack flushed bright red and pulled her hat low over her face. “Ah don’t want to talk about it.” She started to turn away, but paused, turning back. “Wait, what’s with that freshman? Silver Spoon, right? Can you trust her?”

“Uh-!” The girl following Sunset gulped at being suddenly recognized.

“Don’t worry about her,” Sunset said.

Applejack looked dubious, but was distracted with larger worries, and left.

“What’s next?” Sunset said after she was gone.

“Um…” Silver Spoon flipped a few pages in the schedule.

Sunset turned to look at her, impatient. Silver gulped and adjusted her glasses, which had fogged from her hot breath in the chill air. “Nothing! That’s all for today.”

“Get me a muffin for breakfast,” Sunset said. “Hmm...a blueberry one. Where’s my backpack?”

Silver was wearing it, and hastily slipped it off. It fell out of her hands, though, and she darted to the ground to scoop up a notebook that had fallen out.

Sunset shoved her over into the snow before Silver could touch it. She picked up the notebook herself, threw a look at the cowering Silver, and then turned away, putting the notebook back in the backpack. “You know not to touch my things.”

Silver mumbled a feeble reply, but Sunset was already walking away.

The freshman was not especially useful, Sunset just liked having an assistant. At any rate, she kept Silver fed with just enough praise to think she was doing a good job, and took advantage of an extra pair of hands when she needed them. It helped that Silver Spoon’s family was loaded.

Sunset walked away from the school grounds, though the day wasn’t quite over. She didn’t tell Silver where she was going this time. Though she was confident Silver would covet her no matter what, there were some things that her assistant did not need to know.

There were things that Sunset would never admit, not to anyone.

She stopped by her apartment to change into something more casual and nondescript. Putting up the hood of her sweatshirt and keeping her head down, she headed for the city park. Sunset wasn’t sure why she was drawn to the grass and greenery, even if they were covered in snow. She told herself it was to get away from human stupidity for a while, but it did remind her of Equestria. Trees were trees everywhere.

She walked aimlessly, caught up in her own thoughts, until evening was beginning to fall. Spotting a bench, she made for it on impulse, falling heavily upon it. It was cold, but mostly snow-free.

There was a picnic firepit nearby. Sunset stared at it for a few moments, and then reached into her backpack, pulling out the notebook. Rummaging deeper, she pulled out a disposable lighter she’d used to trip a fire alarm the previous week and flicked it, setting the notebook on fire.

Sunset stared at the flames as they began to consume the paper, but didn’t really see, too preoccupied. She tossed the notebook in the firepit, and watched it burn.

Taking a breath, she sat back and glanced at her phone. It was a bad habit, a human habit. Sunset put it away again. Well, it was her phone now. She’d taken it from that one girl, Fluttershy, who she knew wouldn’t tell anyone. Such a pushover, so easy to manipulate.

Not that anyone at the Canterlot High School was difficult to corral. They were just humans. Coming to this planet had been just what Sunset needed. Schoolwork was no challenge. They didn’t even study magic here.

Sunset watched the paper burning. It was just another notebook that might as well have been blank, for all the good it did her. Another notebook full of worthless scribbles starting to curl to ash as it burned.

She was someone who had been born with an unlimited trajectory, and she knew it. She was willing to make sacrifices. She’d abandoned her home and come to the human world for a fresh start.

Coming to this planet had given Sunset plenty of time to plot her revenge back home. Plenty of time wasted. Months had passed, and Sunset had nothing. A notebook full of plans that wouldn’t work.

The princess that had driven Sunset away couldn’t be swayed with just a clever plan. There were multiple magnitudes of raw power between them, a gulf Sunset had tried to breach - and been rebuffed.

So she’d come to Earth, looking for a new path. But now, it was herself that stood in the way of her going back. As hard as she had tried, she just couldn’t figure out a plan that she thought would work. Princess Celestia was just too powerful. Sunset had been her best student in decades, yet Celestia had the nerve to pity Sunset’s aspirations.

She kept telling herself that she was a superior being among lower creatures now, who had come from a world of magic, but it was getting difficult to keep believing it when her domain was just one of the public schools in just one of the cities out of all the countries on Earth.

This was why she had come here to the park alone. She could only put on a mask to conceal all these thoughts for so long. Because worse than being powerless was letting others think that she was.

Sunset sniffed. It was the cold air getting to her, she told herself.

She heard a step, and turned her head to see a man just a few feet away. It was the first person she had seen since sitting down on the bench. And, much to her quiet consternation, he sat down beside her.

His half-grey hair was brushed back carelessly. He wore slacks and a jacket, and also an ascot. Sunset instantly didn’t trust people who hid their neck, like Celestia and her stupid jewelry.

The man looked tired, despite his clothes being neat as a pin, or maybe it was just the shadows of his face under the streetlights. Sunset pointedly looked away, still fuming about being interrupted.

“Are you lost?” he asked.

Scarcely believing he would speak to her, Sunset spared him a single glance, and curtly replied, “No.”

She gathered her backpack, making ready to leave. Before she could move, he asked, “Then why did you come here?”

Something about his tone set Sunset on edge. She couldn’t help but look at him again. He stared back, face still tired, but not showing much else. “Are you looking for something?”

After a moment, she cautiously asked, “What do you mean?”

He yawned, though graciously covered his mouth. “I don’t think either of us want to beat around the bush on a night like tonight. Neither of us are human, anyway.”

Sunset stared. Neither of us?

“I want to offer you a deal,” he said. “You look like someone who could use one.”

“I’m not taking anything from anyone,” Sunset said. She made ready to leave again, to maintain some control and end the conversation on her terms, despite an intense swirl of sudden curiosity, cautiousness, and honestly a little worry. Who was he?

“Rest assured, you’d earn it.” He turned to face her fully now, and with both of his eyes focused on her now something about him struck Sunset hard enough that she nearly recoiled. Her first thought was a comparison to Princess Celestia, but no, he was different, even if the mere gaze of his eyes carried a weight. It took her a belated moment to realize that he was holding a thin scroll out to her.

Hesitantly, she took it, and unrolled the paper. To her biggest surprise of the night, it was written in Ponish.

I, Sunset Shimmer, enter into this contract for the purpose of gain, and loss.
I accept the Spirit of Vengeance, with the understanding that it is a force beyond my own.
I acknowledge that this power will be used as stipulated.
I agree that my soul is the price of exchange.
Received this day, by Lucifer.

Sunset wasn’t sure how literal she should take this. How many people knew how to speak Ponish? Was the translation off?

Lucifer was his name? Didn’t he have a title? Did he just expect her to know who he was?

“The Spirit of Vengeance?” she said.

“That’s what it’s called.”

“And it’s a ‘force beyond my own?’ What makes you think you know who I am?” Sunset tried for skeptical, to hide her lingering surprise that he just happened to be carrying a scroll with her name on it.

“I’ve never been wrong before,” he said. The man, Lucifer, continued to lounge on the bench, apparently disinterested.

“And what’s this about soul?”

At this, Lucifer looked up. “It’s the most important thing you have. I want you to understand that.”

Sunset snorted. “You say you know me. Don’t think I’m naive because I haven’t been here very long. I know about jazz. In fact, where I come from, song and dance is a way of life to those imbeciles. It’s not like I care about that.”

Lucifer opened his mouth, but paused. Sunset was pleased to see she’d finally flummoxed him. He shook his head, resetting. “Are you going to make a deal or not?”

“What are you getting out of it?”

“I need help taking care of some unsavory work. Can you do that?”

Sunset’s lip curled, but a sneer, not distaste. Did he know what she had done, the taboos she had broken to get here? She crossed her arms, slightly amazed with herself that she was still listening to him. “And what am I getting out of it?”

“Power.”

Her attitude evaporated, even if she managed to keep it off her face. Did he know…?

“I get it,” he said. “Not everyone is a paragon, but imperfect is good enough. Especially for this. I don’t care if you’re a criminal or a coward or a narcissist, or anything else. I just need you to take out your frustrations, and I’ll give you the tools you need.”

Sunset glanced down at the contract again, thoughts turning to what she could do with borrowed power. She didn’t think humans had magic, but...well, this was clearly no ordinary man. And maybe Princess Celestia’s former oh-so-precious star pupil could figure out a way to make the power her own.

“So you just need me to sign this?”

“In blood, if you please.”

Sunset looked at him sharply. He looked back, apparently serious. Well fine, if he wanted to see how serious she was.

Sunset took a folding knife out of the same pocket of her backpack from where she had gotten the lighter. Both had come from a contraband box in the high school office, one that nobody knew she had the key. She’d stolen that, too.

Flicking the knife open, she looked back at Lucifer, held his eyes, and sliced her left palm. Blood splattered on the paper.

Lucifer deftly snatched the contract back, though apparently annoyed rather than eager. “Just a drop would have done.” He looked at the mess with distaste, but rolled the paper and tucked it back inside his jacket.

Sunset surreptitiously clutched her injury, regretting her zeal but unwilling to admit it. Lucifer had stood from the bench and began to turn away. “I’ll be in touch.”

“What about this power?”

He paused, spared her a glance, and said, “You’ll know it when you feel it.”

Sunset’s wound prickled and she glanced at it. Lucifer was gone by the time she looked up again.

She grit her teeth, regret coming back. What had she gotten out of this? Did he take her for a fool?

Sunset had stolen some sort of fancy silk scarf out of Rarity’s locker and pulled it out of her backpack, wrapping her hand. At least the pain wasn’t as bad as she expected, but maybe that was because she was distracted.

She really was distracted. The strange encounter had completely made her forget her original purpose in coming to the park. However, it had delayed her, and now the sun was down and a few specks of snow had started to fall. At least it didn’t seem as cold as before, though she didn’t dwell on it, only picking up her backpack and turning back for her apartment.

She’d gone quite deep into the park, and before she got to the exit, she heard voices, music, and engines. Rounding a curve in the tree-lined path, Sunset came upon a circle with a fountain in the center. Half a dozen people were lounging around, some of them with motorcycles.

There was a very clear no motor vehicles sign at the park entrance. Not that Sunset herself cared about laws, but the crowd instantly annoyed her with their noise. She kept her hood up and ignored them.

Until a hand came down on her shoulder. “Hey.”

Sunset had built her entire life, her entire persona, around cunning. It was good to be the strongest, but better to be the smartest. As much as it hurt that she couldn’t overpower Celestia, nor figure out a way to outmaneuver her, Sunset had her principles. But on a night like tonight, her first reflex was to simplemindedly slap away the offending hand on her shoulder.

There were a few hoots of amusement from the other bikers. Sunset threw a glare at the man who had grabbed her, which only seemed to encourage him. He stepped forward, the various studs and metal decorating his leather jacket jingling. He grinned. “Don’t be like that. Do you want to hang out with us?”

In her peripheral vision, the rest of the bikers began to close in around her. Sunset hadn’t been on Earth that long, but even she could tell she’d fallen into another situation where raw power wasn’t on her side, and cursed herself and her own failure once again.

Her mind was working, trying to figure a way out of this. Should she run? As much personal shame as she would feel, it might be the only option. The man reached out again, and Sunset instinctively raised her hand to block. He instead grabbed her wrist, fingers inadvertently pressing into her cut hand. The spark of pain jolted Sunset into sudden, unconscious action. Her other hand balled into a fist and she swung at his face.

To her surprise, it worked. In fact, the punch knocked him clear off his feet. The action stunned Sunset nearly as much as everyone else. It wasn’t as if she was above violence, it was just usually not her go-to action. She was also certain that her spindly human arms weren’t this strong.

Surprised as she was, Sunset still got her bearings faster than anyone else standing around her, and pivoted in place, raising her hands. A woman, perhaps somehow related to the man she’d just flattened, stood within reach and Sunset punched her, too. The other five bikers had only just begun to blink when she stepped forward and hit the next one, hands moving faster than they could react.

She hit the fourth just as the fifth and sixth had started to move. Sunset sidestepped the oncoming fifth as he swung at her, threw a knee into his gut, and twisted into elbowing the nose of the sixth. The seventh man hesitated, and then lowered his head and charged.

Sunset felt that she had plenty of time to drop her stance and cock back a fist. She hammered the man in the solar plexus as he reached her, driving the wind out of him with a groan and stopping his momentum on the spot, despite him probably outweighing her by double. He collapsed where he stood.

She straightened up and turned slowly in place, inspecting her work. She looked at her hands. Hmm.

Well, this wasn’t the power she had expected or wanted, but…

She shook her head. It still wasn’t good enough. She couldn’t punch Princess Celestia.

Sunset sighed, suddenly annoyed again. Fortunately, she had convenient targets for her frustration. Not that she was going to literally kick them while they were down, but they had earned some form of retribution.

Spirit of Vengeance? Well, Sunset probably would have done this anyway. She hopped astride one of the idling motorcycles. It had a sidecar, so it was stable on three wheels. She didn’t know a thing about bikes, so picked the one she wouldn’t crash while jauntily riding away.

Throwing a smirk at the pile of bikers who had only just now started to pick themselves up, she revved the engine and rode away. Fortunately, the throttle was under her right hand. Though, she realized her cut left hand had stopped hurting.

Exiting the park, bumping over the sidewalk onto the street, the wind blew Sunset’s hood back, and despite the chill, she didn’t feel it at all. After the night she had gone through, finally getting the better of someone with raw power had practically made her giddy like a filly. While she was far too composed to shout for joy or anything like that, she couldn’t help a smile. No, this was not the power she had wanted, but it was a start.

Who was this idiot Lucifer that had just given her this power?

Chapter 2

Between everything that had happened the night before - fighting a crowd of bikers, stealing a motorcycle, and staying up even later trying to figure out the apparent power she had gained - Sunset woke up still exhausted. She groggily got out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

There, in front of the mirror, she glanced at herself and blinked, slowly frowning in confusion. Something had changed, though it wasn’t immediately clear what it was.

She wasn’t sure if her shoulders were actually straighter and stronger, or if she was imagining it. She didn’t want to admit her self-confidence was tied to power, or that she’d come by it externally.

Glancing down, she noticed that the cut on her palm from the previous night was nearly gone, only a thin red line remaining. That was definitely a significant boost to human healing ability.

During limited experimentation in her apartment the previous night, Sunset had discovered that she was definitely stronger and faster than before, though perhaps not as much as during the fight with the bikers. Maybe she only got the full effect when she really needed it. At any rate, there were only so many experiments she could run in her bedroom.

Sunset got ready for the morning but was nearly nodding off again when a timid knock at her door jolted her up. She grabbed her backpack and left the apartment.

Silver Spoon had learned from experience not to stand directly in front of the door. Sunset glanced at her, and she offered up a blueberry muffin.

Sunset took it, biting in. It was good. Not as good at beating up half a dozen bikers, but really, what could top that?

She turned away, asking, “What’s first?”

Silver hastily shuffled her scheduling papers as she followed Sunset. “Before school, if there was time, you were going to start a feud between the cheerleaders and the drama club and then mediate a resolution, thereby ingratiating yourself with both groups.”

“There’ll be time.” Sunset walked out to the curb, where the motorcycle was parked. She pointed at the sidecar.

Silver gulped. “Where did you get this?”

Sunset threw her a look and Silver hastened to get in.

Not that Sunset lived very far from school, but she recognized the status symbol of having wheels. Plus, a vehicle would let her go places and do things she hadn’t been able to before. She knew that there were things like registration and insurance to deal with, not to mention the issue of this bike being stolen, but mentally added it to Silver’s list of tasking.

Arriving at school, Sunset left the motorcycle in student parking. The engine had begun to sputter before she shut it off, which didn’t seem right, but it wasn’t as if it belonged to her.

The school day went well. Not only did Sunset enjoy the boost to her self-confidence, but it felt as if a load had been taken off her mind, allowing her to focus on other things. Like how to translate this new power into continued and further dominance.

She knew that just being physically stronger wasn’t what she needed back in Equestria. She didn’t even know the full extent of the power she’d been granted, and would have to do additional testing and research. But it was a step, both tangible and mental. This was what Sunset had needed to get her groove back.

Though, she was still cautious about what Lucifer might ask of her. The deal he'd offered her had been struck less than twenty four hours prior. But from Sunset’s perspective, she was already ahead, even as much as she hated to admit taking a favor.

Though, she was also in a position to grant favors today. Principal Celestia stopped her in the hallway. “Sunset, I hope I could have a moment of your time.”

Sunset fantasized about what would happen if she said no. She probably could, in fact: Sorry, I’m kind of busy with a class right now. But for the moment, she was still riding the power trip and oh-so graciously granted Celestia an audience, with a saccharine smile. “Sure, what is it?”

“We will have a few new students joining us next week,” Celestia explained. “You know everyone, so I hoped you would be able to show them around.”

A perfect opportunity for Sunset to influence them first, whoever they were. “No problem!”

Speaking of influence, that afternoon Sunset encountered Rainbow Dash, who was as colorful and easy to spot as her name. Today, though, it was Rainbow that had noticed Sunset and came over. “Hey, I heard you got a motorcycle.”

“Are you thinking about getting one?” Sunset asked.

“Totally,” Rainbow said, head bobbing.

“Would Applejack like it?” Sunset asked innocently.

There was no one else in earshot at the time, but Rainbow still cast a hurried glance over both shoulders. “We...we can’t be seen together.”

Sunset put a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have to rush things. I know men didn’t work out for you, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you.”

“I just…” Rainbow closed her eyes and hung her head. “I just feel like I’m settling, like I failed.”

Good. Sunset had covertly broken Rainbow up with so many guys that she had turned to girls out of desperation. Applejack was embarrassed to admit she was a lesbian. Rainbow wasn’t - she was embarrassed to admit that she was apparently undesirable to boys. It had worked out great for Sunset; two idiots like Applejack and Rainbow practically deserved each other and the irony was delicious. Moreover, after Sunset had “accidentally” discovered their secret, she’d managed to get some leverage on both of them.

“You’re not a failure, you’re still good at sports,” said Sunset. “Even if someone keeps leaving those nasty notes in your locker.”

“I guess,” said Rainbow.

“Hey, speaking of sports, I heard a rumor about the football team the other day...”

Rainbow was Sunset’s in with the sporty kids, a useful contact and a witless pawn. They talked for a few more minutes before parting ways.

Sunset breezed through the rest of the school day, and afterwards went out to the parking lot to her commandeered motorcycle. She’d already told Silver to walk home. Sunset had plans.

She’d taken a box of hand tools from shop class and dropped it in the motorcycle sidecar. Glancing at the bike, it appeared to be leaking oil. As Sunset looked around, she caught sight of someone standing outside school grounds, looking at her. She thought it might have been one of the bikers from the night before. It was hard to tell in the different setting and in the daylight, though he had a bandage on his nose.

A confident smile came easily to her lips, and she walked over. The man was leaning on an old car, just as much of a beater as the bike Sunset had taken, and stiffened at her approach.

Sunset rested her arms on the low fence at the edge of the school grounds, leaning forward. “Didn’t think I’d see you again.” She set aside the thought of how he’d found her. Probably saw the bike. Maybe that also meant they knew where she lived.

“We can’t just let something like that go,” he said, mostly succeeding at matching her level of coolness. “In fact, our boss is involved now, and she won’t have any problem hitting a girl. Her name is Blair Beltdrive, and she’ll be seeing you soon.”

Sunset straightened up. “Well, tell her to hurry. I can’t believe I missed one of you.”

She walked to the bike and started it, leaving the parking lot. She did watch her back as she rode, though surreptitiously.

Sunset had previously explored an old train yard on the south side of town. Humans seemed to be moving post-train in favor of road vehicles, though Sunset only paid attention to technology to see how it could benefit her. The move seemed to be backwards to her, but humans were stupid. Either way, it left the railyard mostly abandoned.

On arrival, Sunset again made sure she was alone and then set to work unbolting the sidecar. It added weight and meant the bike couldn’t lean over. If she was going to really learn how to ride, it had to go.

That done, she practiced riding for the rest of the afternoon. The bike weighed a few hundred pounds, but she seemed to be able to handle it fairly well since gaining the so-called Spirit of Vengeance. That didn’t mean she was perfect, though, and dropped the bike on its side a few times, gaining scratches and dents. Maybe because the tires were weird. That was another reason she had come to a place where no one was around to see.

The handful of spills reminded Sunset that motorcyclists were supposed to wear protective gear. Well, that was only if she made a mistake, and Sunset Shimmer was not in the business of error, not where anyone could see.

The bike seemed to be running worse now, and Sunset saw the fuel was getting low. The sun was starting to set, so she left the trainyard and headed back for her apartment, feeling more confident on the bike now. Going from zero to expert wasn’t going to happen in one afternoon, but Sunset was nothing if not a fast learner.

It was a good thing she was such a quick study, because as she pulled up to the curb, a glint in the rearview mirror was the only warning she had before a car plowed straight through the parking spot.

Sunset’s reflexes were almost too fast for her to keep up, and she had leapt into the air, watching the crash happen below her as if in slow motion. She vaguely noted that it was the same car she’d seen the man leaning on earlier in the day.

She hit the pavement in a crouch, not even noticing the impact. Had she really just done a backflip off a motorcycle over a car while running on instinct alone? She stood up as the car ground to a halt down the block. The man had promised a fight, but not with him. Sunset turned.

A motorcycle, black with orange and silver accents, pulled up. It looked well-kept, and rumbled powerfully until the rider shut off the engine. She stepped off the bike, removing her helmet to release a cascade of long dark hair.

Her eyes stayed on Sunset as she peeled off her leather gloves and jacket. Underneath was yet more leather, slim trousers and also apparently an emblem vest of the local biker group. Blair was stitched to the chest.

“I thought you were going to fight me,” Sunset said, crossing her arms. “Not send one of your lackeys to kill me in traffic.”

“Honey,” Blair said, voice not angry but instead rather scolding, “I don’t think you realize the gravity of your situation.”

Sunset sneered. “It’s not like I go around beating your people up because it’s fun. Are you sure you’re getting the whole story here?”

“It’s not about truth,” Blair said, patiently uncoiling a whip from around her bike’s seat. “It’s about teaching you a lesson.”

The weapon changed things. Sunset figured that if they weren’t above a sneak attack, then she shouldn’t be either.

Though perhaps Blair’s deliberate movements had lulled Sunset into a false sense of superiority, even as she prepared to strike first. Without any further hesitation, Sunset put her full effort into her enhanced ability and shot across the distance between before the whip came to bear - yet Blair still managed to sidestep. And in return, as Sunset’s momentum carried her past, the whip came up, whizzing through the air even faster. Sunset started to turn after overshooting, but was already wrapped up before she even realized it.

Her reflexes might have quickened, but Sunset was still learning to think that fast. Her strength might have improved, but she wasn’t stronger than an inch-thick braided leather cord that was wrapped several times around her arms, pinning them to her sides.

Blair kicked Sunset in the gut, but held her fast with the whip in her hand. The heel of her boot knocked the wind from Sunset’s lungs, but then it didn’t let up, still pressing harder even as the whip tightened around Sunset because of her deflating diaphragm. Sunset gasped - both in pain and because the air had been involuntarily forced out. She struggled, but the whip held fast.

She had been in tough situations before, but nothing quite like this. What made it worse, though, was the expression on Blair’s face. Not angry, disappointed.

It reminded Sunset so much of Princess Celestia’s overpowering dominance that she saw red in a way quite unlike she ever had before.

“I want to know that you’re learning the lesson,” Blair said. “Kneel in front of me.”

Despite her pain, Sunset snarled with what breath she had left. But she did kneel, only to contort herself forward at the waist over Blair’s boot, ignoring the abrasion against her abdomen, and sank her teeth into Blair’s thigh just above the knee.

She didn’t quite get through the leather pants, but her bite was more than powerful enough to pull a cry of pain out of Blair, who brought her fist down on top Sunset’s head. Stars burst in front of Sunset’s eyes, but despite the pain she hung on as Blair stumbled back, her foot pulling back from Sunset’s gut. Blair fell backwards and Sunset shook loose of her stunning and let go with her teeth, kicking to gain position atop Blair as they fell to the pavement. Sunset headbutted Blair in the jaw, knocking her head back against the pavement, and then bit Blair on the unprotected upper arm, this time drawing blood.

In the melee, Blair had lost control of the whip and Sunset got her arms free. She hit Blair in the jaw again, with her fist this time, and used the movement to get up. She grabbed for the whip.

Blair was on her hands and knees trying to get up. Sunset got Blair’s throat in the crook of her elbow from behind and hauled her up, even as she used the whip to bind Blair’s hands behind her back.

Somewhere during the fight, the driver of the car had approached, along with a few other people who’d arrived on motorcycles. Sunset faced the half-circle of them and jerked Blair by the throat to make her point. “You want her in one piece, don’t you?”

She glanced at Blair, and said quietly, just for her to hear. “Well mostly. What was it you said? Kneel?” Sunset kicked the back of Blair’s legs to force her, and she hit the ground.

Sunset put one of her own knees in Blair’s back to tighten the chokehold. Blair struggled to speak. Not only was she short of breath, but her jaw may have been broken. Sunset cut her off. “I could just squeeze the life out of you right now. But I’m not going to. You’re going to be useful to me. Starting with, I need a replacement bike.”

Sunset glanced at the motorcycle Blair had arrived on, seeing that the keys were still in the ignition. As she looked around, one of the men had started to approach, but she menaced Blair again.

Sunset took another turn of the whip around Blair’s hands and stood once more, dragging Blair over to the motorcycle on her face. Blair had left her jacket on the seat. Sunset picked it up, nose wrinkling at the smell of sweat and grease. Shame, it looked cool, constructed of black leather and metal studs, and even seemed to have built-in armor.

She kicked Blair over, so she could watch Sunset pluck the cell phone off its mount on the handlebars. The phone was unlocked, the GPS still set to Sunset’s address.

She glanced at the contacts, memorized the phone number, and then tucked the phone in the pocket of the jacket, dropping it on top Blair’s face as Sunset loosened the whip.

“Wash that nasty thing,” Sunset said, coiling the whip in her hands as she leaned against the motorcycle. Blair was slow to rise, pulling the jacket from her face. Her annoyed disciplinarian expression from before was gone, shattered. She was trying for rage, but it was overridden by pain. If Sunset guessed correctly, the pain of losing at least as much as physical.

“You’re going to come when I call,” Sunset said. “And I had better not see you again if I don’t call. That applies to any of your friends. You tracked me down at home? Good, now you know where to stay away from.”

Sunset looked pointedly at the motorcycle. The logo read Buell Lightning. She would have to learn more, but it already looked like quite an upgrade. She touched the handlebar and glanced back at Blair. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of it.”

Blair managed to fit a look of spite through her pain, and then turned to limp away, back to her crew. Sunset leaned on the motorcycle and watched them all go.

She didn’t even try to keep the smile off her face, and decided that she could really get used to this.

When the street was empty, Sunset stood up from the motorcycle. A couple of neighbors were looking out at what had occurred of the commotion. Sunset waved. Since she had been living there, she’d made sure they knew her, and that they thought was a good neighbor.

She went back to her apartment, saving Blair’s number in her phone. Unlocking her door, she went inside.

Lucifer was sitting at the kitchen table and Sunset nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise.

Chapter 3

“You’ve been busy,” Lucifer said.

Sunset did not ask how he knew. Either he’d stalked her to acquire personal information before approaching her with the contract, or, well, magic. She still didn’t know what sort of magic there might be in this universe.

“Why are you here?” she asked, putting down her backpack, opening the refrigerator, and otherwise ignoring Lucifer. As before, he seemed tired and sat hunched at the table. He looked like he could use some coffee. Sunset didn’t have any, but wouldn’t have offered it anyway.

She feigned unconcerned, but was wary about showing her back to him, considering he’d already taken the step of breaking into her apartment. However, she reasoned that he wouldn’t have given her power only to attack her. Which reminded her, she still had no idea who he was or what power he kept for himself...or how she could get ahold of it.

“There’s a storm coming,” Lucifer said.

“So?”

“It would be irresponsible of me not to notify you. Both of us depend on your success.”

Sunset came over to the table and sat down across from Lucifer. She had retrieved a bottle of soy sauce from the fridge and now put it to her lips for a sip.

She would never drink it in front of anyone whose impression of her she valued. Once had been enough to know that this was behavior that would make her stand out in the wrong way to humans. But maybe Sunset’s pony tastes ran differently than theirs, and she used it as a salty soy snack as much as a condiment.

Lucifer, whatever he was, seemed to take an interest, but didn’t mention it. Sunset said, “I don’t think you would be here about a storm of the meteorological variety.”

“Correct. I see something like this every so often. Someone gets uppity, thinks they can just take over Heaven, Hell, or Earth, or a piece of it. We might be headed into another cycle, but there haven’t been enough indicators yet for specifics on who you would be taking down.”

“You say that as if I would.”

“You signed the contract to use the power I gave you as stipulated. This is a stipulation.”

Much as Sunset didn’t appreciate being ordered to do something that wasn’t to her personal gain, if this theoretical storm was real, she might relish the test of strength.

Lucifer got up, stretching. Sunset wondered if he was perpetually tired, or if he had been waiting long for her. “You might want to get some exercise and training with the Spirit before you need it.”

He walked past Sunset out of the kitchen door behind her back. His footsteps didn’t continue, nor did her front door open.

She smiled wryly to herself. It took a powerful unicorn to teleport, and even that was accompanied by a flash of magic and a pop of displaced air. Lucifer was messing with her. Maybe not intentionally, but Sunset still took it as a challenge.

Exercise and training with the Spirit of Vengeance? She was going to have to find a playground.

Fortunately, having a bike greatly increased her ability to range. She would have to find a place to see what this power could really do.

She would have to add that hunt to her other research. For now, she did an internet search on her phone for the new motorcycle she had taken from Blair, to learn everything she could about it.

While Sunset may have craved power of all kinds, and had certainly enjoyed the type she’d just received, she recognized that all the force in the world still required finesse, and the more the better. Not that she gave humans credit for much, but the phrase knowledge is power was a particularly astute notion.

She spent most of the rest of the evening learning about the new bike. Some of it carried over from the first one, building her knowledge base. Once she felt comfortable, she switched to hunting a quiet place to truly test herself. The railyard might work, but perhaps she’d been going there a little too often.

When she had a new location in mind, Sunset filed it away for further exploration. She then checked her mental list for what to search the internet for next. Something about the conversation from earlier had struck her. Lucifer had mentioned Heaven and Hell. Sunset was vaguely familiar with the terms, having heard them a time or two before in relation to what she thought was human religion.

Hell: a general term for the afterlife location where evil souls are punished

That seemed in line with religion. Reading further, Sunset decided that considering there were no solid facts that were not in dispute across several religions, apparently that meant the place was not as tangible as, say, Tartarus back in Equestria. That didn’t necessarily mean it didn’t exist - after all, she’d come here from another dimension that humans didn’t know about.

A central figure of Hell was...Lucifer.

Sunset stared at her phone. She knew better than to believe everything she read on the internet, but this couldn’t be a coincidence.

Some interpretations had him as the leader of Hell, the chief executive sinner-punisher. And from what he had told Sunset so far, that fit.

However sometimes he was depicted as a being who had strove to take the highest seat of Heaven only to fail and be cast down to the underworld.

Did that sound like Sunset? Did Lucifer think so?

Sunset scoffed out loud and put the phone down. Most of what she had learned was that human religion was unreliable and inconsistent, if it was even real. Some humans didn’t even believe it. Maybe this wasn’t even Lucifer, but someone using his name. Though, Sunset had to admit that so far the man had been able to back his words with subtle signs of actual power, if not a demonstration itself.

Well, it wasn’t as if she didn’t already distrust him. Now she just knew more.

In the morning, Sunset rode her shiny new motorcycle to school. This one was definitely higher performance in all respects than the first one she had taken. Blair would probably be missing this bike.

She had Silver meet her there with breakfast. Maybe Silver could have ridden on the back from Sunset’s apartment, but Sunset didn’t trust her to hold on, and wouldn’t have let anyone get that close to her anyway.

She checked in on the feud between the cheerleaders and the drama club, seeing that it was well underway, and made plans to move forward as the moderating savior between the two groups. Still, while she had planned it and it was working, she felt as if there was more she could be doing. How could she leverage this new power towards greater dominance?

Humans had greater differences between genders, but this would give her an edge. Tryout for the football team? It was not unheard of for a high school to have a female kicker. She might raise suspicions if she was a linebacker - and if she had the strength to back it up.

She would have to consider it. Unfortunately, her thought process came to a screeching halt as she turned and caught sight of Principal Celestia.

It still baffled Sunset how there were expies of ponies she knew from her world here in this one. While she was pleased that the human Celestia was merely a high school principal, Sunset still had a deep detest for her. It was mostly based on the even deeper loathing she had for the Princess; Principal Celestia had never banned Sunset from using dangerous magic.

But Sunset always managed to put on a fake smile around the principal, and did so today. “Good morning.”

“Good morning Sunset.” Celestia smiled. “That’s a very nice motorcycle I saw you riding. Do you have a helmet?”

Sunset knew the law, and knew she was breaking it. “I’ll be going to get one after school.” She just wished she’d done it earlier, to avoid even talking to Celestia.

“That’s good to hear. Have a nice day.”

Sunset doubted her principal had near the observational powers that Lucifer did, and couldn’t help a glare at her back as she walked away. Despite human Celestia not being an immortal alicorn master of magic, she still carried the same superiority mixed with sweetness, as if that made it go down any easier.

Speaking of sweetness, Sunset stopped by the home-ec room for a treat, though not of the food variety. She found Pinkie Pie there, her mass of tangled fuchsia hair bound back with a hairband and squinting at tiny stitches in what had to be the most intricate pair of boxer shorts the world had ever seen. She looked up as the door opened. “Oh hey Sunset!”

“What are you working on?” Sunset asked.

“Rarity thinks she’s going to win the School Sewing Spectacular but I can’t let that happen,” Pinkie said. She turned back to her work. Her fingers were covered in minor needle pricks and she bent low over her work, almost to the point her nose touched the fabric.

“It’s a shame you can’t bake anymore,” Sunset said.

“Y-yeah, but the school was really upset about the whole food poisoning thing,” Pinkie said, sounding like she was trying for offhand but not quite making it. She poked her finger with the needle and drew back suddenly, putting the injured digit in her mouth.

She glanced up at Sunset. “There’s some sugar cubes in the new supplies that just came in. I didn’t touch them, honest.”

Sunset hadn’t come for a literal treat, but maybe she could have both. “Thanks Pinkie.”

“I still don’t know what you do with them. Do you drink a lot of coffee? I make a really mean double-chocolate expre-” Pinkie’s eyes dropped. “Nevermind.”

Sunset said goodbye to her and left, grabbing the box of sugarcubes as she went. It was still sealed, and she opened the box to sample one before stowing it in her locker. Okay, maybe two. Just eating sugarcubes right out of the box was not proper human behavior, and she was careful not to let anyone see her doing it.

After school, Sunset stopped by a motorcycle shop to get a helmet. It wasn’t because of the questions Celestia had asked, but to avoid questions like that in the future from people such as the police. The shop was filled with shiny things, and Sunset took her time in examining them. Perhaps she would be back in the future.

She took a longer look at the helmet display. With the variety of styles and colors, this required careful consideration. That is, until she saw one labeled “Kaiser.” It was flat black, with a big chrome spike out the top. Sunset smiled to herself and picked it up.

She also stopped by the display of gloves and selected a black leather pair with silver studs that sort of matched her helmet.

At the checkout, the clerk looked a little bored. They probably didn’t get much business in the winter. Still, he looked every inch the biker himself. He gave Sunset a sideways look, and then glanced out the front window at her motorcycle parked in front of the shop. “That’s a nice bike.”

“Thank you.”

“Is it yours?”

“It sure is.” Sunset had detected the undercurrent in his voice. As a shopkeep and biker in the local scene, he might recognize the motorcycle.

“Where’d you get it?” he asked, meeting Sunset’s eyes.

She smiled. “I beat the shit out of Blair Beltdrive and took it.”

Whatever he had expected her to say, that wasn’t it. Sunset put a wad of cash on the counter and walked out, getting on her motorcycle. The new helmet didn’t really match with the sleek bike, but there was a beauty in that, too, as an expression of Sunset herself.

Speaking of Sunset herself, she decided that it would be a good idea to get more practice with this new power. A fight would be best, but those wouldn’t just fall into her lap, even if she was riding a known stolen motorcycle.

Deciding that she’d rather not be disturbed, Sunset didn’t go to the railyard where she might have been seen before, instead striking out for a still-in-business factory that would be closing for the evening and its parking lot emptying.

She spent an hour or two there, with nothing but wide open pavement. Part of it was training with the bike. Not hard enough that she might be in danger of damaging it, but she’d still only been on a motorcycle of any kind for a few days, so every little bit helped. The other part was training herself.

As Sunset had noticed, she might not be able to exert her whole power when not faced with an adversary. Still, she tested her own limits, getting to know this new power just as she’d had to get accustomed to this new body when she’d first showed up on Earth.

She didn’t quite have a handle on the quantity of her strength. The only heavy object she had around was the motorcycle, and while she got the sense that she could have bench-pressed it, doing so would have been too awkward. Not to mention, she’d rather not explore the upper limits of the material strength of her bones if she could help it. There was no way of knowing if they had been reinforced, too.

It had started to snow fitfully as she was wrapping up. Sunset realized she didn’t feel cold. Part of that was certainly from exertion, but she also just simply felt warm. Well, that didn’t seem as if it would help her combat ability, but it was a nice perk regardless.

She was careful riding the bike in the snow, though at least it hadn’t started sticking to the road just yet. The oncoming night didn’t help. Still, she made good time back to her apartment.

Much to Sunset’s surprise, Silver was huddled near her front door. She started forward when she saw Sunset, apparent fridgedness forgotten. “They’re after you! I tried to call, but...”

Who they were seemed fairly obvious. Sunset hadn’t noticed a phone call, perhaps hidden by the noise of the bike. She said, “What happened?”

“I saw some people hanging around. This is about the motorcycle, isn’t it?”

Timid and subservient as she was, Silver wasn’t stupid. Sunset suddenly gaining a new bike, asking about lost title transfers, and angry bikers looking for her were obviously connected.

Sunset was disappointed that her warning to Blair hadn’t been heeded, but not too surprised. Frankly, Silver being proactive and going out of her way was more surprising.

She just wished Silver had managed to pass the word quicker. From behind her, she heard Blair’s voice. “There you are.”

Sunset turned, annoyed, but the sight of Blair suddenly set her on edge. Something was different.

No, not the knife in her hand, though that certainly had Sunset’s attention. Something else. Sunset couldn’t quite figure out what, though.

“You are remarkable,” Blair said. Her patient matron guise from the day before was now totally gone, and replaced with what might have been an undercurrent of madness. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

“I know,” Sunset said. She had started to get a sense of the situation, though wasn’t quite yet willing to put a name to it. It felt as if she had developed some sort of sixth sense. Not a magical sense like a unicorn, a feeling of something else. Something hot, and dangerous, and vile.

“I hated to do it,” said Blair. “I hated to admit that you got me. But even if I couldn’t help myself, I wasn’t going to let it end there. I made a deal.”

A few of the things Sunset had read the night before about Hell came to the forefront of her mind. The irony of it being similar to her own situation was not lost.

Blair smiled. Her eyes flashed crimson. She moved so fast Sunset didn’t have time for conscious action, only reflex.

The knife missed, though not by much. Sunset only had time to realize it after she saw the blade going by her, Blair’s thrusting forearm deflected by her own. Up close, nearly nose to nose, she now got a good look at the new energy behind Blair’s eyes, and suddenly, Sunset didn’t feel quite so powerful.

Especially not as the knife, having missed its original target, still managed to glancingly slice Silver’s arm, behind Sunset.

It was not a deep cut. It lacked most of the original force, but the supernaturally powerful attack still slit straight through Silver’s coat and into her upper arm. Sunset heard her gasp in pain.

Sunset saw red. It wasn’t that she was angry - her eyes literally caught on fire.

Chapter 4

“Innocent blood.”

Who was speaking? It was just Blair, Sunset, and the injured Silver standing behind her.

Blair, in her initial attack, had charged into Sunset’s grip, swinging her knife. Sunset had been surprised by Blair’s newfound strength, and now realized that Blair must have also gained some sort of power.

But now, as close as they were after Sunset had deflected her attack, Blair looked like she was starting to regret what she had done. Part of that might have been Blair’s proximity to Sunset’s face, which based on the heat Sunset felt, she was beginning to suspect was literally on fire.

“You sold your soul.”

Why did that sound familiar? Also, and again, who said it?

Sunset’s arm moved all by itself, and her hand seized Blair’s throat. This time, she knew the voice came from her own mouth. “Look into my eyes, and know your crimes.”

It seemed as if Blair was dragged into the stare, however much she might have resisted, and it seemed that the act of doing so was more unpleasant than anything else Sunset had ever done to her, including fighting. Blair started to convulse, but her eyes remained stretched wide open. And incredibly, whatever madness or power had been in her gaze before evaporated in the face of Sunset’s own stare.

Sunset let her go and Blair fell straight down, limply. Leaving her, Sunset turned.

Silver held her injured arm tightly, blood on her fingers. But that seemed a minor concern to her compared to her apparent horror at what she had just seen.

What had she just seen? What had Sunset just done?

Beep.

Sunset started in surprise, totally disoriented and feeling as if she had just teleported. Her head moved rapidly to take in the area around her, a place she hadn’t been standing a fraction of a second ago.

Beep.

She was standing in a hospital room. That was all the more apparent with the smell of disinfectant. But what about her apartment, and Blair, and Silver?

“That didn’t go quite how I expected, but better sooner rather than later,” said Lucifer’s voice.

Sunset whirled to find him sprawled in a chair at bedside. She didn’t know who was in the bed.

Beep. Or what that person was doing connected to so much medical equipment.

“What’s…” Sunset began. She tried to blink, but something seemed strange about her eyes, though she could still see. She looked at the hospital room window, with the darkness outside forming an imperfect mirror.

Sunset’s head was on fire.

She was in control enough not to react frantically, reasoning that it didn’t seem to be hurting her, but she still turned to Lucifer, demanding, “What did you do?”

“I brought you here for a conversation. I’m sure you have questions. And to answer your first one, it’s what you did. You let the demon out. Almost, anyway. You’d know if you got the whole thing.”

“Demon?”

“The Spirit of Vengeance. Where did you think the power came from?”

“How do I fix this?” Sunset gestured vaguely at her burning visage.

“There’s nothing to fix. You let the demon out. As you were supposed to.”

“What’s happening to me?”

“That’s hellfire. You might notice that you aren’t dying. Hellfire is selective what it burns. But when it does, it can burn anything, including souls.”

You sold your soul.

Sunset asked, “What happened to Blair?” to avoid thinking about the implications, drawing attention to herself, or admitting she might have done the same.

“She didn’t get it at full force because you don’t know what you’re doing. She got a little off the top. She’ll wake up with a headache in the morning and be strongly disinclined to bother you again. If someone hands her a religious pamphlet in the next few weeks, she might even read it.”

Sunset hesitantly brought a hand closer to her face, but didn’t touch. “How do I stop this?”

Lucifer tilted his head. “I think you’re a little stuck. Blair was just strong enough to push you over the edge, but not enough to get a full reaction out of you.”

“This isn’t a full reaction?”

“Oh my no, that burns your flesh off and only leaves bones. Still on fire, too. The trick is shutting it off afterwards.”

As unpleasant as that sounded, Sunset suddenly had bigger worries. She took a step away from the bed, towards the center of the room. “And you brought me to a hospital? Around oxygen?”

“Hellfire is selective.”

“Can I select it off?” Sunset asked, glancing again at her reflection.

Lucifer made a vague gesture with his hand and the fire stopped at once. Sunset felt her face. Even her hair was unharmed. Her being unsettled seemed to be the worst damage.

“So that’s why I’ve brought you here,” said Lucifer. “You need an education. You’ve barely scratched the surface of the power you’ve borrowed, and you still don’t know how to control it.”

“I thought you’d been watching me,” Sunset said, crossing her arms. “You’ve seen what I’ve done.”

“You mean getting into fistfights? Sunset, you and I both know that’s beneath you.”

He might have been right, but that only angered Sunset more. Lucifer got up from the chair, yawning. “So I’ve brought you here to make sure you get an education.”

“A hospital,” Sunset said flatly.

“Hospitals are where you find vessels.”

Sunset didn’t know what he meant by that, but wasn’t sure she liked it. Lucifer turned to the person in the bed beside him. Sunset hadn’t paid much attention, but now glanced at the face. It was a man - or a boy - with straw-colored hair. He looked like he might have been in the bed for a while, with pale skin and sunken cheeks.

Realization slowly dawned on her. “Is that-”

“Macintosh Apple,” Lucifer confirmed.

Sunset had never met him before. As far as she knew, he had left Canterlot, though she didn’t really bother to learn why. She’d used his name as a ploy or two.

So if he had left Canterlot, where were they now? Did Lucifer transport her all the way to a different city simply by his will? But before she could ask any of these questions, Lucifer went on with his own priorities.

“He is going to teach you how to be a Ghost Rider,” Lucifer said, looking over the body as though it was an object. “He’s perfect; no soul in him. This is going to be much easier than I expected.”

Lucifer’s turnaround in attitude threw Sunset for a loop at least as much as discovering who the sleeper was. “What?” she asked vaguely, the question not even fully formed in her own mind.

Lucifer didn’t seem to be listening. He instead pulled the thin sheet off Mac and began to rip open the gown he had been wearing. “Now all we need to do is-”

“Will you shut up and explain!?” Sunset demanded. “How is some souless husk supposed to teach me? Why is he so important? And what’s a Ghost Rider?”

Lucifer looked up from his work, rage crossing his face for a fraction of a second, but it was quickly masked. That probably stunned Sunset more than anything else so far

“Sorry,” he said, voice calming. “Ghost Rider has come to be the de facto name for someone who carries the Spirit of Vengeance. For whatever reason, almost all of you ride motorcycles.” He shrugged. “I’ll bet you never felt the urge before you made the deal.”

No, Sunset hadn’t. But there was no guarantee she would have encountered bikers after signing the contract. Surely this was just a coincidence and not yet another universe gleefully having its way with her outside of her control.

“Macintosh Apple is one of the most powerful Riders in the multiverse, up there with Blaze and Castle.”

Sunset opened her mouth, but he raised his hand. “I know you know what the multiverse is.”

That hadn’t been Sunset’s question, but Lucifer went on. “In another reality, with another dealer, Macintosh here sold his soul. In that reality he became a very powerful Rider, but I should be able to bring him here and put him in this body…”

Lucifer cracked his knuckles and spread his hands over the form of this world’s Mac lying in the bed. Sunset, sensing that she would finally see some actual magic, probably some she had never seen before, couldn’t help but lean closer.

She didn’t expect Lucifer to be flashy, and he wasn’t. The flashy part was when everything caught on fire throughout the room.

Sunset jumped back, despite already realizing she was effectively fireproof. Still, the fire hurt...well, made her feel pain. Not her own. It seemed to carry the suffering of others, emotional, physical, self loathing, hate, depression, and so much more. It didn’t stop, either, but kept building and building until her entire world was enveloped in that depth of pain that kept going.

She wanted to scream, to run away, but the pain kept intensifying until she felt as though she'd go mad. And then suddenly, it stopped with a crash of breaking glass.

Sunset opened her eyes and saw she was still in the hospital room, and the bed was on fire. Lucifer seemed rather disappointed

“What did you do!?” Sunset shouted. “What was that!?”

“Good news and bad news,” Lucifer said. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Good news, the Macintosh I wanted is here.” He pointed at the broken window. “Bad news...he escaped.”

Lucifer walked over and stood at the shattered window, looking out into the night after the newly-summoned Macintosh had just departed. A few flakes of snow blew in.

Sunset cast a cautious look at the destruction of the room and even more cautiously joined Lucifer at the window.

He turned at her approach. “Well, I’m sure Macintosh will find you.”

“Wait, I have questions-”

Just as suddenly as Sunset had been summoned to the hospital room, she was back in front of her own apartment. The snow in a circle around her had been melted. Silver was still standing there, clutching her bloody arm.

Blair finished hitting the ground, as if Sunset had only just dropped her. Had she? Did the entire conversation with Lucifer take place inside an instant?

Sunset touched her face, confirming that she was no longer on fire. She turned to Silver, who took a step backwards, bumping into the wall of the apartment building.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sunset said reflexively, trying for casually. “I’m trying out some special effects.”

Silver didn’t look like she believed Sunset, but had always been willing to swallow lies, even obvious ones. She relaxed, or forced herself to. She looked at the comatose Blair. “What did you do to her?”

“We’re not going to have to worry about her again,” Sunset said, choosing to believe what Lucifer had said. She looked at Silver, who was still clearly in pain. “Show me your arm.”

Silver half-removed her coat, exposing the cut on her upper arm. Sunset was no medic, but basic external wound treatment was universal. They would need something to at least stanch.

Sunset pulled Blair’s leather jacket off, and then tore a strip off her shirt. She was mildly surprised to smell that Blair actually had cleaned the jacket. It now appeared brand new.

She tied up Silver’s wound with the torn cloth. “Do you need to go to the hospital or something?”

“N-no, I don’t think so.”

The cut hadn’t looked that deep. Sunset let it go. She glanced at Blair, who was still limp. She was going to freeze to death, too, because Sunset would be taking her jacket.

“Should we call an ambulance for her?” Silver asked.

It would be better than having her die on Sunset’s doorstep. Sunset didn’t want to be here to answer any questions, though. “Alright, but we’re not waiting around. I’m taking you home.”

That sounded dangerously close to altruism, but it wasn’t as if Sunset was doing it out of actual concern for Silver’s wellbeing. Though, it meant they were going to have to figure out the concept of riding double.

Sunset slipped on the leather jacket. She decided she’d earned it, after finally learning more about this power and finally using it on someone. The jacket felt good, secure. She briefly remembered that leather was animal hide, but if Sunset didn’t feel any remorse anymore for hamburgers, she wouldn’t for leather.

Waiting while Silver was calling for an ambulance, Sunset took out her phone to use the camera as a mirror. The jacket looked good on her, too. Even if her body wasn’t actually enhanced by the power she had gained, her shoulders looked a lot more square in the jacket. Sunset had never put much stock into appearance, but did recognize that it was easier to get what she wanted if she conformed to local standards of beauty. Maybe she could try out the local standards of intimidation.

Though, she sensed that Silver, at least, was still skittish. Even if she knew or suspected what Sunset had been up to fighting bikers, this was the first time she had seen it, been hurt as a direct result of it, and then on top of that seen Sunset catch on fire. So, Sunset was aware enough about the feelings of teenage human girls to realize that she should probably show a little gentleness, if she wanted Silver to remain effective and discrete.

“The ambulance is coming,” Silver said, putting her phone away. She was still tense, and though most of the blood on her puffy winter jacket hadn’t soaked through to the outside layer, she shouldn’t be seen in front of Sunset’s apartment, either.

“Let’s go,” Sunset said, motioning Silver to the bike. Silver still hesitated, but followed. Sunset gave her the helmet and helped her up to the tall rear seat. “Hang on.”

Though she had ordered it, Sunset was still uncomfortable with someone’s arms wrapped around her waist. Silver squeezed tighter as the bike started. The rim of the helmet bumped against Sunset’s back. She was already regretting this decision, even though she recognized it was probably best in the long run.

Sunset knew where Silver lived, of course, and didn’t need to ask for directions as they took off. She already planned to stop just down the block. She didn’t need to meet Silver’s parents, either. How Silver explained - or didn’t - her injury was her own business.

Rolling to a stop near Silver's house, Sunset killed the engine. She turned her head. Silver was still clinging like a koala. “You can get off now.”

“Oh! Sorry.” Silver apparently had had her eyes squeezed shut. She scrambled down. Taking off the helmet, she handed it back to Sunset. She hesitated, working up to speak. “About what happened…”

“It’s finished now,” Sunset said. “If Blair comes to her senses, she’s never going to be the same. She was superstitious enough to think she had demons on her side, so I made her think that maybe she was in over her head.”

Silver nodded quickly, apparently still willing to believe it rather than consider the alternative. “The fire, and for a second I thought I saw a skull - horse skull.”

Lucifer had said something about flesh burning away, but equine bone structure? Sunset wasn’t sure what to make of it. Though, it made some small amount of sense.

“And how do you know what that looks like?” Sunset asked.

“I’m really into horses. My parents have been paying for riding lessons for years.”

“But you aren’t good with riding motorcycles?”

“That’s different!” Silver burst out, but immediately ducked her head.

Sunset did not regret pressing her on it, not after she’d indirectly called Sunset a horse.

Silver shuffled her feet and hesitantly touched her arm, grimacing.

“Is that still fine?” Sunset said. She took her jacket off and laid it across the seat of the bike, not wanting to even take the chance of getting blood on it. She gestured for Silver to show her injury.

The improvised cloth bandage was still wet, but the cut itself seemed to have stopped bleeding. Sunset wondered again if Silver would tell her parents about this, and thought she probably wouldn’t.

“There’s one more thing,” Sunset said. “I want to take another look after Macintosh Apple. He may be coming back to town.”

Silver, of course, knew who that was. “Does he know what you were saying about him?”

Did he? Did it matter if this was apparently a version of him from another universe? “We’ll find out. If you hear anything about him, or if you see him, let me know.”

Silver started to ask another question, but paused, head turning to look down the street behind Sunset. There was a rattling, metallic sound, and in the next instant Sunset was jerked backwards off her feet by a heavy chain that had wrapped around her throat.

Tumbling and sliding across the pavement, even as her hands clawed at the chain while trying to catch her breath, Sunset caught a glimpse of fire and steel, dragging her away.

Author's Note

My editor, Captain Unstoppable, once wrote a story about Mac being a Ghost Rider. Seemed worth mentioning.

Chapter 5

Getting dragged down the street by a chain around her neck, if she had time to think about it Sunset would have been surprised that had the time to remember her new leather jacket, and how she wasn’t wearing it. Maybe if she was, her skin wouldn’t be peeling away on the pavement.

She probably had so much time to think despite the agony because there wasn’t anything she could do about it. She couldn’t get the chain off. She couldn’t breathe.

That was nothing compared to hitting a speedbump in the street and shattering her shoulder. Her finger bones snapped like twigs as they got caught in the holes of a drain grate. All over her body, more and more skin kept getting ground off.

She pinballed between a few curbs and parked cars, rounded a couple of corners, and finally slid to a stop. Sunset took a huge gasp of air, though nearly choked on a lungful of snow and dirt. Where did the dirt come from?

She was able to raise her head just enough to see that she was in some kind of lot and surrounded by derelict cars. A junkyard?

Sunset took another stuttering breath, willing her body to heal, though this was far worse than a simple cut. She wasn’t dead, but she surely could be without treatment. How many bones were broken? How much road salt had been ground into her wounds? How much of her skin had been torn - no, at this point, how much of her skin remained?

She heard a deep voice chuckle humorlessly, and forced her head to lift just enough to see the source. It was none other than Macintosh Apple.

He seemed healthier now than he had in the hospital. Sunset had heard his nickname was “Big” - and he was. He wore jeans and a leather jacket, and sat astride a motorcycle wrapping a chain around his arm, the same chain that had been used to drag her through the streets.

“So, yer a Ghost Rider?” Mac asked, looking down at Sunset as a smile crossed his lips. “Not much ta look at,” he said, an obvious drawl in his voice as he put down the bike’s kickstand and swung one leg around so he could face Sunset fully. As he did, his eyes flashed from signature Apple Family green to a bright shade of orange.

“It's almost like a baby me,” he said, but the voice that came out of his mouth this time was somehow even deeper and seemed more jagged.

He got off his bike, his boots inches from Sunset’s face. She wasn’t sure she had enough blood left to flush, but would have rather died before admitting to her humiliation at being literally broken at someone’s feet. And after she had just beaten Blair so easily!

“Get up,” Mac said, his voice and eyes back to normal.

Was he serious? Hadn’t he just made sure she couldn’t? Much as Sunset hated to be beaten, she knew when it was time to try a different tactic. Mac was a country bumpkin like his sister, right? Maybe it was time to play the sympathy card.

“I-I can’t.”

“Then you ain’t tryin’ hard enough.” Mac turned his back and took a few steps away. “Or are ya just that puny? Never knew a Devil ta choose such a weak host. ‘Course if you can’t do it, you can always beg the spirit for help.”

He was provoking her, and they both knew it. But Sunset didn’t see that she had many other options. It was better than lying here bleeding.

She searched for the fire she’d felt before, and let it burn.

The pain in her body started to ebb, and Sunset thought she could actually feel her bones knitting back together. Was the snow around her already starting to melt? She took a breath, and then got her hands under her, pushing herself up to a crouch.

Mac turned to watch her, sitting back down on his motorcycle. He rubbed his chin and the bit of stubble there. “Looks about the same,” he murmured, seemingly to himself as Sunset felt her body trying its best to regenerate, to put her back into working order. “But it's not like us,” he said.

Sunset managed to spare a glance at him. “What are you even talking about? Who is us?”

Mac kicked her in the ribs hard enough to slam her into a junk car and dent the door. Sunset gasped, partly out of surprise, partly out of having the breath driven out of her. Also partly out of pain, but a boot to the gut was hardly the worst injury she’d suffered in the last few minutes.

Recovering this time, Sunset managed to get all the way up, even though her entire body felt weak, exhausted, as the heat kept rolling across her skin.

Mac was still looking in her direction, but it was clear that he wasn’t actually talking to her as he kept rubbing his chin. “No, I can’t hear the Spirit either. Just like the others, why does every Spirit have to be so damn different?” Mac grumbled, rolling his neck as stood up and took a few steps towards Sunset. She ground her teeth. He was acting like she was nothing before him, that she wasn’t even worth talking to when she had this power! She focused on that other fire inside of her, the searing, hellish one that only came out when she fought Blair, but…this time, she couldn't feel it at all.

Sunset looked down at her hands, fire was still tracing her fingers but it wasn’t coming to her like it had before. “Why can’t I-”

“Ah, yer that new.” She looked up to find Mac towering over her in height, and apparently in knowledge of the Spirit of Vengeance. She knew that she couldn't do anything about height but she would be damned if she wasn’t smarter than some human. Yes, all of this was new to her but she wasn’t going to let him know that! She was stronger now, and he was going to tell her everything, willing or not.

She made both her hands into fists and took a step towards Mac, fire or not she wasn’t going to let him get the upper hand.

“You are going to tell me everything about this power, or I’m going to beat it out of you,” Sunset said, matching her voice to the anger inside of her as it came out low, and full of scorn. While she didn’t get her full desired effect, both of Mac’s eyebrows went up. Now she was making some progress, she was going to show this human, Ghost Rider or not, that she meant business. “Do you understand?”

“Celestia, that is adorable,” Mac laughed, a smile spreading across his lips. “Absolutely adorable.”

The humiliation was too much. Sunset swung at Mac. If there was one thing she had learned since being in this world it was how to throw a punch. It was the most basic of human attacks, but she was not human, far beyond it. She put her full weight behind the punch, moving her body with her fist to deliver the most power she could summon.

Mac moved so quickly that she didn’t even have time to counter as he grabbed her by the wrist and used her own momentum against her, throwing her over his shoulder and into the pile of junkyard scrap beyond. She went tumbling into the pile of rusty metal, slicing into her flesh as the sheer force of the impact rebroke her bones. She hit a car hard enough that the one stacked atop it came crashing down, pinning her legs.

Sunset could only give out a low groan of pain as she heard Mac’s slow steps thumping towards her. “You got that much strength outside of yer Rider form? Color me impressed, never seen that before,” Mac said, giving out a low whistle as he stood in front of the scrap. “Now, if yer done throwin’ a tantrum we need ta-”

Even if he had complimented her, Sunset wasn’t in the mood to talk, the fire of the Spirit already healing her body as she ripped the door off the nearest car that was pinning her down and lunged for Mac from the scrap pile. She threw the door at Mac, who - much to Sunset’s satisfaction - jumped out of the way as it came crashing down on where he had been standing.

It didn’t dampen her fury, though. Mac had dragged her across the city, refused to acknowledge her ability, and he spoke to her as though she was a child! To make things even worse he dared use Celestia’s name around Sunset. She was going to make him pay for this.

It would have helped if she was more experienced in fighting, but even still, Sunset had defaulted to wild punches, ready to cave in Mac’s skull under her might. Once again though, he completely subverted her plan as he side stepped her blows, and threw her into another pile of discarded metal and junk. This time, she slammed into an old refrigerator, putting a large Sunset-shaped dent in the back wall. The fridge tumbled over, the door slamming shut on her. It took a moment, which felt far too long, to orient herself and kick the door open again.

“Guess we got her all worked up.”

That damn voice again! He was mocking her by changing voices as well? She wasn’t going to stand for that!

“Shut up!” Sunset roared, lifting the refrigerator over her head and hurling it at Mac like a missile. “Just shut up!” Her rage grew hotter as once more Mac stepped out of the way of her attack, but she was already moving again, reaching out for him.

“Easy sugar,” Mac growled, as he moved to evade Sunset’s grasping hands, reeling his hold on the chain around his forearm and using it to wrap around Sunset’s wrists as she went by. “You got a head as hard as Applejack!” Sunset screamed in response, now he was making a comparison to someone far inferior to her? She would show him, by breaking his chain and choking him with it!

Though, tried as she might, the chains didn’t break. She had just lifted a refrigerator without any problem, ripped a door off a car, and moved faster than any human could, but these chains would not submit to her will. “What the, how are you, what are the-”

Mac smoothly pivoted in place and gave her a toss. A particularly sharp piece of steel pierced her back, sliding between her ribs and emerging from the front of Sunset’s torso. She couldn’t even gasp this time, lungs bisected. Her feet didn't reach the ground to get herself unstuck, either.

“Ah might not have yer strength in this form,” Mac said, “But once yer a Rider fer a bit, ya pick up a few things.” He smiled at her, as runes and sigils were momentarily illuminated upon the chain. “But yer too angry ta listen clearly, so Ah guess ya need ta work out some of that anger on someone deservin’.” Mac lifted his head and let out a low whistle, a throb of energy going out with it.

The roar of an engine replied as if in answer, a very familiar exhaust that Sunset had come to know. In a few moments, her motorcycle came tearing into the junkyard without a rider.

The motorcycle circled her and Mac, tires skidding in the snow, before it slid to a stop before them. “How did you-” Sunset began, coughing up a little blood in the process.

“Time fer ya ta learn the real purpose of yer Spirit,” Mac said. He grabbed the front of Sunset’s shirt, pulling her from her impalement. Putting her surprise at the motorcycle’s sudden appearance aside, Sunset tried to lunge at him, to beat him bloody, to show him that he had no power over her, but she suddenly couldn't make herself move. Mac dropped her astride the motorcycle. Instead of grabbing his throat and choking him, her hands found the handlebars and revved the engine. She was already aboard the bike, putting it into gear without giving her body permission to do any of this.

“Just let the Rider take over,” Mac said, clapping her on the shoulder. Sunset could command her body enough to look over at Mac, glaring hatred. “It hurts a lot less, trust me on that,” he said, smiling down at her, “And when yer ready ta learn, Ah’ll find ya.” Like a rubber band being released, Sunset went shooting forward as the motorcycle took on a mind of its own and led Sunset where it wanted to go, her holding on as merely a passenger.

She went flying down the road, out of the junkyard and into the city proper, zooming by stop lights that were red, passing every stop sign, and leaving a trail of fire in her wake. Sunset realized something had happened to her bike; the motorcycle’s wheels were on fire, and she could feel the heat of the engine pulsing through her, burning her as that fire from before started to race up her body, blazing away everything that was her and leaving something else behind.

Sunset was disciplined in magic, she had devoted herself to her studies and knew that nothing came without a cost, and sometimes that cost was painful. She had built up her mental defenses to block out pain so she could push past her limitations, but this burning was like nothing she had ever felt before, and she realized she couldn’t fight it.

The fire Sunset thought until now had been warm and healing about her body was suddenly an inferno, raging hotter than anything she had ever felt before. Even as she tried to take her hands from the handlebars, she could feel it incinerating her skin and flesh. She screamed until the fire burned through her neck and vocal cords, and her lungs and throat were next.

Sunset couldn’t see, couldn’t feel anything but the fire, until suddenly her senses were too sharp to not notice the world around her. It was as if her eyelids were gone and she couldn’t look away. She screamed, but instead, another voice came out, a roar, a sound that she knew her own throat wasn’t capable of forming…or was it her voice anymore?

As the fire reached her face, she felt the transformation coming over her and she tried to fight it, to keep control of who she was, that she was Sunset Shimmer and nothing was going to stop her, nothing at all. She tried to scream again, but the roar came out instead as something else had control of her body.

As the fire enveloped her, she felt a tug, a pull, a drive within her. The feeling was similar to what she’d thought the power of the Spirit of Vengeance had been, only seemingly thousands of times more intense.

The motorcycle didn’t seem like another entity now, it was part of her, or at least part of whatever was driving her forward now. Wherever it was taking her, she knew there would be evil, and this spirit - or at least that’s what everyone kept calling the thing - wanted at it.

She veered down another road to what was obviously the bad side of town and came to a screeching stop at the mouth of an alley. As the dust settled, she could hear someone begging for help. Once more, her body moved without her permission, and as much as she fought it, didn’t even make a difference as her legs dismounted the bike and started down the alley, lighting the way as flames danced around her skull.

As she approached, Sunset saw what evil called to her. A man pressed a woman to the brick wall in front of him, a knife at her throat.

It was obvious what was happening, or was about to happen, as the man’s trousers were around his ankles and the woman looked beaten, her clothes ripped and teardrops mixed with makeup ran down her cheeks. Both of them, though, stopped to stare at Sunset’s approach.

“Wh… what the fuck are you?” the man demanded pointing his knife at Sunset, before apparently deciding he’d rather have a hostage and moving it back to the woman’s throat. The look of utter terror on his face, perhaps even more than the woman, was just the thing Sunset craved, the power over someone she had wanted. At that moment, she felt that this was exactly what she traded for her soul.

“St-stay the fuck back!” he yelled at her, holding the woman up more as holding the knife against her neck tight enough that a tiny trinkle of blood started to roll down her skin. “I’ll do it! I’ll fucking do it!”

Sunset knew she didn’t have eyes, that the fire had burned them away, but she could see everything clearly as if it were daylight and she watched as the droplet of blood ran from the knife and formed a droplet. Everything moved in slow motion as the blood fell, she could see it so clearly as the light of her flames glinted on the blood, before it hit the ground; and like that, a dam broke.

Sunset wasn’t even sure how the whip had appeared in her hands, but it was already flying through the air and bending at an impossible angle to wrap itself around the man’s neck like Sunset’s own not too long ago. The leather whip somehow glowed bright as if aflame, and the man screamed as the burning sensation came over him, or at least until his air was choked off. He dropped the knife, going to his knees, and his hostage had enough self preservation to duck away as Sunset advanced.

Sunset’s boney fingers took hold of the man’s dirty shirt and slammed him hard against the wall, the whip falling away to leave a nearly perfect imprint of itself on the man’s neck like a branding mark. He kicked and failed himself at Sunset, kicking her in the stomach, legs, and smacking her arms and face with his hands but all it did was add to his building pain as nothing he did could hurt her, the flames burning his fingers, turning black and shriveling from contact.

“Look into my eyes,” Sunset said, or the spirit did using a mockery of her voice. The voice was deeper, raspier, powerful. She could see the man fighting against it, to stop himself from obeying her, but like the force that had brought her here, her target couldn't help but look into her eyes. And then the screaming started.

Sunset had a front row view of the man’s life of sin, of pain, and of his punishment. She witnessed all of the crimes he had ever committed and the pain it had caused others. Not just physical pain, but the ripples of emotions, stress, self loathing, hatred towards the world, and so much more. Not just of his victims but she could feel the pain of others, the ones closest to them, their friends and family who shared that pain and felt their own because of it, and those who suffered because of that.

From every victim that this man had tortured, he didn’t just feel their pain, but the pain that rippled out because of his acts, and it was all focused on him, again, and again. It didn’t stop as it reached his last victim, but it kept going in an unending loop as the man’s soul was burned.

Sunset could only watch as the film of sin passed her eyes, hearing his screams of pain mixing in with all the screams that he caused in a loop of torture right up untill the spirit let go of him, letting him fall to the concrete of the alley. He was breathing, his eyes wide open, but besides that, nothing else. The body was alive, but the soul had been burned away.

“Guilty,” Sunset said, or her voice did at least as she turned from the man to find his latest victim cowering behind a dumpster, trying to cover herself the best she could. Sunset could already feel the spirit controlling her body looking into the woman’s eyes, and Sunset tried to force it away, not wanting to go through that again, having to face another loop of pain.

But the voice declared “Innocent,” and Sunset passed right by her, back to the motorcycle that sat idling in the street.

It sat perfectly upright, balancing unnaturally by itself on two wheels. It was the first time she had managed to take a good look since this ordeal began. The tires were aflame - no, they were flame. The chassis seemed to have lengthened, and there were more spikes. It looked as if it were about half organic. And the other half was raw fire.

Sunset’s bony hand coiled the whip and hung it back on the bike. She then picked up her leather jacket, still somehow lying across the seat, that she hadn’t been able to put on before this all began.

Her arms slipped it on, and to her relief, it didn’t burn. It felt good, like a reward after a job well done. Finally, she got to wear it. After the night she’d had, it felt like she’d earned it.

But the night wasn’t over. The Rider got back on the motorcycle, without any say from Sunset, and once again took off into the night.

Author's Note

Captain Unstoppable mostly wrote this chapter.

Chapter 6

Sunset stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were red and dry. Her hair felt a little crispy.

All these things were a small price to pay for the power she’d finally unlocked, but even then, she was starting to realize the limitations. She’d never asked to be a...whatever she was now. An enforcer?

Only her first time fully becoming the Ghost Rider wasn’t enough to truly explore what she could do, though if her skin burning away was going to hurt that much, she was disinclined to do it more often. It didn’t seem as if she could make the transformation happen without a trigger, either. Maybe that meant she would have to seek out evil.

The Rider hadn’t stopped until the morning. Was every night going to be like this?

Sunset stepped into the shower, grabbing her conditioner. While the water ran, she thought a little more about the events of the previous night. It was a strong mix of emotions. From being beaten to a pulp by Mac, then mentored by him; feeling her own skin burn off; the surge of raw power from the transformation; the unease of not being alone in her body; and then, the burning of a soul.

Sunset had effectively ended the man’s life, even as his body still breathed. Did he deserve it? Well...yes, she decided. Wait, decided? Now? After it was already done?

Everything was moving too fast, this power inside of her that was now controlling her actions, she couldn’t deny the power, the power she had wanted for so long and it was here she had just seen it first hand… but what had she traded for it? A power that was controlling her, instead of the other way around?

The problem was growing, and Sunset had no idea of how to control it. What was this power? And what the Tartarus, Hell, or other had she gotten herself into?

She had known that Lucifer wanted her labor in return for his favor, but finally doing it suddenly put her off. It wasn’t as if she didn’t get satisfaction from meting out punishment, but so far none of the lowlifes she had met had done anything significant to her. Why go to the trouble if she wasn’t getting something out of it, or removing an obstacle in her path?

Well, as long as Lucifer didn’t ask for too much, Sunset would have time to explore how to bend this power for her own use.

Finished with the shower, Sunset’s next priority was food. She felt famished, hollow, and that was despite drinking perhaps a gallon of water the moment she arrived home.

When she walked out of the bathroom, Lucifer was sitting at the kitchen table. The expression jumped out of her skin might have applied, if Sunset didn’t already know what that felt like. She was still surprised.

“I see that you found Macintosh,” he said.

Maybe it was Mac that had found Sunset, but she didn’t correct him. She was too busy covering her surprise and transitioning to accusation. “And he nearly killed me! How am I supposed to do my job if you just let someone interfere like that? You didn’t tell me what was going to happen! ‘Let the demon out. Feel the hellfire consume your soul.’ I didn’t know I had a soul until you took it!”

“The contract couldn’t have been more clear,” Lucifer said, voice refusing to rise to match her tone. “And I did answer every question you asked before you signed it. But Sunset, be honest here, selling your soul isn’t the only thing that led you to this point.”

He held her gaze for a moment while Sunset angrily gathered her reply, but then resumed speaking before she could rebut. “But that’s not why I’m here. I came to check on you, to see how you were doing after the first time you burned someone’s soul. I see that I needn’t have bothered. You aren’t someone who cares about other people.”

Part of Sunset wanted to contradict everything he said. Part of her remembered that she took pride in caring only for herself.

She turned away to open the refrigerator, hoping he would disappear when her back was turned. To her mild surprise, he actually did.

Sunset dumped the contents of her fridge out onto the kitchen table and dug in. The Ghost Rider needed energy, and it apparently came from her own body. She grumbled angrily even as she stuffed breakfast down her throat, hoping this wasn’t going to become a habit.

Later that morning, she rode her motorcycle to school, wearing her new jacket. She had just parked in the lot and was still astride the bike, taking off her helmet, when Silver came sprinting up to her. “Sunset! I thought you were dead!”

Well, considering the night she’d had, that might have actually been a better alternative. However, sensing an opportunity, Sunset put her angry internal monologue aside for the moment. She shook her hair out of the helmet, letting it cascade down her back. She smirked. “Do I look dead?”

Silver ducked her head in embarrassment, but then raised her eyes again. “I mean, I saw you get strangled by a chain and dragged away. What was I supposed to think? Who did that to you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sunset said. “I took care of it.”

“O-okay…” Silver looked torn, but apparently decided that taking Sunset’s word for it and letting it go was easier than continuing to think about it. She hurriedly flipped through her notebook for Sunset’s schedule. “Today you were going to start your campaign for Princess of the Spring Fling.”

It was still a few months away - there was still snow on the ground after all - but it was never too early to lay plans. Besides, it was an opportunity to do her own thing, something she alone controlled.

At one of the passing periods, Silver slipped Sunset a note. I saw Fluttershy in the locker room. Sunset had been expecting this, and headed that way.

Fluttershy was alone, crouching over the open door of her locker. In her position, her swoosh of long pink hair nearly reached the floor. Her head snapped up when she heard Sunset come in. She stood as Sunset came over, but immediately stepped backwards, pressing her back to the wall of lockers as Sunset leaned in, resting one hand on the wall beside Fluttershy’s head.

“O-oh, hi Sunset,” Fluttershy stammered. “I-I like your jacket.”

“I thought I’d find you here,” Sunset said, smiling. “What have you been up to?”

Fluttershy concentrated mostly on her hands while speaking. “I was helping Rainbow plan a date with Applejack.”

“Where are they going?”

“Bowling.” Fluttershy told her the details. Sunset filed it away for later, just in case.

“That’s so cute, helping them out like that,” Sunset said. Fluttershy flushed. “But you know, you can’t forget we had something planned, too.”

“I’m s-sorry,” Fluttershy squeaked. “I didn’t know you didn’t like that cafe.”

“That’s okay,” Sunset soothed. “But you need to do better if you want to officially date me.”

Fluttershy would never admit it, but Sunset had figured out she was into bad boys, just too timid to talk to any actual boys. She was also easier to manipulate than just about anyone.

“I just f-fail so much,” Fluttershy whimpered. “Today some girls were making fun of me for leaving rabbit food lying around. I mean, I do keep rabbit food in my locker, but I wouldn’t just make a mess with it. I don't know who left rabbit food lying around. It wasn’t me, but they wouldn’t listen.”

The downside to stringing Fluttershy along was that she occasionally got comfortable enough to bring her problems to Sunset.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re doing the best you can,” Sunset said. She leaned her face closer.

Fluttershy swallowed hard and closed her eyes, lips pursing. Sunset smirked and turned to walk out of the locker room, wondering how long Fluttershy would stand there like that until she realized.

Fluttershy was a decent source of information and gifts, but Sunset was growing bored of how easy she was to exploit. There was no challenge in it. Maybe now that Sunset was moving up in the world with the power of the Ghost Rider, she should look for other opportunities.

Like gaining full control of the Ghost Rider itself. So far, between Mac and Lucifer, she was still struggling, though Sunset would never admit that. She was never defeated, only set back.

No, Sunset wasn’t ready to admit that she regretted making the deal. She hadn’t yet explored all her options, and she would be damned - pun thoroughly unintended - if she gave up now, before she’d tried everything to bend the Spirit of Vengeance to her own will.

It didn’t seem that she was going to find whatever that was at school. Based on her observations so far, the Ghost Rider didn’t come out in the broad daylight. And if what she had learned the previous night was true, then she couldn’t just point it at Celestia.

It made Sunset wonder. How picky was the spirit? Could she engineer a situation that might force the issue? She decided to try it that night.

After school, Sunset headed for what she understood was the seedy part of town. The sun was still up, but she used the time to get a feel for the place. The human city of Canterlot was not bad, as human cities went, Sunset understood. As her encounter last night had proven, though, there were still criminals to be found.

Criminals? Well, that was a legal term. The people Sunset was hunting hadn’t necessarily been convicted by a court.

The sun was still up but dropping fast as she cruised through the Santa Louis neighborhood in east Canterlot. Despite the apparently-religious sounding name, it was decidedly the less desirable part of town. Even an outsider like Sunset could tell that at a glance. Things were just...worse.

The people included. Sunset prided herself on the ability to read faces, even while going by on the street, and she was already detecting some shifty eyes. Though, there was something else she noticed. It seemed as if she was getting hints of the feeling from the previous night, of evil in the air.

It wasn’t similar to a unicorn detecting magic in the air. This didn’t feel like magic, something that by itself could have an effect on the world. It was just an intangible darkness, that wasn’t visible, but was there nonetheless. The Spirit of Vengeance had granted Sunset the ability to notice it. It was an unclean, ugly feeling, one that she might have ordinarily shied away from instinctively, but now, it was the mark of prey.

That was also a new feeling, of being a hunter, unnatural for a natural herbivore. But Sunset wasn’t a pony anymore, was she? She’d even surpassed being a human.

Something changed suddenly. It wasn’t so big a shock that Sunset reacted, but she felt the difference. What was it? A sharpening of the senses? A prickle of hellfire?

She passed out of the shadow of a building back into the fading sunlight and the feeling abated, but then returned again on the next block. The night, Sunset realized. The Ghost Rider was still a demon, after all, and apparently couldn’t show its face under the sun. Well, dislike of the sun was something they both had in common she supposed, though was still irritated in discovering the limitation. What good was power if she couldn’t use it part of the time? At least it was winter and the nights were longer.

Sunset pulled up at a stop sign, pausing to let the engine idle and her mind contemplate. Her instincts tugged her in one direction. She deliberately turned the other.

The handlebars seemed to fight her briefly, or maybe it was a pothole, or maybe her imagination.

Down the street, she came to the lighted windows of Flim Flam Pawn Jam, a shop that was still open at this hour. Sunset had heard about it around school, how there were certain items available if one knew the right questions to ask. Nothing truly serious, but enough to fuel rumors among students, if any of them had actually visited the place before.

This was not where the demon was tugging her. But no one would miss this place and these people if they were gone. Leaving the bike at the curb, Sunset walked through the door.

There was the usual jumble of things on the shelves, the items people sold to pawn shops. The red-haired man behind the counter looked up from a magazine he was boredly reading and stood up straight as Sunset came in. He plastered on a high-effort fake smile and said, “Hi there little lady, what can I do for you today?”

“I’m interested in your special stock,” Sunset replied.

His expression changed subtly and he glanced her up and down. Maybe her outfit satisfied him that she wasn’t a cop or a kid. “Well then, let’s see what we have.”

He gestured for her to follow him and turned for a back room, calling ahead, “Brother, we have a customer.” Sunset did a few practice clenches of her fists, secure in her leather gloves, and followed him.

In the other room was an identical man, though this one had a mustache. Twins? Well, Sunset was confident she could handle both. The first brother walked over to the other and said in a lowered voice, “She wants to see the goods.”

In a practiced maneuver, they grabbed each other’s collars and pulled. Each of them was apparently wearing tear-away clothes and with a rip of velcro suddenly both wore nothing but leopard-print briefs.

Sunset blinked. “Is that it?”

Both of them looked slightly hurt. “Well, we have drugs too,” the one with the mustache scoffed.

This still wasn’t going how Sunset pictured, but she figured that was good enough. She started to crack her knuckles as the two brothers turned to open a cabinet.

“What’s your fancy? We’ve got the best locally-sourced THC. Maybe some E or LSD?” They spat out a couple of other acronyms Sunset didn’t recognize. But she didn’t need to as she approached the two of them from behind.

She grabbed the backs of their heads with each of her hands and yanked them off the floor, mashing their faces into the wall above the cabinet. Because of the mashing business, neither of them was able to get out an intelligible word, but it was clear she had achieved total surprise.

Sunset brought out the demon. Or tried to. It didn’t work. She thought back to how it had felt before, but somehow the power wouldn’t manifest.

Even strong as she was, holding up two struggling full-grown men for more than a couple of seconds was beginning to strain her arms. She made one last reach for the Spirit of Vengeance, failed, and smacked the two of them together before dropping them in a heap at her feet.

Why hadn’t it worked? Did she have to catch them in the act of something? Didn’t trying to sell her drugs count? Or did merely offering party drugs not count as doing evil?

She had ignored the tug of the spirit earlier, choosing her own path here. These men...weren’t evil. Or at least not soul-burnable evil. Strong as she was, she felt she couldn’t just kill them. And for some reason, that made Sunset angry.

It was a strange feeling to restrain herself because she wanted someone to know how much they were suffering at her hands, realize that she was only doing it for her own ego, and be furious at herself all the revelation. Petty torture was inefficient. It was what humans did to each other. It was beneath Sunset Shimmer, but she wanted it all the same, and that was quite a bit more soul-searching than she had bargained for tonight. Perhaps the real curse was being intelligent enough to realize her own flaws but also realizing she was powerless against herself to do anything about them.

Sunset crouched, grabbing both men by the neck and hauling them to her eye level. “I think we’ve learned a lesson here today.” She didn’t say who we included. “So I want you both to know that if I ever see you again, you’d better make it worth my while.”

That was nonspecific and vague, but Sunset was mostly preoccupied with holding back her own emotion at the moment and wasn’t up to stipulating too many conditions. At any rate, they weren’t going to forget her any time soon, and she was able to take some sort of solace in that.

Sunset noticed a nearby refrigerator that had swung open during the scuffle. She hadn’t come in here with the intention to steal anything from the brothers, nothing she could take would get their attention more than she already had, but it was the principle of the thing. Figuring she was going to be thirsty later anyway, she grabbed a soda from the fridge and walked out. She also kicked the front door glass out instead of opening it.

Outside, the bike started just as she touched the handlebars with her fingertips, as if it was waiting for her. Waiting for her to do the right thing.

Well, no, not the right thing. That would be not getting involved in any of this to start with. Waiting for her to do what she was told.

Sunset went through another round of self-reflective anger and got on the bike. This time, she felt herself converging again with the track she had been supposed to take. At least part of that was feeling her skin begin to prickle with heat.

Before she could get on with it, though, Mac pulled up on a bike of his own, probably the one Sunset had seen before but at the time been too preoccupied with being beaten to examine. It was much older than hers, and might very well have come from the same junkyard where they’d met. He seemed perfectly at ease on it, however, almost as if man and machine were as one.

“Looks like you found him,” Mac said in that idle drawl of his.

Annoyed, both at being interrupted and Mac speaking before he was spoken to, Sunset tersely replied, “Who?”

“Last night. Smelled like a rapist.”

“Smelled like?”

Mac shrugged. “Ya get a sense of these things after a while.”

Sunset didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. She was so done with Mac, even at only the second time meeting him. If nothing else, it was because in whatever world Lucifer had taken him from they swore to Celestia just like Equestria.

“Aren’t you gonna ask me?” he said.

“What?”

“If last night was a rapist, what’s this?” Mac tilted his head side to side, as if contemplating what he smelled on the wind, and answered his own question. “Nothin’ too special. Maybe an abuser.” He looked at her and let slip what might have passed for a cocky smile on his face. “Race you?”

Sunset scoffed contemptuously, finally getting the chance to do something she was actually practiced at tonight. “If you care that much, you can have it.”

Something - a voice? - twinged at the back of her mind, angry and eager for action. Oh, did the spirit not like that? Too bad, it wasn’t the one in charge. Though, Sunset well remembered what had happened the previous night, when it was. Sunset was supposed to learn from him, following Lucifer’s order. That dissuaded her even more.

Mac leaned over and poked her shoulder. “Tag.”

He twisted the throttle of his bike and roared away.

Memories of Mac beating the tar out of her flashed across Sunset’s mind. He was toying with her, so condescending that he couldn’t even take her seriously as another Rider.

At least Sunset agreed with the little voice in her head this time. And in the fraction of a second it took for all this to go through her mind, she knew that she couldn’t help but rise to the challenge.

The bike seemed to go into gear of its own accord, but Sunset was going to do that anyway. It leaped forward under her touch, front tire not even turning against the ground before it was up in the air. Sunset instinctively shifted her weight forward to compensate, even as the bike accelerated after Mac.

Sunset was gratified to see that she was gaining on whatever bike Mac was riding, even though he had a headstart. The two of them blew through a stop sign, dodging a car by ducking into the other lane. Mac looked over his shoulder as she drew even with him.

He didn’t seem surprised or startled that she was catching up. If anything, he looked satisfied. Maybe because she had done exactly what he’d dared her to do. Or maybe, because he’d planned it. Mac and his bike both went up in flames.

Another Rider was a strange sight to see from the outside. Mac’s skin was gone, replaced by fire and bone. His motorcycle changed too, stretching, taking on a more sinister appearance, and actually gaining chrome.

Though she was a Rider herself, that didn’t mean Sunset wasn’t startled, and she reactively grabbed the first object at hand - the can of soda taken from Flim and Flam - and threw it at him. The can burst apart, boiling away to steam, in the heat of the fire before it ever touched him.

With a howl of laughter, Mac the Rider sped ahead on his hellacious motorcycle, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. Sunset, still momentarily stunned, did her best to keep up, which wasn’t nearly enough.

She was at least able to tell where he was going. The signal of evil that was drawing her in too felt stronger the closer she got. It did subtly feel different than last time. Maybe Mac really could tell what kind of malevolence it was.

The small house looked as if it hadn’t seen a lick of paint in decades. The yard was almost that bad. When Sunset screeched to a halt, Mac was already inside. His motorcycle vibrated, still on fire, from where he had carelessly left it in the yard. The scattered snow around it had already melted and the grass underneath was rapidly singeing.

The bike stood upright, as if a trained steed, waiting, if restlessly. As Sunset climbed off her own motorcycle, she felt the handlebars nudge against her hands. Not entirely trusting it, she was suddenly distracted by the heat from her own body. Stumbling towards the house, it only got worse until the flames erupted.

The Ghost Rider was free once more. Sunset’s flesh burning away hurt just as much as the first time. That didn’t stop her from following Mac’s trail into the house.

The Rider form of Mac was just as large. Maybe larger. And with flames and all, he dominated the kitchen, to the point that the woman suspended by her throat was completely hidden behind him when Sunset walked in. It also took her another moment to notice the tiny form of a girl curled into a terrified ball in the hallway. Even from here, Sunset could see bruises on her skin.

“Guilty,” Mac was just saying. “Look into my eyes.”

The woman’s breath hitched, but she couldn’t even get a scream out before her soul began to incinerate. Mac dropped her, and she fell in a heap, light already fading from her eyes.

The girl let out a choked sob. Mac ignored her, turning away.

His eyes fell on Sunset, and even in her Rider form, she had no time to react before he was already across the room, skeletal fingers closing around her bare vertebrae.

It was a strange feeling, being choked even though she had no lungs to breathe. It almost distracted Sunset from being slammed right through the wall of the house and into the backyard.

Mac, or the Ghost Rider that replaced him, pulled Sunset up, to his own eye level, the fire in the sockets of his skull boring into her own.

“Guilty,” he growled, in a voice so low and deep that Sunset more felt the words than actually heard them.

“But I don’t have a soul to burn.” Had those words come from her mouth? Sunset barely recognized her own voice, not to mention she hadn’t consciously said it.

“I know,” said Mac, seeming to smile even without lips. “The Penance Stare doesn’t work on other Riders.” For a moment when he had attacked her, Sunset thought he might have lost control completely, but no, this was still him flaunting his power over her.

Even as Sunset’s anger rose, Mac let her go. Both of them extinguished, steam rising in the night air.

Both motorcycles approached. They, too, had returned to normal, but clearly still maintained some sort of unholy power. Sunset was gratified to see that her bike didn’t seem too friendly with Mac’s.

She unconsciously touched her throat as she swung a leg over her bike, remembering vividly how Mac had pronounced her guilty. Sure, she didn’t go out of her way to be nice, but did that make her actually evil?

She tipped the mirror to look at her face. So what if it did? On the one hand, she had now seen firsthand the consequences. On the other, she was the consequences.

“Be seein’ ya,” Mac said.

“Wait,” said Sunset, glancing back at the house and the hole in the wall their bodies had made. “What about cleanup? Isn’t it a problem if someone sees us?”

“I don’t worry myself with the details.”

“What about that kid? What’s she going to do without a mother - even if she was being abused.”

Mac shrugged. “Ah did my job. It ain’t my problem. Fifty-fifty Ah’ll even see her again, a few years down the line.”

Maybe Sunset wasn’t actually evil, if she was worried about this. But she had to admit, Mac’s words sounded like the easy answer. It wasn’t her problem.

Besides, who adopted orphans? Princess Celestia.

“And Ah’ll see you again tomorrow,” Mac said. “You ain’t ready yet.”

Chapter 7

Sunset was once again dry and parched the morning after. She managed to clean up enough to be dressed and presentable when Silver knocked on the door that Saturday morning.

Silver had an entire sack of muffins, plus a couple of breakfast sandwiches with bacon. Sunset went to take the bag from her but paused. Silver stood there, all by herself in the cold. After a moment, Sunset tilted her head to gesture Silver inside.

At the kitchen table, Silver watched, seemingly fascinated, as Sunset destroyed her breakfast, lubricating the already salty meat with soy sauce. Maybe that wasn’t the greatest condiment when she was trying to rehydrate, but Silver kept filling her drinking glass with water.

Not having expected to be invited inside, Silver fidgeted. She suddenly asked, “What happened last night?”

Sunset was chewing, but shot her a look.

“I heard something happened at the pawn shop,” Silver said, though her voice was softer now as if she was having second thoughts about starting the conversation. “People in the school group chats are talking.”

“What does it matter to you?” Sunset asked.

“It doesn’t really, it’s just...whatever you’re doing, aren’t I supposed to help?”

Sunset paused to meet her eyes. Initiative, now that was something. She’d initially taken on Silver because she was easy to manipulate yet more competent than most, but hadn’t grown to expect the girl to ever go above-and-beyond.

Sunset considered it. How could Silver help with this?

“I might have something for you to do,” Sunset said. “But for now, since you’re here, the principal wanted me to escort some new transfer students on Monday. Let’s talk about what we’re going to do about that, and also for the Spring Fling.”

When Silver left later that morning, Sunset felt that she had a firm grip on her schemes to be the Princess of the Spring Fling. Though, she wasn’t so optimistic that she didn’t plan for contingencies. Particularly now that the Spirit of Vengeance was with her, there were many wrenches that could be tossed into many gears. But it also lent her a few options for fixing that.

So she wasn’t entirely surprised when Mac walked in uninvited that late afternoon. The door was unlocked - Sunset hadn’t bolted after Silver - but she hadn’t planned on such audacity.

Sunset didn’t make any attempt to conceal her contempt for the uninvited guest, even as he dropped into the chair across the table from her. She did decide to leverage what she could to make him uncomfortable, though, and picked up a cube of alfalfa from her snack dish, chewing without breaking eye contact.

Mac’s eyebrows went up and he snorted, which wasn’t the reaction for which Sunset had hoped, but better than nothing. He said, “Even if ya ain’t human, Ah didn’t figure yer tastes were that unusual.”

“So what do you think I am?” Sunset asked, partially to be difficult, partially to gauge what Mac might know about other worlds.

He tilted his head back and forth while staring at her. “Ah saw somethin’ strange in the fire. Ya some kinda horse?”

Whether he meant to or not, it got a reaction out of Sunset. She would have corrected him with species, but by now knew that to humans ponies were merely small horses. So, attempting to maintain whatever method she could use to keep him off balance, said, “I am a unicorn.”

He grinned. “Ya actually are? Never met a Rider before who was also a steed.”

Sunset dove across the table at him, hands going for his throat. She almost made it, too, if Mac hadn’t kicked the table into her from below, knocking her off trajectory and upsetting most of her kitchen in the process.

Sunset scrambled up, but managed to temper her rage. Mac was alert now. “Do you want to take this somewhere else?” she snarled, also thinking about the condition of her apartment.

“Was hopin’ you’d ask,” Mac said. He turned for the door. “Meet me at the junkyard.”

As angry as she still was, this was already reminding Sunset of the last time she’d met him there. At some point, an intelligent person like her needed to stop beating her face against the wall and find a new strategy. Sunset wasn’t a meathead, but knew she was acting like it. How was Mac so good at baiting her to act with her pride? Because he knew she’d rather die than admit she needed help and guidance?

Was that a weakness?

It was a tense moment, but Sunset decided that no, it wasn’t. She wouldn’t be satisfied with any outcome she didn’t create herself. She wouldn’t be beholden to anyone, for anything. Not anymore.

Down at the junkyard, with night falling, Sunset stepped off her bike. After she cut the engine, the silence was...well, it was a city, even at night it wasn’t totally quiet. But it was quiet enough. She didn’t think they would be disturbed.

Though, as Sunset walked in, she picked up the feeling of someone else there. It was the same signature she got from a potential target of the Rider. She consciously tamped down on the smoke that had started to waft from her skin.

Mac was waiting. There was someone slung across the rear fender of his bike, bound and gagged.

“Brought someone to help with your motivation,” Mac said. The man began to struggle, but Mac casually backhanded him and he went limp again.

“What did he do?” Sunset asked.

“Dunno, some white collar shit,” Mac said, shrugging.

“That’s enough to be considered evil?”

“Ah don’t make the rules ‘bout who meets the cutoff. Maybe it’s possible to murder someone and not be evil; maybe it’s possible to steal some money yet be evil. Riders don’t sow, we just reap.” Mac patted the man on the back. “But if he’s here, ya ought to be able to Rider-up. Ah’m gonna make you work for it, though.”

Sunset had been consciously holding back the fire, but now fanned the flames within her. But before she could finish, while her skin was still aflame and burning, a fiery boot kicked her in the gut and knocked her across the junkyard.

She slammed into - through - a car and severely dented another on the other side. Sunset was caught between the need to gasp in pain and no longer having lungs to do it. She managed to extricate herself from the wreck, looking back along her path of flight to see that the car she’d gone completely through still had the edges of the hole glowing from heat. Mac, or the Rider that looked like him, stood beyond.

Knowing well that rushing him would only end as it always had, Sunset managed to retain some of her calculation, even as her body had gone to the flames. The whip she’d taken from Blair was in her hand, but she didn’t know how it had gotten there. No time to wonder. She cleared the car ahead of her with the mere thought of a jump, and raised her arm for a strike.

To her surprise, Mac actually let the whip crack against his forearm and coil around. Sunset pulled with all her strength - and it wasn’t enough. Mac stood firm, she stumbled forward - right into his fist coming to meet her. Sunset had time to see it, but not enough time to avoid it before it crashed into her face.

She hit the end of the length of whip and rebounded. There was nothing she could do to change her momentum, no way she could avoid another of Mac’s fists. But operating on instinct alone, she opened her mouth, jaws wider than she expected, and met Mac’s fingers, clamping down.

That actually seemed to surprise him, and Sunset was mildly proud of herself that she managed to hang on with her teeth until he pitched her straight up in the air and then down to slam her body across his knee.

Even as it hurt, Sunset evaluated herself. Where had she gotten that idea? Even a little pony’s jaws were far stronger than a human’s. Mac might know what she really was, but that didn’t mean he knew what to do about it.

The power of the Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance, wasn’t magic, or at least not the Equestrian kind. But it was power, and could be manipulated, and Sunset wasn’t one of the greatest scholars of magic for nothing.

She managed to get free of Mac again, raising the whip. This time, she actively focused her will, using what she knew of telekinesis and object manipulation. This time, when she struck, the whip took a different curve, the end zipping aside from where Mac had planned to catch it, only to wrap around his neck.

Another surprise, two for two. Attempting the hat trick, Sunset yanked on the whip again, adding magic. She didn’t expect to knock Mac down, but used everything she had to bring the two of them together at as high a velocity as possible. And then, lined up a kick.

There was no way to do a proper buck, no way to orient herself, no way to mimic a pony body, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t going to be earthshaking force behind it. To Sunset’s surprise, she actually succeeded. Her heels hammered into Mac’s chest and nearly folded him in half, seeming to actually expel fire from his body. But - that was her last success. Even as he absorbed the full force of her attack, Mac wrapped her into a crushing bear hug and piledrove her into the ground.

Ghost Rider or not, at some point Sunset had to give. She might not have had flesh to bruise, but there was only so much punishment she could soak up. And without knowing her limits, she didn’t realize until that moment that she had reached them.

Her flames began to die along with her strength. She managed to struggle to stand up, only to be seized around the shoulders by Mac. He lifted her clear of the ground and then the greatest pain yet shot through Sunset as he impaled her on a particularly sharp piece of metal jutting from the stacks of junk cars.

She hung there, feet not touching the ground, and probably only alive because her guttering flame still struggled on. She vaguely realized this was probably the same place he had impaled her the last time they were in the junkyard, but couldn’t manage to be angry about it.

“Well…” Mac said, his own flame going out. He stretched as he stood before her. “Looks like ya ain’t just a one-trick pony. Got a long way yet to go, though.”

Sunset resented his praise; she knew she had done better than before. She wasn’t much in a talking mood, though.

“Wanna know what Ah think ya need?” Mac said. He turned and picked up a discarded car mirror from the ground. He turned to show her. Sunset’s reflection, despite the fire about her head, looked...weak. Sunset told herself it was simply because she was so injured, disregarding the circumstances that led to it.

“Look,” Mac said. “That look like a Ghost Rider? Ya ain’t tryin’ hard enough. What ya need is a better reason.”

“Why does everybody keep telling me I’m not good enough?” Sunset managed, barely able to summon the breath to speak. “I’ve done more than any of you to get where I am.”

“Just what did you sell your soul for?”

Power. Because she wasn’t good enough by herself. But Sunset would rather die right here than admit it to Mac’s face.

He seemed to see right through her, though. “Apparently nothin’ special, then.”

“Oh? And what did you get out of the deal, in exchange for becoming a Ghost Rider?” Sunset shot back, coughing up a little blood in the process. Blood?

Mac actually glanced away, which almost surprised Sunset more than anything. “Same way most Riders get in. Ain’t nothin’ more powerful than love, the greatest recruiting sergeant into our Hellish ranks.”

Love!? How dare he! Nobody knew more about it than Sunset; she’d been Princess Celestia’s student, and knew how useless and hypocritical it was. So many lessons that turned out to be utter tripe.

Sunset was gratified to see that her fire actually did grow brighter in her anger, but no matter her fury, she still remained helpless.

Mac looked at her for a long moment, and then unceremoniously grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her down. Sunset hit the ground on her hands and knees, wheezing and coughing as the flames went out.

“‘Least ya deserved it,” Mac said. “Lucifer mostly takes advantage of people too desperate to say no.”

“What-” Sunset gasped, still unable to raise her head.

“Ya don’t actually trust him?”

Much as she’d like to be defiant again, Sunset had to admit that at least Mac had been pretty upfront in all their interactions. That didn’t mean she trusted him, but he was right, Lucifer was even less trustworthy. Not that Sunset trusted anyone.

“Ah ain’t gonna beat you any more today,” Mac said. “Do the Penance Stare on that guy, and let’s get outa here.”

Was that what it was called? It only reminded Sunset just how little formal training she had received for this job. Well, she could at least take pleasure in crushing someone weaker than her, for once.

The flames ignited again, and somehow hurt worse than the injuries she already had. Sunset didn’t delay any further, merely walking over to the captured man and turning him over to see his terrified face. “Look into my eyes.”

Much as she felt like spending all of the next day recuperating, Sunset had at least taken one lesson from Mac: she needed to do more. She was still learning about the Spirit of Vengeance. She was still growing into her powers. There was much left to do.

But she was stronger than she had been. No, after the humbling she’d gotten, probably still not strong enough to show up Celestia. But that didn’t mean there weren’t a few others she couldn’t pick off in Equestria.

The idea of going back there came to her suddenly. Sunset sat up in bed the next morning, throat parched, body still hurting, but unable to shake the notion.

Her mind went through what she knew about the portal between worlds. It was currently open now. She would have to be at school Monday morning to meet the transfer students she would be escorting and also continue her campaign for Princess of the Spring Fling, but that still left her a whole day.

She hesitated a few seconds longer, then hurried to get ready.

Chapter 8

Sunset usually tried to ignore the statue of a rearing horse in front of Canterlot High, but today stood in front of it. Early this weekend morning, she was the only one around.

She adjusted her backpack, preparing to do something she hadn’t done since first coming to the human world. She wasn’t dressed as she liked, only how she was sure would work; there was no way to tell how the portal to Equestria would interpret a leather jacket. She only wore a hooded sweatshirt.

“Going somewhere?”

Sunset should have expected this. She turned to find Lucifer standing behind her.

“So what if I am?”

He shrugged. “Just don’t be gone too long. I might have need of you.”

It was more than a subtle reminder that he effectively owned her. He hadn’t yet called in that marker, but it still hung over her head.

She also remembered Mac’s comment about trusting Lucifer.

Without another word, Sunset turned and walked through the portal.

She hadn’t experienced the blinding whirl of colors going to the other world since when she’d first come to the human side. It wasn’t entirely pleasant, but at least she was expecting it.

The portal spat her out. This side, in Equestria, was connected to an ornate mirror. Sunset’s hooves landed on a cobblestone floor in a high tower of Canterlot Castle. The room was dark, and the nearby window revealed a placid night and a full moon.

She dropped down to all fours, the move feeling both comfortable yet strange after so many months spent bipedal. Raising an arm - foreleg - she reached up to check that her horn had returned to its rightful place. It was there, and Sunset instinctively smiled. That was the one thing she had really missed from Equestria, the ability to command magic at a thought.

She looked out the window at the city of Canterlot below. It didn’t appear that much had changed. Home, her mind labeled it, before she banished the thought.

Except...the night sky seemed different, somehow. The stars seemed brighter, animated. Twinkling? Sunset had heard the term before, but never really understood until reading about it in a human textbook. The Equestrian stars now certainly seemed to twinkle even more than that, which was something she had never seen them do before. The moon, too, seemed brighter and clearer than she remembered, practically outdoing the human moon even when viewed through a telescope.

Had Celestia, the regent of sun and moon, learned some new type of magic? Sunset considered it. Not that humans had any such powers, but in the human world Principal Celestia had a sister, Luna. She knew there was no pony princess Luna, which really would have made more sense for somepony to control the moon.

“Somepony.” It seemed that old habits were already coming back. Sunset turned away from the window, preparing herself to go face her old world.

Using her remembered knowledge of the castle, Sunset navigated out of the tower and through the quiet corridors. She had decided to head for the dungeons first. Perhaps if there were any prisoners currently in residence, she might be able to release them for a distraction. She could also raid the royal coffers for any useful artifacts.

She’d avoided Celestia’s royal corridor, skulking in the shadows through empty nighttime hallways. However, she was very nearly spotted by a pair of guards outside a bedroom nearby. Sunset jerked back from the corner, rapidly seeking a different route. She’d never known that bedroom to be occupied before. Could it be some temporarily visiting dignitary? She didn’t recognize the brief glimpse of guard uniforms she’d seen, purple and grey.

“Hey you!”

Bad luck, they’d seen her after all. But Sunset knew this castle about as well as anypony, save perhaps Celestia. Behind a picture just a few steps away was a secret passage and she ducked inside. She heard a set of hooves pull up short and a murmur of surprise.

Sunset came out the other side, choosing a new route to the dungeon. Having learned her lesson, she moved more carefully now.

Reaching the ground floor of the castle, Sunset saw the coming dawn via the changing shadows and knew things were about to get more complicated as ponies began to wake up. Time moved differently here than it did in the human world, so the sun rising here didn’t mean it was already Monday morning on Earth.

She took a shortcut through the kitchen, grabbing a bowl of fruit off the table and emptying it into her bag without stopping. As she heard the sound of the cooks in the hall outside getting ready to come in and begin breakfast, Sunset carefully entered the dumbwaiter shaft, lowering herself down with magic towards the dungeons.

The shaft didn’t go all the way, only reaching the dungeon guard office so the guards could eat without leaving the lower levels. It was a poor security feature, but Celestia had always been unconcerned about that kind of thing, apparently getting lax in her old age and unchallenged rule.

Sunset reached the bottom of the shaft and cautiously glanced out. Her timing was good and the guard office was currently empty while the oncoming shift met with the outgoing shift and checked on prisoners. She climbed out of the elevator and crossed the room, pausing to grab a keyring off a hook which she stowed in her bag. After a quick check outside, she left the office and entered the dungeon proper.

This was the most secure part of the castle, but also gave her the most options to hide for a while. The dark corridors, unused rooms, nooks and crannies, and dead ends meant there was always somewhere to go off the literally-beaten path that the guards had walked for centuries. Sunset found a quiet alcove far from the central dungeon and settled in to wait.

She ate some of the fruit she’d taken and planned her next move. Checking her bag, there were the usual assortment of tools she usually carried: knife, lighter, and a recent addition, cigarettes. Sunset herself didn’t smoke, but they were a fantastic item to plant in someone’s locker to get them in trouble.

In her mental map of the dungeon, she’d have to go past the row of prisoner cells to get to the treasure area. She’d have to avoid guard patrols on the way. After all that, she’d have to get back out and up to the tower to return to the mirror, and do it in time to return to the human world before her deadline.

The thought never occurred to Sunset that she might have bitten off more than she could chew - she wouldn’t let it. Nothing was going to stop her on this raid back to Equestria, her slowly stewing resentment since she’d escaped the last time had carried her this far. She was better now, smarter, and a lot more powerful.

Sunset waited, checking the time on a watch she had brought and doing the calculations to convert the time between worlds in her head. She ventured out a few times between guard patrols to ensure her memory of the dungeon was accurate. She’d rarely been here before, and never covertly, but knew the place well enough from previous study of blueprints.

Most of the dungeon was as she expected. There wasn’t much that could change with solid stone walls. Unfortunately, that also meant she was going to have to pass by the line of cold iron cells to reach the treasure coffers. Well, as little as modern Equestria jailed ponies in the castle itself anymore, there was a decent chance they would be unoccupied.

However, what Sunset found as she stealthily prowled the line of cells was not a pony at all, but a beast: a huge furry body with insectoid wings and a wicked stinger. She maintained presence of mind enough not to pause for a stare, but hurried by as quietly as possible. A bugbear!? What could it be doing here?

Sunset managed to avoid its attention, but mostly because it appeared to be sleeping or otherwise listlessly prone, head turned away from the iron bars. It might have made some sort of noise or otherwise alerted the guards if it had noticed her.

Most ponies didn’t realize, but bugbears were not simply wild creatures. They were one of the few animals that were capable of hate, spite, and active malevolence. In Sunset’s studies, she’d even heard of a few being imprisoned in Tartarus. So while finding one in the dungeon in Canterlot was surprising, it wasn’t exactly baffling.

Though, more surprising was the trickle of malice she felt as she went by. It was the same feeling the Ghost Rider noticed back on Earth. So it was evil then? Whatever, it wasn’t Sunset’s place to judge.

Well, it was, sort of. But right now, back in Equestria on personal business, Sunset had other priorities. Such as the treasure room door, which she now approached.

The lock on it was part magic, part mechanical, and the very best possible security that anypony could have designed a few centuries ago. None of the basic keys she’d taken worked. It still took Sunset nearly half an hour of careful and quiet tinkering to get it open, during which she once had to hide from a guard patrol. But at last, with one final click, the door finally swung open before her.

The room was empty.

Sunset’s entire face twitched in an instant of pure rage, which she managed to release in a long, slow breath through her clenched teeth. Bad luck, that was all it was. At some point, the valuables stored in this room had been moved. She couldn’t have known.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t still angry, but without a target, it was hard to hold onto it. All she could do was search a few other likely locations to which the treasure might have been moved.

Or...she could take petty revenge where she got it and let the bugbear out.

She found the correct key on the ring and inserted it into the cell door lock. In that moment, the beast awoke. It sat up, blinking at her, before immediately launching a full-strength charge against the bars with an ear-splitting roar. Ghost Rider or not, Sunset had no intention of being bugbear bait, and stepped back before swinging the door open from afar with magic. She then promptly shut herself in the treasure room.

Even through the thick door, it wasn’t hard to hear the rampage outside. Sunset waited just a few minutes, until she could no longer hear the growls of the bugbear or the shouts of the guards, before coming out. From the inside, the door had a convenient safety latch.

It might have been hard to damage the stone dungeon, but that didn’t mean the bugbear hadn’t made an attempt. Sunset noticed a few fresh scratches on the walls. There was a guard helmet just down the way, lying forgotten on the ground.

She kicked the treasure room door shut with a hind leg and trotted away down the now-empty corridor past the row of cells. The bugbear rampage had seemingly cleared the whole dungeon and Sunset had a leisurely stroll, exiting via the stairs this time. Using the guards’ keys, she poked her head into a few rooms that she had time to check along the way, and in one found some guard’s stash of hay snacks which she put in her bag.

Back up in the main level of the castle, it was easier to see signs of a monster on the loose. Sunset could occasionally hear sounds of carnage in the distance and spotted some wreckage here and there in the halls.

Through one of the broken windows, Sunset saw that the sun was now close to setting. That didn’t mean a whole lot - Celestia might just pause the twilight if there was a bugbear loose in the castle - but it indicated she should probably be getting back towards the mirror. She confirmed this with her watch. Okay, she still had a couple hours.

Ponies were beginning to poke their heads out into the hallway from wherever they’d shut themselves in. Sunset realized the noise seemed to have died down. Had the bugbear been caught? Or hid? She made sure her hood was up and kept moving.

She was nearly to the foyer of the castle when the adjacent front door was thrown open and six mares charged in. “Princess, we brought the Elements!” the purple alicorn in the lead shouted to no one in particular.

It was good that none of them looked twice at Sunset as they ran by, because she would have been wearing a flabbergasted expression. Alicorn!? Since when had Equestria had another!? And...didn’t that look like Twilight Sparkle?

The up-and-coming top student in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns at the time Sunset had left. They’d never really interacted, but Sunset knew who she was. Or had been. An alicorn…

Whether it was hatred or envy that gripped her, Sunset wasn’t sure, but it was directed entirely at Twilight. How could such a thing have happened? What secret of magic had she discovered?

Did it have something to do with the jewelry Twilight and the ponies with her had been wearing? She had said “the Elements.” No…the Elements of Harmony!? The legend that had locked away Nightmare Moon? And if the Elements were real, it stood to reason Nightmare Moon wasn’t just an old pony tale.

A lot had happened since Sunset had been gone, she realized. But it was probably a good thing. Princess Candance’s ascension had been bad enough, but if Sunset had to watch with her own eyes a pony younger than her like Twilight fucking Sparkle become an alicorn and discover incredibly powerful ancient artifacts, she might have had an aneurysm from the jealousy.

Unless, by escaping to the human world, Sunset herself had missed those opportunities.

She buried that thought and took off after Twilight. It wasn’t a long chase. The supposed rescuers with the Elements were stopped with castle guards in the great hall, who’d lost the bugbear.

The damage here had been severe, though. There had clearly been some sort of battle. There was blood. A few guards seemed to be receiving treatment from medics. One of them was clearly in bad condition, deep claw marks still bleeding despite layers of bandages.

Seeing the blood gave Sunset unusual pause. She had never been queasy about such things, even recently when she had done the bloodletting. Maybe she was just thinking about it because technically this had been her doing.

Despite the scene, a slowly growing crowd of various castle workers and visitors had appeared, either to rubberneck or perhaps believing themselves safe now that an alicorn with a fancy crown had shown up. Sunset blended in with them, listening.

She wondered who the five mares were that were with Twilight. She had never seen any of them before, but wondered if she might have heard of their human counterparts. Staying hidden from across the room, she could only see pelt color.

But speaking of alicorns with fancy crowns, the one Sunset wanted to see even less than Twilight entered the room. Princess Celestia was a full head taller than anypony else, and her mane wafted behind her in an unfelt breeze.

Well, Sunset had known there was a chance of running into Celestia if she was coming here, but that still didn’t make it pleasant. She watched with curled lip as Celestia conferred briefly with the guards and with the mares who wore the Elements.

Though, the next pony to appear almost surprised Sunset more than any she had seen so far. He was a disheveled unicorn with glasses and an orange mane and yellow coat, though mostly wrapped in a bathrobe-like garment that featured a pattern of stars. It was her cousin, Sunburst. She vaguely knew he was some kind of magic researcher of no repute, but didn’t expect him to have upgraded to working at the castle.

Sunburst wore a worried expression. He was carrying a book and spoke briefly with Celestia. She nodded and lifted her voice to address the room. “Ladies and gentlecolts, the escaped bugbear has gone to ground somewhere in the castle. Now that the Elements of Harmony are here, we will be conducting a thorough search. We will be ending the day a little early, so please make your way home and stay safe.”

And then, yet another alicorn walked into the room. She was dark blue and lithe, and stopped beside Celestia. The two of them lit their horns, and outside, the sun slipped below the horizon and the moon rose.

Sunset knew enough of her hidden history and quiet rumors to realize that this must be Celestia’s long lost sister of legend. Another alicorn. Maybe leaving Equestria had actually been a blessing.

The crowd among which Sunset mingled had begun to disperse and she made herself scarce. This was hardly a place she wanted to spend any more time.

She just had to get back to the tower and the mirror, and then pretend this outing had never happened. A world where her biggest problem was high school sounded pretty good after this.

Getting to the upper floors while avoiding everypony required a few detours. Sunset also kept the bugbear in mind. It wouldn’t do to be caught in her own trap. Well, it wasn’t really a trap, but it still hadn’t gone how she pictured it. Maybe it had intentionally stayed in the castle to cause maximum damage.

The word regret came up, but no, Sunset didn’t regret releasing it. Regret would imply that she did something wrong. But its presence was causing her troubles now, and the senseless violence hadn’t helped. At least Sunset could pride herself on that: all her violence was always for a purpose.

Passing a balcony, she paused, hearing hooves below. Twilight, Sunburst, and the others, though minus the two astronomical princesses, were hurrying through the promenade hall the balcony overlooked and lighting torches as they went, the sun having just set minutes ago.

Sunset was tempted to throw something at them. Still not senseless violence - it would make her feel better. But as she watched from the shadows, she realized she wasn’t the only one. There was movement on a balcony mirrored across the hall from hers. The darkness made it hard to see, but she picked out a set of red compound eyes, tracking the ponies below.

The bugbear, when it leapt, chose the easiest target. That is, the academic stallion trailing behind the others and distracted by a book he carried. The creature dove from the balcony, stinger first, and aimed directly at Sunburst.

Sunset was already on fire and leaping to make the intercept midair before she had a conscious thought. She tackled the bugbear, belatedly realizing her forelegs had gone to bone. The two of them slammed into the wall, hard enough to shift the stone blocks, and slid down to the floor, Sunset on top.

There was no point in going through the song-and-dance of look into my eyes. Sunset didn’t think the bugbear understood words, and at any rate, its faceted insect eyes meant that it couldn’t look away even if it had wanted to.

Its soul, or whatever evil there was to burn in a bear-bug hybrid, set to burning, and Sunset stepped off of the creature, turning to face the ponies who’d just seen her in the act. At least with the fire and bones there was no chance of recognizing her.

Sunburst cowered behind the others. There didn’t seem to be even a scratch on him, as Sunset had stopped the attack. Her disgust flared, even as she had saved his life. It hadn’t really been conscious on her part. If it had been anypony besides family, would Sunset have just watched? Would the Rider have intervened regardless?

There was a long moment as the two sides stared at each other, broken by Sunset moving first to press her factor of surprise. She might not have had her motorcycle in Equestria or alicorn wings, but between her Rider ability and the general surprise in the room, she darted forward as quick as lightning and aided by magic snagged the golden crown right off Twilight Sparkle’s head.

Her momentum carried her up the wall and back down the other side, pointed directly towards the door to the tower, just down the hall. On the spiral staircase inside the circular tower, Sunset’s hooves left fiery prints up the wall, so great was her speed that it let her run on the curved walls instead of the stairs themselves. Well behind her, she could hear the others reacting, but between her surprise appearance and capabilities, and the mirror being so close, none had a hope of catching up before Sunset burst into the room at the top of the tower and dove through the portal.

Chapter 9

The frozen sidewalk felt good against Sunset’s face, but fatigued as she was, she still had the presence of mind to immediately get up after landing in a heap exiting the portal. She looked around. Morning, in front of the horse statue just outside the school. Her timing had been perfect.

She glanced down. The flames had gone out. Her clothing was still steaming in the cold air, but more importantly, the golden crown she’d snatched from Twilight Sparkle was in her hand.

The workmanship was exquisite - if Sunset correctly understood what the Elements of Harmony were, then it was actually magic. The jewel set into it would have sold for millions on Earth. But this was worth more to Sunset than perhaps literally anything.

She’d done it! She’d gone back to Equestria, gotten the better of three alicorns, and come back with an artifact that might very well boost her own power even further.

It was already shaping up to be an excellent Monday morning.

She nearly clutched the crown to her chest and squealed in glee, but barely managed to limit herself to merely a smirk. She was in public after all, and Silver should be meeting her around here somewhere.

On cue, she heard footsteps and Silver rounded the statue. She seemed surprised to see Sunset, even though she’d been told to meet here now, but quickly turned to opening Sunset’s backpack that she carried. The first thing she handed over was a plastic water bottle, which Sunset drank in one long chug. It wasn’t going to be enough, but it was a start.

“Um, they were out of avocado bagel spread at the shop,” Silver said. She still seemed to be distracted, and Sunset realized she was looking at the crown in Sunset’s hand “I got cream cheese instead, but didn’t put it on in case you didn’t like it.”

Sunset put the dry bagel in her mouth, already wishing for more water.

“Here are the clothes,” Silver said, handing the backpack over. The school-chic outfit was inside, neatly folded, with Sunset’s leather jacket on top. “And the rabbit food.”

Sunset accepted a plastic bag of alfalfa cubes from Silver and slung the backpack over her shoulder, taking the bagel out of her mouth long enough to ask, “Can you handle the rest?”

“Um…” Silver turned to look at the folded tarp and coiled chain beside her. “I still don’t know why we’re doing this.”

To keep anypony - anyone - from coming through the portal after Sunset. “Just do it. Quick.”

Sunset turned for the school. Some of the sports teams had early morning practice, and she was able to slip in and use the locker room to shower and change clothes.

After finishing the bagel, she stuck her face in the bag of alfalfa while she continued changing. It wasn’t, strictly speaking, good for a human digestive system, but she enjoyed a little treat now and then. Plus, she got some enjoyment from seeing how far she could push Silver until the girl finally asked where the rabbits were.

Part of her wondered why she was doing this, coming to school the day after her greatest triumph over Equestria. Greatest triumph so far, she reminded herself, admiring the crown again. Well, at least part of it was to look Celestia - a Celestia, anyway - in the face and feel smug. The other part was that she had much to do, and even a victory such as this was no reason to take a day off. She couldn’t very well get ahead by not working hard. Her battle wasn’t over yet, though it had admittedly been trending positive as of late.

Sunset threw the partially-eaten bag in the trash. Coming out of the locker room after getting dressed, Sunset found Silver almost done with her task. The tarp covered the square base of the statue. It had been painted with the slogan Chain the Crystals! and a picture of a football. Canterlot High was about to play their crosstown rival, Crystal Prep. The tarp was held on, and accented, by a chain looped around the base of the statue and padlocked.

It looked like a campus morale boost, but in actuality was a way to stall any intervention from Equestria. Sunset didn’t know if they would follow her through the mirror to this world, but she wasn’t about to make it easy. A tarp and a chain wasn’t foolproof, but it would give pause to somepony who didn’t know what to expect on the other side of the portal.

Silver turned as Sunset approached. Sunset zipped the backpack shut on the crown and handed it to her. “Don’t look at this, don’t show it to anyone, and bring it by my place this afternoon. Guard it with your life - it’s worth more than that.”

Silver might have been about to ask where she had gotten it, but the seriousness in Sunset’s tone ended the topic. Silver put the backpack on, and looked back at Sunset. “Um, did you want to go without makeup today?”

It was a reminder that Sunset hadn’t done it. There was some in the backpack, but she couldn’t be bothered. “I’ll get Rarity to do it.”

A few students had begun to appear around campus, slowly filtering in before classes. Silver and Sunset parted ways to go to their respective homerooms. Sunset left her with, “Remember, don’t show it to anyone.”

On her way to class, Sunset encountered Celestia in the hallway. Despite her earlier desire to feel smug in front of one of them, she wasn’t yet prepared.

“You seem to have had a rough weekend,” Celestia said, concern in her voice.

Sunset summoned a bright smile while simultaneously hating her guts. “I’ve just been really busy. A lot of it is still learning to ride a motorcycle. I want to do it well, and safely, so the helmet hair is pretty bad.”

Was her usual appearance really so picture-perfect that people were startled when she didn’t wear makeup? That was both good and bad. Sunset would have to consider it.

“Oh, the new students I told you about will be here shortly,” Celestia said. “They’ll be waiting for you in the office.”

Sunset said she would be there and went on her way. Further down the hallway, Rarity was not hard to spot. She was easily the most fashionable girl in school. That was a title that Sunset had no desire to claim for herself; too much effort for too little return.

Rarity stood in front of her open locker, checking and rechecking her extravagant wave of purple hair. She saw Sunset coming and turned, mouth opening in exaggerated horror. “Sunset, what’s happened to you? I mean, aside from the new jacket; that looks fantastic.”

Sunset recognized that most people were shallow and they liked her better if she was pretty. As with ponies, really. Rarity was a person who wanted to beautify everything and everyone. That seemed like a lot of effort for no gain to Sunset. But Rarity was useful to her in other ways.

“I had a few things come up this morning,” Sunset said.

“Say no more. Look here, darling,” Rarity said. She already had her makeup compact out and began to work on Sunset’s face.

“I heard something happened between the cheerleaders and the drama club,” Sunset said.

“Oh yes, dreadful really. The principal found cigarettes and - well, you probably heard. I’m so thankful you offered to help sort it out,” Rarity said, going on to explain a few intricacies. She was a member of both groups and therefore a useful source of information to Sunset. The two of them swapped more gossip as Rarity worked, giving Sunset a few ideas about other feuds she could engineer to her benefit.

And speaking of, Sunset said, “Oh, I heard Pinkie is making a pair of shorts for the School Sewing Spectacular.”

Rarity sniffed. “Well, she’s going to be disappointed that her handiwork will not hold a candle to the haute couture I will have on display. I’ve been working for weeks on this dress.”

There was a dress hanging in the back of the locker. While Rarity continued working, Sunset used her best slight of hand to unfold the knife from her pocket and cut a slit in the fabric. She pinned a pink joy buzzer to the hole. Not that she needed to bother with the stealth; Rarity was in the zone working on makeup and still ranting about Pinkie.

Having a knife was highly against school regulations, but Sunset was even more willing than usual to ignore rules.

Rarity finished up and showed Sunset a mirror, because of course Rarity had a mirror in her locker. Sunset had considered making Rarity her fulltime stylist, but would mean dealing with her on a daily basis.

Now that she was ready to make a good first impression, Sunset headed for the school office. There, she found three new students who she would be escorting. Their names were Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk.

Sunset had heard they were sisters, though the three didn’t appear to have much in common, aside from matching necklaces of red stone. They were very diverse in appearance and, Sunset would shortly learn, personality. That would make it a little more difficult to pander specifically to each one, but Sunset was unconcerned for the moment.

“Good morning and welcome to Canterlot High!” she greeted each in turn, voice bubbly but dialed back a few notches from annoying. “My name is Sunset Shimmer and I’m here to help you get started. I’ll show you how to get around, and don’t hesitate to ask me for anything.”

“Do you have tacos?” Sonata, the one with a ponytail, asked.

Adagio, the one with fluffy hair, smacked the back of Sonata’s head without even looking. Aria, the one with twintails, rolled her eyes.

“Taco day is Tuesday,” Sunset provided. “But I know a really good taco shop in the neighborhood.”

“This isn’t our first new school,” Adagio said, personality instantly switching for the more cheerful as she spoke to Sunset. “We move a lot, so I want to thank you for being so helpful.”

The way she said it triggered something in Sunset’s instincts, as if the three of them were hiding something. She wasn’t sure what it was, or maybe she was just imagining it because she herself was out to deceive.

Though as she walked the trio through the school on their first day, more and more Sunset began to suspect that she might be correct in supposing something about them. She still didn’t know what it was, but confidently assumed she would get to the bottom of it sooner or later, and then figure out a way to use it as leverage.

The sisters had a different first class than Sunset. She showed them to it and then departed for her own classroom.

Sunset ended up distracted all through the morning. Maybe she shouldn’t have come to school after all. The excitement at a successful raid was still reverberating. At lunch, still hungry despite breakfast, she was on her way to the cafeteria when there was the telltale sound of a fight breaking out down the hallway. Ordinarily, Sunset wouldn’t have paid too much attention, or depending on who it was, perhaps interceded to make herself look good, but when she realized one of the voices was Silver’s, decided to at least take a look.

Silver was at her locker, surrounded by a small group of other freshman girls. One of them was named Diamond Tiara. Sunset knew her as an instigator, though cut from the same social class as Silver. She had actually considered selecting Diamond as an assistant, but ultimately went with someone who was content to follow and not cause so much trouble on their own.

“Stop it!” Silver insisted as Sunset joined the rear of the crowd of onlookers, having missed the context of the conversation. She clutched her backpack in front of her defensively.

“You can’t just ignore my birthday party like that,” Diamond said, sneering.

“I told you, I was busy this weekend!”

“What do you have in that bag, anyway? Is it my present?” Diamond made to take it from her, but Silver resisted. The two girls flanking Diamond grabbed Silver’s elbows and Diamond made to take the bag again.

Silver headbutted Diamond in the face, and using the space vacated as Diamond fell back, jerked free of her restraints. But before she could go three steps, someone else tripped her and she fell heavily, still clutching the bag.

“You bitch!” Diamond screeched, picking herself up as the crowd began to chant Fight! Fight!

The other girls had piled on top of Silver, one of them jerking her head up by her braid. Diamond dropped to the floor, putting her entire weight behind a punch that broke Silver’s glasses and snapped her head back.

Diamond yanked at the backpack, but even bloodied and stunned Silver managed to cling to it. Diamond leaned back, as if playing tug of war, and with the strain between the two of them, the bag split open.

The golden crown clattered down the hallway, drawing a collective gasp - surprise from the crowd, horror from Sunset. She shoved forward, knocking people aside to go after it. Silver, despite being restrained by several people, threw them off and dashed after the crown, Diamond right behind her.

At that moment, Principal Celestia rounded the hallway corner and picked up the crown at her feet.

“It’s mine!” Silver howled at her, face bloody and quite forgetting to whom she was talking.

“She’s lying! She attacked me and stole it!” Diamond shouted.

Celestia - either of them - had always been a quick study. She didn’t ask questions or even pause to look surprised. “Both of you to my office now,” Celestia said, using a voice of such sharpness Sunset had never heard before on this side of the portal.

Celestia set a heavy hand on each of the girls’ shoulders and steered them away, her long reach keeping both of them separate even as they tried to continue the fight. Momentarily stunned, Sunset watched them go, and the crown with them. She made to follow, but Principal Luna arrived just then, blocking the hallway just with her presence.

Luna crossed her arms, spared Sunset a glance, and then looked past her at the crowd of other students. “Now, what happened here?”

Chapter 10

Sunset sat in the school office, on one of the chairs in the outer waiting area. She’d never imagined things could spiral out of control so quickly, and over something so stupid.

From what Sunset had gathered, Principal Celestia still hadn’t decided to whom the crown belonged. Most students interviewed by the principals agreed that it had come out of Silver’s bag. However, despite all Diamond’s provocations, Silver had technically hit first. As expensive-looking an item as the crown was, Celestia was considering getting the parents of both Diamond and Silver involved.

Sunset couldn’t very well claim the crown was hers, that would raise too many additional questions. All she had been able to do was tell what she had observed, nothing more and nothing less. At least that would back Silver regaining possession of the crown.

Teeth clenched, Sunset let out a hiss of frustration. She also couldn’t very well go take the crown. Though, it wouldn't be difficult. She could just walk straight into Celestia’s office, punch her in her stupid face, and walk away with the greatest prize she’d ever earned. Even as she entertained the fantasy, she knew it was just that - daydream. All was not yet lost, but most of it would be if she gave in to the impulse. Her image that she had carefully cultivated would be lost. She’d lose all the contacts around the school. The police might get involved. Worst of all, she would have resorted to violence against this worthless, weak copy of the real Celestia, and that would cost Sunset her pride.

So she waited. Not patiently, but there was nothing else to be done.

Principal Luna poked her head out of her office. “Sunset? I appreciate your help, but you’d better get some lunch before the period is over.”

Sunset nodded for appearance’s sake and got up, though reminded that she actually was hungry. At any rate, what was she going to accomplish sitting here?

On her way down to the cafeteria, Sunset made a detour to put a few cigarettes in Diamond Tiara’s locker. The principals might just have a look inside, now that they had a reason. That done, she went to get lunch.

The cafeteria was buzzing. That seemed perfectly natural after a fistfight. Sunset got lunch and tried to choose with whom she wanted to sit today. Her mood was still foul, so she chose Fluttershy, who would be most receptive.

However, to Sunset’s surprise, when she sat down, Fluttershy said, “I didn’t invite you.” In the next moment, however, a shot of panic went across her face as the impact of what she had said hit her and she grabbed her tray, scurrying away.

What had gotten into her? Sunset glanced around, slowly realizing that the topic of conversation among students around the room wasn’t always the earlier fight. In fact, there seemed to be some arguments breaking out.

There was the hint of something strange about this, but Sunset couldn’t immediately tell what it was. She kept eating, but also kept her ears and eyes open. What she discovered, though, came to her in a different way.

The moment the three new girls walked into the room, it was as if a faint fuzz Sunset had been noticing came into focus. There, they were the center.

But the center of what? Sunset didn’t know yet, but was suddenly resolved to find out. This smelt of magic, which humans didn’t have. So who were these girls?

She waved them over to her table. The trio looked a little surprised, but heeded her beckoning and sat down.

“Crazy, huh?” said Sunset. “I swear, our school isn’t normally like this. Sorry you had to see it on your first day.”

“It’s just fine,” said Adagio. She looked much more upbeat than she had this morning. So did the previously-sour Aria. Sonata seemed about the same. The three of them were perhaps the only ones within sight who seemed to be in a good mood.

Sunset did a quick self-evaluation. Despite her mask of cheerfulness, her dismay at losing control of the crown was still there, but she felt she had a valid reason for that. While she could sense whatever negativity was going on around the rest of the school, either her knowledge of it or some kind of natural resistance meant that it didn’t seem to be affecting her, which only reinforced her suspicion that it was magic.

In fact, the more she studied the three girls across the table from her, the more she suspected that they were somehow behind it, and perhaps even basking in it.

It was almost enough to distract Sunset from her own problems. The prospect of meeting someone in the human world with more than human power made her nearly salivate at the possibilities. Blair had gained power from somewhere. Despite most humans not believing in magic, clearly it was out there.

She decided to wait and watch, at least for the time being. Lucifer had referenced that a storm was coming. Could this be it?

After lunch, Sunset was reluctant to leave the three girls alone completely, but she couldn’t exactly follow them closely. She’d probably pushed her luck already with so much personal attention during lunch. She’d learned a few things about them through conversation, though likely none of it was useful. They were a singing group, and called themselves the Dazzlings. Like that helped Sunset.

In the afternoon, Sunset went by the office again, on the vague hope that she might be able to do something this time. But it wasn’t as if the crown would be just sitting out.

Instead, she encountered Silver and her parents coming out of the office. Sunset had never met them before, but knew who they were. Silver’s mother looked annoyed and her father looked resigned. Silver’s face had been cleaned of blood, but bruises were on full display now, not even covered by her glasses now that they were broken.

“I’m sorry!” Silver said, the first words out of her mouth to Sunset. “I’m going to be grounded, so I can’t-”

“Come along,” her mother said, tugging her hand, and Silver stumbled away, head hanging.

“Worse than that, I’m afraid,” Celestia said quietly as she walked up beside Sunset. “I suspended both Silver and Diamond. This kind of behavior is not acceptable in our school.”

Sunset stared after the departing Silver, which helped mask her instinctive annoyance at Celestia. “Did you find out who that crown belonged to?”

“I spoke with both of their parents, and neither said they had any knowledge of it. I’ve already spoken with the police, but if the rightful owner can’t be determined, we’ll have to do something else.”

Sunset turned to her. “I can help.”

Celestia smiled. “Thank you for the offer. I’ll let you know.”

Sunset found it very difficult to keep her friendly mask just then, but Celestia turned away to go back into her office.

Sunset went back to her apartment that afternoon, working out a plan to get the crown back. If it was just sitting in Celestia’s office, maybe she could just snatch it. After all, she’d originally taken it from right under the other Celestia’s nose. The difference being, she’d already burned her bridges with Equestria. Maybe a better way would be to make up some fictional person and file a police report to have Celestia turn it over to the “rightful owner.”

That evening, Sunset called Silver. The phone went straight to voicemail, which didn’t really surprise her, but it was disappointing. Apparently, the grounding hadn’t been an idle threat.

What did surprise Sunset was a knock on her door a little later on. She opened it to discover Silver, who looked winded, and also dressed-down from her usual.

“My parents don’t know I snuck out,” Silver admitted, though still looked nervous as she stood in the doorway. “I’m out of school for a day, grounded for a week, and I don’t get to have my phone or leave the house.”

And yet here she was. If she was willing to violate her punishment, she might have more spunk than Sunset had taken her for. Well, aside from the incident earlier in the day.

“I came to talk to you.” Silver lifted her head to meet Sunset’s eyes. “I wanted to know it was worth it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I got my face beaten in, I got suspended from school, for you. For some crown that’s probably worth millions of dollars.” Silver made to keep speaking, but stuttered and lost her nerve. She looked at her hands. “I don’t even know why.”

Where had this come from? Was it the mysterious malign settling over the school, making people snap at each other?

Sunset saw the tears start to drip from Silver’s blackened eyes. She had lost the crown. But, she’d literally gone down fighting in the process.

It hit Sunset that no one else in her life had ever tried this hard for her. This was still a failure; no one had ever done right by her. But just maybe, this wasn’t yet Silver’s full potential.

Sunset took a step back from the door. “Come in.”

Chapter 11

Silver took the news better than Sunset expected. Or maybe, the revelation that Sunset was from another dimension and currently working for the Devil was just too much at once. Surely she hadn’t been expecting something like that, though Sunset had put her through some increasingly strange situations as of late.

She let Silver take a few seconds to absorb it all. Silver sat at the kitchen table, staring at the middle distance, which happened to be about where the container of soy sauce sat. Sunset picked it up, drawing Silver’s attention upwards.

Silver’s eyes focused and she swallowed. “...how do you know you’re doing the right thing?” she asked, her first question since the explanation.

Sunset had told Silver her version of events, how she’d left Equestria looking for something better, and formed a partnership with Lucifer in order to freelance punish sinners. Apparently, she hadn’t been convincing enough if Silver was asking questions.

Sunset tried again. “I know it can be difficult to figure out what to do with all this, particularly considering the literal Devil is involved. The question is, do you trust me?”

“Yes.” Not even a moment of hesitation on Silver’s part.

She really did, Sunset realized. Silver's question hadn’t been if Sunset was doing the moral, Heavenly thing, she had meant the successful, most effective thing. It almost caught Sunset off guard how devoted Silver was.

It was a strange feeling. Sunset wasn’t used to having people who genuinely, truly valued her. She almost lost her composure, but hid it behind a swig of soy sauce.

“It’s getting late,” Sunset said. “Not that bedtimes are that important amid all this evil-hunting, but you can’t exactly keep this up if your parents ground you longer.” She stood up. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.”

Silver looked momentarily pleased for the first time all night. She even seemed less nervous on the motorcycle this time.

Pulling up to her usual spot hidden from Silver’s house, Sunset stopped. Silver got off, but paused. Sunset thought she was lingering near the heat of the bike’s engine, but Silver said, “Can I talk with you again? Tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“I…” Any turnaround in feelings Silver had had in the last few minutes evaporated and she looked down at the icy sidewalk. “I’m sorry I lost the crown.”

There was a flicker of anger in the back of Sunset’s mind at being reminded, but she cooled. “You did your best. Sometimes things don’t work out.” She admitted, “I know how it feels.”

“T-thank you.” Silver turned and hurried home.

Sunset glanced skyward. She sighed, looking at her breath rising in the cold air. She felt with growing familiarity the subtle tug that meant somewhere, the Ghost Rider was needed. Time to go.

The next morning at school, there still seemed to be a tension in the air, the same strange aura Sunset had noticed the day before. People seemed to have calmed down slightly from the excitement of the previous day, but she still noticed a few angry words and pointed looks.

Principal Celestia found Sunset before class. “I need to trouble you to guide a tour again. We have another unexpected transfer student who just arrived this morning.”

That got Sunset thinking again about the three girls - what had they called themselves, the Dazzlings? Maybe to test if they really were behind whatever was going on at the school, she could use this newest student as a control group.

She went to meet this latest transfer student. It was a girl with straight purple hair, clutching a backpack and wearing a nervous look. Sunset had met a handful of students moving in, and while first-day nerves weren’t uncommon, this seemed to be on another level.

“H-hi, I’m Twilight Sparkle,” the girl said.

Sunset had half-expected something like this would happen, but just to be sure this was the Twilight Sparkle and not just her human counterpart, Sunset smiled and put out her hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Sunset Shimmer. Where did you and your family come from?”

“I’m from, uh, Ponyville. Everypo-person in my family is from Ponyville.” She also didn’t seem to know how to shake hands.

Sunset kept smiling, but for a different reason. This was going to be fun.

She wasn’t worried that Twilight suspected her in return, already planning to throw her off the trail. Plus, Twilight had met Celestia this morning and therefore should realize ponies had equivalent humans.

Sunset gave Twilight the same tour of the school she did all new students. She noticed how Twilight feigned disinterest - poorly - at the statue in front of the school. The tarp and chains that had blocked the portal had been removed, but Sunset hadn't figured it would last more than a few days anyway.

“So where are you living?” Sunset asked.

“Oh, I, uh, don’t have the address memorized yet,” Twilight said, though based on the expression on her face, she herself might not have even considered living arrangements while she was on Earth.

“If your family allows it, can I suggest a study studio?” Sunset said. “I have one of those, and it really simplifies things, letting me live my own life, especially since my parents live kind of far from school. I think I can get you one.”

Twilight was visibly relieved. “I’d really appreciate that.”

Sunset would get a place from Silver, whose parents were landlords and owned enough of the rental real estate around town that they wouldn’t miss one apartment. That was how Sunset had been living.

Her intentions weren’t out of the goodness of her heart, either. Getting Twilight a place to stay would make it easier to keep an eye on her.

At lunch, the student body was again in a slow-boiling turmoil. They had been restless in classes, but now things were building up. Twilight looked worried, sticking close to Sunset’s side. “Is every day like this? Is something going on?”

Sunset was about to reply, when she felt a subtle change in the air as the Dazzlings entered the room. Twilight’s head also turned reflexively; she must have felt it too. Interesting.

Principal Celestia was a few steps behind them, and apparently oblivious to whatever power the girls had. She paused at the door to the cafeteria, looking in, seemingly dismayed at the increasingly heated voices around the room. One principal versus hundreds of students. Not that there was any specific rule-breaking just yet, but anyone could see that the slightest bump might set off the whole place like a nitroglycerin charge.

Principal Luna appeared at her sister's shoulder. The two of them discussed something quietly, appearing to reach an agreement, and then Celestia walked into the room, lifting her voice. “Students, may I have your attention, please.”

Most of them did turn to look, momentarily quieting. Celestia went on. “I would like to make an announcement. Doubtless some of you have heard that the school has recently come into possession of a large piece of jewelry, a crown. After an investigation, the owner could not be determined, so we will be using it as the temporary prize for royalty at the upcoming Spring Fling.”

The room broke out with excited chatter. Celestia raised a hand for quiet. “Of course, the usual prerequisites exist to win - you must be chosen by your peers, and to be eligible you must be a student in good standing with no disciplinary incidents.”

It was clever of Celestia, trying to calm the outbreak of arguments with the lure of a prize. Of course, like most instances of Celestia being clever, it frustrated Sunset. She would have to win back what was rightfully hers. Though, she was planning to be Princess of the Spring Fling anyway.

“How do I win that?” Twilight asked Sunset, intently.

“I can help you get on the ballot,” Sunset reassured her, already mentally laying the groundwork for how she was going to do exactly the opposite.

Sunset parted ways with Twilight after school and headed for the locker rooms. Rainbow Dash was there, getting ready for one of her sports practices.

“I have a favor to ask,” Sunset said. “Can I borrow a dart gun?”

Rainbow put on a guarded look. “What makes you think I have one of those?”

“Applejack told me what you do with the suction cups on the darts.”

Rainbow went beet red, but reached into her locker and pulled out a small dart pistol, already loaded with its foam ammo, handing it over without a word. That done, she slammed her locker shut and hurried out of the room.

Sunset tucked the gun behind her back, covering it with her jacket. She looked across the room at Fluttershy, who quickly hid her face. Sunset walked over.

“C-could you introduce me to that new girl?” Fluttershy asked. “If that would be okay. I want to meet her dog.”

Sunset blinked. “What dog?”

“She had a dog she kept in her backpack all day. She talked to him a few times.”

Sunset wondered what it meant. Had Twilight brought something - or even somepony - with her? Either way, it gave her something to think about, but also potentially leverage.

She didn’t bother to flirt with Fluttershy today, just went straight back to her apartment from school. There, she wrote out on a slip of paper an update on the situation at school and some instructions for Silver, taped it to one of the darts, and rode to Silver’s house. The sun was still up, but Sunset was able to sneak close enough to fire the dart at Silver’s bedroom window, where it stuck fast. It was a crude communication, but Sunset had found how much she’d come to depend on Silver.

One part of her mind darkly reminded her how unwise it was to trust anyone, or to think they could be reliable. The other part noted how Silver had literally bled for Sunset. That was rare, and she would do well to keep that kind of person close.

Sunset shook her head and left Silver’s yard. She would have to be careful, this was uncharted territory for her, and it was difficult if not impossible to let go of her usual old suspicions.

Distracting herself, Sunset’s mind turned to her new routine as she got back on her motorcycle. She didn’t feel any particularly strong or nearby tugs as night began to fall. Apparently, she was getting enough of a sense of this power to be able to tell. Thinking it had been a while since she had been to “survey her domain,” Sunset decided to go for a ride and headed for Canterlot Mountain.

The road leading up was twisty and dark. Sunset leaned the bike hard in the turns, enjoying the wind and having the night to herself. The cold breeze didn't bother her a bit.

Near the top of the mountain, there was a pullout that overlooked the whole city with a great view. To Sunset's surprise, there were already a set of tracks in the snowy parking lot: a motorcycle. Her headlight fell on Big Macintosh, lounging on his own bike at the edge of the overlook.

Annoyed as she was at finding him here, Sunset wasn’t going to just turn around and leave. She pulled in and shut off her engine.

There was a moment of silence as the two of them looked out on the city, its lights bright below them. Mac said, “Heard you were out.”

Sunset tossed him a look. “I know how to get back to my own world.”

“Unicorn world?” Mac didn’t pause to laugh at her, this time. “Sounds nice. Nicer than this. So why’re ya still hanging around here?”

“Opportunity,” Sunset answered honestly.

“Reckon so,” Mac allowed. “Ah was a little cross at Lucifer for pullin’ me over ta this world, but after a think, the fresh start might not be bad.”

“‘Course Ah know the rules,” he went on. “Be a bad idea to try contactin’ any family.”

Unspoken rules or not, how much did he know about this world’s original Mac? Could Sunset leverage that?

“They think you’re a delinquent that ran away and got mixed up in some trouble,” Sunset said, testing the waters.

“Maybe Ah did. Can’t say Ah’m not curious, though. Ya go to school with ‘em, don’t ya? Do ya know a Rainbow Dash?”

“Why her?” Sunset asked.

A trace of melancholy went across Mac’s face. Maybe he had a few regrets from this supposed fresh start. But he said, “Just makin’ sure.”

Sunset decided to see how he would react. “In this world, she’s dating Applejack.”

Mac blinked a few times, but then chuckled. “Atta girl.”

He reached back to his bike’s saddlebag and took out a thermos. It steamed when he opened the cap. He poured a measured cup and offered it to Sunset. Her nose told her it was some sort of spiced cider.

Sunset doubted he was trying to poison her, but was getting tired of going along with him. Every time they had met, he had somehow manipulated or forced Sunset to do what he wanted. Refusing the beverage would have been a small victory. On the other hand, accepting it but breaking the common social convention of saying thank you would work about as well and she would get a free drink.

Sunset took the cup and had a sip. Her first thought was that it actually was drugged, but no, it was just that good. To cover her pleasant surprise, she said, “I didn’t think you were still an apple juice drinker.”

“Ah don’t know why you’re still goin’ to school.”

“You might be surprised,” Sunset said. She paused, but then decided to go ahead and tell him about the Dazzlings. There was a chance she could somehow get Mac to work for her for a change.

He listened to her description, her thoughts about how it seemed like the three girls were spreading some kind of hostile miasma. “Never heard’a nothin’ like that before, but there’s a first time for everything.”

Sunset hesitated, and then added, “I should also warn you. There’s another new student named Twilight Sparkle. She’s not here looking specifically for Riders, but you might say that she knows too much.”

She wasn’t entirely sure why she had told him. Twilight, while having no concept of Ghost Riders, could definitely conceive of such a thing because she knew magic was real. Sunset taking steps to protect herself also meant ensuring a liability like Twilight wouldn’t accidentally discover her indirectly, such as through Mac.

“Oh?” said Mac. “She from unicorn land too?”

Sunset caught the amusement in his voice, but would not be roused. “I understand that when I left, she became the new top student in the school of magic, so while I’m not worried, I am cautious.”

“School of magic?” Mac said, this time not even trying to stop chuckling.

Sunset shot him a look. “I don’t see you doing any magic.”

“Maybe a different kind than ya know,” he said. He put down the thermos and took out a pack of cigarettes. He looked at her, smirked, and lit one with a spark between his fingers.

He took a puff and followed it with a sip from the thermos. “‘Tween the demons and warlocks and such, Ah’ve seen my share of magic. Learned a little. Though whatever you say you got, Ah ain’t seen before. Not that it mattered, last time we sparred.”

To avoid dwelling too deeply on the backhandedness of that, Sunset replied, “I’ve only been a Ghost Rider for a few weeks. If I figure out how to fully apply what I understand, through the Spirit, it won’t even be a contest anymore. I’m the most powerful unicorn I know. No one in my other world was able to challenge me, and I was the first one to figure out how to come to this world.”

Technically the truth. Sunset had never directly fought Celestia, and though she had heard Twilight was extremely powerful, Sunset had always figured she had the more practical mindset and pragmatism of the two, if it ever came down to it.

“Well if we’re takin’ résumés, then I want to warn ya that you ain’t yet seen even a fraction of the evil out there. These Dazzlings might be a step above run-o-the-mill rapists and murderers, but they don’t sound real threatenin’.

“Ah’ve taken down monsters that have been rapin’ and murderin’ for thousands of years. Ah’ve ended genocides. Ah’ve stopped other Riders who went off the rails. Things like that exist out there.”

There was a weariness in his words. Sunset did not bother to dwell further on them, but she did not doubt them. Much as she might have disliked Mac for their interactions so far, she had never doubted him. And that meant, if he was telling her the truth, then she still was nowhere near his league, which only fueled her smoldering, eternal hunger for power.

“Still, though,” Mac allowed, “You have seen a lot of action for your first few days. Seems like you’re a lightnin’ rod.”

Sunset preferred to interpret that as a compliment about how she was at the center of everything and attracted power. She took another sip of the cider and looked out at the city.

She decided to get moving on the Dazzlings, figure out what they really were, and deal with them. Lightning didn’t wait to strike, and if she was going to get a grip on the power of the Spirit of Vengeance, she was going to have to take matters into her own hands.

But first, something a little more personal. She pulled out the cigarettes she occasionally used to frame people, and although she wasn’t planning to smoke one herself, made sure Mac saw her copy his move of lighting one with a spark.

Chapter 12

Sunset steeled herself to return the next day. To school, that is. It was becoming increasingly clear that she didn’t actually like the place, but she was reluctant to give up what little in her life she did control. She was queen of the school, and informal title or not, she’d earned it, finally something to show for her effort.

All the more reason to get the mystery of the Dazzlings figured out, continue bamboozling Twilight Sparkle, and plot what she was going to do next.

Part of that was already in motion. Silver, working however she could while grounded by her parents, had managed to get Twilight an apartment just down from Sunset’s. Though, Sunset decided for the moment to withhold her own address from Twilight.

“I can’t believe it, thank you so much!” Twilight gushed as Sunset handed her the key over lunch that day. “This is going to be perfect for us.”

“‘Us?’”

“M-me. Sorry.”

A piece of information was only as good as its usefulness. Sunset leaned closer, voice lowering. “Hey, I heard you had a dog?”

Twilight deflated, but didn’t deny it. She glanced around and then unzipped her bag. “His name is Spike.”

To Sunset’s eye, the puppy inside didn’t appear too special, but the name Spike seemed somehow familiar. Either way, if he had come with Twilight through the portal somehow, then she should assume he was not a dog at all.

“Cute,” Sunset said, giving him a pat on the head. “But - I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble or anything - but pets aren’t allowed at school.”

“Yes, I…” Twilight looked abashed. “I just didn’t want to leave him alone.”

It was a liability for her, and maybe an opportunity for Sunset. “I could maybe take care of him sometimes.”

Twilight bit her lip as Spike turned to look at her. “He’s very important to me, but I don’t want to break the rules...”

It was almost adorable how innocent and naive Twilight was. How could someone like her have figured out the alicorn secret?

The makings of a plan began to come to Sunset, a way to somehow get the information out of Twilight, while simultaneously developing deeper cover for herself.

“I have to leave school early today,” Sunset said. “To help out some people. I could take him, if you want. I can drop him by your place afterwards.”

“Well, okay,” Twilight conceded.

“I admit being kind of selfish here,” said Sunset, laughing awkwardly. “I’ve always wanted a dog. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil him too much.”

That seemed to assuage Twilight a little, and the two of them traded Spike to Sunset’s backpack under the lunchroom table. He seemed curious and eager, but resigned to be zipped up inside.

Parting ways, Sunset headed for her locker and grabbed a few random papers. She found a folder to put them in and walked for the exit, scribbling a quick message on the back of one of the pages.

Skipping out of school just after lunch was pushing the limits a little, even for Sunset. Still, she'd done it often enough that she was confident no one would notice, or trust that she had a good reason.

Outside the building, she closed the folder and unzipped the bag to let Spike have some air. He poked his head out.

“Hang on, okay?” Sunset said, mounting her motorcycle and starting it up.

She couldn’t see Spike except in the mirror, but he seemed to appreciate the wind in his face and the speed. He looked like a totally normal dog, if a rather well-behaved one, but Sunset still had her suspicions.

After the ride to Silver’s house, she had to conceal him again. “Sorry little guy, but these parents are kind of strict.” After zipping the bag once again, Sunset went up to the door and knocked.

Silver’s mother answered. She looked Sunset up and down, nose already beginning to wrinkle in distaste.

“Hi, the school sent me to drop off some homework while Silver is grounded,” Sunset said, holding up the folder. “I wouldn’t want to intrude, but it’s important that I speak with her, to make sure she understands the assignment.”

“Well, come in then.” Silver’s mother stood back from the door.

Sunset knew where Silver’s room was, though she had never actually been inside the house before. She was led upstairs, and Silver’s mother knocked heavily on the door. “Silver? Someone from the school is here.”

Silver opened the door, a flash of surprise across her face before she concealed it.

“Hi, I have some homework here,” Sunset said. Fortunately, Silver’s mother turned away, so Sunset entered the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

Silver read the message on the top page that Sunset had handed her. It was an update on the situation, as succinctly as she could make it. The Dazzlings, Twilight, Spike. It was a lot to take in, particularly since Silver had only just found out about magic and everything else.

While Silver read, Sunset glanced around the room. Rich girl. It wasn’t too flashy, but clearly well put-together, an echo of Silver herself. There were a few toys and trinkets leftover from earlier childhood, now disused and replaced, but not yet discarded. Sunset noticed a lavender-scented candle, and quickly put it in her pocket, seized with a sudden idea.

“Do you understand it?” Sunset asked, pointedly, turning back to Silver.

She nodded, but after a quick motion of Sunset’s fingers, said aloud, “Yes.”

Sunset started to turn, but paused. “Hey, I know it’s been hard on you being cooped up here. I probably shouldn’t show you this, but-”

She unzipped the backpack.

Though Silver already knew from the message on the paper, she still reacted with genuine delight as Spike popped out to greet her. “He’s so cute!”

“This is Spike. I’m taking care of him this afternoon for Twilight Sparkle, a new transfer student.” Sunset said. Silver knew this too, but keeping up appearances.

They both pet Spike for a moment. Sunset asked, “So do you know what you need to do?”

Silver became serious suddenly, though Spike was too enthralled to notice. “Yes.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sunset said, referring to the expiration of Silver’s suspension. Spike once again reluctantly went back inside the backpack for the trip out.

Sunset excused herself from Silver’s mother and left the house. Back on the motorcycle, she let Spike have the wind again. Starting the bike, she asked him, “Are you hungry?”

“Woof!”

Sunset laughed and put the bike in gear. A fast food joint was just down the street and she ordered two cheeseburgers in the drive through. The cashier at the window gave Spike a headpat.

It was tough balancing the food on the bike, but Sunset managed long enough to get to the park. This was a chilly day for a picnic, but she didn’t think a dog would mind the cold too much. Off the bike, she found a bench that was free of snow and sat down, letting Spike out of the backpack.

“You’re so cute,” Sunset said as she began spreading out the meal, Spike nearly prancing in anticipation. “Don’t tell Twilight I let you have junk food.”

She unwrapped a burger and Spike practically dove for it, but Sunset held up a hand. “Wait, wait. I always wanted a dog of my own, but I never had the opportunity, so I need to make this perfect. Well, as perfect as fast food can be.”

She pulled out the candle and positioned it just so before unfolding the burger wrappers like placemats. She laughed at herself. “Well, it’s something.” A spark from her fingers lit the candle.

Sunset picked up her burger. Spike had gone slackjawed, staring at her. “You can eat now,” she said, purposely misinterpreting his reaction to seeing her doing magic. Spike seemed to remember himself and went straight back to acting like a dog, diving into the burger.

Sunset wasn’t actually that hungry, and when Spike was finished chowing down, she also gave him the half of her burger she hadn’t finished yet. He seemed to be on the way to regretting overeating, but that wasn’t her problem. She still took care to ride smoothly when they got going again, wary of where a vomit pattern would go down the back of her neck should he get sick.

Twilight was just getting to her new apartment when Sunset arrived with Spike. He had fallen asleep by this point and she gently handed him off.

“Oh, he must have been tired,” Twilight said. She mustered a smile for Sunset. “The two of us have had kind of a long few days.”

“I’ll bet, it can’t be easy transferring schools,” said Sunset. “Tomorrow’s another big day. I’ll let you get some rest.”

She made sure Twilight had gone inside and out of sight before going down to her own door. Sunset considered what she had accomplished today as she turned the key. If it all worked out, tomorrow would be a big day indeed.

Chapter 13

Silver knocked on Sunset’s door in the morning with breakfast. Sunset let her in and they went over the day ahead, expanding on the brief notes Sunset had made for Silver the night before.

Looking across the table at her, Sunset thought that Silver seemed uptight. This was different than before, somehow. Getting hit from so many directions with the stresses of her work with Sunset, finding out what Sunset was, and getting into a fistfight over an otherworldly golden crown had really thrown the girl's week into a tailspin.

So it was good that while she might have been uptight now, it was in the sense of being locked on, rather than about to break. Silver was so focused that her fading black eye didn’t even seem to distract her.

“This seems complicated,” Silver said, commenting on the plan laid out before her, “But no more complicated than a few other things we’ve done.”

Ordinarily, Silver would have said you’ve done, but it was true this time that Sunset would be relying heavily on her to pull off a few key moments.

“Are you sure this is going to work? With Spike?” Silver asked.

“If it doesn’t, it’s no big deal,” Sunset said. “That’s why we have contingencies.”

“And tonight,” Silver said. “What if the Dazzlings are something you’ve never seen before? If they have the power to affect an entire school...”

“Since you know about it now, you should be able to shake it off,” Sunset said.

Silver considered that. “So the other day, when…”

The hallway fistfight had occurred the same day the Dazzlings had arrived. “You might have been feeling it then,” Sunset said. “Even still, you didn’t start the fight.”

Silver nodded, reassured. Sunset figured it was better to balance her emotions - no need for Silver to take too much blame on herself, or - perish the thought - actually come to enjoy throwing punches.

Though perhaps a little swagger would not have hurt her. At school that day, her first day back since the suspension, even Sunset could feel the eyes on Silver. The whole student body had heard what happened, and the story was slowly growing in the telling, based on what Sunset eavesdropped that morning.

Sunset hoped she could handle the pressure. Though, she was confident; it was hardly the worst thing Silver had handled in the past week.

Sunset’s thoughts turned to other matters, spotting Twilight down the hall. Their eyes met, and Twilight quickly looked away, lowering her head. Sunset almost smiled. Her plan was in motion.

Seeing Twilight again at lunch, Sunset gestured her over to the table she occupied. Twilight saw her from across the room and hesitated, but came over.

“Is something wrong?” Sunset said as Twilight sat down. She noticed Twilight’s backpack move a little from within.

“I, uh-no,” Twilight said. She looked down at her lunch. Pepperoni pizza. “Actually…” She pushed it away and looked at Sunset. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Sure.” Sunset tilted her head. “Somewhere private?”

Twilight glanced around. Nobody was paying them any mind, and in fact, the cafeteria was noisy with other conversations. “Actually, here is fine. It’s public.” She lowered her voice and leaned closer. “Sunset, what do you know about magic?”

“I, uh-” Sunset replied intentionally, ironically mimicking Twilight. “W-why would you ask a question like that?”

“Sunset, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I’ve heard from reputable sources that you can do things that humans shouldn’t be able to.”

Spike had tattled, just as Sunset wanted him to. Twilight leaned forward even further and pressed, “Sunset, who are you?”

“I’m…” Sunset paused dramatically “...a kirin.”

It was an old pony tale. Kirin were friendly, pony-like creatures with fire magic, who had been driven away by terrifying monsters called nirik. Doubtless Twilight had heard the legend.

Twilight jerked back in surprise. “But...Sunset Shimmer isn’t a kirin.”

“What are you talking about? I’m right here.”

Sunset could practically see the hamster wheel spinning in Twilight’s mind, trying to process this. “But if you didn’t do it, then how did the crown get here?”

“Crown? That one that showed up at the school? What’s it got to do with this?” Sunset said, playing perfectly innocent. “Twilight, what’s going on?”

Twilight hesitated a moment longer, but then let out a deep sigh. “I’m sorry, Sunset, I came here under false pretenses. I need to tell you the truth.”

And so she did. There over the lunch table, their conversation concealed under ambient noise, Twilight confessed everything to Sunset. She was a magical princess from another land. A monster of bone and flame had stolen the Element of Magic. She’d come to this world looking for it, and the culprit.

“I don’t know what to say to all this,” Sunset said. “I...I can believe it. It’s fantastical, but I can believe it. It explains so much. I used to think I was all alone.”

She added a little more gravity to her tone. “But I have some questions for you, Ms. Princess. If you’re going to come to my world, I need to make sure I understand you fully. Earlier, you said my name. Have you met a...another me?”

“Well, no, I never met her personally, but I do know she came to this world before,” Twilight replied. “She’s a unicorn, though. Though I guess she would be turned into a human, same as I was.”

“What is your dog?” Sunset asked. The bag wriggled again.

“Spike is a dragon.”

Dragon!? Sunset didn’t have to fake her surprise, though she much preferred him as a dog. But it definitely explained how he was apparently intelligent. As intelligent as a dragon could be.

“I’ve never met a unicorn before, especially not one from another world,” Sunset said. “Can you do magic, too?”

“No.” Twilight shook her head. “Maybe something about the portal or this body isn’t compatible. I could back in Equestria. I was-” she laughed awkwardly “-the Princess of Magic, actually.”

Sunset smiled, but took pleasure in twisting the knife. “I’m sorry to hear your magic doesn’t work here. I want to help you get this crown back, but I think between the two of us I have a better chance of winning it as a prize for the Spring Fling. I might have to go through a whole show-and-dance on stage before I can give it to you. That’s if they even let me hold it a little bit before it goes back in a trophy case somewhere.”

“I see what you mean,” Twilight reluctantly admitted. “Everypon-one knows you, whereas I just showed up this week. Okay, let’s go with your plan.”

Too easy. Now Sunset just had to figure out how to keep Twilight and the crown separate once it was in her hands

She declined Twilight’s suggestion to meet after school and figure out a plan, citing urgent other business. “After all, the Spring Fling is still a week away, right? Trust me.” Even if Twilight didn’t, she didn’t have much other choice.

That afternoon, getting out of school, Sunset was already sitting astride her bike in the parking lot when Silver came up to her.

“I think they’ll come,” she reported to Sunset, “but I’m a little concerned that they already seemed to know me and were a little...too enthusiastic.”

“It could just be that rumors of you being a troublemaker got to them and they think this party is going to be just like what they’re doing to the school,” Sunset speculated. “Don’t worry about it.”

Silver, per usual, did look worried, but did not reply.

Sunset had everything she needed for that evening. One of Silver’s family's real estate properties was just outside of town, a large country house all by itself. It was furnished, but currently sat unoccupied.

She got out there early, turning on some lights and starting music playing. Come eight o’clock, when Silver had told the Dazzlings to show up, the night would be fully dark and the house would be the only light and sound within sight. That should cover for whatever happened next.

Sunset, while not worried, was cognizant that she didn’t fully know what the Dazzlings could do. But confidence in herself and confidence in the power of the Rider had taken her this far. The Spirit of Vengeance might exist to persecute those who had done evil, but Sunset was nothing if not a pioneer and tonight would see about adapting it to a more proactive role. A unicorn, hunting. If Princess Celestia could only see her now.

She parked her bike out back of the house and settled in to wait. Silver had told the Dazzlings that this would be a house party with a lot of high schoolers attending. Hopefully, whatever the girls were, this would be enticing bait.

Sure enough, the three girls arrived just at eight. Maybe there was something about the setup of the fake party, or perhaps they sensed the lack of other people around, but the three of them had stopped to discuss it before going up to the front door. That was how Sunset found them as she revealed herself.

“Here we go,” muttered Aria, the first to spot Sunset as she approached out of the darkness.

“Wow, that’s some kind of new record,” Sonata remarked. She seemed unconcerned.

“So it’ll be you, then,” said Adagio. She too had turned to face Sunset and the three of them stood together at her approach.

“I thought there was something about you,” Adagio went on. Despite essentially admitting unbidden that they’d been caught, her tone was typical Adagio that Sunset had heard over the last few days: haughty and superior. “A little too close, a little too curious. We must be really slipping if some human figured us out in less than a week this time.”

This time? Did they just move from school to school causing chaos?

Sunset decided to take the opportunity to stoke her own ego. “No human could have done it. You came to the wrong town.”

“Oh?” said Adagio, smirking. “Are you saying it isn’t big enough for all of us?”

“I’d say that depends on what exactly you are, Sunset,” said Aria, eyes intent, but cautious.

“I wondered about you too, for a while,” Sunset said. “But it came to me eventually. Singers, spreading negative feelings-” she raised a hand to gesture “-those matching jewels in your necklaces. Sirens.”

“Think you have it figured out?” taunted Adagio. If anything in Sunset’s words had shaken her, she didn’t show it.

Sunset was confident in her assessment, but the longer she stood there she began to wonder when the Rider would show up. Sirens were evil, weren’t they? She could feel a twinge of it, but so far that didn’t seem to be enough to bring out the fiery Spirit.

The Dazzlings began to walk forward, unhurried. Their crystal necklaces began to glow from within, a red luster also beginning to collect in their eyes.

“Well Sunset,” said Adagio, lips parting to add some teeth to her smirk. “You’re a dog that caught a car: what are you going to do now?”

Sunset had no idea. But she stood her ground. “Maybe I’ll have a barbecue,” she said, offhand. It wasn’t the best line, but combined with a little flicker of fire she could muster from her hands, it did stop the Dazzlings in their tracks - just for a moment.

“Get her!” shouted Adagio.

The three of them flashed with magic, transforming. Sirens, though Sunset had never seen one before, were creatures of Equestrian legend. Earth, too, though Sunset had never seen any evidence that they naturally existed here. They were part dragon, part horse, part mermaid, and maybe a few other things. It seemed the Dazzlings had figured out how to appear human, human enough to get close and sing their songs of destruction.

Tonight, they’d just cast off all of that to show Sunset their true form. Each of them suddenly towered over her, serpentine and toothy.

But so too did Sunset change. Now that the Sirens had revealed themselves, whatever magic had concealed them was gone. It was night, and the Rider had risen to meet them.

There was the usual fire, burning away Sunset’s body in a flash and leaving only bones and spite. And, to her satisfaction, the mere sight of her visage actually stopped the Sirens. Momentarily, anyway, but for Sunset intimidation was just a tool, and substance was what mattered. She looked like she could be the reckoning of them, and she would.

Whether or not the Sirens could sense how well they were matched, the three of them charged.

Sunset did not anticipate the real fight would be physical, and sure enough, the dragon-like Sirens opened their mouths to fire beams of magic. With a thought, Sunset raised her hands, unleashing the magic she had been just waiting to throw at someone.

Either Sunset was out of practice, or the balance of power was more in favor of the Sirens than she thought. Three combined beams of attack magic hit her at once, and she was nearly knocked over. As it was, her boots dug into the ground and the reflection magic she was holding only barely remained intact.

An inhuman growl built in the Rider’s equivalent of a throat. It was rage, but it was also Sunset’s determination. She could feel her body seem to shift of its own accord, adapting, strengthening. Just what she needed.

Her hands were free now, and she grabbed the whip coiled on her belt. Out from under the blocking magic, she gave it a toss. Guided by her will, it coiled around Aria’s neck, and Sunset pulled tight.

A third of the incoming magic stopped instantly, and the other two Sirens reacted to their sister’s plight by trying to pull her back. But Sunset had now taken the offensive, and it was clear that the Sirens were unused to being on the receiving end.

She’d yanked Aria close enough to get her hands around the Siren’s throat. “Look into my eyes.”

There was the usual voice distortion, her own filtered through the Rider, but it seemed harsher now. Something had changed about Sunset’s hands, too, the bones taking on a different shape, but that was not her focus.

Aria’s soul burned, even as her sisters tried to pull her away. If Sunset had paused to think about it, she might have noted with scientific interest that the Spirit of Vengeance worked so well against otherworldly monsters, too. It was a powerful tool, a weapon, and she was all about power.

She also knew that there was a kind of power in rage, and should have anticipated the reaction of the other two after erasing their sister. A moment of shock, and then all restrictions were suddenly gone as well.

The Sirens might have been attempting to defeat Sunset before, but now she clearly felt their intention to kill. That might actually be a good thing, if she had the time to stop and consider it while absorbing another attack. The Rider fed on hate, and only rose to the challenge.

Though, that didn’t mean Sunset had the skill or ability to meet it head-on. This time, under the onslaught of two angry red beams of magic, she was knocked backwards, only her whip catching around a tree prevented her from being blown away, but even still, it only held for a moment before it was uprooted.

It was at that moment Sunset realized she had never faced anything like this before, on either world. But there was no room for doubt in her mind, certainly not self-doubt. She’d come too far. She wouldn’t lose to anyone, not anymore.

Out of the maelstrom, an engine roared louder than the hurricane wind. Sunset went over backwards one more time before landing upright astride her faithful motorcycle. She twisted the throttle, piercing forward into the gale and whipping winds that would have torn the skin from her face if she had any right now.

Despite their best efforts, the Sirens could not hold steed and rider back. Sunset accelerated, the bike thrusting forward. Raising an arm as she went by, she caught Sonata about the neck with the whip, yanking her along for what turned out to be a very short ride. It only took a moment for Sunset to get her hands on Sonata’s head, bringing them face to face.

“Look into my eyes.”

Sonata was horrified, crying, pleading. She’d witnessed firsthand what happened to her sister. Now, it had come for her. But in a moment, she didn’t even have time to struggle or even blink as her soul too went up in flames.

Sunset turned to Adagio, dropping Sonata. She sat astride her bike, staring down the final Siren, revving the throttle and daring her to move first.

Adagio turned to run. Sunset crossed the distance and closed her bony fingers around the back of Adagio’s neck in a fraction of a second, sweeping her up and carrying her away.

“Please! I…” Any further protest Adagio could have made died on her lips as face was forcibly turned towards Sunset.

There was nothing persuasive Adagio could have said in the moment, nothing poetic, not even anything spiteful, and she was too terrified to say anything else before Sunset ordered, once more, “LOOK INTO MY EYES.”

It felt almost anticlimactic. The Sirens had put up a fight, and Sunset had drawn deeper and pushed harder than she ever had before, but she was left wondering, was that it?

Adagio was gone. Sunset let go and turned away. Silver was standing there, eyes wide, hands clutched to her chest. She must have seen the whole thing, what parts of it mortal eyes could comprehend, anyway.

Sunset looked down at herself, noting with surprise some changes. Her legs were bent, jointed differently, and she realized that she’d grown hooves. At some point, her skull had apparently elongated. A partial shift to a pony form? Had the magic really twisted her body that far?

Her magic. Finally, Sunset was seeing a little bit of herself in the Ghost Rider. She was making it her own.

“That was...that was it, huh?” said Silver, voice barely able to muster enough volume to be heard. She swallowed hard and then dropped her hands, taking a step forward.

Sunset felt the flames begin to die. This time, not only was it accompanied by crawling skin, but her skeleton started to shift back. She had returned to her human form by the time the fire was out.

“Oh, um…” Silver rummaged in her bag and pulled out a bottle of water.

As Sunset dumped the entire contents of the bottle down her throat, she reflected that this had been one of her better days since coming to Earth.

Epilogue

Silver sat on a bench in the park. Spring was coming. It wasn’t here yet, but today was above freezing and the snow was starting to melt.

She’d been wanting to talk to Sunset. Really talk to her. A conversation, not just an exchange of Sunset’s orders and Silver’s acknowledgements. Sunset often came here to the park, and so Silver had come, on the small chance of an encounter.

Silver bit her lip. Would Sunset grant her that? Had she earned it? Her relationship with Sunset had improved by leaps and bounds in the last few weeks, even as magic had taken Sunset further and further.

Magic. It was still hard for Silver to get her mind around it. But if anyone could, it was Sunset, she was sure. Was there anything Sunset couldn’t do?

The battle with the Dazzlings, Silver had been there and seen it with her own eyes, but still had trouble believing it. Sunset had become...something else. Some higher being. Powerful.

Silver had helped her. She was proud to say that she was a part of this. But there was always more she could do.

Silver’s grounding for fighting was over, so she could leave the house now and have her phone back. It was nice to get some fresh air. Thinking about Sunset was better when she wasn't cooped up in her room.

Just then, she got a text message. Silver yanked her phone out.

Twilight is with me. I’m taking her to get a Spring Fling dress. Did you get the mud ready?

Sunset! Silver quickly replied. I have everything you told me for the plan. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.

Sunset did not reply. Silver didn’t expect her to, but did wistfully dream that it might be nice. The Spring Fling was tomorrow. The daylight today was already fading. Sunset’s next plan would happen soon, and Silver would help once more.

She’d helped Sunset so much. How much more could she do?

Startling her, a man sat down beside Silver on the bench. His half-grey hair was brushed back carelessly. He wore slacks and a jacket, and also an ascot. He looked tired, despite his clothes being neat as a pin.

“Are you looking for something?” he said, just as suddenly as his appearance.

“Huh?” Silver replied, surprised. “What are you talking about?”

“I want to offer you a deal,” he said. “You look like someone who could use one.”

It hit her, then. A deal. How all of this had started. How Sunset had changed, and gotten stronger, with the power to realize her dreams. “Are...are you the Devil?”

“I prefer to be called Lucifer. But yes, you know who I am.”

Silver sat very stiffly, hands balled on her thighs. Lucifer met her eyes, but did not press. He simply waited.

A long moment passed. Silver swallowed hard. “What kind of deal?”

In response, Lucifer took out a thin scroll of parchment. He held it up, and Silver reached out.

“Ah wouldn’t rush into nothin’ if Ah were you.”

Silver jerked. She and Lucifer both looked up at who had spoken. Silver recognized Mac; she’d seen his picture before.

“Y’ may want to talk to Sunset first,” Mac suggested.

A long moment passed as Silver looked at him, at the scroll her hand had almost touched, and then she got up without a word and walked away, hurrying, shoulders hunched.

Mac dropped onto the spot on the bench she had just vacated. Lucifer stowed the scroll. “I shouldn’t need to say it, but this is none of your business.”

“Kind’ve a low blow, hedgin’ against Sunset like that, buildin’ up a contingency, another Rider just in case,” Mac said, arms spread on the back of the bench and not looking at Lucifer. “Did Sunset ever figure out who ya meant when ya said ‘A storm is comin’?”

“I’m sure she has her own interpretation,” Lucifer replied.

Mac glanced at him. “We both know she’s got an attitude, an’ she might become a problem. She’s headed that way. But she ain’t there yet. There’s no need to be draggin’ in teenagers. Her friends.”

“She doesn’t have friends. That’s part of how she got into this.”

“Ya know what Ah meant. Ya’d destroy that girl, just to get at Sunset.”

Lucifer turned slightly on the bench to face Mac. “I punish sinners. That includes Sunset. That includes you.”

“Ya ever thought that maybe you and your system are part ‘o the problem?”

“If you had a better solution, I’m sure you would tell me.”

“If Sunset goes too deep, then Ah’ll handle it,” Mac said. “Not anyone else.”

“When she does.”

Mac tilted his head. After a moment, he got up and turned to go. “Guess we’ll see.”