The Sunset Archives

by Sixes_And_Sevens

Rating: mature
Tags: Lightning Dust, Gore, Death, Drama, Equestria Girls, Trixie, Horror, Profanity, Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Human, Sunset Shimmer, Main 7 (EqG)
Length: 5655

In an effort to learn more about the effects of Equestrian magic on the human world, Sunset Shimmer begins recording accounts of inexplicable events, but soon learns that she may have bitten off more than she can chew...

After a troubling experience at Camp Everfree, Sunset Shimmer redoubles her efforts to investigate the effects of Equestrian magic on the human world, seeking interviews with people on their experiences with the inexplicable. As time goes on, however, and the supernatural rears its ugly head with increased frequency, Sunset is forced to consider that there are forces beyond the knowledge of either of her worlds -- and they don't seem eager to accept the magic of friendship.

Crossover with The Magnus Archives podcast. Eventual spoilers for all of it. Everything. This is post-TMA 200: Last Words, because I thought there should actually maybe be a couple words more, Johnny. Hey Johnny, I stick with you for 200 eps and this how you do me? Goddamn chocolate torte of tragedy...

Content warnings may change as the story goes on. In the spirit of the Magnus Archives, I'll attempt to put as comprehensive of a list of content warnings as I can at the start of each chapter.

Published 2021-05-19 01:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2024-06-29 16:29:21 UTC

#0210811: Shards

Author's Note

CWs: Claustrophobia, injury.

0210811: Shards

================

All is darkness, here. The only things that may be known of this space is the cloying, heavy sense of dust and the spinning machinations of spiders in distant corners, catching the poor unfortunates that squirm and wriggle into their territory. Time has no meaning here. There is only waiting.

Time passes. A spider eats another hapless moth. This may be the most exciting thing that has ever occurred. A theoretical viewer would have little to compare it against.

Even that thrill quickly fades and is relegated to obscurity with the arrival of the sound. A grating, grinding click of metal, and then, at long last --

Light.

Miss Cheerilee coughed and waved a hand to clear away some of the dust. “Good heavens,” she said. “I knew it had been a long time since anyone had used this storage closet, but…”

Sunset Shimmer stepped past the teacher and flicked the switch, illuminating the tiny room. “Wow,” she said, looking around. “When did you say the AV club disbanded again?”

“Before my time,” Miss Cheerilee said, picking up a Polaroid camera and inspecting it. “I assumed it was sometime in the early oughts, but looking at this equipment, it might have been the nineties.”

“Hm,” Sunset said, frowning. “Not… ideal, but I guess this equipment’s as good as any.”

“Assuming any of it still works,” Miss Cheerilee pointed out.

“Ah. Yeah,” Sunset conceded.

Cheerilee glanced at her student. “If I may ask, what made you decide to restart the Audio-Visual Club, anyway?”

“Posterity,” Sunset replied simply. “All of the Equestrian magic that’s been dumped over here is ancient history on the other side of the mirror portal. Princess Twilight wants me to start recording this stuff for her own research.”

“Haven’t you been mainly using your phones for that?”

“Can’t send digital files to Equestria,” Sunset replied. “They haven’t got anything to receive them, and any attempts to take over a computer tend to result in it getting totally fried.”

“I see,” Cheerilee said, nodding slowly. “You think you’ll have better luck with these?”

“I hope so,” Sunset said. “After this, my best bet is wax cylinders and daguerreotypes.”

Cheerilee snorted. “Well, I’m afraid you won’t find any of those in here.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Sunset said. “I’m pretty sure that’s a telegraph machine on that shelf over there.”

Cheerilee clapped her hands. “Right. A full inventory can come later, I’m sure. For now, Sunset, what is that you’re actually looking for?”

Sunset considered that. “A video camera would be the best, but I’ll settle for a good camera and some way to record my voice.”

Cheerilee held out the Polaroid she’d picked up earlier. “Will this work?” There was a dazzling flash that left Sunset blinking.

When the spots finally faded, she saw her teacher gently waving a photograph in the air, watching the image fade into view. “Careful,” Cheerilee warned as she passed it to Sunset. “Those things can be delicate.”

Sunset inspected the photo. “Hm. Looks fine to me,” she decided. “Now, uh… Hey, do you hear that?”

Both women fell silent. There was a clear whirring sound that filled the tiny room. Cheerilee glanced behind Sunset and pointed. “There. You must have jostled it when you came in the room.”

Sunset turned to find a compact tape recorder on a table behind her, merrily whirring away. She picked it up and grinned. “Oh, this looks perfect,” she said.

“Wonderful,” Cheerilee said. “Now, if that’s all, I should really get to class -- and so should you.”

“Sure thing,” Sunset said, taking the camera and the recorder in either hand.

Cheerilee led the way out of the closet and flicked the lights off again. “Now, remember, you’ll need a faculty advisor for the club,” she said, relocking the closet door. “I’ll ask around the English department for you, but you could also see if either of the Tech teachers are available.”

“Right,” Sunset said. “Are there any teachers who don’t have clubs already, or who might be looking for them, or…”

“I believe there’s a new hire this year, as it happens,” Miss Cheerilee said thoughtfully. “I can’t recall his name. I’ll look him up and see if he’s interested.”

“Thank you, Miss Cheerilee,” Sunset said.

“Not a problem.” Cheerilee paused. “Sunset? Are you going to turn that tape recorder off at any point?”

“Huh? Oh, right!”

Click.

Click.

“-- should be as good a spot as any for recording, as long as I’m not too loud about it. I’ll have to see about getting a proper room for this.”

There came the sound of a bag hitting a table, and then the soft grind of chair legs on a lightly-carpeted floor. Then there came a light rustling.

“Huh,” said Sunset, staring at the tape recorder, already running once again. “Weird. I guess I must’ve… hit ‘record’ by accident. Again.”

There was a brief silence, and then Sunset chuckled. “Guess that’s what I get for keeping you in my bag. Oh, well, what’s a few extra minutes of tape?” She tapped the face of the tape recorder lightly. “Looks like you’ve got plenty.”

Sitting up straight, she cleared her throat. “Alright, that’s enough messing around,” she said. “Uhh, for posterity’s sake I should probably say something here to mark the start… How about…

"Statement of Sunset Shimmer, regarding her search for the origin of the artifacts known as ‘the Geodes of Harmony’. Statement taken direct from subject, August 11th, 2021. Statement begins."

I guess the first thing you should know about me is that I’ve always been kind of a risk-taker. “Incorrigible,” Princess Celestia used to call me. When I snuck into the kitchen to steal out of the cookie jar. When I tricked some noble colts into painting the garden trellises white. When I uncovered an embezzlement scheme that led to the heads of three of the most powerful families in Canterlot being sent to jail. She would always just shake her head at me and murmur, “incorrigible,” and she was always smiling just a little when she said it.

Until, y’know, she wasn’t. But that’s not the point. The point is, treat this recording as a guide for how not to go on expeditions at least as much as you do a report on my investigation of the geodes.

The geodes, I should mention, are the Geodes of Harmony, seven superpower-granting stones with suspected ties to the Elements of Harmony. They were first discovered in a cave on the property known as ‘Camp Everfree,’ located at 22 1250 East Road, outside of Canterlot, Virginia, on the human side of the mirror portal.

It was there that my investigation took place. With the permission of the property’s owners, Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce, I arrived at the cave around midmorning on August 8th, 2021. I came alone. That was my first mistake. Most of my immediate friend group were either on vacation or too busy to come with me, but I should still have brought along someone I could trust in case things went downhill.

I entered the cave, pulling out my flashlight as I went. It was much darker than I would have guessed, as the sun was shining almost directly into the cave’s mouth, and I remembered it as being rather shallow. However, the weak beam of my flashlight didn’t even reach the back wall.

This was my second mistake. I should have left and returned with magical backup as soon as I noticed something odd about the situation. Instead, I chalked it up to my own bad memory, and continued into the cave.

It was much larger than I remembered. Darker too, and filled with cobwebs. I kept having to stop and spit them out on the ground. It was only when I happened to glance back and saw that the entrance to the cave was no longer visible, though, that I really believed that something was wrong.

All in all, I think I kept a pretty cool head. I just turned on my heel and walked back the way that I had come. Or… I thought it was the way I had come. I must have gotten turned around in the darkness, because I think I wound up in a side cavern. The floor was damp with water that dripped irregularly from the ceiling, and when I shone my flashlight on the puddles, they looked completely opaque.

What’s more, the walls of the cave kept getting tighter and tighter. I got nervous when I first brushed against a wall. Then both walls at once. Then I bumped my head on the ceiling, and at that point I realized I must have taken a wrong turn.

I tried very hard not to think about how I hadn’t seen any side tunnels in here the first time I had gone into the cave.

So I turned around again. Technically, this was also a stupid move, given that I had no idea where I was or where I was going, but I also knew that I definitely wasn’t going to get out the way I was going.

I had only gone a few feet back the way I had come when my flashlight gave out completely. I cursed and banged it against my knee, but it didn’t so much as flicker. I pulled out my phone to try and use the light on that, but it was dead, too, even though I was absolutely certain it had been charged when I entered the cave.

At this point, it was obvious that something magical was happening, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could actually do about it. So I just stumbled along as best I could, always keeping my left hand to the wall. Not that it mattered. No matter how I moved, I was constantly scraping against some wall or another, the ceiling always getting lower and lower until I was on my hands and knees, crawling through the dark, the puddles on the ground freezing against my skin. I thought about trying to turn around yet again, but I couldn’t even begin to guess at where the entrance to the cave might now be. The desperation was nearly as stifling as the scraping of my skin against the rock as it hemmed me in, tighter and tighter.

I crawled. Then I slithered. Then I stopped, unable to go forwards. I tried to push myself backward, but my foot hit a solid wall, leaving my leg jammed at a painful angle. Desperate, I tried to force myself forward again, reaching out an arm as far as I could, crushing my face against the rock as I reached out, grasping and desperate. I could feel cool air moving through the hole in front of me, and as I waved my arm around as best I could, I realized the room before me was open and free.

I strained against my prison, pushing and clawing at the rocks that surrounded me, trying to shove my head through the hole in front of me. I can’t even guess at how long I was there, struggling and flailing in my impossible prison, when I heard something move.

“Hey!” I yelled “HEY! HELP! ANYONE?”

The shadows shifted, and I felt my blood run cold. I could see only darkness. But I was certain, absolutely positive, that I should not have drawn more attention to myself. The shadows rippled, like a pond disturbed by a swimmer. I tried to draw back, back into the prison that now seemed so secure, but I couldn’t pull back my arm. Somehow, the hole in the rock had fallen around it, crushing my shoulder like a boa constrictor as the thing in the dark drew slowly nearer.

That’s when I saw it. Out of the corner of my eye, a gleam of orange in the darkness, the only light I’d seen since I lost my flashlight. Shards of crystal stuck out of the rock at odd angles, glowing in the darkness. It was the exact same shade as my geode.

Here’s one last lesson for you, listener. If you see a light in the dark, don’t just fucking grab it with your bare, bloody hand.

I screamed once again as jagged crystal cut into my much-tormented hand, my world lighting up with pain.

When the pain subsided, I was sitting outside the cave again, scuffed and bruised and bloody, but alive.

When I tell you that I ran away from that place as fast as my legs could carry me, you had better believe it. I ran all the way back to camp, where Timber and Gloriosa quite understandably freaked out over my condition, and cleaned me up with rubbing alcohol and bandages. Eventually, they had to call an ambulance when Timber recognized the pale, swollen skin on my fingers as frostbite. Luckily, it was only first-degree.

Something happened in that cave. I don’t know what magic could have caused it -- it was like nothing I’ve ever heard of in any of my studies. I do, however, find one thing in particular especially odd about the encounter. I can account for every injury I received over the course of my misadventure. I seem, however, to be missing one.

When I grabbed that glowing crystal, I was positive that it sliced my hand open. Yet, the palm of my hand was about the only place I wasn’t totally scraped up. Something in those crystals counteracted my experience in the cave. What that means -- what any of it means -- I can’t say. If it means repeating the experience, I can’t say I’m eager to find out.

Statement ends.

Sunset took a deep breath, blinking several times. “Wow. That, uh, wound up being a lot more… more intense than I was expecting. Maybe I should see about getting therapy for this.”

She chuckled, resting her chin on her hand. “Yeah, that’d go great. ‘Oh, yes, doctor, I’m a magical talking horse from another dimension, but that’s not actually why I’m here…’”

Shaking her head, Sunset let out a soft sigh. “My final thoughts on this incident… I really hope that removing the geodes from that cave didn’t cause all of that to happen, but I certainly can’t rule it out as a possibility. Aside from that, I’m afraid the investigation was a total dead end, and as I said, I’m not about to go back there again.”

She was silent for a long moment, then reached over for the tape recorder.

Click.

#0210813: Falling Out

Author's Note

Statement of Rainbow Dash, regarding an encounter with an ex-girlfriend.

CWs: Mentions of past relationship abuse, reckless endangerment.

Also, I did some character design! It's a bit spoilers, though, especially if you read the description, so fair warning there.

0210813: Falling Out

=====================

Click.

“Pft-” Rainbow Dash tried and failed to stifle a snicker. “Seriously? That’s the best you could come up with? What, couldn’t you find any vinyl records?”

“Hey, as long as it works,” Sunset replied. “And try to keep your voice down, we’re still in the library, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Dash said. “Hey, you sure you’re alright? I know you said there wasn’t any, like, permanent damage after that thing at Camp Everfree, but I saw the pictures Fluttershy texted me…”

“I’m fine,” Sunset said. “So, you said you thought you found an Equestrian artifact?”

“...Maybe,” Dash said.

Sunset leaned forward. “Define ‘maybe’?”

“I didn’t actually, y’know. See it,” Dash admitted. “But there was definitely something magical going on, y’know?”

“Hm,” Sunset said, crossing her arms. “Well, alright. It’s unfortunate you couldn’t see it, whatever it was, but its effects should still give us a starting point on determining its origins.”

“Cool. So it happened when I was on vacation --”

“Hold it!” Sunset interrupted.

Rainbow stopped, affronted.

“I have to mark the start of the account,” Sunset explained. She cleared her throat. “Statement of Rainbow Dash, regarding an encounter with an ex-girlfriend. Statement taken direct from subject, August 13th, 2021. Statement begins.”

Lightning Dust was never any good for me. She was fun to be around, don’t get me wrong, and she was a hell of a kisser. But she brought out the worst in me. I kinda think I brought out the worst in her, too.

When we broke up it was messy as hell. It sure didn’t help that she was getting expelled from CHS for doing stunts in the parking lot, and totalling her car against a school bus. Didn’t help that the only reason I wasn’t out there stunting with her was that I had detention, either. It was a miracle that nobody got hurt but Dusty.

Maybe it was cold of me to break it off with her while she was still in the hospital, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. Also, I think if I’d waited until the bandages came off, it might have gotten a lot more physical. Like I said, we brought out the worst in each other. All of this took place in sophomore year, and I’ve just… mostly tried not to think about her too much ever since. Pretend like she was nothing, move on, don’t be so stupid next time. And, y’know, it worked. Kinda, anyway. Dusty was out of my life, and I was perfectly happy to keep it that way…

Right up until I saw her on the beach.

I didn’t realize it was her, not at first. I was just watching people surf while I had a little lunch, and there was this one figure that kept catching my eye. She always went after the biggest waves, and she never seemed to fall. The way she moved… it looked like she was flying.

It was only when she came up on shore that I realized who it was. I… look, I was a little panicked. Dusty was always good at holding a grudge, and I really didn’t want to get in a fight with her on vacation, so when I saw her start to walk up to the juice bar where I was sitting, I decided to take a walk in the other direction. I think she noticed me, though. I don’t want to say she was following me or anything, but I definitely saw her around. It was like she was doing her best to look anywhere but at me every time I saw her. It couldn’t be a coincidence.

So, after a couple hours, I decided, fuck it, if she wants to screw with me, I want it to be on my terms. So I walked up to her and said, “Oh, Dusty! Hey, dude, it’s been awhile.”

She blinked in surprise and apparent confusion for a moment, before breaking into an easy grin. “Dash! Man! How’s it hanging?” she asked.

I shrugged and started telling her about my vacation. She seemed kinda… I don’t know how to say this, exactly. Blissed out, maybe, all happy and smiley. Well, smiley for Dusty, anyway. But there was something in her eyes. They were, like, deeper than they used to be? And then, well…

“So, you got some new scars,” I said after we’d been talking for about half an hour.

Her eyes flashed, and her grin got sharper as she traced one of the jagged pale lines across her arm. “Yeah,” she said with mock regret. “Hang gliding accident. You know how it is, right?”

“Not… really,” I admitted. “What happened?”

She shrugged. “Got caught in a wind shear. Real wild ride, and I got kinda cut up by some hail. And some glider parts. Barely made it to the ground alive.”

“Gosh,” I said. “Guess you’re being real careful after an accident like that.”

We traded equally sharp, knowing grins. “Yeah, I’m taking a break from gliding,” Dust said. “Now it’s all about parasailing.”

“Nice,” I said. “I always wanted to try that.”

She shrugged. “Come out with me tomorrow. Me and my gang will show you the ropes.”

I was gonna ask her more, but she turned toward the sea all of a sudden. “Oh, gotta go, they’re calling for me.”

I couldn’t see anyone, but Dusty was still talking. “Meet me at ten tomorrow, at that juice bar you were at. Later, loser!”

And then she was gone, running through the crowded beach, people parting before her and drifting in her wake. For just a moment, I saw her embrace this tall girl, dark purple with pale hair, and then the crowd swarmed together again.

When I went back to the hotel, I could hardly sleep. There was a storm that sprang up around dinner, and I almost couldn’t tell the roar of thunder from the crash of the waves. Around midnight, I tried shutting the curtain, see if that would at least block out the brilliant lightning that lit the sky. When I did, I saw something below, on the street. Lights; three motorcycles zipping through the storm. I swear, I could hear the roar and rev of their engines even from my room.

Then I blinked, and they were gone.

I must’ve gone to sleep at some point that night, because waking up the next morning was hell. It took me three cups of coffee and a plate of eggs and bacon before I really felt human again.

Around nine-thirty, I made my way to the beach to meet up with Dusty and her new friends. When I got there, I was really confused. It looked like someone had been trying to sculpt sand into some kind of abstract art, big lumpy arches stretching out of the earth. When I touched one, it was hard and solid, like a rock. I broke off a chunk -- it was brittle, like glass -- and the inside was all hollow and smooth. I put it in my gym bag for safekeeping and headed to where Lightning said she would meet me.

Even though she had been insistent on ten sharp, she was fifteen minutes late, walking in all swagger and smirk. “Hey, Dash,” she said, plonking down next to me at the counter. “Glad to see you didn’t chicken out.”

I scoffed. “Yeah, as if. You said you had friends, dipshit. They imaginary or something?”

“Nah, they’re just getting the boat set up,” she said. “C’mon, I’ll introduce you.”

She led me down to a dock I hadn’t noticed yesterday. Maybe it had been because of all the people. The storm seemed to have scared off a lot of yesterday’s crowd, but the sky was clear and bright. There was only one boat that was actually being worked on, and that’s the one Lightning led me to. A short red dude with hair like fire was muttering angrily as he tied ropes to the parasail and the boat. The purple lady from yesterday was there, too, leaning lazily in the driver’s seat, a visor holding up her cloudy white curls. She turned to look up at us as we approached, and I blinked in surprise. Scars ran up almost her entire left half, from her waist to her forehead as far as I could see. Or, not scars. Scar. One single, branching lightning-shaped thing that put Harry Trotter to shame. Well, y’know, more shame than his author already brought to him.

Dusty gestured to the pair. “Dash, meet Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder. My new crew. Guys, meet Rainbow Dash. My ex.”

I waved, a little awkwardly. “Yo.”

Short Fuse muttered something and waved me off as he continued to fiddle with the cords. Rolling Thunder grinned at me. “G’day,” she said. “So, you’re the famous Rainbow, eh?”

“I -- uh, famous?”

“Oh, yeh. Lightnin’ talks about you all the time. Almost enough to make me jealous, t’be honest.”

“Oh, you’re dating?” I asked, watching Dusty go a little pink around the ears.

“Yeah, one big happy polycule,” she said brightly.

I glanced at Short Fuse. “Thought you weren’t into guys, Dust?”

She shrugged. “Eh, it’s a big world, y’know? He’s alright, anyway. Our token manlet.”

Short Fuse stopped fiddling with the ropes and turned slowly to face Dust. She just smirked down at him. “You fucking know how I feel about that word, Dust,” he growled.

“Aw, c’mon, you’re four-foot-five! It’s accurate!”

“Fuck you! Fuck you. I’m four-seven and if your head weren’t permanently up your own rear, you could see that!”

“Even if my head was up my own ass, you’d still be shorter than me!” Dust yelled gleefully.

Rolling Thunder put up her hands. “Alright, alright, enough with the foreplay, both of you. Did you forget we had company?” She glanced at me. “Sorry, mate. It’s my day with the braincell, apparently.”

Both of the others backed down, though they kept shooting each other challenging glares. I recognized that look. I’d shared it often enough. I felt a pang of loss shoot through me. How replaceable had I been to Dust, anyway?

“Right, let’s get you harnessed in,” Rolling Thunder said, stepping out of the boat.

“Woah, wait,” I said as she picked through the mess of ropes. “Do I get like, instructions or anything first? What do I do up there?”

Lightning grinned at me. “Hold on,” she said. “Tight.”

Before I could object further, I was snapped in. “Right,” said Thunder, with a gesture to the boat. “Welcome aboard the S.S. Washout. Watch your footing.”

We all climbed aboard and Thunder piloted us a good distance from the shore before coming to a halt. “Righto, off you get,” she said. “Swim out until the rope’s stretched out. Not taut, but near enough.”

I hopped into the water and started paddling out. It was chilly after the storm, and more than a little choppy. It took me a few minutes to get to where I needed to be. I glanced back at the boat and shot them a thumbs up. They all returned it, and I heard Thunder gun the engine.

I shot into the air like a rocket. The air on the seawater was freezing, and it woke me up like no coffee ever could’ve. My hair blew back in the wind. So did my face. I let out a wild whoop of joy, looking up to the clouds.

From below, I heard a distant yell, and looked down to see Fuse and Dust waving up at me. Dust waved her hand around in a circle over her head, enunciating as she yelled, “Higher?”

I nodded enthusiastically, my hands still clinging tight to the ropes. She gave a big grin and Fuse started winching out the rope. She yelled something else, too. The words were lost on the wind, but it looked like she was saying something about ‘Enjoy’ and ‘Blue’.

I looked up to the sky as they kept lengthening the rope. I legitimately can't think of a time I felt more alive. I was flying. The wind was in my face, the salt in my hair, and I laughed.

Then I looked down and suddenly I wasn’t laughing anymore. The sea had… there’s no good way to say this. The sea was gone, swallowed by some kind of mist that had rolled in. I couldn’t see the boat anymore. Slowly, slowly, I looked down. The rope dangled loose below me.

I looked up again. The clouds suddenly seemed a lot closer than they had been. A lot darker, too. The first drop of rain hit me squarely on the nose. Then the wind picked up, and after that… well, it was all just kind of a blur. I was buffeted around by gale force winds, wheeling me around the sky in all directions. The rain poured down on me, washing away the salt of the sea and stinging my skin with the chill. It should have weighed my sail down enough for me to crash into the ocean, but there was no release from the battering. I think I was screaming. It might have been the wind. Through it all, the crash and the flash. Thunder. Lightning.

I clung for dear life to the cords of the sail. If I fell, I knew it would mean some kind of release. An end, maybe, but an end I chose. It felt like the storm had been raging for days, with no sign of stopping, and if I could just let go -- if I could just fall --

But I couldn’t. The sail ripped first, some gust of wind finally shredding it and leaving me at long last to the embrace of gravity. If I flew for days, I fell for weeks. I don’t even remember landing. Just, waking up in a hospital bed, much the worse for wear. The doctors asked me a lot about what had happened. So did the police. Apparently, they informed me, the people who had towed me along had used some very shoddy knots. I was lucky to be alive.

I told them all I could, my brain still on autopilot. Then, at the very end, I asked for the date. It was only three hours later, and a nurse explained to me several times that it had been a clear, almost cloudless morning.

They kept me in the hospital for observation. There was another storm that night, bigger and angrier than the night before. It should’ve terrified me. It lulled me to sleep, instead.

When they discharged me the next morning, I made for the beach. At least, I made for what was left of it. The trees had been stripped and the rocks laid bare. The juice bar where I had met with Dust was gone, only the foundations sticking out from the sand. Ditto the pier and all the boats that had been there.

When I got back to my room, though, I found my bag lying on the bed and the window hanging open. There was a note inside. “Catch you later,” it said. It was signed with a lightning bolt. It goes without saying, I cancelled my flight home and took a train instead.

But the worst part is… I liked it. Even when I was terrified, clinging on for dear life, let me tell you, I’ve never felt so… so right. Like I was where I was supposed to be. Like I might want to go back there.

I know I shouldn’t, that the storm will kill me if it gets a chance. But I also know that I might not have a choice.”

“Statement ends,” Sunset said, after a tense moment. Rainbow Dash let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

“So, you think it was an Equestrian artifact, then?” Dash asked, leaning forward over the desk. “I mean, those weird things in the sand had to be something, right?”

“I’ll admit, it sounds odd,” Sunset replied. “That part, though… may I see the piece you took?”

“Oh. Sure.” Rainbow rummaged in her bag and pulled out a rocky-looking tube, plonking it on the table.

Sunset rubbed her chin, scrutinizing the piece. “It looks familiar,” she mused. “Let me just…” She pulled out her phone and started tapping away. After a moment, she tilted her head. “Did the larger tubes look anything like this?” Sunset asked, holding up her phone.

Peering at the screen, Rainbow nodded. “Yeah! Why, what is it?”

“It’s called a fulgurite,” Sunset said, taking the phone back. “They’re pretty rare, formed when extremely hot lightning strikes high-silicate sand.”

“Isn’t all lightning really hot?” Dash asked.

“Well, yes,” Sunset admitted, pocketing her phone again. “For context, though, it would be approximately five times hotter than the surface of the sun.”

Dash’s eyebrows shot up. “Yowza.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Sunset said. “From what you’ve described, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if whatever artifact Lightning Dust found was of pegasus origin, though again, I can’t guess at what it might have actually been.”

“Mm.” Dash looked down at the floor, her brow furrowed.

“What’s the matter?” Sunset asked.

“I… well, how much does it even matter what it was if we don’t know where it is?” Dash asked. “The cops couldn’t find Dust, or any of the others. I don’t know where she could’ve gone, and I don’t think she’s about to stop screwing with forces she doesn’t understand.”

Sunset said nothing for a long moment, before sighing. “I… yes, that’s certainly a larger concern. Unfortunately, it’s also one I can’t solve right now. Maybe if we get a better idea of what the artifact actually does, we’ll have a better chance of tracking it?”

“You don’t sound too sure about that.”

“I’m not,” Sunset admitted. “But that’s all we can do at the moment.”

Rainbow let out a long breath. “... Yeah,” she admitted. “You got me there.”

Sunset pondered for a moment. “Maybe… if it makes you feel better, you could start looking at national weather maps?” she suggested. “Check for, I don’t know, weird storms around the area you were staying at.”

“Huh.” Rainbow folded her arms. “Sounds kinda like egghead stuff… but you might be onto something.”

“Alright. Oh, and Rainbow?”

“Hm?”

Sunset looked her friend in the eye. “Be safe, alright?”

Rainbow snorted. “What, looking at weather maps? What’s gonna happen to me, I’m gonna get a computer virus from looking at the temperature?”

“I--” Sunset shook her head. “No, never mind. It was just a feeling I had. I should go, it’s almost time for class.”

Rainbow watched her pack up and leave. She ran a thumb across the surface of the fulgurite and shivered. “Just a feeling,” she echoed. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”

There was a pause. “Aw, shit, she forgot her tape thingy!”

click

#0210817: Backstage

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#0210820: Eulogy

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#0210825: Under the Influence

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#0210826: Sirens' Call

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#0210827 Dog Park

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#0210902: Scope

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#0210903: Game Over

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#0210905: Silent Treatment

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#0210908: Caretaker

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#0210913: Cut

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#0210920: Lost to the Beat

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#0210923: Screwball

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#0210925: Void

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#0210929: Unlocked

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#0211007: Daredevil

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#0211008: Down the Garden Path

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#0211011: Holding

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#0211014: Only a Drill

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#0211020: Once Bitten

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#0211022: Identity Theft

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#0211027: Self-Improvement

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#0211029a: Dropout

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#0211029b: Looking Back

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#0211101: Tied to the Land

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#0211103: Survival

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#0211111: To Catch a Killer

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#0211114: Sweetheart

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#0211118: Charcoal Sketch

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#0211124: Handle with Care

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#0211130: Upon Reflection

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#0211201: Stitched Up

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#0211204: Speed

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#0211213: Long Shadows

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#0211219: Farm to Table

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#0211223: Blackout

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#0211229: Fruitcake

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#0220104: Countdown

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#0220110: Icy Hearts

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#0220115a: Bottled Up

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#0220115b: Pink

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#0220117: School Spirit

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#0220120: Cold Read

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#0220121a: Dark Academia

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