Eventide, Evenfall

Chapters

This is Everyday Life
The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
Storm of Swords, Rainfall of Arrows
Introspection
Somewhere in a Restricted Area of Malmstrom AFB

This is Everyday Life

The magic swirled around her as if by a lover. She shuddered in delight; the eldritch forces running through her veins felt so natural, so … right.

And then she looked down at the bloody knife in her hand, still dripping. And her eyes followed the drops slaking off the tempered steel …

… and onto the lifeless blue-green eyes of her own face.

She screamed.

Sunset Shimmer sat up in bed, shivering. It was that damn dream again. One she'd had too many times as of late and one she really didn't want to deal with.

Stretching in bed, a knock sounded on her bedroom door before a familiar face poked her head in.

"Heya, sleepy. Getting the fuck up this morning or are you going to pull a–"

Sunset laughed. Jamie Manzanas was her next door neighbor, best friend and cousin. Part of the circle of friends that she'd known her entire life.

"Like that's ever going to happen," Sunset responded with a grin.

"Didn't think it would, but stranger things have happened." Jamie then fished a gaudy box out of her backpack. "Oh, here you go. Mom and Dad wanted me to wait until tonight's party, but I thought you'd appreciate it. Happy birthday."

Sunset didn't even open the box; she knew what was in it already. "Thanks, Jamie."

"You're welcome. Now get up before we run out of breakfast downstairs, okay?"

"Got it." Sunset wasted no time in leaving her bed and heading to the bathroom of the farmhouse she lived in all her life. A quick shower cleaned her up, and as usual, she opted to skip makeup: for some reason, guys always said she looked great without it though her boyfriend told her she looked even more stunning with it. Maybe because it was due to her exotic traits: she didn't look like anyone in her family, and if it wasn't for her birth certificate, she would've sworn she was adopted. Furthermore, while her bright red hair gave her a distinctly Irish appearance (and from what she knew, her family was of German ancestry), it was the strange blonde streaks in said hair that set her apart. One teacher had even assumed she'd dyed her hair that way, but photos proved she'd had it since birth.

As far as she knew, she was just Sunset Alice Shimmer, daughter of Lt. Col. Thomas Shimmer and his wife Rebecca. Her father was a USAF officer overseas in Afghanistan right now, while her mother, a lawyer and state legislator, was off in Helena "fighting the good fight," as she tended to say. As a result, more often than not, her uncle Travis and aunt Jenny tended to keep an eye on her whenever Sunset's parents weren't at home.

Just a typical normal teenager growing up in the town of Blue Sky, Montana.

And yet it never feels real, Sunset thought to herself. Like everything I know isn't true.

She shook her head. Thoughts like that were for her boyfriend Warren, dreamy dreamboat that he was. He was the sensitive type, the kind of guy that listened to 80s bands and wrote poetry as a hobby.

And I'd better get some breakfast if I'm going to see him before school starts, she reminded herself as she went downstairs.

As she got downstairs, an older woman with sandy blonde hair and a big grin smiled as she held out a plate. "Just in time – saved you some of your favorite chocolate chip pancakes. And Happy Birthday! You ready for tonight?"

She kissed the woman on the cheek. "Thanks, Aunt Jenny. And yeah, definitely." Sunset then sat down at the table and spoke to the last person in the room. "Happy birthday, sis."

Said person was Sunset's twin sister: Sunrise Alicia Shimmer. Though the two were identical twins, their natures made it very easy to tell the two apart … and given the theming of their names, a study in ironic contrast. Sunset was friendly, helpful and studious, while Sunrise was acerbic, moody and generally got along with few people. Sunset was a popular girl at school; Sunrise tended to get into several fights. Even their current clothing was emblematic of the two, with Sunset wearing a t-shirt and jeans while Sunrise wore a somewhat revealing crop top and jean skirt.

"Hey," Sunrise said between bites of breakfast.

"Ready for tonight's party?"

"Fuck no," Sunrise responded.

"Language," Jenny admonished.

Sunrise ignored it, rolled her eyes and continued. "Todd’s grounded again, so he won't be here tonight." She frowned. "Told him to stop picking fights with Darnell and his group of wannabe gangsters, but he doesn't listen. Part of me wishes he was like your boyfriend, but then again, Warren's a wuss."

"Not doing yourself any favors, Rise."

"Sunny, you're my twin sister and I love you, but your taste in guys sucks. Then again, I'm hardly any better."

Jamie, having been quiet all this time, grinned. "Don't look at me; I don't have a boyfriend."

"Well, you three can commiserate on your dating lives later. Right now, you need to finish up so I can get you to school on time," Jenny reminded them.

The trio groaned as one.

No sooner than Sunset, Sunrise and Jamie stepped out of the minivan and onto the grounds of Blue Sky High School than the trio got tackled. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU TWO!" a voice cried out. In the distance, Sunset could hear polite giggles.

"Heya, Maggie, forget your meds again?" Sunrise snarked.

"I think I'm going to need some – she hits like a truck," Jamie muttered.

"Good point," Sunset agreed. "Maggie, please don't isekai anyone before my birthday party tonight, okay?"

"Okay!" The other girl got up. Maggie Goody was, like Sunset and her sister, a redhead, though Maggie’s was a lighter shade and not weirdly two-tone. It, however, was ridiculously curly, as though it had a mind of its own. Maggie was the newest in their group, having arrived back in sixth grade, with her parents having moved from Wyoming, if Sunset remembered correctly.

“So, what’s with trying to kill us before the day’s over, Maggie?” Sunrise grunted.

“Sabrina bet me ten bucks I wouldn’t do it,” Maggie said off-handedly.

“And you were stupid enough to do it?” Jamie asked, as she got up and dusted her pants off.

“Someone has to do the dumb things.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “Remind me to not let you guys get creative again.”

Sunrise, for her part, punched a fist in her open hand, making her intent clear. “You can do it or I can do it.”

“Rise! You wouldn't do that to a friend, right?” Maggie asked worriedly.

“Of course I would. But at least it won’t hurt that much.”

Lunchtime finally came, and the group gathered around the tree in the center of the grassy square that sat in the center of the school campus. As she munched on a tuna sandwich, Sunset looked at her friends and family. Jamie and Sunrise were, as usual, bickering about something they had watched on YouTube. Maggie, ever bad at keeping up with her schoolwork, was trying to get her next class’ homework done before lunch finished. And then there were the others.

Rayne Swift sat underneath a tree, waving the occasional fly from venturing near her dreadlocks. A tall, athletic girl of African-American ancestry, she was lucky that she was both smart and capable. She also tended, unfortunately, to deal with a lot of racism – this was Montana, after all – but that’s how she found herself amongst Sunset’s circle and between Sunset’s connections and Sunrise’s threats, they tended to leave her alone.

Wren Stablesman ate a salad and looked at some nature pictures on her iPad. Wren was quiet and unassuming, which was weird given that her favorite music was heavy metal and hard rock. She definitely didn’t look the type, and the only way one would know, aside from looking at the strawberry blonde’s music selection, was the constant variation in t-shirts she wore of her favorite band, Iron Butterfly.

Next to her sat Sabrina Weiss, the fashionplate of their group. Sabrina, with raven-black hair and blue eyes, was considered the looker of the school, but she claimed to have no guy she was interested in. Likely because she had them all wrapped around her finger whenever she wanted, though she never took advantage of them. At the moment, she daintily munched on an apple and surfed on her own iPad, looking through Reddit posts.

The last two were the other twins: Yu and Taz. Yugure and Tasogare Kurameku were twin girls born to Japanese parents who had bought the old Vesper’s Glow ranch back in the 90s and subsequently had immigrated to the US. Neither Yu nor Taz were born in Japan, though given that their names basically meant the same thing as Sunset and Sunrise’s, the four had been fast friends from their earliest days in kindergarten. The two, at the moment, were eating their own lunch – onigiri, which their mother regularly made for them, much to their chagrin – and browsing through manga on their phone.

Yu looked up and adjusted her glasses. “So, Sweet Sixteen today, huh?” she asked them.

“Yeah, I’m getting old,” Rise replied back. “Sooner or later, I’m going to start getting gray hair, and then wrinkles, and then my boobs are going to sag, and I’ll start looking like Sabrina.”

“Fuck you too, dear,” Sabrina replied sweetly, without looking up from her tablet.

Sunset was about to say something of her own opinions, when she noticed a large man walking towards them, and given the look on his face, that wasn’t a good sign. Principal Brookstone was a genial, kindly sort of person, the kind that took a lot to piss off.

And unfortunately, Sunrise excelled at pressing his buttons.

Sunset looked at her twin. “What did you do, Rise?” she asked plainly.

“The usual,” Sunrise responded and Sunset tried hard not to invoke the facepalm gods.

“Sunrise Shimmer – my office. Now.” The look on the man’s face appeared as if he was fit to be tied.

Sunrise’s face became crestfallen. “Mr. Brookstone, it wasn’t my fault! She swung first!”

“What did you do, Rise?” Sunset and Jamie asked at the same time.

“Nancy Baker decided she wanted revenge since Todd kicked her boyfriend’s ass, so she tried to jump me in the bathroom. I wasn’t having any of that shit, so I slammed her into a toilet stall and then dunked her head in a shitter!” she said proudly. Seeing the horrified stares around her, she then added, “Look, would you have preferred I just punched her and broke her nose or something? I tried to be nice about it!”

“I would have preferred you to tell a teacher about it,” Brookstone replied harshly.

“That would have been after my trip to the nurse’s office, though,” Sunrise replied. “And sorry, Mr. Brookstone, but I kinda like my arm not broken.”

“Yes, and you can think about that in detention this afternoon,” he told her.

Sunrise looked at her sister and the silent plea was made: Get me out of this one? Sunset sighed; this happened far more often than she liked.

Sunset looked at the principal. “Sir, I understand why you’re angry with Rise; to be honest, I’m disappointed in her as well. But she does have a point. Nancy has an … unkind reputation, and given all that she’s done in the past, she could have seriously hurt Rise. My sister defended herself as best she could given the situation and she did it with the only injury being to Nancy’s dignity.”

Brookstone listened to Sunset – that was one thing in her favor; as the smart one of the twins, she had a good reputation with all the teachers and faculty at the school. “I see your point, Sunset. But you know that we can’t have fights at the school.”

“And Rise knows that – don’t you, Rise?” Sunset prodded. Sunrise reluctantly nodded, and Sunset smiled. “Which is why she probably did it the way she did instead of her usual swing-back response.” Knowing the principal was teetering on the decision, she then added the boom. “Plus, I know that Rise probably did it the way she did because … well, today’s our birthday, and I suspect that she doesn’t want to get in trouble on her birthday, right?”

“Not if I can avoid it,” Sunrise admitted.

Brookstone was contemplative once more. Finally, he said, “Well, then let me wish you two a happy birthday. And as a result, I will let this go … but only because of your logic, Sunset. As always, you’ve shown why you’re one of our school’s finest students. Sunrise, you should learn to take after your sister more. Now, if you will excuse me, I do have to deal with Ms. Baker – regardless of the results, fighting is still not tolerated in this school. And I should not say that I will not extend this courtesy again.” With that, he then headed off.

Maggie looked at Sunset. “I still don’t know how the hell you do that, Sunny.”

A lazy grin came over Rayne’s face. “Mags, that’s what happens when you’re on the good side of the teachers. I told you, if you stop with all your pranks, you wouldn’t have the teachers pissed at you all the time.”

“Yeah, but then I wouldn’t be proving my point! Down with the proletariat or some shit!” Maggie crowed.

Taz rolled her eyes. “Not that shit again. Would you just get over that bullshit antagonist phase just because your parents got divorced? We’re getting tired of it.” Maggie, an only child, was dead center of her parents’ divorce and given that she’d been used practically as an object for said divorce, she really didn’t care for it.

“Could we not talk about that?”

“Taz, let it go,” Wren said simply.

“Thanks,” Maggie told her. Wren said nothing but instead gave her a smile before turning back to her iPad.

Sunset soaked in the chaos around her. This was her circle of friends. A group she’d known for years, and a group that she knew had her back and she had theirs. Others had their own cliques, and nothing wrong with that, but it always felt different for their group – like they were always meant to be together, and that’s just how things were.

The bell announcing the end of lunch rang and the girls got up, heading towards their classes. Sunset was going to head off to her own locker, when she felt Sunrise’s hand on her shoulder.

“Thanks as always, sis,” Rise told her.

“You know, I wasn’t joking when I told Mr. Brookstone that I’m not happy with you about that. I know it wasn’t your fault, but I also know that, knowing you, you probably goaded Nancy into attacking.”

“We both have our way with words, Sunny. Yours is being, well, you. Mine is pissing off people.”

“And you could be so much better than that, Rise! Sometimes I wonder if you do it just because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

“Maybe it is. Sunrise, Sunset – opposite sides of the coin. Twins are mirror images of one another. Yu and Taz are just like us, you know.”

“Neither of them try to get into fights all the time.”

The two sisters looked at each other for several seconds, before Sunrise gave her sister a look that said she was genuinely sorry, before heading off to her locker.

I can’t watch out for you forever, Rise, Sunset thought to herself. Someday, you’re going to have to stop dancing on the knife’s edge.

Unbidden, flashes of memory from the nightmare she had so often came to her and she blanched. Her mind was trying to tell her something, but … what? She didn’t hate her sister, and they didn’t have a rivalry, so why would she …?

She suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her head stand up and she wasn’t sure why. Instinct pulled her eyes up to the top of the building.

There, watching her from atop the roof, was a woman in a regal outfit. She looked like something out of some fantasy anime, but from the look on her face, it was clear that she was focused on Sunset. Not so much inspection as … recognition.

Sunset’s eyes naturally blinked and in that microscopic frame of time, the woman was gone, enough to make her wonder if she’d really witnessed that, or if her mind was playing tricks with her.

Author's Note

So, here we go! My first completely original story.

I'd like to thank my friends at the 7DSJ writing group (you all know who you are!) for helping me with this. You guys are great!

The Boy With the Thorn in His Side

Sunset sat in a field at night. The starscape above her was breathtaking and magnificent, like nothing she’d ever seen before. But it was also because she’d never seen anything like that before. It was not the sky she was familiar with, and chances were it wasn’t like anything on Earth, either—not with the very unfamiliar moon in the center of it.

Earth’s moon, Luna, had distinctive dark spots that had over the centuries earned those markings the nickname of “The Man in the Moon” or “The Rabbit on the Moon”, depending on the culture. However, the moon above had an image closer to that of … a unicorn’s head?

{And I am watching you,} a voice sounded in her mind. {And soon, you won’t have that problem any further!}

Sunset suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest and looked down to see a black, furry spike sticking out from where her heart had been. Slick with her own blood, something had just impaled her, without warning.

She made to scream, but a torrent of blood rushed from her mouth, preventing her from crying out. She suddenly felt weak and small, as if reduced to nothing. Her body began to feel cold and numb, and the stars above that had seemed warm and inviting a second ago began to feel like harsh, frigid pinpricks.

And as she lay dying, she swore that the strange feature on the moon was now laughing at her plight.

“Sunny?”

She looked around and found herself sitting back by the pond in the middle of the back 40 on the farm. This part of the farm wasn’t really used, so they let it grow more as a personal garden. Her family had made sure that it was for recreation and between the winters where the family used it for ice skating; and the summers, where both her father and uncle stocked it with trout so they could go fishing, it was part of her life.

“Sunny?”

And yet it feels so wrong. Like it’s the last line on a page in a story, and when the page is changed, everything will be ripped away, and I won’t understand anything that’s going on.

Her thoughts were interrupted as a pair of lips were on hers. She was surprised at first, but then sank into them, letting her own lips and desires respond. The two pairs, intertwined, traded loving blows for a few minutes before breaking away, out of breath but no less exhilarated.

Sunset blushed. “Not that I mind, but what caused that?”

Seated next to her, Warren flashed her a charming smile. “You were spacing out. You sure you’re okay?”

She shook her head; pushing aside the strange thoughts in her head. “Yeah … just haven’t been sleeping well the past few nights.”

He smiled. “Nervous about tonight? Or did Rise act up again?”

She giggled. “Six of one, half-dozen of the other? I already told you about what happened with Rise at school today.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “That sister of yours is a handful.”

She gave him a coquettish smile. “What, I’m not a handful?” she mock-pouted.

Now it was his turn to laugh. “You might be one as well, but at least you’re my handful.”

She laughed and kissed him again. Warren, she decided, was very good at making her cares go away.

In her room, Sunrise frowned over what she was going to wear tonight. Really didn’t matter, since her beau wasn’t going to be there, and if he wasn’t going to be there, there was no need to dress to impress.

Really, she was tempted to flirt with Warren. Just to needle her sister a little. She didn’t like Warren in that way—well, not much—but he knew that as much as he loved her sister, he also kinda had a thing for her. And why not? She was the hotter sister after all. Sunset just didn’t have the same taste in clothes as she did, leaning more towards the “sexy librarian” style … sans the sexy part. Her sister was, unfortunately, just too much of a goody two-shoes.

It wasn’t that she hated Sunset or anything; Sunrise loved her sister dearly and if nothing else, was grateful that the older of the twins knew how to schmooze and talk their way out of things. Chances were, when she grew up, Sunset was going to probably be a politician—a good one, which from what Sunrise understood, was a rarity.

That being said, Sunrise knew she wasn’t made for that kind of life. There wasn’t much she’d leave off the table, but one of them was hurting her family. She wasn’t above teasing her sister mercilessly, but there was a difference between annoying Sunset by flirting with her boyfriend and stealing said boyfriend—and no way was she going to do that.

Besides, Warren wasn’t really her type.

Well, not much.

A water-logged body crawled out of the Missouri River. She had no idea where she was or what the situation foretold. From long years of training, she could tell that it was nearly dusk, though she couldn’t feel anything around her—no ambient magic field, which meant that all she really had was her own power and the ensorcelled crystals she brought as a backup.

As she waded to shore, she realized her clothing was waterlogged; she was already not comfortable with the attire she had on, but from what little research was done of this place, it was part of the local culture. Looking around, she saw some of the other strange things that she’d found out about this reality while researching it.

Somewhere … somewhere out there was ….

She bit her lip in anxiety. Would she make it in time? What would happen when she …?

Looking around to make sure she wasn’t seen—she couldn’t be too careful, given the circumstances—she cast a drying spell on herself, then the disguise spell she’d need. She hoped that her use of magic wouldn’t set off any alarms or warn any potential scouts looking out for her; she had no idea if she was in time or not.

She then reached into a pocket and pulled out tiny folded-paper birds and threw them into the air. As one they all rocketed off towards all points of the compass, all designed to do one thing and to report back to her upon success.

She heard a voice behind her speak and turned to see three more figures, also waterlogged, depart the water.

“Are you three okay?” the woman asked.

The lead of the trio nodded. “Yes, my lady. We’re made of sterner stuff than this.”

“Even if this is the … most unique … situation we’ve ever found ourselves in, I suppose.” She looked around and saw one of the strange metal objects that were used in lieu of wagons in this world. Her research didn’t explain how it worked in entirety, but she would probably be able to—if she studied one up close—magically replicate one in order to get the four of them towards their destination.

She just hoped that it wasn’t too late … and given the circumstances, it was probably very much so.

Due to the way the Manzanas and Shimmer farmsteads were laid out, the farmhouses were practically only feet away, with the land spread out behind each home. As a result, there wasn’t really a proper border fence between the two properties and the land between the two was used as a sort of parking lot for the families, the farmhands and the farm equipment.

It also made it easy to set up the tents for situations such as this. And right now, stepping outside in a beautiful and simple baby blue shoulderless shirt and floral pattern skirt, Sunset looked at the moon as it rose into the night.

“Going for the Lana Del Rey look, sis?” Sunrise asked her. Standing there, she wore a black top that was strategically held in place by two buttons, a silver spangle neck choker and a split ruffled skirt that was just as skimpy as the top.

Without looking at her sister, a calm smile came over Sunset’s face. “Rise, if you hit on Warren again, I’ll kill you.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Like you did last month when you borrowed my clothing and went to try to kiss him? He knew it was you, not me.”

“Bullshit—we’re twins, and I tried really hard to act like I was you.”

Sunset pointed at her ears. “Except I don’t have my ears pierced, unlike you.”

“Well, that’s because you cried up a storm when Mom went to take us to—” Sunrise paused. “Wait—he noticed that?”

Sunset smirked. “Isn’t it great to have a boyfriend that notices something besides your chest?”

Sunrise pouted, then lightly slugged her sister in the shoulder. “Sunny, Todd doesn’t like me just for my chest!”

“Yeah, I know. He also stares at your ass a lot, too.”

The sudden blush on the younger sister’s face was well worth Sunset’s laughing fit.

Finally, dropped off by parents, her friends began to filter onto the grounds. Looking into the sky, Rayne was the first to notice. “Looks like it’s going to storm tonight,” she commented.

“I hope it waits until at least the party’s over,” Sabrina moaned. “I’d really hate to get my outfit ruined by the rain and mud.”

“Yeah, that’d be all of us,” Wren agreed.

“What’s wrong with the rain?” Yu and Taz said as one. The twins then looked at each other before Yu continued. “I mean, with the climate issues right now, you’d think that you’d want rain around so that things don’t get worse.”

“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I want to get soaked,” Maggie chimed in.

“Hey, girls!” Coming over to them, Jamie had a grin on her face. “So, are we getting this party started, or what?”

“Hey, sounds great to me!” Rayne commented. “Besides, this’ll be the best way for us to plan our summer vacation. Are we still planning on going camping the first week we’re out of school?”

“If you weren’t all my friends, I’d pass,” Sabrina admitted, waving a hand in disgust. “All those … flies, and bugs and nature!”

“You’ll live,” Wren assured her.

“Unless we pick a campsite with scorpions,” Sunrise commented off-handedly and Sabrina nearly passed out from hearing that.

“Rise, don’t be a bitch,” Wren told the redhead.

“What? It’s true. I got stung by one when I was eight. We were camping for 4th of July and I ended up spending the rest of the month in the hospital.” She narrowed her eyes. “I hate those little fuckers.”

“Well, I think we should be okay, given that the campground we’re going to gets used often. Shouldn’t be anything, uh, ‘buggy’ around there that you have to worry about,” Taz told Sabrina.

“I certainly hope not!”

In the wheat fields, several figures watched and a pair of vicious eyes settled on the merrymakers in the distance.

“Your orders, lady?” a gruff voice asked.

“We wait until the Harrowing Hour,” came the reply. “That is when our powers will be at our strongest, and despite any advantages they may have, we are sure to win. This realm is apparently magicless and though we will need to take care not to expend our magical reserves, we have been here long enough to realize they have neither arts nor weapons; indeed, they do not seem to know what they are!”

A third voice laughed. “Perhaps my lady should request that she send additional forces to conquer these lands. You could capture them in her name and rule as a duchess.”

A cruel smile came over a pair of lips. “One thing at a time, my loyal knight, one thing at a time. But first we must kill the final hope the rebels have of wresting the throne back from our queen. After that we can see to empire building and legacy forging. We have all the time in the world …

“… while they have none.”

As the night wore down and the clock struck midnight, Jenny came out of her house to look at the charges. “Look, I know you’re having the time of your life, girls, but tomorrow’s a school night, so we’re going to have to wrap it u—where’s Sunset?”

“Probably playing tonsil hockey with Warren by the gazebo,” Sunrise answered her aunt. “Don’t worry, she’s the nice one, so she’s not likely to do more than that.”

“That doesn’t reassure me, Sunrise,” Jenny replied. “Tell your sister—discreetly—that she needs to wrap it up—” Sunrise started laughing and Jenny facepalmed; she realized she’d made a terrible statement in front of the one person who would take it the wrong way. “You know what I mean, Rise!”

“I do. And assuming she hasn’t already ‘wrapped it up’, I’ll tell her to keep her clothes on and to tell Warren goodbye.” With that, she headed towards the pond.

The woman shook her head. “That girl’s going to be the death of me someday, I swear,” she muttered.

“Mom, you know that Rise was going to look to take that in the worst way possible,” Jamie called from the table, where she and the others were starting to break down the picnic table and take the stuff indoors.

“Yeah, well, when has Rise ever done things the easy way?” Maggie joked.

“Well,” Yu said with a smile, “she is our friend. But, speaking objectively, she needs to learn how to stay on the side of the angels like her sister does. You know Sunny would never bring trouble our way, especially not like Rise does.”

“As Antony said to Cleopatra
As he opened a crate of ale,
‘Oh, I say ….’”

The night was perfect.

The dark blue above was littered with glistening lights, all twinkling down on Sunset and her boyfriend. In the distance, the moon shone with a beautiful white light, illuminating the small pond and its environs as though it had all been staged just for this moment. The only thing remotely jarring was that at the moment, Warren had some old song—“Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” by the Smiths—playing on his phone via Spotify. Sunset briefly wondered who would name their band the Smiths but chalked it up as another part of the “uniqueness” of the time period that Warren found so interesting.

Besides, there were more interesting things to be had now. And right now, as she snuggled into his shoulder, sighing in contentment as they sat in the gazebo with one another, she felt nothing could be more perfect than this.

“I wish things could be like this forever,” she said to no one in particular.

“How so?”

“Just … this,” she said, gesturing with a hand to everything. “My mom used to tell me about how she and my Dad used to sit here in this old gazebo all the time and do nothing but gaze at the stars and think about the idylls of life and whatever that means. And I can see us doing that, too.”

“Well, your dad eventually married your mom. Is that what you’re hinting at?”

She looked at him and giggled. “Not that I think I’d mind, but we’re too young, Warren. I just applied to some colleges and I know you did, too. I want to get to see the world and enjoy it before I even think that far ahead in my future.” She sat up and looked at the moon in contemplation. “I just … I know I feel like I’m destined for greater things in life.”

“Oh?”

She nodded. “I’m not like Rise. I think my sister will probably inherit the farm and stay here. She’s not exactly the farming type, but I’ve never seen her as one that wants to expand her horizons. But I want to travel: London, Paris, Sydney, all the places in the world. Maybe I can go into politics and work for the State Department or something.”

Warren smiled. “I can see that, especially since your mom’s a state senator and all that.”

“Yeah, and Mom’s probably going to get on your case for playing tongue twisting and shit,” Sunrise said as she approached. “Midnight, folks. Time for you to get going, Warren. School night and all that shit and our aunt’s laying down the law.”

Sunset sighed. “Great timing, sis.”

Sunrise grinned. “Now I get to get back at you for all those times you interrupted me and Todd.”

“Yes, but I have my shirt still on,” Sunset shot back, and Sunrise blushed.

Laughing, Warren stretched. “Well, as much as I would like to hear you two bicker, I guess I need to get home. See you two at school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, though I’m sure Old Man Brookstone’s going to get my ass again,” Sunrise groaned.

“Look, Rise, if you were a straight arrow, he probably wouldn’t do that,” Warren told her.

“You wouldn’t know what a straight arrow is if one fucking hit you,” Sunrise snapped back.

A second later, she regretted those words as without warning, a dozen sounds like flies went past her ear and she waved her hand. “Goddamn flies!” she spat.

She then heard a scream and she looked in the direction of her sister. Surrounding Sunset were a dozen arrows, and not like the ones their uncle Travis usually went hunting with. A dozen of them, all made from wood, with feathers that looked like … feathers.

And then she saw the bleeding cut on Sunset’s face where apparently one had scraped her. The look on Sunset’s face was one of shock, and as Sunrise’s eyes traveled, she saw why.

Warren, slumped on the bench, with three arrows stuck in him. He was bleeding profusely.

Sunset screamed again, and Sunrise froze, not sure of what to do.

“So there’s two of you,” a voice announced. “I wonder: are you princess and shade, or were there always two of you?”

Both girls turned to look towards the speaker and to Sunrise’s horror, she recognized the woman standing in front of them: the girl from earlier, now wearing what looked like golden armor as though she was a character in some anime; her surcoat was a dark gray and had a purple musical note and golden gem embroidered on it. Even stranger, she had long, curly auburn hair with golden streaks, similar to the twins.

However, the sword she carried was very real—and very much pointed at the trio.

“It matters not to me,” the woman said, a callous smile on her face. “Once I kill you, Equestria’s last hope dies, and with it that whore’s rebellion.”

Storm of Swords, Rainfall of Arrows

Six girls, accustomed to the world working in a far different way than what they were seeing now, still couldn’t quite comprehend what was before them. Right now, the six of them—as well as the adult with them—all had the same thought: maybe childhood wasn’t so bad after all. After all, the folly of youth didn’t include the metaphorical slings and spears of life … or the very real slings and spears being pointed at them at the very moment.

As the adult, though frightened out of her wits, Jenny did what all parents and mothers would have done in the circumstances and pulled the six girls as close to her as she could, as a dozen men, appearing like hardened criminals dressed up like renaissance fair rejects, wielded primitive weapons at them. But what made it impossibly insane was that these strangers … had hair and eye colors like nothing in this world. And while it was possible they were dyed as such, they didn’t seem the type.

A big, burly man carrying a sword nearly as long as he was, gave them a cruel smile. “I haven’t had a woman’s touch in a while,” he said, leering them up and down. “Think her ladyship would mind?”

Across from them, standing with a staff but no less relaxed, another man grinned. “I doubt our leigelady would mind at all, Canterwell. Spoils of war and all that. Besides, we’re only here to kill our quarry; there’s no rule saying what we can and can’t do with anyone else around.”

“Aye, and who’s going to stop us?” a third said, raising his hand, as a glow of light appeared in his palm. “In fact, I say take them with us—we can keep them around the barracks for comfort. I doubt this world will miss them.”

Watching the group, Yu looked at the man’s hand with both horror and fascination. “Is that … magic?” she voiced.

“All that and you’re focusing on that?” Sabrina yelped. “They’re talking about raping us, Yu!”

“Oh, fuck no—they’re not touching any of us,” Jamie snarled, her hands balling into fists.

“That makes two of us,” Rayne countered.

“Girls, let’s not agitate the people with swords and spears pointed at us,” Jenny reasoned. She didn’t want what they had in mind any more than either of them did, but at the same time she was trying to keep them safe while trying to figure out how to do so. And with all of the other adults of the combined households not present, it wasn’t very clear that the cavalry was going to come in time, either.

Canterwell, meanwhile, looked at Jamie, his eyes malicious in what they intended. “Oh, I like you, little missy,” he said, rubbing a mailed finger over his broken nose. “I like it when they fight. Just makes me insist I get what I want in the end.”

As if to make things worse, thunder sounded above them, and within seconds, a torrential rainfall began to pour down on the group, soaking everyone as the very skies seemed to weep at what was to come of the girls.

“Cry all you wish while you still can, you mewling quims,” the magic user taunted, his smile growing as their fear became more obvious. “By this time on the morrow, none in this world will remember you, and you will have new lives gracing our beds!”

“Or,” an angry female voice said behind him, “perhaps you can learn manners in the next life!” Without warning, two blades skewered through his chest and he spat out blood seconds before he fell to the ground, dead. Behind him, holding two short swords and dressed in a cloak and what appeared to be leather armor, was a woman in her twenties, bearing the same strange hair colors—three different shades of blue—and with piercing orange eyes.

The swordsmen turned to the swordswoman. “How did you get here?” Canterwell snarled. “I thought I killed you in Trotters’ Pass!”

The woman smiled as she shook the blood off her blades. “I am her majesty’s paladin—do you think a traitor such as you could finish the likes of me?”

A second voice called out, “I don’t think he thinks much at all, Indie.” Out of the shadows came a similarly-dressed woman, with long rose-colored hair streaked with aquamarine. She bore a sword as large as Canterwell’s. “But the Usurper has never been known to pick intelligent soldiers—only mindless dogs.”

“Watch your tongue!” one of Canterwell’s men said as he quickly pulled back on his bow and fired at the newcomer. The arrow sped through the air, to no avail, as the woman breezily plucked it from the air before it struck true.

“Yawn,” she said in a faux-bored tone. “Indie, would you?”

In response, “Indie”’s hand glowed with an orange hue, and with blinding speed, she moved towards the archer and decapitated him with one blow. “Done and gladly, Sour,” was the response.

Sour, in turn, raised her sword at Canterwell. “This is your only chance, traitor, before I end you,” she intoned darkly. “Surrender while your head is still attached to your neck. You have my word that her majesty will be merciful, though you will spend the rest of your days in jail, as you deserve!”

“The only thing that I deserve is to break that bitch you call a queen on her husband’s dead and rotting body!” Canterwell snarled, raising his own sword. “I will take her and when I spend myself on her I will make sure that the true queen of Equestria laughs at every moment of her pain!”

A momentary sad look came over Sour’s face. “And to think I called you brother once and that I loved you,” she said sadly. “Look at what you have done to our family. I call you brother no longer. Taste my broadsword, traitor—and I will free our family from the shame of your name!”

The rain fell in sheets as the two carrying broadswords faced off against one another. The other looked at the remaining enemy combatants, her hand glowing like a star, ready to make a move if they did anything. Meanwhile, in the center of it all, six girls and a woman stared in shock and horror, wondering how their lives went from typical Montana normal to something out of the worst parts of dark fantasy in a matter of seconds.

Thunder sounded.

A light flashed.

“C-c-old …” Warren said, slurring his words as his lifeblood ran out. “S-so c-cold.”

Sunset frantically panicked, screaming for help, unsure of what else to do while her boyfriend died in front of her. Meanwhile, Sunrise, moving on automatic, only had one thought come to her mind: protect her sister.

“Listen bitch,” Sunrise said as she moved in front of the two and put up her fists, “I don’t know what fucking circus you just came out of, but take one step near us and I’m going to beat the fuck out of you.”

The woman laughed. “Foolish child, you couldn’t beat anything out of me—you’re no trained warrior and couldn’t handle one of my men, much less me!” Dark rose-colored eyes seemed to bore into Sunrise. “You’re just a frightened little girl, and whether or not you are a shade or no means little difference. I will kill you as my queen warrants!”

The woman raised her sword, and a sickly green mist surrounded it; strangely enough, Sunrise noted that the sword had a ruby in the center of it, glowing like a star. “Bear witness to the Sword of the Sirens—the ancient blade of my ancestors! Be honored as it takes your life!”

“No.”

Sunrise knew that voice—and to her surprise, it didn’t come from her.

Sunset took her sister’s hand and looked at her. Tears streaked across Sunset’s face, but the look in her sister’s blue-green eyes was one that Sunrise saw rarely—and learned to tread lightly around when she did. “Rise, do what you can for Warren,” she pled. “I’ll deal with this.”

“Sunny, I—”

“Please. I don’t know why, but I need to deal with this,” Sunset said.

“Okay.” Rise immediately backed down and moved to Warren’s side. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“So do I,” Sunset said as she faced the woman with the sword, just as the rain outside the gazebo began to fall.

The woman looked at Sunset as she moved in front of her sister. “So the first one was a shade after all. Well played—I almost believed otherwise.”

“Look, I don’t know who you are or whatever you think,” Sunset said, “but I won’t let you hurt anyone I care about anymore.”

“Oh? And what will you do? You have been in this world for years, apparently—you likely have no ability for the Arts left. Unless you have some miraculous way of stopping me, you are as good as dead, Princess—and even if you stop me, my men will put an arrow through your heart just as they did with your paramour there!” The woman took a step forward. “This little charade of bravery has only served to waste your last breath!”

Sunset, at that moment, knew fear. She was afraid that Warren was dying, and that she and Sunrise would be next. Sunrise was the better fighter, so why did she step into this mess? Every instinct in her told her to run, to hide, to do something to save her life. But at the same time, something else in her told her that if she did, her friends and family … they wouldn’t be safe. If they came after her, everyone she loved would be in danger.

And Sunset hated that worse than the threat this stranger made on her own life.

“Better to waste my breath protecting people than cowering in fear,” Sunset replied, with words that felt strangely familiar.

“Words I know well.” A new blade, one seemingly made of glass, suddenly jutted between Sunset and her assailant. “No, Adagio Dazzle,” a voice intoned. “The only breath you waste is your own!”

Adagio jumped back, her sword at the ready as she laughed gleefully. “So the lead rebel enters the fray? This is my chance to prove myself when I take your head back to my queen, you traitorous bitch!”

To Sunset’s surprise, a woman the same age as this Adagio person stepped forward, with her own sword ready for battle. She wore clothing that looked like she was from a marching band, and her hair was dyed in pink, purple and golden locks. She faced off against her foe with a determined smile on her face. “The only queen you serve is the Usurper, Adagio, and a mercenary like you doesn’t even truly do that! Tell me, how much is she paying you for you and your sisters’ services?”

“Enough to kill you where you stand!” Adagio snarled, swinging her sword at the newcomer …

… who easily parried it with her own. “I may not have my husband’s skill at the sword, but I am no apprentice, either! I was taught by my sister, and I will not back down!”

“Then you will die! Archers, mages, end her, now!” Adagio thundered. But to her surprise, no answer came in reply.

“Oh, I’m sorry, were you expecting something?” Behind them, a newcomer stood, carrying a staff glowing with lavender light; around her, men stood with their visages frozen in various displays of shock, horror and anger, now turned into stony statues.

“I have dealt with them as desired, my liege,” the girl replied, adjusting copper-framed eyeglasses.

“YOU BITCH!” Adagio snarled. “YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!”

“One battle at a time, mercenary,” the new swordswoman warned. “Or did you think you could take both of us on?”

The result of that was a scream as a new arrow jutted into the side of the mage present, and she hit the ground.

“Sugarcoat!” the woman screamed.

Adagio laughed. “Did you think I wasn’t prepared? I knew who I was potentially going up against,” the woman countered. “I knew to be wary. And though I wasn’t prepared for this, I still was prepared! Now, I have the chance to kill Equestria’s hope and the traitorous rebel! Prepare to die, Mi Amore Cadenza!”

Mi Amore Cadenza brought her blade to the ready, and it glowed with streaks of light blue and purple. “I fight in my aunt’s name and against the Usurper, traitor!” she snarled. “You will not win!”

“No, Princess Cadenza, it is you who will not win,” Adagio said, her manic smile filled with a terrible glee as she raised her sword.

Gunshots sounded out, and Adagio’s sword shattered into pieces. A second later, two more shots rang out and dropped the armored woman like she was a wet rag.

Several figures—officers armed with assault rifles and wearing tactical gear—appeared. “Drop your weapon!” the one in charge, apparently a woman, barked. The lead officer then added, “Get that boy some medical help and get that girl in the field as well. Take out anyone who puts up resistance.” Several more officers rushed out to the field, ready to do their duty.

Mi Amore Cadenza dropped her own sword and placed her hands open before her, the traditional symbol of submission. Though she knew these people had no magic, clearly they had weapons the likes of which Equestria had never seen before, especially ones powerful enough to break Adagio’s enchanted Sword of the Sirens and her armor as if they were kindling.

“Cuff her. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but we’ll sort this out,” the lead officer said. “Where the fuck is the ambulance?”

One of the officers spoke into a radio on his shoulder. “Just called; medivac is on the way, but they’re tied up with the other group. We’ll do our best but—”

“Your best isn’t good enough right now!” Sunset, the momentary surprise of what was going on, shouted. “Save him, please!” Sunrise, not knowing what else to do, backed off and let the cop do his thing while she went over to help her sister. All she could do was take Sunset’s hand in hers and give a supportive squeeze.

A second later, a couple more men arrived carrying a stretcher. “Helo’s being shifted here, ma’am,” one of them told her. “It would make more sense to get him to County General, but the closest is our site medical station.”

“Do what you have to do,” the woman ordered. “I’ll clear it. The rest of you, round this shit up, both the witnesses and the suspects. We’ll sort this out later.”

“Roger that,” the man said. He looked at the twins, who seemed too close. “Okay, you need to back off and let these guys do their work, got that?”

“I need to stay with him!” Sunset pled.

“Sister, let these soldiers do their work. Was it not you who taught me that?” To Sunset’s surprise, the words came from the stranger with the tricolored hair—Mi Amore Cadenza.

“Do … do I know you?” Sunset asked her.

Mi Amore Cadenza finally looked at the woman she’d protected … only to find out that she was a girl. “How? Why are you so young?” she asked, her face a visage of shock.

“Who are you?” Sunrise asked.

“Two of you? What is going on, sister?” the woman asked.

“Okay, no idea what’s going on, but come with me, lady,” a third officer said, pulling a confused Mi Amore Cadenza away from them and leading her towards a helicopter that was landing. A slight distance away, a second had already landed, while two more hovered above. All of them were painted black, though as lightning flashed, a dark gray emblem on the side briefly showed, and it looked like something governmental.

“Are you two alright?” the lead officer asked Sunset and Sunrise.

“No! My boyfriend just got shot up, we got attacked by a woman with a sword and now we have another one with a sword that I’ve never seen before and is calling me sister and there’s magic and I don’t know what’s going on right now!” Sunset, finally having had enough, snapped and started bawling. Sunrise, always protective of her sister, wrapped her arms around her and cried as well, just as confused and terrified by the situation.

“I’m sorry. I should have expected this.” The lead officer pulled off her helmet, revealing long, shaggy red hair and blue-green eyes behind glasses.

“Mom?” both girls said at once, caught off-guard by the revelation.

“Yes.” Rebecca Shimmer looked at her twin daughters, with a guilty look on her face. “Girls … let’s get going. There’s a lot of stuff I need to tell you and a lot that I’d hoped to avoid—but it looks like I can’t push it off any further. I just hope your father will forgive me for all this.” She slung her rifle around her arms and hugged her daughters close to her. “But most of all I am so glad you’re safe.”

“Mom, what’s going on?” Sunset asked.

“My worst nightmares,” Rebecca replied.

Introspection

Never before in her life had Sunset Shimmer hated herself.

She hated black dresses. She hated looking at everyone she knew and lying about “the home invasion by drug dealers” or whatever shit had been in the news for the past week. She hated seeing all the bullet holes, broken arrows and inexplicable burns around the house. She hated not being able to go to the gazebo by the pond; chances were, if they didn’t tear it down, it was going to have to be scrubbed down and repainted before they would ever let her go there again.

She hated being weak. She hated being helpless. She didn’t sleep much at all the past few days, her strange dreams and fantastic nightmares being replaced by mundane (if you could call it that) horrors of watching as the love of her life died.

She hated going to Warren’s casket, placing a rose there and hearing everyone in the distance say “how strong” she was for “holding it together” as tears filled her eyes to the point that she couldn’t see. She hated looking at Warren’s parents, seeing the utter grief over losing their only child and telling her how much they knew she loved him and how much they appreciated that she’d given him so much joy. She didn’t feel like she deserved their desperate embraces, as if comforting her would in some way take away a measure of the agony they all felt right now.

She felt like a fraud. She felt like a sham.

And as she went home, she wasn’t sure she knew what anything was anymore.

There was a knock on her door, and she ignored it.

The door opened anyway, showing a well-groomed blonde man in his late forties, dressed handsomely in his dress uniform. Because of the situation, Thomas Shimmer had been flown back to the States immediately, because he knew his family needed him. He’d arrived just before dawn, just in time for the funeral. “Heya, kitten. I know you’re in a way right now, but do you have time for your old man?”

She wordlessly gestured to the spot next to her on the bed and Thomas sat down next to his heartbroken daughter. “I know this isn’t easy, Sunny. I know none of this is—I thought Warren was a cool kid, and perfect for you. I know it hurts.”

Sunset sat up and hugged her dad, and the two stayed that way for the longest time. Of the twins, she tended to favor her father’s nature more than her mother, and “Daddy’s Girl” jokes aside, it was now obvious why: Sunset wasn’t the fighter like her sister was—or, apparently, her mother.

“I also understand that you haven’t spoken to your mom since this all went down,” he finally added gently.

“Can you blame me? She lied to us, Dad! All these years, I thought she was Rebecca Shimmer, senator for District 14! I was proud of that! I wanted to be just like her! And now? Now I find out that she’s some super-secret spy shit Navy SEAL whatever—”

“Air Commando,” Thomas interjected, trying to add some levity to the situation. Thomas wasn’t Special Forces himself, but he was a proud Air Force officer.

“You know what I mean!” she spat. “And now she’s saying her real name is Sunset Shimmer—like me? I mean, isn’t that kind of freaky as hell? I thought our last name was Shimmer!”

“It is—remember that your great-grandfather changed it from Zimmer to Shimmer because having a German last name probably wasn’t the best thing to have here during World War II. Your mother’s name … well, that’s a two-parter. She doesn’t have a last name, per se. Long story there, and believe me, I had a hard enough time believing it when she told me. Doesn’t mean I don’t love her.” He reached over and patted his daughter on the shoulder. “And I’m going to guess you don’t hate her either.”

Sunset didn’t know how to answer that. No, she didn’t hate her mother … but she wasn’t sure if the “other” Sunset Shimmer was her mother. Rebecca Shimmer had been–but apparently, she’d never existed. The woman in the house that Sunset had loved and idealized all her life turned out to be an enigma and one that Sunset wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with.

Never before in her life had Sunset Shimmer hated herself so much.

She knew who she was: she was Sunset Shimmer … and she was Rebecca Manzanas. Proud wife, daughter, mother. But now? Mother of two daughters that currently hated her. Especially the daughter that had inherited her original birth name.

Currently, she watched the news covering the whole story about the home invasion and how it had impacted her family. That woman named Adagio Dazzle, apparently hopped up on something, talked her gang or fellow druggies or whatever and raided a rural farmhouse in a sleepy bedroom community, causing multiple injuries and a few deaths, not only to her own side but also that of an innocent boy, Warren Seaver.

The story PIECES’s information operations in D.C. had fed to the media worked perfectly, so much so that had she not known the truth, Rebecca would have believed it herself. It helped that the woman named Adagio was “certifiably insane”—who was going to believe some story about a person who claimed to be a sellsword from another world?

But the fallout had been immense. She’d flown to D.C. for a day to get her ass personally chewed out by both the Vice President and the National Security Advisor. Several senators were demanding she resign, or that PIECES be placed under Homeland Security, Defense, or (in one particularly bizarre statement), State; more than a few would’ve preferred both. But after all was said and done, she’d ultimately spoken with the President himself, who assured her that he still had faith in her (which was great, given that the previous administration considered her barely trustworthy) but that maybe she needed to think about what was best for her family.

She knew that statement; it was bureaucratese for “I don’t want you to resign, but I’ll understand if you do—and given what’s going on, you might want to give it a thought or two.”

“She doesn’t hate you—none of them do.” She looked up and saw her older brother, Travis. Just part of the lie that her life had been … although this part, strangely enough, was the truth as well. “We’re family and family’s always there for each other … even when you know you seriously screwed the pooch, Becky.”

She slumped in her chair. “Jenny still mad at me?”

“She’s pissed at me for not telling her,” Travis laughed, his sandy brown beard jiggling in time with his jaw. “‘Course, to be fair, she should’ve known that because of your job, not much I could say, really.”

“I should’ve said I was the assistant to a state senator, but assistants don’t travel as much as I do–I suppose technically state legislators don’t travel as much as I do, either. Frankly, I’m surprised they never bothered to look it up.”

“That’s on you. But I get it, sis, I really do—serving your country can be a bitch at times. I still remember my stint in the Army.” He walked over to the kitchen and was back a second later with beers for him and her. “But Jenny will get over it and so, in time will Jamie—she’s just worried about the twins, more than anything else.” He looked at his sister. “And in time, they’ll get over it, too.”

“This is like the time Mom and Dad thought I was going to be jailed because ….” She paused, only to take a swig from her bottle. “Well, you remember that.”

“Yeah, I do. Trust me, I do—your buddies at the CIA were crawling all over everything with a fine-tooth comb, thinking we were some deep-cover KGB sleeper agents or something. But you did the right then when you came forward then, and as hard as it is, you’re doing it now. That boy’s parents—or the other parents involved, for that matter—aren’t ready for this kind of shit. Hell, we weren’t ready for it when we finally found out what you were, and you’ve been there for all of my life.”

Rebecca was silent as glanced at the TV, watching as the anchor on-screen segue from the news on the attack to a story about a new tax bill being proposed. “I knew, someday, this was going to happen,” she admitted softly. “Maybe not this specifically—based on how old Cady looks, it seems that only ten years have passed in Equestria while it’s been a lot longer here—but I knew that someday, my past would catch up with me. I just didn’t expect it to impact my daughters.”

“And yet you named them Sunset and Sunrise—not exactly typical names.”

“I named Sunny after me; Rise’s name was a compromise, obviously. And I didn’t expect to have daughters that would be the spitting image of me. Maybe part of me always hoped I’d just be Rebecca Manzanas and not Sunset Shimmer.”

“You told me that you were proud of and loved your family back there.”

“I do; seeing Cady … it just brings back all sorts of memories, kinda like the ones you and I had growing up. I had many like that with her, too. But … I changed. I’m not the person I was back then. That was literally a lifetime ago.”

“No, you’re still the same,” Travis told his sister. “You’re still a straight-shooter, for better or worse. You don’t like lying to anyone and it’s tearing you apart to do so now even if it’s the best for everyone. You’re conflicted between your old family and your new one, but they’re your family just as much as we are, and if you ask our parents, they’d say the exact same thing. And you’re still the tomboy who could outshoot me any day of the week.”

“I need to tell them, don’t I?”

He nodded. “If it matters, I’ve always got your back, sis. Since the day Mom and Dad brought you home, I’ve had your back.”

She nodded, smiling wanly. “Fine, I’ll do it.”

For all it was worth, Sunrise Shimmer felt like a coward right now. Her boyfriend was not happy that she needed space right now, because she needed to be there for her sister—she almost broke up with him for that, and it was only that after, when Todd found out that Warren had died, that he stopped acting like a total prick.

But being there for Sunset meant that sometimes she needed to give her sister her own space to deal with her grief. Sunrise wasn’t a “touchy, feely” type, not like Sunset was. But she wasn’t stupid, either. And right now she was giving her sister that space, mainly so their father could talk to her.

Truth be told, she was also avoiding their mother, but the less said about that the better. So right now, she was in her cousin’s room, laying on Jaime’s bed and listening to whatever was playing on Jamie’s Alexa. Jamie didn’t really have the same taste in music that Sunrise did, but that didn’t matter much. It was a distraction, and if there was something that Sunrise needed right now, it was definitely a distraction.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Jamie asked from the other side of the bed.

“You seem to be taking this a lot easier than me. I mean, fuck, all my life my mom was virulently anti-gun—she bitched when Dad decided to teach me and Sunny how to shoot a pistol for safety reasons. And now to find out that she can swing an assault rifle with the best of them? That she’s an actual SWAT, or FBI, or whatever she said she was? I mean ….” Sunrise lifted her hand to the air, as if reaching to grab the light from the fixture on the ceiling. “Remember when Kyle Carpenter was making a big deal that his older brother made the Green Berets? I wonder how he’d feel if he knew my mother could probably literally kick his brother’s ass without breaking a sweat?”

“Yeah, you got a point. How’s Sunny doing?”

“A wreck, and you know that. I know how I’d feel if Todd got killed, but ….” Sunrise sat up. “Promise me if I tell you this you won’t tell Sunny?”

“Is this something embarrassing?”

“Fuck yes.”

Jamie groaned. “Well, stupid is par for the course for you, Rise, so yeah, I won’t tell her. Go ahead and reveal your dark secret.”

“Part of me … well, I know I jokingly flirted with Warren a lot, but sometimes I wonder if I was really joking. I mean, Todd’s great and all, but he’s not the most romantic guy out there and contrary to rumor, I do like being treated like a woman on occasion. And whenever I saw how Warren treated Sunny, I kinda wished ….”

“So you were going to steal him from your own sister?”

“No, are you crazy? I’d never do that to Sunny! But,” she admitted, “I wouldn’t have cared if he’d slept with me if he was nice about it.”

“And you’ve done the deed with Todd?”

“No, because he keeps bringing it up. Believe me, he mentions it on our dates so often, it’s a Goddamn turn off. I know it sounds fucked up, but I’d have just let Warren have his way with me because I know he’d be a gentleman.”

“You do realize that if he did take advantage of you, he wouldn’t exactly be a gentleman, right?”

“Yeah. Fucked up world we live in, right?”

The two fell silent once more, letting the conversation die out. Sunrise was grateful for that; she was already being a coward when it came to the hell her sister was going through at the moment. No need to make it worse by bringing up her own personal stupidity.

“Hello, Scarlet.”

Maggie looked at Sunset and Sunrise’s father. He looked good in his uniform and much better than her asshole parents. She then reminded herself that flirting with someone decades older than her was probably not a good idea, especially when said man was happily married to a woman who knew her way around automatic weapons and happened to be the parent of one of her best friends.

Still …. “Uh, Mr. Shimmer, you can call me Maggie, you know. No one really calls me by my first name except for my parents.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Anyway, if you came to see Sunny, she’s upstairs right now. I think she wanted to take a nap, but I think she could use the company.” He moved aside, letting the teen come into the house.

Maggie set the Tupperware container on the table. “Here, I made red velvet white chocolate chip cookies for everyone. I figured Sunny and Rise could use the pick-me-up.”

“You should take some to her. I’ll bring up something to drink for you guys.”

Maggie nodded and picked up the cookies once again, heading upstairs. She immediately went to Sunset’s room, knocked on the door and came in.

“Sunny?”

“Yeah, what’re you doing here?”

“I came on behalf of the rest of the girls. Rayne wanted to give you space, Sabrina is working on something special for you—she won’t tell me what it is, Wren is babysitting her kid sister today, and apparently Yu and Taz’s parents won’t let them leave the ranch until they know it’s safe. But they all want to talk on Discord and see how you’re doing.”

Sunset sat up. “I buried my boyfriend today and had to lie to his parents that I’ll manage. How do you think I’m doing?”

“Yeah, I figured. But we’re your friends, Sunny. We’re here for you. You helped me when my parents were going through a divorce, and I’m here to help you, too.”

“Thanks, Mags.”

“Now, c’mon, let’s get your computer on. The girls are all waiting on theirs so we can talk over on Discord. And I’ll call Jamie to get her on as well. Rise is over there, right?”

“Yeah. Rise is giving me a lot of space right now. Strange that my sister’s being, well, sisterly.”

“It’s because she loves you, Sunny, just like the rest of us.”

The rest of the evening was spent with the girls talking to each other, and after a while, Jamie and Sunrise left her home and joined Sunset and Maggie in Sunset’s room. Hugs and kind words were given out repeatedly, followed by an impromptu pizza party—this time Sunset happily scarfed down her favorite slices—and by the time things wound down and the other two went home, Sunset started to feel a little better about things.

As she crawled into bed, yawning, she felt herself hugged by Sunrise, who had dutifully slept next to her each night. “You know, you don’t have to do this anymore, sis.”

“Sunny, if the situation were reversed, would you do it for me?”

A loving smile came over the older sister’s face. Despite everything, she knew she had one person in this world that she could turn to when things went to hell. “I appreciate it, Rise.”

“Yeah, well, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t bogart the pillows this time. I am not using one of your plushies as a pillow again, got that?”

Sunrise got a face full of a rainbow unicorn plushie as a result.

Because of considerations by Sunset, Cadance and her followers had been moved out of the cell and into what were referred to as “VIP dormitories”, which was likely a nicer way of saying “still under arrest, but not being treated like a complete prisoner.” The dorm had one common room, with separate bedrooms for each, and Cadance was surprised to discover that for the first time in weeks, she slept in something that felt luxurious—an actual bed.

She felt guilt due to that. Here she was, in the Otherworld, enjoying these luxuries, while her husband and family still fought tooth and nail against the Usurper. Time was running out, and she was living the life of a queen.

Some queen I am, she groaned. Canterlot is in ruins. The Usurper rules from the Crystal City and my people are suffering while I am here, chasing phantoms and memories.

Well, at least there was one silver lining: she’d found Sunset—No, she calls herself Rebecca now, though I don’t know why, Cadance reminded herself—and that meant that there was still hope for Equestria.

She walked into the common room, watching as her three paladins sat on a raised divan, watching a black box from which the entertainment of this world showed. It was very much like the magicasts of her world, and another sign how little magic had taken root here in the Otherworld—and how they clearly didn’t need it.

As if sensing her liegelady and friend’s thoughts, Sugarcoat smiled. “To them, magic is nothing more than myth to the point that they make up stories about it.” She pointed at the television. “We just watched a magicast—or whatever they’re called here—called The Lord of the Rings. To them, it’s pure fantasy, but it felt as though I was watching a magicast drama about the life of Lord Starswirl and his struggles against the warlord Tirek from centuries ago.”

“It helps that their machinery skills are able to make convincing-looking magic,” Indigo added. “I am truly impressed.”

“Girls, don’t get comfortable,” Cadance reminded them. “We still have to convince my sister that it is time for her to return and take the crown. I fear that Aunt Celly is no more, and that with her gone, it must fall to Sunset to become the queen of Equestria and destroy the Usurper.”

“Spoken like a woman who clearly doesn’t want to be queen herself,” Sour teased.

“You’re right: I don’t wish to be. If I had my way, I would have been content in the duchy of the Crystal City and Shining and I could have lived there in peace. But that whore of a Usurper sits on my parents’ throne and stains it every day with her being. The bones of Canterlot cry out for justice and I have no choice to be vicereine, as I am the only one left!”

There was a knock on the door and Sour got up to answer it before she remembered that it was locked from the outside and that she would have to use her magic to break it down if she wanted to open it … which would not make them appear as peaceful as they wanted to present themselves as.

The door opened up, revealing Rebecca.

Cadance smiled and went over to hug her foster sister. “Sister! How fares things?”

“It’s been a rough week. We just buried Warren today, and I’m still patching things up with my family,” Rebecca replied in a tired tone. “Truth be told, I didn’t come here on my day off just to tell you that.”

“Yours is a welcome sight nonetheless,” Cadance assured her.

“In any case, I came to let you know that I have spoken with my government and though they will have some questions, based on the investigation they have agreed to let you free for now. Moreover, given your position, Cady, you will be given diplomatic immunity … especially since you are the ruler of Equestria.”

“But that is your position, sister—”

“No, it’s not. That position belonged to Princess Sunset Shimmer … and she’s gone. I am Rebecca Shimmer, a senior officer in the US government and we both know that it would be a conflict of interest for Equestria. It sure as hell is one for here. Trust me, after living my whole life here, I should know.”

Cadance caught those strange words. “Your whole life? I-I don’t understand.”

“Trust me, Cady, there’s a long story that needs to be told. And you’re not the only one that I need to tell it to; the rest of my family deserves to know as well. In any case, grab your things; we’ll get going and then we can hit the base PX to get you four some local clothing, so you don’t look like rejects from a renaissance faire.”

Another look of confusion came over Cadance’s face. “Again, I’m at a loss for words.”

“Funny, I always told you that’s the first step to wisdom.”

For the first time in a while, Mi Amore Cadenza laughed. For the first time in a while, despite everything, maybe there was such a thing as hope still.

Somewhere in a Restricted Area of Malmstrom AFB

Everything she knew about this world was wrong, decided Mi Amore Cadenza, Princess of Equestria and Leader of the Canterlot Free Alliance.

Very wrong.

She knew they were magicless. What she was quickly finding out was that this world didn’t need magic—it had science and technology that was so far above and beyond the norm of her own world, that she wasn’t sure which was the fantastic and which was the mundane.

At the moment, she was being kept in a large featureless room with her three followers. They’d all been stripped of everything, even their clothing, and were forced to wear strange orange garments that seemed to be made of an unfamiliar cloth and had lines on the side that glowed. She could see red lines—thin strands of light—outside their room and though her own magic (and likely that of her followers) wasn’t being blocked, she suspected that anything they did wouldn’t be of use at all.

“My lady, what is going on? We saved those people, but now we are jailed?” Indigo Zap asked, running her hands through damp hair that had mostly dried from the storm.

“Indie, we are alone,” Cadance said gently. “You may speak freely.”

“Thank the Goddess—you know I hate being formal, Cadance,” Sour Sweet groaned. “But Indie’s got a point. We are your retainers, paladins and friends, and we have followed you since our days in the Academy. Where you go, we go. But you never explained why we’re here.”

“Especially the risk to our remaining forces,” Sugarcoat chimed in. “We should have brought the whole party—we could have used Lemon, Sunny and Juniper to help us escape.”

“No—my husband’s forces are overwhelmed right now and he needs every hand that can be spared,” Cadance said softly. “I am forever grateful that you three volunteered to come with me on this quest … but now I wonder if it was worth it, or if I made a grave mistake.”

“Mistake number one was not telling us in the first place,” Sour pointed out.

“You’re right, Sour. I should have told you.” Cadance paused to take it all in, as if deciding to make a choice she should have done much earlier. “You know that after my parents’ death, my brother and I were taken in and raised by my aunt, correct?”

“You’ve always spoken of Queen Celestia as though she was a second mother to you.”

“She was. Aunt Celly loved Blueblood and I as if we were hers, but she had a daughter of her own, one who was like an older sister to me: Sunset Shimmer. Sunset taught me everything I knew about magic, about swordplay and, in truth, she had been the leader of the Paladin Guard even before my husband was.”

“I don’t recall you mentioning her before,” Sour noted.

“I do. I recall a small cameo painting in Cadance’s room of her and a proud warrior in golden armor. Red hair, cyan eyes, a true beauty and fierce in her pride. I take it that was her?”

Cadance silently nodded. “I haven’t talked about her much in a long time, because my loss was too great and it brought my aunt too much pain to even mention her. Blueblood was but a child and I suspect he probably doesn’t even remember her.”

“What happened?” Indigo asked.

“It was in the early days before the Usurper began her actions. Aunt Celly knew that the spell holding the Usurper at bay was weakening and she asked Sunset to investigate—starting with my parents’ death; Aunt Celly suspected that the Usurper’s forces may have had something to do with it. Sunset, knowing what was at stake, went on the mission alone, taking her trusted companion Princess Chrysalis with her.”

“Chrysalis? The queen of Torikaeko?”

Cadance nodded. “At the time, Chrysalis and my sister were the best of friends and Torikaeko and Equestria were much closer than they are now—it is the fault of the Usurper that political relations are strained with them,” Cadance explained. “In any case, something happened out there and Chrysalis barely survived what had happened. Of my sister, there was no sign, save for her sword. To this day, Queen Chrysalis blames herself for what occurred, though she doesn’t even recall the full details.

“Regardless, all of Equestria’s research—mine, my aunt’s and even that of my sister-in-laws’—all indicated that Sunset, somehow, had been thrown across the cosmos in some sort of Robinsonade Effect.”

Sugarcoat, the mage amongst them, looked astonished. “But Lord Robin himself said that it was only a theory, that a sonade was impossible!”

“A what?” Indigo and Sour asked at the same time, unfamiliar with the term.

“A sonade,” Rebecca Shimmer’s voice said as she approached, the footsteps of her boots sounding in the empty space in front of the holding cell. “Also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge, a wormhole, or whatever you want to call it. A gateway between worlds.”

“And how would you know about that?” Cadance asked her. “That was theorized by Viscount Red Robin, the court mage of Equestria, over a century ago. This world doesn’t have magic, so you shouldn’t be able to discern such!”

“It was proposed nearly a century ago by our best mathematicians, with further work done by two more famed physicists before coming into its final theory some six decades ago,” Rebecca stated. “That’s not my specialty, but I have top men and women who know more than a few things about this stuff.” She then looked at Cadance and the others. “So, care to tell me who you are and why you’re here?”

“My lady refuses to answer such—we do not answer to your laws,” Sour spat at Rebecca.

“Cute,” Rebecca commented back. “Because where I stand, yes you do. Furthermore, given this military action on our soil, technically we view that as an act of war, regardless of who did what fighting or whatever. And yes, while you have that magic you use, the room is designed to put out a gas designed to knock you out. Should you make it out of the room, the lasers that are normally on trigger an alert and a ready team is fully-armed and will do worse to you than we did to that bimbo with the sword. Oh, and before you asked, she’s still alive—but she’s not going to like the result. So, again, care to tell me who you are and why you’re here?”

Indigo stood up. “It is only right and proper chivalry that those asking give their names before demanding due, especially to that of royalty,” she stated.

Rebecca shook her head as if in disbelief. “God, the British would have a field day with you; we train with RAMSES—that’s the UK’s Royal Arcane Matters Secret Executive Service—and they’re a bunch of hardasses compared to us.” She shrugged. “Maybe it’s because they’re part of the actual military while we’re just paramilitary. Anyway, my name is Rebecca Shimmer and I’m the director of the US Paracausal Incidents Emergency Containment & Enforcement Service, or PIECES. And you are?”

Cadance nodded. “I am Mi Amore Cadenza, Crown Princess and Vicereine of Equestria. And these are my gallant paladins, Dames Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet and Sugarcoat.” The three paladins curtseyed, and Rebecca nodded.

Cadence then caught something. “Shimmer? That’s an unusual name.”

“Blame my husband’s family,” Rebecca commented. “My maiden name is Manzanas, but I really didn’t feel like hyphenating. Okay, now that the pleasantries are out of the way … not that you know or care, but PIECES is a black-ops independent agency that reports directly to the President of the United States about our usual mission, which is typically UFO shit. As you can gather, this is not Roswell-grade crap, insofar as I am aware. But I do know whatever it is, it’s gotten fucked fast.”

Rebecca brought up a tablet that she had with her. “Several dozen unidentified foreign nationals, dead. One young man, Warren Seaver, is in ICU and probably not going to make it. And that’s on top of me having to reveal to my daughters, niece and sister-in-law that I’ve been lying to them about being a state politician. I’m going to have to explain to my brother about the shitstorm that just happened and he won’t be happy about that; and I guarantee at some point the White House is probably going to tell my husband as well. So while my brother and my husband both know the truth, they’re not going to be happy that our family was in mortal danger. So right now, I’m in deep shit with them—and I can’t blame them for that. You, however, I can blame … so I think you all owe me some answers as to what the fuck happened on my property before I get creative!”

The glare in the woman’s eyes, Cadance felt, was familiar; it was the same she had whenever Sunset had admonished her for a costly error. To see it in the eyes of another woman … it brought her back to her childhood, and in a horrible way.

Cadance looked at her paladins and friends, then back at the woman. She sunk her head, deciding to come clean and let the cards fall, regardless of the result.

“I came looking for my sister, only to find two girls who look identical to her—but are younger. And neither knows me,” Cadance replied, looking straight at the woman. “We saved the others because it was the right thing to do—at best, Adagio’s men would have taken them back in chains and sold them into slavery. At worst … they would have been camp women for Canterwell and his lackeys.”

“Yeah, that pans out from what Jenny, Sunny and Rise said, so you’re off the hook for that and I owe you my thanks. But that still doesn’t explain why you’re here. Not trying to be flippant but hunting extradimensional slavers doesn’t exactly sound like princess-y work.”

Cadance paused. “Lady Shimmer—”

“Director Shimmer. I’m not a noblewoman.”

“I see. In any case, Director, I came looking for my sister, because our world is in grave peril, and she may be the key to saving it. I do not wish to get into the particulars at this time, but my sister—Princess Sunset Shimmer of Equestria—was a knight elemental, the very embodiment of everything good and true in Equestria and its greatest defender. Our nation is under invasion, being usurped by a tyrant who may have killed the aunt that raised me like a mother and may have killed Sunset as well. My husband and I lead a shrinking force of loyalists and allies from other nations that are trying to stop the Usurper, but it’s like trying to push back time itself—even time is stronger than magic and the Usurper seems to have countered us in every way possible. And I was desperate to find Equestria’s last hope of survival! But it wasn’t just that,” Cadance said in a strained voice.

To the surprise of her friends and retainers, the strong-willed princess sobbed. “I just wanted to find my sister … to tell her I love her and I miss her. She was always there for me and the fact that she may be dead now rips a hole in my heart. Aunt Celly may be dead now and she will have never held her daughter again. Sunset may be the rightful ruler of Equestria, but without her, I am barely holding what’s left of our realm together! Each day I watch as my forces—my husband, brother and brother-in-law included—march off to battle and I may never see them again! Even Sunset’s best friend will not help us because she fears the Usurper more than she wishes to see her friend avenged! Everyone I love has a blade at their necks thanks to that damnable bitch and I feel like I can’t do anything right!

“And worst of all, I myself have no one to turn to for help! I must be strong for everyone and I feel like I am glass, ready to shatter at a moment’s notice! So that, Director, is my ‘un-princess-y’ quest, and why am I here in a strange land, risking everything … and have failed!”

Rebecca looked at the broken woman, her frown softening. She herself knew that despair, more times in her life than she could say.

Finally, she spoke. “I believe you …

“Cady.”

Cadance perked up at that. Her name was Mi Amore Cadenza, but everyone called her either Cadenza, or the more familiar Cadance. But only one person had ever referred to her as Cady.

To Cadance’s shock, Rebecca ran her hands through her hair. Red glows flickered around her fingertips, and golden streaks appeared in her long, shaggy red hair.

Cadance looked at the older woman, stunned. Finally, not sure if she was hallucinating, she voiced a soft, barely audible word, hoping against hope. “Sister?”

Rebecca Shimmer nodded, her eyes glistening with tears. “Yes, Cady,” she said, her voice choking. “It’s me.”

Seated in what appeared to be a conference room, Sunset felt numb, distant. Everything she knew made no sense and she began to wonder what that even meant anymore. The dreams she’d been having as of late now felt horrifically real, and seeing her mother in what looked like tactical gear? The mother she knew was a politician and a lawyer, not a soldier. Even her father, though he was in the Air Force, wasn’t a combatant—Thomas Shimmer was an information warfare specialist and though he was currently in Afghanistan, he was well behind the front lines. She hadn’t had a combatant in their family since their great-grandfather, who had been in the Army Air Forces and had seen fighting in Europe behind the stick of a P-47.

And now all of that had changed—hadn’t it?

And that was just her own numbness of her life changing. She had no idea what was going on with Warren and no one would tell her. Was he still alive? What had happened to him? He’d said he was cold and the last thing she did, instead of being there to comfort him, had been to stand up and face down that freak with a sword!

Why did she do that, for that matter—she wasn’t the fighter between her and her sister; that was Sunrise. She had no idea about anything like that. And yet … something compelled her to stand up and put herself between her loved ones and that woman. Not because it was the right thing to do, but because it was something she had to do. She couldn’t put a finger on it, but it was less like something compulsory and more like something that she just needed to do.

And thanks to that, nothing in her life made sense anymore.

She smelled familiar perfume and felt a gentle pair of lips on her forehead even as arms twined around her. “I brought you pizza,” Sunrise told her sister. “They ordered your favorite: Hawaiian-style, and Mom even got some cherry vanilla Coke for us. No idea how they managed to get pizza at two in the morning, but I’m not about to argue.”

She looked down at the paper plate as if it was a sickening thing before pushing it away.

“Wow, you’ve never turned down Giotto’s before. You sure you’re okay?” Sunrise asked, but the tearstained look on Sunset’s face said enough.

Sunrise lifted her sister’s face. “Sunny … you protected me. I always thought that when the shit hit the fan, I would be the one to protect you. But you had to go and do the big sister thing and protect me and Warren. That psycho bitch could’ve killed all of us and you stopped it! I know this is going to sound corny as hell, but I’m proud of you, Sunny!”

“Thanks,” Sunset said listlessly.

“I know you’re worried. So am I. I mean ….” Sunrise wordlessly gestured to her shirt, which had been stained brown with Warren’s blood. “I know you love him, sis. I’d … I’d be the same way if something happened to Todd. But I want you to know that I’m here with you, okay? We’re all here for you. Jamie, Aunt Jenny, the girls ….” Sunrise paused. “… and Mom, too.”

To Sunrise’s surprise, a look of anger came over Sunset’s face. “She lied to us, Rise! I don’t care if it was because she was protecting us, or she couldn’t talk about her secret or some bullshit! She lied to us!”

“I know.”

“And it doesn’t bother you?”

“Yeah, it does, not gonna lie. But she’s our Mom. She’s always looked out for us. And … we gotta give her the benefit of the doubt. Because if she hadn’t, that one bitch—Agadio or whatever her name was—was going to kill us.” She scrunched her lips slightly, then added, “That or that other weird girl who kept calling us her sister.”

“How the hell are you taking any of this so normally?”

“I’m not. I’m doing it because you need me right now. Once we get home and I’m by myself, then I’m going to cry my heart out, freak the fuck out and probably skip school for a couple of days. Also, by the way, I’m sleeping with you tonight. No arguments; I’m not leaving you alone.”

“We haven’t done that since we were kids,” Sunset said, wiping her eyes.

“Yeah, we’ll we’re sisters. Bonding and all that,” Sunrise said with a grin.

The door opened and Rebecca and a man following behind her spoke briefly.

“… and the Vice President is on Line Two and she wants to know what’s going on, Director.”

Rebecca sighed. “Keep her busy for a bit, Rich. I need to talk to my daughters. If she asks, then tell her exactly what I’m doing right now. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

“I hope so, because otherwise they’re going to expect you on a flight to D.C.”

“Then you’d better contact the hangar and have them prep a bird. Let Runway Ops know as well.”

He nodded. “You got it, Boss.”

As that was done, she walked over to Sunset and hugged her daughters. “Sunny,” she said softly, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

The inhuman wail that came from Sunset, the absolute sorrow and emotional pain that radiated from her daughter’s anguish, Rebecca was sure that she was never going to forgive herself for. Ever.