Sunset's human world origin

Sunset’s room
Date: Jun 17th, time: 5:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset’s brow furrowed in confusion and disgust as she read the article that was now displayed on her computer. She had earlier stumbled across a video about a phenomenon known as “school shootings” while browsing WebTube. Sunset couldn’t believe that such a thing exists, at first thinking it a tasteless joke, until she found the official reports. Sunset was disgusted by this but not surprised that humans could do this to any creature. What Sunset was surprised by was that there was a school shooting at North Canterlot Middle School on the 8th. NCMS was a middle of nowhere school in the village of North Canterlot. Before now, absolutely nothing happened there. The motives of the shooters were not known as they escaped into the Everfree before cops could arrest them. What was known was that there were three of them, they wore animal masks, and they killed two teachers and five students and injured twenty-four others.

At the bottom of the article had a statement from the mayor regarding the officers’ response.

"This tragedy has been a wake-up call to our town. No longer are these events relegated to the large cities. The lack of effectiveness of our police officers in these situations prove that we need to up our training. Over this summer, we will have mock shooter calls, using the actual schools in and around the city. We will never let something like this happen again.”

The mock shooter calls were set for three days from now, and the schools have been asking for students to volunteer to be victims in these drills and for anyone to be the shooters. “Looks like I know what I’ll be doing this summer.”

Outside CMS
Date: Jun 20th, time: 9:30 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset stood outside CMS along with a couple dozen other students and a few parents, including Brigid. Minerva and Anura went to Anura’s school to volunteer there, Anzhong was at work with Ki and Kiba, Tomiju was at daycare, and Emi was getting chemo and hanging out with Grandpa. When Sunset first told Emi about this, she was pissed that she couldn’t go, but after Sunset told her she would only get to be a victim, she didn’t give a crap. In her words, “Ah want ta shoot people, not get shot.”, a sentiment Sunset could appreciate.

The lead officer gave them the load down on what was going to happen. The students, teachers, and extra parents will go into lock down while the shooter(s) roam the school. The cops will wait a couple minutes, then the round begins. Each round will be a different sanerio: high powered weapons and armor, normal clothes and pistols, child shooter, etcetera etcetera. X amount of shooters will be chosen from a pool of volunteers for each round. After someone was chosen, they couldn’t be a shooter again. Sunset assumed that they would use some sort of training rounds, but the lead officer never said what they were. The cops would win if they captured the shooters. The shooters would win if they escaped the cops.

Brigid along with two dads were chosen as shooters for the first round. While they suited up, the “victims” entered the school and began acting like it was a normal day. This first round was set around lunch time, so Sunset bee-lined to the bathroom. She actually needed to go. Just after Sunset finished, the school’s lockdown alarm sounded.

Breee, lockdown, lockdown. Lock the doors. Stay away from the windows.

Sunset was in the last stall, so wiggled herself between the toilet and the wall. The sound of the lockdown alarm always sent a chill down Sunset’s body. She couldn’t exactly say why, maybe it was the high pitched sound or the way the recording sounded, but it scared her even more than the fire alarm or the city’s ESS, Emergency Siren System. Before she learned about school shootings, she didn’t understand why they had these drills. Now, she knew.

Sunset leaned on the toilet tank so she wasn’t putting all her weight on her feet and pulled out her phone. Just then, she got a text from Flash.

Hey, where are you?

I’m in the bathroom.

Your mom’s really scary. I heard she actually took a student hostage.

Wow, go Mom.

CMS
Date: same day, time: 9:40 am

*Brigid’s perspective*

“Ya doin’ okay?”, Brigid asked the girl she took “hostage”.

“Yeah, this is fun.”

“Good” Brigid continued down the hallway, trying to see if there were any unlocked doors and pounding and shaking the locked ones. Brigid and the other “shooters” were given an objective to “kill” as many students as they could and insight terror. The cops wanted them to make it as realistic as possible without damaging anything or actually hurting anyone.

Soon, Brigid heard the stomping boots of the police entering the school. Brigid moved the girl to better cover her and went to confront the officers.

Just inside CMS
Date: same day, time: 9:40 am

*Officer Law’s perspective*

Officer law and his team entered the school, weapons drawn. Officer Law was new to the force, only joining this year. Even knowing this was just a training exercise, he was still freaked out. The team leader had them split up into smaller teams and search the school. Law, Smith, West, and Volkov went together down one of the branching hallways. As they turned a corner, they found one of the shooters.

Law remembered that some of the others mentioned there being two males and one female shooter, and he guessed that this was the female, judging by the hair, but he was not expecting her to be a creature from hell. She was easily taller than anyone in the team and looked like she had more muscle than the four of them combined, and her bright red hair and the demon mask she was wearing gave her a red tint. She also had a hostage.

The shooter raised her weapon, and all four men ducked for cover. Smith radioed that they made contact with one of the shooters, and Volkov tried to shoot back but couldn’t get a clear shot. The shooter began firing and even got West in the shoulder. Law was petrified. He couldn’t move and everything sounded distant.

Suddenly, everything came to a stop, and the shooter started cursing. “Aw! Did ya bloody fucking cunts jus’ shoot me in da ass?!”

“What can I say? We are trained to aim for the largest part of the target.” The voice sounded like it came from Officer Lambdin, but Law couldn’t bring himself to look.

“Well, Ah guess ya won’t eve’ have ta worry ‘bout bein’ shot in between da legs!”, the shooter bellowed. Uproarious laughter came from Smith, West, Volkov, and several officers near Lambdin.

Word came over the radio that they got the other shooters and the round was over. Law let his team finish mocking Lambdin and sluncked out to his truck.

Outside CMS
Date: same day, time: 9:45 am

*Brigid’s perspective*

“Hahahaha, they seriously got you in da ass. Hahahaha”

Brigid listened on as Sunset continued mocking her for getting taken out so quickly and for getting taken out with a shot to the butt while she took off the gear. It was funny, but that didn’t mean Brigid couldn’t get in her own teasing. “Ah thought ya were twenty-eight up dere in dat coconut, but y’re acting like a twelve year old.”

“I’m chronologically twenty-eight. Neurologically, I’m twelve, and psychologically thaaat’s still up f’r debate.”

“Ah’ll say.” Brigid was cut off from more teasing when she noticed one of the officers sulking on the bed of a pick up. Brigid thought she recognized him as one of the officers that she was shooting at but wasn’t sure. The fact that the lad was sulking when his team won was odd. Brigid hurried to get the body armor off. “Ah’ll be right back.”, Brigid told Sunset. Sunset gave her an odd look but then noticed where Brigid was looking and nodded her understanding.

As Brigid approached, she could see that the lad was one of the officers she was shooting at. He was a skinny kid with pink and purple dreadlocks and coal black skin. “Hey laddy, ya doin’ okay?” The boy snapped his head up and looked like he was going to piss himself. Looks like Ah did me job too well. “Sorry if Ah scared ya earlier.”

“Oh, yeah, mmm.”, the officer mumbled.

Brigid climbed up onto the bed to sit next to the officer. “What’s y’r name?”

“Amadi Law” Now Brigid could clearly hear that the officer had a Mainer accent.

“Well, dat name takes on new meanin’ in dis country.”

“Hehe, yeah.”

“Are ye from ‘round ‘ere?”

“Yeah, I’m from the west side of Canterlot.”

“So, what made ya want ta become a police office’?”

“I wanted to help people, protect them.”

“Wanted?”

“I, um, mmm.”

“Ya froze, didn’t ya?”

“Yes”, Officer Law said ashamedly.

“Freezin’ is natural. Despite da popular saying “fight or flight”, it’s actually “fight, freeze, friend, or flight”. Ah’m an anthropologist specializin’ in dis. Ah know what Ah’m talkin’ ‘bout.”

“Still, what kind of a hero freezes?”

“Well, Ah actually know a person dat has a story like dat.” Law looked at Brigid with curiosity, which she took to continue. “Me siste’, who is doin’ dis with ‘er daughter at Mory Elementary, was a part a’ da early invasion a’ Afghanistan. Durin’ ‘er first real firefight, ‘er platoon were under fire, hidin’ behind rocks, n’ she froze. She couldn’t move or speak or any‘hin’. She didn’t unfreeze until da fightin’ stopped. Ya know what happened afte’ dat? She n’ her platoon lived ta fight anothe’ day. Dat’s what freezin’ is for. It’s ta keep ya from actin’ too quickly n’ gettin’ y’rself killed.”

“So, if I didn’t freeze?”

“Ya would’ve charged me n’ hit da girl or gotten shot by me, or ya would’ve run n’ might’ve run inta one a’ da othe’ shoote’s. Yi’ll eventually learn ta control dese instincts, but dat takes time n’ experience.”

“Ugh, I don’t know.”, Law said while rubbing his face.

“At least wait until da end a’ da summer. Da whole point a’ dis is ta teach ya how ta deal with dis stuff.”

“Okay”, Law said disheartenedly.

“Great” Brigid patted Law on the shoulder, hopped off the truck, and began walking back to Sunset.

“Ow”, Law said while rubbing his shoulder.

As Brigid got back to the group of students, teachers, and parents, the lead officer was explaining the next round. Just like last time, all the participating officers were out of earshot and they were separated by a divider so the officers didn’t know what was going on or what to expect. This round was “plain clothed shooter with a pistol”. To Brigid’s surprise, Shine was chosen as the shooter.

“Ah didn’t know ya could use a gun.”, Brigid said.

“My dearest Brigid, did ya think ya’re the only walkin’ stereotype here?”, Shine asked in her thick Texan accent.

“Ah guess da “Southern” part in y’r “Southern Baptist belle” title is more dan jus’ where y’re from.”

“Well, there are more guns than people back home.”, Shine said with a smile.

“Okay now, this time, the shooter will have a target. We need someone to play her ex-lover, preferably someone who works here.”, the lead officer announced.

“I’ll do it.”, Vice Principal Leo announced.

“Great”, the lead officer said.

“At least Ah can say that, if Ah swung that way, you would be a woman worth goin’ on a rampage for.”, Shine said.

“That is the strangest compliment I’ve ever gotten, but I’ll take it.”, Leo said.

“Are we sure this is what we want to be showing to the kids?”, another parent asked.

“Don’t worry, we know that being gay doesn’t automatically make someone want to shoot up a school.”, Sunset remarketed.

The parent went to open her mouth again but was stopped by everyone else giving her “I dare you to say that” glares and disapproving looks. Shine was handed a simple handgun, and all the victims filed into the school. “Come on, I know where we can hide.”, Sunset said while pulling Brigid and Flash along. Sunset brought them to the library and led them into the stacks. Soon after they found their hiding spots, the alarm sounded.

Breee, lockdown, lockdown. Lock the doors. Stay away from the windows.

“Damn, dat’s unnervin’.”, Brigid said while picking out a book to read.

“I know. It’s like they want us to panic.”, Sunset said.

“Dat’s not entirely wrong.” Looking up from her book, Brigid saw Sunset giving her the “explain everything to me” look. That look always brings a smile to Brigid’s face. “Call it a kick in da ass. Dey want ta get ya inta fight or flight mode so ya c’n act, n’ dat sound does da trick.”

“I suppose, still doesn’t sound like the best idea.”, Sunset said quizzically.

Brigid shrugged her shoulders. “Human psychology is weird.”

CMS
Date: same day, time: 9:50 am

*Shine’s perspective*

Since Shine had a specific target, she forwent the door rattling and shaking. Instead, she went straight for the vice principal's office. Once she got there, she shook and banged on the door. With the obligatory door banging out of the way, Shine opted to run before the cops came close. Shine made a bee-line for the nearest exit until she heard the cops on the other side. Shine made a U-turn and bolted down another hallway. There would be cops at all the exits by now, and all the windows are behind locked doors. That left Shine with one option, hide.

CMS library
Date: same day, time: 9:55 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset was bored. She tried reading, but it's hard to read with the beeping of the lockdown alarm. That left Sunset playing on her phone or looking at picture books. Strangely, some of those picture books included magazines with scantily clad women in them. Sunset had no problem with this and was positive not many of the students had a problem with it, but if most of the parents learn about this, there would be trouble.

Sunset was pulled from her smut by the sound of the library doors being opened and the sound of someone running into the stacks.

“Sounds like y’r mum chose ta hide rathe’ dan fight.”

Mrs. Sentry ran into the stacks on the other side of the library. About a minute later, the cops filled into the library. They began searching, and a few even passed by Sunset’s group. Sunset moved to where she could watch the officers. The officers searched the entire library but came up empty handed. After the officers left, Sunset returned to her group to report what happened.

“So, it wasn’t my mom that came in here?”, Flash asked after Sunset explained what happened.

“No, it was definitely your mom. I could smell her perfume.”

“Seriously?”

“Females have stronge’ senses a’ smell dan males, n’ Sunset’s is particularly strong.”, Brigid explained.

“Wow, that’s cool.”

“I vote we go find her.”, Sunset said. Brigid and Flash nodded and got up to follow Sunset. They headed to where they last heard Mrs. Sentry. Sunset, and now Flash and Brigid, could smell her but couldn’t see her. An idea came to Sunset. She looked up and found Mrs. Sentry on top of one of the shelves next to the wall. It was dark, but Mrs. Sentry was wearing a light yellow dress. “I see you, Mrs. Sentry.”

“Oh, hello, Sunset.”, Mrs. Sentry said.

Brigid and Flash came over and were quite surprised.

“Ya know, if it weren’t f’r dat dress, Ah’d call ya a ninja.”, Brigid said.

“Why is that?”, Mrs. Sentry asked.

“That’s exactly what my dad instructs us ta do if we need ta hide.”, Sunset said.

“Humans have a tendency ta not look above a forty-five degree angle. Ya c’n avoid detection by climbin’ high enough.”, Brigid explained.

“That’s very interestin’. Now, Ah would very much appreciate it if you could help me down.”

“Sure” Brigid held out her arms while Mrs. Sentry slid down the shelf. Once Mrs. Sentry was in a good position, Brigid picked her off the shelf and brought her to the ground.

“Ah see those muscles ain’t just for show.”, Mrs. Sentry noted.

“Are you sure your mom is straight?”, Sunset quietly asked Flash.

“No”, Flashy replied.

Outside CMS
Date: same day, time: 10:10 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Very good everyone.”, the lead officer said. “Now, before we move on to the next round, I have to ask. How did you evade us, Mrs. Sentry?”

“Simple, Ah climbed on top of the library stacks shelves. Your officers never once looked up.”, Mrs. Sentry explained.

The lead officer’s face went from surprise to embarrassment as Mrs. Sentry explained. “Chm chm, I see. Thank you for enlightening me. Now then, let’s move onto the next round. We will need some of the young ones to volunteer. Does anyone know how to handle a gun?” Sunset immediately shot her hand up, along with Flash, Rarity, Jacklyn, and a couple other students. “Okay then, um, you, you, and you, what are your names?”

“Sunset Shimmer”

“Rarity Alba”

“Jacklyn O’Apple”

“Okay, good. Sunset, you’ll be the shooter. Jacklyn and Rarity, you’ll be her targets.” The lead officer handed Sunset a pistol. The “victims” entered the school while Sunset waited outside. Once everyone was through the doors, Sunset entered in after them. As soon as Sunset entered the school, the lockdown alarm sounded.

Breee, lockdown, lockdown. Lock the doors. Stay away from the windows.

“Show time, baby.”

Halls of CMS
Date: same day, time: 10:10 am

*Rarity’s perspective*

“Rarity, wait.”

“What is it, Applejack?”, Rarity asked in a sharper tone than she meant.

Applejack either didn’t notice or didn’t care to mention it. “Ah don’t think we should hide in the classrooms. Let’s actually give Sunset a chance ta catch us. Let’s make this more fun.”

Rarity took a moment to think about it. It indeed sounded more fun than sitting huddled in a classroom, but it was Sunset that was hunting them. If she wanted to find you, she would, and she was dangerous. But would she actually do anything with her mother around? Rarity’s pondering was cut short by the lockdown alarm sounding.

Breee, lockdown, lockdown. Lock the doors. Stay away from the windows.

“Time’s up Rares. What’s it gonna be?”

“Let’s do it.”, Rarity said in a way she hoped made her look like an action movie hero.

Applejack took Rarity’s hand and charged down the hallway. It gave her butterflies in her stomach. Applejack was so beautiful.

Halls of CMS
Date: same day, time: 10:10 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset crept through the halls. Her prey were not hiding in the classrooms or offices like Mrs. Sentry’s. They were running. They were playing. Sunset could play too. Rarity was wearing perfume, and Jacklyn smelled like a farm. That made them easy to track in the sea of smelly humans. Sunset’s nostrils flared as she took in the scents of the area and locked onto Rarity and Jacklyn. With a lock on their scents, Sunset put on her own mask and bolted down the hallway, after them.

Halls of CMS
Date: same day, time: 10:15 am

*Applejack’s perspective*

Applejack listened for Sunset’s footsteps. They managed to get pretty far away from the entrance, but AJ knew it was only a matter of time before she found them. AJ made sure they kept ahead of Sunset, but the school hallways were thoroughly interconnected and like a circle. There was no way they could be cornered, but they could run into Sunset when they were running from her. That only left them with the option of “keep moving”.

As they rounded a corner, AJ smashed straight into someone, sending them both stumbling back. AJ looked to see what had to be Sunset, but she was wearing a mask.

The mask plus her red and black outfit and the gun in her hand made her look really scary. Sunset raised the gun, and Rarity and AJ about-faced and began running in the opposite direction. Sunset fired off a couple rounds of the airsoft gun and got AJ and Rarity.

“Okay Sunset, you win.”, AJ said while turning around. It was hard to tell, but it looked like Sunset had a predatory grin under that mask. Suddenly, Sunset spun her head around as if she was reacting to a noise, but AJ couldn’t hear anything. Sunset muttered something under her breath then ran past AJ and Rarity. Rarity looked at AJ, puzzled. Soon, AJ heard what Sunset must have, the sound of the cops’ stopping boots.

Halls of CMS
Date: same day, time: 10:15 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset fired off two shots that nailed Jacklyn and Rarity in their backs.

“Okay Sunset, you win.”, Jacklyn said while turning around. Sunset smiled under her mask. It was always a nice feeling to catch your prey, but for whatever reason, it felt nicer as a human. Maybe it was because humans are a predator species.

Sunset’s attention was caught by the sound of heavy boot’s stomping. “Crap”, Sunset muttered. Sunset ran past Jacklyn and Rarity with no precise destination in mind. She couldn’t try the Tanuki Gakure no Jutsu because now the cops will be searching places where she can perch. Despite the fact the ceiling was easy to get into, it could not support her weight.

As Sunset ran, she passed by her locker and got an idea. Sunset discarded her mask, gun, and jacket in the locker; turned her shirt inside out, turning it from red to dark blue; and grabbed her hat from the locker. Once complete, Sunset found the nearest janitor’s closet and hid inside.

Some time later, Sunset was found by the officers. “Hi, have you found the shooter yet? I’m getting bored.”, Sunset said.

“No, why are you in a janitor’s closet?”, one of the officers asked.

“The shooter had a target, like last time. I didn’t want to get in the same room as them.”

“Okay, Officer Lambdin, take this girl outside.”, the officer ordered.

Officer Lambdin escorted Sunset outside then went back to rejoin his team. Sunset walked over to the staging area where Jacklyn, Rarity, and some of the other “victims” were.

“Shouldn’t an officer be with you?”, the lead officer asked.

“I tricked them into thinking I was just another victim.”, Sunset answered. “By the way, I win.”

The lead officer groaned then radioed his officers that they lost the round. Soon, the officers and the remaining victims exited the school.

“Yo boss, what happened? We haven’t found the shooter yet.”, one of the officer’s asked.

“I’m the shooter.”, Sunset said while raising her hand.

“Oh, come on!”, one of the officers complained.

Sunset gave a triumphant laugh while everyone gathered around to listen to the lead officer. Since that was the last round for the day and Brigid was there to hear whatever the lead officer had to say, Sunset went back into the school to retrieve the gun and her jacket from her locker. By the time she got back, people were heading back to their cars or starting their walks back home. Sunset handed the gun back to the nearest cop and headed back over to Brigid. Brigid was talking with Mrs. Sentry, and Flash was sitting around, looking really bored. Sunset sat down in front of Flash.

“This is worse than when it happens in the stores.”, Flash droned.

“Yeah, wanna head back ta my place?”

“Sure” Flash stood up and called out to his mom. “Hey Mom, I’m going to hang out at Sunset’s house.”

“Okay, when do you want to be picked up?”, Mrs. Sentry asked. Flash just shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I can pick you up at dinner, if that’s okay with Dr. Katon.” Brigid nodded her approval.

With the approval of both parents, Sunset and Flash walked to Sunset’s house.