Sunset's human world origin

Katon family home

Date: Sep 1st, time: 8:10 pm

*Flash’s perspective*

Flash waited with Emi and Anura as Brigid was picking up Sunset. The remaining adults were talking amongst themselves as Anzhong cooked. Emi and Anura were talking with each other, leaving Flash without anyone to talk to. His awkward torment was finally ended when Sunset and Brigid returned.

“Hey, Sunset.”, Flash said.

Sunset came up to Flash and gave him a kiss. “Hey, Flash.” Sunset took her seat, and Anzhong brought out the food.

“Did you win again?”, Anzhong asked.

“You bet.”

“That’s my girl.”

Once all the food was out, everyone sat down and began serving themselves. Flash liked how the Katons served meals.

“Is this how you do it in Japan and Ireland?”, Flash asked.

“More like, dis is how we do it in Japan n’ on farms.”, Brigid said.

Flash nodded. His family hadn’t been farmers for nearly 200 years, so small details of farm life, like this, have been long forgotten.

Despite how good it was, the meal was not the main event. Anzhong brought out a cake with fourteen candles on it and placed it in front of Sunset. Everyone began singing happy birthday, and she blew out the candles when they were done. Once the cake was eaten, everyone brought out their presents. Flash presented Sunset with his, and she accepted it with a smile.

She opened it up and made a confused face at the contents. “Hairspray?”

“Not just any hair spray, eighties hairspray.”

That was enough info for Brigid, Jiyaira, and Minerva to make ‘oh-no’ faces.

“I’m still gonna need more context.”

“This stuff makes a better flamethrower than hairspray.”

That got Sunset’s eyes to sparkle, and she bolted up, tore the plastic off, and grabbed a lighter.

“Outside!”, Brigid demanded.

“I was going to anyway.”, Sunset responded as she popped the lid off then ran outside with Emi and Flash following her. She aimed it away from the house and tree, lined up the lighter and spray can a few inches away from each other, lit the lighter, then let out the kaboom air. A large stream of fire erupted from the point the spray hit the lighter with Sunset laughing like a deranged lunatic. “This is awesome!” Sunset let up on the spray and let the flame go out. “This is awesome, Flash. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Yeah, Sunset, Ah only want ya playin’ with yer flamethrower-in-a-can when y’re sober.”, Brigid said.

“Did you like the show, Ailbhe?”, Sunset asked while looking out into the yard.

Flash tried to find the cat but couldn’t see anything. “Where’s Ailbhe?” Flash’s question was answered as said cat ran past him and up Brigid. “Oh, there she is.”

“Can I get a turn with the hairspray?”, Emi asked.

“No”, Sunset and Brigid firmly said. Emi pouted, crossed her arms, and huffed off.

“N’ store dat thing where neither cat nor kid c’n get ta it.”

“That’s not a lot of places, but I’ll figure something out.”

“Good”

The three of them re-entered the house, and Sunset put the can back into the box and closed it up. The party continued, and before long, it was almost ten o’clock. Mom arrived and knocked on the door, Brigid got up to let her in, and Flash inwardly groaned.

“It sucks that your parents are so strict about this.”, Sunset said.

“Yeah, I wish they were more like your parents.”

“Ready ta go, Flash?”, Mom asked.

“No, but it’s not like I have a choice.”

“Don’t talk ta me like that.”, Mom scolded. “Come on, let’s go.”

Flash got up, waved to Sunset, and left with Mom.

“Did Sunset like her gift?”, Mom asked once they were in the car and underway.

“She immediately ran outside to try it out and laughed like a mad woman.”

“You gave her hairspray, right?”, Mom asked confusedly.

“Yeah, I did. You do realize how flammable that stuff is and that it makes a pretty good home-made flamethrower?”

“A flamethrower, you gave Sunset a flamethrower?”

“They’re legal, and Sunset loves it.”

Mom’s mouth gaped like a fish as she tried to process what she just heard. “That’s - well, interesting.”

“Yeah, she scares me sometimes, but I like seeing her happy.”

Skyranger’s Combat School

Date: Sep 6th, time: 2:30 pm

*Rarity’s perspective*

Rarity and her opponent stood and walked to the center of the circle. They were surrounded by the rest of their classmates, who formed said circle. Everyone was spread out, so the fighters had plenty of room. Mr. Skyranger stood off to the side as Rarity and Night Glider, her opponent, squared up and sized each other up. Night’s muscles twitched in anticipation, and somehow, Rarity could sense and interpret it. She didn’t even need to look down. She just knew.

Mr. Skyranger gave them the signal to begin, and Rarity sensed Night’s right punch. She was easily able to grab Night’s arm, get to her side, and punch her in the side of the head. Night staggered but reoriented herself and squared back up. Night right kicks, Rarity grabbed the kick, and pushed Night back. Night bounced back up, and Rarity sensed another right punch. Night’s favoring of her right side didn’t help her predictability. She grabbed Night’s arm again and punched her in the side of the head again.

“Match”, Mr. Skyranger said.

Rarity and Night retook their spots and watched the other kids spar. If she focused on one of the fighters, Rarity could predict the other kids’ movements. As useful as it was, doing too much caused her to have a headache, so she tried to not have it happen. That’s easier said than done when you’re trying to learn from the other fighters. The non-combat version of this power is less draining. She could pick up on the slightest muscle or eye twitch in normal conversations all day without getting drained or a headache. What are the odds my parents will believe me versus them thinking I’m nuts? When did this even start happening? I definitely didn’t always have this.

Night got up to spar again with another kid. She still had her predictability issue. Right leg, right arm, right arm, left leg- ooh, lefty, that’s new. Night swept the legs of her opponent out from under them and jumped on them. She pelted them with punches then got back up.

It was Rarity’s turn again, and she was paired up with Sugar Grape, or “White Rainbow” as Rarity called her. She really did look a lot like Rainbow, just white and with purple hair. She wasn’t nearly as predictable as Night. Sugar began rocking on the balls of her feet, making the feeling surge, and Rarity caught Sugar’s jump kick. She let Sugar fall and jumped on her the same way Night jumped on her opponent then delivered the same series of punches. Rarity let Sugar up, and the two squared up again. She caught Sugar’s uppercut then punched her in the side as she guarded her face too well, hitting her just below her ribcage. Sugar dropped like a bag of potatoes. Rarity staggered back, internally freaking out, as Mr. Skyranger checked Sugar.

“You okay?”, Mr. Skyranger asked.

Sugar slowly sat up but still looked dizzy. “What was that?”

“It was just a liver punch. You’ll be fine. Go sit down.”

Sugar slowly got up, and Mr. Skyranger sat her back down in her spot in the circle.

Mr. Skyranger then went over to Rarity. “You okay?”

“I-I didn’t mean to do that.”, Rarity stuttered.

Mr. Skyranger corralled Rarity out of the circle and turned back to the other kids. “Continue sparring.” Mr. Skyranger brought Rarity to the corner of the room then sat her down on one of the punching bags that lined the wall and kneeled in front of her. “Firstly, you did nothing wrong. I’ll try to explain what happened to the best of my non-medical ability.” Rarity nodded, and he continued. “A punch to the liver causes the body to temporarily malfunction and widen the blood vessels, causing a rapid but temporary drop in blood pressure. Her body will correct the malfunction, tighten her blood vessels, and she’ll be back to normal in a few minutes.”

Rarity internally sighed in relief. That was scary. Mr. Skyranger got both of them standing again and brought them back to the circle. Rarity sat back down in her spot, and Mr. Skyranger stood outside the circle, like he had been before. The class continued as usual, and they were soon wrapping up. The other students gave Rarity a wide berth as they got their shoes on and gathered up their bags. Dad’s car pulled into the parking lot, and Rarity was about to head out but was stopped by Mr. Skyranger.

“Rarity, you’re better at predicting other people’s movements than anyone I’ve ever seen. I highly urge you to consider competing.”, he said in his no nonsense, straight to the point, laconic way.

I could, but wouldn’t using my ability be cheating? Then again, how would that be any different from a big kid using their size to their advantage? “I’ll think about it.”, Rarity simply said before leaving. She hopped into her dad’s car, and they drove off. “Dad, do you ever feel like you know what another person’s going to do?”

“Yeah, when I’m on the field, I can read the other players like books. Why do you ask?”, Dad said like he was describing any other play.

“I can do that too.”

“Good.” was all Dad said in response.

Rarity just sat there, wondering if her dad fully understood what she was saying.

Sunset’s room

Date: Sep 10th, time: 6:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset grabbed one of her kimono from her closet and presented it to Brigid. It was primarily black with red and gold flowers on her left sleeve and the bottom part and the Katon clan crest on the back and front of the shoulders. This style is called a houmongi and is very formal and lavish. It was a bit more masculine than an average woman’s kimono with a men’s belt with a bow rather than the traditional obi. Sunset found the thick obi to be rather uncomfortable. “What do you think about this?”, Sunset asked.

“It would be nice, but ya also don't wanna upstage da grooms.”

“I would have to go dressed as a peacock to upstage Andy.”

“Eithe’ way, ya should check with him first. Americans take weddings very seriously, n’ da last thin’ ya want is ta mess one up.”

“I know. Pegasi take weddings just as seriously. I'll text him a pic and ask.”

“Good plan. Now, Ah got a cat dat needs combin’.” Brigid came over to Sunset and kissed her head. “Love ya.”

“Love ya.” Once Brigid was gone, Sunset took out her phone, snapped a pic, and sent it to Andy.

Hey, is this okay for the wedding?

Yes, it’s fabulous. What is it?

Houmongi kimono, a.k.a fancy-schmancy

traditional Japanese dress.

It’s perfect. Where can I get one?

Sunset gave feather-boy the place’s name and address then went back to choosing her hair accessories. As she was trying to find her black flower comb, Emi came running in. “Not on the kimono.”, Sunset warned.

“Why do you even have the super fancy one out?”

“To plan for the wedding.”

“Oh right, can I come?”

“You weren’t invited.”

“I can be your plus one.”

“I’m already a plus one. Bringing my own plus one would be rude. Plus, I’ve been to three weddings in my time, and they’re either stressful or boring. My parents’ wedding was so boring, I fell asleep in the pedal basket.”

“Aw, baby pony you must’ve been adorable.”

“Are you saying I’m not adorable?”

“No, you’re old.”

“Considering you aren’t likely to reach double digits, yeah, I guess I’m old to you.”

“Low blow.”, Emi said in a cold yet still teasing tone and stomped out of the room. It was clear Emi wasn’t hurt, so Sunset felt no need to chase after her.

She went back to sifting through her jewelry box and found her desired accessories and placed them where she could more easily find them then put her kimono back. She’d just wear her nicest pair of black sneakers. It’s not like she needs fancy shoes with what she’s already wearing. Once everything wasn’t going to get stepped on, Sunset went back to her desk. She turned her laptop on and opened up maps. The feeling she got at the docks warranted further investigation. She clicked through the street view of the area. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, at first. There were your usual pedestrians, buildings in various stages of being beaten up by the sea and salt winds, some Storm goons…

Sunset went back and, sure enough, two guys that matched Brigid and Emi’s descriptions of the men that attacked them. She went up the street one click and looked back at the men, and she noticed them entering a more run down warehouse type building. A quick Boogle search of the name showed it to be a vending machine company, but that’s not the interesting bit. The third result is a report from the police saying that the company was suspected to be a front.

“Interesting, very interesting.”

Sentry family home

Date: Sep 19th, time: 9:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Mrs. Sentry, do I need to wear my wedding attire, or are street clothes okay?”, Sunset asked as Mrs. Sentry walked past.

“Just wear your street clothes. This is just a rehearsal.”

“Okay” Sunset put her suitcase back under Flash’s bed and went out to the living room.

Mrs. Sentry was running around the house as she made sure everything was going to plan. You’d think she was preparing for the apocalypse. Even Andy and Borago were just looking at house brochures. Flash was standing in the kitchen, with a bowl of popcorn, watching the show. Flash presented Sunset with the bowl, and she took a handful.

“Okay, Ah think that everythin’. Am Ah missin’ anythin’?”, Mrs. Sentry asked.

“Your pants.”, Sunset said.

“Oh, pants.” Mrs. Sentry was about to sprint to her room but stopped before she even completed the turn. “Sunset”, she said, irritated, earning bemused chuckles from the males. “Ugh, boys. Is everyone ready to go?”

“Relax, Mom, it’s just the trap. Today’s supposed to go wrong.”, Andy said.

“Trap? I thought it was called a wedding rehearsal.”, Sunset asked.

“Basically, we don’t fully trust our relatives to behave themselves. We told them today was the real thing. If any of them misbehave today, they’ll be banned from the wedding.”, Flash explained.

“Devious, absolutely and beautifully devious. Who all knows about this plan?”

“The six of us, my grandparents, my great grandma, Borago’s parents, and a few of Andy and Borago’s friends.”

“Really? I would’ve figured great grandparents would be on the suspect list.”

“Well, as my great grandma put it, “If the Nazis hated it, then I love it.””, Flash said in his best old lady voice.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend to the extreme.”

“Ayuh”

“Okay, let’s get going.”, Mrs. Sentry said.

Sunset and Flash finished the popcorn, and he ditched the bowl in the sink.

“Sunset, your shoes.”, Mrs. Sentry said as they headed out the door.

“Oh thanks.” Sunset reached down to grab her shoes, only to remember/realize she hadn’t taken them off. Sunset straightened herself and glared at the, now, evilly cackling Mrs. Sentry.

Sunset and Flash went with his parents, and Andy and Borago went in their own car. The church was unimpressive, especially compared to a shrine house. From what Sunset understood, churches are the same idea as shrine houses, but this place didn’t look like anybody lived there. Even the most rural communities are able to put together beautiful shrines for the gods to inhabit. Sunset chuckled to herself as she realized those shrines were, basically, glorified telephones.

“What’s so funny?”, Flash asked.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

They walked to the back of the church, where a man in all black, except for a little white square on his collar, stood.

“Hello, I’m Father Mark. Which of you are the lucky couple?”

“We are.”, Andy said as he put his arm around Borago.

“That works too, but please, excuse me if I say ‘bride’. I’ve said that so much, I sometimes say that when I go to get my dog groomed. Is everyone ready to get started?”

“Not quite. We told our family that today’s the actual day, in case they try anything. We need you to act like this is the actual thing too.”, Mr. Sentry said.

“That’s, well… I’ll do it, but I don’t like it. I am not God, so I will not judge.”

“Smart man.”, Sunset commented.

“Flash, could you and Sunset go greet people?”, Mrs. Sentry asked.

Flash looked to Sunset, who shrugged her shoulders. “Sure”

“Great, we brought some stuff to make this look more authentic, and people should be arrivin’ soon. So, let’s get a move on.”

Sunset and the Sentrys headed back outside, where two cars drove up to them and parked.

“Hey! I heard there was a party!”, the woman driving one of the cars said. She was dressed nicely and wore a pair of sunglasses. She also had some crazy yellow, blue, and purple hair. There was someone in her passenger seat and three people in the other car.

“Hey, Holly. We got some setup to do.”, Andy said.

“Great” Holly got out of her car along with the other four people. “Alright people! We got work ta do!”

The eleven of them brought everything from the boots of the cars inside and began the setup. There were folding tables covered with blue and plum cloth covers and pamphlets and various other stuff and small bouquets of plum and borage flowers scattered about the room. It all gave an impression of a wedding, but if you thought about it long enough, it was clear something wasn’t right.

A small, white car soon pulled up, and out stepped an older man and woman and a woman around Rosie’s age. Flash became excited upon seeing them and ran out to greet them. Sunset watched as he hugged them and they patted him back. The four of them came inside, and the older three immediately took a seat in the front.

“Sunset, these are my grandparents and gran gran. Grandma, Grandpa, Gran Gran, this is my girlfriend, Sunset Shimmer.”, Flash excitedly said.

“Hello”, Sunset said more meekly. Meeting new people from the WWII era gave her a sense of unease. She was clearly Asian. Would they react with contempt for her existence? Would they hate her for the actions of her forefathers?

“That’s nice. How long have you been in the US?”, Gran Gran asked.

“Four years, though, I haven’t been clocked as an immigrant for a while now.” Sunset noticed the Sentrys become a bit uncomfortable while the Spurs, aside from Gran Gran, turned away from her. “It wasn’t my accent, was it?”, Sunset said, deadpan.

“Um, well, ahhh”, Flash sputtered out.

“Whatever, I don’t care.”

Everyone eased a bit and scurried away, back to whatever they were previously doing. People soon began arriving, and Flash and Sunset greeted people. As people came in, Sunset could see Flash doing a mental headcount. It was easy to tell the Sentrys apart from everyone else with their blue hair and eyes. Everyone wore their clan rest as a pin or a ring and their personal crest somewhere on them. The Sentrys all had shield designs in their personal crest, but everyone elses’ were much more varied.

“Damn, dude, talk about strong genetics.”, Sunset commented, but Flash didn’t react. “Earth to Flash.” That didn’t work, so Sunset switched to a more offensive technique. “Yo, space cadet, back to reality.”, Sunset said at an elevated but not yelling volume and clapped her hands.

“Huh, what?”, Flash asked confusedly.

“Jeez, dude, you were somewhere near Andromeda with how spaced out you were. What gives?”

“Sorry, I was just thinking of what she might try ta do.” Flash looked over to Sunset and noticed the unimpressed look on her face. “Right, I mean one of my cousins, Shoeshine Spur. She was the only person not to show up and has a history of causing drama.”

Sunset nodded her understanding. “Alright, what do you think she’ll do?”

Flash let out a sigh and looked at Sunset like he was done with the world. “She’s from Alabama and owns a wedding dress.”

Sunset made a disgusted face.

“Exactly”, Flash confirmed. “We should take our seats.”

The two of them went back to the main room, and Flash led Sunset to the front row, where there were two empty seats. They sat in between his parents and grandparents. Everyone that wasn’t in the know seemed to notice the oddities and were curiously looking around. Borago stood in front of everyone, next to Father Mark, and kinda looked like he needed to take a crap. He was now in nicer clothes than he normally wears. Mr. Sentry gave the thumbs up to someone, and when Sunset looked to who, she saw Holly at the organ.

Holly returned the thumbs up and began playing “Here Comes the Bride”, but that’s not what she sang. It sounded like a goofy parody of said song about a “pretty peacock man”. Borago relaxed a bit but also looked like the only thing keeping him from laughing was his military training.

A loud creaking sound emanated from the front of the room. Everyone turned around to face it, and Andy walked through, carrying a bouquet of flowers. He wore what could best be described as his normal attire on steroids. How his hat could stay on his head with so many big ass feathers draping down the back of it, only he knew. The feathers on the hat were long enough to seamlessly merge with the feathers that made up the cape that trailed slightly behind him. His suit and the brim of his hat, being the only part of it that could be seen, were also sparkling like the night sky. This is so weird. Borago looked so incredibly, stupidly happy though, so it works. Andy got up to the altar, and Father Mark began the ceremony. Sunset wasn’t paying attention to the front but rather was waiting for the Alabamian to make her move.

As if on cue- she might have actually been waiting and listening- a woman wearing a wedding dress came marching up the aisle as Father Mark asked for any objections. “Andy, you can’t marry him. You need a proper wife.”, Shoeshine said.

The faces around the room ranged from red to embarrassed on Andy’s side and side-eyes to disgusted looks from Borago’s side. For a moment, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. “Ya ain’t helpin’ yar state’s reputation Alabamian.”, a Massachusettsans man said, eliciting chuckles from both sides. Holly began playing “Sweet Home Alabama” but changed the lyrics to include lines about hot cousins. Everyone, even the other Alabamians and Father Mark, were laughing, and Shoeshine was laughed out of the church with her head low, looking defeated. Score one for the peacock man.

The laughter slowly died down, and everyone turned back to the lovely couple. Andy moved to directly address the audience. “Thank you all for coming, and thank you all that are still here for being accepting of Borago and my relationship or at least behaving yourselves. Now, there was a reason the wedding invites said the nineteenth to the twentieth. Today was a test to make sure any incidents like what just happened wouldn’t occur on the actual day. The real wedding will be tomorrow, same time.” The reaction to that was mostly annoyed grumblings about not being trusted but also reluctant acceptance that they were right. One really can’t argue that after such a fiasco.

People began filing out of the church while Andy and Borago went to go change and the Sentrys and the Bowies, Borago’s family, chatted and did stuff Sunset couldn’t bother to pay attention to. Flash seemed to quickly be getting bored too, so Sunset took him by the hand and led him outside. Most of the cars were gone or leaving with the only remaining ones being Flash’s parent’s car, Andy and Borago’s, and what Sunset could only assume was the Bowies’ car. She was hoping to see Shoeshine’s car but nope.

“Looks like we know who’ll be the family laughing stalk for a while.”, Sunset commented.

“Yeah.”, Flash said quietly.

The adults were apparently done with whatever they were doing and came outside. People got loaded up into cars and taken to where they’d be sleeping to get ready for tomorrow.

Sentrys’ church

Date: Sep 20th, time: 11:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Sunset messed with the skirt of her kimono as the actual wedding began. Everyone that was there yesterday, minus Shoeshine, was back, plus some more of Andy and Borago’s friends. There were many more flowers than yesterday, and things overall looked more put together. It also took a lot more time to set up. Holly played the same parody song she did yesterday, and the wedding began. Borago looked far more relaxed than yesterday as Andy walked up the aisle. Mrs. Sentry and Mrs. Bowie both had ‘proud mama’ looks on their faces as the grooms exchanged their vows. The wedding went off without a hitch, and the wedding procession headed to where they were holding the marital feast, or whatever Christians call it.

The place was decorated similarly to the church, but there were the tables and chairs you’d expect, a wide open dance floor, and people in waiter uniforms. Being well out of her element, Sunset stayed glued to Flash’s side. He led her to the head table and to their seats. It was set up similarly to meal halls in old castles with Andy and Borago in the middle and their families to either side. Sunset and Flash sat near the end. Each seat had a menu in front that listed a meat, vegan, and vegetarian option and what each one had. Flash and Sunset both chose the meat option. The waiters brought out plates with simple dishes that can’t get cold. Remembering that Christians have to thank their sky daddy, Sunset waited and watched what Flash did, though was still annoyed but kept it off her face. Come on, I just want to eat.

As if just to annoy her, Mr. Sentry stood up and hit his glass with his knife, creating a loud, high pitched sound, causing Sunset to cover her ears. “Thank you all for coming. I would like to make a toast to the happy couple.”, Mr. Sentry started. “For years, you’ve had to hide yourselves away for the sake of your carriers and, unfortunately still, your safety. I wish I could say we live in a country where being queer isn’t a big deal, but we don’t, and that saddens me. That is why it makes me so happy to see all of you here, people that love my son and the young man he loves so much for me to consider my son, regardless of their preferences. The world needs more people like you. Thank you.” Mr. Sentry sat back down, and Sunset nudged Flash and motioned to her food with her eyes. Flash got a crooked smile on his face and nodded yes.

Once everyone had eaten, including the cake, Andy and Borago took to the dance floor. Sunset looked to Flash for what to do but just saw him sitting. Okay, I guess we’re sitting. The couple danced until the end of the song then the next song started other people began joining them. Flash stood and extended a hand to Sunset. She took it, and he led them to the dance floor. The two joined the slow dance, but trouble arose when feet kept getting stepped on.

“Sunset, let me lead.”, Flash said quietly.

“No, let me lead.”, Sunset said in a low growl.

“It’s the men’s job to lead.”

“Says who?”

“Tradition”

“Yeah, and it’s tradition in Spain to have a bunch of bulls chase after people. Just because something’s old doesn’t make it any less stupid. Now, let me lead.”

“Come on, my family’s watching.”

“What’s the hang up? You let me lead at school dances.”

“I’m a man now. It’s time I start acting like one.”

“And you call this acting like a man?”

The feet stepping did not improve until the song switched to something faster. Though, by that time, Sunset wasn’t in a dancing mode. She sat back down in her seat and spent her time people watching. Flash joined her shortly after. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence as Flash tried to strike up a conversation, but each time, the words died in his throat.

The two of them didn’t talk for the rest of the day, earning them funny looks from Flash’s parents. The rest of the wedding went well, and Andy and Borago drove off at the end. The venue staff started cleaning up, and guests left. Flash’s parents loaded the presents into the car then got the four of them in and headed back to their house.

“Hey, is everything alright? You two have been awfully quiet.”, Mr. Sentry asked.

“We’re fine, Dad.”, Flash said tersely.

Mr. Sentry didn’t look convinced but didn’t push the subject.

Katon living room

Date: Sep 28th, time: 10:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“So, what is this all about?”, Daiki asked as he and Anzgong sat on the couch.

Sunset stood in front of them both with her tablet in hand. “I found Storm’s base.”

Daiki looked surprised, but Anzhong only said two words. “The docks?”

“Correct,” Sunset handed her tablet to Daiki, who began looking through her collected evidence, “I searched Boogle Earth and found some guys that look like Storm goons going into a vending machine company. Looking into the company, I could only find shell companies, but it is of suspect by the police, and some in person snooping should be able to confirm my suspicions.”

“Alright, I’ll send some people to check it out.”, Daiki said as he handed back Sunset’s tablet.

“When you go after them, I want to be involved.”

“Absolutely not.”, Daiki said firmly. “Why would you even want to be involved?”

“Because those bastards tried to hurt my clan, and I want to make sure it’s done correctly. Plus, I have a plan.”

“What is your plan, sweetie?”, Anzhong asked.

“A fertilizer bomb. I plan on waiting until it gets colder so we can cover ourselves up more and waiting near the place “for Mom to pick us up” while one of your guys delivers the package. Once it’s been dropped off, I’ll remotely detonate it, and then Dad and I will feign trying to help everyone when we’re really making sure everyone’s dead.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.”, Daiki said before turning to Anzhong. “What are you teaching this girl?”

“I didn’t teach her this. We got her this way.”, Anzhong said. “On the topic of the plan, I agree with Sunset.”

Daiki looked between the two Katons before shaking his head. “This world is lucky you’re a good guy. I need to talk to my guys. We’ll talk more about this once I confirm that’s Storm’s HQ.” Daiki got up and headed to the door. “I’ll see you some time later.”

Sunset took the seat Daiki once occupied next to her father.

“Have you ever done something like this before?”, Anzhong asked once Daiki was out the door.

“Yes and no, the human and pony brains are two very different beasts. I have needed to put together plans similar to this during my military career, but we don’t have bombs. I don’t think the pony mind would naturally think up such a device, and I know I wouldn’t have thought of this plan back when I was a pony.”

“That’s not surprising. What would you consider yourself now, mentally?”

Sunset scrunched up her nose in thought. Interesting how that old behavior hasn’t changed in four years of being human. That trait was enough to prove that there was still some pony in her, but the increased aggression, increased prey drive, and year round hornyness were more than enough to prove she was very human. What was she? “I… don’t know.”

Shots’ backyard

Date: Oct 1st, time: 2:30 pm

*Long’s perspective*

Long sat in her favorite lawn chair, soaking up the last bits of warmth from the sun before it was covered up by clouds and it started snowing. Three months back and I’m still not readjusted to the cold. Long, like any time she was outside during the day, had on her sunglasses. Even when it’s cloudy, it’s too bright for her. It was very rare for the other soldiers to see her eyes.

She heard what sounded like a little girl humming, and it sounded like it was coming from the Katons’ yard. She knew they had a teenager, Sunset, but this sounded like a much younger kid. The fence was seven feet tall because Brigid could be seen over a six foot fence and easily look over one. Shouldn’t kids still be in school at this time?

Long got up and looked for something to stand on. She ended up having to grab a step ladder from the garage, and when she came back out, she heard what sounded like something being hit against something soft. She placed the ladder against the fence and climbed up. On the other side was a little kid with a gray beanie. There was a medium sized tree in the center of the yard with padding strapped to its trunk. The little girl was hitting it with something attached to the end of a rope. It looked like some sort of pouch or weight, and there was a stick of wood tied to the other end. What is that thing?”

“Hey, kid! What are you doing?!”, Long called out.

The kid spun around and looked up at Long in a way that made her uncomfortable. “None of your business, but what you’re doing is illegal because of the ladder I know you’re using, and my daddy works for the prosicutter’s office!”

“Shouldn’t you be in school?!”

“Call da cops, why don’tcha! I’m sure they’d love ta know that you’re creeping on an eight year old in her own backyard!”

Long wasn’t sure if the kid was making stuff up or not but remembered that Mom once mentioned that the husband was, in fact, a law man, and what the kid said sounded reasonable. Deciding the kid was probably not just blowing hot air, she climbed down the ladder, stored it away, and hurried back inside.

Inside the house, Dad was lounging on the couch, reading a newspaper. Long approached her dad and sat down next to him. “Dad, do the Katons’ have an eight year old?”

“Yeah, Emi. Have you met her?”, Dad said without looking up from his paper.

“I think so. She was hitting a tree with something tied to a rope.”

“I think your mom mentioned something about the kid being a little ninja.”

“What does hitting a tree have to do with being a ninja?”

Dad shrugged and didn’t give any other answer.

Long got up and headed down to the basement, where Mom most likely was. It was dark enough down there that Long needed to lift up her glasses. She found Mom down there, working on another batch of Dad’s medicine. “Hey Mom, what does being a ninja have to do with hitting a tree?”

Mom turned around and looked at Long like she grew a second head. “What kind of question is that?”

“I saw the Katons’ younger kid hitting their tree, and Dad said it had something to do with her being a ninja.”

“Oh, Emi, sounds like weapon training.”

“Oh, okay. Why isn’t she in school?”

“Because she’s sick.”, Mom said, a bit exasperated. “Now, sweetie, you gotta stop being so nosy. Someone might cut it off.”

“What is she sick with?”

Mom put her hand on her hip and scowled at Long. “Long, mind your own business.”, she said in that ‘I’m not saying this again’ tone.

Long got the hint and scurried back upstairs. All the while, something she once overheard her mom say came to mind. “How can that girl be so observant yet so oblivious at the same time?” Am I being oblivious again?

Brigid’s office

Date: Oct 15th, time: 7:45 pm

*Brigid’s perspective*

Knock knock knock

“Come in.”, Brigid called out.

Sunset came in with her computer and approached Brigid’s desk. “Hey Mom, take a look at what I found.” Sunset turned her computer around to show Brigid the screen.

“Candy blood bags. Huh, do ya wanna have dese f’r Halloween?”

“Yeah, there’s also a kid at school that thinks Ah’m a vampire. I might as well have fun with it.”

“Wha’ makes ‘em think y’re a vampire?”, Brigid asked, not because she was confused, Sunset was known as ‘The Vampire’ back in Equestria, but because she wanted to hear Sunset’s explanation, but instead of saying anything, Sunset just opened her mouth, exposing her elongated canines. “Okay, fair. Ah’ll orde’ da blood f’r ya.”

“Thank you.” With her mission a success, Sunset closed up her laptop and hurried out of the room.

Brigid turned to her grading. It was the easiest part of her job but also the most boring. This is not what she imagined she would be doing when she read that Daring Do book. Granted, she did end up going into another field of anthropology, but this still wasn’t what she’d imagined doing.

CMS

Date: Oct 16th, time: 2:00 pm

*Fluttershy’s perspective*

Fluttershy walked quickly and with purpose along the lockered wall. Just get to her next class quickly and she’d be fine. She held her backpack close to her chest while trying not to crush its contents, i.e. Angel Bunny. The crowd of other students quickly overwhelmed her. The dozens of presences felt like a massive weight on her body. Animals are easier to be around. No matter how many animals are around, their presences never overwhelms her.

Fluttershy ducked into the bathroom and into one of the stalls. She pulled Angel Bunny out of her bag and held him to her chest. He nuzzled up to her as she waited for people to leave and the hallways to empty. Students emptied the bathroom, and Fluttershy gave it another minute before putting Angel back and leaving herself. The hallway was mostly empty with only a handful of stragglers.

She turned around to head to class but ended up bumping into someone. The blood drained from face as her mind processed the black jacket and orange shirt of the person she bumped into. She tried to slowly back away, but it was too late. Sunset took Fluttershy’s backpack from her arms, held it up to her face, and sniffed it. She then unzipped it and pulled out Angel.

“I thought I smelled rabbit.” She held him with his forelegs pinned and looked at him with careless disregard.

“P-please don’t hurt him.”

Sunset switched her gaze to Fluttershy, and it went from uncaring to predatory, and a matching smile crept across her face. “Hm, oh, don’t worry. He’s not big enough to be worth the trouble. You, on the other hand, are the perfect size.” The only thing keeping Fluttershy from running away was that Sunset still had Angel. Sunset put Angel back into the backpack and gave it back to Fluttershy but kept a hold of the handle. She leaned in so her much larger frame pressed against Fluttershy and her mouth was right next to her ear. “It would be a real shame if a teacher were to find out about him. However, I can be persuaded to keep my maw shut.”

Not again. Fluttershy whined internally. Knowing how much worse Sunset had gotten, getting her another animal is unlikely to be what she wants. The bell, that would normally send shivers of dread down her spine, sounded like angels singing to Fluttershy in that moment. Sunset let out a low growl that sounded way too much like an actual dog’s or maybe a fox’s. “I’ll let you know what I want, when I want it.”

Sunset let go of Fluttershy with a shove and stomped away. Fluttershy was left clutching her backpack. Sunset was never the nicest kid, but in the last few months, she was getting worse. She still didn’t do anything that would leave marks or tangible evidence, but her mind games were getting scarier. She couldn’t prove it, but Fluttershy believed she was the one rubbing poison ivy on kids’ lockers. None of the victims were kids Sunset liked or on the hockey team.

Fluttershy bolted in the direction of her class but noticed some sort of oily substance on her bag. She sniffed it but couldn’t identify it. Wait, poison ivy. Fluttershy hurried back to the bathroom and tried to clean herself and her bag off. Oh, Angel. She pulled him out and gave him an impromptu bath, which he didn’t like in the slightest. “Oh, I know, but I need to get this off.” Why are you doing this? What did I do to deserve this?

Halls of CMS

Date: Oct 21st, time: 3:30 pm

*Rainbow’s perspective*

“I call BS.”, Rainbow said.

“I’m telling you, it really happened.”, Soarin defended. “I swear I saw a bear carrying a log like a musket.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything further as they needed to go their separate ways. Soarin went down one hallway, and Rainbow went down another that led to her locker. On her way, she saw Sunset talking to another kid. The kid’s name was Bright or something, and it was clearly not a pleasant talk. I should probably do something.

Rainbow approached the scene with a cocky smile. “Hey, Sunset.” Sunset snapped her head towards Rainbow and snarled. “Whoa, who let a wild animal into the school?”

Sunset moved away from Bright, letting him get away, and put Rainbow in between her and the lockers. “Watch your mouth, Brit.”

“What are you going to do about it? You may act tough, but I know you’re really a coward.”

Sunset pulled her arm back, and Rainbow barely had enough time to duck and roll out of the way before she heard Sunset’s fist make contact with the lockers, hard. The grunt of pain Sunset made was all the warning Rainbow needed, and she ran like her life depended on it. She ran a good two hallways away before stopping to listen for Sunset. As expected, no sound of Sunset. Heh, coward. Rainbow continued on her way. She only had a few remaining minutes before class.

The grocery store

Date: Oct 24th, time: 1:00 pm

*Emi’s perspective*

Emi sat on the aisle floor as Mom looked through the shelves for whatever. Sunset was sitting next to her, looking equally as bored. Anura and Aunt Minerva were elsewhere in the store, and Dad was with his co-workers, working on the Storm case. Emi wasn’t doing so hot because of the chemo, and Sunset was also looking a bit drained from getting her blood sucked out of her and emotionally drained. As much as none of them wanted to, food shopping needed to be done. At least Emi wasn’t feeling queasy. She was gloved and masked up and was staying away from people and not touching stuff.

At the end of the aisle, Emi saw a woman that creeped her out. She had a mohawk and a prosthetic arm but otherwise looked normal. She just had an off feeling about her. Emi tapped Sunset and signed, “Strange woman, fake arm.” and pointed to the end of the aisle. Sunset looked up and watched the end of the aisle like a hawk. After a while, she bared her teeth and snarled. Emi spun around and saw the woman again.

“Come on, girls.”, Mom said.

The two of them got up and followed their mother. They moved slowly, and Sunset and Emi both held onto their mother’s jacket. An uncomfortable feeling bubbled up in Emi’s stomach, and she pulled on Mom’s jacket.

“Wha’ is it, baby?”

“Ah gotta puke.”

“Okay. Sunset, c’n ya take yer siste’ ta da restroom?”

Sunset nodded, grabbed Emi’s hand, and led her to the restroom. Emi went into the nearest stall, removed her mask, and began emptying her stomach. When she was done and about to get up, the door to the restroom opened and another woman walked in. Looking under the stall, Emi recognized the strange woman’s shoes. Sunset was leaning against the outside of the stall and facing the woman. Emi cleaned up the best she could, put her mask back on, and exited the stall. She saw Sunset glaring at the woman with utter hatred. Emi felt her flight or fight response activating and something bubbling up through her skin. There was something dangerous about that woman. The woman seemed to flinch for a fraction of a second but quickly overcame the effects.

The woman gave them what looked like a kind smile on the surface but that stunk of evil. “Hey, little girls, where’s your mama?”, the woman said sweetly.

“Waiting for us.”, Sunset said coldly. She motioned with her head for Emi to wash her hands, so she tried to creep past Sunset.

“I think your mom left. Here, I’ll help you find her.”

The woman reached for Emi with her prosthetic arm, but Sunset scooped her up in a blink of an eye and ran out of the restroom. Sunset ran through the store until she found Mom and hid between her and the cart.

“Eh, wha’s wrong?”, Mom asked.

“Strange lady.”, Emi said. Sunset put her down, and Emi looked around Mom, searching for the strange lady.

“Okay, let’s hurry up. Ya two look like ya need some sleep.”

The two of them grabbed their mother’s jacket again and stayed glued to her hip the remainder of the trip. They met up with Aunt Minerva and Anura, and Mom gave them the signal that they had to hurry up. They headed to the check out and quickly left and headed out to the cars.

“She’s following us.”, Sunset pointed out as they loaded groceries in the car.

The strange woman was trying to hide between the cars and was getting uncomfortably close. Mom loaded Emi and Sunset in the car, and they watched as she told the Reads to leave and went to confront the lady.

“Can you hear them?”, Emi asked.

“Nope”, Sunset responded.

Mom and the woman were obscured by the cars but appeared to be having a civil discussion, from what they could see. Eventually, Mom came back to the car and started driving but not in the direction of home.

“Where are we going?”, Sunset asked.

“Home but da long way.”, Mom answered.

Sunset turned around in her seat and got a worried look on her face.

“What?”, Emi asked.

“We’re being followed.”

“Mom?”, Emi asked worriedly.

“We’ll be okay, baby. Jus’ gotta lose ‘er.”, Mom said.

Mom continued driving calmly, and Sunset kept watching behind them. Emi slumped in her seat, trying to not be seen. After what seemed like forever, they finally pulled into the garage.

“Is she gone?”, Emi asked.

“She should be.” Mom picked Emi out of the car and grabbed half the bags. Sunset grabbed the rest of the bags and followed them inside. Mom dropped the bags off in the kitchen, brought Emi upstairs, and laid her down in her bed. “Do ya want me ta close yer curtains?”

“Yes, please.”

Mom closed the curtains and put Tomiju on the bed then left. Emi cuddled up to Tomiju and tried to keep her stomach calm.

“This treatment better work. I don’t want to die.”, Emi said bitterly. “And fuck that lady.”

Katon family basement

Date: Nov 7th, time: 6:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Brigid handed Sunset the box of the .22s, and Sunset placed it in the bag and next to the lockbox that contained their .22 revolvers. Neither of them were partial to revolvers over semi-automatics, but revolvers have less complicated mechanisms and, thus, are better suited for the forest. The bag also contained their fishing knives, the med kit that can, more or less, keep them alive short of being shot through the heart or head, and various other wilderness survival tools. Next to the bag were their rifles in their drag bags. Once they had everything they’d need from the basement, they headed back upstairs and to the back door.

“We got clothes, food, weapons, n’ da tent. Sleepin’ bags n’ cookin’ stuff are in da car. Are we missing anything?”

“What about finishing gear? You said you were going to teach me to fish.”

“Dat’s da best part. Ah’m gonna teach ya ta fish without a pole.”

“What, ya mean like with pointy sticks?”

“Dat’s one a da ways.”, Brigid said with a devious smile, then turned towards the stairs. “Okay! We’re goin’ now!”

“See you in a couple days!”, Anzhong called back.

Emi sat on the couch as she played her video game and ignored Sunset and Brigid.

“Aren’t you going to say goodbye?”, Sunset asked.

“No, piss off.”, Emi barked.

Sunset looked at Brigid with a deadpan glare. Brigid’s devious smile only grew, and her eyes narrowed as she put on her shoes and picked up her share of the bags. “Okay, we’re off ta da dangerous woods where we might get killed by a moose, bear, or a Lyme disease carrying ticks. We might not make it back.”, Brigid announced to no one in particular.

Brigid began walking out the door, but Emi ran up to her and hugged her leg. “No! I’m sorry. I love you.”

“Good going, traumatize the crotch goblin into behaving.”, Sunset quipped.

Emi whipped her head around and shot Sunset a glare that would be scary if it wasn’t coming from someone smaller than many dog breeds. “You can die in the woods.”

At first, Sunset was shocked but then laughed.

“Is huntin’ really that dangerous?”, Emi asked Brigid.

“It can be. Dat’s why we have dis huge med kit n’ a radio n’ ya need ta wait until y’re a teen ta come with.”

“Then don’t die.”, Emi said with a scowl.

“So, that’s how it is. You care about Mom, but I’m just chopped liver.”, Sunset said with a huff as she crossed her arms.

Sunset felt Emi hug her and looked down to see Emi looking at her with puppy dog eyes. “Pweez, don’t die.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or just messing with me.”

“Then I’ve done my job.”, Emi said with a smile, then happily walked back to the couch.

Sunset looked at Brigid with a ‘you made that’ look, and Brigid just smiled. Sunset put her shoes on and grabbed her share of the bags, and they headed out to the car, got loaded up, drove into the forest, parked and hiked deeper in, yada yada. They hiked until they were near a lake and had enough space to set up camp.

Even with Sunset’s inexperience, the setup was quick. They set aside the shovel for later, strung up their food bag, and the tent was designed so you just extended the legs and pulled it open. The tent was small, giving them just enough room for themselves and their bags.

“Okay, ya ready to go?”

Sunset hammered in the last peg into the dirt and tossed the mallet back into the tent bag and the tent bag into the tent. She then grabbed her drag bag, attached her side holster and knife to her legs, loaded and holstered her revolver, and got her hip bag with her water bottle and filter on. “Ready”

“Let’s go den.” Brigid grabbed the cooler bag, and they began the short walk to the lake. They placed their bags against some rocks, and Brigid led Sunset to the edge.

“So, how are we going to fish without any fishing equipment?”

“Well, let’s first examine how fishin’ works. Why do we use each piece a’ equipment, n’ how does it work?”

“Ugh, you sound like Celestia.”

“Well, as different as we are, we are just as similar.”

“You are kinda like a fusion between Celestia and my bio-mom.”

“Dat’s likely why ya were able ta adapt ta life ‘ere so well.”

“What? Explain.”, Sunset said with narrowed eyes.

“It’s simple. Dere is comfort in familiarity. In stressful times, we cling ta things dat are familiar. Dat is why we have comfort foods. Ah reminded ya a’ yer mum n’ Celestia, n’ even though ya left on bad terms, she’s still a source a’ comfort f’r ya.”

“And I had jus’ gone through one of the most stressful times of my life. That makes sense.”

“Now, back ta fishin’.”

“Fiiine. Okay, the pole allows us to reach deeper waters without getting wet, and they work by acting as extensions of our arms. The hooks are what actually catch the fish and work by impaling them with a barbed metal thing. The bait is what attracts the fish and works by wriggling, which is what the fish are attracted to.”

“Precisely. Now, wha’ do we have dat can do all dat?”, Brigid asked while wiggling her fingers.

“We’re going to catch them by hand.”, Sunset said with deadpan disbelief.

“Watch n’ learn, kid.”, Brigid said with a smirk and turned toward the water. She surveyed the water as Sunset sat on one of the surrounding rocks. Brigid crouched down, stuck her hand in the water, and waited in that position while wiggling her thumb. A couple minutes later, a huge fish sped up to eat her, and once it bit down, Brigid closed up her fist and pulled the fish out of the water.

“Holy crap! That worked! And it’s huge!”

Brigid brought the fish over to Sunset and pulled out her knife. “Do ya know what comes next?”

“Kill it?”

“Not quite. We have ta identify n’ measure it first. Dere’s a daily bag limit, n’ dey need ta be long enough, or we gotta throw ‘em back.”

“That explains why our blades have their length carved into them, but let me guess, there isn’t one standard size.”

“Yup, n’ some fish don’t even have limits, but we’ll cover dat late’. Fishy ‘ere ain’t havin’ a good time. So, dis is a togue, n’ deir minimum size requirement is eighteen inches.” Brigid placed her knife along the side of the fish while trying not to poke the squirmy thing. “Eight inches.” She then moved her knife to where the tip was; this time using the whole thing, not just the blade. “Twenty plus. Dis one’s a keepe’, n’ now, we kill it. Watch closely. Poor thing’s already been suffocatin’ long enough.”

Brigid took her thumb out of its mouth, grabbed its neck, placed it on a rock, took the butt of her knife, and hit it just above the eye. The fish stopped moving, and Brigid moved her hand further back then chopped its head off with a couple good whacks. “Wha’ Ah jus’ did was stun it with dat blow ta its brain n’ killed it via decapitation.”

“I take it we won’t be eatin’ the head.”

“Not, unless y’re one a’ does weirdos dat like it.”

Sunset made a confused face, looked down at the fish head then back up at Brigid. “Ew”

“Dat’s da correct response. In terms a’ disposal, dis is wha’ we do.” Brigid grabbed the head and launched it back into the lake.

“Ah, yes, traumatize the fishies. Make ‘em fear the all powerful stinky apes.”

“Hehehe, aw, ya sound like yer siste’. But in all seriousness, dey don’t care. Fish are smarter dan people give ‘em credit for, but not smart enough ta be traumatized or even recognize a decapitated head.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Good. Time f’r ya ta try. Come ‘ere.”

Sunset came closer to Brigid, and Brigid held her hand out in the same position she had it in earlier. It was in a loose thumbs up position where the thumb stuck up and the rest of the hand wasn’t fully closed. Sunset mimicked her, and Brigid inspected it.

“Looks good. Now, go tell dose fishes ta take it up da butt, n’ see which one gets mad enough ta bite.”

Sunset chuckled to herself and walked over to the water’s edge. She stuck her hand in and wiggled her thumb around. She kept at it for a while but no bites. “Hey, am I doing something wrong?”

“Maybe dey took some anger management classes.”

“Mom, be serio-Yaaow!” Sunset yanked her hand out of the water, flinging the fish behind her and onto the dirt. Sunset stuck her thumb in her mouth and whipped around to glare at the fish and Brigid, who was now inspecting it. “You didn’t tell me that would hurt.”

“Ah didn’t think Ah had ta. An animal is bittin’ yer thumb.” Brigid picked up the fish and brought it over to Sunset.

“How was I supposed to know fish have teeth?”, Sunset said as she got up.

“Wha’ else would dey have? Get yer blade out n’ take care a’ da fish before it suffocates.”

“I don’t know. I thought they just gobbled up anything small enough to fit into their mouths.”, Sunset said as she took her blade out and the fish from Brigid and lined the two up.

“Dat’s a brown trout, n’ it needs ta be at least fourteen inches. Fish need ta chew things like worms n’ smaller fish.”

“Teeth aren’t the first thing I think of when I think of fish, and this one’s seventeen inches.”

“Good, go ahead n’ kill it, n’ well, now ya know.”

Sunset rolled her eyes then repeated the same steps to kill the fish, except she only needed one swing to cut off its head due to its smaller size. She chucked the head back into the water and presented her kill to her mother.

“Very good. Let’s fill up on wate’ n’ get ‘em on ice n’ in a tree so we c’n go scavenging.” Brigid put both fish in the ice filled cooler bag, and they took their water bottles out, set up the filters, and stuck them in the water. The filters stuck into the opening of the bottles, so it was the same as filling them up normally, just a little slower. Once they’re bottles were filled, Brigid grabbed her drag bag, and Sunset resheathed her knife, picked up her drag bag, and followed Brigid back to the camp. They strung up the cooler bag where it would be out of the sun then started getting ready to go scavenging.

“Hey, Mom, why did ya learn to fish without a pole?”

“Dat is a fifteen year old story. Back in Florida, a kid in my class tried ta do wha’ yer fathe’ did but was unsuccessful. Durin’ one a’ his attempts ta break mo shell, he invited me ta go fishin’. As much as Ah disliked othe’ people, Ah hated bein’ home even more. So, I agreed. He n’ his dad took me ta deir favorite fishin’ spot, gave me a pole, n’ taught me da basics. Ya know how in comedic media whoeve’s da butt a’ da joke would end up catchin’ da back of deir pants n’ end up in da wate’?”

“Yeah”

“Well, Ah didn’t end up in da wate’, nor did Ah catch da back a’ mo pants. When Ah tried ta cast mo line, da hook ended up catchin’ me in da butt, n’ Ah mean it got stuck in dere.”

“Hold up, you’re saying you impaled yourself with a fish hook, in the butt?”, Sunset said with a chuckle at the mention of butts. Oh, Celestia, I’m too old to be laughing at people saying ‘butt’.

“Yeah, Ah had ta go ta da hospital ta get it surgically removed. Afte’ dat, Ah developed a slight phobia of anythin’ barbed.”

“Wait, it was the barbed part of it that stuck with ya?”

“Yeah, dat’s why it needed ta be surgically removed. Plus, Ah’m quite familiar with hay barrel hooks, so hooks don’t scare me anymore dan knives.”

“That’s not a mental image that will be leaving me any time soon.”, Sunset said as her chuckles died down.

“Good, dat will teach ya da be careful around fish hooks. Now, finish up gettin’ ready. Ah don’t wanna still be out once da sun goes down.”

Brigid grabbed a rucksack from the tent, and Sunset finished up bandaging the small cut on her thumb, and then they headed out, deeper into the woods. They kept their eyes to the ground as they looked for anything that wouldn’t poison them. Dandelion leaves were plentiful and quickly made up the majority of their harvest. It was too late in the year for fiddleheads, so they weren’t headed to their usual spot. The lambs quarters that grew in these woods were massive and, generally, still good at this time of year.

Crunch crunch crunch

Sunset’s head shot up in response to the sound, which caught Brigid’s attention.

“Wha’ is it?”

“I heard something.” Sunset stood up to her full height. If she was a pony, her ears would be swiveling in all directions, trying to locate the source. Sunset looked around, waiting for more sound, then the smell hit her nose, a smell that let her know exactly who she’s dealing with. The salty smell of sweat mixed with a sugary sweet smell, if it weren’t for the bacteria farts, she would’ve smelled kinda like a candy. “Pinkie Pie”, Sunset snarled.

“Wha’s dat?”

“Oh, it’s just anothe’ girl from school.” Sunset heard more crunching in the distance, and now, she could tell that there were several sets of bipedal feet. “Sounds like she’s here with others.”

“Probably anothe’ huntin’ party. We should go introduce ourselves.”

“What? Why? She’s annoying, and I don’t want to have to interact with her anymore then I half to.”

“It’s wise f’r hunte’s ta know if dere are any othe’ humans in an area. Lettin’ ‘em know we’re here reduces da chances a’ us shootin’ each othe’.”

“Isn’t that what this god awful color’s for?”, Sunset asked while pointing to her hat.

“One is good; both is bette’. Now, let’s go.”

Sunset huffed but led Brigid in the direction she heard Pinkie’s party. As they got closer, Sunset could clearly hear Pinkie talking, royally annoying her. Her irritation only grew when she saw Pinkie bouncing up and down and making that poinking sound. Pinkie was hiking along a trail with an adult woman and three other girls Sunset didn’t recognize. Strangely, the girl with the green-ish gray hair had splotches of lighter skin as opposed to her brown skin. “Y’re gonna scare all da deer away if ya don’t shut it.”, Sunset growled. “Ah man, are you wearing some really sugary perfume, or are you sweating sugar?”

“Oh, hi, Sunset.”, Pinkie said with a forced, uneasy smile. At least she stopped bouncing. “And I don’t know what you mean. I’m not wearing perfume.”

“Sunset, be nice.”, Brigid chided. “Sorry ‘bout mo daughte’. She takes hunin’ very seriously.”

“Thy’s daughter’s comment is forgiven. Although rude, her words were not unwarranted.”, the old woman said with a glare to Pinkie before turning back to Brigid. “Thy shall know me as Cloudy Quartz Pie. May I pertain as to thy’s name?” Cloudy was a black woman with green hair and eyes and wore more old-timey hunting gear than anyone else on the trail but still had the required bright orange vest and hat.

“Ah’m Brigid. Ah gotta say, Ah haven’t heard speak like dat outside a’ Macbeth.”

“Yeah, my parents are kinda old fashioned.”, Pinkie chimed in with.

That’s her mom? Sunset looked between them. The woman was so dull looking. She simply didn’t look like the kind of woman that could pop out that ball of energy shaped as a human.

“Indeed. These are my children, Maud Pie, Pinkamena Diane Pie, Marble Pie, and Limestone Pie.”

Maud looked at Sunset and Brigid blankly, Pinkie was still smiling awkwardly, Marble was trying to hide behind Pinkie, and Limestone was glaring at them. Normally, Sunset would be glaring back at her, but she was far more interested in Marble. I didn’t think a black n’ white kid could come out with splotchy skin. Is Pinkie adopted?”

“Thy accent is not of these parts. For where does thy hail from?”, Cloudy continued.

“Ah’m an Irish las, n’ mo daughte’s name is Sunset. She n’ Pinkie go ta school togethe’. We jus’ came ‘ere ta let ya know we’re also huntin’ in da area.”

“May thy hunt be bountiful, and may thy be safe.”

“Ya too. Come on, Sunset.”

“Wait, how come your skin’s like that?”, Sunset asked. Marble tried to hide further behind Pinkie, which confused Sunset, and an odd discomfort quickly permeated the area. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Marble has a condition called vitiligo. Dat means da cells dat produce melanin are dying, resulting in da pattern ya see.”, Brigid explained.

“Oh, is it a serious condition?”, Sunset asked Marble.

“It’s not life threatening, but she does have some issues with her sight.”, Pinkie answered when Marble didn’t.

“That answers my questions.” Sunset spun on her heels and started to march back into the forest, but Brigid stopped her.

“Sunset, dat’s not a proper goodbye.”

She really wanted to just go but knew that they weren’t going anywhere until she appeased Brigid. Sunset grumbled to herself and turned back around. “Goodbye. Pinkie, keep quiet.” Sunset once again turned on her heels and, this time, was able to retreat into the forest unimpeded.

“Teenagers”, Brigid commented before following.

The two headed back into the woods, Sunset trying to get far away from Pinkie. Once they were deeper in, they found deer tracks leading to a clearing. They found spots to hide, Sunset climbing up into a tree and Brigid finding a spot in the bushes, and they waited, but no deer showed up. The sun moved across the sky, and Sunset’s legs began making their displeasure known.

“Mom, my legs are hurtin’.”, Sunset said quietly.

“Yeah, mine too. We c’n start walkin’ again.”

The two of them got up or down from their spots, and Sunset shook the numbness from her legs.

“Do ya jus’ wanna head back ta camp? We have enough food for dinne’.”

“Sure”

The two of them turned around and headed back to camp, picking up firewood along the way. They laid their collected wood on the ground, and then Brigid grabbed the shovel and started digging a fire pit. “Go fill up da wate’ jug.”, Brigid instructed while pointing to the tent.

Sunset nodded, retrieved said jug and attachments from the tent, and headed down to the lake. She attached the pump and made sure the filter was fitted properly then stuck the filter end of the pump into the lake. As Sunset squeezed and released the squishy oval thing that made up the handle of the pump, water was brought up through the filter, up the tubing, and into the container. The container only holds about five gallons, but that was enough for the two of them, and lugging much more than that up a hill wasn’t easy for anyone other than a Mac Carthaigh giant.

As Sunset was packing up with a full jug, she heard another set of bipedal footsteps, ones too light to be Brigid’s. Looking to her left, she saw Maud crouching beside the lake, several meters away. Out of the four sisters, she had the darkest skin, which helped her to blend in with her surroundings. If she’d inherited her mother’s green hair, she would’ve had near perfect natural camouflage.

Shoot, this means they’re camping nearby. Sunset got up and scurried back into the forest before Maud could see her. She didn’t want to have any more interactions with Pinkie or her clan. She placed the water on the folding table Brigid had set up and joined her around the campfire. She had the fish cooking over the fire, and the greens were sitting mashed up, in a bowl, on the table.

“Pinkie’s party is camping nearby.”, Sunset informed.

“Okay, good ta know.”

Brigid eventually took the fish off the fire, plated them, then put the mashed up greens on as a dressing. She handed Sunset her plate, and the two sat and ate in silence, listening to the sounds of the forest. The sun slowly set over the mountains, and the stars blinked into existence. Before long, it was completely dark aside from the stars and the fire.

“The constellations here are different from the ones in Equestria.”, Sunset noted.

“Oh, wha’ ones ya got back in Equestria?”

“The Starswirl’s hat constellation, the Magnus arrow, the great plow, that sort of thing. I was never much of an astrologist.”

“Hm. -- What is it like ta use magic?”

“It’s… hard to explain. It’s a sense of power, like when your enemy is afraid of you, but it also exists as just a part of your body. You don’t notice it unless you focus on it. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“How do ya use magic?”

“There are two parts to magic: imagination and power. You first imagine what you want to happen, the more accurately you can picture it the better. Then you extend your own magic to interact with the magic in the atmosphere and use that to exert your will over reality. There are a lot of set spells that make forming the mental image easier, but ultimately, it’s up to your mind.”

“Sounds like aphantasia would make performing magic impossible.”

“What’s that?”

“Aphantasia is da inability ta create mental imagery. Basically, if ya or Ah think of an apple, we c’n picture it in our minds, but someone with aphantasia c’n’t. At best, dey c’n picture a vague idea a’ an apple.”

“Yeah, that would make using magic impossible.”

“Dere’s also a condition called hyperphantasia, which is da opposite. Someone with hyperphantasia c’n imagine very vividly.”

“That would be very handy for a spell caster.” Sunset thought for a moment and looked back down at her plate. The only thing that remained of her food were little bits of the plant mush, but if she tried, she could mentally recreate it, down to every char mark and little bit of the sauce. This is something she could do since she was a foal. It never occurred to her that this might be anything out of the ordinary. Why would she? “Mom, do you have either of these conditions?”

“Yeah, Ah have hyperphantasia. Though, it expresses itself more through sound than image. Ah c’n trick myself inta thinkin’ Ah heard somethin’ when Ah hadn’t. Da only way Ah c’n tell da difference is dat da fake sounds come from inside mo ear.” Brigid turned to Sunset and took her plate. “Ya think ya have it too?”

“Yeah, I’m not sure if it’s a pony thing or just a me thing.”

Brigid placed the dishes in one of those plastic storage boxes, put some soap and water in it, and started doing the dishes. “Well, considerin’ wha’ ya told me ‘bout magic, it sounds like dat’s why ya were so good at it, alongside yer power. Ah’d bet it’s a you thing.” Brigid rinsed the dishes and set them out to dry before retaking her seat. “It wouldn’t surprise me if y’d find a highe’ percentage a’ ponies with hyperphantasia at Celestia’s school dan in da general population.”

“That does make sense. What’s the percentage on Earth?”

“Two point five f’r hyperphantasia n’ four percent for aphantasia.”

“Okay, I’ll add that to the list.”

“Wha’ list?”

“I have a mental list of studies I wanna conduct once I can open up travel between the worlds.”

“Ah would also be interested in runnin’ some studies once dat happens.”

Sunset nodded, and the two went back to watching the forest and sky until it was time to go to bed. The two of them put out the fire, crawled into the tent and into their respective bags, and fell asleep quickly. Way too early for Sunset’s liking, the sun woke them up by shining through the tent. Sunset tried to ignore it and tried to go back to sleep, but Brigid had other ideas and stomped out of the tent and started stomping around the campsite. That woman either didn’t know the meaning of ‘quietly’ or didn’t care, probably the latter. The sound of food being made was enough to coax Sunset out of the tent.

Brigid had a fire going with food cooking and the coffee pot heating up. She lifted up the pot, and Sunset grabbed two cups and sat down. Brigid pressed the filter down and poured them each a cup. Sunset sipped away as she slowly woke up. Brigid plated their food and handed Sunset’s hers.

After eating, and other morning stuff, they cleaned and packed up and headed back into the woods. Sunset began sniffing for deer and led them in the direction she thought it was. As they got closer, she could hear something munching on foliage. They hid behind a tree, and the munching came from somewhere behind it.

“Hear munch behind.”, Sunset signed and pointed in the direction.

They crept around the tree but never got to raise their rifles as it wasn’t a deer that was the source of the sound. A full grown bull moose was facing them straight on from just a few dozen meters away. Lucky, they’d just emptied their bowels less than an hour ago and quickly hid back behind the tree. They waited for a few seconds, listening for angry moose sounds, which there were luckily none of, before getting the fuck out of there.

“So, that’s what moose smells like. Good ta know.”, Sunset said once they were well away from the 1,500 pound beast of angry death.

“Ya remember wha’ Ah told ya ‘bout ‘em?”, Brigid asked.

“Don’t fuck with ‘em if ya wanna keep on livin’ or got a tank. Actually, jus’ use da tank ta get away.”, she said in her best (bad) Brigid impression.

“Haha, bingo”

With Sunset now being able to distinguish between moose and deer by scent, she led them far away from any trace of those angry murder machines. They hiked around until they found deer tracts.

“Dey’re fresh.”

They raised their rifles and followed the tracts, staying low and around the bushes. They soon found a real old buck, judging by the size of his antlers. The dogs were going to eat well. The deer hadn’t noticed them yet, so they stayed still and quiet as they aimed. Brigid got off a shot first, and the deer dropped. They got up from their hiding spot and examined the deer. It was dead with a hole going through its head.

“Do ya wanna give thanks?”, Brigid asked.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Jus’ say wha’ comes ta mind. It’s ‘bout respect, not da specific words.”

Sunset placed her hand over its eyes and closed hers. “You lived a good life, and now your time has come. May your soul move on knowing you played your role.”

Brigid grabbed Sunset’s shoulder, causing her to look at her, and gave her a soft smile. “Very good.”

They tagged it, got up, Brigid pulled the tarp out of her bag, and they got it under the deer and dragged it back to camp. They found a strong, sturdy branch near but too close to their tent and strung the buck up.

“Are we gonna dress it down here?”, Sunset asked.

“We’re jus’ gonna get da skin off den take it home tomorrow.”

“Aren’t you worried that a bear will snatch it?”

“One might, dat’s why we’re hangin’ it away from camp, but it’s unlikely, especially with da tarp coverin’ it. Most predators won’t eat somethin’ dey didn’t kill demself f’r fear a’ germs n’ bacteria. Dey have no idea when it died or wha’ killed it n’ c’n’t cook it.”

“Okay”

They got to skinning, taking extra care to get all the fur off since they didn’t have a hose. Once the buck was nakeder than the day it was born, they wrapped it up, and Brigid gave Sunset the ‘stay’ gesture and disappeared back to the tent. She soon returned with the shovel and picked up the skin. “Ah’m gonna go bury dis. Could ya go get us some fish? Dere’s a book with all the size n’ bag limits n’ crap like dat in mo backpack’s outte’ pocket.”

“Sure”

Brigid disappeared into the woods, and Sunset headed back to the tent. She grabbed Brigid’s backpack and searched for the book. She found it, Maine Fishing Reference Guide, 2005, and inside, there were a couple pages dedicated to each fish. One page had a picture of the fish, its name, information on where they could be found, and nutritional facts and taste, and the next page had bag and size limits and tips on how to catch them. Sunset memorized the pictures and the bag and size limits, stuffed the book in her bag, then grabbed the cooler and headed down to the lake.

Once at the shore, Sunset crouched by the water line and stuck her hand in the water. The fish were less keen on biting this day, even as Sunset wiggled her thumb. It was already noon, so Sunset was getting inpatient. “Come on fishy. Bite down so Ah can eatcha.” The fish seemingly listened to her as she got a bite. She pulled it out and identified it as a togue. She didn’t need to pull her knife out to measure it. It was clearly too small. Sunset grumbled to herself as she pulled the fish off her thumb and threw it back into the water.

“Any luck?!”

Sunset spun around and saw Brigid coming out of the woods. “I got a bite, but it was too short!”

Brigid joined Sunset by the water’s edge and crouched down next to her. “Well, we jus’ gotta keep goin’.” Brigid stuck her hand in the water, and only a few minutes later, she got a bite. She pulled it out, and just by looking at it, you could see it was over the size limit. Even with that, Brigid still measured it before chopping its head off.

“You have a way with nature.”

“Nah, Ah’m jus’ experienced. Y’ll get it. Now, go on.”

Sunset stuck her hand back into the water and tried again. Within a couple minutes, she got a bite, and it was a big one. Sunset pulled out her knife, and it was twenty-four inches. Sunset gleefully stunned it and whacked off its head. “See, you being around improves even my results. You gotta have some sort of power.”

Brigid rolled her eyes with a ‘how cute’ smile, clearly not believing Sunset. “Ya’ve only gone fishin’ without me once n’ only fished with me twice. Ah don’t think dat’s a large enough data pool ta say somethin’ like dat.”

“Fine then,” Sunset gave Brigid her fish and chucked the head into the water, “I’ll continue fishing while you cook lunch. You should be far enough away not to affect my results.”

“Okay, okay.” Brigid got up and took the fish back to camp.

Sunset waited until Brigid was beyond the tree line before trying again. As the minutes ticked by, no matter how much Sunset tried to make her thumb look like a yummy worm, no fish were biting. Maybe I’m trying too hard. Sunset let her hand just rest in and move with the water. After several more minutes of this approach, Sunset finally got a bite, but it was puny. Sunset threw it back and tried again. The calmer method seemed to work better as Sunset got another bite after a few more minutes, but just like the last one, it was tiny.

“Sunset! Food’s ready!”, Brigid called out.

Sunset threw the fish back and ran back to camp. Brigid was plating their food which consisted of the fish, some greens, freeze dried fruit, and rehydrated mealworms. Sunset grabbed her plate and sat down next to Brigid.

“How’d yer fishin’ go?”

“Badly. Ah only got a couple bites, and they were- Too bad there aren’t any guys here. I could’ve made a joke.”

“So, not well, Ah take it.”

“Yeah”

“Keep practicing. Y’ll get bette’.”

“Or you got more magic in you than ya think.”

Brigid shrugged and continued eating. Sunset was annoyed she didn’t believe her but knew there was no way she would convince her without solid evidence. It was undoubtedly a good treat, but boy, could it be annoying.

“Mom, does your side of the family have any sorta history with strange abilities?”

“Not dat Ah know, but both sides do seem ta have a strong history a’ becomin’ ghosts. Ah wonde’ if dat will happen ta me.”

“I think that has more ta do with the strong emotions everyone was feeling rather than some sort of genetic predisposition.”

“If strong emotions were all it was ta it, Ah’d imagine we’d hear ‘bout a lotta more ghosts.”

“So what, some people have a predisposition to becoming ghosts?”

“Somethin’ like dat, n’ it might have a link ta location. Ya know how da Canter Valley n’ da surroundin’ mountains n’ forests are considered da most haunted places in all a’ Maine?”

“Yeah, top ten in tha whole country.”

“Well, eve’ since ya bashed me ove’ da head with da whole “magic bein’ real” thin’, Ah’ve been lookin’ inta da history a’ weird events n’ psychics dis place has. Unfortunately, Ah’m pretty sure anyone with any real abilities are tryin’ ta keep deir heads low, like us, so dat’s been a bit of a bust, but sightin’s a ghosts, UFOs, n’ all dat stuff sharply goes up within dese mountains, n’ Ah’m not sure dat portal bein’ here is a coincidence. How much do ya know ‘bout it?”

“Not much. Records of it were few and damaged. I do know that Celestia only came into possession of it about seventy years ago and it can’t be older than four hundred years old because the materials used to create it only became available to us then.”

“How could documents ‘bout when it was acquired be damaged in only seventy years?”

“An unfortunate accident, one I wasn’t a part of. I wasn’t even born when it happened.”, Sunset defended before continuing. “Any experiments involving interdimensional doorways are highly regulated, for obvious reasons, and I couldn't find any records of any being done on the mirror. That doesn’t they didn’t happen. That just means that, if they did happen, the only records of such are in Celestia’s head.”

“Ah hope she’s got a good memory.”

“Oh, she’s got spells for that. On that note, I’m not even sure if she knows who created it.”

“Well, da statue was commissioned n’ put in place in nineteen-o-two ta commemorate da fifty year anniversary a’ da openin’ a’ da new school. Ah couldn’t find who da artist was though.”

“The artist doesn’t necessarily have ta be the one to have turned the statue into a portal. It’s just more likely.”

“Wait, how was da portal created?”

“Fixed portals like that are typically made by anchoring a teleportation spell to a physical object. That begs the question, how or who anchored the portal to the statue and why?”

“Ah’d wager it was a forme’ membe’ a’ da school staff. A student would’ve more likely have made it somewhere indoors. Kids are more like cockroaches whereas adults are better at hidin’ in plain sight.”

“Okay, then how and why?”

“Given dis place’s weird history goes back ta before it was colonized, Ah’d say said weirdness somehow allowed da portal ta be created. Maybe someone from one a’ our worlds managed ta make contact with da othe’, n’ dey worked tagethe’ ta make da portal ta visit each othe’.”

“That does sound plausible and like something a human would do, pony, eh, maybe. Humans are a more adventurous species than ponies.”

“Remember, da people a’ dis nation, da majority a’ humans ya’ve been exposed ta, are descendants a’ explorers n’ frontiersmen, very adventurous people.”

“So what, the American people have some sort of adventuring gene?”

“In a sense.” Brigid grabbed their plates and cleaned them.

The portal is hidden well. Who would randomly touch the base of a statue, but with humans, it’s not a matter of ‘who?’ but ‘when someone will stumble into it’, and times that by hundreds of teenagers. Then again, there were far fewer kids going to school there a hundred years ago, but that’s still many dumb, random kids. Yet, it clearly worked, so far. I will be going there next year. Maybe I can find employee records from that time. Nineteen-o-two to nineteen-thirty-two, not that long of a time, for humans.

Outside CHS

Date: Oct 30th, time: 3:00 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

Forest doesn’t have any extracurricular activities, so she should be out any minute now. Sunset leaned against the statue in front of the high school and grabbed a pouch of candy blood from her bag. To the untrained eye or to someone that doesn’t regularly donate, it looks like an actual blood bag, but look closely enough and you’ll see the word ‘cherry’ on the label. Students began coming out the front doors and most were in costume since tomorrow was Saturday. At least one good thing came out of watching that garbage Dusk movie, depending on who you ask, and that was Sunset knew how to pull off a self-loathing, modern vampire. She’d never let it down if she was seen by another thestral, but luckily, the only other one is blind, unless Emi’s one. Is she one? She does have gray fur. Though, that’s not a thestral only trait.

Sunset spotted Forest, opened the clip, and inserted the tube into her mouth. She waited until Forest spotted her before beginning to drink. Forest’s eyes went wide, and she looked around at the other students. Some of the other students were looking at Sunset, but since it was the day before Halloween, they didn’t question the blood bag.

Forest scurried up to Sunset and whispered so quietly that a normal human probably wouldn’t have heard her. “What are you doing? You’re gonna get exposed.”

“What, can’t a woman enjoy her treat as she waits for her boyfriend?”

“Not with…” Forest waved her hands around, for what reason, Sunset couldn’t decipher, “that.”

“Hey, Sunset.” Flash came from around Forest, all dressed up in his own angsty vampire costume. He even had glittery face stuff. “That looks good.”

Sunset took the tube out from her mouth and gave it to Flash. Flash took it in his mouth and took a good, long sip. Forest balked at what she saw, looking between them and the few students still around. Sunset decided to up the ante and leaned into Flash’s neck and gave him a lick, which she quickly regretted. The glittery stuff tasted bad. At least Flash seemed to enjoy it. Sunset suppressed her disgust and looked back at Forest with a devious look. She could see Forest’s brain blue screening behind her eyes. Forest left quickly, probably from having her brain short-circuited. Flash let go of the tube to watch Forest retreat. As soon as she was far enough away, they broke out laughing.

“Hahaha, now that’s how you deal with the annoying weird kid.”, Flash said. “Hm, that stuff tastes good.”

“Yeah, it’s cherry flavored.” Sunset took the collar of her jacket and used it to try and scrape away the glittery stuff. “Are your sparkles plastic or biodegradable?”

“I don’t know. My mom got it for me.”

“You should only use biodegradable glitter. The plastic stuff becomes microplastics in the ocean and is jus’ more dangerous for humans in general, especially if it gets in the eyes. Actually, you should make sure none of the body wash or other hygiene products you use don’t have those tiny plastic beads in them.” The two of them began their walk to Sunset’s house as they continued talking.

“Why would hygiene products have tiny plastic beads?”

“The reason given is that they’re for exfoliating, but I don’t think they actually do anything, and they’re really bad for the environment either way.”

“Okay, got it, no tiny plastic beads.”

“Good” Sunset resumed drinking her candy blood as they walked. She could still feel some glitter on her tongue which poked into it. She was uncomfortable.

Emi’s room

Date: Nov 15th, time: 3:00 pm

*Emi’s perspective*

“Come on. Hurry up.”, Emi complained.

“The more you whine, the longer this will take.”, Sunset said. “Stupid, fucking, flawed piece of softwear.”, Sunset swore as she tried to make the video call work. “Okay, got it.” Sunset stepped back from the computer, and Rynin’s face popped up on the screen.

Emi flipped her mic down and scooted closer to her desk. “Hey, Rynin.”

“Hey, Emi.”

“Can you two hear each other?”, Sunset asked.

“Yup”, Emi answered.

“Great, then I’m off.” Sunset left Emi’s room, leaving the two of them to their business.

“Whatcha been up to?”, Emi asked.

Rynin disappeared from the camera view for a moment before coming back with an odd looking Freaky High doll. “I customize dolls now.”

“Customize, wha’ do ya mean?”

“Well, I strip away the factory paint, hair, and clothes then give them a new face and hair and make them new clothes. Once I’m old enough, I want to make body modifications. I’ll give them new legs and skulls. That kind of stuff.”, Rynin explained calmly, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Huh, I was wondering why you’re friends with me. Turns out you’re just as messed up as I am.”

“What?”

“Did ya hear wha’ came outa your mouth. Ya sound like a deranged plastic surgeon.”

Rynin stayed quiet for more than a moment before finally speaking. “Huh, I guess I kinda do.”

“So, wha’ kinda dolls have ya made?”

Rynin disappeared again and reappeared with more dolls. They were from Freaky High and Fairytale High. “I started out just making them look like nicer versions of themselves, but I’ve started to make my own characters.” Rynin held up a doll that clearly had originally been one of the werewolf characters from Freaky High. Though, she now had a pair of butterfly wings on her back. “This is Venessa. I was thinking, “What if different monster species reproduced?” and then created her.”

“So, she’s a werewolf fairy?”

“Exactly” Rynin put the doll down. “How are things going for you?”

“The docs are trying some new treatment. It doesn’t feel great. Oh, in a couple weeks, we’ll be volunteering at the soup kitchen for the Festival of Hecate.”

“What’s the Festival of Hecate?”

“Hecate’s the goddess of witchcraft, and as witches, it’s our duty to help those society has failed, and the Festival of Hecate is the holiday dedicated to that.”

“I never thought of witches as volunteering types.”

“Blame the church. We used to be doctors and teachers, the people you’d go to for help, but then a bunch of outsiders came, saw us using magic, called us devil worshipers, and tried to wipe us out and ruined our image.”

“Oh”, Rynin said sadly. “You and your family are cool.”

“Thanks. You’re cool too.”

Canterville Soup Kitchen

Date: Nov 30th, time: 6:00 pm

*Minerva’s perspective*

The Festival of Hecate could be best summed up as ‘help those that have been neglected by society’. As the goddess of witchcraft, Hecate was rather unconventional. She dedicated her life to helping others, and now, her followers take this day to help others. That is what the Mac Carthaighs did now. The clan members that were big enough helped with the cooking while their pint sized members played gofers.

“Chugga chugga choo choo, the carrot train is coming through.”, Emi announced as she and Anura worked together to carry a big bag of carrots. “Here ya go, Daddy.”

“Thank you, sweety.” Anzhong took the bag from the girls, and they ran off to help somewhere else.

Minerva chuckled to herself as she stirred the soup. She kept forgetting that half her family weren’t 100% human. They just acted so human. Granted, she wasn’t the best example of a normal human. Maybe that was it. Maybe strange was so normal for her that having an alien unicorn niece or a half fox spirit BIL and goddaughter just weren’t weird enough to really register. Whatever the reason was, it was now just one of those things you don’t really think about until you randomly remember it and go ‘oh yeah’.

Brigid came in with a cutting board filled with chopped broccoli. It wasn’t the freshest, but that’s why it’s called a soup kitchen. Brigid once called it “Da same idea as English cooking but done right”. As Minerva thought, her mind drifted to the night she returned from service, all alone and scared. She was in a situation many had found themselves in before and that not all had enough hope to come out of alive. In all likelihood, she might have done what many had done before if it weren’t for Brigid. In that moment before the phone call, she had nothing to live for.

“Hey, Brigid.”

Brigid lifted her head up from her task and looked at Minerva quizzically.

“Remember back when I called you for help when I got back, why were you so willing to help me? You didn’t even know who I was, and all I needed to say was that I couldn’t drive.”

“Call it big sis instincts. Ah was basically da oldest a’ twelve. Plus, in rural places, like where Ah’m from, ya don’t question why someone needs yer help. Ya jus’ help ‘em because ya know y’ll need deir help in da future.”

“So basically, everything in your upbringing told you to come and help me.”

“Dat sums it up well, n’ look at us now.”

Minerva smiled warmly at Brigid, but the sweet moment was cut off by loud swearing from Sunset.

“Ya okay, baby?”, Brigid asked.

“Uuugh, this is tha third time this thing has slipped! It's duller than a flat Earther! How do you even sharpen one of these?”

“Here, Ah’ll show ya.”

Brigid went over to help Sunset, and Minerva shook her head. She’d gotten used to Brigid’s, and by extension her girls’, level of swearing but still wasn’t a fan of it. Minerva took the pot off the heat and brought it to the line. A couple of volunteers were working the serving line, so she just had to put the soup on the warmer.

“Hello, Minerva.”

“Hello, Mr. Greenhooves, how are things going?”

“Pretty good, all things considered.”

“That’s good. You’re looking healthier.”

“Yeah, I found this organization that’s helping me get a job.”

“I hope you find success.”

Mr. Greenhooves tilted his hat to Minerva with a smile on his face and took his food to one of the tables. Minerva went back to the kitchen and began cleaning her work station. Sunset and Brigid were back to their own work, and neither were swearing, so everything was going well. A small smile crept onto Minerva’s face. It wasn’t perfect, but she was content with her life and loved. That’s what matters.

Yakuza’s house

Date: Dec 14th, time: 8:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

“You know what you need to do?”, Sunset asked.

A young yakuza member, wearing typical clothing for a delivery boy, stood in front of her, holding the bomb. It was disguised as a perfectly normal looking package with Sunset having put in a good deal of effort to make it look real. Can’t have Storm suspecting something before it was boom time. “Yeah, deliver the package then get out of there quickly. A trained monkey could do this.”

“We ain’t got a monkey, so we’re stuck with you.”

The young yakuza member rolled his eyes and headed out to his car. Sunset headed out to where Brigid and Anzhong were waiting and climbed into their car. Brigid was in her normal clothes, but Sunset and Anzhong were bundled up in heavy coats, balaclavas that only showed their eyes, sunglasses, and their other usual winter crap, nothing they cared about if it got ruined. Brigid drove them to the docks, and Sunset, Anzhong, and Kiba climbed out. The three of them headed to a fishery and got some fish so they could say they had a legitimate reason to be in the area.

With wrapped up fish in hand, they stood in the back alley behind the Storm building. A side alley led from the street to the back alley, letting Sunset peer around the corner and see the young yakuza member walk to the front door and later away. She grabbed the destination device and flipped open the cover. Her heart was pounding, but Sunset took long, slow breaths to try and calm it. She gave them a couple minutes to get the package deeper into the building then pressed the button. A resounding boom came from within the building, startling Kiba. The bomb wasn’t powerful enough to shake walls, but the sound of shattering glass could be heard, but there was a slight problem. A man with white hair burst through a side door and collapsed in the alley. He was breathing but was burned, bleeding, and overall in bad shape. Sunset tugged on Anzhong’s sleeve and stashed the detonator, and they quickly approached.

“Eric Storm?”, Sunset asked.

“Who’s asking?”, he wheezed out.

He’s not going to die soon enough. Sunset looked around and saw some rebar leaning against the neighboring building’s wall, in a pile of other assorted garbage. She grabbed it, kicked up the snow around where it was, and brought it back over. She kneeled over the man that made her fear for the safety of her family and raised the rebar over her head. There was no fear in his eyes, only spite. Sunset drove it into his neck, noting how similar it was to stabbing an orange but with some added hard stuff. He began to gargle and sputter but the look in his eyes never changed. She jostled it around until a satisfactory amount of blood was spurting out and his eyes lost that spark of life.

Blood now covered her clothes, so Sunset grabbed the wound site as if she was trying to stop the bleeding. Sirens could be heard in the distance, and Sunset had to fight the urge to bolt. Maybe it was that she just blew up a building or just killed a man, but Sunset’s body was shaking. It wasn’t shivering. She wasn’t cold. She was probably just coming down from an adrenaline rush, but boy, was it unpleasant. She was glad she never had to deal with this as a pony.

“Is he dead?”, Anzhong asked.

“Yes”, Sunset said without a hint of emotion in her voice.

Anzhong and Kiba stepped over the body and walked out to the street. Once the sirens came close enough, he began waving his arms. The cop cars and ambulance stopped in front of him. “Over here! Somebody’s hurt!”, Anzhong shouted.

Sunset schooled her face to something more freaked out before the paramedics got out. They rushed over, and Sunset stepped back from the body, letting the paramedics do their thing. It only took a couple seconds for them to know he’s dead. Sunset walked around them and over to Anzhong and took his hand.

“Okay, could you both remove your face coverings and show ID.”, the cop said.

The two of them removed their balaclavas and glasses, and Anzhong pulled out his ID. “I’m fourteen, no ID.”, Sunset said.

“Okay, so what happened?”, the officer asked Sunset.

Sunset held her hands out in front of her with her palms up, telling the officer’s subconscious that she had nothing to hide, and moved them to more animatedly tell her story. “We were doing some shopping when we heard the explosion, and we were about to run when we heard that guy stumble out and fall in the snow. He had that thing in his neck, and I tried to stop the bleeding, but he didn’t make it.”

“I see. What’s your name?”

“Sunset Shimmer.”

The officer nodded and turned to Anzhong, but he already had his card out. “Oh, prosecutor.” The officer took it and placed it in his wallet.

“We know the routine. We’ll be awaiting your call.”, Anzhong said.

“Alright, you’re free to go.”

Anzhong put his glasses back on and led them away from the scene. Sunset pulled out her phone and texted Brigid that they needed a pick up. They stopped on a corner a couple blocks away and waited. Brigid soon arrived and picked them up.

“Uhg, dat’s gonna be a pain ta clean.”, Brigid said, referring to Sunset’s jacket.

“At least it’s my snow jacket.”

“Yeah, but it’s likely gonna have a red tint ta it.”

“I can live with that.”

Canterlot Police station

Date: Dec 17th, time: 2:00 pm

*Anzhong’s perspective*

Kiba led Anzhong into the interview room where he could smell the two detectives. One needed a shower, and the other needed to use less cologne.

“Hello, Mr. Katon, Ms. Shimmer. Please, take a seat.”, the officer needing a bath said.

Anzhong and Sunset sat in the provided seats and waited for one of the detectives to ask a question. He laid his cane against the table and hands on it. His hands were currently on their sides but ready to be flipped palms up when he started talking.

“So, Mr. Katon, you and your daughter were, eh, witness to the bombing that took place on the fourteenth, at the docks?”, officer cologne asked.

“Yes, we were.”

“Ms. Shimmer, could you describe what you saw?”

“I didn’t see anything. We were behind the building when the bomb went off.”

“I see. Mr. Katon, are you aware of the identity of the man that died?”

“No, I am not.”

“The man’s name was Eric Storm, leader of the Storm gang, went by the moniker of Storm King.”

“Sounds like he had quite the ego.”, Sunset remarked.

“I see. As unfortunate as his passing is, I can not say that I’m particularly saddened by the news.”, Anzhong said, choosing to ignore Sunset’s comment.

“So, you know nothing else?”

“I’m sorry we can’t help you any further.”

“Thank you for your time.”

Anzhong and Sunset got up and left quickly.

“You did well.”, Anzhong said as soon as they were back in the car.

“I’m starting to hate police stations as much as I hate hospitals.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“So, now that Storm’s leader is taken care of, could you guys call off Washi?”

“We’ll talk ‘bout it.”, Brigid said.

Emi’s room

Date: Jan 20th, time: 3:15 pm

*Anura’s perspective*

“Emi, what are you doing?”, Anura asked.

“Teaching Tomiju how to read.” Emi sat on the floor with Tomiju in between her legs and a children’s book in her hands. Tomiju was looking at the book, but Anura knew she didn’t actually comprehend what was in it.

“But she’s a dog. Dogs can’t read.”

“That’s only because no one ever bothered to teach them how.”

Anura just shook her head. She wasn’t going to change her mind. “Hey, Emi, I need some help.”

Emi closed the book and placed it beside her then wrapped her arms around Tomiju. “What’s up?”

Anura sat down in front of Emi and took off her backpack. “It’s medieval day next week, and I don’t want to go as just another princess.”

“Plague doctor!”, Emi shouted in excitement.

“That’s about what I was thinking. Can you help me with that?”

Instead of giving an answer, Emi got up from her seat and pulled her computer from her desk. After typing something, she turned the computer to Anura. “What do you want to look like?”

Anura took the computer, which had pictures of plague doctors on the screen. They ranged from realistic to cutesy cartoons. “My black overcoat could make up the majority of the costume, and we could get a white bird mask easily. That just leaves the hat and accessories.”

“Sunset can help us with that.” Emi jumped up, and Anura followed her to Sunset’s room.

Sunset and Flash were laying on her couch and the floor, respectively, playing a game of chess. Sunset had a rice sock on her pelvis, making it clear why she wasn’t at the rink. Despite how calm they both were, Anura could sense some tension between them.

“Sunset! Sunset! We need a big black hat and a creepy cane.”, Emi said.

“For what?”, Sunset asked warily.

“Anura wants to go as a plague doctor for medieval day, at school.”

“And where do I fit into this?”

“Those are both items you can get us.”

“Hm, possibly. The hat’s easy; a black, large brimmed fedora would suffice. However, it’s nowhere near Halloween. You can check in my wardrobe and boxes for a cane.”

Emi scurried over to the boxes Sunset kept under her stairs, and Anura could hear boxes rustling. Anura followed her and began to help with the search. The boxes were filled with game console parts, random nick-nacks, books, and old costume parts.

“Jeeze, Sunset, don’t you throw anything out?”, Anura asked.

“Hey, those are still useful.”

“Your Read Along with Me books, from when you were learning English?” Anura held up one of the books in question to emphasize her point.

“I do plan on having kids.”

“But you’re- oh, never mind.” Anura put the book back with the rest and closed the box back up.

“Mom said it’s a symptom of her growing up in poverty. She also said we’re lucky she doesn’t hoard food. Instead, she just eats it all.”, Emi jabbed.

“Can it, short fry, or Ima eat you.”

Emi stuck her tongue out at Sunset and went back to searching. “Found something.” Emi pulled out a white cane with a simple white dome on top. “Why do you even have this thing?”

“Specifically for this reason.”

“Fair, can we borrow some of your black paint?”

“Yeah, go ahead, but you can’t borrow paint. There is no possible way to return it in its original state once you’re done.”

“Can we use some of your black paint?”

“Just grab it and get out already.”, Sunset said flatly.

Emi ran out of Sunset’s room, grabbing a DIY Depo sample container of black paint and brush as she left. Anura followed her, and they went out to the back porch. Emi lathered the top of the cane with the paint until it was covered in a gloppy mess. “Take this somewhere else.” Emi then handed Anura the cane. Anura was confused but complied. She took it off the porch while being careful to not get the paint on anything. Emi hopped off the porch, grabbed the hose, and sprayed the area where she painted down. “Where should we put that?”

“Um” Anura looked around and considered her options. Placing it on the ground would get grass and dirt in the paint. She couldn’t leave it on the porch in case it dripped. “Is there something we can put this on, like some paper towels?”

“Hang on, I’ll go get some.” Emi ran inside, leaving Anura holding the cane. She soon returned with a roll of paper towels and laid out a line of them. Anura brought the cane over and laid it on the paper towels. “There. Now, we just need everything else.” Emi and Anura went back inside, with Emi taking the brush to the sink and cleaning it off.

Anura headed upstairs and into Aunt Brigid’s office, where Mom normally worked. “Hey, Mom.”

“Hey, baby.” Mom picked Anura and put her on her lap. Mom wasn’t wearing her prosthetics, so her lap was a bit smaller and Anura had to work a bit more to balance herself. “What’s up?”

“I need a black hat and a white bird mask.”

“For what?”

“I’m going as a plague doctor for medieval day.”

“That sounds like fun. We can go shopping later for everything.”

“Thanks, Mom.” Anura hopped off her mother’s lap and headed back downstairs. Emi was outside, watching the paint dry. Whether it was her inhuman blood or just her, Emi was very strange. Anura rejoined Emi outside and sat on the swing. Emi didn’t acknowledge her beyond a quick look. “Y’know that will take a while to dry.”

“This is taking forever. I’ll be dead before it’s dry.”

“Don’t exaggerate like that.”

Emi gave her a mischievous grin, and Anura glared at her. “Oh, alright, I’m just trying to cope with my impending doom through humor, but who am I to make such jokes?”

Anura became downcasted and swung her legs under the swing. “I’m-I’m sorry.”

“Hey, I was just giving you a hard time.”, Emi said in a comforting tone.

Anura looked up at Emi with a sad look. It was unreal. Emi was dying, and there was nothing she could do. Anura put her head in her hands, her emotions overwhelming her. She felt Emi pull her into a hug. It wasn’t fair. Nothing that happened to any of them was fair. Of all the emotions Anura was feeling, there was one that shone brighter than the rest and billowed within her, anger, pure rage that she had nothing to aim it at so just kept it inside. There was nothing else she could do. I’m so weak. I’m just a human. I can’t help anyone.

Mory Patchwork Elementary

Date: Jan 27th, time: 1:00 pm

*Anura’s perspective*

Anura, along with the rest of her class, shuffled through the halls, out to the playground. Just about every other kid was dressed as a princess, prince or night, the usual stuff. One kid was dressed as a jester and actually was pretty funny. They got to the doors, and the kids spilled out into the yard. Anura ran straight for the swings, brushed the snow off, and hopped on. She could see the whole playground when she reached the top of her swing, including three students she recognized as Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.

Bloom and Sweetie Belle were completely normal looking, but Scootaloo had something odd about her. Not once in her entire time at the school had Anura seen her run. They stayed on the paved areas of the playground, and Scootaloo used her scooter to chase after the other two or “run away” during tag. When she wasn’t on her scooter and had to walk around, she always hobbled, like she was wearing a prosthetic. She didn’t actually have one. She was the kind of person to not wear anything past her elbows and knees unless it was below freezing. She used her left leg to push herself on her scooter, despite being right handed. This all led Anura to believe that there was something wrong with her right leg. As much as she wanted to ask her about it, Anura knew some people are sensitive about such things and that might be seen as rude.

She switched her people watching to another group of kids, another group of friends. Why wouldn’t the other kids play with me? What was so wrong about me that my only friend’s an inhuman creature? How come Emi can befriend a normal kid like Rynin when she’s an actual monster? Anura stopped swinging. No, she’s not a monster, just different. I wish I was a monster. Then I’d at least know why nobody else likes me. Anura’s swing came to a stop. There’s something dark inside of her. It was that ball of festering rage. It made her want to hurt them, but then she’d calm down and feel sad. What if, one day, she couldn’t calm down in time?

CMS

Date: Feb 5th, time: 12:05 pm

*Sunset’s perspective*

“Oh, come on, Indigo. Just tell me what I want to know, and I won’t hurt you.”, Sunset said in a suave voice. She had Indigo Wreath pinned against the wall in one of the school’s storage closets. He was one of the braver students, but a dumb kid is still a dumb kid, and Sunset knows how to scare a dumb kid.

“Piss off.”, Indigo definitely said.

Sunset cracked a lopsided grin and looked at Indigo like a fox would at any other of their prey. “You may think you’re all strong and tough, but I’ve eaten bigger and stronger.”, Sunset said with a growl.

Indigo had his chin practically glued to his chest, but the defiant look in his eyes wavered. Sunset leaned in and snarled at him, pulling her lips back to prominently show her fangs. “Please, don’t hurt me.”, Indigo squeaked out.

Sunset pulled back enough that she could see the fear on his face. She loved being feared. It was euphoric. “I won’t hurt you if you tell me.”, Sunset said with a sickly sweet tone that contrasted her predatory smile.

“Velvet used her dad’s credit card and blamed it on her brother. She did it to make herself look better.”

Sunset kept up her predatory grin but was internally rolling her eyes. Why can’t these brats have any interesting dirt on them? Sunset let go of Indigo and turned to leave but looked back at him. “It would be a real shame if Velvet found out just who exactly ratted her out, wouldn’t you agree?” The delicious look of shame on his face was the cherry on top as Sunset left for the lunch room.

Canterlot Hospital

Date: March 15th, time: 5:00 am

*Jiraiya’s perspective*

Jiraiya stepped off the elevator and walked over to the room with the armed guard sitting in front. He gave the officer a polite wave as he entered. Inside the private room was Tempest Shadow. She was in a coma from being thrown head first into a wall by the blast. She also had some charring and many lacerations. Her prosthetic sleeve had been fused to her skin in some places, so those parts of her skin had to be scrapped away, and now, she had grafts dotted along her right arm. Her other arm was handcuffed to the bed railing. Although they weren’t sure when exactly she’d wake up, she’s unlikely to be in that coma for much longer, and her higher brain function shouldn’t be hampered, but then again, TBIs can be unpredictable.

Jiraiya checked her vitals, but that wasn’t why he was there. He leaned down to her. Even if she couldn’t hear him, this was just as much for his catharsis. “You got better than you deserve. You should be dead.”, he growled.

“As much as I agree with you, I can’t, legally, let you correct this oversight of the universe, if you plan on doing such.”, the officer said. He was now standing inside of the door frame with his arms crossed.

Jiraiya stood up and walked to the foot of the patient’s bed. “No, I’m a physician first, do no harm and all that, but I’m also a father, and she went after my children.”

“I get you. I’m also a father.”

Jiraiya nodded and left the room. He left the hospital and drove to Anzhong and Brigid’s house. Walking inside, the only person not practically falling asleep was Brigid, and the only ones not nursing a cup of coffee were Emi and Anura.

“Hey, da computer’s set up.”, Brigid said as she waved Jiraiya over.

He walked over to the couch with everyone else. Jiraiya leaned on the back of the couch; Anzhong, Brigid, and Minerva sat on the couch; Anura sat on her mom’s lap; and Sunset and Emi sat on their beanbags. Sunset started the call, and Ryoko and Oda’s tired looking faces popped up on the screen with young Hikari in her arms. Hikari had his mother’s blue hair and gold eyes but had a witch’s streak of his father’s blond going down the left side of his hair.

“Moshi moshi”, Ryoko said.

“You look tired.”, Jiraiya said in Japanese.

“Please, Father, we have English speaking guests. It is only polite.”, she said in English.

“Very well. Are you doing well?”

“Tired but well, but to get to the point, you all wish to meet Hikari.” Ryoko lifted Hikari up to be better seen by the camera. Brigid and Minerva both had smiles on their faces and were cuing at him.

“He’s kinda ugly. I blame Oda.”, Emi said bluntly. Anzhong nearly choked on his coffee, and Oda rolled out of his chair laughing.

“All babies dat young look like dat.”, Brigid said.

“I was never that ugly.”, Sunset defended.

“Yeah, because you were a pony.”, Emi countered.

Ryoko lowered Hikari, and Oda stopped laughing and righted himself in his chair, both looking confused.

Minerva looked back at Anzhong, Jiraiya, and Brigid, the latter two of which had “oh, great” looks on their faces. “You guys never told them, have you?”

“We forgot.”, all three said.

“What is going on?”, Oda asked.

Sunset lifted herself up so she was in the center of the frame. “Sooo, funny story.” Sunset recounted a quick version of her story, leaving Ryoko and Oda with their mouths open and looking between each other as if they were checking to see if they were actually hearing this or if sleep deprivation had finally gotten to them.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but Brigid and I went through the portal once and were very much ponies.”, Anzhong said.

“Da portal’s actually openin’ back up soon, isn’t it?”, Brigid asked.

“Yeah, six months.”, Sunset confirmed.

“Okay, this is… nuts.”, Ryoko said, stunned.

“You’re half fox.”, Oda said in Japanese.

“Alien pony unicorn, our niece.”, Ryoko said in Japanese.

“Says the fox.”

“We know you’re kitsunes.”, Minerva said, and Anura nodded.

Ryoko whipped her head back to face the camera. “Azhong”, she said with a scowl.

“It took traveling to the alien pony world for Brigid to believe me when I told her what we are. We’re safe.”, Anzhong defended.

“You all make me seem normal.”, Anura commented.

Hikari started getting fussy, and Ryoko got up to take care of him.

“We have to get going. We will talk to you some time later.”, Oda said in English before ending the call.

Everyone got up and either went about their day or went back to bed. Anzhong pulled Jiraiya aside, and he could feel the seriousness from his son. “What is the condition of Tempest Shadow?”

“Still in a coma. We’re not sure when she’ll wake up, but she likely will.”

Anzhong seemed unhappy by the answer but didn’t say anything.

“You’re worried she relayed the knowledge of Sunset’s existence.”

“Storm has been quiet, but they’ve pulled this before. Sunset’s been asking to have her bodyguard removed.”

“You left the serpent without its head. The body’s movements may be erratic at first, but it will surely die.”

“I hope you are correct.”

Canterlot Hospital

Date: Apr 4th, time: 6:00 pm

*Emi’s perspective*

Emi was wheeled into the recovery room, where Lily White already was. She looked paler than a sheet of paper, and there was a hint of vomit in the air. Emi was placed in her usual spot, but Lily didn’t greet her.

“Hey, ya dead?”, Emi asked.

“No,” Lily said tiredly, “just tired.”

“How are you doing?”

“Not well.”

Lily rolled over, so Emi stopped talking. She pulled out her handheld and played her games. After some time, Emi heard Lily rolling over again.

“What are you playing?”, Lily asked.

“I’m playing Daring Do: Temple Escape.”

“Can I watch?”

“Yeah, hang on.” Emi turned to her mother. “Hey, Mom, can you take me to Lily’s bed?” Mom got up from her seat and picked Emi up and put her on Lily’s bed. Lily sat up and scooted next to Emi and watched her play for a while. Lily ended up falling asleep on Emi’s shoulder. Emi put her game down and stroked Lily’s hair.

She woke back up some time later and looked up at Emi. “What are you doing?”, she asked weakly.

“Just trying to comfort you.”

Lily put her head back down and let Emi continue to stroke her hair. Lily’s nice.

Outside CMS

Date: Apr 9th, time: 4:15 pm

*Flash’s perspective*

“Hey, man!”, Sandalwood called out. Flash turned to him and waved. He walked over to where Flash sat and sat down next to him. Flash was sitting on a bench near the middle school parking as he waited for the hockey team bus. “Whacha doing here, man?”

“I’m waiting for my girlfriend. She’s still in middle school.”

“Ahh, if that’s the case, could you ask her about the poison ivy cases? I overheard some middle schoolers talking about how a lot of kids were getting poison ivy rashes with seemingly no cause. I tried asking them, but that’s all they knew.”

“That’s odd, but what’s your interest in it?”

“It’s just so weird, man. Who in the world would use poison ivy as some sort of weapon? It should be left to live out its life peacefully.”

“Dude, it’s a plant. It’s not like it has feelings.”

“All life has feelings, man. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sandalwood got up and began walking to his house.

Flash continued waiting, but an uncomfortable feeling bubbled up in his gut. Sunset’s behavior has been getting worse, and no matter how much love he showed her, it wasn’t helping. She also was opening up to him less and less, not that she was very open with him in the first place. Is this something Sunset’s capable of? Absolutely.

He was pulled from his head as the bus pulled up. The team unloaded, and Sunset walked over to him. “Hey there, pretty boy.”, she said, not in a friendly and loving tone but a predatory dominant one, like she saw him as something she could control. It was degrading but also… strangely hot. She smiled at him predatorily, and Flash could feel his heartbeat pick up.

“Hey”, Flash said sweetly. He stood up and took Sunset’s hand.

Washi was standing on the other side of the street, waiting for them. They joined him and began walking to Sunset’s. He was silent, as always, and was barely noticeable, but for whatever reason, Sunset still found him to be a nuisance. Flash never understood why.

“Sunset, I heard a rumor going around. Apparently, kids are getting poison ivy rashes when they haven’t come into contact with the stuff. Have you heard anything about that?”, Flash asked.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about that, but I’m immune to poison ivy and wash my hands frequently, so you don’t have to worry about touching me.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Should I? She could be… What if… Am I wrong for doubting her? Flash put it out of his head for now. He had no proof, and Sunset sure as heck isn’t going to give up that information if he pushed. This isn’t right.

Canterlot fire station 13

Date: May 31st, time: 6:00 am

*Rainbow’s perspective*

“Rainbow, we’re here.”, Mom said. She shook her lightly, and Rainbow roused from her light sleep. It was way too early in the morning. “You remember the rules?”

“Yes,” Rainbow said in the way only a fourteen year old who’s just been asked such a stupid question could, “I remember. This is the third time you’ve had me repeat them.”

“I know this must seem tedious to you, but this is a life and death profession where being slow can cost someone their life, including us. I need to make sure you know the rules.”, Mom said in her “serious paramedic” voice.

Rainbow resigned herself and listed off the rules. “Stay within hearing range of the alarm or a five minute run of the ambo, whichever’s closer; if it involves not having your pants on, do it quickly; don’t eat the other shifts’ food; don’t say any jinx words; don’t anger the EMT god; follow instructions; and stay up wind.”

“Perfect, now, we can go in.” Mom and Rainbow hopped out of the car, grabbed their bags, and headed into the station. The garage was abuzz with last shift finishing up final checks and hurrying to get out of there and fourth shift heading in and doing everything they need to do to get ready for the day. “Hey, how was shift?”, Mom asked the third shift paramedic.

“We had a good shift. We didn’t get any calls past midnight.”, the third shift paramedic said with a chuckle.

“Fuck me.” Mom stomped off to the meeting room with Rainbow following her. An easy previous shift means that they’ll have 12 calls after midnight. Everyone on fourth shift, minus Phenix, and Rainbow headed into the meeting room for the morning debrief. The chief came in shortly after and began the debrief. It was really boring for Rainbow, so she just daydreamed the whole time. Mom tapped Rainbow on the shoulder to let her know the meeting was over.

Everyone went out to the common room, where Phenix was cooking breakfast. He had already set out some eggs, bacon, and stir-fried vegetables. Firefighters eat a lot, so everyone loaded up their plates. Despite what some TV shows will say, firehouse cutlery never matches. You got fancy plastic cups, cheap plastic cups, glass cups, plates of every shape and material, and utensils are stabbies, scoopies, and cutties, none of that fancy table, salad, desert crap.

Mom and Rainbow got their food and took seats at the table, dropping their bags on the floor. In the common room were Lieutenant Phosphorus Wings, Autumn Blaze, Starburst Burns, Phenix Star, Cole Stream, Coal Ignatius, and Kenneth Talis from truck; Lieutenant Fire Streak, Hudson Beckett, Blaze Rafferty, Amaya Lakes, Ren Brooks, Max Maren, and Sabrina Tiber from engine; Janet Silverspeed, Mom’s partner; and Captain Robert Robertson Rabison III; everyone just calls him “Captain Bob”. Everyone was scattered around, some at the table, some eating in front of the TV. In a fire house, the only table rule is “eat it before the bell goes off”. Sure, they tried to be polite, civil human beings, but nothing can gross-out a firefighter.

“Hey, it’s Rainbow.”, Autumn said excitedly.

“Hi, Ms. Blaze.”

“You excited for your ride along?”

Rainbow nodded her head with a mouthful of food. She may not believe in the Christian or Jewish god, but she is by sure a believer in the ever wrathful and petty EMT god and does everything in her power not to anger it, especially during meals.

“Come on, show a bit more enthusiasm.”

“We’ll show more enthusiasm after we eat. We don’t want to anger the EMT god.”, Janet said.

“Ah, you're just being superstitious. Our actions don’t affect how many calls we get.”

The EMT god was offended and decided to prove her wrong as the alarm sounded. //Ambo 13, person in distress, 1437 Songbird lane.// The moment the automated voice said “ambo”, Mom, Janet, and Rainbow began shoveling their food into their mouths while giving Autumn death glares.

“This isn’t proof.”, Autumn said as Mom, Janet, and Rainbow ran out to the garage.

The three of them jumped into the ambo and raced to the address, sirens blazing. As soon as they got to the address and the wheels stopped turning, Mom and Janet hopped out of the ambo, Mom grabbed the jump bag, and the two hurried up to the door. Rainbow stayed in the ambo, as instructed, and watched as they were let inside. As much as she wanted to go in with them, for both her safety and to be courteous to the patient, she had to stay where she was. At least this meant she could guard the ambo. A disturbing amount of medics have stories of their rigs being vandalized or otherwise tampered with while they’re attending to a call. Granted, it’s exceedingly rare, but any amount of that crap is a disturbing amount.

They soon came back out, helping an elderly lady down the stairs and to the ambo. Given her lack of visible injuries, Rainbow guessed she had a fall. Damn, getting older sucks. I never wanna get to the point where tripping in my own living room could put me in the hospital. Mom helped the woman into the back while Janet hopped into the driver seat. There’s a small window that lets people in the crew cab see into the back and vice versa. The lady was sitting in one of the seats instead of on the gurney, so she wasn’t too bad. Once everyone was seated, Janet drove them down to the hospital, without lights and sirens.

“Canterlot Med, we’re en route, elderly, fall, ETA five minutes.”, Mom radioed in.

“That was a lot fewer words than the last medic to take me to the hospital used.”, the lady commented.

“There is a big difference between how we’re trained to encode and how the nurses want us to encode.”

The lady chuckled, and she and Mom continued chatting all the way to the hospital. Dropping her off went quickly, and they were soon back at the house. Once they pulled in, Rainbow hopped out and returned to the common room. Everyone had spread out by then with only a few people remaining in the common room, which included Autumn Blaze.

“How’d the call go?”, Autumn asked.

“It went fine, but seriously, stop tempting the EMT god.”, Rainbow said.

“But there’s no such thing. It’s all just superstition.”

“You haven’t lived in this city very long. Trust me, stranger things have happened.”, Janet said as she and Mom walked in.

“You mean those old wives' tales. People made those up because they were bored or to keep the kids in line.”

“I dunno. I’ve seen some pretty strange things since moving ‘ere.”, Mom said, her Scottish accent slipping through.

“Like what?”, Autumn said skeptically.

“A ghost once threw a bottle of laundry soap at my head.”, Rainbow interjected.

“I have the video saved on my phone.” Mom pulled out her phone and showed it to Autumn.

Autumn scrunched up her face as the video played and looked to be trying to examine the video for anything out of place or that could prove it as fake. “That is certainly odd.”

“Our building used to be a pretty shady motel. Y’know, the kind where drug deals happen and people are murdered.”, Mom said as she put her phone away.

“I’ll admit, I don’t have a good answer for that video, but there must be a rational explanation.”

“Oh, I can tell you stories. That video is just the tip of the iceberg.”, Janet said. She took a seat at one of the tables, and everyone else took the hint. They each took a seat around the small, round table and waited for Janet to speak. “So, the Silverspeeds have been around these parts for generations, almost since the beginning, and I went to CHS. That place was built over the sight of the original school house that burned down. An entire class, which was about ten kids and a teacher at the time, and the principal died in that fire. There are placards on the wall indicating what portions were built before the nineteen hundreds, and there is a rule that says no one is allowed in those parts after nightfall because of how many janitors quit, saying that the reason was because of the ghosts. Mostly, it’s just people hearing the children scream, but a few have said they’ve seen the old principal, skin charred black and red, pieces of wood and metal sticking out of him, and one haunting blue eye.”

“Sounds like a good campfire story, but this still isn’t proof.”, Autumn said, sounding disinterested.

“A government institution had to put a rule in place because of ghosts.”, Janet stressed.

“My high school had a rule against hoodies, wearing the color red, and being in groups of more than four because these were “gang colors and behaviors”. This was in a tiny Wisconsin farming town. I’m pretty sure the closest gang’s in Chicago. You seem to be under the misconception schools are run by smart, rational people.”

“Uhhhh, you got a point.”

“What’s with the US school system’s obsession with gangs?”, Mom asked. Rainbow could only shrug.

“Okay, how do you explain all the strange disappearances and happenings in the woods and mountains? I mean we got Bluefaun, an entire town’s population, poof, nowhere to be seen; Mylan Dubois, kid was found impaled on a branch, sixty feet up a tree; and tons of strange lights and just weird crap.”

“I can’t explain it, but that doesn’t mean it’s gods, ghosts, or anything else supernatural. I’m sure we’ll have a scientific explanation some day.”, Autumn said.

“Yeah, and that scientific explanation will be ‘ghosts are real’.”

The entertainment was cut short by the alarm sounding for truck, waking Max up.

“We’ll be continuing this later.”, Autumn said as she ran out to the garage.

Max went back to sleep, and Janet got up and left. Mom grabbed their bags, tapped Rainbow on the shoulder, and motioned for her to follow. She led her to the bunk room, placed their bags on their beds, then brought them to where they keep the cleaning supplies.

“Part of being a firefighter and paramedic is keeping the house clean.” Mom handed Rainbow a dustpan and broom then pointed to the common room. “The floor needs cleaning.”

“Seriously?”, Rainbow complained.

“Yes, seriously. Now, I’ll be in the ambo if you need me. Lieutenant Dumbass left something sticky in the back.” Mom grabbed a rag and a bottle of some cleaning stuff and disappeared to the garage.

Rainbow grumbled to herself but headed into the common room. At least firefighters aren’t pigs. She headed to the common room and started sweeping. The real pain were all the chairs as they would pick up hair and dust and not want to let it go. Max had his feet up on the coffee table, and not even Rainbow’s sweeping woke him up. What do soldiers, firefighters, and teenagers all have in common? They can sleep anywhere, anytime.

Her sweeping was cut short by the alarm sounded for ambo. She dropped everything and ran out to the ambo. All three of them jumped in and rushed off. This time, it was a man unconscious on the sidewalk. Mom and Janet hopped out and rushed to the patient. It didn’t take long for them to get him on the gurney and load him in the back. They raced to the hospital, and Mom and Janet worked with the doctors on the guy. The ER was busy, so Rainbow left as to not be in anyone’s way.

She walked down the hallways and heard familiar sounding grunting and angry chuffing. She looked around and saw none other than Sunset looking more pissed off then she’s ever seen her. What in the world could get her this mad? Rainbow cautiously approached, keeping her guard up. “Sunset?”

Before Rainbow could react, Sunset buried her fist into her chest. Rainbow was knocked on her butt, and when she looked up, she mistook Sunset for a demon for a second before realizing it was just an enraged Sunset and her mother standing behind her.

“Sunset”, Sunset’s mom scolded. Sunset’s face flashed to horror for a split second before her mom scooped her up and pressed her to her body. “Ah’m sorry ‘bout dat.” Sunset’s mom took her back into the hospital room, and Rainbow could’ve sworn she heard Sunset sobbing.

Canterlot Hospital

Date: same day, time: 8:00 am

*Sunset’s perspective*

Brigid placed Sunset back in her seat and looked down at her with a disapproving glare. Sunset averted her gaze, all the emotions being too much. Brigid just sighed and walked back to Emi’s bed. The empty bed next to her served as a painful example of what was happening. It was so sudden. Last time they were here, she was sleeping in that bed but now, empty. The doctor’s words echoed in Sunset’s mind. “It’s terminal. She has only four months left.” It’s not fair. It’s not fair!

Dr. Rojas returned with a woman wearing a shirt that said “Make-A-Wish”. They approached Emi’s bed with the woman having a gentle, sweet smile on her face, but Sunset could feel the twisted mass of emotion in her chest. Something ate away at her, but something else comforted that ache. “Hi, Emi, my name is Surprise. I’m with Make-A-Wish. Do you know what that is?”, she said in a raspy but caring tone.

“No”, Emi said.

“We’re an organization that fulfills the greatest wishes of children like you. Anywhere you want to go, do, anything like that.”

“So, I can ask for anything, and you’ll make it happen?”

“To an extent, yes.”

“Did Lily get to make a wish?”

Surprise looked confused before Dr. Rojas motioned with his head to the empty bed. Sadness flashed across her face before she looked back to Emi. “I don’t know. Someone else must’ve gotten her case.”

Emi clearly didn’t believe her but didn’t say anything about it. “Okay, then I wanna see my aunt and uncle get married.” She said it so quickly. It was clear that’s been something she’d been wanting for a while.

“Okay, we can do that.”

“Her aunt and uncle live in Japan.”, Anzhong informed.

“Oh, okay, we can still do that. What’s the wedding date?”

“One hasn’t been set due ta current situations.”, Brigid said, referring to Emi.

“I see. I’ll need to talk to the aunt and uncle then. Could we talk about details?”, Surprise asked while motioning to the door.

Brigid and Anzhong nodded, and Brigid looked down at Emi. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Wait, can Anura and Aunt Minerva come too?”, Emi asked.

“We’ll ask Ryoko. It’s ‘ers and Oda’s wedding’, so dey say who comes.” With that, the three of them left the room, and Dr. Rojas left shortly after them. Sunset and Emi were left alone, so Sunset went over to Emi’s bed and climbed in.

“Hey”, Sunset said quietly.

“I only have four months to live. I won’t even get to see my ninth birthday.”, Emi said solemnly, but then she got an angry, determined look on her face.

Sunset pulled Emi in and stroked her hair. She had needed to comfort soldiers that just had their innards turned into outards, but how do you comfort a dying child? I need to get the element of magic. That’s the only thing left that can possibly save her.

Elsewhere in the Hospital

Date: ?, time: ?

*Tempest’s perspective*

Tempest opened her eyes and was immediately blinded by the fluorescent lights. She tried to cover her eyes but quickly realized her arm was missing. She then tried her other arm but couldn’t move it. She was… oh crap, she was handcuffed. Blinking a few times, she adjusted to the light and looked around. She was surrounded by medical personnel and a cop in the corner. At least she was in the hospital. She knew that she was out for a while, but how long was the question.

“What day is it?”, Tempest asked.

“May thirty-first”, one of the nurses answered.

“Crap” The doctors had a lot of questions for her. It sounded like they were trying to make sure her mental facilities were still intact. She’d need physio, but that wasn’t her main concern. “Hey, is my prosthetic okay?”

“We’re not sure. We’ll ask.”, one of the doctors said.

The doctors and nurses began filing out of the room, and the cop went back out to his chair once all the medical personnel were out of the room. Tempest was finally left alone to scheme in peace. Wait, is Mr. Storm even still alive? That was a crucial piece of information for whatever plan she made, but there was no way of getting it without talking to the cops and potentially incriminating herself. I guess I’ll have to wait for my lawyer.